Tradition versus Modernity: Islam’s or Muslims’ Dilemma

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic OmerKulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University MalaysiaE-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

The best solution for Islamic architecture is to be traditional, but withoutjust

blindly imitating and repeating the past, and modern, albeit without rejecting tradition and constantly seeking to break with the past. Tradition and

modernity in Islamic architecture must be at peace, rather than at loggerheads, with

each other.Traditional and modern architecture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Popularity of the Theme

Undoubtedly, the subjects of tradition and modernity and howMuslims responded to them in late nineteenth and twentiethcenturies are some of the most important topics that stillpreoccupy a great many scholars and researches, both Muslims and

non-Muslims. A large corpus of literature, as a result, hasemerged towards the end of twentieth and in early twenty-firstcenturies that addressed the subject matter. The studies andbooks carried different, but in essence very similar, titles suchas - for instance - Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, edited bySharifah Shifa al-Attas and published in 1996 by InternationalInstitute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia; Islam: Motor or Challenge of Modernity, edited by Georg Stauthand published in 1998 by LIT Verlag in Hamburg, Germany; Muslimsand Modernity, an Introduction to the Issues and Debates by Clinton Bennett,published in 2005 by Continuum in London, UK; Legitimizing Modernity inIslam by Husain Kassim, published in 2005 by the Edwin MellenPress in Lewiston, New York, US; Reconfiguring Islamic Tradition: Reform,Rationality and Modernity by Samira Haj, published in 2009 by StanfordUniversity Press, Stanford, California, US; Islam, Modernity and theHuman Sciences by Ali Zaidi, published in 2011 by Palgrave,Macmillan, US; Tradition, Modernity and Islam, edited by A. Rahman TangAbdullah and published in 2011 by the International IslamicUniversity Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur; Islam between Tradition andModernity, an Australian Perspective by Mehmet Ozalp, publishedin 2012 by Barton Books in Canberra, Australia, and many others.

When one studies those and other similar in character andsubstance books, one easily realizes that the contents of thosebooks and studies were confined not only to the themes of theconception of tradition and modernity and the relationshipbetween them in Islam, and whether Islam is a monolithic andunchanging phenomenon throughout time and wherever it isencountered, but also they extended to and covered other themesand topics that concern a myriad of ideological, epistemological,cultural, spiritual and civilizational dialogue matters. Both thediversity and profundity of the issues and debates withincontemporary Islamic thought that characterize contemporary Islamand its contemporary cultural and civilizational course andaction, have been featured. That means that studying incontemporary contexts all the major aspects of Islam both withtheir individual and institutional, spiritual and material,conceptual and practical, nuances, has become analogous, yetalmost identifiable, with studying the notions of tradition and

modernity, as well as their mutual compatibility - or otherwise -within the fold of the Islamic message.

Thus, the terms tradition and modernity and the notion oftheir reciprocal relationship in Islam became a catch-phrase, ora locution, whereby a book, a treatise or an essay, featuringpartly or completely those terms, was ensured significantexposure and readership, whereas, at the same time, it was nighon impossible to establish as unsuitable or wide of the markbasically anything that was intended to be included in thecontents of a written work. Accordingly, one finds in the saidscholarly literature from such broad and open-ended subjects asthe Islamic worldview and philosophy, Muslim debates on socialsciences, sectarianism, Islamic epistemology, marriage and genderissues, human rights, the position of non-Muslim minorities inIslam, war and peace, etc., to those specific issues which aredirectly related to the theme at hand such as Islam and themodern state, globalization, colonialism, democracy,postmodernism, secularism, science and technology, Islam andsocial change, etc. These in turn created a set of novel yethighly debatable terms which denoted impalpable and vague, ratherthan actual and existing, things and phenomena. Some of thosemost problematic expressions are: traditional Islam and Muslims,modern Islam and Muslims, moderate Islam and Muslims, Islamicfundamentalism, radical Islam and Muslims, etc. Indeed, thelatter accounts for one of the more damaging syndromes which mostMuslims are yet to come to terms with, let alone recover from. Itseriously hampers many Muslims’ intellectual as well as spiritualadvancement. Instead of occupying some elevated intellectual andspiritual spheres, confronting head-on some fundamentally vitalproblems and conundrums, the same people got bogged down inwrestling with superficial linguistic expressions, definitionsand other irrelevant and extraneous, but time and capacity-consuming, issues.

For over a thousand years, Muslims were the most dominantcultural and civilizational force in the world whose springs fedthe Christian West for centuries. Their socio-political systemwas rooted in revelation; its truth was validated by Islamichistory, which attested to God’s divine guidance of the

community.1 It follows that being a leading world power, at most,or a force to be constantly reckoned with, at least, eventuallybecame part of Muslims’ genetic structure and their psychologicalconfiguration. However, “from the seventeenth century onwards, along process of Western intervention and presence began which wasto result in the most serious challenge ever encountered by theIslamic world. Gradual colonial economic control gave way topolitical and military dominance in the nineteenth century. Thus,for the first time in Islamic history, Muslims found themselvessubjugated and ruled by the Christian West – foreign unbelieverswho were their colonial masters and whose missionaries oftenclaimed that their success was due to the superiority of westernChristian civilization. This challenge raised profound questionsof identity for Muslims.” Questions were also asked about theability of Islam to meet the demands of modern and rapidlychanging times, about the relevance and place of Shari’ah laws,about the relationship between revelation, reason, science andtechnology, about what had gone wrong and where were the divinegrace and guidance that had ensured past success, and finally,about whether it was Islam or Muslims – or both – to be blamedfor the widespread misfortune.2 It was natural, therefore, thatpractically all Muslim responses to those soul-searchinginquiries, irrespective of their academic or applied fields anddisciplines, were capable to be dealt with in the context of theconcepts of tradition and modernity and how Islam treats them.

What is Tradition?

