Islam and the West

By: Hasan al-Saeed
The number of people who have converted to Islam is increasing daily.
The number of women who have converted into Islam is not less than men. Dianach Mood, English princes, is among these women.
After converting to Islam she said: "I was surprised with the purity and the modesty of Islam and I felt that I was guided to the right path. I am to publish a magazine to be named `The News of Islam' in Paris and I am going to Germany to propagate Islam there."
Lady Iphilin (Zainab) Kubuld, an English intellectual, also converted to Islam. She says: "I do not remember the moment I was introduced to Islam. I cannot say anything about it. What I remember is that I am still a Muslim."
A look at the lives of these people (famous or not famous), their place of birth as well as their education prove that their becoming a Muslim was after deep study of Islam.
These people are in fact the openings to the West and their success there depends on how much they are able to encourage their western peers to accept Islam.
A noteworthy fact is that the conversion of these two women and many more people is not the same as that of those who converted to Islam during the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
Many of these people were in fact orientlists, mercenaries of the West, pseudo friends of the East and political agents sent to infiltrate in the East. Edward Sa'id says in this regard that these people knew the East and the Eastern people well. He added that their mission was carefully planned.
We leave the issue open to our readers to compare between those who were converted to Islam with good faith and those who were pseudo Muslims. We, however, refer to what George Bernard Shaw has anticipated. He says that he predicts that the Europeans are attracted to the religion of Muhammad (SAW). He further says that nowadays Islam has been accepted in Europe.
Recently some Western thinkers and famous politicians have emphasized that the future century would be the century of Islam. The relations between Islam and the West have attracted the attention of political and academic circles of the West since early 1980s. This is because the world of Islam is witnessing outstanding developments regarding Islamic political movements and strategic importance of the world of Islam.
In recent years, despite the historical conflict between Islam and the West, both parties have formed ideas about the other and thus Islam and the Middle East studies have found their places in Western universities. And several seminars and conferences have been held on both sides of the Atlantic on these studies.
In this connection there are two tendencies in the contemporary world.
One is going on inside the Islamic world. Here, there are two groups; those who want to establish an Islamic government and those who want to establish a secular one.
The second tendency is going on in the West. Here there are also two groups; one those who consider Islam as a danger treating it like Communism and the second group which does not consider Islam as a threat and is, therefore, looking for establishing dialogues between Islam and the West.
Professor Edward Sa'id says that the tendency which treats Islam as a danger is heavily supported by the Western mass media. He says probably the theory of the clashes of civilization by Samuel Huntington is a manifestation of this tendency.
Women who were converted to Islam were not less in number than men. Reference is made here to two of these men:
Dianach, English princes, queen of Croatia, converted to Islam said: I was surprised at purity of soul, decent manners and modesty in Islam and felt that I was guided to the straight path, God's greatest grace towards man. I am going to publish a magazine to be named "The News of Islam" in Paris to go to Germany to propagate Islam there…
Lady Iphilin (Zainab) Kubuld, an English intellectual, converted to Islam, said: "I don't remember the moment I was introduced to Islam. I cannot say anything about it. What I remember is that I am still a Muslim"
A cursory study of those famous or not famous persons converted to Islam.
The geographical position of their birth places and their specialty indicate that their being converted to Islam was the result of deep thinking as to the truth of Muslim faith with regard to the relation of Islam to the West there remains much more talk to be continued. That is how far can these converted people bridge the gap between Islam and the West depends on how far they can persuade other Western people to accept Islam. Another noteworthy fact is that acceptance of Islam on the part of the personalities mentioned above is not the same as that of those who were connected in the 19th century.
They were all Orientalists, mercenaries of the West, pseudo friends of the East and political substitutes sent to infiltrate there. Edward Sa'id said that they knew the East and the Eastern people and their mission was carefully planned by expert Orientalists. Rudy and Kipling put forward such imaginary objective, to rule over palm-trees and cupress. We leave to the discretion of our readers the comparison between those who were converted to Islam with good faith and those who were pseudo Muslims. We have, however, refer to what George Bernard Shaw anticipated:
Europeans show tendency to the religion of Muhammad in future. Nowadays Islam has been accepted in contemporary Europe. Recently some Western thinkers and famous politicians have emphasized that the future century would be the century of Islam. The relations between Islam and the West have interested political and academic circles of the West since early 1980s, because of political movement and strategic importance of world of Islam. In recent years, despite the historical conflict between Islam and the West, both parties have formed ideas of each other.
