Islamic reformism from within

Islamic reformism from within

Muhamad Ali, Jakarta

The New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof in his recent
article, Islamic Reformism: Martyrs, Virgins and Grapes (Aug. 4),
provides criticism of religious fundamentalism -- Christian,
Jewish, but specifically Muslim fundamentalism -- and hoped that
Islamic reformism could prevent the creation of future
fundamentalists and therefore should be path taken by the Muslim
world. But he does not say how Islamic reformism can be
undertaken.

The article coincided with the Indonesian government's plan to
host an Asia-Pacific interfaith dialogue in October to discuss
terrorism and its roots. Muhammad Syafi'i Ma'arif, who chairs the
country's second largest Islamic movement, Muhammadiyah, said the
forum, which will be jointly funded by Indonesia and Australia,
was expected to be attended by representatives from 15 countries,
with hard-line Muslim groups also being invited to take part in
the dialogue.

The dialogue was aimed at scotching the notion that Islam is
synonymous with terrorism. It would also focus on how to empower
moderate Muslim elements and analyze terrorism from a Muslim
standpoint. The big question is then: Why does Islam need
dialogical reformism and how should this be brought about?

It is noteworthy that Muslims have long initiated reform
through the use of ijtihad (independent thinking), challenging
blind letter-for-letter compliance (taqlid). Muslims have
developed their own ways of coming to terms with changing times
and places.

They have created Islamic methodology in dealing with
religious texts, including the science of the hadith (the
Prophet's "traditions"), science of the Qur'an, science of law
and jurisprudence (ushul fiqh), and so forth. Muslim contact with
Greek philosophical traditions enabled further dialogues and
rethinking of Islamic tradition. Consequently, Muslim
philosophers, sufis, theologians, historians, sociologists and
scientists flourished during the time the West was in darkness in
the Middle Ages.

But now, in this modern era, the Muslim condition is generally
the reverse. Most Muslims are backward, poor and underdeveloped,
and the West has become politically, militarily, scientifically,
economically and culturally dominant. The ideas of democracy,
liberal government, human rights, pluralism, tolerance are
commonly viewed as Western, rather than Muslim traditions.

Consequently, modern Muslim history is to be measured by
Western standards. Modernization in the Muslim world is assessed
through Western categorization: whether or not Muslim states and
societies are close to the modernization taking place in Europe
or the United States.

Muslims are mostly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East -- and
are only minorities in Western Europe and the U.S. Thus, many
Muslims feel they have to catch up with Western modernity. Some
Muslim groups become frustrated and involved in radicalism.

Internal crisis and external hegemony are some of the reasons
why some Muslims need reformism. Muslims should be willing to
adopt and adapt to external ideas and experiences.

Islam is said by its adherents to be the faith of both reason
and revelation. For most believers, Islam is "rational", although
it includes transcendental and supra-rational beliefs. Muslims
should embrace science and technology.

Thus, Islamic reform should mean returning to the basic
teachings of Islam, that is, the rational Islam. Here Muslims
should reform themselves because their religion demands them to
do so. Reform should also be begun from within. Islamic reformism
should be both authentic and modern.

How can Muslims undertake reforms? Some Muslims ask whether
the discourse of the Islamic liberals (i.e. Islamic reformism)
has not been a form of "false consciousness", an abject
submission to the hegemonic discourse of the dominant secular
Western capitalist and imperialist societies, and oriental
Orientalism, or whether it was and is practical, rational,
emancipatory and internally well-founded. There are various
answers to this, but, it can be argued, Islam and modernity are
not incompatible.

For liberal, Western and locally trained Muslims, like
Nurcholish Madjid and the younger generation, reformism, or neo-
modernism, should mean rationalization of what should be rational
in Islamic teachings. Islam is essentially a modern, rational
religion.

Yet, rationalization need not mean "Westernization", because
the latter would mean deracination from some of Islam's cultural
roots. Not all Western cultures are relevant to Muslims,
according to this viewpoint.

For other thinkers, Islamic reformism should learn the lesson
of Christian Reformism -- Protestantism. Michaelle Browers and
Charles Kurzman in their edited book, An Islamic Reformism
(2004), attempt to observe how different Muslims think of their
tradition and seek its reform in different ways.

Hashem Aghajari in Iran in June 2002, for example, argued that
like medieval Christianity, Islam in the Islamic Republic of Iran
has become bureaucratized and hierarchical and it therefore ought
to embark on a "project of Islamic Protestantism" as a rational,
scientific, humanistic Islam. Some further argue that Muslims
should be allowed to undertake their own reformation, which would
result in the reorientation and rationalization of religious
values and beliefs of Muslims.

In fact, Hashem was not the first to endorse reformism.
Muhammad Abduh (Egypt, d.1905) has been called "the reformer of
Islam". Muhammad Rashid Rida (Egypt, d.1935) felt the need to
combine "religious renewal and earthly renewal, the same way
Europe has done with religious reformism and modernism." Tariq
Ramadan (born 1962), the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder
Hassan Al-Banna (d.1949), was labeled the "Martin Luther of
Islam."

Observing this phenomenon, the sociologist Jose Casanova
contended that this is all in the very recent past: "if there is
anything on which most observers and analysts of contemporary
Islam agree, it is that the Islamic tradition in the very recent
past has undergone an unprecedented process of pluralization and
fragmentation of religious authority, comparable to that
initiated by the Protestant Reformism."

How then to promote Islamic Reformism within the contemporary
context of Muslim diversity and modernity? Certainly Muslims are
different in their religious backgrounds as regards education,
experience and orientation. Religious monopolies are increasingly
being broken by globalization and new media.

Thus, Islamic Reformism can take place in different ways in
different groups, but they cannot ignore mass communications and
mass education. Since there is no single way of reforming one's
own religion, Muslims should initiate more dialogs and increase
collaboration among themselves, and between themselves and
others, including Europeans and Americans. Historically, Muslims
and the so-called West have influenced each other and therefore
inherent Muslim-Western antagonism is historically untrue.

On the other hand, it is also a utopian idea to think that the
terrorists will become tolerant. The trans-local and trans-
national terrorists should be dealt with through collaborative
security measures. But world citizens, whatever their ideology,
can prevent the emergence of future terrorists, partly by
understanding and dealing with the root causes of their hatred.
Islamic Reformism is therefore not a mere matter of religion, but
also a political, intellectual, economic and cultural endeavor.

Islamic Reformism can be best undertaken from within, but this
should not mean that external ideas and wider collaboration are
not necessary. Within the modern and global context, Muslims do
not live in isolation, neither do the Western people.

The writer is a lecturer at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University (UIN), Jakarta. He is pursuing a Ph.D in history at
the University of Hawaii. He can be reached at
muhali74@hotmail.com