New Thinking in Islam

The Jihad for Democracy, Freedom and Women’s Rights

Katajun Amirpur, Eric Ormsby

• Publisher: Gingko
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781909942738
• eBook ISBN: 9781909942745
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

In Rethinking Islam, Katajun Amirpur argues that the West's impression of Islam as a backward-looking faith, resistant to post-Enlightenment thinking, is misleading and—due to its effects on political discourse—damaging. Introducing readers to key thinkers and activists—such as Abu Zaid, a free-thinking Egyptian Qur'an scholar; Abdolkarim Soroush, an academic and former member of Khomeini's Cultural Revolution Committee; and Amina Wadud, an American feminist who was the first woman to lead the faithful in Friday Prayer—Amirpur reveals a powerful yet lesser-known tradition of inquiry and dissent within Islam, one that is committed to democracy and human rights. By examining these and many other similar figures' ideas, she reveals the many ways they reject fundamentalist assertions and instead call for a diversity of opinion, greater freedom, and equality of the sexes. 

1

On the Way to the Modern

The Tradition of Reform Islam

In the nineteenth century Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838/39–1897), Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849–1905) and Rashid Rida (1865–1935), who are today considered the founders of Islamic reform, were already urging an inner reform of Islam. Underlying their efforts was a sense of subordination to the West. For all three, the backwardness of the Islamic world had been caused, and exclusively so, by a fixed, inflexible understanding of Islam and the blind imitation of its forefathers. For this reason they demanded a modern interpretation of the Qur’an and of Islamic law that would be appropriate for the altered circumstances. This effort, in its essence, continues today and the same goes for the fundamental question that might be answered with its help: how can a Muslim be at once modern and genuine?

Since then, reform Islam has developed the most diverse modes of approach. Thus, Islamic modernism emerged from it, as did Islamism, i.e., fundamentalism. The cogitations of ‘Abduh, Afghani and Rida led to a blueprint for an Islamic society, but they led also to the ideology of Islamism as a closed worldview. They took the position that “pure” and “unfalsified” Islam possessed all the answers to the questions of modernity. The reconciliation of Islam and modernity should therefore proceed with a return to the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet together with an inner renewal of the faithful. Fundamentalists and modernists could both subscribe to this, even if they drew different conclusions. Muhammad ‘Abduh in particular stands as the intellectual father of both forms of Islamic new thinking.

Muhammad ‘Abduh grew up in a peasant family from Lower Egypt and studied at al-Azhar University in Cairo. In 1871 he got to know Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. Jamal al-Din, an Iranian, called himself al-Afghani, that is, “the Afghan”, in order to avoid having his reformist ideas branded as Shi‘ite and thereby rejected by Sunnis from the outset. Afghani received his education first in Teheran and later in the Shi‘ite centres of learning in Iraq. After several stops along the way he wound up in Istanbul in 1870. There he quickly gained access to reform-minded circles. In 1871 he went to Cairo. When he got the opportunity to address the Ottoman Viceroy Tawfiq Pasha, al-Afghani suggested to him that he let the people share in governance. Egypt should build up its own governmental institutions in order to rid itself of British rule. A constitution would set limits to the despotism of rulers. Because of these ideas al-Afghani was expelled in 1879; he then went to India and from there, in 1882, to Europe.

To be sure, al-Afghani counts as one of the leading renewers of Islam and, yet, although he wrote little, he distinguished himself as an Islamic agitator. During his lifetime he was treated with hostility by the orthodox because he strove for a revival of the rationalistic current in Islam. After his death he was styled as the hero of Islamic modernism, of pan-Islamism and anti-colonial resistance. Two central themes course through Afghani’s thought: firstly, Islamic unity; and secondly, the demand for a reformed and modernized Islam – one that would adopt Western technology and science and by which it would then be able to overcome political and economic dependency on the West.

