In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Question: What are the means used by the West to promote its ideas (in Muslim lands)?

Answer: The means that the West uses to promote its ideas are many, including:

[1] Attempting to seize the minds of Muslim children and instill Western concepts in them, so a child believes that the best path is the path of the West in everything, whether in what he believes regarding religions and creeds, or what he speaks of languages, or what he adheres to by way of manners, habits and the paths he takes to pursue affairs.

[2] Giving close attention to a large group of Muslim children from every country, taking care and nurturing them, so when they are completely submerged in Western ideas and then return to their countries, they are heaped with praise and commended until they take up positions and leaderships in their countries, and thus they promote Western ideas and establish educational institutions that go along with the Western curriculum or are subject to it.

3- Revitalizing the teaching of Western languages ​​in Islamic countries and restricting the language of the Muslims, especially the Arabic language- the language of the Noble Qur’an with which Allaah revealed His book and through which Muslims worship their Lord in prayer, during pilgrimage, in their supplications and other than that. Included in this is that they encourage the destructive calls that fight the Arabic language, make attempts to weaken adherence to it in the lands by calling for the vernacular, establishing many study programs intended to corrupt Arabic grammar and so called language development, glorifying what they call folk literature and national heritage. (1) (see footnote a)

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Footnote a: The basis of a person’s Islaam is to testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] is the Messenger of Allaah, to believe in Allaah, declare that Allaah is One without partner, obey Allaah’s commands, keep away from what Allaah has forbidden and single out Allaah in worship. And safeguarding this path (necessitates) the prohibition of every expression (term or word) that contains Shirk Billaah (i.e. ascribing partners to Allaah), Kufr (disbelief) or will lead to one of the two. (2) In the Qur’aan, there are many words that are utilised to rebut the words (or terms) that are in opposition to the call of the Messengers [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon them], the revelation that was revealed to them and the truth they brought”. (3)

“One of the general fundamental principles (in Islaam) is to know that words (or terms) are two types- words that are mentioned in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, therefore, it is obligated on every believer to affirm them, affirm what Allaah and His Messenger have affirmed and negate what Allaah and His Messenger have negated. The words (or terms) affirmed by Allaah is truth and the ones Allaah negated are (negated) in truth, because indeed Allaah speaks the truth and guides to the straight path. The words (or terms) of the divine legislation are sanctified and it is from perfection in knowledge that one seeks after the (sound meanings) which the Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] intended by them, in order to affirm what he affirmed and negate the meanings he negated; because it is obligated on us to believe and bear witness to everything he has stated and follow him in everything he has commanded. As for the words (or terms) that are neither found in the Qur’am and Sunnah nor did the pious predecessors (i.e. the first three generations of Islaam) hold a consensus regarding whether they are negated or affirmed, then it is not incumbent on anyone to agree with the one who negates or affirms them until their intended meaning is explained. So, if their intended meaning agrees with the (revelation, commands, prohibitions etc) conveyed by the Messenger, they are affirmed; but if their intended meaning is in opposition to the (revelation, commands, prohibitions etc) conveyed by the Messenger, they are rejected”. (4)

Shaikhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said, “The one who does not know the language of the Prophet’s companions- the language they used when speaking to (one another), the (language) used by the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] when he spoke to them and the manner in which they spoke in general, he will change words from their right places. For indeed many people are nurtured upon the idioms of their people and their customary usage of words, so he finds those words in Allaah’s Speech or the speech of Messenger or that of the Prophet companions and thinks that what Allaah intends or what His Messenger (intend), or what the companions (intend) is what is intended by the people of his custom and their oral expressions, even though what Allaah and His Messenger intend is the opposite of that. This occurred from a group of people- the people of philosophical rhetoric, the people who spoke about Fiqh, the people who spoke about the Arabic language, the common people and other than them. And there are others who deliberately devise other meanings for the words of the Prophets and that of their [true] followers-meanings that are in opposition to their (true) ones. Then they spoke with those words whilst intending to aid themselves, saying: ‘’Indeed, we are in agreement with the Prophets.’’ This is found in abundance in the speech of the heretical philosophers, the Ismaa’eeliyyah (Rawaafid) and those similar to them amongst the heretical philosophers, rhetoricians and the soofees. The one who (truly) knows the Prophets and what they intend (by their speech) he will know by necessity that the (speech of those heretics) is not what is intended by the Prophets”. (5)

Customs

Imaam Abdul Azeez Bin Baaz [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said, “It is obligated on every Muslim that he does not depend on custom; rather he presents it to the pure Islamic legislation (to be judged), so whatever the Islamic legislation affirms is permissible and whatever it does not affirm is impermissible. The customs of the people are not proof to determine the lawfulness of anything. All the customs of the people in their countries or tribes must be presented to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] for judgement, so whatever Allaah and His Messenger made permissible is permissible, and whatever they forbid, then it is obligatory to abandon it even if it is the custom of the people”. (6)

Imaam Muhammad Bin Saaleh Al-Uthaymeen [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said, “The customs cannot make something that is not legislated (in the divine revelation) as something legislated, because of Allaah’s statement: [وَلَيۡسَ ٱلۡبِرُّ بِأَن تَأۡتُواْ ٱلۡبُيُوتَ مِن ظُهُورِهَا – It is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, etc.) that you enter the houses from the back] [Surah Al-Baqarah. Aayah 189], despite the fact that it was something they took as their custom and considered it to be an act of righteousness. Whoever takes something as a custom and believes that it is an act of righteousness, then it should be presented to Allaah’s divine legislation [i.e. to be judged]”. (7)

Imaam Muhammad Bin Saaleh Al-Uthaymeen [may Allaah have mercy upon him] also said, “Extremism in related to customs is stringent adherence to old customs and not diverting to what is better than them. As for if the customs are equal in benefit [i.e. the ones judged to be permissible by the divine legislation], then a person remaining upon what he is upon would be better than going along with the new (or emerging) customs”. (8)

[Ref1:https://binbaz.org.sa/discussions/30/%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B2%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A paraphrased]

[Ref 2: Excerpt from ‘Mu’jam Al-Manaahee Lil Laf’dhiyyah’ page 34. slightly paraphrased. Publisher: Daar Al-Aasimah. 3rd edition 1996]

[Ref 3: Excerpt from Mu’jam Al-Manaahee Lil Lafdhiyyah’ page 10. slightly paraphrased. Publisher: Daar Al-Aasimah. 3rd edition 1996]

[Ref 4: Excerpt from ‘Al-Haqeeqatus Shar’iyyah Fee Tafseeril Qur’aan Al-A’dheem Was-Sunnatin Nabawiyyah’ page 17. slightly paraphrased]

[Ref 5: Majmoo Fataawaa 1/175. slightly paraphrased]

[Ref 6: Majmoo Al-Fataawaa 6/510]

[Ref: 7: Tafseer Surah Al-Baqarah 2/299]

[Ref 8: Majmoo Al-Fataawaa 7/7]