All contemporary Muslims are Westernized???

[Khayr]

I was deeply impressed by something which

Dr. Israr Ahmad wrote in his booklet entitled Islamic Renaissance: The Real Task Ahead.

I want to quote that paragraph because I think it should be impressed on the minds of all young Muslims and of all who are active in public affairs.

"The domince of Western culture and philosophical thought," he wrote, "is so pervasive and universal that even the point of view of such people as are struggling against it in some countries turns out, on closer examination, to be itself greatly influenced by the West. Indeed, they are themselves to a great extent Western in their approach and method, and even in their purported ideology. They too think in terms of Western philosophy and ideology, with the result that they lose their impact and their efficacy in opposing it."

Source

 

 

Do you and I really think 'Western'? Why the fact that we communicate in Anglo/Euro domaninate and normative languages is proof of the above statement. Does that then makes us 'Split Personality Musilims' that are caught in a different time and world (The Dunya is the prison of the Mumin and the Jannah of the Kafir...).

 

Dr. Israr Ahmad may recall that, when I spoke to the Islamic Medical Association of North America some eighteen months ago, I said that it made little difference whether I entitled my talk "Islam in the Modern World" or, alternatively, "Muslims in the West." I explained the reasons for this statement, and I hope Dr. Israr will not mind if I start by repeating what I said at that time.

 

It seems to me that, today, with the exception of simple peasants and the few Bedus who still roam freely in the desert, all Muslims live "in the West." They live in the modern world, and that means a world built by the West from bricks fired in the factories of Western culture. Our wishful thinkers of whom we have, I believe, all too many, do not like to admit this. They try to make a sharp distinction between modernization and westernization, and this leads them to the claim — which seems to me absurd — that if the Muslims had not fallen asleep and "fallen behind" over many centuries, they would have constructed a world almost identical to the one that now surrounds us; the same worldly dynamism, the same science, the same technology. They are dreaming. Lions do not give birth to wolf cubs, and you are unlikely to pick mangos from a cherry tree.

 

Certainly, change is inherent in history, and, had Islam remained to this day the dominant world force that it once was, the life of the Muslim in the 15th century Hijrah would have been very different to the life he lived in the 5th century, let alone in the lst. But he would still have lived within a setting, a framework, molded by the spirit of Islam and by the practical requirements of the religion. Change would have taken place within the bounds set by the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The Muslim would still have felt at home in his world.

 

He is not and cannot be at home in the world as it is today. In the first place, the ground rules have been laid down in terms of beliefs and ideologies entirely alien to Islam. Take as only one example the Charter of the United Nations and the structure of International Law (in so far as such Law may be said to exist). The main provisions of that Charter may be acceptable to us in a general way, but this is coincidental. Not one paragraph, not even one sentence in any paragraph of the Charter is of Islamic origin or could be said to have been inspired by the Islamic ethos. The same, of course, is true of the conditions governing international trade and banking; it is true also of the educational system, especially at university level as it exists in almost every Muslim country.

We have had no say in the making of the contemporary world — modern "civilization" — and we are obliged to fit into it as best we can, often as "square pegs in round holes"; an uncomfortable position, and one that might be said to emasculate us, robbing us of that

self-confidence

which I suggested, in my first talk, is of such profound importance.

Source

 

Is the author too harsh or spot on in his statements?

[Khayr]

Maybe this thread should be moved to Camel Milk?

 

Do nomads agree with the article?

 

We have had no say in the making of the contemporary world — modern "civilization" — and we are obliged to fit into it as best we can, often as "square pegs in round holes"; an uncomfortable position, and one that might be said to emasculate us, robbing us of that

self-confidence

which I suggested, in my first talk, is of such profound importance.

[Modesty]

Everyone is "westernized".It's the dominant culture in the world.

[Khayr]

Do you think that a salafi can be 'westernized'?

 

Are our ulema often forced to 'square the circle' when it comes to islamic issues to fit the current world view?

 

When we think of a social construct for Somalia, aren't our ideas heavily influenced by 'westerner ideals' such as consitutionialism; liberal freedoms i.e. all is equal;capitalist ventures etc...?

 

Lions do not give birth to wolf cubs, and you are unlikely to pick mangos from a cherry tree.

[Nur]

Kheyr bo.

 

The above discussion has some merit, but in its approach I find it to be cosmetic rather than an in depth treatment of the topic. For an in depth understanding of the far reaching meaning of the Western-Thinking-Muslims issue, I suggest a reading of the following book:

 

مقومات التصور الاسلامي Muqawimaat Al Tasawur Al islami, by Sayid Qutb

 

 

Nur

[Khayr]

I was listening to the somaliradio via internet and how much Somalilanders fear the UIC and it got me thinking about this post. This post deals with how muslims 'think'

 

It seems to me that, today, with the exception of simple peasants and the few Bedus who still roam freely in the desert, all Muslims live "in the West." They live in the modern world, and that means a world built by the West from bricks fired in the factories of Western culture. Our wishful thinkers of whom we have, I believe, all too many, do not like to admit this. They try to make a sharp distinction between modernization and westernization, and this leads them to the claim — which seems to me absurd — that if the Muslims had not fallen asleep and "fallen behind" over many centuries, they would have constructed a world almost identical to the one that now surrounds us; the same worldly dynamism, the same science, the same technology.

When we think of a social construct for Somalia, aren't our ideas heavily influenced by 'westerner ideals' such as consitutionialism; liberal freedoms i.e. all is equal;capitalist ventures etc...?

[Abu-Salman]

Indeed, we are westernized, though to different extents, if by Westernization we mean adopting Western langages, cultures, priorities and outlook on life, not mentioning the rather misplaced inferiority complex which explain many of our ordeals in our desperate attempt in trying to copy everything we see as "modern".

 

Now, there is a still timid revival of Islam combined with a decline of the Somali langage, especially abroad (though this does not represents a "loss" independently of Islam).

 

This topic is important but to be concise, we need to filter out scientific progress and other strenghts of the Western world from their uncoherent paradigm and subtly engrained philosophy to adapt it to our own priorities and realities, even more than do Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Malays ect)...