Chapter 7

Modern Islamic
Discourse: Themes and Arguments

Based on the above theoretical consideration, I
would like to investigate, albeit briefly, the main themes and arguments of the
modern Islamic discourse, especially that of resurgence. The following are some
of the underlying presuppositions and claims of this method: (1) First, since
the emergence of Islam, the interpretation provided by various scholars of this
religious phenomenon has given rise to different discourses. Furthermore,
within the Arabic language, the words used and the meanings of the words used
differ from one discourse to another. (2) Second, these discourses have been
conditioned by the concepts, mental formations, economic conditions, and political
attitudes of their particular historical situation. Therefore, in rendering a
judgement on somebody's work, one has to pose questions about the historical
conditions in which that discourse was produced. (3) Third, one has to study
the different Islamic discourses of modern Islam in relation to the West. (4)
The West as a conceptual category should be historically and philosophically
defined. (5) This comprehensive method proposed should elaborate on the
possible connection between ideology and discourse. [41]

What is, therefore, the relationship between modern
Islam and the West? Somebody may object to this formulation: how can we equate
a theological construct with a purely political or geographic construct? The
initial stage of this inquiry, however, is a matter of definition. What is the
West? What is Islam?

What is the West? In dealing with the modern West,
we are to discuss five salient movements: (1) Renaissance, (2) Reformation, (3)
Industrialization, (4) Enlightenment , and (5) post‑Enlightenment. I want
to stress here that these movements are in essence philosophical movements. The
philosophical underpinnings of the Renaissance were: rationalism, humanism,
secularization. The Reformation led to the resurgence of individuality and the
annihilation of the communal Christian spirit.

What is Islam? It is impossible, of course, to give
a precise linguistic meaning to the term Islam. For analytical purposes, one
could talk of this universal religious phenomenon in the following terms: (1)
Islam as metaphysics; (2) Islam as civilization (it means different things to
different people); (3) Islam as the "other."

I would venture to argue that the history of the
modern Muslim people has been highly intertwined with that of the West. And,
therefore, modern Islam cannot be understood except in relation to the modern
West and all the movements that constituted this modern West, be they
philosophical, cultural, economic, political, and military.

We can delineate three moments or phases in the
interaction between modern Islam and the West: (1) the first is the military
conquest of Muslim lands by Western powers. Muslims were weak militarily and
politically. Their only response was to seek refuge in Islam as the source of
their strength.

(2) The second phase witnesses the translation of
European hegemony into a cultural and religious system. This phase is
distinguished by the building of Western educational, cultural, and legal
institutions that begin to replace the traditional Islamic ones. This is the
phase of westernization. The third phase is that of post‑colonialism, one
distinguishing feature of which is the rise of both nationalism and religious
revivalism.

What are the main premises of "resurgent
Islam?" The following are some basic characteristics.

(1) Islamic resurgence has emphasized the role of
reason in Muslim legal theory, and called for a renaissance of Islam in the
modern world on the basis of a reactivation of ijtihad in the religious and legal sciences. The Muslims can
achieve the ideals of Islam as a religion, as a Shari'ah and as a state, by
opening the door of ijtihad. Furthermore,
the neglect of ijtihad led some
Muslims to become ignorant of Islam, and others to be attached to
westernization and atheism.

(2) Second, Islamic revivalism has called for the
reconstruction of the notion of authority, of the Islamic nation, which is a
gradual "reconstitution of the Muslim Ummah,"
and the building of a comprehensive system of Islamic law, government,
education, and ethics in the modern world. The reconstitution of the Ummah in the modern world was possible,
if there were "a return" to the original sources of Islam.

(3) Third, it has called for the reconstruction of the
sources of knowledge. The Qur'an and
the Sunnah were the only sources
recognized. The moral, doctrinal, and linguistic superiority of the "grand
ancestors" or the Companions of the Prophet furnished the sole criterion
according to which new ethical and social rules would be judged. Therefore,
Islamic theory of life is characterized by simplicity and doctrinal unity. Many
came to define religious reform as a triple unification of doctrine, law, and
ethics.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was founded in 1928
by Hasan al-Banna [42] Al‑Banna, who was greatly influenced by Rida,
acted as a caliph in exile, as the supreme mujtahid
in the community, as a political and spiritual leader and the interpreter par excellence of the rules of the
Shari'ah.

From its inception, the Ikhwan movement aimed at
finding "Islamic solutions" to the problems of education, economic
organization, and social justice in society. It advocated an Islamic nation
without separation of religion and state. Next, it proposed an Islamic educational
system whose goal was to create the "Muslim individual, the Muslim house,
the Muslim nation, and the Muslim government." Third, it created an
economic infrastructure based on Islamic principles to solve social injustice.

In the midst of this heritage weighty with
consequences, the mission of the Ikhwan was (1) to free the Islamic fatherland
from all foreign domination, and (2) to help a free Islamic state arise in the
Islamic fatherland. Al‑Banna considered it the duty of each Muslim to
help build such a state, "for as long as this state does not emerge, the
Muslims in their totality are committing sin." In addition, they should
work to reform the education system, wage war against poverty, ignorance,
disease, and crime, and create an exemplary society which would deserve to be
associated with the Islamic sacred law.

In conclusion, the above discussion has raised a
number of questions that still await an answer. One way of passing sound
judgement on the nature, growth, and current dispensation of Islamic resurgence
is to study the theological and cultural underpinning of this phenomenon in
addition to its political impact.

Notes:

[41]. An extensive analysis of these notions is to
be found in: Ibrahim M. Abu‑Rabi, "Reflections on the Islamic
Renaissance in the Modern Arab World: Some Methodological Questions," Islamic Culture, Vol. LXIII (3), July
1989, pp. 42‑59, and his "Secularization, Islam and the Future of
the Arab World: A Derivative Discourse," Peuples Mediterraneens, Issue Number 60 (July‑September
1992), pp.177741.

[42]. On Hasan al‑Banna see, Ishak Musal al‑Hussaini,
The Moslem Brethren: The Greatest of
Modern Islamic Movements (Beirut: Khayat's College Book Cooperative, 1956);
Charles Wendell, Five Tracts of Hasan al‑Banna
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978); Sa id Hawwa, al‑Madkhal ila Da'wat al‑Ikhwan
al‑Muslimin (Amman, 1979); Ibrahim Ghanim, al‑Fikr al‑siyasi li al‑Imam Hasan al‑Banna (Cairo,
1992), and Rifa't al‑Said, ,Hasan
al‑Banna: kayfa wa limadha? (Cairo, 1984).