The Effects Of The Missionary Invasion
Allama Shaikh Taqiuddin An-Nabhani Rahimullah
The missionary invasions were regarded as the avant-garde which paved the way for European colonialism to conquer the Islamic world politically after first conquering it culturally. Through conquering Istanbul and the Balkans and by bringing Islam to Europe the Islamic intellectual leadership was carried by the Muslims to the countries of the West. When that leadership faltered the Muslim countries became the target of the West, which consequently carried its intellectual leadership to the Muslim world where it encountered fertile ground for its culture and its concepts about life; these were sowed in different ways under the name of science, humanism and religious preaching. The West did not stop there either, as well it libelled the Islamic culture and the Islamic concepts about life by directing its onslaught against Islam. This adversely affected the educated class and the politicians, in fact it deeply affected all those who carried the Islamic culture, and in time it came to affect the majority of the Muslims.
As for the educated people, the colonial powers had designed in their missionary schools, before the occupation, and in all the other schools after the occupation, their own educational syllabus and cultural programmes according to their particular philosophy and culture and their own special concepts about life. They made the Western personality the basis of this culture and of their renaissance, history and environment the main sources of the material which we Muslims eagerly overflow our minds with. Neither did they stop at that, but they went as far as interfering with the details of the syllabi making sure that no partial items stepped out of line nor contradicted the general principles which represented their philosophy and culture. This was the case even concerning the Islamic deen and history lessons; both these syllabi had been designed on a Western basis and according to Western concepts. Even today the Islamic deen is taught in Islamic schools as a spiritual and moral subject conforming to the Western concept of religion. It is taught in a way which is far from reality and far removed from the real facts of life. The life of the Messenger of Allah (saw) is taught to our youth in a way which is cut off from the Prophecy and the Message; it is taught in the same way that the lives of Napoleon or Bismarck are taught for instance. As a result this does not create in their hearts any of the proper emotions or concepts. The subject of worship and morals, which is included in the religious syllabus, is given from a beneficial point of view. Thus the teaching of the Islamic deen has likewise come to be set upon the same course as the Western concepts of personal benefit and interest.
Educating the Islamic history has also been similarly stained due to ill-intention and misunderstanding, and has been blackened in the name of historical fairness and scientific research. What rubs salt into the wound is the fact that some of the educated Muslims have taken up the teaching of history and the editing of historical works according to the missionary method and syllabus. Consequently, all the educational syllabi have been designed according to Western philosophy, and, through following its syllabi, this has made most of the intellectuals Westernised. They digested the culture, loved it, and led their lives according to its concepts until most of them became averse to the Islamic culture and critical of it when and where it contradicted Western culture. Those Muslims became Westernised in their culture, a culture controlled by the Western viewpoint, they were faithful to that culture to the point whereby they idolised the foreigner and adopted his culture. Many of them assumed the Western character, they became hateful of Islam and Islamic culture, in the same way that the Westerner was, they believed that Islam and the Islamic culture was the cause of the decline of the Muslims, as they had been led to believe by them. Consequently, the missionary expeditions achieved great success when they managed to pull across to their side the intellectual Muslims who then fought with them against Islam and the Islamic culture.
The situation spread even further to include not only those educated in Europe and in foreign schools, but also to those carrying the Islamic culture as well. They were stunned and incensed with the colonial Western powers’ actions in libelling their deen, and so began their response to the libel. Their response was initiated without realising whether such was either right or wrong in the first place. In their eagerness to defend Islam from the libel of the foreigners they did not check their reply; they were certain that Islam was being wrongly accused, but all the same they began the dangerous process of twisting the Islamic texts in order to make them comply with Western concepts. As a result their reply was weak and it was this, in effect, which proved very helpful to the missionary invasion rather than the reply itself. What is even worse is that the Western culture, which is contradictory to the Islamic culture, became part of their concepts which they readily accepted and unjustly and wrongfully attributed to Islam. Most of them began by saying that the West had taken its culture from Islam and the Muslims, and then they started twisting the Islamic rules to suit that culture, despite the flagrant contradiction between the Islamic and Western cultures. Therefore, once they had demonstrated to themselves that their ‘aqeedah and culture were consistent with the Western culture they came to accept the Western culture in its entirety; this meant that they had accepted the Western culture and abandoned their Islamic culture, and this was precisely what the colonialist wanted and what the West was aiming for when it concentrated its missionary work and its colonial expeditions. By having their intellectuals educated in Western schools and colleges, and through their lack of understanding of Islam relative to those who had an Islamic education, the Muslims by and large inherited the Western concepts about life. Their countries were thus swamped by the materialistic Western culture and life in society came to be solely run according to the Western culture and its concepts.
