7 Insidious Threats to Muslim Survival
Seyyed AbuZainab

Speak of threats to Muslim survival and the mind instinctively strays in the direction of politics. How Israel has been oppressing the Palestinians or how the Indian forces routinely violate the basic human rights of Kashmiris are patent cases where the life, property and dignity of Muslims are threatened every day. Others point to the clever tactics used by neo-imperial powers to regulate the governments and economies of Muslim countries.
No doubt the physical, social and political well-being of those born in Muslim families are of fundamental importance. But here I want to discuss quite another phenomenon viz. the survival of Islam in Muslims. It is important to make this distinction because some people would define ‘Muslim survival’ very differently. Indian cinema, for example, thrives on the artistic talent of Muslim super-heroes. Somebody could say that these cultural icons reflect how Muslims have survived, nay, distinguished themselves despite being a political and demographic minority. But this would be a misleading argument. If what makes a person a Muslim is a distinct body of beliefs and practices, Muslim ‘survival’ or ‘excellence’ should exude precisely the fragrance of those beliefs and practices.
After all, the barometer of Muslim survival cannot merely be the infant mortality rate in Afghanistan or average annual income of Muslim physicians and engineers in the US. Nobody doubts that Sania Mirza has done India proud in tennis. But hardly anyone would argue that her sport stardom has boosted Islamic beliefs, practices or values in the world. And so what I want to discuss here are some social and cultural factors that threaten the outlook and the way of life of over a billion people in the world.

1. The factory model of education
The western system of education exported to the Muslim world during the colonial era was aimed at preparing the workforce in the industries. Not much has changed in terms of the goals of schooling. At one end of the educational mill, raw minds and innocent souls fall upon the assembly line and at the other end they come out as finished goods- ambitious careerists, programmed consumers and die-hard individualists. Few kids emerge from these education factories with a clear sense of the purpose of life. They might reel off the benefits of ritual prayers like parrots but would rarely wake up for fajr. Even in Muslim countries, the 'Islamiat' or Islamic studies parceled out in the curriculum fails to deter learners from using unfair means in examinations.
Elite private schools serving Muslim communities may occasionally harp on Islamic values, arrange Eid Milan parties and Na’at contests in Rabi-ul-Awwal. Their hidden curriculum nonetheless prescribes greed, hypocrisy and exploitation. With noble exceptions, ‘successful’ schools over-charge tuition fees, under-pay their staff, and some even evade tax and utility charges.
Well-meaning Muslim parents who go after the best school brand they can afford imagine in innocence that their kid is immune to the crisis of values if the son begins to sport a beard or the daughter starts wearing hijab. They have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes.
It is at the school that the child learns to put self-interest over all human considerations and learns to give to Caesar what is due unto him, to God what belongs to Him.

2. The television addiction
In the remote suburbs of Turbat, Balochistan, southwest Pakistan, basic literacy is below 10%, yet the tin roofs are decked with satellite antennae. It is naive to imagine that kids glued to Cartoon Network get away merely with 'good' English and funny images.
TV is a school by itself, designed to cultivate wants and desires. It is the primary motor of teenage trends, the hidden persuader that creates and manages perceptions and fashions.
Say you want to avoid the cheap fare and the propaganda, and are interested in purely Islamic programs. Where is that channel that beams only spiritually wholesome shows of a consistent quality, whose views are uncontroversially above bias and on which programs are interrupted only by public service messages? Granted the existence of such a fount of wisdom, the only viewer to benefit would be the one who vows not to switch channels or chew gum while the program runs.
More typically, the world mingles rather too much with the other-worldliness in watching the tube. Munching popcorns, sprawling on the couch is our semi-serious Islamophile playing with the remote-control of the idiot box when he stumbles on some spiritual advice. He hollers for a glass of water, answers a text message, and also makes a quick call to set up a meeting for the next day. All along he is listening to the sheikh behind the screen.
Television is a threat to the survival of Islam for many reasons: above all because the spectacle is mistaken for inward experience. Many people are dazzled by the panoply of religious programming and consider it an excellent substitute for spiritual talks that would require physical attendance. However in talking to them one catches a distinct odour of confusion. And if there is any spirituality that has rubbed on them, it evaporates more quickly than the counterfeit eau de toilette sold on push carts in Peshawar.

3. The web of illusions
Cyber-porn may be the most iman-explosive thing on the net but it is surely not the only one. Enthusiastic supporters of social networking wax eloquent about how Facebook was successfully faced down by Muslims over the cartoon drawings. The key question to ask is this: what enduring good did the Muslim 'victory' achieve for Islam? In any case, it would be silly to ask how many Muslims keep a Facebook account with a religious end in view.
I will be the first to admit that we need a robust but genuine Muslim footing in the media warfare. But that is a separate issue.
The vast majority of net users fritter away their days and nights in trivial exchanges, downloading and uploading content that has feeble impact on anybody's life, tweeting and buzzing, blogging and shopping online. Not long ago this time used to go into pursuing meaningful goals (nurturing real-life relationships for example) but now it is spent in managing fickle virtual friendships. Invaluable hours are lost in browsing sites, forwarding interesting links, writing online reviews and trouble-shooting software glitches.
Rescuing one's deen will require much more shrewdness than steering clear of naughty web-sites. The cyber-savvy Muslim might not debate with you about religious duties. But his browser history tells another story. That’s where his real priorities are revealed. That’s the pipe down which his time is dripping. Looking at the online habits of sensible Muslim youth, we seriously need a fatwa on whether rebutting the anti-Islamic provocateur carries more thawab than talking your teenaged brother out of rebellious feelings.

