Islamic modernism

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Islamic modernism is a movement that has been described as "the first

Since its inception, Islamic modernism has suffered from co-option of its original reformism by both secularist rulers and by "the official ulama" whose "task it is to legitimise" rulers' actions in religious terms.^[6]

Themes, arguments and positions

Some themes in modern Islamic thought include:

• The acknowledgement "with varying degrees of criticism or emulation", of the technological, scientific and legal achievements of the West; while at the same time objecting "to Western colonial exploitation of Muslim countries and the imposition of Western secular values" and aiming to develop a modern and dynamic understanding of science among Muslims that would strengthen the Muslim world and prevent further exploitation.^[7]
  • After traveling to Europe in the late 19th century, Muhammad Abduh came back so impressed with the order and prosperity he saw, he told Egyptians: "I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but no Islam."^[8]
  • Sayyid Ahmed Khan was said to have not only admired the accomplishments of Britain but to have had an "emotional attachment" to the country.^[9]

Beliefs

• Angels are not beings created from light but "'properties' of things or conceptionalizations of the divine moral support which encourages man in his endeavors.^[10]
• Jinn are not beings with free will created from fire, but "projections of evil desires".^[10]

Islamic law

Cheragh Ali^[11] and Syed Ahmad Khan^[12] argued that "the Islamic code of law is not unalterable and unchangeable", and instead could be adopted "to the social and political revolutions going on around it".^[11]

• "Objectives" of Islamic law (
  maslahah, a secondary source for Islamic jurisprudence) were invoked.^[13][14] This was done by Islamic reformists in "many parts of the globe to justify initiatives not addressed in classical commentaries but regarded as of urgent political and ethical concern."^[15][16][17]
• Traditional Islamic law was reinterpreted using the four traditional sources of Islamic jurisprudence – the holy book of Islam (Quran), the reported deeds and sayings of Muhammad (hadith), consensus of the theologians (ijma) and juristic reasoning by analogy (qiyas), plus another source -- independent reasoning to find a solution to a legal question '('ijtihad).^[18]
  • the first two sources (the Quran and hadith) were taken and reinterpreted "to transform the last two (ijma and qiyas) in order to formulate a reformist project in light of the prevailing standards of scientific rationality and modern social theory."^[1]
  • traditional Islamic law was restricted by limiting its basis to the Quran and authentic Sunnah, i.e. limiting the Sunna with radical hadith criticism.^{[Note 2][20]}
  • ijtihad was employed not to only in the traditional, narrow way to arrive at legal rulings in unprecedented cases, i.e. where Quran, hadith, and rulings of earlier jurists are silent, but for critical independent reasoning in all domains of thought, and perhaps even approving of its use by non-jurists.^[21]
• These more or less radical (re)interpretations of the authoritative sources applied particularly to cases of Quranic verses or hadith where literal interpretations conflicts with "modern" views:
  hadd (penal) punishments (chopping off hands, administering lashes, etc.), treatment of unbelievers, waging of jihad, banning of usury or interest on loans (riba).^{[Note 3]}
  • On the topic of
    Qaradawi, etc. argues that unbelievers need not be fought unless they pose a threat to Muslims. Thus, Jihad is obligatory only as a defensive warfare to respond to aggression or "perfidy" against the Muslim community, and that the "normal and desired state" between Islamic and non-Islamic territories was one of "peaceful coexistence."^[23][24][25] Similarly the 18th-century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab defined Jihad as a defensive military action to protect the Muslim community, and emphasized its defensive aspect in synchrony with later 20th century Islamic writers.^[26] According to Mahmud Shaltut and other modernists, unbelief was not sufficient cause for declaring jihad.^[25][27] The conversion to Islam by unbelievers in fear of death at the hands of jihadists (mujahideen) was unlikely to prove sincere or lasting.^[25][28] Much preferable means of conversion was education.^[25][29] They pointed to the verse "No compulsion is there in religion".^{[Quran 2:256][30]}
  • On the topic of
    Ibn Taymiyya who argued in his treatise "The Removal of Blames from the Great Imams", that scholars are divided on the prohibition of riba al-fadl.^[32] Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, the student of Ibn Taymiyya, also distinguished between riba al-nasi'ah and riba al-fadl, maintaining that only riba al-nasi'ah was prohibited by Qur'an and Sunnah definitively while the latter was only prohibited in order to stop the charging of interest. According to him, the prohibition of riba al-fadl was less severe and it could be allowed in dire need or greater public interest (maslaha). Hence under a compelling need, an item may be sold with delay in return for dirhams or for another weighed substance despite implicating riba al-nasi'ah.^[33]
  • Concerning Hudud/hadd, specifically the cutting off the hand of the thief, the "classic modernist argument" is that it should be applied only in a "perfectly just" Islamic society where "there is no want", i.e. where no one steals anything because they need it and can't afford it.^[9]

