The relation and compatibility of the phenomenon of
modernity, its related concepts and ideas, with
the religion of
Islam is a topic of discussion
in contemporary
sociology of
religion.
Neither Islam nor modernity are simple or unified entities. They
are abstract quantities which could not be reduced into simple
categories. The history of Islam, like that of other religions, is
a history of different interpretations and approaches to Islam.
"There is no a-historical Islam that is outside the process of
historical development." Similarly, modernity is a complex and
multidimensional phenomenon rather than a unified and coherent
phenomenon. It has historically had different schools of thoughts
moving in many directions.
History of Islamic modernism
European influence
Modernity swept through Europe in the 18th
and 19th centuries, following the
Reformation of the Christian church in the
previous two centuries. Power shifted from religious leaders to a
growing
civil service, with a
deliberate
separation of
church and state. Respect for
science
grew with each new discovery. This led to scientific ideals such as
rationality and
empiricism being applied to
society itself, changing industry, schools,
and commerce. Political philosophy flourished under the banner of
the
Age of Reason.
The
Crimean War marked a major alliance
between Christian and Islamic powers.
The Ottoman Empire co-operated with France
and Britain
against Russia
, and
benefited from outside ideas about weapons and medicine. .
After the war, Muslim scholars became more interested in the West.
This interest went beyond
military
technology and included
European
law, science, and art.
Islamic modernists until 1918
Turkey was the first Muslim country where modernity surfaced, with
major shifts in scientific and legal thought. 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.
In 19th century Iran,
Mirza Malkom
Khan arrived after being educated in Paris. He created a
newspaper called
Qanun, where he advocated the separation
of powers, secular law, and a
bill of
rights.
Jamal al-Din
al-Afghani, also educated in France, proclaimed that Europe had
become successful due to its laws and its science. He became
critical of other Muslim scholars for stifling scientific thought,
and hoped to encourage scientific inquiry in the Muslim
world.
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.
Muhammad Rashid Rida also became active
in the Egyptian modernization movement, although he was born and
educated in Lebanon
.
Al-Manar was his journal, through which he advocated
greater openness to science and foreign influence. He also stated
that sharia was relatively silent about agriculture, industry, and
trade, and that these areas of knowledge needed renewal.
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
, Sayyid Khan of India
, Achmad Dachlan of Java
, and
Wang Jingshai of China
.
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 ended
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 it led to the conclusion that an old-fashioned
Muslim society could not compete in the modern world. .
1918-1968
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.
Continued modernization
In some parts of the world, the project of Islamic modernity
continued from the same trajectory before the great war.
This was
especially the case in the new Republic of Turkey
, under Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk.
Political Islam
Certain groups and thinkers openly criticized European ideas, which
they saw as a corrupting influence on Islamic thought. By the 1920s
this stream of thought began a surge in power, emphasizing a modern
society that would not abandon traditional Islamic law.
In
British India, the
Muslim League had co-operated with
Hindu leaders in the
Indian National Congress for a few
years, with the goal of an independent and unified India. But once
the Indian National Congress rejected the idea of separate
electorates for Muslims, the divisions with the Muslim League
became stronger.
Muhammad Iqbal, a
philosopher and poet educated in the West, was elected president of
the
Punjab Muslim League in 1930. Iqbal believed that
Islam had traditions that were inseparable from social order, and
thus rejected the notion that Muslims ought to blend with other
peoples in a secular society. He emphasized traditional rules
guided by Islam, along with a philosophy of free will inspired by
Nietzsche.
This philosophy was a driving force behind
the creation of Pakistan
as a Muslim state.
In Egypt,
Hassan al-Banna founded
the
Muslim Brotherhood.
Arab socialism
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. .
1968-present
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". .
Turkey has continued to be at the forefront of modernising Islam.
In 2008 its Department of Religious Affairs launched a review of
all the
hadiths, 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 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 Middle East, Modernity and the proliferation of Islamic
fundamentalism
- Modern Islamists movements are
considered the 'dominant' voice today, though this belies the
reality. Some Islamists (the
word itself has yet to be well-defined, since there is no overall
global "Islamist" movement) have entered
the limited democratic processes in the Gulf States, and others, such as those
in Pakistan, have long been on the political stage. The
vast majority of Muslims remain within, what
has been termed, Traditional
Islam, which is largely apolitical and accommodationist (and so
a subject of criticism from certain activists). Advocates of
violence, like Qutb , were opposed to the traditional scholars of
al-Azhar
Mosque
, because they regard them as complicit in the
crimes of the secular state. One general feature of
Islamist movements is that they advocate creation of "the Islamic
state", though this often means "Islamisation" of the modern nation-state.
