Islam Today 31

Transcription

Islam Today 31

ISLAM TODAY
Journal of the Islamic Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)
Published in Arabic, English and French
Issue No. 31
30th year
1436AH/2015
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Mail: Avenue des F.A.R. Hay Riad, PO Box 2275
Postcode 10104 - Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco
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Email: [email protected]
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Tel.: +(212) 5 37 56 60 52 / 53
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Fax: +(212) 5 37 56 60 12 / 13
Price per issue: 60 Dhs in Morocco, US$ 10 in other countries.
Legal deposit number: 28-1983/ISSN 0851-1128
Typesetting, layout and printing at ISESCO’s Centre for Planning,
Information and Documentation (CPID)
Translation: Translation Division of ISESCO
The articles published in this journal
do not necessarily reflect the views of ISESCO
ISLAM TODAY
Journal of the Islamic Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)
Published in Arabic, English and French
Executive Director
Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri
Editor-in-Chief
Abdelkader El-Idrissi
In this issue
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Editorial: Making the Future ………………………… 7
Towards a Renewal of Islamic Thought
Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri …… 13
The Spirit of Muslim Culture
Allama Muhammad Iqbal ……… 35
Islamic Cultural Identity between Originality,
Modernism, and Challenges
Dr Muhammad Imara …………… 57
The Holy Quran: Founder of the Art of Dialogue
Dr Mohamed Kettani …………… 77
The Role of Islam in Developing Muslims’
Civilizational Thought
Dr Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq …… 95
Moral Values: The Basis of All Reform
Dr Abbas Jirari …………………… 107
Role of Fiqh in Urban Planning of Islamic Cities
Dr Khalid Mohammed Azab ……… 115
A Journey with the Book “Orientalism: Definition,
Schools and Impact”
Dr Abdeljabbar Mahmoud al-Samarrai 129
Knowing about Islamic Countries
The Republic of the Sudan …………… 149
Editorial
Making the Future
As humanity undergoes major crises, many researchers are firmly committed
to analyse the subjective and objective factors which have occasioned them.
Such search for an explanation in the past failed to divert the attention of
resolved free thinkers and committed researchers away from questing for
the true causes of the violent upheavals hitting the world and looking ahead
to overcome the material and immaterial hurdles preventing any attempt to
anticipate the future. These free intellectuals are actually motivated in their
futurist resolve by a deep understanding of today’s problems, an impressive
grasp of past knowledge, and by a strong determination to emancipate the
individual and set him free to explore the vast universe. To attain a sound
and objective understanding of the current changes and their determining
factors, scientific research, analysis and study are a reliable lever and a helpful
guide to outline a road map to the future inspired by a firm belief in the
ability of the Creator to manage the affairs of His universe and creatures, and
by a trust in science which neither contradicts nor outstrips religious beliefs.
Pondering over the future neither distracts from thinking about the present
nor justifies making a break with the past because the life of humanity is
made of inseparable successive stages, though there may seem to be a divide
between present and past times. In fact, the deeper we explore history,
reflect upon its events and outcomes, and contemplate the turning points
of peoples’ pasts, the more we find that the timeline moves upward, that the
will of Almighty Allah is the most influential, determining, exercising and
creative force deciding in matters relating to time and creatures, that nothing
acts arbitrarily, and that perfect wisdom lies in the evolutions undergone by
people in their lives regardless of their diverse aspects, should they be good
or evil.
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Making the Future
Deep thought to reach solutions to thorny problems faced by humanity at this
stage in history is part of the determination to build the future. As we find
solutions to today’s problems, we make the doors wide open before humanity
to access the future, which is in all cases the outcome of the amalgamation
of the past and the present. Historical experience confirms that man alone,
having been privileged by Allah when He showed him the two paths (the
right and the wrong one), sets the outlines of the road map to his future.
Tomorrow, man will consequently harvest what he’s sowing today. Harvest is
done for the seeds that sprout, grow, and bear fruits. The same applies for
general and specific cases, for individuals and groups, nations and peoples.
This rule may seem clearly simple and natural, but it’s the same rule which
incessantly determines the real, the virtual and the imaginary lines of time.
[So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever
does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.] (Az-Zalzalah: 7-8)
On this firm basis, the future acquires its real aspect as a dimension of the
present time. The making of the future, according to futurologists’ concept,
is an integral part of the making of the present. Since the wise man doesn’t
wait for what will happen tomorrow to react accordingly to the new reality,
but instead he never shrinks from doing, in due time, what is and will be
beneficial to him in his present and future. Likewise, nations and peoples who
haven’t done anything for their future will achieve nothing of what they aspire
to. “The making of the future” is a phrase meaning the act of laying solid
foundations for future forecasts in the light of studies and surveys conducted
by experts in different fields of science and knowledge, and on the basis of
studying current circumstances and conditions, and analysing the causes and
the outcomes of the ongoing changes and the profound transformations
underway, and also on the basis of setting the current reality in comparison
with the probable and predictable one.
The making of the future has become a scientific discipline with its own
prerequisites, rules, and scope. Research and study centres, institutions
and clubs specialised in futurology have been set up everywhere. People
interested in this field of knowledge try to understand the laws and forces
governing the changes the world undergoes in order to devise plans for
the future of humanity in its different fields of life: Political, economic,
developmental, social, environmental, cultural, scientific and technological,
Editorial
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on the basis of serious scientific surveys. The end goal of futurologists is
to achieve a scientifically planned fight-back against predicted contingencies
and against any unpredictable surprises. Futurology has become part of the
political, security and economic strategies of governments that honour their
commitments towards their peoples so as to meet the different security needs
of their countries and ensure lasting stability, prosperity and development for
their societies. Thus, the making of the future has become a branch of the
social and political sciences, and a discipline of military and security sciences,
and a branch of the sciences of the environment, health and demography.
The more developed futurology is, and the wider are its fields of interest, the
closer and the easier is the act of devising plans for the future on sound and
secure basis. Actually, all fields of human life are subject to future planning,
and all predictable possibilities can be studied and analysed to understand
their nature, uncover their composition and avert looming dangers.
The making of the future is founded upon a large base of adequate scientific
planning and upon an informed examination of different probabilities from
various perspectives. Since planning is the cornerstone of futurology, well
prepared and well founded plans are the compass guiding futurologists.
Hence, the countries which prepare plans in this way have often overcome
their challenges and brought prosperity to their peoples and averted imminent
dangers. The importance attached to future planning by the international
community is part of the international and regional organisations’ concern to
achieve the objectives shared by humanity. In fact, the practical strategies and
detailed plans worked out by those organisations, including the organisations
of joint Arab and Islamic action, contribute to making a stable and secure
future for humanity as a whole. The Arab and Islamic strategies in particular,
including those designed by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (ISESCO) which have up to now reached the number of
sixteen well-prepared sector-wise strategies which fall within the scope of its
objectives, serve the purpose of making the future of the Islamic world.
At the intellectual level, the making of the future requires the renewal of
thought, the development of methods of analysis, broadening the scope of
future exploration, and the ability to generate new ideas and find solutions
to crises. Being leaders of social movements and pioneers of thought,
enlightened and free thinkers guide the human march and lighten the road
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Making the Future
towards the future and shoulder the responsibility of guiding human thought
and redressing the situations that deviate from the right path, reason, virtue
and human interest in general.
As the making of the future is a hard task to carry out, serious and purposeful
thinking is the effective weapon in the battle against ignorance, illiteracy and
superstition wrapped in a film of misleading simplistic ideas which today take
forms quite different from those of past centuries. In fact, there are many
high profile scholars who mislead people. Likewise, many other scholars with
far-reaching reputation in their areas of academic specialisation deceive public
opinion. Instead of carrying and delivering the right message of science and
knowledge, such people encourage the spread of illusions, fallacies, and
trivialities in order to obtain improper financial gains or to serve political
and sectarian trends that oppose the virtues of human values. Uncommitted
to universal human values as they are, these people have harmed humanity
throughout history and namely in modern times. Their ideas, visions and
ideologies have brought misery to individuals and groups and tragedies to
nations and peoples who have been victims of their deceit and hegemony.
Being as such, these people are neither capable of leading human thought nor
can be entrusted with making the future of humanity.
Thinkers who mislead people and trade false illusions to them have badly
affected the public opinion and spoilt the intellectual life through spreading
corrupt ideas among people concerned with the intellectual, cultural and
creativity issues. Their destructive actions have often nurtured the hotbeds
of intellectual and cultural corruption which poses serious threats to human
life in general.
This corruption has not spared the Muslim world as it caused great
damage to Islamic thought in different periods of its history. Due to the
great developments taking place nowadays in mass and social media, and
in printing and publishing, our times are more damaged by the effects of
that corruption which take new forms. The crime perpetrated by this type
of intellectuals against public life in the Muslim world in particular, and in
the world in general, is one of the most vicious crimes whose destructive
effects are threatening humanity as a whole. To meet this threat in due
time, humanity should restore rational awareness, address wrong concepts
and remedy the deficiencies that have infected today’s intellectual life. Free,
Editorial
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positive and constructive intellectuals are those who seek to restore human
awareness, renew the structure of collective thought, and those who work
hard to rise high to the level of responsibility and awareness and honour their
words and promises.
The pillars of intellectual security are shaken by the spread of corruption
and of behaviours that contradict the spiritual and moral values and violate
the standards of common sense and sound reasoning. Amidst this unclear
and hazy situation, which dissuades free thinkers and prevents them from
contributing to the making of a secure, prosperous and stable future for
humanity, it becomes almost impossible to seek a solution to the civilizational
crisis faced by humanity at this stage. Futurologists, who seek to predict the
future they and humanity in general dream of, and free human thought from
intellectual tyranny and cultural narrow-mindedness, find it hard to fight
bigotry that causes only disasters to humanity instead of bringing to people
welfare and prosperity.
Hence, the role of impartial and truthful intellectuals, who are committed
to defend the interests of humanity and who arouse hope and fight all
forms of despair, is ultimately decisive at this critical moment the world
is passing through. Today, as great powers are rivalling for their conflicting
interests, and as masks hiding the truths are starting to fall, the international
community wrongly believe that obstacles are removed and that distances
between the West and the East, ideologically and politically speaking rather
than geographically, have been reduced. The truth, however, is that there is
an urgent need for fostering the message of peace-making and civilisationbuilding intellectuals, and for combining efforts of the intellectual elite
regardless of their ideological and political differences, so as to remove all
hurdles preventing people from contributing to making their future with a
spirit of love for humanity, creativity and peace.
That’s the message of free thinking which distances itself from extremism,
bigotry, fanaticism and narrow-mindedness and keeps close to satisfy the
requirements of sound judgement, right reasoning, good behaviour, and
cherish and value human life and the right of the human being to live in
dignity, freedom, security, peace and universal brotherhood. All this makes of
futurology a full-fledged scientific discipline that has full chances to succeed
and fewer chances to commit mistakes, with the Help of Allah.
Towards a Renewal of Islamic Thought
Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri*
The renewal of the Islamic thought is an issue that has attracted a lot of
attention, on more than one level, from great many Islamic thought scholars
and researchers, which gives a strong indication of the intellectual vitality of
pro-Islamic world reform scholars, theologians and intellectuals.
Renewal is especially important in that it will enable Muslim community’s
transition from weakness to strength, which cannot be made without a
thorough understanding of the overriding goals of the Islamic law and a
deep appreciation of the changes and development requirements of today’s
world. Indeed, it is an empowering force for Muslims to move away from
a position of dependence to one of independence in all areas of judicial,
intellectual, linguistic and cultural activity.
As well as being an effective conduit for the modernization of Muslim
community’s public life, Islamic thought’s renewal is the best tool for a
quantum-phase transition to improve thinking patterns, reassess the present
situation, push forth reform agendas and build up a forward-looking vision.
Far from being a mechanical activity simply because it is governed by
strictly defined rules, the renewal of Islamic thought rejects codification and
imposition. Rather, it is an ongoing process that is responsive to the everchanging evolution and innovation of societies, and in continuous interaction
with the complex maze of mutations over time. Also, the process is flexible;
it is not limited to a particular area, but evolves in ascending order from
one historical era to another without ever deviating from its foundational
principles.
It nevertheless stands to reason that not all renewal is positive, and not all
development is progressive. Renewal can be negative, and development may
* Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO),
Secretary General of the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW).
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The Role of Islam in Developing Muslims’ Civilizational Thought
be the opposite of progress. It is therefore necessary to take account, from
an Islamic perspective, of the jurisprudential rules underlying renewal, which
should not be imposed, as some may wrongly understand, nor considered
a restraint on the human intellect or a hindrance to human’s ability to be
creative and think independently.
Certainly, there are governing rules for renewal which define its overriding
goals. Since the focus here is the renewal of Islamic thought in its broadest
scope, while staying abreast of new advances, it only makes sense to stress
that the objective is to make the most of renewal as a conduit for the Muslim
Ummah’s overall development. However, this cannot be achieved unless
building on the firm foundations and ultimate goals of the Islamic law,
which are particularly in perfect harmony with life’s requirements for the
full enjoyment of humans’ legitimate rights, namely freedom, dignity, social
justice, mental uplifting, economic development, and all-embracing security
and peace.
So in view of the crucial nature of this topic, the Oxford Centre for Islamic
Studies invited me to give a lecture at their building on 22 October 2013. In
my lecture themed “Towards a Renewal of Islamic Thought”, I discussed
from different angles a set of intertwined issues related to this core question,
pointing out that renewal is not an antithesis of the perfection and inveteracy
of religion. It is, I explained, the ideal way to further extend the influence
of religion with respect to new focus-areas, while ensuring the integrity of
its bedrock foundations. I concluded that the renewal of Islamic thought
is about the renewal of human thought in general and, by extension, the
renewal of human obligation in the world, human practice, and human life.
If thinking is an Islamic obligation, Ijtihad (independent reasoning) is a life
necessity in the same manner as renewal; all the more so as they both (renewal
and Ijtihad) blend and interweave with one another. I particularly wanted
to get the point across to the intellectual elite in attendance that Islam is
a religion of life, and that it considers coping with life’s twists and turns
as both a religious obligation and a life necessity. The point in my lecture
was also to warn that unless Muslims bring renewal, they will risk stagnating
and miss a vital opportunity to press ahead with integrated development, in
accordance with the immutable principles of Islam and the whole spectrum
of life’s continuous mutations.
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The objective of my paper was also to explain that the renewal of Islamic
thought is not limited to a single aspect of life, but more broadly covers
Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic political thought, administrative systems in
Islamic countries, the Islamic economic system, as well as individual and
community life.
In order to benefit the general public and stimulate scholars, jurists and
intellectuals to look further into this vital topic, I published the present paper,
initially conceived as a lecture, in a trilingual edition with the original Arabic
and the English and French translations.(1)
On the Concept of Renewal
In the general sense, Renewal is turning something old new, reactivating
the state of newness, or endeavoring to prolong the state of newness. In
Arabic, the term ‘Tajdid’ is derived from the verb ‘Jadda’ meaning something
that becomes new or is returned to a state of newness. It may also refer to
preserving what is new in this state of newness.
The word ‘New’ is mentioned eight times in the Holy Quran, and came with
three meanings which are Resurrection, Revival and Restoration - mostly
in relation to creation and rebirth. The hadith says: “God sends to the Ummah
every 100 years someone [or some people] who would renew the religion again.”(2) Scholars
understood the following from this noble hadith:
• Renewal of religion: i.e. reviving and reforming the relationship
Muslims entertain with their religion and not the religion itself since
God (SWT) has perfected His religion.
• The timeframe of renewal: meaning the continuation of renewal
without interruption, renewal being an ongoing process with interconnected episodes.
1) Published in 2014 by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).
2) Narrated by Abu Dawood in al-Malahim (512), and by al-Hakim in al-Fitan wa alMalahim (576/4), and also by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat (522/4) on the authority of Abu
Huraira.
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• The renovator: i.e. the human element who engages in the act of
renewal. This role-player may be an individual or a group, a fiqh
academy, a research center or a center of studies.
Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi maintains that the subjective pronoun “who” in the
above-quoted hadith is both singular and plural. Some scholars even believe
that a ‘renovator’ may refer to more than one individual or a group of
individuals.
In this light, renewal represents a refutation of static Imitation that suffer no
change despite the passage of time and the changes of space, and that heed
not the developments and changes that arise. Imitation is thus the antithesis
of ijtihad in all senses of the word, for ijtihad is renewal and imitation is
the opposite of renewal.
This last point is critical in its importance since Muslims believe that renewal
goes through the process of ijtihad and there can be no renewal without ijtihad.
Engaging in ijtihad confers on one the attribute of innovator or renewer, and
by engaging in renewal one accedes, in one way or the other, to the status of
a mujtahid. Therefore, linking renewal to ijtihad that is reasonably accepted and
does not contradict the absolute truth of religion, and as long as Islam urges
us to apply our minds, ponder the universe and use reason to understand
and weigh all matters, is a call to continuous renewal. The mind can be a
force of renewal if we give free rein to its faculties, and thus renewal
becomes one of many processes of the wise and pondering mind, and
one of life’s necessities.
Renewal will only be relevant and acceptable if it is governed by the laws of
religion and the mind at the same time. Religion cannot be renewed, what can
be renewed is people’s understanding of this religion, their lives, and their
interpretation and understanding of the precepts of the Sharia. And huge is
the chasm between religious texts as they were revealed by God (SWT) and
how man understands them and the way he approaches them. The bane of
straying from the path of righteousness is the result of a flaw or a perversion
of faith, of radicalism in religious practice and worship, or of fanaticism in
actions and conduct.
Given the complex nature of the areas in need of renewal, the connotations
of the renewal concept vary from one scholar to another. In a paper entitled
“Insights into Modern Calls to Renew Fiqh”, Dr Mohamed Kettani says
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that this makes the concept quite vague, due to the diverging approaches to
the reality to be changed and renewed and to the heritage to be revitalized.
Yet, the concept of renewing belief differs from that of renewing fiqh, and
both of them differ from the one which concerns the reformation thought
in general.
Renewal is Not an Antithesis of the Perfection and
Inveteracy of Religion
Renewal is not an antithesis of the perfection and inveteracy of religion
but is the means by which the perfect religion’s influence extends to cover
new fields and developments, and the only guarantee for the fundaments to
remain suitable for all times and all places, a guarantee that the seal message
survives to eternity as God decreed. Were it not for the new branches that
renewal is extending to all things new, the thread it is weaving between the
enduring fundaments and the novelties thrown at us by development, and
were it not for this constant renewal which reveals the true face and pure
essence of religion’s fundaments and immutable constants, were it not for
the part played by renewal in Islam’s life and march, these fundaments would
have been abrogated and obliterated either when life’s progress overtakes and
overshadows the older offshoots, in the process causing the new extension to
lose the sheltering shade of Islam, or through a distortion of the essence of
these fundaments by an amassment of heretic novelties.
In brief, ijtihad is a renewal of thought, of stance, of practice and of life in
general. Renewal is also an endeavor to understand religion, infer solutions
from the gist of the Islamic Sharia for the problems faced by the Muslim
world, in light of the unfolding developments and awareness of the mutations
undergone by today’s world.
Renewal is a means towards the continuity -i.e. affirmation- of the perfect
religion, and not a negation of its inveterate nature and perfection.
Can we then say that renewal is close in concept to modernism, or is the path
to modernism?
Let us look at modernism first.
What is the relationship between renewal, ijtihad and modernism?
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Is renewal a form of ijtihad in thought, in legislation and in inferring solutions
to the problems at hand and the crises that emerge only to drown Muslim
societies?
On the Concept of Ijtihad
A methodical approach requires that we stop at each of these three concepts.
Now that we have established what renewal stands for, let us look at ijtihad to
gain a better understanding of the renewal connotation it carries.
Linguistically, the origin of ijtihad is the verb ijtahada, meaning the utmost
effort an individual can put forth in an activity. As a term, it refers to the
endeavor by a scholar to derive a rule on a given incident through evidence
and legal means. It involves careful consideration and great endeavor to find
solutions to the problems created by the fast-paced changes experienced by
individuals and societies, the aim being to make their lives easier, manage
their affairs and improve their living conditions.
In as much as thinking is an Islamic duty, ijtihad is one of life’s necessities,
standing on equal footing with renewal. Life cannot aspire to righteousness
in a society that gives in to stagnation, and Muslim society can only advance
through ijtihad and ceaseless renewal, conducted in the full respect of Islam’s
precepts and rules and within a framework of Islam’s principles, values and
teachings.
And since ijtihad is a sine qua non condition for the advancement of Muslim
societies to higher levels of life befitting human dignity, then the edifying
ijtihad that enriches human life and broadens the horizons of development,
growth and advancement should be governed by Sharia, reason and interestsbased rules and regulations, otherwise it would be stripped of all meaning.
If we peruse the sources of Islamic fiqh heritage, we will find that fundamentalist scholars defined ijtihad as the utmost endeavor of a scholar to reach
a speculative legal opinion and wherein he feels he had exhausted all possible
avenues.
Ibn Hazm defined ijtihad as “the utmost effort put forth in judging a given incident
where a rule on that incident already exists since all Sharia rules have been fully addressed
and clarified by God (SWT) and are available for reference to all scholars. And while
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these rules may not be within the grasp of some people, their total inaccessibility to all is
impossible since God (SWT) only entrusts us with that which we can humanly bear. If a
rule is entirely out of the grasp of each and everyone, then God did not command us to
grasp it.” These two fundamental definitions provide us with enough clarity
on the fiqh connotation of ijtihad, establishing the general notion of ijtihad.
Furthermore, there are two categories of ijtihad. One is absolute ijtihad which
uses all existent sources in inferring a few rules with the help of explicitly
proved rules or quoting the sources the mujtahid has access to. The other form
of ijtihad pertains to inferring some rules on a specific case about which no
rulings exist. In the latter case, the mujtahid is required to have full knowledge
of all matters related to that specific rule, including certainty that his diligence
does not contradict an existing text or a consensus-based rule. But knowledge
of all rulings is not a must.
Fundamentalist scholars also see that every legal rule that has no ironclad
evidence to support it is open to ijtihad, and therefore no ijtihad shall be
accepted on matters about which definite evidence already exists such as the
duty of praying five times, of giving zakat and other pillars of Islam. The
gates of renewing ijtihad or of ijtihad-based renewal are thus opened before
the scholars and experts with the required capacities, knowledge and proper
understanding of the Sharia precepts and of today’s challenges.
Ijtihad is either applied within the context of a source text, which includes
ijtihad in knowing the general rules that provide global evidence, or through
pondering, which involves Qiyas (analogy) by the mujtahid of a matter where
there is no explicit text or consensus with one about which a text or consensus
exist. It also involves inferring a legal opinion from the general rules of
Islamic Sharia, which is called by some jurists as discretionary opinion-based
and is the same as opinion-based renewal.
What comes to attention when pondering at length the major reference fiqh
books that addressed ijtihad is that they did not confine it to fiqh in the narrow
sense it has come to convey in recent times. In fact, the Arabic word ‘fiqh’
means understanding or grasping, and Islamic fiqh is precisely the science
of understanding the rule of Islamic Sharia, and the ijtihad of a scholar
(faqeeh) is his utmost endeavor to reach a presumptive opinion on a legal rule,
and therefore ijtihad in fiqh is simply the endeavor to reach a goal through
reasoning.
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The Egyptian scholar Sheikh Abdelwahab Khallaf contended that the
backbone of a mujtahid’s work is understanding the general principles and
spirit of legislation embedded by the Lawgiver in His various decrees and
over which legislation was founded. This legislative spirit and these guiding
principles are not limited to a specific legal field. This profound and rational
understanding, which encompasses all aspects of an issue, or ‘judgements’ to
use fiqh terminology, is the gateway to solving the problems affecting people
in every age.
And since the rules of Sharia are comprehensive, profound, broad and
encompass all aspects of human life, Islamic fiqh becomes in essence the fiqh
of life, true to the Islamic vision of man, life and the universe. It is legally
and logically impossible to confine fiqh within one part of our noble Sharia
and therefore limit the scholar’s scope of action. The Sharia is all-inclusive,
suitable for all times and places, which attributes are known, granted and
agreed upon, and so is renewal which, after all, is a form of ijtihad.
We need to clarify here that linguistically speaking fiqh is the profound and
insightful understanding of the goals behind words and deeds. For jurists, the
meaning of fiqh does not expand beyond this although its generalities may
be subjected to specificity. It is knowledge of practical legal rulings through
their detailed evidence. In order to properly understand the goals of ijtihad
and fathom the link between it and renewal, we must define the concept of
the science of fiqh which falls in two parts:
• One is knowledge of practical legal rulings. Dogma such as monotheism, the messages conveyed by prophets and the latter’s deliverance
of God’s messages, knowledge of the Day of Reckoning and such
beliefs do not fall within the scope of the term ‘fiqh’.
• The second one is knowledge of the detailed proof texts of every
case.
Fiqh, in legal terminology, is therefore knowledge of the Sharia’s practical
judgments, acquired from its detailed proof texts, or the sum of the Sharia’s
practical judgments gleaned from their detailed proof texts.
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On the Concept of Modernism and Modernization
This is how we see renewal and ijtihad, interconnected and complementary
of each other. As for modernism, often wrongfully associated with the
concept of renewal, it is not a clear or exact concept. Generally speaking
and according to the definitions put forth by many western thinkers, it is a
clean rupture from the past and from an entire religious and cultural legacy.
Another definition, applied in the artistic and philosophical fields, evokes the
severing of all ties with the past and the search for new forms of expression.
Modernism is also a trend in theology seeking to adapt traditional religious
teachings to modern thought by invalidating their esoteric dimensions.
Researchers wonder: did renewal and ijtihad serve as a means to modernism
and modernization?
Let us put on record here that modernism has many schools and concepts.
There is not one single concept of modernism nor is this concept cast in
stone.
We will start by saying that modernism is a Western concept that took root in a
Western environment and, as French thinker Alain Touraine says, modernism
replaces God with science as society’s pivot, and limits religious beliefs to the
confines of the individual’s private life.
The French Universalis Encycolpedia explains that as a concept, modernism is
neither social, nor political or historical but is more of a distinct civilizational
mode in contrast with that of imitation. It is not static and therefore cannot
be similar to imitation.
Modernism is not only the use of mind, science and technology. It is the
use of mind, science and technology stripped of all value or value-free. This
dimension is quite important in the structure of Western modernism. A
value-free world is one that is also dissociated from human being, a world
of material consequence where human being is subjected to the law of
the matter, hence everything becomes relative and it becomes impossible
to distinguish between good and evil, justice and tyranny, between what is
essential and what is relative, and finally between human being and nature
and human being and matter. In the absence of absolute values to serve as
benchmarks, the individual or the community become their own reference,
22
and what they see as in their interest becomes well and good, and what is
not in their interest becomes bad and evil. Western modernism has made
human being the pivot of the universe.
Emile Poulat, a prominent contemporary French researcher in the sociology
of religion, considered that the West’s enlightenment philosophy which served
as a foundation for Western modernism represented a paradigm shift in the
West’s Christian heritage. He goes on to say: “This ideology - enlightenment - is the
mother. Everything that flows from it is the fruit of its developments and contradictions,
without negating the epistemological rupture that divides two eras of human intellect: the era
of the summa theologiae of Thomas d’Aquin, and the encyclopedic age of enlightenment
philosophers. Henceforth, faith in the Kingdom of the Lord began to retreat before the
advent and domination of the age of reason, and thus, the system of divine blessing began
to disintegrate before the system of nature.”
The Larousse Great Encyclopedia (1975 edition) defines modernism as the
plethora of intellectual schools and trends related to the renewal of theology,
interpretation and the social system, and conversion of the church to adapt
it to the needs of the times. In more specific terms, it refers to the religious
crisis that shook the early years of the rule of Pope Pius X. The crisis of
modernism was largely the result of the violent clash between the traditional
theological teachings and the novel religious sciences that took body far from
fundamentalist censorship.
And since modernism is as it is, then we should exercise caution, examine
the issue from different angles and avoid espousing modernism in its entirety
and with its flaws, the reason being the close link thought to exist between
renewal and modernism, which lacks sound grounds.
Two questions need to be addressed here:
- Do we mean by renewal modernism in the Western sense?
- Is there a link between modernism and ijtihad and today’s renewal of
the Islamic thought?
I saw fit to raise these two questions in order to define the exact meanings of
these terms and address the issue at hand properly by giving it the share of
research and analysis it deserves.
Surely what is meant by modernism here is not the western concept of
modernism, but the renewal of thought, and even the renewal of life on
23
the basis of a modern system that regulates the life of human communities
within a modern state, social organization and management of state affairs in
accordance with predefined terms and fixed criteria. Strict adherence to these
rules and terms leads to the fulfillment of progress and a life of dignity, safety
and prosperity for individuals and groups.
These meanings and connotations are the objectives of Islam and the aims
pursued by ijtihad and renewal under the Islamic perspective. Ijtihad is ever
renewing life, new blood injected in the veins of the Islamic society. Ijtihad
can at no cost stray far from the true path of religion, under no circumstances
whatsoever, and in response to no pressures, no matter how well motivated
they are.
It would thus be unwise to espouse Western modernism in all aspects.
Wisdom dictates that we take only what is suitable and beneficial for us, or at
least that of which the benefit outweighs the harm.
Modern Ijtihad and the Renewal of Islamic Thought
The purpose of contemporary ijtihad and renewal of Islamic thought is not
to be modernists in the Western sense of the word. Our renewal and ijtihad
are meant to make us modernists who keep pace with developments and
draw benefit from today’s advantages - but always within the framework of
our own religious, cultural and civilizational specificities. Our renewal keeps
us in a state of constant evolution and in perpetual anticipation of progress.
Modern Muslim thinkers have realized the ever regenerating need of our
societies for ijtihad, modernization and renewal, and the importance of always
giving due consideration to the priorities of ijtihad. Ijtihad takes many forms
and affects many fields: ijtihad in fiqh, in politics, in economy, in technology,
in science, in culture and in civilization. The same applies to renewal. There
is the renewal of Islamic fiqh, of Islamic thought, of the Arabic language
-which is the medium of thought-, of arts and literature, and many other
forms of renewal and ijtihad, each affecting a field as diversified as the issues
that require this renewal and ijtihad. In all these cases, ijtihad is synonymous
with renewal and therefore the movement of ijtihad in all these fields should
continue and closely interact with that of renewal within the context of
an exact, well adapted and rational vision of the Sharia objectives and the
wellbeing and prosperity of people.
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Respecting these categorizations of ijtihad is part of the fiqh of priorities,
although it does not mean in the least favoring ijtihad in a given field over
ijtihad in another field. Ijtihad should be global and comprehensive with due
consideration given to tackling priorities as per their degree of importance.
Thus we come to realize the importance of ijtihad in Islam and its link to
renewal and modernization. It is in essence a renewal of religious matters
in the sense of understanding the grand purpose of religion and the aims
of the Sharia, implementing its precepts and being guided by its teachings,
modernizing life, building the earth, and reforming mankind.
This is the deep, exact and global meaning of renewal of which took cognizance early Muslim thinkers who laid down the foundations of an intellectual renaissance in the Muslim world provided impetus for the liberation
of Muslim lands from colonialism.
Having analyzed the three concepts of ijtihad, renewal and modernization
and other inherent issues, we can say that the Islamic perspective of reality
springs from a conscious assimilation of the objectives of the Sharia, religious
principles and cultural and civilizational values, and from deep awareness of
life’s necessities, and of the challenges and dangers facing Muslims. With
a profound and rational understanding of reality in its fluctuations and
of changes and developments, we can reconnoiter the prospects of the
future. Guided by the teachings of our religion we move towards the future,
combining ijtihad and renewal as means to modernization and renewal. Such
modernization and renewal are meant to ensure that we remain at pace with
the time and its developments without undermining our religious constants
and cultural and civilizational specificities, or relinquishing the supreme
interests of our Ummah which represent the sum of national interests of
each country in the Muslim world.
Toward a Revival of Modern Islamic Thought
We thus call for the revival of modern Islamic thought with a sound vision
of the mission of renewal. We also call for strengthening Islamic solidarity
and boosting joint Islamic action so that the ijtihad of our Ummah becomes
an ever renewing collective ijtihad, the fruit of the combined efforts of
its scientists, scholars and experts to renew its life within a framework of
cooperation, complementarity and coordination and modernize it in full
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respect of religion’s constants and of the fundaments of the munificent
Islamic civilization.
Our anticipation of the future and our preparation for it would rest on solid
foundations. In turn, our endeavors for the reform of the overall state and
affairs would become a coordinated and cohesive effort with guaranteed
results for the benefit of the Ummah at present and in the future.
Ijtihad in planning the future of the Muslim world, through a renewed Islamic
thought that contributes to accomplishing this mission and shaping the ways
to develop Islamic life, and modernizing the means and ways of fulfilling
the lofty ideals we all pursue, are all channels that will possibly unlock wide
horizons before us for serious and constructive work. They would help us at
the same time to avoid pitfalls, keep us out of harm’s way and safe from the
pressures to which are subjected enfeebled nations.
From this vision of the mission, meaning and limitations of renewal, and of
the role, tools and conditions of ijtihad, we should work within a harmonious
civilizational endeavor to renew our life and advance it in all areas of
civilizational edification and ensure that our Ummah is one of a renewal
that is observant of its specificities, attached to the constants of its religion,
open to modern times to draw benefit from their advantages, creativity and
achievements, provided these do not clash with the essences of the religion,
the indissoluble link and the tightest of all bonds. Only thus, can we fulfill
the much needed modernization, make this renewal beneficial to us, and
ensure the continuity of the various loops of the chain of progress, growth
and civilizational ascent, true to the divine words: [Thus, have We made of you
an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations, and the
Messenger a witness over yourselves.](3) Being a witness over other nations is
only possible through a civilizational distinction that is born out of ijtihad and
renewal.
Sheikh Mohamed Ibn Abdelwahab and Sheikh Mohamed
al-Shawkani: Pioneering Revivers
The renewal of Islamic thought in contemporary times was initiated by a
select group of pioneering religious scholars and thinkers of great intellectual
3) Surat al-Baqarah (The Cow), verse 143.
26
acumen. Academically and chronologically, Sheikh Mohamed Ibn Abdelwahab
(1703-1792AD) from the Arab Peninsula and Sheikh Mohamed Ibn Ali alShawkani (1759-1834AD) from Yemen.
Although the renewal initiated by these two vanguard scholars remained
limited to rites and some transactions and it did not delve into the depths
of Islamic thought, the impact they had on Islamic intellectual life spread,
in one way or another, to most fields of Islamic thought in the 18th and 19th
centuries. It can safely be said that this impact reached the Indian subcontinent
(Wali-Allah al-Dahlawi, Nadershah and Ahmed khan, to name by a few).
