Exposition of Capitalism – The Corrupted Creed

[Part 1]
 

The objective of this series of articles is to illustrate the intellectual foundation of Capitalism, from which emanate other thoughts that define to its adherents their point of view towards life and shape their outlook and behaviour.

The need for this study is extremely vital because of the extensive propaganda for this ideology, especially after the collapse of Communism, and the War against Islam launched by the US, and the other Western nations. The propaganda for Capitalism yielded its fruits and exerted its impact all over the world. Concepts such as Democracy, Free Market, Pluralism, and Secularism, became ideals for various people, including the Muslims. Such ideas are being deceptively marketed to the Muslims detached from their creed. This has hidden the clash of ideologies, and some Muslims feel, that there is no threat from Capitalism, and indeed we should adopt from it. The British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien in his speech entitled 'the threat of the modern Kharijites' (21/11/02) reiterated, the lie what many of his colleagues have been saying ''...I do not buy the suggestion put forward … that there is some sort of clash of civilisations'' As a result, the Muslims would accept them as universal ideas rather than distinct ideas which emanate from a specific Aqeedah that contradicts the Islamic Aqeedah in its outlook.

In addition to this phenomenon, the Muslims have been subjected to the application of Capitalism for a considerable period of time. Together with the apparent success of Capitalism in its application in the West - particularly in the spheres of economics and human rights - all these factors have produced new patterns of thought among the Muslims. The roots of this new pattern of thought began to emerge towards the end of the 1911 century and the beginning of the 20th century. Individuals fell under the influence of Muhammad Abdu, Jamaal ud-Deen Afghani, Khayrud-Deen At-Tunisi, and (Sir) Syeed Ahmad Khan, the pioneers of the Modernist movement.

Afterwards, such a pattern of thinking began to concentrate and firmly root itself among the Muslim masses. Nowadays, the means and styles which are used to present and circulate ideas amongst the Muslims, such as the various seminars, lectures, and publications, culminate to produce a new thinking style which both the Secularists as well as some among the ''Islamists'' express.

Such a pattern of thinking varies from one extreme to the other. Some are openly and explicitly calling to disregard Islam and adopt Capitalism in its place. They call for the total separation of Islam from life, reshaping Islam into a personal relationship between the individual and his Creator. Islam for them is not intended to interfere in the affairs of the society to any degree. Others attempt to reconcile between Islam and Capitalism by claiming that Islam focuses on some basic ideas and goals which must be maintained in the society, such as justice, Shura, social justice, maintenance of ownership, honour, and the sanctity of human life. To them, the achievement of these objectives is all that matters, regardless of the means adopted. The system or regime can be a monarchy, a presidential system, a republic, or any other shape, as long as it upholds and guarantees these principles.

A third category of Muslims try to patch up both Islam and Capitalism. They adopt from Islam only some rules in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, but beyond this they are ready to take from Capitalism the entire economic structure, which includes the market economy as well as the monetary, banking, and insurance systems. This pattern of thinking is the most dangerous pattern because it allows people to adopt rules from a Kufr system as long as it does not ''contradict'' Islam.

These patterns of thinking produced different perceptions or understandings towards Islam. Such understandings are presented in such a way to imply that they are different brands of Islam altogether. These various strains of Islam are further entrenched by designating them with distinct labels such as ''Orthodox Islam'', ''Conservative Islam'' ''Political Islam'', ''Extremist Islam'', ''Militant Islam'' and ''Moderate Islam.''

This labelling scheme has become widely used not only to demarcate these various brands, but also to discriminate between certain followers associated with such brands. Terms such as Fundamentalist, Moderate, Extremist, and Liberal verses Conservative, became used to describe the people. The basis of such labels was how remote or near the Muslim is from the Western way of life. Thus, the Western way of life became the frame of reference for measuring both Muslims as well as Islam itself.

Therefore, we need to illustrate the basis of Capitalism in order to show that Islam set distinct boundaries which defines the Islamic ideology and distinguishes it from other ideologies, and these boundaries must be acknowledged and preserved. The study is further needed to show that certain ideas which are currently propagated among Muslims are Kufr ideas because they stem from a false doctrine.

