About this blog

In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.

This blog is dedicated:-

1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.

24 Dec 2009

Making sense of Secularism

Secularism implies that the Divine Guidance, worship of God, and obedience to Him, should be confined to the personal life of each individual and except for the small sphere of a person's private life, all other affairs of this world should be settled purely from the worldly viewpoint, according to our own wishes and expediency. In such matters it is out of the question to think of what GOD may have commanded, what His Guidance consists of and what the Divine Books may lay down. This attitude owes its origin to the reaction that set in among the Western peoples as a result of their hatred of the man made theology of Christian missionaries, a theology which had become a curse for them and which forged their shackles. Gradually, however, this attitude developed into an independent theory of life and then became the foundation of modern civilisation. One often hears the utterance, religion is a private affair between GOD and man. This brief sentence is in fact the creed of ‘modern civilisation'. It implies that if a man's conscience bears witness to the fact that there is a GOD Who should be worshipped, he is welcome to do so in his individual and personal life. But GOD should have nothing to do with this world and its collective affairs. The system of life built upon the foundation of this creed seeks to disassociate from the influence of GOD and Religion all the relations between man and man and between man and this world. Culture, education, economics, law, parliament, politics and administration of public affairs and international relations are all to be divested of this influence. Whatever is done in all these numerous aspects of life should be regulated by one's own whims and knowledge. It would be irrelevant, indeed wrong in principle, and even a sign of the utmost ignorance to say that GOD has prescribed certain principles and laid down some commandments for us for the regulation of such matters. (Zidan, 1992, pp.93-94)

The theory that GOD and Religion are concerned only with the individual life of man is completely meaningless, having nothing to do with reason and argument. It is perfectly obvious that the relations of man and GOD cannot lie beyond either of two alternatives. Either GOD is The Creator of man and the world in which he lives as well as being its Master and Sovereign, or He is not. If He is neither The Creator nor The Master, nor again The Sovereign, then it is entirely unnecessary to have any relations with Him. It is utterly absurd to worship [that is, serve] a being entirely unconcerned and having nothing to do with us. But if He is in reality our Creator, Master, and Sovereign and so also of this universe, then it is equally meaningless that His jurisdiction should be limited to the private life of an individual and from the very point from which the contact of one person with another commences, His jurisdiction should cease and come to an end.

If this limitation has been imposed by GOD Himself, then there should be some authority for it. But if man has assumed this independence himself and discarded GOD from his collective life, then this constitutes an open rebellion against his Creator, Master, and Sovereign. And only a lunatic can claim to combine with this rebellious attitude, the claim that he accepts GOD, His Religion, Guidance and directions in his individual life. There can be nothing more absurd than that each person should claim individually to be the servant and slave of GOD, but when these separate individuals collectively form themselves into a society, they should cease to be servants of GOD Almighty; that each component in a society should constitute GOD's servants. But the composite whole of these parts should not be His servants. Surely it is a proposition which a madcap alone can conceive of.

Again it passes our understanding completely that if we do not need GOD and His Guidance and direction in our family affairs, in the affairs of our town and city, in our schools and colleges, in our bazaars and markets, in our parliaments and government houses, in our high courts and secretariat offices, in our cantonments and police lines, and in our battlefields and peace conferences, then what other sphere of life is left in which He should be needed at all? Why should such a GOD be accepted and believed in or worshipped, Who is either so useless that He does not give us any guidance in the affairs of our life or (we seek the refuge of GOD in saying so) that He is so foolish that none of his directions to regulate our affairs appear to us to be reasonable or practicable?

So much for the intellectual side of this question. But when we look at it from the practical viewpoint, the consequences are extremely serious. The fact of the matter is that whichever aspects of mans' life are divested of relationship with GOD, will be contacted by the devil himself. Truly speaking, the private life of an individual is nothing but a mere name. Man is a social being and his whole life is collective and social. To start with, he is born as a result of the social contact of a mother and a father. On coming into this world, he opens his eyes in a family and as soon as he comes of age he comes into contact with society, a brotherhood, a township, a nation, a cultural system, a social system, an economic system, and a political system.

All these numerous contacts which bind him to others and the other people to him, on the rectitude of them all indeed depends the welfare and success of each individual and of all the human beings as a whole. And GOD Alone is capable of vouchsafing to man stable, enduring, equitable and correct principles, and to prescribe proper limits for the regulation of human contacts. Whenever man acts independently of Divine Guidance, nothing is left of the permanent and firm principles of truth and justice. This is because after depriving himself of GOD's Guidance, no other source is left to seek guidance from except man's own passions, imperfect knowledge and experience.