Their influence would have reached Central Asia but for the Tsarist Russian
invasions of those Islamic lands, Kazan in Tatarstan, Ufa in Bashkortostan
and others, putting an end to the spread of this influence.
The subsequent calls of Jamal Eddine al-Afghani and his disciples, both direct
and indirect, Mohamed Abdu, Abderrahman al-Kawakibi, Sheikh Hussein
al-Jisr, Sheikh Mohamed Rachid Reda, Khair Eddine al-Tounsi, Abdellah alNadim were all founded on the renewal of Islamic thought, each in its own
way. The epoch in which they emerged was one of revival, awakening, and
renewal of Islamic thought.
The Spirit of Renewal in Sheikh Mohamed Abdu’s and
Sheikh al-Jisr’s Works
Sheikh Mohamed Abdu’s Risalat al-Tawhid (Theology of Unity) embodied
the spirit of renewal of all the knowledge acquired by Muslims throughout
the ages in scholastic theology and the sound understanding of Islamic faith.
The same applies to Sheikh Hussein al-Jisr’s and his book al-Risala alHamidiya which is considered in academic terms a novel presentation and
analysis of the objectives of Sharia and a critique of the beliefs of followers
of religions, sects and creeds. As for Tabai’ al-Istibdad wa Masare’ alIsti’bad (The Attendants of Despotism and the Destruction of Subjugation)
by Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, it is a clear example of Islamic political
thought renewal.
If we review the lists of books published in the Muslim world, particularly
the Arab one since the Awakening, we will be surprised to find that the first
person to use the term ‘renewal’ in the title of a book was Dr Taha Hussein
who defended his PhD dissertation at the Egyptian University in 1914 on
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‘The Memory of Abu al-Alaa al-Maarri’ (Tajdid Dhikra Abu al-Alaa alMaarri) which he later on published in a book. We are not overly interested
in the content of this book which had the merit of being the first PhD
dissertation to be discussed at a university in the Arab world, and perhaps
even the Muslim world. What is of greater interest to us is that the word
‘tajdid’ was appearing for the first time in this title.
At all events, Dr Taha Hussein, despite all the criticisms directed at him,
especially on his book On Jahiliyya Poetry, was one of the pioneers of the
renewal of Arabic writing, coming right after Sheikh Mohamed Abdu who
advocated the renewal of Islamic thought and of Arabic. Needless to say, the
renewal of Arabic writing styles is one facet of Islamic thought renewal in
general since Arabic is the vehicle of this thought.
Modern Islamic Thought Currents
Islamic thought currents were many and its schools were diverse from the
first stirrings of awakening and revival in the 19th century. Still, these currents
can be divided into three main trends:
- First category: a movement in favor of inherited tradition.
- Second category: a movement in favor of imitation of the West.
- Third: a movement advocating renewal and revival.
As tends to happen, these intellectual trends came into collision whenever
trouble arose in Islamic societies. This conflict gave birth to a crisis of Islamic
thought that is not abating even today and has taken many shapes. Therefore,
resolving the crisis of Islamic thought entails that we understand that Islam
follows a unique path to renewal and that renewal does not mean obviating
what is old. Renewal and modernism - in the Western sense that we addressed
earlier - are two opposites, because our intellectual legacy originates from
what was revealed by a divine source and which represented and continues
to represent in the life of the Muslim Ummah, the primary originator of its
civilizational, national and intellectual existence, the author of its unity, the
defining marker of its identity, and the foundation of a civilization that stands
out and achieves distinction in the forum of civilizations and among nations
and peoples. The root of our intellectual legacy is one of its fundaments, and
to declare it as obsolete is tantamount to obliterating what sets this Ummah
apart and represents its hallmark.
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Whilst the act of abrogation or declaring something as obsolete is not an
option with regard to the intrinsic part of our intellectual legacy represented
by the Quranic message and the Prophet’s clarifications of this message,
renewal in these constants is possible, not because the Prophet’s hadith urged
for ‘renewing the religion’ -and not our religious thought only- but because
this renewal is the only means for this constant to fulfill the role entrusted
to it in the Ummah’s life. For this message of the Quran and the prophet’s
clarifications to endure as a constant in the Ummah’s life, they must retain their
power to influence life. And to ensure the continued impact of this constant
on the renewal of life, we need to apply renewal to reveal the true face of
its principles, precepts, methods and rulings, and purify it from heresies and
their pitfalls, from the cloak of myths and cumulus of charlatanry and from
the perversions of opinion.
We concur with Dr Mohamed Amara who wrote in his book Crisis of
Modern Islamic Thought that the movement of renewal and revival of
Islamic thought was broad and covered widely disparate groups in terms of
their interests, degree or criteria of renewal. The Islamic thought revival and
renewal movement sprang from the following sources:
- Principles of Islam, as represented by its pure sources: the Quranic
message and the prophet’s explanations of the Holy Quran as
represented by the immutable Sunnah of the Prophet.
- The fundaments of Arab and Islamic heritage which represented
the features of the Ummah’s civilizational identity and helped
generations maintain their civilizational bonds and their unity as an
Ummah through time and space.
- All creations of the human mind throughout the various civilizations,
as represented by the facts and laws that represent sciences with
unchanging subjects despite the succession of myriad civilizations and
beliefs, i.e. neutral scientific subjects that represent a common human
denominator that differs from human sciences. This includes culture
which falls under the specificities that guarantee the distinction of
civilizations. And how true were the words of the Prophet when he
said, “Wisdom is the lost property of the believer, so wherever he finds it then he
has a right to it.”
29
In his book Figures of Islamic Renewal from the 1st to the 14th Century,
Sheikh Abdel Mota’al al-Se’edi says that Islam expands to accommodate
renewal in every age. If its objective is the global advancement of humanity,
then the means of this advancement, unlike rituals, flow in an upward
direction and are not stalled in their progression since they rely on advances
in science and knowledge and Man cannot reach perfection in science no
matter how long he lives or even if his life extends to the end of times. The
Almighty says: [Of knowledge, it is only a little that is communicated to you,](4)
to open wide the gates of excellence and renewal in knowledge, and so that
knowledge-induced arrogance finds no way to our hearts, for arrogance
stands in the way of soaring to higher spheres of knowledge and renewal,
and leads to loathsome stagnation.
If renewal in religion and in knowledge is a possibility in all cases, then
renewal in Islamic thought is even more of a possibility.
Jurisprudence of Middle Stance and Renovation
And as Sheikh Dr Youssef al-Qaradawi said in his book “The Jurisprudence
of Middle Stance and Renovation”, the renewal we aim at is not that of the
wasteful and the immoral who seek to change the Ummah’s benchmarks to
other than the Quran, its mastery to other than Mohammed, its qibla to other
than Makkah, and its law to other than the Sharia. Those are not champions
of renewal, they are destructors and squanderers, they emulate instead of
innovate, blind followers and not the masters of their own fate. They are bent
on renewing everything, and as Dr Mohamed Iqbal said to some: “The Kaaba
will not be renewed by bringing new stones for it from Europe.”
Sheikh al-Qaradawi explains the true meaning of renewal and says that it is a
renewal built on fundaments, attached to the roots, seeking inspiration from
heritage, questioning history, linking today to yesterday, a renewal that does
not disavow the ancestors but enriches their legacy, adding to their scientific
and civilizational heritage, choosing the best in it and shunning what is of
little benefit, or as our ancestor said ‘taking the pure and leaving the murky.
4) Surat al-Israa’ (The Resurrection), verse 85.
30
Once we adopt this exact and objective concept, renewal as a contributory
factor to modernization becomes the Islamic alternative to Western
modernism as this term holds specific connotations.
While movements of Islamic thought renewal have evolved within a tremendous
legacy of intellectual production and impacted political parties and religious
groups, diverse as they may be in their leanings and convictions, renewal in
political and administrative sciences has failed to meet the requirements of
civilizational change and to advance the Islamic world. Many books were
written on renewing the fundaments of fiqh, fiqh and Muslim political thought.
Among these highly valuable books is Dr Mohamed Salim al-Awwa’s Islamic
Fiqh on the Path to Renewal in which he responds to Jamal al-Banna’s book
Towards a Few Fiqh. Let us just clarify here that the renewal of Islamic fiqh
is at the same time a renewal of Islamic thought in a broader sense.
Renewing Muslim Political Thought
Dr Mohamed Salim al-Awwa says in his book: “Stagnation has come to plague
the Islamic political thought among the Sunnis. Books and studies were fully dedicated
to the issues of caliphate, allegiance, the obligation of obedience, the forms of governing
and the types of ministry, in utter dissociation from what is happening in public life in all
Islamic states and the successive changes of ruling regimes and modes of political action.
Stagnation also affected the Islamic political thought among the Shiites. Much research was
carried out on the conditions of inerrancy and its obligation in imams, and concluding with
the impossibility of establishing an Islamic state in the absence of the 12th virtuous imam.
One of the virtues of contemporary Islamic awakening is that mujtahids and thinkers, who
were conscious of the dangers of a prolonged state of stagnation, have broken down the
barrier of fear. Many instances of ijtihad in Islamic political thought were recorded among
the Sunni scholars and thinkers, as well as among the Imamiyah Shiites.”
This modern trend among today’s Islamic thought renewal schools is the
most responsive to the needs of the Muslim suffering the many injustices
and deviations of tyrannical regimes which, in some instance, even negate the
Sharia objectives that protect man’s rights and safeguard his dignity. Renewal
in this aspect of Islamic thought is in fact a realistic renewal that impacts on
true reality and does not meander in the realms of futile intellectual theorizing.
31
The scope of action of Islamic thought renewal is wide and its means and
ways are many. Yet, not every renewal action enriches Islamic thought,
consolidates it or spurs it to explore further horizons and anticipate the
future. In fact, renewal can be positive as well as negative. Of the existing
Islamic thought renewal trends some even go against the grain of Islam’s
precepts and the objectives of its Sharia. Some pseudo-advocates of Islamic
thought renewal are actually undermining Islam. At the same time, advocates
in other currents of renewal lean more towards extremism, radicalism and
introversion, heedless of the changes affecting the reality of Muslims, and
seemingly far removed from the true meaning of renewal. This said, the
dominant trend in renewal in today’s juncture is one of moderation in belief,
understanding and conduct, and a renewal with a multifaceted scope.
Reconstruction in Mohamed Iqbal’s Works
The first scholar in the contemporary age of Islamic renaissance to use the
term of religious renewal instead of religious reform (although he called it
‘reconstruction’) was the Muslim philosopher Dr Mohamed Iqbal. His book
Reconstructing Religious Thought in Islam was published in the Thirties
of the previous century and translated into Arabic in Cairo by Abbas Mahmoud
(incidentally, not the great thinker Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad). A valuable
book from a thinker with a profound knowledge and great insight into the
intellectual reality of the Muslim world.
Mohamed Iqbal was meticulous in his choice of words when he described this
renewal dynamic as the reconstruction of religious thought without using the
term religious reform, knowing that any human endeavor undertaken in the
context of Islam cannot have as target the amendment of its principles since
its source, which is the Noble Quran, enjoys the attribute of absoluteness and
eternal affirmation, and that any reform movement in Islam should tackle
Islamic thought and how Muslims understand its principles, and that any
development or renewal in Islam remains in this light limited to the sphere of
the Muslims’ understanding and their interpretation of its precepts.
The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam was published in
English in 1930 in Lahore. It was originally a compilation of six lectures
delivered by Mohamed Iqbal to students in Madras, Hyderabad, and Aligarh.
32
The second edition of the book was published in 1934 by Oxford University
Press. The Arab translation of which a first edition was published in Cairo in
1955 by the Committee of Authorship, Translation and Publication was titled
Renewal of Islamic Thought in Islam (Tajdid al-Fikr al-Dini fi al-Islam)(5), and
renewal is after all reconstruction. Mohamed Iqbal’s book can certainly be
considered as a vanguard attempt at the renewal of Islamic thought.
Renewing Islamic thought is reconstructing this thought in order to reconstruct
the civilizational edifice of the Muslim world.
5) A second translation, by Muhammad Yusuf Adas, was published by Alexandrina
Bibliotheca, Egypt, in 2011.
References and bibliography
- Al-Fiqh al-Islami fi tarik al-Tajdid (The Islamic Fiqh on the Path to
Renewal), Dr Mohamed Salim al-Awwa (Az-Zaman publishing house,
Rabat, 2008).
- Al-Mujaddidun fi al-Islam min al-Qarn al-Awwal ila al-Qarn Ar-Rabi’
‘ashar (Figures of Islamic Renewal from the 1st to the 14th Century), Sheikh
Abdel Mota’al al-Se’edi (al-Aadab library, Cairo, 1996).
- Tajdid al-Fikr al-Dini fi al-Islam (Reconstructing Religious Thought in
Islam), Mohamed Iqbal (translated by Abbas Mahmud - Authoring, Translation and Publishing Committee, Cairo, 1955).
- Azmat al-Fikr al-Islami al-hadeeth (The Crisis of Modern Islamic
Thought), Dr Mohamed Amara (Dar al-Fiqr, Damascus, 1998).
- Fiqh al-Hadhara al-Islamiyya (Islamic Civilization’s Jurisprudence), Dr
Mohamed Amara (al-Sharq Ad-Dawliyya library, Cairo, 2003).
- Tajdid al-Khitab al-Dini (Renewing the Religious Discourse), Dr Mohamed
Salim al-Awwa (Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Cairo, 2003).
- Ilal Wa Adwiyat (Problems and Solutions in Human Life Cycle), Mohamed
al-Ghazali (Dar al-Fiqr, Damascus, 2002).
- Mu’jam Lughat al-Fuqaha (Dictionary of Islamic Legal Terminology),
Muhammad Rawwas Qal’ah’ji (Dar al-Nafais, Beirut, 1996).
- Al-Fiqr al-Islami al-Hadeet wa silatuhu bi al-Isti’mari al-Gharbi
(Modern Islamic Thought and its Relation to Western Colonialism), Dr
Muhammad al-Bahi (Dar al-Fikr for Printing, Publishing and Distribution,
Beirut, 1973).
- Murtakazat al-Khitab al-Dini al-Mu’assir (The Bases for a Modern
Islamic Discourse), Dr Mohamed Kamal Imam (a paper presented as part
of the symposium themed “Renewing the Religious Discourse: How and
Why?” with the participation of a group of scholars and thinkers, Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs, Cairo, 2003).
34
- Ta’ammulat fi qadhaya mu’assira (Reflections on Contemporary Issues),
Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Dar al-shourouq, Cairo, 2002).
- Al-alam al-Islami fi Asr al-Awlama (The Muslim World in the Age of
Globalization), Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Dar al-Shourouq, Cairo,
2004.
- Azmat al-Fikr al-Islami fi al-Asr al-Hadith: Madhahiroha, Asbaboha,
‘Ilajoha (The Crisis of Islamic Thought in the Modern Time: Manifestations,
Reasons and Remedy), Dr Abdulhamid Mitwali, Monshaat Al-Maarif,
Alexandria, 1975.
- Al-Risala al-Hamidiya Fi Haqiqat al-Diyana al-Islamiya wa-haqiqat
al-Shari’a al-Muhammadiya (A Hamidian treatise on the truth of Islam
and the Shari’a), Hussein al-Jisr, foreworded and authenticated by Khalid
Ziyada, Madbouli Library, Cairo, 2011.
- Al-Hoson al-Hamidiya Limohadhat al-‘aqaid al-Islamiya (Hamidian
Bastions of Islamic Creeds), Hussein al-Jisr, al-Tawfiq Printing House,
Cairo, 1323 A.H.
- Hujjat Allah al-Baligha (The Conclusive Arguments from God), Shah
Wali Allah of Delhi, authenticated by Sayid Sabiq, Dar al-Jil, Beirut, 2005.
- Kitab al-Tawhid alladhi huwa haqq Allahi ‘ala ‘l-‘abid (The Book of
the Unity of God), Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab, authenticated by
Abu Malik al-Riyashi Ahmed bin Ali bin Mathna al-Qufaili, Abdulrahman
Library and al-Ulum wal-Hikam Library, Cairo, undated.
- Nail al-Awtar min Asrar Muntaqa al-Akhbar (Attainment of the
Objective According to Evidences of the Ordinances), Sheikh Muhammad
Ibn Ali al-Shawkani, authenticated by Tariq Ibn Awadhallah Muhammad,
Dar Ibn al-Qayyim, Dar Ibn Affan.
- Al-Akadimiyya (The Academy) Journal, Issue 30, Rabat, 2013 (Academy
of the Kingdom of Morocco).
Allama Muhammad Iqbal*
The great Sufi Sheikh, ‘Abd al-Quddus of Gangohi said: “Muhammad of
Arabia ascended the highest Heaven and returned. I swear by God that if I had reached
that point, I should never have returned.”(1)
In the whole range of Sufi literature it will be probably difficult to find
words which, in a single sentence, disclose such an acute perception of the
psychological difference between the prophetic and the mystic types of
consciousness. The mystic does not wish to return from the repose of “unitary
experience”; and even when he does return, as he must, his return does not
mean much for mankind at large. The prophet’s return is however creative.
He returns to insert himself into the sweep of time with a view to control
the forces of history, and thereby to create a fresh world of ideals. For the
mystic, the repose of “unitary experience” and the stage of witnessing God
are his end goal and the climax of his aspirations; for the prophet it is rather
the awakening of his deep psychological forces. The Prophet’s experience
is the beginning of a spiritual mission tending to shake the world. Actually,
it’s a totally new experience predestined to completely transform the human
world.
The desire to see his religious experience transformed into a living world-force
is supreme in the Prophet. Thus, his return from the stage of witnessing God
amounts to a kind of pragmatic test of the value of his religious experience.
In its creative act, the Prophet’s will judges both itself and the material world
* Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), was born in Sialkot in British India, now located in
Pakistan. He was a philosopher, a poet and an academician. This research is Chapter Five
of his book “The Reconstruction of the Religious Thought in Islam”.
1) See Abd al-Quddus of Gangohi’s book in Urdu “Maktubat Quddoosiya”, p.79. It’s
worthy to point out the acute remarks made by Allama Iqbal on the back cover of his
personal version of William James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience”, mainly the part
subtitled: Sufi versus the Prophet’s awareness with a clear reference to Abd al-Quddus of
Gangohi.
36
in which it endeavours to objectively realise itself. In penetrating the resistant
material world before him, the prophet discovers himself for himself, and
unveils himself to the eye of history.
Another way of judging the value of the Prophet’s religious experience,
therefore, would be to examine the type of men he has created, and the
cultural world that has emerged out of the spirit of his message. In this lecture
I want to confine myself to the latter alone. My intention is not to give you a
description of the achievements of Islam in the field of knowledge, but rather
to draw your attention to some of the most important concepts of the culture
of Islam in order to gain an insight into the process of ideation that underlies
them, and thus catch a glimpse of the soul that found expression through
them. Before, however, I proceed to do so, it is necessary to understand the
cultural value of a great idea in Islam - I mean “the finality of the institution of
prophethood.”(2) A prophet may be defined as a type of mystic consciousness
in which “unitary experience” or “the stage of witnessing God” tends to
overflow its boundaries, and seeks opportunities of redirecting and reshaping
the forces of collective life.
Characteristic to the personality of the Prophet is that He is the finite being
who sinks into the infinite depths of His spiritual life where He draws from
the inexhaustible divine revelation. There, the Prophet would not stay for
meditation, but only to spring up again, with fresh vigour, to destroy the
old, and to disclose the new directions of life. This contact with the origin
of existence and to the source of revelation is by no means peculiar to the
Prophet-man alone. Indeed the way in which the word Wahy (revelation) is
used in the Quran shows that the Quran regards it as a universal characteristic
of life;(3) though its nature and character differ at different stages of the
2) This idea is embodied in Allah’s word: [Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of
your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets. And ever is
Allah, of all things, Knowing.] (Al-’Ahzab: 40)
3) Despite the fact that revelation is exclusively specific to the Prophets, the Qur’an speaks
of revelation in connection with earth: [Because your Lord has commanded it] (AzZalzalah: 5), with the Sky: [and inspired in each heaven its command.] (Fussilat: 12),
and with honey-bees: [And your Lord inspired to the bee, «Take for yourself among
the mountains, houses, and among the trees and [in] that which they construct.
Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down [for you].»
There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colors, in which there is healing
for people. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought.] (An-Nahl: 68-69)
Allama Muhammad Iqbal
37
evolution of life. The plant growing freely in space, the animal developing
a new organ to suit a new environment, and a human being receiving light
from the inner depths of life, are all cases of revelation varying in character
according to the needs of the recipient, or the needs of the species to which
the recipient belongs.
During the minority of mankind, psychic energy develops what I call
prophetic consciousness - a mode of economizing individual thought and
choice by providing ready-made judgements, choices and ways of action (which may be the innate disposition which Allah endowed people with).
With the birth of reason and critical faculty, however, life inhibits the
formation and growth of non-rational modes of consciousness which
flowed out of the human energy at an earlier stage of human life. Man is
primarily governed by passion and instinct. Inductive reason, which alone
makes man master of his environment, is an achievement. Once acquired, it
must be reinforced by inhibiting the growth of other modes of knowledge.
There is no doubt that the ancient world produced some great doctrines of
philosophy at a time when man was comparatively primitive and governed
more or less by suggestion. But we must not forget that those doctrines in the
ancient world were the work of abstract thought which cannot go beyond the
systematization of vague religious beliefs and prevailing traditions, and gives
us no hold on the real situations of life.
Looking at the matter from this point of view, then, the Prophet of Islam
seems to stand between the ancient and the modern worlds. In so far as the
source of his revelation is concerned, he belongs to the ancient world; in
so far as the spirit of his revelation is concerned, he belongs to the modern
world. In him, life discovers other sources of knowledge suitable to its new
directions. The birth of Islam, as I hope to be able presently to prove to your
satisfaction, is the birth of inductive intellect. In Islam, prophecy reaches its
perfection in discovering the need of its own abolition in such a way as to
make of Muhammad’s prophecy the last and final one.(4) This involves the
4) This makes reference to one paragraph, the last one in the last verses of the Quran revealed
to the Prophet: [This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My
favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced
by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and
Merciful.] (Al-Ma’idah: 3)
38
keen perception that life cannot for forever be kept in leading strings; that,
in order to achieve full self-consciousness, man must finally be thrown back
on his own resources. The abolition of priesthood in Islam, the constant
appeal to reason and experience in the Quran, and the emphasis that it lays on
Nature and History as sources of human knowledge, are all different aspects
of the same idea of prophecy finality. The idea, however, does not mean that
mystic experience, which qualitatively does not differ from the experience of
the prophet, has now ceased to exist as a vital fact. Indeed the Quran regards
both Anfus (self) and Afaq (horizons) as sources of knowledge.(5)
God reveals His signs in inner as well as in outer experience, and it is the duty
of man to judge the knowledge-yielding capacity of all aspects of experience.
The idea of finality, therefore, should not be taken to suggest that the ultimate
fate of life is complete displacement of passion and emotion by reason for
such a thing is neither possible nor desirable. The true intellectual value of
the idea is that it tends to create an independent critical attitude towards
mystic experience by generating the belief that all personal authority, claiming
a supernatural origin, has come to an end in the history of humanity.
This kind of belief is in itself a psychological force which inhibits the
emergence and growth of such authority. The function of this idea is to open
up fresh horizons of knowledge in the field of man’s inner experience. Just
as the first half of the first rule of the formula of Islam suggests (Shahada).(6)
It has created and fostered the spirit of a critical observation of man’s outer
experience by divesting the forces of Nature of that Divine character with
which earlier cultures had clothed them. Mystic experience, then, however
unusual and abnormal it may be, must now be regarded by a Muslim as a
perfectly natural experience, open to critical scrutiny like any other aspect of
the human experience. This is clear from the Prophet’s own attitude towards
Ibn Sayyid’s psychic experiences.(7)
5) [We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it
becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your
Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness?] (Fussilat: 53)
6) Muhammad Iqbal calls “Shahada” the formula of Islam. The expression ‘formula of Islam’
signifies that by bearing witness to the truth of these two simple propositions: “There is no
god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”, a man enters the fold of Islam.
7) See Al-Bukhari’s: Al-Jan’iz: 78, Al-Shahada: 3 and Al-Jihad: 160.
39
The function of Sufism in Islam has been to classify mystic experience in
specific systems; though it must be admitted that Ibn Khaldun (732-808 AH/
1332-1406AD) was the only Muslim who approached Sufism in a thoroughly
scientific spirit.(8)
But inner experience is only one source of human knowledge. According to
the Quran, there are two other sources of knowledge - Nature and History;
and it is in tapping these sources of knowledge that the spirit of Islam is
manifest at its best. The Quran sees signs of the Ultimate Reality in the “sun”,
the “moon”, “the extension of shadows”, “the variety of human colours and tongues”,
“the alternation of the days of success and reverse among peoples” - in fact, in the
universe as a whole as revealed to the sense-perception of man. And the
Muslim’s duty is to reflect on these signs and not to pass by them “as if he
were dead and blind”, for [Whoever is blind in this life will be blind in the
Hereafter and more astray in way.] (Al-Isra’: 72)(9)
his appeal to the concrete world combined with the slow realization that,
according to the teachings of the Quranic verses, the universe is dynamic in
its origin, finite and capable of increase and expansion, eventually brought
Muslim thinkers into conflict with Greek thought which, in the beginning
of their intellectual career, they had studied with so much enthusiasm. Not
realizing that the spirit of the Quran was essentially inconsistent with classical
philosophy, they put full confidence in Greek thinkers.
Muslim thinkers’ first impulse was to understand the Quran in the light
of Greek philosophy. In view of the concrete spirit of the Quran, and the
speculative nature of Greek philosophy which fostered theory and neglected
fact, their attempt was doomed to failure.
Their failure occasioned the emergence of new trends that brought about the
real spirit of the culture of Islam, and laid the foundation of modern culture
8) See Ibn Kahldun’s Muqqadimah, trans. Rosenthall, Vol. III, Section vi, Discourse: ‘The
Science of Sufism’; See also D. B. Macdonald, Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, pp.
165-74,
9) Reference here is to the Quranic verses: (Fussilat: 37); (Al-Furqan: 45); (Yunus: 06) ; (ArRum: 22) all relating to the phenomena of Nature which have quite often been named in
the Qur’an as ayat Allah, i.e. the ‘apparent signs of God’ which Allah reveals to the man’s
perception senses.
40
in some of its most important aspects. This intellectual revolt against Greek
philosophy manifests itself in all fields of Islamic thought.
I am afraid I am not competent enough to deal with this topic as it discloses
itself in Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine.
It is clearly visible in the metaphysical thought of the Ash‘arite, but appears
as a most well-defined phenomenon in the Muslim criticism of Greek logic.
This was only natural; for dissatisfaction with purely speculative philosophy
means the search for a surer method of knowledge. It was, I think, Nazzim
(231AH/845AD) who first formulated the principle of “doubt” as the
beginning of all knowledge. Al-Ghazali further amplified it in his “Revival
of Religious Sciences”,(10) and prepared the way for Descartes’ method.
But Al-Ghazali remained on the whole a follower of Aristotle in logic. In his
“Qistas”, he puts some of the Quranic arguments in the form of Aristotelian
figures,(11) but forgets the Quranic Surah known as Shu‘ara’ (the poets)
where the proposition that retribution follows the gainsaying of prophets
is established by the method of simple presentation of historical instances.
It was Al-Ishraqi (549-587AH/1154-1191AD) and Ibn Taymiyyah (661-728AH/
1154-1191AD) who undertook a systematic refutation of Greek Logic.(12)
Abu Bakr Al-Razi (251-311AH/865-926AD) was perhaps the first to criticize
Aristotle’s (384-322 BC) first figure and in our own times his objection,
conceived in a thoroughly inductive spirit, has been re-formulated by John
Stuart Mill (1806-1873AD). Ibn Hazm (384-456AH/994-1064AD), in his
10) Cf. G. H. Lewes, “The Biographical History of Philosophy” (1857), p. 306, II. 4-8,
where Lewes says: “It is this work (Revival of the Religious Sciences) which M. Schmölders has
translated. It bears a remarkable resemblance to the Discours de la method of Descartes. As there
existed a translation of Al-Ghazali’s work it in the days of Descartes, many might have cried against
the plagiarism”.
11) Cf. Al-Qistas al-Mustaqim, trans. D. P. Brewster (The Just Balance), chapters ii-vi. Cf.
also Michael E. Marmura, ‘Ghazali’s Attitude to the Secular Sciences and Logic’ in “Essays
on Islamic Philosophy and Science”, ed. G. F. Hourani, Section II, pp. 102-03, and
Susanna Diwald’s detailed review on Al-Qistas in her book “Der Islam” (1961), pp.
171-74.
12) For an account of Ishraqi’s criticism of Greek logic contained in his “Hikmat alIshraq”, cf. S.Hossein Nasr on ‘Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi Maqtul’, in “A History of
Muslim Philosophy”, Part I, 384-85
41
“Scope of Logic”, emphasizes sense-perception is a source of knowledge;
and Ibn Taymiyyah in his “Refutation of Logic”, shows that induction is
the only form of reliable argument.
Thus arose the method of observation and experiment. It was not a merely
theoretical affair. Al-Biruni’s (362-440AH/937-1048AD) discovery of what
we call “reaction-time” and Al-Kindi’s (260AH/873AD) discovery that
sensation is proportionate to the stimulus, are instances of its application in
psychology.(13)
It is a mistake to suppose that the experimental method is a European
discovery. Dühring (1866-1621 AD) tells us that Roger Bacon’s (12201292 AD) conceptions of science are more just and clear than those of
his celebrated namesake. And where did Roger Bacon receive his scientific
training? - in the Muslim universities of Spain. Indeed, Part V of his “Opus
Majus”, which is devoted to “perspective”, is practically a copy of Ibn AlHaitham’s “Optics”(14) Nor is the book, as a whole, lacking in evidences of
Ibn Al-Haitham’s influence on its author. Europe has been rather slow to
recognize the Islamic origin of its scientific method. But full recognition of
the fact has at last come. Let me quote one or two passages from Briffault’s
(1876-1948 AD) “Making of Humanity”:
“... it was under their successors at that Oxford school that Roger Bacon
learned Arabic and Arabic science. Neither Roger Bacon nor his
later namesake has any title to be credited with having introduced the
experimental method. Roger Bacon was no more than one of the apostles
of Muslim science and method to Christian Europe; and he never wearied
of declaring that knowledge of Arabic and Arabian science was
for his contemporaries the only way to true knowledge. Discussions as
13) Cf. “Development of Metaphysics in Persia” (1964), p. 64, where it is stated that
Al-Biruni and Ibn Al-Haitham anticipated modern empirical psychology in recognizing
what is called “reaction-time”. In the footnote Allama Iqbal quotes from de Boer’s
“History of Philosophy in Islam”, pp. 146-150, to establish sense-empiricism of AlBiruni and Ibn Al-Haitham.
14) Cf. “Opus Majus”, trans. Robert Belle Burke, Vol. II, Part V (pp. 419-82). It is important
to note that Sarton’s observation on Roger Bacon’s work on optics is very close to that
of Allama Iqbal. ‘His optics’, says Sarton, “was essentially based upon that of Ibn al-Haitham,
with small additions and practical applications.”
42
to who was the originator of the experimental method... are part of the
colossal misrepresentation of the origins of European civilization. The
experimental method of the Arabs was by Bacon’s time widespread and
eagerly cultivated throughout Europe.” (pp. 200-201)
“Science is the most momentous contribution of the Arab civilization to the
modern world, but its fruits were slow in ripening. Not until long after the
Moorish culture had sunk back into darkness did the giant to which it
had given birth rise in his might. It was not science which brought Europe
back to life. Other and manifold influences from the civilization of Islam
communicated its first glow to European life.” (p. 202)
“For although there is not a single aspect of European growth in which
the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so
clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the
paramount distinctive force of the modern world, and the supreme source
of its victory – natural science and the scientific spirit.” (p. 190)
“The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling
discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to
Arab culture, it owes its existence. The ancient world was, as we saw,
pre-scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of the Greeks were a
foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The
Greeks systematized, generalized, and theorized, but the patient ways of
investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods
of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were
altogether alien to the Greek temperament. Only in Hellenistic Alexandria
was any approach to scientific work conducted in the ancient classical
world. What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of
inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment,
observation, measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form
unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced
into the European world by the Arabs.” (p. 191) [End of quote]
The first important point to note about the spirit of Muslim culture then is
that, for purposes of knowledge, it fixes its gaze on the concrete, the finite. It
is further clear that the birth of the method of observation and experiment
in Islam was due not to a compromise with Greek thought but to a prolonged
intellectual warfare with it. In fact, the influence of the Greeks who, as
43
Briffault says, were interested chiefly in theory, not in fact, tended rather to
obscure the Muslims’ vision of the Quran, and for at least two centuries kept
the practical Arab temperament from asserting itself and coming to its own.
I want, therefore, definitely to eradicate the misunderstanding that Greek
thought, in any way, determined the character of Muslim culture. Part of my
argument you have seen; part you will see presently.
Knowledge must begin with the concrete. It is the intellectual capture of and
power over the concrete that makes it possible for the intellect of man to pass
beyond the concrete. As the Quran says:
[O company of Jinn and mankind, if you can overpass the
bounds of the Heaven and the earth, then overpass them.
But by power alone shall ye overpass them.] (Ar-Rahman: 33)
But the universe, as a collection of finite things, presents itself as a kind
of island situated in a pure vacuity to which time, regarded as a series of
mutually exclusive moments, is nothing and does nothing. Such a vision of
the universe leads the reflecting mind nowhere. The thought of a limit to
perceptual space and time staggers the mind. The finite, as such, is an idol
obstructing the movement of the mind; or, in order to overpass its bounds,
the mind must overcome serial time and the pure vacuity of perceptual space.
[And verily towards thy God is the limit,] (An-Najm: 42) says the Quran.
This verse embodies one of the deepest thoughts in the Quran; for it
definitely suggests that the ultimate limit is to be sought not in the direction
of stars, but in the infinity of cosmic and spiritual lives. Now the intellectual
journey towards this ultimate limit is long and arduous; and in this effort, too,
the thought of Islam appears to have moved in a direction entirely different
from the Greeks’. The ideal of the Greeks, as Spengler (1880-1936 AD)
tells us, was proportion, not infinity. The finite physical existence with its
well-defined limits alone absorbed the mind of the Greeks. In the history of
Muslim culture, however, we find that both in the realms of pure intellect and
religious psychology, by which term I mean higher Sufism, the ideal revealed
is the possession and enjoyment of the Infinite. In a culture, with such an
attitude, the problem of space and time becomes a question of life and death.