Apologetics

• Apologetic writing linked aspects of the Islamic tradition with Western ideas and practices, and claimed Western practices in question were originally derived from Islam.^[34] Islamic apologetics has been severely criticized by many scholars as superficial, tendentious and even psychologically destructive, so much so that the term "apologetics" has almost become a term of abuse in the literature on modern Islam.^{[Note 4]}

History of Modernism

Further information: Islam and modernity § Islamic modernists until 1918

Origins

During the second half of the 19th century, according to Henri Lauzière, numerous Muslim reformers began efforts to reconcile Islamic values with the social and intellectual ideas of the Age of Enlightenment by purging (alleged) alterations from Islam and adhering to the basic tenets of Islam held during the Rashidun era. Their movement is regarded as the precursor to Islamic Modernism.^[37] According to Voll, when faced with new ideas or conflicts with their faith Muslims operated in three different ways: adaptation, conservation, and literalism. Similarly, when juxtaposed with the modern European notion of reformation, which primarily entails the alignment of conventional doctrines with Protestant and Enlightenment principles, it led to the emergence of two contrasting and symbiotic camps within the Muslim sphere: adaptionist modernists and literal fundamentalists. Modernists, in their divergence from traditionalist reformers, take umbrage with the term “reform,” deeming it an inaccurate descriptor for the latter’s objectives. Conversely, fundamentalists, driven by their Eurocentric convictions, perceive any semblance of reform as inherently malevolent.^[38]

Ottoman Tanzimat

Further information: Tanzimat era

Ottoman intellectual and activist Namık Kemal

(d. 1888)

Islamic modernist discourse emerged as an intellectual movement in the second quarter of nineteenth century; during an era of wide-ranging reforms initiated across the

modern science

.

At least one branch of Islamic Modernism began as an intellectual movement during the Tanzimat era and was part of the

Ottoman Sultan; modernist intellectuals argued that imperial unity was better served through parliamentary reforms and enshrining equal treatment of all Ottoman subjects; Muslim and non-Muslim. The modernist elites frequently invoked religious slogans to gain support for cultural and educational efforts as well as their political efforts to unite the Ottoman empire under a secular constitutional order.^[39]

On the other hand,

Europeans

.

Spread

Eventually the modernist intellectuals formed a secret society known as Ittıfak-ı Hamiyet (Patriotic Alliance) in 1865; which advocated

political liberalism and modern constitutionalist ideals of popular sovereignty through religious discourse.^[40][41] During this era, numerous intellectuals and social activists like Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938 C.E), Egyptian Nahda figure Rifaa al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), etc. introduced Western ideological themes and ethical notions into local Muslim communities and religious seminaries.^[42]

India

Away from the Ottoman Empire in British India Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) was "the first of the modernist thinkers to have a substantial impact upon the Muslim world at large. He founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh with the intent of producing "an educated elite of Muslims able to compete successfully with Hindus for jobs in the Indian administration". The college provided both training in the "European arts and sciences" and "traditional Islamic studies". He sought to "reconcile the contradictions between Islam as traditionally understood and the modern sciences he so much admired."^[43]

Egypt

See also: Muhammad Abduh

The theological views of the

Azharite scholar Muhammad 'Abduh (d. 1905) were greatly shaped by the 19th century Ottoman intellectual discourse. Similar to the early Ottoman modernists, Abduh tried to bridge the gap between Enlightenment ideals and traditional religious values. He believed that classical Islamic theology was intellectually vigorous and portrayed Kalam (speculative theology) as a logical methodology that demonstrated the rational spirit and vitality of Islam.^[44] Key themes of modernists would eventually be adopted by the Ottoman clerical elite who underpinned liberty as a basic Islamic principle. Portraying Islam as a religion that exemplified national development, human societal progress and evolution; Ottoman Shaykh al-Islam Musa Kazim Efendi (d. 1920) wrote in his article "Islam and Progress" published in 1904:

"the religion of Islam is not an obstacle to progress. On the contrary, it is that which commands and encourages progress; it is the very reason for progress itself"^[45]

