View source for Integration of the Muslim World: Problems and Prospects

The title is a research paper by Manzooruddin Ahmed published in “Pakistan Horizon”<ref>Pakistan Institute of International Affairs</ref>, Yol. 34, No. 1, (First Quarter 1981), pp. 3-15. The following is the full article.<ref>http://www.jstor.org/stable/41393641.</ref>

==Introduction==

It may be stated at the very outset that the haphazard and hasty attempts
to bring about the political integration of the Muslim World either on
federal or associative or unitary or diplomatic bases are destined to fail.
In fact, the groundwork for achieving this objective has to be prepared by
promoting interstate cooperation within the Muslim World in the spheres
of economic and social welfare. Once a material base for the unification is
prepared, and as soon as the public opinion of the Ummah reaffirms its
faith in the ideal of the Islamic Unity, many of the psychological and material
barriers that presently divide the Ummah will automatically be removed, ultimately paving the way for further integration in the political
and security spheres as well.

The Muslim leaders had been endeavouring in vain to work out grandiose projects of reviving the institution of the Khilafah as a necessary concomitant of Muslim Unity since its abolition in 1924. These projects
failed to materialize partly because of the continuing intervention of the
Western powers and partly due to their visionary content. Therefore, in
order to thrash out a workable political organization for the Islamic Ummah,
it seems imperative to take out the concept of the political unity of the
world Ummah from the limbo of theology and abstract theorization in
which it has so far been steeped and discuss it as a problem of practical
politics.

Islam can be defined as a system of universal ideals and Islamic history
represents the endeavour of the succeeding generations of the Muslims
to implement these ideals in the space-time context. In whatever age the
Muslims had lost sight of these ideals or had failed to grasp the real purport
of these goals, or were unable to adopt appropriate modes of implementation, the curve of their progress had registered serious decline. But on the
other hand, whenever they endeavoured to achieve these ideals with
clarity of mind and courage, they had left their mark on world politics.
This assertion is not made simply as a platitude, since it is an indubitable
fact that the progressive decline of the Muslim civilization throughout
history is merely a proof of the failure of the Muslims and is in no way an
evidence of the failure of the Islamic ideals. Therefore, even in modern
times, if the Muslims are willing honestly to understand these ideals in the
context of the modern requirements and are ready to implement them,
they can still arrest the march of history and remould it in accordance with
the Islamic principles.

==Theoretical Foundations of Muslim Unity==

The first task for a bold and realistic re-interpretation of the political
ideals of Islam is to re-defineand re-state these ideals in modern terminology.
Many of the Muslim intellectuals today are generally prone to confuse
these ideals with the modes of their implementation. The Khilafah was
only a mode of implementing the Islamic ideal of political universalism ;
however, the Khilafah was not the ideal itself. This mode was discovered by
the ijma of the Companions of the Holy Prophet in accordance with the
needs of their times. This early ijma on the institution of the Khilafah was
in fact the embodiment of the collective reason of the Ummah. The question
arises whether the collective reason of the Ummah is entitled to devise a
more effective mode of implementing this ideal in modern times. This
brings us to a point where we should determine the nature, mode, and
scope of Islamic universalism.

The Qur’an is replete with the verses which emphasize the universality
of the message of Islam. The object of this message is to organize the total
range of human affairs on the foundations of a cosmic moral order; in other
words, Islam is the moral orbit around which human life ought to revolve
in order to realize the content of the Divine message. The social complex
that emerges out of this inter-action between Islam and the human life is
described in the Qur'an as the Ummah or Millah. The members of this
Ummah are neither simply human biological units nor mere automatons.
In fact Muminin are fully grown and morally conscious beings. The transformation of the individuals into an integrated Ummah occurs through an
inner psychic process of what the Qur'an calls faith in God (iman bi' llah).
By this process man does not lose anything but rather adds a new dimension
to his personality. This is true because Islam aims at enlarging the moral
stature of man. However, these individuals are not mere individuals, but
they also constitute the integral part of the large whole, i.e., the Ummah.


