الإسلام والغرب: نحو عالم أفضل

Islam and the West… for a better world @

centuries, in decadence, stagnation, hopelessness, introvertion, and submission, its recent resurgence seems no less than a miracle. Propelled by a few committed individuals like Shah Waliu'lIah, Muhammad Abd al- Wahhab, al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Hassan ai-Sanna, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Asad, Abu-I-'Ala al-Maududi and Sayitt Qutb Islam during the last 35 years has seen a resurgence - al-sahwa and al-nahda - of enormous proportions. For the first time in Islamic history, the rejuvenation of Islam as a religion was carried by so-called Islamic movements, mostly lead not by theologians but scientists educated in the West and wielded like a modern ideology .. This re-awakening coincided with the first mass emigration of Muslims to Western Europe and North America and with the development of cyberspace. Consequently, Islam - always universal in aspiration - has really become universal, for the first time ever, during the 20th century. There are now 30 million Muslims living on European soil: big mosques have been constructed in places like Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Rome, and Zagreb; and Islam is every present in the Internet. Against this background Samuel Huntington is right when he fears for allergic reactions in the West, caused by a culture shock, and therefore seeks to limit Muslim immigration. 3. In this respect Ralph Braibanti, a great friend of Pakistan and as professor emeritus of political science a colleague of Huntington, is much more optimistic because he sees a definite rapprochement between the Christian churches, including the Catholic one, and Islam. According to him, doctrinal communalities, common respect for divine law, and common social and moral value point to a joint Christian-Muslim platform that could not only reconcile differences but rescue the Western world.

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