By Karoly,
This is the era of information technology and knowledge revolution. The internet has pervaded the barriers of geography, and the omnipresent, omniscient media spares not the least bit of information from reaching the farthest corners of the global village. With such transparency all around it is easy for anyone to fall into the trap of believing that it is not possible to hide anything here, let alone be perpetually ignorant of plain facts.
But this is a hasty conclusion as it doesn’t take into account the proven, naïve manner in which the masses respond to media. In fact the communications audience has been viewed by some commentators as “forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass-media techniques such as advertising and propaganda.”
This provides ample scope of manipulation of large groups of people through media outlets, for the benefit of a particular ideology or end. By the way the world opinion is swayed by the media, which is compounded by the absence of an alternative system, one can be pretty sure that it is possible to lie about and hide things even now.
And this mass appeal is not just regarding media, but even the religions. As we know it is the religions that have coursed the dynamics of history the most, purely by virtue of their ability to influence the masses. In the case of Islam, what made it most appealing was certainly its virtues like egalitarianism, justice and fairness, but no less important was its worldview. And even its rites, rituals, observances, ceremonies and festivals showcasing these virtues and world view too have contributed a lot to augment its mass appeal. And I am afraid that the media has learnt too well from this.
Consider the case of Muharram. What is the significance of 10th of Muharram? Ask any Muslim child and the chances are fairly high that you get an answer that it was the day on which Allah saved Prophet Moosa(A) and his people and drowned Firaun and his nation. But ask the media, their answer will be “well, it commemorates the Battle of Karbala.”
Ashura procession in Mumbai. Photo by Shabbir Siraj
The martyrdom of Imam Hussain (R) is no doubt a very important event in Islamic history. But is it really the reason for the observance of Muharram 10th? Certainly it is not so. This event actually took place after the demise of Prophet Muhammed (S), and it is sacrilegious for Muslims to condone any new observance in religion besides those sanctioned by the Prophet (S) himself. So the unrelenting claim by the media that the Battle of Karbala is behind Muharram festival is not only erroneous, but is also a blatant disregard of Muslim religious sentiments.
Whereas the Muharram 10th is the reason for celebration (freedom of Bani-Israil) for Muslims, it is a matter of tragedy (martyrdom of Imam Hussain (R)) and mourning as per the media version. But the media wouldn’t heed to any of Muslims’ objections on this. How can we explain this obstinacy of the media? It turns out that the media has no special affinity for the Battle of Karbala, but it badly wants to keep the real reason in the dark.
At least some of you may ask what has the Media got to lose by telling the true significance of Muharram 10th ? Has it got any grouse against the “story” of Moosa (A) and Firaun? Now you would do well to remember that our Moosa (A) is actually Moses, Bani-Israil is their Israel , and Firaun is their Pharoah. The event in focus – liberation of Bani-Israil from Fir’awn crossing the Red Sea – possesses extreme religious importance for Christians and Jews, and a book “Exodus” of Bible refers to this event.
So if you tell the truth to the people, it is likely to generate a lot of interest – how come Muslims have such ideas in common with Jews and Christians? Why should Muslims celebrate the liberation of their “arch-rivals” Israel , who are creating problems for the Muslim world today more than ever? That too for an event which took place more than 3000 years ago, which is much before the time of Prophet Muhammed (S)? That too by fasting for two full days, which even the Jews and Christians don’t do?
Now you can easily appreciate that one thing the media prefers not to talk too much about is the true worldview of Islam – prophets of successive eras preaching an identical religion of monotheism and moral code, and their followers bonded together by a universal fraternity transcending nations and ages. And I suspect a media who maintains that Islam is a religion founded by Prophet Muhammed without ever revealing the Islamic viewpoint in this regard simply doesn’t want to let off any information which might make people rethink the foundation of their faiths.
To make things worse even Muslims, who use to vociferously complain and bicker about open attacks by the media, themselves have been ignorant about this “ignorance” of media. Indeed there might have been sincere attempts made to rectify this “ignorance”, as have been made by this author himself, but those too have got ignored. So that is an ignorance we cannot help about.