I agree with some of what you said, but freedom of speech…a word on the Holocaust or sodomites, and freedom of speech goes down the toilet. Dichotomy is not ideal, but the decadence of the west as filtered to the “Muslim word” and created a paroxysm combustion.

Maybe you have read the full texts, which I have not, in which case you would have more basis for your opinion that me for mine. But, based only on what is provided in this article, I understood ‘culture’ to mean the culture of Islam, rather than the culture of the ‘nations currently hosting the message of Islam’ – I think we all know these are two distinct and often very different things.

There is probably some truth to the view that the sad state of such host nations is related to the failure to bring the entrusted message wider, at a time when the Muslim peoples had strength. Andalusia – though it hosted a Golden Age – stopped where it did and was later lost because latter rulers focused more on fighting each other than on what motivated them there in the first place. and latter empires like the Mughal and Ottomans – let’s just say they could have done much better and been much better examples.

I also hope Muslims living in the West really establish a sustained base where positive, empowered outlooks and actual practical deeds emanate from not just to sustain the message in the West, but to re-da’wa the East. Fortunately with modern communications and travel technology (via Western civ) this exchange has commenced. As an example, the thing that modified my outlook the most when I began reading this site and consider the many convert-driven/West-based Islamic community or da’wa groups, is how HAPPY and EASYGOING you seem to be in doing your stuff in spite of frequently dealing with or even seeking out non-Muslims and what might be termed ‘sinners’. and i know from hadith that invariably the description of Prophet Muhammad’s way of day-to-day dealing with people – including some rather questionable and objectionable people – is consistent with HAPPY and EASYGOING. yet from my upbringing, I just couldn’t really picture what that might look like in actual terms, until i saw the example of these converts. indeed, we are created with diversity, so that we may learn from each other.

I think that your worries were very well addressed in the article that followed this one. 🙂

Sr. Sarah,
There is no doubt good in the Shaykhs analysis and advice. Muslims definitely should ask the question of whether the Western economic and developmental model is sustainable or even moral/ethical…the answer in many cases being: no. It is also laudable telling Muslims to hold onto their din whatever their environment and to display and preach the din to the West.

If this was all the shaykh said and he had constructed the entire argument within this paradigm, no problem. It is obvious the Qur’an and hadith call for this and something Muslims must do. Unfortunately he does not restrict himself to that.

The Shaykh says these things, but he does so within a clearly dichotomous model. It is starkly Manichean, with Muslims portrayed as having the whole truth and the West as being a “dying corpse” in his words. This is absolutely and patently false and comes off as just cheerleading for Muslims.

He openly tells Muslims, for instance, to be proud of their cultures and disdain the culture of the west. This is ridiculous. There is good and bad in every culture, as culture is separate from pure din. There are good things in Western culture and bad things in Muslim cultures…civilizations do not necessarily reflect the purity of the din as an abstraction.

For example, there is no longer any social stigma in the West with being a divorcee. In the Muslim world, good luck to any woman who wishes to get remarried(to someone her own age and within her own social status) if she’s divorced. The West is not predominantly Muslim, but who is closer to the din in this specific instance, Muslim culture or the West?

The pluses and minuses extend into law as well.
Are we not here because the West allows immigration?
What Muslim country does? Immigrants are treated HORRIBLY in Muslim countries. Ask South Asian or African workers what life is like for them in Dubai or Saudi Arabia…they are not even treated like human beings let alone allowed to immigrate.

Or how about freedom of speech?
You and I can discuss these things thanks to this right. We love Imam Suhaib, and he can interpret the faith for us and speak as he wishes, based on his own conscience. Do you think this web site would have any chance of operating as it does in Saudi Arabia? Could some of the things said on this site be openly said in Pakistan or Afghanistan or anywhere in the Muslim world?

What is going on in Bangladesh right now with these riots over a blasphemy law? Why was Salman Taseer killed in Pakistan? Why was Bassem Youssef arrested in Brotherhood Egypt?

The Shaykh’s writing do not reflect these fine nuances. They are either ignorant of realities in the Muslim world or completely outdated and reflect a time when our grandparents perhaps lived in more authentically Islamic societies.

As it is, his writing are shallow Muslim nationalist cheer-leading lacking discrimination and nuances, or they assume an ISLAMIC IDEAL…which doesn’t exist. It is unfair to compare Islamic IDEALS to Western realities…and as far as Muslim realities go, if the West is a corpse, then we are so decayed only bones are left. I’d love to see the Shaykh visit modern day Pakistan to re-energize his spirituality.

Muslim society is an absolute disaster. There is a total breakdown in basic akhlaq…civility, humanity and even basic safety. And we’re going to save the West? The very idea, looking at modern day Muslims, is laughable if you mean the Muslim World at large.

American/Canadian/European Muslims who SHUN the baggage from overseas and native converts perhaps…people who take the best of the west AND Islam…In other words rather than engage in a contest of superiority and cultural paternalistic triumphalism, synthesize an Islam that is vibrant and free of the obvious malaise of both the Muslim world and the West..

There is good in the west, not just technological…but also in terms of tolerance, rights(RIGHTS…not lamely justified socially constructed “duties”) for women, minorities, etc. Freedom of speech and difference of opinion with no fear of violence or imprisonment(yes, some recent exceptions which are an abuse of the law, but it’s the norm), generally honest government and the ability to replace and criticize it, etc., etc. etc….

Yeah, there are problems as well like legalized bribery(lobbying), breakdown of some social values, a corrupted economic system, warmongering(the weapons industry) etc…

In other words it’s a MIXED BAG.
…and Muslims are PLENTY mixed themselves.
The Muslim countries are an outright disaster zone with lonely exceptions like Turkey and Malaysia being better than the others.

I think it’s best to say the West and Muslim world both have their pluses and their minuses…and we should do as the Qur’an says “Get to know EACHOTHER”…not this “Muslims are great” junk where we come teach these “lost” Westerners how to live.

I agree with Michael above. With all due respect to the Shaykh, just as he advises us to take the best of the West and reject the rest…must take the best of the Shaykhs writing and reject the rest. I have no patience for these rigid, supremacist, ideologically rigid exercises in self adulation….This nonsense has not worked for 100 years and is not going to work now…

And I related strongly to the idea of telling non-Muslims, “You are drowning and we can save you.” I have felt this exact, painful sentiment amongst my non Muslim friends, and in speaking to them, they have found themselves agreeing that their sources of pain were the ones I pointed out.