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tices of earlier generations of believers. In the public perception, the term salafī has What Makes a “Muslim Intellectual”? become representative of someone who, On the Pros and Cons of a Category on religious grounds, rejects all values upon which the overwhelming majority of contemporary societies are based (lib- eral, democratic, secular, etc.). This rather woolly notion of salafī has now entered the academic context without, in most cases, Jan-Peter Hartung being subjected to thorough scholarly scrutiny.2 This is regrettable for several rea- At its core, this essay contains a substanti- These days, numerous terms, concepts, sons. Firstly, such a lack of conceptual clar- ated plea for bringing about conceptual and labels bustle about in the popu- ity lumps those reform-inclined Muslims clarity to the notion of “Muslim intellec- lar media, impacting not just the com- in Egypt and the Levant at the turn of the tual,” which the frequent and highly ideo- mon mind, but also academic discourse. twentieth century, who have explicitly la- logically charged public usage of this term This development is quite alarming, as beled themselves as “salafiyya”, alongside seems to distort. In search for a sound it causes widely accepted rules of aca- various contemporary groups and person- analytical concept of “intellectual” first, demic speech (e.g. Popper 1, 16-9, 22-5) to alities that range from the state-supportive relevant sociological and philosophical become infested with heavily value-laden religious establishment in Saudi Arabia to deliberations are highlighted, indicating and pithily used terms. This seems to be militant manifestations such as al-Qāʿida. that both of their notions differ to such an even more the case in the current highly Secondly, the absence of a clearly defined extent that their applicability to academic emotionally charged media coverage of analytical term will render every deduc- pursuit must be doubted. Yet, by discuss- - and Middle East-related develop- tion on this basis at least problematic, if ing some considerations by a study of ments in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist not void. Islam open to the approaches of the so- attacks, which were justified on the basis A similar label originating perhaps more cial sciences a possible framework for an of religion. To illustrate this rather troubling in popular speech is that of the “Muslim analytically meaningful concept of “Mus- situation: intellectual,” the subject of the present pa- lim intellectual” is presented. At the same Recently, the terms salafī, salafiyya, Salaf- per. Hardly ever properly defined, this tag time, however, arguments are presented ist, and Salafism have been flying around appears to be ascribed to those Muslims for why those contemporary Muslim think- the media, labeling a quite heteroge- who, by emphasizing rationality over slav- ers who are usually credited with being neous group of Muslims who stand out ishly adhering to a textual tradition, sup- “Muslim intellectuals” would hardly fit the visibly in their attempts to strictly adhere port the general compatibility of Western analytical criteria for such label. 1 to the beliefs and, beyond that, the prac- and Islamic social and political values. In

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short, the badges “salafis” and “intellectu- realities—seeks to attain a rational justifica- those who wield power in the polity … als” represent the “bad guys” and “good tion of normative frameworks. Although it the intellectuals, as we shall tentatively guys,” respectively, from a perspective appears that both perspectives are mutu- call those who usurp leadership in a Kul- clearly shaped in a Western normative ally exclusive and would, therefore, require turgemeinschaft (that is, within a group framework. us to decide which of the two we are going of people who by virtue of their pecu- In this paper I will attempt to abstain from to follow, both indeed have something to liarity, have access to certain products this popular notion of intellectual, instead offer to our quest—especially with regard that are considered “culture goods”) … considering it as an analytical term that has to the question of whether it makes sense (Weber 530 [transl. Talcott Parsons; ital- some explanatory force in academic pur- to place intellectualism within an authori- ics in the original]) suit. In doing so, I will generally challenge tatively grounded setting. In other words, What can be extracted from this most gen- the idea of religiously connoted intellectu- it may help us to consider the usefulness eral definition of “intellectuals” is inner- alism, but conclude that the concept—pro- of a category Muslim intellectual, as dis- worldliness, or the assumption of public vided it has been usefully defined—might tinct from Christian intellectual, Buddhist responsibilities, as a decisive criterion (see be analytically effective for understanding intellectual, Marxist intellectual, liberalist Shils, “Intellectuals and Powers”; Tradition social and intellectual change in the Mus- intellectual, and the like, or whether the and Modernity). As such, Weber expert lim world during the decades around the adherence to such a framework somehow Wolfgang Schluchter has argued, intellec- turn of the twentieth century. contradicts the very idea of intellectualism. tuals do not only have access to “cultural Finally, I will demonstrate that a study of assets,” but are decisively involved in the Three Approaches to the Target Islam which is open to the insights of the production of “cultural values”—values that, In my attempt to ascribe meaning to the social sciences and other humanities has in turn, either relate to culture and society, category intellectual in general, and Mus- something constructive to contribute to or neutralize it (Schluchter 1:122, 2:533 f). lim intellectual in particular, I will elaborate our academic discussion on the topic. “Culture-related values” are ethical values, three rather distinct approaches that have ideally explicitly shaped by pragmatic or so far contributed significantly to the dis- a) The Sociological Approach situation-depended considerations, while cussion, while at the same time not being While a distinct branch has developed “culture-neutralizing values” are those pro- necessarily in line with each other. The within sociology investigating the phe- duced by theoretical considerations and reasons for this disagreement are most nomenon of the “intellectual,”3 the indi- proclaimed as spatially and temporally in- probably of a systematic nature, rooted vidual to whom we owe the first systematic variant “truths.” In a disenchanted world, in the very self-conception of the respec- discussion on this matter was, as is so often Weber and his epigones would argue, tive academic disciplines. While sociol- the case, Max Weber. He had considered the latter values originate in the natural ogy since Weber aims at interpretatively intellectuals within his sociology of domi- sciences and are declared paradigmatic understanding actual social realities, prac- nation (Herrschaftssoziologie) by defining by modern “intellectuals” carried away by tical philosophy—though related to social them as: progress; it is this very declaration of val-

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ues as self-evident, i.e. free from any social “Intellectuals and Powers”; Tradition and necessity is, for Benda, a declaration of the and cultural context, that the French cul- Modernity) on the matter to overcome this bankruptcy of reason as the defining prin- tural philosopher Julien Benda (d. 1956) antagonism. ciple of intellectualism: since reason was would eventually unveil as the “betrayal subordinated to external circumstances of the intellectuals.” This will be discussed b) The Philosophical Approach that are declared inevitable, it became below. Hardly any thinkers other than afore-men- degraded to a mere tool for the affirma- However, both sets of values that, accord- tioned Frenchman Julien Benda repre- tion and aggrandizement of an existing or- ing to Schluchter, intellectuals produce sented the philosophical position toward der and preconceived developments, and in the disenchanted world have a clear intellectuals at the fin de siècle. As was hence, solely as a means of legitimizing equivalent within a pre-modern religious the case for many other educated French, dogma. According to Benda, adherence to framework as religious ethics and meta- and even more so for him as an assimilat- dogma is diametrically opposed to intel- physics. This, in turn, suggests the exis- ed Jew, the “Dreyfus Affair” of 1894 along lectual pursuit; in this point he implicitly tence of “religious intellectuals” as the pro- with the inglorious role that numerous self- re-invokes the idealist critique of empiri- ducers of these values, a fact that Weber proclaimed intellectuals played therein cism at the turn of the nineteenth century, and those in his wake are ready to concede became a catalyst for Benda’s influential which has hardly been brought more to (see Weber 304-14; Eisenstadt 29-39 et pas- view on intellectuals, presented for the the point than in the remarks of the other- sim; Schluchter 1:223, 2:178, 206-10, 450f). first time in his La Trahison des clercs in wise rather reviled Johann Gottlieb Fichte Authors like Schluchter even go so far as 1927. Benda initially set out the role of in- (d. 1814). Already in his Attempt at a New to equate “clerics” with religious intellectu- tellectuals as devoted, in an interest-free Presentation of the Science of Knowledge als, as those who “usually produce religious spirit, to guarding static universals such as from 1797/8, Fichte had defined a “dog- dogmas” (ibid. 1:223 and who are distinct “truth,” “justice,” “freedom,” and “reason,” matist” in very much the way Benda had from religiously motivated “lay intellectuals” only to unmask them as having quietly portrayed the fraudulent intellectual, when (ibid.). This notion has a number of short- abandoned their lofty claim and allowing he wrote: comings. Firstly, it only works for communi- themselves to become corrupted by