'Ali Abd al-Raziq

(1888–1966 C.E), one of the earliest modernist intellectuals who theorized the separation of state from Islamic religion

Commencing in the late nineteenth century and impacting the twentieth-century,

Muhammed Abduh and his followers undertook an educational and social project to defend, modernize and revitalize Islam to match Western institutions and social processes. Its most prominent intellectual founder, Muhammad Abduh (d. 1323 AH/1905 CE), was Sheikh of Al-Azhar University for a brief period before his death. This project superimposed the world of the nineteenth century on the extensive body of Islamic knowledge that had accumulated in a different milieu.^[2]

These efforts had little impact at first. After Abduh's death, his movement was catalysed by the demise of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 and promotion of secular liberalism – particularly with a new breed of writers being pushed to the fore including Egyptian

Taha Husayn, Husayn Amin, et al., have argued in similar tones.^[2]

Abduh was skeptical towards many Ahadith (or "Traditions"). Particularly towards those Traditions that are reported through few chains of transmission, even if they are deemed rigorously authenticated in any of the six canonical books of Hadith (known as the Kutub al-Sittah). Furthermore, he advocated a reassessment of traditional assumptions even in Hadith studies, though he did not devise a systematic methodology before his death.^[46]

Ibn Ashur's Maqasid al-Sharia

See also:

Maqasid al-shari'a

Maliki scholar Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur (1879-1973 C.E) who rose to the position of chief judge at Zaytuna university was a major student of Muhammad 'Abduh. He met 'Abduh in 1903 during his visit to Tunisia and thereafter became a passionate advocate of 'Abduh's modernist vision. He called for a revamping of the educational curriculum and became noteworthy for his role in revitalising the discourse of Maqasid al-Sharia (Higher Objectives of Islamic Law) in scholarly and intellectual ciricles. Ibn Ashur authored the book "Maqasid al-Shari'ah al-Islamiyyah" in 1946 which was widely accepted by modernist intellectuals and writers. In his treatise, Ibn Ashur called for a legal theory that is flexible towards 'urf (local customs) and adopted contextualised approach towards re-interpretation of hadiths based on applying the principle of Maqasid (objectives).^[47][48]

Decline

See also: Salafi movement

After its peak during the early 20th century, the modernist movement would gradually decline after the

Western colonialism of Muslim lands and the advancement of secularist

trends; Islamic reformers felt betrayed by the Arab nationalists and underwent a crisis.

Islamism

This schism was epitomised by the ideological transformation of

Shi'ites, who they considered deviant. Rida transformed the Reformation into a puritanical movement that advanced Muslim identitarianism, pan-Islamism and preached the superiority of Islamic culture while attacking Westernisation. One of the major hallmarks of Rida's movement was his advocacy of a theological doctrine that obligated the establishment of an Islamic state led by the Ulema (Islamic scholars).^[50][51]

Rida's fundamentalist/Islamist doctrines would later be adopted by Islamic scholars and Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the German scholar Bassam Tibi:

"Rida's Islamic fundamentalism has been taken up by the Muslim Brethren, a right wing radical movement founded in 1928, which has ever since been in inexorable opposition to secular nationalism."^[52]

Contemporary Era

Contemporary Muslim modernism is characterised by its emphasis on the doctrine of "Maqasid al-sharia" to navigate the currents of modernity and address issues related to international human rights. Another aspect is its promotion of Fiqh al-Aqalliyat (minority jurisprudence) during the late 20th century to answer the challenges facing the growing Muslim minority populations in the West. Islamic scholar Abdullah Bin Bayyah, professor of Islamic studies at King Abdul Aziz University in Jiddah, is one of the major proponents of Fiqh al-Aqalliyat and advocates remodelling the legal system based on the principles of Maqasid al-Sharia to suit the sensitivities of the modern era.^[53][54]

