lectura 03.1. najjar - ibn rushd and the egyptian enlightenment movement
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7/23/2019 Lectura 03.1. Najjar - Ibn Rushd and the Egyptian Enlightenment Movement
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British Society for Middle Eastern Studies
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Egyptian Enlightenment MovementAuthor(s): Fauzi M. NajjarSource: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Nov., 2004), pp. 195-213Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4145508.
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British Journal
of
Middle Eastern
Studies,
November
2004
31(2),
195-213
Carfax
Publishing
Taylor
Francis
roup
b n
u s h d
Averroes)
n d
t h e
Egypt ian
nlightenment
ovement
FAUZI M. NAJJAR*
ABSTRACT
ully
aware
of
the
pressing
need
for change
in
the Arab-Muslim
world,
a
group of
Egyptian
intellectuals have
formed
the
Egyptian Enlighten-
ment
Society
to
promote
the
necessary reform or
the
challenges of
the
twenty-
first century. Theyseek to restore a liberal-secularist trendby disseminatingthe
ideas
of
rationality,
reedom,
equality,
emancipation of
women,
and so on.
They
champion
a
civil
society
as
against
the
religious
society
advocated
by
the
Islamists.
The
advocates
of
enlightenment
have
mobilized
the ideas and
theories
of
Egyptian
and Muslim
liberal
thinkers,
in
particular
those
of
Ibn Rushd
(Aver-
roes),
the
great
commentator
and
interpreter
of
Aristotelian
philosophy,
re-
garded by
many
as
one
of
the
key
figures
in the
development
of
the
European
Enlightenment.
Averroes,
a
defender of
the
freedom of
rational
investigation,
and a
precursor
of
the
modern
scientific
outlook,
sought
to
reconcile
philosophy
and
religion,
and thus
introduce
philosophy
into a Muslim
society governed by
the shari'. The futureof the Arab-Muslimworld will dependon the outcome of
the
struggle
between
enlightenment
and Islamic fundamentalism.
Introduction
'What has
happened
to the
tradition
of
enlightenment
that
had become
part
of
Egyptian
culture from
the middle of the
19th
to
the
middle of the 20th
centuries?'
asks Jabir
'Asfur,
one of
Egypt's
leading
intellectuals
and
founding
member
of
the
present
Egyptian Enlightenment
Association.
What 'Asfur is
referring
to are those
reforms
in
government,
law,
religion,
education
and other
aspects
of
Egyptian
culture
that took
place
during
that
period.
The nineteenthcenturywas the formativeperiod duringwhich Egypt received
the distinctive
features
of its modem culture.
Following Napoleon's
expedition
in
1798,
the
pace
of
European
intervention
in
Egypt
and
the Muslim
world
moved
more
rapidly.
So
did the
process
of
modernization
or
Westernization.
In
addition
to the
military
and technical reforms introduced
by
Muhammad
'Ali,
more than the
externals
of
Western
civilization were
adopted.
New social and
political
ideas and
practices
penetrated
nto
Egyptian
society
and
culture.
By
the
mid-nineteenth
century,
Muhammad
'Ali's
grandson,
Khedive
Isma'il,
could
declare,
not
without
extravagantexaggeration,
that
'Egypt
has
become a
part
of
Europe.'
Instrumental
n
this
process
of
change
was the rise of a new
kind of
literature,
*
College
of Social
Science,
Michigan
State
University,
East
Lansing,
Michigan,
USA.
ISSN
1353-0194
print/ISSN
1469-3542
online/04/020195-19 @
2004 British
Society
for
Middle EasternStudies
DOI: 10.1080/135301904042000268213
-
7/23/2019 Lectura 03.1. Najjar - Ibn Rushd and the Egyptian Enlightenment Movement
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FAUZI
M. NAJJAR
which
played
a
leading
role in
disseminating
modernist ideas and
views. It
has
been said
that the
printing press
was
'far and
away
the
most
revolutionary
and
influential of all contributionsof
Europe
to the Moslem world.' The establish-
ment of
British
control in
Egypt
in
1882 caused
the
Westernizing
movement
to
broaden out and
expand
in
different
directions.
Education
reforms and
the
adoption
of
Western
laws,
commercial,
criminal
and
civil,
underscored
the
modernist transformationof
Egyptian
society.
Lebanese
immigrants
played
a
decisive
role
in
expanding
journalism
and
literary,
scientific
and
political
publications.
By
the
turn
of
the
twentieth
century,
European political
thought
was
generally
accepted,
consciously
and
unconsciously.
A
parliamentary
ystem
of
government
and certain
constitutional
reforms
were
established.
Freedom of
the
press,
fundamentalhuman
rights
and
secularist
education were
championed
along
with
democratic
institutions. The
secularist
conception
of
the
nation-state
had for all practicalpurposesreplacedthe notion of an Islamiccaliphateor unity.
A
new
political
consciousness
was
created
amongst
the
mass
of
the
people
by
the
rapid
rise and extension
of
journalism.
An
impressive
general
political
and
intellectual
level was
raised.
The
pioneer
of that
'tradition of
enlightenment'
(tanwir)
was
Rifa'a
Rafi'
al-Tahtawi
(1801-1873),
who
as
Muhammad
Ali's
appointed
Imam of
a
study
mission
in
Paris,
had
learned
French
and
studied
European hought,
in
particular
the works
of
Voltaire,
Rousseau and
Montesquieu.
Tahtawi was
instrumental n
transmitting
the
liberal
thought
of
the French
Englightenment
to
his
Egyptian
compatriots.
The
present
Tanwir
Association
regards
him
as
its
intellectual
mentor,
and it has
recently
organized
a
conference under the
title
'Rifa'a
al-TahtawiPioneer of Tanwir,'at which eighty-five papers dealing with his life
and
works were
discussed
by
Arab and
Western
scholars.'
The
reform
movement
inaugurated
by
Tahtawi
was
developed
and
sustained
by
a
number of
intellectuals,
religious
and
political
leaders. Two
main
trends
were
generated.
The
first
was a
religious
reform
movement
culminating
in
the
works of
Muhammad
'Abduh,
a
disciple
of
Jamal al-Din
al-Afghani,
and an
advocate of
religious
reform in
Islam.
To
this
day,
'Abduh
remains
the
symbol
of
Islamic
reform,
and the
author of
the
fundamental
proposition
that
Islam
and
modernity
are
not
incompatible.
To be
modern
does
not
necessarily
compromise
Islamicity.
His
book al-Islam
Din
al-'71m
wa
al-Madaniyya
(Islam
is the
Religion
of
Science
and
Civilization)
remains
the
landmark n
the Islamic
reform
movement.
The
second was a
liberal-secularist
rend
represented
by
the
dissemination of
ideas such
as
rationality,
freedom,
equality,
constitutionalism,
independent
judiciary,
government
responsibility
and
separation
of
powers.
Movements
and
political
parties calling
for
social
justice,
equality
before the
law,
free
public
education,
free
press,
and
emancipation
of
women
were
formed. Most
important
was
the idea
of a national
secular
society,
strongly
opposed by
religious
conservatives to this
day.2
In
his
seminal
work,
Arabic
Thought
in the
Liberal
Age,
Albert
Hourani
1
al-Ahram,
April
20,
2002.
2
See Muhammad Nur Farahat,'al-Qanun w-al-Tafa'ul al-Thaqafi fi Misr al-Haditha,' (Law and Cultural
Interaction n
Modem
Egypt),
in
Murad
Wahba
and Mona
Abousenna
(eds.)
