No nation is superior to another, and no nation is in the majority.
Author: Dr. Farid Yunus, Professor Emeritus of Cultural Anthropology and Islamic Philosophy at California State University, Founder and Initiator of Islamic Democracy, and Member of the Sangar Advisory Board.
We live in the 21st century but with the principles and methods of the 19th century. And this problem has led to the fact that we are not only lagging behind in science and technology, but we are also far behind in social relations and the structure of a society oriented towards justice, and statesmen just always had political power, have not served to develop the society and culture in Afghanistan. Maybe they tried to build power plants and canals, but they neglected human resources, which are the biggest capital of the country, and kept people blind and illiterate so that they drowned day by day in ignorance, superstition, and fantasy.
Yes, the people had no power, and our people saw politics and economics through the eyes of the government, and religion through the eyes of religious leaders. Neither one nor the other led to fundamental changes. If you measure the illiteracy rate compared to fifty years ago, it's not much different. If you estimate the level of poverty, we have become poorer. If you measure the rights and equality of people in society, we are more unhappy than fifty years ago. If you measure women's rights, they've gone to zero. Why? The reason is that statesmen, politicians, and religious leaders never change and they always want to be overlaid with old and rotten ethnic, tribal, and religious mindsets, discrimination, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness, and this has made us extremely unhappy. Solving this vile social problem requires a great cultural revolution to put people first and save Afghanistan from the morass of social misery.
Civil society requires people to be educated to make decisions for themselves, not for religion and government to make decisions for people. So the first condition of the cultural revolution is to fight illiteracy until the age of seventy-five for five years so that the whole country becomes literate and can read, write and read newspapers.
The second is the enactment of a law on equality of civil rights so that all members of society, men and women, have equal rights before the law, and the issue of the majority and the minority is sent to the dustbin of history. Our motto should be that no nation is superior to another and no nation is in the majority. No religion is superior to another religion, and no religion is in the majority. No man is higher than a woman, and no woman is higher than a man, except in piety and knowledge.
The third is the fight against poverty, so that we can rid society of begging and poverty, and for this purpose, we are establishing a Zakat fund. The goal is for today's poor people to pay zakat themselves tomorrow. Contracts suitable for manufacturing or industrialized countries must be entered into to provide people with jobs. And in addition to establishing a fair economic system in which the rights of workers are guaranteed, men and women work and have no need, we must, through education and training, teach people to avoid extravagance, and unnecessary spending, and save.
Fourth, to reform the country's education system so that the educational program teaches the basics of Islamic science and that students apply it in their lives on the basis of the Holy Quran and the instructions of the Holy Prophet, but do not impose religion. The student must have the right to think and think on all matters, including religion. Children should not be deprived of their native language, and all languages should be taught until the age of fifteen. Students should be introduced to the personalities of Islam, the Arabic language of the Qur'an, and an Islamic perspective, and to look at all life's affairs from an Islamic perspective so that we can be saved from cultural exploitation and Westernization. The Muslim engineer must learn to design houses and cities based on Islamic architecture. The economist must formulate a people's economy based on an Islamic economy that is not exploitative like communism and capitalism so that people can freely do business and economic enterprises work for the people. For this, teachers need to be trained. One of the problems of developing countries is imitation, and imitation is not the solution for a Muslim country. Imitation alienates us from our culture, and this opens the way for exploitation.
Fifth, in a multi-ethnic country, all cultures should be valued and supported, and all cultures should flourish and not be influenced by another culture, whether it be foreign or one's own, it should not be influenced and lose its own beauty.
We have said in the past that in order to establish complete trust among the people of Afghanistan, it is necessary to revive the names of villages and cities that have been changed. Also, the main languages of the country, such as Farsi, Uzbek, and Pashto, should be treated absolutely equally, and the single national language should be removed in order to win the trust of the people.
Sixth, ethnic and tribal attitudes such as change (Badal), the price of blood (Khonbaha), the deprivation of women of the right to divorce, underage marriages, and forced marriages must be completely abolished. Since marriage is Sunnah and the study of science is obligatory, young people should be encouraged to study science first. No one has the right to marry a girl without her consent. Even her parents.
The inheritance of men and women must be declared equal. The interpretation of the verses of the Quran changes according to the needs of the era, and today we cannot accept the Quran as a text, like the Wahhabis. The Quran is interpreted according to the needs of the present age. It is not impossible, and this researcher undertook this work, and our noble people welcomed her.
Hadiths should be reviewed, and those hadiths that do not correspond to the Holy Quran, contradict science, or do not reflect the noble personality of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), are false and do not represent justice. They came to us either from Israelisms or from the national Arab culture. These hadiths should be removed and the main set of hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) should be compiled so that people can benefit from the high culture of the Prophet and make their lives easier, thereby preventing prejudice and discrimination, especially against women.
Religion should be a private matter and scholars of religion should work together and see what legal issue solves the society's problem and propose the same to the judiciary.
Religion should not be imposed and people should be free. The articles of civil law must clarify the matter and are approved by a majority vote, and the people must obey the law, not anarchy where anyone can use the law as they please. People must be taught not to interfere in other people's affairs, and the children of the country must be brought up from childhood in the spirit of the rule of law and follow the law of equality.
State bribery and administrative corruption can be prevented when, firstly, state bodies are a model of piety, and secondly, officials have sufficient wages. And the system should be transparent, so that everyone can have access, and the state body and others are held accountable.
In political matters, all people should have the right to be candidates and vote, and the rich and the poor should have the right to nominate themselves, not that the rich should nominate themselves and the poor should be deprived of political space due to economic incapacity.
Travel should be free, and everyone should have a passport, not just the rich.
The work should be entrusted to specialists, and there should be no distinction between men and women, language and race, and only competence, merit, and talent should be taken into account in the work.
The cultural revolution or popular revolutions come from the people and the people have to decide for their lives so that we can have a civilized Afghanistan free from bigotry, ethnocentrism, and religion. Without a cultural revolution, we will always be trampled and exploited by foreigners, other nations, or religions.