Most of the Muslims did not realise that the democratic ruling system and the economic Capitalist system were both systems of disbelief. They were neither moved nor shocked when their disputes were settled by other than what Allah (swt) had revealed despite the fact that they most certainly knew that Allah (swt) says, "Those who do not govern (judge) with what Allah has revealed, they are the disbelievers." [TMQ 5:44]
All this was because of the Western culture, based on the separation of religion from the state, which was predominant amongst their societies, and because the materialistic Western concepts were widespread. They felt that if they just believed in Allah (swt) and observed the prayers then they would have accomplished their Islamic duties. Meanwhile they thought that they could conduct their life’s affairs according to their own desires and with what they thought was best. This did not trouble them in the slightest because they had been infected by the Western concept which states that one should, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s." Conversely, they were unaffected by the Islamic concepts which make Caesar and all he possesses firmly under the domain of Allah (swt). Allah’s commands and prohibitions encompass all things as well as the prayer; they encompass buying and selling, renting (indeed all business transactions), the Judicial and education systems; simply everything, but the Muslims were no longer affected by these concepts. If only they had read what Allah (swt) says,
"And judge between them by what Allah has revealed. " [TMQ 5:49]
And His saying,
"When you deal with each other involving future obligations, in a fixed period of time reduce them to writing." [TMQ 2:282]And His saying, "And whoever contends with the Messenger after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that of the Believers, We shall leave him in Hell, what an evil refuge." [TMQ 4:115]
And by Allah’s saying, "And it is not for the Believers to go forth (for jihad) together, If a contingent from every expedition go forth, (and a contingent remain) to devote themselves to studies in deen, and admonish their people when they return to them, so that they may guard themselves (against evil)." [TMQ 9:122]
Certainly they were never affected by the concepts carried in the verses contained in the Qur’an even if they read them. Instead they read these verses as Qur’anic verses stopping at that; whereas the Muslim really reads the Qur’an knowing that it is alive and that he should use the concepts in his life by attempting to implement them in it. They, however, read these verses in circumstances whereby Western concepts were predominant and accordingly they indulged in the spirituality of the verses. When it came to the concepts and the meanings of these verses they erected a mental block; all this was because the Western culture and concepts effectively controlled them, holding sway over them. This is as far as the majority of the people were concerned and those who held an Islamic or foreign education.
As for the politicians the tribulation was far greater and the catastrophe far worse due to them. Ever since the colonial powers had gathered these politicians, tempting them to stand against the ‘Uthmani State by promises of big rewards, they conducted themselves according to what the Westerners had designed for them. In the days of the ‘Uthmani State they sided with the Westerner and helped him against their State, this being expressly forbidden in Islam, yet still they somehow managed to do it and they felt proud of it. They boasted about their achievement during every occasion and anniversary which they chose for themselves to celebrate. At that time, instead of struggling against the ruling faction in order to redress the situation and shake up the State, they went along with its enemy, the disbelievers, against the State. The bitter irony was that the disbelievers eventually ended up swallowing their country. Then, instead of seeking the people’s help against the disbelievers, they sought the help of the latter against their own people. They were affected by the disbelievers to the point whereby they lost their Islamic personality, their concepts became poisoned by certain political and philosophical opinions and this in turn poisoned their viewpoint about life and ultimately about jihad itself (this being the ultimate purpose of the State). This spread to poison the whole of the Islamic atmosphere and confuse the concepts in every aspect of life.
Negotiations replaced jihad; the politicians believed and adopted the principle of, ‘Take, then demand’ - which is considered better for the colonialist than a huge army in the land - and seeking the help of the disbelieving colonialist became common practice and a standard rule. They relied on him without realising that any assistance they sought from the disbeliever was considered a grave sin and political suicide. They also resorted to working through the narrowness of regionalism, and made it their own political atmosphere, not realising that this very regionalism makes political work fruitless because regionalism - no matter how large the region is - cannot fulfill all the political and non-political duties that a true life needs. They did not stop at that either, but they made their personal interests the focus of their attentions and gave the foreign countries their general centre of attention; therefore they lost the natural centre of attention, which was their ideology, and by losing it they lost the chance of succeeding in their quest, no matter how hard they worked at it and however faithful they were. Therefore, all the political movements became futile, and every awakening in the Ummah turned into a contradictory, confused movement like that of the slaughtered animal, which finally ends with a motionless, despair and surrender. This is so, because the leaders of the political movements lost their natural focal attention, thus it became natural that the Ummah loses this focal attention. Accordingly, the concepts of the politicians were poisoned with the erroneous, as well as with the foreign ideologies. Thus movements were established in the Muslim lands in the name of Nationalism and Socialism, in the name of Regionalism and Communism, in the name of spiritual deen and the morals, and in the name of education and spiritual guidance. These movements worsened the situation and added to the complexes of which the society suffers. The result of all these movements was the failure and to revolve around themselves, because they went according to Western concepts, affected by the Missionary invasion; and they directed the Ummah in matters that brought no fruit or good. They also enabled imperialism to get strong hold and remain. Thus the success of the Missionary invasion was unmatched.
Excerpt from 'Al-Dawlatul Islamiyyah,' - Taqiuddin An-Nabhani .
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