To an English-speaking audience, Islam is often advertised as a “monotheistic religion in the tradition of Judaism and Christianity.” And we often, with the best of intentions, add: “The difference is, we only believe in One God.”

This fails to capture the essence of ‘Tawheed’, Islam’s concept of monotheism. It is not that there is only one God and that is that. If this were the case, little is there to differentiate us from Christians and Jews, who also conceptually believe in One God (despite different theological formulations). What makes us different is that we believe in One God and, further-more, we believe that only Allah is to be worshipped.

The core of Islam is wrapped in the message of ‘La ilaha illallah’: There is no god worthy of worship except Allah. This means, in other words, that we turn away not only from idols of wood and stone, but also the idols of ideology. Today, humanity, spurred by Western culture, worships many things, but above all, it worships itself.

Secularism is the ideology of Western countries (and some Muslim countries). The reason it works so well is because it is the best, and latest way to deceive people away from Allah. Rather than urge people to worship forms and shapes, the new ‘shirk’ (polytheism) tells people to worship themselves. Everyone is a god!

The American dream has become the construction of a society in which everyone is his or her own god, and does what he or she wants to do regardless of the consequences. Naturally, it is a very attractive idea. Do what you want - do what you feel - you are always going to be right! Each man is his own judge and jury!

What this fails to realize is that humans are, by nature, fragile beings. Despite being such a self-proclaimed “free” and “individualistic” society, America is more conformist than many other societies in the world. A young woman without a perfect body is an outcast. A young man who cannot party or cannot “get with enough girls,” is not a real man - and this is the most interesting example of all.

In Islam, a man’s role is honorable because of his sacrifice and responsibility. A noble and virtuous man is a pious one, who works hard, provides for his family, goes out of his way for his wife and is always faithful to her. Thus, the Muslim character is the responsible and strong one, because the Muslim accepts the Trust from Allah, Islam and does not shy away from it.

Western society, on the other hand, preaches that everyone is a god, and thus, you never have to discipline yourself. The result is a society made of weak, selfish and narrow-minded people (proven by alarming rates of suicide, violent crime, depression and spiraling divorce rates).

Allah tells us in the Qur’an “And I (Allah) did not create the Jinn and Mankind except to worship me.” (51:56) The drive to worship is an intrinsic human need. The one attempt to crush worship in all forms was communism, and communism - as history attests - failed and continues to fail miserably. Due to the evolution of Western thought and Western society, the drive to worship has been channeled away from Allah and towards the individual.

However, it does not take long for human beings to realize that we, as individuals, make pathetic idols. By a young age, we realize we are fallible, and often unsuccessful in many things we wish so sincerely to do. For example, how many kids want to play professional sports, but never get to?

So, instead, people start to worship ideas. They attribute power to these ideas. They start to believe that governments are all-powerful, or flags, ethnicities, tribes or languages hold mystical powers.

In Europe, the popular belief is that every linguistic group deserves a country, because a linguistic group is an immortal entity that has had many members come and go but has, at root, stayed the same.

But we, as Muslims reject all of this. Because we know that it is no more than ‘shirk’ - partnership with Allah - the unforgivable sin. And why is it unforgivable? The essence of Islam, is not only that we believe in Allah, but that we worship Him and make Him the center of all our efforts. Should we put anything between Allah and ourselves, we corrupt the purity of our beautiful faith.

When Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) came to the Arabs of Makkah in 610 (CE) with a message directly from Allah, the Arabs of that time were not atheists. They believed in Allah, they believed He was the most powerful deity and most interestingly enough, they believed He could not be represented by a physical idol. However, they believed that many idols interceded on their behalf (over three hundred lesser gods, in fact!). In other words, the pagans believed that there were channels between the individual and Allah and that these barriers needed to be worshipped.

Modern Western society is no different. At every turn, American politicians invoke God’s Name. How often do we hear the slogan “God Bless America”? Take American currency out of your wallet. Inscribed in prominent letters is the American motto: “In God We Trust.” Thus, superficially, American society does not reject God. Rather, it believes in God and claims to acknowledge Him as the Supreme Being. However, American society makes other people gods and intermediaries, to such an extent that eventually God Himself is entirely ignored!

This is also America’s plan for the Muslim world (throughout the world, from America to Afghanistan). They will teach us that they have no quarrel with Allah, but they simply want to give us democracy to “modernize” us and give us “progress”.

Should we choose to go down this fated path, we will find, to our horror, that Allah will not be denied. He - and may He be exalted over such comparisons - will just be dismissed so far that people will become like atheists in denial of their atheism. May Allah save us from this fate, and I apologize for the harshness of the prediction, but we know that once the road is opened to the slightest deviation, this deviation snowballs. This is how religions before us were destroyed; how many times has Allah asked us to reflect on history? The choice is, as always, our own!