lectura 03.1. najjar - ibn rushd and the egyptian enlightenment movement

7/23/2019 Lectura 03.1. Najjar - Ibn Rushd and the Egyptian Enlightenment Movement

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British Society for Middle Eastern Studies

Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Egyptian Enlightenment MovementAuthor(s): Fauzi M. NajjarSource: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Nov., 2004), pp. 195-213Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4145508.

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2/20

British Journal

of

Middle Eastern

Studies,

November

2004

31(2),

195-213

Carfax

Publishing

Taylor

Francis

roup

b n

u s h d

Averroes)

n d

t h e

Egypt ian

nlightenment

ovement

FAUZI M. NAJJAR*

ABSTRACT

ully

aware

of

the

pressing

need

for change

in

the Arab-Muslim

world,

a

group of

Egyptian

intellectuals have

formed

the

Egyptian Enlighten-

ment

Society

to

promote

the

necessary reform or

the

challenges of

the

twenty-

first century. Theyseek to restore a liberal-secularist trendby disseminatingthe

ideas

of

rationality,

reedom,

equality,

emancipation of

women,

and so on.

They

champion

a

civil

society

as

against

the

religious

society

advocated

by

the

Islamists.

The

advocates

of

enlightenment

have

mobilized

the ideas and

theories

of

Egyptian

and Muslim

liberal

thinkers,

in

particular

those

of

Ibn Rushd

(Aver-

roes),

the

great

commentator

and

interpreter

of

Aristotelian

philosophy,

re-

garded by

many

as

one

of

the

key

figures

in the

development

of

the

European

Enlightenment.

Averroes,

a

defender of

the

freedom of

rational

investigation,

and a

precursor

of

the

modern

scientific

outlook,

sought

to

reconcile

philosophy

and

religion,

and thus

introduce

philosophy

into a Muslim

society governed by

the shari'. The futureof the Arab-Muslimworld will dependon the outcome of

the

struggle

between

enlightenment

and Islamic fundamentalism.

Introduction

'What has

happened

to the

tradition

of

enlightenment

that

had become

part

of

Egyptian

culture from

the middle of the

19th

to

the

middle of the 20th

centuries?'

asks Jabir

'Asfur,

one of

Egypt's

leading

intellectuals

and

founding

member

of

the

present

Egyptian Enlightenment

Association.

What 'Asfur is

referring

to are those

reforms

in

government,

law,

religion,

education

and other

aspects

of

Egyptian

culture

that took

place

during

that

period.

The nineteenthcenturywas the formativeperiod duringwhich Egypt received

the distinctive

features

of its modem culture.

Following Napoleon's

expedition

in

1798,

the

pace

of

European

intervention

in

Egypt

and

the Muslim

world

moved

more

rapidly.

So

did the

process

of

modernization

or

Westernization.

In

addition

to the

military

and technical reforms introduced

by

Muhammad

'Ali,

more than the

externals

of

Western

civilization were

adopted.

New social and

political

ideas and

practices

penetrated

nto

Egyptian

society

and

culture.

By

the

mid-nineteenth

century,

Muhammad

'Ali's

grandson,

Khedive

Isma'il,

could

declare,

not

without

extravagantexaggeration,

that

'Egypt

has

become a

part

of

Europe.'

Instrumental

n

this

process

of

change

was the rise of a new

kind of

literature,

*

College

of Social

Science,

Michigan

State

University,

East

Lansing,

Michigan,

USA.

ISSN

1353-0194

print/ISSN

1469-3542

online/04/020195-19 @

2004 British

Society

for

Middle EasternStudies

DOI: 10.1080/135301904042000268213


3/20

FAUZI

M. NAJJAR

which

played

a

leading

role in

disseminating

modernist ideas and

views. It

has

been said

that the

printing press

was

'far and

away

the

most

revolutionary

and

influential of all contributionsof

Europe

to the Moslem world.' The establish-

ment of

British

control in

Egypt

in

1882 caused

the

Westernizing

movement

to

broaden out and

expand

in

different

directions.

Education

reforms and

the

adoption

of

Western

laws,

commercial,

criminal

and

civil,

underscored

the

modernist transformationof

Egyptian

society.

Lebanese

immigrants

played

a

decisive

role

in

expanding

journalism

and

literary,

scientific

and

political

publications.

By

the

turn

of

the

twentieth

century,

European political

thought

was

generally

accepted,

consciously

and

unconsciously.

A

parliamentary

ystem

of

government

and certain

constitutional

reforms

were

established.

Freedom of

the

press,

fundamentalhuman

rights

and

secularist

education were

championed

along

with

democratic

institutions. The

secularist

conception

of

the

nation-state

had for all practicalpurposesreplacedthe notion of an Islamiccaliphateor unity.

A

new

political

consciousness

was

created

amongst

the

mass

of

the

people

by

the

rapid

rise and extension

of

journalism.

An

impressive

general

political

and

intellectual

level was

raised.

The

pioneer

of that

'tradition of

enlightenment'

(tanwir)

was

Rifa'a

Rafi'

al-Tahtawi

(1801-1873),

who

as

Muhammad

Ali's

appointed

Imam of

a

study

mission

in

Paris,

had

learned

French

and

studied

European hought,

in

particular

the works

of

Voltaire,

Rousseau and

Montesquieu.

Tahtawi was

instrumental n

transmitting

the

liberal

thought

of

the French

Englightenment

to

his

Egyptian

compatriots.

The

present

Tanwir

Association

regards

him

as

its

intellectual

mentor,

and it has

recently

organized

a

conference under the

title

'Rifa'a

al-TahtawiPioneer of Tanwir,'at which eighty-five papers dealing with his life

and

works were

discussed

by

Arab and

Western

scholars.'

The

reform

movement

inaugurated

by

Tahtawi

was

developed

and

sustained

by

a

number of

intellectuals,

religious

and

political

leaders. Two

main

trends

were

generated.

The

first

was a

religious

reform

movement

culminating

in

the

works of

Muhammad

'Abduh,

a

disciple

of

Jamal al-Din

al-Afghani,

and an

advocate of

religious

reform in

Islam.

To

this

day,

'Abduh

remains

the

symbol

of

Islamic

reform,

and the

author of

the

fundamental

proposition

that

Islam

and

modernity

are

not

incompatible.

To be

modern

does

not

necessarily

compromise

Islamicity.

His

book al-Islam

Din

al-'71m

wa

al-Madaniyya

(Islam

is the

Religion

of

Science

and

Civilization)

remains

the

landmark n

the Islamic

reform

movement.

The

second was a

liberal-secularist

rend

represented

by

the

dissemination of

ideas such

as

rationality,

freedom,

equality,

constitutionalism,

independent

judiciary,

government

responsibility

and

separation

of

powers.

Movements

and

political

parties calling

for

social

justice,

equality

before the

law,

free

public

education,

free

press,

and

emancipation

of

women

were

formed. Most

important

was

the idea

of a national

secular

society,

strongly

opposed by

religious

conservatives to this

day.2

In

his

seminal

work,

Arabic

Thought

in the

Liberal

Age,

Albert

Hourani

1

al-Ahram,

April

20,

2002.

2

See Muhammad Nur Farahat,'al-Qanun w-al-Tafa'ul al-Thaqafi fi Misr al-Haditha,' (Law and Cultural

Interaction n

Modem

Egypt),

in

Murad

Wahba

and Mona

Abousenna

(eds.)

Nadwat

al-Tanwir,

(Cairo:

Goethe

Institute,

1990),

p.

88.

