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Our Cultural Disaster
&
Its Remedy
(Comparative analysis between East and the West)
By: Syed Usama Hassan
syedusamahassan@gmail.com
TEL: +92-3332459093
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Allah has fixed real purpose of our creation behind following His orders
and worshiping Him. After embracing Islam, as a consequence of leading a
sensible life, our entire adoration becomes devotion. Then our whole life along-
with all of its walks becomes a circle in which spirituality starts spreading its
light in all of its directions, aspects and sides and devotion becomes extensive
like our life. In this way, our financial, social and political concerns, our trade,
conduction of transactions, education, earning, eating, walking and even our
sleeping become a part of our holy adoration. Its reason is that Islam neither
accepts the division of life circles nor is it partial to create a difference between
needs and purpose of life. Islam also dislikes the removal of holiness from one's
character.
Constituents of whole life join and defuse together to form a "Total" of
human career. Therefore, Islam considers the entire life phenomena different but
linked, having same map. Some parts of this map construct the man's character
in real and supposed shapes. And some other parts of this map, in the shape of
customs and habits, so organize the entire society that results in the formation of
a pure Islamic community and establishment of sovereignty of Islamic rules and
regulations.
Islam doesn't accept a lifestyle which provides purification of carnal
desires and training but rest of all habits, customs, emotions and conditions
destroy the building of man's personality. In such a condition, a man who tries to
stand up finds himself down the earth crust. The ceremonies like birth,
circumcision, starting the child's Quran studies, performing Salah (prayers),
Fasting, Nikah, Walimah and Marriage are not only full of adoration blessings
but they also hinder us from becoming a Satan. Islam has made all the social
customs and traditions a part of Shariah after passing them through the process
of purification and this was done after making these customs mutually matched
with purposes and causes of Shariah. For example, before the arrival of Islam,
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Hajj
1
was performed in the condition of complete nakedness but Islam altered
this old system and provided a non-sewed cloth (called Ahraam) during the "Hajj
journey". In the same way, Islam has provided an aspect of grace and
seriousness by confining the loud moaning to only tear shedding on dead body.
Islam does not reveal satisfaction only on the concept of "Reward" by
adoration, but this practical is considered to be a source of nearness with Allah.
In Quran, the word) used after order of every Farz (compulsory)
adoration, is vivid evidence in this regard to prove my point of view. All the
phenomena of customs and traditions are reflection of our expressions,
conditions, emotions, passions, desires and hopes by which an individual and
nation both strive for the preservation and propagation of their social values.
More a nation is associated with its culture, lesser are the chances to get
impressed from any other nation. However, the manners and habits of such a
nation become more impressive and effective. As a result, customs of such a
nation become trust worthy, praise worthy and unobjectionable. Intercourse,
civilization, culture and social values of such a nation remain victorious in
preserving its unity and keeping its contact with history.
The relation of cultural effects, social phenomena and
traditions is with human heart (not with brain). The conditions of love & wrath,
anger & softness, proud & humbleness, ego & devotion, jealousy & welfare,
friendship & rivalry (antagonism) are associated with heart. Therefore, Islam
gives a remarkable significance to a noble heart and also regards "Beauty of
Heart" as compulsory for each & every goodness. Similarly on the other hand, a
quarrelsome heart is known to be a source of all outbreaks. So, heart is centre of
power for Muslim nation. If heart is preserved with the help of social links then it
can be saved from ideological and practical somersaults. But if we leave the
heart as it is then destruction can appear. In such a condition, all the (un-Islamic)
1
A pilgrimage of Muslims that is performed in sacred cities of Makkah and Madina
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acts like barbarism, terrorism and narrow mind-ness are simply polished on the
faces of Muslims.