Nadwat
al-Tanwir,
(Cairo:
Goethe
Institute,
1990),
p.
88.
196
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THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
stresses
the liberal-secular
character
of that
period,
secular
'in the sense
that
it
believed
that
society
and
religion
both
prospered
best
when the civil
authority
was
separate
from the
religious,
and when the former acted in accordancewith
the needs of human
welfare
in
this
world,
liberal
in the sense that
it
thought
the
welfare of
society
to be constituted
by
that of
individuals,
and the
duty
of
government
to
be the
protection
of
freedom,
above
all the
freedom of the
individual
to fulfill himself and
to create civilization.'3
The
religious
reform movement
has been
fully
covered
by
Charles
C.
Adams
in
his
book Islam and
Modernism in
Egypt
(Oxford:
Oxford
University
Press,
1933),
and Malcolm
Kerr
n
Islamic
Reform:
the Political
and
Legal
Theories
of
Muhammad
cAbduh
and
Rashid Rida
(University
of California
Press,
1966).
Other
works have dealt
with the
political,
constitutional
and educational
changes
of that
period,
notably
Qassim
Amih's Tahrir
al-Mar'a
(Emancipation
of
Woman).Amin was the first Egyptianto attackthe inferiorposition of Muslim
women,
the Islamic
practice
of
polygamy,
divorce
and the use
of the veil.
The liberal
reform movement
was carried
forward
by
writers
like Taha
Husayn,
Lutfi
al-Sayyid,
and
'Ali 'Abd
al-Raziq, among
others.
In his book
Mustaqbal
al-Thaqafa
fi
Misr
(The
Future
of Culture
in
Egypt),
Husayn
called
upon
the
Egyptians
to turn their
faces
West,
urging
them to
adopt
Western
culture,
science and
techniques.
As
minister of
education,
he introduced
educa-
tional
reforms,
stressing
freedom of
academic research
and the
freedom of the
university
from
government
control.
Similarly,
al-Raziq,
in
his book
al-Islam wa
cUsul
al-Hukm
(Islam
and the
Principles
of
Government),
shocked
the Muslim
world with his
argument
hat Islam
is a
religion
and not a
state,
as he called for
the separation of the two. Government systems and laws depend on the
circumstances
and
requirements
of the
public
interest,
he
argued.
Many
other
writers added
to these landmarks
on the road to Tanwir.
It is this
traditionof Tanwir
that the
modem Tanwiriyyun,
as
the advocates
of
enlightenment
are
called,
claim is
at risk
from
two
major developments
in
contemporary
Egyptian
life. The first
challenge
to this liberal
tradition
came
from the authoritarian
regime
of Gamal Abdel
Nasser
and Anwar al-Sadat.
Parliamentarygovernment
and
political parties
were
banned,
the
press
was
nationalized
and
muzzled,
and all
aspects
of social and
educational
life were
controlled
by
the
military regime.
Dissidents were
persecuted,
forcing many
intellectuals to flee their
own homeland.
There was a
general
decline
in
the
quality
of
culture,
education
and the
arts.
The
Islamists
The
second
challenge
comes from
the
contemporary
slamic
discourse,
and
the
activities
of its adherents.
For
the
Islamists,
who hold the
shari'a to be
immutable
and valid for all
times,
Westernizationand secularization
represent
a
threat
to fundamentalIslamic
values and
way
of life.
Consequently,
not
only
Western
ideas and institutions
have suffered the
animosity
of
the
Islamists,
but
also
those who advocate
them. The
contemporary
Tanwir
movement is
basically
an
endeavor to check the
negative
influence of the
Islamists,
considered
detrimental o reform and progress
in all
aspects
of life.
The
Tanwiriyyun
eek
3
Albert
Hourani,
Arabic
Thought
in the Liberal
Age
(Oxford:
Oxford
University
Press,
1983),
p.
343.
197
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FAUZI
M. NAJJAR
to reset
Egypt
on the road to
modernity
in
order to
cope
with
the
challenges
of
the times.
They
are
the heirs of the
early
liberals,
champions
of freedom
of
thought and expression, who believe that there is no incompatibilitybetween
Islam and
modernity.
The 'Islamic Movement'
comprises
all Muslims whose activities aim
at
establishing
an Islamic state instead
of
the
existing
'secular'
or
'civil' state.
It
includes those
engaged
in
direct
political
activities,
as
well as those
whose
activities
have
an indirect
influence on the movement.
Included
in the
first
category
are
the
Muslim
Brothers,
Islamic
Jihad,
al-Jama'at
al-Islamiyya,
and
the
cAmal
Labour)
Party.
Included in the second
category
are
individual
writers
and scholars with
an Islamic
bent such as Fahmi
Huwaydi
(columnist
in
al-Ahram),
MuhammadSalim
al-'Awwa,
Kamal Abu
al-Majd
(professor
of
law),
and
many
Azharites,
all
regarded
as
'enlightened
Islamists.'4
There has always been an Islamic movementcalling for a return o the purity
of the Islamic
past.
The movement
for the
restoration
of
the
Caliphate
in
the
early
1920s,
the Muslim Brotherhoodmovement in the late
1920s,
and
a
number
of small
organizations branching
out
of the
Brotherhood,
all
argued against
a
civil
society
and state. These
early
movements
were,
on the
whole,
kept
under
control,
either
by
the
government
or
by
their own leaders.
However,
the
shattering
defeat
of the
1967
War
may
be
regarded
as the
startingpoint
of
what
an
Egyptian
professor
called
the
'increasing
theocratization
of the Arab world.'
Consequently,
the
fall
of
Nasserism
opened
the
way
for the Islamists to
present
themselves
as
the
only
alternative
to the
existing
order. 'Petro dollars' from the
oil-producing
Gulf
states,
particularly
Saudi
Arabia,
enabled the Islamists to
pursue their political activities more vigorously, and even to establish armed
units
to confront their
enemies.
By using
part
of the funds to build
hospitals,
schools
and
mosques,
and
other services the civil
government
had failed to
provide,
they
have succeeded
in
mobilizing
large segments
of the
population,
especially
the
unemployed youth.
President
Sadat's 'economic
opening' played
into their hands
by creating
wider economic and social
disparities, forcing
the
poor
to seek
support
from the Islamic
groups.
At
the
same
time,
in his
effort to
combat
Nasserist and leftist
tendencies,
Sadat
indulged
the
Islamists,
allowing
them
to
operate freely
and sometimes with
impunity.
Furthermore,
he
success
of
the Khomeini
revolution
in Iran convinced the Islamists of the
possibility
of
establishing
a
religious
state
by
violence.5
The establishmentof a
religious
state is not a
new idea:
it
has
always
been
the
aspiration
of
many,
if not
most,
Muslims. What is
painfully
new is the claim
by
the
extremists that force is the
only
means to
bring
it
about.
All
forms of
violence, threats,
vilification and assassinations have been used to
promote
this
fundamentalist
project.
Not all advocates of an Islamic state resort to such
means;
many
have launched an Islamic discourse to
promote
Islamic
values,
and
to
discredit
all
attempts
in
favour
a modem civil
society.
In
their
view,
liberalism,
secularism
and
democracy
are
Western
imports,
alien to the Islamic
polity.
This attitude has created a chasm within
Egyptian
society
between the
liberal-secular
ntelligentsia
and the Islamists of all colours.
The
mounting
influence of the
Islamists,
their violent activities and virulent
4
See Muhammad
Ibrahim
Mabruk,
Muwajahat
al-Muwajaha
(Cairo: 1994),
pp.
13-14.