The concept of Ummah in Islam does not recognize the dichotomy of
liberty and authority. It is firmly rooted in the rule of Divine laws.
The integration of the Ummah takes place on the basis of moral laws;
and therefore, Islam does not emphasize other bases of integration such as
geographical unity, common bonds of language, culture, history and traditions. Therefore, it may safely be asserted that Islam is the very anti-thesis
of nationalism which localizes the area and scope of integration within a
territorial society and brings about disintegration of the larger political
unity. However, some advocates of Arab nationalism would like us to
believe that Islam seeks to promote what Morgenthau calls “nationalist
universalism’’. Or on the other hand, some of the Western orientalists
have taken much pains to prove that Islam was at best a “national religion”
which sought to bestow universality to the Arab consciousness by transforming it into what Hegel would have called “the world spirit”. In the
first place,the idea of “the Arab consciousness” is too nebulous to have any
historical validity. In a similar way the German Romanticists had engineered
the notion of folk in the past. Later Nazism had made use of the mystique of
the Arayan supermacy. Such concepts may be useful as agents of manipulating collective consciousness but it is doubtful if they have any roots in
history.

In this connection, it may further be asserted that mere Arabic language cannot entitle Arabism to become universalistic. Therefore, if language
is not the focal point of universal integration of mankind what else can
constitute the principle of integration ? Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah
expounds his theory of Asabiya (group mind) as a basis of integration. However, he differentiates between kinship, religion, and royal authority as the
bases of group mind. He holds the view that the new religious asabiya of
Islam had, in fact, superimposed a new political unity upon the existing
tribal foundations of the Arabian social structure. This reinforced the tribal
asabiya and redirected its energy to seek a universal recognition. In other
words, it was the historic confluence of Islam and Arabism which had led to
the emergence of the World Ummah. This principle of integration implied
two stages: (1) the transformation of the conglomeration of the Arab
tribes into a psychologically cohesive and integrated Ummah ; and (2) the
universalization of the Ummah itself.
Shah Waliullah, however, gives a more logical theory of the social and
political integration. He builds up his theory of irtifaqat as the true explanation of the social evolution. He conceives of four stages of development
ii the social structure namely: (a) families; (b) villages; (c) city-states; and
(d) the great Caliphate. 

In his view the establishment of the Khilafah is
the highest development of the political society. It is interesting to note
that Shah Waliullah, unlike Ibn Khaldun, regards the emergence of the
Khilafah as the culminating point of social evolution. At the same time he
emphasizes that the Khilafah emerges out of the anarchy of the city-states.

Al-Farabi propounded his philosophical theory of societal integration
on the Platonic model. According to Al-Farabi, the attainment of happiness
(tahsil al-Sa'adah) is the summum bonum of human life. Man can attain
happiness only in association with others in a nation or a city-state. Therefore, the political man attains perfection and happiness in some form of
community. Al-Farabi classifies communities into three kinds, namely:

(i) the large-sized community (the ma’mura); 

(ii) the medium-sized community (the ummah); 

(iii) the small-sized community (the medina). 

Al-Farabi
had, perhaps, before him the Islamic experiment in the community-building
process when he put forward his three-fold classification. At Medina, an
ideal city-state was founded with Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
as its “philosopher king”. This small city-state developed into an Islamic
Ummah, and this Islamic Ummah in its turn was to become a World Ummah.
The traditional theory of the Universal Khilafah as expounded by the
Muslim jurist-theologians such as Al-Mawardi, and Abu Yala, maintain the
universality and indivisibility of the Islamic state. They do not admit the
legality of the co-existence of more than one Khalifah within the length and
breadth of the dar-al-lslam. However, other jurists such as Khatib al-Bahdadi did not mind if there were even two Khalifahs in the far-flung areas
of the dar-al-lslam. This was in fact a concession to an existing political
reality. Ibn Khaldun generally adheres to the traditional theory but is still
prepared to recognize more than one Khalifah in such a situation. As the
frontiers of the Islamic state were pushed far and wide, the central government of the Khilafah failed to maintain effective control over the Wilayat:
consequently the constitutionally subordinate amirs became independent
sovereigns (sultans.) Political unity was substituted by a plurality of de
facto sovereigns. However, the de jure sovereignty of the Khalifah was
still recognized and thereby the semblance of unity and universality of
the Islamic community continued to be maintained at least in theory. Thus,
the political configuration of the Islamic community took on the form of a
federalized government. Jurists like Al-Mawardi, Al-Ghazzali, Ibn Jama’a
and Ibn Taimiyah readily recognized and rationalized the new situation
in Islamic terms.

