The Challenge of Modern Ideas and Social Values to Muslim Society

The Challenge of Modern Ideas and Social Values to Muslim Society

Late Dr. Abdul Wahhab Azzam

The vanguards of modern civilization, with their sciences, crafts and philosophy, first appeared three centuries ago, its guiding-posts continued to become more distinct and its ways clearer, so that they attained their highest summit in the last hundred years.

It spread in the world to the pleasure or dismay of its recipients. The people of the East and the West mingled with each other in this country or that. This civilization entered the Muslim countries by compulsion or free choice of people.

What the Muslims saw of the subordination of their countries by the people of this civilization, has left them awe-stricken. The opinions and the persuasions of the latter are flowing into the Muslim society in one way after another incessantly, so that there is little room here to speak of them at length.

The Muslims have, in this new civilization, seen power, knowledge and industry, and have seen therein order and discipline. They have found in it idle joy, sport and enjoyment. They have become familiar with many means of pleasure and various ways of sensual joys.

They have found religion that is opposed to their own and is upheld by peoples who for centuries have been on hostile terms with the Muslims, and they have observed the summoners to this faith, spying inside Muslim countries and calling Muslims to their faith, using various seductive methods in their call.

The Muslims have wondered as to how they should confront this civilization, they are doubtful regarding the majority of matters, and they are uncertain about the ways and means. Their opinions have differed, so that they fall into three main groups:

(i)        One section had an eye on the hostility of the people of this civilization, on their domination, and on beliefs, opinions and ways of conduct, brought by these aliens, which either in reality or in their belief stood opposed to Islam. This section saw the corruptions which the Muslims have introduced in their faith, morals and manners. So this section was completely scared by the civilization of Europe and kept away from it, and summoned others to do the same.

(ii)      Another section looked at what Europe has brought into Muslim countries: power, dominion, science, arts and crafts, political and social order, welfare, entertainment and sport, the alleviation of certain burdens and obligations. These people approved of this civilization totally; this attitude gave rise to whatever corruption there could be. They were amazed, and looked down upon whatever heritage they had of their own, and annulled their own existence and adopted the European civilization. Whatever it brings is good. Whatever is opposed to it is unworthy. According to these people, there is nothing good in our possession which we may preserve, nor any nice idea to stick to. They believe that Whatever the Europeans say is good. They now admire these things through sheer imitation and following. This is like certain manufactures of the Arabs which the Europeans admired and adopted in their domestic furniture and ornaments calling them “Arabisca.” Only then did the Orientals—the Arabs being among them—decide to admire them, calling them Arabisca as well. Had these things been called by their native Arabic names and had they been kept remote from the Western people, those among us who now admire them would not have done so, nor would they like to decorate their houses with them.

(iii)     The third section of the Muslims, who were moderate, saw, thought, and deliberated, and were of the opinion that distinction was to be made between the two aspects of Western civilization. There at is the industrial civilization and there is the moral civilization. The first of these is founded on natural laws that do not vary in the East or the West; and they are not peculiar to the Muslims or the non-Muslims. We mean Medicine, Engineering and Mechanical sciences. These sciences should, of course, be acquired from those who have them. The Muslims simply must reach the farthest ends in Science and the application of it. Our reason and good sense have established for us the superiority of the West on this score and the production of miraculous things there. There can be no two opinions in the matter of acquisition of Science from its masters.

Let us now consider the second aspect of this civilization, i.e., the moral side — and if you wish, you may call it human. This side is based on history, religion, customs and discipline.

The Europeans have in them virtues and vices, guidance and misguidance. Their good has been made turbid by plenty of evil, and their beauty has been marred by visible ugliness. This is not to be considered at par with the industrial civilization, and it is not permissible that we adopt this side as well. Maybe, in this matter the Muslims are on a more straight path and a clearer way and possess a more stable opinion. It is not permissible that we follow the West in this kind of civilization. Rather, it is our duty to maintain our efforts for the preservation of what we have inherited, and to value it at its true worth.

These people say to their Muslim brethern; “Let this civilization not dazzle you by its outward glitter and its adornments. Let it not deceive you by its falsities and untruths, let it not beguile you by its sensual delights and pleasures, and let not your sights be snatched by its shine. Do not lose your way by its calls. Do not be in the illusion that he who is gifted with science, industry, ornament and wealth, offers a commendable example in his beliefs and persuasions, or a virtuous model as regards morals and conduct.

Recognize yourselves, and have esteem for human merits and moral virtues you have inherited.

