Hamdard Islamicus
The Role of Critical Thinking in Islam
Yedullah Kazmi
Department of Education, International Islamic University, Jalan Gombak, 53100. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
To be critical is to try to understand the world. To
understand is to find reasons why things are the way they
are. The world becomes our world only when we
understand it by throwing a grid of meaning over it. We
make the world meaningful, in other words, through the
process of codification. There are several ways of coding
and decoding the world and making it our world. Musical
sounds, shapes and forms of plastic arts and human
gestures formalised in dance, artificial language of
mathematics and the natural language of spoken and
written words are all forms of coding the meaningfulness
of our world. But, if to be critical is to understand
(decode) the world, it is also to go beyond the given
meanings in an attempt to create new meanings (coding)
in all the different ways, human beings can create
meanings and therefore change the world. And in as
much as we are part of the world, any change in the
world includes change in us. Hence, if to be critical is to
find and give reasons for why things are the way they
are, it is also part of being critical to ask why we and the
world as well can not be otherwise. Both coding and
decoding or understanding and creation of meaning are
two moments of a single activity called critical thinking.
There is, therefore, ever an element of utopia in a
critique. A critique is a way of looking beyond what is to
what could be but is not. A critique is. in other words, an
exercise that prepares us to go beyond the given world to
a world that has not yet come to pass; a world waiting
just beyond the horizon for those who venture to go
further than most. Furthermore, a critique is predicated
on the freedom that the dialectical tension between is and
is not, between what has come to be and what is possible,
necessarily creates. And it is the tension between how
things are and how they
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can be that gives critique its critical edge. To put it a little
differently, it is not possible to be critical without the
Utopian imagination, to imagine how things can be
otherwise. The Utopian element suggests yet another
aspect of critique. It is not a destructive act, but rather an
expression of the creative impulse that forever labours to
give life and the world a new meaning. And in as much
as a critique aims to give new and different meaning to
life it is social in its content. Hence it is practical not
poetic imagination, although there may be an element of
that too; which is at the core of critique. And if critique is
a necessary moment in understanding our world then
understanding presupposes an active engagement with
the world.
If the Quran is to guide us then it is incumbent upon
every Muslim to try to understand it. Since there is an
immeasurable depth of meaning in each ayah of the
Qur’an, we have been asked to rehearse or read it often.
The reading of the Qur’an is not merely an act of piety
undertaken to enhance one's spirituality, but also,
although not divorced from the former, an intellectual
exercise engaged in to understand the Qur’an, as one
would any other deep and profound book that requires
constant and continuous struggle to comprehend the full
scope of meaning contained in its pages. Hence an
ostensibly, even beguilingly simple line of the Qur'an
like "He Who taught (The use of) the Pen"1 is not a
simple line at all if one chooses to reflect on it, which we
are required to do after all. The ability to use the pen is
the ability to write. The ability to write is no ability if it
is limited to writing only that which has already been
written. Copying is not, in the full sense of the word,
really writing. The true meaning of the ability to write
lies in the direction of being able to write what has not
been written before and to rewrite
Hamdard Islamicus
and amend what has already been written. It is the
ability to go beyond the given, to go beyond that which
already is, that which already has been written. The use
of the pen, in other words, symbolizes the Divine gift of
being creative in all the aspects possible for humans to be
creative in, but above all in the field of knowledge. For,
after all, going beyond what already is, is a creative act.
And if the ability to go beyond has been defined as a
critical activity then Allah, by teaching us. the use of the
pen, has indeed endowed us with the faculty to be critical
and expects us to use it. It is this faculty that
differentiates us from animals on the one hand and
angels, on the other. And because we can go beyond, but
more importantly, because it is our destiny nay our duty
to go beyond that we can so fatally go wrong. Thus,
although we are unique (made from the best of mould)2
in the sense of being the only creatures to whom Allah
gave the gift of freedom to be critical and hence creative,
yet in this freedom is the rub which makes mortals of us
all. "While free to choose we can make a wrong choice,
while free to think and reflect we can make an error in
thinking. But not to think for fear of making a mistake is
to give up learning and developing. The refusal to think
for fear of making a mistake is also to ignore Allah's
constant reminder in the Qur’an that He is oft forgiving
and kind to those who, learning from their mistakes,
repent. Allah is all too well aware of human frailty and
fragility. He made us thus. Not to rely on His kindness is
to fail to acknowledge that His countless blessings are for
us in order to develop as human beings.
