Arab- Muslim intellectualism is alive.
Why are Muslim writers, academics and intellectuals always lamenting about the absence of Arab and Muslim intellectuals?
They make a passing reference to the glorious past of our heritage pointing out the stunning contributions made by Arab/Muslim thinkers, writers, poets and philosophers and then woefully go on to paint a very bleak picture of Ummah’s intellectual bankruptcy .
Why do they not deep dig into Islamic history to look and search objectively for names that by their knowledge wisdom, intellect, education and thinking are still held in high esteem and are regularly mentioned in intellectual and academic circles in the West
Why is that their search for Arab/Muslim thinkers, intellectuals, philosophers and social scientists begins with Ibn Sina, Al Razi, Mohammed Abdu, Jamalluddin Afghani, Hasan Al Banna, Syed Qutub and ends with Iqbal and Azad.
Why do they tend to ignore contemporary intellectuals of the Arab/ Muslim world. Why is that they do not mention Mohammed Arkoun, the
outstanding Algerian Islamic scholar who died in 2009. His theory of "Applied Islamology" a scientific discourse on Islamic heritage employing western academic tools of epistemology and psychoanalysis is a much debated work in intellectual circles.
The Moroccan thinker Mohammed Abed Al Jabri, who also died in 2009, leaving behind a rich legacy of knowledge. His much applauded and appreciated work, "Naqhad al Aqhl al Arabi,” (Critique of the Arab Mind ) dealing with the constitutional, political and ethical stages of Arab character and rationality in context of Hellenistic and Renaissance doctrines. His argument that that main contours of Islamic knowledge did not shape during the seventh century, but were formed as Islam spread over vast lands and began interaction with people and cultures alien to it.
His explanation of the three distinct forms of Islamic knowledge each of which had its own particular way of interacting with the religion of Islam was based on three theories of Al Bayan-drawing from the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Al Irfan or mystical knowledge that draws from spirituality related with esoteric streams of Islam like Sufism etc and the third, knowledge derived from observation and empirical evidences called Al Burhan( proof)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, the Egyptian scholar who died in 2009 was another great thinker-philosopher of the Arab/Muslim world.
Apparently the year 2009 was jinxed and proved tragic for the Islamic intellectualism .These men who are no more and as the trend goes will be forgotten, have contributed greatly in generating a healthy debates on issues in the Arab/Muslim world that were taboo or under-debated. These were giants of the Arab/Muslim intellectual world, they posited issues, providing in their own thinking the need for renovation of Islamic thoughts to match the needs of the hour.
Yes, some of the names i have mentioned were controversial personalities, often severely criticized from breaking away from tradition, or delving deep into traditionalism. Yet their contribution to world of knowledge, understanding and free thinking cannot be sidelined.
Take a stroll down the hall of history, it is adorned with great names from the Arab/Muslim world, if not towering over their contemporaries from the other side, are no less in stature. The great Ibn Khaldun, Abul Hasan Mawardi, Ahmed Ibn Taimiya, Hamid Ghazzali, Muhammed Ibn Idris Al Shafi, the Syrian, Abd Al Ghai Nablusi, and Mohmoud Mohammed Taha, Dr. Taha Hussein.
The fresh lot of our thinkers, intellectuals and philosophers are, if not more, are as inspiring and thought provoking as the past lot. The Algerian, Malik Binnabi, philosopher, thinker and educationist whose complex theory of rise and fall of civilizations written in French (Colonisibilite) made ripples across intellectual circles of Europe and Arab world.
Syed Muhammed Naqib All Attas, the genius with Arab ancestry from Hadramouth, who galvanized Islamic thoughts in the Far East by his thought provoking writings .He founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia. He was instrumental in creating the concept of Islamisation of knowledge
The problem is our writers and journalists are in awe of Western intellectualism and philosophies. The hangover from several years of despondency that gripped the Arab/Muslim people under stifling colonial rule could be one strong cause for holding every western aspect of life in awe. This undermining of our thinkers and intellectuals is driven by the torrent of new thoughts and ideas that were imposed by the occupying cultures..
When one talks about scholars like Ibn Khaldun, who is considered the father of Sociological Sciences even by western experts in the field and others of same ilk, there is an immediate rebuke," that's history, they are old hats, the world has changed, times have changed, their thinking and ideas hold no good." But by the same measure, there is lot of appreciative twittering and tweeting about the philosophies and doctrines of western intellectuals, philosophers and writers.
Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire,Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer
Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Russell, Santayana, James and Dewey are all alive and kicking in the thought and writings of our educated elite.
Machiavelli's "The Prince" is bible in power politics and art of governance, while the great Arab philosopher, political writer and activist Mohammed Ibn Zafar Al Saqili, who proceeded him by three hundred years and is acknowledged by the West as Machiavelli Precursor, wrote a master piece, Sulwan Al Muta Udwan Al Atba( consultation of rulers during hostilities of subjects) a far comprehensive and brilliant work on empirical analysis of power remains unknown.