Western culture has badly affected our heart by its apparent shine. A
state that comes into being as a result of this western culture lacks the wealth of
simplicity, patience, contentment, piety and control on carnal desires (NAFS). In
short, this culture is a collection of hypocrisy, deception and electroplating. The
harmful effects of this culture are demolishing our customs, heritage, intercourse,
and social values. The westerns have presented a world containing dance,
songs, music, cinemas, theaters, night clubs, and taverns, gambling places,
places to satisfy our lust, carnal desires and tastes. All this is being done just to
make this world a superficial paradise that makes the people forget the "Eternal
paradise." In this way the people who always try there best to have a prominent
place in the "court of God" and maintain a distinction between legitimate and
illegitimate, Halal (permissible) and Haram (strictly forbidden) and between Good
& bad; will become careless about adoration and will try to utilize their all
abilities to gain luxuries and facilities and their attention will divert towards the
supply of more and more matter resources. These blind and beast like restless
desires make the man indifferent from the care and need of others.
These boundless desires become more infuriating on the occasion of
certain western festivals. New Year night, Christmas night, April fool &
Valentines day are some of those festivals on which internal spit fullness of
the West is in its full swing. On these days, the exhibitions of shamelessness, on
the name of enjoyment, are shameful even for Satan. Specially, all this can be
seen on the event of Valentines Day which is celebrated with zeal in Europe,
America and Australia. In Pakistan, only a few people were aware of the
meaning and the sense of Valentines Day before 2000 A.D. And these few
people were also those who had just returned from western countries or had a
connection with Europe by internet. But despite of awareness about this day, the
number of people celebrating this day was not very remarkable. And even they
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were turned headed rich people and uncontrollable minority. But, as soon private
channels were conferred with the "HOUNOUR" of license and Independence; so
newspapers, T.V channels and quarter services earned many billion dollars from
the pockets of people by misleading them. Approximately, one billion love letters
are sent this day. Now-a-days, it is known as day of love, day of spring, day of
friendship, day of true love, day of birds' love, day of renewal of love etc.
Remember, the person to whom this Valentines Day is dedicated is still
not clear. Because, minimum eight "Valentines" have been discovered so far and
all of them are, somewhat, religious personalities. It is also possible that this
series may continue in near future. According to most famous tale in this regard
Valentine was a young clergyman who was killed in 270 A.C in the reign of
Claudius II; the Roman Army was busy in expanding the series of conquests. But
due to continuous wars, Claudius needed more soldiers for more victories. But, he
could not get the required results because the Roman young men were reluctant
to leave their wives. For the compensation of this deficiency, the king ordered his
spies to find out the unmarried young men and bring them to army. But, the
roman young men did not want to be the fuel of wars. So, they started marrying
immediately. The Roman king banned the marriages for a certain time. In such
conditions, Saint Valentine and Saint Marls arranged the marriages of young
couples. But the king did not turn a blind eye towards this and ordered to arrest
Saint Valentine. On Feb 14, 269 or 270, Saint Valentine was killed by torture.
According to a report of "Economist" Valentines Day is a holy day for the
occidentals, because three Gods were killed on that day in revenge of following
the teachings of Christianity. Whatsoever the Valentines Day is: but the young
guys have made it a source of expression of sexuality. Behind the name of
Valentines Day, they take revenge of their helplessness, disappointment and
desires by their boundless emotions, restless desires and uncontrollable
passions. These festivals and their propagation prove that the westerns lack real
and true love because the family, that was center of all pleasures, is perished.
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The respectable relations like mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother,
paternal uncle; maternal uncle, paternal aunt, and maternal aunt are sacrificed
on name of Industrial revolution, progress, prosperity and modernism. This
deprival has made the modem man deprived of his real felicity and he has
deprived of all the opportunities of happiness that he had from dawn to dusk.
Even today, despite of its faults, the joint family system is alive in many
Muslim societies. Here, every home is a cradle of happiness and laughter raise
from every comer. The emotions of love and happiness are still predominant here;
the sisters express their love with brothers by preparing meal for them, making
tea for them, cleaning their shoes and finding bride for them. And the brothers
also take care of their sisters priorities and conduct this relation till their death
and grave. In Muslim families, marriages are held on the base of mutual
introduction in order to strengthen the family, to stabilize the relations and to
preserve the pedigree of next generation.
