Clash of Civilization between Islamic and Western

Clash of Civilization between Islamic and Western

The word civilization is come from the latin word ‘civilis’.  ‘Civilis’ in latin means ‘civic’ which also the root word for citizen and civil.  From Encyclopedic World Dictionary ; an  advanced stated of human society in which a high level or art and science religion and government has been reached  Civilization comprises of body and soul.  The body of the civilization is all that is related worldly life such transportation, educational, institutions, technology achievements and any of the material achievements.  While the soul of the civilization is the ideologies, traditions of a society, the behavior and thought.  That is why the term tamadun in Arabic language which means religion is referred as a civilization.  Here means that, any civilization that is not embedded or attached to din is not declared as a civilization from the Islamic perspectives as the civilization as only the body but the soul.  This perspective is much differs from the western thinkers as they viewed the civilization as the achievements that are made by man in the past.There are various individuals that contribute their idea to the mold of western civilization. These most three influence person are Caesars, Julius and Augustus and Jesus Christ. They contribute with different ideas to different aspect. Until now we still use his idea of reformation on the taxes, land, calendars, and the governments’ reforms in region. He also reforms the ideas. To reshape the western civilization which includes the rule that until now the rules still apply with it. This ideas is from Caesar Julius. Next is Caesars Augustus who is took the religions as Rome’s ruler. He is the one that create the peace by providing a security to other people in other states and expand the Empire Rome and carry on the reformation of the Caesar Julius of his contribution. Lastly is the Jesus Christ had a heavenly kingdom who has faith to life after death  .In this world, there will be a positive and negative affects same goes to the story of growth of cities which in known as civilization.  There are a few positive aspects of western civilization that can be seen within it.  First is the scientific exploration such as the stages of human creation, universe and natural disasters and material progress.  In material progress we can see that they contributed their ideas in advancing technologies such as solar and hybrid car.  Other than that, in western civilization they also give a good example on how the manage a good organization such as in their political system.  Their society also practices the freedom of speak where they respect with the individual opinion.  Lastly, the western civilization never stops to new things to rebuild a new phenomenon.  

There are other problem that we can see as negative aspect that contribute to the western civilization such as confusion, competence and representation of democracy, and equality of outcomes.    We can see in the western civilization they are having the confusion problem which there are still cannot solve the problem with things that they bear. They are suffering with many problems such as economic problem that include employment, inflation and other stagnation of the economy. Next is due to the terrorism that felling of competence and rejection of democracy which is not accepted by people.  Technology that they invented also contributes to the confusion as the success of the invention contributes to the environment pollution and destruction. With the technology too, we will felt unsecure and there is no privacy because public and private sectors can easily access to our data information. Other negative aspect is competence and representation democracy. They still configure who can join the competence of democracy? Is age, education, race, sex, income and other possibilities that it might be consider them to join in the democracy. They cannot give an answer because all people have their capabilities that maybe we cannot figure it out. So with this problem always be repeated and it lead to the contradictions, tension and also the problem that occur in the western civilization nowadays. During the democracy, we cannot get an absolute result because a small sample group of people will not give an overall result of a population of people which will is an inherent problem.  Next is the equality of outcomes, it is when there is difference from each other it must be adjusted because it will become more ‘equal’ outcomes to every individuals. We take an example of taxes, people should pay the taxes with the according rate given when it comes to the equality of outcomes. There is no acceptance or different based on our income. 

