Modernism And Postmodern Thought
by Omar K Neusserbased on: Traditional Islam In The Modern World; Seyyed H Nasr
1. Definition of Post/-Modernism Versus Tradition
This text discusses the typical mentality of our
times: modernism and post-modernism, as seen from the traditional
Islamic perspective, using the intellectual method of René Guénon and S H
Nasr.
Unlike the predominant opinion in our (post)modern times, where words and concepts have often become depleted of their original meaning - acquiring new quite opposite meanings,[1] we are of the conviction that concepts (abstract ideas) are receptacles of 'higher', more 'original' meanings in as much as we human beings are aware of and open-minded towards an objective, higher reality.
When meaning is lost and the modern 'diversification' of meaning is one aspect of it, then this world is about to succumb to meaninglessness.
René Guénon's method is to trace concepts back to their etymological roots and to redefine them according to their roots, whenever they have lost their deeper and original meanings. An example for this methology is the concept of 'tradition' and 'traditional', which we understand differently from the mostly vague suggestions commonly used, which do not explain much in the context of the higher levels of reality.
“Tradition is essentially of "super-human" origin, which is quite exactly also its correct definition and nothing traditional can be qualified as such without the presence of this vital and axial[2] foundational element, which defines its own authentic character.” DRG
“Nothing which is purely human can be considered traditional, that is why it is wrong - as René Guénon rightly says - to talk about a "philosophic tradition" or a "scientific tradition"... because only the heritery forms of an uninterrupted chain of transmission (silsilah) deserve the qualification "traditional" for they will guarantee the reality and permanence of the "vital element", ie. that of non-human origin, inside a particular tradition.” DRG
Or to put in another way: Tradition is the light with which the human kind has been endowed with from the beginning of times to the end of it;[3] it is the light of meaning in an otherwise meaningsless void, it is the light of spiritual guidance in a materialistic and hedonistic era, it is the light of the Logos shining upon the contingent entities. This Light is from God, the Light of the heavens and earth.[4]
In the case of Islam, which is the most recent - and the last of traditions, the concept of tradition, the dîn, is seen as being twofold:
• in its general meaning the transmission of an element of the suprahuman level - the Qur'an,
• and in its specific sense the words and sayings reported from Prophet Muhammad
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which have been recorded in
the hadith collections together with the entire Islamic religion.
And because those "principles (are) universal,... all the traditional doctrines are identical in essence". R Guénon, EW216
Many Western students of Islam also identify 'modern' with 'advanced', 'developed' and the like, as if the march of time itself guarantees betterment."[20]
2*: The enlightenment-humanist rejection: In the European process of modernisation God, the Absolute, was falsely relegated to a relative role as aloof from creation, so called Deism, which denies God's rule over His creation;[6] instead the human being as such was to be celebrated and became the focus for all human motivation. This mostly Protestant mode of consciousness was of course a grave misunderstanding of the role of man and the role of God Himself.
S H Nasr described another characteristic of modernism as follows:
Postmodernism is the name for the general quality of our time. As it holds that all worldviews are constructed by historical processes, by culture and religion, postmodernism sees those worldviews ('tall stories') as a function of power rather than truth.[7] Truth does not matter.
Now-a-days there is also the post-positivist critical realist who ”recognizes that all observation is fallible and has error and that all theory is revisable (and who is therefore) critical of our ability to know reality with certainty.”[8]
In some quarters there is still an underlying, dormant longing for the construction or discovery of the Grand Design (4*), meaning a new unity of being, of what reality really is, but a unity which has to do without religion and metaphysics. ( 2.3ff
)
(1) there is no Grand Design,
(2) truth is plural and ultimately subjective,
(3) reality is only as it is configured,
(4) there is nothing out there but chaotic potential.
So much for the quest for truth!
Furthermore, with today's "celebration of diversity", normal logical thinking seems to have evaporated from many a contemporary mind, as modernism and postmodernism even can work together, or so it seems, in the mind of a single individual, confounding it and neutralizing any attempt toward a traditional or metaphysical view of reality![7] So we can find many absurd examples today where opposing opinions or convictions are held in parallel - at the same time by the same individual!
therefore => (2)
(2) reality is constructed
therefore => (3)
(3) all comprehensible worldviews are oppressive
therefore => (4)
(4) such worldviews should be deconstructed
therefore => (5)
(5) Deconstructionism is the progressive pulverization of reality
therefore => (1)
(1) ! !
SAC-34
From now on man himself became the centre point of existence and the ”modern” idea claimed that there was nothing higher than human reason and no object of science more dignified to receive scientific attention than what was possible to perceive empirically through the human senses. Typical for this was 'positivism'.
These are the manifestations of the great confusion of our time, which are not dealt here, but which everyone can see with his own eyes.
the physical, the psychic or psychological and the spiritual.
Unlike the predominant opinion in our (post)modern times, where words and concepts have often become depleted of their original meaning - acquiring new quite opposite meanings,[1] we are of the conviction that concepts (abstract ideas) are receptacles of 'higher', more 'original' meanings in as much as we human beings are aware of and open-minded towards an objective, higher reality.
When meaning is lost and the modern 'diversification' of meaning is one aspect of it, then this world is about to succumb to meaninglessness.
René Guénon's method is to trace concepts back to their etymological roots and to redefine them according to their roots, whenever they have lost their deeper and original meanings. An example for this methology is the concept of 'tradition' and 'traditional', which we understand differently from the mostly vague suggestions commonly used, which do not explain much in the context of the higher levels of reality.
