The Attitude of Muslim Scholars to New Approaches in Religious Studies

Abstract

Muslim scholars in Islamic studies have often been characterized bywestern scholars of religion as a "conservative group" (Martin 1985). Thischarge is brought against them because of their reluctance to adopt thetheories and methodologies of the science of religion in their approach tothe study of Islam and Muslim societies. I would like to outline threemajor factors responsible for the "conservatism" of contemporary Muslimscholars in an attempt to contribute to an understanding of their pition.The fitst is concerned with objectives, the second with history, while thethird deals with approaches.Objectives: For Muslim scholars, the acquisition and imparting of knowledgehas to be purposeful and meaningful. They do not subscribe to thephilosophy of pursuing knowledge for its own sake. Any study of Islamor of Muslim society must of necessity be goal oriented. The essentialdistinction between the approaches of contemporary western scholars ofIslam and those of Muslim scholars can be attributed to their respectivegoals. For western scholars, the purpose of Islamic studies is primarily toincrease the understanding of Islam, its people, culture, society, and civilization.For Muslim scholars, the purpose is not only to produce graduateswell-versed in various aspects of Muslim history, cultwe, and civilization,but also to equip them to tackle or solve contemporary problems facingMuslim societies (Sardar 1983). It must be expected, therefore, that Muslimscholars will remain reluctant to adopt new approaches as long asthey are convinced that they serve no practical purpose.The Historical Factor: This has to do primarily with the historical roleof the orientalists. Muslim scholars acknowledge that the early generationof orientalists rendered useful services to Arabic and Islamic scholarship,especially through their critical edition and publication of manuscripttexts (Tibawi 1979; Jameelah 1971). However, the scholarly output oforientalism on the whole leaves much to be desired. In the precolonialera, it was characterized by abusive polemics and false representation(Said 1978; Jameelah 197 l), which the subsequent European occupationof Muslim lands aggravated even further. The reason for this misrepresentationwas that those who wrote on Islam were scholars of Biblical, theological,or linguistic studies and not of Islam. It was not uncommon fortheir only contact with Islam to be the result of military or missionaryactivity or residence in a Muslim region. Most of their writings could beViews and Comments 28 1described as "speculative," their characteristic features being that Biblicaltradition provided the norm for Islam and that western civilization providedthe norm for Islamic civilization (Manzoor 1986).This theologically reductionist approach, in which Islam was understoodwithin a western Christian paradigm, lasted until the middle of theeighteenth century (A1 Fiiriiqi 1989). In recent years, not only the authoritybut even the very institution of orientalism has been challenged bymany prominent scholars of Islam, such as A. L. Tibawi, S. H. Alatas, A.Abdel Malek, Tala1 Asad, Abdallah Laroui, and Edward Said (Said 1985).However, while the orientalist approach has by and large been discredited,Muslim scholats remain suspicious about the intentions of contemporarywestern scholars of Islam. Naturally, this suspicion makes themreluctant to consider new approaches suggested by these scholars.Approaches: Muslim scholars can identify with the religionist approachwhich developed in the nineteenth century. This approach accepts theexistence of the "other" realm, concedes the possibility of interaction withspiritual beings, and describes humanity as religious by nature.However, they have serious problems with the naturalistic approachthat developed in the nineteenth century. This view holds that religiousphenomena can be studied via nomothetic methods, because the subjectmatter of religion is the of same type as that of natural science.' Muslimscholars reject this approach, for its focus is on empirical elements inreligion, such as buildings, rituals, and texts, and cannot "do justice to theexperience of transcendental realities" (Mostert 1980). Science also doesnot pay attention to personal awareness and intuition (Wiebe 1980).Furthermore, the basic assumptions of science are that every event innatm is determined by prior natural events and that the character of thisdeterminism can be discerned through scientific investigation (Glock andStark 1966). Science accepts only those "truths" which are logically orempirically determinable. For Islam, intuition, personal awareness, and thetranscendent reality are vital.2 Moreover, Islam teaches that human beingsare responsible for their own actions3 and that the human personality doesnot consist only of "natural" or physical elements observable by thesenses, but also of a "spiritual" element without which a proper understandingof religious phenomena is not possible ...