SHEIKH MUHAMMAD ABDUH

The fall of the source of truth from the sky to the earth is like a historical “break” that separates the new era from the old. It is undoubted that passing through this significant historical point is not comfortable for people in different regions of the world and requires solving the fundamental issues that this historical shift imposes. People in every region have different abilities to solve the mentioned problems. What plays an essential role in this? Belief in the “break” between two historical stages. The more the thinkers of every culture and country believe in this “break”, the more realistic they will face the upcoming issues. But unfortunately, some thinkers could not face this “break” with courage and a realistic view. Sheikh Muhammad Abduh is one of these thinkers. Although Abduh acknowledges the existence of this “break”, he is hesitant to adopt a position and the necessity of fundamental change for some reasons.

“Break”; a key concept

Sheikh Muhammad Abduh was a friend and colleague of Sayyid Jamal Al-din Asadabadi. He made great efforts to organize the doctrine of conformity of modern knowledge with Islamic standards. A doctrine that its nature was formed in the rejection and denial of the “break” between modern science and traditional knowledge. Sheikh Muhammad Abduh thought that the existence of this “break” would cause a lot of damage.

He believed that if religious people cannot adapt their thoughts to the new world, religiosity will be considered as opposition to progress, and the leadership of reforms will fall into the hands of opponents of religion. Also, the social reforms would disrupt the cultural and moral unity of the Egyptian people and divide them into two camps: the camp that wants to follow the principles of Sharia and the old way of education and the camp that seeks to break traditions and imitate Western culture. Therefore, Abduh avoids the decisive recognition of the above “historical break” and tries to ignore it. Although he shows it in some of his writing.

In the study of Sayyid Jamal’s thought, it was observed that the doctrine of conformity of modern science with Islamic standards justifies its claim by referring to the deviation of Islamic standards from their origin over time. On this basis, Sheikh Muhammad Abduh also considered the solution to confronting both mentioned dangers (the opposition of religion to progress and the division of the Egyptian people) in reviving religious thought and returning to the main sources of Islamic Sharia by fighting imitation.

In his opinion, the companions of the Prophet understood religious knowledge by rational evaluation. Abduh believes that in the later periods, imitation replaced the rational evaluation of religion. Therefore, if today Muslims refer to religion with their rational evaluation, there will be no conflict between religion and modern science. Abduh was sure that if the Qur’an and the history of Islam are looked at in his way, many Western social and political foundations can be found in Islamic teachings. Such a claim is not very convincing. Because the first step is to accept the religious knowledge of “faith”. While “doubt” is considered the first step in modern science and philosophy.

Therefore, these two cannot be considered based on rationality in the same sense. Because the logic of the formation of each of them is fundamentally different from each other. Sheikh Muhammad Abduh is also aware of this importance, so to solve this problem, he is forced to admit the existence of a “break”.

However, it does not consider the “break” between old and new knowledge but has transferred it to religious rules. Abduh differentiates between the rules of worship and the rules of transactions. He says: The Qur’an and the Hadith have laid down detailed rulings about worship, but about transactions, i.e. relationships between people, in these are content only with general principles and have left it to the people of that period to apply them to the specific life circumstances.

He hopes that with the “break,” he draws between the rules of worship and transactions, he will be able to remove the main “break” between the new and the old. According to him, these rulings are related to worship, which has nothing to do with modern science, but regarding the rulings of transactions, modern science can be considered along with it and there is no “break” in this area.

Similarity of concepts

To connect religious knowledge with modern sciences, Abduh believes that some concepts in the context of religious education that have a special meaning can be considered the same as modern concepts. Of course, the concepts in two different contexts of religion and modern urban society cannot be used in the same sense. This solution of Abduh has brought results that have had a significant impact on the lives of Muslim people.

To implement the process of adapting religious concepts to modern conditions, Abduh recommends that the chapter on Ijtihad in religion be opened among Sunnis. He considered Ijtihad in religion, which had remained silent since the time of Ibn Hanbal, to be vital for the current situation.

However, he emphasizes that Ijtihad has conditions. It means that only the strong in religious knowledge should be allowed in it and others should follow them. It can be seen that everything that Abduh is trying to build ultimately comes back to the authority of decision-making and legislation or Ijtihad in the eyes of the jurisconsults (Mullah), that is, those who claim knowledge of religion.

The presence of religious commentators and mujtahids (who make ijtihad) in the field of decision-making and legislation, which leads to the monopoly of power and suppression of pluralism, was mentioned earlier in the analysis of the thoughts of Sayyid Jamal. But the results of Abduh’s thoughts go beyond this. As mentioned, Abduh believes that many concepts in religious texts can be the same as the basic concepts of modernism.

Extracting concepts of the same meaning from the context of religious books and modern relations is usually the responsibility of commentators and mujtahids who have taken over the field of politics and legislation. Now we can expect what kind of situation people will get with Abduh’s solution.

The human revolution in the Renaissance era, which was made possible by breaking with the old knowledge, is distorted and confused by Muslim thinkers like Abduh. In the modern era, man tries to expand the boundaries of knowledge and reach new horizons of meaning and value in life. The concepts created by him in the modern era are mainly the result of his continuous efforts.

However, people like Abduh believe that these concepts should be equated with religious concepts by mujtahids and Mullahs. Perhaps, Abduh had in mind to review religious concepts in the modern era and give them a new meaning.

But there is no doubt that the jurisconsults or Mullahs who, according to Abduh’s advice, are worthy of ijtihad and have exclusively taken over the political field, will try to empty the modern human concepts from meaning and reconstruct them in the context of the pre-modern era. An incident that is visible in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Perhaps over a century of experience was needed for the Muslims to realize how vital it is to recognize the “break” between the old and the new, and distorting and distorting this “break” can have disastrous results.

Resource used:

Enayat, Hamid (1997). An overview of Arab political thought (from Napoleon’s attack on Egypt to World War II). Amir Kabir Publications. [In Persian].