In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Islam, the West and Politics


It is essential for us, in speaking and making comments about 'the West' and Islam, to define what we mean by 'the West' and by Islam itself.

The 'West' properly defined is a way of living, and this way of living is based on certain fundamental perceptions and assumptions: that is, on certain ideas. One of these Western ideas is that of something called 'society'; another is that of politics; another is that of economics; another is that of religion. Yet other Western ideas are 'human rights' and 'women's rights' and the divisive idea of 'race'.

So when people talk or write about Islamic politics or even an Islamic economy, they are already basing their Islam on Western ideas - on the Western way of thinking. Thus, to talk about such a thing as Islamic democracy is really a contradiction, since democracy itself is a Western idea, totally alien to the Islamic 'view of the world' - the Islamic Way of Life and of Living [see below]. For Islam itself is a Way of Life; we Muslims should and indeed must understand that Islam is not a religion - as religion is understood in the West: that is, mere rituals and religious observance, and some moral guidance, all separate from what is termed the 'secular' life. For Islam, all life - every moment of every day for every Muslim - must be in accord with the will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala).

Quite a few Western ideas go back to Ancient Greece - to philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. One of the people who understood the fundamental difference between Islam and the West - between the Islamic Way and the way of the West - was Hasan Al-Banna, one of the founders of Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen. His writings, and those of Sayyid Qutb, should be read by all converts to Islam and particularly those who are living in Western countries.

The truth is that the West is a collection of nations (and the idea of a nation-State is another Western idea) whose people are essentially barbarians, despite the technology, the prosperity and the system of education of these nations. (And even despite the religion of these nations.) For a barbarian is someone ignorant of the Word and Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) - someone who does not use the reason with which Allah (tabarak wa'tala) has endowed us, who is ruled by their passions who cannot or does not want to restrain themselves [and Allah (tabarak wa'tala) loves those who restrain themselves], and who does not have the reasonable behaviour and civilized manners which we Muslims strive to possess (Adab Al-Islam).

Expressed another way, a barbarian is someone who is not aware of their Creator - who does not know or feel how they are dependant upon that Creator, and who thus does not or cannot or will not bow down before their Creator. Someone, in brief, who possesses the pride, the egotism, of Shaitan. Such a person does not believe or understand or even feel that everything that happens, happens because of that Creator.

Islam is the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) - the way of the West is the way of Man. Thus the very ideas and ideals of the West are the ideas and ideals of Man, while the very ideas and ideals of Islam are the ideas and ideals which Allah (tabarak wa'tala) has given us to enable us to live according to His Will. Any other way of living is fundamentally wrong and contrary to our true nature, as human beings endowed by our Creator with reason and the will to restrain ourselves. This really is the quintessence of the argument against the West.

It is wrong to consider that there is such a thing today as a Muslim community following the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala). There are nations where the majority of people are born Muslim, but any devout Muslim striving to follow the will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) who goes to such places, or lives in them, knows full well that Islam is not a Way of Life for many of the people in those places. That is, such people do not fully obey, or strive to obey, the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) in all that they do - their lives are not focused upon Allah (tabarak wa'tala), not centered round Islam; for their aim is not taqwa, but rather something worldly, of benefit to themselves or their family. To understand this is to understand how far we Muslims are from creating and living in an Islamic way in an Islamic community.

We really have to stop thinking in terms of Western ideas, as we must start thinking in pure Islamic terms. What we must never do, or never try to do, is base our understanding of Islam on Western ideas, and judge Islam itself by these Western ideas.

Thus, we must stop thinking in terms of politics, of sociological theories, of economics, of 'human rights' and all such Western ideas (and stop using these terms in relation to Islam) - and instead start thinking only in terms of the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala).

As I with my limited knowledge understand it, this is what being Muslim means - an awareness of Allah (tabarak wa'tala), an awareness of Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) as His Messenger, as the human being par excellence, and an awareness of our duty to strive to live on a daily basis according to the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) - that is, according to Adab Al-Islam, with piety (taqwa) while fulfilling our Allah-given obligations (one of which is Jihad).

