In two vastly contrasting worlds, with different ethical, value-based, and social systems, education remains a critical and decisive process that determines the future of nations and positions societies among others. The development of the educational process is a clear indicator of the progress of some countries and the decline of others.

Interestingly, what distinguishes the West today in terms of education and teaching methods was what the Islamic world excelled in historically, presenting exemplary models of successful educational systems. While Arabs abandoned their ancestors' heritage and resorted to imitation, the West developed and advanced its systems, leading to a stark difference between a nation seeking the essence and truth of knowledge and one content with its form and appearance.

What are the most notable differences between the educational processes in the Arab and Western worlds? How did education become one of the key reasons for the West's advancement? How do Arab students studying abroad perceive Western education? This and more are explored in this report by “Al-Mujtama.”

A nation that seeks to rise and overcome its disputes and backwardness must prioritize the educational process.

 It's not surprising that the first ayahs of the Quran command reading and learning, as knowledge builds a person, giving them value and status. Even when Allah created Adam, He taught him what He did not teach the angels, Allah says, “And He taught Adam the names - all of them.” (Al-Baqarah: 31), making that knowledge a shield against corruption and bloodshed.

A nation aiming to rise and overcome its disputes and backwardness must place education at the forefront of its priorities. This focus should not be on education as a national service but on the educational process itself, how students benefit from it, and how it aligns with labor market needs. Otherwise, it would be like a heavy burden with no benefit.

Historically, the state's system in the Arab and Islamic regions relied on the endowment system, where essential needs like health and education were decentralized. Thus, the collapse of a political system did not necessarily mean the collapse of civilization, including education and health.

For example, when the Ottoman Empire reached its peak in the 16th and 17th centuries, the educational system relied on various types of schools. First were the religious schools established in mosques or their annexes, later moving to independent buildings, aimed at producing graduates for judicial and religious institutions like judges, teachers, and muftis. These schools offered a high level of education, teaching various subjects beyond religious sciences, such as philosophy, logic, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, and history.

The second type was the saray (palace) schools, established to educate Ottoman family members and prepare officials for saray duties.

The educational methodology in the West relies on critical thinking and innovation, whereas in our countries, the focus is on memorization and repetition.

Military schools aimed to prepare military officers and state officials. There were also local schools, including boys' schools, and the Grand Istanbul School, established by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror as the first university, teaching four primary sciences: religious, literary, mathematical, and natural sciences.

Modern education entered the Ottoman Empire in 1839, transforming to the Western model at the time.

The West developed a different educational system stemming from intellectual culture and the Enlightenment revolution during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. An economic need arose for educated individuals to meet job requirements, and with increased production came the need to market goods, which required continuous employment for sustenance and luxuries. This created a sort of a closed-loop system.

The educational system was designed to provide all students with the same material at the same age to ensure a continuous supply of employees for the economy. Over time, this system began to have significant impacts on individual freedom and society.

Currently, the educational process in the West has evolved, whereas it has not undergone the same development in Arab countries. The system remains a closed process producing semi-educated individuals, sidelining religious, cultural, and moral education, and relying heavily on foreign and cultural curricula, causing a cultural identity crisis among children.

Despite the scientific advancement in the West contributing to prosperity, the ethical and moral aspects remain marginalized in the educational process.

Education in the Ottoman Empire, for example, took into account the individual needs of students. The teaching method relied on the student's ability to recall, research, and study independently, resulting in different outcomes compared to current public schools. Education was generally outside state control, with many revolutions and oppositions originating from the heart of religious schools. This type of education created a balance between state authority and the power of the people, providing a relatively greater degree of individual freedom.

What Distinguish the West?

The most prominent differences between the Arab and Western worlds lie in the current educational methodology. In the West, the focus is on critical thinking and innovation. Students are encouraged to be curious and explore knowledge independently, whereas in the Arab world, the focus is often on memorization and repetition. The educational system tends to be more routine-oriented than skill and innovation-oriented.

