The Heritage (turāth) of the Nahḍa Scholars in the Thought of Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd

Abstract

The late Egyptian scholar of Islamic Studies, Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd (1943–2010), is considered one of the prominent modernist thinkers of the twentieth century. This article examines his critique of the primarily Egyptian-based nineteenth-century intellectual movement often referred to as nahḍa (renaissance). After a period of intellectual vibrancy and openness, the Arab world plunged into regression and authoritarianism, for which Abū Zayd blamed the nahḍa intellectuals, arguing that they built the infrastructure of this intellectual backwardness. His criticism focused on five major areas: First, rather than investigate the real causes for European progress, which would allow the Arab world to emulate them, Abū Zayd claimed that the nahḍa intellectuals focused instead on the loss of the glorious Islamic past. Their conclusion that a proper application of Islam would bring about a rebirth of that celebrated past, according to Abū Zayd, gave rise to/empowered Islamists decades later. Second, Abū Zayd accused the nahḍa thinkers of passively allowing Europe to frame the identity of large swaths of people as primarily Muslim, wrongly making religion the sole defining factor. Third, the nahḍa intellectuals reproduced an excessively simplified version of their history as well as that of Europe, Abū Zayd pointed out, making it impossible to draw accurate lessons. Fourth, Abū Zayd criticised the nahḍa intellectuals’ lack of appreciation for science for its own sake, rather than as a means to achieve hegemony and power, arguing that this attitude prevented real progress. Finally, because the nahḍa scholars backtracked when attacked by conservative voices, Abū Zayd accused them of lacking courage – ultimately empowering the conservative voices.