Akhwan-ul-Muslimeen or Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt became another example of religious movements that ended in failure. It would be early to declare this movement to have failed but it is also disappointing that the flower of decades-long struggle and effort is going to wither without blossoming. After the uprising in Egypt, the dictatorial and army-backed government of Hosni Mubarak was overthrown and Muslim Brotherhood emerged as the leading party in the elections that followed and its leader, Muhammad Morsi became the president of the country. This was the dream that party had reared from many decades and it was a moment of great satisfaction and rejoicing. Anyhow, there was one uncomfortable factor about this government. The party was purely based on religion and there were many, both inside and outside the country, who feared that country may fall prey to the extremist and radical Islamization and citizens would be deprived of their basic rights, rights of women would be snatched, human rights may be violated and freedom of speech may be barred. Presence of a strict and strong army that always supported and safeguarded secular thoughts was also a ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging on the head of this government. Western powers did welcome the opinion of people in the elections but at the same time, they were observing the whole situation very keenly; trying their best to conceal their fears they had from a government of a party based on religion. Anyhow, the strict and inflexible style of handling the issues by President Morsi acted as a fuel on the fire of doubt and suspicion. Soon, there were mass demonstrations against the government of Morsi. According to the informed sources, there were many hidden powers working behind these innocent-looking public demonstrations and every step taken was being designed tactfully so that targeted results should be achieved. On July 3, army came into action and ousted the government of president. Now the leaders of Brotherhood are in a painful dilemma; if they back up their efforts, it would be taken as a deception with the bloods of hundreds of their workers who died in the cruel military crackdown and on the other hand, they are also concerned about continuing their sit-ins as deadly and blood-soaked days of combat of party workers with army has resulted in the loss of lives of hundreds of Morsi supporters and appears to be in more commanding position.

We are not sure as how the things would turn in future but it is another serious blow on all those movements that were based on religion. When we talk of religious movements, we see the hardliners who soon resort to the armed activism while there are also present those who adopt peaceful way of political achievements in order to bring change in society. But it is for sure that, both the forms of movement are cautiously kept under observation as both of them use the name of religion which has become an element that opposes all the democratic values and deprives people of all the rights regarded essential in present day societies. Seen with this angle and perception, secular elites and military of the country and all the Western powers try their best to keep them in their limits and bar them from entering the top government offices. No need to mention here that many governments in past were overthrown by the agencies of different Western countries and if there is present any such government today, all the efforts are made to derail it and bring an end to their rule.

Our today’s discussion is not about the functioning or fate of these movements which are based on religion. As mentioned earlier, due to repeated bitter experiences in some parts of the world and due to the heedless propagation by some people, such movements are regarded to be very dangerous. But when we get close to them and discover their main objectives and targets, they appear to be exact opposite of what is feared of. They are made by a group of dedicated and highly educated people who have gathered together for promoting the good values of religion like welfare of poor, promotion of education, respect for humanity and promoting the true understanding of religion in general public. They are joined by all those who also rear the same feelings and in this way, a party gets into birth. But two things happen wrong in this setup; first is the lack of education, understanding and proper civility in its lower-level workers who destroy the whole image of the party and second is their desire to come into power and make government. When we talk of the involvement of such movements in politics, they gave a number of good reasons and most important is that; when they will come into power, they will be able to carry out their activities without any hindrances. This is a good reason but it has brought more harm than the good. First, it has turned them into a political movement and their political activities have diverted their energy away from their prime objectives. Secondly, they failed to bring up a group that should be able to properly handle the government and keep balance between the democratic practices and promotion of the true shape of Islam. This lack of political competence is such a flaw that it gives birth to numerous other blunders and as a result, the government fails and people get a chance to say, ‘We already knew that they will never be able to do so’.

Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan is considered a great Muslim scholar and leader of Indian subcontinent who tried to bring awareness in the backward and impoverished Muslims of Subcontinent. He wanted that Muslims should also study, reach to higher posts and excel in commerce. According to him, the only way to achieve these objectives was to promote education among them. For this purpose, he established a high-standard school which later on flourished to become a university and this university became the alma mater of all the fertile minds of Indian Muslims who had to liberate their country. Anyhow, Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan was against any kind of political involvement of Muslims in the politics because he was of the view that Muslims were too weak for any such endeavor and they should devote their energies on education and commerce.

In Turkey, the Hizmet movement believes in establishing more and more educational institutes and carrying out other welfare activities, keeping away from any kind of confrontation with anyone. According to them, political activities would result in confrontation and clash which would harm the core activities of the movement. It is, however, believed that a time would come when the continual progress in education and commerce would make the members of movement so strong that they would be able to play their role in the field of politics as well and this would be another ground available for serving the people and getting rid of the corrupt and selfish politicians.

The above two movements selected a different path of action and came up with a different and outstanding result. Both of these movements believe in changing the internal capacities of people by education and then allowing them to play any role in the process of changing the shape of society or minds of people. I think these two examples invite thorough contemplation for all those who are in such a movement or who are thinking of becoming a part of any such movement.