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    Rethinking Traditions in Modern Islamic Thought Daniel W Brown PDF

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    Rafah Zaigham

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 95
    (Cambridge ida Bas Studies dr Boa Charles Tripp general ein) Tara Gershon Roger Oven, Yad Sai ‘Cambdge Middle East Studies hs been estabahedopubtsh ‘books onthe nineteenth: and twented-estury Middle Eat and North Ais The im ofthe rier to prove ew ad rial inerpretons of aspect of Mile Eastern soiets and hee Itones, Toachieve disciplinary diversity, books il be sotto rom {thors wong ina wide ange fel casing tory, ocloy, {nuhropalogy, polical scene and political economy. The mphass ‘wile on producing books efeing an orginal approch slong ‘heorecal and empical line The sre intended fr ater and {cademics, but the more scene and wide-ranging sas il so Sippel tothe mteresed general ear 1 Pav Pair, men and oh Pia! Pn Tess Conry ‘rar 0521 47340 Shardback 0321 9579 X paperback 2 tae Gn anaes nko Rdg ie ian 2 Annes Moos, Wimen, rope and am: Paleinian Expr, 1920-1990 0321 41497) harchack 0321483381 paperback 44 Paul Kingson, rian andthe Pits of Madernzaion nthe ile Bay, 1945-7985 "0521 36346 1 5 Daniel Brown, Rethinking Tao Moder amie Thought (0521 570778 hardoack 053165304 O paperback {6 Nathan) Brown, Th Rl of Lash A Mar Cones i Bay ‘andthe Gulf 0521 590264 1 Recaed Tapper, Prone Noma Ir: The Pca and Si ior fe Shalscean 0321 38336 5 18 aed Pay lhe Pasha Me: Mebmed A Hie Army and he Making of Moder aypr 0321 36007 19 Shea Carpio, Cie Sci in mon Th Pica sonny of ‘Acom n Arbia 0321 390081 10 Mew Lion, Sh Schl Nino Gonury a: The Vara of Nijafand Katto 0321 623561 1 Jacob Meter, The Diced ionmg of Mandatory Paine Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought Daniel W, Brown |CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Contents Preface Iuroducton: the prism of modernity ‘The relevance ofthe past: classical conceptions of Prophetic authoriyy 2 Theemergence of modern challenges to tradition 3 Boundaries ofreelation 4 Thenature of Prophetic authority 5 Theauthenticiy ofa {6 Sunna and Islamic revvalism 7 Conclusion: the spectrum of change Notes Bibliography Index “ oo a 108 133 142 169 179 Preface Introduction: the prism of modernity “This study owes ite inspiration to Funlur Rahman who was both a keen scholar of modern Islamic thought and himselfa major contributor tthe rethinking ofthe Islamic wadition that i the focut ofthis book. His per- sonal concern for questions related o sun fisalerted me the impor. tance ofthe topic for modern Muslims, and readers familiar with Fal Rahman's work will recognize the imprint of his scholarship here. His, death in 1988 was lov o all those concerned with the stay of Islam tnd a special loss this students am likewise indebted to frends colleagues, and family who encour aged me to carry the project forward. Thanks especialy co Wadad Kad, Charles Adams, and Wiliam Graham wo all gave generously of thet advice and time at various sages of my work. I am grateful tothe many ‘people who helped me in the course of research visits to Paketan and Egypt: Peter and Etica Dodd and the staff of United States Edveational Foundation in Pakistan, De. Zafar Ishag Ansari andthe faculty and stall ‘ofthe Islmic Retearch Institute in Isamabed, Abmad Ramadan of the Library of Congress office in Cairo, and Dr. Muammad Siraj and other ‘acuity and staf ofthe Dar al-Ulim at Cairo University. Thanks also to iy colleagues in the Department of Religion at Mount Holyoke Calege for their encouragement "The field research that enabled me to proceed with this project would have been impossible without generous funding fom a Fulbright Grant for research in Pakistan and a Fulbright-Hayes dissertation fllowship for research in both Pakistan and Egypt. The writing ofthe dissertation was, supported bya grant from the Charlotte Newcombe Foundation, ‘My fina noe of thanks mas go tomy family, whose love, support and encouragement made this work possible My parents, Ralph and Polly Brown, not only supported much of my education but passed on to me snd to all hee children their own ove for Pakistan, their adopted home, [My children, Sarah, Ruth Anne, and Stephen, grew with tis project they were a fequent source of refeshment from the weariness of study. ‘Thank, finally to Carol my wife, frend, and fellow-traveler who took on this project with me and deserves much of the credit for its completion Since the middle of the nineteenth century, Muslim thinkers have faced ‘numerous and repeated challenges to classical Islamic ideas about rel ‘Bows euthorty Upheavals in the Muslim woeld have stilted wide~ Spread reexamination ofthe caical sources of Islamic law as Muslims have stugaled to preterve, adap, o redefine their social and legal norms inthe face of chenged conditions, A central ssue inthis ongoing struggle has been the question ofthe nature, status, and authority of the sunna, the normative example of the Prophet Muhammad. Because of ‘Muhammad's strus at messenger of God, his words and actions are seccpted by most Muslim as a source of religious and legal authority Second only to the Qur'an, Indeed, the Quan itself repeatedly com- ‘mands ite readers to obey Allth and His messenger. The imiaio ‘Muhanmadi tooe became te standard for ethical behavior among ‘Muslims forming the Basis fr Islamic law and seting the standard fr trea the most mundane activities ~the order in which fingernails should be cut or the proper length ofthe beaed. During the twentieth century, however, the position ofsunna bas been threatened ina variety of ways ‘Muslim thinkers have searched for a slid bats for the revival of Islam, ‘The problem of sunna has become the most important dimension of « modern Muslim cris of religious authority occupying a central pace in “Muslim religious discourse. ‘Understanding the Muslim struggle to define dhe poston of sunna is critical f we ae to understand fly the experience of modern Muslims, ‘at the topic also has universal relevance for our understanding of how ‘adherens fo the grea eliious tations hve faced the challenges posed ‘by modernity. The way dat modern Muslims have faced thei own crisis of religious authority, centered on sunna, suggests insights inc a lager problem inthe study of religion, thet is the relationship berween tradition fd modernity and the related question of how participants in a reat ea ition deal with change, Our central subject then i wradition ~nottadi- tion according to current scholarly fashion, but tradition in en ‘old-fathioned sense: a deposit of knowledge or truth, originating with 2 Reinking aon ner sani ooh pst authority, end banded down within religious community.” In Islamie though, tation in this sen i embodied in the sun of the Prophet, preserved by his followers and faithflly handed down within ‘the Muslim community. or most Muslims, sunna isa symbol ofthe link ‘with the Prophetic era, the representation ofthe Prophet in the ere and ‘ow, a concrete embodiment of the need that Muslizs have felin every {generation for continuity with an ideal past. In seeking to understand modern Muslim discussions of sunna and what they tellus about tradition and modernity, we must take on ten= ency, evident in many weauments of modeen Muslim ietellectuat history t0 view the developrnent of Muslim ideas in heuristic terms, ‘Modern Istamie thought, according tothe paradigm adopted by many ‘orientalis i in a transitional phase in which Muslim thinkers must ‘come to terme with the inexorable forces of modernity rationals, and liberalism emanating from the West. According to this paradigm, exem- plified in Wilfred Cantwell Smith's clasic sam in Modern History, ‘modern controversies among Muslims, such ab the debates over sunna Gescribed in tis seud, should be viewed as skirmishes in an ongoing battle between tradition and modernity, revelation and reason liberalism and reaction, ‘Such an approach presumes clearcut dichotomy between tradition ‘and modernity, «presumption which is deeply rooted in Enlightenment thought, but’ which deserves. reexamination, For Enlightenment thinkers, reason was a searchlight, piecing the darkness of tradition, ‘breaking through a fog ofignorance wo illuminate the tuth- The pioneers of the Enlightenment might be excused for dramatizing the clash of feason and tradition or reason and revelation #0 tary: they sere ogaged ina bate for bert of thought, which dei ives were some times at stake. But in so portraying the confit of reason and wadision, Enlightenment thinkers peshaps failed to recognize the degree to which they were, themselves, rooted in the traditions from which they claimed, tohave escaped, ‘Against the Eolightenmen raion, whichis sll pervasive in western academic culture, T would suggest that tradition is not an enemy of| change, but the very stuf that i subject to change. ‘Tradition both ‘changes and may be usd to justly change; ican in fat, be revolution ary? The history of Islamic thought provides numerous examples of how the intellectual tradition of Islam hus provided the underpinnings for adaptation, reform, and revolution, The early Kharijte movement, the “Abbisid “revolution,” and the refrmism of Tom Taymiyya ae eariy ‘xamples ofthe dynamism of wadition. The “Islamic” revolution in Tran, ‘he strength of Sunni revivals inthe Arab world, and the emergence of ‘he pei of modernity , namie feminism are some widely divergent examples of more recent ‘Rovemens hat look vo aon justi change Rance time it also evden hat ado sequent appealed toms ty o defending against perceived innovation, 8 way of ese BEaLEncdenues Aterate wes of radon are dus mar bade ‘pecs theres fece competion to camel the proces by which the nica of radiion i defined, and fr modern Mss, sana has ‘Sekine the biter pont of confit. Thus, the modern problem of SSar hanes out of confit among Muslims over the deicion and ‘unt ofthe autbendeadon and over the method by wich that ra dion robe defined iitmoderaty and tradiion should not be viewed as diametically ppotea tone anaher, how ae wet understand thei elton reid sega a reversal of the Enightenment metaphor. Rather than Yering moderity asa source of gt peling the daines of tadi- sere Moat apne wciton ata beam fh retacted by {hepeem of moderiy. A tradton emerges fom the prism of moder Sr Rhuntcolredspecarum of eapontes Some responses wil sow he tye af modernity mach more dramatically than oes, but none wil ESNiecvomouched Ar the same time cach coor of the petrum, each Ginerentfeaponse, clearly rooted inthe tradition. All responses (0 ‘Godcniy oma lgious dion, nd even those that seem rave lft ‘Bo waliuonsopeter behind, einai certain comity withthe ea tim ju seach band ofthe spectra preset in the bit entering Pr Numerous issues of concern to modern Muslims might be used to nun spatter, Modern debate over women’ rights and at, for Sto prerde nv isttion ofthe drematalyvergen eso ‘Sind he tan canbe put So-called neo-mu'alism, the eival of isis unpecu of Mevtaite thology t0 fly aration method, Sftvanotcr ample, Baro ease can provide aber istration of te ‘SiSSoneipoftwacition and moderatyin Islam than the ery symboland Shchoraf the dion de sunoa isl, fras wl argo Bere sunna is

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