Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Egyptian Enlightenmentmovement FAUZI M
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Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Egyptian EnlightenmentMovement FAUZI M. NAJJAR*
ABSTRACTFully aware of the pressing need for change in the Arab-Muslim world, a group of Egyptian intellectuals have formed the Egyptian Enlighten- ment Society to promote the necessary reformfor the challenges of the twenty- first century. They seek to restore a liberal-secularist trend by disseminating the ideas of rationality,freedom, equality, emancipation of women, and so on. They champion a civil society as against the religious society advocated by the Islamists. The advocates of enlightenment have mobilized the ideas and theories of Egyptian and Muslim liberal thinkers, in particular those of Ibn Rushd (Aver- roes), the great commentator and interpreter of Aristotelian philosophy, re- garded by many as one of the key figures in the development of the European Enlightenment.Averroes, a defender of the freedom of rational investigation, and a precursor of the modern scientific outlook, sought to reconcile philosophy and religion, and thus introducephilosophy into a Muslim society governed by the shari'. The future of the Arab-Muslimworld will depend on the outcome of the struggle between enlightenment and Islamic fundamentalism.
Introduction 'What has happened to the tradition of enlightenment that had become part of Egyptian culture from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th centuries?' asks Jabir 'Asfur, one of Egypt's leading intellectuals and founding member of the present Egyptian Enlightenment Association. What 'Asfur is referringto are those reforms in government, law, religion, education and other aspects of Egyptian culture that took place during that period. The nineteenthcentury was the formative period during which Egypt received the distinctive features of its modem culture. Following Napoleon's expedition in 1798, the pace of European intervention in Egypt and the Muslim world moved more rapidly. So did the process of modernizationor Westernization.In addition to the military and technical reforms introduced by Muhammad 'Ali, more than the externals of Western civilization were adopted. New social and political ideas and practices penetratedinto Egyptian society and culture. By the mid-nineteenth century, Muhammad 'Ali's grandson, Khedive Isma'il, could declare, not without extravagantexaggeration, that 'Egypt has become a part of Europe.' Instrumentalin this process of change was the rise of a new kind of literature,
* College of Social Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
ISSN 1353-0194 print/ISSN 1469-3542 online/04/020195-19 @ 2004 British Society for Middle EasternStudies DOI: 10.1080/135301904042000268213
This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR which played a leading role in disseminating modernist ideas and views. It has been said that the printing press was 'far and away the most revolutionaryand influential of all contributionsof Europe to the Moslem world.' The establish- ment of British control in Egypt in 1882 caused the Westernizing movement to broaden out and expand in different directions. Education reforms and the adoption of Western laws, commercial, criminal and civil, underscored the modernist transformationof Egyptian society. Lebanese immigrants played a decisive role in expanding journalism and literary, scientific and political publications. By the turn of the twentieth century, European political thought was generally accepted, consciously and unconsciously. A parliamentarysystem of government and certain constitutional reforms were established. Freedom of the press, fundamentalhuman rights and secularist education were championed along with democratic institutions. The secularist conception of the nation-state had for all practicalpurposes replaced the notion of an Islamic caliphate or unity. A new political consciousness was created amongst the mass of the people by the rapid rise and extension of journalism. An impressive general political and intellectual level was raised. The pioneer of that 'tradition of enlightenment' (tanwir) was Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), who as Muhammad 'Ali's appointed Imam of a study mission in Paris, had learned French and studied Europeanthought, in particular the works of Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu. Tahtawi was instrumentalin transmittingthe liberal thought of the French Englightenmentto his Egyptian compatriots. The present Tanwir Association regards him as its intellectual mentor, and it has recently organized a conference under the title 'Rifa'a al-Tahtawi Pioneer of Tanwir,' at which eighty-five papers dealing with his life and works were discussed by Arab and Western scholars.' The reform movement inauguratedby Tahtawi was developed and sustained by a number of intellectuals, religious and political leaders. Two main trends were generated. The first was a religious reform movement culminating in the works of Muhammad 'Abduh, a disciple of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, and an advocate of religious reform in Islam. To this day, 'Abduh remains the symbol of Islamic reform, and the author of the fundamentalproposition that Islam and modernity are not incompatible.To be modern does not necessarily compromise Islamicity. His book al-Islam Din al-'71m wa al-Madaniyya (Islam is the Religion of Science and Civilization) remains the landmarkin the Islamic reform movement. The second was a liberal-secularisttrend representedby the dissemination of ideas such as rationality, freedom, equality, constitutionalism, independent judiciary, government responsibility and separation of powers. Movements and political parties calling for social justice, equality before the law, free public education, free press, and emancipationof women were formed. Most important was the idea of a national secular society, strongly opposed by religious conservatives to this day.2 In his seminal work, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, Albert Hourani
1 al-Ahram, April 20, 2002. 2 See Muhammad Nur Farahat, 'al-Qanun w-al-Tafa'ul al-Thaqafi fi Misr al-Haditha,' (Law and Cultural Interactionin Modem Egypt), in MuradWahba and Mona Abousenna (eds.) Nadwat al-Tanwir, (Cairo: Goethe Institute, 1990), p. 88.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT stresses the liberal-secularcharacter of that period, secular 'in the sense that it believed that society and religion both prospered best when the civil authority was separate from the religious, and when the former acted in accordance with the needs of human welfare in this world, liberal in the sense that it thought the welfare of society to be constituted by that of individuals, and the duty of government to be the protection of freedom, above all the freedom of the individual to fulfill himself and to create civilization.'3 The religious reform movement has been fully covered by Charles C. Adams in his book Islam and Modernism in Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933), and Malcolm Kerrin Islamic Reform: the Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad cAbduh and Rashid Rida (University of California Press, 1966). Otherworks have dealt with the political, constitutionaland educational changes of that period, notably Qassim Amih's Tahrir al-Mar'a (Emancipation of Woman). Amin was the first Egyptian to attack the inferior position of Muslim women, the Islamic practice of polygamy, divorce and the use of the veil. The liberal reform movement was carried forward by writers like Taha Husayn, Lutfi al-Sayyid, and 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq, among others. In his book Mustaqbal al-Thaqafafi Misr (The Future of Culture in Egypt), Husayn called upon the Egyptians to turn their faces West, urging them to adopt Western culture, science and techniques. As minister of education, he introduced educa- tional reforms, stressing freedom of academic research and the freedom of the university from governmentcontrol. Similarly, al-Raziq, in his book al-Islam wa cUsul al-Hukm (Islam and the Principles of Government), shocked the Muslim world with his argumentthat Islam is a religion and not a state, as he called for the separation of the two. Government systems and laws depend on the circumstances and requirementsof the public interest, he argued. Many other writers added to these landmarkson the road to Tanwir. It is this traditionof Tanwirthat the modem Tanwiriyyun,as the advocates of enlightenment are called, claim is at risk from two major developments in contemporaryEgyptian life. The first challenge to this liberal tradition came from the authoritarianregime of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar al-Sadat. Parliamentarygovernment and political parties were banned, the press was nationalized and muzzled, and all aspects of social and educational life were controlled by the military regime. Dissidents were persecuted, forcing many intellectuals to flee their own homeland. There was a general decline in the quality of culture, education and the arts.