In one of my lectures, I have already given some idea of the way in which
the problem of time and space presented itself to Muslim thinkers, especially
44
the Ash‘arite. One reason why the atomism of Democritus (c. 460 – c.
370 BC) never became popular in the world of Islam is that it involves the
assumption of an absolute space. The Ash‘arite were, therefore, driven to
develop a different kind of atomism, and tried to overcome the difficulties
of perceptual space in a manner similar to modern atomism. On the side of
Mathematics it must be remembered that since the days of Ptolemy (AD 87165) till the time of Nasir Al-Din Tusi (597-672 AH/1201-74 AD) nobody
gave serious thought to the difficulties of demonstrating the certitude of
Euclid’s parallel postulate on the basis of perceptual space.(15)
It was Tusi who first disturbed the calm which had prevailed in the world
of Mathematics for a thousand years; and in his effort to improve Euclid’s
postulate, he realized the necessity of abandoning perceptual space.(16) He
thus furnished a basis, however slight, for the hyperspace movement in our
modern time. It was, however, Al-Biruni who, in his approach to the modern
mathematical idea of function saw, from a purely scientific point of view, the
insufficiency of a static view of the universe. This again is a clear departure
from the Greek view.
The function-idea introduces the element of time in our world-picture. It
turns the invariable into the variable, and sees the universe not as being but
as becoming. Spengler thinks that the mathematical idea of function is the
symbol of the Western culture of which “no other culture gives even a hint.”(17)
15) For Tusi’s discussion of the parallel postulate (also named ‘axiom of parallelism’), see
his ‘Al-Risalat al-Shafiyah ‘an al-Shakk fi ’l-Khutut al-Mutawaziyah’in (Tusi’s) Rasa’il, Vol. II,
Part. viii, pp. 1-40. Commenting on this work, Sarton notes (op. cit. Vol. II, 1003) that:
‘Nasir al-Din’s discussion was remarkably elaborate.’
16) This passage may be read in conjunction with Allama Iqbal’s observation on Tusi in the
address he delivered in the Fifth Oriental Conference, Lahore, on 20 November 1928:
‘A Plea for the Deeper Study of Muslim Scientists’, in which Iqbal said: “It is Tusi’s effort to
improve the parallel postulate of Euclid that is believed to have furnished a basis in Europe for the
problem of space which eventually led to the theories of Gauss and Riemann” (Speeches, Writings
and Statements of Iqbal, p. 138).
17) Cf. a fairly long passage from Spengler’s “Decline of the West” (Vol. I, p.75) quoted
in Allama’s Address: ‘A Plea for Deeper Study of the Muslim Scientists’ and an account of
the way he went into the authentication of Al-Biruni’s view of mathematical function
(Speeches, Writings and Statements of Iqbal, pp. 135-36).
45
In view of Al-Biruni’s generalizing Newton’s formula of interpolation from
trigonometrical function to any function whatever,(18) Spengler’s claim has
no foundation in fact. The transformation of the Greek concept of number
from pure magnitude to pure relation really began with Al-Khwarizmi’s
movement from Arithmetic to Algebra.(19)
Al-Biruni took a definite step forward towards what Spengler describes
as chronological number which signifies the mind’s passage from being to
becoming. Indeed, more recent developments in European mathematics tend
rather to deprive time of its living historical character, and to reduce it to a
dimension merely representing space. That is why Whitehead’s (1861-1947 AD)
view of Relativity is likely to appeal to Muslim scholars and students more
than that of Einstein (1889-1955 AD) in whose theory time loses its character
of passage and mysteriously translates itself into one of space’s dimensions.(20)
Side by side with the progress of mathematical thought in Islam, we find the
idea of evolution gradually shaping itself. It was Al-Jahiz (163-225 AH/780869 AD) who was the first to note the changes in bird-life caused by migrations.
Later Ibn Maskawaih (d. 421 AH, 1030 AD) who was a contemporary of
Al-Biruni gave evolution the shape of a more definite theory, and adopted
it in his theological work “Al-Fauz al-Asghar” (The Small Achievement). I
reproduce here the substance of his evolutionary hypothesis, not because of
its scientific value, but because of the light which it throws on the direction
in which Muslim thought was moving.
According to Ibn Maskawaih, plant-life at the lowest stage of evolution does
not need any seed for its birth and growth. Nor does it perpetuate its species
by means of the seed. This kind of plant-life differs from minerals only in
some little power of movement which grows in higher forms, and reveals
18) Cf. M.A. Kazim, ‘Al-Biruni and Trignometry’, ‘Al-Biruni’s Commemoration
Volume’, esp. pp. 167-178, and the English translation of the passage taken from AlBiruni’s “Al-Qanun al-Mas‘udi”.
19) Cf. M.R. Siddiqi, ‘Mathematics and Astronomy’, in “A History of Muslim Philosophy”,
ed. M.M. Sharif, Vol. II, p.280.
20) Cf. “Al-Fauz al-Asghar”, pp. 78-83; also “Development of Metaphysics in Persia”,
where an account of Ibn Maskawaih’s theory of evolution is given as summed up by
Shibli Nu‘mani in his ‘Ilm al-Kalam, pp. 141-43.
46
itself further in that the plant spreads out its branches, and perpetuates its
species by means of the seed. The power of movement gradually grows
farther until we reach trees which possess a trunk, leaves, and fruit. At a
higher stage of evolution, stand forms of plant-life which need better soil
and climate for their growth. The last stage of development is reached in vine
and date-palm which stand, as it were, on the threshold of animal life.
In the date-palm, a clear sex-distinction appears. Besides roots and fibres, it
develops something which functions like the animal brain, on the integrity
of which depends the life of the date-palm. This is the highest stage in the
development of plant-life, and a prelude to animal life.
The first forward step towards animal life is freedom from earth-rootedness
which is the germ of conscious movement. This is the initial stage of
animality in which the sense of touch is the first, and the sense of sight is
the last to appear. With the development of the senses, the animal acquires
freedom of movement, as in the case of worms, reptiles, ants, and bees.
Animality reaches its perfection in the horse among quadrupeds and the
falcon among birds, and finally arrives at the frontier of humanity in the ape
which is just a degree below man in the scale of evolution. Further evolution
brings physiological changes with a growing power of discrimination and
spirituality until humanity passes from barbarism to civilization.
But it is really religious psychology, as in ‘Iraqi* (d. 724 AH/1301 AD) and
Khawajah Muhammad Pārsā, which brings us much nearer to our modern
ways of looking at the problem of space and time. ‘Iraqi’s view of timestratifications I have given you before. I will now give you the substance of
his view of space.
According to ‘Iraqi, the existence of some kind of space in relation to God
is clear from the following verses of the Quran:
[Have you not considered that Allah knows what is in the
heavens and what is on the earth? There is in no private
conversation three but that He is the fourth of them, nor
* The editor of the second English translation of Allama Iqbal’s book argues that Ayn-alQuzat Hamadani, author of “Ghayat al-Imkan fi Dirayat al-Makan” is intended here
rather than ‘Iraqi. The context confirms the argument. (Editor)
47
are there five but that He is the sixth of them - and no less
than that and no more except that He is with them [in
knowledge] wherever they are. Then He will inform them
of what they did, on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah
is, of all things, Knowing.] (Al-Mujadila: 7)
[And, [O Muhammad], you are not [engaged] in any matter
or recite any of the Qur’an and you [people] do not do any
deed except that We are witness over you when you are
involved in it. And not absent from your Lord is any [part]
of an atom’s weight within the earth or within the heaven
or [anything] smaller than that or greater but that it is in a
clear register.] (Yunus: 61)
[And We have already created man and know what his
soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his]
jugular vein.] (Qaf: 16)
But we must not forget that the words proximity, contact, and mutual
separation which apply to material bodies do not apply to God. Divine life is
in touch with the whole universe on the analogy of the soul’s contact with the
body. The soul is neither inside nor outside the body; neither proximate to
nor separate from it. Yet its contact with every atom of the body is real, and it
is impossible to conceive this contact except by positing some kind of space
which befits the subtleness of the soul. The existence of space in relation to
the life of God, therefore, cannot be denied; only we should carefully define
the kind of space which may be predicated of the Absoluteness of God.
Now, there are three kinds of space - the space of material bodies, the space
of immaterial beings, and the space of God. The space of material bodies is
further divided into three kinds.
First, the space of gross bodies of which we predicate roominess. In this
space movement takes time, bodies occupy their respective places and resist
displacement.
Secondly, the space of subtle bodies, e.g. air and sound. In this space too
bodies resist each other, and their movement is measurable in terms of time
which, however, appears to be different to the time of gross bodies. The air
in a tube must be displaced before other air can enter into it; and the time
of sound-waves is practically nothing compared to the time of gross bodies.
48
Thirdly, we have the space of light. The light of the sun instantly reaches
the remotest limits of the earth. Thus in the velocity of light and sound,
time is reduced almost to zero. It is, therefore, clear that the space of light is
different from the space of air and sound. There is, however, a more effective
argument than this. The light of a candle spreads in all directions in a room
without displacing the air in the room; and this shows that the space of light
is more subtle than the space of air which has no entry into the space of light.
In view of the close proximity of these spaces, however, it is not possible
to distinguish the one from the other except by purely intellectual analysis
and spiritual experience. Again, in the hot water the two opposites –fire and
water– which appear to interpenetrate each other cannot, in view of their
respective natures, exist in the same space. The fact cannot be explained
except on the supposition that the spaces of the two substances, though
closely proximate to each other, are nevertheless distinct.
But while the element of distance is not entirely absent, there is no possibility
of mutual resistance in the space of light. The light of a candle reaches up
to a certain point only, and the lights of a hundred candles intermingle in the
same room without displacing one another.
Having thus described the spaces of physical bodies possessing various
degrees of subtleness, ‘Iraqi proceeds briefly to describe the main varieties
of space operated upon by the various classes of immaterial beings, e.g.
angels. The element of distance is not entirely absent from these spaces;
for immaterial beings, while they can easily pass through stone walls, cannot
altogether dispense with motion which, according to ‘Iraqi, is evidence of
imperfection in spirituality.
The highest point in the scale of spatial freedom is reached by the human soul
which, in its unique essence, is neither at rest nor in motion. Thus, passing
through the infinite varieties of space, we reach the Divine space which is
absolutely free from all dimensions and constitutes the meeting point of all
infinities.
From this summary of ‘Iraqi’s view you will see how an enlightened Muslim
Sufi intellectually interpreted his spiritual experience of time and space in an
age which had no idea of the theories and concepts of modern Mathematics
and Physics. ‘Iraqi is really trying to reach the concept of space as a dynamic
49
appearance. His mind seems to be vaguely struggling with the concept of
space as an infinite continuum; yet he was unable to see the full implications
of his thought partly because he was not a mathematician and partly because
of his natural prejudice in favour of the traditional Aristotelian idea of a
fixed universe.
Again, the interpenetration of the super-spatial “here” and super-eternal
“now” in the Ultimate Reality suggests the modern notion of space-time
which Professor S. Alexander (1809-1883), in his lectures on “Space, Time,
and Deity”, regards as the matrix of all things.
A keener insight into the nature of time would have led ‘Iraqi to see that time
is the most fundamental of the two; and that it is not a mere metaphor to say,
as Professor Alexander does say, that “time is the mind of space”.(21)
‘Iraqi conceives God’s relation to the universe on the analogy of the relation
of the human soul to the body; but, instead of philosophically reaching
this position through a criticism of the spatial and temporal aspects of
experience; he simply postulates it on the basis of his spiritual experience.
It is not sufficient merely to reduce space and time to a vanishing pointinstant. The philosophical path that leads to God as the omnipsyche of the
universe lies through the discovery of living thought as the ultimate principle
of space-time.
‘Iraqi’s mind, no doubt, moved in the right direction, but his Aristotelian
prejudices, coupled with a lack of psychological analysis, blocked his progress.
With his view that Divine Time is utterly devoid of change - a view obviously
based on an inadequate analysis of conscious experience - it was not possible
for him to discover the relation between Divine Time and serial time, and
to reach, through this discovery, the essentially Islamic idea of continuous
creation which means a growing universe.
Thus, all lines of Muslim thought converge on a dynamic conception of the
universe. This view is further reinforced by Ibn Maskawaih’s theory of life as
21) Alexander’s metaphor that time is mind of space is to be found in statements such as
this: “It is that Time as a whole and in its parts bears to space as a whole and its corresponding parts
a relation analogous to the relation of mind … or to put the matter shortly that Time is the mind of
Space and Space the body of Time.”
50
an evolutionary movement, and Ibn Khaldun’s view of history. History or, in
the language of the Quran, “the days of God”, is the third source of human
knowledge according to the Quran. It is one of the most essential teachings of
the Quran that nations are collectively judged, and suffer for their misdeeds
here and now. In order to establish this proposition, the Quran constantly
cites historical instances, and urges upon the reader to reflect on the past and
present experience of mankind.
[And We certainly sent Moses with Our signs, [saying],
«Bring out your people from darknesses into the light and
remind them of the days of Allah.” Indeed in that are
signs for everyone patient and grateful.] (Ibrahim: 5)
[And among those We created is a community which
guides by truth and thereby establishes justice. But those
who deny Our signs - We will progressively lead them [to
destruction] from where they do not know. And I will give
them time. Indeed, my plan is firm]. (Al-A’raf: 181-183)
[Similar situations [as yours] have passed on before you, so
proceed throughout the earth and observe how the end of
those who denied was.] (Al-Imran: 137)
[If a wound should touch you - there has already touched
the [opposing] people a wound similar to it. And these days
[of varying conditions] We alternate among the people.]
Al-Imran: 140)
[And for every nation is a [specified] term.] (Al-A’raf: 34).
The last verse is rather an instance of a more specific historical generalization
which, in its epigrammatic formulation, suggests the possibility of a scientific
treatment of the life of human societies regarded as organisms. It is,
therefore, a gross error to think that the Quran has no germs of a historical
doctrine. The truth is that the whole spirit of Ibn Khaldun’s Al-Muqqadima
(Prolegomena) appears to have been mainly due to the inspiration which
the author must have received from the Quran. Even in his judgements
of character he is, in no small degree, indebted to the Quran. An instance
in point is his long paragraph devoted to an estimate of the character of
the Arabs as a people. The whole paragraph is a mere amplification of the
following verses of the Quran:
51
[The bedouins are stronger in disbelief and hypocrisy and
more likely not to know the limits of what [laws] Allah
has revealed to His Messenger. And Allah is Knowing and
Wise. And among the bedouins are some who consider
what they spend as a loss and await for you turns of
misfortune. Upon them will be a misfortune of evil. And
Allah is Hearing and Knowing.] (At-Tawbah: 97-98)
However, the interest of the Quran in history, regarded as a source of human
knowledge, extends farther than mere indications of historical generalizations.
It has given us one of the most fundamental principles of historical criticism.
Since accuracy in recording facts which constitute the material of history is
an indispensable condition of history as a science, and an accurate knowledge
of facts ultimately depends on those who report them, the very first principle
of historical criticism is that the reporter’s personal character is an important
factor in judging his testimony. The Quran says:
[O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient
one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people
out of ignorance and become, over what you have done,
regretful.] (Al-Hujurat: 6)
It is the application of the principle embodied in this verse to the reporters
of the Prophet’s traditions out of which were gradually evolved the canons
of historical criticism. The growth of historical sense in Islam is a fascinating
subject. The Quranic appeal to benefit from previous human experiences,
the necessity to ascertain the exact sayings of the Prophet, and the desire
to provide permanent sources of inspiration to posterity - all these forces
contributed to produce such men as Ibn Ishaq, Tabari, and Mas‘udi.
But history, as an art of firing the reader’s imagination, is only a stage in the
development of history as a genuine science. The possibility of a scientific
treatment of history means a wider experience, a greater maturity of practical
reason, and finally a fuller realization of certain basic ideas regarding the
nature of life and time. These ideas are in the main two; and both form the
foundation of the Quranic teachings.
52
1- The Unity of Human Origin. [It is He who created you from one soul,]
(Al-A’raf: 189) says the Quran.
But the perception of life as an organic unity is a slow achievement, and
depends for its growth on a people’s entry into the main current of worldevents. This opportunity was brought to Islam by the rapid development
of a vast empire. No doubt, Christianity, long before Islam, brought the
message of equality to mankind; but Christian Rome did not rise to the full
apprehension of the idea of humanity as a single organism.
As Flint rightly says, “No Christian writer and still less, of course, any other in the
Roman Empire, can be credited with having had more than a general and abstract conception
of human unity. And since the days of Rome the idea does not seem to have gained much
in depth and rootage in Europe. On the other hand, the growth of territorial nationalism,
with its emphasis on what is called national characteristics, has tended rather to kill the
broad human element in the art and literature of Europe.” It was quite otherwise
with Islam. Here the idea was neither a concept of philosophy nor a dream of
poetry. As a social movement the aim of Islam was to make the idea a living
factor in the Muslim’s daily life, and thus silently and imperceptibly to carry
it towards fuller fruition.
2. A Keen Sense of the Reality of Time, and the Concept of Life as a
Continuous Movement in Time. It is this conception of life and time which
is the main point of interest in Ibn Khaldun’s view of history, and which
justifies Flint’s eulogy that “Plato (427-347 BC), Aristotle (384-322 BC), and
Augustine (354-430 AD) were not his peers, and all others were unworthy of
being even mentioned along with him.”
From the remarks that I have made above, I do not mean to throw doubt
on the originality of Ibn Khaldun. All that I mean to say is that, considering
the direction in which the culture of Islam had unfolded itself, only a
Muslim could have viewed history as a continuous, collective movement, a
real inevitable development in time. The point of interest in this view of
history is the way in which Ibn Khaldun conceives the process of change. His
conception is of infinite importance because of the implication that history,
as a continuous movement in time, is a genuinely creative movement and
not a movement whose path is already determined. Ibn Khaldun was not
a metaphysician. Indeed he was hostile to Metaphysics. But in view of the
nature of his conception of time he may fairly be regarded as a forerunner of
53
Bergson (1859-1941 AD) in his conception of Time. I have already discussed
the intellectual antecedents of this conception in the cultural history of Islam.
The Quranic view of the “alternation of day and night” as a symbol of the
Ultimate Reality which [appears in a fresh glory every moment,] (ArRahman: 29) the tendency in Muslim Metaphysics to regard time as objective,
Ibn Maskawaih’s view of life as an evolutionary movement, and lastly AlBiruni’s definite approach to the conception of Nature as a process of
becoming - all this constituted the intellectual inheritance of Ibn Khaldun.
His chief merit lies in his acute perception of, and systematic expression to,
the spirit of the cultural movement of which he was a most brilliant product.
In the work of this genius, the anti-classical spirit of the Quran scores its
final victory over Greek thought; for with the Greeks time was either unreal,
as in Plato and Zeno (late the fifth century BC), or moved in a circle, as in
Heraclitus (540-480 BC) and the Stoics. Whatever may be the criterion by
which to judge the forward steps of a creative movement, the movement
itself, if conceived as cyclic, ceases to be creative. Eternal recurrence is not
eternal creation; it is eternal repetition.
We are now in a position to see the true significance of the intellectual revolt
of Islam against Greek philosophy. The fact that this revolt originated in a
purely theological interest shows that the anti-classical spirit of the Quran
asserted itself in spite of those who began with a desire to interpret Islam in
the light of Greek thought.
It now remains to eradicate a grave misunderstanding created by Spengler’s
widely read book, The Decline of the West*. His two chapters devoted to
the problem of Arabian culture constitute a most important contribution
to the cultural history of Asia. They are, however, based on a complete
misconception of the nature of Islam as a religious movement, and of the
cultural activity which it initiated.
Spengler’s main thesis is that each culture is a specific organism, having no
point of contact with cultures that historically precede or follow it. Indeed,
according to him, each culture has its own peculiar way of looking at things
* A three-volume Arabic translation of this book by Dr Ahmed Shibani was published in
1964 by Dar Al-Hayat. (Editor)
54
which is entirely inaccessible to men belonging to a different culture. In his
anxiety to prove this thesis he marshals an overwhelming array of facts and
interpretations to show that the spirit of European culture is through and
through anti-classical. And this anti-classical spirit of European culture is
entirely due to the specific genius of Europe, and not to any inspiration she
may have received from the culture of Islam which, according to Spengler, is
thoroughly “Magian” in spirit and character. Spengler’s view of the spirit of
modern culture is, in my opinion, perfectly correct. I have, however, tried to
show in these lectures that the anti-classical spirit of the modern world has
really arisen out of the revolt of Islam against Greek thought.
It is obvious that such a view cannot be acceptable to Spengler; for, if it is
possible to show that the anti-classical spirit of modern culture is due to the
inspiration which it received from the culture immediately preceding it, the
whole argument of Spengler regarding the complete mutual independence of
cultural growths would collapse. I am afraid Spengler’s anxiety to establish this
thesis has completely perverted his vision of Islam as a cultural movement.
By the expression “Magian culture” Spengler means the common culture
associated with what he calls “Magian group of religions”, i.e. Judaism,
ancient Chaldean religion, early Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. That
a Magian crust has grown over (the culture of) Islam,* I do not deny. Indeed,
my main purpose in these lectures has been to secure a vision of the spirit
of Islam as emancipated from its Magian overlayings which, in my opinion,
have misled Spengler.
His ignorance of Muslim thought on the question of time, as well as of the
way in which the “I”, as a free centre of experience, has found expression in
the religious experience of Islam, is simply appalling. Instead of seeking light
from the history of Muslim thought and experience, he prefers to base his
judgement on vulgar beliefs as to the beginning and end of time. Just imagine
a man of overwhelming learning finding support for the supposed fatalism of
Islam in such Eastern expressions and proverbs as the “vault of time”, and
“everything has a time!” However, on the origin and growth of the concept
of time in Islam, and on the human ego as a free power, I have said enough
* Iqbal intends “has grown over the culture of Islam” rather than “over Islam”. (Editor)
55
in these lectures. It is obvious that a full examination of Spengler’s view of
Islam, and of the culture that grew out of it, will require a whole volume.
In addition to what I have said before, I shall offer here one more observation
of a general nature. Spengler says: The kernel of the prophetic teaching is
already Magian. There is one God - be He called Yahweh, Ahura Mazda, or
Marduk-Baal - who is the principle of good, and all other deities are either
impotent or evil. To this doctrine there attached itself the hope of a Messiah,
very clear in Isaiah, but also bursting out everywhere during the next centuries,
under pressure of an inner necessity.
It is the basic idea of Magian religion, for it contains implicitly the conception
of the world-historical struggle between Good and Evil, with the power of
Evil prevailing in the middle period, and the Good finally triumphant on the
Day of Judgement.
If this view of the prophetic teaching is meant to apply to Islam it is obviously
a misrepresentation. The point to note is that the Magians admitted the
existence of false gods; only they did not turn to worship them. Islam denies
the very existence of false gods. In this connexion, Spengler fails to appreciate
the cultural value of the idea of the finality of prophethood in Islam. No
doubt, one important feature of Magian culture is a perpetual attitude of
expectation, a constant looking forward to the coming of Zoroaster’s unborn
sons, the Messiah, or the Paraclete referred to in the fourth gospel. I have
already indicated the direction in which the student of Islam should seek the
cultural meaning of the doctrine of finality in Islam. It may further be regarded
as a psychological cure for the Magian attitude of constant expectation which
tends to give a false view of history.
Ibn Khaldun, seeing the spirit of his own view of history, has fully criticized
and, I believe, finally demolished the alleged revelational basis in Islam of an
idea similar, at least in its psychological effects, to the original Magian idea
which had reappeared in Islam under the pressure of Magian thought.(22)
22) Cf. Muqaddimah, Chapter III, section 51: ‘The Fatimid.....’, trans. Rosenthal, II, pp. 156200. Ibn Khaldun recounts formally twenty-four hadiths bearing upon the belief in
Mahdi (none of which is from Bukhari or Muslim) and questions the authenticity of
them all. Allama Iqbal states that, according to his firm belief, all hadiths relating to
Mahdi, are the product of Persian and non-Arab imagination; and he adds that certainly
they have nothing to do with the true spirit of the Quran. Cf (Iqbal-Namah, II, p.231)
Islamic Cultural Identity
Between Originality, Modernism, and Challenges
Dr Muhammad Imara*
1- Definition:
Before tackling the subject of “the Islamic cultural identity”, its various
dimensions, and its relation to “originality”, “modernity”, “constants” and
“variables”, we need to provide the accurate definition for each term.
“Huwiyah”, “identity” in our Arab Islamic civilization is derived from “huwa”,
meaning “he”, which refers to the essence and significance of something. For
Al-Shareef Al-Jorjani (740-816 AH/1340-1413 AD), identity is “the absolute
truth that comprises truths the way the kernel comprises the tree.” For Abu
Al-Baqaa Al-Kafawi (1094AH/1683 AD), it means “What distinguishes something
from other things.”(1) Hence, the identity of a person, a culture or a civilization is
“His/its essence and significance, and its inherent and related constants”.
Every person, culture or civilization has its own “constants” and “variables”.
“Constants” do not change but regenerate and form the identity, which
reveals itself without ceding its place to its antithesis as long as one it shall
live. It is like a Man’s unique fingerprint that, even when smudgy, can always
be cleared and seen when dusted.
“Culture” is anything that contributes to the psychological refinement of a
person. Thus, refinement is one of the significations of “Culture”, while
“Civilization” means the refinement of the human psyche by ideas. Thus,
* Member of the Association of Senior Scholars at Al-Azhar, and editor-in-chief of AlAzhar Magazine.
1) Al-Jorjani: “al-Taarifat” (Definitions), Cairo Edition 1938. Abu Al-Baqaa Al-Kafawi: “AlKulliyat”, authenticated by par Dr Adnane Darwish and Mohamed Al-Masri, Damascus,
1982.
58
both of them contribute to the act of refinement, which makes them the two
facets of civilization.
Culture’s refinement and edification of the human psyche is what distinguishes
the various cultures: the distinction of the human psyche from one civilization
to another, in accordance with the distinction of its components, legacies,
creeds and philosophies that differentiate the “cultural prints” of the nations.
“Originality” in Arabic is derived from the word “origin”, which means the
source, essence, truth and everlasting constants. Hence, the originality of a
culture is its original roots and everlasting constants. In other words, it is the
culture’s identity that forms the “fingerprint” that distinguishes it from the
other cultures.
As for “modernity”, it is the interaction between Man, culture, civilization
and the era in which Man lives. Therefore, if nations have different cultures,
and consequently, different identities, they necessarily interact differently
with the era they live in. Thus, nations with different identities have different
“modernities”. Consequently, and contrary to the belief that modernity is
the act of borrowing the dominant culture in a given time, there isn’t one
modernity at the same age for all nations, cultures and civilizations.
Modernity can be compared to the person’s interaction with and adaptation to
the present moment in her life, in such a way as to add new things or abandon
others in her heritage, in accordance with the constants of her originality and
identity; which gives rise to a singular identity and a singular originality.
Therefore, each identity has a singular originality which forms its identity,
essence, truth and constants, and each singular cultural originality has its own
particular modernity.
Determining the definitions of the abovementioned terms will certainly
contribute to the clarification of the subject our article deals with, namely
“The Islamic Cultural Identity: between Originality and Modernity”.
2- The Islamic Nature of the Cultural Identity:
Reflecting on our nation’s identity, which constitutes its essence, truth and
distinctive originality, we could say that it is “Islam and Arabism”.
Dr Muhammad Imara
59
Since the majority of this nation embraced Islam, it has become its cultural
identity. It has marked and identified its culture, its traditions and customs,
literature, arts, human sciences, i.e. politics, economics, sociology, as well as
its philosophy, experimental and natural sciences, and its perception, not only
of itself, but also of the world and of Man’s role in the universe, her origin
and destiny, and of the significance and aim of existence. Therefore, we can
assuredly declare that our culture is Islamic and that the only criterion to
accept or reject something in our culture is the Islamic criterion.
Islam is the last monotheist message, and since the majority of the people
who embraced it were followers of the preceding revealed religions, it didn’t
break away with them. On the contrary, Islam confirmed their authentic
constants while adding to them new concepts. This inclusiveness of Islam
could be seen in the oneness of religion, from the first until the last message.
This has made faith more of a “ladder”, each step of which represents one
of the religions until arriving to the last step, without breaking away with the
constants.
Islam’s inclusion of the legacies of previous faiths and of their principles and
precepts is best expressed by the conversation that took place between the
Prophet’s companion Hatib ibn Abi Balta’ah (35 BH- 30 AH/ 586-650 AD)
and the Muqawqis, the Copts’ ruler, when he delivered to him a message from
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 628 AD. Hatib told Muqawqis:
“You have your own religion - Christianity - which you’ll never give up except
for something better than it, which is Islam that Allah made inclusive of
other religions. Moses’ prophesy for Jesus is similar to Jesus’ prophesy for
Muhammad. Our invitation to you to believe in the Quran is similar to your
invitation to the Jews to believe in the Bible. We do not forbid you from your
religion but we enjoin you to hold on to it.”(2)
Not only does Islam accept the freedom of belief, but it also contains the
precepts of the previous messages and does not break totally with other faiths.
2) Ibn Abdelhakam: “Fotuh Misr wa Akhbaruha”, p.46, Laden edition 1920, “The
collection of political documents of the era of the Prophet and the Caliphate”, pp. 72-73,
authenticated by Dr Mohammad Hamed Allah, Cairo, 1956.
60
In addition to encompassing, reviving and saving the civilizational heritage of
previous nations, Islam has allowed the followers of the previous religions
to contribute to building its culture and civilization which has become theirs.
Islam has also interacted with and impacted their sub-cultures, which has led
to the integration of these sub-cultures into the inclusive Islamic culture. In
this connection, the German Orientalist Joseph Schacht (1902-1969), said:
“Islamic jurisprudence deeply affected every field of law of the followers
of Judaism and Christianity who lived under the tolerant Islamic state.
This influence could be seen for instance in Musa ibn Maymun’s (Moses
Maimonides) (1135- 1204 AD) “Mishneh Torah”, an unprecedented
book on the Jewish law. As for Christianity, Nestorians, Jacobins,
Monophysites and Nestorians have freely borrowed from the rules of the
Islamic jurisprudence.”(3)
Thus, the new Islamic mixture has grown to maturity assimilating the heritages
of previous cultures, civilizations, and religions, involving the oriental sects
and nations in making this new cultural mixture and influencing the subcultures which have flourished within it.
While Islam has beliefs and rituals, observed by the majority of people who
have embraced it, it also includes Sharia laws, jurisprudence and rules that
have become comprehensive aspects and inclusive traits of all those who
live in the Islamic land regardless of their faiths, languages, and dialects. The
same applies to the code of ethics and values of the precedent monotheist
religions that Islam came to supplement rather than to revoke. This set of
values and ethics has become an integral part of the inclusive Islamic culture
for all those who live under the flag of Islam.
This is how the identity of the Islamic nation developed until the “Islamic”
character has become an inclusive principle of the civilizational identity.
3- The Arab Nature of the Cultural Identity:
The Arab characteristic is a linguistic and cultural criterion. It doesn’t
designate a race or an ethnicity. Consistent with the universality of Islam, this
3) Joseph Schacht: “Islamic Law”, “The heritage of Islam”, part III, pp. 27-29, “Aalam
Alma’rifa”, Kuwait, 1978.
Dr Muhammad Imara
61
criterion is defined by the prophet’s (PBUH) hadith: “Arabic is not an ethnicity or
a race that you belong to through lineage, it is rather a tongue. Therefore, whomever speaks
Arabic is an Arab.”(4)
Wherever Arabic reaches, it becomes the identity of the people who adopt
and embrace it as their language regardless of their ethnic or racial origins.
Arabic is the language of the Holy Quran - the fundamental and focal text
around which culture and civilization revolve. It is the central component
of the cultural and civilizational identity of all the peoples living under
the umbrella of the Islamic civilization. Its attitude towards the national
languages and dialects of the countries that entered Islam is similar to that of
Islam towards the religions that preceded it. It didn’t overrun other peoples’
languages and dialects. Rather, it coexisted with the other languages and
ethnicities, such as Farsi, Kurdish, Urdu, Turkish, and Amazigh.
Islam is the fundamental component of the nation, although the other
revealed religions still exist within the inclusive Islamic circle. Arabic is the
second major component of the Arab-Islamic identity, despite the fact that
other languages and dialects are still existent in peoples’ sub-cultures. The
Arab-Islamic identity has thus become inclusive of other creeds, languages
and dialects without infringing on the sub-cultures, languages and dialects.
Religious pluralism is a divine rule and linguistic diversity is one of Allah’s
wonders. In fact, Islam has forged a unified Islamic cultural identity that
nurtures the diversity of sub-cultures protected by the Islamic Sharia and by
the language of the Holy Quran.
4- Supporting Testimonials:
The trends of intellectual originality in our modern society are mainly
represented by:
a. The Islamic trend: to which the majority of the Muslim Ummah
adheres, and
b. The nationalist trend: an extension of the Ummah’s linguistic and
historical originality.
4) Narrated by Ibn Kathir from Mu’aad Ibn Jabal.
62
Several Muslim and non-Muslim prominent figures in the Arab-Islamic world
believe that Islam is the culture, the source of originality and element of
distinction of our nation. Among them Makram Abid Pasha (1889-1961)
who declared that Egypt and Egyptians, including Christian Copts, are Arabs
by language and culture and that their civilization is Islamic. In this vein, he
stated:
“Egyptians are Arabs, and the history of Arabs is a connected set of chains.
Rather, it is a strong net that remains untorn despite the claims put forward
to cut off relations between the Arab countries and persecute activists who
strive to achieve the territorial unity, which might be the most fundamental
pillar on which modern Arab awakening should be based. Arabs need to
believe in their Arabism and in its elements of strength, used once to build
a flourished civilization.”
“We are Arabs, and we should always state this fact and remember that our
unity was strong despite catastrophes, calamities, injustices and difficulties.
We are Arabs, and our civilization is Arab, and our origins go back to the
Semites that migrated to our country (Egypt) from the Arabian Peninsula.
Arab Unity is an established fact that requires organization, so that our
Arab countries can form one national Arab block.”(5)
Abid Pasha talked about the Arab nature of the civilizational identity of the
Ummah. He also talked about the Islamic nature of the Copts’ civilizational
identity when he stated: “We are Muslims by land, and Christians by religion. Ô
Allah, Make us Muslims for You, and defenders of our country. Ô Allah, make us
Christians for you and Muslims for our country.”(6)
Bishop Musa, one of the Orthodox ministers, the bishop of the youth at
the Orthodox Church and member of the College of Cardinals, admits the
Arab and Islamic nature of the cultural and civilizational identity. In this
connection, he said:
“As for the Arab identity: We are Egyptians by race, but the Islamic
culture is the current prevailing culture, while the Coptic culture prevailed
before the advent of Islam. Every Copt uses many Islamic expressions in
his speech. Copts use them with utter simplicity, without feeling that they are
5) Makram Abeed : “al-Hilal” Magazine, April 1939, Cairo.