1.1 Definition of Tradition
Therefore according to how we understand the concept
of Tradition from its etymological root: tradere (deliver, transmit) -
Tradition has nothing to do with peoples' usages or customs from old,
but is understood as *revealed* tradition, that is truths and principles of divine order revealed or unveiled to mankind.[46]“Tradition is essentially of "super-human" origin, which is quite exactly also its correct definition and nothing traditional can be qualified as such without the presence of this vital and axial[2] foundational element, which defines its own authentic character.” DRG
“Nothing which is purely human can be considered traditional, that is why it is wrong - as René Guénon rightly says - to talk about a "philosophic tradition" or a "scientific tradition"... because only the heritery forms of an uninterrupted chain of transmission (silsilah) deserve the qualification "traditional" for they will guarantee the reality and permanence of the "vital element", ie. that of non-human origin, inside a particular tradition.” DRG
Or to put in another way: Tradition is the light with which the human kind has been endowed with from the beginning of times to the end of it;[3] it is the light of meaning in an otherwise meaningsless void, it is the light of spiritual guidance in a materialistic and hedonistic era, it is the light of the Logos shining upon the contingent entities. This Light is from God, the Light of the heavens and earth.[4]
In the case of Islam, which is the most recent - and the last of traditions, the concept of tradition, the dîn, is seen as being twofold:
• in its general meaning the transmission of an element of the suprahuman level - the Qur'an,
• and in its specific sense the words and sayings reported from Prophet Muhammad
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which have been recorded in
the hadith collections together with the entire Islamic religion.
1.2 Definition of Modernism
Our definition of modern and modernism has nothing to do with what may be generally perceived as existing now-a-days (1*) as being very new or 'up-to-date', instead, what is here defined as modern, is that which is cut off from the Divine, the Transcendant, or the 'Supernatural',
everything that does not refer to - and is isolated from - "the
immutable principles which in reality govern all things and which are
made known to man through revelation in its most universal sense.
Modernism is thus contrasted with tradition (ad-dîn); the former
[including] all that is merely human and now ever more increasingly
subhuman, and all that is divorced and cut off from the Divine source.
[Additionally] tradition has always accompanied and in fact
characterized human existence, whereas modernism is a very recent
phenomenon." S H Nasr, TIM98And because those "principles (are) universal,... all the traditional doctrines are identical in essence". R Guénon, EW216
In other words modernism is:
"The enlightenment-humanist rejection (2*)
of tradition and authority in favour of reason and natural science.
This is founded upon the assumption of the autonomous individual as the
sole source of meaning and truth--the Cartesian cogito."[5]
1*: "If we are forced to re-define
such terms as 'tradition' and 'modernism' ... it is because, [despite
the considerable amount of research devoted to the subject by writers
such as R. Guènon] there are still readers, including Muslim activists,
for whom the distinction between tradition and modernism is not clear.
They still identify tradition with customs and modernism with all that
is contemporary.Many Western students of Islam also identify 'modern' with 'advanced', 'developed' and the like, as if the march of time itself guarantees betterment."[20]
2*: The enlightenment-humanist rejection: In the European process of modernisation God, the Absolute, was falsely relegated to a relative role as aloof from creation, so called Deism, which denies God's rule over His creation;[6] instead the human being as such was to be celebrated and became the focus for all human motivation. This mostly Protestant mode of consciousness was of course a grave misunderstanding of the role of man and the role of God Himself.
S H Nasr described another characteristic of modernism as follows:
”A second trait of modernism closely related to
anthropomorphism is the lack of principles in the metaphysical sense.
Human nature is too unstable and turbulent be able to serve as
metaphysical principle for anything. That is why a mode of thinking that
is not able to transcend the human level and that remains
anthropomorphic cannot but be devoid of principles understood
metaphysically…”[19]
”Only
mathematics among the modern sciences may be said to process certain
principles in the metaphysical sense: the reason is that mathematics
remains despite everything a Platonic science, and its laws discovered
by the human mind continue to reflect metaphysical principles as reason
itself cannot but display the fact that it is a reflection even if a dim
one, when it seeks to turn upon itself, of the Intellect.”[19]
1.3 Definition of Postmodernism
We further understand postmodernism as the recalcitrant, unruly child of
modernism. It is a kind modernism driven to its extremes, by its
usurping or 'deconstructing' modernism itself and by its arrogant
denial of tradition or anything absolute and permanent, which gives it
the same bad smell as its parent concept, because it is overtly more
rebellious and hateful of anything holy, divine, or absolute.Postmodernism is the name for the general quality of our time. As it holds that all worldviews are constructed by historical processes, by culture and religion, postmodernism sees those worldviews ('tall stories') as a function of power rather than truth.[7] Truth does not matter.
In other words postmodernism is:
"A rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual (3*) with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically unrepresentable, Dionysian passion are the foci of attention. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject and object, self and other. (4*) This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the 'John Wayne' individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject."[5] 3: Also a rejection of reason as a universal concept.
4: Even the merging of true and false, as there is no more objective reference to Truth.
This emphasis upon ”anarchic collective, anonymous experience” has been
immensely reinforced by the anonymity and virtuality (i.e. non-reality)
of the internet innovation starting at the end of the 20th century.
"A rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual (3*) with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically unrepresentable, Dionysian passion are the foci of attention. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject and object, self and other. (4*) This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the 'John Wayne' individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject."[5] 3: Also a rejection of reason as a universal concept.
4: Even the merging of true and false, as there is no more objective reference to Truth.
2. Characteristics of Modernism And Postmodernism
2.1 Modernism & Postmodernism
In modernism it was believed that materiality or the existence of
phenomena were everything there is and that knowledge of either is
superiour to anything else. This philosophy of science is called
positivism. Thus positivism is a rejection of metaphysics, as it holds
that the ”goal of knowledge is simply to describe the phenomena that we
experience,” which we can observe and measure and ”knowledge of anything
beyond that, a positivist would hold, is impossible.”[8] Now-a-days there is also the post-positivist critical realist who ”recognizes that all observation is fallible and has error and that all theory is revisable (and who is therefore) critical of our ability to know reality with certainty.”[8]
In some quarters there is still an underlying, dormant longing for the construction or discovery of the Grand Design (4*), meaning a new unity of being, of what reality really is, but a unity which has to do without religion and metaphysics. ( 2.3ff
)
4: Probing the
"Grand Design, in posing the greatest questions: How vast is the
Universe, the entirety of existence? Was there a beginning? Will there
be an end? What is the origin and fate of the Universe?"
