Muhammad `Abduh
(1849-1905)
Biography:
The Egyptian religious scholar, jurist, and liberal reformer,
Muhammad `Abduh led a late 19th-century movement in Egypt and other Muslim
countries to “modernize” Muslim institutions. He was born 1849 in the Nile
Delta area and died near Alexandria on July 11, 1905.
Intellectual
development:
‘Abduh’s
intellectual development can be viewed in four phases.[1]
The first phase was very crucial. Some of ‘Abduh views on education were
influenced by his early experiences as a student. He studied at Tanta, at the
age of thirteen, an was unhappy with the system, according to Shoukat Ali,
‘Abduh spent in brooding and ruminating over the dissipation of the true
scholastic tradition of Islam. [2]
The second stage was ‘Abduh’s immersion in
sufi’s circles through the influences of his uncle Shaykh Darwish Khadr who was
a Sufi of the Shadhili Brotherhod. It is Significant because it had as sobering
effect on his temperant and his uncle who rekindled the flame of enthusiasm for
learning into young ‘Abduh life. The third phase was the phase of early
modernism and activism. At this phase, ‘Abduh began to broaden his knowledge
under the supervision of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. He studied the subjects of
philosophy, theology, law and mysticism. He stared to write his works in
different fields.
Muhammad `Abduh was greatly influenced by
Jamal ud-Din al-Afghani, the founder of the modern pan-Islamic movement which
sought to unite the Muslim world under the banner of the faith. When they met
in al-Azhar in 1872 `Abduh was roused from his asceticism to activism and
sought to bring about a renaissance of Islam and liberation of Muslims from
colonialism. Unlike his mentor, Jamal ud-Din al-Afghani, `Abduh tried to
separate politics from religious reform. `Abduh advocated the reform of Islam
by bringing it back to its pristine state and casting off what he viewed as its
contemporary decadence and division. His views were opposed by the established
political and religious order, but were later embraced by Arab nationalism
after World War I.
In forth phase after his exiled life, the
manner of his reforms shifted from revolutionary action to evolutionary change.
During that time ‘Abduh became more flexible towards western and civilization.[3] `Abduh spent
some years in exile in Paris, where he helped al-Afghani issue the anti-British
Muslim periodical al-`Urwah al- Wuthqa (The
Firmest Bond). `Abduh eventually broke with al-Afghani. He taught
in Beirut. Rejecting the radicalism he had embraced in the 1870’s and
1880’s, he returned to Cairo, after the favorable intervention of the
British with the Khedive, to pursue educational and language reforms. This
conversion to liberalism paralleled a decline in revolutionary fervor among the
rural notables in the late 1880s.
After
the British takeover of Egypt in 1882, taxes rose to intolerably high
levels under the Khedive Isma`il (r. 1863-1879), and the threat of
more revolts forced the new colonial regime of Evelyn Baring (later Earl of
Cromer) to keep taxes down. The landholding families which managed to keep
their large holdings together transformed themselves into agrarian capitalists
and became urbanized absentee landlords; many of them did not actively oppose
British rule, and their nationalism was muted by a conviction that it was only
through education and gradual reform that the Egyptians could achieve
independence. `Abduh became a spokesman for this class. In 1899, he was
appointed Grand Mufti (jurisconsult) for all of Egypt through British
influence, and he used the office to promulgate liberal reforms in Islamic law,
administration and education.
As
European influence grew
in Egypt, Westernizers in Egypt were adopting Western
education, Western sciences, and a Western medium of teaching, specifically in
French. `Abduh distrusted the Westernizers. He called upon parents to
refrain from sending their children to schools established by missionaries. But
he was in no way opposed to Western science and technology. In an article
written in 1877, `Abduh advocated the introduction of modern sciences
together with the local sciences into Al Azhar University. He
described the strength of prejudice against modern sciences in
Al Azhar and related that Al-Ghazali and others considered the
study of logic and similar disciplines obligatory for the defense of Islam. He
went on to say: “There is no religion without a state and no state without
authority and no authority without strength and no strength without wealth. The
state does not possess trade or industry. Its wealth is the wealth of the
people and the people’s wealth is not possible without the spread of these
sciences amongst them so that they may know the ways for acquiring wealth.”[Tarikh, vol.ii,
p.37ff.] He said that new and useful sciences are essential to our life in
this age and are our defense against aggression and humiliation and further the
basis of our happiness, wealth and strength. He said, “These sciences we
must acquire and we must strive towards their mastery.”
`Abduh considered
that the Persian and Greek elements which were dominant in Islamic tradition
were not congruous with modernity, and he worked to substitute Greek philosophy
with modern ideas. Because of his own limitations and insufficient knowledge of
science, modern philosophy and the West, he often went beyond his simple
formula of “modernity is based on reason, Islam must therefore be shown not to
contradict reason, thus we may prove that Islam is compatible with modernity”
to show agreement between detailed scientific theories or discoveries with
the Qur’an. `Abduh interpreted certain things mentioned in
the Qur’an, such as the world of jinn or the angels to agree with modern
discoveries. The jinns became microbes and stories of astronomy were
explained to be addressing simple people at their level of understanding.
'Abduh's
ideas were met with great enthusiasm, but also by tenacious opposition. They
are still a subject of contention today, nearly 80 years after his death, as
questions of modernism and tradition re-emerge in conflict in the Muslim world.
Although he did not achieve his goals, Muhammad 'Abduh remains a continuing
influence, and his work, Risalat al-Tauhid (The Theology of Unity), is the most
important statement of his thought.[4]
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