How did the West become Muslims’ paradise?

GÖKHAN BACIK
GÖKHAN BACIK


Date posted: December 14, 2015

A generation of Muslims was taught two major mottos.

The first motto is well known: The West is immoral and the source of all global menaces. The second motto is more eschatological: The West is collapsing or its collapse will be very soon. I myself remember many famous books and sermons that prophesied the collapse of the West in the late ’80s.

The West did not collapse. Instead, Western scientific and technological advancement continued. Instead, Muslim generations around the globe have transformed into an “IPhone generation.” It is true that the West has many material and non-material problems. However, from a comparative perspective, there is no specific field in which the Muslim world does better than the West.

However, something that happened recently should be shocking to the average Muslim thinking about the West. Thousands of Muslims are rushing to various Western countries in order to have better life conditions. Muslims from Syria, Iraq and many other countries are trying to migrate to a Western country. Why are Muslims leaving their historical Muslim lands? The answer is very clear: They can no longer protect their life, honor and families. They can no longer feed their children. There is a second question: Why do they try to migrate to a Western country and not a Muslim one such as Saudi Arabia? The answer is again clear: There are not many Muslim states that can offer the equivalent humane conditions to Muslim migrants that Western states do.

How come the “immoral West” became a target for immigration for Muslims? Isn’t it a reproach to those who for years argued that the West was collapsing and was immoral? For decades, popular history told Muslims that Muslim lands had always been an address for all oppressed people from around the globe. Today, things are different. Muslim girls and boys are seeking protection from the Christian West lest they perish in their homeland. Let me be clear: Muslims are seeking help from the Christian West in order to protect themselves from other Muslims. It is a fact that while Western countries may not have Christianity as a state-endorsed religion, culturally Christianity still lurks in different aspects of Western politics and society. More critically, the West is still Christian for many Muslims.

I recently read a story written by Canadian journalist Allison Jones about recent groups of Syrian refugees that had reached Canada. What a Syrian said, I believe, is one of the most eloquent statements about the traumatic situation of the Middle Eastern individual regarding his/her civilization and the West. According to Jones, the Syrian man was reported say, “We suffered a lot. Now, we feel as if we got out of hell and we came to paradise.”

This Syrian’s statement needs no deconstruction. Hell here refers to Syria, the man’s homeland. It must not be easy for one to call his historic homeland hell. Paradise here refers to Canada. Yet, what the man said is potentially true for many other Syrians. There are millions of people living in various Middle Eastern countries who would prefer to live in a Christian Western country rather then their historic homeland.

In the 12th century, the famous Arabic poet Ibn Jubayr wrote:

“If Paradise be on earth, Damascus must be it;
if it is in heaven, Damascus can parallel and match it.”

Then here is the question: How come the Muslim paradise, Damascus, turned into their hell? Damascus, a city once compared to Paradise by Ibn Jubayr, is today compared to hell by a Syrian man who left his country lest he be killed part of an ongoing civil war.

More critical is the Muslim reaction to events. Are they developing a more self-critical approach to themselves, their society and their politics after recent chaos in many Muslim countries? Or are they continuing the traditional anti-Western jargon that prevents Muslims from seeing their own deficiencies?

Source: Today's Zaman , December 13, 2015


Related News

Gulen: Issuance of arrest warrant changes nothing about my views

The issuance of an arrest warrant from a Turkish court changes nothing about my status or my views. I have repeatedly condemned the coup attempt in Turkey and denied any knowledge or involvement. It is well-documented the Turkish court system is without judicial independence, so this warrant is yet another example of President Erdogan’s drive authoritarianism and away from democracy.

Obama meets Turkish school’s award-winning students

Four students from the Pinnacle Academy, established by Turkish entrepreneurs in the greater Washington, D.C., area, were at the White House on Monday to present their project, which took first place in the National Engineers Week Future City Competition in the capital’s metropolitan area in February. On Monday President Barack Obama hosted the White House Science […]

US Congressman: No Credibility In Charges By Turkey Against Gülen

US Congressman Brad Sherman said on Thursday that charges against US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen by the Turkish government and Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have no credibility and that he would not be treated with justice if he were in Turkey.

Wedding gifts will help build dorm and water wells in Tanzania

Ubeyd and Nurefşan Yeşil donated the gifts presented at their wedding to the Hizmet in Tanzania. Almost $40,000 value donation will be used in the construction of a college dormitory and water wells.

Turkey Continues Its Witch Hunt Against Gülen Followers

The arrests and detentions took place more than 6 weeks after the Turkish military staged a failed coup. But people who had absolutely nothing to do with the coup, who are simply accused of sympathizing with Fethullah Gülen, were also arrested. In what’s becoming a repetitive story, a host of journalists, lawyers, teachers and civil servants were among those arrested by the authorities.

Turkish PM Erdoğan launches another war [in Turkey]

Turkey’s Islamic camp is more diverse than one would think. In fact, the traditions that Erdoğan and Gülen come from have almost always been distinct and different from each. The former has been more explicitly Islamist, at times anti-Western and anti-Semitic. The latter, the line of Gülen, which goes back to scholar Said Nursi (1878-1960), has rather stayed closer to center-right parties and have been more friendly to the West and also other “Abrahamic” faiths.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

I Weep For Turkey

Interfaith Ramadan Iftar Dinner Held in Montville

Kimse Yok Mu extends a hand to Syrian refugees in Turkey

PKK terrorists set dorm on fire, one student injured

Turkish charity announces cooperation with German counterpart

Abant Platform on Africa

Is Former Chief of General Staff Özkök a Closet Gülenist

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News