6) “Al-Wafd” Newspaper, January 21st, 1993. Cairo.
Dr Muhammad Imara
63
extraneous. We live Arabism because it is our cultural identity, and we are
fully convinced that Arabism is not only a political, cultural and economic
idea, but also a unique common destiny. The relationship between roots and
Arabism is a relationship of mutual defense and overlapping. Egypt has
often been a Muslim and religious state without extremism. If we, Muslims
and Copts, live within a religious awakening backed by a patriotic revival,
we will have a bright future.”(7)
Also, Bishop Youhanna Qalata, a Catholic Vice-Patriarch said:
“I totally accept to be a Christian Egyptian under the Islamic civilization.
My culture is a hundred per cent Islamic. I am a member of the Islamic
civilization as I learned it at the Egyptian university. I learned that Prophet
Mohammed (PBUH) allowed Yemeni Christians to celebrate Easter mass
at the Masjid of Madinah. If Islamic civilization makes the Islamic state
fight for the freedom of a Christian hostage, and elevates the value of the
human being to God’s vicegerent on the earth, then we are all Muslims by
culture. I am a proud Arab Christian living under the Islamic civilization
and in an Islamic country, contributing to this great civilization”(8)
Likewise, Dr Ghali Shoukri (1935-1998), a Christian intellectual, said:
“Egypt’s Copts belong to the Islamic civilization, and young Copts should
understand that this Arab Islamic civilization is theirs. It is the civilization
to which all Egyptians belong. Although several civilizations preceded the
Islamic civilization in Egypt since the rule of the Pharaohs, but it has
managed to include them all and become the civilization of all Egyptians.
We, as Arabs of Egypt, belong to the civilization and culture of Islam
without which we would be at loss. This belonging doesn’t, in any way,
contradict with religion. Why? Because Islam has unified Arabs and unified
different peoples, tribes, sects, and faiths.”(9)
7) Bishop Mousa in Dr. Saadeddne Ibrahim: “Al-milal wa al-nihal wa al-a’arak”, (Faiths,
Creeds and Races), pp. 529-534, Cairo, 1990.
8) From a conversation with Bishop Youhanna Qalata, after a lecture I delivered before an
audience of the Christian elite representing the various Christian sects, the Liberty Hotel,
on the invitation of the Egyptian Commission for Peace and Justice, Cairo, 9 November
1991,
9) “Al-Wafd” newspaper. January 1st, 1993. Cairo.
64
The same attitude is expressed by Dr. Anwar Abdelmalek (1922-2012) who
said:
“Any sensible person would know that Egypt is the oldest nation and the
most ancient civilization in history. However, since the advent of Islam,
we’ve gradually entered into a circle that we’ve been calling “Arabism” for
the last fifty years, while it actually is Islamic civilization which is based on
one principle: the “oneness of God”, which complies with the particularity
of Egypt. Egyptians instinctively accept the “oneness of God” as a result of
the unification of the Egyptian nation for over three thousand years; which
means that the civilizational framework of Islam comprises the Coptic era,
i.e. “the Egyptian Christianity”. Added to this fact, our language is Arabic,
the language of the Quran”(10)
As for the unity of reference and the Islamic identity for the entire Ummah,
Dr Raouf Nadmi, aka “Mahjoub Omar” (1932-2012) said:
“The Ummah has one reference, i.e. Islam along with its heritage and
doctrines. Fundamental to the existence of a nation is to have a unique
reference. If the nation is Muslim, then its reference is Islam, and if it’s
Confucian, then its reference is Confucianism. The majority of the nation is
Muslim. As such, it is needed to join the efforts of the majority which still
preserves its historical reference, civilizational heritage and faith. We have
a constitution that states: The state’s religion is Islam and all jurisprudence
stems from Sharia. What is needed is to spread this clear idea, so as to
unleash potentials of creativity in the civilizational project. If Islam were the
reference for all the people, all problems would have been solved. Our project
should then be civilizational, stemming from our Islamic civilization; and
Islam should be our reference.”(11)
The Christian writer Sadeq Aziz, agreed to what Dr Raouf Nadmi said. In
this vein, he underlined:
“Egypt has been an Islamic country since the advent of Islam, and although
Muslims were a minority and Copts were the majority, Egypt was an
Islamic state. Also, Egypt was never a “Coptic” state even before Islam. It
10) Dr Anwar Abdelmalek, “Akhbar Al-Adab” newspaper, 30 April 2000, Cairo.
11) Dr Raouf Nadmi, aka Mahjoub Omar, “Minbar Al-Hiwar” magazine, Autumn 1989.
pp. 41-42, Beirut.
Dr Muhammad Imara
65
was under the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, and Macedonians, but we
never heard of a Coptic rule. And except for personal status law, Islamic
Sharia laws were never at variance with Christianity for many reasons, most
importantly:
1- If the state is Islamic, positive laws must be Islamic, and we must accept
that, and even welcome it in accordance with Christ’s commandment:
“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
2- The laws of the Islamic Sharia comply, to a great extent, with the laws of
the Old Testament, which Christ came to complement, not to overthrow.
3- According to Jesus Christ, Christianity didn’t bring about any positive
laws. He said: “My kingdom is not in this world”. He thus relegated
the enactment of positive laws to rulers or to Caesar, and ordered us to
render to rulers what belongs to them.”(12)
Michel Aflak (1910-1989), the philosopher of the Arab Ba’athism, and a
Christian that became one of the greatest Arab nationalist intellectuals, said:
“There is no Arab that’s not Muslim. Islam is our history, victory, language
and philosophy that shapes our view of the world. It is the national culture
that binds the Arabs together regardless of their religions and creeds. In this
sense, every true Arab, not driven by self-interest, is Muslim. When aware of
their nationalism, Arab Christians will realize that Islam is their national
culture that they should fully assimilate, love, and promote, as it is the most
valuable element of their Arab identity. Just as I can’t believe how a Muslim
can’t love Arabs, I can’t understand how an Arab cannot love Islam.”(13)
Particularly worthy of mention here is that “The National Centre for Social
and Criminal Research” conducted a public opinion poll in 1985 on the
implementation of the Islamic Sharia - including the hudood. 63 % of the
surveyed Egyptian Christians agreed to incorporate Islamic Sharia within the
Egyptian law.(14)
12) Gamal Badawi: “Sectarian Stife: Roots and Causes -Historical Study and Analytical
Vision” pp.137-141, Cairo, 1992.
13) Michel Aflak: “Complete Political Works, The”, V. 3, pp. 33-269, V. 5, p. 68, Baghdad,
1988. See also our book: “The Nationalist Islamic Current”, Dar al-Shorouk, Cairo,
1997.
14) See: “The Public Opinion poll on the Implementation of Sharia Law on Hudood
Crimes”, Cairo, 1985.
66
Even Pope Shenouda III (1926-2012) was in favor of the Sharia when he
said:
“Copts, under the Islamic Sharia, will be happier and more secure. They
were so in the past when Sharia law was implemented. We look forward
to living under a law that imposes the same duties and rights on both the
Christians and Muslims. Up to now Egypt has been borrowing laws from
abroad and imposing them on us. We don’t have detailed laws as those
existing in Islam. Thus, how can we accept borrowed laws and don’t accept
Islamic laws!?”(15)
After declaring his support for the principle of “generalizing Islamic laws”
on all the country’s citizens, Pope Shenouda III, at the adoption of al-Khol’a
law [repudiation], said:
“Al-Khol’a is a principle that has existed in Sharia since early times though
so many people ignore that. Pursuant to that principle, a wife has the right
to file for divorce for reasons she sets forward to the court, including the
impossibility of maintaining a marital life. If this law benefits Muslim
women, then it must benefit Christian women as well. It should not be
applied in some cases and denied in others. Therefore, al-Khol’a allows the
wife - Christian or Muslim alike - to repudiate her “annoying” husband,
particularly in cases when life is impossible between them.”(16)
When many non-Muslim leaders and intellectuals declared that the cultural
and civilizational identity of the nation is Arabism and Islam, several others
claimed otherwise.
5- Rejecting Voices:
After the regression of the unifying Islamic order, and the appearance of
nation states founded upon the partition set by the Sykes-Picot Agreement
in 1916, some other actors - mainly nationalists and sectarians- voiced out
their opposition to that identity. This opposition was further boosted by an
increase in nationalist and sectarian fervor nurtured by the creation of the
Zionist entity on the land of Palestine in 1948, an entity that can’t enjoy
security, stability or dominance without fragmenting the fragmented and
15) Pope Shenouda III , “Al-Ahram” newspaper, Cairo, 6 March 1985.
16) Pope Shenouda III, “Al-Ahram” newspaper, 26 March 2002.
Dr Muhammad Imara
67
dividing the divided parts of the Arab Islamic world according to “Israel’s
Strategy in the Eighties” which stated that “Israel can’t survive without fragmenting
entities and dispersing the populations. Without this strategic motivation, we can’t survive
no matter how secure are the borders.”(17) According to the recommendations of the
conference on “The Israeli Attitude towards Ethnic and Sectarian Groups in
the Middle East” held in Israel on 20 May 1992, by “The Bar Ilan Centre for
Strategic Research”, “These minorities are partners of Israel in destiny; that’s why they
must support Israel against the pressure exerted by Islam and Arab nationalism.”(18)
Within this atmosphere, and in parallel with the establishment of the Zionist
entity after World War II, some nationalist and sectarian trends voiced out
their intentions to set up sectarian and nationalist cantons instead of adopting
the Arab and Islamic identity.
In this context, the Maronite political movement, allied with Israel, waged a
civil war in Lebanon for over 15 years (1975-1989).
Also, the Kurdish nationalist movement, assisted by the Americans to rule
over northern Iraq, hasn’t contented itself with the Kurdish linguistic and
cultural revival, but it substituted the unifying Arab Islamic identity with a
sub-culture. Each year, tens of thousands of students graduate from the
schools and universities of Iraqi Kurdistan without being able to speak a
word of the language of the Quran - the language which the Kurds have
served throughout the history of Islam. Instead of becoming a national group
open to the Muslim Ummah, the Kurds established the Kurdish movement
to divide the Kurdish community in four states, ignoring that Arabs have
previously been divided in twenty states. Therefore, the only solution that
remains is to exert efforts to establish an order that unifies the different
peoples under the umbrella of the Islamic Ummah, rather than to regress to
the division of the already divided Arab and Islamic world.
Supporters of the Amazigh movement follow the same course in the Arab
Maghreb repudiating their parents and grandparents who spread Arabic and
Islam in the great Arab Maghreb.
17) Mohamed Al-Sammak: “Minorities: between Islam and Arabism”, p.144, Beirut, 1990.
18) Conference on: “Israeli Attitude towards ethnic and Sectarian Groups in the Arab
World, The”, p. 6, translated by the Arab Institute for research and Publishing, Cairo,
1992.
68
Also, in Egypt, some Copts express their desire to substitute the unifying
Arab and Islamic identity with a Coptic identity.
6- Identity and Law:
The Arab Islamic identity bears the common traits, characteristics and
principles of the nation, whereas the law and the Fiqh of transactions have
served as regulators; which has allowed the Islamic identity to remain the
spirit and reference in our countries for centuries of the history of Islam.
In the past, before the western secular and positive thought became rival
to the Islamic identity and the Sharia-based laws, there was no need for
highlighting the Islamic nature of laws. Hence, the adjective “Islamic” was
never attributed to laws and jurisprudence in our countries. However, since
the infiltration of the Western positive law brought in by the colonial invasion
of the Islamic world in the nineteenth century, the call for the Islamization
of laws has risen in response to the growing need to promote the Islamic
identity, whose laws differ from the Western positive laws.
In this respect, the Italian Orientalist and professor of Islamic Sharia and
Roman law, David Di Santillana, said on the difference between the Islamic
legal identity and its Western counterpart:
“It is useless to try to find a common reference for the Eastern and Western
laws - Islamic and Roman. Enclosed within already defined frame of constant
principles, the Islamic law cannot be traced back or related to “Western”
formulas. It is a religious law that differs from our ideas. For us and for our
ancestors, law and jurisprudence is a set of common rules established by the
people directly or by their representatives, and its authority stem from the
people’s will, awareness, values and customs.”
“The Islamic definition of law is different. According to it, submission to
the law is at the same time a social duty and precept of faith; the violation of
which is not considered as only an infringement on the social order, but also
as a sin. This fair, non-discriminator, law is mainly based upon true faith.
Nonetheless, Islamic Sharia allows for the human intervention and attaches
importance to the spirit of the law rather than to its letter. Muslim law is
inclusive and not stagnant. “What Muslim regard as good is also regarded
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69
as good by Allah”. That is why it deserves to be placed in a high position
and deserves to be praised by all jurists.”(19)
This distinction, in jurisprudence, law, Sharia, and identity, is what motivated
Rifa’a Al-Tahtawi (1216-1290 AH/1801-1873 AD) in April 1855 to reject the
penetration of the European positive law into the tribunals of commercial
ports under the rule of Khedive Said (1237-1279 AH/1863-1822 AD). AlTahtawi fiercely defended Islamic law and jurisprudence and Sharia that
represent the nation’s identity. He argued:
“If Islamic laws were enforced, no right would have been violated. When
studied carefully, books of Islamic Fiqh could be found to regulate Islamic
transactions, including commercial transactions. Regardless of the vast scope
of Sharia law, they give due attention to all matters, minor or major. Also,
political rules stem from Sharia, which might be described as the root, while
we can describe political trends are branches.”(20)
After Al-Tahtawi, all the scholars and jurists of the Ummah have been
defending the Islamic identity and the Islamic civilization, which differs from
the Western civilization, as well as the Islamic Sharia and laws. An example of
these scholars is Dr Abd Al-Razzaq Al-Sanhouri (1313-1391 AH/1895-1971
AD), the founder of civil law and the establisher of the legal and constitutional
foundations of several Arab countries, including, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait,
United Arab Emirates, Libya and Sudan, who said:
“Islam is, at the same time, a religion and a state, a rule and faith, a law
and rituals. Muhammad (PBUH) was not only the Prophet of Muslims,
but also the founder of the Islamic state, who unified the entire Ummah
religiously, established political unity in the Arabian Peninsula, and laid
down the foundations of the political and social life. Islam is thus a religion
of both the earth and heaven.”
“Islam is a religion and civilization; and the Islamic civilization is much
more refined than the Western one. The Islamic bond stems from the Islamic
19) David di Santillana: “Law and Society”, “The legacy of Islam”; pp. 544, 369, 370.
Translated by Girgis Fathallah, Beirut, 1972.
20) Al-Tahtawi: “Complete Works, The”, V. 1 pp. 544, 369, 370, authenticated by Dr.
Mohamed Amara, Beirut, 1973, Maktabat al-Osra, Cairo, 2010.
70
civilization whose basis is the Islamic Sharia. Our nation has an original
civilization not derived from any western civilization.”
“Islam provided the world with the most solid religious law that surpasses
the European one. The fact that our modern jurisprudence derives from the
Islamic Sharia is consistent with our legal traditions. Sharia is our legislative
legacy with which we achieve judicial and legislative independence. It is the
light with which we can enlighten the international legal culture. The West
has already recognized its status, so why should we deny it?! Why do we leave
the treasures of Sharia dimmed in old books and go fetch leftovers at the
dining tables of others?”
Al-Sanhouri also talked about Sharia as a legal system for both the state and
society, a regional and not a sectarian Sharia. In this connection, he underlined:
“Some researchers made a mistake when they believed that Islam is no more
than a revealed religion, based on their comparison of Islam to Christianity,
which gives back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
Islam; however, is different from Christianity, for it combines what is God’s
and what is Caesar’s. It also assigns what is God’s to Muslims, while making
the implementation of what is Caesar’s mandatory upon all people, Muslims
and non-Muslims alike. Sharia laws address all people, regardless of their
religion, and are applicable to all those who live in the Islamic countries. The
Hanafi Madhhab, the most prevalent Islamic Madhhab (doctrine), applies
Islamic Sharia in Islamic countries even on the refugees.”
“The provisions of the Islamic Sharia that should be applied on the people
that live in Islamic countries are the laws of transactions rules, including
personal status and financial code. Transactions provisions in general,
including those related to finance, contracts, inheritance, wills, legal capacity,
custody, marriage contracts, alimony and child support, should be applied to
all the residents of the Islamic countries, whether they were Muslims or not.
Exceptions to that are very few. Only matters related to marriage, dowry
exemption, as well wine and pork evaluation are excluded, for they are
directly linked to beliefs and faith. Even in these matters, non-Muslims go to
Islamic courts which rule in accordance with their religion, unless they agree
to appear before non-Islamic courts. This type of arbitration is allowed for
Muslims and non-Muslims by the Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali doctrines.
Thus, non-Muslims are subject to the Islamic laws in matters other than
Dr Muhammad Imara
71
belief and worship. Therefore, they enjoy the same rights and have the same
obligations within Islam.”(21)
Thus, theory and practice in the Arabic civilization and history agreed on the
Islamic identity of the state and laws. This fact was clearly stated by the jurist
Dr Abd Al-Razzaq Al-Sanhouri Pasha.
7- The Islamic Identity, the Homeland and Nationalism:
Now that it was decided that Islam and Arabism form the identity of the
Ummah, the following questions about the relation between Islam, nationalism
and patriotism arise:
- Does the Islamic identity marginalize national affiliations?
- Do countries and nationalities, under the Arab Islamic identity - melt
in the larger Arab or Islamic space?
These two legitimate questions may turn to a suspicion or even an accusation
leveled at the Islamic Identity and Islam, and to Arab nationalism of
suppressing and marginalizing countries and nationalities.
To clarify the position of Islam on this issue, we need to remind that Islam,
with its inclusive state and historical experience, has emphasized the plurality
and the overlapping of the circles of affiliation and loyalty. Human beings
have a sense of belonging and loyalty to their families and clans first, then to
their people and country, then to their communities and nationality, and lastly
to their nation and civilization. Human beings belong above all to humanity
which is itself made up of different nations, civilizations, peoples and tribes.
According to Ibn Manzur (630-711 AH/1232-1311 AD) in his “Lissan AlArab” (the most comprehensive dictionary of the Arabic language) and to alZamakhshari (467-538 AH/1075-1144 AD) in his book “Asasul-Balagha”,
homeland or country in Arabic is “the place where a person lives and
grows up. It is her birthplace and the home to which she belongs. It is
the place to which the person belongs and feels loyal.”
21) Dr Abd el-Razzaq Al-Sanhouri: “Islamiat Al-Senhouri Pasha”, V. 1, pp. 133, 145, 160.
V.2. Pp. 704, 707, authenticated by Dr Mohamed Amara, Dar Essalam, Cairo, 2010.
72
Also, stated in some Ayat of the Holy Quran, the book of the universal
message and source of the Islamic identity, that the love of one’s country is
equal to his life. These Ayat equate the expelling of people from their country
with killing them; which equates depriving a person from her homeland with
killing her.
[And if We had decreed upon them, “Kill yourselves” or
“Leave your homes,” they would not have done it.] (AnNisa’: 66).
[And [recall] when We took your covenant, [saying], «Do
not shed each other’s blood or evict one another from your
homes.”Then you acknowledged [this] while you were
witnessing.] (al-Baqara: 84).
Equally, the Quran equates expelling and depriving people from their country
with Fitnah (tribulation and chaos) and makes it the only justification for war
to free one’s country and achieve their freedom of conscience and faith, for
the freedom of the land is the only thing that can ensure the freedom of the
practice of religion.
[Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you
because of religion and do not expel you from your homes
- from being righteous toward them and acting justly
toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.] (alMumtahanah: 8).
Such was the attitude of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) towards his homeland
Makkah, when its people wronged him, tortured him and expelled him and
his companions from it. When he was about to leave it, he said: “I swear by
Allah that you are the most beloved land to Allah and to me, and if your people didn’t
force me out of you, I wouldn’t have left you.”
His longing to his hometown kept alive even in Madinah, where he used to
pray to his lord to make him love Madinah as much as he loved Makkah. His
love for Makkah remained as such until he victoriously returned to it.
This status granted to homeland by Islam, which considers it the origins that
prevent the person from the feeling of loss, and the destination that the heart
yearns to, loves and is loyal to, is explained in Ayah 243 from Surat al-Baqara:
Dr Muhammad Imara
73
[Have you not considered those who left their homes in
many thousands, fearing death? Allah said to them, «Die»;
then He restored them to life.] (al-Baqarah: 243)
Sheikh Muhammad Abdu (1266-1323 AH/1849-1905 AD), said: “Leaving one’s
country and neglecting its independence is equal to death. While defending and preserving
the independence of one’s country is equal to life and revival!”(22)
The leaders of the Modern Islamic awakening who defended the inclusive
nature of Islam, and promoted the Islamic identity, also underlined the status
granted to homeland, in general, and to the Egyptian homeland, in particular.
Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1254-1314 AH/1897-1838 AD), the leader of the
Modern Islamic awakening, the advocate of the inclusive nature of Islam, the
promoter of “Egypt for Egyptians”, and the founder of the “National free
party” in Egypt, never concealed his love for and attachment to his homeland
Egypt. In this respect, he said:
“Egypt is Allah’s most beloved land to me. It is one the most prominent
countries in the East. It has a special status in the hearts of Muslims, who
consider it a sacred land because of its geographical location and its nearness
to several Islamic states and to the two Holy Mosques. Therefore, when it is
safe, Muslims are reassured that the holy land is safe”.
Al-Afghani also hoped that Egypt would lead the Islamic awakening and the
Eastern renaissance. In this vein, he underlined:
“The capital of Egypt might very possibly become the civilizational center
of the great Eastern Kingdoms. Its neighbors have already decided about it.
It is the only hope they express whenever a danger or a calamity come upon
them.”(23)
Mustafa Kamel (1291-1326 AH/1874-1908 AD) is yet another figure that
defended the inclusiveness of Islam. He coined the slogan: “If I weren’t
Egyptian, I would’ve wanted to be Egyptian.”
22) Sheikh Muhammad Abduh: “Complete Works, The”, V. 4, p. 695, authenticated by
Dr. Mohamed Amara, Beirut, 1972, and Dar al-Shrooq, Cairo, 1993.
23) Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani: “Complete Works, The”, pp. 479, 486, 467, authenticated by
Dr. Mohamed Amara, Cairo, 1968.
74
It was Hassan Al-Banna (1324-1368 AH/1906-1949 AD) who talked in depth
about the overlapping circles of affiliation which start with the national
affiliation. In this vein, he said:
“Egypt is part of the land of Islam and the leader of its nations. It is at
the vanguard of Islamic countries and peoples. We hope that an Islamic
state be set up in Egypt to endorse Islam, unite the Arabs, protect Muslims
everywhere in the world from whatsoever aggression, and spread the word of
Allah and transmit His message. We love our country Egypt and defend its
territorial integrity. Consequently, we can’t blame any person who seeks to free
his country, dies for the sake of his people and works for the glory and pride
of his country. Equally, no person shall be blamed if he works exclusively
for his country, serving first the closest siblings and neighbors. We are beside
the advocates of nationalism and even ultra-nationalism if it seeks the good
for the country and the people. Nationalism is but a teaching of Islam. It is
the first pillar for our development; and Arab unity is its second pillar. The
Islamic inclusiveness is the fence that protects the entire Islamic homeland.
Hence, there is no contradiction between these three pillars, for each one
supports the other and accomplishes the desired objective.”(24)
This is how the Arab Islamic identity has taken shape throughout history
and within our civilizational heritage. It was born in the womb of the Holy
Quran and promoted by the peoples of the Islamic Ummah regardless of
their ethnicity, religion, or doctrine, while adopting Arabic, the language of
Quran as its language. And thanks to the eternal and focal character of the
Quran and of the language in which it was revealed, the Arab Islamic identity
could overcome the attempts of Turkification, Francisation, Anglicisation,
and Russification.
As nations of various civilizations are seeking integration and synergy
despite their differences, Islamic countries should join efforts to integrate
their different nationalities within Islam, so as to overcome the challenges
of external dominance, targeting to further divide and fragment the Islamic
world.
24) Hassan Al-Banna: “Collection of Cheikh Hassan Al-Banna’s Letters”, The letter of
the “The Fifth Conference” and the Letter entitled: “Our Da’wa”, pp. 19, 176, 178, Dar
al-Shabab, Cairo, Dateless.
Dr Muhammad Imara
75
A nation:
- Of more than a billion and seven hundred million people;
- Living on 35,000,000 square kilometers - four times China;
- Having resources that make it hold the first position in many economic
fields;
- Having unmatched civilizational, cultural and intellectual heritages;
- Having distinguished civilizational experience that made it the most
prominent nation in the world for over ten centuries;
- Having a rich cultural identity that can allow its peoples, communities,
countries and religions to revive its past historical experience within
the framework of “diversity inside unity”;
A nation with such a heritage and history should become aware of its status
and starts making history once again.
Dr Mohamed Kettani*
Contrary to certain beliefs, pre-Islamic societies were not closed and inwardlooking at the time of the Quran’s revelation and earlier long decades when the
banner of paganism flew higher than that of monotheism. They were in fact
as open onto their surroundings as the possibilities of openness permitted
at that time. The Jahiliyya society was similar to all other civilized societies in
that it was influenced by certain factors originating in neighboring societies,
including the material commodities that served as a backbone for the caravan
trade. These impact factors and these societies’ inherent covetousness and
desire to expand and lay claim to bordering countries, constituted a challenge
for the Arab society which felt the brunt of division and the disintegration of
its unity before such enemies as the Persian and the Roman empires.
In the 16th century AD, society in the Arab Peninsula was profoundly
influenced by the culture, languages, laws and perhaps even beliefs of its
neighbors, particularly the regions that were actively trading between the
north and the south such as Yemen, the Hejaz and the Arabian Gulf lying
on caravan routes, or those bordering the Persian and Roman empires such
as Iraq and the Levant. These parts were affected by conditions in the two
great Roman Byzantine and Sassanid Persian empires, including the political
unrest, social dissolution and the threat of disintegration that were further
exacerbated by the raging conflicts between them. The traditional wars pitting
the two empires were taxing peoples’ resources and placing an immense strain
on the populations to pay, in the form of money and farming crops, the levies
imposed by rulers who treated the population as cattle whose sole function
was to supply their breeders with milk, meat and skins till their last breath.
* Member of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco.
78
Under these circumstances, no safe boundaries existed. These two empires
were separated by a strip of land that served as an arena for the raids and
counter raids. Arab tribes that bordered these lands played a key role in these
raids, and therefore hostilities between these two political powers greatly
affected the caravan trade heading north from the south and west from the
east in terms of protection and organization, or of providing the services
needed for a smooth passage. Mecca on the other hand was the largest chief
place of Hejaz, the beating heart of this trade, with the nobility of Mecca
as the beneficiaries of this bustling trade through the winter and summer
journeys. They were aware of the critical importance of preserving the status
of this town and its tradition as the hub of all the deities worshipped by Arab
tribes, a seasonal trading market open to the rest of the world, the repository
of fortunes and one of the bastions of Arab paganism.
In such environment, the major concern of Mecca’s nobility was to maintain
their prestige, wealth and tribal traditions. This may have prompted them to
consider some form of alliance to constitute a deterrent force against anyone
who may try to undermine these interests and well-established traditions.
However, we should not be deceived by those fleeting sentiments that came
to the surface from time to time for the establishment of solidarity ties and
alliances such as the League of the Virtuous (Hilf al-Fudul) which was created
prior to the Mohammedan Prophecy era and was witnessed by the Prophet
(PBUH) as a young boy. The League was said to have been created to protect
the poor from the rich and the oppressed from the oppressor(1). Yet, the
Meccan community was unable to free itself from the weight of its sins. It
was a dysfunctional society whose blind attachment to traditions and material
greed entailed the forging of tribal alliances that were based on the equality of
tribal powers and a balance of power between the idols worshipped.
It was a society rife with evil and dominated by the exploitation of the poor
and needy by the rich and the usurers, too blinded by pecuniary thirst and
pagan traditions to glimpse the light that was streaking from the heavens
through the message of Islam and the call of Mecca’s trustworthy young
man to worship Allah alone and renounce polytheism and rampant vice.
1) Cf. As-Suhaili, Abul Qassim, Ibn Hashim’s “Rawd al-Unuf fi Tafsir al-Sira al-Nabawiya”,
Vol. 1/155.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
79
The Quran is full of references to those evils and beliefs. Certain wealthy
Quraishis used to force their slave girls into prostitution in order to extort
money and exploit bodies. Others used to bury their female newborns in fear
of shame, as if females were no more than vessels for sexual pleasure and the
easiest route to tarnishing a man’s or a tribe’s reputation and dignity. Even the
urban organization of Mecca served to consecrate tribal and class inequalities
with some of its neighborhoods exclusively reserved for the nobility, and
others were the dwelling quarters of the poor, the Ethiopians, and the people
of mixed race born to non-Arab mothers.
This society’s culture and language also mirrored its discrimination and
segregation. There were the Saa’lik, in reference to the paupers who were
excluded from the tribe, and there were the slaves, the concubines and the
chattel. Another manifestation was the labeling of the wealthy as the nobility,
the masters and the chiefs, as opposed to the populace, the riffraff, and the
commoners, as well as the uncouth and the ignorant.(2)
It may be argued that Jahiliyya Arabs were inherently democratic since Bedouins
could address the head of the tribe in ways devoid of any deference or
glorification, and they did not bow to any authority or heeded an interlocutors’
status. But such statement is rather generic and inaccurate, for they were
profoundly attached to distinctions between masters and commoners, and
between slaves and freemen. For example, blood money paid by a murderer’s
family to that of the slain victim varied widely in value depending on the
status of the victim’s family. A king’s ransom was about one thousand camels
while that of a commoner could not exceed five camels and even less. And
from such discrimination was born the custom of refusing to marry a girl
from the nobility to a man outside her league, her guardian having all the
discretion to exercise such discrimination(3).
But the most important characteristic of pre-Islam, or the era of the Quran’s
revelation in particular, was the intellectual and religious travail that was taking
place in and around Mecca, as well as in other tribal communities. Arabs of
2) For further information on these communities, cf. Al-Mufassal fi Tarikh al-Arab Qabl
al-Islam, Dr Jawad Ali, Vol. 4/541 and onward.
3) Ibid, page 543.
80
the Peninsula were interacting with the neighboring nations through trade,
as well as with religions of which the most prominent were Zoroastrianism,
Sabianism, Christianity and Judaism. The Quran stands as the best witness
to the presence of other religions’ followers in and around Mecca. One of
its verses says: [Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow
the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians, Christians, Magians, and
Polytheists,- Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment:
for Allah is witness of all things.](4)
The Jews had settled for long in the northern Arab Peninsula. Their most
important settlement was the city of Yathrib. They also settled in the eastern
part of the Peninsula known today as the Arabian Gulf in view of its
importance in controlling maritime trade.
The historian al-Yacoubi reports that Arabs converts to Judaism included
all of Yemen and the tribes of al-Aws and al-Khazraj after settling in the
city of Yathrib and becoming neighbors with the Jews of Banu Quraydha
and Banu Annadhir. Other converts to Judaism included people from Banu
Harith, Ghassane and Judham. The Jews had settled in clusters in Wadi alQura and Taima, building on knolls and working in land farming and some
industries, integrating the Arab pre-Islamic society but retaining their cultural
and religious identity. They focused largely on economic activities and did not
attempt to convert anyone to Judaism out of the belief that Judaism was the
exclusive prerogative of God’s chosen people, Israel, and of consideration
that Allah (Exalted be His name) was a national God for them and them
alone.
Christians entered the Arab Peninsula through evangelism, particularly after
Christianity became the official religion of Roman emperors and of the
peoples who came under their domination. Christians endeavored to preach
the word and spread their religion wherever they went, including among
Arabs, spreading the Trinity dogma and the deification of the Christ, peace
be upon him. They also disseminated their writings and biblical tales of saints
to such extents that even upper class Arabs were conversant about the Torah
4) Al-Haj, verse 17.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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and the Bible and the doctrinal conflicts among Christians about the nature
of the Christ, peace be upon him.
There was also Zoroastrianism, a medley of doctrines, all built around belief
in the existence of two gods; the god of light and the god of darkness, or the
god of good and the god of evil.
As explained at length by al-Bayrouni(5), when Arabs came into contact with it,
Zoroastrianism was heavily loaded with beliefs originating in ancient Eastern
faiths.
Yet, Arabs were not very enthusiastic about this religion since they considered
it a national ideology of the Persians, and as such it was only embraced by
a small number of Arabs compared to the large masses that converted to
Judaism and Christianity and Sabiansim, the religion of star and planet
worshipers.
Sabians worshipped angels whom they considered as intercessors for them
with the Almighty Creator, and believed them to run the underworld or the
earth through powers bestowed on them by Allah. They made of the rejection
of prophecy and prophets a creed to be followed by all their faith community.
Despite all the doctrinal currents sweeping across the cultural and social
landscape of pre-Islamic society, paganism remained the creed of the
majority of Arab Peninsula Arabs, and may be considered the first religion
of pre-Islam Arabs. Paganism was a set of primitive beliefs transmitted by
primitive people with impaired thinking, illiterate and ignorant who believed
in the influence of hidden powers of nature on human life, deified these
powers and gave them body in idols and statues to symbolize them and to
which offerings were given in displays of obedience and worship. But Arab
paganism was distinct from this primitive perception in that it considered the
worshipped idols as symbols of intermediaries between man and his creator,
bringing him closer to God and governing his destiny in terms of wealth,
progeny, health, prestige and the chances of victory or defeat.
5) Tahqiq Ma lil Hind min Maqoula, Maqboula fi al-‘Aql aw Mardhoula, Abu Rayane
al-Bayrouni.
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They also believed in angels and in jinns. Some believed that jinns had strong
powers bestowed on them by God since they were closer to Him. They
endeavored to adhere to their directives by carrying amulets and heeding
their spells through the services of priests. Others believed that angels were
the daughters of God, a wide spread belief among the tribes of Quraish,
Juhayna, Banu Salamah and Khuza’a, which explains the divine verse: [Now
ask them their opinion: Is it that thy Lord has (only) daughters, and
they have sons?- Or that We created the angels female, and they are
witnesses (thereto)? Is it not that they say, from their own invention,
“(Allah) has begotten children”? but they are liars!](6)
Allah (SWT) says about them: [One Day He will gather them all together,
and say to the angels, “Was it you that these men used to worship?”