196


4/20

THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT

MOVEMENT

stresses

the liberal-secular

character

of that

period,

secular

'in the sense

that

it

believed

that

society

and

religion

both

prospered

best

when the civil

authority

was

separate

from the

religious,

and when the former acted in accordancewith

the needs of human

welfare

in

this

world,

liberal

in the sense that

it

thought

the

welfare of

society

to be constituted

by

that of

individuals,

and the

duty

of

government

to

be the

protection

of

freedom,

above

all the

freedom of the

individual

to fulfill himself and

to create civilization.'3

The

religious

reform movement

has been

fully

covered

by

Charles

C.

Adams

in

his

book Islam and

Modernism in

Egypt

(Oxford:

Oxford

University

Press,

1933),

and Malcolm

Kerr

n

Islamic

Reform:

the Political

and

Legal

Theories

of

Muhammad

cAbduh

and

Rashid Rida

(University

of California

Press,

1966).

Other

works have dealt

with the

political,

constitutional

and educational

changes

of that

period,

notably

Qassim

Amih's Tahrir

al-Mar'a

(Emancipation

of

Woman).Amin was the first Egyptianto attackthe inferiorposition of Muslim

women,

the Islamic

practice

of

polygamy,

divorce

and the use

of the veil.

The liberal

reform movement

was carried

forward

by

writers

like Taha

Husayn,

Lutfi

al-Sayyid,

and

'Ali 'Abd

al-Raziq, among

others.

In his book

Mustaqbal

al-Thaqafa

fi

Misr

(The

Future

of Culture

in

Egypt),

Husayn

called

upon

the

Egyptians

to turn their

faces

West,

urging

them to

adopt

Western

culture,

science and

techniques.

As

minister of

education,

he introduced

educa-

tional

reforms,

stressing

freedom of

academic research

and the

freedom of the

university

from

government

control.

Similarly,

al-Raziq,

in

his book

al-Islam wa

cUsul

al-Hukm

(Islam

and the

Principles

of

Government),

shocked

the Muslim

world with his

argument

hat Islam

is a

religion

and not a

state,

as he called for

the separation of the two. Government systems and laws depend on the

circumstances

and

requirements

of the

public

interest,

he

argued.

Many

other

writers added

to these landmarks

on the road to Tanwir.

It is this

traditionof Tanwir

that the

modem Tanwiriyyun,

as

the advocates

of

enlightenment

are

called,

claim is

at risk

from

two

major developments

in

contemporary

Egyptian

life. The first

challenge

to this liberal

tradition

came

from the authoritarian

regime

of Gamal Abdel

Nasser

and Anwar al-Sadat.

Parliamentarygovernment

and

political parties

were

banned,

the

press

was

nationalized

and

muzzled,

and all

aspects

of social and

educational

life were

controlled

by

the

military regime.

Dissidents were

persecuted,

forcing many

intellectuals to flee their

own homeland.

There was a

general

decline

in

the

quality

of

culture,

education

and the

arts.

The

Islamists

The

second

challenge

comes from

the

contemporary

slamic

discourse,

and

the

activities

of its adherents.

For

the

Islamists,

who hold the

shari'a to be

immutable

and valid for all

times,

Westernizationand secularization

represent

a

threat

to fundamentalIslamic

values and

way

of life.

Consequently,

not

only

Western

ideas and institutions

have suffered the

animosity

of

the

Islamists,

but

also

those who advocate

them. The

contemporary

Tanwir

movement is

basically

an

endeavor to check the

negative

influence of the

Islamists,

considered

detrimental o reform and progress

in all

aspects

of life.

The

Tanwiriyyun

eek

3

Albert

Hourani,

Arabic

Thought

in the Liberal

Age

(Oxford:

Oxford

University

Press,

1983),

p.

343.

197


5/20

FAUZI

M. NAJJAR

to reset

Egypt

on the road to

modernity

in

order to

cope

with

the

challenges

of

the times.

They

are

the heirs of the

early

liberals,

champions

of freedom

of

thought and expression, who believe that there is no incompatibilitybetween

Islam and

modernity.

The 'Islamic Movement'

comprises

all Muslims whose activities aim

at

establishing

an Islamic state instead

of

the

existing

'secular'

or

'civil' state.

It

includes those

engaged

in

direct

political

activities,

as

well as those

whose

activities

have

an indirect

influence on the movement.

Included

in the

first

category

are

the

Muslim

Brothers,

Islamic

Jihad,

al-Jama'at

al-Islamiyya,

and

the

cAmal

Labour)

Party.

Included in the second

category

are

individual

writers

and scholars with

an Islamic

bent such as Fahmi

Huwaydi

(columnist

in

al-Ahram),

MuhammadSalim

al-'Awwa,

Kamal Abu

al-Majd

(professor

of

law),

and

many

Azharites,

all

regarded

as

'enlightened

Islamists.'4

There has always been an Islamic movementcalling for a return o the purity

of the Islamic

past.

The movement

for the

restoration

of

the

Caliphate

in

the

early

1920s,

the Muslim Brotherhoodmovement in the late

1920s,

and

a

number

of small

organizations branching

out

of the

Brotherhood,

all

argued against

a

civil

society

and state. These

early

movements

were,

on the

whole,

kept

under

control,

either

by

the

government

or

by

their own leaders.

However,

the

shattering

defeat

of the

1967

War

may

be

regarded

as the

startingpoint

of

what

an

Egyptian

professor

called

the

'increasing

theocratization

of the Arab world.'

Consequently,

the

fall

of

Nasserism

opened

the

way

for the Islamists to

present

themselves

as

the

only

alternative

to the

existing

order. 'Petro dollars' from the

oil-producing

Gulf

states,

particularly

Saudi

Arabia,

enabled the Islamists to

pursue their political activities more vigorously, and even to establish armed

units

to confront their

enemies.

By using

part

of the funds to build

hospitals,

schools

and

mosques,

and

other services the civil

government

had failed to

provide,

they

have succeeded

in

mobilizing

large segments

of the

population,

especially

the

unemployed youth.

President

Sadat's 'economic

opening' played

into their hands

by creating

wider economic and social

disparities, forcing

the

poor

to seek

support

from the Islamic

groups.

At

the

same

time,

in his

effort to

combat

Nasserist and leftist

tendencies,

Sadat

indulged

the

Islamists,

allowing

them

to

operate freely

and sometimes with

impunity.

Furthermore,

he

success

of

the Khomeini

revolution

in Iran convinced the Islamists of the

possibility

of

establishing

a

religious

state

by

violence.5

The establishmentof a

religious

state is not a

new idea:

it

has

always

been

the

aspiration

of

many,

if not

most,

Muslims. What is

painfully

new is the claim

by

the

extremists that force is the

only

means to

bring

it

about.

All

forms of

violence, threats,

vilification and assassinations have been used to

promote

this

fundamentalist

project.

Not all advocates of an Islamic state resort to such

means;

many

have launched an Islamic discourse to

promote

Islamic

values,

and

to

discredit

all

attempts

in

favour

a modem civil

society.

In

their

view,

liberalism,

secularism

and

democracy

are

Western

imports,

alien to the Islamic

polity.

This attitude has created a chasm within

Egyptian

society

between the

liberal-secular

ntelligentsia

and the Islamists of all colours.

The

mounting

influence of the

Islamists,

their violent activities and virulent

4

See Muhammad

Ibrahim

Mabruk,

Muwajahat

al-Muwajaha

(Cairo: 1994),

pp.

13-14.

5

Wahba

and

Abousenna,

Nadwat

al-Taniir,

p.

94.