The correct view would be to regard human
fragility as that which makes for human drama. In other
words, human fragility is not a limit to human growth
and development but rather the very condition for human
development and transcendence. Neither the animals nor
the angels are expected to perform as humans are; only
humans are judged and tested, no one else is. Is this not
why no one but man took the mantle of being human?
Not to think and reflect and be critical for fear of making
a mistake, therefore, have serious consequences for
human beings. Not to exercise what Allah has given us is
to reject His blessings,
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which in turn means rejecting Allah's plans for us.
A critique pre-supposes a norm to judge the given.
by and to go beyond it. Allah gave a general universal
norm in the very first ayah that was revealed to the
Prophet Muhammad (P.B.H.), "Read in the name of
God..." It is very significant that Allah, in this ayah, is
not commanding us to read just the name of God but
rather to read in the name of God, i.e., read in the light of
the revealed norm. In reading only His name there is no
growth in knowledge or development, hence no room or
need for critique because no call to go beyond. There is
just mute contemplation and worship of Allah that angels
are engaged in from eternity to eternity.
The Qur'an repeatedly invites us to understand the
signs (ayat) of Allah. Now, it is in the nature of a sign
that it has to be interpreted. Which is to say that the
meaning of a sigh can not be "read off the face of the
sign. Had the meaning been obvious, and clearly
apparent would there be any need in the Qur'an for the
constant refrain, "why don't they understand the signs"?
In other words, the act of understanding is not a simple
and a relatively passive act of grasping a meaning which
is out there, like reaching out and grasping an object with
your hand. Rather, to understand the meaning of a sign is
a critical and a creative act. The corning to understand
the meaning of a sign, in other words, is a hermeneutical
activity where the meaning of a sign is understood in the
context of the meaning of the whole of which it is a part
and the meaning of the whole is understood with
reference to the meaning of a particular sign. This is a
continuous and an unending process which, in the
movement from the particular to the general and back,
keeps raising the question regarding the appropriateness
of the suggested, meaning. In raising the question
regarding the appropriateness of meaning the
hermeneutical circle performs a critical function. It is
critical in questioning the appropriateness of the
accepted, of the taken for granted meaning. It is in the
nature of the hermeneutical circle to go on exploring new
meanings and in the process deconstructing the old
settled meanings. The appropriateness of meaning
therefore,
Hamdard Islamicus
can never be decided and determined once and for all.
It should be noted that in trying to understand the
meaning of signs of Allah their veracity is never in
doubt. One does not, therefore, raise validity claims
against what is being said in the Qur'an, The question is
never whether what the Qur'an says is true or not, out
rather how to understand the truth of which the Qur'an
speaks. Hence, the entire hermeneutical exercise is
aimed not at determining the truth or alsehood of the
Qur’anic claims but at trying to understand their
inherent truth. In other words, the norm that guides the
activity of understanding is the belief that the words of
the Qur’an are of and from Allah and hence their truth
can never be doubted. One reads, as was noted earlier, in
the name of Allah. in trying to understand the signs,
therefore, one looks or the meanings that would be
appropriate to the truth. Meanings then are the means by
which the truth is grasped.
Now each one of us makes sense of the world
around us with the help of a structure of meaning which
we possess by virtue of being-in-the-word.3 It is a
structure which, although we are near fully conscious if,
yet always assume in every act of understanding. The
structure of meaning, however, is not a rigid structure.
Every time something new is understood The structure
changes in order to accommodate and assimilate it. The
degree of change however depends on how different is
that which is added. In other words,. will fail to
understand that which is totally alien to my structure of
meaning. In that case the structure will remain
unchanged. Similarly, if I grasp that which is identical
with what I already know then no new understanding
would have taken place and the structure will remain
unchanged. Hence, these two extremes mark the range of
flexibility of the structure.
This structure of meaning is part of my lived
reality. The notion of "lived reality" refers to the
concrete reality in which I find myself situated. Other
when social and historical parameters "lived reality"/
situatedness includes such things as the level of my
inderstanding, my interests and motives and reasons or
understanding and acting in the world. The level
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of my understanding furthermore has a direct correlation
with the scope of my lived reality. In other, words, the
structure of meaning while making it possible for me to
understand anything also defines the horizon of- my
lived reality. With every act of understanding something
new the horizon of my lived reality is enlarged.
