Written by: Abu Zaid
❖ The Popular Claim
A common critique heard today is:
“Muslims use Western resources and yet criticize the West.”
At first glance, this statement may seem reasonable. But to understand it fully, one must dig deeper.
❖ Use of Western Resources: A Capitalist Compulsion
Firstly, Muslims did not beg the West for its tools and conveniences.
The reason these resources are available to us is because Western capitalism constantly requires new markets.
Thus, it is out of economic necessity, not generosity, that the West distributes its products globally.
❖ Nothing Comes Free: The Price of Convenience
Secondly, everything the West offers is paid for in full by Muslim consumers.
Hence, there is no room for the West to claim moral superiority or express gratitude, for nothing has been gifted.
❖ Colonial Legacy: A Debt Still Unpaid
Thirdly, much of the West’s advancement is rooted in the spoils of colonialism.
Resources looted from Muslim lands contributed significantly to Western material development.
Even if the West had offered some tools free of cost, it would still only be reclaiming what was wrongfully taken.
Instead, the West charges full price for everything, then claims moral high ground.
❖ Imposed Resources: Not a Choice
There was a time when Muslims neither desired nor accepted Western tools.
Yet, the West imposed them using political and economic dominance.
In such a scenario, it is illogical for the West to act entitled over their use.
This attitude also reveals the intellectual inferiority of Western sympathizers who argue this point without context.
Meanwhile, Muslims continue to use these tools carefully, striving to preserve their values amid Western cultural invasions.
❖ The Cultural Double Standard
When devout Muslims opposed radio and television, they were labeled narrow-minded.
But when they began to use these tools under economic and political pressure, they were expected to accept Western values along with them.
❖ Reclaiming Tools for Islamic Goals
Today, educated Muslim generations are using Western tools for Islamic propagation.
Islamic movements now leverage the very technologies once forced upon them to present a counter-narrative to Western ideology.
❖ From Resistance to Transformation
Ironically, the same class that once aggressively pushed Western tools into Muslim societies
is now criticizing scholars who once declared them harmful.
But times have changed—
Today, Muslims are not only using platforms like radio, TV, internet, and social media,
they are also using them to challenge the West.
This shift unsettles the defeated narrative, not the victors.
❖ The West’s Tools Turned Against It
In reality, the use of Western-created tools to protect and spread Islam marks a powerful reversal.
This is either poetic justice or, in modern terms, survival of the fittest.
The very tools once used to suppress truth are now being used to proclaim it.
And the West, in its helplessness, watches this transformation with discomfort.
❖ Truth vs. Propaganda
While the West used its tools for:
✖ Spreading falsehood
✖ Mocking religions through cartoons
✖ Promoting indecency under the name of freedom
Muslims now use the same tools to:
✔ Spread Islamic knowledge
✔ Unite the Ummah
✔ Present logical arguments against Western policies
Is it any surprise that this upsets Western intellectuals?
❖ Conclusion
The fact that Western tools are now used to challenge Western dominance is proof of their strategic failure.
Muslims owe the West no gratitude for these tools.
They were imposed on us, often built using our stolen wealth, and left our societies in turmoil.
Now that we are reclaiming our voice,
the West should stop lamenting victimhood and begin acknowledging its historical wrongs.
