From: imnet@u.washington.edu (Islamic Movement Network)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.afghanistan
Subject: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (10th)
Date: 11 Nov 1992 00:59:33 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

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I     IN THIS ISSUE:                                                     I
I                   * NEWS UPDATE                                        I
I                   * ISLAM & SCHOOLS OF ECONOMICS                       I
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BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
An entire people are being slaughtered before our eyes, yet the
world watches with splendid indifference.
Report after report point to Serbian crimes but the western-dominated
United Nations security council has imposed an arms embargo against
both Serbia and Bosnia.
The embargo suits the Serbs very well. They are fully supplied
with weapons from the ample stocks of the former Yugoslav army which
was in any case dominated by the Serbs.
It is the Bosnians who have been left defenceless.
On November 7, David Owen, the European Community mediator, admitted
that the economic embargo imposed against Serbia was being openly
flouted.
He said that ships were bringing in oil and other goods to
Serbia through the Danube river. Even Russia, a member of the
security council, and one of the sponsors of the embargo
resolution, is helping Serbia to violate the embargo.
The western world has imposed an arms embargo against the victim
as well as the aggressor in Bosnia. Would the Muslim world
consider imposing and oil embargo against the west to prevent
the slaughter of Muslims there?
If king Fahd of Saudi Arabia were to even dream about such a
possibility, he would probably wake up apologising. He does not
even breathe without the permission of his western masters.
This is the sad reality of the Muslim world today.
In the latest series of further bad news for Bosnia, even the Croats
have joined in killing the Bosnians. Like the Serbs, the Croats
too have their designs on Bosnia.
During the weekend of October 24-25, the Croats attacked the
Muslim town of Prozor, 40 miles west of Sarajevo, and slaughtered
300 Muslim men. The 5,000 remaining inhabitants were pushed out of
the town.
The residents, many of them children and women since most of the
men have joined the Bosnian Territorial Defence Forces, had to
escape with little clothing or shoes. In the bitter winter of
Bosnia, this is an invitation to further disaster.
If the people of Bosnia escape being slaughtered, they run the
risk of either starving to death or freezing to death.
The Croats continued their attacks on Vitez, Novi Travnik
and Gornji Vakuf as well.

LEBANON
On the eve of the next round of the so-called Middle East peace-talks
in Washington, Israeli planes and helicopters bombed a number
of villages in South Lebanon on November 7, killing at least four
people and wounding six others.
The villages attacked were those that have traditionally supported
the Islamic resistance in Lebanon against zionist encroachment.
In Washington, meanwhile, the Lebanese, Palestinians, Jordanians and
the syrians all were smiles when they met the zionist gangsters
for the next round of talks on November 9.
It is incredible how Israel can kill innocent people and still
come to the table as a "peace-maker". The representatives of the
Arab regimes too are willing to play this cynical
game.

EGYPT
The Egyptian regime has appealed to the west for aid to restore
the ancient sites damaged as a result of the earthquake there
last month.
The monuments that the regime wants to save are those of the
Pharaohs; the regime is not interested in looking after the Islamic
sites which it is quite prepared to see wither away.
In fact, the Egyptian regime has also ordered the purchase of
four helicopters that will be used to hunt Muslims who oppose the
regime.
The Mubarak regime has vowed to "protect" the western tourists
who it says are being attacked by Muslim radicals.
Despite its oppressive tactics, the regime has been unable to
crush the resistance to its policies. The acquisition of
helicopters is another step along the way to terrorize the
people into submission.
If past experience is any guide, this terror tactic of the regime is
also bound to fail.

IRAN
In an attempt to boost trade and win major contracts, the Japanese
government has announced credits worth 30 billion yen ($280 million)
to Iran.
Japanese companies had been pushing for the move in order to give
them a favourable chance in one of the most sought after countries
in the Muslim world.
According to Iran's oil minister, Ghulamreza Aqazadeh, Iran has
earned more than $46 billion in the last two years, most of it
from oil.
Since there is a major reconstruction programme underway in Iran,
western and Japanese companies have been competing to get a 
share of the lucrative market.
Among western countries, Germany with $4billion in annual trade,
is Iran's biggest customer.
The Japanese are not far behind. Their latest move will provide
them an even better chance of winning some contracts in Iran.

