- Utilitarian Intellectuals may differ on many issues, but they agree on one thing: their hatred for Islam and their efforts to combat it!
- The Utilitarian Intellectual is driven by personal interests and easily deviates from their religious, moral, and humanitarian duties.
- In All Cases: The utilitarian intellectual is radical, deceitful, fraudulent, a liar, and a hypocrite.
- The Missionary Intellectual boldly speaks the truth against falsehood, never betrays their nation, and does not deceive it.
The manufacture of the utilitarian intellectual is linked to Westernization, and previously to the greedy and aggressive invaders who occupy Muslim lands, control their resources, plunder their wealth, and benefit from their strategic locations.
Utilitarian intellectual
The "utilitarian intellectual" stands in contrast to the "organic intellectual," as termed by the Italian communist writer Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), the founder of the idea of "cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining power in a capitalist society." The concept of the "organic intellectual" in his view refers to a person who can skillfully recognize, with a distinctive cultural awareness, the needs and aspirations of the class to which they belong. Here, Gramsci signifies the extent to which this intellectual possesses a creative awareness through which they can express the ideology of the group of which they are an active and conscious part; they are the intellectual who is faithful to their people and to their aspirations and desires for freedom, independence, and hope.
Organic Intellectual
The "organic intellectual" in Gramsci’s view is paralleled by the "missionary intellectual" in the Islamic perspective; this type not only proclaims the truth in the face of falsehood but also does not betray their nation, mislead it, or deceive it, nor do they accommodate the tyrants who hold power—any kind of power—and they do not sell themselves under any circumstances, or in exchange for a handful of coins, no matter the form or nature of those coins. They are loyal to God and His Messenger (peace be upon him), regardless of the heavy price they may have to pay.
Opportunistic Intellectual
On the other hand, the "utilitarian intellectual" is driven by personal interests and responds to the deviation from their religious, moral, and human duties. In all circumstances, they are exterminative, misleading, deceitful, lying, and hypocritical. They envision the world only through this negative perspective. This type of intellectual exists in journalism, media, education, advocacy, universities, thought, literature, research centers, and similar fields, searching for what will bring them fame, wealth, power, and proximity to centers of influence and prestige.
Who's Paying the Piper
The forces of greed, tyranny, and aggression recognized early on the importance of the utilitarian intellectual in achieving their goals directly or indirectly, even if they did not always disclose it. Many years ago, F. S. Saunders, who worked in the American Central Intelligence Agency, published a book titled "Cultural Cold War: Who's Paying the Piper?" (Its translation was published by the National Center for Translation, 4th edition, Cairo, 2009), in which she documented the role of the intelligence agency in recruiting a number of intellectuals, writers, poets, and artists in the West and the Arab world, and financing literary magazines and cultural activities that promoted its ideas during the Cold War between the two giants: the Soviets and the Americans. Their battlefield included newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts, conferences, art exhibitions, artistic festivals, grants, awards, etc., where a structured network was formed of individuals functioning in parallel with the CIA to implant a new idea that the world needs a new enlightenment era, which would all be termed the "American Century."
Congress for Cultural Freedom
This network was led by the "Congress for Cultural Freedom" (consider the significance of the name), which acted as an unofficial ministry of American culture, or to be the "piper" for which the CIA paid for the tunes it requested. The Arab region witnessed magazines and intellectuals working under the banner of this organization, many magazines, the most famous of which are "Hiwar" and "Shi’r," along with numerous intellectuals, most of whom were leftists, sectarians, and opponents of Islam.
Did it ever occur to Muslims that the Romans could have a role in the making of Musaylimah the Liar?
Musaylimah the Liar... A Sleeper Cell
In 2006, a translation of the book "Intelligence Rules the World," authored by former CIA intelligence officer Angelo Code Nila and later a university professor, was released. The book discusses an interesting topic within what he calls sleeper or dormant elements recruited by intelligence agencies in a given country or region. At a moment determined by the agency, these elements are asked to mobilize and carry out tasks involving sabotage or creating chaos. Each operates in their own domain, and they may succeed or fail.