Then these moderate thinkers say:

The Muslims have struggled for their political freedom. Greater as an idea and of more far-reaching influence for them will be to struggle for freedom of thought, and to discipline themselves and control their rational faculties and adopt the virtues of Western civilization and abandon their vices, to discriminate thus between evil and good of what they have inherited from their history with the judgment of a free, self-determining, honourable and self-respecting man, who chooses and abandons, approves and disapproves by his own thought, and not by the thought of others, and declares lawful and unlawful by his own code and not by the code of others.

We do not deny that the modern civilization has brought good for people, and benefits in sciences and industrial manufactures; nor do we contend that even outside sciences and industry, I mean political and social matters, this civilization has brought much good with it and general benefits; but one should not deny that on its religious and moral sides there is a lot of fault, weakness, corruption and disorder, and that human advancement in scientific learning does not keep its pace with morals.

It grieves us much to see that evil makes the good of the civilization bad and its vices turn its beauties into unseemliness. We regret to observe that its heart does not keep company with its head, and its faith does not follow its ideas. On this account we are stricken by a constant grief, and a continued anxiety, which testifies the truth of the noble verse of the Qur’an:

“Say: He is able to send upon you a torture from above or from beneath your feet, or to confuse you into sects, and some of you may then taste the harm from others.”

It does not concern us here to enumerate the merits of the contemporary civilization, and to explain what benefits it has bestowed upon human beings. We shall rather limit our discourses to the persuasions and creeds of this civilization and its views which the Muslim people are afraid of. To be brief, we are giving here the following fundamental questions:

No one can deny the fact that the modern civilization is a civilization dominated by atheism, over-ridden by materialism, and subjugated by lust.

I fear this civilization, as Muslims do, on account of the heterodoxy that goes hand in hand with it, and the materialism that governs it. The Muslim community as a whole is a religious-minded community which believes in Allah and its heart is in search of His nearness. He is their Supreme Ideal; the beginning of everything is from Him, and to Him is the return. The beliefs and actions of the community turn to this basic point where they both join hands, and by dint of which they are organized. The conflicts of individuals are subjected to the discipline of law, and are resolved by a system of Shar’. This Shar’ is aided by a faith (iman) which is limited neither by time nor by‘ space, nor by any circumstance or shape of affairs.

(A) The Muslim Individual

The Muslim individual believes in Allah, and seeks His nearness without any intermediary. He is the Highest Ideal for him, and he endeavours to acquire His character.

The world of matter is small for him. He struggles to conquer it for the profits it can yield. He disengages himself from it after having dealt with it and then out-passes it towards the spiritual world which is infinite. His beliefs, concerns and hopes are not limited by or dependent on the world of senses. Thus this mundane existence and its knowledge are not his greatest anxiety. He is the master of it and not vice versa. It is in his hands, and does not rule ‘over his mind; he avails himself of it and gets delights without being overpowered by it. He does not make himself its slave. Rather, he dominates it and conquers it by his faith and strength of morals. He does not care about it save in the matters allowed by his faith and his morals. His acts are always abiding by the Code (Shar‘). He walks through the guided path. His law is determined by what is lawful and by what is unlawful, and by what is worthy or unworthy of the dignity and nobility of man.

He regards himself to be the viceregent (Khalifa) of Allah on the earth, upholding justice among His servants. He inhabits the earth and reforms it and maintains equity in it. He is munificent by self-sacrifice, and benevolent at his own cost. He strives after truth and endeavours in support of goodness as if he himself is answerable for the entire humanity. He is abstemious in the world, keeping away from the disapproved things, refusing favours, self–respecting, tender-hearted and merciful by the help of God. He can dispense with most things, having God with him, and never despairs. None has lost hopes about the mercy of his Lord save the misguided ones. The Muslim does not lose hope, for those who lose hope about the benevolence of Allah are the misbelieving ones. He makes effort, and if he fails, he still has hopes of success. He is patient and knows that hardship and comfort are going side by side, and that after this hardship must come comfort. If worldly calamities gather round him, he does not commit suicide overpowered by grief, for his faith rises above the vicissitudes of life, and his self is greater than its sweet–nesses and bitter–nesses and his determination is too spacious to be affected by its hardships and comforts.

The community of Muslims which abides by this faith and these merits is afraid of what is flowing towards its individuals, of evil incitements of the heterodox, material civilization. It finds that the individual brought up in the atmosphere of this civilization is utterly selfish; he does not care for anything save his own mean lusts; his concerns and hopes are all given to the worldly desires and he cannot release himself from them. He has neither aim nor goal beyond it. The man of this civilization makes his best effort to enjoy this material life fully. He creates means for the fulfillment of his desires in it. He is very keen in achieving this goal and if he finds some obstacles in his way, he tries his best to make every effort, lawful or unlawful, noble or vile, and every pursuit, mean or virtuous, to get his outlet and if he still cannot manage, he commits suicide. For his life is Matter; if he misses this matter, there is no charm for him to live in this world.

