Unawareness of the Modern Age

Unawareness of the Modern Age incorrect information, just as the old Orientalists had a bad image of Islam. For instance, it is said that Westerners are ‘believers in Reason alone’, that they are advocates of unrestricted freedom of thought, and that, as a Muslim scholar once quipped, “The creed of the Western man is: ‘nothing exists except for Reason.’” However, this is a very wrong interpretation of Western rationality. The Westerners regard researchbased thinking, rather than uncontrolled thinking, as the basis of Reason. In the olden days, people used to think and argue using religious arguments. However, in the modern age, the bases for philosophical investigations are not the preconceived hypotheses of any belief or ideological system but, instead, actual, empirical realities. This understanding of rationality is beneficial because Islam is based on firmly established truths. Had the Ulama understood Western thought deeply, they would have considered it worthwhile and welcomed it. However, they became its enemies based on very superficial knowledge, heaping scorn on it.