In Islam, they allow us to socialize. But Islam has its own way to socialize unlike the non believers. For the non believers, they don’t have limitations during socializing such as see each other in dark place, hold each other’s hand, see into each other’s eye until one of them have a desire to do something that is prohibited such as having intercourse with their partner and so much more. They don’t really care what they are doing; they may do anything that is impropriate in front of the public without thinking others perception. As for Islam, when we want to see each other which involve other gender, we have to see in the public so that there will be no backbiting or ‘fitnah’ occur. In Islam, socialize is something good but we have to follow the quran and sunnah; ways to socialize. As for the evidences relating to the free mixing of the sexes then they are numerous in the Quran and sunnah and prove that generally this is not allowed. As for this hadeeth, it did not say that "....do not be alone with a woman unless another woman is present" rather it said ".....unless she is with a mahram"....... This indicates the disapproval of the mixing of the sexes. When we look to the texts we see that this is because the shari'ah cuts off the harms of unlawful sex and that which leads to it and that which is associated with it. Jaabir reported that Rasool Allah (saw) said “A man must not spend the night in the house of a woman unless he is her husband or a mahram” (MUSLIM, Bulooghul Maraam [no.960 p.396]) A'bdullah ibn U'mar reported that Rasool Allah (saw) said "A woman is one to be kept indoors. Surely when she emerges from her house the devil eyes her and it is certain that a woman is nearest to Allah when she is inside her home" (TABARAANI in Mu'jam al Awsaat) and U'mar reported that the Prophet (saw) said "When a man is alone with a woman then the third with them is Shaytaan" (TIRMIDHI) and it is reported that the Messenger (saw) said "The glance is a poisoned arrow of Shaytaan. Whoever lowers his gaze for Allah, He will bestow upon him a refreshing sweetness which he will find in his heart on the day that he meets Him" (TABARAANI, AL HAAKIM, AHMAD) Allah (swt) says "And tell the believing men to lower their gaze and protect their private parts. That is purer for them. Verily Allah is All Aware of what they do" (an Noor 24:30) and Jareer ibn A’bdullah reported “I asked Nabi (saw) about the glance at a non-related woman and he (saw) commanded me turn away my glance” (ABU DAWOOD) So these evidences prove the prohibition of socialising with the opposite sex as they prohibit what is less than that. If we are allowed to unrelated men and women are allowed to speak with each other and entertain each other and mix freely then what is the meaning of prohibiting a glance at them? Abu Hurayrah reported that Nabi (saw) said ".....The eye does zinaa by the looking, and the ears do zinaa by the listening, and the zinaa of the tongue is to talk and the adultery of the hand is to touch and the zinaa of the legs is to go to (the forbidden place) and the heart desires and the private parts confirm or contradict that" (BUKHAARI, MUSLIM). So this proves there is the prohibited speech, listening, touching and mixing withj regards to women. And this is when the mixing is just socialising and for jaahil motives etc.However there are situations and reasons which make social contact between them permissable, but this is not allowing khalwah [seclusion] some examples are;  Trading, Medical need,  Da'wah,  Commanding ma'roof and forbidding munkar, Studying the deen,  The education which is of the nature of fard kifaayah e.g. Arabic language, administration, science etc;  Fulfilling the needs e.g. to ask someone for directions to aquire your needs and rights, Proposal of marriage and  To convey the Islamic greetings.There are also other reasons and Allah knows best. However, the general ways of socializing with women, free mixing and flirtation is not from the Islamic way of organising society. However some have also gone to extremes in these affairs and have fabricated a rigid situation that did not exist in the time of the prophet (saw) and in the period of the first three generations, and this must be avoided as it can make society unworkable, Islam actually gives us the best laws and methods and we should not add to them nor should we take away from them.  

As they rely on the modern science, the divine rules diminish. They are openly making maksiat, having sexual intercourse as early as in the teenage age. Not to include the case of single mother, looking at the number from the statistics of abortion, we can see that the number is rising from years to years. It seems to be impossible to make the number decrease. The problems arise when there is unrestricted free intermingling of the sexes universally practiced in modern Western society. The western as they do not believe in god, they do not have the feeling of shame while doing the sin. As long as there is no other person, they freely enjoying making sin. The other factor that makes sex life in western open is the role of parenting. In western, parents allowed their children for having partner or girlfriend or boyfriend. This situation is actually contributing large percentage of risk of pregnancy before marriage. Some of the parents make a simple decision for their son and daughter to get married when the girl is confirm to have a baby and let their children to divorce after the delivery of the baby. Other types of parent who do not want their daughter to commit an illegal act, abortion, they decided to have the baby and placing it to for adoption as the rational solution that they can think of.  Islam is strictly prohibited all the Muslims to have sex before marriage. This is because, when the girl is pregnant, she will deliver a wedlock child. As a result, the girl will bring a shame to her family as well as to Islam. As some Muslims don’t even bother about this, the non believers will said that Islam is a religion that is not good and cannot be trusted. 

