Dr. Javed Jamil

We are living in a world where neither sciences nor ethics but the economics lords over the system. The ideology of this dominance of economics in all the affairs of the world is what I call Economic Fundamentalism. The think-tank of the world of economic fundamentalism has taken innumerable steps to strengthen their hold. They have sacrificed the goddess of justice before the eyes of the Statue of Liberty. They have transformed through political manoeuvres the state into their estate. They have incessantly and relentlessly been trying to organise a grand farewell for religion. They have captivated the people’s imagination through the media. They have got the attire of society redesigned so that it looks gorgeous and inviting to their eyes. They have industrialised sex, in which they have discovered the hen which always lays golden eggs. They have relocated the entire educational set-up on the Wall Street.  They have monopolised the tree of economy. Its fruits and shadows are only theirs; others can only admire its beauty from a safe distance. They have taken science and technology as their mistresses, ever keen to offer their glorious best to them. They have nipped all the challenges in the buds by masterminding the popular movements. They have lynched the ‘civilisation’, which has been given a new incarnation; and now Bohemians are called civilised. Last but not the least, they have been busy colonising the good earth in the name of globalisation.

We are not only a part of the mankind; we are also duty bound by the God’s mandate of leading the mankind away from the gloom towards the light. All our endeavours should be aimed at civilising the mankind as a whole. Everyone must contribute to it but the onus to take the initiative is primarily on those who understand what civilisation means. But they cannot do it on their own unless they take others along. This is a challenge and Muslims must take up with religious devotion.

Muslims have a strong belief system, which calls for a specific legal, social and economic system. The pivot on which Islamic system revolves is different from the pivot on which the so-called New World Order revolves. The Islamic system revolves around the long term safety and security of the mankind as a whole; New World Order revolves around economic fundamentalism and the interests of the dominant economic forces.  The question arises: Should Muslims limit their aims to merely find a respectable place in society where they can enjoy some basic rights; or should they endeavour to change the direction of the system around them? Obviously if they are Muslims with convictions and their aim is to liberate the mankind from the clutches of some self-seeking forces, they cannot simply remain spectators of a drama unfolding at the behest of the forces of globalisation. They cannot simply sit idle watching their fellow human beings being consumed by the dangerous susceptibilities that the economic forces have learned to commercialise for the purpose of maintaining their hegemony. They must try to influence the direction of the system, and this poses a great challenge. There are several factors that need to be considered if this challenge has to be accepted.

The New World Order is largely based on concepts that are in many ways different from what Islam envisages. This Order is based on

1. Supremacy of economics over every other thing, the ideology of what I call “Economic Fundamentalism,”
2. Commercialisation at massive scale of human susceptibilities including all forms of addictions, sex and gambling;
3. A legal system that has proved to be an abysmal failure in eradicating all forms of crimes;
4. A social system that has brought chaos in personal and family lives;
5. A political system that has failed to bring the best people to the top, and has proved to be Corporatocracy in the garb of democracy;
6. A scientific and educational system that caters to the demands of the corporate and by design supports such philosophies in the field of physics and biology that negate the need and the role of God and religion;
7. A moral system that has replaced healthy morality with commercial morality; and
8. Hegemony of certain nations.

The biggest challenge for Muslims is to change this global scenario.  This is true for the Muslim world as a whole, as well as Muslim minorities in countries, which are largely following the path of New World Order.  But the challenge cannot effectively emerge unless they develop institutions which can turn their ideological positions into alternative programmes, policies, indices, parameters, models and paradigms. Almost all the current concepts need to be challenged. I have been doing this in my own humble and low profile way for several years. But this now needs to be done at the international level through institutions that have the intellectual and financial firepower to turn this into a formidable challenge to the Westernism.  I will enumerate a few here:

1. The concept of “Freedom of Choice” has to be changed to “Freedom of Good Choices”, with ban on “Dangerous Choices”, which are not suitable for healthy and civilised living;
2. The concept of “Human Rights” has to be changed to “Human Security”. “Human Rights” these days have been relegated to defending the right of the murderers to live, the rights of women to kill the children in their wombs, the right of women to turn prostitutes and the rights of men and women to indulge in homosexuality, which all are huge threats to lives of human beings;
3. “Democracy” has to be changed to “ethico-merito-democracy”, where morality is not compromised, the true servants of humanity are pushed to powers and the people have the ability to choose from the best options;
4. “Life Expectancy at Birth” has to be replaced by “Life Expectancy at Conception”, which is medically more comprehensive way of determining life expectancy and would help in an effective way the fight against abortions;
5. Human Development Indices criteria have also to be changed to make way for the better criteria that do not try to bury under carpet the negative impact of New World Order;
6. A Dynamic Model of Health has to be presented, which is in a position to stop any such practices that are threatening to health and peace;
7. Scientific theories like Creation of Universe and Evolution too need to be challenged; and the role of the economic forces in highlighting certain theories has to be exposed.

