Islam and Modern Age: Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?
By
Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef, New Age Islam
10 May 2022
It Is
Not Possible That You Maintain A Closed Mind In Theology And Perform
Marvellously In Science
Main
Points:
1. Muslims must
understand that if they want development and progress, they will have to
provide a suitable atmosphere for free-thinking and freedom of experience
2. Humankind
and its thought do not go ahead in isolation or in a vacuum
3. Voices of
reform in religion, anti-church, liberal, and pro-change currents had been
stirred everywhere
-----
Muslims
must understand that if they want development and progress, they will have to
provide a suitable atmosphere for free-thinking and freedom of experience, a
prerequisite to innovation and creativity. Indeed, the reform package is a
complete package. You have to adopt it in Toto, not in parts.
You have to
open the door of reform in both religion and society. It is not possible that
you maintain a closed mind in theology and make marvellous progress in science.
Free thinking is a must for both religion and science.
Languages
draw on other languages, new ideas are derived from different beliefs, and
cultures borrow from other cultures. Likewise, human civilizations benefit from
other past and present civilizations, which means that humankind and its
thought are not going ahead in isolation or in a vacuum. When they started
their civilizational journey, Muslims also benefited from other contemporary
civilizations; Roman, Persian, Egyptian, Indian, etc. Yet when they declined,
and the Western civilization replaced them and took the reins of the world in
its hand, this trend was not reiterated.
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Also Read: Islam And Modernity: The Compatibility Question
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Renaissance
had ample opportunity to flourish after this process of give and take in the
sixteenth- seventieth centuries, meaning that having much benefited from the
translation movement from Arabic into first Latin then all the major languages
of Europe like German, French, English, etc. Voices of reform in religion,
anti-church, liberal, and pro-change currents had been stirred everywhere. The
renaissance movement influenced people in Europe from different schools of
thought differently.
The people associated with this movement saw
themselves as an advanced class and fought against religious and political
persecution. In its aftermath all the negative notions of irrationality,
arbitrariness, obscurity, and superstition of the last centuries vanished. With
this powerful renaissance movement in Europe, Enlightenment gained momentum.
Modernity has encouraged new ideas and thoughts and given free thinkers full
opportunities to express themselves. And the effects of this movement were felt
all over the world. French Revolution, which vigorously rebelled against
traditional modes and sought to change every old thing with the modern one,
eventually led to the American war of Independence. In the wake of all this,
social, economic, and political theories changed drastically, leading to the
Industrial Revolution and the European colonial spree in Asia, Africa, and
Muslim lands.
As far as
the Muslim world is concerned, new ideas had come along with colonial powers,
but there was profound suspicion about these new realities; renaissance, liberalism,
etc. Conspiracy theories had been there at play, and Muslim Ulama and
intellectuals were very reluctant to accept new ideas. The West has changed its
political, social, and religious set up in the last three centuries. Still,
even after gaining Independence from colonialism, Muslim scholars have been
inclined to reject Western ideas as a product of a secular outlook. In
parallel, they turned to a relatively closed and more rigid religious and
political system and style of government, where concepts of power,
dictatorship, enforcement, and authoritative rule became more important than
religious rethinking and reconstruction.
With the
exception of Muslims, each faith group and nation in the world has, in one
manner or some other, integrated present-day notions into its system of
thinking and action.
There are many reasons why Muslims do not
accept Western views. On the one hand, the design of religious beliefs devised
by the Muslims in later periods was inflexible in its logic, and no new concept
could enter into it. Especially since their order had primarily become
independent of its sources, the Quran and Hadees, and had become an automatic
makeup. Each new concept and viewpoint collided with some of the features of
that system and was therefore considered unacceptable. Because that tradition
did not retain the openness and splendour of the early centuries, even some
twentieth-century scholars such as Moulana Ahmad Raza Khan thought Copernicus
and Galileo's research to be contrary to Islamic beliefs. And they followed the
Ptolemaic concept of the motion of the stars, which for a long time dominated
the world as a scientific theory.
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Also
Read: Tradition and Traditionalism in Muslim Community
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There are many
other reasons why modern ideas did not take root in Muslim lands. First, the
pre-colonial education system in Muslim countries contrived by courtier Ulama
and scholars teaches the reader an absolute submission to kings and emperors.