Contempt of Islam about divorce is real cause of strength of relations. By
Nikah the relation of "love" becomes an unmatched and reliable class. Here, the
love is not dependent upon alteration of faces but: Nikah molds it into the shape
of eternal reality. How sacred this religion is which has not fixed any day or
festival for expression of love but has declared Allah and the personality of Holy
Prophet Source and center of love. Translation: And
those who believe (in Allah), love Allah more (than any thing else). (Holy Quran,
part 2, chapter: Al Bakara, verse # 165). As so far as this universe has its extent;
there exists the kingdom of love. The holy Face, pious character, beautiful
manners, imitate able habits and style of dealings of Holy Prophet is
indeed loveable. And then by his source, all his Companions, Followers, Servants
and Islamic Scholars are real origins of love. Here, love is not confined to roses,
gifts wrapped in silk ribbon, chocolates wrapped in shining wrappers and hearts
shaped love cards on which there is cupid with an arrow in his heart. Cursed
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fables of Valentines Day and other festivals now can be seen in almost every
market, street, colony, society, school, college, university, park, fast food point
and hotel. Whatever its cause is; when our young generation finds natural ways
of expression of their emotions banned for them, they select un-natural paths.
False fatwas
2
of shirk
3
and bid-att
4
as a result of wrong perception and self-
made sketch of Haram
5
has deprived them of their permissible right. It is also
depriving them of their relation with religion. If Nasheeds (Naats) are called shirk,
congregations of remembrance and Urss are refused as bid-att, holy reception of
Milaad are supposed to be against Islamic rules and regulation and Sufism and
saints are said to be spoiling the spirit of Islam, then how can one express ones
emotions of love, affection and devotion?
Now-a-days, it is being said that we should eradicate all those possibilities
which stray us away from the right path. But, how is it possible in a situation
when we cannot minimize the effects of sex-loving civilization from our minds. I
am not partial to criticize any civilization but the reality is reality. I am not
against the existence of western countries. I am just against those manners that
most of the westerns have adopted now-a-days; and these manners have made
us forget the spirit of Humanity. Most remarkable and most illustrious Eastern
poet of this era Dr. Allama Iqbal, in one of his famous poems, speaks to the
westerns and says, Oh Occidentals, Gods created world is not a market and
you are in complete denial. Your civilization will die itself automatically; because,
the nest on a thin branch is temporary.
We can counter this situation by the practical and social coincidence of
laws of Shariah (Islamic principles), otherwise our whole cultural skeleton will
fall down. In the west, capitalism has presented Liberalism as most
appropriate life style (or like religion) and the holy teachings of Allah (God) and
2
Declaration about any Islamic matter
3
Polytheism
4
Any condemnable novelty in Islam
5
Strictly forbidden
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his Prophets and their significance are left far behind. Instead of accepting
Prophets as leaders Marks, Lenin, Hegel, Rausse, Nate shaw and
Sigmund Freud are being followed without any hesitation. As a result, these
turned headed and astray philosophers have got a status more than holy
prophets (may God protect us( ))Their thoughts and concepts have become
code of life for the West and the presence of God is being denied behind the
curtain of propagation of science and technology. Theatres, Cinemas, dance
clubs, night clubs, gambling places and taverns have got the status of sacred
adoration places. To regain the pleasure (that had already been crushed down
the feet of industrial units and heavy machines) some nonsense disturbances
have been discovered. Similarly for the compensation of childrens love, it is
being tried to get the love of dogs, cats, birds and rats. Even today a
disappointing attempt of getting the love of parents from mule, horse and donkey;
is being carried on. But the absence of substitute of relations has made the
western man compelled to celebrate Father-day, Mother-day, and Aged
people-day etc, in order to find out some unnatural ways for the compensation
and expression of natural emotions and relations.