“A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a groupor society with symbolic meaning or special significance withorigins in the past.”3 A tradition is also said to be the passingdown of elements of a culture from generation to generation,especially by oral communication. Elements of a culture passeddown as traditions are normally institutionalized customs,beliefs, precepts and practices. They signify modes of thought

1 Islam in Transition, edited by John J. Donohue and John L. Esposito, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 5.2 Ibid., p. 5-6.3 Tradition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition (accessed on June 8, 2015).

and behavior followed by a particular people continuously fromgeneration to generation. Tradition could likewise be bound torituals, where rituals guarantee the continuation of tradition.The concept is often seen as a polar opposite of modernity in alinear theory of social change in which societies progress frombeing traditional to being modern.4 Tradition is also found inpolitical, philosophical, religious and artistic discourse wherethe idea is increasingly being projected as more dynamic andflexible, heterogeneous and subject to innovation and change thanwhat some oversimplifying viewpoints and theories presuppose. Theword tradition is derived from the Latin tradere or tradererliterally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to deliver and toentrust for safekeeping.5 Tradition is customarily translatedinto Arabic as taqlid.

However, when juxtaposed with the true meaning of theIslamic message, neither tradition – above all the one based onthe conventional Western interpretation of the concept - nortaqlid is fully qualified to be employed for the purpose ofsignifying the act of implementing and following it continuouslyas a heavenly-sanctioned life paradigm. Both of them fall shortconsiderably of the required qualifications. This could beexplained as follows.

Following Islam means following divine revelation (wahy) inthe form of the Holy Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad’s authenticSunnah. The two stand for the revelation of the ultimate truthswith respect to God, man, angels, the Jinn, life, death, Akhirahor the Hereafter, and many other absolute ontological veritiespertaining to the physical and metaphysical tiers of existence.Numerous ethical values, standards and norms, as well as definiteinjunctions and sets of laws, regulating a man’s relationshipwith his Creator and Master, his self, other people and the restof animate and inanimate beings, also fall in this category.4 Joseph R. Gusfield, Tradition and Modernity: Misplaced Polarities in the Study of Social Change, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Jan., 1967), pp. 351-362, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2775860.pdf?acceptTC=true (accessed on June 10, 2015).5 Tradition, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tradition (accessed on June 8, 2015). Tradition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition (accessed on June 8, 2015).

These are transcendent existential realities, ideas, beings andexperiences. They are not affected, nor bound, by the confinesand limitations of time and space factors, nor are they thus tobe subjected to the relative criteria and standards dictated bysuch factors.

It goes without saying that Islam, by definition, can neverbecome antique, archaic or obsolete. Nor can it become a meretradition or a set of traditional or evolved beliefs, rituals andcustoms, in that it was not people who created or generated it ina space and in a moment of time, and as such transmitted andhanded it over from generation to generation. This is so becauseas transcendent and absolute truth, Islam is ever-fresh, dynamic,original and inspiring. It always spurs a productive pursuit andspawns a cultural and civilizational legacy. Islam itself hasnever been generated or evolved either as a legacy or atradition.

As far as Islam as a comprehensive and global religion thatcovers every aspect of life is concerned, the only thing that iseligible to be to some extent called a tradition and traditionalis Muslims’ internalization and implementation of certain aspectsof the perpetual Islamic message within their diverse terrestrialcontexts where, nevertheless, qualified changeability,impermanence and diversity of styles and methods in relation toanswering the pressing exigencies of time and space are not onlyexpected, but also invited and appreciated. It is here that blindfollowing is categorically rebuffed, and innovation andcreativity anticipated and highly valued. It is here,furthermore, that Muslim customs morph into Muslim traditions,and the latter matures and subtly amalgamates itself with Islamicculture. As components of Islamic culture, conventions andtraditions are still deemed only accidental rather than essentialor substantial to the former’s being both a product andreflection of Islam as a total way of life embodied in thebehavioral patterns of its adherents.

Hence, Islam has a distinct culture and civilization. Theculture and civilization in Islam are not Arabic or eastern orMiddle Eastern. They are also not monolithic. They have varietiesand a rich diversity. There are elements in Islamic culture andcivilization that are universal and constant and that are

collectively accepted by all Muslims. But there are also elementsthat are diverse and different from country to country and peopleto people. The universals are based on the Qur’an and Sunnahwhile the variables are based on local customs and traditions ofvarious people.6 The latter has been acquired on account ofactualizing certain dimensions of the Qur’an and Sunnah inlocalized milieus under their prevalent inherent and man-generated circumstances. The particulars of Islamic culture,though legitimate and deeply embedded in the very fabric ofMuslim societies, are by no means to be considered sacred,unqualified and immutable. Their meaning and significance areinexorably tied to Islamic revelation, and their appropriatenessand functioning conditioned mainly by it.

This existential paradigm could also be identified as aprinciple of following religion and innovating cultures andcivilization. Without a doubt, following religion withoutinnovating, and innovating in sheer worldly cultural andcivilizational matters, which from time to time was ingeniouslycombined with borrowing from others, was a Muslim rule since theearly days of Islam and its nascent civilization. Since customsand traditions are rather generic terms that encompass a widevariety of things and concepts that are a part of the complexculture, such an approach surely was a sign of Muslim religiousfervor, enthusiasm and maturity, as well as a sign of theircultural and civilizational predisposition, potency andastuteness. Hence, it could be suggested that the opposite ofthis tenet, that is, the unreserved holding on to and blindfollowing of worldly and even some inconsequential religion-inspired customs and traditions – irrespective of whether theyhave been engendered my Muslims or non-Muslims - together withirresponsibly questioning and innovating established religiousmatters, was one of the root-causes of the Muslim dramaticcultural and civilizational decline, and still constitutes amajor reason behind the inability of today’s Muslims to pick

6 Muzammil Siddiqi, Five Features of Islamic Culture, http://www.onislam.net/english/shariah/shariah-and-humanity/shariah-and-life/466251-islam-culture-heritage-art-people-muslim-prophet.html?Life= (accessed on June 9, 2015).

themselves up, make their voice heard and start making a notablecivilizational headway of their own.

With reference to these concerns, God says, for example: “…This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed Myfavor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion” (al-Tawbah,3).

The Prophet (pbuh) also said that there is nothing thatbrings people closer to the bliss of Paradise (Jannah) and keepsthem away from Hellfire but that he did not inform and teach themabout.7 There will never emerge a need for any religious additionor innovation.

Similarly, he also said that whatever God has made lawful inHis Book (the Qur’an), it is lawful (halal), and whatever Heprohibited, it is prohibited (haram). However, whatever God didnot refer to as either lawful or prohibited, such is to beregarded as a gift or a sign of God’s clemency (‘afiyah) towardsmen. “So, accept Allah’s ‘afiyah because it is not that Allah everforgets or overlooks anything”, was the Prophet’s inference.8

Finally, the Prophet (pbuh) is also reported to have said:“Verily I have left you upon a white plain (i.e., clearguidance), its night is like its day, and none deviates from itexcept that he is destroyed… I counsel you to have taqwa (fear ofAllah or God-consciousness), and to listen and obey (yourleader), even if a slave were to become your Amir (leader). Verilyhe among you who lives long will see great controversy, so youmust keep to my Sunnah and to the Sunnah of the Khulafa' al-Rashidin(the rightly guided Caliphs), those who guide to the right way.Cling to it stubbornly (literally: with your molar teeth). Bewareof newly invented matters (in the religion), for verily everybid`ah (innovation) is misguidance.”9

Thus, to closely associate the concept of tradition, whichis the making of people, with the worldview and message of Islam,

7 Muhammad ‘Ali al-Sabuni, Mukhtasar Tafsir Ibn Kathir, (Beirut: Dar al-Qur’an al-Karim, 1981), vol. 2 p. 412.8 Ibid., vol. 2 p. 460.9 Ibn Majah, Sunan Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Muqaddimah, Hadith No. 42, http://hadith.al-islam.com/Loader.aspx?pageid=261 (accessed on June 9, 2015). Ibn Daqiq al-‘Id, To Follow the Sunnah, http://www.onislam.net/english/shariah/hadith/this-hadith/452921-the-obligation-of-binding-oneself-to-the-sunnah.html (accessed on June 9, 2015).

which is God’s revelation to humankind to serve as eternaltranscendent guidance, is grossly inappropriate. It is on accountof this that unqualified tradition and taqlid are regularlyarticulated with some disapproving connotations, in terms ofpeople’s blind and besotted following of certain genres ofthought and behavior even though such genres have been anchoredin little or no truth whatsoever. By and large, the authenticityof most traditions is founded either on anonymous or questionablesources. Considered true and binding by the masses, they are thustransmitted especially by oral communication. Accordingly, asegment of Jewish tradition is a body of laws regarded as havingbeen handed down from Moses orally and only committed to writingin the 2nd century. Similarly, a segment of Christian traditionis a doctrine or body of doctrines regarded as having beenestablished by Christ or the apostles, though not contained inScripture, but is considered holy and true.10

By way of analogy, the beliefs and customs of Islamsupplementing the Qur’an, especially those embodied in theProphet’s Sunnah, are regularly also called inside the English-speaking intellectual circles (Islamic) tradition.11 The reasonfor this could be the fact that the Sunnah was firstly handeddown orally from the Prophet (pbuh) before it became committed towriting and preserved. However, given that the term sunnahpredated the term tradition by more or less seven centuries,employing the former in the context of the latter should in noway be regarded as an attempt towards its exact and officialtranslation as well as ideological association, but rather as anapproximate construal only, which nonetheless entails a widerange of both conceptual and applied undertones, many of whichremain contentious.

Many traditions have been concocted on purpose. A traditionmay be intentionally invented and proliferated for personal,business, religious, political or national self-interest. Inconsequence, some of the chief meanings of the words qallada andtaqlid in Arabic, which are normally translated in English asfollowing tradition and tradition respectively, revolve around

10 Tradition, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tradition (accessed on June 9, 2015).11 Ibid.

not only imitating, aping and handing down old sayings andcustoms, but also winding round, girding with a sword, adorningwith a necklace, putting on a necktie, parroting, copying,mimicking, investiture, inauguration and vesting with power andauthority. In the etymology of the word, a clear hint is given ata potential intellectual and spiritual deceleration and evensuffocation that the notion of taqlid or tradition often entails.

While the Qur’an and Sunnah ardently propagate followingreligion and inventing in mundane matters, they in the mostemphatic terms repudiate the erroneous modes of tradition and itsfollowing, especially if such stands in the way of the former, asseen earlier. Additionally, the Qur’an says: “And recite to themthe news of (Prophet) Ibrahim when he said to his father and hispeople: "What do you worship?" They said: "We worship idols andremain to them devoted." He said: "Do they hear you when yousupplicate, or do they benefit you, or do they harm?" They said:"But we found our fathers doing thus." He said: "Then do you seewhat you have been worshipping, you and your ancient forefathers?Indeed, they are enemies to me, except the Lord of the worlds…”(al-Shu’ara’, 69-77).

“They said: "We found our fathers worshippers of them." He(Ibrahim) said: "Indeed you and your fathers have been inmanifest error." They said: "Have you brought us the truth, orare you one of those who play about?" He said: "Nay, your Lord isthe Lord of the heavens and the earth, Who created them and ofthat I am one of the witnesses. And by Allah, I shall plot a plan(to destroy) your idols after you have gone away and turned yourbacks." So he broke them to pieces, (all) except the biggest ofthem, that they might turn to it” (al-Anbiya’, 53-58).

“And similarly, We did not send before you any warner into acity except that its affluent said: "Indeed, we found our fathersupon a religion, and we are, in their footsteps, following."(Each warner) said: "Even if I brought you better guidance thanthat (religion) upon which you found your fathers?" They said:"Indeed we, in that with which you were sent, are disbelievers."So we took retribution from them; then see how was the end of thedeniers” (al-Zukhruf, 23-25).

“And when it is said to them: "Come to what Allah hasrevealed and to the Messenger," they say: "Sufficient for us is

that upon which we found our fathers." Even though their fathersknew nothing, nor were they guided?” (al-Ma’idah, 104).

