In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious Most Merciful
ISLAM & WESTERN IDEOLOGIES
A series of lectures have been conducted by the Human Enrichment Secretariat of the Muslim Society. On the 24th of August 1998, Ustadz Zhulkiflee gave a thought-provoking lecture on the topic ‘Islam and Western Ideologies’. The objectives are to highlight ideologies such as Marxism, Nationalism which are agents of erosion of Aqidah of a Muslim and also to highlight to the Muslim students at tertiary level of the need to equip themselves with the necessary understanding of the Tauhid to avoid being influenced by the stated ideologies.
Ustadz Zhulkiflee questioned the Western ideologies that have indoctrinated, or rather, accepted and practiced by Muslims worldwide. Whatever thoughts that were behind all these ideologies, they must not go against Islamic principles. He posed several questions, among which, what has Islam have to say about the system of living?
" And fulfil the Covenant of God When ye have entered into it, And break not your oaths After ye have confirmed them; Indeed ye have made, God your surety; for God Knoweth all that ye do." Surah An-Nahl (16:91)
The ayat is to remind us, Muslims of the oath that we have made, the kalimah syahadah i.e. ‘There is no God worthy of worship but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’. Based on this kalimah that we have testified upon, we should bear witness to and mindful of this. The concept of living in this world should be based on the concept of tauhid. However, due to the circumstances and the environment that we, Muslims have been subjected to, we have to remember our oath and not be immersed in the worldly affairs.
He also touched upon the role of ulamak in the present times. A lot have been said of ulamaks, being merely thinkers and their job were just to quotes ayats from the AlQuran and AsSunnah. However, is not the present system of governing based upon the philosophical thinking of Aristotle and his students. Are not the present business strategies based upon the wisdom of Sun Tzu, the Chinese war general? Are not the systems or doctrines implemented based upon the ideas of thinkers. He stressed that we do have philosophical thoughts behind all this, quoting great thinkers like Al-Farabi and Al-Nuruni. It was disheartening to note that we have to ask Edward de Bono to teach us how to think when great Muslims thinkers have founded manhaj developed from AlQuran and AsSunnah. In a way, the whole heritage developed for us are thrown away from us.
Referring to a recent article published in the Straits Times titled ‘ Affront to Modernity’, the editor tries to paint a very bad picture of the Muslims. Ustadz Zhulkiflee stressed that Islam teaches tawazoon, the middle path. What is modernity? Modernisation is an external process whereas modernity is the effect of modernisation on people’s mind. To clarify the distinction between modernisation and modernity, he brought in the concept of materialism. He stressed that Islam is not against material acquisition but it is against materialism i.e. the effect of material acquisition on one’s faith which might drift someone away from the remembrance of Allah.
An interesting aspect from the view of history was touched upon by Ustadz Zhulkiflee. He pointed out that there was a missing link between the era of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance followed by the Reformation. In the 14th century, the Dark Ages was occurring in Europe whereby it was in a chaotic state with no sense of direction. The Europeans were not aware the light was shining in Saudi Arabia with the prophethood of Muhammad and the revelation of AlQuran. A cosmopolitan civilization founded on tauhid was emerging. The man’s purpose in life and the worship of One God by way of knowledge. To emphasize this point, the first revelation was Iqra’.
"1.Proclaim! (or Read!) In the name Of thy Lord and Cherisher Who created 2.Created man, out of A (mere) clot Of congealed blood 3.Proclaim! And thy Lord Is most Bountiful, 4.He who taught (the use of ) the Pen 5.Taught man that Which he knew not." Surah Iqra’ (96:1-5)
Thus it was actually Islam who reintroduced the importance of the pursuit of knowledge to the world. Institutes of higher learning were founded beyond the shores of Arabia in places like Baghdad and Andalusia (Spain). At Andalusia, people from the dark Ages came to learn from the great Muslim thinkers who discovered the approach to learning. The learning lead to the utilization of one purpose i.e. to worship Al-Mighty Allah. The effect of the light of Islam is that where humanism began in the 14th century, it reached its peak in the Renaissance and Reformation. There was never a contradiction between religion and science in Islam. Furthermore, the most fearful of Allah are the scholars.
In the pursuit of knowledge, Ustadz Zhulkiflee warned of the dangers and reminded us Muslims to be careful. Ideologies such as Darwinism, Freudism and quantum mechanics have founders who detach themselves away from the belief in god and atheistic in nature. Whatever knowledge that we pursue, it must always be based on tauhid. He also emphasized that learning is the way of attesting to the oneness of Allah.
In Islam, philosophy is founded on Tauhid- the 6 articles of Faith. What is a good system of living? A system will be good if it takes into consideration Man’s nature. The only system in existence which considers Man is Islam whereby the model is based on the Quran. Economics is very materialistic in nature whereby its only concerned with the distribution of wealth.
To explain further Islam’s concern with man, Ustadz Dzhulkiflee quoted the Shariah law. He cleared the misconception that Shariah law is not hudud law. Shariah covers every aspect of Man’s purpose in life. However, what actually is Shariah law?
Shariah comes from the root word which means law. It can also be interpreted as sail, meaning to sail through life. The Sha’riah seeks to preserve the basic essentials of Man that are as follows:
Thus, it is evident that Islam seeks to ensure that the development of Man leads to the glorification of Allah. The faith of Muslims would be manifested in amal which would lead to a perfect human being.
In Islam, knowledge is categorised into fardu ain or kifayah, manfaat or non-manfaat, traditional knowledge (usul) and introductory knowledge(muqaddimah). Examples of muqaddimah is learning how to read and write, learning a language and in the present age, being IT literate. We cannot ignore the pursuit of knowledge because we are part of an ummah and the knowledge will benefit us all.
In conclusion, philosophy is a tool towards achieving Mardhatillah( god’s pleasure). He urges us Muslims, especially at the tertiary level to strive in the pursuit of knowledge and produce Islamic thinkers who will counter the influx of Western ideologies.