Only when the sign is meaningfully grasped that it
is possible for its truth to become part of my lived reality.
Here an example will be helpful; Suppose a father or a
teacher tells a child that the sum of three angles of a
triangle is equal to two right angles. The child, out of
respect for the person making the claim, accepts it as
true, but it is a truth which he nevertheless does not
understand, because it is not made meaningful to him. To
grasp the truth is to understand how it is that the sum of
three angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles.
And it is the task of the person teaching to make that
which is opaque, transparent, i.e., make meaningful that,
which is meaningless. Now to make someone understand
something one has to begin or rather take the cue from
what he/she already knows, i.e., his/her structure of
meaning. The processes of helping someone understand
is but a process by which the learner, with the help of
what she/he already knows, is made to understand what
she/he does not know. It is like someone taking a few
steps back in order to leap forward. And having
understood the new with the help of the old both the
lived reality and the old meaning structure undergo
change in the process. In other words, for the child to
understand the axiom of geometry the explanation has to
be appropriate to his/ her lived reality. And. as the
understanding changes, the child's level and nature of
appropriateness for any subsequent event of
interpretation and understanding also changes.
What this account of understanding most
emphatically underscores is the situatedness of all
understanding. Not, however, in the sense that all
understanding is limited to a specific situation and hence
the implication that understanding is relative to that
situation, but rather in the sense that situation
Hamdard Islamicus
within which a learner is located is the condition for the
understanding to take place. I understand if I understand
at all, with the help of how and where I am situated. In
other words, if to understand is to grasp the meaning then
the meaning has to be graspable by me. Which is not to
say that the new should be identical with the old
meaning. But in order for me to comprehend the new
meaning I should be able to relate it to what I already
know. Nor is it to deny that learning something new
requires an effort to reach out, but rather to point out that
if the new is too far off it will be totally
incomprehensible. The distance between the two
meanings should be such that it is possible, through a
conceptual, to bridge the gap. Which in concrete terms
means that the new meaning should be able to relate to
my lived reality. The bridging of the gap between what
we know and-that which we do not know is made with
the help of metaphors. Although a linguistic device,
metaphor is nevertheless a powerful intellectual tool to
make that which is just beyond the conceptual reach
comprehensible, a device which the Qur'an uses quite
frequently and effectively.
This view, furthermore, does not regard the act of
understanding as a passive act of reading the fixed and
permanent meanings off the face of the signs but rather
views it as a challenge that a text presents to a
reader/learner.
The Qur'an repeatedly provokes and challenges the
reader to think and to contemplate the signs of Allah so
that she/he can understand. If all that was required was
but a passive reading of the signs then the same stories
would not be repeated with variations and changed
emphasis. It is done to provoke and stimulate thought. If
passive and silent contemplation was all that was needed
then why create human beings; there were angels already
engaged in that activity. Human destiny is not to be
passive like the angels but to be creative for which she/he
has been given the most sublime gift of all, the mind.
And creative mind is a critical mind. This does not,
however, mean that we overlook the irony of the human
situation which is clearly stated in verses like, "We have
indeed created
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man in the best of moulds, Then do We abase him (to be)
the lowest of the low" and "We did indeed offer The
Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains;
But they refused to undertake it, Being afraid thereof;
But man undertook it — he was indeed unjust and
foolish."4
The irony of the human situation is a reflection of
human beings' finitude. We came face to face with our
flnitude in every act of understanding and hence our
dependence on guidance from Allah. While modern
Western secular thought, recognizing human flnitude,
decrees that human mind is unable to know the Truth,
Islam, acknowledging human finitude, makes revelation
a necessity for human beings to come to know the truth
and live by it. In Islam the recognition of human
finitude is a necessary condition for our openness to
Allah.
The challenge of the Qur'an is not just for one time
or for one group of people, but rather the general
condition for all and every reading of the Qur'an. In
other words, it is a universal condition for any attempt
to understand the Qur’an, To put it a little differently,
the challenge has to be faced by each and every reader
of the Qur'an throughout history. The challenge is thus
historical in nature. And this is how it should be if
knowledge is to grow and our understanding of the
Qur’an is to develop.
