In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
GULF BETWEEN WEST AND THE ISLAMIC
WORLD - HOW TO ABRIDGE IT?
[Shamim A Siddiqi,
INTRODUCTION: The gulf between the West and the Islamic world is
mostly due to two fundamental concepts about the attitude of life on earth and
the life after death. Let us elaborate these differences keeping the living
condition of the followers of each attitude on earth as how each respectively is
acting, living and behaving in its personal, family and socio-economic-political
spheres of life both at individual and collective levels. The pattern of life
under each thinking process puts a phenomenon difference. For better
understanding of the reader I will categorized the two thinking process
as: * the natural process of the Islamic
world; * the secular world of the West.
THE NATURAL PROCESS OF ISLAMIC WORLD: Islam
envisages that:
* God, the Creator and Sustainer, created first man in his most
accomplished form, giving him three strong natural urges and one strong free
will. He subsequently created the woman out of man;
* He then created
this universe and what it contains for man;
* He then harnessed the universe for the exploration and use of human
specie for the need and satisfaction of his urges but with one condition that
he/she will be accountable in the way the human specie uses His bounties on
earth;
* God then asked the angels to bow down before Adam. Everyone did so
but not Shaitan [the devil]. Shaitan challenged God to instigate the progenies of
Adam to keep them away from the path of righteousness and God declared that
whosoever will follow thee [Shaitan] will go to hell.
*Adam was allowed to live in heaven and under only one restriction that
he will not go near a particular tree. But Shaitan, under some wrong pretext
instigated Adam and his wife to eat it. Adam immediately realized his omission
and repented to God who accepted it and pardon both of them.,
* God then descended Adam and Eve on earth with one commitment from His
side that as and when your progenies will lose or mutilate the guidance from
Me, I will continue to send it again and again to mankind through My appointed
Messengers and whosoever will follow him will be rewarded with my eternal
pleasure of paradise and whosoever will deny it will be thrown in the hellfire;
* Since then as and when humans lost the
guidance from God through their innovation or mutilation, guidance has been
coming to humans through His appointed messengers in a chain: form Adam to Noah, Abraham,
Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus and Muhammad in
a continuous process [May God be pleased with each of them] to maintain
the continuity of the Guidance and that of His Messengers so that man could not say any time that
he/she has no guidance as how to act, live and behave on earth.
* This is in brief the natural process as how the Islamic world lived
through ages as responsible citizens, loving men and women in the human society
with love for their human specie, obedient to God in every walk of life,
feeling always accountable to Him for all their actions an deeds on earth.
Thus, the God –conscious Muslims and Muslimah on earth have filled the human
abode always with love, affection, care and concern for others with no greed
and exploitation but all-service to humans and their have-nots.
This is a perpetual attitude of life that Islamic society nourishes,
promotes and propagates to the secular world to join hands, live in peace and
make the abode of man a “loveable and huggable” place both for the affluent,
the oppressed and the have-nots.
The condition of the secular world is, however, is running contrary to
this natural process of Islam since the time immemorial.
THE SECULAR WORLD OF THE WEST: The
protagonists of the secularism believe that this universe came into existence
just by accident through a Big Bang. Had
there been a God, He has nothing to do with our worldly life and here we all
free to act, behave and live as free men. This is the only life and there is no
life after death and hence no concept of accountability after death. The entire
socio-economic-political system of the West is, thus, running on the vagaries
of this secular God-less or God-omitted philosophy of life, making man living
under this cult, irresponsible, behaving recklessly and busy always to meet the
urgencies of his/her natural instincts, exploiting the limited resources of
this world with greed and maximizing his profits one way or the other.
The lust for this world and occupying its resources augmented ruthless
periods of slave trade, colonial wars, and subjugation of free countries,
imperialistic designs, two Great World Wars, destruction and forceful occupation
of
In fact, the West, unfortunately, up till now could not learn as how to
live on earth with love, care and concern for others. It could not think
appropriately that the Sustainer created the resources of this world for the
entire human race and not for the “white supremacy” alone. They have to realize
soon that Human race is one. All are the progenies of Adam and all are equal as
humans. God created the humanity in different regions for distinction and not
for posing excellence over the others. Their attitude of “supremacy” is only
creating division, dissension in the human society and makes the world very
dangerous place to live now.
THE BRIDGE: This difference of attitude and living or working
condition between the West and Islam can be abridged if we all start thinking
that:
* Human race is one and none has any distinction over the others on
account of race, color, language or geographical bounds except that of
God-consciousness and character that it generates.
* West humbly accepts that nothing happens in this world automatically.
The world is running on the principle of “cause and effect”. The cause of this
cosmos is the supreme will of the Creator and Sustainer and the universe is the
willful expression of His will. He is
Alive, Eternal and Controlling the affairs of this cosmos.
He created us and this universe for us to test who are those
individuals who live on earth in total obedience to their Sustainer and entitle
themselves to be selected by His supreme authority on the Day of Judgment that
who is fit to be the citizens of the next world after death. This is the matter
of free choice both to the people of the secular west and the followers of
Islam. With a single expression West can give up its obstinacy, repent for all
what it is doing to harm the human society, turn its face to its Creator and Sustainer
and it would be amazed to find that their Bountiful and Merciful God has
pardoned each one who repented and would instantly cover him or her under the
canopy of His eternal peace and Mercy. This
bridge is very vast and hanging right before the eyes of the Western
civilization. It is up to them to grab it and transform the human abode into an
eternal cradle of peace for themselves and for their progenies till the
doomsday.
Shamim Siddiqi
November 4, 2008