5
Wahba
and
Abousenna,
Nadwat
al-Taniir,
p.
94.
198
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THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
discourse have
alarmed the
liberals,
who see them as a threat
to the civil state
and the cultural
achievements of the last
century.
Most intellectuals
and writers
are concerned about how 'fundamentalism s
conspicuously
permeating
many
circles in
our
region. Symptoms
of
bigotry
and intolerance are
decomposing
the
otherwise
compassionate
and benevolent tenets of all monotheistic
religions
embraced
by
millions in the
Middle
East. Terrorism is resorted
to in lieu of
persuasion
and
dialogue. Enlightened
thinkers and writers
have
increasingly
become a
prime
target
of extremists who emanate from
convoluted value
judgments
and
arbitrary nterpretations
f our luminous
heritage.'6
A
numberof
intellectuals and writershave
expressed
similar
foreboding
about
the
implications
of the Islamist
ascendancy,
in
particular
o
democracy,
freedom
of
thought
and
expression
and the
quality
of culture as a whole.
They
question
the
Islamist
slogan
la hukma illa
li-llah
(sovereignty
belongs
to
God
alone),
which is the call for a religious stategovernedby the shari'a. It was Abu al-'A'la
Mawdudi
(1903-1979),
the Pakistani
eader,
who resurrected his
Shi'ite
notion,
rejecting
democracy
as the
'sovereignty
of the masses.' The notion
of
hakimiyya
was later
popularized
by Sayyid
Qutb,
a
leading spokesman
for the Muslim
Brotherhood,
who
was executed
in
the fall of
1966,
for
his
advocacy
of
overthrowing
the
'un-Islamic' Nasser
regime by
force.
For the
Islamists a
modem
democraticcivil
society
is a
jahiliyya (pre-Islamic
age
of
ignorance),
infringing
God's
right
to
legislate. They
reject
democratic
freedoms as
excessive,
allowing people
to do whatever
they please.
In
modem
democracy
there
is no distinction between
right
and
wrong,
faith
and
unbelief,
the
good
and the bad.
Democracy
calls for
equality
of
all
citizens,
the
believer
and the atheist,the learnedand the ignorant.In short,Islamists of all hues reject
democracy's
secular
postulates,
and accuse the secularists of
doubting
the
credibility
of
Qur'anic
texts,
contending
that
Islam is a
religion
and not a
state,
calling
for the
adoption
of
Western
civilization and
reducing
God's
revelation to
a 'cultural
product.'
According
to Yusuf
Qaradawi,
'no
king
or
president,
no
government
or
revolutionary
council,
or
any power
on
earth has the
right
to
change any
of
God's
rules.'7 For their
part,
the secularists
call
the Islamists
'agents
of
darkness,
bats of
thought
who
prefer
the
darkness;
their
eyes
are
unable
to face
light
and
brightness.'8
The conflict between
secularism and Islamic conservatism has
been
going
on
for the last
century
and a half. It
has assumed
various
degrees
of
intensity,
contingent
on economic
and
political
crises. It has been
argued
that
the masses
are oblivious of the
conflict,
and that its
'final
settlement will be
determined
by
the social and economic
interests of social
groups.'9
Convinced that
the
triumph
of the Islamist movement
would
set Muslim
society
apart
from
the rest of the
world,
and out
of
date
and
out
of touch
with
real
life,
Egyptian
secularists and intellectuals have
determined
to use their
talents to ward off
the
onslaught
of what
they
call
'the
contemporary
Islamic
discourse.' Their
central
argument
is
that
Islam,
properly
understood,
is
in
harmony
with the modern
age.
Islamic
history
as well as the demands
of the
6
Murad
Wahba
and
Mona
Abousenna
(eds.)
Averroes and the
Enlightenment
Movement,
(New
York:
Amhert,
1990),
p.
18.
7
Mabruk,Muwajahatal-Muwajaha,pp. 80-81, 179, 214.
8
'Atif
al-'Iraqi,
al-'Aql
wa
al-Tanwir
i
al-Fikr
al-'Arabi
al-Mu'asir
(Beirut: 1995),
p.
138.
9
Wahba
and
Abousenna,
Nadwat
al-Tanwir,
English
section,
p.
91.
199
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FAUZI M.
NAJJAR
modem
age provide
sufficient
argument
in
favour
of
the
use of
reason in the
management
of human affairs. Their
efforts
and activities
have been
somewhat
timid,
sporadic
and
haphazard.
Yet
enough
has been written and done to form
the
core of a
promising
intellectual
and cultural
movement.
The
Tanwir
Association
Of a
number of anti-Islamist
organizations
that have
emerged
in
the
last two
decades,
the
Enlightenment
Association
(Jam'iyyat
al-Tanwir)
has
been the most
consistent and
enduring.
Established in
October
1992
by
a
group
of
Egyptian
scholars and
intellectuals,
the
Association
has set
forth
an
agenda
to
counteract
the
claims,
teachings
and
interpretations
f the
Islamists,
whom
they
describe as
salafi (adherentsof the interpretations nd teachings of the pious ancestors)and
reactionary.
Their
approach
s to
revive
Egypt's
tanwir tradition
by
disseminat-
ing
liberal and
rational ideas. In
addition to
holding
seminars,
lecturing
and
writing,
they publish
an
irregular
bulletin
(al-Tanwir)
to
propagate
heir views.10
More
important
s a series
of
books
on
liberal and
rational
subjects
by
scholars
and
writers,
which
has
been
published
by
the
General
Egyptian
Book
Organiza-
tion. Such
books as Farah
Antun's
Falsafat
Ibn
Rushd,
'Ali
'Abd
al-Raziq's
al-Islim
wa
'Usul
al-Hukm,
Taha
Husayn's Mustaqbal al-Thaqafa
i
Misr,
and
Salama
Musa's Ma
Hiya
al-Nahda are
reprints
of
earlier
editions,
and
are meant
to
emphasize
Egypt's
earlier
liberal
tradition,
as well
as
to
challenge
the
traditionalIslamic
outlook on
society,
law
and
culture.
In the
words of the
first
presidentof the Association, they are meant 'to liberatethe mind from rigidity
and
bondage,
to save women
from
ignorance
and
idleness,
emancipate
them
from
the
harem-prison,
and to
open up
to different
cultures of the
world.'11
In
collaboration with the
ministry
of
culture,
the
Association
publishes
a
Confrontation
Series
(Silsilat
al-Muwidjaha)
he
goal
of which
is to
confront
terrorism,
extremism and
dogmatism.
In
the words
of the minister of
culture,
'We
confront
these
negative
phenomena
with
the
values
of
enlightenment,'
foremost of
which is
rationalism.12
In
terms of
publicity,
the
Association has
organized
a
number of
activities in
the name
of Tanwir.
For
example,
the
1990
InternationalBook Fair
was held
under
the motto 'A
Hundred Years
of
Tanwir.' It has also
inaugurated
a TV
programme(Hiwar al-Tanwir),presented
in the
late afternoon and
rebroadcast
at
midnight.
'Islam
and
the
Arts,'
'Has the
Egyptian
Woman
Achieved her
Aspirations,'
'Reform
of Islamic
Jurisprudence,'
and
'The
Relation
between
Philosophy
and
Religion'
are
some of
the
topics
discussed
by university
professors
and
prominent
writers.13
A
play,
Rihlat
al-Tanwir
(Enlightenment
Journey) by
Samir
Sarhan and
Muhammad
al-'Inani,
details
the
intellectual
and
political
careers of some of the
pioneers
of
enlightenment,
stressing
their
championing
of freedom
of
thought,
use of
reason,
freedom of the
press,
openness
to
world
thought
and,
in
particular,
their
assertionthat
thinking
s an
Islamic
obligation.