The Islamists The second challenge comes from the contemporaryIslamic discourse, and the activities of its adherents. For the Islamists, who hold the shari'a to be immutable and valid for all times, Westernizationand secularizationrepresent a threat to fundamentalIslamic values and way of life. Consequently, not only Western ideas and institutions have suffered the animosity of the Islamists, but also those who advocate them. The contemporaryTanwir movement is basically an endeavor to check the negative influence of the Islamists, considered detrimentalto reform and progress in all aspects of life. The Tanwiriyyunseek
3 Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 343.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR to reset Egypt on the road to modernity in order to cope with the challenges of the times. They are the heirs of the early liberals, champions of freedom of thought and expression, who believe that there is no incompatibility between Islam and modernity. The 'Islamic Movement' comprises all Muslims whose activities aim at establishing an Islamic state instead of the existing 'secular' or 'civil' state. It includes those engaged in direct political activities, as well as those whose activities have an indirect influence on the movement. Included in the first category are the Muslim Brothers, Islamic Jihad, al-Jama'at al-Islamiyya, and the cAmal(Labour) Party. Included in the second category are individual writers and scholars with an Islamic bent such as Fahmi Huwaydi (columnist in al-Ahram),Muhammad Salim al-'Awwa, Kamal Abu al-Majd (professorof law), and many Azharites, all regarded as 'enlightened Islamists.'4 There has always been an Islamic movement calling for a returnto the purity of the Islamic past. The movement for the restoration of the Caliphate in the early 1920s, the Muslim Brotherhoodmovement in the late 1920s, and a number of small organizations branching out of the Brotherhood, all argued against a civil society and state. These early movements were, on the whole, kept under control, either by the government or by their own leaders. However, the shatteringdefeat of the 1967 War may be regardedas the startingpoint of what an Egyptian professor called the 'increasing theocratizationof the Arab world.' Consequently, the fall of Nasserism opened the way for the Islamists to present themselves as the only alternativeto the existing order. 'Petro dollars' from the oil-producing Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, enabled the Islamists to pursue their political activities more vigorously, and even to establish armed units to confront their enemies. By using part of the funds to build hospitals, schools and mosques, and other services the civil government had failed to provide, they have succeeded in mobilizing large segments of the population, especially the unemployed youth. President Sadat's 'economic opening' played into their hands by creating wider economic and social disparities, forcing the poor to seek supportfrom the Islamic groups. At the same time, in his effort to combat Nasserist and leftist tendencies, Sadat indulged the Islamists, allowing them to operate freely and sometimes with impunity. Furthermore,the success of the Khomeini revolution in Iran convinced the Islamists of the possibility of establishing a religious state by violence.5 The establishmentof a religious state is not a new idea: it has always been the aspirationof many, if not most, Muslims. What is painfully new is the claim by the extremists that force is the only means to bring it about. All forms of violence, threats, vilification and assassinations have been used to promote this fundamentalist project. Not all advocates of an Islamic state resort to such means; many have launched an Islamic discourse to promote Islamic values, and to discredit all attempts in favour a modem civil society. In their view, liberalism, secularism and democracy are Western imports, alien to the Islamic polity. This attitude has created a chasm within Egyptian society between the liberal-secularintelligentsia and the Islamists of all colours. The mounting influence of the Islamists, their violent activities and virulent
4 See MuhammadIbrahim Mabruk,Muwajahat al-Muwajaha (Cairo: 1994), pp. 13-14. 5 Wahba and Abousenna, Nadwat al-Taniir, p. 94.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT discourse have alarmed the liberals, who see them as a threat to the civil state and the cultural achievements of the last century. Most intellectuals and writers are concerned about how 'fundamentalismis conspicuously permeating many circles in our region. Symptoms of bigotry and intolerance are decomposing the otherwise compassionate and benevolent tenets of all monotheistic religions embraced by millions in the Middle East. Terrorism is resorted to in lieu of persuasion and dialogue. Enlightened thinkers and writers have increasingly become a prime target of extremists who emanate from convoluted value judgments and arbitraryinterpretations of our luminous heritage.'6 A numberof intellectuals and writers have expressed similar foreboding about the implications of the Islamist ascendancy, in particularto democracy, freedom of thought and expression and the quality of culture as a whole. They question the Islamist slogan la hukma illa li-llah (sovereignty belongs to God alone), which is the call for a religious state governed by the shari'a. It was Abu al-'A'la Mawdudi (1903-1979), the Pakistani leader, who resurrectedthis Shi'ite notion, rejecting democracy as the 'sovereignty of the masses.' The notion of hakimiyya was later popularized by Sayyid Qutb, a leading spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, who was executed in the fall of 1966, for his advocacy of overthrowing the 'un-Islamic' Nasser regime by force. For the Islamists a modem democraticcivil society is a jahiliyya (pre-Islamic age of ignorance), infringing God's right to legislate. They reject democratic freedoms as excessive, allowing people to do whatever they please. In modem democracy there is no distinction between right and wrong, faith and unbelief, the good and the bad. Democracy calls for equality of all citizens, the believer and the atheist, the learned and the ignorant.In short, Islamists of all hues reject democracy's secular postulates, and accuse the secularists of doubting the credibility of Qur'anic texts, contending that Islam is a religion and not a state, calling for the adoption of Western civilization and reducing God's revelation to a 'cultural product.' According to Yusuf Qaradawi, 'no king or president, no government or revolutionary council, or any power on earth has the right to change any of God's rules.'7 For their part, the secularists call the Islamists 'agents of darkness, bats of thought who prefer the darkness; their eyes are unable to face light and brightness.'8 The conflict between secularism and Islamic conservatism has been going on for the last century and a half. It has assumed various degrees of intensity, contingent on economic and political crises. It has been argued that the masses are oblivious of the conflict, and that its 'final settlement will be determinedby the social and economic interests of social groups.'9 Convinced that the triumph of the Islamist movement would set Muslim society apart from the rest of the world, and out of date and out of touch with real life, Egyptian secularists and intellectuals have determined to use their talents to ward off the onslaught of what they call 'the contemporaryIslamic discourse.' Their central argument is that Islam, properly understood, is in harmony with the modern age. Islamic history as well as the demands of the
6 MuradWahba and Mona Abousenna (eds.) Averroes and the EnlightenmentMovement, (New York: Amhert, 1990), p. 18. 7 Mabruk,Muwajahat al-Muwajaha, pp. 80-81, 179, 214. 8 'Atif al-'Iraqi, al-'Aql wa al-Tanwirfi al-Fikr al-'Arabi al-Mu'asir (Beirut: 1995), p. 138. 9 Wahba and Abousenna, Nadwat al-Tanwir, English section, p. 91.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR modem age provide sufficient argument in favour of the use of reason in the management of human affairs. Their efforts and activities have been somewhat timid, sporadic and haphazard.Yet enough has been written and done to form the core of a promising intellectual and cultural movement.