They will say, «Glory to Thee! our (tie) is with Thee - as Protector - not
with them. Nay, but they worshipped the Jinns: most of them believed
in them.](7)
Faced by this multi-layered paganism which was exploited by priests,
magicians and fortunetellers, the ‘human mind’ went into slumber and fell
captive to the superstitions inherited from ancestors, sealed to any ray of light
or enlightenment that may descend from the heavens. In fact, the mind simply
became ineffectual and relinquished its reasoning and pondering functions.
When the Quran was revealed in this kaleidoscopic landscape of beliefs, it was
crucial that it address these myriad followers, the Christian Trinity advocates,
the Jews who had distorted their Torah, the Sabians who worshipped stars
or angels, the Zoroastrians who worshipped fire, the pagans and the atheists
who denied the existence of God or rejected the principle of prophecy, or
the idol-worshippers who blindly emulated their ancestors’ ways.
The Quran addressed all these factions with full knowledge of their beliefs.
It was a true mirror that reflected all the faiths prevalent at the time of its
revelation through a discourse that addressed them all and engaged in gentle
argumentation with their followers.
6) Al-Saffat, verse 150.
7) Sabaa, verse 41.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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The Quran also portrayed the extent of division, strife and conflicts that was
on the verge of annihilating the Arab society and destroying its entity from a
doctrinal dimension where deities were multiple and where the truth was lost.
The Quran says: [And remember with gratitude Allah’s favour on you;
for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His
Grace, ye became brethren.](8)
Addressing the Prophet (PBUH), Allah said: [Should they intend to deceive
thee,- verily Allah sufficeth thee: He it is That hath strengthened thee
with His aid and with (the company of) the Believers; And (moreover)
He hath put affection between their hearts: not if thou hadst spent
all that is in the earth, couldst thou have produced that affection, but
Allah hath done it.](9)
The Quran also describes the various distortions and misconceptions the Jews
and Christians believed in, responding to them, revealing the groundlessness
of these beliefs and pointing out that each faction among the People of the
Book believed that they alone were privy to the ultimate truth.
[The Jews say: “The Christians have naught (to stand) upon; and
the Christians say: The Jews have naught (To stand) upon.” Yet they
(Profess to) study the (same) Book. Like unto their word is what those
say who know not; but Allah will judge between them in their quarrel
on the Day of Judgment.](10)
[The Jews call ‘Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ
the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but
imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say.](11) These verses and many
others imply that religious conflict was at its fiercest among these religions
and creeds, whether in or outside the Islamic environment, and that the
Quran addressed all parties upholding these beliefs, the struggle for power
they embodied and their exploitation of disadvantaged and deprived classes.
8) Al-Imrane, verse 103.
9) Al-Anfal, verses 62-63.
10) Al-Baqara, verse 113.
11) Al-Tauba, verse 30.
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It was only natural in light of these doctrinal differences that some reaction
would occur among the small enlightened minority that aspired to a unifying
faith bonding the hearts of all Arabs and to a system that unifies their ranks
after exposing the absurdity of believing in multiple gods and in the alliances
and strata born out of these beliefs and which exploited the disadvantaged
and the vulnerable. A group of these converted to Christianity, others to
Judaism and others yet sought refuge in the remnants of Abraham’s religious
legacy. Ibn Ishaq said: “The Quraishi community gathered for their annual celebration
during which they congregate by one of the idols they venerated and slaughtered animals
as sacrifices and offerings. Four of them broke away from this congregation and said to
each other: Let us be friends and let each one of you show discretion to one another. They
said ‘yes’. These were Waraqa Ibn Nawfal Ibn Asad Ibn Abdul Uzza, Ubaidullah Ibn
Jahsh, Othman Ibn Huwayrith and Zaid Ibn Amr Ibn Nufayl. They said to one another:
Your people have truly strayed far. They renounced the religion of their forefather Abraham
for the sake of stones that neither hear nor see, nor can they benefit or harm anyone. O my
People, seek your path for, by God, you have erred beyond measure. They spread out in the
lands seeking Abraham’s true religion. Waraqa Ibn Nawfal converted to Christianity and
mingled with the people of the book until he became an authority among them.”
As for Ubaidullah Ibn Jahsh, he remained prey to his dilemma until he
converted to Islam. Ibn Ishaq relates: “As for Othman Ibn al-Huwayrith, he
travelled to Caesar in Rome, converted to Christianity and acquired good standing with
Caesar. Zaid Ibn Amr Ibn Nufayl remained where he was, neither converting to Judaism
nor to Christianity but abandoning his people’s religion, shunning the worship of idols and
the sacrifices slaughtered to please these idols, and militating against the burial of female
infants alive. He said: “I worship the God of Abraham’, and endeavored to draw his
people’s attention to the error of their ways.”(12)
Accordingly, the pre-Islamic society was not entirely devoid of religious
faith. It had divine religions and pagan beliefs but lacked a unifying doctrine
that would redress the beliefs upheld by the People of the Book, and rescue
pagans from the shackles of human slavery and into the veneration of
the God of the Worlds. The later Jahiliyya eras were marked by confusion,
doubts and dilemmas, at least for a minority of people who aspired to rise
12) Sirat Ibn Hicham, annotated by al-Suhayli, Rawd al-Unuf, Vol. 1/253.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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with their souls above the chimera of paganism that had them trapped in a
vicious circle and enslaved them to the might of a tyrannical priesthood that
exacerbated the exploitation of man by man in the name of religion. No one
expected that in the midst of such society would emerge a noble prophet
who would redress and reform the divine doctrine of monotheism. The
Trinity-based Christianity was exhausted by the Byzantine dialectics which
had driven religion away from religiousness to that of theological philosophy,
being at the same time disconnected from reality and from people’s daily fare.
Judaism, on the other hand, did not aspire to any reform or show an interest
in preaching to other than the Israelites. Zoroastrianism remained far from
the hearts of Arabs who leaned more towards paganism because it matched
their traditions of venerating ancestors and finding solace and strength in the
tenets of the forefathers.
When Islam emerged, each of these communities stepped forward to fight it
from the premise of their own faith in the legacy they took pride in, in a blind
imitation that obscured the ultimate truth behind the universe’s phenomena.
We conclude from this overview of pre-Islamic era, and in particular the
period of the Quran’s revelation, that the ancient world was in need of a
new divine message that addressed man’s mind and his instincts. And that
was the message of Islam, sent to the worlds inviting them to believe in the
Oneness of God and reserve divinity to Him and Him alone. The Quran
was Allah’s discourse to the mind and to human nature, and a call to uphold
the values of brotherhood, equality, justice and cooperation in righteousness
and piety. The Quran addressed the free mind, urging it to play its part in
reasoning, challenging illusions and in perceiving the manifestations of Allah’s
divinity and oneness. It addressed human nature through the latter’s intrinsic
inclination towards the truth, justice and noble morals. To achieve all of this,
the Quran resorted to the dialogue approach, taking into consideration the
specificity of its target audience and addressing it in the most suitable and
convincing manner, for among them were followers of previous religions,
atheists who denied divinity and hesitant skeptics. And for each category
there was a style that matched it. Some were inherently inclined to believe
the proof presented and apply reasoning-based comparisons, and these were
a minority, and some were blindly devoted to their doctrine, accepting no
challenge and stubbornly rejecting anything opposed to their own opinion,
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simply closing their minds and hearts to any counter argument. Addressing
the obstinate required an intelligent discourse that penetrates to the hard core
of their convictions and turns them into reasons to reconsider their positions.
Others yet were steered by their instincts, psychologically prepared to receive
the truth when it emerges, and those were truly the smallest minority.
In view of this multitude of leanings, the Quran addressed at times the
enlightened mind, at others the open and receptive heart, and at other times
the closed and recalcitrant mind.
The philosopher Ibn Rushd analyses this in his book Fasl al-Maqal fi
ma bayn al-Hikma was Shara min al-Ittisal saying: “Since all this is now
established, and since we, the Muslim community, hold that this divine religion of ours
is true, and that it is this religion which incites and summons us to the happiness that
consists in the knowledge of God, Mighty and Majestic, and of His creation, that [end]
is appointed for every Muslim by the method of assent which his temperament and nature
require. For the natures of men are on different levels with respect to [their paths to] assent.
One of them comes to assent through demonstration; another comes to assent through
dialectical arguments, just as firmly as the demonstrative man through demonstration, since
his nature does not contain any greater capacity; while another comes to assent through
rhetorical arguments, again just as firmly as the demonstrative man through demonstrative
arguments.”
“Thus since this divine religion of ours has summoned people by these three methods, assent
to it has extended to everyone, except him who stubbornly denies it with his tongue or him
for whom no method of summons to God the Exalted has been appointed in religion owing
to his own neglect of such matters.”
“It was for this purpose that the Prophet, peace on him, was sent with a special mission
to ‘the white man and the black man’ alike; I mean because his religion embraces all
the methods of summons to God the Exalted. This is clearly expressed in the saying of
God the Exalted: [Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful
preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious.](13)
13) Al-Nahl, verse 125.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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Scholars have pored over the methods of persuasion used in the Quran and
attempted to list them in major categories despite their multiplicity, diversity
and interrelatedness. These are:
1. Implicit comparison: This method is adopted by the Quran in
providing evidence for some fact by eliminating all or some of its premises
and confirming the outcome by way of analogy and ellipsis. Such pattern is
used for example in the verse: [The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as
that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”. And
he was. The Truth (comes) from Allah alone; so be not of those who
doubt](14). This approach focused on asserting the similitude of Adam and
Jesus, leaving out all the premises implicitly understood from the Quran’s
discourse to the Christians who claim that Jesus was the Son of Allah because
he does not have a father. The reasoning implied in the argument is that
Adam was not born to a father, similar to Jesus, so if the latter is a son of
God on that account, then Adam is more worthy of that position, yet Adam
is not recognized as such by the Christians themselves.
2. Disproof by reducing the argument to absurdity: Through this
approach, a point is proven by reducing its opposite to absurdity. Examples
occur in the verse: [If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other
gods besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both! but
glory to Allah, the Lord of the Throne: (High is He) above what they
attribute to Him!](15), and in the verse: [No son did Allah beget, nor is
there any god along with Him: (if there were many gods), behold,
each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would
have lorded it over others!](16) Both arguments drove a point by invalidating
its opposite while keeping as implicit all the premises understood from this
dialogue.
3. Probing and deconstruction: This method of refuting the opponent’s
argument consists of breaking down the various components of the subject
14) Al-Imrane, verses 59-60.
15) Al-Anbiya, Verse 22
16) Al-Muminun, verse 91.
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of argument and proving that none of the components carries enough
weight to support the opponent’s claim. Al- Siouti lists the following verse
as an example of this method: [(Take) eight (head of cattle) in (four)
pairs: of sheep a pair, and of goats a pair; say, hath He forbidden the
two males, or the two females, or (the young) which the wombs of the
two females enclose? Tell me with knowledge if ye are truthful: Of
camels a pair, and oxen a pair; say, hath He forbidden the two males,
or the two females, or (the young) which the wombs of the two females
enclose? - Were ye present when Allah ordered you such a thing? But
who doth more wrong than one who invents a lie against Allah, to lead
astray men without knowledge? For Allah guideth not people who do
wrong.](17)
To explain this persuasion method, al-Siouti said that when the infidels
declared as forbidden male cattle at times then female cattle at others, Allah
(SWT) responded through an in-depth analysis and deconstruction saying: all
creation belongs to Allah, and Allah created a pair of each: male and female,
so what would be the motive for prohibiting either the males, the females or
what is enclosed in the womb. If there is no obvious reason for the prohibition,
it is assumed that this prohibition was prescribed by Allah through divine
revelation, through a messenger, or was witnessed directly, which explains
the question: “Were ye present when Allah ordered you such a thing.”
These are all the possible forms of prohibition and no others exist: the first
declares as forbidden all male cattle, the second one stipulates that all female
cattle are forbidden, and the third one proposes forbidding the two groups,
all of which carries a negation of the prohibitions applying to one group at
times and to other groups at others. Their argument would mean applying
the prohibition to all categories, and since attributing something to Allah
without an intermediary is forbidden, and since they were not instructed to
do so by a prophet, Mohamed (PBUH) being the first prophet sent to them,
then all these prohibitions become void and their claim is disproven, entailing
that what they said was no more than a pure fallacy fabricated in the name
of Allah.
17) Al-Anaam, verses 143-144.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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4. Analogy: In this case, the claimant draws an analogy between his thesis
and an established fact and shows the points of similitude. Noble verses in
this regard are many and include the following one: [O mankind! if ye have
a doubt about the Resurrection, (consider) that We created you out
of dust, then out of sperm, then out of a leech-like clot, then out of a
morsel of flesh, partly formed and partly unformed, in order that We
may manifest (our power) to you; and We cause whom We will to rest in
the wombs for an appointed term, then do We bring you out as babes,
then (foster you) that ye may reach your age of full strength; and some
of you are called to die, and some are sent back to the feeblest old age,
so that they know nothing after having known (much), and (further),
thou seest the earth barren and lifeless, but when We pour down rain on
it, it is stirred (to life), it swells, and it puts forth every kind of beautiful
growth (in pairs). This is so, because Allah is the Reality: it is He Who
gives life to the dead, and it is He Who has power over all things. And
verily the Hour will come: there can be no doubt about it, or about (the
fact) that Allah will raise up all who are in the graves.](18)
Allah (SWT) drew an analogy between man’s re-creation in a perfect image in
the afterlife, an issue that was highly contested by the Arabs, and a matter that
is beyond the shadow of doubt, which is genesis. The analogy came in the
most eloquent and beautiful form where majesty met perfection and beauty.
Sometimes, the Almighty gives examples to bring facts closer to grasping
and within reach of mankind. For example, Allah says in response to idols
worshippers: [And worship others than Allah,- such as have no power of
providing them, for sustenance, with anything in heavens or earth, and
cannot possibly have such power? Invent not similitudes for Allah. for
Allah knoweth, and ye know not. ) Allah sets forth the Parable (of two
men: one) a slave under the dominion of another; He has no power of
any sort; and (the other) a man on whom We have bestowed goodly
favours from Ourselves, and he spends thereof (freely), privately and
publicly: are the two equal? (By no means;) praise be to Allah. But
18) Al Hajj, verses 5-7.
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most of them understand not. Allah sets forth (another) Parable of
two men: one of them dumb, with no power of any sort; a wearisome
burden is he to his master; whichever way be directs him, he brings no
good: is such a man equal with one who commands Justice, and is on
a Straight Way?](19)
In these noble verses, Allah (SWT) proves the futility of worshipping idols
because they possess no wealth and can neither benefit nor harm a person.
The Almighty provides two examples that show that in people’s perceptions
and customs the incapable cannot be on par with the capable, so how can
the pagan consider as equals the Omnipotent Allah and stones that hold no
power to benefit or to harm(20).
Scholars have mentioned other methods used in dialogue in the Quran such
as syllogism, concession, transference, contradiction, and pacification of the
opponent. There is no need to analyze each of these styles since we will
come across some in our analysis of certain dialogue instances in the Quran.
Looking at the Quran’s style in construction, we find it to be a medley of
notifications, reports, questions, commands and warnings. From the overall
structure dominating it, it comes across as a continuous dialogue between the
Creator (SWT) and His creation, with man at the forefront as Allah’s viceregent on earth entrusted with giving body to this vice-regency. The patterns
of this dialogue are found to be dominated by reformulations, derivatives,
questions and answers.
There is in the Quran nearly eight hundred forms of the verb ‘said’ in the
singular and plural, compared to less than half the verb ‘say’ in the order form
that the prophet was instructed to use to convey Allah’s commands. As for
other derivatives of the verb “said” in the Quran, these exceed one thousand
eight hundred. This provides ample evidence that the Quran predominantly
adopted dialogue as a way towards distinguishing between truth and fallacy.
19) Al-Nahl, verses 73-76.
20) History of Dialectics, Sheikh Mohamed Abu Zahra, Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi, 1980,
pp. 62-71.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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The reader will also notice myriad forms of dialogue that provide information
about the interlocutors and the nature of their sayings which varied between
admission and denial, and answer and question. We will also note that Allah’s
discourse always carries the seal of sublimation, majesty, good advice,
guidance and mercy towards man, contrary to the discourse of men which is
marked by obstinacy, ingratitude and arrogance.
Examples of the rhetorical question, a basic feature of dialogue, can be found
in the following verses:
- [Does not Allah know best all that is in the hearts of all creation?](21)
- [Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create
the like thereof ?](22)
- [Is not Allah enough for his Servant?](23)
- [“Is not this the truth?” They will say: “Yea, by our Lord!”](24)
- [Has not He, (the same), the power to give life to the dead?](25)
As for interrogative formulations, they are too numerous to list, particularly
where the end is to prove divinity and prompt man to think and ponder,
tightening the grip of argumentation around those who deny the truth by
placing them before the only possible answer. Of such examples we find the
following verses:
- [Say: “Of your ‘partners’, can any originate creation and repeat
it?” Say: “It is Allah Who originates creation and repeats it:
then how are ye deluded away (from the truth)?”](26)
- [Say: “Of your ‘partners’ is there any that can give any guidance
towards truth?” Say: “It is Allah Who gives guidance towards
truth, is then He Who gives guidance to truth more worthy to
be followed, or he who finds not guidance (himself) unless he is
guided? What then is the matter with you? How judge ye?”](27)
21) Al-Ankabout, verse 10.
22) Ya-Sin, verse 81.
23) Al-Zumar, verse 36.
24) Al-An’am, verse 30.
25) Al-Qiyama, verse 40.
26) Yunus, verse 10.
27 Yunus, verse 35.
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Another dialogue style used in the Qur’an relies on questions that Allah asks
people either directly or through His prophets as to what their end would be
should they persevere in their denial and truly warranted the wrath of Allah.
Of these examples are the verses:
- [Say: “Think ye to yourselves, if there come upon you the wrath
of Allah, or the Hour (that ye dread), would ye then call upon
other than Allah.- (reply) if ye are truthful](28)
- [Say: “Think ye, if Allah took away your hearing and your sight,
and sealed up your hearts, who - a god other than Allah - could
restore them to you?”](29)
This unique formulation features more than twenty times in the Qur’an.
There are also the instances where the word ‘dispute’ is used such as in the
following verses:
- [Ah! Ye are those who fell to disputing (Even) in matters of
which ye had some knowledge!] (30)
- [If any one disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full)
knowledge Hath come to thee, say: “Come! let us gather
together, - our sons and your sons, our women and your women,
ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke
the curse of Allah on those who lie!”](31)
- [Say: Will ye dispute with us about Allah, seeing that He is our
Lord and your Lord; that we are responsible for our doings and
ye for yours; and that We are sincere (in our faith) in Him?](32)
One other method used for dialogue in the Quran consists of allowing, in
good spirit, the contestant to argue at leisure, or inviting him to apply reason
until he distinguishes, through his own efforts, between wrong and right.
28) Al-An’am, verse 40.
29) al-Am’am, verse 46).
32) Al-Baqara, verse 139.
Dr Mohamed Kettani
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The Almighty says: [Say: “Who gives you sustenance, from the heavens
and the earth?” Say: “It is Allah, and certain it is that either we or
ye are on right guidance or in manifest error!” Say: “Ye shall not be
questioned as to our sins, nor shall we be questioned as to what ye do.”
Say: “Our Lord will gather us together and will in the end decide the
matter between us (and you) in truth and justice: and He is the one to
decide, the One Who knows all.”](33)
In this verse lies proof of the utmost fairness in dialogue, for although the
truth behind sustenance and its sources is indubitable, Allah inspired the
Prophet to tell the unbelievers that the truth can be either on the side of
those who believe or of the disbelievers. And see how the Quran addressed
the unbelievers in a way that is closest to their hearts when it intimated that
the truth lied with one party without specifying which one, and described as
sinful the party that shuns the path of Allah. The Quran settled the dispute by
deciding that no party should carry the sin of the other, but out of a desire to
be conciliatory till the end and urge the two parties to engage in self-criticism,
it assigned the sinful attribute to the believers and described the infidels as
simply acting. Then the Quran further elevated the level of argument by
deciding that what bound people together until the Day of Judgment was
their God, their creator and the All-knowing of what lurks in their hearts,
and that to Him goes the final say in the matters they disputed. “Deciding
the matter in truth and justice” implies the application of justice, and thus
the level of argumentation moves from innuendos and suggestions to clear
statements on account of the definite nature of the statement, on the Day of
Judgment, that the disbelievers had been misguided. This gradual approach is
known in dialectics as escalation. After that, the Quran moves to incapacitate
the target audience by demanding what is impossible to achieve: [Say: “Show
me those whom ye have joined with Him as partners: by no means (can
ye). Nay, He is Allah, the Exalted in Power, the Wise.”](34)
This transition from contesting the divinity of idols to refuting it by stating
the obvious through questions called for a return to the method of proving
33) Sabaa, verses 24-26.
34) Sabaa, verse 27.
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the existence of something probable by proving with evidence something
that is impossible(35). The Quran thus resorts to negation on the basis of
observation of reality, demanding that the disbelievers show Him those
they consider as His associates in divinity. They had no other option but to
point to their idols, but do these idols show any evidence of divinity when
they are dead stones that can neither see, feel or move, nor can they defend
themselves? What foolishness can there be greater than the veneration of the
lifeless.
35) Cf. Tafseer al-Tahrir wal Tanweer, Mohamed al-Taher Ibn Achour, Vol. 22/193/1.
The Role of Islam in Developing Muslims’
Civilizational Thought
Dr Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq(1)*
It’s needless to attempt another definition of civilization as the word has
exhaustively been defined. For this reason we opt for Albert Schweitzer’s
concise and richly expressive definition of civilization in his book “The
philosophy of Civilization”: “Civilization is the spiritual and material development
of both individuals and communities.” This truly expresses what Allah means in
Surat Hud, Ayah (verse) 61:
[He has produced you from the earth and settled you in it.]
It stems form this verse that Allah has ordered people to settle in the earth
and build civilization in its spiritual and material senses.
The Islamic civilization was actually founded on these two principles, i.e. the
spiritual and the material. Any civilization founded on one of these principles
in isolation from the other cannot be called a civilization for it lacks the
balance needed for its development and continuity.
Civilization -any civilization- doesn’t emerge from the vacuum. There must
be strong incentives that stimulate people to strive strenuously to accomplish
the spiritual and material development of nations.
It’s well-known that the Arabs in the pre-Islamic era didn’t have any civilization.
They didn’t have anything that can be described as science, philosophy or
civilization, though they entertained some philosophical views scattered in
their prose and poetical heritage. But those were just “slips of natural disposition
and spurts of thoughts,”(2) according to Al-Shahrastani.
1) Ex-minister of Waqf of the Arab Republic of Egypt, member of Al-Azhar’s Association
of Senior Scholars.
2) Al-Shahrastani: Al-Milal Wa Al-Nihal (Sects and Creeds), Book 2, p. 60 Dar Al-Maarifa,
Beirut, 1982.
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They weren’t actually interested in reasoning -countering traditions and mythsand finding the relationships between hypotheses and results for the then
widespread opinions and tales. “They had some astrological and natural knowledge
derived from the knowledge of the Sabeans and Kaldanians, as well as some empirical
medical knowledge coupled with incantations, charms, talismans and myths fraught with
information on jinn, goblins and demons. They also had proverbs and sayings which express
their intellectual tendencies, and poetry on asceticism tinted by morality and spirituality.”(3)
Nevertheless, those elements were not sufficient to build a civilization.
With the advent of Islam, Arabs’ conditions in particular, and those of
Muslims in general, underwent drastic changes in such an unprecedented way
in history. Islam brought new life to them, made their horizons stretch to new
disciplines of knowledge, and enabled them to establish a great empire that
reached as far as China in the East and al-Andalus in the West.
And thanks to the teachings of Islam, various scientific fields flourished and
prospered. With a firm commitment to the civilizational effort, Muslims were
able to build their own and distinguished civilization. This achievement could
not have been realized without the precepts of Islam bearing the prerequisites
for that sweeping change.
In fact, Islam’s perception of Man was the cornerstone of this new edifice.
Islam considers Man as Allah’s vicegerent on the earth. In this regard, Allah
says in the Qu’ran, (Al-Baqarah: 30):
[Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.]
Allah has preferred Man to Many of His creatures and greatly honored him.
The Almighty says:
[And We have certainly honoured the children of Adam and carried
them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things
and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite]
preference.] (Al-Isra: 70)
3) Dr. Jameel Saliba: “The history of the Arab Philosophy” pp. 15-16, Dar Al-Kitab Aloubnani,
1973.
Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq
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The honor Allah bestowed upon Man has various dimensions. On the one
hand, it’s a divine protection of Man involving respect of his freedom,
intellect, thought and faith as well as his blood, wealth and honor. And on
the other hand, it’s the responsible and well-founded freedom which fully
understands the importance of assuming the trust and responsibility which
the skies, the earth and mountains declined to assume as Allah says:
[Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the
mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but Man [undertook
to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant.] (Al-Ahzab: 72)
Although Allah offered the Trust and responsibility to Man, He created
for him this universe in which he may practice his material, spiritual and
intellectual activities.
In this respect, the Holy Quran states:
[And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is
on the earth - all from Him. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give
thought.] (Al-Jaathya: 13)
Giving thought as stipulated in this ayah is essentially indispensable. Allah
subjected the universe to Man, hence, he shouldn’t remain indifferent about
it. Rather, he should take a positive attitude towards it, in such a way as to
enable him to meditate and study the universe in order to benefit from it
and serve the humanity through the different disciplines of knowledge.
Considering the universe in this way would certainly lead to material as well
as spiritual progress.(4)
Allah says in this regard:
[We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until
it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.] (Fussilat: 53)
All of this will urge Man to work hard to build a firmly-established civilization
as if he shall live forever without forgetting to prepare for the afterlife (alakhira) following the famous Islamic adage: “Work for this life as if you shall
4) Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq: “Introduction to Islamic Philosophy”, p. 30. 2003, Dar AlFikr Al-Arabi, Cairo.
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live forever and work for the Hereafter as though you will die tomorrow.” According
to Islam, the human effort should be allocated equally to these two parts
pursuant to this verse:
[But seek, through that which Allah has given you, the home of the
Hereafter; and [yet], do not forget your share of the world.] (Al-Qasas: 77)
The above-mentioned Quranic teachings show us how fundamental is the
role of Islam in developing the civilizational thought of Muslims. Islam
didn’t consider civilization as a marginal issue; rather, it considered building it
a duty of no less importance than any other. This is exactly what we will try
to highlight based on the Quran and Sunnah.
a- The beginning:
Almighty Allah decided to make Islam the last of His messages to humanity.
For that purpose, the divine wisdom dictated that the Quranic teachings
provide for everything that can particularly enable Muslims to effectively
pioneer in the fields of knowledge and civilization and offer humanity the
fruits of their efforts inspired by the religious fundamentals laid in the
Holy Quran and the Prophet’s Sunnah. Allah’s revelation to the Prophet
Muhammad truly expressed this holistic civilizational plan. Actually, we find
proof of this plan in the first five ayahs of the Quranic revelation which
commanded reading not once but twice, and insisted on the importance
of knowledge and of the role of Man, entrusted with promoting it within
the framework of a close relationship between himself, knowledge and the
Creator of the universe. Allah says:
[Recite in the name of your Lord who created (1)-Created Man from a
clinging substance (2). Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous (3)Who taught by the pen (4)-Taught Man that which he knew not.(5)] (AlAlaq: 1-5)
Hence, the Holy Quran paves the way to Man to use all his intellectual
potentials to carefully read the written book, i.e. the Holy Quran, and likewise
read the open book, i.e. the universe that Allah created especially for Man to
enable him to build a civilization which may serve humanity as a whole.
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The Holy Quran draws attention to the fact that Allah armed Adam (PBUH),
when He cast him out of Heaven and sent him down to the earth, with
knowledge which enabled him to live in the earth. Allah says:
[And He taught Adam the names - all of them.] (Al-Baqarah: 31)
This ayah means that the Lord gave Adam keys of knowledge. Once he is
down in the earth, Adam and his offspring should strive till doomsday to
explore the dark corners of science through those keys. In fact, this can only
be achieved through Man’s use of all the intellectual and scientific capabilities
Allah granted him.
The Holy Quran didn’t encourage Man to study one discipline of knowledge;
rather it incited him to meditate on the universe and search for whatever might
be beneficial for him in this life and the hereafter. Allah subjected heavens
and the earth and what is between them to Man to study and contemplate
them with no constrictions.
This is exactly what the above-mentioned verse means:
[And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is
on the earth - all from Him. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give
thought.] (Al-Jaathya: 13)
Allah’s signs and evidence exist in every corner of this vast universe. And only
the ones who use their knowledge and intellectual potentials can recognize
some of these sings.
b- Civilization Establishment is an Islamic obligation:
In the light of this Quranic evidence, we can see that Islam has enabled Man
everywhere to probe into this universe at any time. The universe is a vast field
for any person seeking to achieve the Holy Quran’s meaning of settling in the
earth and establishing a civilization in its spiritual and material dimensions as
defined earlier. It’s equally clear that civilization is a divine commandment as
stated in the Holy Quran:
[He has produced you from the earth and settled you in it.] (Hud: 61)
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The order by Allah to Man to settle in the earth should not be considered
as only advisable or secondary in Islam. Settling the earth in the sense of
building a civilization, as a divine commandment, is rather an obligation that
must be undertaken in the same way as any other obligation (farida). It is
evident that civilization and settling the earth in the Quranic terms can only
be founded through knowledge, which is, according to the prophet (PBUH)
is “an obligation of every Muslim man and woman.”(5) In other words, establishing
a knowledge-founded civilization is an Islamic obligation.
c- The Notion of Knowledge in Islam:
Not only does Islam give a great importance to religious knowledge, but
it considers seeking to acquire knowledge, regardless of its discipline, as a
religious obligation. It furthermore explains that only a group of the ummah
should study religion, while the rest should seek to acquire knowledge in
other areas to become able to establish a strong civilization, and become
models for the other nations:
[For there should separate from every division of them a group [remaining]
to obtain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they
return to them.] (Al-Tawbah: 122)
Muslims have to seek knowledge even in China, i.e. even if the Muslim has
to travel to the farthest point in the earth or learn from a non-Muslim. Islam
exhorts Man to seek knowledge and Allah grants great reward to those who
seek it. In his Hadith, the Prophet (PBUH) says: “Allah will make the path to
Paradise easy for anyone who seeks a path in search of knowledge.”(6)
Angels spread their wings in respect for the seekers of knowledge. Likewise,
Islam makes the ink used by scholars equal to the martyrs’ blood for the
martyrs sacrifice their blood to defend their nation, while the scholars defend
it using their intellectual abilities and contribute to the development of their
country.
5) Tabarani’s Mu’jam al-Awsat.
6) Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi (See: Imam al-Manawi: “Fayd al-Qadir Sharh al-Jami` al-Saghir”)
V.6, ed. Dar al-Ma‘rifah, Beirut, 1972A.D./1391H.
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In the past, Muslims proved to have never been closed to earlier civilizations.
On the contrary, they were open to them and benefited from the human
heritage in different fields.
The human heritage is based on giving and taking; and there is no nation in
history that didn’t contribute to and take from it. The Holy Quran exhorts us
to explore the earth, study the previous nations and benefit from the lessons
of history. Allah says:
[There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding.]
(Yusuf: 111)
The great philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroës) thought that the study of past
peoples’ books is a religious duty. He says: “We study what they said and proved in
their books. Then we gladly accept what stands to reason and thank them for it, or warn
against that which contradicts reason, and forgive them for it.”(7)
d- Muslims and Civilization Today:
Muslims’ contribution to the world can only be denied by an ignorant, a
renegade or an arrogant. Impartial western scholars have recognized the
positive impact the Islamic civilization has had on the Western civilization.
The translated books of Muslim scholars in the Middle Ages, particularly in
the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, enlightened the European minds and paved
the way for the Renaissance, the era where Europe started to overcome
various crippling hurdles.
As Europe started building its modern civilization, the Islamic civilization
began to lose its leadership, which negatively affected its contribution. This
civilizational decline started after the fall of al-Andalus and continues to date.
Muslims have since been a liability to other nations after having been leaders
of civilization for ages. Unfortunately, they have contented themselves to
being mere consumers of modern civilization products and permanent
customers of others’ supermarkets.
7) Ibn Rushd. Fasl al-Maqal. p. 17, in: The Philosophy of Ibn Rushd. 1982, Beirut, Dar Al-Afaq
Al-Jadida.
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This is actually a lamentable situation that no one can deny. However, we’re
not working hard enough to get out of this dark tunnel. We have to realize that
there is no place for the weak and the dependent in our world today, and that
the power of nations is not measured by the amount of wealth or weaponry
they have, but rather by the power of their knowledge. He who possesses
knowledge has power and enjoys the others’ respect and appreciation.
Is there any hope for Muslims to redeem the glory they once enjoyed? or has
it faded away with the wide academic and civilizational gap between us and
those who control knowledge and civilization?
Despair is not a characteristic of believers as Allah says:
[Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving
people.] (Yusuf: 87)
e- The Gifts of the Holy Quran are Inexhaustible:
The Muslims’ civilizational decline that started with the fall of al-Andalus
doesn’t mean, in any way, that the decline is an inevitable destiny or an
irrevocable verdict. In fact, the resources that inspired our ancestors and
strongly motivated them to build a great civilization are not yet exhausted.
The Holy Quran and the Prophet’s Sunnah shall remain a major resource for
us until the Day of Judgment.
However, to redress the situation, Muslims need to help and improve themselves to qualify for Allah’s help, as Allah says:
[Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change
what is in themselves.] (Ar-Ra’d: 11)
Allah assists neither the lazy nor the negligent people. However, He is always
beside those who work diligently. He says:
[Indeed, Allah is with those who fear Him and those who are doers of
good.” (An-Nahl: 128)
If we look at the three divine promises expressed in the following verse:
[Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done
righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority]
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upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will
surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred
for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear,
security,] (An-Nur: 55)
We find that they were actually fulfilled for Muslims in the past when
Muslims worked hard and competed successfully with others in the fields of
knowledge and civilization. Muslims in those times made accomplishments in
various fields, and by that they earned Allah’s support and blessing.
To be entitled for those divine promises again, Muslims are required to
perform their duties first before asking for Allah’s assistance. The beginning
of the above mentioned ayah clearly states that condition. The divine promise
is given only to those who believe and do righteous deeds. The problem is that
we have for centuries limited our perception of the meaning of doing good in
the first ayah and the meaning of doing the righteous deeds in the second to
performing the most known religious rituals only: praying, fasting Ramadan,
giving Zakat and performing Hajj. Many of us have wrongly believed that
this is what Allah meant, and thus reduced Islam in an offending way.