Secularism Defined

Secularism literally means an indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations, and in the political sense is taken to mean detaching religion from state. In its ideological sense, it means removing the Creator from the worldly affairs and restricting the realm of religion to the individual while delegating the authority of the state to human beings and man-made institutions. As a result of this division, two authorities are created: The religious authority, which assumes the role of handling religious events, festivities, and rituals, and the temporal authority, which assumes the role of organizing the systems of the society. Thus, a secular society has two references: In the realm of the individual, the person refers to his or her belief regarding character, individual morals, and individual worships. In the public affairs the people refer to other human beings and man-made institutions, such as Congress and Parliament, to legislate laws for them.

Although Secularism detaches religion from the worldly affairs, it does not deny religion, nor does it deny the existence of the Creator. In fact, the leaders and presidents of many of the Western countries quote the term ''God'' on many occasions. With Bush, and Blair both, calling the War on Islam as a God sanctioned war. The official pledge to the United States has in it the term, ''One nation, under God.'' However, when it comes to legislating laws or running the affairs of the society, the division between the religious and state authorities is clear, and religion, or ''God's Law'' has no influence in the political aspects of society. Secularism states that religion is a personal matter, and it is up to every individual to believe whatever he wants to believe regarding the spiritual dimension. As a result, the questions of what is before and after life is detached from the public opinion, has no relevance to the life itself, and is left to every individual to have his or her own answers. Thus, Secularism separates the spiritual and political aspects, although it does not deny the spiritual aspect. This doctrine forms the basis of the thinking of the West, and from this fundamental thought emanates all the concepts and ideologies of the West, such as the ideology of Capitalism, and the concepts of Democracy, Freedom, Individualism, and ''Human Rights.''

The Origins of Secularism

Historically, Secularism grew as a negative reaction to the bitter oppression imposed by the Church's authority over Europe during the Middle Ages. After prophet Isa (as) was raised, the original scriptures were tampered with, and many man-made ideas and philosophies were incorporated into the revelation. Furthermore, during the 4th century. Constantine, one of the emperors of Rome, converted to Christianity and instituted it as the religion of the State while forcing his subjects to adopt Christianity. As a result, many people accepted the Christian doctrine not out of sincere conviction or deep understanding but out of blind faith in order to protect themselves. The blind faith that resulted allowed for many pagan ideas and superstitious beliefs from the existing Roman culture to influence the Christian culture and further distort Christianity. For example, the concepts of Christmas and Easter (although they too were man-made ideas that were incorporated into the original message) have purely religious connotations, but the ''Easter Bunny'' and ''Christmas'', Santa Claus came from Roman Pagan culture the Nicene Council was held in 325 and adopted the Nicene Creed as the official creed. This was attended by 1800 bishops of the Roman Empire, who chose four bibles as their official ones, and they agreed on a version of Christianity which remains until today.

The doctrine that the scholars adopted contained concepts such as the Trinity, the Vanishing, and the idea that Isa (as) is the ''Son of God,'' and of the same substance (homo-ousios) and had nothing to do with the message that Isa received and conveyed. Because the original message was lost and the later version was tampered by human beings, the implementation of the Christian doctrine failed to provide any solutions, and the doctrine itself was full of contradictions. This failure and contradiction was eminent because the new version was a man-made doctrine that reflected the contradictions and imperfections of the human being. Thus, the Christian doctrine was far removed from reality. As a result, the opinions of the clergy were used as the source of laws and rules while the Christian doctrine was suspended and only used as a cover- up to justify the rulings and opinions of the papacy.

Furthermore, the emperors and kings of Europe, seeing that the Church was a respected institution in the minds and sentiments of the people, would use the Church to consolidate their position. As scientific facts began to contradict the clergy, the Church was put on the defensive and was forced to suppress scientific advancement to avoid compromising its authority. Because the doctrine of Christianity contradicted reality and had no intellectual basis, Christian rule had to establish its belief by blind faith and imitation among its adherents while suppressing scientific innovation or technological advancement or anything that might stimulate thinking. Throughout the Middle Ages, oppression, economic backwardness, and stagnation kept civilization at a standstill, and the Christian world developed a notorious reputation for ruthlessness. Any scientific fact that contradicted the opinions of the clergy was quickly censured, and those who questioned the authority of the Church were bitterly persecuted. The capitals of Europe were squalid centres of disease and poverty, and many hundreds of thousands were killed, particularly during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, because they held a different belief. The oppression and persecution of the Europeans under the theocratic authority caused a bitter reaction among the people against the Church in particular, but this negativity eventually extended to include anything related to religion.

Two major movements among the philosophers and thinkers emerged. One of these movements denied religion flatly, and the ideas propagated by such individuals later formed the basis of Communism. To reconcile between these two diametrically opposed views, another movement called for the detachment of religion from life and a removal of the Church's influence and authority from the political arena.