The author presented "Musaylimah the Liar" as an example of sleeper elements; he was recruited by the intelligence of the Roman Empire in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula to weaken Muslims and disrupt the unity of the Arabian Peninsula under the banner of Islam established by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Had it not been for Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, combating him, Musaylimah would have succeeded in altering the course of Islam and Muslims! The author refers to Roman documents and sources that he relied on in his treatment of the topic, which may seem amusing to us, but he confirms that it is common among researchers in the field of Western intelligence.
Did it occur to Muslims, both ancient and modern, that the Romans might have had a role in creating Musaylimah the Liar, who is known in Islamic history as the false prophet?
Creating Utilitarian Intellectuals
In modern times, the West has not hesitated to create utilitarian intellectuals, just as it creates utilitarian officials in countries coveted for conquest, plunder, or control of their resources. I would like to quote some of what engineer Mahmoud Saqr wrote in his article (the "Community" website, July 1, 2020) on the subject. The famous French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in the introduction of the book "The Wretched of the Earth" by French revolutionary Frantz Fanon about the creation of parrot-like intellectuals loyal to them: "We would bring some of the children from the colonies, teach them our language and customs, arrange European marriages for some, and then send them back to their countries; through them, we would hear the echo of our own voices. These intellectuals we have created have nothing but what we put into their mouths."
The Solitary’s Retreat
Novelist Ibrahim Aslan continues the scene painted by Sartre, saying spontaneously in his book "The Solitary’s Retreat" that he was invited to France in 1994 along with a group of Egyptian intellectuals. He recounts: "We sat in front of a table crowded with colorful light dishes and dark wine bottles, surrounded by a group of beautiful girls... A man next to me filled my cup whenever it was empty and introduced himself as a Jew... I whispered in my neighbor's ear that this man is Jewish, and he replied: So what? All the people here are Jews."
The nature of the Western and Zionist creation of our Arab intellectuals is evident, as is the type of intellectuals they select from the left, who are, in essence, a Jewish creation through the parties established by the Jew Henri Curiel in the 1940s, to whom and to the Zionist entity they owe an undisguised allegiance!
These utilitarian intellectuals may differ in many things, but they agree on one thing in their view of religions: a hatred of Islam and a direct or indirect war against it. This is reflected in their cultural behavior through the organizations they work in or the means of expression they dominate, and their eradication of any voice or pen that sympathizes with the pure religion. Furthermore, their defense of Judaism and Christianity represents the peak of their revolutionary and enlightening struggle, while the distortion and humiliation that Islam faces, for them, signifies freedom of opinion and the right to express.
Another aspect that presents a facet of the manufacturing of the usable intellectual is their honoring with the highest awards in the West, with France leading the way in this field due to its eagerness to dominate the Arab mind and subjugate it, transforming their loyalty to French culture, which is exploitative and antagonistic toward Islam and Muslims.
The dozens of intellectuals who have received these awards do not sympathize with Islam, its values, its methodology, or its legislative principles. In fact, many of them do not hesitate to attack the pure religion, questioning its suitability for all times and places, and promote poisonous Western and Zionist ideas against it.
Celebration of Colonialism
The process of manufacturing the usable intellectual has led to the downfall of many Western intellectuals, as well as a significant number of our prominent Arab intellectuals, and many of the lesser ones, into fatal errors concerning their humanity, let alone the noble Islamic faith, when they glorified colonialism and praised it, presenting it as a harbinger of dignity, freedom, democracy, progress, and enlightenment in our backward countries.
Victor Hugo
Take, for example, Victor Hugo, who expressed sympathy for the downtrodden in his novels and writings; he supported the French occupation of Algeria and turned a blind eye to the massacres and crimes committed by the invading French in a peaceful country that had not gone to fight the French in their homeland. Writers and prominent intellectuals such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels followed in his footsteps, praising the colonial presence of France in Muslim Algeria.
Taha Hussein’s ‘The Future of Culture in Egypt’
On the Arab Islamic side, take, for example, Taha Hussein, who dedicated the doctoral thesis he presented to the Sorbonne in 1918 to the French authorities resisting the "barbarians" in their quest to spread their civilization (referring to the Algerians, not the "barbarians"—the Berber origin of some Algerians—but to savages in the culturally biased sense towards the West and its culture). This dedication was not arbitrary; it was, as some writers pointed out, a compliment to his French wife, Suzanne Breceau, and to the discussion committee and his supervisors. Even though he later retracted this dedication upon realizing his grievous mistake.