After having reviewed the sociological, philosophical and juridical
theories of the Khalifah, we may attempt to draw conclusions in order to
construct a rational theory.

(1) Islam’s ultimate objective is to unify mankind by erecting a universal community—the Ummah.

(2) Islam also demands the enforcement of the universal Divine Law in
this community—the Shari’ah.

(3) This necessitates the organization of a government—the Khilafah.

(4) However, the formal structure of the government is left to the
good sense of the community to design according to the needs of the age.

(5) Islam seeks to bring about the political integration of the Ummah
on a universal basis so that it may become a World Ummah.

==Planning New Concepts of Integration==

In view of these principles, it is possible for us to work out a new
concept of political order suited to the needs and conditions of the present
day Muslim World. All attempts to bring about the desired unity of the
Ummah in the twentieth century have failed for many reasons—political,
economic and historical. One of the chief reasons of this failure has been
the idea of reviving the Universal Khilafah of the early times. The planning
for the political unification of the Muslim nation-states must be realistic
and practicable. The planning should be based upon the recognition that
the ideal has to be realized by stages.
In order to do such planning, in the first place, an attempt should be
made to discover the bases of unity between the existing Muslim independent sovereign states. This would involve a thorough survey of these
states in respect of their political conditions, and economic resources. The
methods and the media of communication and cooperation will have to be
explored. In the second place, we shall have to determine the bases of
cooperation between the World Ummah and the emerging world community.

==World Government Approach==

The advocates of the world government propose that the existing
sovereign nation-states should be completely merged together to constitute
a world government. This would involve the complete surrender of state
sovereignty by the merging states so that these states would be reduced to
the status of administrative provinces in the unitary system of government. This may be a good ideal to strive for particularly insofar as the
Islamic Ummah is concerned, since the total integration of the universal
Islamic Ummah is the ideal that has been set by Islam. But practically, in view
of the existing conditions obtaining within the Ummah, any endeavour to
call upon the Muslim nation-states to merge themselves to constitute a
centralized unitary government would be doomed to failure. Therefore,
this Is ruled out as an impracticable project.

==The UN Approach==
The world organization that is formed on the basis of the principle of
association recognizes:

(1) The sovereignty of the existing states as the foundational principle, the associating states retain their claim to full sovereignty
and independence.

(2) Such international organizations are formed on the basis of a
multilateral treaty. The Covenant of the League of Nations and the
Charter of the United Nations Organization are legally binding
upon the member states simply because they have consented to
adhere to the rules and principles contained in the respective
treaties.

(3) It is organized to promote international cooperation and maintain
international peace. It creates common agencies for international
cooperation. Such international organizations are in fact associations
of sovereign states.

If we propose to organize an association of Muslim states, these principles would serve as the basis: A charter will have to be drafted by the
duly appointed delegates of the Muslim states at a conference. The Muslim
states can form such an association within the meaning of the Articles 51,
52, 53, and 54 of the Charter of the UN. However, the principles of the new
association of the Muslim states will have to be in conformity with the
general principles of the UN Charter. At the same time, these principles will require rational adjustments with the general principles of the
Islamic law.

This task will require hard research in comparative study of modern
international law and Islamic law. For example, ‘aggression’ is not recognized by the UN Charter, but still war is recognized by the traditional
international law as a legal method of settling disputes. These contradictory propositions will have to be reconciled with the concept of Jihad in
Islam. The Charter of the new Association will also have serious repercussions for the constitutions of the member states. The basic ideals of the Charter will have to be incorporated within the respective constitutions. Pakistan’s Constitution already provides for promoting bonds
of unity among Muslim states. Similar provisions will be required in the
constitutions of the other Muslim states.

The structure of the organization would include an effective machinery
for pacific settlements of inter-srates disputes, a Court for resolving legal
disputes, a number of subsidiary agencies for inter-state cooperation, a
headquarter and a Secretary-General. The composition of the General
Assembly will be on the basis of ‘equal representative' but without veto.
The decisions will be made by simple majority votes on procedural matters
and 2/3rd majority on other matters. There may be no provision for a
Security Council. The Permanent Standing Committee of the General
Assembly would fulfill the functions of the Security Council. The Statute
of the Court will have only compulsory jurisdiction and there will be no
provision for the optional clause of the statute of the International Court
of Justice. The Court may also act as the highest court of appeal in respect of inter-state disputes. The Court may also be authorized to give
authoritative interpretations of the Islamic laws.

