ISLAMIZATION OR LIBERALIZATION
Oleh: Dr. Adian Husaini
(Ibn Khaldun University Bogor)
ABSTRACT
The rise of modernity has raised sharp debate among scholars and religious leaders in facing this new great challenge. Most people on earth are born into the world as children or step children of modernity. Some argue that there is no room for any religion to avoid the modernity. All traditional teachings, including religious teachings, must be liberalized, that is must be subjected to the law of change and progress. All must be secularized. Some scholars uncover the nature of the modern Western Civilisation which actually – described by Muhammad Asad – irreligious in its very essence. The secular western science which has been spread throughout the world since hundred years ago has provided so many ease for humankind, and in the sama time raised the problem of environmental and social disasters. The nature of secular Western culture, according to John Mohawk, has been horribly exploitative and destructive of the Natural World. As a result of liberalization, a religion must be subjected to the idea of endless progress. It means that there is no certainty and conviction in human soul, and according to Muhammad Iqbal, “Lack of conviction is worse than slavery.” It is very different with the main aim of Islamic education, that is to create a good man, that is the “insan kamil”, a man who knows his God, and how to serve and pray to Him, and how to be a khalifah in the earth. This is the meaning of true happiness (sa’adah) in Islam. Therefore, Islamization of knowledge must be the task of Muslim scholars to reform the educational process which could result in the building of human intellectual and bring human soul into true happiness.
1. Introduction
On April 19, 2005 cardinals at Vatican elected Joseph Razinger as a new Pope replacing Pope John Paul II. They argued that today the most difficult challenge comes from the West, and Benedict XVI is a man who comes from the West, who understands the history and the culture of the West. In 1978, they elected Pope John Paul II, due to the most difficult challenge coming from Communism. Then in 2005, the Cardinals elected Pope Benedict XVI to face the most difficult challenge described by the Pope as “dictatorship of relativism in the West”. 1
Modernity is inevitable. Lawrence E. Cahoone, in his work, The Dilemma of Modernity, describes the ‘hegemonic power of modernity’ in today’s world:
“All of us who live in western and central Europe, Canada, and the United States are the direct heirs of that culture, and move within it as do fish in water. But the non-Western world has been powerfully influenced and shaped by this culture as well. Through colonialism, trade, and the export of ideology, the modern West has injected components of its own civilization into the indigenous cultures of non-Western societies. Most of the world’s nations now resemble a kind of historical layer cake, in which social groups living side by side embody the lifestyles of different centuries, and this layering is largely determined by the extent to which a people has been influenced by the Western modernity, either directly or indirectly. Most of the people of this earth are born into the world as children or step children of modernity, whether they like it or not.” 2
As “a fish in the water of modernity” the Catholic Church has to accommodate the idea of modernity. The concept of modernity, according to Cahoone, is signified by the acceptance of democracy, supremacy of nation state, modern science, secularism, and humanism. Max Weber notes that the key of development in the modern Western world is “rationalization”. 3
Modernity, in many of its element and its value has been a serious challenge of religions. Alain Touraine concludes that, “The idea of modernity makes science, rather than God, central to society and at best relegates religious beliefs to the inner realm of private life.”4 Among Ptotestant theologians, the work of Harvey Cox, The Secular City, also urges Christians to adopt secularization and compromise with modernity. According to Cox, “Far from being something Christians should be against, secularization represents an authentic consequence of biblical faith. Rather than oppose it, the task of Christians should be to support and nourish it,” Cox writes.5
The problem of modernity has forced the Vatican to hold the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which issued a special Pastoral Constitution about Church in modern world (Gaudium et Spes). This pastoral tries to harmonize secular world and religiosity. This is very different with the Papal Encyclical, “Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernist” (Lamentabili Sane) issued in 3 July 1907. Gaudium et Spes sees modernity and this modern world in the positive perspective. Article 43 of Gaudium et Spes, for instance, cites:
“Therefore, let there be no false opposition between professional and social activities on the one part, and religious life on the other. The Christians who neglects his temporal duties neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation. Christians should rather rejoice that they can follow the example of Christ, who worked as an artisan. In the exercise of all their earthly activities, they can thereby gather their humane, domestic, professional, social, and technical enterprises into one vital synthesis things are harmonized unto God’s glory.” 6
The Council also admits the richness of historical experience of the history of the Catholic Church and the progress of the sciences, by declaring that:
“Just as it is in the world’s interest to acknowledge the Church as a historical reality, and to recognize her good influence to the Church herself knows how richly she has profited by the history and development of humanity. Thanks to the experience of past ages, the progress of the sciences, the nature of man himself is more clearly revealed and new roads to truth are opened.” 7
This Catholic response to the modernity is not a unique one. Other traditions and religions has the same problem how deal with the modernity. In the following passages this paper will discuss how Islam dealing with the modernity. The Catholic Church – as well as Islam – has some basic teachings, which has been tried to be preserved. In his work, The Rule of Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World, (New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2005), David Gibson, clarifies the idea and stance of the Pope to deal with the issues of modern cultures, like gender equality, homosexual, celibacy, etc.