The
play
starts
with a
group
10
al-Ahali,
No.
637,
December
22,
1993.
11al-Ahram,May 26, 1993.12
Wahba
and
Abousenna,
Averroes and the
Enlightenment,
p.
21.
13
al-Ahram,
March
18 and
21;
April
4;
and
May
16,
2002.
200
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THE EGYPTIAN
ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
of students
studying
in a small
village
not far from
Cairo.
The
method of
instruction
is memorization.
When one student
questions
this
method,
citing
Muhammad Abduh's call for the use of reason, he is dismissed from school.
The student
wonders
out loud:
'What does
enlightenment
mean
if
not the
liberation
of women
from men's
oppression,
liberation of the
heritage
from the
myths
embedded
in
it,
liberation of
government
from the
tyranny
of
the
ruler,
who does
not consult
and does not
believe
in
consultation
(shura)?'
Narrator:
'These
are
different,
disparate
and
many-sided
tasks.' Student: 'But
they
all
come
together
in
one
magic
word,
freedom.'14
The
last
part
of the
play
focuses
on Taha
Husayn,
the blind
litterateur,
his
study
at
al-Azhar
and
in
France,
and
his
courage
to introduce new
methods of
instruction.
When
he
says:
'Nothing
should
be
accepted
without examination
and
discussion,
and
everything
s
subject
to the
authority
of
reason,
because
God has
given us reason so that we think until we find the truth,'he is ridiculed by a
village
elder,
while the chorus
in the back of the
stage
chants:
'It is the
human
being's
right
to think
independently,
because
thinking
is an individual
obli-
gation.'
5
What is
Tanwir?
The Arabic
word 'tanwir'
is a translation
of
enlightenment.
Nur
is
light.
It is
used in the
Qur'an
numerous imes
in the sense of those
who believe and
follow
God's
rules
are
led from the
depths
of darkness into
light.
(Q.
2:257)
In
the
present
context,
Tanwir
has been used
with
many
different
understandings
and
nuances,rangingfrom the equivalentof the EuropeanEnlightenment o 'Islamic
Tanwir.'
In his book
Ma
Hiya
al-Nahda?
(What
is the
Renaissance),
Salama
Musa
understands
enlightenment
as the humanistic
underpinnings
of
the
Eu-
ropean
Enlightenment.
He stresses
that science has
nothing
to do with
the
supernatural.
We must
depend
on ourselves
in
realizing
our
happiness
on
this
earth,
and
not renounce
it in favor of a life
to come. We will
be
deceiving
the
Egyptian
youth
if
we tell
them that the
European
Renaissance
s
anything
else.'16
Jabir
Asfur
defines
the term as 'the
belief
in
reason and
not
tradition,
science
not
superstition,
progress
not
underdevelopment,
reedom to
differ not consen-
sus,
government
by
consultation
not
oppression.'
In
short,
tanwir
means
'civil
society
and
state.' For
cAsfur,
civil
society
is based on tolerance
and the
right
of all citizens, irrespective of race, gender and religion, to participatein its
political
affairs.
It is the members
of
society
who
know best their
worldly
affairs,
and face their
problems
according
to the
requirements
of the
age
in which
they
live. 'In civil
society
there is no
restriction on the
right
of
ijtihad (independent
thinking)
or
disagreement.'
Tolerance
marks the distinction
between civil
society
and
theocracy.
'Asfur
concludes
that
only
tanwir,
which
upholds
the
values
of
reason,
justice
and
freedom,
can
stand
against
the obscurantism
and fanaticism
of the advocates
of a
religious
state.17
For Hasan
Hanafi,
a
professor
of
philosophy
at Cairo
University,
tanwir
is
'a
14
Samir
Sarhan
and
Muhammad
al-'Inani,
Rihlat
al-Tanwir
(Cairo,
1991),
pp.
8-14.
15
Ibid., p. 64.16
Salama
Musa,
Ma
Hiya
al-Nahda
(Cairo,
1993),
p.
15.
17
Jabir
'Asfur,
Difa'an
'an
al-Tanwir
(Cairo,
1993),
pp.
7-8.
201
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FAUZI M. NAJJAR
philosophical
attitude,
based on
a number of
concepts
which
together
constitute
one consistent world
view. These
concepts
are:
reason,
nature, man,
freedom,
equality
and
progress.'
Hanafi does not include God. 'Reason,' he adds, 'is
opposed
to
authority
and inherited
traditions,
thus
paving
the
way
for the
individual to
lay
the
foundation of a
new
epistemology,
based
on the
laws of
nature and on
sensory experience
and
experimentation.'18
t is
obvious that
Hanafi's definition of tanwir
is
in
line
with
the
postulates
of
the
European
Enlightenment.
The
secularists' avowal of
Islam is
prompted
not
only by
the
belief that
it is
amenable
to
reform,
but also
by
the
conviction
that it is
the most
effective
way
to
convince the believers that
there is
no
conflict between
reason
and
religion,
and that to be
enlightened
and
rational
is
being
truly
Islamic.
Such
arguments
have not
appealed
to the
Islamists who
argue
that
'Islamic
tanwir,'
is
superior
to that of the 'Westernizedintellectuals.' Consequently,we now have Islamic
tanwiri
books,
a
large
number of
which were
exhibited at the
2002
International
Cairo Book
Fair,
ostensibly
'to
correct the
Westerners'
misunderstanding
of
Islam'.19
According
to
Muhammad
Zaqzuq,
minister of
religious
endowments and
president
of the
Egyptian Supreme
Council
of
Islamic
Affairs,
the
superiority
of
'Islamic
tanwir' lies in
the fact that it
'combines
religion
and
reason,
whereas
the
European Enlightenment
upheld
reason
and
ignored
religion.'
'The
tenets
of
Western
Enlightenment,'
he
adds,
'threaten our
Islamic
identity
and
culture
in
this
globalization
age.'
Advocates
of the
'Islamic
tanwir'
stress
Islam's
respect
for
and exaltation
of
reason,
but
the
religious
light
is
necessary
to
complement
the light of reason. 'Reason is the foundationandreligion is the edifice.'20There
are
many
verses in the
Qur'an
that
encourage
the
use of
reason,
but
we
cannot
make
a
religion
out
of
rationality, argues
Muhammad
Julaynad.
Reason's
domain is
the sensible
world
('alam
al-shahada)
but
not the
supernatural
'alam
al-ghayb).
'Only by
revelation
and faith can
we know
something
about
the
world
beyond.'21
Ibn
Rushd and
Enlightenment
Of all Muslim
authorities
summoned
by
the Tanwir
Association in
support
of
reason and
liberalism,
none has been
given greatercoverage
and
importance
han
the
philosopher
Abu
al-Walid Ibn
Rushd
(1126-1198),
known to the
West
as
Averroes. His
philosophy
is
thought
to be
indispensable
for
the
revival of
Islamic
intellectual
civilization,
and
social and
political
development
within
the
context of the
twentieth and
twenty-first
centuries.Ibn
Rushd,
the
great
commen-
tator
on,
and
interpreter
f,
Aristotelian
philosophy,
is
regarded
by
liberal-secu-
lar
Arab
intellectuals,
as well
as
by
some
Europeans,
as one of
the
key figures
in
the
development
of the
European
Enlightenment.
f
the
Rushdian
philosophy
played
such an
important
role
in
the
West,
it is
only
logical
to
assume
that it
18
Wahba
and
Abousenna,
Nadwat
al-Tanwir,
English
Summary, p.