198


6/20


MOVEMENT

discourse have

alarmed the

liberals,

who see them as a threat

to the civil state

and the cultural

achievements of the last

century.

Most intellectuals

and writers

are concerned about how 'fundamentalism s

conspicuously

permeating

many

circles in

our

region. Symptoms

of

bigotry

and intolerance are

decomposing

the

otherwise

compassionate

and benevolent tenets of all monotheistic

religions

embraced

by

millions in the

Middle

East. Terrorism is resorted

to in lieu of

persuasion

and

dialogue. Enlightened

thinkers and writers

have

increasingly

become a

prime

target

of extremists who emanate from

convoluted value

judgments

and

arbitrary nterpretations

f our luminous

heritage.'6

A

numberof

intellectuals and writershave

expressed

similar

foreboding

about

the

implications

of the Islamist

ascendancy,

in

particular

o

democracy,

freedom

of

thought

and

expression

and the

quality

of culture as a whole.

They

question

the

Islamist

slogan

la hukma illa

li-llah

(sovereignty

belongs

to

God

alone),

which is the call for a religious stategovernedby the shari'a. It was Abu al-'A'la

Mawdudi

(1903-1979),

the Pakistani

eader,

who resurrected his

Shi'ite

notion,

rejecting

democracy

as the

'sovereignty

of the masses.' The notion

of

hakimiyya

was later

popularized

by Sayyid

Qutb,

a

leading spokesman

for the Muslim

Brotherhood,

who

was executed

in

the fall of

1966,

for

his

advocacy

of

overthrowing

the

'un-Islamic' Nasser

regime by

force.

For the

Islamists a

modem

democraticcivil

society

is a

jahiliyya (pre-Islamic

age

of

ignorance),

infringing

God's

right

to

legislate. They

reject

democratic

freedoms as

excessive,

allowing people

to do whatever

they please.

In

modem

democracy

there

is no distinction between

right

and

wrong,

faith

and

unbelief,

the

good

and the bad.

Democracy

calls for

equality

of

all

citizens,

the

believer

and the atheist,the learnedand the ignorant.In short,Islamists of all hues reject

democracy's

secular

postulates,

and accuse the secularists of

doubting

the

credibility

of

Qur'anic

texts,

contending

that

Islam is a

religion

and not a

state,

calling

for the

adoption

of

Western

civilization and

reducing

God's

revelation to

a 'cultural

product.'

According

to Yusuf

Qaradawi,

'no

king

or

president,

no

government

or

revolutionary

council,

or

any power

on

earth has the

right

to

change any

of

God's

rules.'7 For their

part,

the secularists

call

the Islamists

'agents

of

darkness,

bats of

thought

who

prefer

the

darkness;

their

eyes

are

unable

to face

light

and

brightness.'8

The conflict between

secularism and Islamic conservatism has

been

going

on

for the last

century

and a half. It

has assumed

various

degrees

of

intensity,

contingent

on economic

and

political

crises. It has been

argued

that

the masses

are oblivious of the

conflict,

and that its

'final

settlement will be

determined

by

the social and economic

interests of social

groups.'9

Convinced that

the

triumph

of the Islamist movement

would

set Muslim

society

apart

from

the rest of the

world,

and out

of

date

and

out

of touch

with

real

life,

Egyptian

secularists and intellectuals have

determined

to use their

talents to ward off

the

onslaught

of what

they

call

'the

contemporary

Islamic

discourse.' Their

central

argument

is

that

Islam,

properly

understood,

is

in

harmony

with the modern

age.

Islamic

history

as well as the demands

of the

6

Murad

Wahba

and

Mona

Abousenna

(eds.)

Averroes and the

Enlightenment

Movement,

(New

York:

Amhert,

1990),

p.

18.

7

Mabruk,Muwajahatal-Muwajaha,pp. 80-81, 179, 214.

8

'Atif

al-'Iraqi,

al-'Aql

wa

al-Tanwir

i

al-Fikr

al-'Arabi

al-Mu'asir

(Beirut: 1995),

p.

138.

9

Wahba

and

Abousenna,

Nadwat

al-Tanwir,

English

section,

p.

91.

199


7/20

FAUZI M.

NAJJAR

modem

age provide

sufficient

argument

in

favour

of

the

use of

reason in the

management

of human affairs. Their

efforts

and activities

have been

somewhat

timid,

sporadic

and

haphazard.

Yet

enough

has been written and done to form

the

core of a

promising

intellectual

and cultural

movement.

The

Tanwir

Association

Of a

number of anti-Islamist

organizations

that have

emerged

in

the

last two

decades,

the

Enlightenment

Association

(Jam'iyyat

al-Tanwir)

has

been the most

consistent and

enduring.

Established in

October

1992

by

a

group

of

Egyptian

scholars and

intellectuals,

the

Association

has set

forth

an

agenda

to

counteract

the

claims,

teachings

and

interpretations

f the

Islamists,

whom

they

describe as

salafi (adherentsof the interpretations nd teachings of the pious ancestors)and

reactionary.

Their

approach

s to

revive

Egypt's

tanwir tradition

by

disseminat-

ing

liberal and

rational ideas. In

addition to

holding

seminars,

lecturing

and

writing,

they publish

an

irregular

bulletin

(al-Tanwir)

to

propagate

heir views.10

More

important

s a series

of

books

on

liberal and

rational

subjects

by

scholars

and

writers,

which

has

been

published

by

the

General

Egyptian

Book

Organiza-

tion. Such

books as Farah

Antun's

Falsafat

Ibn

Rushd,

'Ali

'Abd

al-Raziq's

al-Islim

wa

'Usul

al-Hukm,

Taha

Husayn's Mustaqbal al-Thaqafa

i

Misr,

and

Salama

Musa's Ma

Hiya

al-Nahda are

reprints

of

earlier

editions,

and

are meant

to

emphasize

Egypt's

earlier

liberal

tradition,

as well

as

to

challenge

the

traditionalIslamic

outlook on

society,

law

and

culture.

In the

words of the

first

presidentof the Association, they are meant 'to liberatethe mind from rigidity

and

bondage,

to save women

from

ignorance

and

idleness,

emancipate

them

from

the

harem-prison,

and to

open up

to different

cultures of the

world.'11

In

collaboration with the

ministry

of

culture,

the

Association

publishes

a

Confrontation

Series

(Silsilat

al-Muwidjaha)

he

goal

of which

is to

confront

terrorism,

extremism and

dogmatism.

In

the words

of the minister of

culture,

'We

confront

these

negative

phenomena

with

the

values

of

enlightenment,'

foremost of

which is

rationalism.12

In

terms of

publicity,

the

Association has

organized

a

number of

activities in

the name

of Tanwir.

For

example,

the

1990

InternationalBook Fair

was held

under

the motto 'A

Hundred Years

of

Tanwir.' It has also

inaugurated

a TV

programme(Hiwar al-Tanwir),presented

in the

late afternoon and

rebroadcast

at

midnight.

'Islam

and

the

Arts,'

'Has the

Egyptian

Woman

Achieved her

Aspirations,'

'Reform

of Islamic

Jurisprudence,'

and

'The

Relation

between

Philosophy

and

Religion'

are

some of

the

topics

discussed

by university

professors

and

prominent

writers.13

A

play,

Rihlat

al-Tanwir

(Enlightenment

Journey) by

Samir

Sarhan and

Muhammad

al-'Inani,

details

the

intellectual

and

political

careers of some of the

pioneers

of

enlightenment,

stressing

their

championing

of freedom

of

thought,

use of

reason,

freedom of the

press,

openness

to

world

thought

and,

in

particular,

their

assertionthat

thinking

s an

Islamic

obligation.