It is also noticeable that the West widely uses technology in education, such as cloud computing, e-learning, and innovative educational applications. In contrast, the Arab world faces challenges in fully adopting technology in education due to differences in infrastructure and technological requirements.

Western educational structures rely on the freedom to choose educational paths and specializations, allowing for flexibility and diversity in fields of study. In the Arab world, there may be restrictions on choosing educational paths, often favoring certain specializations over others.

Western educational culture encourages learning from mistakes and experiences, valuing innovation and failure as essential parts of the learning process. In contrast, the Arab world may have evaluative tendencies that prefer immediate success and focus on test results more than on creative work.

In Western education, there is an emphasis on the outcomes of the educational process and its alignment with the labor market's needs and the requirements for the country's development. In most Arab countries, the evaluation is often based on performance alone and the smooth running of the educational process, such as teachers attending classes and delivering lessons, regardless of the final output and the job market's needs.

Our Children Between Two Worlds

“Al-Mujtama” spoke with several Arab students who completed their university or postgraduate studies in Europe. The main differences they found between education in their Arab countries and in Western countries can be summarized as follows:

1. Freedom to choose a field of specialization even before completing secondary education. In some European countries, a student can switch to studying a particular field, such as the arts, if they have a passion for it, even before completing pre-university years.
2. Training in thinking methods rather than just scientific subjects, so that the student learns to analyze problems and solve them, engage in critical thinking, and learn how to learn, acquire information, and develop skills, making learning a continuous process not limited to academic studies.

The Arab and Islamic world has a rich value system rooted in Islam and consistent with human nature.

3. Education through applications and models via challenge-based learning, encouraging students to apply what they have learned. Students often work on projects, and at certain educational stages, there is a project for each subject as an application of the academic content.
4. Comprehensive education, studying subjects other than the specialization to ensure that the student is aware of various concepts beyond their field. For instance, an engineering graduate would have knowledge of other sciences such as humanities, medicine, or economics.
5. Emphasis on openness to other cultures, with many Western universities providing opportunities for students to travel and support them in learning about their fields in other countries, and to learn skills in dealing with different cultures.
6. Alignment with labor market needs, focusing scientific specializations on industries in which the country excels. For example, if a country is advanced in the automotive industry, engineering college specializations revolve around this industry. Hence, specializations align with the labor market.

These effective educational principles currently in the West were present in the Arab and Islamic world before adopting old Western systems. Students had the freedom to choose their subjects. In most Arab countries, boys learned writing, the Quran, and basic grammar. Once they mastered these subjects and skills, they listened to poetry and hadith. Some continued studying and delved deeper into one or more religious, literary, or scientific subjects, depending on the child's readiness and ability to learn and transition to the next educational stage.

Muslim scholars often traveled to learn and gain knowledge and interact with other societies, such as Imam Al-Shafi'i, who was born in the Levant and undertook a rich academic journey through Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Baghdad, and Egypt.

Many Muslim scholars excelled in multiple sciences, not just one, like Ibn Sina, who was a physician, philosopher, writer, and poet. There are numerous examples in this regard.

Despite the scientific progress in the West, which has contributed to prosperity and development, the ethical and moral aspect remains on the margins of the educational process. Sometimes schools and universities even encourage what contradicts human nature. We must acknowledge that this scientific progress has flaws because one of the roles of science is to discipline and refine human behavior.

In contrast, the Arab and Islamic world possesses a rich value system derived from Islam and consistent with human nature. If this were supported by advanced education, it would build a great civilization, not just mere development!

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Muslim youth today face immense challenges in Western societies, with the most significant of these being the challenge of religious identity. With increasing cultural, political, and economic pressures, these young people find themselves in a struggle that threatens their psychological and social stability. They must reconcile the demands of their faith with the demands of the society in which they live, leading to a division where some become negligent in their faith, while others become extreme.

