(The author can be contacted at akifoo@usa.net)
It is an age old tradition that much matters to a nation when it comes to issues irrelevant to Muslim community’s development. Speaking in terms of reality, the economic boom of a nation is what human development all about.
Now let us profoundly analyze what exactly is the economic boom of a nation. As we begin our analysis, it is highly important for the reader to be enlightened with the fact that it is necessary to think the right way if he has to understand this immensely valuable message. The reader will have to discredit all economic and political concepts and thoughts in considering the OIC Community of Muslim nations as a single nation and its people as just Muslims with no individual nationalities. Thinking this way alone can make this message more comprehending.
Today everyone knows the fact that the world has, due to the advancement in human transportation and communication technology, virtually shrunk to a small global village. Much gossip is evident on the virtual currencies in circulation on the Internet. So it is clearly evident that it solely depends on the way we think, for which each single nation is a proof. Let us consider for example that if the fifty states of the USA are divided into fifty nations, then fifty different currencies come into existence with different living standards in each nation. Formalities and barriers will have to be braved by the people as for the flow of people, goods and services from one state to the other. Bureaucratic interference will always remain whenever there is an exchange of business, trade or travel between any two nations from among the fifty. On the contrary, if the fifty are again merged into a union of the USA, then there is no need for working out on policies, sovereignty, constitutional amendments, economy, GDPs, GNPs, exports and imports of the fifty states with each state as a separate nation.
Similarly let us apply the concept to all the so-called countries of the OIC considering them to be a single nation at least in economic terms, if not socio-politically. Let us keep in mind the fact that all the nations of the world, just for the purpose of serving their selfish national ends have been committing blunders on the economy of this world. Because of the absurd and weird reason that we are socio-politically, culturally, linguistically and in many other aspects different from each other, we have been committing blunders on the human development of earthlings. It is now crystal clear that we humans have hindered the human development of our fellow nations on the entire earth more than the harm and wounds inflicted upon humanity by weapons and wars. We are the sole root-cause for the bias in the standard of living in the USA with that of Nigeria or Somalia or any other impoverished region of this earth.
According to the modern concept and thought, every one of us is keenly interested to know how nature has created us and how the universe came into existence but none has ever tried to wonder at the interrogative ‘Why’. Why has God created us together on a single planet and why not Blacks, Whites, Asians, the Yellow race and the Semitic race, each on a different planet? Was it not possible for God Who devised everything in order to create life on other planets in our planetary neighbourhood? With these questions on our minds we can easily arrive at a conclusion that we Muslims are a single nation and the planet earth and its people from any nook and corner of its expanse are its citizens, the earthlings.
Its time, I think, we rather got down to business than beating about the bush with philosophy which is not the point here. I presume, there is nothing like eligibility or qualification or gradation of human thinking in terms of education or literacy in order to think this way, nor do we have to meditate like Lord Buddha for enlightenment.
What exactly is being tried to convey here is that we have, all since the last eight decades defined a nation as a capricious blend of cultural, political and economic thought designed by the so-called charismatic leaders of that nation. Let me trigger the thinking of the Muslim masses of the earth by putting forward a reasonable question. Were there financial institutions and banking systems in olden days? Was there a stock exchange and all that we do have in the modern system of this world? Just because there was nothing like what we apparently enjoy today, was there no prosperity among the people? Did not business and trade flourish during those days?
The answer, as we all know is yes, people of all times have lived the same way as we do today and only two things that were not there in the olden days are technology and the police system, irrespective of the crime at its extremes today.
Nations proudly announce that in one of their cities much development has been witnessed as the number of hospitals and of police stations has considerably increased. Can we term this as a wise analysis or definition for development or shall we define it as the increase in crimes and diseases? Despite the technological advances in the field of medical sciences and despite the eradication of many diseases there is still increasing number of deaths caused by inexplicable diseases that can never be diagnosed. If the modern world is of the opinion and belief that only by educating and civilizing people can we achieve development, then it is wrong as development and economic boom of a nation has nothing to do with civilized citizens. The live example for that is the social life in the West.
Having lost all ethical, traditional and family values, a person’s social life in Europe and America has been so miserable that the Western nations have based themselves in comparison to the tribal life of Africa. The tribal life there strictly maintains its traditional values and yet is considered to be trailing behind the so-called Western cradles of civilization by a margin beyond reach. The West at the verge of irreparably losing its social law and order did successfully curtain its animalistic and lawless life with technology. We have inevitably made them the models of our social, political and economic thought to such a level that we still presume that there is no innovative and creative superiority of human thinking and understanding beyond it. We have disabled our thinking and have always tried to think the way they do in the West.
Coming now to the definition of economy of the OIC world, we must firstly abolish the currency value system and pave the way to the formation of an economic and monetary union of all the Muslim nations of this OIC world. Let the currencies be what they are, simultaneously allowing the currencies of all countries to be equivalent in value. Let one KSA riyal be equal in value to one Pakistani rupee, to one Nigerian unit of currency, and to 100 Turkish liras. Let the prices be the same in the entire economic union of OIC Nations. If an air-conditioner costs you about KSA riyal 2000, then let the prices of an air-conditioner, qualitatively and technologically be the same as that of the KSA, in Pakistani Rs.2000, in Bangladesh 2000 Takas, in Kuwait 200 Dinars and in Turkish Lires 200,000. Let the labour costs, wages, salaries and pays to the workforce anywhere in this world be the same as anywhere and everywhere in this OIC’s union, no matter even if you would like to make the KSA a standard in these matters. Let the pays, wages, salaries and labour costs be the same as in the KSA to the KSA nationals. It is wise to provide everyone in the impoverished Muslim countries at least with the same life as that of Europe and America in terms of technology, quality, affordability and prosperity. The day life in Chad or Mali or Nigeria or Somalia or Lebanon or Indonesia or Malaysia or Chechnya or Albania is entitled to what life in the West is in terms of economy, then will the OIC world be a better place to live in. For this purpose to be fulfilled and accomplished, the developed Muslim countries of the OIC should have to feel free on the smooth transfer of technology to the developing and impoverished ones from the West. The OIC as a single nation in terms of economy should ground all barriers, hurdles and obstacles coming the way of free movement of goods, services and travel from any part of the OIC union to any of its contrary extremes. Even a man belonging to any remotest part of the OIC union should be able to set up business and industries in any and every nook and corner of this OIC world.
