“Indeed Allah would never change a people’s state until they change their own state” — Al Quran.

THE sudden collapse of the Assad regime and the destruction of Syria as a leader of the Axis of Resistance to US-backed Israeli-settler colonialism has surprised and shocked the world. In particular, it has stunned the Arab and Muslim world. Many consider it a much greater tragedy than the Nakba (catastrophe) of the expulsions of the Palestinians from Palestine and the Naksa (setback) of Arab military defeats in wars against Israel.

The latest developments in Syria represent a karitha (calamity) for Syria and the Arab world and a challenge for the entire Muslim world. It would be no exaggeration to say it highlights the failure of contemporary Muslim civilisation. This disaster is of an order no less than that of the Mongol destruction of the Abbasi caliphate in Baghdad in 1258. That calamity destroyed the innate confidence of Muslim civilisation from which it has never quite recovered as its primary concern became the preservation of the faith at the expense of enquiry and innovation. The Prophet (PBUH) had enjoined: seek knowledge even if it be from China. Unfortunately, the doors of ijtihad (independent reasoning) were closed.

Over the succeeding centuries, despite several militarily successful Muslim dynasties and giants of science who fundamentally contributed to Western science, the Muslim world missed out on the agricultural, industrial and technology revolutions. This set the scene for the Western colonisation of the Muslim world. Despite notable exceptions, orthodox Muslim scholars again withdrew into a defensive shell as they had in the wake of the Mongol conquests. They explicitly or implicitly linked up with traditional elites who were largely averse to the prospect of radical social reform and liberating the creative energies of the Muslim masses. Innovation was considered bid’at (novelty) and frowned upon, while taqlid (imitation) was considered virtuous. This was appropriate for the teachings of religion, but its impact extended to intellectual life as a whole.

While railing against colonial masters these traditional elites actively or passively collaborated with them in curtailing the potential of their own peoples. Their suspicious attitude towards rational and scientific enquiry privileged stability and order over intellectual freedom and national development. The word ‘secular’ was erroneously interpreted as a rejection of divine commandments. The sciences, however, are all secular.

Tens of thousands of things need to be done to transform a traditional society and an underdeveloped country.

Progressive intellectuals and movements in the Muslim world have sometimes succeeded in achieving political influence as a result of the festering grievances of the masses. But they were unsuccessful in persuading ruling elites to provide sustained good governance and credible political and educational institutions. The historic betrayal by Muslim ruling elites and the extreme conservatism of the guardians of the faith have culminated in the plight of the Muslim world today.

Pakistan shares this plight. Allama Iqbal asked “pas chi bayad kard? (what is to be done?) This has become a perennial question. It usually elicits a counter question: what can be done? And another more important question: why has it not been done? In seeking answers, another question emerges: do we start from the present or the past? George Santayana answered “those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”. Indeed! To change the present, we must know the past because it produced the present. Accordingly, Karl Marx asked us to stop discussing the world and start changing it. That brings us back to the question: what is to be done to change it?

Tens of thousands of things need to be done to transform a traditional society and an underdeveloped country. It would be both impossible and irrelevant to try to list all of them. Party political manifestos, that are issued before elections and forgotten afterwards, aim to summarise what needs to be done along with promises to do them. They address the concerns of the electorate usually without any strategy or intent to satisfy them. The whole attempt is to seduce the electorate without offending the bosses. The people are not fooled even if they are largely resigned. The elites and their cohorts remain determined to keep them resigned to their fate.

Eventually, however, a leader may come along who seeks to implement the commitments expressed in his party manifesto and transform it into a practical policy guide rather than a set of false promises. Sooner or later, he unites his status quo-oriented rivals against him with the support of the power structure that seeks to perpetuate itself by being the guardian of the status quo.

This is what has happened in Pakistan. The fate of the country will now depend on the outcome of this struggle between the people and the elite and power establishment. If the leader and his party can develop an organised countrywide movement that inculcates an awareness and confidence among the people, and harnesses their limitless potential, the outcome of the struggle will be inevitable. Such a movement, however, will require an intellectual and political infrastructure to strengthen and deepen its roots among the people. Otherwise, it will run the risk of becoming a political posture rather than an enduring and liberating national reality.

An indispensable leader must, accordingly, aim to make himself dispensable by enabling and empowering his people and country. He transforms a political manifesto from a laundry list on paper into an enabling document. Lee Kuan Yew reportedly remarked at the end of his momentous career “Thank God, my people don’t need me anymore!”

A liberated and developing Pakistan can light a prairie fire of liberation throughout the Muslim world that would foil the designs of hegemonists at every level from the local to the national to the regional to the global. This sounds like a futile and pathetic wish today, and so it is. But other nations have shown that it is possible. The most important of them, China, is a proven friend whose friendship and cooperation can help unleash the potential of Pakistan. Its concerns need to be addressed.

The writer is a former ambassador to the US, India and China, and head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2024