CC BY
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R. Gainutdin,
Ph.D. (Philosophy), Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis (Moscow Islamic Institute) MUSLIM THOUGHT AFTER MUSA BIGIYEV: IN SEARCH OF SYNTHESIS OF THE KORANIC REVELATION AND MODERN TRENDS1
Musa Bigiyev is one of the most brilliant representatives of the Tatar and extraordinary theological thought, outstanding intellectual with innovative thinking, and with his own vision of many problems. Russian Muslim Bigiyev was formed at the intersection of cultures and learned European, Russian, Arabic, Persian and Turkic tradition of education. He is also actively appealed to the materials of contemporary science and philosophy, recognizing the divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Koran. Bigiyev proposed to combine the knowledge of the Koran, hadiths, the best of all legal schools with modern knowledge. At the end of his life, he said: "I had one goal in all that I said and wrote: save the mind and the thought from slavery, give freedom to the mind, give strength to the will."2
Musa Bigiyev demonstrated by his example that rational knowledge fits well into Islam. Contrary to popular prejudice, Islam is a religion of belief, on the basis of faith and rational knowledge, is the religion of everyday and religious practices, based on a reasonable, rational approach. Since "Islam" literally means "humility before Almighty" and this word is used in the Koran in this sense, it can be argued that Allah takes humility, based on mind, rational thought, actions and faith. The Koran calls us to debate, to a reasonable discussion of the issues of faith (16: 125).3
The Koran warns us against violent and unreasonable act in faith: "If God had willed it, those who on earth would have believed; Certainly, you'll be getting people forcibly converted to the faith?!" (10:99). "There is no compulsion in faith / religion" (2: 256).
The appeal to the mind in matters of faith and of the knowledge permeates the entire text of the Holy Quran. Cognition through mind, according to Scripture, is a natural complement to cognition through the revelation. These two ways of cognition associated with the "book" (kitab) and "wisdom" (Hikma) or "intelligence" in the Koran (see verses 16: 125 and 2: 269; 2: 129.231, 3: 164; 4:54; 62: 2 certainly. Classical Muslim cultures were characterized by the cult of knowledge and mind throughout the world, and it has been long before the rise of modern European rationalism. Sinners, ignored both ways, will repent during the Last Judgment: "If we had listened to if we meant, would not be among the dwellers of Hell!" (67:10). Such attention to the reasonable cognition is confirmed, by hadiths. We find in a hadith that mind was the first creation of Allah, and Allah spoke, looking at his creation: "By my greatness, I did not create anything that was closer to me than you. I withdraw by you, I donee by you, I reward and punish by you."
The easiest way to understand it goes through philosophy, because philosophy is the essence of rational knowledge, a synthesis of all the sciences and the basis of a holistic worldview.
The great systems of Ibn Sina, Ibn Arabi, al-Ghazali, al-Kirmani and others were created in the Arab-Muslim region in the classical period. These systems include the entire body of knowledge of that time, not only the natural sciences, but also metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, logic, poetics. However, admiring their greatness, you realize that the era of large systems is over.
In modern times, we are observing Muslim thinking crisis. The best case is a paraphrase and commentary on the classics, the worst -the lack of the most philosophical and rational reflection, a splash of irrationalism and radicalism.
The current situation is particularly depressing. How many can you list the major Muslim thinkers of our time?
Yes, Tawfiq Ibrahim deserves the greatest respect in Russia. Undoubtedly, Tariq Ramadan is a prominent figure in the European intellectual space. In Iran, Seyyed Hossein Nasr is developing a specific version of Islamic traditionalism4.
But they are all individual thinkers, scattered around the world. Systems developed by contemporary Muslim philosophers, not integral, they are focused on private matters. There is nothing comparable in scale to al-Ghazali system, or to Hegel's system, if we turn to the European region. Muslim thinking requires integrality, because the whole world is a sign of Allah and there is no area that is not needed in understanding.
The fact that Muslim thinkers rarely fall into the textbooks on the philosophy of the 20th century reflects the realities of the umma. Muslims could do much more to declare loudly about themselves in the philosophical field to respond to the call of the Koran to a reasonable faith, help to explain the message of Allah through philosophy, reveal the deep meanings of the Koran for the people of the West.
Yes, there were many examples in the 20th century, when Europeans turned to the sources of Islamic thought, but the classical period. School integral traditionalism may be mentioned (P. Guenon, F. Schuon, T. Burkhardt), Inspired by Sufi philosophy, primarily Ibn Arabi5. However, the appeal of these Europeans to Islam was due to a crisis of spirituality in the West, that has resorted to the works
of Muslim intellectuals in search of a new "Eastern" experience. Unfortunately, the Muslim world is not always prone to deep philosophical creativity in modern times.