However, as Charles Upton has shown[9]
it is always held in postmodernism (as a conviction or belief ?!) that:(1) there is no Grand Design,
(2) truth is plural and ultimately subjective,
(3) reality is only as it is configured,
(4) there is nothing out there but chaotic potential.
So much for the quest for truth!
Furthermore, with today's "celebration of diversity", normal logical thinking seems to have evaporated from many a contemporary mind, as modernism and postmodernism even can work together, or so it seems, in the mind of a single individual, confounding it and neutralizing any attempt toward a traditional or metaphysical view of reality![7] So we can find many absurd examples today where opposing opinions or convictions are held in parallel - at the same time by the same individual!
2.2 Postmodernism In A Nutshell:
(1) There is no objective truth or realitytherefore => (2)
(2) reality is constructed
therefore => (3)
(3) all comprehensible worldviews are oppressive
therefore => (4)
(4) such worldviews should be deconstructed
therefore => (5)
(5) Deconstructionism is the progressive pulverization of reality
therefore => (1)
(1) ! !
SAC-34
2.3 Higher Levels of Reality Became Eliminated
So the higher levels of reality were eliminated from intellectual
research and attention. This happened because reason and rationality
were bit by bit isolated from their transcendant and immutable
principles. This was a process over several centuries and this tendency
became ever more prevalent since the French revolution of 1789 in
Western, European thought and imagination.From now on man himself became the centre point of existence and the ”modern” idea claimed that there was nothing higher than human reason and no object of science more dignified to receive scientific attention than what was possible to perceive empirically through the human senses. Typical for this was 'positivism'.
It meant that from now on man was "not able to go further than outward appearances".[10]
Seeing that every science centered around man, however, made his
research and therefore his civilization restricted to only one level of
being, the materialistic viewpoint.
In postmodernism human rationality and what was left
of human intelligence became relativized, relying on the sub-human and
the irrational. In this restricted scientific field sense-experience
became the only source of knowledge. But man thinks according to what he is; or as Aristotle certainly knew, 'knowledge depends upon the mode of the knower.'"
”A study of the modern concept of man as being
'free' of Heaven, complete master of his own destiny, earth-bound but
also master of the earth, oblivious to all eschatological realities,
which he has replaced with some future state of perfection in profane
historical time [utopia], indifferent if not totally opposed to the
world of the Spirit and its demands, and lacking the sense of the
sacred, will reveal how futile have been and are the efforts" ...
... to modernise an integrated tradition such as Islam, or even 'harmonizing' Islam and modernism.” [11]
However, in the traditional sciences everything is related to and dependent on the higher levels of reality,[12]
and in consequence there is always a vast field of scientific
investigation above those practical applications which are the result of
what modern man usually depicts as science.[13]... to modernise an integrated tradition such as Islam, or even 'harmonizing' Islam and modernism.” [11]
This was shown for example by Imam Al-Ghazali 
, who in his Ihya 900 years ago, described the "only intellectually rigorous escape from the trap of postmodernity."
He and his his school taught that "no universal statements about the world or the human condition can be reached by purely ratiocinative or inductive methods, because these cannot transcend the material context of the world in which they are framed."[14]
, who in his Ihya 900 years ago, described the "only intellectually rigorous escape from the trap of postmodernity." He and his his school taught that "no universal statements about the world or the human condition can be reached by purely ratiocinative or inductive methods, because these cannot transcend the material context of the world in which they are framed."[14]
2.4 The Lack of Principles
Secondly has the lack of principles led human civilization into a very
unsteady - to say the least - or volatile situation of ever new trends
and ideas in all realms of life, not only in natural science, but also
in politics, economics, sociology and of course in the emergence of new
or not so new religious trends such as the many forms of "New Age".These are the manifestations of the great confusion of our time, which are not dealt here, but which everyone can see with his own eyes.
Instead of presenting the means for calming man's egotism
(nafs) and evil desires this modern superficiality and confusion is
leading modern societies into ever greater divisions and to ”creating
ever greater artificial needs,” which cannot be even satisfied in a life
of 1000 years.[15]
2.4.1 The Reduction of Human Nature
When the modern perception of reality had thus
been reduced to the material and profane level, it also reduced human
nature to its physical and psychological aspects.
However the human soul is not only a psychic entity,
but first of all a spiritual one, which is its principal aspect. This is
according to the traditional teaching of all world religions and
metaphysical doctrines:
Thus man has (not two but) *three* levels of being:the physical, the psychic or psychological and the spiritual.
The ”seat or organ of spirituality” is mentioned in the words of German theologian Meister Eckehart (d.1327):
”There is something in the soul, which is not
created and not possible to create (increatum et increabile); if the
whole soul were such, it would be not created and not possible to
create; and this is the Intellect (intellectus).”
The disadvantageous modernist 'development' therefore stripped man of
his divine, sacred potential. This led to a concept of human nature
which is "too unstable, changing and turbulent to be able to serve as
the principle for something" or anything at all, because it is grounded
on the emotional and often irrational levels of being.