63;
Arabic
text,
p.
42.
19
al-Ahram,
January
16,
2002.
20
al-Ahram,FridaySupplement,April 13, 2001, p. 10.21
Muhammad
Julaynad,
Minhaj
al-Salafbayna
al-'Aql
wa
al-Taqlid (Cairo,
1999),
pp.
50-63;
Cf.
Qur'an
2:2;
151;
262.
202
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THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
could do the same
in
the
East.22
Moreover,
he is
regarded
as 'a
precursor
of the
modem
scientific
outlook,'
and a defender of the freedom
of rational
investiga-
tion.
Averroes'
philosophy
is
beyond
the
scope
of this
paper.
My
main concern is
to
explore
those
aspects
of his
thoughtregardedby
the
Tanwiriyyun
s
necessary
to combat Islamic fundamentalism and the
contemporary
Islamist discourse.
'The terror of
fundamentalism,'
writes Mona
Abousenna,
chairperson
of the
English Department
at
'Ayn
Shams
University,
'cannot
be met
by
arms or other
forms of
security,
but
by
the
power
of
reason,
that
is,
philosophy.'23
This
is
not
the first time that Averroes'
philosophy
is
employed
to
generate religious,
intellectual,
political
and
social reform in
Egypt
and the
Arab
world.
In
1903,
FarahAntun
(1861-1922),
published
his book
Falsafat
Ibn
Rushd
(The
Philoso-
phy
of
Ibn
Rushd),
in which he advocated the
separation
of
temporal
and
spiritualauthorities.Without that separation'there will be no true civilization,
tolerance,
justice,
friendship,
science,
philosophy
or
progress.'
He was the first
to use Ibn Rushd's
teachings
'to
promote
the establishment
of a secular state and
the
Western scientific culture.'
He
thought
that Ibn
Rushd's
philosophy
'is a
strong
endorsement
for scientific
thinking,
which for
Antun was the
key
to
modem civilization.'24
A
Christian
Jmigre
from
Lebanon,
Antun
thought
that
only
in
a
modem
secular state
would Christians
have
equal political
and social
rights
with
Muslims. He
accepted
Ernst Renan's contention that
according
to Ibn
Rushd,
philosophy
is the
'hidden
poison'
(al-samm al-kamin)
against religion,
and that
'in
Arabic
philosophy
as
shown
by
Ibn
Rushd,
the
Aristotelian tradition had
eliminatedIslam andput itself in its place.' When Ibn Rushddied, Renan wrote:
'Arab
philosophy
lost in
him
its last
representative,
and
the
triumph
of the
Qur'an
over free
thought
was assured for at least six hundred
years.'25
Needless
to
say,
Renan's views
aroused
strong
condemnationof
Antun's book
by
Muslims
in
general.
It is no
coincidence
that Antun book was the first
to be
reprinted
in
the
Tanwir series in
1993.
The
goal
was to
pioneer
an
enlightenment
movement in
the Arab
world,
based on
the
authority
of the
great
Muslim
philosopher.
There
is a
general agreement
among
the
Tanwiriyyun
of all shades
that the absence of
Ibn
Rushd's
philosophy
from the Middle East is the
'obstacle
facing
the
prevalence
of
reason from
its
culture.'26
Islamists have
always regardedphilos-
ophy
as an
enemy
of
religion,
as
they
have been intent on
'smothering
the seeds
of secularism' in Ibn Rushd's
thought,
because
if
the
seeds
germinate 'they
would
emancipate
reason,
whose
absence
in the Muslim
world is at the bottom
of its
backwardness,'
That
is
why
when Antun's book
was
first
published,
al-Manar
magazine
accused
the author of
blaspheming
Islam
and
its
'ulama.
It
was Rashid
Rida,
the editor of the
magazine,
who
urged
Muhammad
Abduh
to
22
For
a
polemic
on
Averroes' role
in
the
European
Enlightenment,
see Charles
E.
Butterworth, 'Averroes,
Precursorof the
Enlightenment?'
Alif
16
(1996),
pp.
6-18.
23
Murad
Wahba
and Mona
Abousenna
(eds.)
Averroes
Today:
Fundamentalism
and
Secularization
in the
Middle
East,
(Cairo: 2000),
p.
11.
24
Hourani,Arabic Thought, pp. 253-259.
25
Ibid.,
p.
62;
Stefan
Wild in Wahba
and
Abousenna,
eds.
Averroes
and
Enlightenment,
pp.
157,
159.
26
Wahba
&
Abousenna Averroes
Today,
pp.
84,
87.
203
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FAUZI M.
NAJJAR
respond
to Antun's
contentions,
charging
him with
atheism,
as he
later
charged
'Ali
'Abd
al-Raziq
for
his views
in
al-Islam
wa 'Usul al-Hukm.27
Dr. Murad Wahba, professor of
philosophy
at
'Ayn
Shams
University
in
Heliopolis,
founder and
honorary president
of the Afro-Asian
Philosophy
As-
sociation,
and a
pioneer
of
the
Egyptian Englightenment
Movement,
was the
first
to
call
for
an
Arab
enlightenment
movement based on the
philosophy
of
Ibn
Rushd. In
November
1979,
he
organized
the First
International
slamic
philoso-
phy
Conference with the title
'Islam and
Civilization.' His main
idea was
that
the
problem
of the
developing
countries was the
absence of the 'rule
of
reason.'
In his
opinion,
the
European
Enlightenment
'liberatedreason not
only
from
the
religious
authorities,
but also from
any authority
except
that of
reason
itself,'
and
that
Ibn
Rushd's
philosophy
'helped
breed the
Enlightenment
in
the
West,
whereas it failed
to do the same
thing
in
the East.' That
is what
Wahba calls
the
'Paradox of Averroes.'28
Wahba cites the
case of
Emperor
Frederick
II
of
Hohenstaufen
(1215-1250),
who
ruled both
Sicily
and
Germany,
and
who ordered he
translationof
all of
Ibn
Rushd's works as
a means to
counteract the
theocracy
of the
Catholic
Church.
The
implication
and the intention are
that the
dissemination of Ibn
Rushd's
philosophy
will
help
stem the tide
of Islamic
fundamentalism.
Wahba
sees
in
Averroism the
possibility
of
reaching
the same
conclusion
in
Islam
that
Europe
had
reached in
Christianity,namely
separation
of church
and state. If
Averroism
contributed o
religious
reform and
enlightenment
n
the
West,
it is
likely
that it
may
do the same in the
Arab-Muslim
world.29
Other writers have
voiced similar
views,
in
particular
Dr. 'Atif
al-'Iraqi,
professor of Islamic philosophy at Cairo University, and a champion of Ibn
Rushd's
philosophy.
He
has devoted much
of his academic
careerto
propagating
Rushdian
thought.
He
has,
among
other
things,
edited a volume on
the
Muslim
philosopher,
with
contributions
by
18
prominent
scholars. In
it,
as well
as
in
other
writings,
he
stresses Ibn
Rushd's
rationalism,
his
impact
on
European
thought,
and the
need to
rehabilitatehis
philosophy
in
the Muslim
world.
In
his dedication of
the book 'To
the
Spirit
of Ibn
Rushd,'
'Iraqi
describes him
with some
extravagance
as the
'doyen
of
rationalist
philosophy
in
the
Arab
world,
the
pioneer
of the
enlightenment
movement,
the
towering
intellectual
pyramid
and the
giant
of
Arabic
philosophy.'