Al-Afghani’s ideas were further developed by Muhammad ‘Abduh, his most famous student. Together with Rashid Rida, ‘Abduh ushered in an age of nationalistic and religious reform in Egypt. ‘Abduh took from Afghani the view that Muslims had moved away from the true Islam of their forefathers and that this was the reason for its backwardness relative to the West. ‘Abduh had been introduced to European literature, philosophy and theology by his teacher and, prompted by al-Afghani, he recognized the technical and scientific progress of the West. However, he rejected the suitability of Western mores for the Islamic world. He believed that higher education and religion, rightly practiced, would guide Egypt into the modern world.

In 1876 ‘Abduh completed his studies and in 1878 became a professor of history at the Cairo’s Dar al-‘Ulum, “College of Sciences”. He wrote as a guest columnist for the newspaper al-Ahram and called for educational reforms. Because of his criticism of the British he had to leave the country in 1879 but was able to return a year later. He became editor of an official newspaper which under his guidance developed into a mouthpiece for reformist ideas. It called for the renewal of Islam and emancipation of Muslims from European rule.

In 1882, after he had taken a stand with the Egyptian nationalists during the ‘Urabi uprising against the government, he had to leave Egypt again. In Paris, ‘Abduh met up with his old teacher al-Afghani. They collaborated in putting out the reforming magazine al-Urwa al-Wuthqa, “The Strongest Bond”. Through this medium, al-Afghani and ‘Abduh propagated their reform Islam which employed ijtihad to give new answers to current questions. In the face of the danger which confronted the Islamic world through European colonialism, Muslims would have to unite. They would become able to fight back through the practice of Islam, if rightly understood. Here too only one theme dominates: finding the true religion and, strengthened by it, having the ability to resist the colonial powers.

After sojourns in Tunis and Beirut, ‘Abduh returned to Cairo in 1889 where he found a position as a judge. In 1899, he was named Grand Mufti of Egypt, a position which he held until his death. ‘Abduh crafted legal opinions that had a practical relevance to the lives of Muslims in modern Egypt. For example, he addressed the question as to whether a Muslim might eat meat that had been imported from a non-Muslim country. Furthermore, in his role as Grand Mufti he authored a series of theological writings and began work on a comprehensive commentary of the Qur’an. When this was published in the journal al-Manar, “The Lighthouse”, it provoked a storm of indignation while at the same time making ‘Abduh’s ideas widely known. Muhammad ‘Abduh died on July 11, 1905, in Egypt.

Both thinkers, ‘Abduh and al-Afghani, were advocates for a rational interpretation of Islam. That is why ‘Abduh wanted to reform Islamic education; he urged a stronger inclusion of modern sciences. Fundamental to his interpretation of Islam was his conviction that Islam was equal to all the requirements of modernity, because he saw it as, first and foremost, a rational religion. Rightly interpreted, Islam was not merely compatible with reason and progress but it also promoted these. ‘Abduh believed that the general weakness of the Muslims of his day had its roots in two problems: firstly, ignorance about their own religion or holding a false belief, and, secondly, the despotism of Muslim rulers. According to ‘Abduh, these central problems could be solved only by returning to true religion, and above all, through an improvement of the educational system and a new interpretation of religious texts. ‘Abduh refused to accept the interpretations and the consensus of earlier generations of legal scholars as the only true interpretation of questions of faith; he was opposed to blind imitation (taqlid) of earlier generations.

In his most important work, the Epistle on Unity (Risalat al-Tawhid), ‘Abduh focused on the dogmas of the faith. In this enthusiastic piece, he describes Islam as a universal faith based on reason, and as a faith active in the world. Because it is a rational religion, according to ‘Abduh, the believer can remain a pious Muslim even in the modern world. To this end Islamic law is to be newly interpreted in the light of current problems by use of ijtihad. The basis of his new interpretation is the distinction between the mutable and the immutable aspects of the religion, between social teachings and fundamental doctrines. The dogmas of Islam are unalterable: belief in God, divine revelation, the Prophet Muhammad, moral responsibility, and reason. Islamic law, by contrast, is mutable; it is nothing more than the application of principles contained in the Qur’an. These principles are always applied only to specific, ever changing conditions. When conditions change so too do the laws. This is the fundamental starting-point of reform Islam and it remains fundamental even today. Needless to say, there is disagreement about what exactly is to be considered immutable and what is not. That is why this starting point is variously criticized as inadequate or is modified.