The Tanwir Association Of a number of anti-Islamist organizations that have emerged in the last two decades, the EnlightenmentAssociation (Jam'iyyatal-Tanwir) has been the most consistent and enduring. Established in October 1992 by a group of Egyptian scholars and intellectuals, the Association has set forth an agenda to counteract the claims, teachings and interpretationsof the Islamists, whom they describe as salafi (adherentsof the interpretationsand teachings of the pious ancestors) and reactionary.Their approachis to revive Egypt's tanwir traditionby disseminat- ing liberal and rational ideas. In addition to holding seminars, lecturing and writing, they publish an irregularbulletin (al-Tanwir) to propagatetheir views.10 More importantis a series of books on liberal and rationalsubjects by scholars and writers, which has been published by the General Egyptian Book Organiza- tion. Such books as Farah Antun's Falsafat Ibn Rushd, 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq's al-Islim wa 'Usul al-Hukm, Taha Husayn's Mustaqbal al-Thaqafafi Misr, and Salama Musa's Ma Hiya al-Nahda are reprintsof earlier editions, and are meant to emphasize Egypt's earlier liberal tradition, as well as to challenge the traditionalIslamic outlook on society, law and culture. In the words of the first president of the Association, they are meant 'to liberate the mind from rigidity and bondage, to save women from ignorance and idleness, emancipate them from the harem-prison, and to open up to different cultures of the world.'11 In collaboration with the ministry of culture, the Association publishes a Confrontation Series (Silsilat al-Muwidjaha)the goal of which is to confront terrorism, extremism and dogmatism. In the words of the minister of culture, 'We confront these negative phenomena with the values of enlightenment,' foremost of which is rationalism.12 In terms of publicity, the Association has organized a number of activities in the name of Tanwir. For example, the 1990 InternationalBook Fair was held under the motto 'A Hundred Years of Tanwir.' It has also inaugurateda TV programme (Hiwar al-Tanwir), presented in the late afternoon and rebroadcast at midnight. 'Islam and the Arts,' 'Has the Egyptian Woman Achieved her Aspirations,' 'Reform of Islamic Jurisprudence,' and 'The Relation between Philosophy and Religion' are some of the topics discussed by university professors and prominent writers.13 A play, Rihlat al-Tanwir (Enlightenment Journey) by Samir Sarhan and Muhammadal-'Inani, details the intellectual and political careers of some of the pioneers of enlightenment, stressing their championing of freedom of thought, use of reason, freedom of the press, openness to world thought and, in particular, their assertion that thinking is an Islamic obligation. The play startswith a group
10 al-Ahali, No. 637, December 22, 1993. 11 al-Ahram, 26, 1993. 12 May Wahba and Abousenna, Averroes and the Enlightenment,p. 21. 13 al-Ahram, March 18 and 21; April 4; and May 16, 2002.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT of students studying in a small village not far from Cairo. The method of instruction is memorization. When one student questions this method, citing Muhammad 'Abduh's call for the use of reason, he is dismissed from school. The student wonders out loud: 'What does enlightenment mean if not the liberation of women from men's oppression, liberation of the heritage from the myths embedded in it, liberation of government from the tyranny of the ruler, who does not consult and does not believe in consultation (shura)?' Narrator: 'These are different, disparate and many-sided tasks.' Student: 'But they all come together in one magic word, freedom.'14 The last part of the play focuses on Taha Husayn, the blind litterateur, his study at al-Azhar and in France, and his courage to introduce new methods of instruction.When he says: 'Nothing should be accepted without examinationand discussion, and everything is subject to the authorityof reason, because God has given us reason so that we think until we find the truth,' he is ridiculed by a village elder, while the chorus in the back of the stage chants: 'It is the human being's right to think independently, because thinking is an individual obli- gation.'15
What is Tanwir? The Arabic word 'tanwir' is a translation of enlightenment.Nur is light. It is used in the Qur'an numeroustimes in the sense of those who believe and follow God's rules are led from the depths of darkness into light. (Q. 2:257) In the present context, Tanwir has been used with many different understandingsand nuances, ranging from the equivalent of the EuropeanEnlightenment to 'Islamic Tanwir.' In his book Ma Hiya al-Nahda? (What is the Renaissance), Salama Musa understands enlightenment as the humanistic underpinnings of the Eu- ropean Enlightenment. He stresses that science has nothing to do with the supernatural.'We must depend on ourselves in realizing our happiness on this earth, and not renounce it in favor of a life to come. We will be deceiving the Egyptian youth if we tell them that the EuropeanRenaissance is anything else.'16 Jabir'Asfur defines the term as 'the belief in reason and not tradition,science not superstition,progress not underdevelopment,freedom to differ not consen- sus, government by consultation not oppression.' In short, tanwir means 'civil society and state.' For cAsfur, civil society is based on tolerance and the right of all citizens, irrespective of race, gender and religion, to participate in its political affairs. It is the members of society who know best their worldly affairs, and face their problems according to the requirementsof the age in which they live. 'In civil society there is no restriction on the right of ijtihad (independent thinking) or disagreement.'Tolerance marks the distinctionbetween civil society and theocracy. 'Asfur concludes that only tanwir, which upholds the values of reason, justice and freedom, can stand against the obscurantismand fanaticism of the advocates of a religious state.17 For Hasan Hanafi, a professor of philosophy at Cairo University, tanwir is 'a
14 Samir Sarhan and Muhammadal-'Inani, Rihlat al-Tanwir (Cairo, 1991), pp. 8-14. Ibid., 64. 1615 p. Salama Musa, Ma Hiya al-Nahda (Cairo, 1993), p. 15. 17 Jabir 'Asfur, Difa'an 'an al-Tanwir (Cairo, 1993), pp. 7-8.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR philosophical attitude,based on a number of concepts which together constitute one consistent world view. These concepts are: reason, nature, man, freedom, equality and progress.' Hanafi does not include God. 'Reason,' he adds, 'is opposed to authority and inherited traditions, thus paving the way for the individual to lay the foundation of a new epistemology, based on the laws of nature and on sensory experience and experimentation.'18It is obvious that Hanafi's definition of tanwir is in line with the postulates of the European Enlightenment. The secularists' avowal of Islam is promptednot only by the belief that it is amenable to reform, but also by the conviction that it is the most effective way to convince the believers that there is no conflict between reason and religion, and that to be enlightened and rational is being truly Islamic. Such arguments have not appealed to the Islamists who argue that 'Islamic tanwir,' is superior to that of the 'Westernized intellectuals.' Consequently, we now have Islamic tanwiri books, a large number of which were exhibited at the 2002 International Cairo Book Fair, ostensibly 'to correct the Westerners' misunderstandingof Islam'.19 According to Muhammad Zaqzuq, minister of religious endowments and president of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, the superiorityof 'Islamic tanwir' lies in the fact that it 'combines religion and reason, whereas the European Enlightenment upheld reason and ignored religion.' 'The tenets of Western Enlightenment,' he adds, 'threaten our Islamic identity and culture in this globalization age.' Advocates of the 'Islamic tanwir' stress Islam's respect for and exaltation of reason, but the religious light is necessary to complement the light of reason. 'Reason is the foundationand religion is the edifice.'20There are many verses in the Qur'an that encourage the use of reason, but we cannot make a religion out of rationality, argues Muhammad Julaynad. Reason's domain is the sensible world ('alam al-shahada) but not the supernatural('alam al-ghayb). 'Only by revelation and faith can we know something about the world beyond.'21