The book is
also
dedicated to
the
pioneers
of
enlightenment
in
the
contemporary
Arab
world.
However,
'it
is
regrettable
that the
West has
recognized
the true
value of
[Ibn Rushd's]
philosophy,
whereas
we,
the
Arabs,
have failed to
understand t
accurately,'
especially
'when irrational
and
mythical
thought
has
spread
all over.'
'Iraqi
laments this 'retreat
from
reason,
and
the
constraints on its domain.'
At a time
when the
Islamist discourse
calls for the
rejection
of Western
civilization and
its
scientific
achievements,
the
need for the
Rushdian
philosophy
is more
pressing
than
ever,
he
reiterates.30
Iraqi
is a
believer
in
reason,
and is
fully
convinced that
there is no
enlightenment
without
reason.
Crying
over the tulul
(abandoned
encampments)
27
al-Ahali,
No.
607,
May
26,
1993.
28
al-Ahali, No. 581, November 25, 1992.29
'Atif
al-'Iraqi,
(ed)
Ibn Rushd
Mufakkiran
Arabiyyan
wa Ra'idan
li-Ittijah
al-'Aqli.
(Cairo,
1993),
p.
32.
30
Ibid.,
pp. 81,
165.
204
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THE
EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
and
singing
the
praises
of
the
heritage,'
as the Islamists
do,
represent
backward-
ness and
'ascendance
to the
abyss.'
He
describes
the condition of
the Arab
world
as one of
'disequilibrium
and
weightlessness,'
a state of
'profound
apathy,
while
the world around
us is
moving
fast.' He
warns
of a fate
not
unsimilar to that of
the Red Indians
or other ethnic
groups
that have
become extinct. He calls for the
adoption
of the
methods of the advanced
Western
nations.
In his
judgment
a dark
outlook
envelops
the Arab-Muslim world
today,
superseding
'a somewhat
enlightened
outlook,'
that
prevailed
until the
middle of the twentieth
century.
Since that
time,
a kind of
ridda
has
taken
place.
One finds
regression
in
the
sphere
of individual
freedom,
and a
tendency
toward a kind
of
reactionary
intellectual
dictatorship.
He blames the Nasser
regime
and the intellectuals who
sang
its
praises
for much of the
present
conditions
in
today's
Egypt.
'A
state
without
enlightened thought
is a
body
without brains' he avers.31
'Iraqi'senlightenedfuturisticoutlook envisages takingfrom the heritagewhat
will not interfere
n
the
way
of
progress
and
prosperity. 'Why
don't
we
open up
to the West
instead
of
rejecting
everything
Western?'
he wonders.
His
goal
is to
dismantle
the 'terrain
of
tradition,'
and
make
reason,
and reason
alone,
the
foundation of the new structure.
There is no
hope
for our intellectual
progress
except by relying
on
reason ...
The
way
of tradition leads to
a dead
end,
to
illusion and
perdition,
whereas renewal
(tajdid)
on
the basis of reason
is the
way
of
progress.'32
The Arab-Muslim
world is 'still
spinning
in
the
sphere
of
taqlid
(tradition),'
he affirms. The
path
of
taqlid,
unlike that of
'ijtihad,
leads to
irrationality
and
darkness,
whereas
'ijtihad
leads
to
enlightenment.
Decrying
the
dominance of the
reactionary
Islamist
thought,
which he calls
'petro thought'
[referenceto oil-producingcountries' supportof the Islamists],'Iraqi says: 'Had
we continued on
the
path
of
enlightenment,
we would have been
spared
such
lame
and distorted
opinions
which
betray
mental
retardation,
nd
lead us to
ages
of
darkness,
decline
and reaction.'33
'Iraqi
does not
reject
the
heritage, provided
it is 'beneficial
in our
contempor-
ary
life.'
However,
he does not hesitate to discard
any part
of the
heritage
that
is
incompatible
with
enlightenment.
What
may
have been
good
in another
age
may
not be
good
now,
he
declares
confidently.
For
example,
the
Caliphate,
which is one of the
most cherished institutions Islamists
would want
restored,
s
no
longer
in
harmony
with the
modem
age.
He
ridicules those who
consider the
assimilation
of
Western
ideas a 'cultural
invasion,'
that has to be
resisted
and
fought,
and those
Islamists who
attempt
to derive
scientific
theories from
Qur'anic
verses.34
Why
Ibn
Rushd?
Why
have the
Tanwiriyyun
chosen Ibn Rushd
as the antidote
to the Islamic
discourse?
What is the basis of their conviction that
Averroism,
'which has been
instrumental
n
generating
the
European Enlightenment'
will
generate
a
similar
enlightenment
in the Arab-Muslim world? Are
they solely
concemrned
ith
31
Ibid.,
pp.
7-10.
32
Ibid.,
pp.
11
and 22.
33Ibid., pp. 28-29.
34
Cf.
Zaghlul al-Najjar,
'Min
Asrar
al-Qur'an
al-Karim wa
Maghza
Dalalatiha
al-'llmiyya,'
has
been
serialized
in
al-Ahram since
the
beginning
of 2002.
205
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FAUZI
M. NAJJAR
combating
fundamentalism,
or are
they
also
convinced
that Ibn
Rushd's
philos-
ophy
will
help
move the
Arab-Muslim
world
into the
21st
century?
In additionto his influenceespecially over
Europe,
the
great
Muslim
philoso-
pher
and
jurist
has
more to
commend him
to a
movement
seeking
to
regenerate
a
liberal, secular,
enlightened
and
progressive
tradition in
the
Arab-Muslim
world. As
the
great
commentator
on
Aristotelianism,
he
stresses
the use of
reason
and the
scientific
method,
both
regarded
by
the
Tanwiriyyun
as the
key
to reform in
a
society
still shackled
by
tradition
and
mythology.
Ibn
Rushd
is
the
only
Muslim
philosopher
to
dedicate a
whole
treatise to the
connection between
philosophy
(science)
and
religion,
which is
the
pressing
issue
in
Arab-Muslim
world
in
facing
the
challenge
of the
modem
age.
In
his
famous
treatise,
Fasl
al-Maqal,
as well as in
his
other
writings,
Ibn
Rushd seeks to
prove
that
there is
no conflict
between
the
shari'a and
philosophy
or
science.35
In Fasl al-Maqal and the Paraphrase of Plato's Republic, he
stresses
the
relevance
of
Greek
thought
to Muslim
society.
In
the first
treatise
of
the
Paraphrase,
he
discusses the
need of
cities,
including
Muslim
cities,
for
political
science. This
practical
science and
art he
finds
in
Aristotle's Nico-
machea and
Politics,
the latter 'has
not
yet
fallen into
our
hands,'
as
well as
in
Plato's
Republic.
He
uses the
Qur'an
to
demonstrate
hat the
study
of
philosophy
is
'obligatory'
according
to the
sharica. 'That
the Law
summons to
reflection
on
beings,
and
the
pursuit
of
knowledge
about
them
by
the
intellect is
clear
from
several
verses of the
Book of God
... such
as His
saying
Reflect,
you
have
vision.
'36
[Cf.
Quran
59:2;
8:185; 6:75;
88:17-18;
3:191].