Giving them the title shadow of God ( ظل الهي), making the human mind
subject to sheer obedience, resignation, and rigidness. This ambience ranged
from classroom to textbooks and subjects fostering authoritative culture and
values. Stirring minds to think was not one of its goals, for questioning was
forbidden. Therefore, the lack of personal freedom once ensured by Hazrat Umar,
the second caliph of Islam and others, which human beings should have had, has
affected their economic life. And there has been a complete ignoring of new
means of production. Economic stagnation, overpopulation, and intellectual
stagnation were the three deadly plagues that plagued Muslims.
In fact, the efforts made in Islam regarding
Ijtihad, as it seems to me, have been made ever, not consciously but under a
particular need. One of the reasons for close-mindedness in Muslims is the
predominance of ignorance. This ignorance is not in public only, but it is
profound among scholars. They do not look at the Islamic injunctions in their
evolving historical context; instead, they take them as eternal, ignoring
whether the present age accepts some old Islamic injunctions or not. It
resulted in such extremism we witness now that ordinary people take liberalism,
secularism, and democracy as something amounting to be infidelity and Kufr and
draw the sword from their sheath against them. It is the fault of the modern
apologists of Islam like Maududi, Qutub, Ali Shariati, Ali Nadwi, et al. They
waged a wrong jihad against modernity. They advocated for a religious structure
based only on command, obedience, and blind imitation of Salaf (predecessors).
Leaving no room for fresh thinking and inventing new ideas. And in this
paradigm, they excluded the modern understanding of universal values from the
realm of Islam and called modernity a misleading way.
Among the
Muslim countries, which are relatively more developed and have their eyes on
the future, are the ones that have adopted one of the two alternative spheres
of thought, secular or sacred. Turkey has adopted a sophisticated style and
seeks to enforce it as a way of life through state power. She has succeeded to
some extent. Turkey has gained Independence from many of the problems facing
other Islamic nations.
Despite the
conservative religious theology of fixation and a conservative collective
psyche, India was the land where, while maintaining the spiritual roots, Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan developed a new critical approach to understanding and
interpreting religion. As a result of his efforts, a window was opened for Indian
Muslims, despite strong opposition from conservative Maulvies. Which shows what
is happening in the western world. Unfortunately, this movement was also
hijacked midway by landlords and Ulama after Khan's demise.
In Muslim
societies, the tribal or feudal societal structure is generally predominant.
This structure is compatible only with the monarchical system and gives rise to
command, obedience, and blind following. The historically existing paradigm
mentioned above is one of the main reasons this structure has remained strong
in the history of Muslims.
For
instance, the government of Saudi Arabia cuts off the hands of the common thief
but the wealth of the country, which is owned by a family and where freedom of
speech is lacking, where the king's decree is divine judgment. How many royal
family members then were convicted of seizing state resources? We cannot
understand that logic has left Aristotle far behind, replaced by a new
worldview based on natural science and now cosmology.
I can summarize the Muslim malaise as follows.
1-Muslims,
throughout the ages, had been the victim of a ruthless triangle of kings,
papacy, and priesthood, as called by Iqbal اے کشتہ سلطانی
وملائی وپیری (one
who is ruined by sultans, mullahs, and priests). So Muslim psyche is built on
absolute obedience to literalism promoted by that old paradigm.
2-Women had
been traditionally kept inside the home strictly, deprived of all their
freedoms, dignity, and individual rights.
3-
Individual was suppressed by the burden of collectivism. His freedom was
slaughtered on the altar of society and collective wisdom.
4- All the
educational systems developed in Muslim lands were established, run, financed,
aided, or controlled by the elite, the rulers, the aristocrats, the big
courtiers, and community elders. It was based only on memorizing and thinking
nothing, ensuring the protection of vested interests and absolute submission to
rulers, mullahs, and priests, thus negating individualism forcefully in all
walks of life.
All that is
needed is for us to change the system that is prevalent in our Islamic
seminaries today as a first step to the direly needed renaissance. And what I
mean by that is not only to include English and science subjects in these
madrassas, but to change the whole curriculum used in religious education.
Muslims
must understand that if they want development and progress, they will have to
provide a suitable atmosphere for free-thinking and freedom of experience, a
prerequisite to innovation and creativity. Indeed reform package is a complete
package. You have to adopt it in Toto, not in parts.
You have to
open the door of reform in both religion and society. It is not possible that
you maintain a closed mind in theology and perform marvellously in science.
Free thinking is a must for both religion and science.
----
Dr.
Mohammad Ghitreef is a Research Associate with the Centre for Promotion of
Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India, AMU Aligarh.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/islam-modern-age-ulema-/d/126968
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