According to Islamic perspective, man is considered of two elements, the ‎material and the spiritual. However the materialists deny the role of the ‎spirit, man can never achieve flourishing unless the two elements in him ‎be integrated. When man becomes advanced in material cultural means, ‎he approaches material perfection. On the other hand, when he is ‎elevated in his virtuous moral principles, he becomes nearer to spiritual ‎perfection. Consequently, by joining the two sides, human flourishing can ‎be realized on the earth. ‎
The following verse demonstrates the call of Islam to the two sides of ‎this flourishing. The Exalted Allah said: "And there are men who say: ‎‎'Our Lord! Give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and ‎defend us from the torment of the fire', To these will be allotted what ‎they have earned" (Al Baqarah, 201-202).‎
The Exalted Allah motivates man to realize material development. He ‎said "It is He Who has produced you from the earth and settled you ‎therein" (Hud, 61).‎
He also wants man to attain abstract promotion as well. He said: "but do ‎good, as Allah has been good to you, and seek not {occasions for} ‎mischief in the land. For Allah does not love‏ ‏those who do mischief" (Al ‎Qasas, 77).‎
While the Islamic East is negligent in answering the call of Islam to ‎develop the land and reconstruct it, the material development in the West ‎has achieved today a great deal of it.‎
But the failure of the East in material development is contrasted with that ‎of the West concerning attaining abstract moral promotion. schools in the ‎West that seek morality, as well as Western philosophical concepts, try to ‎repair the crevice that has taken place in the social construction, but they ‎fail to attain a virtuous level that Heavenly knowledge calls for, a ‎knowledge conveyed by the Messengers of Allah to all mankind. Finally, ‎this knowledge of all the Messengers was collected and preserved to be ‎sent by the Seal of Messengers , Muhammad (pbuh). ‎
However, a great deal of human ethical dilemmas in the West stay ‎unsolved. Caprices are given full rein there, and self-desires on ‎individual as well as social levels are about to uproot the fundamentals of ‎morality and the foundations of justice or sublime human behavior. ‎
The organizing constitution of chastity and virtue in the new civilization ‎has been excluded. Licentiousness and sexual deviation become ‎common in the name of freedom. Legislators of positive laws find no ‎wrong with this abnormal state. Most family relations have deteriorated, ‎and coherence between previous and subsequent generations have ‎been disrupted; the relationships between son, father and grandfather ‎weaken. On the level of livelihood, there appears terrible social ‎discrimination due to the lack of mutual compassion and remoteness ‎from religion. Moreover, the wealthy voted for and blessed their ‎governments that plunder the wealth of people in weak countries.‎
In the long run, ethical chaos reaches the status of what is called ‎‎"International Legitimacy" that lacks a lot of the principles of human ‎justice. For example, the Vito, that wealthy countries acted in collusion to ‎endorse, discriminates between the nations and gives the strong country ‎authority that the weak one does not have. Moreover, the Security ‎Council supports the injustice of the oppressors, and disregards the ‎interests of the oppressed nations -- the question of Palestine is not too ‎remote from us.‎
This ethical chaos results in international covenants that support social ‎confusion in the name of development and progress. One example is the ‎Covenant of Child Rights (UNICEF) which places the parents in ‎constraints that are incompatible with human natural disposition, and ‎makes the rules of education be far away from human balance. ‎Moreover, it makes the way open for abnormal practices by teenagers in ‎the name of freedom. ‎
Ethical chaos in the West is not limited only to factual individual and ‎collective practices, it also proceeds to invert truths and make the ‎distance between lying and truth close to one another in the 'media ‎empire' that seeks military and political interests. Consequently, distorting ‎truth seems a blameless procedure as long as this leads to self-interest, ‎following, thereby, the Machiavellian method that the Western policy was ‎originally founded on.‎
Hence, the necessity of abstract and ethical rescue seems to be a must ‎in the West, exactly as the necessity of material rescue that is requisite in ‎the East. By its material means, the West is able to rescue the East, but ‎who is going to save the West from this abstract confusion?‎
Will Buddhism of the East, which calls for some principles of virtue, be ‎able to save the West, while it is, itself, lost in superstitions and myths?‎
Or will Judaism (that emphasizes the rules of behavior, but neglects the ‎application of the soul of love and mercy, and confines itself in its racism ‎and nationality), be able to do that ?‎
Contemporary Christianity in the West undergoes the turning away of its ‎children from it. The rate of religiousness today has greatly decreased in ‎the Western societies. Even those who adhere to Christianity, perform ‎their religious obligations only at weekends and consider it as a spiritual ‎outlet. Moreover, positive laws have given up their role of leading ‎societies.‎
Confusing alternatives begin to spread in the West to fill in the spiritual ‎vacancy, such as conjuration, manufacturing films that deal with ‎vampires, smothered ghosts that wander here and there, all of which are ‎new phenomena replete with superstitions, and made by man to replace ‎the spiritualism he lacks.‎
At this point, wise people in the West begin to feel the need for Islamic ‎reform, the last religion that the Exalted Allah sends to humanity. But the ‎obstacles that detain the announcement of this truth are too many. Some ‎of which are the following: ‎
