Macro-Models of Social and National Progress - Part II

Let us examine some more details of each one of these models.

Feudal Model 


Islamic Model

The Islamic model is entirely based on the teachings of Islam as a religion propounded by Mohamed Paigamber in seventh century CE in Arabia. It has three basic foundational principles. These are, one, Allah is the only God and none else. Second, he is the last Prophet Mohamed Paigamber to whom the gospel truth was revealed through His messenger Gabriel and there will be no more any Paigambar thereafter. The third is that his teachings have been stated in the Koran, the holy book to be followed by everyone without question at all times and by all societies all over the world. In its approach it is thus extremely rigid and incompatible with any other religion. The rigidity automatically fixes the path and the rate of progress of everyone in that society and of the society as a whole. Many are digressing from that rigidity when come in contact with the western world. That makes it almost incongruent with any after-developments on any social front. The followers of the three tenets are known as Muslims. It means no salvation is possible unless one becomes a Muslim. There are other two books, little less older than Koran, namely the Hadis and the Sharia, that guide the entire behaviour of individual Muslims in a Muslim society and thus dictates the possible direction of progress of everyone and Muslim society at large. It must be understood that Islam is not merely the mode of worship of Allah, in religious sense alone, but it is a complete way of life in details governed by the above mentioned three books for entire humanity and for all times to come. In a way it rejects social evolutions and the attendant human progress in their perceptions.

There are many Islamic societies but feudally managed by the king.

Let us understand that the Islamic dictates are based on the realities of social life that existed in Arabia, in isolation of most of the other societies, in the seventh century CE. Thereby it has fixed once and for all the path and rate of progress for all the believers. Such an outdated social system cannot have answers to social problems of humanity in the light of industrial and information technological revolutions in the twenty first century, that are sweeping entire humanity.

Those who are not Muslims are termed by them as kafir and it is the bounden duty of every true Muslim to convert them into their faith. Use of force for such conversion is not forbidden in Islam. The activity of conversion is known as Jihad and those who work for it as Jihadis. It is strange that the religion that preaches and practices fraternity amongst its followers has used sword and fire for others for its propagation in the past and still believes in the same methodology. How can they progress with such bent of mind in the 21st century which is characterized by co-operation and mutual love all over the world, irrespective of their religions?

Koran, Hadis and Sharia together give all the necessary civil laws for all including their marriage, inheritance, adoption, matrimonial transactions, divorce, utilization of personal income, taxes and so on. As an illustration a Muslim is allowed to marry four wives. He can divorce them by orally saying so just only three times. Muslims are not supposed to take monetary interest in their business transactions. They are supposed to pay in charity a certain fraction of their income regularly. Women are not supposed to expose their face to outsiders and hence they must wear burqa when going outside home in open. Women should not learn and get educated. They are only meant to serve men. The progress of half of the population is thus blocked forever. Females are considered as half reliable as compared to men in legal terms. The list is long. On the whole it is savagely discriminating to women and non-Muslims.

This model does not allow changes with time and region. It is rather difficult to obey Islam in its true spirit, in the present day world, and most in reality do not, but do not say so to avoid inviting wrath of the orthodox, and perhaps head strong, guardians of Islam. The model is therefore very rigid for the present times and affects individual progress adversely. The examples of major Muslim nations in the middle-east are testimony to this. Many therefore worship Allah as per dictates of Islam but disregard many other teachings. In other words they believe in spirituality, follow it in the limited sense and the rest of their life is as materialistic as anybody else.

It was a typical agrarian social order when Islam was first realized in Arabia. It might have solved some social problems at that time but it is incapable of solving the same in the present-day world. The present-day world is evolved out of industrial revolution and is governed by information technology. Islam finds it difficult to cope with such changes. Surprisingly some of the very die-hard ones and well versed in modern science and technology use the modern tools to spread age-old Islam through coercion and/or allurement.

It is believed that after thirteen hundred years after Prophet Paigamber, there will be the Judgment Day (kayamat), when all the deeds of all the dead will be considered by Allah and accordingly they will be sent to heaven or hell.
Muslims consider it as their bounden duty to convert entire human race into followers of Islam. Hence the act of conversion into Islam is considered to be the holiest of all activities and it is believed that it shall be rewarded on the Judgment Day. In a way they do not regard life on the earth as all that important and instead strive for getting better life after death in heaven by following the dictates of Islam even disregarding at times the lives of the other members of own as well as other societies. That is why many are readily prepared for hara-kiri for the cause of Islam.

