[Courtesy: Facebook Status of Jonab Shah Abdul Hannan, Former Secretary to Gov't of Bangladesh]
The world is witnessing at the present time a conflict between western and Islamic civilizations. We were not that much conscious about this conflict in the past. But it is true that there was conflict between these two civilisations at different levels. For example in terms of faith, legal system and culture.
Sometimes conflict turned into confrontations. Muslim power occupied some Christian territories . They conquered Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt etc. At that time many Jews and Christians lived in those countries. Later Turks occupied parts of eastern Europe. On the other hand, we have seen Christians to occupy a part of Egypt, a part of Palestine and Syria at the time of Crusades. Later the European, or it can be said the Christian power , occupied the whole world. They conquered the whole of Asia and Africa, most of which were Muslim lands.
Thus there were differences, conflicts and confrontations. But this hasn’t been theorized until recently,may be because it was not clear or obvious or may be then scholars did not want to develop an un-pleasant theory of clash of civilisation.On the other hand it cannot also be said that there was always conflicting atmosphere. Sometimes there was competition - even cooperation . But it is Huntington who made it into a theory of an all out and absolute theory in his book “The Clash of Civilization”. Huntington’s theory justified a sub-conscious feeling into a conscius clash of civilisation. He did not do well to the humanity by sensitising them on this issue.
As a matter of fact, none of the civilizations, western or Islamic, has uniformity in cultire or civilisation . Western civilization has many variations. It has different characteristics. Still it has an overall unity. Unity on the basis of materialism and secularism. Their conviction is that social life should not be guided by the injunctions of the Creator and that politics and economics should not be guided by religious values. This type of secularist view has shaped the modern civilization into a sort of materialism which only inspires to earn , enjoy and indulge. It is not to deny that this civilization has many worthy contributions, however its dark sides are quite evident.
On the other hand Islamic civilization has also many local or variant shapes in terms of culture though the basic beliefs and values are the same, being based on the core teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah. It has overall unity which is evident in the countries within its domain, be it Indonesia, Pakistan, Morocco, bangladesh or Turkey. Their faith is same. Their culture is quite similar. Their moral values are same. They adhere to Quran and sunnah generally..
Now I would like to discuss the characteristics of the conflict. This conflict is such that it is not limited to any state border. This conflict has entered into every village, into every ward, district, town and city, into every locality. In the same way conflict is there in every office and educational institution. Every where, because of western cultural penetration, there are enthusiastic supporters of western cultural practice. Their goal is to make our entertainment like them, to make our movies like them, to make our media like them and to make our drama and literature filled with sexuality. Television is being used as a powerful tool in realization of this goal. By dint of television conflict has penetrated into every home. .
They are trying to force their culture and we are trying to protect it. We are not only protecting, we have also become agents of spread of Islamic culture in the West because of immigration and converted new Muslims. These Muslims are trying to live with Islamic culture even though they are encircled with the western culture. Their presence there show that Islamic culture is superior than western one – in Islamic culture, the family is stronger, parents get more respect, children get more attention, illicit sexuality is shunned , family structure is well protected and so on. The West is feeling pressure in the cultural field . They are facing the challenge of this culture in their own heart. Thus it is not only we who are facing challenges but the West also thinks that they are being challenged. Moreover some people of the West are sympathetic to Islamic culture. Some of them are converting to Islam too. West is considering this phenomenon also as a challenge to its culture.
In the same way, west is also trying to politically dominate Muslim world and the third world .Particularly they are more interested in dominating the Muslim world. They are trying to motivate and cultivate people of these countries to work in their favor. They prepare their supporters in each Muslim country from among the intellectuals to work for them. They are using various means to achieve their objectives. They are trying to keep their dominance in the economic field also. They have built their economy mostly by exploiting the wealth of Asia and Africa for last two hundred years. They are trying to keep that dominance still today. They have forced the world especially the Muslim world to an imbalanced competition in the name of globalization.
