Quote:
Originally Posted by ravage
reductive at best, high-horse preaching at worst. the world is not a dichotomy of Islam and consumerism, and in much of the western world consumerism is actively addressed and attempted to be checked much more purposefully than in the Muslim world. if you dont like consumerism in the western world become a marxist or anti-consumerist. Muslims have been immersed in consumerism for centuries pretty close to the start of Islam, before the west arrived to corrupt us. Ask the Mughals or the Ottomans or Abbasies. The vulgar excess of the saudies and the kuwaities is not inspired by western peers, but just continuing a legacy.
The only thing modernity brought is access to resources that only the elite used to have to a broader segment of people. Im not sure why thats a bad thing in itself. |
If you listen carefully he includes himself in amongst the Coca-cola Muslims so no high horse here. Also the Muslim position against consumerism is not about the wealth or profit, but rather the attachment to it and treatment of it as a taghut. A means to happiness, when it is only a temporary solution, with side effects. So we can be capitalistic so long as we are using what we need and being philanthropic with the rest. If we use more than our needs that is of no harm as long as we do not become attached. The Muslim consumerism in the times mentioned above Mughals, Ottomans and Abbasids were a mixture of some Western influence and was mostly in the elite, with modern technology you see a wider problem. The poorest of homes in Pak have TVs for example.