CC BY
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UDK 316
Ilic Duhandzija Z. B.
Islam and Postmodernism - mapping the field
Abstract
MASTER OF CULTUROLOGY FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
BELGRADE, SERBIA
In this paper we are going to try answering what are the overlapping and separation points between the two important phenomena to which we refer to as "Islam" and "Postmodernism". Secondly, we are going to map out what is it that these two phenomena may offer each other, with the aim of improving the lives of people who define their identity through these two discourses, while trying to avoid the trap of atomistic view, in terms of restricted perception of only one part instead the whole system.
keywords: Islam, Muslims, Postmodernism, Identity
Introduction
Often in the Western media, scientific and educational institutions and in public opinion, we meet with a prejudice that Islam is backward, ossified and intolerant. At the same time, according to both Muslims and non-Muslims, we encounter the view that Islam is incompatible with modernity - that the current trends, ways of expression and manifestation of identity in the West often refered to as "post-modern", Muslims consider as unnecessary, harmful and foreign. We will try to justify the opposite stance by introducing the basic values of Islam and showing that in this system there is a completely natural dynamics, tolerance and a basis for life in the modern age. At the same time, we will try to indicate the values and Postmodern ways of expression that had a tendency to develop Islamic societies themselves without the Western influence. Finally, we are going to propose a new phenomenon in Islam - Islamic Postmodernism, which successfully retains Islamic identity and values through acculturation and acceptance of Postmodern, wich can be useful to Muslims for better expression of their identity in the XXI century.
Islam as a modern system
Islam is a system that is conceptually based on the Quran and the Hadith, where the Quran is considered as a holy book and a basis of entire spiritual and phisical life, as well as the foundation of the community - umma, it represents the word of God published by the Prophet Muhammad through the Archangel Gabriel [3]. The hadiths are written tradition that refer to the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Mohammed and they, along with the Quran, are a legitimate instrument for regulating life of the community. Practically, spiritually, and in every other way, Islam is conducted through Shariah law, which is a "general concept of creation, existence, death and life style, derived from normative reading and understanding of published sources"[3] and as such is a source of dynamism, although it is often viewed reductively and inaccurately only as a passive "Islamic law". Although based on Islamic scriptures (the Quran and Hadith), Shariah, is using certain methods for conducting conclusions and recommendations considering modern and new issues, situations and problems which Muslims encounter.
However, the aforementioned foundations of Islam are often viewed atomisticly by the Muslim ulema, that tend to assosiate Islam only with certain parts of Holy scripture and Shariah, which leads to a completly wrong impression that Islam is passive, radical and intolerant.
Reductionism is a big problem of the Muslim world, which Ziauddin Sardar illustrates by the following thought: „Shariah is reduced to the divine law, ijma is reduced to a consensus of selected few, and umma to the ideals of the nation-state. Jihad is reduced to war and even terrorism, and istislah has almost disappeared from Muslims' consciousness all together. Atomistic interpretation of the Quran has become the norm, while the Prophet has been reduced to signs and symbols"[9].
Considering Islam only as a faith is wrong because it excludes many of its other aspects and components and leads everyone who is thinking about Islam to, wrongly, consider a whole system through only few aspects of it, which is a pars pro toto approach. To better understand Islam, we can quote Sardar, who states that "Islam is simultaneously a religion, culture, tradition and civilization. If we chose to analyse only one of the concepts, we won't get the whole picture"[9].