==Integration on Federal Basis==

There can be two forms of a federal structure for the proposed commonwealth of Muslim states: either ( I) a confederal structure which
would be something more than the UNO and the British Commonwealth,
and less than a federation in the strict sense; or (2) the federation of the
USA type. The confederation is not very much different from the
Associative theory of international organization and need not be discussed
again.

After an examination of the existing federal states, e.g., USA, Canada,
Australia, Switzerland, Soviet Union, Brazil and India, we discover two
kinds of federations: (a) peripheralized federation; and (b) centralized federations. The fundamental principles of federation are, however, common
to both forms of federation.
There is division of powers between the federal governments and
the governments of the federal government leaving the reserve of powers
to the state governments, for example USA. (ii) In some cases the constitution defines only the powers of the state governments and the reserve
of powers are left with the federal authority e.g. Canada, (iii) The Indian
Constitution enumerates division of powers into three categories: (i) federal list; (ii) the State list; (iii) the concurrent list. The peripheralized federation adopts the first principle and the centralized federation is generally based on the second principle. Therefore, the question may be raised
whether the proposed Islamic federation should be a centralized or peripheralized federation. The Islamic state in its historical perspective had
started its career as a strongly centralized and unitarized government, but
was gradually transformed into a peripheralized type of federation with the
shadowy Khalifah at the center. Such was the situation under the later
Abbasid Khalifahs.

Since the Muslim states may not agree to surrender any significant part
of their newly gained sovereignty, therefore, the proposed Commonwealth
may only be organized as a peripheralized federation. The development
of the federation into a centralized one may be left to the social, economic,
political and technological pressures as i\. happened in USA. The peripheralized federation of the Muslim states will guarantee a large measure of
‘domestic autonomy’ for the federating states but at the same time it will
insure their territorial integrity and political independence through a system of ‘collective security*.
The Muslim Federation would also enable uniform economic development of the Ummah through effective mutual cooperation and common
planning. Federation would also do away with the artificial economic
barriers which divide the Ummah at present. But perhaps, the Muslim
states, divided as they are among themselves, would not renounce their
international status by joining in a federation. The force of nationalism
is a potent factor in the affairs of the Muslim World today. These states are
at cross purposes in respect of their national interests and the possibility
of reconciling them is remote. The geopolitical factors divide rather than
unite these states in respect of their foreign policy formulations.

==Association of Zonal Federations==

These and many other similar factors do simply point to the difficulties
involved in bringing about the political integration of the Ummah on federal
lines. However, federal device may very well be used by Muslim states in
the geographically contiguous, and culturally and linguistically homogeneous areas within the Islamic Ummah. For example, the Arabic speaking
people may merge themselves together into an Arab Un:on of States.
Similarly, perhaps, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan may form themselves into a federal union ; or the Muslim people of Southeast Asia may
forge a federal structure for themselves. These three great Unions, then ,
may form a larger Association of the Muslim people.
Apart from organization, other methods of regulating international
relations are diplomacy and international law. Diplomacy recognizes a
variety of techniques by which power equations of the modern state system
are regulated. These widely range from bilateral mutual defensive and noniggression pacts to the bloc-politics of recent times. However, the Muslim
states have not yet been successtul in working out any inner system of
balance within the Ummah. Differences in national interests accentuated
by geography, strategy, and economic resources etc., have pressured these
states to follow different courses of foreign policy.
This fact complicates the problem of evolving a common outlook on
intricate questions of world politics. The Arab states are still struggling to
work out a stable political order among themselves.Whilesomeof these Arab
states are still pinning their hopes on the Western powers for their very
existence, some of them have decided to work with the bloc of neutralist
powers. Turkey, on the other hand, is active partner in NATO. Afghanistan
is counting on the strong support of the Soviet Union. Indonesia has been
until recently neutralist. In view of such a variety of policy orientations of
the Muslim states, it seems to be a difficult if not impossible task to bring
them round a common policy towards the bi-polar world of today. In passing, a reference may be made here to one such inconsequential effort that
was made in 1937 when the Saadabad pact was signed between Afghanistan,
Iran and Turkey.