It is important to make clear what has and what has
not been claimed in the discussion so far in order to
avoid any misunderstanding. It is definitely not being
claimed that the meaning of the Qur'an should change
through history or, which is a much stronger claim, that
the meaning of the Qur'an is contingent upon history.
What in fact is being argued is that since the Qur'an is
for all times and its meaning is true for all periods of
history, the meaning of the Qur'an can not, therefore, be
determinate. In other words, no one meaning of the
Qur'an can eve.r possibly exhaust its full breadth and
depth of meaning. The Qur'an is, in other words, like a
mine of precious metal that has to be worked by every
generation to make it yield its valuable ore. Furthermore,
the light by which we are to make our way through life
should illuminate where
Hamdard
Islamicus
we are, i.e., our lived reality. The light which can make
us see lived reality differently is also the light that can
help us live differently. My desire and my need to
understand the Qur'an will necessarily reflect my
concerns and my interests that arise out of my lived
reality. This does not, however, imply creation of new
meanings of the Qur'an for each new situation or period
of history. The meaning of the Qur'an remains the same
through its different understandings. This point can
perhaps be best made with the help of an analogy.
The joy of watching any game is, on the one hand,
recognizing what is familiar and on the other, expecting
something new or something different and out of the
odinary to occur'in the game. It is only when the
expectation of witnessing something out of the ordinary
is met that we say that we watched an exciting game. In
other words, a game has to be different each time it is
played or it will not be a game but a series of
mechanical actions of the players. And yet the novelty
or the newness that a game may display is visible only
against the backdrop of what is common to all the
games of that type, which in fact defines it as the game
of that general type. There are moves and plays and
rules that define a game we recognize as soccer but we
are thrilled watching the particular instance of the game
only if the players make something new happen in the
playing of the game or else it is a wash out.
Furthermore, - a game comes to be only in being
played. In other words, the game of soccer exists only
in the particular instance when it is played. Hence we
can say that the game of soccer exists only in and
through its various and different instances of playing it.
The game renews itself every time it is played. If
people stop playing soccer the game will cease to exist.
Similarly if the rules and the moves that define it as
soccer is violated the game will no longer be soccer.5
Just as each instance of the game is different, each
attempt to understand the Qur'an unearths something
new. Following the analogy of the game, each
understanding of the Qur'an has to follow certain rules
or else it would not qualify as an attempt to
understand the Qur'an. Furthermore, each
understanding of the Qur'an is open-ended and cannot
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therefore claim any degree of finality for itself. Each
understanding, in other words is an invitation for a
different and a new understanding of the Qur'an. As long
as the rules are followed, the playing of a game is neither
right nor wrong, only either boring or exicitng. Similarly,
as long as an attempt to understand the Qur'an does not
violate the ground rules the result of such an attempt can
not be right or wrong but either deep, profound or
shallow. We are asked to read the Qur'an again and again
because each understanding is limited, limited by the
structure of meaning the reader has. As was noted earlier,
the consequence of a successful attempt to understand the
Qur'an changes the given structure of meaning making it
possible for the next reading to reach out a little further
and deeper. Although each understanding transcends the
previous reading yet the nth understanding is not a
cumulation of n-1 + n-2 + n-3 and so on readings. If we
assume this then we would regard the latest understanding
as an improvement on the previous one, when in fact each
understanding is a different understanding occasioned by
change in lived reality. Each understanding, therefore,
sheds a new light on some aspect of the meaning of the
Qur'an. This is what is meant by the statement that the
meaning of the Qur'an is historical.
To round off the first part of the discussion it would
be best to go over the major points of the thesis so far.
The use of critical thinking in the reading of the Qur'an is
not aimed at establishing the truth or the falsehood of the
ayat but rather at reaching an appropriate understanding
of them. It involves searching for that configuration of
meaning that helps me makes sense of the ayat in the
context of my lived reality. This does not necessarily
entail that the meaningfulness is achieved through the
process of reduction of the new to what I already know,
but suggests instead that in order to make sense of the
new I should have some familiarity with it. The new
meaning should, in however a distant way, relate to my
lived reality. This assertion is based on the simple
pedagogical insight that understanding is a process' not of
leaping from the known to the unknown but of
 Hamdard Islamicus
reaching out from the known to the unknown. Yet,
although I appropriate the unknown with the help of the
known, the known is by the process changed. This is
always the case if and when there is a genuine
understanding taking place.
