by MEMRI
In an August 25, 2013 article in the Qatari daily Al-Sharq,
Qatari journalist Faisal Al-Qassem, who hosts the program "The Opposite
Direction" on Al-Jazeera TV, called to distance religion, which is
pure, from politics, which is filthy, and claimed that the West had
made substantial achievements only after separating church and state and
distancing itself from rigid and outdated ideologies. He stressed that,
in today's world, there is no place for such ideologies, whether
religious or secular, especially since modern man is interested less in
ideology or spiritualism and more in fulfilling his material needs and
desires. Hence, today's parties win elections not based on their
philosophy, but rather based on their ability to meet the public's
consumerist interests. As examples he presented the Muslim Brotherhood
party in Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party in Turkey. The former,
he said, failed due to its adherence to rigid religious ideas, whereas
the latter succeeded not because of its religious orientation but rather
because of its economic achievements.
The following are excerpts from the article:[1]
Faisal Al-Qassem (image: Aljazeera.net)
"The West developed politically, socially, and culturally only after separating politics from the church, and the principles of this world from those of the next. [In doing so, the West] acted according to the Prophet [Muhammad's] hadith – 'You know best in matters of your world' – and began to swiftly transition from the Dark Ages towards progress and supremacy in all fields.
The following are excerpts from the article:[1]
Faisal Al-Qassem (image: Aljazeera.net)
"The West developed politically, socially, and culturally only after separating politics from the church, and the principles of this world from those of the next. [In doing so, the West] acted according to the Prophet [Muhammad's] hadith – 'You know best in matters of your world' – and began to swiftly transition from the Dark Ages towards progress and supremacy in all fields.
"China, too, would have never approached [the
position of] economic world leader had it remained enslaved to
[outmoded] ideological doctrines. Incidentally, most of the Chinese have
no religion. The new Chinese have [also] distanced themselves from the
directives of Mao Zedong and ignore them; nowadays they are like his
embalmed body in Tiananmen Square [in terms of their communism] – just a
body without a spirit. They have grown beyond the ossified ideals of
the Party. They have begun to operate freely, far from outdated terms
and ideologies, and have worked wonders. Their goal hasn't been to
implement rigid slogans; rather, they have aspired to implement
practical development programs that would serve the individual and would
not exploit his spirit and his political, cultural, social, and
religious inclinations.
"If our countries and our political, ideological,
cultural, and economic elites want growth, they must distance themselves
from dogmatic parties, [whether] religious or secular in their
ideology. In today's world there is no room even for secular ideologies,
let alone for occult ideologies that take religion in an irrelevant
direction, while doing it great harm. Religion is a pure world whereas
politics is a dirty one. How can something pure enter the world of filth
and not sully itself?...
"Western parties have mostly become parties that
adopt first-rate economic and consumer-oriented programs, while keeping
themselves light years distant from the world of outdated ideologies. If
we examine the parties that win elections in the U.S. and [other]
Western countries, we find that they do not win based on their
spiritual, ideological, or cultural orientation, but rather based on
their development programs and socioeconomic [plans]. Man in this era
has become a consumer, whether we like it or not. He has been programmed
to consume, whether we like this and agree to this or not. It follows
that he is totally inclined to vote for parties that show interest in
his belly, his pleasures, and his growing socioeconomic needs. He [does
not vote] for those who sell him partisan and religious slogans. We have
noticed in recent years that many sectors in the West have changed
their party-affiliation based on secular-consumerist interests...
"I wish Arab parties would learn from the recent
Egyptian experience, in which a party with a religious orientation rose
to power. Some will undoubtedly say that the [Muslim Brotherhood's]
Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt was a victim of a grand plot [meant]
to distance Islamists from power. This may be true, but the clear
failure of this party to hold onto the reins of power following the
revolution caused many Muslim Egyptians to distance themselves from it
in heart and spirit, despite its Islamic slogans and religious
orientation. Why? Because, in this global era, even Arabs longer buy
into ideological slogans, whether secular or religious. Everyone is
[now] influenced by globalization and the international media. Man has
become global, and is concerned, first and foremost, with his
consumerist needs before his spiritual ones. How can we expect a modern
man to be spiritual when he cannot make ends meet, and when he sees the
peoples of the world enjoy all that is good and delicious from among the
inventions of modern culture in food, drink, and technology?
"Please, do not use Erdogan's party in Turkey as an
example [of a religious-ideological party that remains in power],
because the answer will be the same. The Turkish Justice and Development
Party did not succeed because of its religious orientation, but rather
because of its secular ones – because it brought economic growth to
Turkey... This caused even atheists to vote for it, because it met many
of their social and consumerist needs...
"In conclusion, we can only repeat the famous words
of [the late Egyptian jurisprudent] Sheikh Al-Sha'arawy: 'I hope that
religion will reach the politicians and that the men of religion do not
reach politics.'"
[1] Al-Sharq (Qatar), August 25, 2013.
MEMRI
Source: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7473.htm
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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