2. Liberalization
Liberalization basically is a response to the idea of modernity, especially the idea of progress. A religion is liberalized by putting this religion in the process of social development and culture. It means that there is no teaching or religious law free from the law of liberalization or progressivity. Charles A. Briggs, a liberal Christian, notes that, “It is sufficient that Bible gives us the material for all ages, and leaves to the noble task of shaping the material so as to suit the wants of his own time.” 8
Response to modernity and the idea of progress is also taken by Liberal Judaism Sect, In its web, www.ulps.org, they clarify that Liberal Judaism, was emerging in 19th century, as an effort to comprommise the basic teachings of Judaism with the values of European Enlightenment, like rationalism and modern science. Liberal Judaism believes that the Hebrew Scriptures including the Torah are a human attempt to understand the Divine Will, and therefore uses Scripture as the starting point for Jewish decision making, conscious of the fallibility of scripture and of the value of knowledge outside of Scripture.
So, both Jewish Liberal Judaism and Liberal Christian see their religion as ‘historical religion’ or ‘evolving religion’; a religion which always follows the progress of social development and culture. There is nothing considered as “fixed” in the religious teachings. All must be knuckled under the law of change. Even in the concept of theology, the idea of progress has taken apart, by designing the progress of theology from exclusivism to pluralism. For pluralist, the dogma that “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” (there is no salvation outsite the Church), or alike, must be removed and replace by the new dogma that “all religions are valid ways to the same God”.
In the field of syaria, some scholars also argue the urgency of “evolving syaria”. Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle in his work, Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims, notes that, “Just as building the shari’a was an historical process, the creation of fallible human minds, hands, and hearts, so the shari’a should be open to continual reform and re-creation. A renewed and evolving shari’a is politically necessary project.” 9
This idea of “evolving syaria” is likely a copy of the similar idea which has occurred in Christianity. In the past all Christian figures condemned the act of homosexuality. Agustine, for instance notes, that “those shameful acts such as were committed in Sodom ought everywhere, and always, to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be equally guilty the same crime by the law of God which has not made that men should use another in this way.” In 1975, Vatikan issued a Document “The Vatican Declaration on Social Ethics”, which admitted only heterosexsual. St Thomas admitted Sodomy as “contra naturam”, means contrary to thenature of human. 10 But today so many Churches has legalised homosexual. Gregory Baum, a church bishop, says, “If the homosexual can live that kind of life (love), than homosexual love is not contrary to the human nature.” In 1976, Church figures at Minneapolis, USA declared that “homosexual persons are children of God.” 11
The idea of Christian homosexual is now spread widely. For instance, in 1976, an International Catholic gay organisation, called “Dignity” had 22 branches in the USA. The charter of belief of “Dignity” states, “Gay Catholics are members of Christ’s mystical body and numbered among the people of God… we have an inherent dignity bacuse God created us, Christ died for us, the Holy Spirit sanctified us in baptism, making us His Temple… because of all this, we have the right, the privilege, the duty, to live the sacramental life… we believe that Gay can express their sexuality in a manner that is consonant with Christ’s teachings…”. 12
3. Islam and modernity
Muslim scholars have been trying to respond against modernity in varies ways. Some argue that following the modernity is the only way to Islamic revival. Abdullah Cevdet, a Young Turk Movement activist, says, “There is only one civilization, and that is European civilization. Therefore, we must borrow western civilization with both its rose and its thorn. 13 Sabahuddin Bey, also of Young Turk Movement, writes, “Since we established relations with western civilization, an intellectual renaissance has occurred; prior to this relationship our society lacked any intellectual life.” 14
The oppsosite position has been taken by some other Muslim scholars. For them, Western Civilization is considered as a serious threat for Islamic thought. Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss), writes,
”The modern West is ruled in its activities and endeavours almost exclusively by considerations of practical utility and dynamic evolution. Its inherent aim is experimenting with the potentialities of life without attributing to this life a moral reality of its own… But modern western civilization does not recognize the necessity of man’s submission to anything save economic, social, or national requirements. Its real deity is not of a spiritual kind: it is comfort. And its real living philosophy is expressed in a will for power for power’s sake.”
