UNGS 1301 - BASIC PHILOSOPHY AND ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW

SECTION 22
SEMESTER 1, 2022/2023

AMMAR HAZIQ BIN ZAINAL

2217763

CASE STUDY: BOOK REVIEW

LECTURER: HAMIDON ABD HAMID

TITLE:

“A New Secularism is Appearing in Islam” by Mustafa Akyol (The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/opinion/islam-religion.html).

DEPARTMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

ABDULHAMID ABUSULAYMAN
KULLIYYAH OF ISLAMIC REVEALED KNOWLEDGE AND HUMAN SCIENCES
Introduction

In his New York Times article titled "A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam," Mustafa Akyol

addresses the issue of Muslims feeling disillusioned with the negative portrayal of Islam in the

world. He aims to challenge the common misconception that Islam is inherently violent or

conservative by examining its history and the evolution of political Islam, and presenting his

own vision for a modern, liberal Islam. Throughout his writing, Akyol consistently addresses the

theme of Islam being mainly conservative and present in various cultures. He argues that the

only way to reclaim an Islamic identity is to recreate the Muslim community in a conservative

manner. His work is presented as the result of his lifetime of intellectual pursuit and passion for

helping Muslims reclaim their past glory.

Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Kate Institute in Washington, is a prominent Turkish

academic and author who was a former columnist for Hurriyet. Mustafa Akyol considers the

ideological and historical origins of political Islam. For several years after Muhammad's death in

632 AD, an intellectual "war of ideas" was underway between the more logical, rigid, and

malleable institutions of Islam. Orthodoxy promotes the idea that Islam is incompatible with

modernity. But Akyol discovered the growth of liberalism in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire

through a detailed reassessment of Muslim thought. He explicitly argues that Muslim countries

cannot succeed unless they adopt a secular state. Islam without extremes provides the

philosophical foundation necessary to reconcile religious, political, and social freedoms with

Islam. It's compelling and exciting.

Main Body

Through an interview with The New York Times, Mustafa compares authoritarian and liberal

Turkey with other Islamic countries, concluding that authoritarianism may not be caused by

Islam, but by other causes. Mustafa sees the rise of political Islam by shedding the past, which

includes spotlighting conservatives within Islam and complementing the movement's analysis

with discussions on other factors such as the environment, culture, and the economy. I am

evaluating. Mustafa draws on his own experiences, religious beliefs and Turkish heritage. He

uses verses from the Quran and hadith contexts that have influenced the growth of political Islam

to support his claims and interpretations. Mustafa focuses on the beginnings of Islam in the first

chapter of his book, arguing that Islam laid the foundation for a more liberal future, referring to

women's rights and the importance of the individual. He then continues to explore the growth of

Islamic trade, culture and political life, all halted or slowed down in the 12th century due to

economic decline and lack of trade. In addition to the lack of economic growth, Mustafa

explored how the desert environment affected the views of Islam, how the middle class worked,

and how different rulers in their country worked. are also investigating. This important exam

assesses the influence and power of rulers in the Islamic world and how their goals shaped and

interpreted Islam. The Umayyad Empire and the Abbasids were mentioned by Mustafa as two of

the sultanates that "played an important role in this history by continuously supporting the

traditionalists. Personally, I would disagree with that statement, even if he refutes it in the next

sentence. refers to it as a "superficial explanation". Because it doesn't explain why the

government would choose to help a conservative movement over a more rational one, he thinks

it's superficial. However, in my opinion, why they chose traditionalists is not important, what

matters is how they did it. A ruler only takes actions that will further protect his or her power,
especially when dealing with rivals vying for power, from the standpoint of rationalism and

politics. Such a challenge may have been posed by a group that preferred to use reason and

consisted mainly of “well-educated and international intellectuals”. Therefore, it makes sense for

a leader to choose a group that is more concerned with maintaining the status quo and less

willing to change.

Since the Ottoman Empire made major efforts to liberalize, it can now be argued that the case of

the Ottoman Empire would disprove the argument that the rulers favored conservative Islam. The

ethnic, religious and cultural groups that make up the Ottoman Empire are all increasingly

influenced by concepts of modern nationalism and it is rather disorganized. This example once

again demonstrates how ruling class interests have dominated the development of Islam and its

relationship with politics and government, but in this situation liberal tendencies than.A third

distinct example is the attempt by rulers to "Islamize" specific types of punishment, despite the

fact that the Quran does not prescribe such punishments. Similar to blasphemy, the Quran does

not mention punishment on earth, but the executions that followed were more political than

religious events. Again, the rulers` interests often lead to the exploitation of Islam to pursue their

goals and consolidate their control.

Although Christianity has a very long history of power-obsessed dictators, Christianity in the

West and Western political structures differ greatly from Muslim nations. The emergence of

Islam in Arabia took place in the context of centralism due to the lack of agriculture. However,

Mustafa offers some strong justifications for the downfall of Islam and the authoritarianism that

is taking place in its name. There is no single explanation for how Islam evolved or why

authoritarian rulers are common in Muslim countries, which is unprecedented in history or

debate. But it is also a result of the diversity of Islam, the diversity of Muslim countries and

cultures that have accompanied the development of Islam. Finally, he makes some strong

arguments that explain the current situation without regard to religion.The situation in the

predominantly Muslim country of the world today is certainly dire for anyone who values ​human

freedom. According to the independent organization Freedom House, the majority of countries

with a Muslim majority are simply "not free". "There is only one Muslim-majority country

whose inhabitants can enjoy freedom, although a few, including his own, Turkey, rank as

'partially free'. Other problems such as nationalism, tribalism and a thirst for power that threaten

political or religious freedom are also present in many other Muslim countries. However, Islam

is a factor in some problems. Therefore, Mustafa Akyol thinks that Sharia is indeed problematic.

