“Those who listen to the Word, and follow the best in it: those are the ones whom God has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding.(Quran;39:18),” and whoever is granted wisdom is indeed given a great wealth”(Qur’an;2:269),” Thus clearly do We spell out Our signs un to people who think” (Qur’an;10:24)
Introduction
During first millennia Muslims excelled in all the fields of knowledge and laid the foundation of great Islamic civilization. However lack of interest in knowledge became start of decline. Presently Muslims as a community are mostly illiterate and ignorant, though Islam encourages rational thinking & learning. Gradually the Muslims started to concentrate on rituals and ascetic practices, leaving their philosophy of rational thought, reason and scientific knowledge, the hallmark of their intellectual development. Their heritage of intellectual treasure slowly passed on to the West, which now dominates the world. Islamic world, the one fifth of humanity, is backward despite possessing energy and other natural resources in abundance.
Some Muslims philosophers, intellectuals and scholars realizing the importance, of rationale thinking & wisdom (hikmah), tried to revive the original message of Islam, while others call it “Reformation” to meet challenges of modern society. The term ‘Reformation’ is used for 16th-century movement in Western Europe that aimed at reforming some doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant churches. As far as Islam is concerned there is no scope for ‘Reformation’ of its basic doctrines and practices, since Qur’an declared Islam as complete way of life: “This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” [Qur’an;5:3]. However there is provision of Ijtihad by competent scholars to cater for changing new situations, with in the basic parameters of Islam. Hence the basic thrust of Muslim scholars (revivalists or reformers) and intellectuals is on revival of original spirit of Islam, in the contemporary environments. Since Ijtihad is a human work possibility of error exists, hence it is not binding for ever, subject to revision.
Medieval Reformers & Revivalists
Simple, robust, and more practical piety had been initiated by Ibn Taymiyyah [1263-1328 C.E one of Islam’s most forceful theologians who, as a member of the Pietist school founded by Ibn Hanbal, sought the return of the Islamic religion to its sources: the Qur’an and the Sunnah, revealed writing and the prophetic tradition. He is also the source of the Wahhabiyah, a mid-18th-century traditionalist movement of Islam]. It continued to find exponents among jurists, made little impression on its devotees. To be taken seriously, reform had to come from their own ranks and be espoused by such thinkers as the eminent theologian and mystic of Muslim India Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624 C.E) a reformer who spoke their language and attacked Ibn al-‘Arabi’s “unity of being” (wahdat ul wajood) only to defend an older, presumably more orthodox form of mysticism (wahdat ul shahud) Unity of Witness. He reemphasized Qur’anic orthodoxy and tempering Hindu pantheistic influences and reasserting what he deemed the clear distinctions between God, man, and the world. Despite some impact, however, attempts of this kind remained isolated and were either ignored or reintegrated into the mainstream, until the coming of the modern reformers.
Modern Revivalists & Reformers
The 19th and 20th-century reformers Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897), Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905), and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) were initially educated in this tradition, but they rebelled against it and advocated radical reforms. Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897), was a Muslim politician, political agitator, and journalist whose belief in the potency of a revived Islamic civilization in the face of European domination significantly influenced the development of Muslim thought in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He had profound influence on Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905), a renowned Egyptian scholar. In theology ‘Abduh sought to establish the harmony of reason and revelation, the freedom of the will, and the primacy of the ethical implications of religious faith over ritual and dogma. He deplored the blind acceptance of traditional doctrines and customs and asserted that a return to the pristine faith of the earliest age of Islam not only would restore the Muslims’ spiritual vitality but would provide an enlightened criterion for the assimilation of modern scientific culture. In matters of Islamic law, which governed Muslim family relationships, ritual duties, and personal conduct, ‘Abduh tried to break through the rigidities of scholastic interpretation and to promote considerations of equity, welfare, and common sense, even if this occasionally meant disregarding the literal texts of the Qur’an. From his death to the present day, ‘Abduh has been widely revered as the chief architect of the modern reformation of Islam.
New Wisdom, Lack Political Philosophy
The modernists attacked the new wisdom [Al-Ghazali’s synthesis of theology, philosophy, and mysticism called New Wisdom (Hikma)] at its weakest point; that is, its social and political norms, its individualistic ethics, and its inability to speak intelligently about social, cultural, and political problems generated by a long period of intellectual isolation that was further complicated by the domination of the European powers. Unlike the earlier tradition of Islamic philosophy from al-Farabi to Averroës, which had consciously cultivated political science and investigated the political dimension of philosophy and religion and the relation between philosophy and the community at large, the new wisdom from its inception lacked genuine interest in these questions, had no appreciation for political philosophy, and had only a benign toleration for the affairs of the world. None of the reformers was a great political philosopher. They were concerned with reviving their nations’ latent energies, urging them to free themselves from foreign domination, and impressing on them the need to reform their social and educational institutions. They also saw that all this required a total reorientation, which could not take place so long as the new wisdom remained not only the highest aim of a few solitary individuals but also a social and popular ideal as well. According to Dr.Saehau: “Were it not for al-Ashari and al-Ghazali, the Arabs would have been a nation of Galileo’s and Newtons.”
Islamic Philosophical Movements
Relative to Western philosophy, the field of Islamic philosophy has remained largely dormant for the past few hundred years. The rigor of intellectual thought in Islam has been lost and contemporary Muslim thinkers are faced with the enormous challenge of re-interpreting and integrating the tremendous intellectual achievements of the West with that of earlier Islamic thinkers and the Qur’an. Such endeavor is of crucial importance to any new Islamic intellectual renaissance. With the rise of Western science and philosophy, serious new challenges have been posed to the very fundamental principles of epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, espoused by the classical thinkers of Islam.
Defence of Traditionalism by Ibn Taymiyyah
Resurgent traditionalism found effective defenders in men such as Ibn Taymiyyah (13th-14th centuries) who employed a massive battery of philosophic, theological, and legal arguments against every shade of Bid’ah (deviation) and called for a return to the beliefs and practices of the pious ancestors. These attacks, however, did not deal a decisive blow to philosophy as such. It rather drove philosophy underground for a period, only to re-emerge in a new garb. The stagnation of Islamic culture after the medieval period led to a reemphasis on original thinking (Ijtihad) and to religious reform movements.
Philosophical Developments in India
Among the great Mughals, Akbar attempted, in 1581, to promulgate a new religion, Din-e Ilahi, which was to be based on reason and ethical teachings common to all religions and which was to be free from priestcraft. This effort, however, was short-lived, and a reaction of Muslim orthodoxy was led by Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi, who rejected ontological monism in favour of orthodox Unitarianism and sought to channel mystical enthusiasm along Qur’anic lines. By the middle of the 17th century, the tragic figure of Dara Shikoh, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s son and disciple of the Qadiri sufis, translated Hindu scriptures, such as the Bhagavad gita and the Upanishads, into Persian and in his translation of the latter closely followed Shankara’s commentaries. In his Majma’ al-bahrayn he worked out correlations between Sufi and Upanisadic cosmologies, beliefs, and practices. Such thoughts were however opposed by the orthodox Muslim scholars as heretical practices.
Social and Moral Reforms
Wahabi Movement
Unlike the primarily doctrinal and philosophical movements of the middle Ages, the modern movements were chiefly concerned with social and moral reform. The first such movement was the Wahabi, named after its founder, Ibn Abd al-Wahabi, which emerged in Arabia in the 18th century and became a vast revivalist movement with offshoots throughout the Muslim world. The Wahabi movement aimed at reviving Islam by purifying it of un-Islamic influences, particularly those that had compromised its original monotheism. They deny all acts implying polytheism, such as visiting tombs and venerating saints, and advocate a return to the original teachings of Islam as incorporated in the Qur’an and Hadith (Traditions of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him), with condemnation of all deviations (bid’ah). Wahabi theology and jurisprudence, based, respectively, on the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah and on the legal school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, stress literal belief in the Qur’an and Hadith and the establishment of a Muslim state based only on Islamic law.
Deoband School
It was founded in 1867 in India. The theological position of Deoband has always been heavily influenced by the 18th-century Muslim reformer Shah Wali Allah and the early 19th-century Indian Wahhabiyah, giving it a very puritanical and orthodox outlook. They have considerable influence in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is generally perceived that the Taliban are influenced by them; but recently the Deoband has unanimously condemned and renounced all forms of terrorism declaring it to be un-Islamic.
Barelvi
Barelvi is a term used for a movement of Sunni Islam originating in South Asia. The name derives from the north Indian town of Bareilly where its founder Ahmed Raza Khan (1856–1921) shaped the movement by his writings. The followers of movement often prefer to be known by the title of Ahle Sunnat wal Jama’at. The movement is much influenced by Sufism and defends the traditional Sufi practices from the criticisms of Islamic movements like the Deobandi, Wahhabi and Ahl al-Hadith. Like other Sunni Muslims, Barelvi base their beliefs on the Qur’an and Sunnah, and believe in monotheism and the prophethood of Muhammad. Barelvis follow the Ash’ari and Maturidi schools of aqidah, any one of the four school of fiqh, and the Qadri, Chishti, Naqshbandi or Suhrawardi Sufi orders. The Barelvi movement has taken a stance against Taliban movements in South Asia, organising rallies and protests in India and Pakistan, condemning what they perceive as unjustified sectarian violence. The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an amalgamation of eight Sunni organizations, launched the Save Pakistan Movement to stem the process of Talibanisation. Terming the Taliban a product of global anti-Islam conspiracies, the leaders of SUC charged the Taliban with playing into the hands of the United States to divide Muslims and bring a bad name to Islam.
Intellectual Stagnation
Though the efforts made by scholars like Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab (1703-1792 C.E) and Shah Wali Ullah (1703-1762 C.E) to revive the original spirit are noteworthy, however it must be kept in view that: The main thrust of the efforts of Muslim scholars (Ulema) have been mostly directed towards safeguarding and preserving the dogmatic, ritualistic and institutional structure of Islam writes Dr. Israr Ahmad: As regards fulfilling the requirements and demands of reviving Islam in the present Westernized milieu, and re-establishing the ascendancy of the politic-socio-economic system of Islam, they are often unaware of even the existence of such need. Therefore, the services of the Ulema can be seen as a continuation of the efforts – like the services of present day Ulema are mainly focused on preservation rather than renascence.