The Islamic identity stems from the doctrine of monotheism, which forms the core beliefs of a Muslim and governs their interactions with others, as well as their appearance, reflecting their affiliation with Islam. Preserving one's religious identity does not imply isolation or disengagement from other cultures and religions. Instead, a Muslim should be an honorable example, correcting the misconceptions that have been unfairly associated with Islam and Muslims.

According to Pew Research Center statistics, the number of Muslims in the European Union countries reached about 26 million by 2016, a number that continues to grow along with numerous obstacles and challenges. After the events of September 11, Islam has often been perceived as a terrorist and extremist religion, leading to increased racism and persecution of Muslims in America, in particular, and Western countries in general, due to rising hostility towards them. For instance, in 2009, Switzerland's largest party proposed a referendum to ban the construction of minarets. In 2019, a pregnant woman in Australia wearing a hijab was severely attacked and had to be hospitalized. A study by researchers at Charles Sturt University found that 96% of women who reported physical assaults and sexual harassment were hijabis. Additionally, a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights revealed that about 92% of Muslims have experienced racial discrimination in various forms, with 53% of them due to their names. A study by Rice University showed that Muslims in America are five times more likely to be harassed by police because of their religion compared to other faiths.

Thus, Muslim youth find themselves between two extremes: some are afraid and seek to assimilate into these societies without facing persecution or assaults, leading them to abandon their identity. Others may join extremist groups, isolating themselves from a society that rejects them. According to Dr. Sana Asad, a researcher at San Francisco State University specializing in the identity crisis among youth, one in three children aged 5 to 9 hides their Muslim identity from their peers. One in two children is unsure if they can be both Muslim and American at the same time, and one in six children sometimes pretends not to be Muslim to fit into society.

There are three main reasons exacerbating the identity crisis among Muslim youth in the West:

1- Lack of true understanding of Islam: They do not comprehend the greatness of this religion, do not truly know Allah, and lack the knowledge that would strengthen their faith and certainty in the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions. Consequently, they have no connection to this religion that qualifies them to follow it and bear its obligations.

 2- Fear of affiliation with Islam: Many Muslim youth in the West live in constant fear of revealing their Islamic identity due to racism and persecution, preventing them from freely practicing their religious rituals. For instance, Muslim women might remove their hijabs to avoid unemployment, Muslims might change their Islamic names to Western ones, and some prefer to miss prayers rather than being seen praying in public places.

3- The dual-generation crisis: Muslim youth suffer from the intergenerational conflict, feeling caught between the generation of immigrant parents who do not fully understand their problems and force them to follow a religion that seems inconsistent with the life they live and the societies that surround them, and the Western society that does not accept them and sees them as intruders, reinforcing their feelings of alienation and lack of belonging.

 The Solution

Youth need to learn the true Islamic religion, away from the negative models that distort its image. This can only be achieved by learning the correct creed, the noble Prophetic biography, and the stories of the great companions and followers so that they can take pride in their Islamic identity and defend it. Here, the importance of institutions in strengthening the youth's connection to their identity becomes evident. The family, mosque, and Islamic centers should support and be a refuge for this confused youth. If they lose their identity, they lose themselves and fall victim to psychological disorders and extremist sects, potentially taking an irrecoverable path.

And as Dr. Essam Hashim states: “When the individuals of the Ummah lost their identity and began to flounder in the darkness of contemporary civilization in search of an identity, a distorted version of Western civilization appeared among the youth of Islamic countries. There emerged those who imitate them in their dress, food, drink, and hairstyles, and even in their self-indulgence of pursuing their desires. Among the Muslim girls, there were those who abandoned their hijab, appeared on satellite channels as singers, dancers, or presenters. Worse still, there are those among our people who speak our language, who, in the name of culture and progress, seek to further erase the Islamic identity; they strive to uncover the hijabi, corrupt the well-behaved, and bring out the hidden and modest.”

