Muslim Societies Must Integrate Passion With Intellect For Sustainable Growth, Cultural Enrichment, And Global Harmony

By Dr. Zafar Darik Qasmi, New Age Islam 28 August 2025 Summary: Western thinkers critically examined Muslim emotionalism, highlighting its influence on politics, society, and religion. They argued that excessive emotional reactions often overshadow rationality, weaken constructive debate, and obstruct reform. This emotionalism, though rooted in deep faith, can sometimes lead to intolerance, communal clashes, and resistance to modern progress. However, scholars also noted positive aspects—emotions inspire sacrifice, unity, and devotion. The critique emphasizes balance: without reason, emotions risk creating instability; without emotions, faith loses vitality. Hence, Muslim societies must integrate passion with intellect for sustainable growth, cultural enrichment, and global harmony. Main Points: 1. Emotional reactions weaken rational discourse and hinder societal progress. 2. Western thinkers observed an imbalance between passion and constructive reasoning. 3. Excessive emotions often fuel intolerance, rigidity, and communal conflicts. 4. Positive aspects: emotions inspire unity, sacrifice, and spiritual devotion. 5. Balance of intellect and passion ensures sustainable social development. 6. Emotionalism without reason risks instability, stagnation, and cultural decline. ----- The basic requirement of knowledge, research, and intellectual reflection is to create a peaceful social environment and to eliminate those ideas and ideologies that harm collective unity and harmony. Any ideas that hurt the sentiments of individuals in society must be avoided, especially those that promote religious hatred or insult sacred personalities. It should be clearly understood that when offensive words are spoken against any religion, it is natural that the followers of that faith will react emotionally. Not only that, but it is also legitimate to prevent such crimes through collective legal measures. If freedom of speech is used as an excuse to allow statements that provoke religious sentiments, inevitably, peace and order in society will be destroyed. In the contemporary world, what is being done in the name of freedom of expression cannot be tolerated by any sensitive or living community. However, in such situations, no one should act in a way that undermines the rule of law. A lawful and sensible response does not mean that a community is being “emotional,” as is often claimed today regarding Muslims. Unfortunately, even when Muslims demand their rights or protest peacefully against ideologies that hurt their religious sentiments, they are still labeled as an “emotional nation” by so-called intellectuals. Before examining this issue logically, it is important to clarify what “emotionalism” means. Emotionalism is a fundamental aspect of human psychology and social behavior in which decisions, actions, and opinions are often influenced more by feelings than by reason and logic. It exists in every field of human life—whether personal relationships, social interactions, religious beliefs, or political attitudes. Emotionalism affects behavior through emotions such as happiness, anger, love, hatred, compassion, or fear. Sometimes it produces positive results, like kindness or love, but uncontrolled emotionalism can lead to unfair decisions, prejudice, or anger without cause. In a social and cultural context, emotions often outweigh rational thinking. For example, in religious or social conflicts, people sometimes act under emotional influence, which results in sectarianism or bias. At the same time, in literature and art, emotions serve as an important tool to express human experiences more deeply. In short, emotionalism is a complex yet natural part of human life, carrying both positive and negative effects. Balance and conscious control of emotions are essential for the growth of personality and the harmony of society. History has proven that whenever societies abandoned patience and tolerance and gave in to anger and emotionalism, the outcomes were always disappointing. It is also true that emotionalism has been present in nearly every known civilization, yet today it is deliberately associated mainly with Muslims, who are often branded as “an emotional nation.” Examples include blocking roads, chanting provocative slogans, protesting against cartoons or offensive works targeting religious personalities, staging demonstrations and violent rallies, or supporting political figures blindly as “saviours.” Sectarian disputes and inflammatory speeches that provoke public anger also illustrate this trend. On social media, immediate reactions without proper investigation—such as spreading false posts, declaring others infidels or hypocrites—further highlight emotional behaviour. Moreover, critics claim that Muslims become “overly emotional” whenever their faith is attacked or the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is insulted. According to many intellectuals, Muslims should avoid emotional reactions and instead respond to criticism of Islam with seriousness and scholarly arguments, not with protests and slogans. Several books have criticized Muslim emotionalism. For example, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book “Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now” emphasizes the need for reforms in the Muslim world, criticizing emotional responses, rigid beliefs, and traditions. She argues that emotional decisions promote extremism, sectarianism, and violations of women’s rights. Similarly, Bernard Lewis in “The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror” highlights how emotional reactions and extremism in the Muslim world create internal and global challenges. He explains how religious emotionalism often blocks reform and complicates relations with the West. Sam Harris, in “The End of Faith”, criticizes religious beliefs, especially Islam, arguing that emotional decisions based on religion threaten world peace. He insists that religion must adapt to modern scientific, moral, and human standards. On the other hand, Joseph Massad in “Islam in Liberalism” challenges the Western portrayal of Muslims as merely “emotional” and argues that many critiques of Islam fail to truly understand Muslim traditions and sentiments. The spread of such literature has created the impression that Muslims are emotional and extremist. However, a balanced perspective suggests that when any community demands its rights through legal and peaceful efforts, this cannot be labelled as “emotionalism.” True emotionalism or aggression appears only when protests and demands cause harm to others in society. Therefore, branding the entire Muslim community as emotional is inaccurate. It is true that history provides examples of religious emotionalism, but these are rare exceptions. When we study the character and life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we see that he always taught patience and tolerance. Even if Muslims showed emotional reactions, the Prophet ﷺ corrected them. For instance, once some Jews greeted him with the words “As-sām ‘Alaikum” (death be upon you). Lady Aisha (RA) replied harshly, but the Prophet ﷺ said: “O Aisha! Be gentle. Do not be harsh. I have already replied, ‘And upon you.’” From this, we learn that even in matters of religion, Muslims should not act emotionally but should respond with wisdom and dignity. The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is another example. At that time, the Prophet ﷺ accepted difficult terms and showed remarkable patience, setting an example of endurance and peace. From these examples, we learn that wisdom, not emotional outbursts, is the true path of Islam. Conclusion: Emotionalism is an integral part of human nature. When guided by reason and balance, it becomes a positive and constructive force, encouraging love, sacrifice, compassion, and service to humanity. History shows that emotional zeal inspired Muslims to great sacrifices for their faith. Even today, positive emotionalism motivates people to rise against injustice, support the weak, and uphold human rights. It unites society, strengthens moral values, and contributes to social progress. However, uncontrolled emotionalism can be destructive. It leads to rashness, anger, revenge, sectarian conflicts, blind prejudice, and hinders intellectual growth. For Muslims, the challenge is to transform their emotions into wisdom-driven responses rather than destructive outbursts. In this way, emotionalism becomes not a weakness, but a strength that builds peace, justice, and harmony in society. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/muslim-societies-integrate-passion-cultural-harmony/d/136632 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminis