Islam, Democracy & Western Culture - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Islam, Democracy & Western Culture 2023-03-23 498 Views Islam, Democracy, Western Culture Today, suspicious rightist groups with links to international Zionism have increased their attacks on Muslims and Islamic beliefs in the West. Under different pretexts including anti-terrorism, Muslims are being harassed. With the suspicious murder of Dutch Filmmaker “Theo Van Gogh”, the western media, particularly the Europeans have conducted a new wave of anti-Islam campaigns. The perpetrators of these propaganda attacks that have further intensified in Germany and the Netherlands have come up with brazen calls on Muslims to either give up their religion and accept western values, or to leave Europe. A German daily newspaper whipping up emotions recently went on utter blasphemy against the Holy Quran. He alleges that Muslims do not have a critical evaluation of their beliefs and scriptures. Does this show how ignorant the writer of the article Herbert Prantel is? He does not have a proper awareness of Islam and is being taken for a ride by devilish groups. A glance at the verses of the Holy Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet and his infallible successors makes it clear that Islam is the religion of thought, rational reasoning and conscious criticism. Almighty Allah has asked human beings to accept the principles of Islam through proof and logic. Islam is the religion of humanity without any discrimination of race, language, colour and class. It is actually the code for the perfect life. In Islam awareness, knowledge and insight have a special status and several verses of the Glorious Quran, as well as the Traditions of the Infallibles, urge mankind to contemplate and acquire knowledge for discovering the truth and firming up their beliefs in monotheism and humanitarian principles. It is thus natural that criticism is one of the essential factors for the acquisition of knowledge and thinking. Islam has left the room open for criticism and debates for removing doubts, providing that such discussions are aimed at arriving at the truth. In Verse No.17 and 18 of Chapter Zumar, Almighty Allah says: “As for those who stay clear of the worship of fake deities and turn penitently to Allah, there is good news for them. So give good news to My servants– who listen to the word [of Allah] and follow the best [interpretation] of it. They are the ones whom Allah has guided, and it is they who possess intellect”. (39:17-18) A glance at the Verses, it should remove any doubt about the rationality of Islam. In other words, Islam not only does not fear criticism but it invites all towards a conscious selection of truthful ideas and statements, and not blind following. But, what Islam frowns upon, is ridiculing and mocking of others, in view of the fact that the Prophet and his infallible successor (PBUTH ALL) have taught the Ummah to respect the thoughts of others and to deal with them logically and reasonably without insult. The impeccable behaviour of the Prophet while dealing with the idolaters is a clear testimony in this regard. Islam does not allow an illogical and unreasonable assault even on those who profess false beliefs, let alone ridiculing Christians and Jews, whom it calls People of the Book since they were given heavenly scriptures. Islam is the most perfect of all divine religions and the last and most comprehensive code for mankind revealed by Almighty Allah, superseding all beliefs. Muslims believe in all divine messengers including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others (peace be upon them all). The Holy Quran stresses that there is no difference among prophets. It says: “The Apostle has faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord and all the faithful. Each[ of them ]has faith in Allah, His angels, His scriptures and His apostles.[ They declare, ]” We make no distinction between any of His apostles.” And they say,” We hear and obey. Our Lord, forgive us, and toward You is the return.”(2:285) Muslims hold the view that divine religions like the current Christianity and Judaism have unfortunately undergone certain distortions and are not the exact code that was revealed by Almighty Allah to Prophet Moses and Prophet Jesus respectively. The Holy Quran points to irrefutable facts in this regard and invites mankind to discuss in a frank, fair and polite manner to discover the truth. The Holy Quran even challenges those who do not believe to bring at least a few lines matching its timeless wisdom and unrivalled eloquence of words, a challenge that none has ever succeeded to take up despite the fact that the Arab world has given birth to famous Christian scholars of the Arabic language, all of whom have stood in awe of its dynamism. The rationality of Islam and its critical approach is thus in contrast to the yellow journalism of the western media and the insults to which western officials and authors stoop in the name of democracy. Insult to divine religions and the Prophets stems from weak logic and reasoning. The German Writer, Herbert Prantel in his newspaper article says that sacred books including the Holy Quran and the Bible should not be placed higher or even parallel with what he likes to call the fundamental culture of the west. By fundamental culture, he means western liberal democracy and seems to be oblivious to its flawed nature. He likes to ridicule divine religions but is not ready to accept even a healthy criticism of the hopeless system of western democracy. This shows the ignorance of Islam in the West, which seems to be still entrapped in the absurd ideas of the medieval ages. These poor souls should understand that it was Islamic culture that freed Europe from the dark ages and it was the translation from Arabic into Latin of Islamic scientific works that inspired the Renaissance and the subsequent Industrial Revolution by first freeing the European mind from the rigid domination of the Church. But how could one call western liberal democracy a fundamental culture? This is open to discussion. Professor Werner Schiffauer of Germanys Frankfurt University defines fundamental culture as a culture prevailing in society on which the different strata have unanimity. However, Professor Schiffauer admits difficulty in imposing this culture on a multilateral society with different cultures and traditions but nevertheless is arrogant enough to say that western liberal democracy should be imposed on all including Muslim countries no matter how offended they feel. German Sociologist, Professor Ms. Irmgard Pinn also holds similar views and calls on Muslims in Europe to give up their religion and become absorbed in western society. Ms. Pinn adds: “The Muslims who preserve their culture and traditions, who go to the mosque and perform their religious duties, should be expelled. Thus, liberalism, which claims to accept criticism, is in fact more fundamentalist in its negative aspects than the accusation of fundamentalism it levels at Muslim rationalists. Cardinal Jozef Ratzigner the Head of Papal Council in a conversation with the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” says: “Europe has descended from a Christian culture to a harsh intolerant world.” In the Muslim world, for instance, people of different religions including the Christian and Jewish minorities live in respect and peaceful co-existence with their Muslim compatriots. Thus, Islam is more rational than western liberal democracy and more egalitarian in its appeal to all including the Europeans and this is what the chauvinists are afraid of. In the Previous Edition, we said the West has been trying to market its flawed system of liberal democracy as fundamental. We pointed out that this is nothing but a cover for imposing decadent western values on the people of the world since the fundamental culture should have acceptable