BANGLADESH
The Burmese refugees, called Rohingyas, who have sought sanctuary
in Bangladesh over the past two years, were again in the news on
November 9.
At least 10 Rohingyas were killed in Cox's Bazaar, in southern
Bangladesh, when police opened fire on a crowd in a refugee
camp. Some of the refugees protested at being denied their share
of powedered milk, leading to a fracas. The police opened fire
to quell the rioters killing 10 of them.
The Rohingyas have lived in Bangladesh as unwelcome guests for the
last two years but the fear of the Burmese junta keeps them
in these squalid camps.
Bangladesh is anxious to get rid of these people, who number some
300,000 and are considered a burden on Bangladesh's economy, but
the refugees refuse to go back. Without the involvement of
international relief and humanitarian agencies, the problem of
these unfortunate people will continue to fester.
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EVENT SCAN ###############################################################



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              @ ISLAM & SCHOOLS OF ECONOMICS @
              @ By M. Baqir al-Sadr          @
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PART III

               CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN WESTERN
                 SYSTEMS AND ISLAMIC BELIEFS


     Besides the aversion of the Muslim Ummah to colonialism
and every system connected with it, there is another major
difficulty in applying the modern western economic systems
to the Muslim world. There is a conflict between these
systems and the Islamic religious beliefs which form a force
for the Muslims.

     Obviously if the Muslims find any conflict between a
system prescribed for their economic development and the
doctrines which they respect and of which they are proud,
they will refrain from active participation in the develop
mental activities under a system deemed by them as
irreligious.
     In contrast, the Islamic system will present no such
complications and, if enforced, will be raised on religious
plank also, because it will be based on religious
injunctions which command respect among all the Muslims, who
whole-heartedly believe in the necessity of its enforcement.
The Muslims firmly believe that Islam is a divine religion
revealed to the Last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
     It goes without saying that the success of any system
designed to organize the social life largely depends on the
respect which it commands.

     Suppose somebody while planning the enforcement of
western systems in the Muslim world succeeds in destroying
Muslim creed and its protective forces, even then it will
not be possible to obliterate the entire structure on the
basis of which Islamic beliefs during the past fourteen
centuries have contributed in the formation of the mental
disposition of the Muslims all over the world. Thus even
destruction of Islamic ideology cannot pave the way for
successful installation of the western systems in the Muslim
world.

     The fact is that the moral and spiritual qualities
cherished in the Muslim world are quite different from those
existing in the west. The latter of course are in consonance
with the western culture and so have contributed to the
success of the western economic system.

     The western and the Islamic moral values are basically
different from each other. The character of a western man is
as much in harmony with his economic system as the moral
character of the Muslim is incongruous with it. This
character of the Muslim is so deep-rooted that it is not
possible to do away with it even with the weakening of
religious belief.
     While introducing any particular system in a country it
is a much necessary to take into account the character and
aptitude of the people living there as it is equally
necessary to consider the natural resources of that country.

     The western man by nature is a materialist. He looks to
the earth and not to the heavens. Even his Christianity
which he embraced hundreds of years ago has failed to change
his outlook. The western man instead of focussing his eyes
on the heavens pulled down the God of Christianity on earth
and has incarnated him in a terrestial being. His attempt to
establish the origin of man as an animal species, his inter-
pretation of humanity on the basis of changes on earth and
atmosphere, and his, scientific investigations to interepret
human behaviour on the basis of production inputs, stem
from the same moral outlook which pulled down God on the
earth.
     His concentration of attention on earth has induced
the western man to evaluate the matter, the wealth and the
property in a way conforming to his own outlook, which has
influenced the western man throughout the history and has
given rise to the Schools of Existentialism and Pragmatism
which from the infra-structure of the moral philosophy of
west and the mentality of a western man.

   The peculiar outlook of a western man vis-a-vis matter,
wealth and property has played a big role in stirring up his
potential to organize developmental activity in a particular
manner. It has created an insatiable urge to exploit the
matter and to use it to his own advantage.

   With the weakening of his relation with God, the western
man discarded the doctrine of divine sovereignty and
rejected all limitations imposed from without. He became
mentally disposed to freedom and selfishness. This mental
state gradually became so overpowering that it assumed the
form of a philosophy known in the history of modern western
countries  as  Existentialism,  a  beautiful  philosophical
expression which caught the imagination of the west.

     The sentiments of freedom and individualism which are
the characteristics of the western man have contributed much
to the success of free economy in the west. Even when
Socialist Economy was introduced, once again an attempt
was made to utilize the same sentiments with a minor
difference so much so that personal individualism was
replaced by class individualism.