The tendency to reduce human nature can even be
observed in some overtly exoteric religious circles - influenced by
modernism itself, where there may be lipservice to the Divine, but in
practice great focus on moral, behavioural or political issues,
neglecting the essential demands of the Divine Law, in respect to inner
transformation and spiritual striving.[16]
2.4.2 Principles Necessary To Transcend Human Level
However, doctrines and principles are necessary to gain meaning from
empirical sense-data and to gain meaning is proof of perfection and
permanency, while giving up on the quest for meaning leads to ignorance
and despair. As one of the ancient savants, Aristotle, declared:
”The things which are most knowable are first
principles and causes; for it is through these and from these that other
things come to be known, and not these through the particulars which
fall under them.” AM I.ii.6
Man has therefore to prepare himself for a way of life
with a special concern, which is a spiritual way of thinking about and
engaging in this world, transcending the materialistic, and (only)
psychological levels of understanding, while keeping his highest
endeavour in this life the Ultimate Concern, this is God - this is
Allah.[17]
2.4.3 The Validity of the Modern Sciences
Transcending the materialistic and psychologic levels of understanding
is neither intended nor envisaged by modern science. It is quite obvious
that neither empiricism, nor validification through induction, nor
”reliance upon the data of the senses as confirmed by reason, (can)
serve as principle in the metaphysical sense.”[18]
These scientific methods are valid on their own restricted levels
leading to results and applications of the sciences which created them,
but they are neither able to answer our existential questions nor
improve our normal human condition. (”Normal” - meaning: how man was
meant to be, normality as sanity[1])
What is worse, modern science has
with all its inventions brought about a serious disequilibrium in this
world - despite its partial benefits - , precisely because of it being
divorced from - and its inability of taking account of - the higher
principles, even if this may not always have been the intention of the
individual scientist.[21]
2.5 The Theory of Evolution
2.5.1 As Weapons Against Religious Thought
The theory of evolution, being a very pervasive modern theory,
has been one of the strongest weapons against religious thought in the
West, at first against the Christian faith, later against traditional thought and religious belief in general.
”Our belief in evolution and our worship of
progress ... are modernist dogmas which have [in the Western and in the
modern world] specifically replaced (among others) Christian charity and
hope in Divine Providence.” SAC403
Once Darwin ”with his half-baked theory of evolution”[22]
had refuted the doctrin of creation; faith in God itself, the Almighty,
was shattered and the truth of the Bible ridiculed. The argument of man
descending from a (shadowy) ape was later applied against the truth of
every Divine Revelation. (see 2.5.3)
2.5.2 As If A Proven Scientific Fact
Not only in the West of the 18th century but globally in the world today
the theory of Evolution ”is paraded around as if it were a proven
scientific fact,” and instead of bothering to seek for proofs for this
quasi-theory, and after generations of indoctrination - especially by
passing years through the educational system - most people have become
convinced by and have accepted 'evolution' as an irrefutable truth. But
would one dig deeper into the theory of macroevolution[23],
one would swiftly discover those many inconsistencies and assumptions
it makes, because the theory is unscientific and because there are no
proofs.[24]
Many contemporary scientists have acknowledged the
defects of this theory, but their criticism is not much publicised, and
if it is publicised, it has rarely come to the attention of the general
public. What remains today as 'contemporary popularized science' is not
always what has been refuted by many sincere scientists years ago.[25]
2.5.3 The Pervasiveness of The Theory of Evolution
The theory of evolution has become pervasive in such a way that its
proponents are referring to evolution as a blueprint for human
development in general and by transferring the idea of evolution to
completely different areas of human thought, such as sociology, history,
politics and even the arts.[26]
So for example in psychology we now have something called 'evolutionary
psychology', or 'sociobiology', the latter indending for psychology to
”be put on a biological and cultural basis.”[27]
Or the insidious trend - when some personal suffering
comes to the open - of getting rid of compassion, thinking that it may
”signal to your social-Darwinian competitors, that you are probably not
fitted to survive because insufficiently ‘evolved.’”[28]
But psychology is really the knowledge of the soul -
of all its levels and functions. Evolutionists are only concerned with
its coarse and lowest levels. However, studying monkeys individually or
in flock[29]
will not increase our knowledge of the essential qualities of man, much
less of any higher states of being by which the human species has been
honoured over the rest of creation.[30]
Thus the theory of evolution has
become a pseudo-religion, explaining this and that and almost
everyhting, even the otherwise unexplainable! For its logical absurdity
and a survey of the main scientific facts see for example L. Bournoure
and D. Dewar.[31]
2.5.4 Its Most Important Features
Its most important features and 'shortcomings' are that it "refuses to
see permanence anywhere, and that (for this theory) the greater somehow
'evolves' from the lesser and (that it) is totally blind to the higher
states of being. This in itself is but a result of that loss of
principles alluded above."[32]
Thus is the state of the modern world in which we are living, that in the words of S H Nasr:
”Evolutionism is but a desperate attempt to fill
the vaccum created by modern man's 'cutting off' of the 'Hands of God'
from His creation and negating any principle above the merely human,
which then falls of necessity to the level of the subhuman.
Once the [Transcendant] Principle is forgotten, the world becomes a
circle without centre and this experience of the loss of the centre
remains an existential reality for anyone who accepts the theses of
modernism, whether he be [a Jew], a Christian or a Muslim.” [32]
see also:
Modernized Muslims And Architecture, by S H Nasr
Effects Of Westernization Upon Muslims, by S H Nasr
Modernized Muslims And Architecture, by S H Nasr
Effects Of Westernization Upon Muslims, by S H Nasr
2.5.5 Man Did Not 'Evolve'
As long as man has lived on this earth he has had a traditional outlook
or perspective on life, which is proven by the heritage of mankind,
especially by the various holy scriptures. In those times past he put
his trust on the Higher Being, God, Allah and lived under His protection
and guidance. In normal circumstances, man was neither just an
individual with a mind but without a heart, nor just a heap
of molecules in a DNA-string: thank God the human mind is indefinitely
more than electrical signals running through nerve-threads.
According to the Islamic tradition, man - as God's viceregent -has a potential for knowing God and to choose what is better and more beautiful in any given situation.