In one way - the inner way of personal awareness of our Creator, Allah (tabarak wa'tala) - the West is fundamentally irrelevant. In another way, the West is the fundamental obstacle to the creation of a practical Muslim community where we can live as Allah (tabarak wa'tala) intended us to live.

No Muslim can really be part of, or consider themselves part of, Western society and Western culture. For such society and culture is, on the personal level, haram, and on the outer practical level an obstacle in the way of creating and maintaining an Islamic community whose members live according to the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala).

Islam and the Western Idea of Democracy

Islam is opposed to the Western idea of democracy, for the very idea of democracy is contrary to the Way of Life which is Al-Islam.

This is so for two reasons. Firstly, because the ideal of democracy is to give power, and authority, through the vote, to individuals - regardless of the qualifications, the morals, the piety, the knowledge or way of life of those individuals. This is in total opposition to Islam.

In true Islam, authority (and respect) resides in those who know, who fully understand and who live by the will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala). To know the will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) is to know the holy Quran, the Sunnah and the Shari'ah - to have studied hadith, fiqh and seerah. Those who do know, and who live by what they know, guide others - it is their duty to guide other, less knowledgeable Muslims, just as it is the duty of those less knowledgeable Muslims to willingly accept such guidance and respect those favoured by Allah (tabarak wa'tala) with knowledge, scholarly learning, understanding and taqwa. This is so in Islam because it is the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) as expressed in the holy Quran and in the Sunnah.

The second reason why democracy is un-Islamic is because in democracy, it is individuals who make laws, and they make them based upon man-given, man-derived social and political ideas. Further, these laws are constantly being changed - every change of government sees new laws, based on the social and political ideas of the winning political Party.

In complete contrast, in Islam the laws have been given to us by Allah (tabarak wa'tala) - and they are complete and prefect. Any attempt to change these laws - to try and 'update' them and make them seem more 'relevant' [that is, more in accord with Western ideas] - is wrong, and indeed evil because it is contrary to the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) who has said:

"This day I have perfected your Way of Life for you and completed My favour upon you and have chosen for you as your Way of Life Al-Islam." (Surah 5:3)

The Islamic Community and the Khilafah

The Islamic community, or homeland, which we Muslims need - where we can live as Muslims according to the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala), governed by the Shari'ah and guided by pious, knowledgeable Allah-fearing Muslims - is and must be a community which follows the example of al-Khulafa' ar-Rashidun, of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.

This means - as Hasan Al-Banna understood - the restoration of the Khilafah, which is and will always be the Islamic ideal. We must look to this ideal, and become inspired by the example of al-Khulafa' ar-Rashidun - and totally reject any and every Western idea, Western ideal and Western example. For in al-Khulafa' ar-Rashidun we have true Islam in action in the world.

We must not now, and must not in the future, make the mistake - induced by the decadence and barbarism of the West - of seeing these inspiring examples of Islam as belonging to some distant past: as somehow 'irrelevant' to , or 'outdated' in the so-called 'modern world' we are supposed to live in. The truth is that these examples are pure, timeless, eternally relevant - for it is we who must change, who must restrain ourselves, who must reject the temptations of this life, and so create what Allah (tabarak wa'tala) desires us to create. For it is Allah (tabarak wa'tala) who has given us the example of al-Khulafa' ar-Rashidun.

What is not contained in their practical example, in the Islamic ideal of the Khilafah, is quite simply not necessary - for any and every thing else are temptations of this world which we must strive to resist if we are to create an Islamic community. And we can and will resist such un-Islamic, worldly temptations if we purify ourselves through dhikr - through remembering, and being grateful to, Allah (tabarak wa'tala).


May Allah (tabarak wa'tala) guide me to a better understanding, and may He forgive me for any and all errors. For Allah (tabarak wa'tala) knows best.

Muhammad Yusuf