This is the price we have to pay when we let go of our identity, we become a joke among other nations!

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1. The Identity Crisis of Muslims in Non-Muslim Societies, paradigm shift.
2. The Identity Crisis of Muslims In Non-Muslim Society | Sheeren Salama.
3. Youth and Islamic Identity, Islam Web.
4. Youth and Islamic Identity, Al Jazeera Net.
5. Muslim Youth in the West Investing in Social Media: Identity and Integration, Civilization Center for Studies and Research.

In contemporary society, particularly in Western cultures, a concerning trend has emerged: the normalization of casual relationships. This phenomenon, often referred to as "hook-up culture," involves engaging in superficial, temporary physical relationships without any emotional or long-term commitment. Promoted by media and social platforms as a symbol of personal freedom and self-expression ¹, this culture raises critical questions: Does such unbridled liberty lead to happiness, or does it instead create an inner void and undermine human nature? Is it true freedom, or merely the enslavement to desires and pleasures?

What is the Hook-up Culture?

Hook-up culture promotes the idea that one can have physical intimacy with another person without any lasting commitment or connection. This culture grows in an environment that celebrates absolute individualism, reducing the value of the relationship between the sexes to mere momentary gratification. It thrives particularly among young people in universities and large cities, where moral and religious awareness is absent, replaced by an insatiable desire for experimentation and temporary pleasure.

According to a study published by "Psychology Today," this phenomenon is closely linked to deteriorating mental health, as young people participating in these relationships suffer from anxiety and depression due to emotional emptiness. What initially appears as freedom and independence quickly turns into a heavy psychological burden that is difficult to overcome.
Participation in this culture trains the mind to ignore emotions and responsibility, affecting how young people form relationships in the future. This is evident in the prevalence of television programs in the West centered around children whose fathers are unknown. The mother comes to the program to conduct a DNA test with a group of men, one of whom may be the father. These programs have some of the highest viewership ratings.

Psychological and Social Impacts of Hook-up Culture

Recent research indicates that these relationships are not merely isolated individual experiences but have far-reaching effects on society as a whole. Casual relationships reinforce the concept of selfishness and emotional consumption, turning people into mere tools for satisfying desires, which leads to a breakdown of trust between individuals and the destruction of genuine emotional bonds.

Psychologically, many participants in these relationships suffer from feelings of isolation and depression. A study conducted by Stanford University revealed that participants in casual relationships are more likely to develop psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety compared to their peers who choose to build committed and sustainable relationships.

How can such a society claim to be civilized and cohesive when its members follow their instincts and desires blindly, like animals living by their instincts, leaving behind children without fathers, with some resorting to abortion and killing fetus because they do not wish to bear the consequences of their actions? This leads to numerous psychological issues that reflect the disintegration of their society.

Islam and the Foundation of Strong Relationships

Amid the spread of this phenomenon in Western societies, Islam restores the value and dignity of humans by calling for self-discipline and control over desires. Islam directs human energy toward building relationships based on commitment and mutual respect. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever among you can afford to marry, let him marry, for it helps lower the gaze and guard chastity. Whoever cannot afford it should fast, as it will be a restraint for him." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

In Islam, relationships are not merely a means to satisfy desires but a way to achieve tranquility and psychological balance by refining instincts rather than letting them run unchecked. Marriage is the only legitimate way to fulfill physical desires in a manner that preserves human dignity and protects society from corruption and decay.

Marriage in Islam is not just a relationship between a man and a woman, but a solemn covenant based on love and mercy. Allah says: "And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them, and He placed between you affection and mercy" (Surah Ar-Rum: 21).

Marriage is not only a means of achieving individual happiness but also the cornerstone of building a strong Islamic society. The family is the institution that ensures the upbringing of generations on the correct values and enhances emotional and psychological stability. This is what is missing in societies that adopt the culture of casual relationships, which encourage the disintegration of families and the destruction of deep human relationships.