Because of its basic nature, according to Asad, “…so characteristic of modern Western Civilization, is as unacceptable to Christianity as it is to Islam or any other religion, because it is irreligious in its very essence.” 15
Maryam Jameela (Margareth Marcus), warns the serious negative impact for Muslim to imitate Western values: “The imitation of Western ways of life based on their materialistic, pragmatic, and secular philosophies can only lead to the abandonment of Islam.” 16 Mohammad Iqbal, the prominent Pakistani Poet, also warned Muslims to be critical in adopting Western thought based on relativity. So that it causes the lost of conviction. “Know you, oh victims of modern civilization! Lack of conviction is worse than slavery.” Iqbal appeals.17
Whereas, Prof. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas cites a condition of “permanent confrontation” between Islam and the West, in the level of worldview and intellectuals. He concludes, “The confrontation between Western culture and civilization and Islam, from the historical religious and military levels, has now moved on to the intellectual level; and we must realize, then, that this confrontation is by nature a historically permanent one. Islam is seen by the West as posing a challenge to its very way of life; a challenge not only to Western Christianity, but also to Aristotelianism and the epistemological and philosophical principles deriving from Graeco-Roman thought which forms the dominant component integrating the key elements in dimensions of the Western worldview.” 18
Since 1970’s, Naquib al-Attas has warned Muslims not to adopt western values and worldview . According to al-Attas, “Many challenges have arisen in the midst of man’s confusion throughout the ages, but none perhaps more serious and destructive to man than today’s challenge posed by Western Civilization.” The confusion is rooted from the Western system of knowledge. Al-Attas notes, “I venture to maintain that the greatest challenge that has surreptitiously arisen in our age is the challenge of knowledge, indeed, not as against ignorance; but knowledge as conceived and disseminated throughout the world by Western civilization.” 19
Al-Attas has critised to Western science in the International Conference of Phylosopher in January 2000, at University of Hawai. About 160 scholars from 30 countries attended the 2-weeks conference, discussing about “Technology and Cultural Values on the Edge of the Third Millennium”. In his paper entitled “Islam and the Challenge of Modernity: Divergence of Worldviews”, Al-Attas clarifies the basic concepts of Islamic ephistemology and metaphisics, like the concepts of ‘religion’ (ad-din), “the truth” whithout dichotomy between ‘subjective’ and ‘objektive’, as known in Greek Philosophy. 20
The criticism of secular Western knowledge has been raised by so many muslim and non-Muslim scholars. Seyyed Hossein Nasr cites that “today more and more people are becoming aware that the applications of modern science, a science which until few decades ago was completely Western and which has now spread to other continents, have caused directly or indirectly unprecedented environmental disasters, bringing about the real possibility of the total collapse of the natural order.” 21
A Historian, Marvin Perry, describes the paradox of Western civilization:
“Western civilization is a grand but tragic drama. The West has forged the instruments of reason that make possible a rational comprehension of physical nature and human culture, conceived the idea of political liberty, and recognized the intrinsic worth of the individual. But the modern West, though it has unravelled nature’s mysteries, has been less succesful at finding rational solution to social ills and conflicts between nation. Science, a great achievement of the Western intellect, while improving conditions of life, has also produced weapon of mass destruction. Though the West has pioneered in the protection of human rights, it has also produced totalitarian regimes that have trampled on individual freedom and human dignity. And although the West demonstrated a commitment to human equality, it has also practiced brutal racism.” 22
John Mohawk, in his article “A Basic Call to Consciousness”: Indigenous People’s Address to the Western World” cites that the Western culture has been horribly exploitative and destructive of the Natural World, and he concludes, “Today the species of Man is facing a question of the very survival of the species. The way of life known as Western Civilization is on a death path on which their own culture has no viable answers.” 23
Muhammad Asad describes the position of Muslim today to Western civilization:
• “The problem facing the Muslims today is the problem of the traveller who has come to a crossroads. He can remain standing where he is; but that would mean death of starvation. He can choose the road bearing sign “Towards Western Civilization; but then he would have to say good-bye to his past for ever. Or he can choose the other road, the one over which is written: “Towards the Reality of Islam”. It is this road alone which can appeal to those who believe in their past and the possibility of its transformation into a living future. ” 24
He also states that the imitation – individually and socially – of the Western mode of life by Muslims is undoubtedly the greatest danger for the existence – or rather , the revival – of Islamic civilization. For, according to him, “No civilization can prosper – or even exist, after having lost this pride and the connection with its own past…” 25
4. Liberalisation and Islamization
Formally and sistimatically, the idea of liberalisation of Islamic thought in Indonesia – from within of Muslim organisations – can be traced in early 1970’s, when the chairman of Indonesian Student Association (Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam Indonesia/HMI), Nurcholish Madjid, launched the urgency of “secularisation of Islam”. He presented a paper entitled: “Keharusan Pembaruan Pemikiran Islam dan Masalah Integrasi Umat”, stressing the urgency of liberalisation of Islamic thought:
“… pembaruan harus dimulai dengan dua tindakan yang saling erat hubungannya, yaitu melepaskan diri dari nilai-nilai tradisional dan mencari nilai-nilai yang berorientasi ke masa depan. Nostalgia, atau orientasi dan kerinduan pada masa lampau yang berlebihan, harus diganti dengan pandangan ke masa depan. Untuk itu diperlukan suatu proses liberalisasi. Proses itu dikenakan terhadap “ajaran-ajaran dan pandangan-pandangan Islam” yang ada sekarang ini...” Untuk itu, menurut Nurcholish, ada tiga proses yang harus dilakukan dan saling kait-mengait: (1) sekularisasi, (2) kebebasan intelektual, dan (3) ‘Gagasan mengenai kemajuan’ dan ‘Sikap Terbuka’.
Nurcholish Madjid also stressed the incapability of Islamic organisations like Muhammadiyah, Persis, and al-Irsyad to deal with the spirit of renewel, that is progressivity. He says:
“Di Indonesia kita mengenal organisasi-organisasi dengan aspirasi-aspirasi pembaharuan seperti Muhammadiyah, al-Irsyad dan persis. Tetapi sejarah mencatat pula dan harus kita akui dengan jujur bahwa mereka itu sekarang telah berhenti sebagai pembaharu-pembaharu. Mengapa? Sebab mereka pada achirnya telah menjadi beku sendiri, karena mereka agaknya tidak sanggup menangkap semangat dari pada ide pembaharuan itu sendiri, yaitu dinamika dan progresivitas. Oleh karena itu diperlukan adanya suatu Kelompok Pembaharuan Islam baru yang liberal.”
Dr. Greg Barton, in his Ph.D. dissertation at Monash University, entitled The Emergence of Neo-Modernism; a Progressive, Liberal, Movement of Islamic Thought in Indonesia: A Textual Study Examining the Writings of Nurcholish Madjid, Djohan Effendi, Ahmad Wahib and Abdurrahman Wahid 1968-1980, cites the program of liberalisation in Indonesia: (1) Stressing the significancy of context rather than text in ijtihad method, (2) commitment to rationality and renewal, (3) Promoting social and religious pluralism, and (4) Separation of religion from political parties and the neutrality of state of any religion. 26
The liberalisation of higher Islamic education in Indonesia was described, for instance, in a book entitled IAIN dan Modernisasi Islam di Indonesia (2002), published by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The Process of liberalisation initiated by the graduates coming from di Institute of Islamic Studies of McGill University. It is stated:
”Para alumni McGill ini, dengan latar belakang dan keahlian yang berbeda, pada gilirannya memberikan kontribusi yang cukup signifikan dalam pengembangan wacana akademik kajian keislaman dan dunia birokrasi di tanah air.” (p. vii-viii).
Also, it is noted that the McGill graduates have changed the method in Islamic studies from Islamic method to Western method:
“Salah satu yang menonjol adalah tradisi keilmuan yang dibawa pulang oleh kafilah
IAIN (dan STAIN) dari studi mereka di McGill University secara khusus dan universitas-universitas lain di Barat secara umum. Berbeda dengan tradisi keilmuan yang dikembangkan oleh jaringan ulama yang mempunyai kecenderungan untuk mengikuti dan menyebarkan pemikiran ulama gurunya, tradisi keilmuan Barat, kalau boleh dikatakan begitu, lebih membawa pulang metodologi maupun pendekatan dari sebuah pemikiran tertentu. Sehingga mereka justru bisa lebih kritis sekalipun terhadap pikiran profesor-profesor mereka sendiri. Disamping aspek metodologis itu, pendekatan sosial empiris dalam studi agama juga dikembangkan.” (p. xi).