spe- Every consistent dogmatist must nec- ties in possession of a formal clerical estate, cial interests (Trahison 83-92). However, essarily be a fatalist. He does not deny, which renders it inapplicable in the Muslim instead of publicly acknowledging what as a fact of consciousness, that we con- context. Secondly, it is very much the pro- Benda has labeled as this “betrayal,” intel- sider ourselves to be free; indeed it duction of dogmas—even those derived by lectuals disguise it by claiming their posi- would be quite unreasonable to deny the exertion of rational efforts—that leads tions to be guided by insight into an “ob- this. Instead, he uses his own principle ultimately to conflict with a philosophical jective necessity”—or, as Benda has called to prove the falsity of this claim. He re- concept of “intellectual,” even though so- it, “in the name of a [mystical] union with jects the self-sufficiency of the I, which ciologists like Edward Shils (d. 1995) seem the evolution of the world” (ibid. 37). This the idealist takes as his fundamental to have somehow tried in their works (e.g., insight into an objective—though defined— explanatory ground, and he treats the I

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merely as a product of things; i.e., as an German Customs Union (Deutscher Zoll- intellectual” or “bearded intellectual.” If, accidental feature of the world. A con- verein) which eventually brought about in any case, the religious proclivities of a sistent dogmatist is also necessarily a the German nation (Discours 17). In other person become so dominant that religious materialist (1:430-31). words, it was first and foremost intellectu- dogma becomes the crucial reference What we may conclude from this is that, als who brought about the novel idea of a point for the justification of cultural val- for Fichte, an acceptance of any kind of nation as a culture-related value, and not ues, then according to our philosophers, dogma—as an indisputable truth exist- any external condition portrayed as inevi- such a person can by definition not be an ing outside ourselves—renders the ulti- table that necessitated the establishment intellectual. mate task of an intellectual, specifically of that nation. Be that as it may, a sensible compromise the production of culture-related values, What can be concluded from this brief ex- between this prescriptive philosophical completely void. Thus, we may conclude cursion into a philosophical approach to notion of intellectual and the more socio- from both Fichte and Benda, to be an in- the concept of intellectual for our own criti- logical one with regards to the Muslim tellectual requires an uncompromising cal investigation is that, at least from this context can be elaborated from the in- commitment to values that transcend the perspective, religion and intellectualism triguing considerations of controversial narrow confines of any dogma, rendering are mutually exclusive. This, in turn, poses Islamicist Reinhard Schulze (b. 1953), who it a particular personal disposition: the question of whether it is meaningful to has proposed a differentiation between The kind of philosophy one chooses speak of “Muslim intellectuals” or indeed, “scholars” (ʿulamāʾ, sg. ʿālim) and “intel- thus depends upon the kind of person of a “Christian intellectual,” a “Buddhist in- lectuals” (mufakkirūn) in order to better one is. For a philosophical system is not tellectual,” and so on. Here, we would have understand profound structural changes a lifeless household item one can put to ask whether the attribute that refers to in the since the late nine- aside or pick up as one wishes; instead, the belonging to a certain religious com- teenth century. it is animated by the very soul of the munity is indeed the defining criterion for person who adopts it. Someone whose a particular brand of intellectuals. From the c) The Approach by a Social Science- character is naturally slack and who has viewpoint of philosophers like the staunch Inclined Study of Islam been enervated and twisted by spiritu- Lutheran Fichte and the acculturated Jew Schulze proposes to employ the category al servitude, scholarly self-indulgence, Benda, a person can only be an “intellect- intellectual in order to better understand and vanity will never be able to raise ual” if her or his religious belonging does what he calls ”the historical function of an himself to the level of idealism (Fichte not impact the rational argument for or ‘Enlightenment process’—that is, the libera- 1:434). against cultural values in a dogmatic man- tion of an intellectual and academic culture Fichte himself, as Benda argued in a lat- ner. If this is the case, then the attribute within a society from immediate commit- er work, was such an intellectual: it was that signifies religious belonging becomes ment to the directly experienced domina- more the idea of national unity advocated more or less redundant; it would then be tion (Herrschaftsbindung) of an ancien by him and like-minded thinkers than the as significant adefiniens as “bespectacled régime” (Schulze, Internationalismus 3).