The principle that most often causes controversy and misunderstanding in discussions about Islam is the concept of tradition. The fact is that Islam is very much based on traditional values, but what does it mean? Is tradition something passive and frozen in space and time? Is tradition warehouse of old ideas, beliefs and assumptions that can not handle any intervention and modification? If we look at the concept of tradition from other angle, we can say that tradition exists in time, and time does not tolerate petrification and passivity. When we say time, we think of time as a dimension in which we all live and which inevitably implies movement. Tradition is a system that is not static, but has its own dynamics.[7] If we go back to the fact that Islam is a system that very much leans on tradition, we will understand why Sardar links the dynamics of tradition which "is constantly bring rethought and renewed time and again", with the fact that "Islam must be reinterpreted in every age." [9]
Islam and Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a phenomenon that got its name in the West, where it was firstly defined. The West has faced with the phenomenon of Postmodernism after the phenomenon of Modernism, which arose due to certain socio-historical circumstances, such as the Enlightenment, technological and industrial development of the society, unconditional trust in science and reason, separation of church and state etc. Modernism has represented a certain set of values, such as: the dualism of mind and body (St.Avgustin), secularism, faith in metanarratives and more. After the disappointment in these values, the need for a new phenomenon occurred, and that need led to the birth of Western Postmodernism which included: pluralism, skepticism towards orthodoxy and dethronement of authority, the rejection of metanarratives, as well as the "great truths". The irony and skepticism became the tools for general analysis, along with some other new methods for analysis and interpretation of reality, such as, for example, deconstruction (Derrida), along with the refusal of strong political centers and adherence to institutions, which
were considered instruments of power (Foucault). Eclecticism and polygonal approach has been encouraged. The strongest weapon which Postmodernism has used to clear its way into the world was the media that eventually gained increasing popularity. The other weapon was the uncontrolled flow of information through new technologies. The birth of new artistic expressions have also been tools that made Postmodernism ubiquitous phenomenon of everyday life.
Many have tried to define Postmodernism. Some saw in it positive new tendencies and a desire to reach a greater freedom in critical thinking, expression, identity and life in general, while others criticized its lack of substance and meaning, superficiality and excessive tendency to extremes and senselessness.
Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998.), Which is considered to be the first thinker who dealt with the theme of Postmodernism [9], believes that the first characteristic of the Postmodern condition is distrust of metanarratives and their rejection which he consideres positive because the meta-narrative in Modernism led to totalitarianism, while Postmodernism consideres knowledge as having many differently allocated parts, and so respects the diversity and balance of the crowd. Ziaudin Sardar is a Muslim and one of the leading contemporary intellectuals who believes that "Postmodern should not be seen as a condition (Lyotard), but that framework, or way of knowing, action and belief." [9] He also sees Postmodernism as the last offspring of secularism and as wilderness in which people are looking for new forms of being. However, Sardar believes that Postmodernism must be experienced and overcomed in order to attain "healthier and safer society," or in other words "the desease must be overcomed, in order to become stronger." [9] Akbar Ahmed is another contemporary Muslim thinker who deals with Islam and Postmodernism. However, he has a more positive attitude considering Postmodernism in sense that Postmodernism offers hope, understanding and tolerance - which are the points where it overlaps with Islam. In addition, Akbar believes that Islam recognizes the positive side of Postmodernism such as tolerance, optimism and urge for knowledge, however, at the same time it (Islam) fears the negative aspects of Postmodernism, such as cynicism and irony. [9]
After we have mentioned points of divergence between Islam and Postmodernism, it is necessary to specify the meeting points of these two phenomena, some of which are tolerance, dethronement and knowledge. As far as tolerance is considered, in Postmodernism it is expressed through respect of expressing individual identity, while Islam respects the racial, class and ethnic diversity to the extent of nullifying it. The two aforementioned definitions of tolerance encourage freedom and are positive in their essence. When we talk about the dethronement, in Islam it relates to dethronement of worldly authority, while Postmodernism implies dethronement of any authority. By the act of dethroning, both systems provide good basis for teaching people how to think critically about every form of power or authority which is (un) consciously imposed to them. A further common point of the two systems would be knowledge and a place that it takes in the life of individuals. Knowledge in Islam is the value for which we should "go furthest" [8], and that needs to be expanded for whatever cost, while in
Postmodernism knowledge as such received the biggest expansion ever. There was no period of socio-historical framework in which knowledge has been expanding as rapidly and was as accessible and affordable, regardless of race, gender, class, nation, ethnic group, language and else.