The

play

starts

with a

group

10

al-Ahali,

No.

637,

December

22,

1993.

11al-Ahram,May 26, 1993.12

Wahba

and

Abousenna,

Averroes and the

Enlightenment,

p.

21.

13

al-Ahram,

March

18 and

21;

April

4;

and

May

16,

2002.

200


8/20

THE EGYPTIAN

ENLIGHTENMENT

MOVEMENT

of students

studying

in a small

village

not far from

Cairo.

The

method of

instruction

is memorization.

When one student

questions

this

method,

citing

Muhammad Abduh's call for the use of reason, he is dismissed from school.

The student

wonders

out loud:

'What does

enlightenment

mean

if

not the

liberation

of women

from men's

oppression,

liberation of the

heritage

from the

myths

embedded

in

it,

liberation of

government

from the

tyranny

of

the

ruler,

who does

not consult

and does not

believe

in

consultation

(shura)?'

Narrator:

'These

are

different,

disparate

and

many-sided

tasks.' Student: 'But

they

all

come

together

in

one

magic

word,

freedom.'14

The

last

part

of the

play

focuses

on Taha

Husayn,

the blind

litterateur,

his

study

at

al-Azhar

and

in

France,

and

his

courage

to introduce new

methods of

instruction.

When

he

says:

'Nothing

should

be

accepted

without examination

and

discussion,

and

everything

s

subject

to the

authority

of

reason,

because

God has

given us reason so that we think until we find the truth,'he is ridiculed by a

village

elder,

while the chorus

in the back of the

stage

chants:

'It is the

human

being's

right

to think

independently,

because

thinking

is an individual

obli-

gation.'

5

What is

Tanwir?

The Arabic

word 'tanwir'

is a translation

of

enlightenment.

Nur

is

light.

It is

used in the

Qur'an

numerous imes

in the sense of those

who believe and

follow

God's

rules

are

led from the

depths

of darkness into

light.

(Q.

2:257)

In

the

present

context,

Tanwir

has been used

with

many

different

understandings

and

nuances,rangingfrom the equivalentof the EuropeanEnlightenment o 'Islamic

Tanwir.'

In his book

Ma

Hiya

al-Nahda?

(What

is the

Renaissance),

Salama

Musa

understands

enlightenment

as the humanistic

underpinnings

of

the

Eu-

ropean

Enlightenment.

He stresses

that science has

nothing

to do with

the

supernatural.

We must

depend

on ourselves

in

realizing

our

happiness

on

this

earth,

and

not renounce

it in favor of a life

to come. We will

be

deceiving

the

Egyptian

youth

if

we tell

them that the

European

Renaissance

s

anything

else.'16

Jabir

Asfur

defines

the term as 'the

belief

in

reason and

not

tradition,

science

not

superstition,

progress

not

underdevelopment,

reedom to

differ not consen-

sus,

government

by

consultation

not

oppression.'

In

short,

tanwir

means

'civil

society

and

state.' For

cAsfur,

civil

society

is based on tolerance

and the

right

of all citizens, irrespective of race, gender and religion, to participatein its

political

affairs.

It is the members

of

society

who

know best their

worldly

affairs,

and face their

problems

according

to the

requirements

of the

age

in which

they

live. 'In civil

society

there is no

restriction on the

right

of

ijtihad (independent

thinking)

or

disagreement.'

Tolerance

marks the distinction

between civil

society

and

theocracy.

'Asfur

concludes

that

only

tanwir,

which

upholds

the

values

of

reason,

justice

and

freedom,

can

stand

against

the obscurantism

and fanaticism

of the advocates

of a

religious

state.17

For Hasan

Hanafi,

a

professor

of

philosophy

at Cairo

University,

tanwir

is

'a

14

Samir

Sarhan

and

Muhammad

al-'Inani,

Rihlat

al-Tanwir

(Cairo,

1991),

pp.

8-14.

15

Ibid., p. 64.16

Salama

Musa,

Ma

Hiya

al-Nahda

(Cairo,

1993),

p.

15.

17

Jabir

'Asfur,

Difa'an

'an

al-Tanwir

(Cairo,

1993),

pp.

7-8.

201


9/20

FAUZI M. NAJJAR

philosophical

attitude,

based on

a number of

concepts

which

together

constitute

one consistent world

view. These

concepts

are:

reason,

nature, man,

freedom,

equality

and

progress.'

Hanafi does not include God. 'Reason,' he adds, 'is

opposed

to

authority

and inherited

traditions,

thus

paving

the

way

for the

individual to

lay

the

foundation of a

new

epistemology,

based

on the

laws of

nature and on

sensory experience

and

experimentation.'18

t is

obvious that

Hanafi's definition of tanwir

is

in

line

with

the

postulates

of

the

European

Enlightenment.

The

secularists' avowal of

Islam is

prompted

not

only by

the

belief that

it is

amenable

to

reform,

but also

by

the

conviction

that it is

the most

effective

way

to

convince the believers that

there is

no

conflict between

reason

and

religion,

and that to be

enlightened

and

rational

is

being

truly

Islamic.

Such

arguments

have not

appealed

to the

Islamists who

argue

that

'Islamic

tanwir,'

is

superior

to that of the 'Westernizedintellectuals.' Consequently,we now have Islamic

tanwiri

books,

a

large

number of

which were

exhibited at the

2002

International

Cairo Book

Fair,

ostensibly

'to

correct the

Westerners'

misunderstanding

of

Islam'.19

According

to

Muhammad

Zaqzuq,

minister of

religious

endowments and

president

of the

Egyptian Supreme

Council

of

Islamic

Affairs,

the

superiority

of

'Islamic

tanwir' lies in

the fact that it

'combines

religion

and

reason,

whereas

the

European Enlightenment

upheld

reason

and

ignored

religion.'

'The

tenets

of

Western

Enlightenment,'

he

adds,

'threaten our

Islamic

identity

and

culture

in

this

globalization

age.'

Advocates

of the

'Islamic

tanwir'

stress

Islam's

respect

for

and exaltation

of

reason,

but

the

religious

light

is

necessary

to

complement

the light of reason. 'Reason is the foundationandreligion is the edifice.'20There

are

many

verses in the

Qur'an

that

encourage

the

use of

reason,

but

we

cannot

make

a

religion

out

of

rationality, argues

Muhammad

Julaynad.

Reason's

domain is

the sensible

world

('alam

al-shahada)

but

not the

supernatural

'alam

al-ghayb).

'Only by

revelation

and faith can

we know

something

about

the

world

beyond.'21

Ibn

Rushd and

Enlightenment

Of all Muslim

authorities

summoned

by

the Tanwir

Association in

support

of

reason and

liberalism,

none has been

given greatercoverage

and

importance

han

the

philosopher

Abu

al-Walid Ibn

Rushd

(1126-1198),

known to the

West

as

Averroes. His

philosophy

is

thought

to be

indispensable

for

the

revival of

Islamic

intellectual

civilization,

and

social and

political

development

within

the

context of the

twentieth and

twenty-first

centuries.Ibn

Rushd,

the

great

commen-

tator

on,

and

interpreter

f,

Aristotelian

philosophy,

is

regarded

by

liberal-secu-

lar

Arab

intellectuals,

as well

as

by

some

Europeans,

as one of

the

key figures

in

the

development

of the

European

Enlightenment.

f

the

Rushdian

philosophy

played

such an

important

role

in

the

West,

it is

only

logical

to

assume

that it

18

Wahba

and

Abousenna,

Nadwat

al-Tanwir,

English

Summary, p.

