I am very happy that I have found Shahab Ahmed at this time.
Thanks to Farooq Hamid for introducing me to his book, “What is Islam”. It
is an amazing book. I am reading it these days. I am also very sad that I have
found Shahab Ahmed at this time. He is dead.
Shahab Ahmed was a phenomenal person. He accomplished so much in such a
short time, had he lived longer, he would have given a lot to the world. What I gather online about him, he was somewhat
younger to me. He was born in Singapore to Pakistani physicians, came to
USA, studied in Princeton and taught in Harvard. He was a polyglot and had extensive knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. This book has 45 page list of
cited work, in small print. It is more than 500 pages long, which could easily
be a thousand-page book had the print size be of regular size.
His first sentence, says it all.
"I AM SEEKING TO SAY THE WORD
“Islam” in a manner that expresses the historical and human phenomenon
that is Islam in its plenitude and complexity of meaning."
His first chapter, “Six Questions about Islam” is like
the Muqadima of Ibn Khaldoon. It raises the six questions he thinks are
fundamental to understanding of Islam, for both Muslims and non-Muslims.
He presents a different narrative. The prevailing version of Islam focuses on initial centuries and first generation of
Muslims. He talks about the later time, from 1350 to 1850, when Islam was the dominant
religion of the land from Balkans to Bengal, a phrase he uses in the book.
He makes the point that was Islam, practiced, lived
and celebrated at that time. It deserves to be classified as Islam and should
not be relegated to a second-degree status. That is what he perhaps will try to
put a case in the remainder of the book: What is Islam.
The six questions highlight the various thoughts, practices
and concepts prevalent in present day Islam, but run at times contrary to the
established dogma of Islam.
First, the Greek influenced reason based philosophical
version of Islam. It clearly claims the dominance of reason over faith. Faith
has to be subservient to reason: if it is not reasonable, it cannot be Islamic.
The scripture is for the common man. Those who can apply reason and interpret
the nature, are able to find Divine Truth without being following rituals. Ibn e
Sina, the greatest Muslim philosopher makes no bones about it. Divine is wajib al wajoob., the essence
of all existence and can be found with reason. He proudly asserts his faith in a Persian couplet which
essentially states that if Ibne sina were a Kafir, there would be no Muslim anywhere.
Can a belief of reason over faith
be Islam?
Second, the way of the Awliya Allah, the Friends of God. Sufis can attain the personal experience, kashf, through the rigorous developmental exercise of the holistic faculties. The have found the way(Tariqat) to the Truth (haqiqat) that they do not need to follow the law (Shairat). Anyone able to make this connection through a spiritual experience will find Divine Truth and does not have to follow the rituals. Can this path bypassing shariat be Islam?
Third, the illumination theory of Suhurwardi, that everything is illuminated by God’s light and the almost pantheism of Ibn Arabi, wahdat al wajood, are the basic ingredient of later day sufism. This concept exist in contradiction with Good and Evil as binary opposites. Here Divine exists everywhere and every act of worship is essentially worshiping God. Can this be Islam?
Fourth, widely prevalent form of art and expression
in the Islamic world, poetry, has the dominant theme of Love. Claimed as the
religion of love, mazhab e ishq talks of earthly (often homoerotic) to Divine Love. Penned by poets from Rumi to Jami
to Hafiz (the greatest of them all), this poetry and verbal imagery is understood by all. It even talks about understanding and developing a bond
with the Rival lover (Raqeeb se, by Faiz). Can this be Islam?
Fifth, the art, including the paintings and pictorial
representation is all secular (except architecture). The pictorial
representation of humans has been claimed and celebrated by the Islamic culture
and society. Can this be considered Islamic when there are clear
prohibitions against image making?
Sixth, wine drinking and its social acceptance has been, for
all the times, a part of the Muslim culture, despite been considered forbidden. Old
literature is replete with mannerism of drinking. Naseeruddin Tusi tells the ‘right
way to drink’. Social drinking
gatherings including by kings, philosophers (Ibne Sina) and Sufis (Shams Tabrez)
were acceptable and prevalent. Wine
drinking pottery with God’s grace engraved on them were commissioned by Mughals
(Jehangir) and Ottomans. Wine in poetry may have allegorical meaning but the
reason that symbol existed was that wine was a reality in Muslim culture.
How can this be Islam?
One may comment that many of the six questions could be
related to the ‘elite’ of the society, whether political, social, intellectual
or spiritual, and common man may have always been following the dogmatic
tradition. Shahab makes the point, that on the contrary, we see that the street
culture is/was imbibed by the ethos of
issues mentioned above. The penetration of all these thoughts in the common
culture, and not restricted to the elite is exemplified by a widely sung kafi
of Ghulam Farid, in Saraiki.