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Therefore, for him, intellectuals comprise is that knowledge cannot actually be pro- in his eyes, contributed significantly to the a new social group that a) does not affirm duced, only reproduced: the focal point re- undermining of the monopoly of definition prevalent political rule, rather considering mains the authoritative texts and, first and held by the ʿulamāʾ since the eighteenth itself as the most suitable for community foremost, those believed to be God’s final century. However, more recent scholarship leadership; b) formulates a general social verbal revelation to humanity in the Qurʾan. has convincingly shown that the impact of interest that is solely rooted in the profound Such a strict dependence on text served one of these developments, namely the knowledge of its own society; and c) would to prevent free speculation (raʾy), since the emergence of a new type of Sufism labeled eventually claim a monopoly of definition foundation for any intellectual pursuit re- Neo-Sufism, has been rather exaggerated in evaluating the state of the society and mained ultimately indisputable. It is upon (Schulze, Internationalismus 18-26).5 The devising political remedies (ibid.). What this basis that, over time, exegetical tradi- importance of the other development, should be quite obvious is that here, Schul- tions emerged which developed a number essentially a technological and economic ze is certainly not concerned with any pre- of genuine tools for controlling the perpet- one, need hardly be explained: its trig- modern period, but rather with the rapid uation of knowledge. One of them is the in- ger was the final implementation of the and profound structural changes that have stitution of the formal teaching permission printed word across the Muslim world, commonly been used to define modernity (ijāza) that contains the authoritative chain and the resulting mass production of liter- (Habermas, Diskurs 9-33; Hübinger 304-7). of transmission (sanad) and, thus, links its ary materials (ibid. 27-32; idem, “Printing” These very changes are what caused the recipient all the way back to the Prophet 41-9). That this development constituted a emergence of a new societal elite; this as the most authoritative in- serious threat to the ʿulamāʾ ’s monopoly elite, in turn, would then seriously question terpreter of the divine revelation. As an- of definition is already evident from their existing social and political conditions and, other of these tools, one may consider the arguments against the establishment of an moreover, the knowledge that was used to formally rather restricted process of com- Ottoman printing press under the super- justify its existence. While the ultimate tar- menting upon earlier works that, at some vision of the Hungarian convert to Islam get of this new social elite was therefore point, have assumed an almost canonical Ibrahim Müteferrika (d. 1158/1745) in the the political establishment, it first needed status. It can certainly be argued that these early 1720s, even though the latter had de- to challenge those who were engaged in formal restrictions—represented, among veloped a clear religious legal framework the production and administration of he- others, by the three forms sharḥ (i.e., com- for his arguments in support of the print- gemonic knowledge (Herrschaftswissen)— mentary proper), ḥāshiya (glosses) and ed word (Reichmuth 157-60).6 However, that is, the ʿulamāʾ. hāmish (marginal annotation)—indicate the the ultimate precondition for a successful Over the centuries, the ʿulamāʾ had estab- confines within which individual reasoning implementation of the printed word was lished firm criteria for what was considered can be tolerated, and where there must be the existence of a newly emerged reader- knowledge, or “acquaintance with tradi- no provision for irreversible breaks with the ship outside the space controlled by the tion”4 (ʿilm), as well as the methods for its exegetical tradition. ʿulamāʾ. Quite similar to developments acquisition. The ultimate premise herein Schulze identifies two developments that, in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century