Fear Allah, for that is the best earning and obeys Him. Be dutiful to Allah and hope for the reward on the Last Day and commit no mischief on the earth.“O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared and die not except in the state of Islaam.” (Aal ‘Imraan: 102).Fellow Muslims! We are nowadays confronted with a relentless war waged by the materialistic western civilization and culture that burns its producers and afflicts them with calamities, misery, immorality, disruption, suicide and all kinds of evils. It is in fact, a civilization that turns their conducts upside down, disorganizes their affairs, exposes them to toil and corrupts their minds. It is a civilization that knows no difference between lawful and unlawful, useful and harmful. It is full of useless markets, clubs and vacant minds! A civilization that is incapable of protecting individuals’ honor nor capable of providing them with meaningful sense of happiness in their life. Such is the reward of those who turn away from the Lord of all the worlds. Theirs is a civilization that is destroyed by its own products. It is a civilization that races towards creating all means of trouble, disturbance and destruction. Allah says what translates as, “They destroy not but their own selves, yet they perceive (it) not.” (Al-An‘aam: 26).He also says what translates as, “Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like cattle nay, they are even farther astray from the path (i.e. even worse than cattle).” (Al-Furqaan: 43).He also says what translates as: “They know only the outside appearance of the life of the world and they are headless of the Hereafter.” (Ar-Room: 7).The above are some of the characteristics of the disbelieving (Kaafir) societies and their immoral cites. 

Without realizing that they are worshipping a new religion, the Muslims accept the concept of modernization blindly. Without exploring the consequences of the idea these fanatical followers insist that economic achievement and technology progress has to set as the aim and goal of their countries. The leaders of Muslims countries belief that it is completely neutral and harmless from an ideological point of view, as the concept of modern science and technology promises nothing but benefits in terms of political and military power, health, wealth, and welfare of the people. Islam does not forbid taking the useful of modern inventions and technology. It only rejects its negative aspects.What is the benefit of a civilization in which man’s standard falls and he himself degenerates so much so that he worships other beside Allaah, that he becomes a slave of his money, lust and desire thereby falling into misery and decay. The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “Wretched is the slave of gold coins, wretched is the slave of silver coins; wretched is the slave of money and luxurious clothes. If he is given of these things he is pleased but is he is denied them, he becomes displeased. Let such a person perish and relapse and if he is pierced with a thorn, let him not find anyone to take it out for him.” (Bukhaari). ’

Nationalism, exists in Islam. Nationalism is a bond, or a number of bonds, between a group of people which makes them a political entity. Probably the most popular bonds in many nations are blood tie and language tie. Nationalism, like the family entity, is a natural step in the history of human evolution. Nationalism was not born in the nineteenth century as some students of modern history claim, for nationalism in various forms existed from ancient times.Islam did not come to destroy nationalism; it recognized nationalism, but avoided its evils. The verse in the Holy Qur’an: “O mankind! Surely We have created you of a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes so that you many know each other; surely most honorable of you with Allah is (he who is) most righteous; surely Allah is Knowing, Aware.” (The Chambers, 49:13) is a clear recognition of nationalism, and it sets a high ideal for the relationship between nations and states. Moreover, Islam made the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks, and all Muslims brethren by saying: “the believers are but brethren …” (The Chambers, 49:10). Islam did not change the nationality of the Arab or the Persian or the Turk, etc., for there is no contradiction between the existence of various nations, while, at the same time, brotherhood exists among all; for Islam is a League of Nations and does not deny the existence of its constituent nations. In short, we wish to emphasize here that nationalism, which is the most important phenomenon in western civilizations today, exists in Islam, but in a higher form which removes it far from dangers and horrors. Muslim nations today have only to struggle hard to build their national structure on the foundations of Islamic principles. 

