Topic:



FREE CHURCH COLLEGE

Bachelor of Theology

Academic Year 2007/2008

Practical Theology 102.1

Term Essay:

“Islam and Modernity”

Exploring how Islam has responded to the various challenges of the modern world and to what extent the Islamic worldview has been affected by modernity.

2301 words

Student Number: 0705

Introduction

Following Montgomery Watt’s proposal, analysis of Islam’s response to the modern world has traditionally followed the broad categorizations of the Islamic “Left” and “Right”[1]. In order to capture the finer nuances of the Islamic responses, Watt’s analysis has been further expanded by subsequent studies into four subcategories: “Traditionalist, “Neo-traditionalist”, “Radical Revisionist” and “Modernist”.[2] Such approaches have the benefit of capturing the major postures of contemporary Islam towards Modernity. However, while managing to capture Islam’s various “responses”, they fail to crystallize the “challenges” Islam faces. An alternative analysis attempted by Brown[3] fills this gap by focusing instead on how classical Islamic institutions (Political Institutions, Islamic Law, Islamic Theology and Sufism) have fared in the modern world in order to trace the issues which Islam has had to grapple with.

This paper seeks to combine the above two types of analyses to provide a brief overview of the challenges and responses of Islam in the Modern World. It further contends that no simplistic categorizations should be made of contemporary Islam, and within the context of inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogues, it is best to use the frameworks simply as maps to aid one in understanding a specific community or person with whom one is conversing, rather than to attempt at pigeonholing.

Modernity and the Beliefs, Practices and Institutions of Islam

Belief and Practices

While many have rightly stressed that contemporary Islam is not monolithic[4], the Islamic world is nevertheless, still bound together in faith and practice by a simple declaration of faith and the practice of the Five Pillars of Islam. The Five Pillars, consisting of the “Profession of Faith” (shahada), “Prayer” (salat), “Almsgiving” (zakat), the “Fast of Ramadan” (siyam/swam) and “Pilgrimage” (Hajj) are obligatory for all Muslims. Further, sincere declaration of the shahada is universally the basis upon which one embraces Islam and is embraced by Islam as Muslim.[5] In general, these core essentials of Islamic faith and practice have not been affected much by Islam’s encounter with the modern world.

Islamic Institutions

Besides the common faith profession and practice, the Islamic world also shares the classical Institutions of Islam. Admittedly, various Islamic communities would approach these institutions differently. This is especially so in the face of the challenges of modernism. Nevertheless, the institutions are the common heritage of the Islamic world and the various sub-groups of Islam are often defined and differentiated by the positions they take in relation to these institutions.

Islamic Law

“To accept or conform to the laws of God is islam, which means to surrender to God’s law.”[6] This emphasis on orthopraxy (rather than orthodoxy) means that although only the Five Pillars are considered obligatory practices, in reality, the question of “What must a Muslim do?” is the preeminent and life-encompassing concern in the Islamic worldview. For guidance on matters of right practice, two sources of revelation are authoritative: the Qur’an and the normative example of the Prophet, the Sunna recorded in Hadith literature. Muslim dogma about revelation gave these sources equal authority as sources of guidance.[7] However, complications arise when one considers the fact that the Qur’an is not an encyclopedia of human living and Muhammad’s life is located within a very specific historical-cultural context. After the passing of Muhammad and the closing of revelation, the institution of Islamic Schools of Law arose (eventually settling into four schools: the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii and Hanbali) to grapple with the legal rulings and application (sharia) of the Qur’an and Sunna to the life of the Islamic community.

The realities of the modern world: with the fact of non-Arab dominance, its emphasis on reason and science (often with a rejection of the supernatural), its calls for greater tolerance and respect of individual, human and feminist rights and its critical historical methods raise many challenges for the interpretation and application of sharia in modern Islamic communities. What should the relationship between Islamic Law and Public Law be? Are laws like amputation for theft still to be applied today? Is Islamic Law open for reinterpretations to accommodate it to modern realities? How reliable is the Sunna of the Prophet and what implications does its historicity have on Islamic law? Such issues plague the institution of Islamic Law in the modern world, resulting in various positions taken up within Islam.

The Political Institution of the Caliphate

Related with the institution of Islamic Law is the Political Institution encapsulated in the figure of the Caliph. While Muhammad was alive, he propagated a vision of a single united Islamic community and functioned as the sole spiritual and political head of Islam. The institution of the Caliphate may be seen to capture the Islamic vision of a single Islamic community, rightly guided (both spiritually and politically) by an Arab-Muslim leader who is the representative of God, leading the Arabs in their God given mission of conquest and dominance. This ideal was realized in the figure of Muhammad who in his lifetime, both guided the Muslims in their practice of Islam and led them in political and military victories as well. In the figure of the Caliph, both spiritual and political authority was located and the religious and public life of Islam was closely knitted. Although after the passing of Muhammad, there were differences (often bitter) over the succession of the Caliphate, there was no doubt in Islam that there can only be one Caliph and that the Caliph ruled over both the religious and public life of the Islamic community.[8] The institution of the Caliphate also meant that sharia could be practiced both in the private sphere of the family as well as the public sphere of politics and governance.