Riches are his goal and deity. He commits every base sin to get rich, and is ready for every meanness to amass wealth. Every dishonest trade, every mean walk of life, the incitements toward forbidden things, the tricky devices to satisfy lusts, and pursuits of profit by mean devices, are nothing but forms of rship of wealth and lusts, and scorn of religion and morals.

(B) The Muslim Woman

The Muslim woman is the mistress of the house, a virtuous wife, the mother of her children, pure and chaste, disliking bas things refusing disgracefulness, one whom Islam protects and whose nobility it preserves, and upon whom it bestowes her rights and protects the affairs of herself and her household.

The Muslims fear the evils brought by the modern civilization for her, its misguidedness and its deceptions. This civilization is resolved to drag woman out of her domestic sphere of work. It makes her impertinent to her husband and makes her desert her children and gives her up totally to streets, factories, gatherings and assemblies. She forgets children, and cuts off the family ties. The modem civilization misleads a woman by the name of freedom and equality, and brings disgrace and troubles to her by overwhelming cares and responsibilities for which she is not created and which do not suit her delicate life. How wide a difference lies between a woman earning the family’s livelihood and a mistress of a house!

The idle play of the onlookers pursues her.

Muslims wish for Women chastity, honour and nobility, and that she should stay at home for the happiness of the husband and should bring up virtuous children. They are anxious for her on account of this misfortune and are frightened by this epidemic.

(C) The Muslim Family

The Muslim family is made of love, self-sacrifice, obedience and filial piety. We do not know any religion or system of law or creed which dignifies parents as much as Islam does. The Qur’an has given great respect to them, so much so that regard for parents comes next in importance to the regard for belief in Allah’s unity and His service. Islam has regard for them in all the circumstances of life. If they believe in other gods and order their child to follow them in their belief, the child should not obey them, but in this state also his obligations are to maintain their reverence in all other matters. Islam has placed mother above father in the matter of respect, dignity and regard, in view of the pangs she suffered on bearing the child and for the pains to feed and bring up the child. Islam has placed Paradise under the feet of mothers.

Islam has emphasized great respect and regard for blood-relations, and preservation of this relationship with tenderness. One is to be conscious in this matter almost as much as in guarding oneself against the wrath of God:

“Guard yourselves against (the wrath of) Allah. To Him you are answerable and to your blood–relations.”

This is the nature of the pure, affectionate, cooperative Muslim family, in which the parents are sanctified, and regard for blood-relationship is shown, and also for brethren, in which the younger ones obey the elders, and the elder ones have affection for the youngers. The modern ideas make them disobedient, rebellious and agitators, and aim at breaking up the ties of the family, and blow away its unity. So the home is getting emptied of its residents who begin to inhabit streets and places of vulgar sport. No authority remains for the fathers and the mothers, no regard for elders and no affection for the youngers.

I see much corruption. Crimes, griefs and anxieties, which We observe today among Muslim communities, have been growing day by’ day and become stronger and stronger and spreading all over the world in consequence of the blows of disruption that befell the families. The superiority of the parents has disappeared, and so the cooperation of the brothers, and the noble themes of morality are gone and also the tender feelings which grow under the shelter of mothers and fathers.

(D) The Muslims stand fast by Justice

The Muslim community is founded on righteousness and stands fast by justice and is eager to fulfill promises. The Qur’an ordains it to stand fast by justice and to seek the pleasure of Allah and not to let the desires go astray from justice.

The Muslim is forbidden to seek what is not right or to belittle it just as he is forbidden to utter falsehoods against people or to talk slanderously against them. For ‘anyone who accuses women without clear evidence, it has prescribed punishment so that no evidence is ever accepted from him.

The modern ideas have come forth with minimizing the gravity of lies and false statements. It has brought commendation of men’s wearing decorations which they do not deserve, or their getting praise for deeds they have not done. The codes have declared lawful that one community may struggle for victory for itself by righteous or unrighteous means. The slogans among various nations have proclaimed lawful all sorts of strategies of untruth, misguidedness and false statement. Nations bring slander to others unjustly so that the matters of truth and falsehood have become confused. Misguidance has been carried out in all walks of life nobly and boldly.

This is the confused bustle that universally overshadows the world today. These are the self-belying claims and self-contradicting proclamations and misguiding opinions which result from people’s disregard of righteousness, truth and justice, and from their so-called lawful misstatement, false slanders and blames for the welfare of governments, communities, sects or individuals.