The traditional outlook on life is opposed to the modern or postmodern way of seeing reality, in fact the two are irreconcilable. Man has always been man, he did not have to evolve from some lower being, from an ape or a fish… The idea of bringing out the higher from the lesser is a modern myth, it is both illogical and unscientific![33] In the words of Charles Upton:
”The projection of this false myth of progress on biology results in the
ideology known as 'evolutionism', the doctrin that the less is the
causal origin of the greater, that the higher and more complex life
forms, including man, have developed incrementally from simpler forms.
The Traditionalists, on the other hand, teach that the advent of new
life forms, which the fossil record shows to be more discontinuous than
continuous - thus calling Darwin's 'natural selection of random
mutations' into serious question - actually represents the descent of
matter-organizing spiritual archetypes from the higher planes of Being,
in response to God's creative word. These 'Platonic Ideas' of species
then draw themselves the matter they need in order to construct physical
vehicles for their life in space and time.”[34]
2.6 The Idea of An Earthly Utopia
Nowadays in the age of unhindered individualism and postmodern
deconstruction of 'tall stories' and all-encompassing ideas and
'worldviews' and due to the recent disappointments in socio-political
engineering ( faschism, communism ) the ideas of progress and utopia
have lost much of their attraction. But while these ideas had to
'retreat' somewhat from the level of political discourse, they still
form the imagination of average, individual man and woman. They are
still forming their mentality including their ideas of personal
accomplishment, seeing that everyone seems to be his own forlorn master
in the ungodly endeavour of an earthly paradise.
It can be shown that the idea of continous human
progress (nowadays individual progress) towards some kind of earthly
(individualistic) utopia is related to and sustained by the
allround-theory of evolution.
As in the latter, so for example in
technological or today in biogenetic development, it is generally
maintained and taken for granted, that man's situation will but improve,
that 'things will turn out alright' and 'everything will be fine'. But
what if this solely technological progress is combined with social and
moral regression and creeping corruption, which is obviously the case?
What if the broken promises by political leaders and
technocrats lead to a growing climate of disappointment and dispair,
when average man has nowhere to turn - not even to consumerism?
What if utopianism is just another vain dream amidst the bleak prospects for man's godless future?
Anti-traditional ideas of an utopia and progress have
even penetrated quite a few fundamentalist minds inside the
world-religions. This shift of emphasis toward the materialistic ("das
Grobstoffliche") is one of the symptoms of the decadence of time as
foretold by the Prophet of Islam .
So it is not surprising, that the greater the loss of
true spirituality in a community, the stronger will be the imagination
of some kind of earthly paradise.
When analyzing recent history in the West it is not difficult to realize
the dire consequences which this modernist idea of human progress has
had during ”the era of democracy and progress” of the 20th century:This modernist idea has wrought wars and chaos upon the world on an unprecedented scale, and it will regrettably continue doing so.
The price which people have to pay - for turning their back to Tradition - has been very high, and in the case of some recent muslim political experience has ”led and still leads to deep social and political upheavals whose goals and methods (are) completely alien to the ethos and aims of traditional Islam.”[35]
2.7 The Loss of The Sense of The Sacred
Finally one more charactersitic of modern thought is the loss of the
sense of the sacred, which - among all of the symptoms of modern and
postmodern thought - is its most devastating consequence. The reduction
of intellect to reason and in postmodernism, the abolishment of any
universal acceptable concept of reason(!) has made sacred knowledge ”inaccessible and to some even meaningless.”[36]
This state of affairs has to be taken into account in
any analysis of modern mentality, because without this sense of the
sacred, tradition will never be correctly understood.
On top of this has Islam itself been affected - in the minds of some of
our contemporaries - by 'the wheel of time', in this case by the
modernist concept of "rationality". This has as a consequence tended in
some quarters to reduce this wonderful religion (dîn) to only one of its dimensions, namely to outer dimensions of the Sharî'ah and to ”divest it of those intellectual weapons which alone can ward off the assaults of modern thought upon its citadel.”[20]
But as Islam is a living tradition lasting to the end of time, it will also avert those modernist attacks. This we know from the authority of our religion.
However, there is no doubt that the intellectual
challenges posed by modernism in the form of evolutionism, rationalism,
existentialism, agnosticism, individualism, nihilism and the like and by
postmodernism with its deconstructionism, can only be answered
intellectually, those challenges can neither be confronted juridically
nor militarily.
3. What Prevented Modernism In Islamic Thought
Yes, there is the Divine imperative of using reason, but Islam has never forgotton the restrictions on human reason
and has always deeply venerated the principles which transcend human
thought. So reason - roughly corresponding to `aql - was always open to
higher levels of knowledge, i.e. sacred knowledge and Islamic
metaphysics (al-`ilm ilâhiyyah).
In Islam there is no modernism, because there can
nothing be more modern, ie new and shining in its light of truth than
the Islamic message, because it transcends time.
A utopia, meaning the place
which is not anywhere on this earth, or a perfect society in this world
of fitna or tribulation is not an Islamic concept, as it disregards the
dichotomy and conditions of the two worlds: the perfect state is only to
be found with God and in the Here-After. So, what is reminiscent to the
idea of a utopia is really the Divine Presence in the dunya (in this life) and in the akhira, the Here-After.[39]
In the secularised, de-Christianized West however, utopianism seeked ”to establish a perfect social order by purely human
means.” Lately (~1990ies) this search for an utopia has found new
expressions in feminism, or environmental issues, which can have valid
arguments. But this utopianism ”disregards the presence of evil in this
world in the theological sense and aims at doing without God, as if it
were possible to create an order based on goodness but removed from the
source of all goodness.”[37]
1st. First of all and in contrast to
the profane models of development and ordering of society, Islamic
development is always dependant on the Divine, the Master of Creation,
Allah (may His Majesty be exalted).