At any rate, as the notion of holding on to a previous time,the concept of tradition in Islam is tricky and contentious.12

The matter, diffuse and complex as it is, is further compoundedby the verity that the proponents of some present-day socio-political and economic realities, worldviews, systems andideologies, flavored with diverse philosophical proclivities andnuances, further interpreted and applied the idea of traditionalong the lines of the recent intellectual currents anddirections. Inasmuch as most of those systems and schools ofthought were solely future and modernity oriented, relegating theactive roles of religions and traditions to the backseat for thereason that they were seen as de-intellectualizing as well asanti-modernizing, owing to their crucial contributions torendering the entire Europe-dominated Middle Ages, or the earlypart of the Medieval period, the age(s) of cultural andcivilizational regressions and darkness, the presupposeddownsides and snags inherent in the orb of tradition wereexacerbated. Consequently, tradition became viewed and assessedmerely through the prism of the modern-day systems and schools ofthought, progressively gaining a reputation of the latter’santithesis as well as a main obstacle for its ultimaterealization. One could even say that the idea of tradition wasthus greatly manipulated and victimized.

Clearly, it was not a coincidence that the word traditionstarted to be used from the 14th century onwards,13 a phase thatrepresented roughly the twilight of the European Middle Ages, orMedieval period, sandwiched between Late Antiquity and Modernperiod. Moreover, the 14th century belongs to the Late MiddleAge, or Late Medieval period, which, by and large, wascharacterized by the gradual waning of an epoch of ubiquitousignorance and superstition in Europe that was placing the word of12 Kasper Mathiesen, Anglo-American ‘Traditional Islam’ and Its Discourse of Orthodoxy, Journalof Arabic and Islamic Studies, 13 (2013), pp. 191-219, https://www.academia.edu/9003887/Anglo-American_Traditional_Islam_and_its_discourse_of_orthodoxy (accessed on June 10, 2015).13 Tradition, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tradition (accessed on June 10, 2015).

religious authorities over personal experience and rationalactivity.14 European Middle Ages were followed by the earlyModern period of modern history which was marked by theRenaissance, or rebirth, and the Age of Discovery during whichcultural and intellectual forces gave emphasis to reason,analysis and individualism rather than traditional lines ofauthority. Such was a process that witnessed a surge of interestin Classical (ancient Greece and Rome) scholarship and values,culminating in the Age of reason which is the 17th-centuryphilosophy that served as a successor of the Renaissance and apredecessor to the Age of Enlightenment as a Europeanintellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries whenfavoring reason and individualism over tradition became a centraltenet of modernity.15

In Islam, therefore, tradition would provisionally andloosely imply following the Qur’an, the Sunnah of the Prophet(pbuh), the sunnah of Khulafa’ al-Rashidun or the rightly guidedcaliphs and leaders, the life examples of the Salaf or earlyMuslims, of the members of the Prophet’s family (Ahl al-Bayt), ofthe honorable and upright scholars and the righteous and devoutmen and women wherever they may be and whenever they may live, aswell as following those elements of culture as have been formedand transmitted as a result of strictly adhering to and followingthe former under the aegis of dissimilar eras, regions andenvironments. This by no means is the conventional Westerninterpretation of tradition that pits it against modernity, andwhere rationalism, material progress and individualism with freewill and choice take precedence over traditional lines ofauthority.

What could be dubbed tradition in Islam, therefore, is not aworld of antiquities, folklore, anachronisms, and some old-fashioned and obsolete elements of culture. Rather, it is avibrant, enriching and heterogeneous supplement from the past tothe successful charting and constructing of a meaningful and14 Marison Glessner, God’s Instrument of His Imagination, (Lulu: Allaway Books, 2008),p. 28.15 Renaissance, http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497731/Renaissance (accessed on June 10, 2015). World History Timeline, http://www.preceden.com/timelines/199049-world-history-timeline (accessed on June 10, 2015).

consequential present as well as future. In this fashion,tradition and modernity can effectively coexist and support eachother, both within individuals and on the level of institutions.They make up different, albeit closely interrelated, segments ofone and the same process, mission and purpose. The relationsbetween the traditional and the modern should not necessarilyinvolve displacement, conflict, dichotomy or exclusiveness, andtheir stark contrasts need to be finely converted into rewardingopportunities and aspirations that will affect the affirmation ofboth of them as part of a continuous cultural and civilizationalintegrated development. No wonder then, that the word traditionhas no exact equivalent in the Arabic language. Apart from theword taqlid, the other Arabic words that are frequently resortedto in order to provide no more than approximate translations are:turath which means heritage, legacy and “tradition”, ‘urf whichmeans custom, mores, customary usage and “tradition”, sunnahwhich means norm, mores, method, life-path and “tradition”,namus which means code, law and “tradition”, and ‘adah whichmeans custom, practice and “tradition”.

Undeniably, because of this nature of Islam and its attitudetowards human culture and civilization in general, certainconventional customs or practices (‘adat) and customary usage(‘urf) are regarded as a source of the rulings of the Islamic law(Shari’ah) where there are no explicit texts from neither theQur’an nor the Prophet’s Sunnah specifying the rulings. It isalso a requirement in making customs (‘adat) and customary usage(‘urf) a source of Shari’ah rulings that there are nocontradictions between them and the contents of the Qur’an andSunnah. About the meaning of customs and customary usage MuhammadAbu Zahrah said: “Custom is a matter on which a community ofpeople agree in the course of their daily life, and common usageis an action which is repeatedly performed by individuals andcommunities. When a community makes a habit of doing something,it becomes its common usage. So the custom and common usage of acommunity share the same underlying idea even if what isunderstood by them differs slightly.”16

16 Muhammad Abu Zahrah, The Fundamental Principles of Imam Malik's Fiqh, http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABewley/usul12.html (accessed on June10, 2015).

And about the reasons why ‘adat and ‘urf are deemed theappropriate sources of Shari’ah, in absence of explicit texts fromthe Qur’an and Sunnah and when there are no conflicts between the‘adat and ‘urf and the latter, Muhammad Abu Zahrah said: “Manyjudgments are based on 'urf because in many cases it coincides withpublic interest... Another reason is that custom necessarilyentails people's familiarity with a matter, and so any judgmentbased on it will receive general acceptance whereas divergencefrom it will be liable to cause distress, which is disliked inthe judgment of Islam because Allah Almighty has not imposed anyhardship on people in His deen (religion). Allah Almightyprescribes what normal people deem proper and are accustomed to,not what they dislike and hate. So when a custom is not a viceand is respected by people, honoring it will strengthen the bondwhich draws people together because it is connected to theirtraditions and social transactions whereas opposition to it willdestroy that cohesion and bring about disunity.”17

What is Modernity?

Modernity signifies “both a historical period as well as theensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes andpractices that arose in post-medieval Europe and have developedsince, in various ways and at various times, around the world.While it includes a wide range of interrelated historicalprocesses and cultural phenomena, it can also refer to thesubjective or existential experience of the conditions theyproduce, and their ongoing impact on human culture, institutions,and politics.”18

Modernity is the quality of being modern, contemporary orup-to-date, implying a modern or contemporary way of living orthinking. Modernity is often depicted as a period marked by aquestioning or rejection of tradition and its normativeuniformity as well as structural homogeneity, in favor of suchnovel or burgeoning standards and systems as rationalism,personal freedom, individualism, social, scientific and

17 Ibid.18 Modernity, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernity (accessed on June 11, 2015).

technological progress, industrialization, professionalization,secularization, representative democracy, public education, etc.At the heart of modernity stand cultural and intellectual self-realization, self-consciousness and re-birth, that is,deliverance and liberation from the fetters of Middle Agesstained with ignorance and superstition, and when the voice ofreligious authorities was imposed over personal experience andrational activity. Hence, the appellations of some of the majorcultural, intellectual, social and philosophical currents of theday, especially those of the early modern period from the 15th tothe 18th centuries, featured such catchy terms as re-birth,reason, enlightenment, discovery, revolution, etc., so as tounmistakably draw attention to the omnipresent exuberance.

The word modern comes from the Latin words modo, meaningjust now, and modus, meaning now, but the term modernity has astronger meaning, suggesting the possibility of a new beginningbased on human autonomy and the consciousness of the legitimacyof the present time. Modernity is also said to imply thateverything is open to query and to testing; everything is subjectto rational scrutiny and refuted by argument.19 While the termmodernity was firstly coined in the 19th century, the first knownuse of the adjective modern was in the late 16th century.20

However, according to some, the first use of the term modern goesback to the early Christian Church in the 5th century when it wasused to distinguish the Christian era from the pagan age.However, the term did not gain widespread currency until the 17th

century.21

19 Gerard Delanty, Modernity, http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/public/tocnode?query=modernity&widen=1&result_number=2&from=search&id=g9781405124331_yr2014_chunk_g978140512433119_ss1-117&type=std&fuzzy=0&slop=1 (accessed on June 11, 2015).20 Modernity, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/modern (accessed on June11, 2015).21 Gerard Delanty, Modernity, http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/public/tocnode?query=modernity&widen=1&result_number=2&from=search&id=g9781405124331_yr2014_chunk_g978140512433119_ss1-117&type=std&fuzzy=0&slop=1 (accessed on June 11, 2015).

On the word of Stuart Hall, as quoted by Charles AsherSmall, the defining features or characteristics of modernsocieties are as follows:

“- The dominance of secular forms of political power andauthority and conceptions of sovereignty and legitimacy,operating within defined territorial boundaries, which arecharacteristic of the large, complex structures of the modernnation-state.

- A monetarized exchange economy, based on the large-scaleproduction and consumption of commodities for the market,extensive ownership of private property and the accumulation ofcapital on a systematic, long-term basis.

- The decline of the traditional social order, with itsfixed social hierarchies and overlapping allegiances, and theappearance of a dynamic social and sexual division of labor. Inmodern capitalist societies, this was characterized by new classformations, and distinctive patriarchal relations between men andwomen.

- The decline of the religious world-view typical oftraditional societies and the rise of secular and materialisticculture, exhibiting those individualistic, rationalist, andinstrumental impulses now so familiar to us.”22

The initial emergence of the concepts of tradition, modernand modernity had nothing to do with Islamic scholarship and theworld of Islam. However, since one of the most important featuresof the early European modern period was its globalized character,the Islamic world, which never ceased its close cultural, socialand military interactions with the West, was quickly affected bythe large-scale changes that were sweeping across Europe. Thematter was further exacerbated by the fact that while the Westernworld was in its dramatic cultural and intellectual ascendancy,the Islamic world was in its as dramatic and swift decadence. Oneof the most painful corollaries of those developments was thesubsequent colonization of Muslim Land by the leading WesternPowers. Thus, insatiable quest for modernity in Europe turned forMuslims into colonization, and the latter soon became a lengthy

22 Global Anti-Semitism: A Crisis of Modernity, edited by Charles Asher Small, (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2013), see “Introduction” by the editor, p. 11-12.

process of Westernization of Islamic personality and culture.Consequently, there has been a tendency in the Islamic worldsince the late 19th century to explore more systematically theprevalent calamity and try to put forth some comprehensive,authoritative and well-structured solutions.

According to Parviz Morewedge and Oliver Leaman, “during theChristian medieval period, the Islamic world was in its culturaland political ascendancy, and was at the centre of theoreticalwork in both science and philosophy. However, by the 19th

century, an enormous gap had opened between the Islamic world andthe West. A wide variety of explanations for this decline havesince been sought. The realization that this gap existed led tothe Nahdah (rebirth or renaissance) movement between 1850 and1914. Beginning in Syria but developed largely in Egypt, themovement sought to incorporate the main achievements of modernEuropean civilization while at the same time reviving classicalIslamic culture which predated imperialism and the centuries ofdecadence.The main problem facing the Nahdah thinkers was how tointerpret the Islamic cultural tradition, including philosophy,in an environment dominated by the West.”23

As a result, what could be called Islamic modernism emergedin the middle of the 19th century as a response to Europeancolonialism. Islamic modernism was a movement that aimed toreconcile Islamic faith with some modern values and trends suchas democracy, rights, nationalism, rationality, science, equalityand progress. As explained by Tauseef Ahmad Parray, it “generateda series of novel institutions, including schools that combinedIslamic education with modern subjects and pedagogies; newspapersthat carried modernist Islamic ideas across continents;constitutions that sought to limit state power; and socialwelfare agencies that brought state power into even more sectorsof social life. Thus, Islamic modernism began as a response ofMuslim intellectuals to European modernity, who argued thatIslam, science and progress, revelation and reason, were indeedcompatible. They did not simply wish to restore the beliefs andpractices of the past; rather they asserted the need to‘reinterpret and reapply’ the principles and ideals of Islam to

23 Parviz Morewedge and Oliver Leaman, Modern Islamic Philosophy, http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H008 (accessed on June 11, 2015).

