Title of the Sermon: Westernization and the Effacement of Identity
Elements of the Sermon:
The meaning, origin, and cause of westernization.
Manifestations of westernization and the factors behind its spread in Muslim lands.
Islam’s perspective on Western sciences.
How to confront westernization?
All praise is due to Allah, who has perfected our religion for us, completed His favor upon us, and chosen Islam as our way of life. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him abundantly.
To proceed, fear Allah, O servants of Allah, with true piety, and be mindful of Him in private and public. Allah the Exalted says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
"O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims." (Ᾱl ‘Imrān: 102)
Servants of Allah
"In the name of Allah, and with Him we begin; if we worshipped others besides Him, we would be among the wretched. How excellent is our Lord, and how excellent is our religion!"
With these words, the Prophet ﷺ declared while digging the trench alongside his companions. Despite reports of the advancing forces of the disbelievers aiming to annihilate Islam and its followers in Madinah, and the hypocrites spreading rumors within the city, the Prophet ﷺ stood among his companions like a steadfast mountain, holding his pickaxe, digging the trench, proud of his religion, and confident in his servitude to his Lord, certain of his Lord's promise:
وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
"So, do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers." (Ᾱl ‘Imrān: 139)
Servants of Allah
When Allah brought forth Islam in its completeness, it became established among the Companions and those after them that they were superior due to their faith and adherence to the religion of Islam. Then years passed, and Allah honored the Muslims, granting them victory over the lands of Persia and Rome. The Islamic state became a glorious civilization at the pinnacle of advancement, possessing honor and sovereignty over all other nations, while others lived in eras of oppression, backwardness, and darkness.
However, as years went by, the bonds of Islam began to unravel, and Muslims gradually abandoned the methodology of Islam in their lives. Consequently, Muslims weakened and fell behind in the race of civilization. The disbelievers invaded their lands, shedding their blood, violating their sanctities, fragmenting their countries, and plundering their resources. Then, years passed, and those invading armies returned to their homelands, leaving behind their agents and collaborators to spread corruption in the land after its rectification.
During this period, the West revolted against the oppression of the churches and the tyranny of kings and nobles. They discarded their distorted religions behind their backs, deified their intellects and desires, and deemed themselves self-sufficient from Allah and belief in Him. An industrial revolution ensued, capitalism became rampant, and everything had a price tag, even humans were bought and sold. They called for liberation from all constraints of religion, customs, and innate nature, advocating freedom to pursue all that the souls desire, allowing anyone to disbelieve or worship as they please, or do whatever they wish.
The West built a new materialistic civilization. On the surface, it looks like progress in industry and technology, but in reality, it is empty of spirit and dead at heart. It is a life of slavery to desires and pleasures. A human being is treated like a machine, living only to enjoy this world. Self-centered and driven purely by personal gain, such a person will do anything to satisfy their wants, regardless of the cost.
Muslims awoke from their heedlessness of their religion to find a Western giant surpassing them industrially and materially. They saw their lands groaning under the weight of a loathsome colonialism that looted all their resources and tore them apart into warring mini-states.
Herein lay the catastrophe:
It was the psychological defeat, the civilizational collapse, and the susceptibility to intellectual colonization from every aspect of the Western giant that had manufactured airplanes and submarines, ventured into space, and created nuclear bombs.
Ibn Khaldūn (may Allah be merciful to him) said: "The vanquished is always enamored with imitating the victor in his attire, appearance, creed, and all his conditions and customs."
At that time, the ignorant, the Western agents, and the hypocrites began calling for absolute subservience to the West in everything.
Complete Westernization, an attempt to mold Islamic societies into the Western mold, transforming them into the Western model in all aspects of life. Blind imitation of the West in its beliefs, thoughts, culture, educational curricula, politics, economy, social life, even in clothing, food, language, and lifestyle. They left nothing that the West had except they shouted from every direction: "Come to progress and advancement!"
So much so that wherever you turned, you would see Westernization in beliefs, calling for atheism, or abandoning servitude to Allah, or the unity of religions, or their convergence and the elimination of differences between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, or by denying the unseen matters mentioned in the Qur’ān and Sunnah under the pretext that they do not conform to reason.
You would see Westernization in thoughts and curricula, calling for the deification of reason and the rejection of anything else, glorifying their philosophers and thinkers, sanctifying their statements, and presenting their theories as if they were infallible revelations.
They repeat in people’s ears the resonant terms upon which the West built its thought and ideologies, such as: liberty, rationalism, democracy, liberalism, enlightenment, equality, citizenship, tolerance, women’s rights, women’s empowerment, feminism, pluralism, and so on—a list of glittering terminology that deceives the masses.
You now see westernization in politics, where the secular Western model that banishes religion from public life and governance is presented as the only path to salvation, and religion is reduced to something confined to the mosque—merely a private matter between the servant and his Lord, having no place in the affairs of life.
You see westernization in education: mixed-gender schools and universities, curricula that include the false theory of evolution, and the implantation of Western philosophies in the hearts of students concerning humanity, society, politics, and economics—without any critique or exposure of their falsehood.
You see westernization in economics, where systems are built upon usury (ribā), gambling (maysir), and prohibited transactions, and this is presented to the public as if there is no escape but through such an oppressive, usurious, capitalist model.
You see westernization in social life, where the goal is to strip the Muslim family of its religion and cohesion and replace it with the fractured Western model—moral looseness, illicit relationships before marriage, and enticing children to rebel against the authority of parents.