2nd. Secondly, there is no societal or other development of any kind unless there is 'inner development', ie. purification and growth (tazkiyyah) at a personal, spiritual level.[38]
3rd. Thirdly, the Islamic
description of a perfect society is primarily identified with the
prophetic period of al-Madina. This is a time in human history, when the
Messenger of Allah guided the Muslims to become a growing and self-purifying community (ummah) of faithful (al-muminûn), a community which was centered around the divine message and the living exemplification of it, i.e. the Messenger of Allah .
guided the Muslims to become a growing and self-purifying community (ummah) of faithful (al-muminûn), a community which was centered around the divine message and the living exemplification of it, i.e. the Messenger of Allah .
As there cannot be a better leader and spiritual teacher than the Holy Prophet , there cannot be a better society either, and every future society has to measure up to this pattern.
, there cannot be a better society either, and every future society has to measure up to this pattern.
Or, otherwise, the perfect society in Islam is beyond
this earthly plane, it is more a point of reference than a locus for
political maneuvering.
So, what prevented - until quite recently - the growth of utopianism in the Islamic sphere is:
a.) Islamic realism, that on earth imperfection cannot be eliminated,
b.) The awareness inspired by the Quran and the hadith that there is a deteriorization (decadence) in time, i.e. "the gradual loss of perfection in the Islamic community as it moves away from the origin of revelation".
Compare with the authentic hadith: The holy Prophet Muhammad said:
”The best people are those living in my generation, then those coming after them, and then those coming after” (the second generation) and that
c.) Any improvement in society (if not a perfection of it) can only come about with the help of God.[31]
b.) The awareness inspired by the Quran and the hadith that there is a deteriorization (decadence) in time, i.e. "the gradual loss of perfection in the Islamic community as it moves away from the origin of revelation".
Compare with the authentic hadith: The holy Prophet Muhammad
said:”The best people are those living in my generation, then those coming after them, and then those coming after” (the second generation) and that
c.) Any improvement in society (if not a perfection of it) can only come about with the help of God.[31]
4. True Science Is Based On The Intellect
In modernism reason is conceived as a purely human activity, cut off
from the Transcendant and in postmodernism one is set to deconstruct
reason by taking hold of and referring to the irrational levels of the
human psyche, whereas in traditional sciences the human mind is
understood as being a mirror of the Divine Mind. The picture produced on
the mirror is the product of the Picture-maker reflecting Itself on it.
Hence tradition
has always held that the organ ”and container of knowledge is not the
human mind but ultimately the Divine Intellect.” Therefore ”true science
is not based on purely human reason but on the Intellect which belongs
to the supra-human level of reality, yet illuminates the human mind.”[40]
”When Descartes uttered, 'I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo sum),
he placed his individual awareness of his own limited self as the
criterion of existence, for certainly the 'I' in Descartes' assertion
was not the Divine 'I' who, through Hallâj, exclaimed, 'I am the Truth' (ana'l Haqq):
The Divine 'I' which alone, according to traditional sources has the
right to say 'I'. Until Descartes, it was Pure Being, the Being of God,
which determined human existence and the various levels of reality. But
with Cartesian rationalism, individual human existence became the
criterion of reality and also the truth.”[40]
And what could be of more success to earthly man than to link up his intellect to the higher Intellect, which is not of his own and which is unrestricted and independent of place and time.[41]
See: S H Nasr: < Islam and Modern Science >
5. A More Worthy Source of Knowledge Than Reason
To gain immediate and direct knowledge the man of (Islamic) Tradition
transcends human reason and rationality. This can be achieved by
applying his intellectual intuition, always in the context of the sacred texts of revelation ( nuzûl ) and the prophetic guidance (hidâyah).This intellectual intuition has nothing to do with simple imagination or the kind of "intuition" as it it generally understood, instead it is divinely granted to those worthy of it, "it is immutable and infallible in itself and the only starting point for all development in conformity with the traditional norms"[42], i.e. it is the indispensible (spiritual) agent to comprehend the truth of the divine principles.
”The Muslim intellectual saw revelation as the
primary source of knowledge, not only as the means to learn the laws of
morality concerned with the active life. He was also aware of the
possibility of man purifying himself until the 'eye of the heart' (`ayn al-qalb),
residing at the centre of his being, would open and enable him to gain
direct vision of the supernatural realities. Finally he accepted the
power of reason to know, but this reason was always attached to and
derived sustenance from revelation on the one hand, and intellectual
intuition on the other.”[43]
Other descriptions of the intellectual intuition are: vision, unveiling and wisdom (shuhûd, kashf or dhauq and Hikmah)
– which are all the way firmly rooted in the traditional, religious
universe of Islamic thought; they are given as a grant from God - Allah,
may His Majesty be exalted and it is He Who gives to whom He pleases.
6. The Islamic Concept of Man
By following the Quranic revelation and the prophetic pattern of conduct [44],
a Muslim is not only capable of rendering his life in its religious,
social, political and economical aspects in harmony with the intention
of his Creator, seeking His pleasure, - but he may also gain direct
insight into the higher realities.[45]
This following (of the two above) includes to tread
the path of purification of - and introspection into - his soul all the
time being led by the Grace of God, as it was shown for man of all ages
by the Perfect Man on earth, Prophet Muhammad .
.
To succeed in both worlds man has to be good and to do good
and the source of all goodness is God.
At the time of the convenant of the 'alast', before the creation, the
souls were aware of and knew God, this is the pristine creation - al-fitrah.
In this life (dunya) man is created to serve
and to worship no other than Allah, may His Majesty be exalted, who is
his Lord and Sustainer, because it is to Him he will ultimately return.
His worship includes and hinges on his endeavour to purify[44] his inner self (soul) - by the grace of God - so that it may become a mirror of the Divine Qualities, such as Ar-Rahmân (The All-Compassionate). The fundamentals of the dîn - tradition (or 'religion') are the channels through which he can redress his animal soul - ego (nafs) and finally become the vice-regent of Allah (khalîfah) in this world - this is the true fulfillment of being human.
