10.2 A Comparison of Concept and Perspective of Islamic and Western
civilization

Islamic Civilization vs Western Civilization

There are differences between Islamic and Western or Secular civilization which can be summarized

as follows:

Islamic Civilization

Western Civilization

Sources

Qur'an and sunnah (for truths, values, morals, and law)

Bible (until the 17th century),

Human Thought/Intelligence

after the 17th century until now philosophy

human intelligence decides about truth and

good as well the law.

Worldview

Tawhid: Allah as the One creator, One source of life, truth, love, and law)

Secularism: In the 20th and 21st century one's belief is his private choice, everyone is free to worship what and how he wishes (as Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist, etc) but without claiming it as absolute truth

10.2 A Comparison of Concept and Perspective of Islamic and Western
civilization

	Islamic Civilization	Western Civilization
Central values	Man is given the authority over earth as a deputy of Allah (khalifah) All men are equal in creation and share the same purpose and destiny Shari'ah = man is free to practice and apply the law decreed by Allah	Depending on the individual's belief whether he sees himself as a social animal, a created human being, or a reincarnation All men share the same destiny and purpose of life but no one is really sure what it is Secular laws = man-made laws (many acts considered and punished as moral crimes 50 years ago are today no longer considered crimes, such as acts of homosexuality or adultery)

Central values	All believers are one community of brothers (ummah), and the believers inherit the earth	All humans are one community and no one has the right to claim leadership and superiority based on religion or 'the truth'
Central values	Morality and ethics cannot be separated from belief (Islam)	Morality is a matter of proper education and personal choice and character, not a matter of religion (utilitarianism, humanism, liberalism)

10.2 A Comparison of Concept and Perspective of Islamic and Western
civilization

Interaction between the Islamic and Western civilization

Even though there some differences between Islamic and Western civilization, both did interact with

and gained benefits from each other. The universality and flexibility characteristics of Islam allow

Muslims to absorb any elements from other civilization as long as those elements do not contradict the

Islamic teachings.

Thus, the world history had witnessed the interaction of Islamic civilization with the Western civilization

which progressed and developed from the same belief of Judaism and Christianity with a combination

of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations as they shared similar environment.

Do you have any examples to prove that? One of the examples is the war tactic used in the Battle of

Khandaq. The tactic was actually practiced by Persian army who were non-Muslim. However,

Rasulullah SAW approved such tactic suggested by Salman al-Farisi (a Persian Muslim) because the

tactic was not contradicting the Islamic teachings.

Another example is the period of Uthmaniyyah caliphate. During that period, Christians and Jews were

living peacefully in the Muslim society. They were free to practice their own religions. In fact, some of

them were appointed to hold high positions in the Islamic government especially in Andalusia (Spain).

Here, the interaction between Islam and the west took place.

10.2 A Comparison of Concept and Perspective of Islamic and Western
civilization

In the aspect of knowledge, Muslims gained lot of benefits from Greek civilization. The rise of great

Muslim scholars like Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, al-Khawarizmi, Ibn Khaldun and many others was due to their

effort to learn the literatures from the Greek civilization. They also put efforts to translate those

literatures and then Islamized the ideas to be in line with the Islamic principles.

Then, through trade activities and after series of Crusade War between Muslims and Christians, their

books were brought to Europe and were translated into English as references in developing the

Western civilization which was still in the dark age, The translation activities in the West and Europe at

that time had led to the Renaissance era followed by the Enlightenment era in the West and Europe.