This
study
must be
conducted
by
demonstrative
reasoning
(qiyas
burhani),
beginning
with the
study
of logic, an instrumentthat must be learned from the ancient masters, the
Greeks. After
mastering
logic,
'we
must
proceed
to
philosophy
proper,'
Ibn
Rushd
advises. He
reiterates
that the
study
of
the
'books of
the
ancients' is
obligatory by
Law,
'since their aim
and
purpose
n
their
books is
just
the
purpose
to which the
Law
has
urged
us,
and that
whoever
forbids the
study
of them
to
anyone
who is fit to
study
them
... is
blocking
people
from the
door
by
which
the Law
summons
them to
knowledge
of
God,
the door
of
theoretical
study
which leads
to the
truest
knowledge
of
Him.'37
It
is this
argument
hat the
Tanwiriyyun
have
capitalized
on to
undermine he
Islamist attack
on
Western
civilization
as
being
a
'foreign
invasion,'
and
anti-Islamic.
They
stress Ibn
Rushd's
call for
openness
to
ideas from
other
nations and
cultures. If
such a
step
was
advisable
and valid in
Ibn
Rushd's
days,
why
should
it not be
advisable
and valid
today? Why
depict
such an
intellectual
opening
as a form
of
kufr
as the
Islamists
do?
The
Tanwiriyyun
nvoke
Ibn
Rushd's
warning against
any
ideas,
thought
and
theories
that
are not
based on
reason,
in
particular
his
warning
against
the
fallacies of
the
Ash'arite
theologians
(Mutakallimun)
and the
errors of
al-Ghazali. He
does
not
spare
them
his
criticism on
every
occasion.
In
discussing
Plato's
programme
of
teaching
childrenthe
right
information
and
values,
Ibn Rushd
criticizes
the
Ash'arites
for
35
Although
in
his
Paraphrase of
Plato's
Republic,
he
hints that
the
shari'a
may
be in
need of
'supplement
and correction.'
36
Abu
al-Walid
Ibn
Rushd,Fasl
al-Maqalfi
ma
bayna
al-Hikma
w-al-Shari'a
min
al-Ittisal.
Translated nto
Englishby GeorgeF. Hourani,Averroes on the Harmonyof Religion and Philosophy. (London:Luzac & Co.,
1961),
pp.
44-45. Henceforth
Fasl
al-Maqal
37
Ibid.,
p.
48.
206
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THE
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ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
saying
'God
is
the cause
of
good
and evil.' 'This is a
sophistic
state,
God is
perfectly
good;
He neither does evil at
any
time
whatever nor is the
cause
of
it.'38
What is it in the
thought
and
teachings
of these
theologians
that the
Tanwiriyyun
onsider inconsistent
with modem
times,
and
inimical to
progress
and
modernity?
Abu al-Hasan
'Ali al-Ash'ari (873-935),
founder
of the Ash'arite
school of
theology,
renouncedthe Mu'tazilite
doctrines that the
Qur'an
is
created,
that the
eyes
of human
beings
will never
see God
in
the
afterlife,
and that we are
the
authorsof our actions.
Rejecting
these
tenets,
he
sought
to
recover the traditional
doctrine
by returning
o
the
Holy
Book and the
teachings
of the
early
Muslims.
His main contention was
that no
purely
rationalistic
theology
could be
devised.
Only
reliance
upon
the
word of
God,
the hadith and Sunna
of the
Prophet,
and
the
way
of
life of
the
pious
ancestors would
guarantee
a
true
theology.
Faced
with the questionof the Qur'anicanthropomorphism f God's face, hands, feet,
etc.
[Cf.
Q.
7:54;
20:5;
75:22]
Ash'ari
opined
that
they
were to be taken
without
how and without
drawing any comparison
(bila
kayfa
wa
la
tashbih).
Thus he
sought
to
safeguard
divine transcendence
and
the
explicit
affirmations
of the
Qur'an
at the
same time.39
Abu
Hamid al-Ghazali
(1058-1111)
adhered to
the central
theses of
Ash'arism.
In his
Tahafut
al-Falasifa
(The
Incoherence of
the
Philosophers)
he
defends the
dogma
'contre
le
rationalisme
nsidieux et destructeur
des
faldsifa.'40
It was
al-Ghazali who established the
hegemony
of
Ash'arite
orthodoxy
in
the
East. It was
under
the
Saljuq
rule
that
Ash'arism
had a
great
boost,
when the
great
vizier Nizam al-Mulk established
the
Nizamiyya Academy
at
Baghdad
for
the studyof the orthodoxsystem.It was in this Academy thatal-Ghazali ectured
for four
years
(1091-1095).41
In
seeking
to save the 'obvious
sense' of the
religious
text
against
the
Mu'tazilites
and, later,
against
the
philosophers,
Ashcari asserted
that
the
obli-
gation
to use reason is
purely
legal.
In
other
words,
reason
'is no
more
the
source,
but
the
instrument,
of belief
in
God.'
Accordingly,
'reasoning,
as a
human
effort,
generates
no
knowledge;
it
is
simply
an occasion
after
which
knowledge
is
created
by
God.' God
is the
only
Creator,
He
creates
in
the
human
being power
and choice. Human actions
are created
by
God
and
acquired
by
human
beings.
By
means of the
theory
of
kasb
(acquisition),
Ash'ari
thought
that
he had
resolved
the
question
of
human
responsibility.
Ash'arism
rejects
the
Aristotelian
theory
of the
eternity
of
the
universe,
and denies
causality,
since
God's'
free will is the cause
of
everything.
By denying
the
law of
causality,
what
Ignatz
Goldziher calls
'cette
source
et cette
boussole
de
toute
science
ra-
tionnelle,'
Ash'arism
destroys
the
possibility
of
philosophy
and
science,
as well
as
the law of nature.42
The ethical
consequences
of
Ash'arism
are as serious
as its
metaphysical
ones.
38
Averroes on Plato's
Republic.
Translated
by Ralph
Lerner.
(Ithaca
and
London:
Cornell
University
Press,
1974),
p.
20.
39
See Louis Gardet
and
Georges
Anawati,
Introduction a la
Thdologie
Musulmane:
essai de
thdologie
comparee
(Paris: 1948),
pp.
55 and
66.
40
Ibid.,
p.
72.
41
Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (New York: 1951), pp. 410-411, 431.42
Gadet
and
Anawati, op.
cit.,
pp.
58-59. Also
Majid
Fakhry,
History
of
Islamic
Philosophy
(New
York and
London:
Columbia
University
Press,
1983),
p.
208.
207
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FAUZI M.
NAJJAR
The constant
interventionof
God leads
to the
negation
of human
responsibility.
The
human
being
is
no more the
authorof
his/her actions. 'In
his
Ibanah,
Ash'ari
describes the
arbitrary
power
of God in terms that leave
hardly any
scope
for
human
initiative.'43Ibn
Rushd
attacks the
theologians
for
using
rhetorical and
dialectical
methods
rather han the
demonstrative,
because
'wisdom can
only
be
completed
through
knowledge
of the
end of man ...
And it is
evident that
we
can
only
perceive
the end of
man
through
he
theoretical
sciences.'44
By equating
the
philosopher
with the
'bringer
of the
shari'a,'
he
implies
that
wisdom
'ought
to
be
firmly
established
in
the ruler of
the
city
and
rule over it.'
Ibn
Rushd
bemoans the
fact that
Muslim
societies fall far
short of
the ideal
delineated in
Plato's
Republic.
For
example,
when
discussing
the
timocratic
association
[where
'love
of violence
and
domination and that a
man
forever
be
lord,
and not
lorded
over,
and
be
served,
not
serve],
he
comments that this
kind
of government [was] frequently found among us [Muslims].'45He calls the
associations of
many
of the
Muslim
kings
'entirely
domestic,
where
property
s
designated
for the
sake of the
household
of the lords
among
them.'
