It’s been a season of discontent for thousands of people across the Arab world as they challenge authoritarian regimes in their respective countries. Reacting to the developments in the Arab world, Muslim leaders here say that the uprising in Egypt and the turmoil elsewhere is merely a cry for freedom from oppression and the desire for democracy.
The Muslim leaders here say that the turmoil in countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan and Algeria are a reflection of the people’s aspiration for a democratic set-up.
However, while some among the Muslim leaders see religion overtones in the movements, others disagree saying they are merely driven by the need for civil liberties and growing disparities among the rich and the poor.
“Azadi (freedom) is the need of every individual and what has happened in countries like Egypt, Tunisia and other Gulf countries is that people have been kept away from real democracy,” says Maulana Mahmood Madani, a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary of the influential Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind.
As for how the country’s Muslims perceive the developments, Maulana Madani said that the developments were not a “Muslim issue”, describing it as a humanitarian issue instead.
Mujtaba Farooq, secretary of the Jamaat-E-Islami Hind, too noted that it was the badnasibi (ill-fortune) of these countries that they have dictators supported either by the US or other western powers.
In the case of the US, he noted that it has its forces deployed in several middle Eastern countries to “protect kings and dictators”.
As for fears that organisations like the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood might usurp power in Egypt, Mr Farooq whose organisation is seen as a right-wing religious-political outfit said: “They’re Islamists but it’s not as though they don’t adopt modernism.”