Refutation of the Capitalist Western Thought by Hizb Ut Tahrir

The construct of Western thought was completed in the nineteenth century CE. It transformed then from mere ideas and theories of its originators, into a comprehensive ideology, with its own doctrine and system. These along with civilizational and cultural perceptions, collectively came to be known as the capitalist ideology. It was adopted by Western European nations, who carried it to the world, including the Islamic World, through the method of colonialization. Headed by the superpower of the time, Britain, the Western nations were able to destabilize the Islamic Khilafah (the Ottoman Caliphate). The Khilafah’s cultural development had stagnated and its Muslim citizens ceased to think productively. Thus, parts of the Islamic Khilafah were lost to occupation, whilst its global political influence waned, until it was called the “Sick Old Man,” who was waiting for the world to announce his death. This came to be at the beginning of the twentieth century CE (fourteenth century AH), that is, in the year 1924 CE, when the Islamic Khilafah state was officially abolished. With its fall, Islam is no longer present in the global political arena as an ideology, carried by a state, although it remains existent in the world, carried by individuals and peoples.

The end of the twentieth century CE did not just witness the fall of a great power i.e. the fall of the Islamic Khilafah. It also witnessed the emergence of another major power established upon an ideology that contradicts capitalist ideology, both in its doctrine and system, even though it is, in fact, emergent from within the core of Western thought itself. It was born of the womb of Western thought’s materialistic enlightenment, raised and groomed within its cultural atmosphere. Alas, such was the communist ideology, much as it was. In the year 1917 CE, the Soviet Union was established upon the idea of Marxist socialism. Thus communism appeared on the global political arena, as an ideology, carried by a state. The international conflict was restricted to a conflict between two ideologies, communism and capitalism. Communism did not last long, however, collapsing towards the end of twentieth century CE, specifically within the year 1989, the year of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. With the fall of communism as both a state and ideology, Western capitalism, now led by the United States, declared ecstatically and over-confidently the victory of liberal capitalism over Marxist socialism. It announced ‘the end of history’ and imposed its ideology and way of life through neo-colonialism under the banner of ‘globalization.’ In fact, history has not ended yet. There remains an intellectual conflict between Islam as individuals, parties, groups and an Ummah, on the one hand, and capitalism as a state, possessing power and authority of all types and forms, on the other hand. This conflict will intensify soon into a civilizational and international conflict, after the establishment of the Islamic Khilafah, by the permission of Allah (swt), whose closeness to establishment is known well to the West, even ahead of the Muslims.

The last three decades have witnessed growing awareness with the Islamic Ummah about its ideology, civilization and culture. They have also witnessed the deep desire of the Ummah to resume the Islamic way of life, by establishing the Rightly Guided Khilafah (Khilafah Rashidah) on the Method of Prophethood. The West is well aware of this matter, just as it is aware of its own innate reality, with the beginnings of its own decline, manifesting as deep cracks in its intellectual edifice. The fall of the Western capitalist civilization is an inevitable matter, if the Muslims engage in the intellectual and political conflict competently, particularly after the restoration of their state. It is the natural consequence due to both the invalidity of the intellectual basis, upon which the capitalist ideology was established, and the corruption of both concepts and treatments, that emerged from this ideology. Thus, Western Renaissance neither is true revival, nor is it based upon an enlightened intellectual basis and a positive spiritual basis. It is only based on a concoction of multiple human ideas, philosophies, tendencies and perceptions, that were formed over centuries. Give and take, conflict, war, empiricism and reductionism all formed a vision of a specific civilization and culture, which, according to the claim of its advocates, is to emancipate and grant happiness to the Western man. Western thought not only turned into a source of misery and binding shackles for the West, it became a source of misery for the entire world.

The conflict between Islam and the West, whether in the present or in the future, whether it is engaged in by individuals or states, whether it manifested as material actions or not, in its essence and reality, is an intellectual conflict. It is an intellectual conflict between thoughts and concepts emanating from ideologies, civilizations and cultures that are not only disparate, but are contradictory. As it prepares to resume its leading civilizational role, it has become obligatory upon the Islamic Ummah to deeply perceive the nature of Western thought which it is struggling against. The Ummah must consciously understand its rules, foundations, values and methods. It has to be armed with a deep, enlightened thought to wrestle with Western thought, exposing its weakness and invalidity.

In this book, Refutation of the Capitalist Western Thought, we review the reality of the Western civilization and its culture, as well as the reality of capitalist ideology in terms of doctrine and system. We clarify the origin of Western thinking and its results in terms of knowledge, methods, thoughts and concepts. We draw attention to the invalidity and corruption of this ideology in its entirety, with rational evidence. We draw the straight line next to the crooked line to clarify, for every sane person, the truth from the misguidance and the light from the darkness.