Facing the challenges of the age

In confronting the culture of casual relationships, we as Muslims must work to promote the culture of marriage and strong family relationships. Islamic societies must provide young people with support and counseling to direct their energies toward building stable families. Education and the media play a crucial role in reintroducing the model of the Muslim family as a successful and sustainable example. There must be continuous awareness about the dangers of casual relationships and their negative effects on mental and physical health, with a focus on the importance of marriage in building a cohesive and stable society.

In conclusion, Islam does not forbid human relationships but refines and directs them toward the higher goal of achieving a balance between the needs of the body and the spirit, and building a strong society based on respect and mercy. We must reconsider the impact of the culture of casual relationships on Muslim societies and strive to strengthen the values of family and marriage that make both the individual and society resilient in facing the challenges of the modern age.

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1. PubMed Central

2. Psychology Today

3. The Colgate Maroon News

The term “Secularism” has historical roots dating back to the religious wars in Europe that erupted in the 17th century and the emergence of the modern nation-state, where power shifted to the civil state away from the domination of the church.

The late scholar Dr. Abdel Wahab El-Messiri, in his encyclopedia “Partial Secularism and Comprehensive Secularism,” differentiates between two approaches to understanding secularism. Some restrict it to the separation of religion from politics and the economy, meaning the separation of religion from the state. This type of secularism does not oppose religious and moral principles but does not wish to involve them in worldly affairs subject to experimentation.

There is also comprehensive secularism, which strictly tries to neutralize the relationship between religion and values in various life aspects. It believes that only materialism can explain phenomena and that the material is the center of the universe. This concept developed through eras with the rise of the nation-state, European colonialism, increased production, the erosion of intermediate institutions like the family, the spread of value-free utilitarian thought, a shift towards rampant consumerism, and finally to the post-modern era with the spread of multinational corporations and phenomena such as sexual deviance, the nuclear family, and the misuse of science in medical and research fields.

The secular state, with its educational, entertainment, and media institutions, has reached the human conscience, infiltrated dreams and behavior, and undermined what remains of religious or even human morals!

When Socialism and Liberalism Met

El-Messiri points out the essential material essence of Western philosophies, despite surface differences. The Soviet Union, deeply entrenched in comprehensive communism, quickly adopted liberal values and American goods obsessively upon its fall. Meanwhile, the United States, which still allowed freedom of belief and Protestant religious propaganda, fell deeply into secularism and atheism due to the expansion of industrialization, urbanization, and the commodification of everything, including humans—a process known as “Americanization.” This resulted in the widespread prevalence of McDonald's, Pepsi, hamburgers, sexual advertisements, war movies, the American lifestyle, and songs and literature linked to the grim reality rather than ideals, despite its inherent racist bias against the Third World, Arabs, and Muslims specifically.

Globalization has literally dismembered the world and its people with its colonial advance, the emergence of Westernized elites in the Third World who rule through oppression, supported by Western (democratic secular) countries, or through phenomena like Nazism and Zionism that dismantled Polish, Russian, and Jewish humans in Europe, and Palestinians in our Arab East. Thus, the history of secularism cannot be separated from the history of modern Western colonialism.

Between Nazism and Zionism!

Modern secularism is an expression of the disappearance of values and the sacred from human life, and the glorification of commodities and materialism alone, leading to “the computerization of everything,” as El-Messiri describes. He links what happened to European Jews, who were treated as obsolete parts to be eliminated and transferred to Eastern countries, with what the Zionists, supported by America, are doing today by displacing and exterminating Palestinians.

El-Messiri also connects Nazi concentration camps and gas chambers with the persecution, extermination, and imprisonment faced by Palestinians today at the hands of the Zionist Nazis of our time. This is done by cold-blooded employees who believe these systematic steps are necessary for the security of “Israel,” the offspring of Western colonialism; from their perspective, it is a rational matter unrelated to emotions or history, which they simply erase to let the Darwinian theory of the fittest prevail.