formulate new responses to the political, scientific and culturalchallenges of the west and of modern life. In a nutshell, as areaction to the penetration of Western capitalist modernity intoall aspects of Muslim society from the Arab world to SoutheastAsia, a significant number of Muslim intellectuals began to writedown the general outlines of a new intellectual project that isoften referred to as ‘Islamic modernism’.”24

As part of a natural and dynamic development of societies,which in turn is part of sunnatullah (Allah’s patterns and lawsaccording to which He deals with His creation), modernity as new,often creative and more functional, productive and effective,modes of living is not at all to be projected as at odds withIslam and its views of life and its multi-tiered realities.Modernity, in the sense of coming fully to terms with the maximsof “being at this time”, “being new” and “now existing” andwhatever conceptual and practical nuances they implied, indicatesattempts to come to grips with the rapid socio-political,economic and scientific changes, especially in the Westernhemisphere, which however soon assumed a global character andthus caught many societies, in particular those of the Muslimworld, by surprise. Modernity quickly emerged as the mostcompelling world’s life spectacle. It emerged and was there tostay, absorbing and assimilating if it was not absorbed andassimilated. There were other forms of “modernity” in the past,so to speak, originating in different parts of the world,nevertheless there was never anything as profound, all-inclusive,avant-garde and engaging as the latest modernity experience.Proclivities for being modern thus meant pragmatism and realismas opposed to idealism and naivety, dynamism and drive as opposedto apathy and indolence, and being open-minded and both presentand future-oriented rather than myopic, narrow-minded and trappedin a single and static moment of time.

As far as Islam, Muslims and the Muslim mind were concerned,however, the biggest dilemma posed by modernity was that thosenew experiences of the world led to the development of a newsense of self, of subjectivity and individuality, which in turn

24 Tauseef Ahmad Parray, Islamic Modernist and Reformist Thought: A Study of the Contribution of Sir Sayyid and Muhammad Iqbal, World Journal of Islamic History and Civilization, 1(2): 79-93, 2011, IDOSI Publications, 2011.

led to fundamental changes in the understanding of therelationships between man and the supernatural, man and thenatural world, man and his self, and between man and otherpeople. In other words, the development of modernity was coupledwith the development of new ideas, thoughts, values, standards,beliefs, lifestyles and tendencies. It stood for the creation ofnew ideologies and worldviews that called for a rapture, arevolution in time, and a break with the past and its principallyoutmoded ideologies and worldviews. As Ron Eyermon explains,“modernity referred to a world constructed anew through theactive and conscious intervention of actors and the new sense ofself that such active intervention and responsibility entailed.In modern society the world is experienced as a humanconstruction, an experience that gives rise both to anexhilarating sense of freedom and possibility and to a basicanxiety about the openness of the future.”25

The Muslim dilemma thus revolved around the thrust ofintegrating the major and most inevitable segments of theincreasingly omnipresent and universal modernity wonder into thefabric of ailing Islamic culture and civilization withoutcompromising the transcendent values, teachings and principles ofIslam and its worldview in the process.26 The proponents of suchan undertaking were torn between the unavoidability of the spreadof the spill of modernity and the Islamic insistent denunciationof new inventions in religion, stressing that all inventions (inreligion) are (religious) innovations (bid’ah), and eachinnovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is Hell-bound.However, it swiftly became obvious that striking a delicatebalance between the two poles was the best and in the long-termmost realistic answer. Neither fully embracing and incorporatingmodernity without distilling and Islamizing it, and adjusting itto the subtle religious, socio-political and economicrequirements of Islamic societies, nor completely turning it down25 Ron Eyerman, Modernity and Social Movements, inside “Social Change and Modernity”, edited by Hans Haferkamp and Neil J. Smelser, (Barkley: Universityof California Press, 1992), p. 38-39.26 See: Samira Haj, Reconfiguring Islamic Tradition, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009), p. 67-77. Husain Kassim, Legitimizing Modernity in Islam, (Lewiston: the Edwin Mellen Press, 2005), p. 93-104. Clinton Bennett, Muslims and Modernity, an Introduction to the Issues and Debates, (London: Continuum, 2005), p. 17-30.

on the grounds that it was utterly un-Islamic and bent ondestroying Islamic tradition and heritage, was the right andfeasible way.

This was so, furthermore, because Islam as the universal andfinal revelation to mankind is both traditional and modern. Whileit speaks about the infinity, permanence and inviolability of itsdivinely prescribed truth, and so, about continuous complyingwith and following its authorities, as well as about valuing andconforming to the legacies and traditions spawned by such dynamichistorical processes, Islam also calls for appropriate responsesto the incessant challenges presented by the fluctuating time andspace factors, and for the prospect of its understanding andapplication to be reinvigorated and reformed from within in orderto counter the potential weaknesses of the Muslim mind and thecultural and civilizational degeneration of Islamic societies.Accordingly, such concepts as ijtihad (independent reasoning) forsolving new and unprecedented issues and challenges, islah(reform), tajdid (renewal), rejection of all types of religiousinnovations (bid’ah), and sahwah (awakening), have been expoundedand duly articulated in Islamic scholarship.

Finally, Muslims need not have any undue aversion to Islamictradition because Islam was never a cause of any darkness orignorance chapters in Muslim history. There were no dark ages inIslamic civilization. Such a thing would be an anomaly in areligion of ultimate light, truth and guidance for humankind asIslam is. On the contrary, Islam was the root-cause of allgoodness that originated in Islamic civilization and from whichnot only Muslims, but also non-Muslims, benefitted. It was onlycertain Muslims’ recurring misconduct that time after time heldup the progression of Islamic civilization, in the end causing itto come to a standstill. The problems thus were never Islam’s,but rather Muslims’. The same holds true for the latest conundrumwith regard to the notions of tradition and modernity and whatrelationship ought to exist between them.