Secularism and Islamism

‘Abduh’s best-known students, Rashid Rida and ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq (1888–1966), developed his ideas further but in quite different ways. In his book Islam and the Principles of Governance (al-Islam wa-Usul al-Hukm), ‘Abd al-Raziq, in 1925, writes that it is utterly unnecessary to be concerned with the restoration of the caliphate, abolished in 1924 by the newly established Turkish Republic (despite the fact that this was supposed to occur through a congress scheduled to take place in Cairo in 1925). In ‘Abd al-Raziq’s view, history shows us that the caliphate was not only dispensable but even deleterious. For his contemporaries, however, much more scandalous than his rejection of the caliphate was his attempt to prove, on the basis of the Prophet’s biography, that there was a separation between political rule and religious message in Islam from the very beginning. According to ‘Abd al-Raziq, the Prophet did not exercise governance (hukm) but only a religious mission (risala). Moreover, his revelation dealt exclusively with the heavenly realm.

This notion of ‘Abd al-Raziq’s was criticized by Rashid Rida, the other important student of ‘Abduh. Rashid Rida, who came from a pious family in a village in the then-Ottoman province of Beirut, had received a modern education during his student years. Through his conversations with Christian intellectuals and missionaries in Beirut, he came into contact with Western ideas. He was familiar with the journal al-Urwa al-Wuthqa, “The Indissoluble Link”, edited by al-Afghani and ‘Abduh, and it influenced him strongly. In 1897 Rida emigrated to Egypt and became one of ‘Abduh’s students.

From 1898 until his death Rida published the highly influential journal al-Manar which served as a mouthpiece for the reform movement. It analyzed the situation of the Muslim world as well as the question as to why the West was superior to the East both militarily and scientifically. From 1900 on, Rida published Muhammad ‘Abduh’s modernizing Qur’anic commentary, based upon his notes on ‘Abduh’s lectures at al-Azhar University. Following his death, Rida continued Abduh’s Qur’anic commentary on his own.

After the Ottoman caliph was divested of power, Rida argued in one of his writings that the ideal caliph of all Muslims would be the leading mujtahid, that is, the legal scholar most skilled in ijtihad. This is interesting inasmuch as the notion shows considerable similarity with the Shi‘ite concept of velayat-e faqih (the leadership of the highest-ranking legal scholar) that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, developed in the 1970s and which later became the basis of the Iranian system of government. In addition, Rida argued that failure to uphold the sharia might result in the ruler being declared an unbeliever. This was a new idea that would later be seized upon by other Islamists.

His confrontations with secularists such as ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq led Rida to pull back to more conservative positions. As a result he had a major influence on the Egyptian elementary school teacher Hasan al-Banna (1906–1946), founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. In contrast to his earlier estimation, Rida now considered the Wahhabis the real enemies of a pure Islam. Rida’s ideas won acceptance after the rival movements of pan-Islamism, pan-Arabism and Arab or Islamic socialism foundered. After the Six Day War, The nationalistic pan-Arabists were forced to search for explanations after Nasser’s downfall. This created impetus for the Islamists. As the PLO fell on the defensive, the Muslim Brotherhood gained in popularity and this ultimately led to the founding of Hamas. After the Six Day War the same fate befell Arab socialism, a variant of the so-called “Third Way” between communism (socialism) and capitalism. Following the defeat of 1967, Arab socialism lost ground for the same reasons as pan-Arabism. It failed as ideology because it could do nothing to prevent the defeat of the Arab military in the Six Day War.