At this juncture the critical gaze is aimed at what I
know and think. I begin with the assumption that what
the Qur'an declares is true. The challenge for me then is
to figure out what the Qur'an means when it says for
example, "He Who taught (the use) of the Pen". This sets
in motion the process of examining what I already know
about the pen and my taken for granted assumptions
about it. The meaning that I ultimately choose has to be
appropriate to the over all meaning of the Qur'an and also
to my lived reality.
The inability to understand always presents a
challenge. Now it is up to us either to accept or not to
accept the challenge. In. most cases we don't and as a
result live in a reality much smaller than what is possible
for us to live in. In order to understand something new
requires either modification of the existing meaning
structure with which we routinely make sense of our
world or effect a radical change in it. Trying to understand
something new, thus, is very much like trying to land a
fish that has been eluding us. We at first try familiar
techniques and skills that have served us well in the past
and hope will work again. Challenge is, what do I do if
none of the well-worn habits of catching the fish help land
the fish. On what we do next, will depend not only the
possibility of catching the fish but also what type of
fishermen we are. If landing the fish that has been evading
us is important than we will critically examine our well
worn and taken for granted ways of fishing and will go on
experimenting with ways of fishing till we land our fish.
But if the fish is not important then we continue with our
customary way of life that remains unexamined and
therefore limited and confined,
Trying to understand the Qur'an for most of us is
like the fish that forever eludes us, yet we do not think it
important to pursue and catch it. Although in the Qur'an
the intellectual, the moral and the ethical are inextricably
mixed to constitute a whole way of
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life, yet the understanding of the Qur'an is initially an
intellectual challenge which if we disregard we miss the
whole picture. The religious justification for.
understanding the reading of the Qur'an as initially an
intellectual challenge is that mere unreflective and
unexamined acceptance of that which is handed down to
us is frowned upon by Islam. Furthermore, not to engage
in such an enterprise for fear of making a mistake in
understanding the signs of Allah, as was suggested
earlier, is to refuse to acknowledge Allah's blessing of
forgiveness showered particularly upon one who,
although goes stray in his/her desire to come closer to
Allah but learning from the mistake, asks for forgiveness.
This is consistent with number of ahadith that underscore
the importance of learning for the virtuous in Islam. And
it also reflects the dynamic relationship that exists in
Islam between faith and reflective thought. And has not
the Qur'an said, "(Here is), a Book which We have sent
down unto thee, full of blessings, that they may may
meditate on its Signs, and that men of understanding may
receive admonition."6 In fact, "verily in that are Signs for
those who reflect"7 is a constant theme throughout the
Qur'an, which, among other things, underscores the point
made earlier that meanings of the sign of Allah can not be
read just off the face of the signs but require thinking and
reflection.
Thus, in order to understand we are required to
align our thinking with the truth that the Qur'an speaks
of, which in turn requires making changes in our lived
reality. For most of us it is not so much the fear of
making mistakes but the fear of accepting the challenge
that prevents us from reading the Qur'an in order to
understand it. Set in habits of thought, we are loathe to
change our ways of thinking.
Having overcome this hurdle in the way of critics
thinking we pass on to the next stage. We move from
reflection aimed at self-criticism to one aimed at social
criticism. Since the Qur'an is a guide and a criteria in
trying to understand the signs of Allah we are, in fact,
seeking to comprehend the norms by which we are to
shape our lives and social existence. My life as an
individual and my social existence are
two
 Hamdard Islamicus
dimensions of my existence as a human being. It would
be wrong to assume that these in actual fact constitute
two separate dimensions in which human life is lived.
My individual life is neither independent nor outside my
social existence. In Islam, therefore, my relationship with
Allah includes both me as an individual and me as a
social being simultaneosly. Almost every time we are
asked to maintain regular prayers in the Qur'an, we are
also reminded to pay zakat and asked to give to others
less fortunate than us out of the bounty Allah has given
us. The best way, therefore, to conceptualise a Muslim's
relationship to Allah is to see it as a triangular
relationship, with Allah at the apex and the individual at
one end of the base and others at the other. For the sake
of justice and balance neither side of the triangle can be
neglected or forsaken for the other. And are not balance
and justice one of several themes that run right through
the Qur'an?