It would not be enough to stop there; it went further to praise the West and its culture in his famous book "The Future of Culture in Egypt," which the usable intellectuals in Egypt repeatedly print to spite Islam and Muslims. Taha was deceived by the illusion of Western modernity and enlightenment, and he rushed to call for accepting Western civilization with all its goodness and evil, its sweetness and bitterness, what is loved and what is hated, and what is praised and what is criticized, after launching a fierce attack on the East and its civilization. To be fair, in his later life, he wished to revise his book, perhaps to mitigate his excesses in his hatred for the East and love for the West!
Qaddour Ben Ghabrit
There is another Algerian writer named Qaddour Ben Ghabrit, who was mentioned by Ahmad Hassan al-Zayat in "The Inspiration of the Message." He noted that he attended the inauguration of the Paris Mosque in 1926, and his ears became tainted by what he heard from Ben Ghabrit's sycophancy and flattery towards France. When they were gathered in a meeting, he asked him, "How can the Arabs rejoice on the Day of Freedom while they are slaves? And take pride in the glory of France while they are humbled?" He was not allowed to finish his words, as he was interrupted heatedly with the response: "No, sir, the French are no more French than us; we enjoy true fraternity and universal prosperity under the Republic, and Algerian soldiers in the army and police, and Moroccan and Tunisian workers in factories and farms are treated like pure Frenchmen. May God sustain the blessings of France upon the Arab peoples and may He benefit the nations of Islam with its sciences and civilization!"
Paris Mosque
"Ben Ghabrit has turned the Paris Mosque into a fiefdom for himself, as described by Malek Bennabi; where the Paris Mosque has become a platform for endorsing and legitimizing occupation, forgetting that colonialism, which has lasted for a century, has spared no effort in fighting the Arabic language, the Islamic religion, and national identity (read a more detailed explanation in the article: Ibrahim Meshara, When Intellectuals Glorify Colonialism: The Fall of Taha Hussein and the Contradiction of Marx, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, November 29, 2020).
The utilitarian intellectual does not care about what he should do; he is only concerned with his interests, ready to sell religion if he is a religious scholar, and not ashamed to beat a drum or shake a tambourine if he is a writer or a literary figure. We have seen some who preach the new image of religion that the West has drawn for the Muslim, who neglects his land and identity, indulges in frivolity and prohibitions, and lives like a beggar in knowledge and production, relying on the shoulders of others. We have also seen writers with modest talents cheering for certain decisions and laws that undermine freedom and entrench despotism, and they do not stop there but compare them to the crossing of fighters during Ramadan!
Supporters of tyrants
Instead of the utilitarian intellectual defending human rights in freedom, dignity, equality, hope, democracy, consultation, expressing his identity, and respecting his privacy, he transforms into a supporter of tyrants and oppressors, denouncing his free colleagues, and focusing on marginal issues that occupy people's attention but do not produce significant benefits for the nation, such as discussing dancers, artists' scandals, football, and individual incidents that should be dealt with by police departments and courts!
Hypocrisy... and Contradiction
The utilitarian intellectual sheds tears and expresses sensitive feelings towards the slaughtering of sacrifice animals during the holiday, but he ignores the slaughter of Muslims in lands of tyranny, fanaticism, and brutality. He is preoccupied with the hymen and condemns people for their concern with chastity, yet he pays no attention to the veil of injustice, oppression, despotism, and corruption that slaughters the nation and turns it into a disgrace among humanity! He sometimes transforms – and how ridiculous – into a police informant when he reports committed or organic writers to security agencies, as if these agencies are unaware of the minutiae of life for those who carry pens or address minds and hearts!
The utilitarian intellectual seems to be alone in the field in most of our Arab countries, widespread in journalism, politics, cinema, drama, thought, and literature, which represents a significant impediment to our nation and its hope for revival and progress; the committed intellectual has been marginalized, sidelined, and even uprooted in many places."