Ibn Rushd and Enlightenment Of all Muslim authorities summoned by the Tanwir Association in support of reason and liberalism, none has been given greatercoverage and importancethan the philosopher Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known to the West as Averroes. His philosophy is thought to be indispensable for the revival of Islamic intellectual civilization, and social and political development within the context of the twentieth and twenty-firstcenturies. Ibn Rushd, the great commen- tator on, and interpreterof, Aristotelian philosophy, is regardedby liberal-secu- lar Arab intellectuals, as well as by some Europeans, as one of the key figures in the development of the EuropeanEnlightenment. If the Rushdianphilosophy played such an importantrole in the West, it is only logical to assume that it
18 Wahba and Abousenna, Nadwat al-Tanwir, English 63; Arabic 42. 19 Summary, p. text, p. al-Ahram, 16, 2002. 20 January al-Ahram, Friday Supplement, 13, 10. 21 April 2001, p. MuhammadJulaynad, Minhaj al-Salafbayna al-'Aql wa al-Taqlid (Cairo, 1999), pp. 50-63; Cf. Qur'an 2:2; 151; 262.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT could do the same in the East.22Moreover, he is regardedas 'a precursorof the modem scientific outlook,' and a defender of the freedom of rational investiga- tion. Averroes' philosophy is beyond the scope of this paper. My main concern is to explore those aspects of his thought regardedby the Tanwiriyyunas necessary to combat Islamic fundamentalism and the contemporary Islamist discourse. 'The terror of fundamentalism,' writes Mona Abousenna, chairperson of the English Departmentat 'Ayn Shams University, 'cannot be met by arms or other forms of security, but by the power of reason, that is, philosophy.'23 This is not the first time that Averroes' philosophy is employed to generate religious, intellectual, political and social reform in Egypt and the Arab world. In 1903, Farah Antun (1861-1922), published his book Falsafat Ibn Rushd (The Philoso- phy of Ibn Rushd), in which he advocated the separation of temporal and spiritual authorities.Without that separation 'there will be no true civilization, tolerance, justice, friendship, science, philosophy or progress.' He was the first to use Ibn Rushd's teachings 'to promote the establishmentof a secular state and the Western scientific culture.' He thought that Ibn Rushd's philosophy 'is a strong endorsement for scientific thinking, which for Antun was the key to modem civilization.'24 A Christian Jmigre from Lebanon, Antun thought that only in a modem secular state would Christians have equal political and social rights with Muslims. He accepted Ernst Renan's contention that according to Ibn Rushd, philosophy is the 'hidden poison' (al-samm al-kamin) against religion, and that 'in Arabic philosophy as shown by Ibn Rushd, the Aristotelian tradition had eliminated Islam and put itself in its place.' When Ibn Rushd died, Renan wrote: 'Arab philosophy lost in him its last representative, and the triumph of the Qur'an over free thought was assured for at least six hundredyears.'25 Needless to say, Renan's views aroused strong condemnationof Antun's book by Muslims in general. It is no coincidence that Antun book was the first to be reprinted in the Tanwir series in 1993. The goal was to pioneer an enlightenment movement in the Arab world, based on the authorityof the great Muslim philosopher. There is a general agreement among the Tanwiriyyunof all shades that the absence of Ibn Rushd's philosophy from the Middle East is the 'obstacle facing the prevalence of reason from its culture.'26 Islamists have always regardedphilos- ophy as an enemy of religion, as they have been intent on 'smotheringthe seeds of secularism' in Ibn Rushd's thought, because if the seeds germinate 'they would emancipate reason, whose absence in the Muslim world is at the bottom of its backwardness,' That is why when Antun's book was first published, al-Manar magazine accused the author of blaspheming Islam and its 'ulama. It was Rashid Rida, the editor of the magazine, who urged Muhammad'Abduh to
22 For a polemic on Averroes' role in the European Enlightenment, see Charles E. Butterworth, 'Averroes, Precursorof the Enlightenment?'Alif 16 (1996), pp. 6-18. 23 Murad Wahba and Mona Abousenna (eds.) Averroes Today: Fundamentalismand Secularization in the Middle East, (Cairo: 2000), 11. 24 p. Hourani,Arabic Thought, pp. 253-259. 25 Ibid., p. 62; Stefan Wild in Wahba and Abousenna, eds. Averroes and Enlightenment, 157, 159. 26 pp. Wahba & Abousenna Averroes Today, pp. 84, 87.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR respond to Antun's contentions, charging him with atheism, as he later charged 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq for his views in al-Islam wa 'Usul al-Hukm.27 Dr. Murad Wahba, professor of philosophy at 'Ayn Shams University in Heliopolis, founder and honorary president of the Afro-Asian Philosophy As- sociation, and a pioneer of the Egyptian EnglightenmentMovement, was the first to call for an Arab enlightenment movement based on the philosophy of Ibn Rushd. In November 1979, he organized the First InternationalIslamic philoso- phy Conference with the title 'Islam and Civilization.' His main idea was that the problem of the developing countries was the absence of the 'rule of reason.' In his opinion, the EuropeanEnlightenment 'liberatedreason not only from the religious authorities,but also from any authorityexcept that of reason itself,' and that Ibn Rushd's philosophy 'helped breed the Enlightenment in the West, whereas it failed to do the same thing in the East.' That is what Wahba calls the 'Paradox of Averroes.'28 Wahba cites the case of EmperorFrederick II of Hohenstaufen(1215-1250), who ruled both Sicily and Germany,and who orderedthe translationof all of Ibn Rushd's works as a means to counteract the theocracy of the Catholic Church. The implication and the intention are that the dissemination of Ibn Rushd's philosophy will help stem the tide of Islamic fundamentalism.Wahba sees in Averroism the possibility of reaching the same conclusion in Islam that Europe had reached in Christianity,namely separationof church and state. If Averroism contributedto religious reform and enlightenmentin the West, it is likely that it may do the same in the Arab-Muslim world.29 Other writers have voiced similar views, in particular Dr. 'Atif al-'Iraqi, professor of Islamic philosophy at Cairo University, and a champion of Ibn Rushd's philosophy. He has devoted much of his academic careerto propagating Rushdian thought. He has, among other things, edited a volume on the Muslim philosopher, with contributionsby 18 prominent scholars. In it, as well as in other writings, he stresses Ibn Rushd's rationalism, his impact on European thought, and the need to rehabilitatehis philosophy in the Muslim world. In his dedication of the book 'To the Spirit of Ibn Rushd,' 'Iraqidescribes him with some extravagance as the 'doyen of rationalist philosophy in the Arab world, the pioneer of the enlightenment movement, the towering intellectual pyramid and the giant of Arabic philosophy.' The book is also dedicated to the pioneers of enlightenment in the contemporary Arab world. However, 'it is regrettable that the West has recognized the true value of [Ibn Rushd's] philosophy, whereas we, the Arabs, have failed to understand it accurately,' especially 'when irrational and mythical thought has spread all over.' 'Iraqi laments this 'retreatfrom reason, and the constraints on its domain.' At a time when the Islamist discourse calls for the rejection of Western civilization and its scientific achievements, the need for the Rushdian philosophy is more pressing than ever, he reiterates.30 "Iraqi is a believer in reason, and is fully convinced that "there is no enlightenment without reason." Crying over the tulul (abandoned encampments)