There is another brilliant brigade of writers and thinkers that is emerging across the intellectual sphere of the Islamic world. Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Hassan Al Bana. The Moroccan, Fatima Al Mirsini, Dr AbdelWahab Meddeb, the Egyptian novelist, writer and poet, Iraq’s Dr Ali A. Allawi, Senior visiting Fellow Princeton University, Syed Hossain Nasr, Tunisian poet Abul Qasim Al Shabi, whose captivating one line on Tunisian revolution “The people wanted life and the chains were broken,” which is more than a magnum opus, if ever to be written on the Arab revolt of February 2011.
By Syed Qamar Hasan.
Syed Qamar Hasan is Abu Dhabi based writer.
He may be contacted at qamarhasan50@hotmail.com.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
lessons from Tahrir square
LESSONS FROM THARIR SQUARE
Syed Qamar Hasan.
G. K Chesterton, the English novelist and critic once remarked, “You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.” Egyptians living under the most oppressive regimes of the time by kicking out President Hosni Mubarak who ruled over them ruthlessly for thirty years have proved Chesterton wrong.
What a sight it was to watch live on television the grit and determination of Egyptian men, women, children, Muslims and Christians, lawyers, doctors, bankers, academics, barbers and butchers holding together, night after night for 18 long grueling days to oust the dictator. These 18 days of despair, anxiety and uncertainty, bordering on hope and apprehensions were the real pangs of birth of new Middle East, so different from the pangs of birth that George W Bush and his Secretary of State Condi Rice, told the world in 2005,when Israel using American provided weapons was pummeling Hizbollah.
Egypt has always enriched history, with its heritage from Prophet Yusuf( Joseph)to the plotting and cattish beauty Cleopatra, to the great warrior Saladin, who liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Yet again a new feather has been added to its glorious history. The peaceful revolution, that humbled the most powerful man and the most feared regime of the region, deserves higher ranking, than the French and Bolshevik revolution. It pales Ayatollah’ Kommeni’s bloody and revengeful upheaval that sent waves of terror and fright across the world. The 1979 Iranian revolution that toppled Reza Shah Pahlavi cannot be called a revolution in the real sense of the word. It never had the appeal and fascination that makes people risk their lives and come out on the streets to change systems and governments.
Genuine revolutions by the hungry and jobless citizens unable to get justice from its rulers, spurred on and led by one or more among them, like in Tunisia and Egypt are contagious enough to infect other societies suffering repression and injustices.
History, they say is a great teacher, yet seldom do people learn from it. The 18 days people’s movement with its epicenter at the Tahrir square is a fresh lesson for kings, monarchs, presidents and dictators and democracies that deny freedom to its people in the name stability and security. And their leash holders should be aware of the fury of disgruntled and dissatisfied people, when they rise, as they did in Tunisia and Egypt, no power, however, strong can stop them. So also governments and countries harboring flash points, like Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir, where people are fighting for independence are equally prone to popular public uprising.
Those kings, monarch, sheiks and presidents who wanted Mubarak to stay put notwithstanding the anger and anguish of millions of Egyptian deprived of justice and basic necessities of life, should by now feel the rumblings,that if not addressed soon, will throw them off their thrones and palaces. Their survival depends on the goodwill and contentment of their people, who want opportunities to participate in nation building and decision making, not necessarily in the same pattern as Western systems. That far away and distant allies and time serving relationships will not sustain them in the longer run.
When nature wants something to happen it creates circumstances and situations for it to happen. The 18 long day struggle of the people of Egypt to get rid of Husni Mubarak has also brought to fore and exposed the double standards and hypocrisy of our and their leaders who have been fooling the world with their constant harangues on democracy, freedom ,human rights, peoples empowerment and human dignity.
The most hardened of the pro-democracy nations, and their refrain on virtues of democracy, who do not spare any occasion accusing Islam of not having the depth and compatibility with democracy and human rights, the US and its allies, must take a leaf from Tahrir Square. The citizens of the most populated ,the strongest and the most strategic country of the Arab world has shown its penchant for democracy and that it is capable of ushering it in a far better and decent manner, than the main exponent of it , the US, exporting it on Abram Tanks, Bradleys, Humvees, F-16’s, Apache helicopter, killings innocent men, women children while its gallant soldiers indulge in rapes and murders .
Residents of White House, White Hall, and Elsyee Palace are eager to promote democracies in the Muslim world, but they are not happy with the results, that democratic processes in Muslim world spawn. When will Obama, Cameroon and Sarkozy, realize that “Arab Streets” the terminology, west derisively coined to describe mass protests in Arab world , will not be contend with selective and limited versions of democracy. They want full version of democracy and not the abridged. They will have it their own way and time. No dictations and patronage required.
It is time the west changes its perception and understanding of the Arab and Muslim sensibilities and put a full stop to support of tyrants and despots, kings and monarchs. What is wrong if the feared Muslim Brotherhood or the Islamist win elections and form governments? Are not right wing parties and extremist winning more and more seats in parliaments, assemblies and decision making bodies in Israel, Holland, France, Germany, Denmark and India?
If people in the Arab and Muslim countries vote the Muslim Brotherhood, Gama Islamia and other Islamic political parties to power through the ballot, so be it. The better it would be, for if they fail to deliver good governance, end corruption, un-employment, the same people who voted them will get rid of them, and bring in others, that is what democracy is about.
