During the last one year, while working on this thesis, I have been asked several times as to how
Islam or Islamic fundamentalism makes a communication thesis. The answer is simple: my
concern is not Islam as a religion or fundamentalism as a religious or political movement but the
way Islam is defined and fundamentalism presented. In the age of communication reality is not just
what we see or sense but what we are shown and made to perceive. It would be no exaggeration to
suggest that today our dependence on the communication networks is such that even for something
that happens in front of us we need interpretations to fully comprehend it. Thus reality without
interpretations, in most cases, has come to carry little meaning. Our perception of reality today is
not based on our individual experiences only. It is, in fact, the sum total of the reality plus
interpretations by the 'public arenas' such as education institutions, mass media, the civil service,
parliament, the courts, industry, the research and scientific community, political parties etc.
(Cracknell, 1993: 4).
This study deals with the interpretations of Islam and Islamic fundamentalism by the Muslim as
well as western public arenas. Throughout this thesis I use the word 'Islam' not as a religion but as
a symbol of political power and cultural identity. Because, I believe that Islam as a faith is a
personal and spiritual matter that for majority of the Muslims, like the believers of any religion,
need not be compared with any other religion unless to prove it superior. But as a symbol of
political power and cultural identity Islam does need interpretations and has been interpreted in
many different ways. What triggered my interest in yet another interpretation was that what I had
seen in Pakistan and what I felt the West thought of Muslim societies had no logical connection.
For instance, there is a widespread belief in the West that Muslim societies are deeply religious and
Islam guides every aspect of the Muslims' life. The reality that I have seen and experienced in
Pakistan society, which is ninety-six per cent Muslim, is that few, very few indeed, Muslims may
be willing to die or kill for Islam, but will not live according to Islam. The people of Pakistan, in
their day-to-day life, are as secular as the people of any other part of the world. They have all
human virtues and vices that human beings are capable of anywhere in the world. But still there is
no denying the fact that Pakistan, or for that matter any underdeveloped society, is different from
the industrialised West. How and why are they different is what I have investigated in this thesis.
I have no hesitation in admitting that except for the discrepancy in the reality that I had seen in
Pakistan and its perception that I noticed in the West, I had no clear idea about the subject. But I
have always believed, as Sartre has said somewhere, that the honourable thing about reading is to
let yourself be influenced. I claim to have started this thesis with an open mind, but I do not claim
to be an objective writer, unless objectivity is seen as nothing but to be honest to one's self as well
as others. All of us live with our subjectivity that is influenced by our individual and collective
objective conditions. Most of us are content to live with what we have learnt during our formative
phase in life. Some of us are not. I belong to the latter tribe. Through the years I have unlearnt
many a thing about religion, culture and human beings that I had learnt from my family, school and
society, to accommodate more ideas, opinions and concepts, not less. That process still continues.
One thing that I have learnt in life, and which I shall cherish forever, is that human beings must not
be frozen in their cultural, religious and social categories; they must not be seen as good and bad
without an understanding of their environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218753 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Adeel, Liaqat, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Information, Language and Culture Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Liaqat Adeel |
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