63;

Arabic

text,

p.

42.

19

al-Ahram,

January

16,

2002.

20

al-Ahram,FridaySupplement,April 13, 2001, p. 10.21

Muhammad

Julaynad,

Minhaj

al-Salafbayna

al-'Aql

wa

al-Taqlid (Cairo,

1999),

pp.

50-63;

Cf.

Qur'an

2:2;

151;

262.

202


10/20


MOVEMENT

could do the same

in

the

East.22

Moreover,

he is

regarded

as 'a

precursor

of the

modem

scientific

outlook,'

and a defender of the freedom

of rational

investiga-

tion.

Averroes'

philosophy

is

beyond

the

scope

of this

paper.

My

main concern is

to

explore

those

aspects

of his

thoughtregardedby

the

Tanwiriyyun

s

necessary

to combat Islamic fundamentalism and the

contemporary

Islamist discourse.

'The terror of

fundamentalism,'

writes Mona

Abousenna,

chairperson

of the

English Department

at

'Ayn

Shams

University,

'cannot

be met

by

arms or other

forms of

security,

but

by

the

power

of

reason,

that

is,

philosophy.'23

This

is

not

the first time that Averroes'

philosophy

is

employed

to

generate religious,

intellectual,

political

and

social reform in

Egypt

and the

Arab

world.

In

1903,

FarahAntun

(1861-1922),

published

his book

Falsafat

Ibn

Rushd

(The

Philoso-

phy

of

Ibn

Rushd),

in which he advocated the

separation

of

temporal

and

spiritualauthorities.Without that separation'there will be no true civilization,

tolerance,

justice,

friendship,

science,

philosophy

or

progress.'

He was the first

to use Ibn Rushd's

teachings

'to

promote

the establishment

of a secular state and

the

Western scientific culture.'

He

thought

that Ibn

Rushd's

philosophy

'is a

strong

endorsement

for scientific

thinking,

which for

Antun was the

key

to

modem civilization.'24

A

Christian

Jmigre

from

Lebanon,

Antun

thought

that

only

in

a

modem

secular state

would Christians

have

equal political

and social

rights

with

Muslims. He

accepted

Ernst Renan's contention that

according

to Ibn

Rushd,

philosophy

is the

'hidden

poison'

(al-samm al-kamin)

against religion,

and that

'in

Arabic

philosophy

as

shown

by

Ibn

Rushd,

the

Aristotelian tradition had

eliminatedIslam andput itself in its place.' When Ibn Rushddied, Renan wrote:

'Arab

philosophy

lost in

him

its last

representative,

and

the

triumph

of the

Qur'an

over free

thought

was assured for at least six hundred

years.'25

Needless

to

say,

Renan's views

aroused

strong

condemnationof

Antun's book

by

Muslims

in

general.

It is no

coincidence

that Antun book was the first

to be

reprinted

in

the

Tanwir series in

1993.

The

goal

was to

pioneer

an

enlightenment

movement in

the Arab

world,

based on

the

authority

of the

great

Muslim

philosopher.

There

is a

general agreement

among

the

Tanwiriyyun

of all shades

that the absence of

Ibn

Rushd's

philosophy

from the Middle East is the

'obstacle

facing

the

prevalence

of

reason from

its

culture.'26

Islamists have

always regardedphilos-

ophy

as an

enemy

of

religion,

as

they

have been intent on

'smothering

the seeds

of secularism' in Ibn Rushd's

thought,

because

if

the

seeds

germinate 'they

would

emancipate

reason,

whose

absence

in the Muslim

world is at the bottom

of its

backwardness,'

That

is

why

when Antun's book

was

first

published,

al-Manar

magazine

accused

the author of

blaspheming

Islam

and

its

'ulama.

It

was Rashid

Rida,

the editor of the

magazine,

who

urged

Muhammad

Abduh

to

22

For

a

polemic

on

Averroes' role

in

the

European

Enlightenment,

see Charles

E.

Butterworth, 'Averroes,

Precursorof the

Enlightenment?'

Alif

16

(1996),

pp.

6-18.

23

Murad

Wahba

and Mona

Abousenna

(eds.)

Averroes

Today:

Fundamentalism

and

Secularization

in the

Middle

East,

(Cairo: 2000),

p.

11.

24

Hourani,Arabic Thought, pp. 253-259.

25

Ibid.,

p.

62;

Stefan

Wild in Wahba

and

Abousenna,

eds.

Averroes

and

Enlightenment,

pp.

157,

159.

26

Wahba

&

Abousenna Averroes

Today,

pp.

84,

87.

203


11/20

FAUZI M.

NAJJAR

respond

to Antun's

contentions,

charging

him with

atheism,

as he

later

charged

'Ali

'Abd

al-Raziq

for

his views

in

al-Islam

wa 'Usul al-Hukm.27

Dr. Murad Wahba, professor of

philosophy

at

'Ayn

Shams

University

in

Heliopolis,

founder and

honorary president

of the Afro-Asian

Philosophy

As-

sociation,

and a

pioneer

of

the

Egyptian Englightenment

Movement,

was the

first

to

call

for

an

Arab

enlightenment

movement based on the

philosophy

of

Ibn

Rushd. In

November

1979,

he

organized

the First

International

slamic

philoso-

phy

Conference with the title

'Islam and

Civilization.' His main

idea was

that

the

problem

of the

developing

countries was the

absence of the 'rule

of

reason.'

In his

opinion,

the

European

Enlightenment

'liberatedreason not

only

from

the

religious

authorities,

but also from

any authority

except

that of

reason

itself,'

and

that

Ibn

Rushd's

philosophy

'helped

breed the

Enlightenment

in

the

West,

whereas it failed

to do the same

thing

in

the East.' That

is what

Wahba calls

the

'Paradox of Averroes.'28

Wahba cites the

case of

Emperor

Frederick

II

of

Hohenstaufen

(1215-1250),

who

ruled both

Sicily

and

Germany,

and

who ordered he

translationof

all of

Ibn

Rushd's works as

a means to

counteract the

theocracy

of the

Catholic

Church.

The

implication

and the intention are

that the

dissemination of Ibn

Rushd's

philosophy

will

help

stem the tide

of Islamic

fundamentalism.

Wahba

sees

in

Averroism the

possibility

of

reaching

the same

conclusion

in

Islam

that

Europe

had

reached in

Christianity,namely

separation

of church

and state. If

Averroism

contributed o

religious

reform and

enlightenment

n

the

West,

it is

likely

that it

may

do the same in the

Arab-Muslim

world.29

Other writers have

voiced similar

views,

in

particular

Dr. 'Atif

al-'Iraqi,

professor of Islamic philosophy at Cairo University, and a champion of Ibn

Rushd's

philosophy.

He

has devoted much

of his academic

careerto

propagating

Rushdian

thought.

He

has,

among

other

things,

edited a volume on

the

Muslim

philosopher,

with

contributions

by

18

prominent

scholars. In

it,

as well

as

in

other

writings,

he

stresses Ibn

Rushd's

rationalism,

his

impact

on

European

thought,

and the

need to

rehabilitatehis

philosophy

in

the Muslim

world.

In

his dedication of

the book 'To

the

Spirit

of Ibn

Rushd,'

'Iraqi

describes him

with some

extravagance

as the

'doyen

of

rationalist

philosophy

in

the

Arab

world,

the

pioneer

of the

enlightenment

movement,

the

towering

intellectual

pyramid

and the

giant

of

Arabic

philosophy.'