27 al-Ahali, No. 607, 26, 1993. 28 May al-Ahali, No. 581, November 25, 1992. 29 'Atif al-'Iraqi, (ed) Ibn Rushd Mufakkiran'Arabiyyan wa Ra'idan 32. 30 li-Ittijah al-'Aqli. (Cairo, 1993), p. Ibid., pp. 81, 165.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT and singing the praises of the heritage,' as the Islamists do, representbackward- ness and 'ascendanceto the abyss.' He describes the condition of the Arab world as one of 'disequilibriumand weightlessness,' a state of 'profoundapathy, while the world aroundus is moving fast.' He warns of a fate not unsimilar to that of the Red Indians or other ethnic groups that have become extinct. He calls for the adoptionof the methods of the advanced Western nations. In his judgment a dark outlook envelops the Arab-Muslim world today, superseding 'a somewhat enlightened outlook,' that prevailed until the middle of the twentieth century. Since that time, a kind of ridda has taken place. One finds regression in the sphere of individual freedom, and a tendency toward a kind of reactionary intellectual dictatorship.He blames the Nasser regime and the intellectuals who sang its praises for much of the present conditions in today's Egypt. 'A state without enlightened thought is a body without brains' he avers.31 'Iraqi's enlightened futuristicoutlook envisages taking from the heritage what will not interfere in the way of progress and prosperity. 'Why don't we open up to the West instead of rejecting everything Western?' he wonders. His goal is to dismantle the 'terrain of tradition,' and make reason, and reason alone, the foundation of the new structure.'There is no hope for our intellectual progress except by relying on reason ... The way of tradition leads to a dead end, to illusion and perdition,whereas renewal (tajdid) on the basis of reason is the way of progress.'32The Arab-Muslimworld is 'still spinning in the sphere of taqlid (tradition),' he affirms. The path of taqlid, unlike that of 'ijtihad, leads to irrationalityand darkness,whereas 'ijtihad leads to enlightenment.Decrying the dominance of the reactionaryIslamist thought, which he calls 'petro thought' [referenceto oil-producingcountries' supportof the Islamists], 'Iraqi says: 'Had we continued on the path of enlightenment, we would have been spared such lame and distortedopinions which betray mental retardation,and lead us to ages of darkness, decline and reaction.'33 'Iraqi does not reject the heritage, provided it is 'beneficial in our contempor- ary life.' However, he does not hesitate to discard any part of the heritage that is incompatible with enlightenment.What may have been good in another age may not be good now, he declares confidently. For example, the Caliphate, which is one of the most cherished institutions Islamists would want restored, is no longer in harmonywith the modem age. He ridicules those who consider the assimilation of Western ideas a 'cultural invasion,' that has to be resisted and fought, and those Islamists who attempt to derive scientific theories from Qur'anic verses.34
Why Ibn Rushd? Why have the Tanwiriyyunchosen Ibn Rushd as the antidote to the Islamic discourse?What is the basis of their conviction that Averroism, 'which has been instrumentalin generating the European Enlightenment' will generate a similar enlightenment in the Arab-Muslim world? Are they solely concemrnedwith
31 Ibid., pp. 7-10. 32 Ibid., pp. 11 and 22. 33 Ibid., pp. 28-29. 34 Cf. Zaghlul al-Najjar, 'Min Asrar al-Qur'an al-Karim wa Maghza Dalalatiha al-'llmiyya,' has been serialized in al-Ahram since the beginning of 2002.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR combating fundamentalism,or are they also convinced that Ibn Rushd's philos- ophy will help move the Arab-Muslim world into the 21st century? In addition to his influence especially over Europe, the great Muslim philoso- pher and jurist has more to commend him to a movement seeking to regenerate a liberal, secular, enlightened and progressive tradition in the Arab-Muslim world. As the great commentator on Aristotelianism, he stresses the use of reason and the scientific method, both regardedby the Tanwiriyyunas the key to reform in a society still shackled by traditionand mythology. Ibn Rushd is the only Muslim philosopher to dedicate a whole treatise to the connection between philosophy (science) and religion, which is the pressing issue in Arab-Muslim world in facing the challenge of the modem age. In his famous treatise, Fasl al-Maqal, as well as in his other writings, Ibn Rushd seeks to prove that there is no conflict between the shari'a and philosophy or science.35 In Fasl al-Maqal and the Paraphrase of Plato's Republic, he stresses the relevance of Greek thought to Muslim society. In the first treatise of the Paraphrase, he discusses the need of cities, including Muslim cities, for political science. This practical science and art he finds in Aristotle's Nico- machea and Politics, the latter 'has not yet fallen into our hands,' as well as in Plato's Republic. He uses the Qur'an to demonstratethat the study of philosophy is 'obligatory' according to the sharica. 'That the Law summons to reflection on beings, and the pursuit of knowledge about them by the intellect is clear from several verses of the Book of God ... such as His saying "Reflect, you have vision." '36 [Cf. Quran 59:2; 8:185; 6:75; 88:17-18; 3:191]. This study must be conducted by demonstrativereasoning (qiyas burhani), beginning with the study of logic, an instrument that must be learned from the ancient masters, the Greeks. After mastering logic, 'we must proceed to philosophy proper,' Ibn Rushd advises. He reiterates that the study of the 'books of the ancients' is obligatory by Law, 'since their aim and purpose in their books is just the purpose to which the Law has urged us, and that whoever forbids the study of them to anyone who is fit to study them ... is blocking people from the door by which the Law summons them to knowledge of God, the door of theoretical study which leads to the truest knowledge of Him.'37 It is this argumentthat the Tanwiriyyunhave capitalized on to underminethe Islamist attack on Western civilization as being a 'foreign invasion,' and anti-Islamic. They stress Ibn Rushd's call for openness to ideas from other nations and cultures. If such a step was advisable and valid in Ibn Rushd's days, why should it not be advisable and valid today? Why depict such an intellectual opening as a form of kufr as the Islamists do? The Tanwiriyyuninvoke Ibn Rushd's warning against any ideas, thought and theories that are not based on reason, in particularhis warning against the fallacies of the Ash'arite theologians (Mutakallimun) and the errors of al-Ghazali. He does not spare them his criticism on every occasion. In discussing Plato's programme of teaching children the right informationand values, Ibn Rushd criticizes the Ash'arites for