The same thing is also true for education also. They are trying to influence us with the “Social Sciences”, most of these disciplines developed completely on their ideological view-point. In sociology there is no place for God. Sociology presumes that religion is a human creation. But they could have portrayed the society as the creation of God. God has created human being and has given him such instinct that he cannot live alone. Thereby he is inclined to live in a socialized environment. He is inclined to form family. Everyone in the society is dependant on each other. This idea towards society, man and its Creator could have been incorporated in sociology. On the contrary in line of the western thought they have rejected the concept of God totally in sociology.There was no justification to develop sociology on the basis of atheism alone.In natural sciences there is no mention of God anywhere as Creator of the Universe and the Maker of natural laws . Sometimes they mention Nature. I do not know what it is.
Capitalism is claimed by the west to be the best system for the world. Its darker sides have been overlooked completely. In the theory of capitalism there is hardly any reference to the problems of the poor. No solution is suggested about this in its theory.It is a different matter that they are taking measures in many places to tackle poverty going out of the framework of the theory of capitalism. Still they are ignoring this fact and claiming the superiority of capitalism , Whereas the reality is contrary to it. Capitalism has many problems. Its market system has many failures. As aforesaid, there is nothing in it for poor ,that makes capitalism the most inhumane justice-denying system
In the social field, the difference between western and Islamic civilisations is very acute,it is evident from the fact that they consider adultery as trivial and not an offence whereas we consider it as one of the gravest sins which is seriously punishable as well.
Thus this conflict with Islamic civilization is basically in the area of culture, education and value, If we are to protect this, to overturn this, to win this struggle, we would require numerous competent manpower. In order to face the confrontation we need leaders and activists who would achieve their objective peacfully and democratically, . But the question is where it is needed. The answer is everywhere. Because this confrontation has no definite border. Every quarter of the city and village needs workforce.
Those who have owned up the values of the West are everywhere, prepared to work for them. So those who want to work for Islamic civilization and culture, want to protect the soul of Islamic civilization, want to protect Tawhid (the conviction that the basis of every affair would be the existence and unity of God and the very existence of God would not be avoided in conducting human affairs ) which would require competent workers and leaders in favor of their cause. Numerous workers and leaders competent to face the confrontation are needed everywhere - in every villages, schools and colleges, in the field of print and electronic media and so on. . The members of the all Islamic parties have to be leaders and workers simaltaneously in their respective places. . We need numerous writers too. That is everywhere and in every field we need activists and leaders. We have to really understand it.
Those who work for Islam and Islamic civilization have to think themselves that how much time they are giving in this regard. If we observe closely we can see that professionals are giving twelve to fourteen hours in pursuit of earnings. Naturally they don’t have enough time after that. They have unnecessarilly increased their needs. A hidden or diguised materiaism has over-powered them like the people in the West. They could give more time to study instead and strengthen their qualities. But in reality this is not happening. Businessmen, doctors, lawyers and many other profesasionals give most of their time in their profession. So they have no time left. They are investing whole of their time ( time means life ), which is the prime bounty bestowed by Allah, into business for earning mainly. Generally Small part of their earnings they may spend for Allah. But they are not spending any significant portion of their time, the another name of life. Spending some money for humanity is good. But it cannot be commensurate with spending time and energy. So it would be ideal if we could manage to spend eight hours for professional purposes ( there can be some variation depending on the profession ) and rest of the five or six hours of waking time for the welfare of humanity, society and nation, for the welfare of distressed and for progress of Islamic and human cause.
It can be concluded that in this complicated and multi-faceted conflict between the two civilisations,as there is no border or specific frontline,sending people to a fixed place would not help our cause. It is a borderless stuggle or conflict. We need numerous workers ,each of whom would work in his/her place and also beyond, if he/ she can do. We need to give time. A good indicator to measure is to compare how much time we have spent for monetary return and how much time spent without return, solely for humanity, society, nation, for Islam and for distressed. I think these guidelines should be followed by leaders and workers of Islam, Alims, student activists and all concerned.
