THE IDENTITY CRISIS

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Islam and Muslims | Al Risala, July 1988

In modern times Muslims have been faced with such situations as have forced them to think of all the things they have lost and, as a result, they have become a prey to a deprivation complex. It is important to understand what exactly it is that they have lost, since the normal human reaction in the face of loss is to begin the struggle for re­possession.

The tragedy of this situation is that Muslims have repeatedly had it im­pressed upon them by their own poets, orators and writers that what they have lost is the prerogative to rule, and all the power that comes with it. They have had it instilled in them that if they have become weak and insignificant in modern times, there can be no other reason than the loss of their former glory.

The natural result of such a diagnosis is that Muslims, not only in India, but all over the world, have rushed headlong into the struggle to regain their former power. Most of the efforts towards a Muslim revival in recent times can be placed in this category, but their total failure shows that the basis on which these movements were launched has in its essence, been ill-conceived. This has been the result of confusing temporal power with spiritual power and aiming at the former as the principal objective instead of the latter.

The truth is that what modern Muslims have lost is their relation­ship with God. Living faith in God, the true worship of God, the soul-­stirrings which arise from having to account for all one’s deeds before God, the desire to live and die for God’s cause, – these are the real things which Muslims have lost in the world of today. And these deficiencies are so widespread that they affect everyone from the highest to the lowest. All other kinds of deficiencies – we can under­stand this if we really give the matter some thought – can be traced back to these religious lacunae. Only when Muslims begin to adopt a decidedly positive approach to their own religion will they be able to extract themselves honourably from their present state of mental disar­ray. The illusion which needs to be dispelled at all costs is that achieve­ments in other fields – which lie outside the province of Islam ­– can in any way remedy their condition.