The Silent Colonization of the Muslim Heart

There was a time when Islam occupied the central domain — when revelation alone defined what was true, valuable, and praiseworthy. Knowledge, governance, and trade all grew from the root of ‘ubūdiyyah to Allah. The Qur’an was not a peripheral ornament; it was the axis of thought, meaning, and civilization.

But as history unfolded, a new center emerged — one that dethroned revelation and enthroned man. The Divine was not denied outright but was confined, functionalized, and stripped of sovereignty. Religion became a private sentiment rather than a public truth, while worldly systems claimed the right to define reality. Secularism severed the link between creation and Creator, and capitalism clothed this creed with its glitter — teaching man to measure his worth by what he owns, not what he obeys.

This transformation was not merely political or economic; it was ontological — a reordering of what man believes the world is. Thus began the silent colonization: a reshaping of the Muslim heart’s internal compass. No armies marched; ideas did. They entered through admiration, imitation, and repetition until the believer’s scale of measure aligned with the world’s. The armies of Shayṭān waged this war unseen — whispering that value lies in growth, progress, and productivity, as though revelation were too “slow” for modern life.

In this age, Muslim institutions and endeavors labor earnestly, yet their orbits often revolve around alien centers. The language of Islam is invoked, but the architecture of thought is foreign. Sincerity is replaced with spectacle, ihsān with influence, and ikhlāṣ with visibility. The tragedy is not in effort but in absorption — adopting the dunya’s standards and expecting Divine outcomes.

Allah warns:

“And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire.” (Hūd 11:113)

This inclining extends beyond alliances and politics; it is the bending of the heart toward another civilization’s measure of success. When we accept their definitions — of freedom, progress, happiness, and power — we internalize their order. The colonization is then complete: the Muslim speaks of Allah, but the heart beats to another system’s rhythm.

Tazkiyah — the growing of iman — is therefore not merely an individual refinement but a re-centering of existence. It is the reclamation of the heart’s sovereignty under tawḥīd. The believer must cleanse his inner world of the idols of measure — wealth, validation, control — and restore the Divine as the axis. This is not withdrawal from the world but correct engagement with it: hands in action, heart in submission.

Even in Muslim enterprise today, the signs are unmistakable. Luxury is marketed as “halal lifestyle,” indulgence baptized in religious language. The same dunya, newly perfumed with a scent that only fades. What was once a means to serve has become an end to display and merely a performance. Such is the cleverness of the dominant system — it does not forbid Islam, it repackages it.

True decolonization of the Muslim heart requires that the central domain — the seat of meaning and worth — be returned to Allah alone. For when the dunya settles in the heart, the heart can host no other. It becomes a crowded lodging where remembrance is drowned out by noise. The believer must evict the dunya not by neglecting it, but by placing it back in the hand where it belongs, leaving the heart for its rightful King.

Allah says:

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” (Ar-Ra‘d 13:11)

The transformation of the Ummah does not begin in institutions or revolutions but in the reordering of the unseen. The colonization of the Muslim mind and heart is undone when tawḥīd once again governs our measures of truth, beauty, and success. When the heart is re-centered upon Allah, even the most worldly acts regain their sacred weight. The believer becomes free — not through defiance, but through servitude. For the truly liberated heart is the one that no longer takes its meaning from the world, but from the One who created it.

-Written by A Student of Rashidoon