Doing good partly means perfecting the deeds required from Man, be they
religious or worldly (dunyawi), as long as he intends by them to please Allah
and benefit or protect people. Hence, seeking to acquire knowledge is one of
the righteous deeds, by which Allah facilitates the road to Jannah- as stated in
the above-mentioned hadith.
It is worth stressing that sticking to the known religious rituals may lead to
righteous deeds in all aspects of life. The enlightenment of the Holy Quran and
the Sunnah are never-ending. Unfortunately, we have ceased to comprehend
them and grasp the elements that stimulate progress and life promotion. We
have consequently contented ourselves to praising the achievements of our
ancestors.
Shakib Arslan once visited Jamal Ed-dine Al-Afghani, (May Allah have mercy
on their souls), when he was in Istanbul, and told him that the Arabs had
crossed the Atlantic and discovered America before Christopher Columbus.
Al-Afghani then replied to him: “Whenever the people of the Orient look for an
excuse for their current state of laziness they say: Look at how our grandparents were?”
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He added: “Yes, your grandparents were great men; but it doesn’t befit you, vassals as you
are now, to be proud of your ancestors’ achievements unless you act as they did.”(8)
Malik Bennabi rejected the claims of Islam’s opponents that the civilizational
underdevelopment of Muslims is due to Islam. He said: “The underdevelopment
of the Islamic Ummah is not due to Islam; it’s rather a punishment inflicted by Islam on
Muslims because they abandoned it, and not because they clung onto it as some claimers
allege.”
With the civilizational gap getting wider between the Islamic and Western
worlds, giving advantage to the Western civilization, we, Muslims, have to
start an introspection to figure out a way out of the current civilizational
impasse.
f- Restoring Self-confidence:
We believe that the first step to be taken towards this end is to work hard to
restore Muslims’ confidence in themselves, their abilities and their heritage.
This requires joining efforts, for it concerns the future of more than a quarter
of the world’s population.
Simultaneously, Muslims should learn about their civilization and the
achievements of the Muslim scholars and intellectuals who contributed to
building the Islamic civilization, for the majority of Muslims today ignore
much, if not all, of those achievements.
For Muslims to restore confidence in themselves and in their ability to build
a new civilization, school curricula in the Islamic world should make students
aware of the civilizational achievements of Muslim scholars. It’s well-known
that the efforts of Muslim scholars in all parts of the Islamic world have
contributed to building the Islamic civilization. The aim of these awarenessraising efforts is to motivate the new generations to follow in those scholars’
footsteps in every aspect of civilization.
Likewise, Islamic university programs should contain a course on the origins
of the Islamic civilization in the Hoy Quran and Sunnah. In addition, cultural
8) Ahmad Amin: “Leaders of Reform in the Modern Age” p.102, Beirut, Dar Al-Kitab AlArabi.
105
programs in different media outlets should include interesting weekly
programs on the civilizational achievements of Muslim scholars in the various
fields of knowledge.
This isn’t to call for stagnation, but rather to make Muslims restore
confidence in themselves and their abilities and to stimulate Muslim scholars
and intellectuals to keep pace with the scientific developments with strong
determination and relentless commitment to success.
There is also an urgent need for promoting scientific research in our Islamic
world through providing the necessary funds and state-of-the art equipment,
so that Muslim researchers won’t immigrate to Western universities and
research centers.
Some of us claim that new colonialism strip the Islamic Orient of its
competencies. However, the painful truth is that the brightest minds in our
Islamic world are rarely encouraged or supported in their home countries.
They receive no motivation whatsoever to stay in their countries and find
no suitable environment to realize their dreams and accomplish their
academic ambitions in order to contribute to the civilizational and academic
development.
The talented young researchers are in dire need for special care, support
and encouragement to enable them to contribute to the building of the new
Islamic civilization. [And that is not difficult for Allah.] (Ibrahim: 20)
The beacons of civilizational inspiration in the Holy Quran and the
Sunnah, which inspired in the past Muslim scholars and their civilizational
accomplishments, are still beaming as ever before, lighting the way for
talented people so as to compete with others in various fields of development
pursuant to the Holy Quran’s urge:
[So race to [all that is] good.] (Al-Baqarah: 148)
As we beseech Allah to grant us His assistance and best success, we acknowledge that we still have to exert considerable efforts in accordance with Allah’s
commandment:
[Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change
what is in themselves.] (Ar-Ra’d: 11)
Dr Abbas Jirari*
Throughout history, peoples have witnessed protest or revolutionary
movements to claim their rights and seek opportunities of a dignified life
based on justice, fairness and equality. In addition to these goals, protestors
have aimed at removing such obstacles impeding the attainment of those
objectives as the different forms of corruption rampant in public institutions
and power structures and managing officers, and the negative consequences
of their acts on citizens.
Today, the world undergoes many successive events, namely in the third world
countries and particularly in the Arab and Islamic countries, events that show
the extent to which the individual suffers to achieve his/her dignity, right to
a decent life and all his/her other legitimate rights.
It’s self-evident that these rights affect directly various aspects of the life of
individuals and groups including the political, economic, social and cultural
aspects. These rights generally revolve around freedom as a natural and
inherent right of every human being, and around the idea that people cannot
enjoy their lives without being able to enjoy their rights, to live in peaceful
coexistence and tolerance with others, and to accept the right to difference.
This is undoubtedly an old-new issue that has attracted the attention of
thinkers and humanity as a whole everywhere and all the time. This is due
mainly to three reasons. First, the human being often yearns for a decent
life. Second, humanity continuously witnesses scenes of oppression and
persecution either between peoples or between communities of the same
people as a result of class disparities, lack of social equality, and appetite for
power and domination. Third, individuals and communities are plagued by
* Advisor to His Majesty the King of Morocco, Member of the Academy of the Kingdom
of Morocco.
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mistrust within the personal and family circle and also within the broader
circle of public life.
Considering the civilizational and cultural evolution taking place in our
country and the progress in information and communication systems which
facilitate exchange of interests; given the tragic circumstances faced by almost
all Arab countries in a regional and international situation fraught with perils
and difficulties; and despite the peaceful stability we enjoy under a national
and wise leadership and which we should defend and preserve without
exaggerating its exceptional character, our society is facing some corrupt
trends that seek to perpetuate corruption and impose it on the society as an
unavoidable fate. This seriously jeopardizes the values and principles of our
identity including the national belonging, the sense of citizenship and the
other components of religion, language and culture.
This serious situation makes us in desperate need for a code of ethics that
should be observed, adopted and implemented by both individuals and groups.
On those ethics, we should educate our present and future generations so as
to preserve our existence and strengthen our society within the framework
of the rule of law and away from any aspects of conflict, fragmentation or
disintegration.
I think that this view can be a good basis for reform for us in Morocco and
for other similar countries. But this might not be favoured by those who
think that comprehensive reform should be prior to moral values which can
prevail only in favourable and good conditions at all levels.
In this paper, I would like to show the importance of morals in paving the
way for a wide-ranging reform. The reform here goes beyond its literal sense
of rehabilitation, amendment and improvement to mean change which may
not lead to revolting against the existing order and overthrowing the political
system. Change rather means removing all forms and levels of corruption
from its roots. In fact, it’s the claim of both the individual citizen and the
whole community. Man as an individual should first reform himself. To push
through that reform, he needs to be well informed, oriented and educated.
He also needs a good model to follow. Hence, the importance of reformers
anywhere and at anytime.
«Al-Akhlaaq» is the plural form of the Arabic word «kholoq» and «kholq»
meaning morals and ethics. It actually means the natural disposition of a
Dr Abbas Jirari
109
person which shapes his/her own existence, i.e. his/her inherent moral
constitution and patterns of behaviour that stem from his/her psychological
condition.
Behaviour reflects the way or method every person deals with himself and
with others through innate emotional drives on the one hand and through
acquired manners driven by sheer personal will and commanded by reason
on the other hand. While observing moral values he/she believes in and
aspires to achieve, the individual is usually affected by the behaviour of the
other members of society. The behaviour may be good or bad, positive or
negative, and accordingly incurring reward or punishment. The expected
result of this is that people will approve good behaviour and abhor the bad
one. Discerning these two different paths is acquired through knowledge,
education, reason and practice.
It’s evident that the good refers to the fact that everything is in its state of
perfection and evil reflects utter imperfection. When we talk about evil, we
mean the acts the individual can avert such as sin, misdeed and vice relating
to behaviour and morals.
Good and evil are two poles to which the human nature is prone. Some
are prone to the first one and some others are disposed to the latter. Some
optimist intellectuals claim that life is all good. Some pessimists say the
opposite. But Islam and Muslim philosophers, including al-Ashairah and alMu’tazilah, devoted great attention to the human psyche and gave it different
meanings such as gender, man, self, truth, spirit, heart and conscience. It was
also assigned the meaning of the conflicting forces of good and evil within
the human psyche, or the dichotomy of the soul that dictates evil and the
self-blaming soul.
While the human psyche is by nature subject to the tendencies of good and
evil, religion, through the morals it preaches, is the best guide to the righteous
path and the ultimate deterrent that saves people from embarking upon the
course of evil. In fact, Allah created the human psyche with a predisposition
to good and made it capable of discerning evil from good. Anyone who
purifies, reforms and develops one’s soul with obedience to Allah, virtues,
and acts of goodness will prosper; and the one who stains and taints it with
sins and misdeeds and who gives free rein to one’s instincts and lusts will fail
and lose.
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Idiomatically speaking, morals mean the theoretical science shaped by practical
phenomena. It is a science that studies man’s behaviour and examines his
acts and manners in relation to others. It studies not only the state of that
behaviour, but also the way it should be depending on the will of the person
himself, his education within an environment of freedom, dignity, tolerance
and solidarity, while taking into account the entire knowledge and emotions
emanating from the society’s values, fundamentals and sanctities.
It is a science that is viewed from the perspective of a philosophy closely
linked to the wisdom that considers the aspects of the human psyche, the
rules that guide its driving forces, and the voluntary acts set against the
involuntary ones produced arbitrarily and intuitively according to the person’s
natural constitution which reflects his/her manifest image.
Morals form a complete and systematic set that includes a certain number
of common values shared by groups and individuals regardless of their
differences, diversity and plurality. Such disparities are often due to levels
of education, knowledge and awareness, and also to the ideals each category
is committed to according to its living conditions and aspirations that are
reconciled through a total submission to its religious and non-religious beliefs.
Therefore, schools of ethics have emerged and become diverse depending on
the prevailing philosophies at any age, and also on the monotheist religions
which have greatly affected their followers’ behaviour. In this respect, Islam
takes on added importance considering the good moral values it preaches.
Those values are essentially practical virtues set forth by the tradition of the
Prophet (Peace be upon him) which will certainly be dealt with by other
papers in this conference. The life of groups and individuals is founded on
those values in such a way as to harmonize the human thought and Allah’s
commands.
Morals are closely tied to conscience, i.e. to the internal feeling experienced
by the individual and to the ensuing thinking and recognition. Conscience is
also related to the individual’s responsibility enabling him to make choices,
accept and enjoin virtues and acts of goodness on the one hand, and on the
other hand to decline and criticize sinning and wrong doing. In addition,
man has a great ability to attain his rights and fulfil his duties in dignity, selfesteem and happiness without any inferiority complex as a human being. As
Dr Abbas Jirari
111
such, the individual can realize ambitions in the present as well as in a desired
future only through following a good model, matching up goals with means,
and striking a balance between personal and collective needs and between the
national and universal values.
We should point out that no matter how strong the influence of the exogenous
material factors is, values do keep a certain degree of consistency to clearly
distinguish good from evil anywhere and at anytime. Moreover, we should not
forget that the scope of morals expands as that of science, especially human
sciences, is getting broader, with all the influence it can have on political,
economic, social and cultural orientations. Also, extension of the sphere of
morals is conditioned by the impact of technology on the different aspects
of life. That’s why we talked about a certain degree of consistency, and not
consistency in the absolute sense.
With globalization becoming an unavoidable reality, we can talk about
universal moral values shared by all human beings regardless of their identities
in general and faiths in particular. Nevertheless, religion remains an essential
component of those moral values as it provides guidance on the path of
goodness and gives exhortation to avoid the course of evil. In this respect,
we should acknowledge the contribution of all religions to developing those
moral values without taking into consideration the metaphysical or the
practical aspects of religions, though these two are crucial in refining man’s
behaviour, soothing his soul, and making him confidently responsible of his
acts. Religion thus enables the individual to question his acts before being
accountable to law.
Within the framework of accountability, the question of moral standards,
unique or double, makes their application fraught with various risks, the
most notable of which is the accumulation and the protection of corruption
by totalitarian regimes which encourage aberrance to preserve power even
through depriving large sections of the populations of their basic rights.
In addition, conflicts and clashes triggered off by the narrow-minded and
selfish attitudes towards freedom and personal interest in our society cause
great damage to the individual and the society as a whole. Such deviant
behaviours include cheating, violence, drug addiction and rampant bribery.
This latter has become the main scourge undermining our society despite
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the numerous attempts to eradicate it through preaching, deterrent laws or
theoretical reform efforts.
It is well known that many calls were made to adopt and implement
programmes and projects of reform, some advocating religion, others
secularism, while some others are trying to reconcile the two – a mission
that seems difficult if not impossible to accomplish. But all these projects
face opposition and rejection on account of the confusion surrounding
their notions and practices, immaturity, unconvincing discourse, ideological
enmity, and practical inadequacies.
Many obstacles hinder reform and resist any reform commitment. With
the harsh social conditions added to the social and economic problems
dogging some social classes, such as lack of awareness, wide-spread poverty,
illiteracy and ignorance, the spread of feelings of envy, hatred and illegitimate
aspirations claiming rights and neglecting duties, proponents of reform
should be well-equipped to be a model for the members of their community.
They should represent the powerful ideal their own people dream of and the
reliable refuge for people in times of trouble as well as in time of ease.
It’s no secret that emulating models is a human natural disposition that
prompts the individual to imitate firstly the people in his family and secondly
his educators and teachers at school and at the university. Emulation goes far
beyond those two circles to involve anything the individual aspires to that
may be conceived as the perfect personality model.
Such emulated models include those people who, on account of their
qualifications, occupy the top of the social pyramid, namely scholars,
intellectuals, media practitioners, politicians, rulers, trade unionists,
representatives of the civil society and officers managing public affairs. These
leaders should acquire some ideals to make themselves models to be followed
and to push through reform.
The most important standards would-be officials should have are firm
resolve and strong determination. They should also be well-informed about
the different fields of their social reality, be able to pinpoint and diagnose
the problems faced by people and to find effective solutions to them.
Furthermore, they should be able to introduce the necessary reforms and
translate slogans and ideals into practical achievements. Such reforms should
Dr Abbas Jirari
113
address peoples’ needs, not only material needs related to their livelihoods, but
also spiritual and intellectual needs which may seem to some unnecessary. In
this regard, intellectual and cultural efforts play a leading role in undertaking
comprehensive reform. Intellectuals and scholars, if they rise up again to
their responsibility, can lead reform advocates and initiators.
Therefore, those who undertake reform should have broad knowledge and
open-minded and tolerant thought and be firmly attached to their national
principles, territorial integrity and identity components. They should own
delicate sentiments, keen awareness and well-seated knowledge. In addition,
sound opinion and clear-sightedness are needed to reconcile the requirements
of originality and the novelties of modernity. Such qualifications will surely
enable leaders to adequately plan and undertake reform projects through
involving and convincing their people with effective and workable projects
without cheating, lying, manoeuvring or conspiring. Moreover, they should
accept self-criticism and the critiques of opponents with complete objectivity
away from provocation, incitement, libelling or defamation – things that are
widespread and damaging the positive aspects and the goals of criticism.
On the other hand, any reformer should fully grasp the affinities and
differences between politics and moral values. In this way, he can be
sufficiently judicious to overcome their challenges and constraints, resist
their intrigues and manipulations, and fight opportunistic behaviours and all
forms of corruption. He should also keep himself far off corruption and off
anything that can lead to it like business which has no goal other than making
profit even through abuse of power and hindering reform.
Only those who are filled with moral values can conduct reform. Their morals
bring them credibility and make them able to influence others and gain their
trust. Accordingly, they can be followed and imitated. Their actions can be
emulated by people who find in their actions and leadership confidence,
inspiration and moral tranquillity that lead to happiness. If such cooperation
and good will are achieved, good would prevail and get even stronger and
wide-spread.
Such are the characteristics that stem from moral values which are and will
remain the basis and the starting point of any reform.
Dr Khalid Mohammed Azab*
The fiqh principle of ‘let there be no harm, nor reciprocating of harm’
and the respect of customary practices in building jurisprudence, gave rise
to the principle of ‘possession of the privilege of damage’ which shaped the
Islamic city in a most extensive way. Possession of the privilege of damage
gave the person who built first a much larger array of advantages than his
subsequent neighbor who was bound to respect and take these rights into
consideration when building his own house. In such a way, the former house
structurally and architecturally shaped the latter one by virtue of this right of
damage and this precedence. The older structure(1) acquired rights that others
had to take into account when building, along with the other rights already
set out in the Noble Sharia on matters of urban planning, all of which gave
body to a well structured architectural environment. The streets of Cairo and
Ar-Rachid took their final configuration over a specific period of time and
once their inhabitants settled on the layout of their future streets and ensured
that these could not be impinged on by any additions or obstructions. To
shed more light on the way these two cities’ streets and plans were drawn up,
we must first indicate that roads are the property of the Muslim community
and as such fall under the control of the their users. If the Islamic Sharia has
equated the removal of harm from the road with an act of charity, albeit a
lesser one, the principle applies even more to the prevention of someone from
building on roads or removing the obstacles these constructions constitute.
And since passersby are the users of a road, then to them it belongs, and since
* Member of the Egyptian High Council for Antiquities, member of the Arab Association
of Archeologists, member of the Egyptian Association of Historical Studies, and Director
of Information at Alexandrina Bibliotheca.
1) The term ‘structure’ was used instead of inhabitant or owner because the privilege of
damage applies to the edifice even when its ownership changes hands or its residents
change. This is confirmed by Muslim scholars in all their rulings.
116
some residents use some roads more than others, then they become part of
the community controlling all the roads they use. The community using a
road varies from one road to another, in accordance with the frequency of
this use, which in turn is dependent upon the road’s location and its direction.
The residents crossing the Qasabah which stretches across the Egyptian city
of Ar-Rachid from north to south and of which one section is known as
Mahajjat as-Suq and another as al-Shari’ al-A’dham, differ from those using a
secondary street such as ‘Atfet al-Misk which branches off Qasabat Redwan.
If a new city or neighborhood is founded, construction works follow a
sequenced pattern in the city’s different sections. If the volume of traffic
is high in a given part, the roads there would be wider and their users,
being in possession of the right of utilization and passage, can prevent any
construction that may impinge on the road. Thus, construction fans out and
erected buildings rise next to each other until the boundaries of the street are
delineated in line with the users’ needs. Roads and streets are thus a reflection
of the desires, resources and values of the people, and the configuration of
a street embodies the sum of decisions taken by the various communities
living there. These decisions were also motivated by the order of precedence.
The person who opens a shop before his neighbor acquires the privilege
of precedence and the ties between the community’s various members are
forged by hierarchy and governed by this order of precedence, the street
becoming a vessel reflecting the process of their settlement.
It is thus possible to clearly describe the way a road network in Muslim
neighborhoods took shape in the absence of any prior planning on the part
of the authorities. The inhabitants’ needs dictated the shape taken by this
network in some districts in Cairo, for example, such as al-Husseynia, Bulaq
and al-Azbakiyya.(2)
The town of Ar-Rachid, a city edified in the absence of any prior planning
by a central authority, has a street network that speaks of the excellence of
its old organization. Al-Shari’s al-A’dham crosses the town from south to
north, running in parallel to a number of streets such as al-Sagha and Skeikh
Qandil streets, and is intersected by the street of Dahliz al-Malik which links
2) Andre Raymond, Cairo: History of a City, Dar al-Fikr lil Dirasat, Cairo, 1993, pp. 116, 198.
Dr Khalid Mohammed Azab
117
the town’s eastern quarters to its western parts. The town’s eastern, western
and northern extensions, from the 10th to the 13th centuries AH (16th to 19th
centuries AD), reflect the way this web of roads took shape in line with the
process mentioned above, and as can clearly been observed in maps. But for
a few minor alterations, the very same road network is still in use by residents
today, which proves how amply it met the needs of the residents.
Nonetheless, there is a hadith that specifies the width of roads. Ibn Wahab
related on the authority of Ismail Ibn Ayyach Ibn Rabia Ibn Abderahmane
Ibn Aslam, that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “If a dispute arises among people about
a road, then its width must be limited to seven cubits”. Ibn Wahab also reports that
the Messenger (PBUH) said: “Any thoroughfare used by people shall have a width of
seven cubits and people should build along those boundaries. If a man builds on a piece of
land it becomes his property, if he inhabits a plot it becomes his, and any land that had not
been peopled or built on belongs to Allah and to His Prophet and is not your property.”(3)
Yet, when they address the width of streets and thoroughfares, Muslim
scholars were not overly intransigent. Instead, they adopted a flexible
approach that took into consideration the circumstances and conditions of
each era and each city. Ibn Kinana is quoted in the book of Ibn Abdous as
saying: “In street width, people are granted enough room to allow the largest thing that
crosses their streets, making room for camels with their largest possible loads, carriages
and any other contraption that is of benefit to people, and no limit is set as to the degree
of benefit.”(4)
A most representative example is the approach adopted by the Prophet’s
companions when planning the layout of Basra. This town was urbanized in
the time of Omar Ibn al-Khattab and districts were set up for the different
tribes that made up its population. They decided on the width of its main
street, the town’s focal point, an set it at sixty cubits, and then set the width
3) Al-Tutili, Eissa Ibn Moussa, Rulings on Additions to Buildings and the Prevention
of Prejudice, authenticated by Mohamed al-Neminej, Islamic Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization -ISESCO-, Rabat 1999, pp. 170-171. Ibn Rami, Abu Abdellah
Mohamed Ibn Ibrahim al-Lakhmi, A Declaration of Building Principles, University
Press Center, Tunis, 1999, pp. 192-193.
4) Al-Tutili, Rulings on Additions to Buildings and the Prevention of Prejudice, page
171. Ibn Rami, A Declaration of Building Principles, 193.
118
of all other streets at twenty cubits and the width of side streets at seven
cubits. Each district had at its centre an open square for tethering horses and
the burial of the dead. Houses were built adjacent to each other, and all these
decisions were made in full consensus and in adherence to texts that cannot
be contradicted.(5)
Scholars formulated a rule for the use of roads which reflected the level
of maturity reached in urban planning jurisprudence under the Islamic
civilization. This rule covered the following:
The easement right: the right of a person to access his property, whether a
house or a piece of land, through a road that is either publicly or privatelyowned either by him, by a third party or by both.(6)
Based on this, a town’s thoroughfares are classified in three categories:
First level: public roads(7), known as ‘thoroughfares’ and ‘Muslims’ roads’, are
accessible to all to walk, tether animals, open a window onto them, or use them
to sell and buy goods, on condition that these actions do not inconvenience
the street users and the road itself is not affected. For Abu Hanifa, all these
uses are conditioned by the permission of the imam or governor, in line
with the reported hadith: ‘A person is only allowed that which is approved
by his imam. If the imam withholds his permission, such deed would be
unlawful.”(8) The Chafi’is and the Hanbalis do not consider the imam’s
5) Al-Mawardi, Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya wal Wilayat al-Diniyya, Maktab at al-Halabi,
Cairo, 1966, page 203.
6) For further details, cf.: Dr Wahbah al-Zohili, Al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuhu, Dar alFikr, Damascus, Vol. 5, page 608.
7) Al-Maqdissi defined this road as entirely lacking the specificity attribute. As such, all
people hold equal rights to its usage but none can lay claim to it. It is a collective property
to be freely used by any person taking that road but is not open to any action that may
undermine this right of users since such right is not specific to the user only but is the
prerogative of all Muslims.
Al-Maqdissi, Abu Hamed, Al Fawaid al-Nafissa al-Bahira fi Bayan Ukm Shawari’ al
Qahira fi Madhahib al-Aimma al-Arba’a, authenticated by Amal al-Amri, published by
the Egyptian Directorate of Antiquities, Silsilat al-Miat Kitab, 1988, page 22.
8) Mentioned in Tuhfat al-Ahoudi, Kitab al-Ahkam, the chapter on Reviving Dead Land,
reported as a hadith with a weak chain of narration 4/524, narrated by al-Tabarani in alKabir on the subject of the hadith “The person is entitled to what is approved by his imam“,
vol. 4/3533.
119
approval as a condition, citing as evidence the Prophet’s hadith: “If a person
is the first to engage in an unprecedented action, then his right to it is
acquired by precedence.” As to the condition of not inconveniencing the
users of a road, it is consensually agreed upon by all scholars. Abu Hanifa laid
greater emphasis on this by introducing the condition of the absence of any
complaints about this action, even in the absence of prejudice to anyone.(9)
Al-Kassani says: “If a man wishes to open a door or lay a gutter, there are two options
he can take depending on whether the road is open-ended or a dead-end. If it is an open
street, the situation must be examined from the point of view of the harm to be suffered
by the street users, and therefore he has no right to open this door or lay the gutter. But
if this action carries no harm to the road users, he can benefit from this on condition that
no one raises an objection or demands a demolition. Once a complaint is lodged, the rise of
usufruct ceases to exist according to Abu Hanifa (May he rest in peace). For the other two
scholars, a man has the right to benefit from them before and after the objection, and the
same rule applies to planting trees, building shops and spreading wares for sale on the two
sides of the street, their argument being that the prohibition of using the property of others
is not justified by the possession itself but by the motive of pre-empting harm and since
is no harm to pedestrians, the condition before the addition remains the same as after the
addition. For Abu Hanifa, opening a passage onto the road or laying a gutter is impinging
on public property since it involves using the air of the land and this air is as much of a
public property as the land is. Therefore, using the air becomes tantamount to a private
benefit drawn from a collective right and such liberty is prohibited without the permission
of the community, whether this action was or was not harmful, because the person took
this benefit without applying for prior permission, considering as lawful the obviation of
someone else’s right. If the contestation is explicitly expressed, the premise used becomes void
and the benefit from the structure remains a benefit from a collective right without everyone’s
consent and therefore it is unlawful.”(10)
9) Mariam Mohamed Saleh al-Dhafiri, Position of Islamic Charia on Water Scarcity,
Jumaa al-Majed Centre on Culture and Heritage, Dubai, pp. 210-211.
10) Al-Kasani, Alaa Eddine Abu Bakr Ibn Masoud, Badai’ al-Sanai’ fi Tartib al-Sharai’,
Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, Beirut, pp. 194, 195, 265.
120
The Malikis say that whoever builds on public property or annexes part of
the public road to his private property shall be prevented by consensus.(11)
The Chaafis and Hanbalis concur on the prohibition of any act that may
prejudice the users of public roads should the prejudice be proven.” AlShirbini adds: “It is prohibited to build a bench or plant a tree on the road, but this
prohibition falls away if no harm is caused by such actions.”(12)
Let us ponder the words of Kami, one of the latter Hanafi scholars when
he recalled an incident where “a man built a structure on the main thoroughfare
(without first obtaining the Imam’s approval). If his action carries some prejudice to the
road then the man has sinned through his action, but if no harms ensues, then there is no
sin. However, if a man or an animal were to trip over his structure he becomes liable, and
every person acquires the right to object and demand the removal of the structure.”(13)
If anything, this incident proves the weakness of governmental authority in
the latter historical stages as to control over the built environment. Kami later
on mentions another fiqh decision which embodies the degree of maturity
of Islamic societies and their awareness of the importance of preserving the
city’s urban environment and even improving it. “A man bought a piece of land,
attached it to the public road and made it a thoroughfare for the use of the community of
Muslims with witnesses confirming this. One condition to make the waqf valid was for a
person to use the road with his consent, as Waqf conditions stipulate whether for roads,
cemeteries or any other form of waqf.”(14)
One example of a public thoroughfare is the Qasabah al-’Udhma in Cairo
which links Bab al-Futouh to Bab Zweila, and the prolongation of this Qasabah
which occurred naturally as a result of the city’s heavy traffic in this extension
11) Ibn Jazy, Abu Abdallah Mohamed Ibn Ahmed, Al-Qawaneen al-Fiqhiyya, Dar al-Kitab
al-Arabi, Beirut, 1989, page 333.
12) Al-Shirbini, Shams Eddine Mohamed Ibn al-Khatib, Mughni al-Muhtaj ila Ma’rifat
Ma’ani Alfadh al-Minhaj, vol. 3, authenticated by Sheikh Ali Mohamed Mu’awwad,
Sheikh Adil Ahmed Mohamed Abdel-Maaboud, Dar al-Kutub al-Imiyya, Beirut, 1995,
page 172.
13) The magistrate Kami, Mohamed Ibn Ahmed Ibn Ibrahim al-Ardouni al-Hanafi Afandi,
Riyadh al-Qasimin, authenticated by Mostafa Ben Hamouche, Dar al-Bachair, Damascus,
2000, page 214.
14) Magistrate Kami, Riyadh al-Qasimin, pp. 214-215.
121
known as al-Khiyamiyyah, al-Megharbilin, and al-Surujiyya. Another example
is Darb al-Ahmar, Shari’ Taht Rub’, Sikkat al-Habbaniyya and al-Saliba. One
document refers to the main street linking Cairo and Bulaq(15) which was laid
out as a main road in a natural response to the population’s needs and without
prior planning or intervention from the government. Similar examples
include the main street of the town of Ar-Rachid and its extension known
as Mahajjat al-Souq, Sheikh Qandil Street and Dahliz al-Malik Street. Yet
another example is the public road network in the Yemenite town of Thala
where all public roads belong to the community and to anyone who entered
or left Thala. They were paved in cobblestones laid out in lines and at specific
elevations and thicknesses to mask the natural highs and dips inherent to the
town’s location on a hillside. Each street carried a name and streets were at
times known by the names of the families that inhabited them, such as Eissa
Street, or named after a salient feature or landmark such as a mosque, as in
Nabhan Street, named after the Nabhan Mosque.(16)
These thoroughfares belong to the Muslim community (17), and authorities in
Islamic countries intervened at times to preserve this class of roads.
Until recently in history, fiqh scholars played a prominent role in determining
the span of roads in towns. When Mohamed Ali Pasha decided to lay the
railway line through what is known as al-Moski Street in Cairo, he sought
the advice of scholars as to the appropriate width of this new line, and they
advised him to allow a span sufficient to easily let through two fully loaded
camels.(18)
15) Records of the Bab al-‘Ali courthouse, Register 73, article 13, pp. 5-6.
16) Abdulrahman al-Jarallah, Thala: A City of Yemen in the Islamic Era, Ministry of
Culture, Sanaa, 2004, page 17.
17) Cf. Al-Siouti, al-Hawi fi al-Fatawi, under the chapter the Crafty Road Planner. Al-Siouti
was an Egyptian scholar who lived towards the end of the Mamluk Era. It is possible to
glean from his writings the levels and rulings pertaining to roads and streets at the time
and how controlled they were by their residents, Al-Siouti, al-Hawi fil al-Fatawi,
Vol. 2, pp. 198-208.
Cf. also al-Nawawi (Abu Zakaria Yahya Ibn Sharaf Eddine al-Nawawi al-Dimashqi),
Rawdat al-Talibine, pp. 204,205 and 206, published by al-Maktab al-Islami, Beirut,
undated.
18) Ali Pasha Moubarak, al-Khutat al-Tawfiqiyya, vol. 3, page 142. Andre Raymond, Arab
Cities in the Ottoman Period, translated by Latif Faraj, Dar al-Fikr lil Dirassat, Cairo,
1991, page 160.
122
The second level: this related to public roads that fall in the private domain
and are lesser in importance than the public roads since traffic there is
restricted to a specific Muslim community and therefore the control held
by residents over this type of street increases. Such roads are common in
Cairo and Ar-Ar-Rachid and usually lead to the public road and split into
many even more private roads. Of such streets we can mention Darb al-Asfar
which links al-Qasabah al-‘Udhma in Cairo to al-Jamaliyya, ‘Atfet al-Hamam
near Wakalet Nefissa el-Beida, ‘Atfet el-Misk which branches off Qasabet
Redwan, al-Maqassis Street and Haret Khashaqdem. Examples of this type
of alleys in Ar-Rachid include Sheikh Yussef Street which links Tahoun alTalayet Street to Sheikh Qandil Street, al-Bawwab Street which links Sheikh
Qandil Street to Souk al-Khodar, and Mohamed Karim Street which links
Sheikh Qandil Street to al-Shari’ al-A’dham.
The third level pertains to private streets and the best representation of
this class is the dead-end alley which belongs to its residents only, hence its
labeling as private, contrary to the second category which belongs to both
the residents and the passersby. Scholars define this street is one of which the
lower end is closed off and as belonging to the residents whose doors open
onto the cul-de-sac and not those whose walls overlook the dead-end street
without doors opening onto it. For the Malikis, Chafi’is and Hanbalis, these
residents are associates in this street and others do not have the right to open
an access way to it or acquire a right of passage without their consent. The
Hanafis on the other hand grant the general public a right over this category
of roads.
Another principle over which scholars agreed with regard to this type of
street is that no resident has the right to undertake any action on the street
without the consent of all other residents or associates.(19)
This explains the conditions listed in the records of religious tribunals and
pertaining to such cases such as ‘the common right of use and servitude’(20).
19) For further information on the rules pertaining to this category of roads, cf. Ibn Qudana
(Abu Mohamed Abdallah Ibn Ahmed), al-Mughni, vol. 4, page 553, and Ibn Abdine,
ibid, vol. 5, page 466.
20) Records of the Salehiyya al-Najmiyya Courthouse, register 533, article 145, page 184. cf.
Ali Pasha Mubarak, al-Khutut al-Tawfiqiyya, vol. 2, pp. 72-75, page 184.
123
Such dead-end alleys are widely common in the cities of Cairo(21) and ArRachid.
Scholars emphasized the equality of all in the right of way within the location
(private street). The magistrate Kami argued that if the street brought together
a community of people and the house of one member was larger than all other
houses, this advantage does not grant him any additional privilege because
the right of passage to a larger abode is equal to that of a smaller house and
no differences arise, contrary to the right of water and irrigation.(22)
This leads us to further ponder this category of streets in view of their
recurrent appearance in the records of religious courts. The percentage of
dead-end streets in Algiers for example represents 45.7% of the surface area
of all roads.(23)
One of the most renowned urban buildings erected in a cul-de-sac was the
House of Sinnari in Sayyida Zeinab (1209AH/1794AD) located at the Manj
quarter.