Most of the Muslims would like to enjoy the material benefits of industrial order and would also like to behave as per the information technology or knowledge era. Many therefore sincerely believe to make appropriate changes in this model so that Muslims can progress, just like other societies in the present day world. But the traditionalists have complete stranglehold over the practice of Islam. Many times it is dictated through governmental power (in Islamic countries) as has been done in the past. On the private level diehard Muslims would like to enforce the Islamic order even using force. The terrorists/jihadis are thus created to fulfill the dreams of Paigamber. Such jihadis are prepared to commit hara-kiri for the cause of Islam disregarding lives of others as well. For them progress means life styles according to only the three holy books of 7-10th century. But there are liberal Muslims, believing only in true religious Islam, who do not believe in conversion and would like to accommodate people of all other faiths in a peaceful way and lead life in accordance with the industrial and information revolutions and changes that are taking place world over. They progress well in the modern world through following spirituality as depicted in Koran and material progress as possible using the industrial and information technologies and its fall-outs.

Progress is possible normally in a peaceful society with all accommodating psychology of masses. Any extreme position is bound to become a hurdle in the progress of everyone and society at large. It is not possible to reverse the direction of progress from the information technology savvy world. Peaceful co-existence of entire human race, decentralized social order, liberalism, equality, fraternity, tolerance and so on are the hallmarks of the present day humanity for progress of all. Basic tenets of Islam will have to be re-visited and modified to ensure all that. But it is not easy in Islamic societies all over the world. No wonder the Islamic nation-states in Asia and Africa are fairly backwards, in comparison. There is hardly any scientific and industrial contribution from them. Islam is a typical example to illustrate how religion can pose as a hurdle in the progress of individuals and their societies. The more one is orthodox the less will be his progress, in the modern sense of the term.

Christian Model

Christianity in its original form is not really a religion to dictate a specific format of life like the Islam. All it insisted on was prayer on Sunday in the church to get salvation. For the rest it preached love and brotherhood amongst all and thereby to evolve peaceful society. Jesus Christ believed and practiced these virtues. After almost three centuries, after crucification of Jesus it got the shape of organized religion operating through hierarchical order of churches with the Pontiff at the zenith.

The followers taught the same to others. It thus became Christianity and a religion in due course of time. The avowed aim therefore as evolved is conversion of the entire human race to Christianity for its salvation. It believes that no salvation is possible unless one becomes Christian and worshipper of Jesus Christ.

It emphasized on service to the have-nots to alleviate their pains and thereby make the society happy. It is essentially an organized religion and it got organized through churches and the pastors in such a way that it finally resulted in consolidation of power in the pastors at the level of churches with full hierarchy culminating at the zenith by the Pontiff who exercised his control through own army for over a thousand years in Europe. On the whole it was a powerful bureaucracy with military strength that controlled the entire social life of Christians in Europe particularly in the period 5th to 16th century. Raphael Lemkin, a polish philosopher and activist against genocide is therefore amazed to see why Christianity as religion of love and service was managed and spread through brutal force. Ordinary masses could not resist the organized and powerful administration of Pope and had to fall in line with the Papal dictates about everything related to individual or social life. It stifled independent thinking and thereby the progress for such a long time in Europe. It stifled scientific progress for several centuries in Europe. It operated as very brutal force in Europe for more than a thousand years. It killed the upcoming scientists as their findings went against the Bible’s dictate. The mode of worship of Jesus was considered as spirituality par excellence. The material progress was thus sacrificed in Europe for almost a millennium at the insistence of the so-called heads of Christianity.

Like Islam it also preaches that salvation is possible only through Jesus Christ as the only son of God and not by any other way. Hence there is no tolerance for any other faiths, religions, etc. Such regimentation had its own reaction and as a result rational thinking about nature, religion and everything had to wait in Europe until 16th century when renaissance started. Thereafter as an intense reaction, it finally culminated in total material outlook of the world without any consideration of religion whatsoever, by denying the existence of God in any form. The strength of believers in Christianity has since been continuously decreasing in Europe and other western societies. The scientific temper was adopted by more and more as the guiding theme of life since then. It finally evolved into dominantly the materialistic outlook or is often called as western outlook. The progress of even the orthodox Christian population then came to be slowly decided by the industrial and now the information technological order and not by religious dictates.

But in the zeal to convert all humans into Christians the gullible, poor and illiterate masses of the third world in Asia, Africa and South America have been and are still being converted into orthodox Christians. In fact this was used firstly to subjugate the societies as colonial slaves of European countries and now as an international tool for political power of western societies all over the world. It means that once converted into Christian one is more amenable to western thinking rather than own social/national culture. In spite of development of Protestants forming several other sects in Christianity, the conversion of entire human population into Christians remains yet the common aim of all the denominations and sects. All the rational people are keeping Christianity limited to certain minor aspects of life only. It does not affect their materialistic progress in any way. The rest of individual energy is all utilized for progress as per the evolving material reality of the world.

The declared aim of both the organized Semitic faiths, Islam and Christianity, to convert entire human race into their fold, is bound to lead to clash between them. Samuel Huntington [1] describes it as potential points of clash of civilizations that is bound to take place in the future. If it happens then progress of all will be the first victim.
Reaction to orthodox teaching finally evolved natural scientists in Europe who transformed themselves into atheist in the true sense of the term. That is what is sweeping the world now.