(10.1) Chapter 15Modern Challenges: Imperialism and ResponseThe main features and effects of Western imperialism; Traditionalism, modernism,secularism, and Islamism as responses, illustrated especially from India and Pakistan.

“The fundamental malaise of modern Islam is a sense that something has gone wrong with Islamic history. The fundamental problem of modern Muslims is how to rehabilitate that history: to set it going again in full vigour, so that Islamic society may once again flourish as a divinely-guided society should and must. The fundamental spiritual crisis of Islam in the twentieth century stems from an awareness that something is awry between the religion which God has appointed and the historical development of the world which He controls.” (Smith 47)

“You are the best umma ever brought forth to humankind, enjoining right conduct, forbidding indecency and having faith in God” (Qur’an 3.110)

“Power and glory belong to God and to His Messenger and to the believers” (Qur’an 63:8).

Until c. 1600 the pre-eminence promised by these verses was visible.

•Muslim arms were usually victorious, their political systems stronger and their cultures more impressive

•The Europeans learned from the MusimsSince c. 1700 the promised pre-eminence cannot

be seen.•Western arms are usually victorious, their

political systems stronger and their cultures more impressive

•The Muslims learn from the Europeans

Sometimes referred to as the “great reversal”

How has this happened?• Internal weakness•Assault (ghazwa) from outside, viz. Western

Imperialism

Internal weakness (corruption, superstition, division, weak faith)

• Responses: pre-modern reform movements, esp.:• Wahhabis (Muwaḥḥidūn, controlled Mecca 1803-

1818): • Strict interpretation of Qur’an and Sunna, • Ijtihad• Opposed bid‘a, (esp. Sufi practice)

• Shah Waliullah (1701-1762): • Sufi but opposed “non-Islamic” practices, • Ijtihad, • Economic reforms, • Heal divisions in umma

• Neither was responding to the West, but both influenced those who later would

• The decline they experienced could be seen as a cyclical phenomenon, had happened before

Western Imperialism•Political/Military•Economic•Cultural

Political

• Beginnings of European intrusion: 17c-18c, e.g.:▫1699 Treaty of Carlowitz▫1774 Ottomans lose Crimea to Russia▫1798-1801 French in Egypt▫1757- British play increasing role in India

• Europeans dominate most of the Muslim world 19c–early 20c. e.g.:▫c1818 British firmly establish rule in India▫1825-1910 Dutch establish control of Indonesia▫Ottoman retreat before Russia, in Balkans▫1830- French in North Africa; 1882- British occupy

Egypt▫After WW1, British/French mandates in parts of Arab

world

•European Retreat: ▫1920-60s Most Muslim countries gain formal

independence▫1991 Ex-Soviet Muslim republics gain formal

independence•But: Continued European presence/influence

▫State of Israel founded in 1948▫1990s-2000s Western intervention in Bosnia, Iraq,

Afghanistan

Economic•Practical integration in the World –wide

(Western) system•Egypt, Ottoman empire, Iran cannot pay debts,

lose some control of their tariffs, etc.•Cash crops (e.g. Egyptian cotton) for European

manufacture•Oil for Western industry, transport

▫1970s Oil exporters get a better deal, but within the Western system

Cultural

• Technology: military, industrial, medical, public health, ▫ Administrative methods▫ Education▫ Printing, newspapers, mass media▫ Clothes▫ Turban>fez>hat; unveiling▫ Entertainment▫ New professions: journalists, lawyers, engineers, doctors▫ New classes: “effendis”

• Ideological justifications: ▫ Spreading “civilization”▫ Myth/doctrine of progress

Three faces of social change in modern times:

Modernization / development: • Technological development: better food, roads,

medicine, radios etc; i.e. increasing control over the physical environment

• Social development, education, government• Attitudes that support these: e.g. belief in progress,

openness to change; work ethic, punctuality

Westernization: • Commonly seen as involving the same things, since

they come from the West, along with clothing styles, fashions in entertainment, etc.

• Some say simply: modernization is Westernization.

Secularization:

•Effort to run most areas of society by criteria/values drawn from human reason and experience rather than divine revelation or religious tradition

• Involves separation of religion from other areas of life or control of religion by secular society

•Seen by many as necessary for modernization• (assumes religion is a conservative force)

But today many Muslims would deny the Westernization and (even more) secularization are necessary for modernization and development.

The “great reversal” as reflected two views of the “other”

"The peoples of the north are those for whom the sun is distant from the Zenith.... cold and damp prevail in those regions, and snow and ice follow one another in endless succession. The warm humour is lacking among them; their bodies are large, their natures gross, their manners harsh, their understanding dull and their tongues heavy.... their religious beliefs lack solidity.... those of them who are farthest to the north are the most subject to stupidity, grossness and brutishness." (Ali al-Mas'udi, d. 956 C.E., quoted by B. Lewis).

"Everyone . . . sees clearly the current inferiority of the Muslim countries, the decadence of the states governed by Islam, the intellectual incapacity of the races that draw solely from this religion their culture and education . . .” (E. Renan,1882, quoted by Hourani 120)

Why has God permitted the weakness of the divinely favoured community?

• Inscrutability of God•Punishment for sins•Test of faith•Challenge to action• “God does not change the situation of a people

until they change what is within themselves.”(Qur’an 13:11)

•Responses: Apologetic• Much Western science was derived from Islam• Christianity is irrational, does not give social

guidance, church became oppressive• Separation of religion from society was necessary

for Christians, but the price was moral decline and materialism.• Islam, correctly understood, is rational and has

God’s guidance for society, so religion and society need not/should not be separated• Thus Islam can provide all that is good in modern

civilization without the moral corruption.• If Muslims understand this and act.

•Responses in action: • Compliance • Resistance, violent or non-violent • Reform, “top down” or “bottom up”; • Revolution

• Ideological orientations for these• Traditionalism/Neo-traditionalism• Islamic Modernism• Secularism• Islamism

Traditionalism/Neo-traditionalism• Continuity with the past• Reject change/seek gradual change• Adhere to the form of Islam of their time and

place/or oppose it in “fundamentalist” ways (e.g. Ibn Taymiyya, Wahhabis)

• Resistance to, or compliance/cooperation (unwilling or willing) with imperialism/West

• Inclined to reject, where possible, Western ideas practices or subject them to strict test. Not inclined to major reform.

• Less likely to see imperialism as a “theological” problem

• Examples: most Sufis and ‘ulamā’ in 19c, early Saudis in 20c, Taleban (at first)

Neo-traditionalism (as above but): •More open to change and western ways,

especially material technology, •Limited ijtihād•Concern for continuity with past may be more

self conscious•Examples: most Sufis and ‘ulamā’ in 21c,

Nahdltul Ulama in Indonesia, many Saudis (today), Khomeini, Taleban (today?)

Islamic Modernism•A significant rethinking of Islamic belief and

practice (not the basics) is needed, leading to major reforms of Muslim societies

•This involves going back to the Qur’an and Sunna and eliminating destructive bid‘a (e.g. superstitions, tyrannical government)

• Islamic standards should be applied to all of life, including government.

•Absolute ijtihād must replace taqlīd; may be done by others than ‘ulamā’.

Islamic Modernism ctd

• Many Western ideas and practices are consistent with Islam and may or should be adopted and adapted.

• Some Western ideologies can be adapted to Islam, e.g Islamic socialism , Islamic democracy.

• Islamic analogues to Western institutions will be sought (e.g. shūrā)

• Some Western ideas and practice must be avoided: e.g. irreligion, racism, alcohol, sexual immorality, economic injustice.

• Usually concerned for Islamic unity, Pan Islam.• Examples: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad

‘Abduh, Muhammad Iqbal, Constitution of Pakistan

Jamal al-Din Asadabadi/“al-Afghani” (1838-97)•Activist, agitator, Iranian by origin, ranged widely

through the Muslim world and beyond•Charismatic, not a systematic thinker•Saw Europe and especially Great Britain as a

danger•Muslims must adopt and develop science and

technology•Muslims must return to the beliefs and practices

of early Islam and practice ijtihād•Religion is necessary for society (but was he a

believer?)•Muslims should unite under a strong ruler

Secularism• Islam is not to guide government nor most other

areas of social life. •A secular (Western-derived) ideology replaces

it: usually nationalism along with capitalism, socialism etc.; in some places communism.

• “Modern civilization” is usually an important criterion.

•Separation of religion from government is an ideal for some; but in fact religion is more or less dominated by government.

Secularism ctd

•Religion as personal faith, and expressed in some areas of society (e.g. “personal status”), is usually acceptable, even encouraged. Communist countries discourage it.

•A generalized Islamic/religious ethic is usually present and seen as a helpful or necessary “social glue”.

• Islam is usually an important part of the national heritage.

•May be concerned for Islamic unity and Pan-Islam

•E.g. Atatürk in Turkey, Jinnah in Pakistan, most current Muslim governments.

Islamism (Fundamentalism, radical Islamism)

•A reaction to modernism and secularism.• Islam and the Sharī‘a must apply to all areas of

life, including government, law, education, economics, morals.

•Western ideologies, nationalism, socialism, democracy etc. are man-made substitutes for God’s way, are shirk.• Accepting these ideologies is defeatism & kufr.• Something like them may be accepted if sufficiently

grounded in Islam

•Western derived moral corruption, and all moral corruption, must be resisted.

Islamism ctd.

• Secularism is thus rejected.• “Islamic” modernism is secularism with an Islamic

veneer.• Western material technology, most science (not

Darwinism), some other things are acceptable within Islamist criteria, e.g. the modern state.

• Absolute ijtihād is necessary to deal with modern circumstances, but must be rigorously based on the Qur’an and Sunna.

• Interested in unity transcending ethnic, national and possibly sectarian but not ideological divisions.

• Examples: Muslim Brothers, Jama‘at-i Islami (Mawdudi), al-Qaeda; Khomeini, but with some characteristics of neo-traditionalism

These ideological orientations may be thought of as points a spectrum based on the degree to which they reject or insist on Islam as a guide for the whole of society.

Radical Sec–––Sec–––Muslim Sec–––––Isl.Mod––––Islamism–––Rad. Isl’sm

There are a number of possible intermediate positions. Another spectrum could be based on the degree of

“modernity” (acceptance of modern technology, Western ideologies and other attitudes) thus:

Sec’sm.–Mod.–Isl’sm-–––––-------------–Neo-Traditionalism–––––------––Traditionalism

Note that all of the orientations in the top group are

modern on this scale.

These ideological orientations relate to views and attitudes on Islamic law, social change, the West, Westernization, modernization, development, secularisation:

They do not correlate closely with such issues as: form of government, degree of government control of society, economic system, inclination toward violence.

e.g. All orientations are capable of violence, although at present some forms of secularism and Islamism perhaps more inclined to it than others.

Totalitarianism is possible with all orientations except traditionalism.

Democracy in some form is conceivable with all; although Islamists generally reject the term they may have parliaments, etc.

A trajectory followed by many post-colonial states• 1st stage: secularism (sometimes aggressive)

dominant among ruling elite; masses tend to be (neo-) traditionalist.

• 2nd stage: secularism still dominant but with more of an Islamic hue; secularism and modernism gain ground at the expense of traditionalism

• 3rd stage (from c 1970): “resurgence of Islam”, secularism with increasingly Islamic hue still the governing ideology in most countries, a few are Islamist; Islamism gains ground at all levels, especially against secularism. Pure traditionalism hardly exists.

• Western ways are still attractive; ambivalence between West as promise and West as threat continues.

Some reasons for the “resurgence of Islam”:• West seemed to provide attractive models but wars,

depression, violence, moral decline (drugs, sex etc) have made it less attractive and also diminished Western self-confidence.

• In most Muslim countries secularists were always a small minority and usually found among the elite.

• Secularism is seen by many to have failed, especially since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

• The political and economic participation of the masses has increased and they have remained religious

• Their traditionalism has converted to neo-traditionalism, modernism or Islamism.