Just came across this excerpt from a book
A Sense of Seige: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West here, about the pseudo intellectuals, which sadly Pakistan is rife with:
This is a real tragedy. These intellectuals are unable to question their
positions and their assumed mission because they have no intellectual,
academic or informative resource other than the West to rely on. Western
sources are their only assets; and once their link to these sources is
lost, they will be abandoned in the middle of a desert. Sadly, these
intellectuals are unable to find the spiritual energy and intellectual
courage necessary to save themselves and their countries, to preserve
their roots, because that would mean denial of what has become their
identity. In this case, “the decisive hour,” as defined by Marx -- a
concept that evolved into “class suicide” -- takes place, when a part of
the ruling class separates itself and joins the revolutionary class.
These intellectuals ultimately expect the support of military coups and
dicta regimes. The Middle East has the most unfortunate examples of
intellectual class suicide. The obstacle to democracy in this region is
not Islam, or Muslim people; it is the intellectuals.
A thought provoking excerpt, indeed. Pseudo intellectuals have become a
bane of my country's existence. Or is it the case with the entire Muslim
world, in general? The only real intellectuals are those who are
directly involved with the acquisition and imparting of traditional
Islamic learning because they still hold on to the "academic and
informative sources other than the West." Pakistan, as one of our
teachers used to say, is a very unique country. It is one of those
countries where we still find a "mullah" sitting on a straw mat and
deriving his "spiritual and intellectual courage" necessary to save his deen, which
he "still" equates with his country that emerged on the map of this
world in the name of Islam. Despite all the attempts to secularise the
nation, defame the "mullah" and Islam, Pakistan is one Muslim country
which still has people who consider their religion as being far superior
to everything else in life. They are those who, when told their country
won't survive the pincer movement against it and would disintegrate,
quietly retreat into seclusion and pray for their country, and yet at
the same time say that no matter what happens, a Muslims's allegiance is
primarily to his deen and if that stays intact all losses are recoverable. May Allah protect Pakistan and the people of deen who still make survival possible in this country.