When he was a rector of Jakarta Islamic State University (Universitas Islam Negeri), Prof. Azyumardi Azra, cited that Institute of Islamic State (IAIN) does not apply the concept of Islamization of knowledge. He noted:
“Jika di pesantren mereka memahami dikotomi ilmu: Ilmu Islam (naqliyah dan ilmu keagamaan) dan ilmu umum (sekuler dan duniawiah), maka di IAIN merekadisadarkan bahwa hal itu tidak ada. Di IAIN mereka bisa memahami bahwa belajar sosiologi, antropologi, sejarah, psikologi, sama pentingnya dengan belajar ilmu Tafsir al-Quran. Bahkan ilmu itu bisa berguna untuk memperkaya pemahaman mereka tentang tafsir. Tetapi, IAIN tidak mengajarkan apa yang sering disebut dengan “islamisasi ilmu pengetahuan” sebab semua ilmu yang ada di dunia ini itu sama status dan arti pentingnya bagi kehidupan manusia.”
”Model studi Islam tersebut membuka wawasan mahasiswa IAIN yang pada umumnya berbasis pesantren dan madrasah. Memang, pada tahun-tahun pertama studi di IAIN, sebagian mahasiswa yang telah terdidik dengan budaya pengkajian Islam pesantren mengalami goncangan. Tetapi setelah itu umumnya bisa memahami arti penting model studi Islam di IAIN. Selain itu dalam pengamatan Azyumardi, liberalisasi studi Islam di IAIN juga telah mengubah cara pandang mahasiswa umumnya terhadap ilmu.” (p. 117).
As stated by Muslim scholars like Muhammad Asad, Muhammad Iqbal, Naquib al-Attas, ect., the core of Western values is relativism and uncertainty. There is no single value which admitted as “fixed” (tsabit). Even Pope Benedixt XVI acknowledged his battle “dictatorship of relativism in the West, as cited previously. The alteration of the method of Islamic studies from the ‘Islamic classical method’ to the ‘western method’ has been promting the relativity of Islamic teaching, both in theology and Islamic law. 27
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Actually the law of progress can be applied to any religion except Islam. For, Islam is not a historical or cultural religion. Al-Attas states that “There is only one genuine revealed religion, and its name is given as Islam, and the people who follow this religion are praised by God as the best among mankind… Islam, then, is not merely a verbal noun signifying ‘submission’; it is also the name of particular religion descriptive of true submission, as well as the definition of religion: submission to God). 28
According to al-Attas, Islam was already ‘mature’ since its appearing in the stage of history. Islam is needing no process of ‘growing up’ to maturity. Islam, as a revealed religion, can only be that which knows itself from the very beginning; and that self knowledge comes from the Revelation itself, notr from history. This is a special case of Islam. Al-Attas concludes, “The so called ‘development’ in the religious traditions of mankind cannot be applied to Islam, for wahat is assumed to be a developmental process is in teh case of Islam only a process of interpretation and elaboration which must of necessity occur in alternating generations of believers of different nations, and which refer back to the unchanging Source.” 29
The nature of Islam as a “revealed religion” is very different with other religions. This nature of Islam must be admitted by Muslim scholars, especially in the field of religious studies. Islam can not be placed in the sama positin any cultural and historical religion. Until today, everyone can see the characteristic of Islam as a revealed religion. The name of Islam, for instance, is not coming from human tradition or any human consensus. The name and concept of God in Islam also coming from revelation, not from human culture. Anad also, the ritual of Islam is based on revelation, not from culture or human creativity. 30
Naquib al-Attas defines “Islamization” as a liberating process:
“the liberation of man first from magical, mythological, animistic, national-cultural tradition opposed to Islam, and than from secular control over his reason and his language. The man of Islam is he whose reason and language are no longer controlled by magic, myth, superstition, animism, his own cultural and national traditions opposed to Islam, and secularism.” 31
5. Conclusion
It can be concluded that Mulims everywhere are now facing a big problem in dealing with the domination of secular Western civilization. Almost in every field, in economy, politic, science, education, culture, Muslim have to struggle to defend their identity and their basic Islamic teaching. We can see the effort of so many Muslim scholars to deal with modernity, especially in the education. In the first seminar of International Islamic Education at Makkah, in 1977, Musllim scholar has promoted the nedding of Islamization of knowledge. Now, after some decades, Muslim scholars, have to review and evaluate the application of the good idea and program of “Islamization”. There have been so many effort of Islamization of knowledge and education in Muslim world. We hope that Muslim scholars do not give up from this “dream”, to create a new “Quranic” generation by Islamising every aspect of education. (Bogor, 18 May 2011).