Perhaps the most famous phrase of the encyclopedic scholar ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān Ibn Khaldun, despite the many works he wrote in various fields of knowledge, is his statement: "The defeated is always inclined to imitate the victor in his slogans, attire, beliefs, and all his conditions and customs." (1) This statement has gained fame due to the observable reality of our time, where there is a prevalent imitation of the West in various aspects and at all levels.
In this article, we will examine the reasons for this phenomenon, evaluate it, and then assess it to answer the question: Does the West deserve to be imitated?
Reasons for following the West
Western civilization is currently dominant, and this is a reality that cannot be denied. In most cases, people's souls tend to equate the ideas of power and perfection, so they see the dominant force as such only for its completeness, and then they infer from that the validity of its guidance. They perceive its ideas, conditions, and customs as good, while the defeated often forget many times what crimes were committed against them during their clash with the dominant power.
All the previous mistakes in thought are justified for those who lack the means to evaluate ideas, conditions, and customs. Therefore, while the phenomenon of emulating the West may be justified from the perspective of its occurrence, it is not justified for those who truly understand this civilization in terms of evaluation. This relies on the epistemological framework of the evaluator, which is the central point in the historical and modern clash of civilizations
The conflict between civilizations is a cosmic law
Islam is the oldest knowledge-based system ever, having been the religion of the first human, Adam (peace be upon him). No nation has ever been without a prophet, all of whom share a common understanding of one knowledge-based system—though their laws may differ—along with the obligation to act upon it and to call others to it. The foundation of this system is the oneness of Allah, the Exalted, as the creator of everything, the necessity of worshipping Him, and the fulfillment of His promise of reward for His worshippers and punishment for the deniers.
In contrast, there have been many other civilizations with different knowledge-based systems that have struggled against this original system. Allah, the Exalted, has narrated to us the stories of this conflict in several accounts, such as those of ʿĀd
Thamud, the people of Pharaoh, and the people of Tubba'… among others. The outcome was for the righteous, with their immediate destruction and the eradication of their remnants, while Islam remained. In the long run, this will also be true, as the righteous will inherit everlasting bliss, while others remain in eternal torment.
Why is it not advisable for Muslims to emulate the West?
The complete epistemological vision established by Islam in the hearts of its followers is resistant to merging with any opposing idea. Therefore, the foundations of Islamic civilization remained cohesive despite the cultural regression of Muslims. Meanwhile, the weaknesses of Western civilization became apparent to everyone, including the Westerners themselves, despite their dominance. The secret lies in ethics (2) Islamic civilization is an ethical civilization on both theoretical and practical levels, in contrast to Western civilization, which has fragmented the human being and emptied him of all that is moral, in exchange for exalted utilitarianism that has stripped him of humanity, reducing him to a savage creature that feeds on what it has taken from others.
There is no doubt that those Muslims enamored with imitating the West have failed to grasp the true essence of Islam and what distinguishes it from others. They have been affected by those intellectual errors alongside the cultural promotion made by the prevailing civilization, which often imposes its culture to the extent that alternatives revealing its flaws become non-existent. It's evident that this monopoly alone is unethical, let alone what it has established in terms of ideas and practices.
The civilizations in the view of ethics
The view of morality as a marginal component among elements that have no real effectiveness is a superficial perspective that reason cannot accept. Morality is the foundation of the rise and fall of civilizations, and it guarantees the stability or stagnation of societies. The value of morality is ingrained in the nature of all humans, and they cannot detach themselves from it except through considerable effort driven by the prevailing culture in societies through replacement and alteration.
The Islamic civilization is a moral civilization, both in its establishment and in its struggles. Through its ethics, it excels over other civilizations. Muslims, during the era of the final prophethood, were aware of this even before the manifestations of their own civilization emerged. They did not equate their distinctive qualities of exaltation—even at the beginning of their civilization—with what others possessed, nor did they hesitate to adopt aspects of urban development from others. In this way, their civilization combined the elevation of morals with the acquisition of strength, leading to the absorption of the contributions of others into themselves rather than the reverse.
"And how beautiful is what was narrated about the debate between a Persian and an Arab in front of the abbasid minister, the Persian Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmak (d. 190 AH). The Persian said: 'We have never needed you in any work or naming. You have ruled, yet you have not been able to do without us in your affairs or your language, to the point that your dishes, your drinks, and your records, and what is contained within them, are all according to what we named; you did not change any of it!'"
The Bedouin said: "Be patient for us, so that we may possess as you have possessed for a thousand years after a thousand years that were before it; for after that, we will not need you nor anything that belonged to you.")3)
This simple Bedouin understood the distinction between the sources of strength of the idea that builds a great civilization and the cultural products that are human achievements easily accessible to anyone and can also be derived from anyone.
Our need to restore lost morals.
The dominance of utilitarianism in that prevailing civilization has deprived good morals of their prevalence in the societies that emulate it, both at the collective and individual levels. It has become rare to find displays of morals that were once natural in Islamic societies, such as modesty, chastity, generosity, and others. The genuine desire of Muslims to restore their civilization, which once prevailed among nations, is directly linked to their wish for the widespread presence of virtuous morals. They do not wish to be affected by the prevailing moral decline that is evident in many nations today, nor do they want this decline to influence Muslim societies significantly. The need for the resurgence of Islamic civilization has become urgent, as the entire world needs to rescue it from its current moral crisis. How can those who have adopted a faith, whose Prophet was sent to perfect good morals, allow themselves to drift away from these values? (4) "To emulate an unethical civilization?!"
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- "Introduction to the History of ibn Khaldun (1/184)."
- Reviewed: "The Impossible State" by Dr. Wael Hallaq, which is a Western thesis that defines the essence of the distinction between Islamic civilization and others as an ethical civilization.
- "The Writer's Etiquette by Abu Bakr bin al-Suli p. 193."
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“I have been sent only for the purpose of perfecting good morals” A Hadith reported by Ahmad (8939), and Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad (273) and authenticated by Al-Albani."
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