35 Although in his Paraphrase of Plato's Republic, he hints that the shari'a may be in need of 'supplement and correction.' 36 Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd, Fasl al-Maqal fi ma bayna al-Hikma w-al-Shari'a min al-Ittisal. Translatedinto English by George F. Hourani,Averroes on the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy. (London: Luzac & Co., 1961), pp. 44-45. Henceforth Fasl al-Maqal 37 Ibid., p. 48.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT saying 'God is the cause of good and evil.' 'This is a sophistic state, God is perfectly good; He neither does evil at any time whatever nor is the cause of it.'38 What is it in the thought and teachings of these theologians that the Tanwiriyyunconsider inconsistent with modem times, and inimical to progress and modernity? Abu al-Hasan 'Ali al-Ash'ari (873-935), founder of the Ash'arite school of theology, renouncedthe Mu'tazilite doctrines that the Qur'an is created, that the eyes of human beings will never see God in the afterlife, and that we are the authorsof our actions. Rejecting these tenets, he sought to recover the traditional doctrine by returningto the Holy Book and the teachings of the early Muslims. His main contention was that no purely rationalistictheology could be devised. Only reliance upon the word of God, the hadith and Sunna of the Prophet, and the way of life of the pious ancestors would guarantee a true theology. Faced with the question of the Qur'anic anthropomorphismof God's face, hands, feet, etc. [Cf. Q. 7:54; 20:5; 75:22] Ash'ari opined that they were to be taken without how and without drawing any comparison (bila kayfa wa la tashbih). Thus he sought to safeguard divine transcendence and the explicit affirmations of the Qur'an at the same time.39 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111) adhered to the central theses of Ash'arism. In his Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) he defends the dogma 'contre le rationalismeinsidieux et destructeurdes faldsifa.'40 It was al-Ghazali who established the hegemony of Ash'arite orthodoxy in the East. It was under the Saljuq rule that Ash'arism had a great boost, when the great vizier Nizam al-Mulk established the Nizamiyya Academy at Baghdad for the study of the orthodox system. It was in this Academy that al-Ghazalilectured for four years (1091-1095).41 In seeking to save the 'obvious sense' of the religious text against the Mu'tazilites and, later, against the philosophers, Ashcari asserted that the obli- gation to use reason is purely legal. In other words, reason 'is no more the source, but the instrument, of belief in God.' Accordingly, 'reasoning, as a human effort, generates no knowledge; it is simply an occasion after which knowledge is created by God.' God is the only Creator,He creates in the human being power and choice. Human actions are created by God and acquired by humanbeings. By means of the theory of kasb (acquisition), Ash'ari thought that he had resolved the question of human responsibility. Ash'arism rejects the Aristotelian theory of the eternity of the universe, and denies causality, since God's' free will is the cause of everything. By denying the law of causality, what Ignatz Goldziher calls 'cette source et cette boussole de toute science ra- tionnelle,' Ash'arism destroys the possibility of philosophy and science, as well as the law of nature.42 The ethical consequences of Ash'arism are as serious as its metaphysicalones.
38 Averroes on Plato's Republic. Translatedby Ralph Lerner. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1974), p. 20. 39 See Louis Gardet and Georges Anawati, Introduction a la Thdologie Musulmane: essai de thdologie comparee (Paris: 1948), 55 and 66. 40 pp. Ibid., p. 72. 41 Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (New York: 1951), 410-411, 431. 42 pp. Gadet and Anawati, op. cit., pp. 58-59. Also Majid Fakhry,History of Islamic Philosophy (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1983), p. 208.
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The constant interventionof God leads to the negation of human responsibility. The human being is no more the authorof his/her actions. 'In his Ibanah, Ash'ari describes the arbitrarypower of God in terms that leave hardly any scope for human initiative.'43Ibn Rushd attacks the theologians for using rhetorical and dialectical methods ratherthan the demonstrative,because 'wisdom can only be completed throughknowledge of the end of man ... And it is evident that we can only perceive the end of man throughthe theoretical sciences.'44By equating the philosopher with the 'bringer of the shari'a,' he implies that wisdom 'ought to be firmly established in the ruler of the city and rule over it.' Ibn Rushd bemoans the fact that Muslim societies fall far short of the ideal delineated in Plato's Republic. For example, when discussing the timocratic association [where 'love of violence and domination and that a man forever be lord, and not lorded over, and be served, not serve], he comments that this kind of government [was] frequently found among us [Muslims].'45He calls the associations of many of the Muslim kings 'entirely domestic, where propertyis designated for the sake of the household of the lords among them.' In such cities 'the multitude are plunderedby the mighty, and the mighty go so far in seizing their property that this occasionally leads them to tyranny,just as this comes about in this time of ours and in this city of ours.'46 IllustratingPlato's account of the transformationof the virtuous governance, Ibn Rushd cities the 'case of the governance of the Arabs in early times, for they used to imitate the virtuous governance. Then they were transformed into timocrats in the days of Mu'awiya. So seems to be the case in the governance now existing in these islands.' The reference is to the Almohad dynasty, under whose rule Ibn Rushd lived most of his life.47 He is strongly in support of freedom and is opposed to tyranny. Following Plato, he describes the tyrant as most unhappy, and the 'most enslaved of people.' Ibn Rushd's liberal position may also be demonstratedby his discussion of the position of women. He seems to go along with Plato's views that women 'would have the very same standing as men in those classes, so that there would be among them warriors, philosophers, rulers and the rest ... And we say that women, in so far as they are of one kind with men, necessarily share in the end of man. They differ only in less or more.'48Reflecting on the position of women in 'these [Muslim] cities,' he says that their competence is unknown, 'since they are only taken in them for procreationand hence are placed at the service of their husbands, and confined to procreation, upbringing and suckling. This nullifies their other activities. Since women in these cities are not preparedwith respect to any of the human virtues, they frequentlyresemble plants in these cities. Their being a burden upon the men in these cities is one of the causes of the poverty of these cities.'49 It must have become clear that Ibn Rushd's ideas, whether on methodology and emphasis on demonstrativeproof, or his attitude toward governance and his
43 Ibid., p. 207. Cf. Q. 16:40; 37:96. 44 Averroes on Plato's Republic, pp. 49-50. 45 Ibid., pp. 108-109. 46 Ibid., pp. 112-113. 47 Ibid., p. 121. 48 Ibid., p. 57. 49 Ibid.,p. 59.