Islam and modernity
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Islam and modernity is about the relation and compatibility between the phenomenon of modernity, its related concepts and ideas, and the religion of Islam.
In order to understand the relation between Islam and modernity, one point should be made in the beginning. Both Islam and modernity are not simple and 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. [1]
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[edit] The Middle East, Modernity and the proliferation of Islamic fundamentalism
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’.[2] 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’. [3]
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.[4]
These concerns are exemplified in an interview with the well-known Islamic fundamentalist, Usamah 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.[5]
After September 11th, 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.[6]
Yet the number of militant Islamic movements ‘calling for an Islamic state and the end of Western influence is relatively small.’[7]. 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st Century, Abdolkarim Soroush
- ^ 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
[edit] References
[edit] External Links
- The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st Century
- Islam and Modernity by Prof. Ahmed Afzaal
- Islam and Modernity by Professor Ibrahim Abu Rabi
- BBC NEWS: Analysis: Islam's modernity question
- Modernization article from Encyclopedia Britannica
- Article on Haq (Right) from Encyclopedia of Islam Online
- Article on ḎJ̲umhūriyya (republicanism) from Encyclopedia of Islam Online
[edit] 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
