Our blind faith in Allah and how it has let generations of Pakistani politicians get away

[Slog]

I HAVE often wondered why the people of Pakistan put up with all the awful stuff they endure on a daily basis.

Why don’t they rise up in protest against the incompetence and corruption rampant in the country? The state provides virtually nothing in the way of basic education and health; 84pc of Pakistanis have no access to clean drinking water; and the populace is at constant risk from terrorists and criminals.

So why aren’t people out on the streets to demand decent governance? I suspect our bovine acceptance of whatever our leaders dish out is due largely to the fatalism that has long held the subcontinent in its iron grip.

When a child dies in a hospital due to a botched procedure or sloppy nursing, its parents console themselves by looking towards heaven, saying, “Allah ki marzi” or “It was God’s will”. Thus, rotten medical care remains the norm as doctors and nurses know their blunders will go unremarked on and unpunished.

By contrast, they would have been sued for similar professional malpractice in other countries.

This fatalistic attitude permeates society, allowing policymakers, politicians, bureaucrats, cops and professionals an easy way out whenever they fail in their duties, something they do with depressing frequency. And when there’s no price to pay for incompetence, there is little incentive for reform and improvement.

Our acceptance of whatever our leaders dish out is due to fatalism.
After all, if we ascribe all our misfortunes to the Maker, how can any human agency be blamed? How much easier to pass the buck to the very top than to accept personal responsibility for having goofed up. When a beggar asks for money to feed his six children, and you ask him why he has such a large family, the reply invariably is: “It was God’s will”.

When politicians visit those maimed in a terrorist attack in a hospital, they invariably invoke the Maker as consolation. This no-cost formula lets them off the hook as they pose for TV cameras. And, of course, nothing changes in the aftermath of successive deadly attacks as the public also puts the murder of loved ones down to Divine will, thereby absolving the government and its security agencies of any blame.

While stoicism helps us to bear pain and sorrow, fatalism reduces the sense of outrage that should accompany needless suffering. Thus, instead of calling a lawyer or launching a street protest after yet another disaster caused by personal or public incompetence, we seek solace by saying to ourselves that it was God’s will.

At the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Ottoman fleet was defeated by the Holy League. This was a key naval engagement, and the outcome signalled the end of the Ottoman push into the Mediterranean. The contemporary Ottoman chronicle of this hinge moment in history explained the defeat thus: “… the Imperial Fleet encountered the fleet of the wretched infidels and the will of God turned another way…”

So instead of analysing the reasons for this defeat when the Ottoman fleet outnumbered the opposing side, God’s will was cited as the cause. As a result, when replacement ships were being built, they incorporated the same weaknesses as the galleons that had been captured or sunk by the Holy Alliance.

When an oil tanker blew up in Gadani last November, killing and maiming scores of workers, the cause was clear: the owner of this vessel brought ashore to have its steel stripped off had allegedly smuggled in a certain amount of oil in the holds. The workers wielding oxy-acetylene cutting torches were unaware of this hazard, and set off the devastating blast.

Many officials and politicians turned up at the site of the disaster. The media criticised the administration for its failure to inspect the tanker, but at the end of the day, all concerned shook their heads and muttered: “Allah ki marzi.” The same thing happens with regularity in mines and factories across the country but, after each accident, nothing changes and it is business as usual.

This fatalism retards progress and lets the guilty off the hook. If only Divine action guides us, then clearly, mere humans cannot be held accountable for their errors of omission and commission.

By forgetting the maxim ‘God helps those who help themselves’, we have fallen into the trap set by ignorant clerics. In their worldview, everything is preordained, so we don’t control what happens to us and around us. The true purpose of life on earth is to prepare for the afterlife. If you are born poor and powerless, you will be compensated in the next life.

Until we take responsibility for our own actions, we will continue to languish at the bottom of the pile.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1319659/blind-faith

 

[DRsohail]

yes very true..

 

[Zohaib Shah]

Sadly this is why Pakistani cricket won't go far.

 

[Moiza]

Good article!

Not just the politicians, this is seen in every aspect of our lives. People don't work hard in college, university, school because everything is "Allah kee marzi", inverted cars on the highway are also termed as Allah kee marzi and no one stops to focus on the issue at hand.

I, being a muslim believe in Allah kee marzi but not to such an extent that no aspect of our lives is contolled by ourselves, if this was the case then how are humans any different from angels. I once had an argument with my teacher over how much of our life is already written and what part of it is in our control. According to him every thing we do from the day we born till the day we die is already decided, including the prayers we will offer etc, I asked him then how will it be my fault if I go to hell but he kept going on and on about that too is already decided. If you go by this logic then this life is a planned simulation than anything real.

 

[Moiza]

However, this can be a good coping mechanism for people in situations beyond their control.