The book is

also

dedicated to

the

pioneers

of

enlightenment

in

the

contemporary

Arab

world.

However,

'it

is

regrettable

that the

West has

recognized

the true

value of

[Ibn Rushd's]

philosophy,

whereas

we,

the

Arabs,

have failed to

understand t

accurately,'

especially

'when irrational

and

mythical

thought

has

spread

all over.'

'Iraqi

laments this 'retreat

from

reason,

and

the

constraints on its domain.'

At a time

when the

Islamist discourse

calls for the

rejection

of Western

civilization and

its

scientific

achievements,

the

need for the

Rushdian

philosophy

is more

pressing

than

ever,

he

reiterates.30

Iraqi

is a

believer

in

reason,

and is

fully

convinced that

there is no

enlightenment

without

reason.

Crying

over the tulul

(abandoned

encampments)

27

al-Ahali,

No.

607,

May

26,

1993.

28

al-Ahali, No. 581, November 25, 1992.29

'Atif

al-'Iraqi,

(ed)

Ibn Rushd

Mufakkiran

Arabiyyan

wa Ra'idan

li-Ittijah

al-'Aqli.

(Cairo,

1993),

p.

32.

30

Ibid.,

pp. 81,

165.

204


12/20

THE

EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT

MOVEMENT

and

singing

the

praises

of

the

heritage,'

as the Islamists

do,

represent

backward-

ness and

'ascendance

to the

abyss.'

He

describes

the condition of

the Arab

world

as one of

'disequilibrium

and

weightlessness,'

a state of

'profound

apathy,

while

the world around

us is

moving

fast.' He

warns

of a fate

not

unsimilar to that of

the Red Indians

or other ethnic

groups

that have

become extinct. He calls for the

adoption

of the

methods of the advanced

Western

nations.

In his

judgment

a dark

outlook

envelops

the Arab-Muslim world

today,

superseding

'a somewhat

enlightened

outlook,'

that

prevailed

until the

middle of the twentieth

century.

Since that

time,

a kind of

ridda

has

taken

place.

One finds

regression

in

the

sphere

of individual

freedom,

and a

tendency

toward a kind

of

reactionary

intellectual

dictatorship.

He blames the Nasser

regime

and the intellectuals who

sang

its

praises

for much of the

present

conditions

in

today's

Egypt.

'A

state

without

enlightened thought

is a

body

without brains' he avers.31

'Iraqi'senlightenedfuturisticoutlook envisages takingfrom the heritagewhat

will not interfere

n

the

way

of

progress

and

prosperity. 'Why

don't

we

open up

to the West

instead

of

rejecting

everything

Western?'

he wonders.

His

goal

is to

dismantle

the 'terrain

of

tradition,'

and

make

reason,

and reason

alone,

the

foundation of the new structure.

There is no

hope

for our intellectual

progress

except by relying

on

reason ...

The

way

of tradition leads to

a dead

end,

to

illusion and

perdition,

whereas renewal

(tajdid)

on

the basis of reason

is the

way

of

progress.'32

The Arab-Muslim

world is 'still

spinning

in

the

sphere

of

taqlid

(tradition),'

he affirms. The

path

of

taqlid,

unlike that of

'ijtihad,

leads to

irrationality

and

darkness,

whereas

'ijtihad

leads

to

enlightenment.

Decrying

the

dominance of the

reactionary

Islamist

thought,

which he calls

'petro thought'

[referenceto oil-producingcountries' supportof the Islamists],'Iraqi says: 'Had

we continued on

the

path

of

enlightenment,

we would have been

spared

such

lame

and distorted

opinions

which

betray

mental

retardation,

nd

lead us to

ages

of

darkness,

decline

and reaction.'33

'Iraqi

does not

reject

the

heritage, provided

it is 'beneficial

in our

contempor-

ary

life.'

However,

he does not hesitate to discard

any part

of the

heritage

that

is

incompatible

with

enlightenment.

What

may

have been

good

in another

age

may

not be

good

now,

he

declares

confidently.

For

example,

the

Caliphate,

which is one of the

most cherished institutions Islamists

would want

restored,

s

no

longer

in

harmony

with the

modem

age.

He

ridicules those who

consider the

assimilation

of

Western

ideas a 'cultural

invasion,'

that has to be

resisted

and

fought,

and those

Islamists who

attempt

to derive

scientific

theories from

Qur'anic

verses.34

Why

Ibn

Rushd?

Why

have the

Tanwiriyyun

chosen Ibn Rushd

as the antidote

to the Islamic

discourse?

What is the basis of their conviction that

Averroism,

'which has been

instrumental

n

generating

the

European Enlightenment'

will

generate

a

similar

enlightenment

in the Arab-Muslim world? Are

they solely

concemrned

ith

31

Ibid.,

pp.

7-10.

32

Ibid.,

pp.

11

and 22.

33Ibid., pp. 28-29.

34

Cf.

Zaghlul al-Najjar,

'Min

Asrar

al-Qur'an

al-Karim wa

Maghza

Dalalatiha

al-'llmiyya,'

has

been

serialized

in

al-Ahram since

the

beginning

of 2002.

205


13/20

FAUZI

M. NAJJAR

combating

fundamentalism,

or are

they

also

convinced

that Ibn

Rushd's

philos-

ophy

will

help

move the

Arab-Muslim

world

into the

21st

century?

In additionto his influenceespecially over

Europe,

the

great

Muslim

philoso-

pher

and

jurist

has

more to

commend him

to a

movement

seeking

to

regenerate

a

liberal, secular,

enlightened

and

progressive

tradition in

the

Arab-Muslim

world. As

the

great

commentator

on

Aristotelianism,

he

stresses

the use of

reason

and the

scientific

method,

both

regarded

by

the

Tanwiriyyun

as the

key

to reform in

a

society

still shackled

by

tradition

and

mythology.

Ibn

Rushd

is

the

only

Muslim

philosopher

to

dedicate a

whole

treatise to the

connection between

philosophy

(science)

and

religion,

which is

the

pressing

issue

in

Arab-Muslim

world

in

facing

the

challenge

of the

modem

age.

In

his

famous

treatise,

Fasl

al-Maqal,

as well as in

his

other

writings,

Ibn

Rushd seeks to

prove

that

there is

no conflict

between

the

shari'a and

philosophy

or

science.35

In Fasl al-Maqal and the Paraphrase of Plato's Republic, he

stresses

the

relevance

of

Greek

thought

to Muslim

society.

In

the first

treatise

of

the

Paraphrase,

he

discusses the

need of

cities,

including

Muslim

cities,

for

political

science. This

practical

science and

art he

finds

in

Aristotle's Nico-

machea and

Politics,

the latter 'has

not

yet

fallen into

our

hands,'

as

well as

in

Plato's

Republic.

He

uses the

Qur'an

to

demonstrate

hat the

study

of

philosophy

is

'obligatory'

according

to the

sharica. 'That

the Law

summons to

reflection

on

beings,

and

the

pursuit

of

knowledge

about

them

by

the

intellect is

clear

from

several

verses of the

Book of God

... such

as His

saying

Reflect,

you

have

vision.

'36

[Cf.

Quran

59:2;

8:185; 6:75;

88:17-18;

3:191].

