Is Islam a Failure?
Critic:-
Islam is a failure. That is why people come to the West.
In spite of its aggressiveness, Islam is engaged in a blind alley. In case of victory, what has Islam to offer?
Comment:-
The coming of Islam transformed the world by bringing an advanced civilization and psychological, scientific, political and moral progress, and it still continues to do so.
Critic:-
Even from a moral point of view Islam has nothing to offer, due to the fact it is a totalitarian system and not a democratic one.
Comment:-
It is a common mistake made by the unintelligent to confuse Islam with a particular people or States.
Islam expands the horizon by making us aware of a greater reality. But this has not yet been universally understood. Islam brought the idea of objectivity, in thought, motive and action. But it has only been applied in science and not in politics, economics, culture and life in general.
Critic:-
The Muslims who emigrated to western countries are learning democracy and freedom of thought. Those of them who go to western schools will know other way of thinking and will become open minded. They will not remain prisoner of a one-way culture.
Comment:-
Muslims, like other human beings throughout history, migrate for many reasons, including economic ones. There is no doubt that the West is more advanced than many other countries, Economically, Technologically, Politically and Educationally. But let not the critic be stupid and confuse two different things - the conditions of life with an ideal and shut his eyes.
Muslims also learn that the West also creates much psychological, social and environmental problems which threaten to destroy it - there is much depravity, perversion, crime, delinquency, immorality, violence, psychopathy, neurosis, psychosis, materialism, all kinds of induced organic diseases, prostitution, unhappiness and distress caused by the destruction of the family and society, mistreatment of children. There is pollution, wastage of resources, adulteration of food, air, water, and land, destruction of the ecological system; injustice, swindling, exploitation, corrupt business and political practices; there are people in debt all their lives, deprived of their houses, thrown out of employment, suffering from diseases caused by industrial poisons and stresses, killed and maimed by machinery and road accidents, thousands trying to escape from the reality of western life through drug addiction and alcohol, people manipulated and brain washed by advertisers, publicity agents, propagandists and spin doctors, and so on.
They will learn that it is not enough to have an open mind, but that one must also have discrimination and purpose. Drifting aimlessly in the wilderness leads to destruction.
They will, therefore, wish to create a better society than the West has created. It accepted only some of the good influences from Islam and ignored others.
Critic:-
Religious people are no better than others. In fact some people without religion are kinder and more able than those who follow a religion, and some religious people are much worse than those without religion.
Comment:-
Yes this is true. But Religion is for those who are aware of wider horizons, realize their limitations and strive to expand. Many people are regarded as good and able because they are so inherently or because of circumstances, cannot help being so, or do not need to make much effort to be so. Indeed, circumstances may even make people appear to be good when they are not. For instance, people may give much to charity in order to look good to others or do a good turn in order to obligate others. There may be ulterior selfish motives for doing good.
This is not how religions define good. Good is that which is done deliberately for the sake of God. It is objective and unselfish. It is not a question of comparing some people with others, but of comparing how a person was without religion and after it - did he improve.
The question is: What criteria are being used to judge whether something is a success or failure. The criteria people use are themselves signs of the quality of people and progress or success can be measured by their sophistication. One must have a purpose in mind. Is it material wealth, technological progress, social organization, the quality of the environment or is it human qualities? The Islamic criteria are derived from the Attributes of Allah. These refer to Truth, Compassion and Justice and to the cultivation of consciousness, conscience and self-control.
From the beginning with one Prophet and one Book, Islam expanded rapidly and now has about a billion adherents. It must have had some resonance in the hearts of people and some useful function in human affairs to do this. It created several Empires and several Civilisations. It brought people out of the darkness of ignorance and superstition into the light of truth and virtue.
It is true that it did not affect all equally, and that the people have also degenerated since then. But even if only 1% of Muslims reach higher spiritual development, this is still a great number of people.
It stimulated the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment in Europe and is, therefore, partly responsible for Western Civilisation. It influenced and caused reformations in other religions, including Buddhism and Christianity. Much that Western take for granted have their unrecognised origin in Islam or exist owing to Islamic influences.
Islam has certainly transformed the world. All its contents and features have certainly not been implemented. It has still much to offer. There are certainly a great many psychological, social and environmental problems that have yet to be dealt with, created by the one sided progress owing to unguided human efforts. There are Islamic solutions to these.
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