A fierce struggle resulted between the clergy and monarchs on one hand, and the philosophers and thinkers on the other, after which a compromise solution was reached. The authority of the Church was separated from the state and was confined to individual worships, preaching, and conducting religious holidays and festivities. All that was associated with religion, God, or spirituality was removed from the worldly affairs, and the human beings would be free to run their affairs through man- made constitutions and human institutions. During the succeeding four centuries, the European nations slowly began to eradicate the old feudal order from their public affairs', and many movements, such as the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution, spearheaded the emergence of Secularism. To reach this, the relationship between state and church went through many stages.

The Failure of Secularism

After the decline of Islamic rule, the Muslim Ummah was deceived to attribute Islam as the reason for their failure, which caused them to look towards the West for solutions and eventually led the Muslims to adopt Secularism as their saviour. As a result of their experience under the Church's oppression, the Western nations have propagated the belief that mixing God or religion with politics results in stagnation, backwardness, and oppression, and it was through the separation of God from politics, they claim, that led to technological advancement and progress that swept through Europe since the Industrial Revolution and Renaissance. The West has propagated this dogma even amongst the Muslim Ummah, and many Muslims mistakenly equated Secularism with success. Looking at the current situation of the Western nations shows that, behind the veil of material progress, the Secular revolution was far from successful. It is true that Europe entered into an industrial revolution and rose to superpower status as a result of the adoption of Secularism, but behind the technological advancement and the many achievements was a society that suffered from poverty, mass exploitation, injustices, and severe inequalities in wealth. With the exception of a few elite and distinguished people who held the ruling and the wealth, European History remained dark and oppressive before as well as after the rule of the Church. It is well known that the societies that existed in Europe had a rigid and aristocratic class structure in which people were defined by their social status. and social mobility was almost unheard of. In addition, the working class, which constituted the vast majority of the people, suffered tremendously. Despite the technological advancement and the scientific discoveries that emerged, only a few would reap the benefits of such achievements if any. The Secular Revolution constituted only a partial revival, but such a revival did not provide the correct solution for the vast majority of the people who continued to live, and still remain under, oppression and economic slavery.

The reason for the failure of Secularism stems from the incorrectness of the Secular doctrine itself. Secularism emerged as a negative reaction to the oppression of the Church. The correct doctrine cannot be established as a reaction to the environment because once the environment is removed, then the entire basis of the idea becomes invalidated. Furthermore, should the environment change, then the idea must also change. Secularism was a reactionary idea which emerged as a by-product the Middle Ages and has no intellectual basis. Had that environment never existed, then Secularism would never have materialized.

When the Secular movement emerged, the intellectuals and thinkers justified the detachment of religion from state purely, on the experience with the Church. Such a justification rested upon two assumptions:

First, the assumption that the Christian doctrine that existed was correct, and second, the assumption that the experience with the Church can be generalized to include all religions claiming to have a divine source. Such assumptions have no validity because the Christian scriptures that were revealed to prophet Isa (as) were tampered with by human beings immediately after his death. The doctrine that the Church adopted was filled with superstitious beliefs and manmade thoughts and ideas that bore no resemblance to the original scriptures. It was human beings, and not the revelations, that resulted in the oppressive rule of the Church because, first. the opinions of the clergy were the source of legislation and not the doctrine, and second, the doctrine was twisted with man-made ideas. Thus, the removal of the Church and the subsequent adoption of Secularism constituted nothing more than the fall of one man-made system and the rise of another man-made system.

Also, the Christian experience cannot be used to claim that all religions arc false or that any system based on divine origins is doomed to failure because the Islamic Aqeedah is proven correct based on conclusive facts that agree with reality. In addition, under the influence of the Islamic system, civilization flourished and reached unparalleled heights in technological advancement, scientific innovation and economic prosperity. And those people who lived under the Islamic ideology have adopted its ideas and culture wholeheartedly, to the extent that the same people who were conquered by the Islamic State, such as in Algeria, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan, are at the forefront demanding the reimplementation of Islam. Those who claim that the implementation of Islam would repeat the Dark Ages on the basis of the European experience would have a difficult time explaining how the level of progress among the Muslims was directly related to their understanding of Islam and how the Muslims today, in the absence of the Islamic system, are the most poverty-stricken, technologically and scientifically backward, and economically decadent nations despite their enormous resources and wealth.