The respectable ancestors were justified in narrowing down their fields of activity because the cultural and legal system of Islam was still very much intact in those days, and the predominant need of their time was merely to preserve the religious faith in its original form and defend it against alien influences. As a result, all the past reformers concentrated their energies in the academic fields or at most in the moral and spiritual purification of common Muslims. None of them tried to launch any organized political or militant movement, as Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had strict restrictions on such rebellion against Muslim rulers, as long as Shari’ah was being enforced and no flagrant violation of Islam was being committed. It was not considered permissible to revolt even if the rulers are themselves wicked and oppressive.
However as soon as the situation was changed and non Muslims started to conquer and occupy Muslim lands the reformist efforts quickly turned in to armed struggles, prominent among them are the Mujahideen movement of Sayyed Ahmad Shaheed (1786-1831) in India, the Senussi movement in Libya by Sayyid Muhammad Ibn Ali As-Senussi (1787-1859) and struggle against Italian occupation up to 1932, the Mahdist movement initiated by Muhammad Ahmad (1844-1885) to resist British invasion in Sudan. Imam Shāmil (1797-1871) struggled against Russians occupation of Dagestan-Chechnya lasting for 25 years (1834-1859), which was again revived recently and goes on. The Afghan Jihad started in nineties, initially against Russians occupation, has turned against their benefactor USA and its Western allies. The armed struggle in Palestine and Iraq against occupation forces has also been colored by religious fervor. The misadventure by Israelis in Lebanon in 2008 was thwart by Hizb-Allah, a militant out fit with religious spur.
It is obvious that even today the traditional Ulema are following in the footsteps of earlier reformers who had worked under completely different conditions. In other words traditional Muslim scholars have in general restricted themselves and their abilities within a rather narrow circle of activity which is essentially defensive rather than revivalist. Moreover even the task of defending Islamic doctrines is not being properly done by the Ulema as they are more often than not completely out of touch with developments in contemporary philosophical, social, and scientific thought.
Similarly in order to deal with the modern ideologies that are seeking to destroy the foundations of Islamic faith one needs to first clearly discriminate between what is and what is not against the spirit of the Qur’an. Afterwards one can refute that part of the invading ideologies which are in conflict with the Qur’anic spirit and to accept and incorporate after reconciling that part which is in accordance with its spirit in to a new and contemporary exposition of Islam without compromising on the fundamentals of Islam. Unfortunately this is not being done by the traditional scholars (Ulema).
Dr. Israr Ahmed has rightly pointed out that; the role of Ulema today, instead of being that of an engine capable of propelling the ship of Islam forward, is actually nothing more than that of a heavy anchor which prevents the ship from drifting away in any wrong direction. Although, under the present circumstances, even this is a commendable and substantial service, the fact remains that this is by no means enough. Another aspect of the activity of Ulema that needs correction is their usually strong emphasis on sectarian matters. A serious stagnation of thought along with dogmatism has set in, ever since the practice of Ijtehad (‘independent reasoning’ as opposed to ‘taqlid’-imitation) was done away with. The religious seminaries and Ulema of every sect are therefore spending most of their time and energies in defending and propagating their particular brands of dogma and rituals, often insisting that any variation in such matters is nothing short of apostasy.
Recently after 9/11 the concept of Takfir has gained popularity among the extremist operating in Afghanistan, tribal areas of Pakistan, Middle East (Iraq) and elsewhere to justify the killing of fellow innocent Muslims not very religious in outlook and practice. Takfir is the pronouncement that some one is an unbeliever (kafir), no more Muslim, infidel (murta’d) hence liable to be killed. It has its roots in Egypt, which reflect the twisted ideas of Sayyid Qutab, Mawdudi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Kathir. Mainstream Muslims and Islamist groups reject the concept as a doctrinal deviation. Leaders such as Hassan al-Hudaybi (died 1977) and Yusuf al-Qaradawi refutes Takfir as un-Islamic and marked by bigotry and zealotry. This is the outcome of stagnation in thought process.
The 19th and 20th-century reformers include Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897), Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905), but Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), is the first modern Muslim philosopher to deal with the intellectual challenges faced by Muslim Ummah in any comprehensive manner. He made an effort to address the real issues, by saying: “With the reawakening of Islam, therefore, it is necessary to examine, in an independent spirit, what Europe has thought and how far the conclusions reached there can help us in the revision and if necessary, reconstruction, of theological thought in Islam.” Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) initiated struggle for Islamic revival in India, but was discouraged due to opposition by some traditional Ulema, he got disillusioned and gave up the struggle to join nationalist politics of India.
The twentieth century revivalist movement of Jama’at–e-Islami by Abul A’la Maududi (1903-1979) in India, later in Pakistan and Ikhwan al Muslimun in Egypt by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928 have left lasting impact. Some organization operating in Algeria, Palestine, Lebanon, Chechnya, Philippines, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Central Asian Republics and elsewhere getting inspiration from these movements have developed radical out look, despite differences and disagreement in their approach, their significance can not be ignored. The Iranian revolution has its own importance and long term implications.
Due to lack of interest in religion by the Muslims in general and the rulers in particular, and later colonization of large part of Muslim world, the responsibility to acquire even basic knowledge of Islam was left to the religious scholars only. The Madaris which produced the scholars like Jabir ibn Hayyan, Abu Musa Al-Khwarizmi (Algorizm), Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Ar-Razi, Al-Farabi, Alhazen, Al-Biruni, Avicenna, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and many more, by teaching all branches of knowledge including mathematic, algebra, astronomy, science and technology, medicine and social sciences along with religious sciences, philosophy and logic, teaching in Madaris was restricted to religious sciences only. This void created a new class of semiliterate religious scholars (mullah) devoid of knowledge of science, political, economic, social and other fields, so important for the smooth management of Muslim societies. They are main contributor of sectarianism, intolerance and militancy, though there are some exceptionally knowledgeable and tolerant among them as well.
The Russian occupation of Afghanistan resulted in creation of Mujahideen by USA. After Russians defeat, they started fighting among themselves for power, using the name of Islam. This resulted in emergence of Taliban, the students of seminaries (madaris) which produce Mullah, a sort of professional priest. However it would be a great fallacy to brand all the seminaries (madaris) as source of trouble, most of them are doing good job. The taste of power has now made Taliban to continue fighting whosoever oppose them be it Russians, Americans or Muslim brothers. Talibanization has affected the tribal areas of Pakistan as well, they are using suicide bombers as tool for killing of innocent fellow Muslims in violation of Islamic principles. This menace can not be tackled by more violence. The reforms of religious seminaries (madaris), are overdue to include modern and technical education to the students along with the religious education.
A class of genuine religious scholars well versed in the theology and comparative religions should always be an asset for Ijtihad, guidance and education of the masses in their religious obligations. The massive religious mobilization by Tablighi Jama’at, by and large is playing an important role in educating the Muslims in the practice of basic tenets of Islam. The efforts of non traditional scholars due to their rational appeal for the educated people is highly commendable. Many modern educated Muslims have been encouraged to come closer to Islam.
Modern Muslim Revivalists & Western Thought
Background
Muslims required reformation in intellectual, political, social, economic and educational fields to regain their lost ascendancy. Some Islamic reformers have been influenced by Western ideas. In the 18th century Europe was undergoing major transformations as the new ideas of the Enlightenment, which stressed the importance of science, rationality, and human reason, and the new technologies of the Industrial Revolution were sweeping through much of Europe. This proved to be a turning point in world history as Europe began to gain power and influence. In the last quarter of the 18th century “the gap between the technical skills of some western and northern European countries and those of the rest of the world grew wider.”
The rise of modern Europe coincided with what many scholars refer to as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which by the 18th century was facing political, military, and economic breakdown. While prior to the 18th century the Ottomans had regarded themselves to be either of superior or, by the mid-18th century, of equal strength to Europe, by the end of the 18th century the power relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Europe began to shift in Europe’s favor.
In 1798 the army of Napoleon Bonaparte occupied the Ottoman province of Egypt. Although the occupation lasted only three years, it exposed the people of Egypt to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the new technology of Europe. The values of the European Enlightenment, which challenged the authority of religion, were alien to the local Muslim population. Al-Jabarti, a Muslim intellectual and theologian who witnessed the occupation, wrote critically of the French calling them “materialists, who deny all God’s attributes.” Nevertheless, the exposure to European power and ideas would later inspire the new governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, to draw on European ideas and technology in order to modernize Egypt setting an example for the rest of the Ottoman Empire. From the end of the 18th century the Ottoman Empire began to open embassies and send officials to study in Europe. This created conditions for the “gradual formation of a group of reformers with a certain knowledge of the modern world and a conviction that the empire must belong to it or perish.”
One of the scholars sent by Muhammad Ali Pasha to Europe in 1826 was Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawi. The five years he spent in Paris left a permanent mark on him. After his return to Egypt he wrote about his impressions of France and translated numerous European works into Arabic. Tahtawi was impressed with Europe’s technological and scientific advancement and political philosophy. Having studied Islamic law, he argued that “it was necessary to adapt the Sharia to new circumstances” and that there was not much difference between “the principles of Islamic law and those principles of ‘natural law’ on which the codes of modern Europe were based.” Like Tahtawi, Khayr al- Din was also sent to Paris where he spent four years. After his return from Europe he wrote a book, in which he argued that the only way to strengthen the Muslim States was by borrowing ideas and institutions from Europe [which they had earlier borrowed from Muslims of Spain & Middle East] and that this did not contradict the spirit of the Shariah.
Modernization Reforms in the Ottoman Empire
In the period between 1839 and 1876 the Ottoman government began instituting large-scale reforms as a way to modernize and strengthen the empire. Known as the Tanzimat, many of these reforms involved adopting successful European practices. In addition to military and administrative reforms, Ottoman rulers implemented reforms in the sphere of education, law, and the economy: “New universities and curricula were created and modern curricula were introduced to allow students to acquire the knowledge necessary to modernize. European legal codes became the basis for legal reforms, and Islamic law was restricted to personal status or family law (marriage, divorce, inheritance). Modern economic systems and institutions were established.”
In 1834, Ishak Efendi published Mecmua-i Ulum-i Riyaziye, a four volume text introducing many modern scientific concepts to the Muslim world. Kudsi Efendi also published Asrar al-Malakut in 1846 in an attempt to reconcile Copernican astronomy with Islam. The first modern Turkish chemistry text was published in 1848, and the first modern Biology text in 1865. Eventually, the Turks adopted the metric system in 1869. These shifts in scientific thought coincided with Tanzimat, a reform policy undertaken by the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire that was inspired by French civil law. This reform confined sharia to family law. The key figure in the Turkish modernist movement was Namik Kemal, the editor of a journal called Freedom. His goal was to promote freedom of the press, the separation of powers, equality before the law, scientific freedom, and a reconciliation between parliamentary democracy and the Qur’an. Some conservative Muslims denounced the Tanzimat reforms for “introducing un-Islamic innovations into state and society.”