Syed Qamar Hasan is an Abu Dhabi based writer and former Abu Dhabi Bureau Chief,Khaleej Times and Emirates Today.
He may be contacted at.qamarhasan50@hotmail.com
Syed Qamar Hasan.
G. K Chesterton, the English novelist and critic once remarked, “You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.” Egyptians living under the most oppressive regimes of the time by kicking out President Hosni Mubarak who ruled over them ruthlessly for thirty years have proved Chesterton wrong.
What a sight it was to watch live on television the grit and determination of Egyptian men, women, children, Muslims and Christians, lawyers, doctors, bankers, academics, barbers and butchers holding together, night after night for 18 long grueling days to oust the dictator. These 18 days of despair, anxiety and uncertainty, bordering on hope and apprehensions were the real pangs of birth of new Middle East, so different from the pangs of birth that George W Bush and his Secretary of State Condi Rice, told the world in 2005,when Israel using American provided weapons was pummeling Hizbollah.
Egypt has always enriched history, with its heritage from Prophet Yusuf( Joseph)to the plotting and cattish beauty Cleopatra, to the great warrior Saladin, who liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Yet again a new feather has been added to its glorious history. The peaceful revolution, that humbled the most powerful man and the most feared regime of the region, deserves higher ranking, than the French and Bolshevik revolution. It pales Ayatollah’ Kommeni’s bloody and revengeful upheaval that sent waves of terror and fright across the world. The 1979 Iranian revolution that toppled Reza Shah Pahlavi cannot be called a revolution in the real sense of the word. It never had the appeal and fascination that makes people risk their lives and come out on the streets to change systems and governments.
Genuine revolutions by the hungry and jobless citizens unable to get justice from its rulers, spurred on and led by one or more among them, like in Tunisia and Egypt are contagious enough to infect other societies suffering repression and injustices.
History, they say is a great teacher, yet seldom do people learn from it. The 18 days people’s movement with its epicenter at the Tahrir square is a fresh lesson for kings, monarchs, presidents and dictators and democracies that deny freedom to its people in the name stability and security. And their leash holders should be aware of the fury of disgruntled and dissatisfied people, when they rise, as they did in Tunisia and Egypt, no power, however, strong can stop them. So also governments and countries harboring flash points, like Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir, where people are fighting for independence are equally prone to popular public uprising.
Those kings, monarch, sheiks and presidents who wanted Mubarak to stay put notwithstanding the anger and anguish of millions of Egyptian deprived of justice and basic necessities of life, should by now feel the rumblings,that if not addressed soon, will throw them off their thrones and palaces. Their survival depends on the goodwill and contentment of their people, who want opportunities to participate in nation building and decision making, not necessarily in the same pattern as Western systems. That far away and distant allies and time serving relationships will not sustain them in the longer run.
When nature wants something to happen it creates circumstances and situations for it to happen. The 18 long day struggle of the people of Egypt to get rid of Husni Mubarak has also brought to fore and exposed the double standards and hypocrisy of our and their leaders who have been fooling the world with their constant harangues on democracy, freedom ,human rights, peoples empowerment and human dignity.
The most hardened of the pro-democracy nations, and their refrain on virtues of democracy, who do not spare any occasion accusing Islam of not having the depth and compatibility with democracy and human rights, the US and its allies, must take a leaf from Tahrir Square. The citizens of the most populated ,the strongest and the most strategic country of the Arab world has shown its penchant for democracy and that it is capable of ushering it in a far better and decent manner, than the main exponent of it , the US, exporting it on Abram Tanks, Bradleys, Humvees, F-16’s, Apache helicopter, killings innocent men, women children while its gallant soldiers indulge in rapes and murders .
Residents of White House, White Hall, and Elsyee Palace are eager to promote democracies in the Muslim world, but they are not happy with the results, that democratic processes in Muslim world spawn. When will Obama, Cameroon and Sarkozy, realize that “Arab Streets” the terminology, west derisively coined to describe mass protests in Arab world , will not be contend with selective and limited versions of democracy. They want full version of democracy and not the abridged. They will have it their own way and time. No dictations and patronage required.
It is time the west changes its perception and understanding of the Arab and Muslim sensibilities and put a full stop to support of tyrants and despots, kings and monarchs. What is wrong if the feared Muslim Brotherhood or the Islamist win elections and form governments? Are not right wing parties and extremist winning more and more seats in parliaments, assemblies and decision making bodies in Israel, Holland, France, Germany, Denmark and India?
If people in the Arab and Muslim countries vote the Muslim Brotherhood, Gama Islamia and other Islamic political parties to power through the ballot, so be it. The better it would be, for if they fail to deliver good governance, end corruption, un-employment, the same people who voted them will get rid of them, and bring in others, that is what democracy is about.
Syed Qamar Hasan is an Abu Dhabi based writer and former Abu Dhabi Bureau Chief,Khaleej Times and Emirates Today.
He may be contacted at.qamarhasan50@hotmail.com
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