The decline of the Arab world and the ascendency of Western dominance in the modern world however, raised deep and significant challenges for the institution of the Caliphate. Is it misguided to expect the reality of a single Caliph ruling over all Muslims? The question is especially poignant when modern Islam is fragmented into many communities functioning in many different nations and states, some of which are manifestly secular and governed by non-Arabs and non-Muslims. Even within the realities of the modern Islamic states, should all these states be lead by a single Caliph and if so, what is the nature of the authority (spiritual, political or both) invested in such a person? Such issues further raise questions about how one is to go about understanding and interpreting the vision of a single community of Islam within the realities of modern democracies and world politics.

Islamic Theology

Although Islam is pre-eminently a faith of orthopraxy, the concept of orthodoxy is not absent in the faith. While Islam is not very concerned with elucidating the nature of its theology, it is concerned with affirming its own theology over and against heretical positions within the faith and other non-Islamic beliefs. It is by identifying heresy and error that the boundaries of an Islamic orthodoxy are mapped out.[9] The basic issues that Muslims are divided over, and hence over which Islamic Theology is concerned about, may be grouped into four categories: (1) Freewill and Determinism, (2) the Attributes of God, (3) Faith and Works, and (4) the Leadership of the community.[10] Orthodoxy within the majority tradition of Sunni Islam is determined by adherence to the Sunna and the consensus of the community. [11] The methodology of Sunni theology combines a conservative approach to the Qur’an and a moderate position on theological and philosophical questions together with the employment of dialectical theology to defend the content of Sunni theology. The most representative personalities in this tradition are Ahmad ibn Hanbal and al-Ashari.[12]

“If the challenge of modern Islamic law is to enable Muslims to be good Muslims, the hope of modern Islamic theology is to persuade them that they have a faith worth keeping.”[13] The agenda for modern Islamic theology is laid out by Sayyid Ahmad Khan when he wrote that “Today we need, as in former days, a modern theology by which we either render futile the tenets of modern sciences or show them to be doubtful, or bring them into harmony with the doctrines of Islam”[14] As may be discerned from the agenda, the main challenge in modern Islamic theology is faced in the encounter of the Islamic and Scientific worldview. To what extent are beliefs like God as creator, the supernatural world of Satan, jinns and angels or the reception of divine revelations by human messengers compatible with the worldview of modern science? Such issues have prompted the likes of Ahmad Khan to demythologize Islam, Muhammad Abduh to elevate the role of reason in Islamic Theology and Muhammad Iqbal to apply modern western philosophies (especially that of Alfred North Whitehead and Henri Bergson) to the Islamic worldview.

Sufism

Sufism covers the mystical-spiritual aspects of the Islamic faith. Based on Neo-Platonist philosophy and cosmology, Sufism maps out the spiritual journey of the soul on its return to God in Islamic mysticism.[15] The major goals of the mystic path in Sufism is made up of three overlapping concepts of “mystic knowledge”, “love” and “passing away”. The state of mystic knowledge (marifa) is a contemplation of God in order to apprehend the divine unity in such a way that awareness of self is lost in awareness of God. In this state, the mystic no longer faces the temptations of his soul as his heart and mind is not focused on anything that is not a contemplation of God. “Love” is the emotive counterpart to marifa and reflects the heart’s desire for continued and increasing experience of God. The Sufi mystic in this state “has little patience in separation from [God] Him, finds no comfort in anything other than Him, and experiences intimacy in his heart by making continual remembrance of Him”.[16] The endpoint of both marifa and “love” is the state of “passing away”. This is a state where the individual self (ego) is lost in a complete identification with God though contemplation and adoration.[17]

Given the neo-platonic and mystical cast of Sufism, it would seem reasonable to expect its demise in the modern world where Newtonian cosmology holds sway. Indeed, an earlier generation of scholarship anticipated the passing of Sufism. Nevertheless, Brown notes that “One does not have to be long in most any contemporary Muslim society (Saudi Arabia excepted) to be persuaded otherwise. The influence of Sufism and Sufi ideas continues to be pervasive.”[18] The resilience of Sufism could perhaps be seen within the larger context of a resilience of spirituality in general. Despite the mechanistic cast of modern Newtonian cosmology, modern humanity still feels the force of its own spiritual make-up, resulting in a general revival of spirituality in the post-modern era.