The aftermath of World War I resulted in the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the domination of the Middle East by European powers such as Britain and France. Intellectual historians such as Peter Watson suggest that World War I marks the end of the main Islamic modernist movements, and that this is the point where many Muslims “lost faith with the culture of science and materialism”. He goes on to note that several parallel streams emerged after this historical moment.
Muslim Reformist Spirit
The reformist spirit of the times was especially evident in the emergence from Egypt to Southeast Asia of an Islamic modernist movement that called for a “reformation” or reinterpretation (ijtihad) viz Taqlid [blind following]. Islamic modernism was both an attempt to provide an Islamic response to the challenges presented by European colonial expansion and an effort to reinvigorate and reform Islam from within as a way to counter the perceived weakness and decline of Muslim societies in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Islamic modernists argued that Islam and modernity were compatible and “asserted the need to reinterpret and reapply the principles and ideals of Islam to formulate new responses to the political, scientific, and cultural challenges of the West and of modern life.” The reforms they proposed challenged the status quo maintained by the conservative Muslims scholars (ulama), who saw the established law as the ideal order that had to be followed and upheld the doctrine of taqlid (imitation / blind following). Islamic modernists saw the resistance to change on the part of the conservative ulama as a major cause for the problems the Muslim community was facing as well as its inability to counter western hegemony. Most prominent reformers include; Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838–97), Sayyid Ahmad Khan (India,1817–98), Muhammad Abduh (Egypt, 1849–1905), Rashid Rida (1869–1935), and and Muhammad Iqbal (India, 1877–1938). Qasim Amin was another reformer in Egypt heavily concerned with the rights of women. Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi was similarly educated in Paris around the same time. He surveyed the political systems of 21 European countries in an effort to reform Tunisia. Other major Islamic modernists included Mahmud Tarzi of Afghanistan, Chiragh Ali of India, Achmad Dachlan of Java, and Wang Jingshai of China.
Although Islamic modernists were subject to the criticism that the reforms they promoted amounted to westernizing Islam, their legacy was significant and their thought influenced future generations of reformers.
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838–97)
An ethnic Persian, brought up in Afghanistan, he was a political activist and Islamic ideologist in the Muslim world during the late 19th century, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. One of the founders of Islamic Modernism and an advocate of Pan-Islamic unity. Afghani has been described as “less interested in theology than he was in organizing a Muslim response to Western pressure. Al-Afghani’s ideology has been described as a welding of “traditional” religious antipathy toward non-Muslims “to a modern critique of Western imperialism and an appeal for the unity of Islam”, urging the adoption of Western sciences and institutions that might strengthen Islam. He believed that Islam and its revealed law were compatible with rationality and, thus, Muslims could become politically unified while still maintaining their faith based on a religious social morality. These beliefs had a profound effect on Muhammad Abduh, who went on to expand on the notion of using rationality in the human relations aspect of Islam (mu’amalat)
Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905)
The most influential reformist of the 19th century was the Egyptian Muhammad Abduh believed that reason and modern Western thought would confirm the truth of Islam rather than undermine it, and that Islamic doctrine could be reformulated in modern terms. A liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism sometimes called Neo-Mu’tazilism after the Medieval Islamic Mu’tazilites. After his return from visit to Europe he said: “I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but not Islam.”
Muhammad Abduh argued that Muslims could not simply rely on the interpretations of texts provided by medieval clerics, they needed to use reason to keep up with changing times. He said that in Islam man was not created to be led by a bridle, man was given intelligence so that he could be guided by knowledge. According to Abduh, a teacher’s role was to direct men towards study. He believed that Islam encouraged men to detach from the world of their ancestors and that Islam reproved the slavish imitation of tradition. He said that the two greatest possessions relating to religion that man was graced with were independence of will and independence of thought and opinion. It was with the help of these tools that he could attain happiness. He believed that the growth of western civilization in Europe was based on these two principles. He thought that Europeans were roused to act after a large number of them were able to exercise their choice and to seek out facts with their minds. Muhammad Abduh became a leading judge in Egypt, after political activities and studies in Paris. He pushed for secular law, religious reform, and education for girls. He hoped that Egypt would ultimately become a free republic, much like how France had transformed from an absolute monarchy.
His Muslim opponents refer to him as an infidel; however, his followers called him a sage, a reviver of religion and a reforming leader. He is conventionally graced with the epithets “al-Ustādh al-Imām” and “al-Shaykh al-Muftī”. In his works, he portrays God as educating humanity from its childhood through its youth and then on to adulthood. According to him, Islam is the only religion whose dogmas can be proven by reasoning. Abduh does not advocate returning to the early stages of Islam. He was against polygamy and thought that it was an archaic custom. He believed in a form of Islam that would liberate men from enslavement, provide equal rights for all human beings, abolish the religious scholar’s monopoly on exegesis and abolish racial discrimination and religious compulsion.
Mohammad Abduh made great efforts to preach harmony between Sunnis and Shias. Broadly speaking, he preached brotherhood between all schools of thought in Islam. However, he criticized what he perceived as errors such as superstitions coming from popular Sufism.
Abduh regularly called for better friendship between religious communities. As Christianity was the second biggest religion in Egypt, he devoted an special efforts toward friendship between Muslims and Christians. He had many Christian friends and many a time he stood up to defend Christian Copts.during the Urabi revolt, some Muslim mobs had misguidedly attacked a number of Copts resulting from their anger against European colonialism.
Muhammad Rashid Rida [1865–1935]
Rashid Rida is said to have been “one of the most influential scholars and jurists of his generation” and the “most prominent disciple of Muhammad Abduh”. His early education consisted of training in “traditional Islamic subjects”. In 1884-5 he was first exposed to al-`Urwa al-wuthqa, the journal of the Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh. In 1897 he left Syria for Cairo to collaborate with Abduh and the following year they launched al-Manar, a weekly and then monthly journal comprising Quranic commentary at which Rida worked until his death in 1935. Rida was an early Islamic reformer, whose ideas would later influence 20th-century Islamist thinkers in developing a political philosophy of an “Islamic state”.
Like his predecessors, Rida focused on the relative weakness of Muslim societies vis-à-vis Western colonialism, blaming Sufi excesses, the blind imitation of the past (taqlid), the stagnation of the ulama, and the resulting failure to achieve progress in science and technology. He held that these flaws could be alleviated by a return to what he saw as the true principles of Islam – salafiyya Islam which was purged of impurities and Western influences — albeit interpreted (ijtihad) to suit modern realities. This alone could, he believed, save Muslims from subordination to the colonial powers.
The corruption and tyranny of Muslim rulers (“caliphs”) throughout history was a central theme in Rida’s criticisms. Rida, however, celebrated the rule of Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and leveled his attacks at subsequent rulers who could not maintain Mohammad’s (Pbuh) example. He also criticized the clergy (“ulama”) for compromising their integrity – and the integrity of the Islamic law (“shariah”) they were meant to uphold – by associating with worldly corrupt powers.
Towards the end of his life, Rida became a staunch defender of the Saudi regime and an advocate of Wahhabism, saluting ‘Abd al-Wahhab as the “renewer of the XII century (of the Hijra)”. In fact, he died on his way back to Cairo from Suez, where he had gone to see Ibn Sa’ud off.
Rida’s ideas were foundational to the development of the modern “Islamic state”. He “was an important link between classical theories of the caliphate, such as al-Mawardi’s, and 20th-century notions of the Islamic state”. Rida promoted a restoration or rejuvenation of the Caliphate for Islamic unity, and “democratic consultation on the part of the government, which he called “shura”.” In theology, his reformist ideas, like those of Abduh, were “based on the argument that: “shari’ah consists of `ibadat (worship) and mu’amalat (social relations). Human reason has little scope in the former and Muslims should adhere to the dictates of the Qur’an and hadith. The laws governing mu’amalat should conform to Islamic ethics but on specific points may be continually reassessed according to changing conditions of different generations and societies.
Although he did not call for the revolutionary establishment of an “Islamic state” itself, rather advocating only gradual reform of the existing Ottoman government, Rida preceded Abul Ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb, and later Islamists in declaring adherence to Sharia law as essential for Islam and Muslims, saying; those Muslim [rulers] who introduce novel laws today and forsake the Shari’ah enjoined upon them by God … They thus abolish supposed distasteful penalties such as cutting off the hands of thieves or stoning adulterers and prostitutes. They replace them with man-made laws and penalties. He who does that has undeniably become an infidel.
Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan: (1817-1898)
Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan, (India) was the main motivating force behind the revival of Islam in India, through modern and scientific education in the late 19th century. He was a Muslim educator, jurist, and author who wrote several volumes of a modernist commentary on the Qur’an and began a sympathetic interpretation of the Bible. In these works he sought to harmonize the Islamic faith with the scientific and politically progressive ideas of his time. He wrote extensively about social reforms and the uplift of the Muslim. A Muslim school was established at Aligarh in May 1875, which ultimately became the principal national centre of Indian Islam, to provided educated Muslims leadership in political and other fields. This ultimately resulted in establishment of Pakistan on the basis of faith.
Moulví Cherágh Ali (1844-1895)
An Indian Muslim scholar of the late 19th century. As a colleague of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan He made a contribution to the school of Muslim Modernists and presented reformative thinking about the Qur’an. He contributed numerous works to the school of Muslim Modernists such as; ‘A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad and Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms Under Moslem Rule’. His interactions with Christians in British India also marked him as a Muslim apologist with a particular focus on the wars of the Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh). His goal in the interpretation of the Qur’an as well as the Shari’a is to justify contemporary Western ideals through the Qur’an.
In his writings, Cherágh Ali sought to correct what he perceived to be misperceptions of Islam and jihad. These misunderstandings, he argued, came from the historical development of Hadith and the activities of Muslim jurists. He believed the jurists had taken justice into their own hands and in doing so ignored the Qur’an. In following these beliefs, Cherágh Ali was committed to offering a fresh interpretation of the Qur’an and a moderated version of jihad.
In making a point of redefining the meaning of jihad, Cherágh Ali described the wars of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) as strictly defensive. He argued that all of Prophet Muhammad’s (Pbuh) wars were local and temporary, making them defensive because in his view, the Qur’an does not teach a war of aggression. He argued that Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) only engaged in battle in response to acts that contradicted the Qur’ān’s teachings. Cherágh’s belief that Islam is misunderstood by the majority of the world motivated his re-interpretation of the Qur’ān.
Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan (1868-1923)
He was an Indonesian Islamic revivalist who established Muhammadiyah in 1912 as an educational organisation as a means of realising his reformist ideals. He conceived a common interest against the Dutch colonial masters of Indonesia and the need to purify and renew Islam in Indonesia.
Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)
Muhammad Iqbal is the first modern Muslim philosopher to deal with the intellectual challenges faced by Muslim Ummah in any comprehensive manner. He made an effort to address the real issues, by saying: “With the reawakening of Islam, therefore, it is necessary to examine, in an independent spirit, what Europe has thought and how far the conclusions reached by her can help us in the revision and if necessary, reconstruction, of theological thought in Islam.” Many of the classic works of Islamic philosophy were translated into Latin from Arabic at the beginning of the European renaissance. These along with translated Greek manuscripts greatly impacted the development of western thought. This influence is best seen in the works of the likes of, Descartes and Aquinas.
The Qur’an teaches the principle of “rule by consultation,” (Qur’an;42:38) which in modern times, they argued, can best be realized by representative government rather than monarchy. They pointed out that the Qur’an encourages the study and exploitation of nature, but Muslims, after a few centuries of brilliant scientific work, had passed it on to Europe and abandoned it. The influence of Islamic learning on the West has been summarized in Encyclopedia Britannica: “The decline of Muslim scholarship coincided with the early phases of the European intellectual awakening that these translations were partly instrumental in bringing about. The translation into Latin of most Islamic works during the 12th and 13th centuries had a great impact upon the European Renaissance. As Islam was declining in scholarship and Europe was absorbing the fruits of Islam’s centuries of creative productivity, signs of Latin Christian awakening were evident throughout the European continent. The 12th century was one of intensified traffic of Muslim learning into the Western world through many hundreds of translations of Muslim works, which helped Europe seize the initiative from Islam when political conditions in Islam brought about a decline in Muslim scholarship. By 1300 C.E when all that was worthwhile in Muslim scientific, philosophical, and social learning had been transmitted to European schoolmen through Latin translations, European scholars stood once again on the solid ground of Hellenistic thought, enriched or modified through Muslim and Byzantine efforts.”
Besides Iqbal, the other intellectuals in Egypt, Turkey, and India attempted to reconcile with the teachings of the Qur’an such ideas as those raised by constitutional democracy, science, and the emancipation of women. The modern Muslims intellectuals argued that the Qur’an had given women equal rights, but these had been usurped by men, who had grossly abused polygamy. Although the modernist ideas were based on plausible interpretations of the Qur’an, they were bitterly opposed by Islamic fundamentalists, especially after the 1930s. The reaction against modernism has been gathering momentum since that time for several reasons. The fundamentalists do not oppose modern education, science, and technology, but they accuse the modernists of being purveyors of Western morality. Moreover, modernist leaders and officials in some Muslim countries have failed to improve significantly the condition of the mostly poor and rapidly increasing populations of those countries. Finally, and perhaps most important, the bitter resentment Muslims feel toward Western colonialism has made many of them regard everything Western as evil.
Reconstruction of Thought in Islam
No Contradiction between Faith & Reason
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938 CE, India, the renowned 20th century Muslim poet-philosopher) is the only known modern Muslim philosopher who attempted the reinterpretation of Islamic doctrines in the present age through ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ without compromising on the fundamentals. He studied in Europe from 1905 to 1908; he earned his degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge, qualified as a barrister in London, and received a doctorate from the University of Munich, Germany. His thesis, ‘The Development of Metaphysics in Persia’, revealed some aspects of Islamic mysticism formerly unknown in Europe. His works have been extremely influential in the revival of Islamic thought. He did not see any contradiction between faith and reason. Iqbal found that “the present-day Muslim prefers to roam about aimlessly in the valley of Hellenic-Persian mysticism, which teaches us to shut our eyes to the hard reality around, and to fix our gaze on what is described as illumination.’ In viewing the scientific and philosophic tradition of eastern and western Islam prior to the Tatar and Mongol invasions, there is an irrefutable proof that true Islam stands for the liberation of man’s spirit, promotes critical thought, and provides both the impetus to grapple with the temporal and the demonstration of how to set it in order.
The philosophical position of Iqbal was articulated in ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ (1934 C.E), a volume based on six lectures delivered at Madras, Hyderabad, and Aligarh India, in 1928-29, Iqbal writes; “The Qur’an is a book which emphasizes ”deed’ rather than ‘idea’. There are, however, men to whom it is not possible organically to assimilate an alien universe by re-living, as a vital process that special type of inner experience on which religious faith ultimately rests. Moreover, the modern man, by developing habits of concrete thought —habits which Islam itself fostered at least in the earlier stages of its cultural career-has rendered himself less capable of that experience which he further suspects because of its liability to illusion. The more genuine schools of Sufism have, no doubt, done good work in shaping and directing the evolution of religious experience in Islam; but their latter-day representatives, owing to their ignorance of the modern mind, have become absolutely incapable of receiving any fresh inspiration from modern thought and experience. They are perpetuating methods which were created for generations possessing a cultural outlook differing, in important respects, from our own. “Your creation and resurrection,” says the Qur’an, “are like the creation and resurrection of a single soul” (Qur’an;31:28). A living experience of the kind of biological unity, embodied in this verse, requires to-day a method physiologically less violent and psychologically more suitable to a concrete type of mind. In the absence of such a method the demand for a scientific form of religious knowledge is only natural. I have tried to meet, even though partially, this urgent demand by attempting to reconstruct Muslim religious philosophy with due regard to the philosophical traditions of Islam and the more recent developments in the various domains of human knowledge. And the present moment is quite favorable for such an undertaking. Classical Physics has learned to criticize its own foundations. As a result of this criticism the kind of materialism, which it originally necessitated, is rapidly disappearing; and the day is not far off when Religion and Science may discover hitherto unsuspected mutual harmonies. It must, however, be remembered that there is no such thing as finality in philosophical thinking. As knowledge advances and fresh avenues of thought, are opened, other views, and probably sounder views than those set forth in these lectures, are possible. Our duty is carefully to watch the progress of human thought and to maintain an independent critical attitude towards it”.
Abolition of Priesthood & Hereditary Kingship
He argued that a rightly focused man should unceasingly generate vitality through interaction with the purposes of the living God. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had returned from his unitary experience of God to let loose on the earth a new type of manhood and a cultural world characterized by the abolition of priesthood and hereditary kingship and by an emphasis on the study of history and nature.
Rejects Mystic Experience as Exclusive Way
Muhammad Iqbal is critical of Ghazzali’s characterization of knowledge. He thought that Ghazzali was mistaken in giving up reason and thought and embracing mystic experience as the only exclusive way the totally infinite could be revealed to an individual. Iqbal tried to point out that, intellectual reason and intuition are inseparable, and that in the act of comprehending something by intuition, the intellect plays an indispensable role, which cannot be discounted. He writes: “It may be that what we call the external world is only an intellectual construction, and that there are other levels of human experience capable of being systematized by other orders of space and time—levels in which concept and analysis does not play the same role as they do in the case of our normal experience.” As Iqbal explains, that the higher level of experience is not at the sensational or representational level, rather it is better described as a feeling rather than concepts. He writes, It is rather a mode of dealing with Reality in which sensation, in the physiological sense of the word, does not play any part. This for Iqbal is the mystic experience that leads to ultimate certain knowledge. The individual may access the ultimate; he draws his inspiration from Einstein and Nietzsche”.
Recreation of Vigor in Islamic Thought
Einstein’s theory of relativity gave him hope, that his theory about the way the finite and the infinite are related is possible. Relativity shattered traditional notions of space, time and thus matter. In the modern context it is important, for Islamic thought at least, to reassert itself clearly and define its parameters upon which a modern Islamic epistemology can be built [Epistemology: The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity].The work of European and American philosophers cannot be ignored, and their criticism should be used to recreate the vigor of Islamic philosophy, which has been lost over the past few centuries. The foundation of basic parameters has already been laid by Muhammad Iqbal.
Impact of early Islamic modernists
The influence of modernism in the Islamic world resulted in a cultural revival. Dramatic plays became more common, as did newspapers. Notable European works were analyzed and translated. Legal reform was attempted in Egypt, Tunisia, the Ottoman Empire, and Iran, and in some cases these reforms were adopted. Efforts were made to restrict the power of government. Polygamy was restricted in India. Azerbaijan granted suffrage to women in 1918 (before several European countries).
At the recommendations of reform-minded Islamic scholars, western sciences were taught in new schools. Much of this had to do with the intellectual appeal of social Darwinism, since some thought that an old-fashioned Muslim society could not compete in the modern world, though its not the case.
Progress in Modernism
In some parts of the world, the project of Islamic modernity continued from the same trajectory before World War I. This was especially the case in the new Republic of Turkey, under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In Egypt, Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood. On the other hand, Arab socialism of Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and Nasserite movement emerged as a stream of thought that played down the role of religion. In India the efforts of Sir Syed Ahmad & Muhammad Iqbal bore fruit in the form of creation of Pakistan, an independent Muslim country on the basis of two nation theory.
The Six-Day War between Israel and its neighbours ended in a decisive loss for the Muslim side. Many in the Islamic world saw this as the failure of socialism. It was at this point that “fundamental and militant Islam began to fill the political vacuum created”.
Progressive Modernization in Turkey
Turkey has continued to be at the forefront of modernizing Islam in the spirit of its original teachings. In 2008 its Department of Religious Affairs launched a review of all the Hadith, the sayings of Mohammed upon which most of Islamic law is based. The School of Theology at Ankara University undertook this forensic examination with the intent of removing centuries of often conservative cultural baggage and rediscovering the spirit of reason in the original message of Islam. One expert at London’s Chatham House compared these revisions to the Christian Protestant Reformation. Turkey has also trained hundreds of women as theologians, and sent them senior imams known as vaizes all over the country, away from the relatively liberal capital and coastal cities, to explain these re-interpretations at town hall meetings. The present government with Islamic inclination has established that Islam is compatible with democracy and can lead to progress like any other nation.
Criticism of Modernism
Criticism of Islamic modernism comes mainly from supporters of Islamism who argue modernist thought is little more than the fusion of Western Secularism with spiritual aspects of Islam. Other critics have described the modernist positions on politics in Islam as ideological stances.