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Europe (Habermas, Strukturwandel 69- or the dār al-ʿulūm—and in the revolved. However, a closer look reveals 85), a self-confident and educated public mosque, where works were meticulously that the reference points for the groups emerged, primarily amongst the ascend- copied by students under the vigilant eye were significantly different. While it is in- ing mercantile class, which demanded a of a senior scholar, and where the discus- deed the case that both groups were con- new kind of cultural good. These goods sion circles (majālis) were always rather cerned with notions of “justice,” “freedom,” did not necessarily relate in an affirmative teacher-centered. Religious dogma, the or “politics” (idem, Internationalismus 33- manner to the existing political establish- epitome of ʿilm, continued to be the cul- 6), the ʿulamāʾ remained clearly within the ment, but instead to the economic interest tural good produced in these spaces. confines of the Qurʾanic revelation and of this new social strata. In contrast, the newly emerging social stra- the Islamic exegetical tradition. Hence, The establishment of printing presses from ta resorted to using spaces that initially had “justice” (ʿadl) is discussed in the context Istanbul to Calcutta in the early nineteenth a much different general function: at first, of the juxtaposition of divine and human century, sanctioned by the political ruler its members frequented informal places capacities, “freedom” rather critically as but set up mostly by daring entrepreneurs, outside the cities, but from the eighteenth epistemological and the resulting action- brought into play a new criterion for the century on they congregated in what might theoretical concept of “freedom of choice” selection of texts-to-be-printed, one not be considered the “profane space” of cof- (ikhtiyār), and “politics” in correlation with overseen by the ʿulamāʾ: namely, market- fee houses, and the salons that developed the revealed framework as “good gover- ability. Now, the court was not the only in private residencies (Schulze, “Gräber” nance” (siyāsat al-sharʿiyya). Even with re- customer for literary products beyond the 764-76).7 It was in these alternative spaces gard to “society,” the reference point is not scholarly estate; increasingly, the interests (maqāʿid) that a less-restrictive ethos of so much the actual society in which these and literary tastes of the new and ever- discussion surrounding cultural values— ʿulamāʾ lived and functioned, but rather growing educated public—considered embedded in science, literature and even the highly-idealized concept of a “com- by numerous scholars to be the nucleus theology—developed between people munity of believers” (umma islāmiyya). for the emergence of a bourgeoisie (e.g. from various, although almost exclusively The mufakkirūn, in contrast, although Schulze, “Gräber” 773-77; Pernau passim)— innerworldly, backgrounds. Beyond the equally referring to an idealized universal- needed to be catered to. Because these knowledge the ʿulamāʾ brought forth, istic framework, their ideas of “freedom” interests and tastes hardly overlapped with ideas (afkār) were developed and dis- (ḥurriyya), “justice” (inṣāf), or “politics” those of the ʿulamāʾ, both social groups cussed; their carriers consequently known (siyāsa) related to their own experiences occupied distinct social and also physical as mufakkirūn—intellectuals, who in the Ot- within the society in which they lived, and spaces for their respective production of toman lands became known as “afandiyya.” hence, were rooted in an appreciation of cultural goods, leading to the eventual What is interesting is that the topics that their own relatedness as human beings to embodiment of distinct cultural values. the intellectuals debated appear, at least the empirical world and not—at least not The ʿulamāʾ remained in the highly regu- at first glance, strikingly similar to those necessarily—to a dogmatic framework. lated space of the religious seminary—the around which the discourse of the ʿulamāʾ While both groups had perhaps equally

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good arguments in support of the validity it actually helped the ʿulamāʾ to liberate to various technical means to publicize and of their respective views, it was the printed themselves from their traditional confines: circulate their views widely. At the center word and the resulting rapid dissemina- they were no longer required to provide of this was, naturally, the printed word. But tion of the works of intellectuals—aimed at a normatively grounded justification for increasingly, audiovisual media and, more reaching an as-large-as-possible reader- actual political rule, and therefore found recently, the Internet with its many avail- ship (idem, “Printing” 46)8—that made the themselves in a situation almost similar to able formats, have taken hold. While the ultimate difference. However, the triumph that of the emerging intellectuals around endorsement of the use of these media of the intellectual over the ʿālim caused the the eighteenth century. Now ʿulamāʾ left has contributed greatly to the reaching latter to eventually assess and subsequent- the spatial confines