Even though the adoption of Secularism resulted in a revival, the Secular doctrine overlooks one reality that any doctrine must acknowledge - the limited human being. Because of the limitations of the human being, any system or idea emanating from the human being will have flaws, disparity, and contradictions, regardless of the level of genius of the human being. Also, human beings are influenced by their environment in addition to having a subjective point of view. For example, Carl Marx lived in 19th century England, where the working classes were heavily exploited. In addition, the Founding Fathers of the United States, even though they were seculars, came from a society where Christian values and ethics were still strong in the sentiments and culture of the people.

During such a time homosexuality was an abomination and pornography was unthinkable. If they had a glimpse of the Western Society today, and saw that, as a result of their constitution, homosexuals are legislating laws in Parliament, pornography is widely distributed and generally acceptable within certain limits, and over a million of their citizens are living in prisons, they would have formulated a completely different constitution. Because of this defect, any system or way of life emanating from human beings would be unable to comprehensively and correctly address the needs of humanity.

Furthermore, the human mind is limited to what it can perceive. No human being has access to what is before this life or what will come after this life, or anything beyond the senses, and any doctrine must provide answers to these questions for the doctrine to be correct. If such answers come from the human being, then they will fall nothing short of speculation and doubt. Because Secularism detached these questions from the worldly affairs and left it to every individual to provide his or her own answers, then the result would be uncertainty and doubt which would result in speculation and superstition. The need to worship something is inherent in every human being, and the Secular Creed fails to satisfy this need in the correct way. As a result, the people who live in the West have made a habit of making a god of just about anything, from celebrities to money to superstitious characters. Because this fundamental question remains unsettled, then the spiritual emptiness and psychological void that is epidemic in the West comes as no surprise. Also,, the need to worship manifests in the human being realizing his dependency on Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'aala) and, as a result of this dependency, inclines the human being to look to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'aala) for systems and rules to solve his problems and organise the life affairs.

By detaching Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'aala) from the political affairs, the Secular doctrine goes against the nature of human beings because it denies the human being's need to worship the Creator by submitting to His Laws in the life affairs and looking to the Creator's systems to solve worldly problems. The inconsistencies and fallacies in the Secular creed itself manifests in the failure of the Secular thoughts and concepts to productively settle the core problem of existence as well as the failure of the Secular-based systems to organize humanity and create a society conducive to justice. The very basis of Secularism, which emerged from the Compromise solution between those who denied the existence of the Creator and those who believed in the Creator's existence has no correct basis because it attempts to compromise between two contradicting issues. One can compromise between two similar issues but not between two contradicting issues; one must be correct and the other must be incorrect, or both of them are incorrect. Either the Creator exists or He doesn't exist.

To claim that that the issue of whether the Creator exists is irrelevant and not important has no intellectual basis. The issue of whether or not the Creator exists must be resolved and cannot be ignored, and no doctrine can claim itself as correct if it ignores this question. Because Secularism is based upon this Compromise Solution which ignores the question of whether the Creator exists, then the Secular doctrine is invalid, and the effects of ignoring this central and vital issue of humanity is felt in the frustration and spiritual emptiness that the people of the West feel as a result of having this core problem unsettled. The compromise Solution, which attempts to bring Truth and Falsehood together, forms the basis of thinking among the Secular nations, and such a thinking that is unable to define clearly what is correct and incorrect has created many contradictions in the policies and lifestyle of the Secular nations.

In Islam, the Truth and the are clear, and the Islamic System maintains this clarity through the, implementation of the Ahkam Shar'iyah. The Islamic system has a specific answer to every situation or issue and has a practical mechanism to solve human problems. The compromise solution removes the clear boundary between truth and falsehood and results in confusion and contradiction. As a result, it comes as no surprise that, among the Secular nations, people would be willing to sacrifice their lives and even kill others in the name of the rights of laboratory mice, and at the same time, condone the mass killing of hundreds of thousand of children in Iraq as a just cause. It comes as no surprise that, in a Secular society, people would care for their pets while giving little or no regard for their own children, or that the people would raise so much concern for the presentation of birds and fish while venting their anger on the poverty-stricken as the cause of their economic burdens. It comes as no surprise that, in a secular society, the entire nation would be shocked and moved by a few people murdered by a serial killer, but when it comes to the killing of millions around the world in the name of securing jobs or oil, they would cheer for the killers under slogans such as ''Support our Troops.'' Such contradictions arise as a result of a mentality that stems from an ideology whose foundation brings truth and falsehood together and is unable to draw any clear distinction between right and wrong.