‎-Traditional fanaticism that makes some deny the light of the sun due to ‎familiarity with their inherited tradition.‎
‎-Ignorance of the truth of Islam, and the illusion that some have, believing ‎that Islam restricts interests, whereas Islam calls for interests and ‎considers them essential as long as they are consistent with the principle ‎of justice and human equality. Islam is keen on spreading social as well ‎as economic justice. For example, if the West adopts the principle of ‎Zakat (almsgiving) presented by Islam, the great economic crises will ‎have been eliminated from its societies.‎
‎-Some have the illusion that Islam restricts freedom. On the contrary, ‎Islam is the religion that adopts individual freedom stipulated by not ‎harming the members of society.‎
‎-Some have the illusion of the contradiction between Islam and science, ‎though the Qur'an is full of statements that encourage seeking ‎knowledge such as: "know; you should know; see; understand, etc…" . ‎
‎- Some have the illusion that Islam is full of hostility and violence by its ‎very nature, in spite of the fact that its Messenger is called "Mercy" by the ‎Exalted Allah.‎
‎-Some believe that there is discrimination between the man and the ‎woman, in spite of the fact that Islam presents unique integration in ‎functions, and a matchless equilibrium between the two sexes.‎
In addition to the above mentioned obstacles, some would say: ‎‎"Followers of Islam represent some backward contemporary societies". ‎Others claim that Islam is a historical stage whose role has come to an ‎end, and that Islam need not enter the mosque to teach people the rituals ‎of worship, and the familiar traditional heritage away from the movements ‎and activities of real life.‎
Undoubtedly, the undeveloped reality of the Muslims is a setback in the ‎dialogue with the West, for most Muslims are in a state that alternates ‎between scum, whose relationship with Islam is like the thread of the ‎web, and spiritualism that does not seek a practical cultural way. Most ‎often, most Muslims are ignorant of the truths of the Islamic law. They ‎often give up the means of knowledge. Some of them adopt certain ‎illusive and incorrect Ahadith (plural of Hadith, i.e., Prophetic traditions). ‎Moreover, poverty and necessity led the weak of them to financial ‎aberrations such as bribery, theft, deception and monopoly. Accordingly, ‎disagreement spreads among them due to personal interests and self ‎desires as a result of weakness in faith, lack of truthfulness and sincerity, ‎and heedlessness of the ties of brotherhood in the Ummah.‎
Consequently, through the present reality of the Muslims, some people in ‎the West issued a mistaken generalized judgment on Islam. ‎
On the other hand, the spread of freedom of thought in the West, and the ‎tendency for research of some Westerners, led some to consider Islam ‎impartially and accept it as a human Savior.‎
In this regard, the statements of some free men of thought should be ‎noted, such as that of Prince Bismarck who said: "I have studied the ‎Heavenly Book thoroughly, but in them, and as a result of the distortion ‎of their contents, I find no real wisdom that guarantees the felicity if ‎mankind. On the other hand, I find the Qur'an of Muhammad (pbuh) ‎superior to all the other holy Books. In each word of it, there is wisdom. ‎There is no other Book that can realize the happiness of mankind like it. ‎Moreover, such a Book (the Qur'an), cannot be composed by man. ‎Those who claim that it is the words of Muhammad (pbuh) and deny the ‎truth, reject scientific exigencies".1‎
The scholar, Al Nurasi, wondered at those who do not do justice to Islam ‎in spite of their need for it. He said: "The enemies of religion who ‎underestimate the value of Islam deserve to be called 'stupid friends' ". 2 ‎An Nurasi did not consider the West as enemy. He rather saw the West ‎as a friend because of their humanity. He also believed that the new ‎conquests of Islam would not be by means of arms. It would rather be by ‎unquestionable definite evidences because cultural superiority usually ‎prevails by persuasion.‎

The Islamic East will not be able to be integrated with the materialistic ‎West to achieve joint flourishing unless it is promoted to the human level, ‎to enhance the cognitive, cultural, moral and linguistic understanding of ‎the Western culture and the principles of contemporary science. ‎Moreover, it has to adopt an institutional method that will be remote from ‎individual personalities, and exchange the old oratorical method for the ‎calm contemporary persuasive method, because the oratorical method ‎usually has a great influence on man's feelings, tendencies and desires. ‎Moreover, it may deceive the listener by means of the art of photography ‎and the excellence of embellishment. ‎
On the other hand, the intellectual persuasive method is usually based ‎on ideas and proofs. By its objectivity, it can attain truth. In dialogue, it is ‎also essential to present a definition of our Master, Muhammad (pbuh) ‎who is not sent from the East to antagonize the West, as the ignorant ‎imagine. He is rather sent to the whole world as a means of mercy, ‎justice and virtue. No one who knew the honored Prophet, whether a ‎Roman, a Persian, an Ethiopian, a Turkish or an Arab, but adored and ‎loved him. ‎
In conclusion, I'd like to say:‎
A true project of integration between the Islamic East and the materialistic ‎West is prerequisite. It should be executed by the volunteers of love, not ‎by commandoes of hostility. They should comprehend the meaning of ‎human flourishing and do their best to realize it. They should understand ‎the dimensions of the new changes and all recently developed cultures ‎in the world. ‎
This project should get out of the framework of regionalism and racism, ‎and be based on mutual esteem and reverence in the dialogue to attain ‎the level of human internationality.‎