of the seminary and out from the confines of seminary and ly rectify its position. It is this adjustment to the mosque and entered with the intel- mosque, new literary genres were also the prevalent circumstances that caused lectuals into discussions of culture-relat- appropriated by the ʿulamāʾ in addition the genuine Muslim intellectual to disap- ed values; at the same time, intellectuals to the dissemination of classical religious pear, at least as a useful analytical category. became increasingly accepted within the works. These new genres had previously traditional spaces of ʿulamāʾ hegemony, been peculiar to the intellectuals: now, Like a Shooting Star: The Fading of a which, in turn, facilitated reforms of cur- scholars were also producing popular Category ricula and means of instruction.9 Thus, for textbooks with religious themes, spiritual Admittedly, it took the ʿulamāʾ some time example, the ijāza—originally only issued memoirs, and general (religious) treatises to finally recognize the threat that the in- as a permission to teach one particular on a vast variety of topics, written in a style tellectuals posed to their thus-far hardly text in one particular tradition—became a easily digestible by the religious lay audi- contested monopoly of definition. How- certificate for the completion of a course ence—the very same one whose taste the ever, once they had realized the gravity in one particular subject, or even of the mufakkirūn had previously exclusively of their situation, the ʿulamāʾ tackled the whole course of study (e.g. Hartung 237- catered to. After the ʿulamāʾ entered into problem head-on by appropriating issues 38). It was these processes of mutual “in- the same arena and addressed the same as well as strategies that thus far had been filtration” of formerly distinct and, indeed, issues in a similar fashion, the divide be- exclusive to the intellectuals: their frame rather exclusive social spaces that even- tween them and the mufakkirūn began of reference would become more inner- tually blurred the boundaries between to blur. Soon, the label mufakkir was also worldly, in both content and strategy of ʿulamāʾ and mufakkirūn and made an ana- applied to ʿulamāʾ without any analytical dissemination. That European colonialism lytically meaningful distinction increasingly distinction, as examples of the South Asian abolished Muslim rule across the Muslim difficult. Besides, connected to this opening ʿālim Abu l-Hasan ʿAli Nadwi (d. 1999) and world helped this transition considerably. of space was an approximation in the ini- Egyptian Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926) pro- While the impact and consequences of co- tially conflicting values that each of the two vide ample evidence for; indeed, this epi- lonialism cannot but be considered cata- groups had so far monopolized. thet has since even been bestowed upon strophic for the indigenous population, Moreover, ʿulamāʾ increasingly subscribed pre-modern thinkers, such as Ibn Taymiyya

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(d. 1328) or Shah Waliyallah Dihlawi (d. 1762). and Ramadan initially at the University of while Abu Zayd acknowledges the impact At the same time, self-made men like Indian Fribourg in Switzerland. Thus, their intel- of a temporally and spatially concrete Arab activist Muhammad ʿAli “Jawhar” (d. 1931) lectual development seems to predispo- culture (ḥaḍāra) in the linguistic codifica- and Islamist theoretician Abul Aʿla Mawdu- sition them all as “intellectuals” proper. tion of the Qurʾan, he does not call into di (d. 1979) were bestowed the honorific of However, the works with which our three question the time- and placelessness of “Mawlānā,” until then reserved solely for examples have achieved international rec- God as sender (mursil) and His message formally trained ʿulamāʾ. Does this mean ognition present us with a different picture. (risāla) to a temporally and spatially con- that the concept of the Muslim intellectual Different as indeed they are, the core of fined humanity as its recipient (mustaqbil) has been rendered inapplicable, at least the works of all three is indeed constitut- (Abū Zayd 31-57 et passim). as an analytical category with any explana- ed by the unifying project of rationalizing , in turn, attempts to align tory force? After all, the label is commonly religion in order to make it relevant for Islamic legal precepts with the secular so- assigned to a wide array of contemporary contemporary societies: Thus, while Abu cio-political framework of those European Muslim thinkers, like Egyptian Nasr Hamid Zayd attempted to rationalize the Qurʾanic states with a significant Muslim population, Abu Zayd (d. 2010), Iranian Abdulkarim