  Teenagers and all people nowadays really look up to fashion because they want to look nice when they go out. Fashion is not something new as a lot of designers compete with each other to put their name in international so that people around the world know the existence of the brand as well as the designers want their clothe to be wear by everyone. There are a lot of brands today such as Vior, Roxy and tons more brands. The question is, are all clothes can be worn by Muslim? For the disbelievers, they may wear whatever they like because they don’t have consequences on what they are wearing. As for Islam, the women they have to cover their aurah by wearing clothes that cover their hair which they have to wear hijab and the hijab that they wear, they have to cover their chest. For the clothes, it is more appropriate if one use a clothe which cover their back. The trousers that they use must not tide. This is because, women’s aurah can only be seen by their husband. Men attire is quite simple as they only have to cover up until their knee. 

Sports are important to keep us healthy. Sports also is an activity which one may involve in an international sports such as swimming, running, tennis, football as kinds of more. For the disbelievers, they may not have any difficulty for their attire. Have they ever thought for Muslim, what should they wear so that they can cover their aurah? For the swimmers, they may cover their head, but they wear a suit that really tide and fit to their body until all the public’s can see their figure. For the footballers, the males wear shorts above the knees which male’s aurah is below the aurah. Other athletic use short shirts and pants so that they can move or do their sports easily. What the attire that they use for sports is not allowed in Islam because the attire is too fit until we can see the athletics’ body figure which is aurah. There is obviously a clash between Islam and western civilization which may affect the Muslims. 

As for the Muslims, they have generally been very slow to carry our social reforms. Men of religion in Islam, instead of undertaking the call to such reforms, and profiting from religious teachings to implement them, waste their time in verbal polemics. Furthermore, a matter which causes deep regret is the closing of the door of ijtihad (authentic induction) by the majority of the Muslims. As for the minority who recognize ijtihad, they are not profiting by it.Since the days of the disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate there have been only a few great imams. One question why imams like Abu Hanifa should not rise again, and why religious scholars should not write books that fit our modern conditions on land affairs like the book al-Karaj by Abi Yusuf. We find imams like Ibn Taymiyya and Sheikh Muhammad Abduh who opened the door of ijtihad anew, and we find Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin al’-Amily using the ijtihad in calling for reform and liberation from many superstitions and worn-out traditions. But such men are rare and too few. In young Turkey today a religious group has appeared, led by SaidHakim Pasha, who calls for opening the door of ijtihad and profiting from the noble teachings of Islam in the new life of Turkey.I wish to say that the door of social reform in Islam is a wide one. Why don’t the honorable learned men of Islam pass through it today? Why do our learned men, Allah support them, try to follow the mobs in their views and traditions and have no courage to call for reform? I believe that ijtihad in Islam will make it a permanently living religion by adapting its teachings to each age and generation in accordance with the requirements of that age and generation. 

In conclusion, as they reject religion to be part in their life, they do not follow the rules and regulations that God has outlined to them. If we played back to the history, initially they are the extremist in the past too, not as an atheist, but as the people who believe in trinity, multiple of supreme power, rejects science, and church as the only holy source and place. However today, as time gone by, they slowly reject religion, becoming other extremist, atheist, and worshipping new religion that the basis is a form of the idea of modernism, materialism or secular and thus, making science as the tool of accepting something which is not against the empirical test. The adoption of the Western forms of life and social practices is fraught with the gravest consequences for the Muslims society. Today, the West is confronting with the affliction of moral leprosy, brittle parenting and the uninhibited inter-mixing of the two sexes . If we adopt the Western civilization into the system of Islamic countries without examine, exploring and filtering the negative impact of the concept and idea, the Islamic countries will have no different with the West. Other countries will never respect Islamic countries as though they already know how we control the system of the government. They will try to avoid having a connection with the Islamic countries even though we have an excellent administration. Western civilization might not see as good as we see it, but there are many problems that we might do not know. So with problem that they occur, we should take it as an example so we can enhance our civilization to be a better one.  As we can see, there are a lot of difference between Islamic civilization and western civilization. There are a lot of improvement to be made for Muslims nowadays. We as Muslim have to appreciate because we are born as Muslim, the one and only religion that Allah approve hereafter. May Allah bless us all. Amin.