In the context of the existing world power configuration, is it possible
to conceive whether the sovereign states of the Islamic Ummah can unite
at least on ideological foundations in order to form a third bloc which can
serve as the balancer in the bi-polar struggle for power? Theoretically
Islamic ideology can serve as the basis of common outlook among the Muslim people on world politics. But in practice the difficulty arises from the
fact that all the Muslim states have not been able to recognize Islamic
ideolcgy as a significant factor in their national life. Turkey has chosen the
five-fold principles of Nationalism, Populism, Etatism, Republicanism and
Revolutionism as the constituent elements of the New Democracy. In the
Arab lands, Arab nationalism is the most potent force. The Iranian Constitution declares Shi’ism as the state religion, although these provisions of the
constitution have now become obsolete. Indonesia in Southeast Asia is
going secular. Malaya and Pakistan are the only two Muslim states which
are still endeavouring to build up their national life in accordance with the
tenets of Islam.

This picture of the Islamic Ummah presents a sad spectacle insofar as the
majority of these states do not recognize Islamic ideology at all. Even those
states which have formally declared to the world their resolve to reconstruct their national life on the truly Islamic basis, have not yet been able so
far to define the content of the Islamic ideology. Therefore, the prospects
for evolving a common approach among the Muslim states in world affairs
on the basis of ideology appear somewhat dim.
Then What ?

After exploring the scope of bringing about the political integration of
the Islamic Ummah on the afore-menrioned bases, we are now in a position
to conclude that the existing political realities of the Ummah do not favour
the application of these principles. Therefore, it seems that two conditions
are pre-requisite for achieving the ultimate goal of political integration of
the Islamic Ummah : (a) a psychological climate which would ultimately pave
the way for the emergence of the collective consensus about the desirability
of the Islamic unity; (b) a sufficient material base upon which a supranational political order can be erected.

With a view to creating the psychological climate within the Ummah
for achieving a general integration on different levels of social action, all
endeavours should be directed to mould the public opinion in favour of the
ideology of Islamic universalism. The primary and the foremost concept
that may become the focal point of the emerging consensus of the Muslim
intelligentsia is that of the Ummah itself. The World Ummah is the ideological community. The political organization of the Ummah has greatly varied
from the extreme centralization of the early Khulafah to the complete
balkanization of the Ummah into sovereign nation-states. The whole range
of the changing pattern of the political structure constitutes the manifestation of only one of the many aspects of the Ummah. Therefore, even today
the World Ummah is a reality inspite of its multi-national character. The
other important point of psychological cohesion of the World Ummah is
the Islamic universal Shari'ah. The universal application of the all-embracing
Shari’ah law must produce the desired unity of mind, of will and of body
within the Ummah. A common belief in the World Ummah and the Shari’ah
will ultimately destroy the complex of separation that the idea of nationstate builds up. In such a context, the existing states within the Ummah
will gradually unite for the efficient and effective implementation of the
Islamic ideology.

The Islamic ideology in the abstract will not be achieved unless its constituent concepts are transformed into concrete symbols and institutions.

The adoption of a common flag and a common anthem will bring about a
high degree of emotional integration of the Ummah. Similarly with the
development of inter-governmental and private agencies for the purpose
of promoting intellectual cooperation among the Muslim states, a
greater harmony within the Ummah will emerge. In the concrete sense, it
means that the national associations of lawyers, journalists, labour, employers, engineers, scholars, universities, sports etc., may gradually be
developed into Islamic World Associations. This pre-supposes a high frequency of communication through different media, and a large-scale exchange of students, scholars, leaders and experts.

The recognition of one or more than one lingua franca within the
Ummah may also create the desired psychological basis for achieving Islamic
universalism. Arabic language may serve this purpose very well because it
will easily be acceptable by all Muslims as it is the language of the
Holy Qur’an. In addition to Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Malay languages may
also be recognized as the official languages of the emerging order within the
Ummah. This will be good because in modern times, the conception of unilingual state is becoming less important with the emergence of the multilingual states.

