Material Slavery and Materialism
In a time when materialism has dominated values, and humanity has become immersed in a cycle of consumption and possession, life is transformed into a series of objects devoid of their human spirit. Humans are no longer slaves to stones and nature, as they once were, but rather to a hidden system that weaves the threads of its dominance out of sight, transforming them into mere numbers in the equation of production and consumption. Under savage capitalism, the individual's dreams and aspirations are reduced to measurable and tradable commodities, while the true meaning of existence recedes in favor of the idols of the modern age: money, power, and false luxury. This is objectification in all its manifestations, where humans are transformed from a thinking self into a thing among things, their fate controlled by invisible hands that impose upon them the illusion of freedom as they are driven, little by little, toward perdition.
According to Marx and Nietzsche, man becomes a slave to capitalism when he turns into a mere "consumer" or "tool of production." In "You Only We Worship and in You only we seek help," (Surah Al-Fatihah – the opening chapter of Holy Quran) focusing on God (Allah) frees man from the slavery of "reification," where man becomes a slave to things rather than their master. Man must work, but if his work enslaves him, it becomes an act of worship. Contemporary capitalism, despite its claim to promote individual freedoms, transforms man into an absolute slave to its system, without him even realizing it. This is done through hidden mechanisms imposed on him in the name of "progress" and "efficiency." He is torn between work that steals his soul and slavery that steals his becoming, violates his being, and throws him into an unforgiving world. This slavery takes many forms, some obvious and some hidden. For example, debt slavery (the worship of money). Credit cards and loans force many people into a spiral of debt (student loans, car loans, home loans, etc.), making people slaves to banks, toiling to pay interest instead of living freely. In many capitalist countries, an individual works for 30 years or more to pay off their home, and their entire life becomes a slave to the bank. They spend many years initially paying the interest rates imposed by the bank, until they reach old age, still paying interest on their loans.
Here, money becomes an idol, and the debtor becomes its slave.
There is also job slavery (capitalist alienation), which is the "hustle culture," which promotes the idea that "your work is your identity." People live to work, rather than work to live.
Not to mention the long working hours, for example in Japan (the phenomenon of "karoshi" - death from exhaustion), where people become machines and slaves to time. In tech companies, employees are required to work 60-80 hours a week, much like doctors, especially new trainees. This is where the fear of being fired arises, leaving employees in miserable jobs for fear of losing health insurance or housing (especially in America and Europe, including Britain).
With corporate control, increased competition for jobs, and rising unemployment rates, these companies set specifications and conditions that turn people into pawns, manipulated as they please, while they navigate a cycle of work that often extends beyond working hours. This is slavery. This slavery will take dangerous turns in the coming years due to the intense competition for jobs and the introduction of the concept of slavery without fear of human rights laws or working hours, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence and robots, which have begun to appear in many fields of work. Unemployment rates will rise, poverty will increase, and more professional and academic requirements will be imposed in job competition. As Karl Marx said, "The worker in a capitalist system sells not only his labor, but his time and his life." We add to this the exploitation of systems that claim to be socialist, which dwarf the individual and tie resources to the hands of the elite, leading people to sell not only their labor and time, but their entire lives, whether they like it or not, under the guise of nation, religion, party, or revolution.
The slavery of consumerism (the manufacture of "needs") also becomes apparent. Advertising and psychological manipulation create "fake needs" through marketing, such as buying the latest iPhone every year, or fast fashion, which makes you buy what you don't need. Monthly subscriptions: Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime... and bills paid for the internet, websites, and many other things turn into permanent financial obligations, like taxes on the poor!
Taxes have taken on various forms and amounts, reaching burdensome rates for people.
In a quote attributed to the American financial expert David Ramsey, who advocates for liberation from the slavery of capitalist money, he said: "Consumer society makes people buy what they don't need, with money they don't have, to please people they don't like."
There's digital platform slavery (modern slavery) and the "gig economy": such as Uber and Deliveroo, where workers are unsecured, working crazy hours for meager wages. There's also the slavery of ratings and reputation, imposed by employers on their employees, which has spread to a wide range of sectors, including medicine, where, for example, delivery drivers or Fiverr employees are forced to submit to customer ratings, turning them into "services" rather than human beings.
Competition for jobs has become a psychological and physical burden on people. It has even led people to slander opponents or colleagues, and companies exploit people by hiring low-wage workers who work longer hours. Most of those who accept long hours for less pay are those with limited experience. This includes even doctors, a humanitarian service. Unfortunately, in capitalism and similar systems, healthcare institutions have become businesses whose primary concern is how to generate profits at the lowest cost. Human values are dwarfed by the encroachment of money and merciless healthcare management. The patient has become a mere number, and the doctor is merely a hired hand. They take the cheapest option, making them more flexible but less efficient, and they are simply a number by their managers.
Technology and addiction to social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok, and the X platform, etc., create an intentional addiction that turns the user into a "product" (data sold to advertisers).