So- revelation by stressing the historicity of the stressing the crucial importance of inde- roush (b. 1945), or Swiss-Egyptian Tariq Ra- Qurʾanic text, Soroush’s endeavors revolve pendent reasoning (ijtihād) in this con- madan (b. 1962), and even academics seem around rationalizing prophecy, and Rama- text. In the process, he proposes a new hardly to question whether this is an appro- dan’s around the development of rational legal-cum-ethical concept of territoriality priate label. Therefore, in conclusion, I will arguments for the necessity of a new fiqh, that supplements the classical typology of briefly outline my doubts regarding whether taking into consideration especially the fact dār al-islām, dār al-ḥarb, dār al-ṣulḥ and we gain any insight by ascribing the label of a growing Muslim presence in Western dār al-ʿahd and aims at providing a frame- Muslim intellectual to these or similar per- countries (e.g. Abū Zayd 5-7; Sorūsh 1-28; work for Muslims in the West to maintain sons, and argue that the denominational Ramadan 93-102). None of them, however, their normatively grounded moral superi- attribute actually contradicts the very no- question the veracity of the divine revela- ority while integrating into the social and tion of intellectual. tion as the ultimate foundation in renego- political structures prevalent in the West All three personalities mentioned are not tiation of societal values, and hence rely and contributing to their respective poli- products of distinct religious educational upon the reality of divinity as the supreme ties (Ramadan 119-52). Ramadan’s views institutions; but rather, of Western or West- authority. By resting all the insights they are, even more than those of Abu Zayd, ernized ones. In addition, they all pursued produce on the premise of faith, they do based on faith, behind which one must an academic career in the selfsame institu- not—like Kant did in the late eighteenth not—and, in fact, cannot—go. Moreover, tions: Abu Zayd at the Department of Ara- century—develop the skepticism towards Ramadan, who for many is considered the bic Language and Literature at Cairo Uni- the existence of God that is required for “Muslim intellectual” par excellence, does versity, Soroush at the Institute for Cultural the recognition of “God” as a regulative not even attempt to view the normative Research and Studies at Tehran University, idea (Kant 2:512-605 [B 595-732]). Thus, foundations of his thought in a critical light.

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Jan-Peter Hartung The one of our three authors who, in my experience of a procedural revelation— a critical distance from every faith-based opinion, comes closest to a notion of intel- which, given the historically changing cir- supposition. Hence, one may perhaps con- MA (Leipzig), PhD (Erfurt), Habil (Bonn), lectual is Soroush. He, namely, plays down cumstances, will necessarily take on differ- sider someone like Anglo-Indian dissident is currently Senior Lecturer in the Study the canonized revelation in the Qurʾan to ent shapes. thinker Ibn Warraq (b. 1946), who disso- of Islam at the Department for the such an extent that it almost fades away What we may well conclude from this ciates himself from accepting any social Study of Religions, SOAS, University of completely. In contrast, he emphasizes brief survey of the arguments presented and ethical value that cannot be justified . His research focuses on Muslim the primacy of the historically deter- by three authors who in popular as well outside the confines of religion (Ibn War- intellectual history from Early Modernity, mined “prophetic experience” (tajrebah- as academic discourse are widely con- raq 172-97 et passim), a “Muslim intellec- with a regional emphasis on South Asia ye nabavī) by stressing that humanity is to sidered “Muslim intellectuals,” is that, in tual”—but, again, despite him certainly not and the wider Persianate world. constantly re-experience it and, because the light of the lengthy exposition of the agreeing to this label (ibid.),10 it would be of the changing circumstances in time, sociological and, beyond, the philosophi- just as analytically meaningful and useful expand it (bast kardan) (Sorūsh 12-15 et cal argument, this categorization does not for the social sciences as the previously passim). While in this way Soroush clearly hold water. In fact, the most they could be mentioned categories of bespectacled takes up the cudgel for the autonomy of labeled as is “Islamic intellectuals,” refer- intellectual or bearded intellectual. the subject against the primacy of a de- ring to the normative basis on which their historicized text, he still seems to assume respective views are based. This, however, an essence of religion enshrined in the would be a logical fallacy, since the analyti- manifold perpetuations of Muhammad’s cal concept of the intellectual necessitates