Aye Husne Haqiqi, Noor e Azal, teeno wajib tay imkaan
kahun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJs81iqSJhE
Then he mentions, for the initiated that in this kafi,
popular in the uneducated and unlettered masses, the following concepts,
mentioned in six questions, and more, are raised: Avicennan philosophy of
Necessary, Contingent-Possible, Pre Eternal, Self-Essence; Neo Platonic
emanationism of Highest Heavens, Celestial Spheres, Spirit, Matter,
Vegetable, Animal, Human; Suharwardian Illuminationist Beginning less
Light; Akbarian Intellectual Sufism of Absolute Pure Existence, Becoming
known of the Originary Archetypes, Display of Attributes and Acts; Mazhab e
Ishq of Real True Beauty, Beloved of Every Heart, Houri, Farily Lass,
Handsome Lad, Love, Sita, My Darling Love; Text book questions of Kalam/
philosophy/theology of Essence of
the Reality of Quiddity, Species, Positions, Modes, Measures, suspicions,
Prehensions, Conviction, Notion; Sufi experiences of Tasting Rapture;
Music of dholak, tambur, table, meter, note beat; Natural Phenomenon of
Water, Fire, Narcissus, tulip; Quranic Prophetology of Noah, Abraham,
Mohammad; Pantheism of Pothi, Gita, Granth, Veda, and what not.
Islam, as practiced and lived in those five centuries, 1350-1850, (the 8th to 13th Hijri centuries) deserve its space in today's question about Islam. That was the time that many of the theological disputes had been settled, and the philosophers and sufis and the purists had agreed to disagree. Form Balkans to Bengal, there was a remarkable similarity in culture, elite classes had similar manners and customs, wore similar styles of dress, enjoyed much of the same literature and graphic arts. Their educational institutions had similar curricula, people on many levels of society had similar notions about the ground rules of cooperation and dispute and shared common institutions, arts, knowledge, customs and rituals. That is what Shahab Ahmed makes a case to be considered as the legitimate place in time and history to answer the question: What is Islam.
Shahab Ahmed finished this great book in 2015 and died the
next year from Leukemia. May his soul rest in peace.
غزل
جواب بننے سے پہلے سوال بنتا ہے
سوال بننے سے پہلے خیال بنتا ہے
امیرِشہر کی چوکھٹ پہ اپنی ہستی کو
جو بیچتا ہے وہی کوتوال بنتا ہے
یہ میرے ساتھ ہی خانہ خراب اترے ہے
مرے جنوں کا وہی ماہ و سال بنتا ہے
ہر اک جنم میں مجھے برجِ بردبار ملا
یہاں عروج سے پہلے زوال بنتا ہے
کچھ اضطراب کے پتھر شکوک کے ٹیلے
مری زمیں کا یہی اشتمال بنتا ہے
میں ڈوبتے ہوئے سورج کو پیشوا جانا
جسے یمین میں سمجھا شمال بنتا ہے
وہ جستجو میں بھی اتنا کمال دکھلائے
جو گفتگو میں بڑا باکمال بنتا ہے
لیے وہ ہاتھ میں نشتر بتا رہا ہے مجھے
کہ اس کا زخم وجہِ اندمال بنتا ہے
ناصر گوندل
حلقہِ اربابِ ذوق، نیو یارک
آن لایٗن اجلاس
اتوار16/اگست2020
Islamic Philosophy in Maghreb.
Ibn
Masarrah of 4th
hijri, founder of school of Almeria, he was a mystic and a scholar. He was
influenced by Empedocles Anbaduqis, who was thought of as a prophet like
figure by many Islamic philosophers. Mararrah formulated a cosmology based
on his. Its effects can be seen later in Ibn Arabi.
His
pseudo-Empedocles cosmology is based on hierarchal emanations of five substances.
The first is Materia prima which is different from Aristotelian
concept. Here it means Intelligible Matter and is the first emanation of
Divine, while Divine Principle itself is above the schema much like Ismailis
Originator Al Mubdi. It is followed by Intellect, Soul, Matter and materia
secunda. He also interpreted Empedocles concept of Love and Fear
as Love and Qahr, (dominion or victory)
Ibn Hazm 5th Hijri, of Cordoba. He
was a Zahiri, a sharp critic of Asharite and wrote the first book on
comparative religion. (Al Biruni is another one in this category). In addition
to being a jurist, moralist, historian, theologian and philosopher, he was a
poet. He wrote a book on Platonic love, Tawq al Hamama (Ring of
the Dove). It makes him one of the erotic poets fedeli d’amore
like Sufis despite certain difference in perspective.
