4. The Early Defensive Attempts
and their Achievements
The Islamic world made a
number of attempts to meet the Western ideological onslaught, and many
convinced and devout Muslims worked wholeheartedly to protect their faith and
religion. These attempts to defend and safeguard Islamic values were of two
types, the first being limited to mere protection but others sought apologetic
compromise and attenuation.
The merely defensive efforts
to protect religious values and beliefs can be described, to quote Maulana
Manazir Ahsan Gilani, as the following of Ashab-e-Kahaf’s Attitude. They fled
from the mainstream of social life in order to hold fast to faith. Even though
this might appear to be sheer escapist in motivation, it was in fact based on
the realistic acceptance of the truth that the Muslim world was not able to
mount a direct frontal offensive on the West. The only was that remained open
was to keep away from the flood tide of secularism and hold fast to religious
faith, caring little for those who derided this approach.
As a matter of fact, whatever meager success was achieved in the defense of faith was made possible through this approach. The faith of a section of the Muslim community was saved from atheistic influences and a few candles of faith were left alight in the darkness of crass materialism. The structure of the faith and religious law was maintained through sermons and the teachings of the Quran and Hadith. The most important phenomena of this type of struggle in the Indo-Pak subcontinent was the establishment of a Dar-ul-Uloom at Deoband. In name a mere scholastic institution, it was in reality the harbinger of a great revivalist movement.
As a matter of fact, whatever meager success was achieved in the defense of faith was made possible through this approach. The faith of a section of the Muslim community was saved from atheistic influences and a few candles of faith were left alight in the darkness of crass materialism. The structure of the faith and religious law was maintained through sermons and the teachings of the Quran and Hadith. The most important phenomena of this type of struggle in the Indo-Pak subcontinent was the establishment of a Dar-ul-Uloom at Deoband. In name a mere scholastic institution, it was in reality the harbinger of a great revivalist movement.
The fundamental principle of
the more aggressive approach was to keep up with the changing times without
loosing faith. To achieve this they undertook to sift the sound from the
fallacious in modern ideas and to construct a modernist version of Islam in
order to prove its veracity as well as its capacity to meet modern challenges
effectively.
At first, sings of defeatism
were manifest in those who took up this work. A number of pseudo-scholastic
thinkers of India and Egypt started to test the fundamental tenets of the
Islamic faith in the light of the new rationalism of the West. As a result of
this, religious beliefs were attenuated and their metaphysical concepts were
reinterpreted in purely scientific terms. Sayyid Ahmed Khan in the Indo-Pak
subcontinent and Mufti Muhammad Abduh in Egypt and their acolytes attempted to
formulate a modern interpretation of Islam to save it from anachronism and
allow believers to make headway on the path of scientific progress like the
Europeans.
Their motives may have been sincere and their dedication genuine, but through these attempts Islam undeniably lost its very spirit and élan. The influence of Western materialism resulted in a non-religious version of Islam. Thus these attempts served only a negative purpose: saving of those who were already completely Europeanized in culture and life-style from being called “un-Islamic.” Their inclusion in the fraternity of Muslim brotherhood remained unchallenged, and this new version of Islam was presented to the West on their behalf as an “apology.”
Their motives may have been sincere and their dedication genuine, but through these attempts Islam undeniably lost its very spirit and élan. The influence of Western materialism resulted in a non-religious version of Islam. Thus these attempts served only a negative purpose: saving of those who were already completely Europeanized in culture and life-style from being called “un-Islamic.” Their inclusion in the fraternity of Muslim brotherhood remained unchallenged, and this new version of Islam was presented to the West on their behalf as an “apology.”
Source: Islamic Renaissance - The Real Task Ahead
To be Continued....
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