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT championing of the cause of women, would be attractive and relevant to a movement concerned with reform in the Arab-Muslim world. Of particular significance to the Enlightenment Movement is Ibn Rushd's methodology of allegorical interpretation(ta 'wil). He defines ta 'wil as follows: 'If the apparent meaning of Scripture conflicts with demonstrative conclusions it must be interpretedallegorically ... The meaning of 'allegorical interpretation'is: exten- sion of the significance of an expression from real to metaphoricalsignificance, without forsaking therein the standardmetaphorical practices of Arabic. So we affirm definitely that whenever the conclusion of a demonstrationis in conflict with the apparentmeaning of the Scripture, that apparentmeaning admits of allegorical interpretationaccording to the rules of such interpretationin Ara- bic.'50 By reintroducingphilosophy and rational thinking into Islamic culture, the Tanwiriyyunseek to ward off Islamic fundamentalism,and the orthodox legacy of Ash'ari and Ghazali. They also want to open up to Western knowledge and scientific techniques, and to usher the Arab-Muslim world into the twenty-first century. They are fully aware that the existing political regimes have become anachronisticand out of touch with reality. They want better education for Arab children, more freedom of opinion and expression, more equality and rights for all citizens irrespective of gender, race and colour. In order to make Ibn Rushd's philosophy acceptable in a conservative Muslim society, the advocates of enlightenment have often stressed its Islamic dimen- sion. They often cite his statement that religious and philosophical truths are identical, in order to whitewash philosophy in a hostile environment. However, Dr. Zaynab Khudayri,a professor of philosophy, submits that by using ta'wil Ibn Rushd 'has placed Aristotle above the religious text.' Conversely, Hamid Tahir, a well-known writer, argues that Ibn Rushd has established a link between rational demonstrationand shar'i rules, and demonstratedthat the shari'a is a rational law.51However, there is unanimity among secularists and liberals that Averroism will serve as an antidote to fanaticism, extremism and the obscuran- tism of the Islamic discourse, and a remedy against the 'traffickers in the shari'a,' the religious propagandists. Advocacy of Ibn Rushd's ideas has spread beyond the Egyptian frontiers. An independentArab organization, 'Ibn Rushd's Institute for Free Thought,' regis- tered in Germany, gives annual prizes to those who promote freedom, democ- racy, social justice, science and human rights in Arab societies. Its first prize went to al-JazeeraTV Channel on December 10, 1999, in recognition of its role in opening its channels for a free and democraticdialogue. The second prize was given to Mrs. 'Issam 'Abd al-Hadi, presidentof the General Union of Palestinian Women, and an activist in the movement for the emancipationof Arab women, and for their rights in equality and justice. An Egyptian intellectual, and a founding member of the Enlightenment Association, Mahmud Amin al-'Alim, was the recipient of the third prize, and 'Azmi Bishara, a member of the Israeli Knesset and defender of Palestinian rights, the fourth prize.52
50 Fasl al-Maqal, pp. 50-51. Murad Wahba (ed.) Ibn Rushd. (Cairo: 1995), 59-60. 5251 Hiwdr hawla pp. al-Ahram, December 13, 2001, May 15, 2002, and January 12, 2003; al-Ahali, October 23, 2002. The Institute bestows these prizes in early December to coincide with the anniversary of Ibn Rushd's death (December 9th), and the anniversaryif the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10th). The
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Critics of Enlightenment Like most Muslims, Egyptians are strongly attachedto Islam and its Law. They have always been suspicious of any reform that may lead to changes in their religious beliefs and practices. The Egyptian Constitution proclaims Islam the official religion of the state and the principles of the shari'a the primary source of legislation. Moreover, Egypt is the home of al-Azhar, the supreme Islamic institution, which has often resisted change. Mosques and Islamic academies are much more influential than universities and other institutions of learning. No wonder then that the contemporaryenlightenment movement has more enemies than supporters. Consequently, the Tanwiriyyun are often accused of being misguided in their 'enchantment' with the Western notion of enlightenment. Conservative writers and religious scholars have wielded their knowledge of Islamic law and literatureto attack and 'refute' the ideas and argumentsof the adherents of Tanwir, and Mosque preachers use the khutba [Friday sermon] to discredit them in the eyes of the masses. Opponents of the Tanwirmovement reject secularism and separationbetween religion and state, and view its adherentsas the vanguardof a Western 'cultural invasion.' Muhammad'Imdra, a noted Islamic scholar, and a prolific writer on Islamic subjects, has accused the Tanwiriyyunof adopting the philosophy of the 'atheist-positivist Western Enlightenment,' and of having confused the secular enlightenment of the West with the 'Islamic reforms' of Tahtawi, Afghani and 'Abduh. He maintains that none of these three reformershas gone as far as to advocate the separation of religion and state. He chides Murad Wahba for saying: 'There is no sovereignty above reason except that of reason,' and Jabir 'Asfur for saying: 'Empiricism is the twin (qarin) of reason ['aql], and reason is opposed to tradition [naql],' adding cynically: 'We are faced with the deification of reason, which was worshipped during the French Revolution instead of God and religion.'53 Muhammad Julaynad, another writer on Islamic subjects and a professor of Islamic philosophy at Dar al-'Ulum of Cairo University, alleges that the three terms, 'secularism,' 'enlightenment,' and 'progress,' that the Tanwiriyyunenter- tain and disseminate, are attractive concepts in which truth and falsehood are intermingled.To reject them is also to reject what is true in them; to accept them is to accept what is false in them. He warns against their 'distortions and falsifications.' His main charge is that Egyptian advocates of enlightenmenthave accepted the 'cultural pollutants' associated with Western Enlightenment, pri- marily the rejection of religion and the belief in the supernaturalas superstitious. Enlightenmentin the West developed out of the conflict between the Church and science, he argues. Opposition to the Churchwas transformedinto opposition to religion. People have mistakenly rejected religion as being opposed to science and reason. He says the Tanwiriyyunin the Arab world fail to realize that Islam is not a Church, and that it is not opposed to science and reason. They portray the battle as if it were a struggle between Islam and science, religion and reason, the heritage and the future. 'This polarity between religion and science has been Footnote continued Chairmanof the Board of Directors of the Instituteis Professor Nabil Bushnaq,a Germanof Palestinianorigin. The Institute seeks nominationsfor future prizes, and has listed an e-mail address [[email protected]]for this purpose. Muhammad 'Imara, al-Islam bayna al-Tanwir wa al-Tazwir (Cairo: 1995), pp. 13-14, 105, 107, 186.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT the hallmarkof the TanwirMovement in our country.' He concludes that the war against Islam and its clergy will, as in the West, lead to atheism, dissolution of morals, and surrenderto materialism.54 Chargedwith being 'poisoned' by Western thought, and influenced by Freud, Marx and Nietzche, the Tanwiriyyun have 'abolished our history and our morality.'55For 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Tuwayjiri, Director General of the Islamic Organizationfor Education, Culture and the Sciences, Tanwir is 'a right word used for the wrong reason, because it is misleading public opinion, confounding sound thinking and creating an intellectual and cultural confusion.' He argues that enlightenment is a European concept based on separation of religion and life; it does not apply to Islam. He claims that the term does not appear in the Qur'an, but its verbal noun, nur (light) appears 43 times. The Islamic under- standing of Tanwir is based on the principle of faith and science ('ilm). 