You see westernization in language, where the hallmark of modern progress is now fluency in foreign tongues, and speaking Arabic is seen as backward and regressive. People are raising their children as young as four years old upon Western languages. They name their children, their shops, their foods, their clothes, and even their colors in languages other than that of the Qurʾān, which Allah has honored them with.
Alas, for generations that hold the torches of light but run toward darkness. How can a Muslim, who stands before his Lord every day in prayer, reciting and asking:
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ * صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
“Guide us to the Straight Path – the path of those You have favored, not of those who have earned [Your] wrath nor of those who have gone astray” (al-Fātiḥah: 6–7)
Go on to adopt their ways and be guided by their misguidance? Did not Allah say:
ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
“Then We put you, [O Muḥammad], on a clear legislation from Our command, so follow it and do not follow the desires of those who do not know” (al-Jāthiyah: 18)?
The widespread spread of Westernization among Muslims has been driven by several key factors, the most significant of which is:
Colonialism, which sat heavy upon the Muslim lands for decades. It partitioned Islamic territories like a looted inheritance, and every occupying force imposed its values and culture on its colonized regions. Even today—despite the exit of those hated colonial powers—some Muslim populations barely speak anything but the tongue of their occupiers.
Foreign scholarship missions (ibtiʿāth) are also among the gravest tools of Westernization: delegations are sent to Western countries to acquire knowledge, but once they return, they disseminate Westernization in all its forms and images to their people.
Foreign-run schools and universities in Muslim countries have likewise been exploited by Westernizing agents to raise generations who identify solely with the disbelieving West, adopting its corrupt values and culture. They have seized control of media, turning films, TV series, novels, and cartoons into megaphones that promote a Westernized life and erase its Islamic features, painting it instead in the image of miserable Western societies.
Servants of Allah:
The Prophet ﷺ warned his ummah of following the ways of the misguided nations before them. He said: “You will surely follow the ways of those who came before you, handspan by handspan and arm's length by arm's length, even if they entered the hole of a lizard, you would follow them.”
We said, “O Messenger of Allah, do you mean the Jews and the Christians?”
He replied, “Who else?” (Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim)
What benefit is there in worldly knowledge if a person is lost from his Lord and does not believe in Him or His law?
Allah has told us about perished civilizations—people who mastered the outward aspects of worldly life and were given dominion over the earth. Yet they disbelieved in Allah the Almighty. They rejoiced in their knowledge and said, “Who is mightier than us in strength?” They tyrannized the earth unjustly, so Allah destroyed them and tore them apart most severely. And your Lord is never unjust to His slaves. Allah said:
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ قُوَّةً وَآثَارًا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَمَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ * فَلَمَّا جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَرِحُوا بِمَا عِنْدَهُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ
“Have they not traveled through the land and observed how was the end of those before them? They were greater than them in strength and left more impressive marks upon the land, but what they earned did not avail them. And when their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they rejoiced in what they had of knowledge, but they were enveloped by what they used to ridicule.”
(Ghāfir: 82–83)
What was incumbent upon us was to examine their sciences and adopt from them what was beneficial—applied knowledge—so long as it did not contradict our Sharīʿah. Then we translate these useful sciences into our Arabic tongue, teach them to our children, and facilitate their mastery, so that they may serve as a foundation for worldly advancement built upon our religion and ethics.
Islam does not reject truth as long as it is indeed truth. When Salmān al-Fārisī advised the Prophet ﷺ to dig a trench—a method used by the Persians—he accepted the suggestion and benefited from it. Indeed, wisdom is the lost property of the believer, and truth is most deserving of being followed.
May Allah bless me and you through the Noble Qurʾān, and benefit us from its verses and wise reminders. I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and for you—so seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
Second Sermon
All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and all those who follow him.
One day, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet ﷺ with a book he had obtained from some of the People of the Book. The Prophet ﷺ read it and became angry and said: “Are you in doubt, O son of al-Khaṭṭāb?! By the One in whose Hand is my soul, I have brought you something pure and radiant. Do not ask them about anything, for they might tell you the truth and you would reject it, or they might tell you falsehood and you would believe it. By the One in whose Hand is my soul, if Mūsā (ʿalayhi as-salām) were alive, he would have no choice but to follow me.” (Reported by Aḥmad)
Indeed, Allah has perfected this religion for us, and our Prophet ﷺ left us upon a clear, pure path—divinely revealed, protected from error, and comprehensive. It is a straight religion with no crookedness or injustice. We have no need for the philosophies of the West nor the ideologies of the East.
We can only fully appreciate the completeness and justice of the Sharīʿah if we consider it in its totality—a comprehensive system that includes both rights and responsibilities. Islam offers a complete and just framework for all aspects of life: a divine system in economics, a divine system in social affairs, a divine system in education, and a divine system in governance. Any imbalance in our lives is the result of turning away from this divinely protected system.
The greatest weapon we have to counter westernization is to know the truth that Islam came with, to take pride and honor in it, and to then spread, teach, and apply it in its pure and clear form. Allah said:
وَأَنَّ هَذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ ذَلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُمْ بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
“And, indeed, this is My straight path, so follow it, and do not follow other ways, lest they divert you from His way. This is what He has instructed you with, so that you may become righteous.” (al-Anʿām: 153)
O Allah, support Islam and honor the Muslims. Destroy the criminal Jews. O Allah, send tranquility into the hearts of those striving in Your cause, and deliver Your oppressed servants. Raise high the banner of Your religion by Your strength, O Mighty, O Firm.
O Allah, grant us safety in our homelands, rectify our leaders and those in charge of our affairs, and appoint over us those who fear You, are mindful of You, and seek Your pleasure.
Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