Critics argue politics is inherently embedded in Islam, a rejection of the secular principle, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”. They claim that there is a consensus in Muslim political jurisprudence, philosophy and practice with regard to the Caliphate form of government with a clear structure comprising a Caliph, assistants (mu’awinoon), governors (wulaat), judges (qudaat) and administrators (mudeeroon).
It is argued that Muslim jurists have tended to work with the governments of their times. Notable examples are Abu Yusuf, Mohammed Ibn al-Hasan, Shafi’i, Yahya bin Said, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ismail bin Yasa, Ibn Tulun, Abu Zura, Abu Hasan al-Mawardi and Tabari. Prominent theologians would counsel the Caliph in discharging his Islamic duties, often on the request of the incumbent Caliph. Many rulers provided patronage to scholars across all disciplines, the most famous being the Abbasids who funded extensive translation programmes and the building of libraries.
A list of some alleged Islamic Modernists
•Jamal al-Din al-Afghani
•Muhammad Abduh
•Rashid Rida
•Abu Aala Maududi
•Agus Salim
•Hassan al Banna
•Mohammad Natsir
•Sayyed Qutb
•Syed Ahmed Khan
•Mahmoud Shaltout
•Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah
•Ali Shariati
•Muhammad Iqbal
•Ghulam Ahmed Pervez
•Javed Ahmad Ghamidi
•Syed Ameer Ali
•Hamiduddin Farahi
•Amin Ahsan Islahi
•Mahmoud Mohammed Taha(Neomodernist)
•Farag Fawda(Neomodernist)
•Yasir Qadhi
Oppression breeds Extremism
Reaction to colonization of Muslim lands by Europeans was obviously resisted with arms for independence. Armed struggle against oppression, occupation and expulsion is permissible as per normal norms as well as in Islam. Allah says:
“Permission to fight back (Qital) is hereby granted to the believers against whom war is waged and because they are oppressed; certainly Allah has power to grant them victory” (Qur’an;22:39). “And Fight in God’s cause against those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression – for, verily, God does not love aggressors.”(Qur’an;2:190). “As for such ([of the unbelievers) as do not fight against you on account of (your] faith), and neither drive you forth from your homelands, God does not forbid you to show them kindness and to behave towards them with full equity: for, verily, God loves the equitable.(Qur’an;60:8)
Imam Shamil (1797–1871) fought Russians in Northern Caucasus. Indians fought British imperialists in 1857, Mehdi in Sudan resisted British occupation, Omar Mukhtar (1858 – 1931) of Libya in 1912, organized and, for nearly twenty years, led native resistance to Italian colonization of Libya, till captured and hanged in 1931. Algerians fought against French occupation till independence from 1954-1962.
During 20th century while most of Western colonies gained independence, over 6 million Palestinians were expelled from their homes to create the Jewish state of Israel in 1948, with full patronage of USA & West, which is expanding at the cost of Palestinians. Their resistance is termed as terrorism.
In 80s USA used the concept of Jihad to defeat USSR in Afghanistan. The Mujahdeen were brought form all over the Muslim world, they were financed, equipped and trained under patronage of USA. They were treated with honor and respect at White House.
After the defeat of USSR they were abandoned, the civil war in Afghanistan provided persons like Osama bin Laden to work on their own agenda. They declared war against USA and Muslims not supporting their world view.
Oppression of people of Kashmir by Indian occupation forces is resisted by people. Muslims in Chechnya, Philippines and even in China are oppressed and persecuted. Massacre of 7000 Muslims by Serbs in Srebrenica is unforgettable. Lack of will to resolve these conflicts through peaceful means has created a vacuum. It was at this point that “fundamental and militant Islam began to fill the political vacuum created”.
Proliferation of Islamic fundamentalism
Since the late 20th century due to above mentioned reasons, Islamic extremist groups have proliferated worldwide. This is most noticeable in the Middle East, where such groups have voiced their displeasure of concepts such as imperialism, democracy and modernity, which are most commonly associated with accepting Western secular beliefs and values. The spread of secularism has caused great concerns among many Islamic political groups. It has been the reasoning for the Islamization of politics and protest, due to the large Muslim majority in the Middle East as well as the region’s imperial past, which still persist in the form of Israel. For Islamic countries in the Middle East, there is not necessarily a problem as such with modernity, however, “the problem is when modernity comes wrapped with westernization, with absolutely and utterly rampant materialism and economic imperialism”.
The three main concerns of Islamic political movements and extremist groups in the Middle East; 1) the Western belief in a bureaucratic state and 2) the secular values and beliefs associated with concepts such as modernity 3) Neocolonialism to control oil and other resources. These concerns were exemplified in an interview with the Islamic fundamentalist, Osama Bin Laden who stated, after being asked about the message he wanted to send to the West:
“Their presence [in the Middle East] has no meaning save one and that is to offer support to the Jews an Palestine who are in need of their Christian brothers to achieve full control over the Arab peninsula, which they intend to make an important part of the so called Greater Israel…They rip us of our wealth and of our resources and of our oil. Our religion is under attack. They kill and murder our brothers. They compromise our honor and our dignity and if we dare to utter a single word of protest against the injustice, we are called terrorists.”
After the September 11 attacks, the Western media seemed to focus on personalities such as Osama bin Laden for condemnation, and publicize the activities of unknown terrorists into forerunners of “Islamic jihad.” This appeared to create the stereotype of Muslims in the Middle East. This appear to result in the grants of prominence to Islamic fundamentalists who might otherwise have been insignificant political characters. Such publicity appeared to legitimise extremist opinions and views which might otherwise have been shunned by mainstream Muslims. However, as John Esposito notes:
‘The tendency to judge the actions of Muslims in splendid isolation, to generalize from the actions of the few to the many, to disregard similar excesses committed in the name of other religions and ideologies…is not new. Yet the number of militant Islamic movements ‘calling for an Islamic state and the end of Western influence is relatively small’
Nevertheless, these groups are causing great fear among people in the Middle East and in the West. According to various polls, the majority of world’s Muslim want to be governed by Islamic Law (Shariah). It is the will of people, why West make every effort to resist and support puppet rulers who do not enjoy popular support. The fate of Zine El Abidine of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt should be an eye opener.
Extremism against Civilians, Muslims
Today the Muslim society finds itself at the crossroads. There are divergent views on conduct of Jihad. One group feels that due to suppression and exploitation of Muslims by neocolonialist powers (Western) on one hand and politico-military suppression of Muslims at Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, Philippines and military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, on the other hand, there is no other option but to resort to Jihad with arms [Jihad is broad term, means striving, even against evil desires of self]. Due to ineptness of world and Muslim powers, the extremist non government armed groups are resorting to violence and extremism. Being weak in the modern weaponry, they follow the old dictum. “Every thing is fair in love and war”. The terms Jihad is being used by such groups of desperate people who are at times are involved in suicide bombing and violence against innocent civilians including women and children. Such heinous crimes against humanity by few zealots are having disastrous consequences for the entire Muslim community (Ummah).
Doctrine of Takfir
The doctrine of Takfir; is being used by extremists groups in sanctioning violence against leaders and simple Muslims who are deemed insufficiently religious. Takfir is a pronouncement to declare any (non practicing Muslim), to be an unbeliever (Takfir), apostate, (Murtad) hence liable to be killed. It has become a central ideology of militant groups such as those in Egypt, iraq and across the world including so called ‘Taliban’, now also in Afghanistan and adjoining tribal areas of Pakistan. The doctrine of Takfir is claimed to be derived from the ideas of Sayyid Qutab, Maududi, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Kathir. Mainstream Muslims and Islamic groups reject the pseudo concept of ‘Takfir’ as a doctrinal deviation [bid’at], heresy. Leaders such as Hassan al-Hudaybi (died,1977) and Yusuf al–Qaradawi reject ‘Takfir’ as un-Islamic and marked by bigotry and zealotry. The Takfiri doctrine is not based upon any direct clear commandment or ayah of Qur’an, it is derivative, based upon analogy (taweel), which can have more than one opinions. “The fact is that most of them follow nothing but mere conjecture and conjecture is in no way a substitute for the truth. Surely Allah is well aware of all that they do.”(Qur’an;10:36). However through their violent terrorist acts, Taliban are violating the clear verses (Ayahs) and Hadiths. No Muslim worth the name will ever dare to even think of rejecting or violating the unambiguous commandments of Allah, clearly mentioned in Qur’an and Hadith. Such narrow mindedness has exacerbated the evil of sectarianism and the resulting intolerance among the masses has led to a dangerous trend towards sectarian militancy. Recently the Saudi scholars also condemned and strongly rejected the ‘Takfir’ doctrine.
Contemporary Islamic Philosophers & Revivalists
Contemporary Islamic philosophy revives some of the trends of medieval Islamic philosophy, notably the tension between Mu’tazila and Ash’arite views of ethics in science and law, and the duty of Muslims and role of Islam in the sociology of knowledge and in forming ethical codes and legal codes, especially the fiqh (or “jurisprudence”) and rules of jihad (or “just war”). The key figures representing important trends include following philosophers and scholars, though this list is not wholesome:
Muhammad Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
He sought an Islamic revival based on social justice ideals and emphasized traditional rules, e.g. against usury. He argued strongly that dogma, territorial nationalism and outright racism, all of which were profoundly rejected in early Islam and especially by Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) himself, were splitting Muslims into warring factions, encouraging materialism and nihilism. His thought was influential in the emergence of a movement for independence of Pakistan, where he was revered as the national poet. Indirectly this strain of Islam also influenced Malcolm X and other figures who sought a global ethic through the Five Pillars of Islam. Iqbal can be credited with at least trying to reconstruct Islamic thought from the base, though some of his philosophical and scientific ideas would appear dated to us now. His basic ideas concentrated on free-will, which would allow Muslims to become active agents in their own history. His interest in Nietzsche (who he called ‘the Wise Man of Europe’) has led later Muslim scholars to criticize him for advocating dangerous ideals that, according to them, have eventually formed in certain strains of pan-Islamism. Some claim that the Four Pillars of the Green Party honor Iqbal and Islamic traditions.
Syed Abul A’la Maududi (1903–979)
Maududi was a journalist, theologian, Muslim revivalist leader and political philosopher, and a controversial 20th century Islamist thinker in British India, and later Pakistan. He was also a political figure in Pakistan and was the first recipient of King Faisal International Award for his services 1979. He was also the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamic revivalist party.