And thus the research on Islam and the Middle East has developed in Western universities and caused several seminars and conferences to be held on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the world of today there are two tendencies in this connection, one Islamic and the other secular. The secular tendency in the West that knows Islam is no less threatening than communism. Perhaps the theory of the conflict between the civilizations put forward by Samuel Hantenglon is the most manifest theories.
How the West showed a tendency toward Islam is interesting, so that we will publish the stories about important personalities who converted to Islam.
A British-born Christian American Orientalist, specializing in Islamic studies at the University of California at Berkeley, famous researcher and thinker in Islamic circles, Professor Hamed Algar converted to Islam in the 1960s. He is well known in foreign academic circles for his in-depth studies on the new era in the history of Muslim scholars.
As to how he was converted to Islam, he said: "Perhaps the main reason for my conversion to Islam requires a full-length essay.
But, in short, I wish to say that when I began my specialized studies on Islam and the Arabic language at Cambridge University in the late 50s, I did not pay attention to Islam as a religion. I was more interested in the Arabic language than in Islam. My studies of Arabic encouraged me to study Islamic culture; and this, in turn, caused me to convert to Islam."
Professor Al-gar wrote his doctoral dissertation for Cambridge University in 1965 on the role of religious scholars under the Qajar dynasty. This dissertation was later published as a book on the role of religion under the Qajar dynasty -- 1785-1906 AD
As a specialist on the history of Iran, Professor Algar wrote an essay on an outstanding figure of the 19th century that played a part in the ideas and plans for the constitutional revolution in Iran. He wrote a book on religious scholars, including Imam Khomeini (RA) translated the works of Imam Khomeini (RA), publishing them in a volume entitled, "Islam and the Revolution". He translated the writings of Dr. Ali Shariati, and wrote two chapters on the history of outstanding figures of Islamic Iran. He conducted thorough studies on Sufism, especially the doctrines of Naqshbandiah in several Islamic countries -- namely, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Palestine.
As a Muslim and an Orientalist, Professor Algar came to know the works of other Orientalists and their perceptions of Islam. His attitude towards Orientalism is other than what is currently expressed. He says that Orientalism is an unfavorable word with academicians, especially since the publication of the book, "Orientalism," by Edward Saeed. Other Orientalists do not have a favorable impression of the word, not wanting to be known as an "Orientalist".
Traditional Orientalists attempt to speak in a detailed manner about civilization, culture, religion and the history of Islam, while modern Orientalists address only their speciality. He further explains that modern and traditional Orientalists are unanimous on one point: From a spiritual standpoint, they are not close to Islam. They always attempt to express their views on Islam according to their own approach to the subject.
Professor Al-Kar observes that the relation between Orientalism and the political positions of the West is clear. For instance, he says, that studies of Orientalists in Great Britain ended after the waning of the British Empire. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, Americans held 20 to 25 conferences on Islamic fundamentalism. The conferences did not aim at a better understanding and perception of Islam; they only aimed at understanding whether anything similar to what happened in Iran would happen elsewhere in the world.
There is a relationship between certain academies and the U.S. government. The scandalous case of Naddaf Saqran, an Israeli-born Egyptian, can be cited as an example. He was accused of being bribed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) into writing a book about the Saudi Arabian government. Before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran sought Orientalists' ideas on Iran. The evidence and documents found at the embassy reveal this.
As a Muslim scholar residing in the United States, Professor Algar speaks of his attitude towards Muslims and the future of Islam in that country: "Regardless of the reality of Muslims, Islam has shown a powerful presence in the West. Its presence, however, is quantitative, not qualitative. Statistics show that the number of Muslims in the United States is about 8 million. In a continent as vast as America, this number is high. These statistics would indicate that Muslims would have some kind of effect and influence. This, however, is not true! The reason for this is that Muslims in America have carried along negative aspects of their countries and, in addition, they possess other qualities, such as their peculiar living conditions and their alienness -- although changes are in the offing, it is difficult to predict their results."
Professor Hamed algar talked about the status of Muslims in the United States and the current trends of thought that come from India and the Far East. "The American nation is faced with a great spiritual vacuum. So long as human nature is fastened onto being God's servant, and is filled with a love of following a specific light, while faced with many difficulties and obstacles in life, he would have complete preparation to surrender in the face of any new idea or thought. He will believe that any new belief would fill his spiritual vacuum. It is for this reason that Americans follow those who claim divinity.
"The weakness of the propagation efforts of millions of Muslims in the United States is the real reason for the spread of superstitious beliefs which cannot meet people's spiritual needs. If millions of Muslims in the United States had a propagation plan, they could have reached the general population, and people's random beliefs could not have played with the minds of people in search of spirituality."