Liberalism and Modernism Influences in Pakistan

What is Liberalism

Liberalism is a political and good way of thinking dependent on the freedom, assent of the administered, and balance under the watchful eye of the law. Nonconformists embrace a wide cluster of perspectives relying upon their comprehension of these standards, yet they for the most part bolster restricted government, singular rights and majority rule government.

Liberalism is a philosophy enveloping the faith in majority rule government of discretionary framework, social liberties, sexual orientation equity, human advancement, and the cancelation of premodern social pecking orders, acquainted with the Islamic world in nineteenth century by Europeans, and were then used against Europeans by Muslim erudite people who noticed the disparity between liberal beliefs and pioneer rehearses. Takes a few explicitly Islamic structures: that perfect disclosure requires progressivism or that the heavenly disclosure permits however doesn't require radicalism and it stays a disputable situation among conventional Muslims.

Liberalism in Pakistan

Liberalism implies close to nothing on the off chance that it exists just as a thought in the psyches of the informed. Nonconformists for the most part have the awful quality of waving dynamic thoughts not as instruments of progress, however as design adornments. To be dynamic, isn't to 'Trust' in specific qualities; however having the option to 'follow up on' those qualities, regularly to the detriment of social standing or monetary circumstance. To be progressive is to vote progressive. In Pakistan many people have misconception about liberalism and its meaning, they often mistake liberalism with being modern and they usually adapt the western culture and their ideals and forget about the teachings of Islam, however being liberal does not mean that you should go to bars and do acts that Islam forbids Muslims to do. Most of the liberals in Pakistan have this misconception and they use the word ‘liberal’ as a fashion or to show how much they adapted the western culture and their ideals. The most prominent example of this is the feminism movement of the movements like this, however it is a good thing to raise awareness about the rights of the women but it is by no means a right thing to misuse your rights. Liberals in Pakistan mostly have the wrong idea of ‘Liberalism’.

Effects of Liberalism

Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the individual freedom and equality before the law, however in Pakistan people mistook liberalism for something else those who really knows its true meaning are organizing movements for the people and those who misunderstood its meaning have gone astray and adapted the western culture and while doing so they also forgot what Islam teaches them and what Islam has forbade us from. Liberalism has both positive and negative effect on our society, positive end is that it helps people realize their rights their freedom their right to ask questions from the government and on the other hand it has also corrupted the youth and the future of our country who has fallen in the hands of western culture, The youth of our country is too busy enjoying the pleasures of their so called western culture they adapted and they forget about their future and the future of our country.

Being a liberal does not really mean that it is a bad thing but using the word ‘Liberal’ as fashion and by drinking alcohol and doing drugs to ‘out-liberal’ each other is a bad thing to begin with. There are many negative effects of liberalism in Pakistan, just because people think that they are free they do whatever they please most of the prominent negative effects of liberalism are that most of the people in high class and elite class families do drinking casually though in Islam drinking is clearly prohibited. Another one of the effects is the showbiz and the fashion, fashion industry is more western than it actually looks.

The Co Education system is also one of the effects of liberalism, the modelling industry showcases women with lesser clothes day by day as it is prominently prohibited in Islam and there are strict orders about ‘Parda’ in Islam. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks(veils) all over their bodies(i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way).That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is ever Oft-Forgiving, Most merciful”.

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al- Ansaab, and Al-Azlaam(arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaytaan’s (Satan’s) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful”. The above interpretation of the Quranic verses proves that what we are doing while trying to be so called ‘Liberals’ is actually against the Islamic teachings and it is condemned in Islam. We as a society are heading towards the wrong direction, we are forgetting the teachings of Islam and we do what we see fit, for us without even considering that it might be prohibited in Islam and we also forgot that there will be consequences of our every action on the day of Judgement.

Modernism

Modernism, in arts is a radical break with the past and the constant search for new form of expression, Modernism created a period of experimentation in the arts from the late 19th century to the mid of the 20th century what as an era of industrial revolution and rapid social change and advancement in science and the social science.

Modernism in Islam

In terms of modernism in Islam the Islamic modernism refers to the reform of Islamic tradition through emphasis on the Quran and Sunnah to meet the needs of modern society, including the new institutions and technology. Its main goal was to restore the lost strength and to make Muslim societies more dynamized and more flexible. Modernist claim that the appropriation of current science and innovation really implied recovering the lost legacy of Muslims. Since the advanced European science was started from exemplary Islamic lessons, they recognized uncovered information and learning gained through reason, yet instructed that reason didn't conflict with disclosure. Islamic innovation experienced its most extravagant improvement in the Middle East under al-Afghani's Egyptian follower Muhammad Abduh.

Abduh's lessons in law, training and innovation gave the scholarly premise to the attestation of the concordance of Islam and reason by showing that all the judicious learning, including present day science, is as per the Islamic standards. Abduh encouraged that Muslims could defeat European predominance just by grasping science and present day learning related to modernized strict instruction and a continuous reconstruction of society.

