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Towards
A New Islamic Discourse
Re-capturing
the Islamic Paradigm:
The
Islamic paradigm that developed over the last four decades is not as
simplistic as it is usually portrayed in the dominant Western
academic literature or media features. It is rather comprehensive
and profound, and many voices that mirror that level of
sophistication are either ignored or silenced in favor of more
extremist ,stereo-types matching, et cetera. It is
"an interactive critical response", which goes beyond the
"positive" unconditioned acceptance or the
"negative” rejection of Western modernity—two extreme
points between which the old discourse oscillated. In accordance to
this paradigm, ready made Western answers to the questions posed by
Western modernity are avoided, and a radical exploratory generative
discourse--which neither attempts to reconcile Islam with Western
modernity, nor does it preoccupy itself with searching for the
points of contrast emerged.
The
return to the sources of Islamic belief and civilization is not an
anti-historical approach , but rather an attempt to explore and
abstract an epistemological paradigm in order to generate a
renaissance from within. Rather than imposing Western
analytical categories on the Islamic worldview, the bearers of the
new discourse try to discover its fundamental categories. One can
safely argue that the new Islamic discourse--issuing forth from an
Islamic framework--opens the door of innovative thinking, Ijtihad
(personal/juristic reasoning) regarding both the modem Western
worldview and the Islamic religious and cultural socio-logic.
Hence
two fundamental criteria for this line of thought can be outlined:
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The
approach of the new Islamic discourse is neither apologetic nor
self-defensive. Its advocates are not interested in
spending much energy on the attempt to "improve" the
image of Islam or to "justify" themselves, even though
they are interested in sending "a message" to the
world.
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The
bearers of the new discourse neither reject nor accept the West
uncritically. Ironically, total rejection, just like total
acceptance, presupposes the West as a silent point of reference.
What the bearers of the new Islamic discourse reject, in effect,
are both the presumed centrality and universalism of the West,
as well as its imperialism, which is closely linked to its claim
of centrality. They reject the practices of spoilage, pillage
and repression, that were perpetrated by Western colonialism in
the past and that take at present 'globalized' new forms that
are no less brutal.
[T]he Islamic starting point cannot be a hypothetical zero point. Theirs is a discourse that stems from a worldview from which rich ethical, political, economic and aesthetic systems are generated. |
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Yet
contrary to the Algerian sheikh who smelled reek of gunpowder and
saw nothing else in Western modernity, they have read Eliot's Waste
Land, Becket's and Camus' absurd plays, and Derrida's nihilist
writings. They studied Western theories of architecture and computer
skills, applying various management theories, and live within the
broad horizons opened up by Western modernity. They know the
advantages of this modernity just as they know its anti-humanist
implications. But they also know that the Muslim mind is not a blank
sheet, and that the Islamic starting point cannot be a hypothetical
zero point. Theirs is a discourse that stems from a worldview from
which rich ethical, political, economic and aesthetic systems are
generated.
Issues
such as class conflict and social justice, the role of the state and
the limits of the secular social contract, the need for an equitable
distribution and allocation of resources, power and values, the
woman question, and the influence of the environment on shaping the
future of the world are issues that had been debated.
The
relation between science and technology, and ethics and morality
is also a major concern, as well as the form of democratic
governance that is most suited for the Muslim world, separating here
between democracy and liberalism and opting for a just
politics of presence. The attempt to distinguish between democracy
and shura (consultation) is an attempt to incorporate democratic
procedures within the Islamic value system, so that value-free
democratic procedures do not become the frame of reference, and do
not arrogate for themselves the status of an ultimate value.
…Muslim intellectuals developed their own notion of the limits of reason and even the crimes reason committed in contemporary history , and also became familiar with the Western critique of reason… |
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The
new Islamic discourse advocates consider developing a complex
cultural lexicon that defines their conceptual structure and spaces
of meaning an urgent and important task, as concepts are the keys of
understanding and the analytical and explanatory units guiding the
mind towards understanding and wisdom. For instance, the word
(mind-reason) within the Islamic context has a specific and definite
Islamic meaning. Being such a central notion to modernity , the word
"reason" in the modem Western philosophical lexicon was
conceived as synonymous with the Arabic word 'aql in the Islamic
lexicon. Hence the deep admiration for, and even fascination with,
Western rationality and the Enlightenment project. Gradually Muslim
intellectuals developed their own notion of the limits of reason and
even the crimes reason committed in contemporary history , and also
became familiar with the Western critique of reason, a critique that
distinguished between "instrumental reason",
"critical reason", "functional reason".
"imperialist reason", "abstract reason",
"the negation of reason", "destruction of
reason", "deconstruction of reason", and "decentering
reason". Thus, it is no longer tenable to suppose that the word
'aql as it exists in the Islamic lexicon, is synonymous with the
word "reason", as it exists in the modern Western lexicon.
The
situation of ideas within the boundaries of time and space, at the
same time that they have universal legacy is also in interesting
point of view of the new Islamists. They shift from an absolutist
discourse to a transcendental one; one that is rooted in existential
concerns, and while they give weight to revelation to guide humanity
and give meaning to existence they also acknowledge the cultural
dimension of most human phenomena, religion included. Hence their
view is complex. The bearers of the old discourse stopped at the
distinction between what is halal (permissible) and haram
(forbidden) according to divine laws. The new discourse extends the
meaning of the divine guidance beyond the rules of law to embrace an
epistemological view of Islam that places law on a wider map of
ethical, moral, social and political conceptions, giving the civic
virtues, the question of the logic of the state and the empowerment
of the people, and the rights of nations and individuals (vis-à-vis
the New World Order) more thought. It is then a question of
the empowerment of the consumer to boycott certain commodities that
is at stake at certain times even if these commodities are in
principle halal that matters, rendering personal choices in the
capitalist market Islamic or non-Islamic according to a deep
understanding of the global economic system rather beyond the simple
understanding of the religious and ritual rights and wrongs. The
"national security" of the consumers is understood in a
holistic manner, and new ideas are emerging to empower the
disempowered . Islam becomes in this context and according to this
understanding a power for liberation and a source of an alternative
to globalization.
Islam becomes in this context and according to this understanding a power for liberation and a source of an alternative to globalization. |
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Cultural
plurality is also accepted and national culture seen as a form of
cultural diversity within Islam--not in contrast with an Islamic
league or a notion for a Muslim nation (Ummah) though. Historical
confrontation and hostility with the nationalist movements is no
more a dominant political and social reality. Intellectual gaps are
bridged, and coalitions are established, to face common
threats and build a common ground to face forces of rigid
globalization and capitalist hegemony.
Not
only has the socio-political environment been re-visited, but also
the ecological one rethought and its dilemmas addressed. Concepts
such as "infinite progress" (which are central concepts in
Western modernity) are deemed by the new discourse as hostile
to the very idea of boundaries of human power and therefore to the
transcendental idea of man and nature, and, eventually, to the idea
of omnipotent God. Such concepts are anti-humanist, not only in the
religious, but also in the epistemological human sense. Thus, the
bearers of the new discourse persistently search for new theories of
development and new concepts of progress. They argue that Islamic
theories of development should be radically different from the
secular Western theories, and join larger movements in the South in
the search for an alternative development and their attempt to
revive and build on their traditional sustainable environmentally
sensitive modes of consumption and production.
Dr. Abdel-Wahab M. Elmessiri is a Professor Emeritus of English Literature, Ain Shams University, Cairo-Egypt.
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