In shaping my life according to the norms given to
me by Allah my primary concern is my relationship with
Allah. The domain of social existence, on the other hand,
encompasses my existence alongside other human
beings. In constructing my social existence. I examine
and judge my relationship with other human beings with
reference to Divinely sanctioned norms. If piety is the
governing norm of my relationship with Allah than social
justice is the over-arching norm with which my social
existence is to be evaluated. In Islam, however, one can
not lead a pious life at the cost of social justice nor
establish social justice by denying piety. Piety without
social justice is an empty word and social justice without
piety a meaningless concept. Does not the Qur'an say,
"Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and
liberality of kith and kin..,"8 One could then say that in
Islam piety has very significant social content. What
distinguishes Islam from such modern secular ideologies
as Liberalism and Marxism that espouse the cause of
social justice is the Islamic notion of piety as constitutive
of social justice and of social justice as an expression of
piety. There is no gainsaying that long before Marx had
said that philosophers had hitherto only contemplated the
world, the point is to change it, Prophet Muhammad
(P.B.H.),
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coming down from the cave Hira, did indeed change the
world. The change was informed by a moral vision that
was spiritual through and through. Many moral visions
have emerged in the course of human history but in none
is morality simultaneously deeply spiritual and
profoundly social in its orientation as in Islam.
Hence the reading of the Qur'an can not merely be
an act of personal piety with exclusive concern for one's
relationship with Allah but has to be an exercise engaged
in to wrought tools of social criticism in order to realize
social justice on this earth. If the Sunnah has any
significance for Muslims in organizing their life on this
earth then personal piety can only be a sub-set of
working for social justice here and now. In following the
example of the Prophet (P.B.H.) we often overlook how
his example emphasizes the importance of this world for
a Muslim. For although a Muslim is not of this world yet
he/she is most definitely expected being in this world.
Islam does not invest people who withdraw from the
world with any special spiritual qualities'. That is why
Islam did not give rise to a monastic system for people to
retreat to and contemplate God. It is relatively easy to
worship and meditate in isolation form the hustle and
bustle of the world and the mundane demands of life.
Islam requires us to remember Allah and realize His will
in the world. Thus, though a Muslim is in the world yet
he/she does not live entirely by the rules of this world.
And being in this world means being concerned with the
well being of other humans. If we are placed on this
earth as the vicegerents of Allah would we then not be
judged on how we discharge our duty here as agents of a
just and wise God?
Although the personal and the social have slightly
different orientation yet they constitute one
comprehensive moral and spiritual universe in Islam.
This is primarily because both revolve around the axis of
tawhid. There is no private space or domain hidden from
the gaze of Allah where one can take refuge from Him.
One can take refuge only in Him. One is constantly and
totally visible to Allah. In that sense Allah's gaze can be
more oppressive than any social visibility could ever be.
But with visibility comes
Hamdard Islamicus
accountability and just rewards both here and in the life
hereafter. "And He provides for him from (sources) he
never could imagine. And if anyone puts his trust in
Allah, sufficient is (Allah) for him."9 No act is over
looked; no deed goes unaccounted for. Thus although
total visibility to Allah is unsettling but it is not negative.
It is negative only for those who have something to hide.
In other words the intensity of Allah's gaze fuses the
private and the social into one moral and spiritual
universe within which a Muslim lives over his/her life.
Thus social critique is necessary for a pious life, as pious
life is necessary for engaging in social critique. In Islam,
while engagement in social critique gives piety a social
content, piety in turn, lends direction to social critique.
In both Marxism and Liberalism a clear and sharp
distinction is made between the private and the social.
The point of critique is to maintain the distinction. Hence
from John Lock10 to John Rawl11 liberal philosophers
have engaged in social criticism in defense of the
personal and the private against the encroachment of the
social. The assumption is that the private is a privileged
space of the individual where he/she can do what ever
he/she wishes without let or hindrance from any one. In'
recent years the neo-Marxist philosopher Michael
Foucault12 has developed the notion of Panopticon to
characterize modern society as one which exercises
control over its citizens by making them totally visible to
itself. For Foucault visibility is totally negative.(The
sharp distinction between the personal and the social is
one reason why the debate over the notion of negative
and positive liberties can never be fruitfully resolved in
the West).