This

study

must be

conducted

by

demonstrative

reasoning

(qiyas

burhani),

beginning

with the

study

of logic, an instrumentthat must be learned from the ancient masters, the

Greeks. After

mastering

logic,

'we

must

proceed

to

philosophy

proper,'

Ibn

Rushd

advises. He

reiterates

that the

study

of

the

'books of

the

ancients' is

obligatory by

Law,

'since their aim

and

purpose

n

their

books is

just

the

purpose

to which the

Law

has

urged

us,

and that

whoever

forbids the

study

of them

to

anyone

who is fit to

study

them

... is

blocking

people

from the

door

by

which

the Law

summons

them to

knowledge

of

God,

the door

of

theoretical

study

which leads

to the

truest

knowledge

of

Him.'37

It

is this

argument

hat the

Tanwiriyyun

have

capitalized

on to

undermine he

Islamist attack

on

Western

civilization

as

being

a

'foreign

invasion,'

and

anti-Islamic.

They

stress Ibn

Rushd's

call for

openness

to

ideas from

other

nations and

cultures. If

such a

step

was

advisable

and valid in

Ibn

Rushd's

days,

why

should

it not be

advisable

and valid

today? Why

depict

such an

intellectual

opening

as a form

of

kufr

as the

Islamists

do?

The

Tanwiriyyun

nvoke

Ibn

Rushd's

warning against

any

ideas,

thought

and

theories

that

are not

based on

reason,

in

particular

his

warning

against

the

fallacies of

the

Ash'arite

theologians

(Mutakallimun)

and the

errors of

al-Ghazali. He

does

not

spare

them

his

criticism on

every

occasion.

In

discussing

Plato's

programme

of

teaching

childrenthe

right

information

and

values,

Ibn Rushd

criticizes

the

Ash'arites

for

35

Although

in

his

Paraphrase of

Plato's

Republic,

he

hints that

the

shari'a

may

be in

need of

'supplement

and correction.'

36

Abu

al-Walid

Ibn

Rushd,Fasl

al-Maqalfi

ma

bayna

al-Hikma

w-al-Shari'a

min

al-Ittisal.

Translated nto

Englishby GeorgeF. Hourani,Averroes on the Harmonyof Religion and Philosophy. (London:Luzac & Co.,

1961),

pp.

44-45. Henceforth

Fasl

al-Maqal

37

Ibid.,

p.

48.

206


14/20

THE

EGYPTIAN

ENLIGHTENMENT

MOVEMENT

saying

'God

is

the cause

of

good

and evil.' 'This is a

sophistic

state,

God is

perfectly

good;

He neither does evil at

any

time

whatever nor is the

cause

of

it.'38

What is it in the

thought

and

teachings

of these

theologians

that the

Tanwiriyyun

onsider inconsistent

with modem

times,

and

inimical to

progress

and

modernity?

Abu al-Hasan

'Ali al-Ash'ari (873-935),

founder

of the Ash'arite

school of

theology,

renouncedthe Mu'tazilite

doctrines that the

Qur'an

is

created,

that the

eyes

of human

beings

will never

see God

in

the

afterlife,

and that we are

the

authorsof our actions.

Rejecting

these

tenets,

he

sought

to

recover the traditional

doctrine

by returning

o

the

Holy

Book and the

teachings

of the

early

Muslims.

His main contention was

that no

purely

rationalistic

theology

could be

devised.

Only

reliance

upon

the

word of

God,

the hadith and Sunna

of the

Prophet,

and

the

way

of

life of

the

pious

ancestors would

guarantee

a

true

theology.

Faced

with the questionof the Qur'anicanthropomorphism f God's face, hands, feet,

etc.

[Cf.

Q.

7:54;

20:5;

75:22]

Ash'ari

opined

that

they

were to be taken

without

how and without

drawing any comparison

(bila

kayfa

wa

la

tashbih).

Thus he

sought

to

safeguard

divine transcendence

and

the

explicit

affirmations

of the

Qur'an

at the

same time.39

Abu

Hamid al-Ghazali

(1058-1111)

adhered to

the central

theses of

Ash'arism.

In his

Tahafut

al-Falasifa

(The

Incoherence of

the

Philosophers)

he

defends the

dogma

'contre

le

rationalisme

nsidieux et destructeur

des

faldsifa.'40

It was

al-Ghazali who established the

hegemony

of

Ash'arite

orthodoxy

in

the

East. It was

under

the

Saljuq

rule

that

Ash'arism

had a

great

boost,

when the

great

vizier Nizam al-Mulk established

the

Nizamiyya Academy

at

Baghdad

for

the studyof the orthodoxsystem.It was in this Academy thatal-Ghazali ectured

for four

years

(1091-1095).41

In

seeking

to save the 'obvious

sense' of the

religious

text

against

the

Mu'tazilites

and, later,

against

the

philosophers,

Ashcari asserted

that

the

obli-

gation

to use reason is

purely

legal.

In

other

words,

reason

'is no

more

the

source,

but

the

instrument,

of belief

in

God.'

Accordingly,

'reasoning,

as a

human

effort,

generates

no

knowledge;

it

is

simply

an occasion

after

which

knowledge

is

created

by

God.' God

is the

only

Creator,

He

creates

in

the

human

being power

and choice. Human actions

are created

by

God

and

acquired

by

human

beings.

By

means of the

theory

of

kasb

(acquisition),

Ash'ari

thought

that

he had

resolved

the

question

of

human

responsibility.

Ash'arism

rejects

the

Aristotelian

theory

of the

eternity

of

the

universe,

and denies

causality,

since

God's'

free will is the cause

of

everything.

By denying

the

law of

causality,

what

Ignatz

Goldziher calls

'cette

source

et cette

boussole

de

toute

science

ra-

tionnelle,'

Ash'arism

destroys

the

possibility

of

philosophy

and

science,

as well

as

the law of nature.42

The ethical

consequences

of

Ash'arism

are as serious

as its

metaphysical

ones.

38

Averroes on Plato's

Republic.

Translated

by Ralph

Lerner.

(Ithaca

and

London:

Cornell

University

Press,

1974),

p.

20.

39

See Louis Gardet

and

Georges

Anawati,

Introduction a la

Thdologie

Musulmane:

essai de

thdologie

comparee

(Paris: 1948),

pp.

55 and

66.

40

Ibid.,

p.

72.

41

Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (New York: 1951), pp. 410-411, 431.42

Gadet

and

Anawati, op.

cit.,

pp.

58-59. Also

Majid

Fakhry,

History

of

Islamic

Philosophy

(New

York and

London:

Columbia

University

Press,

1983),

p.

208.

207


15/20

FAUZI M.

NAJJAR

The constant

interventionof

God leads

to the

negation

of human

responsibility.

The

human

being

is

no more the

authorof

his/her actions. 'In

his

Ibanah,

Ash'ari

describes the

arbitrary

power

of God in terms that leave

hardly any

scope

for

human

initiative.'43Ibn

Rushd

attacks the

theologians

for

using

rhetorical and

dialectical

methods

rather han the

demonstrative,

because

'wisdom can

only

be

completed

through

knowledge

of the

end of man ...

And it is

evident that

we

can

only

perceive

the end of

man

through

he

theoretical

sciences.'44

By equating

the

philosopher

with the

'bringer

of the

shari'a,'

he

implies

that

wisdom

'ought

to

be

firmly

established

in

the ruler of

the

city

and

rule over it.'

Ibn

Rushd

bemoans the

fact that

Muslim

societies fall far

short of

the ideal

delineated in

Plato's

Republic.

For

example,

when

discussing

the

timocratic

association

[where

'love

of violence

and

domination and that a

man

forever

be

lord,

and not

lorded

over,

and

be

served,

not

serve],

he

comments that this

kind

of government [was] frequently found among us [Muslims].'45He calls the

associations of

many

of the

Muslim

kings

'entirely

domestic,

where

property

s

designated

for the

sake of the

household

of the lords

among

them.'