In his famous book “Modernity and the Holocaust,” Polish-born British sociologist Zygmunt Bauman links modernity with the fall of values, with increasing relativism and the absolute religious truth, leading to a focus on the body and the absence of any standard in human behavior. Instead, there is an instrumental rationality concerned only with procedures, not ends, just as the Nazis sought to exterminate the mentally and physically disabled through “euthanasia” before moving to gas chambers to suffocate the Jews, considering them all useless categories!

Some have linked the secular Turkish forces during the rule of Erbakan to this tendency, as they staged a military coup against the people's choice of a moderate Islamic party, the Welfare Party. Here, the secular forces became the greatest adversary of democracy, turning into a fascist secularism until the balance of moderation was restored later.

El-Messiri highlights an important aspect: the impact of Western pragmatic thinking on Arab political elites over the past decades. With it, the Palestine cause shifted from being a matter of land taken from its rightful owners and given to Jews who committed horrific massacres and destruction to reclaiming the borders of 1967. We began to concede little by little, and the discourse changed after the Camp David Accords, taking an economic rather than an Arab nationalist form, until the hope became a ceasefire on innocent people and halting the expansion of settlements.

If we contemplate “Israel,” we will see it as merely a practical application of Western imperialism, which has always exterminated millions and plundered their resources in Africa and Latin America for its interests. Zionism is a secular Darwinian movement that turned Jews and Palestinians into utilitarian materials to achieve its goals, just as it did in Vietnam, Bosnia, Chechnya, and all the roles led by American intelligence.

Secularism from Within

Secularism never carried the dream of peace, justice, and equality as it claims. The French Revolution was a period of sacred violence, Napoleon's armies brought nothing but destruction and death to Eastern countries, as did the British Empire, which plundered the resources and enslaved the people. The Bolshevik Revolution produced Stalin in Russia, and thus were the secular regimes around the world.

El-Messiri, in his encyclopedia, dedicates sections to miserable models produced by secularism, such as the Singaporean hero (transformed into a production hero and a greedy consumer market), the Thai hero (transformed into a sexual force that can be marketed), and finally, the hero by Zionist standards, where sheer material brute force devoid of any value decides to exterminate the other in its camps.

Colonialism, by the logic of “transfer”—meaning a person who believes in moving and has no loyalty to culture or place—created pockets loyal to it in all its former colonies. It moved Chinese people to Malaysia, Jews to Palestine, and Jews also to Argentina, thus moving the human surplus it did not want to achieve its interests.

The idea of transition and instability evolved to include even the human gender. A man could become a woman and vice versa, and the call for free choice of partner emerged, with men marrying men and women marrying women. Thus, humanity fell into the swamp of deviation from any value or instinct.

Comprehensive secularism reduced humans to raw materials, cheap labor, and guaranteed markets for the benefit of the stronger and superior race in its biased colonial view. It encouraged the division of the world into small nation-states, then further divided them and stirred up prejudices to maintain its dominance. Meanwhile, it raised consumption rates, increased market demand, and spread Americanization, ending the uniqueness of cultures and the individuality of humans. It encouraged the idea of immediate gratification of desires outside traditional systems. At its core, America denies humanity and sanctifies materialism. Our duty is to confront secularism with a comprehensive project expressing our open, civilized, and authentic Arab-Islamic identity and instilling it in future generations.

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More than two decades have passed since the events of September 11th. Many events have occurred within America and abroad since then, but these events remain the most influential on the foreign policies of many Western countries towards Islam and its nations. They also remain among the most significant events that have led Western individuals to reassess their views on Islam.