Islam’s Response

The responses of the Islamic World to the challenges of modernity outlined above may be summed up in four basic postures. “Traditionalist Islam” is the posture of withdrawal and disengagement from western influence. It aims for the restoration of the Islamic institutions to the pure Islam of the desert, free of all later additions and innovations.[19] “Neo-traditionalist Islam” takes the posture of critical engagement, saying “yes” to modernization but “no” to blind westernization. The ideals of the Islamic institutions are still held and sought after albeit with contextualization and reinterpretations within conservative and traditionalist parameters.[20] “Radical Revisionist Islam” may be said to be the posture of ‘extremes’ within Islam. The aims and goals of the Radical Revisionist are that of the traditionalist. Nevertheless, radical and extreme measures like jihad are often used in attempts to achieve the desired ends.[21] These three postures fall within the category of “Fundamentalist Islam” or the “Islamic Right”. The “Modernist” posture (or Islamic Left) seeks to adapt and contextualize Islam to the modern world. This is a posture of syncretism which is not averse to stripping Islam down to bare universal principles in order to bring it into harmony with the modern world.[22]

While the above four categories are useful in helping to capture the postures of Islam towards Modernity, Brown notes that “when we begin to look more closely, however, the boundaries between the categories blur. Modernist and revivalist, for example, begin to look a lot like each other, and sometimes the characteristics of the two ‘styles’ seem to appear in a single person.”[23] This is true for example in a figure like the Muslim poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal. The above categories are hence merely descriptive of the range of possible postures that have been taken and may be taken by modern Islam. When applied to specific persons or groups however, the categories are at best merely maps or at worst, gross caricatures.

Conclusion

To what extent has the Islamic worldview been affected by modernity? This question cannot be easily answered with a singular response. Contemporary Islam is not a monolithic phenomenon. Al-Azmeh notes that “There are as many Islams as there are situations that sustain it…” and “presumptions of Muslim cultural homogeneity and continuity do not correspond to social reality.” [24] From the above analysis presented, it is apparent that modernity has made inroads into Islam but there are diverse responses within the Islamic world to Modernity. Hence, different Islamic communities within their particular contexts are affected by Modernity to varying degrees. The situation is further complicated by the fact that even when employing the four-fold categories within the framework of the Islamic “Left” and “Right” analysis, no neat pigeon-holing may be engaged in. We may find in a single Muslim, both features of the Islamic Left and Right, depending on which specific issue and challenges one is considering. Within the context of inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, it is hence best to approach each individual or community in a particularistic manner, bearing in mind the various challenges faced by Modern Islam as described above and the varied postures of responses present in contemporary Islam.

Bibliography

Al-Azmeh, A. Islam and Modernities (London:Verso, 1993)

Bennett, C. Muslims and Modernity (London: Continuum, 2005)

Brown, D. A New Introduction to Islam (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004)

Feener, R.M. ed. Islam in World Culture; Comparative Perspectives (Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2004)

Kelly, M. ed. Islam: The Religious and Political Life of a World Community (New York: Praeger, 1984)

Troll, C. Sayid Ahmad Khan: A Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology (New Delhi: Vikas, 1978)

Watt, M. Islamic Fundamentalism and Modernity (London: Routledge, 1988)

-----------------------

[1] Watt, M. Islamic Fundamentalism and Modernity (London: Routledge, 1988)

[2] Bennett, C. Muslims and Modernity (London: Continuum, 2005) 23.

[3] Brown, D. A New Introduction to Islam (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004) 207,208.

[4] Al-Azmeh, A. Islam and Modernities (London:Verso, 1993), 1

[5] R. M. Feener (ed), Islam in World Culture; Comparative Perspectives (Oxford:ABC-CLIO, 2004), 5.

[6] Fazlur, R. “The Message and the Messenger,” in Islam: The Religious and Political Life of a World Community, Kelly, M. ed. (New York: Praeger, 1984) 43.

[7] Brown, D. Ibid, 118

[8] Brown, D. Ibid, 40-41.

[9] Brown, D. Ibid, 135

[10] Brown, D. Ibid, 137

[11] Brown, D. Ibid , 143

[12] Brown, D. Ibid, 144 to 146

[13] Brown, D. Ibid, 220.

[14] Troll, C. Sayid Ahmad Khan: A Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology (New Delhi: Vikas, 1978) 311.

[15] Brown, D. Ibid, 155

[16] al-Qushayri Principles of Sufism Translated by B.R. Schlegell (Berkerly, CA: Mizan Press, 1990) 317. Quoted in Brown, D. Ibid 161

[17] Brown, D. Ibid, 162

[18] Brown, D. Ibid, 225

[19] Bennett, C. Ibid, 18.

[20] Bennett, C. Ibid, 18-19

[21] Bennett, C. Ibid, 19-20

[22] Bennett, C. Ibid, 20-22

[23] Brown, D. Ibid, 207

[24] al-Azmeh. Aziz, Ibid, 1, 4

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download