The collision between modern and old culture has set the background for the creation of several questions in the minds of people. The huge economic crisis, terrorism, lack of energy resources, desire for the revolutions and more importantly the planning to overcome these crises has affected the minds of people to a greater extent. The situation all over is vague and one can imagine himself standing on a film set of a war scene among the nations.
There is a huge difference amongst the cultures all over the world but if we take it in a broader sense, we see only two cultures: the western and the eastern. All the countries in the west share almost the same culture and same is the case in our part of the world.
In the eastern part of the world, the religious culture is given priority and people stick to it. In the west, religious is just a part of their culture. Whatever they do is their culture; their culture depends upon their acts. They believe their culture is progressing with the progress in technology.
If we look closely at their practices, their acts have no controversy with their culture and both are the same. Some people blame the west for their obscenity and bluntness. They are of the belief that their thirst for glamour, fame, money and sex is a wrong approach towards life. Those who blame them don’t realise that it is important to be honest with oneself.
How many people defend their culture? This type of a question easily answers why their culture is dominant on us. We, the Muslims of subcontinent and the nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are living in a world where there is no importance of Islamic culture, Islamic traditions and Islamic spirit which are necessary for an Islamic state. Our country is the only nuclear power in the Muslim world and thus is believed to be the fort of Islam.
We have got the most intelligent people, the most knowledgeable jurists of this era, a country packed with natural resources and a country with a strong army, but instead of living strongly with our religious values and norms, we are gradually giving up on this.
We are running after glamour, fame and money which can be deposited in Swiss banks. Some people call it moderenisation and globalization, a globalisation in which our Islamic values and norms will only be limited to our holy books, a globalisation where we will only be under the cultural dominance of the western people.
All the social institutions recognised by sociologists as social are playing their role to promote western culture. They are imposing it on a nation who has got its own religion, a proper routine life and traditions. How are we calling ourselves Muslims? We blame the society and the environment but we forget that the society is made from us and the environment is regulated by us. We need to recall our societal values left far behind, we need to update the concept of traditionalism which is buried in the rapid growth of the western culture.
ARIF HUSAIN BUKHARI
Islamabad
