The trail of suicide bombers at the Glasgow Airport has been sniffed to Bangalore. The alleged involvement of two young, highly skilled Muslim professionals from this scientific hub of India has shocked everyone. This only exacerbates the sense of outrage.

If indeed the umbilical cord of global terror extends to some module in Bangalore, Muslims need to do a serious scrutiny of the ideological indoctrination — to which the youth of the community are vulnerable. It will be worth studying as to what seduces them to extremist ideology. Why are the youth from the upper middle class getting radicalised? What kind of clerics hold sway over them?

Global terror is motivated by the view that the West is waging a war against Islam, brutalising the Muslim society everywhere and exploiting its economic resources. Audio-visual material frequently released by its perpetrators have made it evident that their rage emanates from televised images of devastation in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. Much of the anger is directed against the coalition partners in Iraq and the Zionist state in West Asia.
A thorough analysis would reveal that the lot of the Muslims would not change by hate-mongering against the West, given the current asymmetry of military power between the Muslim nations and the West. The West’s hegemony does not emanate merely from great strides it has made in science and technology but also from organising its society on the basis of the rule of law, democracy, secularism, equal rights for women, plural ethos and minority rights. All such ideas are anathema to the clerics, who in their pursuit of puritanism, see no scope for them within Islam. The pertinent question therefore for Muslims to ask is: Will the jihad or terror elevate the ummah to the level of the West, or ensure equality and justice for the people it is trying to safeguard, endow those (Muslims) nations with well-established conventions and institutions, which is vital to sustaining a modern state.

The Muslim community has reached such a pathetic low because the clerics mock at the scientific knowledge available today. Could not the Muslim intelligentsia take up the task of interpreting the religious text in consonance with the modern day needs? Should Muslims continue to depend on a bunch of mullahs, who have next to nil knowledge of history, society, geography and economy and modern values?

The vested interest of these clerics keeps them bound to the letter of the holy text rather than getting to the essence and spirit of the scriptures. It is often embarrassing for a Muslim to hear a mullah asking them to marry off the daughters soon after they reach puberty. To boot, he urges each of the philanthropists at Friday sermons to take a pledge to conduct 100 marriages of poor girls to earn rewards in the afterlife. This only keeps away generations of women from education beyond 12th standard (which in itself is hardly enough for an individual to be a mature person). But the mullah sticks to physical puberty rather than intellectual and psychological maturity while interpreting Arabic terms like san-e-buloogh.

Muslims also need to resist the tendency to romanticise the past. It is a pet pastime of fundamentalists of all variety. No nation has grown powerful by imitating its ancestors. It is one thing to respect the traditions and quite another to imitate them. Those very traditions were innovations of their own times. So old formulae need not be replicated but the method of arriving at the formulae should offer guidance.

A modern economy, modern physical infrastructure and state-of-the-art-communication cannot coexist with tribalism and patriarchy. But the clergy is hell-bent on carrying on this baggage into the 21st century. The Muslim society has to contend with modern forces such as technology, pluralism, democracy et al in interpreting their faith.

The Muslims’ perception of victimhood do not help matters either. Conflicts have raged in all parts of the world through all ages. The two World Wars were fought between countries of mainly Christian West. But the West learned from its follies. A vanquished Japan lived down its vengeance, swallowed its pride, surrendered its ego and discovered its latent capacity in science and technology. The space-starved nation took the path of miniaturisation in the hi-tech field. France and Italy inducted aesthetics into technology. China opted for mass production and thereby economy of scale through assembly line manufacture. Israel developed water conserving technology to the perfection.

If indeed Muslims are wary of modern technology’s corrupting influence on morals and manners, they need to research the ways to blend it with their typical lifestyles rather than criticising “the West’s perverted morals”. Criticism would not stop the Western TV programmes from being beamed into one’s bedroom or SMSes clogging one’s mobiles. But certain mullahs still see reason in accusing the West and carrying on a hate campaign. What we need is a socially engaged Islam. Not the brigade of brainwashed youths who are ready to turn into suicide bombers while amply benefiting from the fruits of scientific development.

Terrorism is no route to attain parity with the West, let alone subjugate it. Islam today needs to coexist with other faiths, not to prevail over others. Muslims would need to restore reason and rationale in their scheme of things. It is a long road to success but must be trodden whatever the cost.

(The writer is with the BBC World Service in Bangalore)