Dr. Marvin Zayed
The essential Islamic teaching derives from the Koran
and Shariah. There are two ways of reading these texts:
the sacred way and the secular way. The sacred way does
not involve critical analysis or reflection; instead it
consists of memorizing based on blind faith, and allows
only very limited consideration of the
rational potentialities of human beings. The sacred way is
irrational, and de-emphasizes the human being. It is
meta-human: beyond thoughts, ideas, or any other human
possibilities or limits in physical or mental realms.
(Indeed, this is the very definition of the undefined God
of Islamic faith.)
The secular way of considering the Koran and Shariah as
historical documents is the opposite. This approach does
not accept irrational assumptions of sacredness. It
rejects the Semitic idea, which the Koran inherited from
Christianity and Judaism, about the Forbidden Fruit of
Knowledge. If knowledge
lies in a sacred realm beyond humanity, why is it possible
for the truth-seekers, the inquirers, secular and
non-secular, to approach realities by means of histories,
theories, and sciences? Can we imagine the future of
humanity without free inquiry? Can we even know the truth
about the past and present without the freedom of thought?
Three Approaches to Islamic Culture
If we look to the libraries, at histories which deal with
Islamic issues and cultures, we find three general trends
or schools of thought:
1. The Comfortable Academic Approach, which
characterizes the official histories of Islamic/Arabic
ideas and societies, but which is not provocative or
critical. The textbook approach.
2. The Ideological Approach, which rewrites the history
of Islamic ideas, cultures and societies, according to the
certain pre-methodological and ideological sets of
principles: Marxism, for example.
3. The Critical Approach, which evaluates with a
questioning intelligence and free methods of analysis.
Practitioners of the Critical Approach have faced and
continue to face threats of repression and physical
violence in Islamic countries.
We proclaiming that our new, clear approach ñ the
critical and secular way, which tries to unite the efforts
of past, present, and future free-thinkers throughout the
fragmented history of Islam ñ is crucial for the future
of Islamic societies. This humanistic approach is part of
the general history of humanistic methods and values,
which has seen vindication in enlightened democracies
across the globe. Freethinkers and intellectuals must now
break the code of silence which has veiled human
intelligence in Islamic societies for centuries. Only in
this way can we all enter upon the path of free living,
learning, and writing as citizens of the world. We believe
that one of the major factors leading to the stifling of
Islamic societies and cultures was and still is the
absolute monopoly of theological teachings, which have not
been challenged by critical minds.
We do not claim to have a monopoly on truth. But we
firmly reject the absolute self-righteousness of religions
and fundamentalists. We provide a constructive, not
destructive alternative to the traditional structures of
authoritarian, theistic Islam. We believe that our task of
secularizing Islam is part of the universal task of
humanism which today faces very powerful forces of
darkness in the form of theocratic fundamentalist
movements.
This articles was published in Society
For Islamic Humanists (Message # 106)
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