Islamic fundamentalists summarized the reason for this in the declaration: “The Jews had remembered religion and won; we had distanced ourselves from religion – and lost.” Consequently, Muslims should return to religion in order to find a way back to former greatness. The further development of this phenomenon, Islamism, is connected in a specific way to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Hasan al-Banna founded in 1928. In reaction to Western colonialism and Western domination, al-Banna promoted religious renewal as well as social reforms as means by which he intended to return to the norms of early Islam. Al-Banna described what was to be done in detail in order to change society:

These are the most important goals of a reform based on the true spirit of Islam. In the realm of politics, justice and administration:

1. The termination of party politics and a redirection of the political forces of the nation towards a single front.

2. Reform of the law so that it stands in harmony with Islamic legislation in all its ramifications.

Secondly, in the realms of society and education:

1. To accustom people to respect for public morals; to put instructions in this regard under legal protection along with intensification of the penalties for moral lapses.

2. The question of woman must be solved in such a way that her demands and her protection be preserved equally in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

3. Suppression of public and private prostitution; to regard every sort of sexual offence (zina) as a crime for which the perpetrator receives the punishment of flogging.

4. Suppression of all forms of gambling.

5. To fight against alcohol and all intoxicants, prohibition of which spares the nation its deleterious consequences.

6. Education of women in the norms of feminine decency in order to suppress flirtatious and coquettish behavior.¹

Many of al-Banna’s ideas were later condensed by Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) into a sort of Islamic liberation theology. Qutb was born in 1906 into a middle-class family. He attended a state school and, by the age of ten, knew the Qur’an by heart because, as he writes in his memoir of his childhood, he wanted, as a student in a state elementary school, to demonstrate the superiority of his own modern educational institution over that of the traditional Qur’an school.

Qutb described his childhood in an autobiographical novel called A Childhood in the Country. The novel is interesting just because he tells of a normal childhood. Qutb was no poor, downtrodden underdog; he did not turn into a radical out of revenge for his own social disadvantages. Here and there in this autobiography we find the themes for which he later took up political struggle: the exploitation of the peasants, and the despotic behavior of soldiers, for example. The story of this Islamist’s youth is not only richly informative about a thinker who has affected world events up to the present, but it is also enjoyable to read because of its literary quality.

Qutb attended the Dar al-‘Ulum school in Cairo which had been founded as an alternative to al-Azhar University. In the 1960s, after graduation, he worked for the Ministry of Education. He developed numerous proposals for reform and improvement of the educational system which were, however, ignored. Furthermore, he wrote for various newspapers, made a name for himself as a literary figure and critic, and attained a certain renown as a writer.

In 1948 Qutb was sent on a Ministry of Education mission to the United States to study the educational system. His superiors reckoned that he would return as an enthusiastic advocate of the “American way of life”, but this is not at all what happened. Instead, he experienced culture-shock or, at the very least, a chastening disappointment in modern American life. His sojourn in the US led to a radical change of view. After his return, at the beginning of the 1950s, Qutb felt only revulsion for the West. The sexual promiscuity, racism, racial segregation – which affected him as an Egyptian – and the materialism radicalized him. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood and rapidly became its most important ideologue.

When his relations with the Egyptian regime deteriorated as a result of clashing viewpoints, as well as the Brotherhood’s attempt on Nasser’s life, Sayyid Qutb was arrested in 1954 and sentenced to 25 years at hard labour. His prison years, however, were his most productive period. He composed his comprehensive commentary of the Qur’an, In the Shade of the Qur’an (Fi Zilal al-Qur’an). Moreover, he wrote his seminal work, Milestones (Ma‘alim fi-1 -Tariq), easily the most influential text of radical Islamism. Indeed, because of its sustained influence it is often described as the “Mao-Bible” of Islamic revolution. The first drafts of Milestones became available in 1962 to a wider circle; the book was...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1. On the Way to the Modern
• 2. Islamic Reformers Today
• 3. Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid: Who’s the Heretic here?
• 4. Fazlur Rahman: from the Qur’an to Life, and Back Again to the Qur’an
• 5. Amina Wadud: In the Midst of the Gender Jihad
• 6. Asma Barlas: As Though Only Men Were Objective
• 7. ‘Abdolkarim Soroush: More than Ideology and State
• 8. Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari: The Prophet Reads the World
• The Future of Islam
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Notes