In the same vein, Muslims need not have any unwarranted orworship-like reverence for Western modernity crusade because, inessence, conceptually and epistemologically it was so conceivedas to correspond to the immediate Western needs created by theWestern Middle Ages or Medieval period. It was only later that by

means of colonization and westernization drives, modernity cameto be perceived and witnessed as a global phenomenon. While itsoutward manifestations and operations seem customarily innocentand universally appealing, it is the inner philosophicaldimensions of modernity, as well as the former’s everydayapplication entailing a myriad of ethical quandaries - which areoften deceptively wrapped up in the wrap of supposed universalvalues drawn from such spheres of human value as encompassaesthetic preference, social order and overall human traits andendeavor - that prove the biggest impediment to unconditionallyrecognizing and espousing modernity. Muslim spiritual andintellectual awareness thus ought always to be of such a highlevel and quality that knowing how far to go, where to stop andwhat to take, or contribute, and what not, when engaging withvarious constituents of modernity, should be a comfortablymanageable proposition.

While discoursing about the theme of the relationshipbetween the Islamic worldview and modern science, Seyyed HosseinNasr underlined in the context of his critique of modernity andits science: “Instead of criticizing the implicit value systeminherent in modern science from the Islamic point of view, manyof the champions of the blind emulation of modern science andtechnology claim that it is value-free, displaying theirignorance of a whole generation of Western philosophers andcritics of modern science who have displayed with irrefutablearguments the fact that modern science, like any other science,is based on the particular value system and a specific worldviewrooted in specific assumptions concerning the nature of physicalreality, the subject who knows this external reality, and therelation between the two. Modern science must be studied in itsphilosophical foundations from the Islamic point of view, inorder to reveal for Muslims exactly what is the value system uponwhich it is based and how this value system opposes, complements,or threatens the Islamic value system which for Muslims comesfrom God and not simply merely human forms of knowledge which arebased by definition upon human reason and the five externalsenses, and specifically denying any other possible avenue forauthentic knowledge. Muslim thinkers must stop speaking of modernphysics as not being Western but international, while hiding its

provincial foundations grounded in a particular philosophy andvalue system related to a specific period of not global, butEuropean history.”27

Moreover, when he in the same study dwelled on the steps inthe creation of an authentic Islamic science, Seyyed Hossein Nasrstrongly advised that “the first necessary step is to stop theworship-like attitude towards modern science and technology whichis prevalent today in much of the Muslim world… This trend mustbe reversed and the whole of modern science and technology beseen not with a sense of inferiority complex as if a frog werelooking into the eyes of a viper, but from an independent Islamicworldview whose roots are sunk in Allah’s revelation and whichcould be compared to the case of an eagle who roams the horizonsand studies the movements of the viper without being mesmerizedby it. In the light of this worldview, the whole notion ofdecadence in Islamic civilization, especially as far as itconcerns the sciences, must be re-examined.”28

Islamic Traditional and Modern Architecture

In the light of the above discussion, Islamic architecture, inits capacity as a physical locus of the actualization of theIslamic message and a representation as well as a microcosm ofthe identity of Islamic culture and civilization, needs to beboth traditional and modern. It needs to be traditional in thesense that it will be based on people’s perennial social,cultural and religious needs, will make full use of commonregional forms and materials which certain communities wereevolving and making recourse to for centuries, and will throughits form and function exemplify and exude both Islamic undyingprinciples and values and the local customs and practices inrelation to a particular place and time. That is to say, Islamicarchitecture should reflect the environmental, cultural,technological, economic, social and historical context in whichit has been planted.

27 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Islamic Worldview and Modern Science, inside “Islamic Quarterly”, vol. 39, no. 2, 1995, p. 75.28 Ibid., p. 80.

Moreover, Islamic architecture, at the same time, ought tobe modern as well, in the sense that it will use modernmaterials, techniques and systems, will use traditional materialsand systems in new and creative ways which will be ingeniouslyintegrated with the former, will adopt the principle of “formfollows function” and in the process avoid extravagance, pomp,clutter and all the unnecessary factors and ingredients, willadopt the principle of “complexity in simplicity”, and will bemaximum-efficiency disposed in connection with its structural,serviceable and functional purpose. That is to say, Islamicarchitectural design principles will be reconciled with rapidscientific and technological advancement and the modernization ofIslamic societies.

In other words, Muslim architects need to produce buildingsthat are recognizable of our own age but with an understandingand respect for religion, history, culture and context. If thiswill involve some challenges to public taste and convention, itmay not be a bad thing.29 The trend should lead to a situationwhere the two polarities, if at times not fully patched up andunified in some new creative and original architectural designsolutions, then new is to be distinguishable from traditional -albeit neither ostentatiously nor uncouthly - and traditional isto be treated with maximum care and integrity. Moreover,traditional is not to be relegated and subjected to somesubstandard undertakings, therapies, technologies and economic aswell as socio-political interests and concerns. Nor is it to beunderestimated and neglected to the point where those involved inwhatever capacities with it will become prone to developing anarchitectural inferiority complex. Such attempts towardsreconciliation and amalgamation between modern and traditional inIslamic architecture, in spite of posing challenges to somepublic perceptions and predilections, will surely generatedebates and even controversies that will ensure that professionalscrutiny and public interest are alive and well. At any rate, sodisappointing and worrying is the state of the contemporaryarchitecture of Muslims that with the said reconciliatory and

29 Les Sparks, Historicism and the Public Perception, inside “Context: New Buildings in Historic Context”, edited by John Warren, John Worthington and Sue Taylor, (Oxford: The University of York, 1998), p. 70.

integrative architectural approach, in the end, everyone is setto win basically everything and lose virtually nothing.

Unquestionably, there is nothing wrong and everything rightabout using obvious and explicable Islamic traditions, which arefully charged with Islamic spirituality, in modern Islamicdesigns. Similarly, there is no good reason why being original isrestricted to being non-traditional, why being creative meansthat nothing from the past can be borrowed, re-interpreted andre-applied, and lastly, why modern inventions have to look oddand unpredicted only.30 As Robert Adam, while speaking generallyabout tradition as the driving force of urban identity, observedthat “traditional design can be original, it can be creative andit can take on new things – it can even invent new traditions. Ifonly we could all understand this, we could have a public thatunderstands us, we could add to our historic culture instead offighting it.”31

According to Garry Martin, Islamic architecture of the pastwas always in harmony with its people, their environment andtheir Creator. The great mosques of Cordoba, Edirne and ShahJahan - for instance - each used local geometry, local materialsand local building methods to express in their own ways theorder, harmony and unity of Islamic architecture. But in the 20th

century, the Islamic concepts of unity, harmony and continuityoften are forgotten in the rush for industrial and moderndevelopment. Garry Martin then lists three directionscontemporary Islamic architecture can take:

1. One approach is to completely ignore the past and produceWestern-oriented architecture that ignores the Islamicspirit and undermines traditional culture.

2. The opposite approach involves a retreat, at leastsuperficially, to the Islamic architectural past. This canresult in hybrid buildings where traditional facades ofarches and domes are grafted onto modern high-rises.

3. A third approach is to understand the essence of Islamicarchitecture and to allow modern building technology to be atool in the expression of this essence. Architects working

30 Robert Adam, Tradition: the Driving Force of Urban Identity, inside “Context: New Buildings in Historic Context”, p. 37.31 Ibid., p. 37.

today can take advantage of opportunities that new materialsand mass production techniques offer. They have anopportunity to explore and transform the possibilities ofthe machine age for the enrichment of architecture in thesame way that craftsmen explored the nature of geometricaland arabesque patterns. The forms that would evolve fromthis approach would have a regional identity, a stylisticevolution, a modern appeal and a relevance to the eternalprinciples of Islam.32

It goes without saying, therefore, that the best solutionfor Islamic architecture is to be traditional, but without justblindly imitating and repeating the past, and modern, albeitwithout rejecting tradition and constantly seeking to break withthe past. Tradition and modernity in Islamic architecture must beat peace, rather than at loggerheads, with each other. Theirsynthesis will serve as an inspiration and source of endlessdesign opportunities and ideas. Only this way, undoubtedly, bothtradition and modernity in Islamic architecture will be bound totriumph. Otherwise, they both will dreadfully fall short, causingthereby a considerable irreversible damage to the future ofIslamic architecture and, by extension, to Islamic civilization.

On the whole, therefore, genuine Islamic architecture isseen as a type of architecture whose functions and, to a lesserextent, form are inspired primarily by Islam. Islamicarchitecture is a framework for the implementation of Islam. Assuch, it facilitates, fosters and stimulates the ‘ibadah (worship)activities of Muslims, which, in turn, account for every momentof their earthly lives. When properly perceived and practicedunobstructed, the universal, fluid, multi-dimensional and value-loaded character of Islamic architecture always eventually comesto the fore in any given socio-economic, religious and culturalcontext.

Islamic architecture, it follows, can come into existenceonly under the aegis of the Islamic perceptions of God, man,nature, life, civilization and the Hereafter. Thus, authenticIslamic architecture would be the facilities and, at the same

32 The Future of Islamic Architecture, http://www.islamicart.com/main/architecture/future.html (accessed on June 15, 2015).

time, a physical locus of the implementation of the Islamicmessage. Practically, Islamic architecture represents thereligion of Islam that has been translated into reality at thehands of Muslims. It also represents the identity of Islamicculture and civilization where the notions of tradition andmodernity are relative conceptions – as explained earlier.

There is thus a strong relationship between genuine Islamicarchitecture and a society where it is conceived, produced andutilized. This is so because Islamic architecture signifies along process where all the phases and aspects are equallyimportant. The Islamic architecture process starts with having aproper understanding and vision which leads to making a rightintention. It continues with the planning, designing and buildingstages, and ends with attaining the net results and how peoplemake use of and benefit from them. Islamic architecture is a fineblend of all these factors which are interwoven with the treadsof the belief system, teachings and values of Islam. Similarly,integral to the architectural processes are also local customs,traditions, geography and other numerous micro socio-economicconsiderations.

So, therefore, the multi-tiered realm of architecture, ingeneral, is not to be viewed only through the lens ofarchitecture as pure art, science and technology. Rather, it isto be expanded into the higher and more sophisticated realms ofexistence. Existence, on the other hand, is not to be distortedor narrowed down, so as to go well with the corporeal ingredientsand dimensions of architecture only. The orb of architecture, itfollows, is to become known as an ultimate spiritualized and“supernatural” orb, whereas the life phenomenon is not to bemechanized or rendered merely physical, inconsequential andperfunctory just on account of some of us falling short ofpenetrating into its complex meanings and secrets.

Architecture is synonymous with physical and spiritualflawlessness, precision and balance. It follows the rules andprinciples of the perfect universe designed and created by thePerfect Creator. It is a recognition, extension and augmentationof the faultless equilibrium that runs through the veins of totalexistence. By no means is it imitating, much less challenging orsurpassing, the latter. Indeed, there can be no imitation or

challenge between two completely different domains with differentexistential qualities and spheres of influence.

Also, Islamic architecture is a mixture of the heavenly andterrestrial factors and elements. Both sides are extremelyimportant, playing their respective roles. They finely complementand add to each other’s strength and operation. Neglecting eitherof the two poles in Islamic architecture inevitably leads to aserious damage in its fundamental nature, at a conceptual or apractical level. The heavenly or divine factors give Islamicarchitecture a soul, moral fiber and its conspicuous identity.They present it with a special aura that Islamic architectureeffortlessly exudes inside as well as outside its ambits.

The terrestrial factors, on the other hand, impart aboutIslamic architecture an intuition about its compellingworldliness, simplicity and utter practicality and pragmatism.They provide a powerful feeling about Islamic architecture’s andits users’ congenital mortality, so nobody should get carriedaway and, deceived, treat architecture or his self differently.Even though Islamic architecture is inspired and deeply rooted ina transcendental idea and message, it still operates and isgreatly influenced and shaped by the exigencies of space and timefactors and experiences.

It is certainly because of this that Stefano Bianca remarkedon the extent to which the Islamic spirituality influencesIslamic architecture: “Compared with other religious traditions,the distinctive feature of Islam is that it has given birth to acomprehensive and integrated cultural system by totally embeddingthe religious practice in the daily life of the individual andthe society. While Islam did not prescribe formal architecturalconcepts, it molded the whole way of life by providing a matrixof behavioral archetypes which, by necessity, generatedcorrelated physical patterns. Therefore, the religious and socialuniverse of Islam must be addressed before engaging in theanalysis of architectural structures.”33

33 Stefano Bianca, Urban Form in the Arab World, (London; New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000), p. 22-23.