Every expression has its won special...

Every expression has its won special, definite meaning, a certain ideological sense; and a well-defined cultural import, It is not right to use the word "freedom" the way capitalists and pornographers do, or understand it in the sphere of personal conduct, economics and polities the way they do. Nor, it is right to understand "homeland" and "nation" the way man-made theories and laws do. We should understand it as it is in Islam; our nation is the Muslim 'ummah'.

The concept of 'ummah', as we know it, is 'a human group bound to each other by the bonds of doctrine and principle; 'The Muslim 'ummah' is one; always open to new converts, but of a definite type and character.' So, the Muslim 'ummah' is never restricted to a certain community, people, land or language and it is capable of increasing in number. Any individual, or nation that embraces Islam joins this 'ummah' and becomes part of it.

'Culture' and 'civilization' are two words that are vaguely and wrongly understood by many people; some people even mix them up. As a result, a call to abolish the cultural character of the Muslim 'ummah' has emerged. Some called for subservience, first, to the Western materialistic culture, and then, to the Communist, Marxist one.

They also called for dissolving the 'ummah's' character, and obliterating its peculiarities by means of borrowing foreign concepts, and modifying certain expressions and slogans, without touching a borrowed thought; which is alien to Islam. Great effort was made, actually , by the 'ideological agents' and the collaborators of the 'cultural imperialism' to achieve this end.

It is a matter of great importance to properly define the meanings of 'culture' and 'civilization', and show the correct use of each of these two words. In order to explain the difference between them, let us define these expressions, and give some examples. Culture is 'a set of ideas and concepts about the universe, existence, life and man'. Under this category fall beliefs, laws, regulations, morals, philosophy, art, and literature.

Briefly, culture can be defined as 'a set of principles and values on which human character and social life are based, and by which their relationship is defined'. The scope of culture is then, 'the human side of life'. And, it is due to this that the concept of culture, and the way of developing it, varies from one culture to another; and, so, we have Islamic culture, Greek culture, Roman culture, Capitalist culture, Communist culture ...