Influence on Revivalist movements

See also: Islamic revival

Salafiyya Movement

Further information: History of Salafiyya Movement

Part of a series on: Sab'u Masajid , Saudi Arabia
Theology and Influences Salaf Muhammad Sahabah Tabi'un Taba al-Tabi'in Ahl al-Hadith Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ibn Hazm Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Ibn Kathir Al-Dhahabi Ibn Abd al-Hadi Ibn Muflih Muhammad Hayaat Al-Sindhi Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab Shah Waliullah Dehlawi Al-Shawkani
Founders and key figures Syed Nazeer Husain Siddiq Hasan Khan Jamal al-Din Qasimi Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Ridha Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Ibn al Uthaymeen Nasiruddin Albani Zubair Ali Zai Muhammad Ibn Salih al-Munajjid 'Abd al Aziz al-Ťarifi List of Salafi scholars
Notable universities Umm al-Qura University Islamic University of Madinah Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University Jamia Salafia, Faisalabad Jamia Salafia, Varanasi International Islamic University, Islamabad List of Salafi Islamic universities
Related ideologies Ahl-i Hadith movement Islamism Islamic fundamentalism Madkhalism Manhaj Qutbism Sahwa movement Sailaifengye Salafi jihadism Sufi-Salafi relations Wahhabism International propagation by country/region Hazimism
Associated organizations Al-Nour Party Authenticity Party People Party Takfir wal-Higra Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant al-Qaida
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Origins

The modernist movement led by

Wahhabi movement, such as endeavoring to "return" to the Islamic understanding of the first Muslim generations (Salaf) by reopening the doors of juristic deduction (ijtihad) that they saw as closed.^[46]

The connection between modernists and Salafists is disputed, with various academics asserting there never really was one.[55]^[56][57][58] There are those scholars maintain that they used to share the "salafi" designation, but nothing else (Oxford Bibliographies,^[59] Quintan Wiktorowicz);^[60] or that Modernists "al-Afghani and Abduh were hardly Salafis to begin with" (Henri Lauziere);^{[61] [Note 5]} or contrary to that, call Al-Afghani, Abduh and Rida founders of Salafiyya and go on to describe their creation without ever mentioning Modernism (Olivier Roy).^[63] Those that believe they did have the same ancestors (a view propagated in early 20th century by French Orientalist Louis Massignon),^[64][65] don't always agree on what happened: Salafists starting out on the side of "enlightenment and modernity" and "inexplicably" turned against these virtues and to puritanism (World News Research);

Salafi Muslims see their movement as understanding "the injunctions of the sacred texts in their most literal traditional sense", looking up to Ibn Taymiyya rather than 19th century Reformers.^[69]

madhahib, philosophy, culture, etc. Salafiyya were traditional in their politics or lack thereof, and unlike later Islamists "made no wholesale condemnations of existing Muslim governments". Issues of governance they were interested in were application of sharia and the reconstitution of the ummah (Muslim community), and particularly with the restoration of the caliphate.^[63]

Yasir Qadhi claims modernism only influenced

Salafism.^[67]

According to Quintan Wiktorowicz:

There has been some confusion in recent years because both the Islamic modernists and the contemporary Salafis refer (referred) to themselves as al-salafiyya, leading some observers to erroneously conclude a common ideological lineage. The earlier salafiyya (modernists), however, were predominantly rationalist Asharis.[60]

Similarly Oxford Bibliographies distinguishes between the early Islamic Modernists -- (such as Muhammad Abdu) who used the term "salafiyya"^[59] to refer to their attempt at renovation of Islamic thought^[70] -- and the very different (more purist and traditional) Salafiyya of movements such as Ahl-i Hadith, Wahhabism, etc.^{[Note 6]}

Both groups wanted to strip away taqlid (imitation) of post-Salaf doctrine they thought not truly Islamic, but for different reasons. Modernists thought taqlid prevented the Muslims from flourishing because it got in the way of compatibility with the modern world, traditional revivalists simply because (they believed) it was impure. What was needed was not reinterpretation but a religious revival of pure Islam.

Muhammad 'Abduh and his movement have sometimes been referred to as "Neo-Mu'tazilites"

However, Rida's shift towards fundamentalism was not solely a matter of theological conviction but was influenced by the changing post-Ottoman empire landscape. In his core goal was the vision of a pan-Islamic state influenced by Afghani, as he says: "In sum, what I mean by Islamic unity is that the leaders (ahl al-hall wa'l- 'aqd) among the scholars and notables should meet and compile a book of ordinances which is based on the deeply-rooted fundamentals of the divine law, agrees with the needs of the time, is easy to use, and is free of disagreement (khilaf)... The supreme Imam should then order the rulers of Muslims to apply it (al-'amal bihi)."^[82] To this end, Rida took an antithetical approach from his earlier association with the ultrarationalists, as he recognizes them even after turning to Athari-Wahhabi theology: "How can this be true when the upholders of the Mu'tazili school were the caliphs of Islam during the Abbasid era, the judges [of these caliphs], and a large portion of their scholars. Moreover, they [i.e., the Mu'tazila] provide evidence for what they claim, and prove what they maintain; thus, even if they make mistakes, they are mujtahids... It is clear that whoever provides evidence for his opinion and proves his claim, then he is allowed to exercise ijtihdd. Such a person is committed to the truth in what he seeks and pursues. Even if his demonstration is contradicted, and his proof is rebutted, the most that can be said about such a person is that he is a mistaken mujtahid; as such he is not only excusable but also worthy of reward, since he only sought the truth."^[83] This proves to be a symbiotic relationship between the fundamentalism and modernism conundrum in the Salafi movement.