In the next world (al-âkhirah) man will be
created in a state which corresponds to his intentions and actions in
the life of the world (dunya), and the judgement is Allah's alone.
This teaching of the Real was valid in the old days
of the 'Golden Ages' and this teaching is valid today, be it moderism or
post-moderism we live in, until the end of time.
How to live as a believer and as a Muslim in the
(post-)modern world, treading the path of pure religion (Islam),
upright, seeking Allah Almighty's Good Pleasure only (rid.wân), has to
be the main issue - also today.[45] This spiritual quest includes first of all re-turning to Allah, that is sincere taubah and studying the principles of the dîn in order to implement them in our lives from this day onwards.
See also: S H Nasr The Islamic Conception of Man
7. Living In (Post-) Modernity
To live in this age of (post-) modernity means as above
mentioned, to walk the path of pure religion, upright, seeking Allah
Almighty's pleasure only. Neither does not mean to be involved in hatred
or seeking to reduce Allah's mercy (raHma) towards other human
beings, nor to be occupied with minor, marginal issues, but to focus on
the fundamentals of the religion; Islam = 5.
Concerning the validity of some 'modern appearances', Nasser Gazi commented on this and said:
This
is a difficult question and "one which would be hard to generalise on.
It is clear that we cannot go back to the Middle Ages or to convert the
world (both East and West) into some traditionally
oriented society.
What can be done is to try and trace the traditional
doctrines back to their metaphysical roots, and thence try and apply
them anew. Each aspect of modernism would have to examined individually
in the light of this.
Moreover, it is not the 'modern appearances' which are in question, but that what underlies the appearances that matter. Not everything that is modern is anti-traditional."
Moreover, it is not the 'modern appearances' which are in question, but that what underlies the appearances that matter. Not everything that is modern is anti-traditional."
What man has lost is immensely much, and what he has
gained through the process of modernisation is flimsy in comparison, but
to mention a few areas:
- a certain amount of freedom (?!) - mostly
diverting towards negative individualism and consumerism for the
'fortunate few' in this world;
- the rule of law - even when those man-made laws often discriminate against the poor and downtrodden, and seem to be more a charade than real;
- human rights - f. ex. publicly denouncing inhumane treatment of prisoners, but always ignoring the human responsibilities especially towards the Master of Creation.
- a certain level of freedom of speech - when inside the given frames of what is 'politically correct'; so for example very little criticism of Zionism,
- a certain standard of health care, but which is eroding in the West.
- the rule of law - even when those man-made laws often discriminate against the poor and downtrodden, and seem to be more a charade than real;
- human rights - f. ex. publicly denouncing inhumane treatment of prisoners, but always ignoring the human responsibilities especially towards the Master of Creation.
- a certain level of freedom of speech - when inside the given frames of what is 'politically correct'; so for example very little criticism of Zionism,
- a certain standard of health care, but which is eroding in the West.
Those Muslims living in the West do well to improve life in society, steering away from nihilism, egotism, materialism and sectarianism - in such a way as shown by the exemplary person in human history - the Prophet of Islam
- who is a mercy for the whole universe for all time.
8. References
Quranreferences:
QR 5-3| Quran: Sura al-Mâidah (5), verse 3:This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and
chosen for you Islam as a religion. |
| Quran: Sura al-Anfâl (8), verse 53:This is because Allah has never changed a favor which He
has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition;
and because Allah is Hearing, Knowing. |
| Quran: Sura an-Nur (24), verse 19:Allah knows, while you do not know. UP |
| Quran: Sura at-Takâthur (102), verse 7:Then you shall most certainly see it with the eye of
certainty; |
literature references:
CMW: Crisis of The Modern World; René Guénon / 'Abd al-Wâhid Yahya; some quotes
EW: East and West; René Guénon; some quotes
KS: Knowledge And The Sacred; Seyyed Hossein Nasr; State University of New York Press 1989
SAC: The System of Antichrist; Truth And Falsehood In Postmodernism & New Age; Charles Upton; Sophia Perennis, NY 2001
To order it: www.seriousseekers.com
TIM: Traditional Islam In The Modern World; Seyyed Hossein Nasr;
DRG: Dictionnaire de René Guénon, Jean-Marc Vivenza; Éditions Le Mercure Dauphinois, Grenoble 2005
IPOP: Islamic philosophy from its origin to the present, Seyyed Hossein Nasr
EW: East and West; René Guénon; some quotes
KS: Knowledge And The Sacred; Seyyed Hossein Nasr; State University of New York Press 1989
SAC: The System of Antichrist; Truth And Falsehood In Postmodernism & New Age; Charles Upton; Sophia Perennis, NY 2001
To order it: www.seriousseekers.com
TIM: Traditional Islam In The Modern World; Seyyed Hossein Nasr;
DRG: Dictionnaire de René Guénon, Jean-Marc Vivenza; Éditions Le Mercure Dauphinois, Grenoble 2005
IPOP: Islamic philosophy from its origin to the present, Seyyed Hossein Nasr
see related pages on our site:
What Is Normal And What Normality?
Crisis of The Modern World
Frequent Questions About Islam And Religion - FAQ
The Nature of Sacred Knowledge see related pages on external sites: In The Spirit of Tradition, by Nazim Baksh
“Unfortunately, many Muslims today have swallowed the false discursive assumption that tradition is something static. Therefore, in order to move forward, they [feel they] have to tear themselves away from the past and embrace the modern, and by extension, the post-modern, with all its technological gadgetry, and its shifting house of virtues and ethics.”
Reflections On Islam And Modern Life, Seyyed Hossein Nasr
On the encounter between Islam and modern thought.