These variations in the importance of streets in Cairo, Ar-Rachid and
other cities resulted in myriad road classifications that depended on their
category. The control exercised by various communities over streets and
their particularities were reflected in their endeavors to secure their streets by
installing gates at the entrances of their lanes and alleys.
The peculiarity of the hara (quarter, alley) resides in its being a homogenous
social unit. Life within an alley is much closer to life within a single home.
People live in solidarity with each other, and when a stranger enters this
inward-looking community, children follow him and draw his attention to the
need for a valid justification for his presence in such private space.(24)
21) Cf. Ali Pasha Mubarak, al-Khutut al-Tawfiqiyya, vol. 2, pp. 72-75, page 184. This
category of dead-end streets are often mentioned in the records of the religious court
of Cairo.
22) Magistrate Kami, Riyadh al-Qasimin, page 234.
23) Mostafa Hamouche, The Town and Authority in Islam, Dar al-Bachair, Damascus,
1999, page 145.
24) Nawal al-Messiri Nadim, The Concept of the Hara: Historical and Sociological
Study of al-Sukkariyya, Annals Islamologiques, 15 (1979), page 337.
124
The words of Neibuhr, the Dutch travel chronicler who visited Egypt in 17611762 reflected this particularity when he described a natural phenomenon in
Cairo at that time saying “For these reasons, it was impossible for a person to go to
these quarters during the day in search of a man in his house. It is extremely uncommon
in oriental societies to go visit the wife or son of a friend in their house. If a stranger enters
one of these quarters, anyone meeting him would assume that he had lost his way and draw
his attention to the fact that the street was a dead end and that he should retrace his steps.
It was therefore extremely difficult for a foreigner to visit all the quarters existing there.”(25)
The various classifications of streets and the rules governing them reflected
at the same time the social cohesion and solidarity that prevailed within the
Islamic city.
Behind the building of gates to dead-end streets, alleys and lanes was a desire
to announce the delineation of that street, declare that it belonged to its
residents or publicize their status as associates in its ownership, in addition to
a concern for the safety of the quarter. Gates to towns and neighborhoods
were left open throughout the day and locked immediately after the nightly
prayer of Isha, and sometimes even after the Maghrib prayer. These gates
were also kept closed in daytime during times of unrest or civil wars such as
during the Cairo upheavals of 791 and 923 AH.(26)
Residents often appointed a sentinel to stand guard at the gate. The guard’s
duties were defined by al-Subki in the following words “He must be vigilant
for the benefit of the lane’s residents, stand guard when they sleep and arouse them in
the case of a fire or other, never disclosing their private matters to the governor or to
others.” This goes to confirm his role in protecting the quarter and the latter’s
administrative authority.(27)
25) Carsten Neibuhr, The Arabian Journey, translated by Mostafa Maher, Cairo, 1997, page
206.
26) Goitein, S.D., Cairo: An Islamic City in the Light of the Geniza Documents, Middle
Eastern Cities, ed. Ira M. Lapidus, Berkeley University of California Press, 1969, p. 80-96.
Hassan Abdelwahab, Planning and Development of Cairo since its Founding,
Magazine of the Egyptian Science Academy, issue 27, 1954-1955, pp. 35-36.
27) Al-Subki, Tajeddine Abdelwahab, Mu’id al-Ni’am wa Mubeed al-Niqam, Maktabat
al-Khaneji, Cairo, 1993, page 145.
125
Residents went to extremes to ensure the sturdiness of the gates protecting
lanes and residences. Ali Pasha wrote: “…They would bolster the gates with iron
plates, reinforcing them with large nails of which the heads would be flattened with hammers.
They would affix sturdy chains to the gate shoulders and attach one or two latches to the
gate from the inside and the outside, adding a long wooden bar from the inside that would
at night nestle in a cavity carved for it in the wall. At nightfall, or if unrest was feared,
the latch would be pulled from its nest by a ring placed at its end and it would span the
width of the gate…”(28)
When one of the gates malfunctioned or needed renovation or rebuilding,
the residents engaged the required works at their expense after securing
the approval of the chief magistrate. In 1063AH/1653AD, for example,
the residents of Darb al-Ibrahimi applied for permission to build a gate at
the entrance to their lane for protection against burglars. After securing the
authorization, the residents were expected to contribute to the cost of the
gate according to their means(29). It was also possible for one resident to
meet all the costs and thus acquire the privilege of building an archway(30)
that would increase the expanse of his residence and grant him the right
of projection into the air(31), as long as no other resident objected to this.
This right was acquired by Hassan Agha when he presented a request to the
governor to build a gate for Darb al-Qazzazine for safety purposes and to
erect an archway(32) above the said gate, meeting all the expenses of the gate
after securing a permit and in the absence of any objection from the other
residents, all of which took place in 1067AH/1656AD.(33) The tribunal of alBab al-‘Ali recorded a similar case whereby Yousef Ibn Mohamed presented
28) Ali Pasha Moubarak, al-Khutat al-Tawfiqiyya, vol. 1, page 197.
29) Archives of al-Bab al-‘Ali courthouse, register No 13. Entry 1348, pp. 349-350.
Nelly Hanna: Houses of Cairo in the 17th and 18th Centuries, translated by Halim
Tauson, al-Arabi lil Nashr wasl Tawzi’, Cairo, 1993, page 194.
30) Sabat, archway: an arch connecting two walls or two houses above a pathway or street.
Dr Mohamed Amine and Leila Ibrahim: Architectural Terms in Mamluk Documents,
Cairo American University Press, 1990, page 60.
31) Abdelrahim Ghalib: Encyclopedia of Islamic Architecture, page 207, Grouse Press,
Beirut, 1990, page 117.
32) The vestiges of this archway remain in existence today. Parts of it were demolished in
1985 and one part was restored.
33) Endowment deed of Hassan Agha, No. 1363, waqf recorded early in 1086AH/1675AD.
Mohamed Hussam Eddine Ismail: Darb al-Ahmar Area, unpublished Masters’ thesis,
Faculty of Letters, University of Suhag, 1986, pp. 164-165.
126
a request to the court explaining that the gate of the quarter where his house
was located in Darb Sheikh Faraj in Bulaq had suffered extensive tear and
wear with no one conducting any repairs or maintenance. He proposed to
repair the gate at his own expense and in return to build a floor above the
portal to expand his house which was adjacent to the said gate. He obtained
the approval of the other residents and of the judge and thus resolved the
issue.(34)
Despite the damage caused by French colonialists once (35) and by Mohamed
Ali Pasha another time(36), a number of these gates remain standing and were
inventoried by the Antiquities Commission. Some of them are still in existence
today such as the gates of Haret al-Misk in al-Khayyamiyya, Haret al-Alayili
in al-Ghuriyya, the gate of Tarabay al-Sharif (904 AH) in Bab al-Wazir, the
gate of Darb al-Mabyada in al-Gammaliyya, the gate of Haret Barjouan in alNahassine, the gate connected to Qubbat Tatar al-Hijaziyya in al-Qaffassine
in al-Gammaliyya, and the gate of Bayt al-Qadhi near al-Gammaliyya’s police
station(37). These gates were manned by guards whose wages were paid by the
residents of the quarter the gate protected(38). The practice of setting up gates
at the entrance to streets in the cities of Cairo and Ar-Rachid was based on
the Islamic fiqh principle of pre-empting harm according to which action
is taken to prevent any prejudice that may occur by cancelling the potential
origin of this harm(39) as perceived by the legislator. The gates protecting
34) Records of the Bab-al-‘Ali courthouse, register No 193, entry 883, page 240, Nelly
Hanna, ibid, page 184.
35) Abdulrahmane al-Jabarti: ‘Ajaib al-akhbar fi al-Tarajim wal Al-Akhbar, vol. 4, page
29, Bulaq, 1297AH.
36) Hassan Abdelwahab, ibid, page 36.
Jomard: A Description of the City of Cairo and Qla’at al-Jabal, translated by Ayman
Fouad Assayyid, Maktabat al-Khaneji, 1988, page 49.
37) Hassan Abdelwahab, ibid, page 37. Jomard, ibid, page 49.
38) Neibuhr, ibid, Andre Raymond, Ottoman Cairo as a City: Municipality and Public
Utility Issues, magazine of the Egyptian Association for Historical Studies, vol. 20,
1973, pp. 220, 222 and 221.
39) Mohamed Abu Zahra: Usul al-Fiqh, Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi, 1983, pp. 268, 276, Mohamed
Hicham al-Borhani: Sad al-Dharai’ fil Sharia al-Islamiyya, Matba’at al-Rayhani, Beirut,
1985, page 74.
127
lanes played this role in the cities of Cairo and Ar-Rachid, guaranteeing the
safety and privacy of their residents.
The interest taken by Muslims in streets and thoroughfares was not limited to
their width or to traffic on these roads. It evolved to include the facilitation
of their use. Many streets in Islamic cities were thus paved, some even with
sidewalks set out for pedestrians as in Cordoba and Fez. In cities experiencing
heavy rains, the streets were paved to avoid muddied grounds as in Sanaa
which equipped its streets with drainage canals to drain rainwater.(40)
The same interest was taken in Algiers under the Ottoman rule. The cobbling
of streets was associated with water drainage, probably because of a need
to clear drainage canals every time they were clogged, especially after heavy
rains. This association was effective in guaranteeing the good maintenance
of roads, attending to potholes and to soil buildups which could result from
a dissociation of these two tasks.(41)
The manuscript known as “’Awaid al-Suq”(42) mentions paving-related
charges that were paid by the residents of a neighborhood in return for
paving and maintenance works. The amounts paid by each resident differed in
accordance with his location on the street. The law stipulated that for paving
streets, payments are settled in accordance with the house’s location on the
street with the upper house paying double the amount since its wastewater
flows by the houses located below. This regulation was issued by the Hanafi
magistrate Sayyid Mahmoud and the military intendant Sidi al-Haj Mostafa in
Safar 1177/1763, and has its parallel in the Hanafi and Maliki rites.(43)
Muslims were also attentive to the lighting of streets in their cities, considering
it a preemptive measure against any harm that may befall Muslims because of
unlighted streets. Islamic cities preceded their European counterparts in this
40) Mohamed Abdelsattar Othmane: In the Streets and Alleys of the Islamic City, al‘Osour magazine, vol. 2, part II, Cairo, July 1987, page 223.
41) Mostafa Hammouche, The City and Authority, page 146.
42) ‘Awaid al-Suq, anonymous manuscript, Algerian National Library, carrying two reference
numbers: 1378 and 2331.
43) Mostafa Hammouche, The City and Authority, page 146.
128
regard since in Cordoba “a man could walk for ten kilometers basking in the glow
of street lights when seven hundred years later you still could not find a single light in the
streets of London.”(44)
The safety of residents motivated the desire to illuminate streets at night
and explains the keen interest taken in lighting up streets and squares. Every
square that the palace overlooked in Baghdad, for example, was illuminated at
night as well as all other streets.(45) Street lights glowed in al-Fustat and Cairo
and even the governor took an interest in this so much so that the caliph alAziz ordered in 383AH/993AD that lights be installed above every house and
in markets in al-Fustat. In 391AH/100-AD, al-Hakim bi Amr Allah ordered
that lanterns be lit throughout the country above shops, the doors of houses,
and other buildings and roads. His orders were implemented and every night
the ruler would walk in the city inspecting its streets and alleys, a matter that
encouraged the population to vie with each other in having the best lighting.(46)
44) Jack Reisler, Arab Civilization, translated by Ghoneim Abdoun, Ahmed Fouad alAhwani, Dar al-Nasriyya lil Talif wal Tarjama wal Nashr, Cairo, 1967, page 155.
45) Ramziyya al-Atarqaji, Social Life in Baghdad from its Founding to the end of the 1st
Abbasid Era, Baghdad, 1982, page 217, Mohamed Abdelsattar Othmane, In the Streets
of the Islamic City, page 222.
46) Al-Maqrizi, Al-Mawa’id wal I’tobar bi dhikr al-Khutat wal Athar, vol. 2, page 108,
Abderrahmane Zaki, al-Fustat and its Municipal Suburbs and Military Quarters, alMaktaba al-Thaqafiyya, Cairo, 1964, page 217.
A Journey with the book “Orientalism: Definition,
Schools and Impact”
Dr Abdeljabbar Mahmoud al-Samarrai*
The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)
recently published a book titled “Orientalism: Definition, Schools and
Impact”, written by Dr Mohamed Farouq al-Nabhane, member of the
Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Orientalism emerged as a cultural phenomenon in the aftermath of the
violent clashes that opposed two civilizations: the young and exuberant
Islamic civilization and the effete and floundering Western Christian one. The
Islamic civilization had managed to enforce its dominion over large swathes
of Asia and Africa and to spread all the way to the south of Europe (up to
Provence in France), establishing many powerful dynasties and a civilization
(as in the Andalusian civilization). It enriched human civilization with a wealth
of knowledge, theories and theses in fields of human knowledge (page 8).
In a foreword to this book, Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri wrote: “Yet,
despite contributions that reached their pinnacle in the golden age of the Islamic civilization,
and despite its openness onto and interaction with other human civilizations, the Islamic
civilization fell victim to the many onslaughts waged by authors and researchers who wielded
their pens as they would shovels that demolished, tarnished and disfigured.”
He went on to say: “However, academic integrity dictates that we give credit to some of
these Arabists and Orientalists for they were not all cast in the same mould. Some observed
objectivity and integrity and their published works were a true reflection of their devotion
to the service of knowledge and humanity, while others, ill-intentioned and untruthful, were
the farthest removed from integrity and dedication to knowledge. Still others displayed a
combination of the two, leaving behind a legacy that is at times useful and objective and at
others deprecating, derogatory and far from the truth…” (page5).
* An Iraqi researcher, member of the Union of Arab Historians.
130
A Journey with the book “Orientalism:
Definition, Schools and Impact”
The Orientalism Phenomenon
The author began by asserting that understanding the movement of
Orientalism and shedding light on its contradictions was only possible
through a sweeping approach that encompasses the cultural and intellectual
movement as a homogenous entity and as the expression of an accumulation
of emotional postulates that lay in the human conscience (page 7).
In fact, orientalism did not emerge with the rise of the Islamic civilization
but had in fact started much earlier, centuries before Christianity. Ties
were never entirely severed between the East and the West since ancient
civilizations thrived in both geographical spheres, since Man learnt through
these civilizations the ways of travelling and maritime and land interactions,
and since the rise of mega states that spanned multiple ethnicities, languages
and religions through invasions or trading.(1) The first researcher who
engaged in a reading of this state of affairs then committed his readings for
everlasting eternity was the famous Greek historian, the father of history,
Herodotus (425-484 BC) who collected an immense wealth of knowledge
about the lands he journeyed to. In his book Persia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and
the Arab Peninsula, he described the populations, customs, experiences and
commodities imported from these lands and exported to them.(2)
Alexander of Macedonia (323-365 BC) led his historical military campaigns
as he coursed through the Orient, propelling it into a direct collision with
the West. The city of Alexandria, edified by Alexander, was one of the key
platforms through which intellectual interactions between the East and the
West took shape.(3)
Dr Mustafa Najib Fawwaz considers that if we take Orientalism as a thematic
unit in terms of label, fundamental nature, institutions and geographical reach,
then there is certainly some historical confusion. Today, when we speak of
1) Dr Mohamed Maqdad, A History of Arab Studies in France, Silsilat ‘Alam al Ma’rifa,
issue 167, Kuwait, 1992, page 16.
2) Dr Sami Salem al-Haj, Orientalism and its Impact on Islamic Studies, Vol. 1, part 1,
Centre of Islamic World Studies, Malta, 1st edition, 1991, page 27.
3) Dr Michel Joha, Arab and Islamic Studies in Europe, Arab Development Institute, 1st
edition, 1982, pp. 28-29.
Dr Abdeljabbar Mahmoud al-Samarrai
131
relations between the East and West we refer to the modern West, whether
Eastern or Western Europe. But when we speak of the West in ancient
history, reference is made to Greece, and therefore the issue of Orientalism
becomes an entirely different subject in its modern political connotation.(4)
Defining Orientalism
The author believes that Orientalism in the strict sense of the term refers
to the ‘interest taken by Western scholars in Islamic and Arabic studies, the
methods used by these scholars, their schools of thought and their orientation.
In other terms: “Orientalism is an expression of how the West perceives the East and
studies it in this light, starting in times immemorial but stretching into the present.”(5)
Motives of Orientalism
The author considers that the primary motive behind the emergence of
Orientalism was a natural curiosity to discover the other, which is an innate
aspiration as every entity gyrates towards the other, and each side is curious
about what lies on the opposite side which stands for the Other. Under all
these lights, the Other stands for the opponent, the competitor and the
antithesis’ (page 13). He goes on to add: “… For the West to explore the nature of
the Islamic civilization, it was called upon to study the culture of this civilization and its
components to fulfill two objectives:
The first objective was explanatory: probing the essence of the Islamic civilization and its
components.
The second objective was control-motivated, a desire to steer the destinies of Islamic peoples by
learning about their ethnic, sectarian and regional differences. Knowledge acquired through
oriental studies becomes a control instrument, steering events, determining the broad lines
of policies, and tightening control over Muslims by acquiring knowledge of the secrets and
levers that trigger crises at the right spot and in the most opportune moment …” (Page 14)
4) Abderrahim al-Wahhabi, When did Orientalism begin? Al-Mishkat magazine, Vol.7,
issue 27-28, Oujda, Morocco, 1418-1419/1998, pp. 7-8.
5) Dr Azeddine Omar Moussa, Orientalism and the Prophet’s Biopgraphy, Da’wat alHaqq magazine, issues 351-352, year 41, Muharram-Safar-Rabii I 1421 /April-May-June
2000, Rabat, page 37.
132
From this Orientalism seeks to achieve two other targets:
First: Prevent the Western man from perceiving the light of Islam, embracing
it, raising its banner and engaging in jihad in its name, which is what occurred
with the Christians of the Greater Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Spain when
Islam spread to these lands whose inhabitants converted in large numbers to
Islam and became the voice preaching the word of this noble religion and
defending it.
The design was to tarnish the image of Islam and Muslims to prevent the
remaining Christians from embracing Islam as did their predecessors in Syria,
Egypt, North Africa and Andalusia.
This fear provided an impetus for the Orientalism movement since its
inception and guided it in dogmatizing and mobilizing the Church’s followers
and ensuring that they remain armed and ready at all times.
The second target was to study the mysteries of the Orient as lands,
waters, climate, mountains, rivers, flora, crops, populations, men and
women, knowledge and scholars, religion and rituals, traditions, customs and
languages, etc…with the aim of knowing how the West could impose its
dominion on it. The House of Islam had in fact always been held in fear
and awe, and for many centuries the Crusades failed to penetrate it. The
clashes and skirmishes that often erupted on its outskirts and frontiers often
ended with the victory of Islam and Muslims. When the Crusaders, with their
mighty armies, attempted to break through the lands of Islam early in the
6th century AH/12th century AD, they were crushed back after two centuries
(489-690AH), but they never ceased to plan and plot, trying to skirt around
the lands of Islam when they failed to penetrate them. Orientalism was their
leader, scouting the roads ahead(6) to ensure their advance in order to invade
the lands of Muslims.
6) Dr Abdelaadhim Mahmoud Adib, A Guide to Western Writings about the History of
Islam, Kitab al-Ummah, issue 27, Doha, Qatar, pp. 38-40.
133
New Motives for Orientalism
The author considers that two most important factors behind Orientalism
were religious and political, but we can safely add the economic factor.
Orientalism constituted the beginning of the compilation of crucially
important information that paved the way for the West to usurp the riches of
our lands and their natural and mineral resources. And the colonizers were
indeed successful in this and managed to relegate some of us to the abyss of
regression and backwardness.
Orientalism Schools
The author focused on three major schools: the French, the English and the
German schools, but he omitted to mention the Dutch, Jewish, Russian and
Spanish schools as well as the Portuguese and Italian ones. In the French
school, the author mentioned Postel (1505-1581), (1801-1878), Le Baron de
Sacy (1758-1838), Quatremère (1782-1852), le Baron de Slane, and Louis
Massignon (1883-1962). The author says: “We cannot belittle the status held by the
Orientalist Louis Massignon in the French school of Orientalism considering the strong
ties he entertained with the Arab world, his often objective and fair stances on the matters
of the Islamic world, and his defense of the Arabs’ right to their homeland and their
independence.” (Page 25)
What the esteemed author and others missed was that Massignon was an
adviser on North African affairs at the ministry of French colonies. He was
the patron of French missionaries in Egypt, and when World War II erupted
(1914), he joined the French army and fought in the Dardanelles battle against
the Ottoman Caliphate. He was an officer in the East army and was with this
army when it entered al-Quds in 1917 under the command of Allenby.(7)
Massignon was interested in two issues: promoting the use of dialects and
transcribing Arabic in the Latin script, a call that unfortunately found echo
7) Abdulrahmane Badawi, Encyclopedia of Orientalists, pp. 365-370, Dr Mohamed alBahi, Islamic Modern Thought and its Relation to Western Colonialism, Maktabat
Wahba, Cairo, 1959, page 556. Orientalists, translated by Salah-Eddine Othmane Hashem,
al-Thaqafa al-‘Alamiya magazine, issue 38, pp. 18019, Kuwait.
134
among some Arab mercenaries who began promoting the idea with the aim
of undermining the Arab language as the most important element bonding
the Arab Ummah together in order to facilitate the acceptance of colonial
and Zionist designs by the Ummah and shatter its unity. Massignon focused
his attention on Islamic Sufism and promoted philosophical Sufism and
trends which opposed Islamic monotheism such as the unity of existence
and immanence. He focused on al-Hallaj for more than 30 years, collecting
everything about his life and opinions and publishing it all over again.(8)
Dr Mahmoud al-Qassim says: “France’s colonization of Algeria managed, through its
tyranny and oppression, to impose its language on many intellectuals in Algeria and North
Africa. Yet, it failed to shake the Islamic faith despite the attempts of culture experts to
tear apart the Algerian psyche by glorifying a pseudo Sufism and spreading superstitions
and fallacies of the kind we encounter in the books of Louis Massignon who dedicated
his entire life to write about al-Hallaj and turned him into the Christ of Islam. I believe
that Massignon was not as much interested in al-Hallaj as he was in implementing a welldevised colonial scheme.”(9)
The author briefly touched on Charles Pellat, Maxime Rodinson, Lecomte,
Michel André, Jacques Berque, Bosquet, Laoust, Blachère and Provençal.
More details would have been appreciated.
1. Gustave Lebon (1841-1931), his major works include The Civilization of Arabs. He was fair to Arabs and wrote: “History has no
record of conquerors more humane than Arabs”, “Muslims are the ones who
civilized Europe”, and “Islam, not Christianity, is the one that offered the
woman justice and lifted her from the gutter in which she was wallowing.” He
was interested in the civilizations of Egypt, Andalusia and India.
2. Jacques Berque (1910-1995) was a philosopher who favored Arab
causes. He studied at the universities of Algiers and the Sorbonne.
His books include A Study of the History of the Moroccan Rif,
The Second Orient, The Challenge of Islam, and a translation
8) Anwar al Jundi, Islamic Heritage and Orientalists, al-Hilal Magazine, Cairo, January
1976, page 66.
9) Dr Mahmoud al-Qassim, Imam Abdulhamid Ben Badis: Spiritual leader of the
Algerian Liberation War, Dar al-Masarif, Cairo 1979, page 7.
135
of the meanings of the Noble Quran and Prophet’s hadith into
French. Through his translation of the Holy Quran, he sought to
denounce all those who undermined the Divine Book.
Jacques Berque was a prominent sociologist. His works exceeded 100 books,
articles and interviews and he continuously asserted that Islam was fully
capable of independently achieving progress and renewal.
He worked in several intellectual positions in France and the Arab world and
was a member of the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo. He is known for
his book The Arabs: their History and Future.
From the British school, the author mentioned the most prominent
Orientalists: Hamilton Gibb (1895-1971), Reynolds Nicholson (1868-1945),
Thomas Arnold (d. 1930), Margoliouth who died in 1940, John Philby
(d. 1960) and Guillaume (d. 1962).
It would have been worthwhile if the author had not omitted other English
Orientalists such as John Bagot Glubb (1897-1986) who was known as the
servant of the British Empire and the avowed enemy of Arabs.
In fact, in his book Great Arab Conquests, Glubb has the audacity of
insulting the person of the Prophet (PBUH) and denied his skills as a military
commander, going so far as to claim that he was entirely lacking in military
acumen. Glubb was highly partial to the Jews and accused the Arabs of
imperialism.(10)
There is no dispute that German Orientalists are the best among all European
Orientalists and Western ones in general since Germany never colonized any
Arab country.
In the German school, the author mentions Carl Brockelmann (868-1956),
Joseph Schacht (1902-1969), Theodore Nöldeke (1836-1930), Sachau (d. 1930),
Wellhausen (d. 1918), Martin Hartmann (d. 1918) and August Fischer (d. 1949).
10) Abdeljabbar Mahmoud al-Samarrai: Annotations and Comments: Limelight on
Orientalism, al-Majalla al-Thaqafiyya, University of Jordan, issues 44 and 45, Amman,
1998, pp. 416-426.
136
Theodore Nöldeke was famous for his attacks on the Quran in his book
History of the Quran, translated by Georges Tamer. He also insulted the
Prophet (PBUH) and his wives.
As to other Orientalist schools, the author did not mention the Russian
Arabist and linguist Theodore Shumovskiy (?-1913) who held special status
among all Russian Arabists as the first one to interpret the meanings of the
Quran in poetic form. He also studied at great length the role of Arabs in
navigation as one of the greatest maritime nations.
Theodore Shumovskiy pored over the manuscripts of the Arab navigator
Ahmed Ibn Majed (821AH-1418/906AH/1500) and translated three of his
anonymous letters. In 1965, he defended his PhD thesis around the subject
The Arab Maritime Encyclopaedia in the 15th Century, relying on a
translation of Kitab al-Fawaid fi Usul Ilm al Bahr wal Qawa’id by Ahmed
Ibn Majed. Along with his other books In a Sea of Arabism (1975) and
Memoirs of an Arabicist (1978), his book gave rise to heated debates within
the Russian Academy of Sciences as Shumovskiy introduced new theories
about the progression of Arabism in the former Soviet Union.
In1986, Shumovskiy published the revised edition of the Arab Maritime
Encyclopaedia, a book titled In the Footsteps of the Sinbad of Seas, and
in 1999 The Last Lion of Arabian Seas. He re-interpreted the meanings
of the Holy Quran in poetic form, a compilation of which five editions
were published between 1999 and 2008.
Impact of Orientalism on Arab Islamic Thought
The esteemed author took a neutral stance vis-à-vis Orientalist schools. He
neither rejected them nor denied their positive impact on academic curricula
and serving the Arab Islamic heritage, nor did he deny our Ummah the
right to defend its heritage, faith and values and to confront anyone bent on
undermining its sanctities (page 37). Such a stance is worthy of both praise
and recognition.
Benefits of Orientalist schools include the authentication of manuscripts,
interest in encyclopaedic writing and the compilation of compendia on
Islamic knowledge (despite these being replete with errors, misconceptions
and flaws).
137
The esteemed author seems to have omitted any reference to the negative
impacts of Orientalism on Arab Islamic thought except when he addresses
the Islamic Encyclopaedia, pinpointing and cautioning against its inaccuracies
and the need to redress misconceptions. He overlooked the ‘Westernized’
Muslims who were entirely smitten by Orientalist writings and considered
Orientalists as angels who could never err on the wrong side.
If we take Salama Moussa (1887-1958) for example, we will find that he went
further than any radical Orientalist ever went when he wrote: “We need to forge
a bond with Europe and this bond must be truly strong. We need to embrace everything
novel in the West, perceive life through its eyes, and we must streamline the course of our
literature to join its course and shift away from the Arab approach.”
He also says: “Our civilization is in truth a Roman one. To claim that we are an
Oriental nation in descent, culture or civilization is an absolute fallacy and as far removed
from the truth as could be possible.”(11)
These Westernists are our own children, they speak our language and carry out
traits, yet their hearts are far from beating with ours. They were alienated in
civilization and culture and became the prisoners of the invaders’ civilization.
The tragedy of the Westernists is that despite the exposure of the secret
designs of Orientalists, they continue to promote their ideas and live according
to their concepts. It is to these West lovers that the colonizers handed over
the leadership of thought, education and information one generation after
the other and in whose hands they placed the reins of power.
These Westernists are our tragedy and bane, their philosophy is belittling the
worth of our Ummah’s heritage for no reason and in a total lack of vision.
They hold in contempt the legacy of our nation and if one of them is asked
‘What do you know about Arab heritage?’ his reply would be limited to the
11) Salama Moussa, Egyptian author deceased in 1958, with strong Crusading and alienation
leanings and who never concealed his hostility and contempt for anything eastern or
Arab and was animated by specific motivations. Dar al-Mustaqbal lil Nashr in Cairo
and Alexandria published his writings and broadcast them in a series titled A Legacy
of Purposeful Struggle. References to him in Mahmoud Mohamed Shakir’s book
Fallacies and Myths provide some insight into his nature, purpose and design. Cf.
Abdulazim Mohamed al-Deeb, Methodology of Western Writings, page 60.
138
little he gleaned from Orientalist writings. If you asked him to read a page
from the heritage he denigrates, you would find him incapable of doing so
and masking his inadequacy with amazing arrogance and haughtiness.
Even worse is the cultural fanaticism these West adepts practice relentlessly,
a fanaticism that turns terms such as old and new, modernity and tradition,
progress and stagnation, emancipation, the culture of the ancestors and
contemporary culture, into fiery whips, some prodding and terrifying those
who obey and surrender, and others flagellating those who rebel and stand
firm.(12)
It is for this reason that we write today about Orientalists, the corruption
of their methods and their nefarious influence on Arab Islamic thought,
not in the hope that these Westernists would repent or see beyond the
blindness obscuring their vision, but placing all our hope in our youth, those
still searching for their path, lest they should succumb to the same demons
controlling the ‘great masters’. The young and burgeoning generations have
the right to be enlightened about the causes of our Ummah, to delve into its
depths and learn about its mysteries, and not be misguided by the so-called
‘elite’ that stands in awe of anything Western.(13)
Orientalists and Islamic Studies
The author focuses on the errors committed by Orientalists in Islamic
studies, labelling these mistakes as systematic and basic and as the result of
their stance vis-à-vis Islam, vis-à-vis the Quran, the Sunnah, the Prophet’s
tradition, and the stance of Orientalists on Islamic philosophy and Fiqh.
On the stance vis-à-vis Islam, the author mentions the book Mohammad
by the German Hubert Grimme, Mohammedanism written by the British
Hamilton Gibb (1895-1971). Gustave Lebon (1841-1931) considered
Mohamed (PBUH) as a victim of hallucinations. Wells (1866-1946) believed
that Mohamed (PBUH) was a man who founded a religion and as such joined
the ranks of saints.
12) Mahmoud Mohamed Shakir, A Glimpse of the Corruption of our Literary Life, part
of the preface of his book Al-Mutannabi, Matba’at al-Madani, Cairo, 1977, page 122.
13) Dr al-Deeb, ibid, pp. 36-37.
139
Goldziher (1865-1921) contented that the Arab Prophet’s message was no
more than the sum of knowledge acquired and religious facts and opinions
he had come by in his interactions with Jewish and Christian elements.
Blachère (1900-1973) drew attention to the resemblance between Quranic
tales and Jewish and biblical ones.
With such perceptions, there was no avoiding the violent collision between
the approaches of Muslim scholars and those of Orientalists. Naturally, these
differences had a number of repercussions such as:
1. The lack of knowledge on the part of Orientalists of facts deemed
crucial for understanding the essence of Islamic thought.
2. Prejudice against Islam in considering it as a religion of regression
and backwardness.
3. Reliance on isolated narrations to support misconceptions that
confirm the opinions of Orientalists.
Goldziher was a Hungarian Jewish Orientalist who undertook a journey
through Syria, Palestine and Egypt, attended lectures by Muslim scholars in
al-Azhar and took an immense interest in the Arabic language. He was the
first Orientalist to cast doubts on the authenticity of hadiths and wrote many
books disparaging Islam. It is indeed strange that certain Arab intellectuals
hold this Orientalist in great esteem.
In terms of the stance vis-à-vis the Quran, the esteemed author addressed
the attempts of certain Orientalists to cast doubt on the divine attribute
of the Quran, displaying scepticism about the reports of its compilation,
transcription and readings. Among the authors who challenged the divinity of
the Quran was Goldziher in his book Schools of Quranic Commentators.
In his book Introduction to the Quran, Blachère tries to cast doubts about
the transcription process of the Quran in the first phase of its revelation,
claiming that the original text may have been slightly altered at later stages
(page 46).
Another Orientalist, Dr Glover, held a clear position on the Quran. In
his book Rise of Global Evangelism published in 1960, he wrote that
Mohammed’s sword and the Quran were the worst enemy and staunch
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opponent of civilization, freedom and justice and one of the most subversive
factors ever experienced by the world. He also maintained that the Quran was
an extraordinary jumble of historical errors and corrupt illusions, and more
than that very cryptic and could not be interpreted except through one’s own
interpretation.(14)
On the stance vis-à-vis the Sunnah, the esteemed author examined the
negative perceptions held by Orientalists and the suspicious they raised
about the veracity and accuracy of the chains of narration. These Orientalists
accused the narrators of fabrications (page 48). Of these Orientalists, he
mentioned Schacht, author of Principles of Islamic Sharia and who
considered that the attribute of legislation was not imperative in religion, and
that the Rightly-guided Caliphs took the act of legislating in their hands. The
author mentioned other German Orientalists who took a keen interest in the
study of the Prophet’s biography and the Sunnah, without actually listing
their names. For further information on the position of German Orientalists
vis-à-vis the Sunnah, the following books, written in German, constitute a
good source:
1. Weil: Mohammed Der Prophet: Sein Leben Und Seine Lehre, 1843.
2. Nöldeke: an Overview of the life and Religion of Prophet Mohamed,
1843.
3. Koelle, Life and Call of Mohammed, 1885.
4. Grimme, Muhammad, 1892-1895.
5. Jensen, Prophet Muhammad, 1922.
6. Mittwoch, A Study of the Prophet, 1935.
7. Arentz, A Study of the Prophet, 1935.
8. Fück, Authenticity of Prophet Mohamed, 1936, and Character and
Religion of Mohamed, 1952.
9. Hans Wehr: Muhammad, 1948-1952.
On the Orientalist stance towards the Prophet’s Sira, the author states that
their approach was aberrant, surprising and often hurtful of the Muslims’
14) Ibid, page 45, footnote 1.
