'Freedom of expression not unknown to Islam'
Koh Jun LinPublished: Jan 19, 2014 4:56 AM | Updated: Jan 19, 2014 5:08 AM
While political Islam today is characterised by state power and control of individual’s private lives, Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) chairperson Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa argued that Muslims had aspired for freedom during Islam’s Golden Age.
While political Islam today is characterised by state power and control of individual’s private lives, Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) chairperson Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa argued that Muslims had aspired for freedom during Islam’s Golden Age.
He said the Mu’tazillah school of thought which was dominant at the time believed that humans have free will, so they can be held accountable to be punished or rewarded in the afterlife for their free choices made in life.
“This commitment to human autonomy and God’s supreme transcendence also led them to conclude that the Quran was created, otherwise it would be elevated almost to the level of a second deity.
“This led to an important conclusion, in that a ‘created’ al-Quran can be interpreted, whereas an ‘uncreated’ al-Quran can only be applied. That is the problem we are facing today,” he said at a book launch yesterday.
Ahmad Farouk (left) added that the Mu'tazilites - from their base in Baghdad and with influence extending from Spain to the Malay Archipelago - had worked with non-Muslims to gather and translate all knowledge available into Arabic.
It was also during this time when significant advances were made in mathematics, astronomy, medicine and agriculture, such as the development of algebra.
Hence, he argued, concepts such as freedom of expression, of conscience, and to read whatever they liked, was not unknown to classical Islam.
'Genuine inquiry and world exploration'
“This is not of course, to paint a perfect and rosy picture of the past, but it does suggest that the notion of Muslim progress cannot be defined in terms of state power, or the control of the life of others like what we are doing right now, but genuine inquiry, discovery of knowledge, and exploration of the world.
“All this of course is in stark contrast to the reality today, where conformity - often by coercion - has become the norm in Muslim societies, especially in this country,” he said.
Ahmad Farouk said Muslims today tend to take a “literalist” and “reductionist” approach to religion, and fail to make a clear distinction between principles in Islam and its application.
He said they idealised the first few hundred years of Islamic history instead of using their “Allah-given reason” to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
As an example, although modesty is prescribed to Muslims, literalists deemed the only acceptable way is to imitate the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, and made it into law.
“To confuse principles and historical models is simplistic. Idealising something in a moment of history reduces the universality of Islamic principles to a dream of an impossible return to the past and an irresponsible nostalgia of origins.
“If you look at the Golden Age, it was not a period of nostalgia that saw centuries of science, art, and discovery flourish. Indeed the freedom to think, express, and raise original ideas defined the many Muslim civilisations that prospered across the Islamic world,” he said.
Ahmad Farouk was speaking at the launch of his book ‘Wacana Pemikiran Reformis (The Discourse of Reformist Thought)’ and National University of Singapore visiting fellow Azhar Ibrahim’s book ‘Contemporary Islamic Discourse in the Malay-Indonesian World’.
He said the Mu’tazillah school of thought which was dominant at the time believed that humans have free will, so they can be held accountable to be punished or rewarded in the afterlife for their free choices made in life.
“This commitment to human autonomy and God’s supreme transcendence also led them to conclude that the Quran was created, otherwise it would be elevated almost to the level of a second deity.“This led to an important conclusion, in that a ‘created’ al-Quran can be interpreted, whereas an ‘uncreated’ al-Quran can only be applied. That is the problem we are facing today,” he said at a book launch yesterday.
Ahmad Farouk (left) added that the Mu'tazilites - from their base in Baghdad and with influence extending from Spain to the Malay Archipelago - had worked with non-Muslims to gather and translate all knowledge available into Arabic.
It was also during this time when significant advances were made in mathematics, astronomy, medicine and agriculture, such as the development of algebra.
Hence, he argued, concepts such as freedom of expression, of conscience, and to read whatever they liked, was not unknown to classical Islam.
'Genuine inquiry and world exploration'
“This is not of course, to paint a perfect and rosy picture of the past, but it does suggest that the notion of Muslim progress cannot be defined in terms of state power, or the control of the life of others like what we are doing right now, but genuine inquiry, discovery of knowledge, and exploration of the world.
“All this of course is in stark contrast to the reality today, where conformity - often by coercion - has become the norm in Muslim societies, especially in this country,” he said.
Ahmad Farouk said Muslims today tend to take a “literalist” and “reductionist” approach to religion, and fail to make a clear distinction between principles in Islam and its application.
He said they idealised the first few hundred years of Islamic history instead of using their “Allah-given reason” to meet the challenges of the 21st century.As an example, although modesty is prescribed to Muslims, literalists deemed the only acceptable way is to imitate the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, and made it into law.
“To confuse principles and historical models is simplistic. Idealising something in a moment of history reduces the universality of Islamic principles to a dream of an impossible return to the past and an irresponsible nostalgia of origins.
“If you look at the Golden Age, it was not a period of nostalgia that saw centuries of science, art, and discovery flourish. Indeed the freedom to think, express, and raise original ideas defined the many Muslim civilisations that prospered across the Islamic world,” he said.
Ahmad Farouk was speaking at the launch of his book ‘Wacana Pemikiran Reformis (The Discourse of Reformist Thought)’ and National University of Singapore visiting fellow Azhar Ibrahim’s book ‘Contemporary Islamic Discourse in the Malay-Indonesian World’.
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