On group feeling and economics

For most of my adult life, I've always considered myself a liberal.

However, since last year, I've reviewed my position. Part of it is because of my newfound interest in Islam, and another part is because I've read more on history and politics. Much of the politics that we have today stems from the enlightenment period in European history. The belief that man controls nature, and not the other way around gives rise to the liberal political order that we see today. 

In fact, liberalism to me is unnatural and ungodly. And that includes its attendant concepts such as multiculturalism and diversity. Ibn Khaldun already wrote in Muqaddimah that a civilisation is a result of 'group feeling'. Malays have been taught that this group feeling (asabiyyah) is a bad thing and that the Prophet pbuh had spoken against it. Ibn Khaldun wrote that the asabiyyah as chastised by the Prophet pbuh was the bad kind and un-Islamic. And that asabiyyah is not in itself a bad thing. It can be good or bad, depending on whether it adheres to the principles of Islam or not. A good asabiyyah is one that gives Muslims strength and purpose in politics. It's the kind that makes a tribe put its members' well-being at the centre of society. It's the kind that protects a tribe's members from attacks by other tribes. Not to mention that it is only natural that we like being among people who share our skin colour, language, religion, and the tastes for food. This is as natural as it is in the animal kingdom. Liberalism, being a concept born out of humanism, denies this fact because it's just a humanist trait to disregard nature and God, while regarding man as the most powerful being in the universe.

As a Muslim, I'd like to practice my religion with freedom and by that, I not only mean to be able to practice the individual obligations (fardh 'ain) but also the societal obligations (fardh kifayah). Sadly, in a multicultural country such as ours, we are forced to abandon or set aside our obligations because we need to consider the non-Muslims. The non-Muslims have a totally different worldview from the Muslims. Much worse, they see Islam as an arresting factor towards development. Never mind that their idea of development is one that propagates usury, exploitation, manipulation, and all other kafir practices that are not only harmful to other men, but also the the environment. A kafir feels no qualms to destroy nature solely for profit, while Muslims are not allowed to do so by the word of Allah swt Himself.

Even more sadly, there are Muslims who believe that this twisted idea of development created and promoted by kafir can be defined as in line with the teaching of Islam. They foolishly believe that development in this manner is encouraged by Islam, based on the distorted understanding of the Prophet's call to join trade. Again, this is a dishonest understanding of the Prophet pbuh's teachings to justify their greed for material wealth. 

To summarise, Malay Muslims must unlearn and relearn 2 things.

First, asabiyyah is not only good, but vital to the survival of the ummah. They understand very well that the ummah must unite but fail to understand that this is in fact a call to revive the group feeling that had given us centuries of golden age.

Second, economic ideas as created by the kafir must be fully rejected. Even a compromised solution such as partial participation in this type of economy is detrimental to the ummah because we cannot win at this game since the game is flawed in the first place where Muslims will always lose since it's against our teachings, and when we lose, the kafir will say that the reason we fail is because of Islam, when in fact it is for the reason already mentioned above.