True Human Civilisation Index (or True Human Development Index)

There is a need to develop True Civilisation Index, which must be based on the following criteria:

1. Individual Fulfillment Index
2. Per Capita income divided by Gini Coefficient: This will give an idea of not only the per capita income but also the distribution level. Per capita income alone, as used by the current HDI only gives an idea of the total income of the nation;
3. True Life Expectancy (measured from the day of conception) instead of Life Expectancy at birth: This will give a better idea of the safety of not only born humans but also human embryos;
4. Literacy Rate:
5. Suicide Rate, which will give an idea of the mental peace of the nation;
6. Family Peace Index
7. Divorce Rate;
8. The Percentage of Births outside Wedlock; and
9. The percentage of Children living in Single Parent Families;
10. Social Order Index
11. Crime Index, based on rates of murders and rapes per 100000 population per year;
12. Social Safety Index: It should take into account deaths due to alcohol, gambling and sex related diseases.

I will like here to briefly enumerate few new concepts/terms which I have been able to develop over the years through the application of Islamic principle in various branches of knowledge.

• Economic Fundamentalism: A concept of supremacy of economics in all the world affairs irrespective of its dangerous impact on health, family and society. It is this ideology which according to him forms the pivot of all the currently dominant international ideologies especially capitalism and socialism;
• Peace Economics: A concept which pursues economic concept without violating any aspect of comprehensive concept of peace comprising individual’s physical, mental, spiritual and social health;
• Natural World Order: He coined this term as the Islamic alternative of New World Order because Islamic system follows the facts of the nature including human nature;
• Fundamental Prohibitions: As a part of three-dimensional system comprising Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Prohibitions; Fundamental Prohibitions involve total ban on all the goods and practices dangerous for peace and health;
• Theo-merito-democracy: A concept of democracy based on Islam, which accepts God’s Book (Quran) as the ultimate constitutional source, calls for strict criteria of selection for candidates in elections and the right of vote to all the people; it is to counter what he calls Corporatocracy, which in the name of democracy has become a government of the corporate for the corporate and by the corporate;
• Comprehensive Hygiene: A concept of total hygiene involving physical, internal, mental, sexual and social hygiene;
• Therapeutic Sociology: An alternative of Social & Preventive Medicine (also called Community Medicine), which emphasises change in social laws and practices on the basis of their impact on health;
• Total or True Life Expectancy: A new concept of the life expectancy, which measures average age after conception, not after the usual practice of measuring it after birth;
• True Human Civilisation Index (or True Human Development Index): A new concept based on three major criteria: Individual Fulfillment (Per Capita income divided by Gini Coefficient, True Life Expectancy, Literacy Rate, Suicide Rate,) Family Peace Index (using the divorce rate, the percentage of births outside wedlock and the percentage of children living in single parent families), and Social Order Index (including Crime Index based on rates of murders and rapes per 100000 population per year; and Social Peace Index taking into account deaths due to Alcohol, gambling and sex related diseases).
• Rotation of the Uniglobe: A concept as a part of his Universal Theory of Relativity (opposed to Einstein’s Special and General Theories of Relativity), which presents the idea of the rotation of the whole universe on its axis;
• Light Speed Stability: A concept in place of Einstein’s Light-speed Constancy, which argues that light speed is not universally and absolutely constant but is only highly stable changing only in extreme circumstances; this concept denudes light-speed of the status of being the fastest possible speed and makes much higher speeds possible.

Muslims may be in minority at the global level but this should not be a big impediment in an ideological onslaught against the false ideologies. This onslaught requires determination and efforts at big scales.  Once they start working for an ideological alternative and use scientific techniques and social mobilisation for this, they would soon find that those understanding their viewpoint are no more in minority. I have always maintained that Muslims must take all religions along in this fight. Unfortunately “Interfaith” in recent years has become an exercise to undermine the influence of religion in society. Interfaith seems to have been hijacked by the forces that want the followers of various religions to dilute their positions on various moral issues. I strongly believe that religions should unite against “Economic Fundamentalism” and must form an alliance against commercialisation of human susceptibilities, Economic Disparity and hegemony of certain nations in the world. This is a challenge that Muslim minorities all over the world must accept. If they are able to do it on ideological and not on communal foundations, taking all the right minded people of all religions along them, we will surely see the emergence of a better world order: a world order that will bring peace and security along with prosperity. We can call this “Natural World Order”.

 Dr Javed Jamil is India based thinker and writer with over a dozen books including his latest, “Muslim Vision of Secular India: Destination & Road-map” and  “Qur’anic Paradigms of Sciences & Society” (First Vol: Health), “Muslims Most Civilised, Yet Not Enough” and Other works include “The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism”, “The Essence of the Divine Verses”, “The Killer Sex”, “Islam means Peace” and “Rediscovering the Universe”.