In such

cities

'the

multitude are

plunderedby

the

mighty,

and

the

mighty go

so far in

seizing

their

property

that

this

occasionally

leads them to

tyranny,just

as this

comes

about in

this time

of ours

and

in

this

city

of ours.'46

Illustrating

Plato's account

of the

transformation

of the

virtuous

governance,

Ibn Rushd

cities

the 'case of

the

governance

of the

Arabs in

early

times,

for

they

used

to imitate

the

virtuous

governance.

Then

they

were

transformed into

timocrats

in

the

days

of

Mu'awiya.

So seems to

be the

case

in

the

governance

now

existing

in

these

islands.' The

reference is

to the

Almohad

dynasty,

under

whose rule Ibn Rushd lived most of his life.47 He is strongly in support of

freedom

and is

opposed

to

tyranny.

Following

Plato,

he

describes the

tyrant

as

most

unhappy,

and the

'most

enslaved of

people.'

Ibn

Rushd's

liberal

position

may

also be

demonstrated

by

his

discussion of the

position

of

women. He

seems to

go

along

with Plato's

views that

women

'would

have

the

very

same

standing

as

men

in

those

classes,

so that

there

would be

among

them

warriors,

philosophers,

rulers

and the

rest ... And

we

say

that

women,

in

so far

as

they

are of

one kind

with

men,

necessarily

share

in

the

end

of man.

They

differ

only

in

less or

more.'48

Reflecting

on

the

position

of women

in

'these

[Muslim]

cities,'

he

says

that their

competence

is

unknown,

'since

they

are

only

taken in

them

for

procreation

and

hence are

placed

at the

service

of their

husbands,

and

confined

to

procreation,upbringing

and

suckling.

This

nullifies

their

other

activities.

Since

women

in

these cities are

not

prepared

with

respect

to

any

of

the human

virtues,

they

frequently

resemble

plants

in

these

cities. Their

being

a burden

upon

the men in

these

cities is one of

the causes

of the

poverty

of

these

cities.'49

It must

have

become

clear

that Ibn

Rushd's

ideas,

whether on

methodology

and

emphasis

on

demonstrative

proof,

or his

attitude

toward

governance

and

his

43

Ibid.,

p.

207.

Cf.

Q.

16:40;

37:96.

44

Averroes on

Plato's

Republic,

pp.

49-50.

45

Ibid.,

pp.

108-109.

46

Ibid.,

pp.

112-113.

47

Ibid., p. 121.

48

Ibid.,

p.

57.

49

Ibid.,

.

59.

208


16/20

THE

EGYPTIAN

ENLIGHTENMENT

MOVEMENT

championing

of the

cause of

women,

would

be attractive

and relevant

to a

movement concerned

with reform

in

the Arab-Muslim

world. Of

particular

significance

to the EnlightenmentMovement is Ibn Rushd's methodology of

allegorical interpretation

ta 'wil).

He defines

ta

'wil

as

follows:

'If the

apparent

meaning

of

Scripture

conflicts with

demonstrative

conclusions

it must be

interpreted

allegorically

... The

meaning

of

'allegorical

interpretation'

s: exten-

sion

of the

significance

of an

expression

from

real

to

metaphorical

significance,

without

forsaking

therein

the standard

metaphoricalpractices

of

Arabic. So we

affirm

definitely

that

whenever the conclusion

of a demonstration

s in conflict

with the

apparent

meaning

of the

Scripture,

that

apparent

meaning

admits of

allegorical interpretation

according

to the

rules of such

interpretation

n

Ara-

bic.'50

By reintroducing

philosophy

and rational

thinking

into

Islamic

culture,

the

Tanwiriyyun eek to ward off Islamic fundamentalism,and the orthodoxlegacy

of

Ash'ari

and Ghazali.

They

also

want to

open

up

to

Western

knowledge

and

scientific

techniques,

and to usher

the Arab-Muslim world

into the

twenty-first

century.

They

are

fully

aware that the

existing political

regimes

have become

anachronistic

and

out

of touch

with

reality. They

want better

education for

Arab

children,

more freedom

of

opinion

and

expression,

more

equality

and

rights

for

all citizens

irrespective

of

gender,

race and

colour.

In

order to make

Ibn Rushd's

philosophy

acceptable

n a conservative

Muslim

society,

the advocates

of

enlightenment

have

often stressed

its Islamic

dimen-

sion.

They

often cite

his statement that

religious

and

philosophical

truths are

identical,

in

order to

whitewash

philosophy

in

a

hostile environment.

However,

Dr. Zaynab Khudayri,a professorof philosophy, submitsthatby using ta'wil Ibn

Rushd 'has

placed

Aristotle above the

religious

text.'

Conversely,

Hamid

Tahir,

a well-known

writer,

argues

that Ibn Rushd

has established

a

link

between

rational demonstration

and

shar'i

rules,

and demonstrated

hat the shari'a

is a

rational law.51

However,

there is

unanimity

among

secularists

and liberals

that

Averroism

will serve

as an antidote to

fanaticism,

extremism

and the obscuran-

tism

of the Islamic

discourse,

and

a

remedy against

the

'traffickers

in the

shari'a,'

the

religious

propagandists.

Advocacy

of Ibn Rushd's

ideas has

spread beyond

the

Egyptian

frontiers.

An

independent

Arab

organization,

'Ibn Rushd's

Institute for

Free

Thought,' regis-

tered

in

Germany, gives

annual

prizes

to those who

promote

freedom,

democ-

racy,

social

justice,

science and

human

rights

in

Arab societies.

Its first

prize

went to al-Jazeera

TV Channel on December

10, 1999,

in

recognition

of its

role

in

opening

its channels

for a free and democratic

dialogue.

The second

prize

was

given

to

Mrs.

'Issam

'Abd

al-Hadi,

president

of the General

Union

of Palestinian

Women,

and an activist

in

the movement for

the

emancipation

of

Arab

women,

and for

their

rights

in

equality

and

justice.

An

Egyptian

intellectual,

and

a

founding

member of the

Enlightenment

Association,

Mahmud

Amin

al-'Alim,

was

the

recipient

of the third

prize,

and

'Azmi

Bishara,

a

memberof the Israeli

Knesset

and defender of Palestinian

rights,

the fourth

prize.52

50

Fasl

al-Maqal,

pp.

50-51.

51

Murad

Wahba

(ed.)

Hiwdr

hawla

Ibn Rushd.

(Cairo: 1995),

pp.

59-60.

52

al-Ahram, December 13, 2001, May 15, 2002, and January 12, 2003; al-Ahali, October 23, 2002. The

Institute bestows these

prizes

in

early

December to coincide

with the

anniversary

of Ibn Rushd's

death

(December

9th),

and the

anniversary

f

the

Universal

Declaration of

Human

Rights

(December

10th).

The

209


17/20

FAUZI M.

NAJJAR

Critics of

Enlightenment

Like most Muslims, Egyptiansare stronglyattachedto Islam and its Law. They

have

always

been

suspicious

of

any

reform

that

may

lead to

changes

in

their

religious

beliefs and

practices.

The

Egyptian

Constitution

proclaims

Islam

the

official

religion

of

the

state and the

principles

of the

shari'a

the

primary

source

of

legislation.

Moreover,

Egypt

is the home

of

al-Azhar,

the

supreme

Islamic

institution,

which

has often

resisted

change.

Mosques

and

Islamic

academies

lectura 03.1. najjar - ibn rushd and the egyptian enlightenment movement

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