All perfect praise is to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds.

I testify that
there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that
Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Q NO.1 (a)
Cultural Diffusion & Cultural Invasion
Introduction:
Cultural diffusion and cultural invasion are the systems of imposing of
culture on others. Cultural diffusion is the system of culture to culture imposing
and cultural invasion is the system of invading of culture by brainwashing or
military support.

Now I’ll discuss further about both system of culture imposing are
following.

Cultural Diffusion:
There are many cultures in the world which are contact in one way or other
with one another. The process of diffusion is due to the spread of cultural
traits. Both the material and non-material cultural traits transmit from one society
to another. Material traits spread quickly while non-material takes more time and
spread gradually. For example the teachings of Muhammad‫ ﷺ‬is spread from
society to society is the diffusion of culture.

Definitions of Cultural Diffusion

Following are the definitions of cultural diffusion given by various
sociologists:

According to Herskovits, “Cultural diffusion is the achieved cultural

transmission.”
Krober define it as “The spread of one cultural element both material and
non-material to the other is called cultural diffusion.”
In simple words “The process by which cultural traits of one society
directly or indirectly spread to the other society is called cultural diffusion.”

Editing by Zeeshan Sheikh….M.A Eng Literature….03455322100

Characteristics of Cultural Diffusion
Following are the characteristics of cultural diffusion

1. Selective Process. It is a selective process and the traits of one culture are
adopted by other on selection. There is compulsion to adopt the traits of
others.
2. Rapid Material Diffusion. In cultural diffusion material aspect change
rapidly while the non-material aspect like norms values, customs are rigid
to change.
3. Two Way Process. There is a bridge between two cultures. If one culture
gives trait to other it will be easy to take another trait from the opposite
culture.
4. Strong Culture Less Diffused. Weak cultures have more changes to
diffuse while strong and developed cultures diffused slowly.
5. Continuous and Increasing Process. Cultural diffusion is a continuous
process and it is increasing in every society.

Cultural Invasion
The cultural invasion is the invasion of the enemy on any nation with
various means and methods in order to destroy its internal strength and its morals.
The difference between cultural invasion and military invasion is that military
invasion takes place in order to conquer and defeat [the people and the country]
and achieve military objectives against the will of the people, whereas the purpose
of cultural invasion is to brainwash the people so that they would become
followers of the invader.

This term of cultural invasion appeared in the beginning of the twentieth

century; however, it existed since a long time ago. Nonetheless, in this century, the
enemies of Islam saw that military invasion incites the anger, hatred, and
revolution of the people, so they thought about invading the brains of the people,
by instilling the culture which fulfils the aims of the enemy and the people would
not realize its evil and harm except after it is too late.

The orientalists were the people who greatly contributed to this invasion; in
the same way the enemy succeeded through the help of secularists from our nation
Editing by Zeeshan Sheikh….M.A Eng Literature….03455322100
to invade much of the thinking of the nation until the nation became the humbled
follower of the enemy.

Objectives of Cultural Invasion

Cultural invasion has many objectives, among which are the following:

1- Making people doubt the authenticity of Islamic resources, like the Quran and
the Sunnah of the Prophet the Islamic history, and accusing the
companions and highlighting the differences and misunderstandings that took
place between them.
2- Distorting the Islamic creed and legislations, its great figures and role modals.
3- Fighting the spread of the classical Arabic language.
4- Raging nationalistic and sectarian fanaticism.
5- Spreading division and devastating methodologies.
6- Plunging the nation in desires.
7- Spreading misconceptions about anything which has a relation with Islam.
8- Focusing on women: depriving women from their religion, shyness and
morals.

Sources of Cultural Invasion

Cultural invasion has many means among which are:
1- Schools and educational curricula which fulfill their targets.
2- Audio and video media means.
3- Newspapers and written materials.
4- Internet.

Method of Cultural Invasion

In order to encounter such invasion, the following methods should be followed:
1- Clarifying and unveiling the danger of this invasion on the nation.
2- Using the same means that are used by the enemy in order to educate and
raise the awareness of the nation, provided that such means abide by religious
requirements.
3- Educating the nation and making it return to its religion, and using all
possible means to achieve this purpose.
4- Refuting the misconceptions that the enemy spread.
In order to be safe from such invasion, one should call the Muslims to Allah and
educate them about the rulings and etiquettes of their religion.
Allah Knows best.

Editing by Zeeshan Sheikh….M.A Eng Literature….03455322100