Not only do the personal and the social not have a
common axis in much of Western socio-political thought;
they are viewed as at odds with each other. Hence, while
Rousseau thought that although man is born free he is
everywhere in chains thrown around him by society,
Hobbes viewed man's life outside society as nasty,
brutish and short. Although few today in the West
entertain such extreme views yet the tension between the
two spheres of human life is still clearly visible. In fact
the tension between the two is
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Vol. XXIII, No. 1
what gives social critique in the West its rationale. The
assumption behind this tension is that of the two spheres
the personal is primary and the social is secondary. The
primary or the individual or the personal does not
however mean that society is the result of an agreement
among the individuals but rather in the sense that the
social provides the necessary conditions for the personal
to find full expression. Whether it is Marx's notion of
alienation or Rawls' notion of 'justice as fairness' they are
all variations on the same basic theme of society enabling
or thwarting the inalienable right of each individual to
give full expression to all of his/her natural faculties and
desires. A desire is considered illegitimate only if and
when the expression or the fulfillment of it obstructs the
similar freedom of someone else. There is nothing
inherently legitimate or illegitimate in desires of a person
but social conditions make them so. Hence the desires
which were earlier denied expression and fulfillment have
recently, won legitimacy as a result of widespread social
critique. Thus, for example, the Gay and Lesbian
movements have recently won social, political and legal
recognition for their members in almost all the.Western
countries. And this is hailed as a movement towards
greater " human freedom.
The assumption underlying the priority given to the
personal over the social is the infinite malleability of
human nature. The personal is the intimate domain where
human beings can explore their nature and give
expression to new forms of being human without any
interference from society. And society is considered free
to the extent it acknowledges the latest expression of
being human and gives it institutional support; In other
words, the Western secular critique takes the personal as
its point of reference and regards the infinite malleability
of human nature as the tool with which to criticize
society. History is viewed as the record of how through
successful critiques of society, human nature has been
allowed to evolve overtime along the path determined not
by any immanent plan or design but by the accidents of
history. Society and not human nature is ever the object of
critique. And
Hamdard Islamicus
the historical plasticity of human nature is the basis of
Social critique. The direction, in which human nature
will evolve, in this view, is a matter of historical
accident. Since what we finally become is all a matter of
accident there can neither be any accountability nor any
sense of responsibility for what we do become.
Although there is in the Qur'an a clear statement
regarding the malleability of human nature but a Muslim
is accountable for what he/she does become; "We have
indeed created man in the best of moulds. Then do we
abase him to be the lowest of the low. (al-
Qur'an, XC: 4-5). The malleability of human nature is
the freedom a Muslim enjoys, but a freedom, which he/she
has to use with great care and responsibility. The
expression of human nature is not left to accidents of
history in Islam but requires it to follow Divine
guidance. A Muslim can only and always be the
vice-gerent of Allah and hence in every historical
situation accountable to Him for how he/she discharges
that responsibility in history. A Muslim looks at history
critically to learn how to perform his/her God-given duty
justly and wisely.
The final insight regarding human life that the
Western critical activity brings to light is that life is
governed by accidents and hence our actions can have
only very tenuous and fragile meaning. For some this
may seem just a step away from total meaninglessness
of life and escape from meaninglessness through
suicide as the only meaningful act.
If history is the only stage allowed to human
beings, gain and loss, reward and punishment are all
dependent on how we perform on that stage. And since
there is nothing beyond history human rewards and
punishments are all stuff of history. The importance thus
given to history calls for efforts to stage-manage one's
life in order to escape the judgment of history. Stage
management or image building is successful only to the
extent that what you actually are first acquires
considerable opaqueness or invisibility, so that what you
want people to think you are can be projected on to the
screen of history. No wonder image building is
multi-million industry in the West. In a society which
places a premium on invisibility on the one hand and
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Vol.XXIII,No.l
creates a culture on the other in which juggling with
images of oneself is a mark of a successful person, it
would be difficult, in fact well neigh meaningless, to talk
of authenticity of self. And how would the lack of
authenticity of self then affect interpersonal
relationships? If I do not know who the other person
genuinely is then how can I understand and hence relate
to him or her in a manner that is sustainable overtime?
Would this not wreak havoc with interpersonal relations
making society hollow at the core?