All this has resulted sexual deviation and destruction of social values and
has proved the western culture hollow and eaten by white-ants. Todays
predominant civilization has become a thin and lean branch, swaying on the
blasts of wind. Every individual of western society leads his life in (spiritual)
isolation and feels the agony of this solitude. Therefore, he can not maintain
counter balance in his life and becomes partial to extremism. By the philosophy
of continuous Activism, he wants to reduce his mental disturbance and moral
sense to silence. Sometimes, this activism leads him to deny the existence of
religion, God Prophet, Inspiration and the Day of Judgment and sometimes he
falls down, following magic and being a prey to superstitions, on the name of
religion. His pleasures are confined to watch matches, have pets, clapping,
dancing and whistling. He wants to satisfy his desires and emotions by
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wrestling and bull-fighting. But, is it real pleasure and love. Ie Comet, a famous
scientist of this era, writes, Todays inconvenience is particularly due to the fact
that our senses -- on the name of science which is still in cradle-- have deprived
the man of all the reasonable aspects and have ended the concept of religion
altogether; the religion that had been a code of life for the man and he prompted
his emotions to take an active part in any struggle The same scientist writes,
To deny the moral responsibilities in life; is to present the concept of Man as a
physical or chemical compound, same as that in other animals. As a
consequence of all above, moral sense died, spirituality ended, hopes met their
end and the dreadful concept of useless world conquered the thoughts.
Another writer writes, Today, millions of people are searching violently; but
what, it is still unknown even for all those people themselves. End of distinction
between right and wrong, independent sexuality, faithlessness, lack of security,
abundance of crimes and abundance of wealth, all are those factors which have
caused impoliteness, revolt against society (rather than humanity) and hate from
life. The lifestyle and thought of Muslims (particularly young generation
following the West) is to be revolutionized. Because, our young guys readily
accept the influence of wealth. Heavenkissing buildings, luxurious life, devotion
on apparent beauty and the greed of posts and designations shake their belief
and confidence. The same case is with our young Muslim sisters (specially the
students of schools, colleges and universities) who are deceived by the magic of
showy dressing, style, modern clothes, decoration, beautiful card, mobile
phoned, and credit cards and then find their honor, grace, dignity, family
background and nobility at stake. The sacred manners of simplicity,
contentment, acknowledgement of gratitude, sincerity, purity, affection,
assistance, benevolence, forgiveness and the desire of Gods assent have
become unknown for them. Singers, artists, actors and film directors have
become Ideal for our society. However, in Islamic society, all the professions
mentioned above were considered to be most contemptible. This style of thinking
has played a main role in the propagation of greed, tastes and sexuality. If all of
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us will turn a blind eye towards this then as a consequence, not only the young
generation but the whole Muslim-nation will suffer from the danger of losing the
belief, culture, customs and religion ( )
Remedy: - To tackle this situation, we will have to alter the Ideals
of this society. Instead of the stopping the emotions of young generation
and we will have to divert them toward positive and noble deeds. Our
young guys want to do some thing; it is the need of hour to organize their
activities, and the best way to do so is to persuade Muslim scholars to
form youth organization(s) having its (their) office in any corner of Masjid.
Nothing outside the Masjid (mosque) is suitable for it because the centre of
our civilization and culture is only Masjid. In this way, our youth will
remain connected with Masjid. The leader of this organization must be any
Islamic scholar. These organizations should have a plan of programs to be
held during the whole year. All the responsibility of these programs should
be on the shoulders of young guys. By celebrating these days, we can
prevent our youth from celebrating Western days. For example, if we
from an Islamic calendar starting from Muharram
6
and point out all the
days of saints, then we can arrange various programs on annual level. We
can arrange the celebrations of Eid-night, reception of Ramadan, lectures
of Quran, lectures on Hadith, lectures on Islam and Islamic concepts,
seminars, workshops, competition of Nasheeds etc. There are many other
programs by which our young guys will never try to see towards wrong
ways and these activities will again associate them with their culture and
civilization.
To share any useful idea; please Contact us:
+92-333-2459093
6
1
st
month of Islamic lunar calendar