*Writer and social worker and former secretary, Government of Bangladesh.
The world is witnessing at the present time a conflict between western and Islamic civilizations. We were not that much conscious about this conflict in the past. But it is true that there was conflict between these two civilisations at different levels. For example in terms of faith, legal system and culture.
Sometimes conflict turned into confrontations. Muslim power occupied some Christian territories . They conquered Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt etc. At that time many Jews and Christians lived in those countries. Later Turks occupied parts of eastern Europe. On the other hand, we have seen Christians to occupy a part of Egypt, a part of Palestine and Syria at the time of Crusades. Later the European, or it can be said the Christian power , occupied the whole world. They conquered the whole of Asia and Africa, most of which were Muslim lands.
Thus there were differences, conflicts and confrontations. But this hasn’t been theorized until recently,may be because it was not clear or obvious or may be then scholars did not want to develop an un-pleasant theory of clash of civilisation.On the other hand it cannot also be said that there was always conflicting atmosphere. Sometimes there was competition - even cooperation . But it is Huntington who made it into a theory of an all out and absolute theory in his book “The Clash of Civilization”. Huntington’s theory justified a sub-conscious feeling into a conscius clash of civilisation. He did not do well to the humanity by sensitising them on this issue.
As a matter of fact, none of the civilizations, western or Islamic, has uniformity in cultire or civilisation . Western civilization has many variations. It has different characteristics. Still it has an overall unity. Unity on the basis of materialism and secularism. Their conviction is that social life should not be guided by the injunctions of the Creator and that politics and economics should not be guided by religious values. This type of secularist view has shaped the modern civilization into a sort of materialism which only inspires to earn , enjoy and indulge. It is not to deny that this civilization has many worthy contributions, however its dark sides are quite evident.
On the other hand Islamic civilization has also many local or variant shapes in terms of culture though the basic beliefs and values are the same, being based on the core teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah. It has overall unity which is evident in the countries within its domain, be it Indonesia, Pakistan, Morocco, bangladesh or Turkey. Their faith is same. Their culture is quite similar. Their moral values are same. They adhere to Quran and sunnah generally..
Now I would like to discuss the characteristics of the conflict. This conflict is such that it is not limited to any state border. This conflict has entered into every village, into every ward, district, town and city, into every locality. In the same way conflict is there in every office and educational institution. Every where, because of western cultural penetration, there are enthusiastic supporters of western cultural practice. Their goal is to make our entertainment like them, to make our movies like them, to make our media like them and to make our drama and literature filled with sexuality. Television is being used as a powerful tool in realization of this goal. By dint of television conflict has penetrated into every home. .
They are trying to force their culture and we are trying to protect it. We are not only protecting, we have also become agents of spread of Islamic culture in the West because of immigration and converted new Muslims. These Muslims are trying to live with Islamic culture even though they are encircled with the western culture. Their presence there show that Islamic culture is superior than western one – in Islamic culture, the family is stronger, parents get more respect, children get more attention, illicit sexuality is shunned , family structure is well protected and so on. The West is feeling pressure in the cultural field . They are facing the challenge of this culture in their own heart. Thus it is not only we who are facing challenges but the West also thinks that they are being challenged. Moreover some people of the West are sympathetic to Islamic culture. Some of them are converting to Islam too. West is considering this phenomenon also as a challenge to its culture.
In the same way, west is also trying to politically dominate Muslim world and the third world .Particularly they are more interested in dominating the Muslim world. They are trying to motivate and cultivate people of these countries to work in their favor. They prepare their supporters in each Muslim country from among the intellectuals to work for them. They are using various means to achieve their objectives. They are trying to keep their dominance in the economic field also. They have built their economy mostly by exploiting the wealth of Asia and Africa for last two hundred years. They are trying to keep that dominance still today. They have forced the world especially the Muslim world to an imbalanced competition in the name of globalization.
