The preconditions
Most of
muslims will advise to each others with insisting on the absolute necessity of
making available to Muslims in each of the Western countries a deep knowledge
of their environment. Morever, it is even more important when it comes to
access to citizenship. We must profit fully from what is provided by the public
(state) school system in these areas—knowledge of history, geography, language,
culture, and traditions. All these elements make it possible to comprehend,
from within, the frame of reference of the society on the regional, national,
and even continental levels. And we must add to all these disciplines a subject
on which there is much variation in public education in the different
countries—civic education. It is important to reconnect with the tradition in
which this training was given, because young people know less and less about
the functioning of the institutions and the whole political system of their
countries and show a growing disinterest in voting and participation. All
citizens need this civic education/citizenship training, which today is full of
gaps, and Muslim citizens have to understand it as an integral part of their
personal and collective development if they want to remain faithful to their
principles and also become actors in their societies.
The world
has become complex, and political implications are sometimes not explicit. In
order to form an independent and serious opinion requires, beyond a proper
civic education/citizenship training, the capacity to listen, understand,
express oneself, and engage in dialogue with others. It is of prime importance
to cultivate a genuine culture of debate among citizens. To go beyond the very
shallow consensus of fashionable ideas and to keep a critical distance from the
unhealthy and incessant administration of “opinion polls” and make one’s
choices freely requires taking time to admit the complexity of things, to
exchange ideas, discuss theories, and meet the other—one’s fellow citizen. This
culture of authentic, searching, honest, and guileless debate is a real school
for citizenship. Some parents manage to achieve this in the home, and some
teachers bring it to life in their courses. It is for all Islamic
organizations, both within their own groups and vis-a`-vis the world around
them, to develop this attitude and love of exchange and debate, this
intelligence that learns to listen and this critical mind that knows how to ask
questions,.
The third
prerequisite is learning through concrete participation in the life of the city.
Citizens must gain, or regain, a taste for public issues. Nothing is more
formative than close involvement, in one’s own area or town, in public service
projects, social politics’ or, more broadly, human solidarity. A civic
awareness begins when we have the feeling that our human and social environment
concerns us and that we are active participants in our own lives and our own
society, and not the objects of other people’s decisions. Perpetual criticism
of political authority or of the police is futile and meaningless when,
alongside it, we as citizens do nothing to change things. Posing always as
victims is a kind of cowardice. To be up in arms at every police blunder when
we have become passive observers of the breakdown of the social fabric and watch
silently (without showing any inclination toward concrete involvement) when
young people display unspeakable violence and steal and assault and insult
adults in their communities (particularly the police) does not make much sense
and is, above all, unworthy. Obviously, there are police failures, but they
increase in number as public resignation increases. Close involvement is a
school for prevention and development: we do not perceive key features of
national life in the same way when we find out how people who are really
excluded from the system live with us and alongside us. A citizenry whose
discourse and commitment forgets these people is a contradiction in terms: it
should speak of justice and equal rights and promote social and economic
oppression.
It may
appear that calling on people to vote is a positive thing and a sign of open
and progressive thinking, but to do it without providing for the concrete
prerequisites for civic commitment is dangerous. Without education, a culture
of debate, and practical involvement, any individual, particularly the young,
may be drawn into “fashionable” movements or groups that lobby for or defend
special interests rather than putting forward a social policy. Muslim citizens,
inspired by their spiritual and ethical message, have a major responsibility to
take these prerequisites into account: to be true to their conscience in the
Western environment absolutely requires it. This is the way that will lead to
the growth of a responsible, active, and intelligent citizenship—three
qualities that are already part of their spirituality.
Written by SARA SALHI
