Page 11 - issue18

E L I T E 10

Further muddying the waters is the general lack of sufficient trust in Muhammad Iqbal had an inspiring and hence vital quote:
the credibility and feasibility of current measures due to the absence “surely the present moment is one of the great crisis in the
of actual two-way communication channels normally found in any history of modern culture.The modern world stands in need of
political system. biological renewal.” And what could possibly be more effective
in bringing about biological renewal than deadly diseases, dear
These difficulties open the door to many conflicting speculations reader? This process of biological renewal would then aid man
about the current plan to manage our present catastrophe. One of in renewing the base of his cultural, social and historical
these speculations is that there are sincere efforts being exerted existence, according to Iqbal.
towards controlling the situation only to be rendered useless on the
ground by insufficient allocated resources and idle preparations. The This logic comes close to Social Darwinism in terms of
other speculation is that there is actual confusion and delay in taking mechanisms. However, the two differ in their starting points, as
the necessary measures. This line of speculation is supported by the evident in the two following historical examples. First, we have
change in the narrative of the cue-receiving media from first the pre-Islamic Arabs who dedicated themselves and their
underestimating the virus and denying the existence of cases to now
resources to fighting pointless tribal wars and conflicts. The
urging people to cooperate with the authorities and the measures only valuable outcome of these wars is that they transformed the
they are taking. tribes into a trained warrior nation filled with values of
knighthood, courage, risk-taking and fighting skills, as well as
Nevertheless, we need to transcend the present moment and attempt purity from all elements of human corruption. Thus, when the
to look on the bright side, aided perhaps by the logical premise time came, the selected members of this nation took upon
presented by al-Maqrizi in his aforementioned treatise. Al-Maqrizi themselves the mission of spreading the word of God,
picked up from his mentor Ibn Khaldun the importance of the sacrificing themselves in His name against Arab and non-Arab
psychological factor in sociological analysis. He argued that the infidels, in what became historically known as the Muslim
psychological factor or rather psychological fragility leads to a false Conquests.
belief in the exceptionality of the present moment; that the present
moment is unprecedented in the past and insurmountable in the The second example is the European Jews under Nazi rule. The
future. To illustrate this, he gives a nice example of a man who feels oppression, displacement, arrest, torture and killing that this group
faced from the time the Nazi came to power until Berlin fell to the
that his past experience with fever is easier and lighter than his
Allied powers led to a renewal in the biological base of Jewish
current experience lying awake in bed disturbed by flea stings.
existence. Thus, the weak parasitic human elements of the ghettos
Surely, the opposite is rationally correct; however, the heavy weight
were discarded paving the way for the emergence of a new selected
of the present moment is what leads to this false assumption.
breed of Jews, known as the “Muscular Jews,” who believed that they
Therefore, al-Maqrizi countered the effect of the psychological
should not surrender nor subordinate for the sake of survival. On the
factor by conducting a historical review of the cases of adversity and
contrary, they would fight for their existence. Again, when the
famine in Egypt from ancient times to his age.
historical opportunity arose, these stronger human elements fought
If this Egyptian historian resorted to socio-historical analysis to
and militarily defeated the Arab armies, forming what is known as the
transcend his present moment, we ought to resort to philosophical
“Sabra Generation,” that carried the pillars of the Zionist state. Ask
analysis to transcend our own. To do this, we should ask ourselves
yourself – dear reader – how many Arabs are exchanged for just one
about the meaning or benefit or use of this epidemic from an
Israeli prisoner, and you will know the value of this individual whose
existential perspective; how does the outbreak of epidemics and
existential biological base was renewed in the diaspora.
deadly diseases that know no borders affect the existence of man as
An epidemic might thus be dressed in hardship and affliction on the
man, regardless of his era, place, religion, culture, colour and
surface, but it does not necessarily carry all evil on the inside. A
gender? In this regard,
possible blessing in disguise, whether we live to see it or not!

issue 18, April 2020 #Stay_at_home