Every nation has been blaming the other nations. Some of them are afraid of others. Every party says that it aims at justice, truth, peace and welfare of humanity. Remember, this is not true. Every party has its own cry: “We do not mean war or any evil coming to others.” But remember, they are not true in their saying.

These are the calamities and what shoots from them and what attaches to them. They contrive to corrupt Muslim communities and beautify for them the modes of conduct as practiced by civilized nations, and as the highest that modern society has achieved. Alas a hundred times to the Muslims! for such a view has deceived them and such false desires have misled them and these false glittering have blinded them.

The aim of a Muslim should be to lead people to justice and righteousness and not to do wrong, not to follow un-prescribed desires, nor to tell lies, nor to deceive. For these merits Islam brought him up. They are his ideal even if he falls short of them. They are his goal, even if he could not reach it fully. They should be emphasized in his life and be his principal anxiety and the final end of his efforts.

(E) The Muslim Community

It is the intention of Islam to bind the Muslim community together on the foundations of love, affection and cooperation, and that justice and benevolence should shine in it. Everyone Endeavour for his livelihood with righteousness and justice, having full regard for the Code (Shar‘). Whoever is of affluent circumstances has obligations towards him who has not. The wealth from Allah comes and goes. May be, the destitute of today becomes the rich of tomorrow, and may be the rich of today becomes the poor of tomorrow. Let there be no miserliness from the rich, nor callousness, nor jealousy from the poor. The Code (Shar‘) is comprehensive and guarantees the right to everyone, and puts on everyone obligations. It draws dues from the riches of the rich for the destitute. It brings up people together upon fraternity, mutual regard and cooperation.

The Muslim community binds individuals by blood-relationship and Islam has stressed what is due in this matter and has made regard for it necessary. Next comes regard for neighbourhood. Neighbourhood is next to relationship whose honour Islam has preserved and whose obligations it has emphasized. Then comes the relationship of the fraternity of Islam which is comprehensive and unifying all round. This is what Islam ordains and prescribes and urges us to, and induces us into, and what we are to do for it. This should be the aim of every Muslim and his intention as defence against what has befallen the Muslim community, of weaknesses and disruptions through ignorance of the codes of its faith and deviations from its fundamental ways.

The modern ideas and contemporary creeds have come without this aim. People vie among themselves for riches and they cling to the world as if it were the final goal of their existence and the end of their efforts. If one does not get wealth by lawful means, one tries to obtain it by unlawful means and is jealous of anyone who has wealth and misesteems him, finds faults with him and quarrels with him on all occasions. Thus hostilities among strata of the community and its sects have become strong and the other most important things above riches and wealth, i.e., spiritual ideologies, human objectives, etc., have become things of little importance. The chaos of people and their mutual strifes have assumed magnitude as is apparent in these incessant human earthquakes and never-ending evils and as we hear of the activity professing to aim at equality in the matters of food and drink accompanied by demolition of their honour and depravity from freedom, so that it has made their faculties mutilated, leaving them no freedom of will or opinion nor any choice of concerns. It does equalise individuals in the matters of water and pasture and prolongs the affliction of men and their distress, while they never get to what they are promised and never find what they are led to.

This is the enmity and rancour and this is the misfortune and unpleasant compulsion. This is depravity from human merits. All these calamities we fear for the sake of the Muslim community as well, and we see against our approval that this community is being led to them by delusion and these misfortunes have begun to work in it. We fear that their activity will persist and we shall fall short of our lofty ideals and shall be led astray from our noble aims and shall fall into blind evil. What a great calamity it would be!

Islam intends to form a community, fraternal, love-bound, and cooperating in order to put justice and righteousness to effect; a community in which everyone is contented with what he got, hopeful about what he has not yet attained to; not going to extremes in seeking a worldly end; not deviating from the straight path; spending of his wealth and energy for the sake of his brethren, consoling them heartily in whatever misfortune they meet, sharing with them their hardships and joys. We mean the kind of community typified by the following verse of the Qur’an:

“Verily, Allah bids you to do justice and benevolence and fulfill the needs of relations, and forbids indecent and disapproved acts and transgressions.” (16:90)

The rule of conduct of this community is:

لا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لأَخِيهِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ

“None of you is a true believer unless he likes for his brother what he likes for himself.” (Bukhari, Book of Faith [Eman])

In short, materialism dominates this modern civilization and objects of sense surround it and unseemly desires confine it. Lusts have enslaved it so that it is almost imprisoned by what man can perceive by physical senses, what he can take pleasure in, and what he blindly desires and earns. What a sad spectacle!