4. The mobile menace
At first it was just the pop tunes mixing in with the Quran recitation. Now there are cool pictures, funny videos and suggestive jokes exchanged in the busy corners of the masjid and the Islamic centre musallahs. Outside the holy precincts young Muslims are busy debating why the BlackBerry add-ons are smarter than iPhone apps. More than any other toy ever invented, handheld communication devices hold young urban Muslim souls in their sway. Technology may not flush Islamic values out of Muslim hearts but it is profoundly altering the experience of growing up Muslim.
The young Muslim doubts the need for opening the Quran when the recitation of the Sheikh al Haram is a few finger-tips away. Islamic software may furnish free screen-savers for the toy in the hand but the sequence of searching, choosing and running the motif is one of umpteen ways in which moments, minutes, hours and days of the ummah are drained away.

5. The lust for food
Question: if the food source is halal-certified, what's wrong in ordering grilled kofta, a panormous pizza or chicken nuggets from a quick food chain? Answer: it is not alone the ingredients of our snacks that spell trouble; it is also the structure of our eating preferences.
It is the context of eating. It is the choices on the menu card. It is the opportunity cost of the bill you pay at the restaurant.
Chic restaurants blaring with noise and filled with boisterous customers don’t help much in bringing a Muslim customer closer to Allah. If you feel like saying ‘We don’t go to the Lal Qila restaurant in search of divine intimacy in the first place’ don’t waste your time over this article. Being a Muslim is not a part-time job.
There is something skewed about a culture obsessed with recipe shows and cooking contests. At a time when millions of people in Pakistan were driven homeless in the floods, loyal patrons of multi-national quick-food franchises in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad did not give up their ‘responsibilities’. And these included the devout and the faithful. Sumptuous Iftar parties and the multi-course sex-segregated wedding feasts of the careful Islam-practitioners show just the tip of an ominous ice-berg: flamboyant bakery chains and the ever-expanding grocery shelves dedicated to imported seasonings reflect a new order of priorities. So much of our energy, attention, time and money is funneled into preparing food or eating it that we are just left with crumbs for higher things in life.
The middle class Muslim burns up his disposable income indulging his taste buds. It doesn’t occur to him perhaps that for the price of one large pizza deal, a dozen paper-pickers in the neighbouring slums can get by for a full day. On his way out of the eating house, the beard-sporting Islamist feels a pinch as he watches hunger in the eyes of the pauper. He burps out a hundred rupee-note in the outstretched hand and passes on. Now that he has done his religious duty he can hold up his chin.

6. The shopping cornucopia
The hijab shop brandishes twenty styles of head-scarves made out of exquisite, hand-woven oriental fabric. The ‘burqini’ , swim-wear for the burqa-clad, has been hailed as a creative solution for Muslim women who can now enjoy the pleasures of the beach without losing their religion.
These are among the growing list of goods and services marketed as ‘Shariah compliant’. Some of the bridegroom turbans can foot the Valima bill of the poor. Designer-wear shalwar kameez are of course heaven and hell apart from the clothes of the kuffar. No silk. No gold cuff-links. The azaar/shalwar is ankle-length for men. Too bad the dress will make a hole in your wallet. But you can always help the flood victims after Eid. Wallahi, wearing fine clothes is not haram!
Thanks to Islamic banks, the bike-riding Muslim is now dreaming of buying a four-wheeler, riba-free. He may even finance Hajj and Umra on zero% markup. What escapes his calculation is that borrowing for his dream-house will cost him the last ounce of his oxygenated blood. The purpose of life is bartered for the wants of life!
Islam is not opposed to decent living but ‘the good life’ it advocates should be rather different from the fantasies of kon bany ga karor pati? (‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’) contestants.

7. Serious fun
‘Work’ and ‘play’ have become slippery notions. Far from being a short relief activity, entertainment has now become intense and lifelong. Video games call for knowledge and skills and by the time you graduate from the novice to the advanced level, the next edition of the game is launched. No sooner than X-box fever went cold, Play Station 3 seized the attention, the resources, the time of the gaming generation . The Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Play Games (MMORPGs) are far more engaging than the drab monotony of schools. Muslim parents who buy their kids’ love with gaming consoles have little sense of the impact of digital gaming experience. These parents who might themselves have grown up on Nintendo and SEGA have no idea how the 3D experience of Xbox 360 or the backstage social life on the Play Station Network is rewiring their kids. What is especially worrying about computer games and the virtual worlds is that their hold on grownups is as strong as their appeal for kids.
Then there are spectator sports. The craze varies but the compulsion is irresistible. It is cricket on the sub-continent, soccer in the Middle East, baseball and football in the Americas. Our dedicated Muslim youth spends two hours a day in the masjid and five hours before the tube. He may take a 3-minute time out for a turbo prayer cycle, but then plants himself back in the seat. There are just too many heroes, too many teams. Expert sport commentary, intense, serious TV debate on team performance and game strategy and glamorous quiz contests that rake up sport history hide from Muslim eyes the emptiness of it all. The appetite for sport trivia has turned beautiful minds into mental dumpsters.

The challenge
This is really a short inventory of the idols we secretly worship. The average Muslim sends his kids to a regular-secular school, spends several hours a week consuming TV info-tainment and surfs the Internet for ‘interesting’ stuff or at least brags about his kids’ computer skills. He sees little spiritual harm in mobile phones or gaming consoles. As much as his wallet will allow, he eats out with his family and friends. Even if he or his wife is not a shopaholic, they are on a shopping binge every so often, or at least crave to be.