"If you don't pay for the service, you are the product!" (A quote from the world of technology)
There is also the slavery of false "success" (material standards). The race to wealth, the "make a million before the age of 30" culture, forces young people to sacrifice their health and happiness for unrealistic societal standards. This is compounded by the slavery of social media, which has transformed people into isolated islands whose boundaries, even within a single home, are limited to a mobile phone. How cheap and ugly are some of the content broadcasts by these sites.
And the slavery of social comparison: Instagram displays a false, ideal life, creating a constant sense of inadequacy and "psychological enslavement" to the pursuit of image rather than reality. "True freedom is not to measure your value by your bank balance."
The question is, how do we free ourselves from capitalist slavery?
The answer: Capitalism does not disappear, but awareness liberates. Hence, Surat Al-Fatihah (You alone we worship) came to liberate humanity from countless forms of slavery that increase with time. Hence, the Fatiha, which is repeated by the person who believes in Allah, to free himself from the slavery that surrounds him, prompting him to strive for worldly things, but not as a slave. Examples include:
Financial independence: reducing debt, living simply (minimalism)
Redefining success: Success is not "ownership of things," but rather "freedom of time and peace of mind."
Cultural resistance: rejecting "Hastle" and choosing purposeful humanitarian work.
True worship (You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help) begins when you don't let the system turn you into a cog in a machine, but rather maintain your humanity and value beyond material standards.
In existentialist philosophy, Western capitalism, and Marxism, humans suffer from alienation from themselves, from nature, and from others. In capitalism, the worker becomes a machine in production, no longer owning his work or his identity (a pawn) to be manipulated. Capitalist competition has transformed relationships into utilitarian contracts, and true human bonds have died.
In existentialism, humans lose their true nature under the pressure of false social laws.
In most materialistic philosophies, man finds himself alone, thrown into the void between unmerciful hands and others equally helpless. However, in true, not stereotypical, Islam, man finds his lost treasure in the absolute truth, which is God (Allah). He alone is sought for help. Therefore, He said, "You," placing the direct object pronoun before the verb. He is the firm, absolute, and only constant pillar, for whom nothing is beyond His power, and nothing is hidden from Him. He is faithful to His servant's expectation when he calls upon Him sincerely. The servant knows that God will respond. If the answer is delayed, it is for a broader wisdom and greater bounty. In other words, man is with God, surrounded by support from every side, not thrown into the void to do his own thing. The modern capitalist system turns man into a consumer machine and drowns him in an illusory search for happiness through shopping or entertainment, (Beautified for people is the love of desires – (alnasaa النسيء النساء) means )modern things) and (بنين) buildings and heaped-up sums of gold and silver and branded horses and livestock and tillage. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, and Allah has with Him the best return.) (Holy Quran - 14 Al Imran). )Al-nasaa( here means the postponement of new things or modern models, not as they interpreted it (females), and (banien) (بنين) are construction, whether material or technological, and horses are from vanity and authority represented by force, and livestock are all worldly blessings, and tillage is trade and profits. And what overlaps with it.
We live in delusion (the modern delusional), immersed in a "complex ignorance" (we don't know, nor do we know that we don't know). The delusional ones today are us, enslaved to desires we have created with our own hands.
The important question is: How do we admit our delusion?
The answer: The philosophical beginning is to admit that we are delusional, as Socrates did ("All I know is that I know nothing)
A partial escape from delusion requires:
- Dismantling ready-made certainties.
- Criticizing the sources of our "knowledge" (who owns it? And why)
- Stopping the search for "salvation" in consumerism or ideology.
As Nietzsche wrote: “Sometimes people are misled by the truth not because they are ignorant of it, but because they think they know it.” This is exactly where Satan enters, portraying illusion as reality. This is delusion. In order to penetrate the human consciousness without realizing it, he exploits the weak points that the Wise Remembrance (Allah) referred to as the weak parts in His saying: “Tell the believing men or women to lower their gaze and guard their weak parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do.” (An-Nur 30)
The weak parts (forooj) or (weak passes) here refers to the weak points through which Satan enters, not as some interpret it as (private parts). The greatest delusion is the illusion that we have attained certainty in an age that confirms that we are more in need of doubt than those who came before us. Seeking "guidance" in the Fatiha is a daily existential exercise to confront the lostness of this age. "The path to truth begins with admitting that you are lost. The path to misguidance is to insist that you know the way." However, if you know that you know the truth but are too proud to sin and act against it, then you have become one of those who have incurred wrath. Incurring wrath is an existential description, not a reactive wrath, because it is a retributive right sealed in the very being of things as an existential law, like gravity and the alternation of night and day. Those who have incurred wrath are those who knew the truth, but not content with merely fighting it, but also acting against it, persisting in doing so, generation after generation. These are the seal of the universe's wrath upon them in this world and the hereafter, and the torment of the hereafter is more severe.
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