1. Multiculturalism is a flawed doctrine. As is its corollary, moral equivalency.
The roots can be traced to the anthropologist Franz Boas, who, in an effort to study exotic cultures without prejudice, found it useful to take the position that no culture is superior to any other. Thus was born the idea of cultural relativity.
a. The idea spread like wildfire through the universities, catapulted by the radical impetus of the sixties. ready and willing to reject "the universality of Western norms and principles."
2. It survives and thrives among the intellectuals, the political elites, i.e., the Leftists. They use it as a very successful wedge between groups, in order to accrue power, votes.
As a result, 'Western culture' largely resembles the result of allowing a drop of mercury to fall upon a table.
Of course, there is a unitary culture that despises Western culture in all of its iterations...
Islam is actively opposed to Western culture(s)....and the resultant isolation has hurt Islam, more than it has purified, or enhanced same.
3. Yet, there is an interesting similarity between Islam, and that which it hates: the former tries to maintain power by keeping its subject ignorant....while in the West, Liberalism keeps its voters poor. Both endeavors for the same reason.
a. Consider this fact as central to the discussion:
"...in the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, say the authors, the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in one year."
Arab development Self-doomed to failure The Economist
Some in Islam actually acknowledge the fact, and call for a reformation; they recognize and praise aspects of dynamism in Western civilization.
4. The following is from an interview with Ibrahim Al-Buleihi. "Ibrahim Albleahy, a Saudi liberal writer, thinker and philosopher who is currently a member of the SaudiShura Council...The central concern of his writings is the relative decline ofArab and Islamic civilization, compared to the other civilizations of the world. "
Ibrahim Al-Buleihi - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
5. "It is important that we make a distinction between Islam as a set of teachings, values, principles and legislations, and between the reality of Muslims in the past and in the present....[but] the affairs of this world (dunyā) have not been fully inculcated.
6. ... the fact that politics and political governance constitute some of our most pressing and crucial concerns, they have not attracted the attention of our scholars. ...[and has] left us devoid of a tradition of political thought.
a. This is in sharp contradistinction to Greek civilisation of the 5th century BC which, in the field of political thought and its connection with ethics and worldly concerns, achieved things which still excite admiration and wonder.
b. ...[those] scholars of Islam did concern themselves with rulings on human interactions and with all manner of mundane matters, but only for the purpose of making these conform to the Sharīʻa.
7. It is important to understand the qualitative difference between, on the one hand, a concern to regulate worldly affairs according to the religious law and, on the other hand, ...ideas for developing the means to make a living and open up minds to the huge, latent potential in things.
Our scholars were preoccupied with making reality conform to the teachings of Islam and were not interested in growth or the development of reality.
a. Our heritage is in fact replete with expressions of disdain for anyone occupying oneself with worldly affairs or taking an interest in them. For example, in his treatise Degrees of Knowledge, Ibn Hazm holds that anyone who occupies himself in anything other than the sciences of the Sharīʻa has simply become foolish, short-sighted and a menace only to himself.... traditional writings are stuffed with similar sentiments.
b. ...[even those] possessed of a brilliant mind, ridiculed those who occupied themselves with philosophy and experimental sciences such as chemistry – which he considered to be little more than a form of sorcery."
MercatorNet The castle of backwardness
The roots can be traced to the anthropologist Franz Boas, who, in an effort to study exotic cultures without prejudice, found it useful to take the position that no culture is superior to any other. Thus was born the idea of cultural relativity.
a. The idea spread like wildfire through the universities, catapulted by the radical impetus of the sixties. ready and willing to reject "the universality of Western norms and principles."
2. It survives and thrives among the intellectuals, the political elites, i.e., the Leftists. They use it as a very successful wedge between groups, in order to accrue power, votes.
As a result, 'Western culture' largely resembles the result of allowing a drop of mercury to fall upon a table.
Of course, there is a unitary culture that despises Western culture in all of its iterations...
Islam is actively opposed to Western culture(s)....and the resultant isolation has hurt Islam, more than it has purified, or enhanced same.
3. Yet, there is an interesting similarity between Islam, and that which it hates: the former tries to maintain power by keeping its subject ignorant....while in the West, Liberalism keeps its voters poor. Both endeavors for the same reason.
a. Consider this fact as central to the discussion:
"...in the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, say the authors, the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in one year."
Arab development Self-doomed to failure The Economist
Some in Islam actually acknowledge the fact, and call for a reformation; they recognize and praise aspects of dynamism in Western civilization.
4. The following is from an interview with Ibrahim Al-Buleihi. "Ibrahim Albleahy, a Saudi liberal writer, thinker and philosopher who is currently a member of the SaudiShura Council...The central concern of his writings is the relative decline ofArab and Islamic civilization, compared to the other civilizations of the world. "
Ibrahim Al-Buleihi - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
5. "It is important that we make a distinction between Islam as a set of teachings, values, principles and legislations, and between the reality of Muslims in the past and in the present....[but] the affairs of this world (dunyā) have not been fully inculcated.
6. ... the fact that politics and political governance constitute some of our most pressing and crucial concerns, they have not attracted the attention of our scholars. ...[and has] left us devoid of a tradition of political thought.
a. This is in sharp contradistinction to Greek civilisation of the 5th century BC which, in the field of political thought and its connection with ethics and worldly concerns, achieved things which still excite admiration and wonder.
b. ...[those] scholars of Islam did concern themselves with rulings on human interactions and with all manner of mundane matters, but only for the purpose of making these conform to the Sharīʻa.
7. It is important to understand the qualitative difference between, on the one hand, a concern to regulate worldly affairs according to the religious law and, on the other hand, ...ideas for developing the means to make a living and open up minds to the huge, latent potential in things.
Our scholars were preoccupied with making reality conform to the teachings of Islam and were not interested in growth or the development of reality.
a. Our heritage is in fact replete with expressions of disdain for anyone occupying oneself with worldly affairs or taking an interest in them. For example, in his treatise Degrees of Knowledge, Ibn Hazm holds that anyone who occupies himself in anything other than the sciences of the Sharīʻa has simply become foolish, short-sighted and a menace only to himself.... traditional writings are stuffed with similar sentiments.
b. ...[even those] possessed of a brilliant mind, ridiculed those who occupied themselves with philosophy and experimental sciences such as chemistry – which he considered to be little more than a form of sorcery."
MercatorNet The castle of backwardness
Last edited:
