Contemporary Muslim scholarship, and the best of it, should now prepare for rising to the occasion and replacing the stories and sermons that characterise our religious thought appealing to, and enough for, ordinary people today with deep thinking scholasticism for reaching out to our educated youth. And this will be a struggle, indeed. I use the word ‘struggle’ here to capture its meaning of difficulty in defending oneself and the emotio-cognitive feeling of effort associated with it. In this article, I will try to present a preliminary framework for analysis of two major challenges that our religious thought will be facing in the near future on an ‘internal’ and ‘external’ level.
While much of our Muslim thought is busy today in its hairsplitting of sectarian non-issues, we have failed to realise how the world around us, particularly in terms of the realm of thought, has significantly changed. Our young ones now, especially for example the generation today learning through foreign qualifications like A Levels and higher studies, have immense exposure of different ways of thinking.
If it is safe to assume that we are not developing the kind of in-depth Muslim thought that can answer difficult questions on religion in a changing world, from a vantage point of social science one can see, it will lead to perplexity and loss of meaning for these precious young ones. Moreover, the widening gulf between our religious theory and its practice, and its real life manifestation in the world today will be far too evident for this generation. We may increasingly see an intellectual struggle between the youth and those who cannot satisfactorily answer their complicated questions.
While noting the existing struggle of contemporary Muslim thought in terms of engaging with radical Islamist currents, one other challenging arena of ideas will consist of thought on Islam and its Scripture coming from ex-Muslims, individuals who left Islam, and now happen to be its critics. The case of works by Ali Sina and Ibn Warraq makes this very clear. While Western Orientalists, many of them, have been critical of the Quran and Hadith literature in the past too, the case of ex-Muslims is different. Their, what is called an ‘insider’s approach’ somehow lends them greater credibility in influencing their audience. Both Sina and Ibn Warraq, among others, have raised a host of intricate questions on the reality of Islam as they have understood it, including very critical views of the Quran, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Muslim history. These works, even though at times polemical, or reductionist, in their own sense, carry thought that will take a detailed and non-emotional, honest academic effort to engage with.
While mentioning this, it is essential not to miss out figures like Ayaan Hirsi Ali who renounced Islam after 9/11 and is the author of “The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam, Infidel” and “Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations.” Moreover, she authored the screenplay for “Submission”, a controversial film about her views on treatment of women in Islam; for which the director, Theo van Gogh, was killed by a radical Islamist in Amsterdam. Personalities like Hirsi Ali happen to be significant figures at the global media level, their books being bestsellers. Moreover, a diligent reader can notice the subtle way in which Hirsi Ali ‘mystifies’ things, weaving urgent, real issues that contemporary Islam faces today with her own difficult personal journey, at times making extreme, sweeping generalisations yet still managing to make an emotional imprint on her audience; leaving an easier said than done job of understanding complex reality.
In the past, the temperament of our religious groups has been to resort to conspiracy theories, issue fatwas, ask authorities for blocking websites or propagate through literature that asks our people to disengage from reading such ideas. In the coming times, however, such strategies will not work since these will only disillusion the youth further who have access to vast sources of knowledge. And only a logical and lucid discursive mode of peaceful exchange of opinions and interpretations will be appealing to critical minds; something that many of our religious ulema are not yet prepared for.
How our scholars will perform in the changing realities will ultimately define the socio-religious perception of religion as understood by our younger generation. In an already increasing void of meaning, it is important that we save our young ones from being distanced and disillusioned from a religion that is precious to all of us.
The writer teaches Sociology at the University College Lahore (UCL). He can be reached at naqibhamid@gmail.com