Maududi wrote over 120 books and pamphlets and made over 1000 speeches and press statements. His magnum opus was the 30 years in progress translation (tafsir) in Urdu of the Qur’an, Tafhim ul-Qur’an (The Meaning of the Qur’an), intended to give the Qur’an a self claim interpretation. It became widely read throughout the subcontinent and has been translated into several languages.
Maududi’s influence was widespread. According to historian Philip Jenkins, Egyptians Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb read him. Qutb “borrowed and expanded” Maududi’s concept for being a modern as well as pre-Islamic phenomenon, and of the need for an Islamist revolutionary vanguard movement. His ideas influenced Abdullah Azzam, the Palestinian Islamist jurist. The South Asian diaspora, including “significant numbers” in Britain, were “hugely influenced” by Maududi’s work. Maududi even had a major impact on Shia Iran, where Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is reputed to have met Maududi as early as 1963 and later translated his works into Persian. “To the present day, Iran’s revolutionary rhetoric often draws on his themes.
Amin Ahsan Islahi (1904–1997)
Islahi was a Pakistani Muslim scholar, famous for his Urdu exegeses of Qur’an, Tadabbur-i-Qur’an—an exegesis that he based on Hamiduddin Farahi’s (1863–1930) idea of thematic and structural coherence in the Qur’an. He was close associate of Maududi, but parted on political differences. Some of the notable students in Pakistan are Khalid Masud, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Mahbub Subhani, Mahmud Ahmad Lodhi, Majid Khawar, Abdullah Ghulam Ahmad, Saeed Ahmad and Muhammad Da’ud. After his death Khalid Masud was made responsible for his school of thought as his successor. Being in charge of Idara Taddabur e Quran-o-Hadith, Khalid Masud made a remarkable job in converting and presenting Islahi’s school of thought to general public.
Muhammad Hamidullah (1908-2002)
He belonged to a family of scholars, jurists, writers and sufis. He was a world-renowned scholar of Islam and International Law from India, who was known for contributions to the research of the history of Hadith, translations of the Qur’an, the advancement of Islamic learning, and to the dissemination of Islamic teachings in the Western world.
Muhammad Ilyas Qadri
A Pakistan born scholar of the Sunni and Sufi sect in Islam. He is the author of numerous books on Islamic topics, published by Dawat-e-Islami. Honorary titles bestowed upon him include Ameer e Ahle Sunnat (“Leader of the People of the Sunnah”).
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989)
The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was a famous teacher of the philosophical school of Hikmat-ul-Mutaliya. Before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was one of the few who formally taught philosophy at the Religious Seminary at Qum.
Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
A prominent contemporary Muslim philosopher and thinker from Malaysia. He claims to be one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and who is equally competent in theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, and literature. He considers himself to be the pioneer in proposing the idea of Islamization of knowledge. Al-Attas’ philosophy and methodology of education have one goal: Islamization of the mind, body and soul and its effects on the personal and collective life on Muslims as well as others, including the spiritual and physical non-human environment. He is the author of twenty-seven authoritative works on various aspects of Islamic thought and civilization, particularly on Sufism, cosmology, metaphysics, philosophy and Malay language and literature.
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (1935–1980)
He was an Iraqi Shi’a cleric, a philosopher, and ideological founder of Islamic Dawa Party born in al-Kadhimiya, Iraq. Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr’s political philosophy, known as Wilayat Al-Umma (Governance of the people), set out his view of a modern day Islamic state. His most famous philosophical works include: Falsafatuna (Our Philosophy), in which he refutes modern Western philosophical schools and asserts an Islamic view, Iqtisaduna (Our Economy), consisting of an exegesis of Islamic economics coupled with a critique of Western political economy as manifested in the Soviet Union on one hand and the United States on the other, and Al-Usus al-Mantiqiyyah lil-Istiqra’ (The Logical Basis of Induction) in which he develops a theory which allows one to reach certainty through inductive methods.
Morteza Motahhari
He was a lecturer at Tehran University. Motahhari is considered important for developing the ideologies of the Islamic Republic. He wrote on exegesis of the Qur’an, philosophy, ethics, sociology, history and many other subjects. In all his writings the real object he had in view was to give replies to the objections raised by others against Islam, to prove the shortcomings of other schools of thought and to manifest the greatness of Islam. He believed that in order to prove the falsity of Marxism and other ideologies like it, it was necessary not only to comment on them in a scholarly manner but also to present the real image of Islam.
Ali Shariati
He was a sociologist and a professor of Mashhad University. He was one of the most influential figures in the Islamic world in the 20th century. He attempted to explain and provide solutions for the problems faced by Muslim societies through traditional Islamic principles interwoven with and understood from the point of view of modern sociology and philosophy. Shariati was also deeply influenced by Mowlana and Muhammad Iqbal.
Musa al-Sadr
He was a prominent Shi’a Muslim intellectual and one of the most influential Muslim philosophers of 20th century. He is most famous for his political role, but he was also a philosopher who had been trained by Allameh Tabatabaei. As Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr said: “his great political influence and fame was enough for people to not consider his philosophical attitude, although he was a well-trained follower of long living intellectual tradition of Islamic Philosophy”. One of his famous writings is a long introduction for the Arabic translation of Henry Corbin’s History of Islamic Philosophy.
Syed Zafarul Hasan
He was a prominent twentieth-century Muslim philosopher. From 1924 to 1945 he was professor of philosophy at the Muslim University, Aligarh – where he also served as Chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. There, in 1939, he put forward the ‘Aligarh Scheme’. From 1945 until the partition of the sub-continent, Dr. Hasan was Emeritus Professor at Aligarh. Dr. Zafarul Hasan was born on February 14, 1885. He died on June 19, 1949.
Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez (1903–1985)
Allama Parvez was a prominent Quranist Islamic scholar, famous in the area around Lahore. He urged the Muslims to ponder deeply over the Message of the Quran. He considered Islam a din (way of life), a form of government, a system of government like democracy, autocracy, or socialism. He proclaimed that according to Islam all authority rests with “the law of God” as given in the Quran, whereby food and wealth are to be distributed equally to everybody. He preached that Islam was not a typical religion of rituals and superstitious beliefs but was a challenge to the very institution of organized religion.
His writings describe how Islam was treacherously transformed into a religion by kings who had perverted Islam for their vested interests. “The kings sponsored the creation and fabrication of Hadith,” he declared. Pervez denounced the Hadith which described Ayesha, the prophet’s (Pbuh) wife, as a nine-year-old girl. “These are fabricated stories written by the enemies of Islam,” he said. He attempted to prove from historical record that Ayesha was much older when she married the Prophet (Pbuh). Some contemporary Hadith Scholars declared Pervez a heretic for denying the authority and authenticity of the Hadiths. Pervez himself condemned the Mullahs for “always serving as agents of the rich people” and being “promoters of uncontrolled Capitalism.” In 1951, Parvez criticized Jamaat-e-Islami through several articles in Tolu-e-Islam. “The mullahs have hijacked Islam,” he said. Pervez was the right hand man of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and was one of the leading activists of the Pakistan movement.
Ismail al-Faruqi
He looked more closely at the ethics and sociology of knowledge, concluding that no scientific method or philosophy could exist that was wholly ignorant of a theory of conduct or the consequences a given path of inquiry and technology. His “Islamization of knowledge” program sought to converge early Muslim philosophy with modern sciences, resulting in, for example, Islamic economics and Islamic sociology.
Hossein Nasr
A political ecologist, argues that the concept of the Khilafah (Islamic caliphate) is fundamentally compatible with ideals of the ecology movement and peace movement, more so than expressed through conventional interpretations of Islam. He argues for an ecology-based ecumenism that would seek unity among the faiths by concentrating on their common respect for life as a Creation, i.e. the Earth’s biosphere, Gaia, or whatever name. Pope John Paul II has made similar suggestions that “mankind must be reconciled to the Creation”, and there is a Parliament of World Religions seeking a “global ethic” on similar grounds.
M. A. Muqtedar Khan
A Professor of Islam and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He is a prominent Muslim intellectual and philosopher and commentator on Islamic Thought and Global Politics. He organized the first contemporary Islamic Philosophers conference at Georgetown University in 1998. His work is on the subject of the philosophy of identity and rationality, Ijtihad, Islam and democracy and Islamic reform.
Akbar S. Ahmed
Ahmad is an anthropologist, filmmaker and an outstanding scholar on Islam, International Relations/Politics and Contemporary Islamic philosophy from Pakistan. He is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University in Washington DC and was the High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK. He has advised Prince Charles and met with President George W. Bush on Islam. His numerous books, films and documentaries have won awards. His books have been translated into many languages including Chinese and Indonesian. Ahmed is “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” according to the BBC.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi
Ghamidi is a well-known Pakistani Islamic scholar, exegete, and educator. A former member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, who extended the work of his tutor, Amin Ahsan Islahi. He is frequently labeled a modernist for his insistence on the historical contextualization of Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) revelation in order to grasp its true moral import.
Ghamidi’s understanding of Islamic law has been presented concisely in his book Mizan. Ghamidi’s inspiration from his mentor, Amin Ahsan Islahi and non-traditionalist approach to the religion has parted him from traditionalist understanding on a number of issues, but he never goes out of the traditional framework.
Jihad
Ghamidi believes that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to the Prophet Muhammad and certain specified peoples of his times (particularly the progeny of Abraham: the Ishmaelites, the Israelites, and the Nazarites). Thus, the Prophet and his designated followers waged a war against Divinely specified peoples of their time (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews, Christians) as a form of Divine punishment and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after the Prophet and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam. The only valid basis for jihad through arms is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. According to him Jihad can only be waged by an organized Islamic state. No person, party or group can take arms into their hands (for the purpose of waging Jihad) under any circumstances. Another corollary, in his opinion, is that death punishment for apostasy was also specifically for the recipients of the same Divine punishment during the Prophet’s times—for they had persistently denied the truth of the Prophet’s mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by God through the Prophet.
Islamic State
The formation of an Islamic state is not a religious obligation per se upon the Muslims. However, he believes that if and when Muslims form a state of their own, Islam does impose certain religious obligations on its rulers as establishment of the institution of Salah (obligatory prayer), akah (mandatory charity), and ‘amr bi’l-ma’ruf wa nahi ‘ani’l-munkar (preservation and promotion of society’s good conventions and customs and eradication of social vices; this, in Ghamidi’s opinion, should be done in modern times through courts, police, etc. in accordance with the law of the land which, as the government itself, must be based on the opinion of the majority).
