DISARMAMENT VERSUS MORAL REARMAMENT-PART 1
Imam, The Woking Mosque,England.
WHICH of the above two can give peace to humanity? This was the topic, a correspondent writes elsewhere, discussed at a debate in the local Law College. The verdict of the House, he tells us, went in favour of the first. He wants to know our views on the question.
In the first place, the fact that the disarmament cry is gaining momentum these days is a homage that brute force has to pay to moral force. The main urge behind the disarmament demand is humanitarian, which is the essence of all morality and religion. What is morality after all? Whatever its various forms and expressions in the last analysis, morality boils down to human well-being. Whatever is conducive to general social good is moral, whatever militates against that objective is immoral. The same applies to religion. The disarmament cry, rooted as it is, in the urge for human good, is thus at bottom itself an act of moral rearmament. In the scale of values, therefore, moral rearmament represents a positive and abiding value, and whatever value disarmament has, derives from that basic value.
Life is a constant struggle. Its various values therefore also vary with the varying demands of that struggle. They are nothing like rigid mathematical values which know no change. Situations may arise in individual or national life when pacifism itself becomes a sin, and armament a high duty. That is the philosophy of warfare in Islam. War in the defence of homeland, and preservation of the freedom of religion is not only permitted in Islam, it is enjoined as the highest virtue. That is the significance of jihad in Islam, which is always defensive, never offensive, always aiming at the preservation of higher moral and spiritual, values against the threats of the lower, darker, materialist forces.
The general principle is: Whatever promotes the higher form of life is good, moral and religious, and the lower form must be sacrificed for that end. Disarmament may defeat its own purpose, if social conditions do not warrant its adoption, and, instead of promoting peace, may precipitate war. Weakness, unpreparedness, unwatchfulness, are only so many invitations to aggression and war. That is why the Quran enjoined fullest possible armament, and the fortification of national frontiers on Muslims. That was the only course of wisdom and duty in the context of the then prevailing social conditions. But for the resolute armed stand of the Prophet ﷺ and the gallant band of his comrades, the massage of Islam itself would have been lost to mankind.
Non-resistance to evil, pacifism under all circumstances – virtues so much extolled in Christianity and Buddhism are no virtues in Islam. They are an escape from the challenges of life. Islam stands for what Nietzsche called the Ye-saying attitude towards life, with all its ups and downs, its smiles and frowns, its opportunities and challenges. Indeed, in these lives the full blooming of the potentialities of the human ego. In our condemnation of war, we forget that but for the last of war, some of the wonders of scientific discoveries and inventions of recent times would never have seen the light of day. The era of Space Age with the unbounded new horizon of progress it has opened up before man is the direct offspring of the threat of another world war. It is a case of good coming out of evil. Coming to brass tacks, let us consider our own position vis-a-vis our neighbours on two sides. It would be an evil day for Pakistan should some red agents or fellow travellers succeed, under the sweet siren songs of peace, in persuading our leadership to disband the Defence Forces. Our magnificent Army is the only guarantee of the very safety of our hearths and homes, indeed of our very honour.
Mahatma Gandhi was the greatest apostle of non-violence: He advised the Allies during the second world War to fight Hitler’s hordes with non-violence. But when he came to grips with the realities of life, he gave his blessing to the armed occupation of Kashmir by Indian Troops. This was disclosed some-time ago during a debate in the Lok Sabha. And what about his disciples and right-hand men who now guide India’s destinies? They spend more than 50 percent of their budget on stock-piling armament while paying lip-homage to peace,neutralism, Pancha Sila and all the rest of it.
The long and short of the story is that whatever the Utopian talks indulged in by the nations of the world, they all have to practise Islam, Christian Europe and America wax eloquent on the beauties of the Sermon on the Mount, but in actual practice, they live by the teachings of Islam, in arming themselves to the teeth. That is the significance of the Quranic declaration that Islam is the religion of Nature and whoever follows a religion other than Islam it will not be accepted from him. The Gospel of non-violence preached from the pulpit in Christendom is quietly thrown into the wastepaper basket in the Chancelleries of the West in favour of the down-to-earth realistic teachings of Islam, enjoining full preparedness against all possible aggression.
The loudest of all the countries of the world in the disarmament talk, paradoxically, is the Soviet Union whose official creed is based on the cornerstone of the armed revolution of the proletariat of all countries, leading ultimately to the establishment of the world dictatorship of the working class, which is but a mask for Moscow dictatorship. While holding Peace Conferences and awarding Stalin Prizes for peace, Russia is spending most of her wealth on the heavy industries, the production of armaments and stockpiling of nuclear bombs and producing Sputniks, to the impoverishment of the masses of her people who are condemned to the conditions of forced labour. Her peace talk is believed to be no more than a new war front in these days of total war, aiming at crippling the war-potential of the Democracies. Her disarmament propaganda is believed really to be a new technique of war, calculated to weaken the defence preparedness potential of other countries.
The youth of Pakistan must be aware of all such sugar-coated pills.They are the opiate of the intelligentsia that Red agents poison youth minds with in all countries except their own. Islam does not encourage slogan-mongering. It is a religion of practical wisdom and common sense. It no doubt stands for peace – peace first and peace last. It would even pay a price if by doing so the cause of peace can be furthered.That is what the Prophet ﷺ did at Hudaibiya when he preferred even a humiliating compromise to bloodshed. But it draws a limit where pacifism must stop, and fighting becomes a duty.
Disarmament, under the present international conditions, to our mind, is an impracticable proposition. At best, it is a counsel of perfection, and it would be courting disaster, would the present vigilance on the war-preparedness front is relaxed. The present race in armaments may be an evil, but perhaps a necessary evil, which alone is at the moment keeping the balance of power between the two blocs and thereby preserving world peace. Any disturbance of that balance may bring the much-dreaded nuclear war much sooner than we may imagine. It will perhaps take another millennium for mankind to grow to the fullest moral stature to appreciate the futility of war, where moral force will reign supreme. We must all work for that consummation, but in the meantime adopt ourselves to the actual social conditions which make armaments a necessary evil.
M.Y.K.
(The Light – November 24, 1958)