If someone is pessimistic about this seemingly bizarre idea, then he must look into the worldly life, which is a combination of changes, revolutions and events wherein you can expect all that is unexpected. Twenty years from now, we never even imagined at the height of the cold war that in the vicinity and near future to that period we are about to witness dramatic changes. We didn’t even think to the blink of an eye that the world is about to be swept by tremendous reforms and that we would be zipped through by the winds of changes.
Historic events like, [i] The fall of Hammer and Sickle in Moscow’s Kremlin, known as the Mecca of Marxism, [ii] The dismantling of communism in the erstwhile Soviet Union, [iii] The eventual overthrows of iron-fist hard-line communist regimes from the iron-curtained eastern European nations, [iv] The abolition of Apartheid in South Africa by putting an end to De Klerk’s reign there, [v] The stunning union of the West and East Germany, [vi] The opening up of China to international business, [vii] The on-going Middle East peace process by the recognition of the state of Palestine, and finally [viii] The historic signing up of the Maastricht treaty for the proposed monetary and economic union of the twelve West European nations, have all shown us the signs of an imminent global union. So to be on par with the global developments and to keep pace with the global reforms, it is high time that the OIC nations merge and emerge as one nation. It doesn’t in any way mean that there has to be an overnight change. Let the process take its own course of time to make the ultimate dream come true. If it takes ten years for a satellite to reach Pluto, the planet at the edge of our planetary solar system, then it is wise to launch the satellite now, setting it adrift in space towards its destination. Only then will it reach Pluto by the turn of the second decade of this century. Similarly, let us get started now or at least discuss it every time we discuss OIC issues.
The world has wrongly and foolishly understood modernization and advancement of life to be westernization like, [i] Watching music channels on TV, [ii] Dressing like men and women of the West, [iii] Having a number of TV serials to watch, [iv] Dining at tables, [v] Using a fork and a spoon to eat, [vi] Dancing, listening to pop songs and music, [vii] Going to discotheque, [viii] Dreaming about the world’s best cars and bikes, when the country’s roads are dangerously bumpy, [ix] Frequenting shopping complexes and Malls, [x] Living in an apartment or flat, [xi] Eating in restaurants and [xii] Flirting ventures of dating and mating, in a bid to liberating womanhood from motherhood, authorized as a sound development. Whereas modernization is the advancement of the nation’s economy, highly qualitative goods and services, enabling the citizen of the nation to be able to afford for the best.
Human beings still have millions of milestones and landmarks with unlimited frontiers to venture into and explore. It is highly immature to think that man has achieved scientifically or socio-politically or economically, at this juncture of time. It is not the distance covered that matters much to a traveller on a long journey. It is the distance to be covered to reach the destination that counts.
Here certainly technology is not being referred to as modernization of man. Politically, socially and economically speaking, it is the reform of our primitive and conservative modern thoughts and concepts, which are at least a century old now. Modern thinking of the present day man assumed to be as minute as an atom and as profound as space has proved to be a big failure in filtering the corrupt political system which allows criminals, film industry people, sports-persons, the illiterate and the uneducated to rule. Man has never been able to come out with a solution to the problem in forming a fool-proof political system that has got only the deserving, the wise, the learned and the experienced to play a vital role. Man has been recommending all that has been harmful to the humankind. Man has never been able to abate crimes and mishaps in the world yet.
As for social reforms, the way people are making headway leaps blindly towards the West is of a profound concern today. It has to be curbed at any cost, as the consequences met so far have been miserable in the West due to a social disorder in the name of human rights. The approval of homosexuality, the free mingling of men and woman, the widely accepted unnatural illicit relationships and the inexplicable way of life in the West has been wrongly thought of as the only way to be abreast of time and technology. This has to be checked as the prevalent mindset of the masses in the rest of the world and has a great affinity towards Westernization rather than modernization. As a result, the colour of the traditional values of different regions that adorns the earth will have to fade away with no diversity or variety in store.
As technology and culture have nothing in common, let us make the planet earth a land of unity in diversity. This will help us make this world a better place to live in. Coming to technology, let there be a free flow of technology from one part of the OIC union to another.
It is said that the earth has drastically shrunk to a small electronic village due to the advent of faster communication technology. So the governments of all OIC nations should take up projects like Iridium Satellite Phones and make the SAT phones available to the people of this entire Muslim world on dead cheap prices so that a major chunk of the OIC population owns it. This will dismantle the telephone cables of the whole world it is said. So the governments of all OIC nations should slash down the phone call rates from any corner of this Muslim union to every corner of this OIC union to only the local charges. The electricity and medical services must be free of cost and should be considered as a mandatory requirement of all Muslims in the OIC expanse.
Last but not the least, the language of the OIC Muslims should be Arabic and let the regional languages as well as mother tongues of Muslims as for in this world take the position of a second language. Let the medium of instruction in schools, colleges, universities and all other educational institutions be Arabic.