Seyed Mohammad Khatami, a major political and spiritual leader of Iran, said at the time: "the fact that the golden age of Islamic civilization has passed does not mean that the Koran and Islam also withered." "We Muslims believe that we must keep faith in the Koran and a genuine Islam and at the same time we have to find new answers to the emerging issues on the basis of our religion today"6.
It is time to think seriously about the prospects of Muslim philosophy, otherwise we will have to admit that Muslims ignore the call of the Koran to the reasonable faith and holistic outlook. Despite the grandeur of old systems, we can not be satisfied with them fully. The knowledge accumulated by mankind to our time, is significantly different from what was known in the classical era. Obviously Musa Bigiyev was guided by this idea, and we are the successors of the case.
So, what are the key topics and where we should seek common ground between the Koranic revelation and a philosophical thought? Here are a few general questions.
The first is whether the philosophy is possible in Islam? And what is the ratio of Muslim philosophy and non-Muslim / non-religious philosophy? As previously mentioned, the need for philosophy, understood as an integrated science and holistic worldview, derives from the provisions of the Koran on the reasonable knowledge. The Koran teaches a reasonable comprehension of the world. All is true, which is consistent with mind, therefore, goes directly to Allah, because "the truth," Al-Haqq serves his attribute. I believe Muslims should move in line with this understanding.
The second issue is related to the classical theological issues, planned as far back as the early period of Islamic thought. These include the problem of understanding of Allah, the relations of Allah and the world, the origin of the world, human nature, predetermination. In short, they are metaphysics and anthropology in the broadest sense. We need to find out whether the Koranic revelation allows to understand better contemporary scientific knowledge; and vice versa, whether the current knowledge allows a better understanding of certain aspects of the Koranic revelation (after all, we are always judged on the basis of knowledge of our time, as there are restrictions, and divine knowledge is beyond the time).
The Koran says that the whole world is a self-opening plan of Allah, so the issue is important to the usefulness of the physical, chemical, biological knowledge for the knowledge of Allah - of course, not the particulars, but the large scale of the laws and principles. The Koran also says that the man himself performs the sign of Allah and studying it is also a holy deed. We find confirmation of this in the hadith: "Whoever knows his own soul, the one knows his God." It seems that modern anthropology and cognitive science can tell a lot about the man and his cognitive mechanisms thinking and mind. Perhaps science is not able to penetrate into the soul of man, in his heart, but should be ignored other bodies of knowledge as unnecessary and unimportant?
The third important philosophical problem concerns the unity and diversity of mankind. It is particularly acute in the modern world. Globalization implies a unified oneness of humanity, but there is a downside to this process: the unification leads to the destruction of cultural and linguistic diversity, excessive expansion of the secular sphere. It seems that such a result is not an accident. It is caused by the very logic of the globalization process, developed in the framework of
classical liberalism. According to this logic, the person is an individual, the pure subject, which means that all of his identities are, secondary and fleeting. Thus, according to the principle of unification, globalization - is philosophically based process, the process of approximation to a common mankind, living on the European model, and not burdened by identities of a higher order.
Muslims must find an alternative to this process. The Koran does not teach unification. He proclaims the unity of humanity in origin, but at the same time it emphasizes predetermination of the real variety: "O people! Verily, We have created you from male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other, and the most revered among you before Allah - the most righteous " (49:13).
Pluralism positions and cultural diversity of a multi-polar world corresponds to the Koranic revelation to a greater extent: "If Allah had not kept some people by others, the earth, indeed, would be filled with iniquity" (2: 251). The basis for the unity of people is the righteousness and piety, but not wearing a uniform and following the same way of life, because consistency does not exclude shamelessness.
I turn now to the fourth important problem - the problem of religious diversity. There are hot debates among Muslims on this subject. I suppose that the problem should be solved in several planes and the Koranic revelation speaks of it.
According to the Koran, the essence of Islam, that is submission to Allah, is monotheism and good deeds. Human nature is the faithful initially, as indicated by the following hadith Qudsi: "Verily I created all my servants as the faithful." Moreover, the Koran says that the faithful nature is essentially unchanged (30:30).
Man can cease to follow his nature in accordance with his convictions, and then he ceases to be a monotheist and ceases to do
good deeds. Allah sent prophets to all nations and teachers to prevent this from happening: "We have raised in every nation a messenger" (16:36). "And there is no people whom a warner has not been [granted]" (35:24). Obviously, the number of prophets is not limited to the number of 25 people mentioned in the Koran, because there were more people on earth always, and indeed Allah tells Muhammad (peace be upon him): "We are messengers before thee; We told you about some, and did not tell - about the others, to prevent this from happening" (40:78).
Thus, Muslims have every reason for a pluralistic approach to the fact of religious diversity: each religion should preserve the traces of Islam (ie, monotheism and moral piety), you need only know how to find them, to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, divine and eternal from human and for introduced. Musa Bigiyev was guided by the idea that developed the thesis of the universality of God's mercy and when he devoted his time to the study of religions, like Hinduism and Buddhism7.