The psychological integration of the Ummah may also be brought about
by promoting what is described by Werner Levi, “cultural diversity within
social unity’’. This can be done by cultivating a broad complex of “positive
toleration for cultural differentiation”. The Islamic Ummah today looks
like a mosaic of cultures but inspite of the inner differentiations, there is
still a stamp of the over-all social unity.

Islam in its historical encounters with the neighbouring civilizations,
had integrated the new elements within the framework of the emerging
Islamic Ummah under the impact of large-scale fusion that it had initiated.

However, the social integration never meant cultural regimentation, rather
the good elements were assimilated by the Islamic Ummah. In the cultural
details, a greater degree of autonomy was retained by the new peoples
who had joined the Islamic Ummah. This is evident from the fact that even
the Islamic law recognizes ‘urf and ' adat (customs and usages) as important
sources of the Islamic law. Any attempt to impose cultural regimentation
will in fact disrupt whatever ‘social unity' still exists in the Ummah today.

==Bases of Economic Integration==

In order to pave the way for achieving the ultimate political unification
of the Islamic Ummah within the frame-work of supra-national order, such
measures may be adopted which may bring about economic unification of
the Ummah. This is very well borne out by the example of the European
integration in the post-war period. The emergence of the Atlantic community would have been meaningless without the development of the
European Common Market. Taking a clue from this example, the Muslim
peoples may also explore the areas of economic cooperation among themselves.
One big obscade in promoting economic cooperation among the
Muslim states arises from the fact that these Muslim states are not uniformly on the same economic level. An economic survey of the Muslim
World will only show sharp variations in the per capita national income,
the population density, the economic resources and the industrial development. In addition to this, it is also true that due to the exaggerated emphasis on economic nationalism as the guiding principle of national development, the artificial economic barriers retard the free flow of commodities,
raw materials, labour, capital and enterpreneurs. Moreover, because of the
over-all relative economic backwardness, the Muslim states hopefully look
forward for generous foreign aid from the advanced nations to be used as
the magic pills for the speedy amelioration of their economic ills. This tendency to rely on the Western nations keeps them apart from each other
in the economic spheres. In view of these formidable difficulties, the
governments of the Muslim states should be mobilized to take immediate
steps to create a permanent body of economic experts which may undertake intensive economic survey of the Muslim states, and co-ordinate
their national planning activities with a view to attain uniform development within the shortest possible time.
In the process of evolving a common pattern of economic development
due attention should be given to encouraging a common policy of “economic austerity”, and greater emphasis on “heavy industries”. This would
by and large make them independent of the advanced nations, and would
ultimately result in the interdependence among themselves in the economic
field. The economic development of the Muslim states should be planned
in such a manner that the bulk of the “international trade” within the
Ummah may increase appreciably. The common fiscal policies may be evolved in order to facilitate trade relations. The Muslim governments may as
well seriously consider the abolition of the customs barriers in order to
constitute a Customs Union. All these steps would no doubt gradually
lead to the evolution of the idea of Common Market within the Ummah.

Another area of effective economic cooperation among Muslim states
is that of communication. Although geographically Muslim states are
chiefly located within the Afro-Asian continent, yet till recently these
states were more or less separated from each other due to lack of communications. But now some attention is being paid to this problem by some
of these states, such as Turkey, Pakistan and Iran. Still much is needed on
this point. The governments of the Muslim states should collaborate with
each other in order to link up different parts of the Ummah through a network
of railway, air and sea communication system. For the free flow of news
within the Ummah news agencies may be organized. Radio being a powerful
media of communication, may very well be exploited by the Muslim states
to mobilize the public opinion in favour of Islamic universalism. For this
purpose Muslim governments may set up inter-governmental consultative
bodies on radio programming.

However, no amount of planning in economic field will produce any
desired results unless the planning is well grounded in the Islamic ideology.
The economic aspects of Islamic ideology relate to the goal of achieving
equitable distribution of wealth in accordance with the principle of Islamic
social justice. This would in fact imply that the Muslim states will reorientate their economic policies so as to achieve a “socialistic pattern"of economy. The objective of Islamic socialism is to destroy the economic barriers
which hamper social mobility from lower to higher economic strata. Only
in this manner a balanced Islamic society can be reconstructed. If these
economic implications of the Islamic ideology are uniformly accepted by
all Muslim states as their directive state policy, economic integration of the
Ummah will become easier.

==Notes==