The same thing is also true for education also. They are trying to influence us with the “Social Sciences”, most of these disciplines developed completely on their ideological view-point. In sociology there is no place for God. Sociology presumes that religion is a human creation. But they could have portrayed the society as the creation of God. God has created human being and has given him such instinct that he cannot live alone. Thereby he is inclined to live in a socialized environment. He is inclined to form family. Everyone in the society is dependant on each other. This idea towards society, man and its Creator could have been incorporated in sociology. On the contrary in line of the western thought they have rejected the concept of God totally in sociology.There was no justification to develop sociology on the basis of atheism alone.In natural sciences there is no mention of God anywhere as Creator of the Universe and the Maker of natural laws . Sometimes they mention Nature. I do not know what it is.
Capitalism is claimed by the west to be the best system for the world. Its darker sides have been overlooked completely. In the theory of capitalism there is hardly any reference to the problems of the poor. No solution is suggested about this in its theory.It is a different matter that they are taking measures in many places to tackle poverty going out of the framework of the theory of capitalism. Still they are ignoring this fact and claiming the superiority of capitalism , Whereas the reality is contrary to it. Capitalism has many problems. Its market system has many failures. As aforesaid, there is nothing in it for poor ,that makes capitalism the most inhumane justice-denying system
In the social field, the difference between western and Islamic civilisations is very acute,it is evident from the fact that they consider adultery as trivial and not an offence whereas we consider it as one of the gravest sins which is seriously punishable as well.
Thus this conflict with Islamic civilization is basically in the area of culture, education and value, If we are to protect this, to overturn this, to win this struggle, we would require numerous competent manpower. In order to face the confrontation we need leaders and activists who would achieve their objective peacfully and democratically, . But the question is where it is needed. The answer is everywhere. Because this confrontation has no definite border. Every quarter of the city and village needs workforce.
Those who have owned up the values of the West are everywhere, prepared to work for them. So those who want to work for Islamic civilization and culture, want to protect the soul of Islamic civilization, want to protect Tawhid (the conviction that the basis of every affair would be the existence and unity of God and the very existence of God would not be avoided in conducting human affairs ) which would require competent workers and leaders in favor of their cause. Numerous workers and leaders competent to face the confrontation are needed everywhere - in every villages, schools and colleges, in the field of print and electronic media and so on. . The members of the all Islamic parties have to be leaders and workers simaltaneously in their respective places. . We need numerous writers too. That is everywhere and in every field we need activists and leaders. We have to really understand it.
Those who work for Islam and Islamic civilization have to think themselves that how much time they are giving in this regard. If we observe closely we can see that professionals are giving twelve to fourteen hours in pursuit of earnings. Naturally they don’t have enough time after that. They have unnecessarilly increased their needs. A hidden or diguised materiaism has over-powered them like the people in the West. They could give more time to study instead and strengthen their qualities. But in reality this is not happening. Businessmen, doctors, lawyers and many other profesasionals give most of their time in their profession. So they have no time left. They are investing whole of their time ( time means life ), which is the prime bounty bestowed by Allah, into business for earning mainly. Generally Small part of their earnings they may spend for Allah. But they are not spending any significant portion of their time, the another name of life. Spending some money for humanity is good. But it cannot be commensurate with spending time and energy. So it would be ideal if we could manage to spend eight hours for professional purposes ( there can be some variation depending on the profession ) and rest of the five or six hours of waking time for the welfare of humanity, society and nation, for the welfare of distressed and for progress of Islamic and human cause.
It can be concluded that in this complicated and multi-faceted conflict between the two civilisations,as there is no border or specific frontline,sending people to a fixed place would not help our cause. It is a borderless stuggle or conflict. We need numerous workers ,each of whom would work in his/her place and also beyond, if he/ she can do. We need to give time. A good indicator to measure is to compare how much time we have spent for monetary return and how much time spent without return, solely for humanity, society, nation, for Islam and for distressed. I think these guidelines should be followed by leaders and workers of Islam, Alims, student activists and all concerned.
*Writer and social worker and former secretary, Government of Bangladesh.
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