This article was originally addressed to “Institute of Islamic Research” which was headed by Dr. Fazlur Rahman at that time, but applies to all modernists of our time.

The line of action of researches of the Institute of Islamic research is quite in contradiction to this. One the one hand they pre-supposed that the thirteen hundred years old laws of Islam have now become worn out and outdated, and it is not possible to implement and comply with them unless some fundamental changes are made in them (They call these changes as “New Interpretations”). And on the other hand it has rooted deep into their minds that ideological and practical expositions of Western civilization are all blessings and benedictions, and unless Muslims accept them in toto their survival in the present time is impossible.

The entire intellectual structure of Modernism has been constructed on the above two hypotheses. As a result, the style of their working has been that any ideology or style of working from the West is first taken as granted to be cent per cent right and there is no way out for us in the present time than to accept it and adopt it. Their ‘Research’ is then wholly directed towards proving it to be in conformity with Islam, by reshaping and distorting Islamic teachings and even by changing the established commandments of Islam. They do not hesitate in denying the prophetic traditions, or write down a new dictionary to give new meanings to the verses of the Qur’an.

This is the very style for which the word “Distortion” should be used in place of “Research”. Our submission is that, if you believe that Islam is the natural religion, if you have faith that its principles and injunctions are not the product of any human brain but that of the All-Knower Allah who is fully aware of all the needs of mankind for all times to come, if you are confident that the Islam proclaimed by Muhammad sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam contains satisfactory solutions to all the problems and difficulties that may arise till the Last Day, then you must admit that the solution to the problems of twentieth century also lies in the same principles which were brought by the Holy Prophet Muhammad sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam 1400 years ago. This is, however, subject to the condition that you sincerely try to get rid of the inferiority complex which has made West as the standard of righteousness in your eyes. Once you get the courage to lift up the veil of deception of the West from your mind you will have the chance to understand the problems with full confidence. It is then that you will discover new ways of survival in the present time fulfilling all the needs and demands of time on the one hand and save youf rom the unholy ways of the West. If you follow this course you will be able to acquire the wealth of peace and tranquility that has never been imagined by the West. We may be excused if you find our tone unmannerly but if you have any claim to realism, be realistic in analysing your approach. While seeking the solution to your problems you have the fear of being called conservative or superstitious or uncivilized by the West. This complex does not allow you to give a serious thought to the true Islamic virtue. You are always anxious to give Islamic sanction to all those things that have a label of liberalism on them. May be that this line of action brings you some good name in the Western circles, but this is never going to solve your problems nor will it give you the status of a living and free nation. It is not sensible.

We may seem to exaggerate about your mode of action but an honest and realistic self-analysis will testify to the truth of our claim.

You have observed that the West has based its entire banking system on “Interest”. This is the system which is regarded as one of the prominent virtues of modern civilization. So, you started investing all your energy to make the interest permissible in trading system. You never bothered to ask yourself if the interest was really inevitable for the banking system and why cannot this be run on the Principles of “Mudaribah” provided by Islam and why the Islamic Principle of “Mudaribah” cannot be adopted in Banking? At the cost of the opposition of the Muslim Ummah you have compounded interests but you never cared to find out the principles of interest-free banking which assures us more equitable distribution of wealth.

The “Insurance” is regarded as a symbol of civilization in the West. You acepted it as it was and tried to give it Islamic sanction by making fabricated interpretations in the Qur’an and Sunnah. But you never knew that there was an easier and fairer way of making some minor changes in the prevailing insurance system and thus bring them in conformity with the established principles of Islam, making it more useful institution.

The Western countries have recently launched great campaigns to preach “Family Planning”. You also followed them in propagating it. For this purpose you consumed your energies to misinterpret the laws of Islam in favour of family planning. But you never thought how China is surviving with its 700,000,000 population? According to Chu-en-lai every new child brings a message of prosperity. In the hue and cry of the Western world you looked at one mouth of a newly born child and felt uneasy to think from where to feed it? But you did not see the two hands of the child to work. The small country like Israel realised the importance of population and has been using all the means of increasing its population. The Westerner had said that population rise is dangerous for developing countries. You accepted this “sincere advice” and imposed birth control as a law, but you failed to see how Vietnam had humbled the big power like America and why the Western countries are scared of China? Americans had declared that in the East they would give financial aid only to those countries that would adopt the birth control. You took it as a sympathetic gesture from them but you did not try to argue why Israel gets the lion’s share in aid in spite of being against the birth control?

You heard that polygamy is considered to be a crime in Western countries. In order to free yourself from this blame you made the excuse that Islam had allowed it only in some emergency conditions and now it is no more permissible. For this purpose you left no stone unturned in pulling and dragging the meanings of the verses of Holy Qur’an. But did you ever try to investigate why the Westerners never feel the need of more than one wife? Thanks to Modern Civilization and the open practice of un-registered polygamy in every hotel, every nightclub and every park, there is no need of getting oneself involved in regular family life. The Westerners had publicised that polygamists are cruel to their wives. You started pleading that the fundamental conception of Islam is to stop such a tyranny and hence polygamy is forbidden in Islam. But you shut your eyes from the naked reality that there are innumerable people who are extremely cruel to their single wife. In fact the number of such people is greater. Hence this argument requires that single marriage also should be banned.

You observed that the Westerners consider Hijab (woman’s veil) as a vice, so you started fabricating the established injunctions of Islam. But you never cared to think that by unveiling their women what disaster the West has brought to their homes? Did you ever care to know what is the cause of unabated grief of the serious thinkers of the West on this issue?

You came to know that co-education is practised in Western countries. You started advocating for it an insignia of civilization, but never bothered to think of the reasons behind the dreadful scene of American culture presented by Kinsey Reports before the world? [the renowned American sexologist Prof. Alfred Kinsey who prepared these reports after 15 years of research] Did you ever think who is responsible for ever increasing unlawful sexual relations in the young generation. What is the cause of ever decreasing standard of education?

You have read that many of the Westerners deny miracles and hold them as superstition. Very obediently you also followed the example and tried to reject the miracles described by the Qur’an in detail. As a result of this you converted the entire Qur’an into a poetic and metaphorical book. But you never thought that those who had initially denied the miracles had also called the existence of God as the worst form of superstition. They had even mocked at prophethood and divine revelations. Further, you never paid any attention to the fact how rapidly the most recent researches of scientific knowledge are making miracles more acceptable to human intellect.

Keeping all these facts in view, for God’s sake, please tell us if there is any exaggeration in our assessment that you pay no heed to finding an Islamic and intellectual solution to these problems? On the contrary you are always looking for the Western ideologies. Whatever you receive from them as permissible you spend all your energy to prove it in conformity with Islam, with no concern to what damage you are causing to the Qur’an and Sunnah. When you notice any signs of dislike for something on the faces of Westerners you exhaust all your powers to declare it unlawful and prohibited in Islam even at the cost of giving away explicit injunctions of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

...The above observations if given due consideration, with no prejudices in mind, provide with the only conclusion that the Institute of Islamic Reasearch and its co-workers are basically wrong in their very mode of thinking. As a result of it they have not only been unable to do any service to the country and the nation but in fact created disruption, uneasiness, confusion and anxiety throughout the country. How we wish that the authorities of this extermely important institute give serious, sincere and selfless thought as to how harmful and dangerous for national unity is the way adopted by them.