Modernism in Pakistan

Pakistan is a growing country that tries to keep pace with rapidly growing world and the other cultures, same goes for the society and people living in those societies. The Pakistani modernists argue that Islam is a liberal religion as many periods in its past history demonstrates that. In 20th century , the strongest force of modernity in Islam was the emergence of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk in Turkey. He embraced all the things modern and turned the Aya Sofia mosque into library. In the light of past history, Muslim modernists argue that modernity with its emphasis on the reason, human rights, liberal democracy and tolerance of pluralism and inherently Islamic attributes and to follow these today in Pakistan is merely to reclaim and Islamic heritage that has historically enriched the world.

Pakistan was to be a modern Muslim state, a nation where majority rule and Islamic qualities gelled to deliver a nation that felt no uneasiness with either its strict character or its fair one. The pioneers like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Maulvi Chiragh Ali, Nazir Ahmed – bold men with an unmistakable vision for South Asian Muslims. They had battled the broken down numbness that kept Muslims submerged in old manners for the sake of convention; they had faith in the need of making advances with present day instruction and logical information. Those pioneers worked for the advancement of the Muslims of South Asia yet these days individuals are utilizing innovation as a spread to anything they desire, innovation has both positive and negative impacts on our general public.

Effects of Modernity

The cultural life of Pakistan is exceptionally assorted, with numerous ethnic gatherings that have particular social qualities and standards. Some portion of the purpose behind this is, before, the zone known as Pakistan was attacked by a wide range of nations or group of individuals. The colonization of the brain is one of the underlying drivers of the character emergency we-particularly the you face today, this social condition started after the autonomy it combined with different variables like globalization, mechanical progression, and youth frustration with local powers and has let to expanding impact from Western culture. People nowadays mistakes modernity with western culture, people think that adopting Western culture is actually being modern. Modernity has its own pros and cons; it has both positive as well as negative effect on our society.

The positive effects are that being modern means that you can learn modern education, education that was never available to everyone in the reign of Britishers, some people used to think that acquiring western education makes their children western. Modern Education allows us to progress and makes reforms in our society and work for the betterment of the country in a way which is only possible by having modern day education, the fields like medical science, civil engineering, social services, information technology etc. These are the things that helps a country grow without the modern education our country cannot really flourish and we can never beat our neighboring countries in the economic and social race, to do that modern education is must. Now we come to the dark side of being modern the negative effects of being modern.

The main negative point of westernization is that the joint family system is a trademark of Pakistani Social culture and it is losing its value and it is almost fading into the past, replaced by a culture of individuality, youth of present time believe in independence and individuality and as a result of that the increase in the psychological disorders(depression, anxiety, etc.) divorces, suicides and crimes. The second most prominent impact of the westernization in our country is that our culture is based on the language Urdu which is being replaced by English and English is being used in more common language in conversations this is happening because of online messaging and people preferring English medium schools, we are forgetting the importance of out mother tongue. The influence of English on youth is so great that some youngsters feel ashamed speaking Urdu as a matter for fact we put English as a standard to distinguish between high class people and low class people so much that those who speak English fluently are considered among the elite class despite of the fact that Urdu was the official language of Pakistan until English was added only a few years ago.

People nowadays use modernism to do what they desire as in a sense that the things they do are not decent and are against the Islamic teachings, for example the modelling industry showcases the dresses and women in many indecent ways and in ways that the western women dresses, that encourages women in the country to wear those kind of dresses, the celebrities misguiding the youth and the youth actually following the celebrities as their idols, the youth follows them because of their daily life style and their way of living, which cause many problems in the society for example the people who cannot afford a luxury lifestyle who are inspired by such people will try to get that life style no matter how or no matter at what cost, this sense of greed becomes the basic block for many criminal activities in society, These criminal activities include many types of activities from petty theft to large scale robberies and also includes money gambling, underground racing, profitability.

In race of acquiring these kind of lifestyles earing money becomes our sole purpose, we lose all sense of good and bad the sense of good and evil vanishes into thin air and earning the money becomes the sole purpose of our lives so much that we lose all sense of morality and ethical values even we forget the teachings of Islam, when they finally realize that what they did with their life was wrong and try to make things right again but then its too late, the damage they cause becomes irreversible and the lifespan they spend earning money only becomes useless in the end.

Conclusion

The impacts referenced before are not in certainty the main zones where westernization has affected our general public, in reality it has affected all our parts of day by day life from cooking to essential human rights. To the degree of even the moment subtleties of our day by day lives have been affected by westernization in both positive and negative consequences for our way of life. Westernization has been a piece of the modernization procedure, which is no sense can be viewed as destructive. Then again it is imperative to look at the west's effect since on the off chance that we are not cautious, it could impact our general public, and lead to the interruption of social esteems and traditions.