By Abdullah Al-Aqeel
MANY people refuse to be influenced by a different culture and choose to protect their own culture, traditions and religious views. It is natural for people to protect their own identity. However, we, as Arabs, need to stop thinking that Westernization is a conspiracy plotted against us.
In order to understand what Westernization means, we should realize that strong civilizations naturally influence civilizations that are weaker. Civilizations that view themselves as weaker or less important than the stronger one will accept to be influenced in this way and will want to imitate stronger civilizations.
I do not understand why some of us think that we are the only society that has been influenced by Westernization despite the fact that most countries have been influenced by Europeanization or Westernization, especially in terms of what they eat, what they wear and how they live. Let us take Japan, for example. Japanese people have great pride in their identity. Nevertheless, they are influenced by Westernization. If you visit Japan, you will see Western restaurants everywhere. Japanese love to wear Western clothes, listen to Western music, and exercise the Western way.
If we study the history of the Arabic-Islamic civilization, we will realize that it influenced many other civilizations both near and far. The Arabic alphabet is a good example. The letters of the Arabic alphabet are the official letters of the Urdu language in Pakistan and they were the official letters in Turkey for hundreds of years. The Persian civilization, which is considered ancient, still uses the letters of the Arabic alphabet today. Other examples are Islamic architecture, Arab clothes, Arabic words, etc. Even Europe was influenced by the Arab civilization. Whether we are for or against Westernization, we should realize that the influence of stronger civilizations on those that are weaker is not something new. I think it is wrong to describe Westernization as a conspiracy plotted by intelligence officers in order to target and undermine our culture and civilization.