This certainly does not mean that all Muslims are dangerous agents of "escalating sharia", as

some Westerners seem to think. Polls show that many Muslims, as observed by the Pew

Research Center, want to live in a society with liberal and secular laws. These include many

religious Muslims who want to live their faith as they see it, rather than as required by the

religious police. The key question in this situation is whether Sharia can be changed and whether

Muslim countries can develop into a free society where religion is based on choice, not coercion.

. The Muslim world today is not ruled by a single institution like the Catholic Church in

pre-Reformation Europe. In contrast, the Muslim world today is extremely violent and

disorganized. The challenge, therefore, is not to remove the stranglehold of religion but to

liberalize Muslim groups, many of which are authoritarian in their own right. Hardline Muslims

have accused the Islamic reformers of being infidels and following the West. Many confused

Muslims are now searching for the best way to understand and practice their religion. Over the

years, a fundamental form of Islamic tradition has been to appreciate this freedom. Many people
have realized that Islam and freedom can exist. Muslim societies also need an improved political

environment to raise their voices, not silence them. The Quranic phrase La ikraha fi al din, which

means "There is no power in religion", is at the center of theological debate alongside the

provocative headlines of his sermons. According to Mustafa, it is a method to cleanse Islam of

any monotheistic problems, such as apostasy or intolerance towards other religions. However,

religious observers consider this to be a completely fabricated claim. This incident serves as a

turning point for Akyol's exploration of 14 centuries of Islamic thought in his book Expansion of

Islamic Thought: A return to reason, freedom, and tolerance in an attempt to convince believers

worldwide that promoting the Islamic Enlightenment does not mean giving in to the "enemies"

of the West.

Since Muslims have been dissatisfied with the current state of affairs for the past two centuries,

most Muslims would agree that the Islamic world is currently in a serious crisis.

As many Muslim`s aware, the Islamic world was indeed much more developed than other

civilizations a thousand years ago. The Muslims scholars had the brightest minds in the world,

they invented algebra and geometry, and they were studying and interpreting the greatest Greek

ideas a thousand years ago. But although he believed that colonialism was a terrible tragedy for

the Muslim world, the state of stagnation actually started far earlier. Mustafa believed that the

Islamic world was brilliant and because it was global and because Muslims were open-minded

for their time and eager to learn about other existing traditions, including Christians, Jews and

Hindus. In short, they believed that wisdom existed both inside and outside of Islam. The

secularist school known as Mu'tazila claimed that God's laws contained moral guidelines that are

also understandable by human reason. God says, "Do not steal," since stealing is immoral and

people would recognise this even if they had no religious attachment. This enables an
universalistic perspective, suggesting that moral wisdom can exist in non Muslims as well

because it is in human conscience. No ethical truth exists apart from religious law. Muslims

increasingly held the belief that their religious tradition has all the ethical knowledge they might

ever need and that there is nothing to be learned from other religions. Today, one may still find

aspects of this philosophy, such as when any religious authority in Islamic countries simply

rejects any appeal from the outside world to uphold universal human rights. a system of

standards and laws that represent civilization in the tenth centuries. That is why Mustafa urged

other Muslims to review Islamic philosophy, especially that of those individuals who were

persecuted as infidels but who actually have valuable insights that Muslims still require today.

Muslims should first be more open to the Islamic tradition itself before becoming more open to

the outside world. According to Mustafa, Muslims must find a way to balance the

accomplishments of humanity with our Islamic traditions, especially religious law. And I think

Islam needs to openly embrace liberal ideas, just like Catholicism did in the 1960s with the

famous Vatican proclamation Humanae. He is attempting to reach a wider audience by

promoting an Islamic Enlightenment and providing a road map for it by saying, "Hey, fellow

Muslims all across the world, we have to talk about these issues." According to The Economist,

who reviewed Mustafa`s book gently accusing him of being "an American-inspired optimist,"

American institutes and schools are particularly engaging grounds for considering such ideas, but

Muslim majority nations are considerably less so. And the reason for that is that he is drawing on

a real tradition: Islamic liberalism from the late Ottoman Empire. Well, he had the opportunity to

live and work in America, but his roots are in the Muslim world.
Conclusion

In addition, many great scholars before Mustafa Akyor had left their homeland as well. Nasr

Abu Zayed, for example, was forced to leave Egypt and move to Holland after being labeled a

heathen because his ideas went against the public eye. Falzul Rahman had to leave Pakistan for

his own safety and ended up teaching in America.

In summary, the experience of authoritarianism, civil wars and bloodshed in the name of

Islam has led more and more Muslims to conclude that major changes are needed. Mustafa

Akyol tries to speak in unison by outlining the changes and how to proceed. You have dedicated

this book to our esteemed sons so that they may "grow up with both Islamic faith and

international ideals."
References

● Akyol, M. (2022, November 21). Islam and Freedom: The Challenge and The Hope.

George W. Bush Presidential Center. Retrieved December 24, 2022, from

https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/freedom/akyol-islam-and-freedom

● Akyol, M. (2021, April 6). Reopening Muslim Minds. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved

December 24, 2022, from

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mustafa-akyol/reopening-muslim-minds/

● Akyol, M. (2019, December 23). A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam. Cato Institute

. Retrieved December 24, 2022, from

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/new-secularism-appearing-islam