Although Islam carries out its project in history yet
it is not of history. The total visibility to Allah grounds
the here and now in the hereafter and opens history up to
accountability. The Qur’an is replete with stories of
historical accountability. The norm that guides critique
in Islam is neither human nature nor some immanent
plan according to which history unfolds in time. In Islam
history is not judged but historical acts of individuals
and of communities are evaluated. For to make history
the object of judgment is to empower supra-individual
historical forces with the ability to shape and form
history from above and beyond the actions of human
actors, as for example in Marx. This view of history
ultimately diminishes the individual's accountability to
Allah for his/her actions. Individual actions are judged
based on the criteria whether they help move history
forward or. thwart its progress and not how they follow
the guidelines set by Allah.
If tawhid is the axis around which both social and
personal existence revolve than taqwa is the process by
which tawhid is first internalized and then lived in both
spheres. Armed with the twin concepts of tawhid and
taqwa a Muslim needs to look critically both at his/her
society and other societies of the world to expose, both
at the individual and social level, any deviation from
tawhid and falling away from taqwa. These concepts are
simultaneously the guide to organizing individual life,
and determining social structures. Both are radical
Islamic concepts and powerful critical tools because
though situated in the world yet their point of reference
is outside this world.
Hamdard Islamicus Vol. XXIII, No. 1

In Islam there is no such thing as knowledge for the sake the lack of physical comforts alone. Deviation from, the
of knowledge. Knowledge has no value and virtue in and by principle of tawhid in any form or manner should be more
itself. Its virtue lies in bringing human kind closer to Allah. disconcerting to Muslims than any lack of creature comforts.
The view that knowledge is the path that leads to Allah Hence to try to preserve and maintain the principle of tawhid.
highlights two things about Islam. Firstly that knowledge in is an unending historical, process. There is no gainsaying that
Islam is important for a Muslim's spiritual growth and this principle can never be realized in history but in trying to
development. And, secondly, since knowledge is acquired realize it in history Muslims will surely shape history. What
through the active process of going beyond what one already better goal and purpose of critical thinking can there be than
knows, critical thinking is essential for a Muslim to grow trying to actualize tawhid in history? It is the unrealizability of
intellectually and spiritually. It further suggests, as was stated tawhid in history that gives to Islamic critical thought the
earlier, that intellectual growth without spiritual development utopian flavor.
is aimless wandering, and spiritual development without the
intellectual component is meaningless. Notes and References
In the Western critical thought the ultimate test of a
critique is how successful it is in bringing about the desired 1. Al-Qur’an, Surah al-'Alaq: 4. All references to the
result. In other words, the success of a critique is judged purely Surahs are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation of the
Qur'an.
on pragmatic and utilitarian grounds. Critique in its secular
2. Ibid., Surah al-Tin: 4.
mode, hence; is entirely a this-worldly-affair, undertaken
3. Being-in-the-world is a Heideggerian term that signifies
purely to bring about changes in the world for the purpose of the simultaneity of both the subject and the world in
this life. In Islam, to engage in critical thought is a moral contrast to the Cartesian view in which the two are
commitment and to be judged on it's moral worth independent regarded as separate and independent of each other. See
of its success or failure in this world. Allah requires us to act Being and Time by Martin Heidegger, translated by John
morally, the success or failure of such actions is entirely in His Macquarrie and Edward Robinson, SCM Press, London,
1965.
hands.
4. Al-Qur’an, Surah al-Ahzab:72.
It should not be assumed from the above discussion that 5. The analogy of game is borrowed from Hans-George
only tawhid and taqwa guide critical thought in Islam. If only Gadamer; see his Truth and Method, Seabury Press, New
tawhid and taqwa are discussed here it is because of their York, 1975.
overarching formal importance for critical reading of the 6. Al-Qur’an, Surah al-Sad: 29.
Qur'an to critique the situation at hand. That would be a 7. Ibid., Surah al-Rum: 21.
8. Ibid., Surah al-Nahl:90.
practical issue and not a theoretical and formal problem, which
9. Ibid., Surah al-Talaq: 3.
this article is primarily concerned with.
10. The Second Treatise of Government, ed. J.W. Gough,
Finally, would there be a need for engaging in critical Basil Blackwell Press, Oxford, 1946.
thought if we were/are content with our lot in the world. 11. A Theory of Justice, Harvard University Press,
Discontent with life can be for variety of reasons. For Muslims, Massachusetts, 1980.
however, it can never be due to 12. Cf. Discipline and Punish, The Birth of The Prison,
trans, by Alan Sheridan, Vintage Books, New York,
1977, pp. 195-228.