As a scholarly movement, "Enlightened Salafism" had begun declining some time after the death of Muhammad ʿAbduh in 1905. The Puritanical stances of Rashid Rida, accelerated by his support to the Wahhabi movement; transformed

Although the Muslim Brotherhood officially describes itself as a Salafi movement, the Quietist Salafis often contest their Salafist credentials. The Brotherhood differs from more purist salafis in their strategy for combating the challenge of modernity, and is focused on gaining control of the government. Despite this, both the Brotherhood and more thorough-going Salafists advocate the implementation of sharia and emphasizes strict doctrinal adherence to the Quran and Sunnah and the Salaf al-Salih.^[93]

The

Contemporary Modernists

• Mohammed Arkoun (Algeria) ^[102]
• Khaled Abou El Fadl (United States) ^[103]
• Gamal al-Banna (Egypt)^[100]
• Soheib Bencheikh (France)^[100]
• Abdennour Bidar (France)^[100]
• Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (Pakistan)
• Taha Hussein (Egypt) ^[103]
• Wahiduddin Khan (India)
• Irshad Manji (Canada)
• Abdelwahab Meddeb (France)^[100]
• Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (Sudan) ^[103]
• Ebrahim Moosa (South Africa)^[103]
• Tariq Ramadan (Switzerland)^[46]
• Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (Pakistan) ^[104]
• Amina Wadud (United States)^[103]
• Mahathir Mohamad (Malaysia)

Contemporary use

Turkey

In 2008, the state directorate of religious affairs (

"Islamic activists" support the expansion of "Islamic law and Islamic practices", "Islamic Modernists" are lukewarm to this expansion and "some may even advocate development along the secularist lines of the West."[106]

Muhammadiyah

The Indonesian Islamic organization

Many orthodox, fundamentalist, puritan, and traditionalist Muslims strongly opposed modernism as bid'ah and the most dangerous heresy of the day, for its association with Westernization and Western education,^[112] although some orthodox/traditionalist Muslims, and Muslim scholars agree that going back to the Qur'an and the Sunnah to update Islamic law would not be in violation of the principles of fiqh.^{[citation needed]}

One of the leading Islamist thinkers and Islamic revivalists, Abul A'la Maududi agreed with Islamic modernists that Islam contained nothing contrary to reason, and was superior in rational terms to all other religious systems. However he disagreed with them in their examination of the Quran and the Sunna using reason as the standard. Maududi, instead started from the proposition that "true reason is Islamic", and accepted the Book and the Sunna, not reason, as the final authority. Modernists erred in examining rather than simply obeying the Quran and the Sunna.^{[Note 7]}

Scholar Malise Ruthven argues that the beliefs that were "integral" to at least one prominent modernist (Abduh) -- namely that the basic revealed truths of Islam and the observable, rational truth of science must be, "in the final analysis be identical" -- is problematic. This is because the idea is "based on the essentially medieval premise that science, like scripture itself is a finite body of knowledge awaiting revelation", when in fact science is "a dynamic process of discovery subject to continual revision". The establishment of non-religious institutions of learning in India, Egypt and elsewhere, which Abduh encouraged, "opened the floodgates to secular forces which threatened Islam's intellectual foundations".^[114]

Advocates of political Islam argue that insofar as Modernism seeks to separate Islam and politics it is adopting the Christian and secular principle of "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's", but that politics is inherent in Islam, since Islam encompasses every aspect of life. Some, (Hizb ut-Tahrir for example), claim that in Muslim political jurisprudence, philosophy and practice, the Caliphate is the correct Islamic form of government, and that it has "a clear structure comprising a Caliph, assistants (mu'awinoon), governors (wulaat), judges (qudaat) and administrators (mudeeroon)."^[115][116]

See also

• Islam and modernity
• Islamic revival
• Islamism
• Liberalism and progressivism within Islam
• Contemporary Islamic philosophy
• Muslim Reform Movement
• Reform (religion)
• Tafazzul Husain Kashmiri

Notes