That is why in a society based on the secular system , or irreligiousness, principles are made and unmade every now and then due to the shifting passions of the people. You can see how in every aspect of human relations have entered the evils of injustice, oppression, faithlessness, unbelief and lack of mutual confidence. Individual, class, tribal and racial selfishness have overshadowed all human affairs. Starting with the relations between any two persons and right up to the relations between nations, there is no aspect which is intact and free from evil and crookedness. Every individual, group, class, nation and country within its own sphere of jurisdiction has whenever possible evolved laws, principles and regulations to secure its own particular ends and objectives and none of them cares in the least what effect or influence this will have on other individuals, groups, classes and nations. The only thing for which they care is power and force.

Whenever and wherever there is the fear of force they retract their hands and feet which are otherwise spread out beyond all limits. But it is obvious that force is not a conscious and equitable thing. It is nothing more than blind power; hence, it has never been able to bring about a proper balance and equilibrium in human affairs. Whoever possesses greater force does not merely squeeze others to the extent desirable but thinks more and more about expanding himself. Hence, irreligiousness or secularism implies nothing more than this: That whoever adopts it as his creed and attitude in life will reduce himself to an irresponsible and unbridled of his own self, be it an individual, a group, a country, a nation, or a group of nations. (Zidan, 1992, pp.97-100)

[Article extracted from ‘Islam and Secularism’ by Parvez-Video Website]
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What they said...

“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”





[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]





"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world. It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"





[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]





"For the first three centuries of its existence (circ. A.D 650-1000) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Moslem world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages."





[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]





"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse."





[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]



"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition."





[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]





“The Muhammadan Law which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”





[Edmund Burke, British Statesman and Philosopher, 1789]





"The Exile here is not like in our homeland. The Turks hold respectable Jews in esteem. Here and in Alexandria, Egypt, Jews are the chief officers and administrators of the customs, and the king’s revenues. No injuries are perpetuated against them in all the empire. Only this year, in consequence of the extraordinary expenditure caused by the war against Shah Tahmsap al-Sufi, were the Jews required to make advances of loans to the princes."





[David dei Rossi, Jewish Traveller 17CE, quoted by Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands]





"The notable religious tolerance towards Christians and Jew under Muslim rule had given way to the uncompromising zealotry of Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims thus fled Spain with large numbers of Jews immigrating to the Ottoman Empire which was known for its tolerance to the Jews."





[Graham Fuller, Author and former CIA, 1995]





“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straightjacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and systems of beliefs, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history”





[Charles Philip Arthur George, HRH The Prince of Wales, 1993]





"...Not being subject to the Sharia, Jews and Christians were free to go to their own religious authorities for adjudication of disputes; but in many cases they went instead to the [Muslim] Qadi"





[Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History and Author, 2004]





"Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed by heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and each one of us lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow star as a badge of shame as is the case in Germany where even wealth and great fortune is a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your loins, collect up your forces and come to us."





[In his book 'Constantinople', Philip Mansel quotes a rabbi in Turkey writing to his brethren in Europe where they were facing increasing persecution after 1453]





"Praise be to the beneficent God for his mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [the Caliph’s] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favour by costly presents, such as the king of the Germans, the king of the Gebalim, the king of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. (Let my lips express praise to the God in heaven who so far extends his loving kindness towards me without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of his mercies.) I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs about our brethren the Jews, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have pined in bondage and had found no rest."





[Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-990 CE) Jewish physician, chief minister of Islamic Caliphate in Cordova, 'The Jewish Caravan']





"In Baghdad there are about forty thousand Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity, and honour under the great Caliph [al-Mustanjid, 1160-70 CE], and amongst them are great sages, the Heads of the Academies engaged in the study of the Law…’"





[Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi in Baghdad in the year 1168 CE, 'The Jew in the Medieval World']





"Those Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down, on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, in those very terms, comprehending the rights of individual liberty, and of inviolability of person and property; described the supreme power in Islam, or Califate, as based on a contract, implying conditions of capacity and performance, and subject to cancellation if the conditions under the contract were not fulfilled; elaborated a Law of War of which the humane, chivalrous prescriptions would have put to the blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Moslem creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.





[Leon Ostorog, French Jurist]





"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence"





[Robert Briffault, Novelist and Historian, 1928]





"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia"





[Oliver Joseph Lodge, Writer and Professor of Physics, 1893]





“Thus, when Muslims crossed the straits of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Jews welcomed them as liberators from Christian Persecution.”





[Zion Zohar, Jewish scholar at Florida International University, 2005]







“Throughout much of the period in question, Arabic served as the global language of scholarship, and learned men of all stripes could travel widely and hold serious and nuanced discussions in this lingua franca. Medieval Western scholars who wanted access to the latest findings also needed to master the Arabic Tongue or work from translations by those who had done so.”





[Jonathan Lyons, Author, Writer and Lecturer, 2009]