By Professor Dr. Sheikh Akram Ali
Losing anything causes distress to human beings and affects everyone; ultimately, it affects the entire society. Someone might recover from that loss and stand up again, while another might be so severely affected by it that they can never stand up again. If a society loses a precious thing like moral values, it has to suffer until it is recovered through social reconstruction and reform. It is an extremely difficult task, but it needs to be addressed before the society faces total destruction.
There is an old proverb in our society— “If wealth is lost, nothing is lost; if health is lost, something is lost; but if character is lost, everything is lost.” This means that character is extremely important in an individual’s life. It is equally important and highly applicable in the case of a society as well. If a society falls prey to moral degradation, it will have to pass through a severe crisis for an indefinite period.
The Bengali Muslim society had a long and glorious history of honesty and integrity, but due to the change of regime, they lost that rare wealth of their character. All of a sudden, they were transformed from the seat of rulers to ruled subjects. This was the result of British rule in India. The Muslims of Bengal were then passing through a period of transition or crisis. Within a few years, a wealthy class was turned into a poor class through the Permanent Settlement of 1793 and the Land Resumption Proceedings.
The Muslims of Bengal were forced to face both the Hindu community and the new rulers at the same time. The situation became so unbearable that they had no alternative but to endure it silently.
The saying “Necessity knows no Law” became a part of their lives. Gradually, the entire society became the prey of the newly created landlords and the British rulers. It was considered a dark period for the Muslim population of India, especially of Bengal and Assam.
Their education and faith faced a multifaceted crisis from both sides—the Hindu and the British ruling elites. Due to the government’s land resumption policy, educational institutions lost their sources of income, which paralyzed the education system. Islam was then under extreme pressure from both Hinduism and Christianity. Christian missionaries were allowed to work openly in society. The story does not end here; the missionaries forced poor people all over Bengal to convert to Christianity.
In such a situation, Muslims began to drift away from the core spirit of Islam, which was the main source of character building for Muslim children. Due to financial crises, traditional Muslim educational institutions failed to play their proper role in character building. The Muslim education system collapsed and lost its control over society. As a result, society lost its moral direction, and gaining material benefits by any means became the norm of that time.
Loss of power, financial crisis, a paralyzed education system, and straying from the right path of Islam led the Muslim population toward a terrible degradation from which they could not escape. During the long period of British rule, they experienced a complete moral decay.
Some Islamic scholars and reformers like Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdul Aziz, and Haji Shariatullah tried their best in the nineteenth century to morally build up the Muslim society on the basis of Islam, but they could not achieve the desired progress. Until the late nineteenth century, Muslim society remained submerged in extreme backwardness.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Sir Syed Ameer Ali, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, and many other Islamic scholars worked hard to reform the Muslim society through modern and Islamic education. Although they were partially successful, they could not fully halt the moral degradation that had already engulfed the entire Muslim society by then.
The secular modern education system introduced by the British served their own purposes quite well; but the Muslim society could not retain the moral values by which it was guided in the past and fell victim to moral degradation. Thus, the Muslims lost their true wealth and became objects of others’ mercy throughout the British colonial rule.
The partition of India and the birth of Pakistan in 1947 instilled new hopes and aspirations among Muslims, but the conspiracies of some people among themselves and the neighboring country’s inability to accept the partition started working against all the good initiatives of the then government of Pakistan.
At the very beginning, a group of politicians from both parts of Pakistan—who were basically communists and secularists—succeeded in forming a political party, and Awami League was born at the very initial stage of Pakistan with the aim of destabilizing the society.
Secularism in politics began to find a place in society, and the Language Movement provided them with an opportunity to work openly in the name of the expansion of Bengali language and literature. The innocent Bengali Muslim population was motivated by the rhetoric of clever politicians and the activities of cultural workers patronized by the neighboring country, and they were quite successful too. Age-old Islamic moral values faced an all-out threat and began to lose their grip on society.
The hegemonic cultural aggression of India engulfed our society within a short time, and we became slaves to this secularism-based Bengali culture; consequently, we lost that wealth (of character) during the Pakistan period as well. Although the rise of a middle-class elite was possible during this period, unfortunately, they were guided by a secular outlook. No serious effort was seen on the part of the then governments to prevent this moral degradation of the people.
A rapid degradation of moral values was observed in the entire social system of East Pakistan, and there was no counter-movement to resist it. As a result, secularism-based Bengali nationalism took root in society and became highly popular; ultimately leading to the birth of Bangladesh in December 1971 with the cooperation of India.
Since the beginning of its journey as an independent country, the situation did not improve at all, rather it deteriorated further. A secular environment prevailed in Bangladesh, and Islam and Islamic values faced a serious threat. No sign of moral improvement was seen, and the overall structure of society completely collapsed. Immoral individuals came into leadership and made the society worse than before.
Ziaur Rahman’s government made some efforts to restore Islamic values in society, but before it could take a full shape, he was assassinated in May 1981. Ershad tried with his utmost sincerity to create an Islamic environment everywhere in society. The Dr. Majid Commission recommended the introduction of Arabic and Islamic education from the primary level, but secularist groups completely foiled it through movements. Subsequent governments of Bangladesh could do nothing worthy of mention, but Sheikh Hasina’s government worked with full vigor to marginalize Islam and practicing Muslims in society.
From a moral perspective, the current society is completely devastated, and the moral foundation of most of us is not strong. Leaders, civil-military bureaucracy, and above all, the common people—none are outside of this. People from all walks of life have lost this precious wealth long ago. Even high-ranking responsible persons do not hesitate to break the promises made by themselves, and I am a witness to this myself.
The recent July Revolution has brought a great opportunity to start a movement for reform, but no such sign is visible (yet). Now it is the responsibility of the government to work for this. An education commission should be formed immediately to recommend an effective education system that can revitalize the moral values of the people.
It is only through the reform of education that this lost treasure can be recovered, and wasting time will be worse than the death of society. There is no alternative to building a faith-based (established on iman and religious values) modern education system for the future generation. Both the current government and the opposition parties must sit together as soon as possible to reconstruct the entire education system, which over time can build a moral society, just like the one we had in the past. Professor Dr. Syed Ali Ashraf’s model of a faith-based education system can be a correct direction for the nation. We must recover this lost treasure at any cost.
(The writer is an academic and political commentator in Bangladesh and can be reached at news@metro-morning.com)