Notes 2 This situation was in 3 See, for example, 4 This admittedly rather comprehension” (taʿaqqul) fact highlighted in some the “Forschungsstelle awkward translation of of the philosophers, aimed at 1 This essay is based on the contributions to the Intellektuellensoziologie” “ʿilm” is felt needed in yielding different results, for initial thoughts I presented at international workshop (FIS) at Oldenburg University, order to distinguish this example “absolute certainty” the conference “The Public “Modern Salafism: Doctrine, which emerged out of the methodologically genuine (yaqīn). Role of Muslim Intellectuals: Politics, Jihad” that took place Adorno Research Center approach from that of other Historical Perspectives and as recently as 25 Apr. 2012 (founded 1996). Muslim groups concerned ––› Contemporary Challenges” at the Institute of Arab and with the production of at St. Antony’s College, Islamic Studies, University of knowledge, even more so as University of Oxford, 30 Apr. Exeter. other modes of cognition, 2012. such as the “intuition” (ḥads) and “non-discursive unveiling” (takshīf) of the Gnostics, or the “rational

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––› 5 Against Schulze, see, 9 In 1831, for example, Works Cited __. Strukturwandel O’Fahey, R.S., and Bernd for example, O’Fahey and with Hasan al-ʿAttar (d. der Öffentlichkeit: Radtke. “Neo-Sufism Radtke 1993, esp. 59-61, 1250/1835), the first member Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. Untersuchungen zu einer Reconsidered.” Der Islam 70. 1 64-71. of the afandiyya had been Mafhūm al-naṣṣ: dirāsa fī Kategorie der bürgerlichen (1993): 52-87. Print. appointed principal of al- ʿulūm al-Qurʾān. 5th ed. Gesellschaft. Rev. ed. 6 For a discussion of the Azhar in Cairo. See Schulze, Beirut: al-Markaz al-thaqāfī Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, Pernau, Margrit. Bürger mit arguments against the print Gräber 777. al-ʿarabī, 2000. Print. 1990. Print. Turban: Muslime in Delhi im of Islamic literature before 19. Jahrhundert. Göttingen: the nineteenth century, see 10 Here, Ibn Warraq Benda, Julien. La Trahison Hartung, Jan-Peter. “Religious Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Robinson 64-70. deliberately adopts a des clercs. 2nd rev. ed. Paris: Education in Transition: The 2008. Print. modification of Bertrand Grasset, 1946. Print. Moral and Academic Training 7 These spaces correlate Russell’s renowned of Maulānā Sayyid Abū Popper, Karl R.. Logik somewhat with the spaces autobiographical essay __. Discours à la nation ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī Nadwī.” Islamica: der Forschung: Zur in which the emerging : An européenne. Paris: Gallimard, Studies in Memory of Holger Erkenntnistheorie bourgeoisie in eighteenth- Examination of the God-Idea 1979. Print. Preißler (1943-2006). Ed. der modernen century Europe created and Christianity from 1927. Andreas Christmann and Naturwissenschaften. Wien: a counter-public to the Eisenstadt, Shmuel N. The Jan-Peter Hartung. Oxford: Julius Springer, 1935. Print. “representative publicness” Origins & Diversity of Axial Oxford University Press, 2009. of the courtly societies, see Age Civilizations. Albany: 231-55. Print. Ramadan, Tariq. To Be a Habermas, Strukturwandel SUNY Press, 1986. Print. European Muslim: A Study 86-121. Hübinger, Gangolf. of the Islamic Sources in the Fichte, Johann Gottlieb. “Intellektuelle, European Context. Leicester: 8 Here, Schulze stresses Johann Gottlieb Fichtes Intellektualismus.“ Max The Islamic Foundation, 1999. the symbiotic relationship sämmtliche Werke. Ed. Webers Religionssystematik. Print. between printing (ṭabʿ) and Immanuel Hermann Fichte. Ed. Hans G. Kippenberg and dissemination (nashr) in the 8 vols. Berlin: Veit, 1845-6. Martin Riesebrodt. Tübingen: Reichmuth, Stefan. “Islamic process of book distribution. Print. Mohr-Siebeck, 2001. 297-313. Reformist Discourse in Print. the Tulip Period (1718-30): Habermas, Jürgen. Der Ibrahim Müteferriqa and philosophische Diskurs Ibn Warraq. Why I am his Argument for Printing.“ der Moderne: Zwölf not a Muslim. New York: International Congress on Vorlesungen. 5th ed. Prometheus, 1995. Print. Learning and Education in Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, the Ottoman World. Ed. Ali 1996. Print. Kant, Immanuel. Kritik der Çaksu. Istanbul: IRCICA, 2001. reinen Vernunft. Ed. Wilhelm 149-61. Print. Weichschedel. 2 vols. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, ––› 1996. Print.

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