We are deeply
concerned about the future. We are future oriented people - al fikr al mustaqbal. We observe a shift
from marhalah da'wah - reaching out to marhalah
dawlah - governance. We realise the problems confronting us and we are
optimistic for the cause. But this time, our optimism has to be cautious
optimism.
What we are
really concerned about in the Islamic world is the quality of leadership. Leading
a state is not the same as leading an Islamic movement. We have to prepare the
future leaders of the Islamic movement taking into consideration the new
realities that we are facing.
Indeed we have
to go back to the basics. We can find in the Quran models of leadership. Daud
and Sulayman a.s. presided over a great government performing their roles in
good governance with knowledge and wisdom. Musa a.s. was confrontational and in
opposition fighting Pharaoh until Musa liberated his people to establish a new order.
Yusuf a.s. participated in a non Muslim ruled government with a mission to
reform. These are real models that we can learn from.
We are concerned
with the problem of priorities - al
awlawiyyat. Which should come first and what should be later.
We have to be
concerned with the crisis of expectations - if we fail to meet the expectation
of the people. And sometimes people are
unreasonable. This is what is happening in some parts of the world today.
We need to
revisit our books and our texts. In the 60's we read Al Nadwi's ilal islam min jadid. But it is not
sufficient to remain dependent on 60's literature. We need contemporary
literature and we need to retool ourselves - equip ourselves with relevant
knowledge of the day.
We ought to
comprehend fiqh al taghyir - fiqh of
change for we are working and fighting for change but we have not grasped fiqh al taghyir. It is urgent and
imperative that we master fiqh al taghyir
and fiqh al waqi' -fiqh of realities
of the contemporary world, for the movement to be more realistic. We need to be
able to articulate fiqh al ta'adudiyyah
- understanding plurality and the realities of multi culturalism. We need to
learn more on inclusivity.
(Scribbled notes
from Closing Remarks of Dr Siddiq Fadil at the International Round Table Discussion
in Shah Alam)
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