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feelings … The Prophet’s biography provided a rich field to unleash repressed
instincts as the writers proclaimed their condemnation of the person of
Mohamed (PBUH) and his religious stances, particularly with regard to the
concept of Jihad in the defence of the Islamic faith (page 51). This only
proves that such perceptions and notions governed the way Orientalism
addressed the Prophet’s biography through a cumulus of information, except
that these facts were formulated from an Orientalist perspective and through
a vision that asserted the supremacy of the West vis-à-vis the inferior and
backward East doomed to slavery and dependency.(15)
On the Orientalist approach to the study of Islamic philosophy, the author
states that the most relevant studies were critical and accused the Islamic
thought of ineptitude under Quran’s influence which inhibits free thinking
and restrains freedom of opinion, resulting in the emergence of the Sunni
doctrine, a conservative school of thought that remains strongly attached
to texts. This religious tradition-restricted spirit tallied well with the Arabs’
inherent dislike for philosophy and its ways … or so they claim.
Among thinkers who sprang to counter the opinions of Orientalists was
Sheikh Mostafa Abdulraziq (1885-1947) in his book An Introduction to the
History of Islamic Philosophy published in 1944, Dr Ibrahim Madkour
(1902-1996) in his book Islamic Philosophy: Method and Practice.
Another thinker was Dr Mohamed Abid al-Jabri (1936-2010) in his study
on The Orientalist Perspective of Islamic Philosophy: Nature and
Ideological and Methodological Elements published as part of his book
Orientalist Methods in Arab and Islamic Studies which was published in
1985 in Riyadh in two volumes by the Arab League Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization and the Arab Education Bureau for Gulf Countries
(page 56).
On the stance of Orientalists towards Islamic fiqh, the author touches on
the Orientalist claim that Islamic fiqh was derived from Roman law with a
few alterations made to suit the Islamic environment. Such thesis was upheld
by the Italian Orientalist Carosi. Another group of Orientalists approached
15) Dr Az-Eddine Amr Moussa, Orientalism and the Prophet’s Biography, Daa’wat alHaq magazine, issues 351-352, Rabat, 2000, page 51.
142
the study of Islamic fiqh with esteem for its legal value, acknowledged the
authenticity of its premises and the greatness of its legislative vision and its
faithful reflection of the conscience of Arab societies. A salient figure in this
group was Noel Coulson (p. 59) and other Orientalists who wrote on Islamic
fiqh and Sharia were:
1. The German Schacht.
2. The German Bergsträsser.
3. The British Anderson.
4. The British Reuben Levy.
5. The French Vattier.
Golziher (1865-1921), a Jewish Hungarian, wrote his book Die Zahiriten
on the history and doctrine of Zahirism and the principles of Islamic
Fiqh. He studied Zahirism, the principles of the different fiqh schools of
thought, consensus and divergence of various imams, and the similarities and
differences between all these doctrines and Zahirism.
Goldziher was also the author of Islam, Persian Creed and the Islamic
Schools of Tafsir which was translated into Arabic under the title Al-‘Aqida
wal Chari’a fil Islam. This book remains this Orientalist’s most dangerous
work as he addresses the Messenger (PBUH) and Islam and denies that
Mohamed introduced anything novel. He accused Islam and the Quran
of not completing anything and contended that Islamic fiqh was derived
from Roman canon law. He tackled the Islamic faith and theology with an
unprecedented slew of absurd allegations. His other book, titled Islamic
Studies was published in two parts over which he tackled paganism, Islam
and the science of hadith.
I would have preferred if the esteemed author had addressed the position
of Orientalists on history in the fourth chapter that he titled Orientalists
and Islamic Studies. Indeed, the clear majority of Orientalists focused in
their studies on history to serve their hidden agendas. Their methodology
can easily be appreciated if we distinguish in their approach between the
following two thrusts:
1. Methodology in terms of external outlook: which refers to the
choice of subjects, the organization of the works and the way these
works unfolded in general.
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2. Methodology in terms of meeting prerequisites, meaning
adherence to the rules and principles of this methodology.
We will attempt to briefly clarify these two thrusts and pinpoint the aspects
inherent to each of them.
1. Orientalism methodology in form: this becomes clear in the
following:
a) Interest in the history of factions and conflicts between them,
how these factions came into existence, attempts to sensationalize
their news and bringing them to the fore in the Islamic Ummah’s
perceptions.
b) Keen interest in atheism and atheists and presenting the latter
in the image of free thinkers and vanguard intellectuals. One of
these Orientalists was Kraus (1904-1944), a Jewish Arabist of
Czech descent who worked as a lecturer of Semitic languages at
the University of Cairo from 1936 to 1944 and who committed
suicide in his lodgings in Zamalek.(16)
This Orientalist focused on the study of the Muslim’s history
of science and pored over the study of chemistry. In the study
he published in 1930 under the title The legend of Jabir Ibn
Hayyan, he concluded that the many treatises attributed to Jabir
Ibn Hayyan were not the work of one man but of a school of
Ismaili scholars instead.(17)
Kraus was a member of the Zionist Stern Gang which worked
hard to create the Zionist entity in 1948 with its sister formations
Haganah and Arjun Sivah. Dr Abdurahman al-Badawi (19172002), who was a student and friend of this Orientalist and assisted
him in some of his research work, believed that the reason of his
suicide was the fact that his name had been drawn to be tasked with
the assassination of Lord Moyne, British Minister Resident in the
17) Dr Abdulrahman Badawi, Encyclopeadia of Orientalists, Vol. 1, Dar al-‘Ilm lil
Malayine, Beirut 1984, page 326.
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Middle East, who was considered by the Stern Gang Movement
as an obstacle to Zionist activity in view of his friendly ties with
Arabs. The background of this Orientalist provides clear evidence
of his motives, especially when he denies the person of Jaber Ibn
Hayyan (737-815), attributes his work to the Ismailis(18) and negates
the existence of this Muslim chemistry genius, considering him a
mere legendary figure.
c) Neglecting the Islamic era and focusing on the ancient history
of the lands forming the House of Islam, in revival of Pharaonic,
Babylonian, Assyrian and Phoenician eras to kindle regional
sensitivities and tear the body of the Islamic Ummah apart.(19)
d) Tearing the history of the Islamic Ummah to shreds by dividing
it lengthwise into dynastical eras: Umayyad, Abbassid, Mamluk,
Ottoman, etc…and widthwise to provinces and dominions to fuel
division and refresh memories of conflicts and wars.(20)
e) Abridging the history of Islam and Muslims in a way that
betrays its worth and status in their hearts and also the corruption
of their methods and their ill-intentions. Suffice it to mention HG
Wells’s book A Short History of the World which only referred to
Islam and Muslims in one chapter of fifty-three pages.(21)
2. Orientalist methodology in terms of meeting criteria and
prerequisites. The features of this methodology can be summarized
as follows:
a) Yielding to subjectivity and personal leanings. As a result,
their research comes across as painstaking and exhausting but
such hard toil is in fact caused by their own convolutions, and
their exhaustion is that of someone creating from the void and
erecting towers from dust.
18) Dr al-Deeb, ibid, page 63.
19) Dr al-Deeb, ibid, page 64.
21) Dr al-Deeb, ibid, pp. 69.
145
b) Inability of the Orientalist to envision and grasp language
and culture: Since faith, deeds and attachment bonds are the
pillars and prerequisites of culture without which it cannot take
a tangible form, the notion of culture becomes a mere jumble
of scattered facts and sayings that no common thread unites
and that cannot achieve cohesion. Naturally, the prerequisites of
culture and language are hard to meet by Orientalists, and in fact
as impossible to achieve as combining water and fire in the same
vessel.(22)
The esteemed author divides the positions of Arab thinkers on Orientalist
studies into two main categories:
1. The anti-orientalism current: most figures in this intellectual
movement are nationalist in their stances, loyal to their heritage,
civilization and faith and condemning Orientalists on two grounds:
a) The fanaticism and lack of objectivity perceived in their works.
b) The confirmation of a direct link between the works of Orientalists
and the colonial policies of their governments (pp. 67-68).
Another factor that we perceive as guiding the work of Orientalists is a
systematic application of the logic of contradiction, which constitutes
another element of corruption in oriental research and studies. This logic of
contradiction dictates that when a researcher studies documents and texts and
grasps the point they drive at, he simply assumes that its opposite is correct.
Nasreddine Dinet, a prominent Orientalist that Allah guided to the path of
Islam, says in his critique of Orientalism that the logic of contradiction takes
the most confirmed and undisputed information and purposefully repeals it
into its opposite. The more certain the information the stronger is the urge to
repeal it. And since such approach needed to be justified, its adepts put forth
146
the thesis that human beings often hide their flaws by displaying the opposite
of these flaws. Nasreddine responds to this by asserting that such notion
could never be advanced as a general premise, otherwise we would have to
rewrite history in its entirety and project the opposite image of reality.(23)
2. The analytical and critical current: This movement appears in the
writings of contemporary thinkers and seasoned researchers. This
current does not differ too much from the first Islamic school in that
it disapproves of many Orientalism stances vis-à-vis Arab Islamic
heritage and responds to it through an analytical and critical process,
condemning certain oriental currents for turning a blind eye to many
scientific facts (page 74). The author sheds light on some positions
of the analytical and critical school which concurs with the Islamic
school in its condemnation of Orientalism and its leanings. Suffice
it to mention Dr Edward Said (1935-2003) in his book Orientalism,
Dr Mohamed Arkoun (1928-2010) in his book In the Critique of the
Islamic Mind, and Professor Anwar Abdelhalim (1924-2012) in his
article The Crisis of Orientalism.
We can add to this group of researchers Dr Imad Eddine Khalil in the study
he published in the book Orientalist Methodologies in Arab and Islamic
Studies which was published in 1405 AH/1985 in Riyadh by ALECSO and
the Arab Bureau of Education for Arab Gulf Countries.
An Analytical Study of the Book Faith and Sharia in Islam
The esteemed author closes his book with this title, the book of the Hungarian
Orientalist Goldziher (1850-1921), considered one of the most prominent
Orientalists to write about tafsir, fiqh, faith and Sufism (page 83).
In addition to the information provided by the esteemed author about this
Orientalist, we would like to add that his forte was to cast doubts on the
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Sunnah, fiqh and the Islamic Sharia, raising suspicions about the worth of the
Prophet’s hadiths by arguing that the Sunnah was only recorded ninety years
after the death of the Prophet (PBUH). His opinions were countered by
many Arab and Muslim researchers, including the Syrian Dr Mostafa al-Subai,
the Egyptian scholar Sheikh Mohamed al-Ghazali and the Indian research
Suleiman al-Nadawi.
Goldziher was guilty of many fallacies and misrepresentations through which
he sought to muddle basic facts. For example, his misinterpretation of Imam
al-Zahari’s words: ‘Those princes forced us to write hadith sayings’ opened
the door to a great deal of confusion.
He also accused al-Zahari of being the author of the hadith proclaiming
the superior status of al-Aqsa Mosque to please Abdulmalik Ibn Marwane,
although al-Zahari only met Abdulmalik seven years after the assassination of
Abdallah Ibn al-Zubayr.
This Jewish Orientalist claimed that it was difficult to extract from the
Quran one single, homogenous and unifying doctrine that was free of
contradictions., and that out of the crucial theological knowledge only a few
general remnants survived to be scrutinized by critics seeking to decipher
what was missing, and that the lack of stability and the clear contradictory
nature of its teachings were often the subject of sarcasm.(24)
He claimed that Islam was a distorted mishmash derived by the Prophet
(PBUH) from Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian sources.
The answer to this fallacy is: How can any rational person imagine the
Prophet, peace upon him, as a disciple of Jewish rabbis, Christian priests and
fire-worshipping pagans(25)
24) Ignac Goldziher, Faith and Sharia in Islam, Arabic translation, page 13.
25) Abdeljabbar al-Samarrai, ibid, pp. 419-420, abridged.
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Conclusion
There is no disputing that an Orientalist is a foreigner. In the best of cases he
could rise to the level of an Arab student, i.e. a layman whose words do not
carry much weight on issues relevant to the course. Since language is itself
a vessel of culture, the two are interrelated and it is highly improbable that
an Orientalist could fully master our culture, for no one can acquire a better
knowledge of Arabic than the Arabs themselves.
We, as Muslims, should fashion our own awareness as the heirs to a prestigious
legacy. It simply defies logic that we should remain hostage to Orientalism
schools. We know our heritage better and we are the most worthy of our
culture.
Knowing about
Islamic Countries
The Republic of the Sudan
The Sudan (officially: the Republic of the Sudan) is a Northeast African
country bordered by Ethiopia and Eretria to the east, Egypt and Libya to the
north, Chad and Central African Republic to the west and South Sudan to
the south.
The Nile River divides the Sudan into two parts: eastern and western.
Khartoum, the capital, is located at the confluence of the two tributaries
of the Nile River - the White Nile and the Blue Nile- which form the Nile
Basin at the middle of the country. The Sudan has been inhabited since 5000
B.C. The Sudan’s ancient history had been intermingling with the history of
Pharaoh Egypt throughout long periods mainly during the reign of the 25th
Sudanese Dynasty (The Black Pharaohs), whose kings, the most famous of
whom were Piankhi and Taharqa, ruled Egypt from the Sudan.
Modern Sudan gained its independence from both Egypt and Britain on
the first of January 1956. Even since that date, the country had witnessed
continued civil wars caused by bitter conflicts between the central government
in the north and the rebel movements in the south until 2005 when the
Sudanese government signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). After a transitional period,
South Sudan became independent in 2011 following a referendum organised
in accordance with the peace deal.
The Sudan’ modern history is marked by a series of military coups. In 1989,
Brigadier Omar al-Bashir led a military coup that ousted the civil government
of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, head of the Umma Party, to become
Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation.
Since then, he has been serving as president of the republic.
Ancient history:
The Sudan had been inhabited since the Stone Age (8000 B.C - 3200 B.C).
Skulls of a civilised Negro race that inhabited Khartoum region and Sh-hinab
152
on the west bank of the Nile were discovered and proved the existence of a
civilisation that lasted up to 3800 B.C. In 1928, a skull (known as Singa skull)
was found by accident in Sinjah in the state of the Blue Nile proving that
humans lived there during the Pleistocene Stone Age simultaneously with
Neanderthals.
Nubian kingdoms:
The Kingdom of Kush is the most ancient of the Sudan’s kingdoms. Its
language form of writing preceded the Meroë script. Meroë, an ancient
city on the east bank of the Nile River to the north of the present town of
Bagrawiyah, was the capital of Sudan between the 4th century B.C. and the
6th century A.D. The city was a flourishing trade centre. Kushites had a great
civilisation that was marked by administrative organisation and pyramids
building. The civilization of Kush was amongst the first in the world to use
iron smelting technology in the 5th century B.C.
Christian kingdoms:
After the collapse of the Kushite Empire, several Christian states emerged in
its former territories. In the 6th century A.D., there were about sixty kingdoms.
The most famous were the Kingdom of Nobatia in the north with its capital
at Faras; the central kingdom of Makuria, was centred at Old Dongola,
about 13 kilometres south of modern Dungula; and Alodia, in the south
with its capital at Sawba (Soba), now a suburb of modern-day Khartoum. In
all three kingdoms, aristocrat warriors bearing Greek titles in emulation of
the Byzantine court ruled Meroitic populations. Christianity was introduced
into the Sudan during the reign of Roman Emperor Justinian I and his
wife Theodora. Makuria was of the Melkite Christian faith, unlike Nobatia
and Alodia which followed the Jacobite faith fostered by Theodora. Ibn
Hawqal described Alodia as the richest and the largest of the three Christian
Kingdoms as it stretches up to the confines of Ethiopia to the southeast and
to Kordofan to the west.
The spread of Islam ad Arabic in the country:
According to some old documents, Islam spread into the Sudan during the
rule of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan, and under the governor of Egypt Amr
Republic of the Soudan
153
ibn al-`As. In 31 A.H., Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh concluded a treaty as Albaqut
al-sharim (pactum) with the Nubians to regulate and secure trade between
Egypt and the Sudan and protect the Mosque of Dongola. Bringing with
them their culture and Islam, many Arab groups moved to the Sudan via
the Red Sea well before the advent of Islam and settled in Bedouin areas in
the middle and western parts of the country. The Arab migrations to the
Sudan increased massively with the Muslim conquests. With the flourishing
Sufi movement in the Sudan, a number of Muslim scholars and Sunni Sufi
congregations came to Sudan where they expanded their influence to reach
out to neighbouring countries.
Muslim kingdoms:
Following the collapse of the Christian kingdoms and the decline of their
political influence in front of the Arab migrations and the advance of Islam,
many kingdoms and sultanates which adopted Islam as their religion and
Arabic as their language and culture, emerged in the Sudan. Among them,
the Funji Kingdom or (the Blue Sultanate) (1505-1820 A.D.) with its capital
in Sennar, the Sultanate of Fur in the west (1637-1875 A.D.) with its capital
in El Fasher, the Kingdom of Taqali in the Nuba Mountains (approximately
between 1570 to the end of the 19th century), in addition to other kingdoms
like the Musaba’at Kingdom in Kordofan, the Daju kingdom with its capital
in Kalo in the far west, and the Beja Kingdom with its capital in Hajar in
the east. In 1821, Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman Khedive in Egypt
conducted a military campaign to control the Sudan. The military operation
was successful as almost all the territories of modern Sudan, stretching as far
as the equatorial region in the south, Kordofan in the west, the confines of
Darfur, up to the coast of the Red Sea and Eritrea in the east, fell under the
domination of Egypt. Muhammad Ali and his successors played a leading
role in shaping the Sudan as a political entity within borders approximately
similar to its present-day ones. This period, known in the history of the Sudan
as Turkiyah, was marked by gross injustice and abuse of people, corruption
of rulers, spread of bribery and slave hunting in the south. Such corruption
and mismanagement resulted in the revolt of the indigenous people led by
Muhammad Ahmad Al- Mahdi (the Guided One).
154
The Mahdiyah Revolt:
The revolt against mismanagement broke out in the Sudan under the
leadership of Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi who claimed to be sent by God
to bring justice to the country and put an end to oppression. The Sudanese
people fostered his call and supported him to win successful military victories
against the Turco-Egyptian government of the Sudan till the conquest of
Khartoum in 1885. The Mahdiyah State quickly collapsed in 1898 following a
crushing defeat in the battle of Umdurman against the British and Egyptian
forces. Soon after, Caliph Abdullah Al-Taashi was killed at a battle in Umm
Diwaikarat in Kordofan. Then, the British colonial period started.
The Anglo-Egyptian rule:
In March 1896, the Anglo-Egyptian troops, under the command of Lord
Herbert Kitchener, invaded the Sudan to annex it to the Anglo-Egypt throne.
After the fall of Umdurman, the capital of the Mahdiyah state, in 1898, the
British and Egypt reached an agreement under which the Sudan was run by a
British governor-general proposed by the British government and appointed
by Egypt’s Khedive. The governor-general was invested with full powers to
run the Sudan.
The problem of South Sudan:
At first, the British administration was cautious of joining the South with the
North claiming that more educated Northerners would oppress the illiterate
and isolated southerners. But the newly established state of South Sudan is
facing the challenges of lack of resources and sea outlet. Later, the British
organized the Juba Conference in order to combine northern and southern
Sudan into one political entity. But the relationship between the two parts had
often been tense and plagued with armed conflicts till both sides reached the
Comprehensive Peace agreement in 2011 which ended the longest civil war
in Africa.
Post-independence political regimes:
In 1938, the Graduates’ General Conference was organized to culturally and
socially represent the graduates of high schools in the Sudan. But the Confe-
155
rence quickly called for self-determination for the Sudan and decolonisation.
The nationalist movement continued its efforts up to 19 December 1955
when the Sudanese parliament convened to declare the independence of
the country and demand the condominium to recognise the Sudan as an
independent state. On 1 January 1956, in a special ceremony held at the
People’s Palace, the Egyptian and British troops left the country and the new
Sudanese flag was raised. The post-independence Sudan has been facing
three major challenges: the constitution issue, the issue of the South, and the
question of development, besides ideological conflicts between totalitarian
and democratic, right and left political parties. Actually, each of them, being
in power, had its opportunity to address those three challenges.
The political scene after independence:
The political scene in the post-independence Sudan has been dominated by
many political trends:
Sectarian parties: The parties backed by Sufi religious communities
prevalent in the Sudan, namely the “Umma Party” and the Ansar (followers
of the Mahdi Sufi movement) who support it, and “Al-ashiqa Party” (later
the National Unionist Party) backed by the Al-khatamiya Sufi congregation.
During the three democratic periods witnessed by the Sudan, the two parties
dominated the political scene. The religious and political leaderships of both
congregations and parties were inextricably intertwined. Yet, both parties
have throughout their histories called for the establishment of a democratic
and civil system of government in the Sudan.
Muslim Brotherhood:
The political activity of the Muslim Brotherhood flourished in the Sudanese
universities which enabled them to become the third most powerful political
party after the Umma and the Unionist parties. The Muslim Brotherhood
(M.B.) exclusively ruled the Sudan following the coup of 30 June 1989 under
the guidance of their leader Hassan Al-Turabi. M.B. suffered many divisions
(like any other party) and it accordingly changed the name of its party several
times: First, the Islamic Charter Front; then, National Islamic Front; later, the
National Congress Party, and finally the Popular Congress Party.
156
Leftists: The left is mainly represented by the Sudanese Communist Party,
Nasserists, and Baathists. Rivalling with them are other main political
formations like liberals, independents, republican brotherhood and the other
regional political forces including the political movements of South Sudan.
The Constitutional crisis:
Prior to Independence, the Sudanese political movements didn’t agree on
the type of the political system to adopt as the debate between advocates of
the British-type democracy and the supporters of American-type presidential
democracy raged. However, after independence, a transitional constitution was
adopted to fit the post-independence transitional period. It cancelled the selfrule constitution and the Agreement of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium,
and replaced the governor general as head of state with a Supreme Council
invested with supreme constitutional powers and the command of the army.
The First Civil Government:
After independence, the Sudanese political parties failed to reach a consensus
agreement on the constitution and on the form of the political system.
While their rivalry continued for many years after, they also failed to find a
solution to the problem of South Sudan and were incapable of improving
the bad economic situation. Those failures, combined with a growing popular
discontent with the country’s bad conditions, paved the way to the army to
take power.
The then political stage was dominated by the following political trends:
- The political trend based on sectarianism. It was represented mainly
by the Umma Party led by Abdul-Rahman Almahdi which suffered
many splits later on, and by Al-Ashiqa Party which later became the
National Unionist Party under the leadership of Sayyid Ali al-Mirghani
before the People’s Democratic Party had seceded.
- The Islamic political trend: Non sectarian, based on Islamic Puritanism, represented by the Islamic Charter Front which later changed
its name into the Nationalist Islamic Front, next to the National
Congress Party, and eventually into the Popular Congress with Hassan
Al-Turabi as its spiritual leader.
- The Leftist trend represented by the Sudanese Communist Party.
157
In addition to these political forces, there were other trends like liberals,
independents, republican brotherhood (the movement founded by Mahmud
Mohammed Taha) and other various regional political forces including the
South’s political formations.
The first Military rule:
The army, led by General Ibrahim Abbud, took power on 17 November
1958, thus giving the first blow to the pluralist system of government in the
Sudan and initiating a long series of military coups which have marked the
history of the country. The military rulers set up a technocrat government to
address the country’s three major issues.
The third civil rule:
General Abdel-Rahman Siwar al-Dahab delivered on his promise to hand
over power to an elected civil government after one year in office. It was the
first time a military coup leader stepped down voluntarily in Africa and the
Arab world. The free elections held in due time gave a clear victory to the
new Umma Party led by Sadiq Almahdi who consequently became prime
minister. The leader of the second winning party, the Democratic Unionist
Party, Ahmed al-Merghani, was appointed head of the State’s Council. The
Nationalist Islamic Front led by Hassan al-Turabi joined the ranks of the
opposition in the parliament. However, instability reigned the third democratic
period as five coalition governments were formed in just four years.
Having left the coalition government, the Democratic Unionist Party signed
a peace agreement with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement which
had been scoring solid military victories thanks to the political and military
assistance provided by Ethiopia, some other neighbouring African countries
and Christian organisations. The agreement called for an immediate ceasefire
and the lift of the state of emergency to pave the way for the organisation of
a general constitutional congress. It also called for the suspension of Sharia
penal laws (hudud) or the September laws as they were called.
The successive military defeats sustained by government forces in the south
raised the army commanders’ anger and pushed them to hold a meeting and
158
address a memorandum to Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi demanding him to
either supply the army with the necessary weaponry and equipments or put an
end to the war in the South. The memorandum caused a political turbulence
in the country for it contained not only an official rebuke to the government
for failing to defend the country, which is one of its main missions, through
neglecting the army, but also an implicit threat to the government.
The memorandum was also a strong indication of the army’s direct intervention
in the political life. In such a democratic system, it’s an irregular action for
the army to intervene in politics addressing directly and publicly, in complete
disregard for the minister of defence, instructions to the prime minister on
how to deal with the nationals issues. The relationship between the army and
the government of Sadiq al-Mahdi further worsened as the Commander-inChief of the armed forces General Fathi Ahmed Ali warned and urged the
government to temper its political positions and ease the people’s sufferings.
Al-Mahdi rejected the threat and his Umma Party issued a communiqué
condemning the commander-in-chief ’s action and the army’s intervention in
the political life. However, that memorandum pushed al-Mahdi’s government
to finally accept the peace agreement concluded between the Democratic
Unionist Party and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). Actually,
that move was the beginning of the end of al-Mahdi’s democratically elected
government.
In 1989, the army led a military coup named the National Salvation Revolution
which was found to have been instigated by the Islamic Front led by Hassan
al-Turabi. As a result of the new regime’s orientations, its relations with
the outside world deteriorated. Accordingly, the United States boycotted
the Sudan, cancelled their aid to it, and included it in the list of countries
sponsoring terrorism. What’s more, the Sudan was targeted by a U.S. Cruise
missile campaign in 1989.
Politics and system of government:
Executive power: According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of
2005, the executive branch is made up of three levels of authority: A central
presidential authority headed by the president of the republic who holds
the presidency of both the State and the government, a regional authority
159
represented by the states’ governors (17 states) and the states’ governments,
and a local authority represented by the different local authorities (176 local
authorities).
Legislative power: The legislative power is vested in a central parliament
called the National Legislature with two chambers: the National Assembly
(al-Majlis al-Watani) consists now of 349 members (Before the secession of
the South, it consisted of 450 members, 323 of them were from the ruling
National Congress and 101 members were from the South of whom 99
belonged to the SPLM), and the Council of States (Majlis al-Wilayat); in each
state there is one.
The Judicial power: The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court
in the capital and in some states, appeal courts, public courts, first instance
courts also called district courts, and town and rural courts which administer
law through tribal chiefs and customary laws.
The flag:
The Sudanese flag is made of three horizontal stripes. From top to bottom:
red-white-black with a green triangle at the hoist. The four colours are
interpreted as follows: The red stands for the blood and sacrifices of the
country’s martyrs. The white represents nobility, peace and harmony. The
black represents Sudan; in Arabic ‘Sudan’ means black. It stands not only
for bravery and glory of the motherland and national heritage, but also for
belonging to Africa. The green stands for the fertile agricultural lands. The
flag as a whole stand for the pan-Arab nationalism and unity.
160
Public Holidays:
Date
Event
January 1st
January 7th
June 30th
New Year’s Day and Independence Day
Coptic Christmas
Revolution Day
July 30th
December 25th
Muharram 1st
Rabi’ I 12th
Rajab 27th
Shawwal 1st
Dhu al-Hijjah 10th
Martyr’s Day
Christmas Day
Islamic New Year (Hijri New Year)
Birth of the Prophet (Al-Mawlid Al Nabawi )
Isra and Mi’raj celebration End of Ramadan (Eid-Ul-Fitr)
Feast of Sacrifice (Eid-Al-Adha)
Economy:
The Sudan is a vast country with rich and varied natural resources such as
agricultural lands, livestock, mineral resources, forests, fisheries and fresh
water. The Sudan’s primary source of revenues is agriculture and agriculturebased industries which employ about 80% of the active population.
Oil in the Sudan:
The united Sudan has been producing oil since the nineties. Most of the oil
has been extracted from oil fields in areas divided by the present borders
between Sudan and South Sudan. Since the secession of the South in July
2011, most of oil fields have come under the control of the new republic
of South Sudan. Nevertheless, the Sudan controls refinery, transportation
and exportation facilities (pipelines transporting oil from production sites
to ports on the Red Sea). South Sudan’s production was halted in 2012 as a
result of the South’s accusing the north of stealing its oil and of failing to
reach an agreement with government of the Sudan on oil transportation and
transit duties. Oil exports were resumed in April 2013 after an agreement
with the North. Yet, many pending issues still threaten the durability of the
agreement and oil exports.
161
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’ s estimates, oil
accounts for about 57% of the North government’s revenues, and about
98% of the South government’s revenues in 2011. Proven oil reserves in
both countries reached 5 billion barrels in 2013, most of which are located in
the Muglad and Melut Basins shared between the two countries. Gas reserves
are estimated at about 3 trillion cubic feet. But gas production is very limited
as most of it is burned in the air or in oil wells. The Sudan has squandered an
estimated 11.8 billion cubic feet of burned gas.
Transport facilities:
The Sudan has a large railway network linking urban centres except those in
the far south. The highway network is so underdeveloped to serve the so vast
country Sudan is. The Nile River, and its tributaries provide an important
inland transportation route. The country also has some local and international
airlines.
Media and communications:
Sudanese media started with newspapers. Then, the Sudan Radio started
broadcasting in 1940. The national television broadcast was launched in
1962. In 2005 the ministry of culture and information became the ministry
of Information and the Communication and the Sudanese Media Centre was
created.
Today, there are many space channels as well as national and local radio
stations in the Sudan. “Sudan TV” is the country’s official TV channel. In
addition, there are many other states’ TV channels like Khartoum TV. There
are other space channels like Al-Shorooq TV, Omdurman Space Channel and
the Blue Nile TV.
Sudan’s geography:
The Sudan is located in north-eastern Africa. With a surface area of 1,865,813
square kilometres, the Sudan is the third largest country in Africa after Algeria
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and also the third in the Arab
world after Algeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the sixteenth largest
162
country in the world. Sudan had been the largest country in both Africa and
the Arab world until the secession of South Sudan in 2011 with a surface area
of 2 million square kilometres.
The States of the Sudan:
In 1913, the Republic of the Sudan was composed of 18 states comprising
133 districts.
Geology:
The first geological map of the Sudan with complete description of the layers
of rock was done by the British scientist Stanley Dunn in 1911. Ever since,
the Sudanese Public Authority for Geological Research has conducted several
attempts and studies to update Dunn’s map to elaborate a summary of rock
layer sequencing in the Sudan. In 2004, an updated geological map of the
Sudan was drawn with the help of some German experts. The oldest rocks
belonging to the pre-Cambrian era were identified in the Sudan.
Population:
The Population of the Sudan after secession of the South:
- Number of people: 33,419,625.
- Population ranks: 35th in the world, 3rd in the Arab world and 9th in
Africa.
- Population growth between the 1993 and 2008 censuses: 52%.
- Age structure:
- Age group 0-14: 43.2%.
- Age group 15-65: 53.4%.
- Age group + 65: 3.4%.
Main languages:
The official and main language is Arabic. In addition to it, there are some
other local languages which are more than 300 languages including:
163
- Beja languages, including the Bedawi and the Tigre, spoken in the
eastern regions alongside the Red Sea, (mainly by the Beja tribes of
Bani Amer, Hadandawa, Halanga, Bisharin and Amar’ar).
- Nubian languages in the far north, including Dongolawi and Halfawi
dialects spoken by Nubians living between Dongola in the Sudan and
Aswan in Egypt.
- Languages of Western Sudan: Jur, Fallata, Hausa, Zaghawa, Fur,daju
and Massalit.
There are many Arabic dialects in the Sudan, including the dialects of Ja’alin,
Baggara, Shukria and other tribes.
Religion in the Sudan:
96 % of the Sudan’s population are Muslims. The vast majority of Sudanese
are Sunni belonging to the Malikit rite. The Sudan is also known for its Sufi
orders like Qadiriya, Sammanyya, Borhanya, Tijaniya, Khatmiyyah and the
Ansar. Besides, there are a few Shia Muslims who follow the Ja’afarya Twelvers’
rite. They live mainly in Khartoum, Omdurman, Port Sudan, Shendi and
Abu-Zayd. Islam spread to the Sudan from Egypt to the north, across the Red
Sea to the east, and from Morocco and North Africa to the west. Christians
are about 4% of the population. They are divided in small minorities between
different churches: the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian, Armenian,
Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical Churches. Christians are concentrated in
Khartoum, Al Qadarif and Al-abiad.
Education:
Education in the Sudan goes back to the first days of Islam in the country
with the opening of Quranic schools. The first official school was opened
in 1855 in Khartoum under the Turkish rule. Teachers were brought from
Egypt and elsewhere including outstanding thinkers like Rifa’a Al-Tahtawi.
After independence, education has undergone many reforms. The reform of
1986 divided the educational system into three levels: The pre-school level
(kindergarten for children aged between 4 and 6. The primary level for pupils
aged 6. It consists of eight years of education after which the student may
164
join the Secondary level which consists of three grades. Secondary education
comprises the academic, technical and religious courses. At the end of the
third level, students should obtain the Secondary Education Certificate to
join universities and specialised colleges.
There are 19 universities in the Sudan. Khartoum University is by far the
most outstanding. Female education has been encouraged since long ago. In
1907, Sheikh Babiker Badri established Ahfad School for girls in Omdurman.
Today, girl schools represent about a third of the government schools in the
country. Ahfad School has now become a university for women.
According to the World Bank’s 2002 estimates, the rate of literacy among the
Sudanese population aged over 15 is 60 %. Illiteracy among the young aged
between 15 and 24 is about 23 %.
Health care:
Modern medicine was first introduced into the Sudan under the TurcoEgyptian rule around 1899 with the medical units accompanying Mohamed
Ali Pasha’s invading army. Within the framework of his construction project,
Mohamed Ali built some hospitals in Khartoum. He also conducted a
vaccination campaign against smallpox in the Sudan at that time. During the
Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, health care services had been ensured by
independent authorities like the Central Health Council from 1905 up to 1949
when the ministry of health was created. After independence, the government
provides free health care services through district and rural councils and also
through provincial governments. However, health care services have come
under great pressure caused by external and internal migrations that often
result from the frequent civil wars and droughts. Consequently, health care
services are scarce in rural areas. Nevertheless, child vaccination is steadily
improving.

Islam Today 31

Transcription

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