The post-9/11 era clearly demonstrated that the Islamic factor would become the predominant factor pivotal in reconfiguring the shape of the 21st century world. The pressures of the post-9/11 world may have exposed the hollowness of Muslim governing elites who have never ceased to genuflect. But, paradoxically, it has forced the Muslim world to rethink its foundations. Right from Morocco, all the way up to Indonesia, on two points, there is a consensus among Muslims at the grassroots level:
*That Muslims are in a state of siege, as never before, in modern history; and
*This is the time for Muslims all over the world to stand up and be counted.
Out of frustration, anger and resentment the response of the Muslims may have been muscular but not necessarily cerebral. Those who are aggressive about ideology are being identified and isolated as trouble-makers with their action and conduct used to tarnish the entire Ummah. The path of mindless violence has been facilitated by the intellectual vacuity of Muslim spokesmen and the vacuum of quality thought.
The space which could have been filled by spokesmen capable of defending Muslim causes is being currently occupied by proponents of violence, precisely because of the failure of the Islamic world to present a thoughtful counterweight to the ongoing attempts to denigrate Muslims. The evolving situation is exposing the hypocrisy within, and its upshot could be that the moral base of the world of Islam may be strengthened and reaffirmed. It could, in its wake, usher in an Islamic renaissance. Out of great challenges arise great opportunities.
The essence of Muslim spirit lies in its spirit of resistance, defiance against injustice, rejection of victim-hood and submission before the Almighty Allah who is the One and Only Superpower.
Today, most Muslim leadership is not reflecting the public will. Muslim masses are not ready to follow their elites because, simply, they do not believe in them anymore. If you cease to believe, you cease to follow.
The Islamic Summit at Kuala Lumpur is the first such moot in the post-9/11 era. Now is the time to float a concept of a world-class Islamic think-tank under the auspices of the OIC which can be a nursery and a watering hole for intellectual activity to defend and project Muslim causes across the world. This could be subsidized by an Islamic Fund set up under the aegis of the Islamic Conference. As a nation which faced the major brunt of the effects of 9/11, Pakistan is well-positioned to take the lead and redress the existing imbalance between mind and muscle.