Abu Bakr
ibn Bajja (Latin Avempace) 6th hijri. Had influence on many including Ibn Rushd. Hailing from Northern Spain eventually moved
to Fez, became a vizier, imprisoned and died. He was a physician, scientist and
a philosopher. His works remain incomplete but by the level he was quoted by
later sources, it seems that he had a significant impact on development of
anti-Ptolemaic astronomy and cosmology and critique of Aristotelian theory of
projectile motion.
In
philosophy he was drawn on teachings of Al Farabi. His tadbir al mutawahhid,
Regimen of Solitary, is one of the most significant works of Islamic
philosophy in Maghreb. He speaks of a perfect state created not by
external circumstances but by inner transformation of whose who become
inwardly united with the Active Intellect, aqlal fa’al. He opposed Ghazali’s mysticism and proposed a detached and
intellectual form of mystical contemplation. It still remains within the family of Sufi gnostic.
Unfortunately, this work remained incomplete.
Abu Bakr
ibn Tufayl (Latin Abubacer) of Cadiz. Also, of 6th
Hijri. He was also a scientist, physician and a philosopher and attracted to
Ibn Sina. His major opus is Hayy ibn Yaqzan, (Living Son of the Awake)
which is considered as the source of inspiration for the Robinson Crusoe
story. This title is also borrowed from Sina. It is story of philosophical
romance. Here Hayy, the protagonist is the hero of the story and not the
Active Intellect. He mysteriously comes
to being from the matter and made spiritually active by the Active Intellect.
He is raised by a gazelle as a result of sympathy, goodness in all living
beings. Growing up he attains knowledge of physical, spiritual and material
world and finally the Divine Principle. At that time, he is joined by Absal
from neighboring Island, where he has been instructed in religion and theology.
Absal realizes, after learning Hays, language, that whatever he has learnt,
Hayy has known it in its purest form. Together they try to educate the people
of Absal’s island but few understand. This relationship between
philosophy as the inner dimension of truth expounded by the revealed religion
is the message of Abubacer, but many have claimed it is a treatise on
naturalism denying revelation.
Abul
Walid Ibn Rushd (Latin Averroes) of Cordoba. 6th Hijri. Most celebrated of Muslim
philosophers of Spain.
Although
hailed in the West as a free thinker and author of double truth theory (religion
and philosophy, as separate sources of knowledge may reach contradictory
truths, without detriment to each other), he was a pious person and a
religious functionary who tried to harmonize faith and reason. His influence
was greater in the West than the East, where later destiny of philosophy was
more associated with Sina than his.
He has
two distinct destinies. In the West he, as Dante said, was the Great Commentator. It was
through his eyes the West sees Aristotle. By mistake, as per Nasr, West know
him as the author of Double Truth Theory. He became an inspiration of
politicized Averrosim and a symbol of rationalism opposed to religious faith.
His work has not survived in Arabic, but in Hebrew and Latin.
In the
Muslim world, he has a different destiny. He is considered to have the main aim of harmonizing
religion and philosophy. His real thesis was not Double Theory but to explain
that there are Not two contradictory truths. But the single truth that is
presented by religion, through Tawail, results in philosophical
knowledge.
Religion
is for everyone but philosophy is only for those who possess necessary
intellectual facilities. Yet, one truth is not contradictory from the other.
His major
work is the refutation of Ghazali’s Incoherence of the Philosophers, tahafut
al faslifah. Ibn Rush wrote
Incoherence of the Incoherence. Tahafat ul tahafat. Rushd revived Aristotle and opposed many of
Sina’s theories. He was opposed to Sina’s theory fo emanation and
emphasis on the soul of the spheres.
He
banished angels from the cosmos thus helping the secularization of cosmos, preparing the ground for the rise of
pure secularized knowledge of the natural order, as we know now scientifically.
With Rushd’s
demise, his influence waned, and in the Islamic world, the influence of Sina
persisted and prevailed in the form of Ishraqi philosophy which was pointed by
Sina as the Orientation of Light.
Ibn Sabin
of Murcia.7th
Hiji. He later spent much of his life in Egypt and North Africa, and later
moved to Mecca and died there in mysterious circumstances. He wedded philosophy
with Sufism and was the first to use the term wahdat ul wajood,
Oneness of Being. He had extensive knowledge of other religions including
Hinduism. He had esoteric knowledge in the science of Numbers. With Kabbalistic
sentences. His most influential work in the West is the Yemeni Answers to
Sicilian Questions. Which he wrote down in response to Emperor Frederick II
questions.
Ibn
Khaldun of Tunis. 8th
Hijri. Considered as the founder of the Philosophy of History in East and in
the West. His kitab ul Ibar, The Book about Events which Constitute a
Lesson) and its Prolegomena, Muqadimmah laid the ground work for
this discipline. He introduced the term Mashiyyat Allah to explain the
Islamic understanding of the rhythms of sacred history and providence of god.
He
criticized Ghazali and Farabi.
