Table of ContentsIntroductionIslam and the Western WorldConclusionIntroductionNowadays, it is in the nature of things that if one needs to discuss the challenges presented to the Islam by the West and, indeed, by modern civilization in general. We must start by using the sword of discrimination and launching into a sort of “intellectual iconoclasm”. Nowadays, the modern world prides itself on having developed critical thinking and the power of objective criticism, when in reality it is, in a fundamental sense, the least critical of all known civilizations because it does not possess the objective criteria for judging and criticizing one's own civilization. actions. It is an institution that fails in any fundamental reform because it cannot begin by reforming itself. Additionally, there is an old saying that the devil hates sharp edges and points. This saying has a certain relevance that applies directly to the current situation. The devil manifests his influence by softening all the sharp edges and points accessible to him, so that sharp distinctions disappear. The boundaries of clearly defined doctrines undergo a corrosive process and their definition gradually diminishes. Good and evil become intertwined, and even the fearful rites and doctrines, which constitute God's most precious gift to man, become vague and indefinite as a result of this corrosive influence. This article therefore discusses the relationship between Islam and the Western world and the challenges it presents. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIslam and the Western WorldTo discuss the challenges of the modern world for Islam requires a rigorous application of discernment intellectual based solely on the Shahadah, the first letter of which, when written in Arabic, is actually shaped like a sword. This sword must be used to break the lying idols of the new age of ignorance or Jahiliya. It must always be remembered that in the current situation, any form of criticism of the modern world based on metaphysical and religious principles is a form of charity and in accordance with the most central virtues of Islam. Furthermore, Muslims should never forget that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) not only possessed adab in its most perfect form, but also asserted the truth in the most frank and direct manner. There were periods in the life of the Prophet (PBUH) when he was extremely categorical and he never sacrificed the truth for the sake of Adab. What is missing in the Islamic world today is in-depth examination and careful criticism of everything that happens in the Islamic world. modern world. Without such criticism, nothing serious can ever be done to confront the West. All statements by modernized Muslims that begin with the statement "The way to harmonize Islam" and end with anything after the "and" are doomed to end in disaster unless what follows is a another divinity revealed and inspired by visions of the world. Furthermore, attempts to harmonize Islam with Western socialism or anything else of the sort are doomed to failure from the outset because they begin without exposing the system in question to in-depth critique in light of the Islamic principles, and also because they consider Islam as a partial vision. of things must be supplemented by some form of modern ideology rather than by a complete system and perspective in itself whose very existence excludes the possibility of it becoming a simple adjective to modify another noun that is consideredalmost unconsciously as central to the place of Islam. The rapid changes in the fashions of the times, popular Islamic socialism one day and liberalism or other Westernism the next, are proof of the absurdity and superficiality of such an approach. Anyone who truly understands the structure of Islam in its entirety knows that Islam can never allow itself to be reduced to the status of a mere modifier, or a mere modifier. contingency a system of thought which remains independent of it . The defensive and apologetic attitude adopted by so many modern Muslims towards the various fashionable modes of thought that emerge from the West almost with the rapidity of seasonal change is closely linked to their lack of critical acumen and wit. of discernment. Most of the time, obvious inadequacies and what is easy to criticize are criticized, but only a few have enough courage to stand up and criticize the fundamental errors of our time. Nowadays, there are only a few people in the Islamic world who can challenge the West, criticize it and, with the sword of intellect and spirit, respond in its very foundations to the challenge facing it. The West confronts Islam. essentially two main classes of people concerned with philosophical, religious and intellectual issues, the ulma and the modernists. It is only recently that a third group has begun to emerge, namely a group which, like the ulma, is traditional, but which also knows the modern world. But the number of this third group still remains very insufficient. As for the ulma and other spiritual authorities, they generally do not possess in-depth knowledge of the difficulties and complexities of the modern world. Regardless, they are the defenders and protectors of the Islamic tradition, without them the very existence of the tradition would be threatened. The ulma are criticized by modernists for not knowing Western science and philosophy or how the modern economy works. But the criticism, which is again the easy kind so easily made by modernists, is mostly misplaced. Those who possessed political and financial power in the Islamic world over the last century rarely allowed madrasahs to develop in a direction that would allow them to provide the ulema class with the opportunity to better understand the modern world without allowing themselves corrupted by it. . In the few places where attempts were made to modify the madrasa curriculum, the hidden intention was more often to suppress the traditional educational system by distorting it beyond any hope of redemption than to expand its curriculum into a real meaning to include courses that would familiarize students with the modern world seen in the light of Islamic teachings. Moreover, few attempts have been made to create institutions that could bridge the gap between traditional madrasas and modern educational institutes. Furthermore, in the second of our three classes we have the product of either Western universities or universities in the Islamic world more or less similar to those in the West. Today, universities across the Islamic world find themselves in a state of identity crisis, as an education system is organically linked to the culture in which it functions. For example, a train can arrive at a terminal in any country in Asia or Europe, no matter where it is, it will still be identified as part of its country of origin. The same cannot be said of an educational system, because an educational system cannot simply be imported, and the fact that modern universities in the Islamic world are facing a calamity ofnature different from that found in the West is in itself proof of this assertion. . Crises could only exist, because the original Islamic culture is still alive. Moreover, this crisis deeply affects those who are trained in these universities and who are usually called “the Intelligentsia”. This expression, like the term intellectual, is most unfortunate insofar as those to whom it is applied are often the most detached from the domination of the intellect in its true sense. But whatever you call them, most members of this class, who are products of Western-oriented universities, mostly have one characteristic in common, namely a love for all things which is Western and the meaning of Western.alienation of Islamic things. This inferiority complex is opposed to that of the West among so many modernized Muslims. This complex is, furthermore, shared by Buddhists, Hindus and other modernized Orientals. How modern forms of idolatry affect the psychosis constitutes the greatest challenge facing Islam. world, and it afflicts the very group that might be expected to face the challenge from the West. Islam's encounter with the West cannot therefore be discussed without taking into consideration the type of mentality which is often the product of modern university education and which, over the last century, has given rise to most apologetic Islamic writings which attempt to focus on the encounter between Islam and the West. This modernized and remorseful type of approach has attempted to respond to the challenge of the West by falling back in a servile attitude to show in one way or another that this or that element of Islam does not is only what is in fashion. in the West today, while other elements, for which it has not been possible to find a Western equivalence even by the greatest stretch of the imagination, have simply been dismissed as unimportant later "accretions" , or even superfluous. Unlimited arguments have been made for the hygienic nature of Islamic rites and the "egalitarian" character of the message of Islam, not because such things are true when seen in the broader context of the total Islamic message. , but because hygiene and egalitarianism are the fundamental principles of Islam. ideas currently accepted in the West or at least they were before the “hippie” movement. By upholding such obvious and easily defended characteristics, apologetics have evaded the whole challenge of the West, which threatens the heart of Islam and which no attempt to appease the enemy can avoid. “When surgery is necessary, a knife must be available to remove the infected area.” Also, when error threatens religious truth, nothing can replace the sword of criticism and discernment. One cannot remove the negative effect of error by making peace with it and pretending to be its friend. The attitude of remorse is even more pathetic when it concerns itself with philosophical and intellectual questions. When people read some of this category of apologetic literature, which came primarily from Egypt and the subcontinent at the beginning of that era and which attempted to emulate all the very outdated and defunct debates that were going on between theology and science in Victorian England. and France of the same period, the weakness of these works, supposed to respond to the challenge of the West, appears most obvious, and even more so in the context of the decades which have passed since. Afforce, we could then hear the strong voice of traditional authorities, who, relying on the immutable principles of..