'It is enlightenmentof the mind and the heart. Enlightenmentof the heart comes about by faith, and it is more important than that of the mind.' He concludes by asserting that 'there is no enlightenment, no progress and no true renaissance except throughIslam.'56 The abundantanti-Tanwir literature by Islamists under- scores the obstacles facing the contemporaryenlightenment movement not only in Egypt, but also in the Arab-Muslim world as a whole. The Tanwir movement has also faced criticism from those who espouse its basic principles. Hasan Hanafi, a prominent supporter of the Movement, has been critical of its method of turning 'reason into a da'wa [religious propa- ganda], and rationalism into rhetoric, without a clear definition of reason.' He objects to using Ibn Rushd for solving contemporaryproblems, 'because it will belittle his philosophical value.'57 He makes the distinction between treatingthe philosopherof Cordoba as a contemporary,namely re-readinghim while we are concerned about contemporaryissues, and delivering 'orations' about him and his rationalism.This is not beneficial, he asserts. On the contrary, all it does is to increase in us the tendency toward oratory and verbosity, which is contrary to rationalism.There is a difference between using Ibn Rushd as a contemporary modernist (mu'asiran) and using him against political enemies, the Islamists. Hanaff considers the state to be as extremist as the Islamists, 'should we not use Ibn Rushd's philosophy against all irrationaltrends in Egyptian society, includ- ing trends inside and outside of the state system?' he pointedly asks.58 Putting the case more succinctly, Alfred Ivry agrees that to adopt Averroes 'for contemporaryliberal purposes is ... problematic, and threatensto distort his life and work. Are we to create myths and invent the past for political purposes?', he wonders. 'It is, however, shortsightedto believe that the scholar or philosopherwill maintaincredibility and influence once he or she is perceived to be a propagandistfor a particularpolitical view. The philosopher particularly must remain, like Socrates, the gadfly of society, questioning and challenging accepted truths ... Our Muslim philosophers did not become spokesmen for
54 MuhammadJulaynad, Falsafat al-Tanwir (Cairo: 1999), pp. 7-9, 15-17, 28-29. 55 MuhammadJalal Kishk, Jahalat 'Asr al-Tanwir (Cairo: 1990), pp. 30, 36, 40. 56 From an interview in al-Ahram, December 14, 2001. 57 Hiwar, pp. 104, 181. 58 Ibid., p. 184.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FAUZI M. NAJJAR particularregimes. We should not turn them into such today, or become such ourselves,' he wisely counsels.59
Conclusion Laudable and necessary as the activities of the EnlightenmentMovement may be, there is sufficient evidence that their impact on Egyptian society has been negligible. Most of its activities have been limited to a small group of intellectuals, who exchange philosophical, cultural and political ideas, and publish books and articles accessible only to a limited number of individuals. Such discussions are way above the reach of the ordinary citizen. Most Egyptians, as well as most Arabs and Muslims, are either illiterate or too poor and too busy with the problems of daily living to be more than oblivious and indifferent to intellectual endeavours. Most of them depend on their religious leaders and-mosque preachersfor guidance; the intellectual elite are too remote, and too arrogant,to have any appeal for them. Economic, social and educational disparities have created a chasm between classes, sharp enough to preclude any meaningful communication, not to say dialogue. Moreover, Egyptian authoritieshave been suspicious of, even hostile to, some of the activities and ideas of the advocates of enlightenment. Disseminating liberal ideas such as freedom, democracy and equality is frowned upon by a governmentnot especially tolerant of criticism and opposition. For example, the Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs has recently refused, without giving any reasons, to license the Society of Egyptian Intellectuals, whose goal is to unify the intellectuals, promote enlightenment and safeguard freedom of thought and expression.60 Under pressure from the intellectuals, and from the United States following the occupation of Iraq, most Arab regimes 'have made gestures of a sort [toward reform], but they don't add up to much as yet,' as The Economist put it.61In order to pre-empt American pressure, the Egyptian National Assembly on June 15 and 16 unanimously approved a bill establishing the National Council for Human Rights [NCHR], with the aim of 'deepening the culture of human rights in Egypt.' Hailed as a 'bold initiative,' and as a 'partand parcel of the modem state,' the Council falls short of the expectations of the advocates of enlightenment. Expressing scepticism, critics point out that the law 'is silent on torture in prisons and police stations, Egypt's leading human rights violation.' They point out that while the bill was being debated, Egyptian authorities 'rejected the registrations of two rights groups, the Land Center for Human Rights, which defends peasants rights, and the New Woman Research Center,which focuses on women's issues.' Moreover, the law 'empowers the prosecution to detain suspects for up to 60 days and grants it investigative powers in addition to its existing prerogative of preparing cases against suspects.'62Expressing similar scepticism, The Daily Star of Lebanon foresees that neither the Egyptian NCHR
59 Wahba and Abousenna Averroes and the 122-124. 60 Enlightenment,pp. al-Ahali, January24, 2002. 61 The Economist, July 19, 2003, 35. 62 p. The Cairo Times, vol. 7, Issue 16, 19-25 June 2003; The New York Times, June 17, 2003.
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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:05:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EGYPTIAN ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT nor similar councils established in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Jordan, will 'spur a significant improvement in human rights conditions.'63 Despite these developments, it would be unfair to dismiss the Enlightenment Movement as being totally ineffective. Against great odds, it has persevered in propagating its mission. Some of its ideas and teachings, in books, articles, lectures and TV programmes,are bound to percolate down to ordinarycitizens. In addition, it has prompted a number of Islamic organizations and religious writers to call for 'religious reform,' albeit defensively. In most cases, they seek to defend Islam against the currentcriticisms from the West. But they have made it clear that the 'renewal of Islamic thought' should in no way infringe upon 'the fixed forms of the dogma, acts of worship and the definitive rules of the Qur'an and the Sunna.'64 However, an irreversiblemovement for religious and political reform has been generated. Early in July 2003, the Egyptian Supreme Council for Culture, with the help of the Tanwir Association, sponsored a conference of more than a hundred Arab intellectuals to discuss the 'renewal of the cultural discourse.' Under the title 'Towards a New Arab Cultural Discourse: from Present Chal- lenges to Future Horizons,' tens of papers were presented, focusing on a discourse 'in harmony with reason, and in agreement with logic, and which is responsive to the needs of the existing reality.' Other topics were 'freedom of expression,' 'the relationshipbetween the state and religion,' and 'the pressing need for change,' etc. The central question facing such discussions is, in the words of Ahmad 'Abd al-Mu'ti Hijazi, former president of the Enlightenment Association, 'to get out of the ages of decline without rejecting all of our history, and to enter modern culture without melting into others or becoming alienated from ourselves.' Hijazi adds: 'We want to preserve the living roots and active elements in our national heritage, because they are the constituents of our personality, and the prerequisiteof our independence and freedom, just as we want to adopt what is human in Western civilization'.65 Whatever will come out of this conference, the pressure for reform is on, and Arab Muslim governments can no longer ignore what the Tanwir Association calls for-freedom, democracy and human rights-if they hope to be a part of the twenty-firstcentury. The alternativeis that they will be left behind, and have a lot of catching up to do.
63 The Daily Star, July 22, 2003. 64 al-Ahram, June 4, 2001. 65 Ibid., July 16, 2003.
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