   We all knew that this freedom consciousness in the west
was responsible for disappearance of moral responsibility.
Had this responsibility existed the efforts and activities
of the western people would have take a different turn.

   The consciousness of freedom turned the attention of the
western man to the concept of competition since everybody
was supposed to enjoy an unrestricted freedom. But in the
case of clash of interests an individual's freedom was
restricted by the freedom of others. Thus one could enjoy
freedom only at the cost of the other.

   The concept of competition like any other concept
manifested itself in political, economic, social, cultural
and philosophical fields and resulted in the emergence of
the natural law of struggle for existence among the living
beings and took shape as the Social Law of Class Struggle
and the Philosophical Theory of Dialectical Interpretation
of the world on the basis of the process of Thesis,
Antithesis and Synthesis. All these attempts, though they
have scientific and philosophical labels point out to only
one general truth, namely,  the  modern  man's  extreme
consciousness of competition.

   Competition has played an important role in guiding the
economy and the ceaseless developmental activities in
western countries both at individual as well as class level.
At individual level it resulted in the unlimited and painful
rivalry between the commercial firms and the industrial
organizations developed on the basis of Free Economy. At
the class level it has in the revolutionary socities given
impetus to the acquisition of all production activities of
the country and mobilizing all resources for the purpose of
economic growth.
     This is the moral conduct of the west as far as economy
is concerned, and it was under these conditions that the
western economy grew and devleoped.

     This moral conduct is entirely different from that
historically practised in the Muslim world and is inspired
by religious teachings.

     The eastern man living in the Muslim countries, has for
long been religiously trained and guided by divine missions.
Naturally the metaphysical world engages and attracts his
attention first and he looks to the heaven before looking to
the earth.

     The extreme attachement of the Muslims to the
metaphysical things rather than to the physical ones has
impelled them while evaluating themselves to pay more
attention to their mental rather than to their physically
perceptible aspects.

     It is because of this outlook that the Muslims could
not be much fascinated by the charms of material progress.
Whenever a Muslim feels any contradiction between his
material and spiritual interests he often adopts a negative
attitude towards material interests which sometimes culmi-
nates in renunciation, sometimes in contentment and
sometimes in mere lethargy.

     Because of his belief in the Invisible, a Muslim feels
that he is being watched and supervised by the supernatural
powers. That is why a pious Muslim in his supplications
sublimits his problems to Allah. A Muslim is often guided by
his conscience. He takes solace from his intuition. In every
case his belief restricts him from that moral and personal
freedom which a western man has.

   From the moral point of view this internal limitation
is in the interest of the society in which a Muslim lives.
Instead of having a sense of competition and contradiction
like a western man, he feels himself closely linked and in
complete harmony with his society. The universality of the
mission of Islam gives still greater dimension to his ideas
of social relations and harmony. The message of Islam being
meant for the whole mankind, a Muslim feels to be a member
of the universal society. If this consciousness had been
utilized as a basic factor in building the infrastructure of
the economic system in the Muslim world, it could have
proved a big motivating force in the same way as consistency
in the moral and economic conduct of the western people had
contributed to the success of their economic system.

   A Muslim's preoccupation with spirituality may some-
times create in him a negative attitude in regard to worldly
affairs and may lead him in renunciation, contentment or
lethargy.

     But if spiritual principles are applied to worldly
affairs and bounties of Nature are utilized with a spirit of
devotion, the spirituality itself can turn into a motivating
force for the attainment of the highest degree of economic
development, as in this way there would exist complete
harmony between the inner feelings of the Muslims and their
positive efforts, and hence there would be no reason why
they should adopt a negative attitude, or should feel uneasy
like those Muslims who are slack in their religious duties
and feel alike as in the case of the economy based either on
Capitalism or Socialism.

   The concept of  internal limitation and supernatural
control does not allow the Muslims to think of freedom like
the western people. Instead it helps them in overcoming the
problems caused by Free Economy and makes it possible for
them to evolve an alternative system consistent with the
moral conduct based on the concept of supernatural control.

   The sense of homogeneity among the Muslims also can
help the Muslim Ummah in its struggle against backwardness,
provided this struggle is carried out with a religious zeal
the spirit of jihad for the protection and consolidation of
the Ummah. The holy Qur'an says: "And provide for the
whatever force you can."  The provision of force include
economic force also which is measured by the yardstick of
production, and is of utmost importance for the preservation
of entity and sovereignty of the Muslim Ummah.
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