In such
cities
'the
multitude are
plunderedby
the
mighty,
and
the
mighty go
so far in
seizing
their
property
that
this
occasionally
leads them to
tyranny,just
as this
comes
about in
this time
of ours
and
in
this
city
of ours.'46
Illustrating
Plato's account
of the
transformation
of the
virtuous
governance,
Ibn Rushd
cities
the 'case of
the
governance
of the
Arabs in
early
times,
for
they
used
to imitate
the
virtuous
governance.
Then
they
were
transformed into
timocrats
in
the
days
of
Mu'awiya.
So seems to
be the
case
in
the
governance
now
existing
in
these
islands.' The
reference is
to the
Almohad
dynasty,
under
whose rule Ibn Rushd lived most of his life.47 He is strongly in support of
freedom
and is
opposed
to
tyranny.
Following
Plato,
he
describes the
tyrant
as
most
unhappy,
and the
'most
enslaved of
people.'
Ibn
Rushd's
liberal
position
may
also be
demonstrated
by
his
discussion of the
position
of
women. He
seems to
go
along
with Plato's
views that
women
'would
have
the
very
same
standing
as
men
in
those
classes,
so that
there
would be
among
them
warriors,
philosophers,
rulers
and the
rest ... And
we
say
that
women,
in
so far
as
they
are of
one kind
with
men,
necessarily
share
in
the
end
of man.
They
differ
only
in
less or
more.'48
Reflecting
on
the
position
of women
in
'these
[Muslim]
cities,'
he
says
that their
competence
is
unknown,
'since
they
are
only
taken in
them
for
procreation
and
hence are
placed
at the
service
of their
husbands,
and
confined
to
procreation,upbringing
and
suckling.
This
nullifies
their
other
activities.
Since
women
in
these cities are
not
prepared
with
respect
to
any
of
the human
virtues,
they
frequently
resemble
plants
in
these
cities. Their
being
a burden
upon
the men in
these
cities is one of
the causes
of the
poverty
of
these
cities.'49
It must
have
become
clear
that Ibn
Rushd's
ideas,
whether on
methodology
and
emphasis
on
demonstrative
proof,
or his
attitude
toward
governance
and
his
43
Ibid.,
p.
207.
Cf.
Q.
16:40;
37:96.
44
Averroes on
Plato's
Republic,
pp.
49-50.
45
Ibid.,
pp.
108-109.
46
Ibid.,
pp.
112-113.
47
Ibid., p. 121.
48
Ibid.,
p.
57.
49
Ibid.,
.
59.
208
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THE
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ENLIGHTENMENT
MOVEMENT
championing
of the
cause of
women,
would
be attractive
and relevant
to a
movement concerned
with reform
in
the Arab-Muslim
world. Of
particular
significance
to the EnlightenmentMovement is Ibn Rushd's methodology of
allegorical interpretation
ta 'wil).
He defines
ta
'wil
as
follows:
'If the
apparent
meaning
of
Scripture
conflicts with
demonstrative
conclusions
it must be
interpreted
allegorically
... The
meaning
of
'allegorical
interpretation'
s: exten-
sion
of the
significance
of an
expression
from
real
to
metaphorical
significance,
without
forsaking
therein
the standard
metaphoricalpractices
of
Arabic. So we
affirm
definitely
that
whenever the conclusion
of a demonstration
s in conflict
with the
apparent
meaning
of the
Scripture,
that
apparent
meaning
admits of
allegorical interpretation
according
to the
rules of such
interpretation
n
Ara-
bic.'50
By reintroducing
philosophy
and rational
thinking
into
Islamic
culture,
the
Tanwiriyyun eek to ward off Islamic fundamentalism,and the orthodoxlegacy
of
Ash'ari
and Ghazali.
They
also
want to
open
up
to
Western
knowledge
and
scientific
techniques,
and to usher
the Arab-Muslim world
into the
twenty-first
century.
They
are
fully
aware that the
existing political
regimes
have become
anachronistic
and
out
of touch
with
reality. They
want better
education for
Arab
children,
more freedom
of
opinion
and
expression,
more
equality
and
rights
for
all citizens
irrespective
of
gender,
race and
colour.
In
order to make
Ibn Rushd's
philosophy
acceptable
n a conservative
Muslim
society,
the advocates
of
enlightenment
have
often stressed
its Islamic
dimen-
sion.
They
often cite
his statement that
religious
and
philosophical
truths are
identical,
in
order to
whitewash
philosophy
in
a
hostile environment.
However,
Dr. Zaynab Khudayri,a professorof philosophy, submitsthatby using ta'wil Ibn
Rushd 'has
placed
Aristotle above the
religious
text.'
Conversely,
Hamid
Tahir,
a well-known
writer,
argues
that Ibn Rushd
has established
a
link
between
rational demonstration
and
shar'i
rules,
and demonstrated
hat the shari'a
is a
rational law.51
However,
there is
unanimity
among
secularists
and liberals
that
Averroism
will serve
as an antidote to
fanaticism,
extremism
and the obscuran-
tism
of the Islamic
discourse,
and
a
remedy against
the
'traffickers
in the
shari'a,'
the
religious
propagandists.
Advocacy
of Ibn Rushd's
ideas has
spread beyond
the
Egyptian
frontiers.
An
independent
Arab
organization,
'Ibn Rushd's
Institute for
Free
Thought,' regis-
tered
in
Germany, gives
annual
prizes
to those who
promote
freedom,
democ-
racy,
social
justice,
science and
human
rights
in
Arab societies.
Its first
prize
went to al-Jazeera
TV Channel on December
10, 1999,
in
recognition
of its
role
in
opening
its channels
for a free and democratic
dialogue.
The second
prize
was
given
to
Mrs.
'Issam
'Abd
al-Hadi,
president
of the General
Union
of Palestinian
Women,
and an activist
in
the movement for
the
emancipation
of
Arab
women,
and for
their
rights
in
equality
and
justice.
An
Egyptian
intellectual,
and
a
founding
member of the
Enlightenment
Association,
Mahmud
Amin
al-'Alim,
was
the
recipient
of the third
prize,
and
'Azmi
Bishara,
a
memberof the Israeli
Knesset
and defender of Palestinian
rights,
the fourth
prize.52
50
Fasl
al-Maqal,
pp.
50-51.
51
Murad
Wahba
(ed.)
Hiwdr
hawla
Ibn Rushd.
(Cairo: 1995),
pp.
59-60.
52
al-Ahram, December 13, 2001, May 15, 2002, and January 12, 2003; al-Ahali, October 23, 2002. The
Institute bestows these
prizes
in
early
December to coincide
with the
anniversary
of Ibn Rushd's
death
(December
9th),
and the
anniversary
f
the
Universal
Declaration of
Human
Rights
(December
10th).
The
209
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7/23/2019 Lectura 03.1. Najjar - Ibn Rushd and the Egyptian Enlightenment Movement
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FAUZI M.
NAJJAR
Critics of
Enlightenment
Like most Muslims, Egyptiansare stronglyattachedto Islam and its Law. They
have
always
been
suspicious
of
any
reform
that
may
lead to
changes
in
their
religious
beliefs and
practices.
The
Egyptian
Constitution
proclaims
Islam
the
official
religion
of
the
state and the
principles
of the
shari'a
the
primary
source
of
legislation.
Moreover,
Egypt
is the home
of
al-Azhar,
the
supreme
Islamic
institution,
which
has often
resisted
change.
Mosques
and
Islamic
academies