The Fall of the Family: Boys will be Boys; Gender identity issues;
Shaikh Abdal-Hakim Murad
On feminism…
Islam and the New Millennium; Abdal Hakim Murad
For the Western Muslim, who understands what moves and influences Westerners
“A society only becomes truly decadent when "decadence" as a principle is never referred to in public debate...” Abdal Hakim Murad [more quotes below:]
[ Good insight in modern mentality and myths, with very good style of language ]
Postmodernity and the Crisis of "Truth", M. A. Muqtedar Khan
[undue antagonism of postmodernism against modernism, mingling up the latter with some traditional concepts]
Crisis of The Modern World
Frequent Questions About Islam And Religion - FAQ
The Nature of Sacred Knowledge see related pages on external sites: In The Spirit of Tradition, by Nazim Baksh
“Unfortunately, many Muslims today have swallowed the false discursive assumption that tradition is something static. Therefore, in order to move forward, they [feel they] have to tear themselves away from the past and embrace the modern, and by extension, the post-modern, with all its technological gadgetry, and its shifting house of virtues and ethics.”
Reflections On Islam And Modern Life, Seyyed Hossein Nasr
On the encounter between Islam and modern thought.
The Fall of the Family: Boys will be Boys; Gender identity issues;
Shaikh Abdal-Hakim Murad
On feminism…
Islam and the New Millennium; Abdal Hakim Murad
For the Western Muslim, who understands what moves and influences Westerners
“A society only becomes truly decadent when "decadence" as a principle is never referred to in public debate...” Abdal Hakim Murad [more quotes below:
][ Good insight in modern mentality and myths, with very good style of language ]
Postmodernity and the Crisis of "Truth", M. A. Muqtedar Khan
[undue antagonism of postmodernism against modernism, mingling up the latter with some traditional concepts]
In: Islam and the New Millennium A H Murad focuses on:
- world population trends, growing Muslim population
- religious change /the takfir phenomenon or the threat of neo-Khariji heresy,
- global warming and the degradation of the natural environment. This situation, however, is more threatening in the Muslim world.
He writes:
- world population trends, growing Muslim population
- religious change /the takfir phenomenon or the threat of neo-Khariji heresy,
- global warming and the degradation of the natural environment. This situation, however, is more threatening in the Muslim world.
He writes:
'Perhaps our activists will still be choking out their rival rhetoric on
the correct way to hold the hands during the Prayer, while they breath
in the last mouthful of oxygen available in their countries.
'We have to be able to understand secular thought and refute it'
'We need to capitalise on the modern Western love of Islamic spirituality - and also of Islamic art and crafts.'
'Millions of young Westerners are dissatisfied both with the materialism
of their world, and with the doctrines of Christianity, and are seeking
refuge in New Age groups and cults. Those people should be natural
recruits for Islam - and yet we ignore them.'
Footnotes:
1: An example: What Is Normal And What Normality? Hasan Le Gai Eaton
2: axial: i.e. related to the vertical axis, to the heavenly dimensions.
3: Tradition is the light for human kind, and in the case of Islam, the Prophet
was named a Light.4: The Verse of the Throne, Ayat al Kursi آية الكرسي Surah al-Baqarah 2: 255
5: from The Electronic Labyrinth
6: God’s creation: We describe Allah in the way that He has described Himself.
7: Charles Upton, SAC
8: Positivism & Post-Positivism
8: From Cosmology: A Cosmic Perspective", no link 20130824
9: Charles Upton, SAC33
10: EW216
11: TIM103
12: EW
13: Islam and Modern Science, Lecture by S H Nasr
”The historians and philosophers of science in the last twenty [or] thirty years have shown beyond the scepter of doubt that modern science has its own world view. It is not at all value free; nor is it a purely objective science of reality irrespective of the subject you study. It is based upon the imposition of certain categories upon the study of nature, with a remarkable success in the study of certain things, and also a remarkable lack of success [in others], depending on what you are looking at.”
14: A H Murad
15: Instead of curbing those desires, reducing unnecessary needs and leading man towards conditions which would allow for a more contemplative and pious way of life. - The above quote is from CMW92
16: see for example:
Modernized Muslims And Architecture, by S H Nasr
Effects Of Westernization Upon Muslims, by S H Nasr
17: see also: Is Belief In God Enough?
18: TIM
20: TIM109
21: See for example: Review (of) The Quantum Enigma, by S H Nasr Among other topics on ”the false premise of Cartesian dualism and bifurcation according to which reality is divided radically into res cogitans, the knowing subject, and res extensa or the objective world.”
22: Imran Khan, not traced.
23: However the definition of macroevolution vs. microevolution has been changing over time in evolutionary theory: ”In evolutionary biology today, macroevolution is used to refer to any evolutionary change at or above the level of species. It means at least the splitting of a species into two or the change of a species over time into another … but the term is not restricted to those higher levels.”
24: TIM105
25: See also Evolution Deceit, by H Yahya
26: The idea of evolution, of Darwinism and the dominance of the stronger were part and parcel of the one of the most pernicious ideologies of the 20th century, Fascism.
27: evoyage.com - assumptions
28: SAC283
29: The Evolution of Prejudice; Scientists see the beginnings of racism in monkeys /// the results support an evolutionary basis for prejudice…
30: Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:
{ Surely We have honoured the children of Adam, and carried them on land and sea… } Sura 17-70; honoured all of mankind.
31: quoted in TIM or Evolution Deceit
32: TIM106
33: Imagine a piece of computer evolving - by accident - from its integrated IC-circuits, from its bits and zeros into the machine which it is - without the mind to design it and programme it! How much less is this conceivable in the - much more complex - biological domain of life itself!
34: SAC105
35: TIM107 and see also: New Kharijism; Sh. M. Hisham Kabbani or Superficial demonization of Islam; GFH
36: KS4
37: TIM107
40: TIM100
42: CMW
43: TIM102
44: For following the prophetic pattern of conduct; see: The Principles of Tasawwuf
45: Other texts on this site are meant to provide some waypoints.
46: See also: On Tradition, and Texts On Tradition And ”Traditionalism”
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