Ghamidi is one of the Pakistani religious scholars who, from the beginning, has been opposing this kind of Islamism. One of his recent essays on this subject Islam and the Taliban [Muslim militants]:
“The Taliban says that democracy is a concept alien to Islam. The ideal way of setting up an Islamic government in our times is the one that it adopted for Mullah Omar’s government in Afghanistan. The constitution, the parliament, and elections are nothing but modern day shams…I can say with full confidence on the basis of my study of Islam that this viewpoint and this strategy (of Taliban) are not acceptable to the Qur’ān. It prescribes democracy as the way to run the affairs of the state. The Qur’ān (42:38) says: amruhum shūrā baynahum (the affairs of the Muslims are run on the basis of their consultation). ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Whosoever pledges allegiance to anyone without the collective consent of the Muslims presents himself for the death sentence.” It is true that, in Muslim history, monarchy and dictatorship have often been accepted forms of government. Some people also believe that the head of government should be a nominee of God Himself. However, the principle the Qur’ān spells out is very clear.
Feisal Abdul Rauf
Feisal is a well-known proponent of cultural reconciliation between the Muslim World and the West, basing his views on Classical Islamic governance’s similarity to Western governance models in terms of religious freedoms and democratic inclination. Abdul Rauf is a highly visible American-Egyptian Imam at New York’s Masjid al-Farah in addition to being Founder and Chairman of Cordoba Initiative, a non-profit organization seeking to bridge the divide between the Muslim world and the West.
Nader El-Bizri
Nader is a British-Lebanese philosopher, historian of science, and architectural theorist. He taught at the University of Cambridge, the University of Nottingham, and the University of Lincoln. He is also affiliated with the French CNRS in Paris, and the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He published and lectured widely on Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Sina, Ikhwan al-Safa’, and also on Heidegger and on phenomenology. He served on various editorial boards with academic publishers like Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer, Brill, I. B. Tauris. He acted as consultant to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva, the Science Museum in London, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He contributed also to various BBC radio and TV programs on Islamic philosophy and the history of the exact sciences in Islam. His approach to Islamic philosophy is historical and at the same time informed at the interpretive levels by readings from contemporary Continental Thought and Anglo-American Analytic Philosophy.
Dr. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri
A Pakistani born Sufi scholar and former professor of international constitutional law at the University of the Punjab. Qadri was recently described by the CNN-IBN as the ‘International Peace Ambassador’. Qadri founded a Sufism-based organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran International in October 1981 and spent the next decade expanding it nationally and internationally. The goal of the organisation is fairly broad, namely to promote religious moderation, effective and sound education, inter-faith dialogue and harmony, and a moderate interpretation of Islam employing methods of Sufism. Over the past 30 years, the organisation has reportedly expanded to over 90 countries. During the March 2011 session the United Nations Economic and Social Council granted special consultative status to Qadri’s organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran International. . Qadri spoke at the World Economic Forum in January 2011. He demonstrated political return through “Islamabad long march” in January 2013 for “Electoral Reforms” through strict implementation of constitutional provisions of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Mohammad Azadpur
He is an associate professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University. He teaches courses on Islamic philosophy, mysticism, and political philosophy. His research focuses on Alfarabi and Avicenna, and he does comparative work between Islamic and Heideggerian thought as well.
Ahmed Deedat
Ahmed Hoosen Deedat (1918–2005) was a South African writer and public speaker of Indian descent. He was best known as a Muslim missionary who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures, most of which centred around Islam, Christianity and the Bible. He also established the IPCI, an international Islamic missionary organisation, and wrote several booklets on Islam and Christianity which were widely distributed by the organisation. He was awarded the prestigious King Faisal International Prize in 1986 for his 50 years of missionary work. One focus of his work was providing Muslims with theological tools for defending themselves against active proselytising by Christian missionaries. He used English to get his message across to Muslims and non-Muslims in the western world.
Dr. Zakir Naik
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik inspired by Ahmed Deedat, is an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organisation that owns the Peace TV channel based in Dubai, UAE. He is sometimes referred to as a televangelist. Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a doctor. He has written books on Islam and comparative religion. Through logic and references from Bible and scriptures of other religions he proves the truthfulness of Islamic monotheism and advent of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Proving the scientific evidence of truthfulness of Quran is an other specialty. He is considered to be closer to the Salafi ideology.
Harun Yahya
Adnan Oktar (born Turkey 1956), also known as Harun Yahya,is “the biggest propagator of ijaz literature” and an Islamic creationist. In 2007, he sent thousands of unsolicited copies of his book, Atlas of Creation, which advocates Islamic creationism, to American scientists, members of Congress, and science museums. In 1990, he founded the Science Research Foundation (SRF, or, in Turkish, Bilim Araştırma Vakfı, or BAV). Oktar founded the Science Research Foundation to hold conferences and seminars for scientific activities “that target mass awareness concerning what the real underlying causes of social and political conflicts are”,which he describes to be materialism and Darwinism.
He has organized hundreds of conferences on creationism in Turkey and worldwide. He built a large publishing enterprise with publications sold though Islamic bookstore worldwide. He is considered “one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world”. His television show is viewed by many in the Arab world.Oktar has been preaching about the “Turkish-Islamic Union”, which would bring peace to the entire Muslim world under the leadership of Turkey.In 2010, Oktar was selected as one of the top fifty of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan for his dissemination of creationism in an Islamic context, and other extensively distributed publications on Islamic topics.
Dr. Israr Ahmed
Israr Ahmed (1932–2010) was an Indian born Pakistani physician turned Islamic theologian,Mufassir of Quran and a very great Islamic Scholar and Revolutionary followed particularly in South Asia and also among the South Asian diaspora in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. He is the founder of the Tanzeem-e-islami, an off-shoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami. He has spent more than 50 years of his life teaching Quran and preaching Islam. He hosted a shows on TV including Peace TV, a 24 hours Islamic channel broadcast internationally. Supporters describe his vision of Islam as having been synthesised from the diverse sources. He has also acknowledged the “deep influence” of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, the 18th century Indian Islamic leader, anti-colonial activist, jurist, and scholar.[4] Ahmed followed the thinking of Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi and Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi, concerning what his followers believe is the “internal coherence of and the principles of deep reflection in the Qur’an”. Furthermore, Ahmed followed Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi in regards to what he believes is the “dynamic and revolutionary conception of Islam.”
Ahmed believed in what he called “Islamic revolutionary thought,” which consists of the idea that Islam – the teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah – must be implemented in the social, cultural, juristic, political, and economic spheres of life. In this he is said to follow Mohammad Rafiuddin and Muhammad Iqbal. The first attempt towards the actualisation of this concept was reportedly made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad through his short-lived party, the Hizbullah. Another attempt was made by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi through his Jamaat-e-Islami party. Although the Jamaat-e-Islami has reached some influence, Ahmed resigned from the party in 1956 when it entered the electoral process and believed that such an involvement led to “degeneration from a pure Islamic revolutionary party to a mere political one”.
He believed that; “the spiritual and intellectual center of the Muslim world has shifted from the Arab world to the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent” and “conditions are much more congenial for the establishment of Khilafah in Pakistan” than in other Muslim countries. While both Hizb ut-Tahrir and Tanzeem-e-Islami share belief in reviving the Caliphate as a means of implementing Islam in all spheres of life, Tanzeem-e-Islami does not believe in involvement in electoral politics, armed struggle, coup d’état to establish a caliphate, and has no set plan of detailed workings for the future Caliphate. Tanzeem-e-Islami emphasises that iman (faith) among Muslims must be revived in “a significant portion of the Muslim society” before there can be an Islamic revival. Thus there is a lot of difference in ideas, beliefs and methodology between the two.
Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss academic and writer [grandson of Hasan al Banna, founder of Akhwan-ul-Muslemeen]. He is also a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University. He advocates the study and re-interpretation of Islamic texts, and emphasizes the heterogeneous nature of Western Muslims. Ramadan was named one of the world’s top 100 innovators of the 21st Century (one of the world’s top 7th religious leaders) by Time Magazine in 2000, and one of the world’s top 100 most influential intellectuals in the world by Time Magazine in 2004. Ramadan was named by Foreign Policy magazine on its list of 100 top global thinkers in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Ramadan works primarily on Islamic theology and the position of Muslims in the West and within Muslim majority countries. In general, he believes it necessary to interpret the Qur’an, not simply to read the Arabic text, in order to understand its meaning and to practice Islamic philosophy. He also emphasizes the difference between religion and culture, which he believes are too often confused, arguing that citizenship and religion are separate concepts which should not be mixed. He claims that there is no conflict between being both a Muslim and a European; a Muslim must accept the laws of his country. But he is opposed to some politicians or people who try to circumvent or to give a new sense of their own laws.
He believes that Western Muslims must create a “Western Islam” just as there is a separate “Asian Islam” and an “African Islam”, which take into account cultural differences. By this he means that European Muslims must re-examine the fundamental texts of Islam (primarily the Qur’an) and interpret them in light of their own cultural background, influenced by European society.
He rejects a binary division of the world into dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam) and dar al-harb (the abode of war), on the grounds that such a division is not mentioned in the Qur’an. He has been also known to cite favourably the Dar al-Da’wa (Abode of Information Dissemination). However, Ramadan has articulated both the “ideological geography” of the West and the duty of da’wa in an original fashion and one that is starkly more pro-integration than the more conservative “loyal resident alienage” articulated by such jurists as al-Qaradawi. For Ramadan, the West is neither the Abode of War nor the Abode of da’wa but “dar al-shahada,” the “Abode of Testimony” [to the Islamic Message]. He argues that Muslims are “witnesses before mankind”; they must continue to review the fundamental principles of Islam and take responsibility for their faith.
Importantly, for him the “Islamic message” to which Muslims are expected to bear witness is not primarily the particularist, socially conservative code of traditionalist jurists, but a commitment to universalism and the welfare of non-Muslims; it is also an injunction not merely to make demands on un-Islamic societies but to express solidarity with them.
“… the European environment is a space of responsibility for Muslims. This is exactly the meaning of the notion of “space of testimony” [dar al-shahada] that we propose here, a notion that totally reverses perspectives: whereas Muslims have, for years, been wondering whether and how they would be accepted, the in-depth study and evaluation of the Western environment entrusts them, in light of their Islamic frame of reference, with a most important mission… Muslims now attain, in the space of testimony, the meaning of an essential duty and of an exacting responsibility: to contribute, wherever they are, to promoting good and equity within and through human brotherhood. Muslims’ outlook must now change from the reality of “protection” alone to that of an authentic “contribution.”