Islamic Postmodernism
When we think about obstacles which tend to stop any overlap between complex phenomena such are Islam and Postmodernism, what crosses our mind is secular nature and underlined freedom of Postmodernity, which seem to be in contrast with Islam that bears sense of holiness. However, secular differes from holy by the lack of very important spiritual aspect and not by its incompatibility, as Tariq Ramadan says: "Islam carries all the general principles which a Muslim can use to face contemporary problems... Each failure to find the answer is a failure of a Muslim, not of Islam" [8] What Postmodernism as a system offers are new ways of expression and flow of information, which is useful for a general freedom of thought, overcoming risk, building bridges and moving to a higher, more creative level of humanity.
The answer to a question why Muslims should accept, adopt or modify anything that comes from the West, is a fact that the boundaries between East and West today are so porous, that ignorant attitude towards other cultures, ideas and languages, at the end turns out to be the biggest problem for the ones who chose to ignore.
Islam has the ability to shape modernity and our contemporary lifestyle, and it can add new, islam-specific elements to Western "Postmodernism", which can lead to a completely new "end-product" with a specific name - Islamic Postmodernism. As an example od this new tendency, we could mention Muslim hip-hop subculture in France, especially in Marseille, or the new streetart style called caligrafitty. Both mentioned expressions of Islamic Postmodernism have educative, as well as activist role in contemporary world. Accordingly, Akbar said that "Postmodernism can be a good basis for Islamic renaissance due to the access to the media, information and rich artistic heritage of Islam." [8] Gellner wrote that "Society and the man can not live without religion and the profane," and this modern phenomenon of Islamic Postmodernism, with its own rules and purposes, is precisely the attempt to live in the XXI century in the modern world without losing faith (din wa dunya), at the same time not being afraid of losing identity.
Islamic Postmodernism is a different kind of Postmodernism, but as there are different kinds of Modernism, depending on the circumstances that provoked it, there are different kinds of other phenomena, and these differences should be allowed, accepted and welcomed openly.
Conclusion
We live in the era of globalisation, and if we suppose that the idiom of globalisation is a Postmodern one, by refusing to use it we deprive ourselves of using the language which is "spoken by all". If we accept that the language of Postmodernism has become a global way of communicating, we should strive to find a modus vivendi in which Muslims will try to draw certain aspects of
Postmodernism which can be modified in accordance with the Islamic values. Trained for a new idiom, Muslims will not only understand the West better, but more importantly, they will be able to present themselves to non-Muslims in a language that is understandable to them.
Reference:
1. Akbar S. Ahmad, Islam, Globalisation andPostmodernity, Routledge.1994.
2. Akbar S. Ahmad Postmodernism and Islam, Predicament and Promise, Routledge, 2004.
3. Bozovic R, Kostic I.E. Teodosijevic M. Progonjeni Islam, 2013.
4. Butler C. Postmodernism, a Very Short Introduction, Oxfor University Press, 2003.
5. Gellner Postmodernizam, Reason and Religion, Routledge, 1992.
6. Lyotard J.F. The Postmodern Condition, University of Minessota Press, 1984.
7. Masoud Muhammad Islam and Modernism, key issues and Debates, Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
8. Ramadan Tarik To Be European Muslim, The Islamic Foundation, 2015.
9. Sardar Ziauddin Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures, Pluto Press, 2003. 10.Sardar Ziauddin Introduction to Postmodernity, Icon Books, 2007.
11.Dordevic Jelena Studije kulture, Sluzbeni glasnik, 2012.
12.Dordevic Jelena Postkultura, Clio, 2009.
13.Besim Korkut PrijevodKurana, 2009.
УДК 330.101
Абальмаз В.В. студент 2 курса факультет «Финансы и кредит»
Дудник Т.А.
научный руководитель, преподаватель кафедра Экономики предприятий Кубанский государственный аграрный университет имени И.Т.
Трубилина Россия, г. Краснодар ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ В СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ СИСТЕМАХ Статья посвящена уяснению роли и места идеологии в современных политических системах России. В статье рассматриваются классификации, институты политической системы и вдобавок ее структура.
Ключевые слова: политика, государство, политическая система, партия, либерализм.
Abalmaz V. V., 2nd year student faculty "Finance and credit" Kuban state agrarian University name I. T. Trubilin Russia Krasnodar