First and foremost, we must assert that these events do not represent Islam in any way: not its religion, not its Sharia, not its spirit, and not its message. These events cannot be considered a form of ijtihad (independent reasoning) because they did not come from those qualified to practice ijtihad. They were a grave injustice to Islam and its followers. It’s enough to say that this act was criminal in its goal and means, regardless of who carried it out, their religion, or their nationality.

Islam rejects violence and intimidation directed at innocents. Imam Ahmad narrated from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla who said: “The companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told us that they were traveling with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on a journey. One of them fell asleep, and some of them went and took his arrows. When the man woke up, he was startled, and the people laughed. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked: 'What made you laugh?' They said: 'We took this man’s arrow, and he was startled.' The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'It is not lawful for a Muslim to frighten another.'” (Authenticated by the scholars who verified the Musnad).

The description of the frightened individual as a Muslim does not imply that it is permissible to intimidate non-Muslims. It was mentioned because the frightened person happened to be a Muslim. Imam Muslim narrated from Abu Huraira, who said: “Abu'l-Qasim (the kunya of Allah's Messenger, may peace be upon him), said: He who pointed a weapon towards his brother the angels invoke curse upon him even if he is his real brother so long as he does not abandon it (the pointing of weapon towards one's brother Muslim).” Merely pointing a piece of iron or weapon invokes Allah’s curse!

Islam condemns the killing of any human being, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. This is evident in Allah’s words: “Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.” (Al-Ma'idah: 32)

As we observe the current state of the Ummah—with its weakness, backwardness, and oppression—we must recognize that this Ummah is enduring. Yes, it may fall ill, but it will not die; it may weaken, but it will not vanish. It may reach a state of insignificance, as mentioned in the hadith of Thawban: “You will be numerous at that time: but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent.” (Narrated by Ahmad and authenticated by the scholars who verified the Musnad). However, it will remain because the complete eradication of the Ummah has been denied by Allah. Imam Bukhari narrated from Mu'awiya who said: “I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say: 'A group of people amongst my followers will remain obedient to Allah's orders and they will not be harmed by anyone who will not help them or who will oppose them, till Allah's Order (the Last Day) comes upon them while they are still on the right path.'” Imam Muslim narrated from Jabir who said: “I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say: 'A group of people from my Umma will continue to fight In defence of truth and remain triumphant until the Day of judgment.'”

The Ummah may be eradicated in part, as happened in Andalusia, but it will not be completely eradicated as happened to the Native Americans or the indigenous Australians when they were exterminated by the British and their allies.

On the anniversary of September 11th, it cannot be denied that these events have had a negative impact on Muslims in the West, especially in America. Muslims, particularly women wearing hijab, have faced repeated instances of persecution and violence, fueled by written articles and inflamed by TV programs and purposefully crafted movies.

However, it must be said that despite their harshness, these events have been a blessing in disguise for Islam and Muslims. Despite the growing anti-Muslim sentiments among some, the past two decades have been a bright and promising period for Muslims in the West, both in Europe and America. The British magazine “The Economist” reported that Muslims were the most prominent religious minority in America in recent years. The magazine noted that the number of mosques has doubled and that educational levels among the Muslim minority have increased. For example, Muslims make up 15% of the doctors in the state of Michigan, despite being only 0.3% of the population. Alongside this, Muslim writers and politicians have emerged in many American states.

The current reality imposes a duty on Muslims to dispose fear and panic from the hearts of others. This requires everyone—individuals, institutions, and organizations—to strive to integrate into society through introducing themselves, communicating, and serving, as people are enemies of what they do not know. How much more so when the other party is either ignorant of Islam or is being fed hatred and malice by spiteful voices, hired writers, and institutions hostile to Islam!

However, integration must be coupled with the preservation of identity. Yes, preserving religious and linguistic constants is essential. It is necessary to integrate into society without melting into the temptations of alienation or falling under the influence of every new cultural update or trend.

We are confident that if non-Muslims knew the goodness Islam brings to all people, to society in all its forms and beliefs, they would accept this religion—either through belief or through respect.

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