There is an abundance of materials, which allows us to trace the genesis of every major spiritual tradition, opens up broad prospects or understanding religious diversity and creation of a holistic philosophy on Islamic grounds of religion. Preliminary attempts of this kind are presented in the philosophy of Ibn Ara-bi and Suhrawardi8, but modern Muslim thinkers have done practically nothing new in this philosophical direction, unfortunate.
The fifth philosophical problem - the problem of tolerance - is closely linked to the previous one. It has become a key theme of the social philosophy of the second half of the 20th century, along with the freedom and emancipation.
Herbert Marcuse aphoristically formulated the essence of the problem: "Is philosophy possible after Auschwitz?" Indeed, the
unprecedented disasters and tragedies that happened to mankind in the 20th century, made seriously doubt on the sequence and elaboration of philosophical understanding of tolerance and freedom in modern times. The result was emancipatory projects of the Frankfurt School, the New Left, of radical feminism and postmodernism, which were aimed at overcoming prohibitions and deconstruction of power relations in all spheres of life9.
Now this has resulted in: blurring the distinction between righteousness and sin, erosion of gender identity, legalization of samesex marriages, exhibitionism and so on. Muslims must find a philosophical alternative to the insane tolerance of this kind. We should rely on the Koran. The line between righteousness and sin, acceptable and unacceptable, clearly established in Scripture. We can not ignore this fact, no matter how we would justify people. On the other hand, the Koran is against oppression and repressive measures. Only Allah knows who is righteous and who is worthy of condemnation. One of the basic principles of the Hanafi was the imposition of final judgments of righteousness in the court of Allah and it seems to me this is the most correct approach. We can condemn the sin, but not the people. Only God is able to judge people. Muslim philosophy of tolerance should be developed in this direction, and with reliance on the Koranic conception of righteousness.
So, I marked the five themes that are of particular importance to Muslim philosophy. This is a question about the relevance of philosophy in general, classical problems of metaphysics and anthropology, the question of the unity and diversity of humanity, the question of religious diversity, the problem of tolerance and emancipation.
Of course, there are many other urgent problems, but they are secondary compared to the stated problems. Lack of understanding
of these issues would mean ignoring the Koranic call for a reasonable faith that is disregard for God's call to us as human beings. And can there be anything more humiliating than the neglect of the mind -the noblest creations of Allah? Let me remind the hadith: "Allah has not created anything nobler mind, and his wrath falls on those who neglect it."
What are the motives and thoughts of the supporters of Muslim thinking in these intellectual efforts? Of course, it is striving to achieve prosperity of the Islamic civilization, so that the Muslim Ummah will take its rightful place in the family of nations of the Earth.
At the same time, the religion of Islam was revealed to all mankind, and the message of the Prophet Muhammad, and the scripture -the Koran, passed through him, are addressed to all people, and our aim is to clarify the Koranic truths to all mankind.
Achieving prosperity for all the descendants of our father Adam in the world now and in eternity is a great goal and a great destination predetermined by the Creator! Creator expects obedience, which is based on mind, uniting all human beings, intelligence, facilitating the path of knowledge of the universe, and the faith extending from the heart.
References
The article is a revised version of the report, read on May 18, 2015 at the plenary session 2 of the International scientific and educational conference "Bigievskie read" on the topic: "The Muslim thought in the 21st century: the unity of. tradition and renewal" (10-19 May 2015, St. Petersburg). Bigiyev M. Selected works. In 2 vols. Vol. 1. Kazan, 2005.
Here and further translation of the Koran is given from: Kuliev E.R. Koran. Semantic translation and commentary by E.R. Kuliev. Moscow, 2003. Refer to fundamental works: Ibrahim T.K. Koranic humanism. Tolerant, pluralistic system. - Moscow, 2015; T. Ramadan Islam, the West and the Challenges
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of Modernity. - Leicester, 2001; Nasr S.H. Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition. Harper One, 2011.
The history of this controversial school reviewed in the monograph: Sedgwick M. Contrary to the modern world: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the 20 century. Moscow. 2014.
Khatami M. Islam, dialogue and civil society. Moscow, 2001, p. 78.
Bigiyev M.J. The evidence of divine mercy // Bigiyev M.J. Selected Works.
In 2 vols. Vol. 1. Kazan, 2005.
See the critical analysis in the work: Smirnov A.B. Great Sufi Sheikh (paradigmatic experience of analyzing the philosophy of Ibn Arabi). Moscow, 1993; Pazouki Sh. The East of Suhrawardi and the West of Heidegger: A Comparative Study of Heidegger and Suhrawardi's Views on the Ancient Greek Philosophers // Eshots J. (eds.). Ishraq: Islamic Philosophy Yearbook: 2011. number 2; Ishraq: Islamic Philosophy Yearbook: 2011. № 9. Moscow, 2011, p. 98-104. See: Buchanan P.J. Death of the West. - Moscow, 2003.
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