In general, the first two trends are more commonly understood in
the
Islamic World whereas the latter
trends, are more known in non-Muslim and Muslim-minority nations,
or ones receiving substantial aid from
developed nations. Some argue that this
suggests that these trends are insincere and that alternations
between
fundamentalism and secular
military dictators are somehow
inherently part of the
politics of the
Arab World in particular. One response is
that such trends were likewise observed in other regions, e.g.
Latin America, with
Communism as a form of fundamentalism, and that
those regions often democratize once outside interference is
limited.
In recent years the world has witnessed the proliferation of
Islamic extremist groups all over the world and in the
Middle East, who are voicing their dislike of
concepts such as democracy and modernity. This is due to the fact
that democracy and modernity as concepts in the Middle East, are
most commonly associated with imposing Western secular beliefs and
values. If considering that about 95% of the population of the
Middle East are Muslims and keeping in mind the imperial past of
the region, it should come as no surprise that the spread of
secularism has caused great concerns among many
Islamic political groups. It has
indeed been the reasoning for the ‘islamisation of politics and
protest’. which has been seen happening across the region. To
reiterate, 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 wersternisation, with
absolutely and utterly rampant materialism’.
In the book,
Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab
World(1994), the author N. Ayubi continues this debate by
explaining, what he believes to be the two main concerns of Islamic
political movements and extremist groups in the Middle East; namely
the Western belief in a bureaucratic state and secondly, what is
mentioned above, the secular values and beliefs associated with
concepts such as modernity.These concerns are exemplified in an
interview with the well-known Islamic fundamentalist, Osama
Bin Laden who states, after being asked
about the message he wants 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 September 11, the Western media often has
its focus on personalities such as Usama Bin Laden for
condemnation, and exaggerate what are often unknown terrorists into
forerunners of "Islamic jihad." This causes the creation of
stereotypes of Muslims in the Middle East and moreover, results in
the grants of prominence to Islamic fundamentalists who might
otherwise have been insignificant political characters, and
legitimises 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. Finding a solution to this problem of fear, will depend not
only on how Islam deals with concepts such as modernity, but on how
the West deals with Islam.
See also
People
Compare
Notes
- The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st
Century, Abdolkarim Soroush
- Peter Watson, Modern Mind: An intellectual history of the
20th century (2001), p. 970
- Watson (2001) p. 970
- Watson (2001) p. 971
- Watson (2001) p. 972
- Watson (2001) p. 973
- Watson (2001) p. 974
- Watson (2001) p. 975
- Watson (2001) p. 1096
- "Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts"
Robert Pigott, Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News 26 Feb 2008
- Fawcett, L (2005) International Relations of the Middle
East, UK: Oxford University Press, p 72
- BBC News online, Islam and the West, Monday, 12
August, 2002, 14:11 GMT 15:11 UK
- Ayubi, N, N,M(1994) Political Islam: Religion and Politics
in the Arab World, London: Routledge p48
- Khater, A, F (ed.)(2004) Sources in the History of the
Modern Middle East US: Houghton Mifflin Company,
pp360-361
- Milton-Edwards, B(1999) Islamic Politics in Palestine,
UK: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, p2
- Ayubi, N, N,M(1994) Political Islam: Religion and Politics
in the Arab World, London: Routledge p70
References
External links
Academic Sources
- Studies in Contemporary Islam
- JL Esposito and JO Voll, Makers of Contemporary Islam,
Oxford University Press 2001.
- John Cooper, Ronald Nettler and Mohamad Mahmoud, Islam and
Modernity: Muslim Intellectuals Respond, I. B. Tauris,
2000
- C Kurzman (ed), Liberal Islam: A Source Book, Oxford
University Press 1998.
- Islam and Modernity, Journal Religion and the Arts,
Brill Academic Publishers, Volume 5, Number 4, pp.495–503
- What Went Wrong by Bernard Lewis
- Digital
Islam: A research project on the Middle East, Islam, and
digital media.
, Afghanistan
the Grameen Bank has
been involved in microcredit financing
of small businesses run exclusively by women.
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
