|
||
Name:
Muhammad Abduh
Dates:
Born: 1849 in the Egyptian Delta
Died: 1905
Major Works:
Islam and Christianity (1948)
Theology of Unity (1965)
Specializations:
Politics and Islam
Rationalism and Modernity
Biography:
Muhammad Abduh is an important, if often neglected, figure in the development of modern Islam
over the 19th and 20th centuries. Strongly influenced by the work of al-Afghani and his call for
the Islamic world to unite against the incursions of the West, Abduh spent a great deal of time
working out just how and why the Islamic world came into such steep decline when compared to the
Christian world of the West. There had been a time when Islam was dominant in areas like
military power, culture, art, medicine, scientific research - in pretty much all of the areas that
mattered. The West, however, was little more than a collection of barbarian lands with no real
civilization or development.
Somehow, all of that change - trying to figure out why and, just as importantly, how to reverse these fortunes, has been a major preoccupation of many Islamic thinkers for decades. Abduh concluded that the most likely source of problems in the Islamic world were the corrupt governments that Muslims had to live under. Abduh argued that these governments were characterized by a blind and unyielding reliance upon tradition which only caused them to focus upon the accidents of Islam, not the essential features. Thus, unimportant and even harmful customs became enshrined into law, preventing Muslims from making the same developments as Christians in the West.
Abduh's solution to such problems is to set aside blind reliance on tradition - insofar as any tradition is followed, it should only be because it offers something of practical or religious value, not simply because it is tradition. He argued for the incorporation of modernity when and wherever possible - some features of modernity might conflict with genuine aspects of Islam and, if so, then those aspects cannot be adopted. The rest, however, should.
Obviously, not everyone in the Muslim world has come to agree with Abduh's ideas - indeed, many argue that blind reliance on tradition is itself the means for Muslims to overcome their relative backwardness in comparison to the West. These radicals claim that the incorporation of too much modernity has destroyed True Islam and that this, in turn, is responsible for people's problems.
Despite such differences, Abduh did share some things in common with traditionalists and Muslim fundamentalists. He argued that Islam is the most rational of all religious traditions and that any scientific truths which people might stumble upon can be shown to be already contained in Islamic teachings.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What is Islam?
What is Islam? What do Muslims believe? Where did Islam come from? What is jihad? Find the answers to these questions and more in our Islam FAQ.
