-Muammar Qadhafi is dead.
-I don't know; my feelings are mixed.
-A part of me feels that this is the sign of a change towards a better, more democratic, more liberal and more open Muslim world, which will be able to accommodate more people, generate more advancements, advance academically and economically as well as being politically more vibrant and stable. There will be a new generation, that will advance without fear, without any post-colonial inferior complex, without any blockade from any other forces, be it external or internal and be able to come into terms with the current worldwide revolution of the way of life.
-Yet another part of me mourns the nostalgia of the old post-independence past of Muslim world; a part of our collective history as a Muslim ummah, in which we were lead by leaders that were autocratic, anti-Western, and maintains their power through some sort of status quo, which differ from countries to countries. The Muslims of that time were pretty resistant to outside influences, due to their strong anti-colonialism, anti-Zionist and nationalistic conviction, that Muslim ummah needed to recreate an identity as a collective whole, an identity any Muslim-be him secular or religious, liberal or conservative, right-wing or left-wing, politically concerned or apolitical, Shiite or Sunni-can proudly identify with. The Muslims at that time were idealistic, and even though there were too many mistakes done and too many bloodshed occurred, at least Muslims were sure, that they want a brighter future as a Muslim ummah.
-The era has come and passed.
-What has remained is the spirit of the Muslims, who demands and seeks continuously, the fulfillment of their spiritual and worldly needs, and the betterment of their states, both secular and religiously.
-Yet we are living in a dangerous world, in which ideals fail you, extremism thrives here and there, prejudices abound, and Messianic fears of the impending Armageddon feeds the ideology of Apocalyptic beliefs both within and outside the Muslim world. Muslims are afraid of non-Muslims, non-Muslims are afraid of Muslims, and fear breeds hatred between both. Plus, the mistakes that both sides have done, the bloodshed, the violence and the lies told have marred the trust between both sides, not to mention among both sides. Humans have developed a complex society that is interlinked together by a single capitalistic economic system as well as a highly advanced communicating system, and the combination of these two systems have in turn provided an impetus for a very rapid change to our human society, that the world doesn't look the same as it used to be as recent as 10 years ago. The effect is that many brilliant systems of the past have largely end up obsolete; and in my honest observation, Islam too, has ended up the same way.
-Hence, in order for Islam to survive, it needs to be reformed. I am not talking about purification of Islam the way the Wahabist faction wants it, I am not talking about the revival of Caliphate as espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood, I am not talking about the Iran-styled Islamic Revolution.
-I am talking of a total CHANGE IN ATTITUDE towards the very core of our faith; QURAN AND SUNNAH. I am talking about CHANGING the INTERPRETATION ALTOGETHER. I am talking about BRAVING OURSELVES TO GO AGAINST THE CLERICAL AUTHORITY, and CHANGING THE STATUS QUO OF THE MUSLIMS. ALTOGETHER.
-This is dangerous talk, I am well aware of that, and I might be missing a lot of vital points too. But the Muslims always wanted a kind of Muslim Renaissance. They need to refer back to the European society. The European advances by adopting a radically different attitude towards the Christian church, resulting in a very big schism in the Christendom. The French Revolution were as bloody as can be; the concepts of democracy was challenged by its antithesis, the communism, the secular people departs from the church, and the culture of the Christian Europe was changed radically, that the current Europe bears little resemblance to the Europe of the Dark Ages.
-I want to say that, in many ways, our current situations mirrors that of the European Dark Age; Heretics are hunted and killed, religiously we're being mind-controlled by the clerics, there's no real religious freedom in a practical sense, the society was afraid of outside influence. We need to change that.
-But this is not easy. In fact, this will be very hard, there's going to be a big turmoil in the Muslim ummah, and the ummah might be split more, if any rash attempts at change are being put into practice.
-But if Muslims really believed in transforming themselves into a better condition, we need to abandon our safe, established ground.
-And yet, many people, too many people are too afraid. They are convinced that the world is at its End, and thus may see any attempt at change as negative, the sign of the Devil, the Zionist (or Freemasonry) plot, the Antichrist plotting his move. These are prophecies; I found it weird that Islam taught us not to believe in prophecies whilst espousing these kind of prophecies. It doesn't sound right, it is contradictory, and it is a blunder. The Muslim ummah is engulfed in some sort of Apocalyptic fear, which does not do us much good.
-To end this post, I would like to say that frankly, I myself am feeling afraid, that Apocalypse is coming near. Apocalypse means the end of the world as we know it; the end of our worldly hopes and desires for a better place in this world. The belief in Apocalypse is some sort of a sign of submission towards a certain Will, that is bigger than all of us, that dictates all of our lives. But let's not be afraid of Apocalypse anymore; we must free ourselves from this fear.
-Muammar Qadhafi is dead. Innalillah wa inna ilaihi rajiun.