 

[godzilla]

bs.

the problem isn't quoting fatalism, or blind faith. the writer seems to believe is easy for anyone to sue. thats not even worth responding to. does anyone really think that people wouldn't sue if they a) could afford it and b) had the literacy to organise it?

the issue is not blind faith at all, thats the only crutch these poor people have as a coping mechanism, the issue is illiteracy, poverty and widespread corruption.

it seems almost moronic and requires a particularly obscure type of mental issue to attack the only support people can utilise rather than what are the very obvious real causes.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

bs.

the problem isn't quoting fatalism, or blind faith. the writer seems to believe is easy for anyone to sue. thats not even worth responding to. does anyone really think that people wouldn't sue if they a) could afford it and b) had the literacy to organise it?

the issue is not blind faith at all, thats the only crutch these poor people have as a coping mechanism, the issue is illiteracy, poverty and widespread corruption.

it seems almost moronic and requires a particularly obscure type of mental issue to attack the only support people can utilise rather than what are the very obvious real causes.

I personally think that the argument can be viewed from both ways to be honest, because people have an easily accessible escape route i.e. a coping mechanism directed towards the divine workings of our religion people do not seek the closure they ought to pursue if such an avenue was not at their disposal.

As they say necessity is the mother of invention while clearly we all (in general) limit the actions that fall out of their control as something aligned in the stars; we as a society do not seek to prefect the imperfections that you yourself have stated in your post sir.

I would try to give the benefit of the doubt to the writer here and place the fact that he had the best interest at heart when trying to convey the latter message. It is now on us to whether take this message in the form of positive criticism or pout, whinge and cry about how he has called us out on our shortcomings as a nation.

 

[godzilla]

I personally think that the argument can be viewed from both ways to be honest, because people have an easily accessible escape route i.e. a coping mechanism directed towards the divine workings of our religion people do not seek the closure they ought to pursue if such an avenue was not at their disposal.

As they say necessity is the mother of invention while clearly we all (in general) limit the actions that fall out of their control as something aligned in the stars; we as a society do not seek to prefect the imperfections that you yourself have stated in your post sir.

I would try to give the benefit of the doubt to the writer here and place the fact that he had the best interest at heart when trying to convey the latter message. It is now on us to whether take this message in the form of positive criticism or pout, whinge and cry about how he has called us out on our shortcomings as a nation.

im afraid we will have to agree to disagree.

there are unlimited examples of societies in human history that have been fatalist and have progressed and evolved spectacularly, just as there are examples of these societies which have failed miserably - the issue in my mind is clearly not about fatalism.

this seems to be an extraordinarily myopic self supporting thinly veiled two cent push toward a secularisation of pakistan to me - thats all good and well, and everyone has a right to an opinion, but disguising it with an irrational accusation against a traditional mind set is what makes it malevolent and nonsensical in my view.

with regards to fixing the issues I highlighted, again, I would contend that if people were educated, knew their rights, had money and crucially had any faith in a system of justice or police that was not corrupt, the issues highlighted in the article would I think be properly addressed irrespective of fatalism.

does fatalism prevent education, literacy, wealth and justice? I don't think so. if people weren't fatalistic, would we see greater education, literacy, wealth and a better attempt to extract justice from society? I don't think so.

personally, I think that the issue can only be resolved by a revolt against corruption which is either socio-philosophical, or comes from a leader that instils a culture that is more just than the one that is tolerated and promoted.

 

[last_knight]

Whatever way we mould it, Nature evens out things sooner or later.

Good or Bad, We deserve it what we get. Change starts from within. And majority gets translated into social culture compromising minority. Majority, remember, has done something apropriate to become a majority. Not that it always was.

We Can't get away by blaming others.

 

[Adil_94]

agreed that fatalism lets people get away with negligence and incompetence in places like Pakistan and even places like Saudi too. I.e when the pilgrims died due to the crane accident in Makkah the main thing i seen from people was oh it was Allah ne marzi . They are lucky they died in Kaaba they will go to Jannah. Rather than focus on the gross negligence by the Saudi authorities which got a slight mention. Same when JJs plane crashed people were like oh his death was written what can you do rather than focus on the gross incompetence that led to the accident. Of course there are certain things as human beings we cant control such as earthquakes floods but we can limit the effect they have too with a proper infrastructure. In Western countries one death by way of human negligence is one death too many and panels and commissions are opened on this. But in Pakistan people just shrug their shoulders and say it was Gods will and move on.

 

[shaz619]

There have been many empires small and big which have been built around faith in God, the belief system many a time has kept things in order for many generations. How that belief system is utilised varies. I wouldn't look so deeply into "Allah ni marzi" it's the equivalent of "oh well" , "karma" , "destiny", "that's just life bro" etc these could also be deemed "blind" but obviously those who don't practice their faith tend to enjoy giving those who do the label of "blind worshippers". Blaming incompetence and negligence on blind faith in God is a fatalism in itself the writer did a self botch )

We should look at the world practically, what results in negligence and incompetence at its core? poor planning, if you fail to plan you're planning to fail; it's the infrastructure, your technique and intelligence when it comes to approaching a problem which are the root causes that inevitably determine how successful one is.