He emphasizes a Muslim’s responsibility to his community, whether it be Islamic or not. He criticizes the ‘us vs. them’ mentality that some Muslims advocate against the West. He also advocates having Muslim scholars in the West who are versed in Western mores, and not relying on religious studies that come only from the Islamic world. He wants more Islamic philosophy written in European languages. He thinks that European Muslims’ reliance on an “external” Islam, leaves them feeling inadequate and impure, which is one of the main causes of alienation from European culture.
He believes that most Muslims in the West are quietly and successfully integrating into society. The main problems for the community come from those who are ignorant of Western society.
He also worries about Western perceptions of Islam. He says the Muslim community has been bad at representing itself, and that this has allowed westerners to confuse Islam with cultural traits, as well as political problems. For example, he believes that many notionally Islamic countries have governments which betray the principles of Islam.
He believes that the Muslim leadership in Europe is partially responsible for the sometimes shaky relations between Muslims and the rest of society. He believes that they have been overly defensive, and have not properly explained the philosophy of Islam, nor have they engaged sufficiently with non-Muslim society.
He stresses that a Muslim’s freedom of religion is very extensive in the West, and that permission for “un-Islamic” activities, such as drinking, or pre-marital sex, does not compel Muslims to do anything. Only a few situations warrant the invocation of the “clause of conscience” which allows a Muslim to make it clear that certain actions or behaviours are in contradiction of their faith. These are, participating in a war whose sole desire is for power or control; fighting or killing a fellow Muslim, unless their attitude is unjust or wrong; participating in an unlawful transaction (such as purchasing insurance, burial, incorrect slaughter). He stresses that in such cases the situation should be carefully analysed, and the degree of compulsion considered. Only non-violence and negotiation are acceptable in these cases.
Ramadan has voiced his opposition to all forms of capital punishment but believes the Muslim world should remove such laws from within, without any Western pressure, as such would only further alienate Muslims, and instead bolster the position of those who support hudud punishments.
He has said “Muslim populations are convincing themselves of the Islamic character of these practices through a rejection of the west, on the basis of a simplistic reasoning that stipulates that ‘the less western, the more Islamic’.”
Conclusion
Man has wielded immense power through increased knowledge. But, paradoxically, he has failed to gear this vast body of knowledge to human values and purposes. Moreover, advances in science and technology coupled with the decline of moral and human values have made life rich in mechanisms but poor in purpose. Many thinkers glumly believe that this is where the seeds of the destruction of modern civilization lie. The repository of specialized knowledge has a limited horizon; his vision is piecemeal. Bertrand Russell, in his essay Knowledge and Wisdom, distinguishes between the two. Knowledge is a collection of facts, while wisdom comes by relating facts with one another. It is in this sense that fragmentation of knowledge has led to a loss of perspective. Knowledge without wisdom, concluded Russell, is dangerous. Islam incorporates the spiritual aspects with the knowledge and philosophy to make it useful for the humanity in both lives.
Philosophy is the branch of knowledge, dealing with the critical examination of the basis for fundamental beliefs and an analysis of the basic concepts employed in the expression of such beliefs. It was the faith and philosophy of Islam which transformed the unknown, uncivilized, illiterate Arab tribes, in to the torch bearers of the great civilization with in 23 years, unmatched event in the history of mankind. Philosophical traditions exist in Judaism and Christianity under Greek influence. Islam emphasizes the seeking of knowledge, pondering, rational thinking and wisdom (Hikma). The origin of philosophic interest in Islam is found prominently through the translation of Greek philosophic works.
Philosophy in Islam developed out of and around the nonreligious practical and theoretical sciences; it recognized no theoretical limits other than those of human reason itself; and it assumed that the truth found by unaided reason does not disagree with the truth of Islam when both are properly understood. Islamic theology (kalam) and philosophy (Falsafah) are two traditions of learning developed by Muslim thinkers. The Muslim philosophers were theologians, well versed with knowledge of Qur’an and Sunnah. Al-Kindi (Alkindus, 800–873 CE) is recognized as the first Muslim Arab philosopher, Ibn Rushd (Averroes,1128–1198 CE), a major Aristotelian Muslim and Spanish philosopher, stated that the study of philosophy is obligatory, although it is possible to misuse the science for other purposes. The main issue which has remained in focus of philosophers is about the existence of God, and the related issues i.e. the existence of Evil, Predestination and Free Will. In philosophy there are three major, purely rational, arguments for the existence of God that have had a significant influence on the history of philosophy of religion; the Cosmological, Teleological and Ontological arguments. The issue of free will was confronted by philosophers.
The Muslims scholars have deduced a balanced view about free will. Shah Wali Allah of Delhi (1702-1762 C.E) reinterpreted the concept of taqdir (Determinism). Shah Wali Allah held that man could achieve his full potential by his own exertion in a universe that was determined by God. Allah has granted power and limited free will to human by which they can performs certain actions by use of their wisdom i.e. to choose between right and wrong. Islamic philosophers of the middle ages did not address the problem of existence of God in any direct fashion. This may be because in the context of Muslim thought, the existence of God was a prerequisite. More important reason for the decline of the earlier Islamic philosophic tradition was the renewed vitality and success of the program formulated by al-Ghazzali for the synthesis of theology, philosophy, and mysticism into a new kind of philosophy called New Wisdom (Hikma). According to Dr.Saehau: “Were it not for al-Ashari and al-Ghazali, the Arabs would have been a nation of Galileos and Newtons.”
The wholesale rejection of the new wisdom in the name of simple, robust, and more practical piety which had been initiated by Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328 C.E) who sought the return of the Islamic religion to its sources: the Qur’an and the Sunnah, revealed writing and the prophetic tradition. He is also the source of the Wahhabi movement in mid-18th-century. Among the modern reformers of the 19th and 20th-century are reformers Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838-897 C.E), Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905 C.E), and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938 C.E). They were initially educated in this tradition, but they rebelled against it and advocated radical reforms. The modernists attacked the New Wisdom at its weakest point; that is, its social and political norms, its individualistic ethics, and its inability to speak intelligently about social, cultural, and political problems generated by a long period of intellectual isolation that was further complicated by the domination of the European powers.
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938 CE, India) is the renowned 20th century Muslim poet-philosopher. He is the first modern Muslim philosopher to deal with the intellectual challenges faced by Muslim Ummah in any comprehensive manner. He made an effort to address the real issues, by saying: “With the reawakening of Islam, therefore, it is necessary to examine, in an independent spirit, what Europe has thought and how far the conclusions reached by her can help us in the revision and if necessary, reconstruction, of theological thought in Islam”. Iqbal is the only known modern Muslim philosopher who attempted the reinterpretation of Islamic doctrines in the present age through ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ without compromising on the fundamentals. He argued that a rightly focused man should unceasingly generate vitality through interaction with the purposes of the living God. Muhammad Iqbal is critical of Ghazzali’s characterization of knowledge. He thought that Ghazzali was mistaken in giving up reason and thought and embracing mystic experience as the only exclusive way the totally infinite could be revealed to an individual. Iqbal tried to point out that, intellectual reason and intuition are inseparable, and that in the act of comprehending something by intuition, the intellect plays an indispensable role, which cannot be discounted.
In this modern period, due to the natural appeal and realistic nature of Islamic doctrine even after 9/11, Islam has continued to win new converts among in all races and colours, especially among Africans and Americans. The tradition of dialogue with representatives of other religions could not gain strength although medieval Islamic scholars wrote fairly objective works about other faiths. Recently, there have been engagements through dialogues with representatives of Christianity and Judaism, recognized in Islam as the two other “religions of the book” (based on revelation). God says in Qur’an: “Say: “O people of the Book! Let us get together on what is common between us and you:”(Qur’an;3:64). Nonetheless, memories of Crusades, Western colonialism and the present geo-political confrontation have generated suspicion and impeded ecumenical efforts.
The term ‘Reformation’ is used for 16th-century movement in Western Europe that aimed at reforming some doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant churches. As far as Islam is concerned there is no scope for ‘reformation’ of its basic doctrines and practices, since Qur’an declared Islam as complete way of life: “This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” [Qur’an;5:3]. However there is provision of Ijtihad by competent scholars to cater for changing new situations, with in the basic parameters of Islam. Hence the basic thrust of Muslim scholars (revivalists or reformers) and intellectuals is on revival of original spirit of Islam, in the contemporary environments.
It is the nature of Islamic thought that as new challenges develop; it tends to re orient itself through interpretation the data of history and nature in the light of eternal truths of its religion. In modern times the most formidable example that testifies the fact is Iqbal, who through his poetic experience developed a perception of history and thought which is unique and immensely relevant. Besides his general impact on the history of ideas in modern times his thought formed the basis of the creation of new Muslim state; Pakistan. He attempted the reinterpretation of Islamic doctrines in the present age and encouraged Ijtihad the principle of legal advancement to devise new social and political institutions. He also advocated a theory of ijma (consensus). Iqbal tended to be progressive in adumbrating general principles of change but conservative in initiating actual change. He highlighted as to why it is necessary for Muslims to engage themselves in the study and science of philosophy in order to redefine Islamic culture, which is now confronted with a more advanced western civilization.
The misuse of concept of Jihad for political and military gains in Afghanistan against USSR by USA and West created the menaces of terrorism and extremist which adversely affected the world peace. This has been exploited by USA & West to control the Muslim resources and lands though Neocolonialism. The Muslims are the major losers. Efforts are being made by modern Muslim scholars to control the situation, but with little success.
In the modern context it is important, for Islamic thought at least, to reassert itself clearly and define its parameters upon which a modern Islamic epistemology can be built. If this is not done then the words of Eqbal Ahmad remain true, who said: “We are chasing an Islamic order ‘stripped of its humanism, aesthetics, intellectual quests and spiritual devotions…. concerned with power not with the soul, with the mobilization of people for political purposes rather than with sharing and alleviating their sufferings and aspirations.”
The work of European and American philosophers cannot be ignored, and their criticism should be used to recreate the vigor of Islamic philosophy, which has been lost over the past few centuries. If Muslim thinkers fail in this challenge, then Muslim thought may be absorbed by Western philosophy, as the two cultures begin to integrate further. The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ proposed by Iqbal over seventy five year ago need to be given a serious thought for consideration by Muslim intellectuals and scholars.
“Our Sustainer! Do not punish us if we forget or make a mistake.” (Qur’an;2:286)
[References and more: http://aftabkhan.blog.com]
