Islam between modernism and postmodernism
Arafat Fani
The conflict between religion and reason in western culture is an important chapter of recent human history. This conflict had far-reaching effects on the entire world. The background of the conflict is that the religion (Christianity) the western world was aware of was not revealed by God rather it was a deviant form of it. First of all, the religion revealed by God was a monotheistic while in the distorted religion Trinity was adopted.
In the same way, according to the religion of God every servant could worship Him directly but in its distorted form there was a group of priests between God and servants without whose agency it was not possible to establish relationship with God.
The followers of revealed religion were allowed to read and understand the scripture but in the system of distorted religion only religious class could do the interpretation of the text. The ordinary Christians had to accept their interpretation anyway.
Salvation in the revealed religion depended on faith and action but the belief of atonement was ingrained in the deviant form of religion and it was believed that Christ has been crucified and forgiven all the sins of those who believe in him.
The book of God was based on justice and human nature but the followers of Christianity had adopted monasticism which was fully against the human nature. The human conscience of the western world rebelled against this false religion.
Modernism is the name given to a collection of ideological, cultural, political and social movements that arose in Europe in 17th and 18th centuries in response to traditionalism and ecclesiastically tyranny.
This was a time when Church persecution was at its peak. The narrow minded clergy had formed self-made ideologies from a combination of Greek philosophy Christian beliefs and considered voices against these ideologies to be a threat to religion.
Together with imperial government they established an authoritarian system that did not allow any intellectual movement to flourish. Since religion existed, it was both irrational and unjust, so the western mind decided to abandon religion to establish justice in human society. Therefore, the movement of modernism started in the western world. Since this movement was preceded by a period of extreme stereotypes and traditionalism in Europe, the movement marked the entire middle ages a dark age.
The ideological foundation of this movement are found in the ideas of Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes etc, whose view was that the universe is discoverable through intellect, experiment and observation and all its facts can be accessed only through scientific methods. Therefore, there is no need for any other source for discovering the facts.
These philosophers rejected metaphysical claims because they did not meet these criteria. Descartes famously proclaimed “I think therefore I am” which is considered the basis of modern western philosophy. This means conscious act of ego is the only way to reach the truth.
In addition, thinkers such as Pascal, Montesquieu, Diderot, Wesley, Hume and Voltaire also popularized the idea of infinite superiority of intellect and the sole source of knowledge. These ideas are called rationalism and are the basis of modernism. This movement gave rise to skepticism and atheism on the religious front. Voltaire denied religion outright while Hegel acknowledged religion but considered it subject to reason.
On the political front, this movement introduced the concept of human movement, popularized the concepts of freedom of thoughts, freedom of expressions and human rights. Thomas Hobbes concept of Absolute Sovereignty was considered basis of political philosophy.
John Lock went on to argue that the people, not God, are the centre of supreme power. On the economic front, this movement gave birth to capitalist economy and the new industrial society based on Adam Smith’s economic thought of industrialization, free economy and open market.
In the new industrial society, when exploitation of the workers began, Marxism was born from the womb of modernism which presented the idea of non-class society where the working class had the upper hand. On the moral level, this movement popularized the notion of utility. The attitudes that are beneficial to society are legitimate and those that are detrimental to society are illegitimate. The fact is that after denying religion modernism had no arrangements for the moral training of human beings. As a result, moral depravity became common and it was not possible to control it.
By the turn of 20th century, most of the countries in Europe and North America had become enthusiastic preachers and advocates of these ideas. Modernism was also called Enlightenment and Renaissance.
The Enlightenment project became a global project with the support of great powers. Thus, in the second half of 20th century the sole aim of western nations was to promote modernism in the third world countries.
Attempts were made to popularize values such as freedom, democracy, equality between men and women, scientific thinking, secularism and so on. In term of economic thought the west was certainly divided into capitalist and communist factions, but at the political, social and ideological level, the ideas of modernism remained the leading ideas of the west.
This all-encompassing intellectual tyranny of modernism created the same situation that was created by religious traditionalism in medieval Europe. The inevitable consequence of tyranny of modernism came in the form of severe reaction which is called the postmodernism.
The rational attitude was that man would turn to God and submit to divine guidance, but the western world, on the one hand, is largely ignorant of the true religion, and on the other hand, it does not want to abandon moral depravity that comes from denying religion. So, instead of turning to God the reaction of modernism came in the form of postmodernism. In fact, the consciousness and moral sense of western man has not yet matured enough to react in a balanced way.
Postmodernism is not a name of fixed and coherent philosophy or way of thinking but a denial of all ideas. The western man has become disappointed with the failure in searching truth, so he declared that there is no such thing as truth.
According to postmodernism there is no absolute truth in the world rather this concept is just a utopia. To them, truth or any other moral value, sense of beauty or any other aesthetic value all are relative. It means that they relate to individual likes and dislikes and circumstances i.e., a same claim can be true at certain places in certain cases and false in other cases. Nothing in the world can be true always and everywhere. Even the postmodernists are reluctant to accept science as the ultimate truth.
The most significant effect of postmodernism is that people’s interest in ideas and ideologies has greatly diminished. The man of modern age was loyal to certain ideas and thoughts. He was passionate and active for their propagation and publication. The man of postmodern age has no ideas or principles. That’s why Stephan Mitchal called “age of no ideology”.
The idea of unity of religions is very old. Postmodernism has strengthened this way of thinking. Now people all over the world are ready to believe in all religions at the same time. Moreover, people’s interest in interfaith dialogue and discussion is declining while on the other hand the intensity of atheism is also decreasing. Therefore, this age is also called age of desecularization. One can turn to saints in search of spiritual peace, even without trusting in God. Today, he finds peace with Hindu Baba and tomorrow a Christian monk can satisfy him. This is the postmodernism.
The doctrine of relative truth is a false doctrine from Islamic point of view. The facts derived from intellect are certainly relative from Islamic perspective. To this extent postmodernism is compatible with Islam but the source of ultimate truth is revelation which is beyond any doubt.
The fact that human intellect is not a definitive and is sometimes deceived, is not a new concern for those who study Islam. The narrative of modernism regarding intellect has been criticized by Muslim scholars long before postmodernist thinkers. This issue can be found in thoughts of Al-Ghazali and Ibn-Taymiyyah centuries ago.
In a nutshell, the postmodernism is a negative reaction to modernism and a manifestation of doom and gloom in which a modern man is wandering after the failure and annulment of all ideologies.
The magnificent edifices of ideas and philosophies collapsed so badly that modern day philosophers felt at ease in giving up thinking. Thoughts and ideas should be considered delusions. Ideologies should be regarded as an undesirable thing and human life should be handed over to circumstances and chaos and flute of contentment should be played in paradise of postmodernism.
(The author is a student of Science, Philosophy and Theology)
