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7. Islam at the Crossroads – Conclusion
The book “Islam at Crossroads” by Muhammad Asad deals with the fall of the Muslim world. It laments the imitation of the West which is in its spirit (materialistic) diametrically opposite to the Islamic spirit (spiritual and harmony between subtle and mundane). It argues that the imitation of the West can only be at the cost of Islam, the two being incompatible. It discusses the attitude the Muslims must adopt towards the West. It further argues that the practical aspect of the spirit of Islam lies in the Sunnah of the Prophet, which has been shunned for the visible impossibility of implementing its seemingly trivial aspects in life, the weakening…
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Excerpts from Maryam Jameelah’s “Islam Versus the West”
“From my Jewish textbooks I learned that Abraham was the father of the Arabs as well as the Jews. In these same books I read how centuries later when in medieval Europe, Christian persecution made lives intolerable, the Jews were welcomed in Muslim Spain, and it was this same Arabic-Islamic civilization which stimulated Hebrew culture to reach its highest peak of achievement.” (Islam Versus The West, Page 5) “Sayed Qutb points out that while the teaching of Christianity are confined to individual spiritual salvation and while Communism looks at human needs from a purely economic angle, Islam maintains that the soul cannot be seperated from the body and that spiritual…
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Intelligence or Good Looks
Historically “white”, “male”, “middle class”, “straight men” have been able to use their minds and not their bodies in order to become valuable in western culture and elsewhere – and they were employed as high-paid decision-makers. In contrast, ethnic minority, female, working-class, trans and queer people have generally had to rely on their bodies in their working lives – in manual, domestic, reproductive, or slave labour, or even sex work. Belonging to a social group whose value is defined through the body is generally a sign of your subordination, which explains why women have been long paying a lot of attention to their bodies and why so many young men…
Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment
