Islam Hadhari vs Islam Madani
Phar Kim BengPublished: Sep 8, 2004 4:53 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
All Muslims, as if by reflex, dispute any suggestion of more than one Islam.
Years ago, when Clifford Geetz, an American anthropologist at Princeton University, spoke of two Islams - with one being the stricter variety practised in the Maghreb, as opposed to the less literal one in Java, Indonesia - his scholarship was deemed a form of Orientalism, meant to split the Muslim community in two.
Thus, talk of multiple Islams is as much a taboo, as it is an offence to the religious sensibilities of Muslims. Why?
The strong reaction is mainly due to the status of the Quran, in the eyes of Muslims, as the final revelation, in which Prophet Muhammad, following a chain of prophets beginning from the days of Adam, is considered the Seal of all Prophets.
In other words, Prophet Muhammad is the Last Messenger of God, bearing His glad tidings and warnings to uphold a just social order. Muslims who are guided by this twin concept of divine certitude and prophetic closure, therefore, chafe at any notion of more than one Islam.
All Muslims, as if by reflex, dispute any suggestion of more than one Islam.
Years ago, when Clifford Geetz, an American anthropologist at Princeton University, spoke of two Islams - with one being the stricter variety practised in the Maghreb, as opposed to the less literal one in Java, Indonesia - his scholarship was deemed a form of Orientalism, meant to split the Muslim community in two.
Thus, talk of multiple Islams is as much a taboo, as it is an offence to the religious sensibilities of Muslims. Why?
The strong reaction is mainly due to the status of the Quran, in the eyes of Muslims, as the final revelation, in which Prophet Muhammad, following a chain of prophets beginning from the days of Adam, is considered the Seal of all Prophets.
In other words, Prophet Muhammad is the Last Messenger of God, bearing His glad tidings and warnings to uphold a just social order. Muslims who are guided by this twin concept of divine certitude and prophetic closure, therefore, chafe at any notion of more than one Islam.
Reality, of course, does not always follow the revealed script in an immutable manner, despite the finality that has been attached to it. For centuries, various doctrinal expressions of Islam have existed, of which Sunnism and Shi'ism predominate.
In a recorded Hadith (Traditions of the Prophet), Prophet Muhammad himself warned that there would come a day where "there would be more than 72 versions of Islam".
Mindful of this fissure, Muslims have generally relied on the canons of classical Islamic scholarship to guide their faith. Religious knowledge has therefore been a premium.
Interpreting Islam correctly, indeed positioning Islam in the right context, for the most appropriate interpretation, has been both a religious responsibility and an intellectual challenge.
The exercise is also encouraged by the Prophet Muhammad, who, prior to his demise, once affirmed that the Muslim community will not agree to errors.
Similarities, differences
In Malaysia, it is to the credit of the country's moderate political culture that there will soon be two versions of Islamic interpretation, both reasonable and moderate, which seek to best project the essence of reformist Islam, against Malaysia's multi-cultural backdrop.
Although the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has staked a claim on promoting Islam Hadhari (progressive Islam), this concept will now be keenly contested by Anwar Ibrahim's Islam Madani (modern Islam). How will the battle-lines be drawn ?
While the personality of both individuals are diametrically opposed, with the former being gentle and soft, where the latter is strong and combative, what will truly animate the future debate between Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani will be their doctrinal emphasis on the role of the individual and government.
Not unlike PAS' attempt to insist that Malaysia must first have an Islamic law, manifesting first and foremost in the introduction of an Islamic penal code, before it can become an Islamic state; the debate of Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani will be intensely focused on Islamic tenets, especially what they say about human rights.
To understand how the two will seek to win the hearts and minds of Muslim and non-Muslim Malaysians, one must begin a cursory comparison of the two platforms. For what it is worth, such an exercise will yield some similarities and differences.
Due to their emphasis on uplifting the standards of governance, both Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani would obviously converge on restoring the integrity of the respective political institutions that define the hallmark of good government. This much is certain.
Thus, reform of the bureaucracy, executive, judiciary and police authorities would figure very highly on the agenda of both sides. It is here that Islam Madani and Islam Hadhari would cancel each other out, as both have a reformist impulse and outlook.
What makes them differ, however, is the extent to which an individual or non-governmental organisation (NGO) should be privileged with the right and responsibility to effect those systemic changes or institutional improvement.
Indeed, how large a space should the individuals and civil society be given to attempt reform ?
In the months to come, when he is recovered from back surgery, Anwar will answer to the effect that such space must not be curtailed, in order to make all levels of government more accountable.
Hence, Anwar will press on with his agenda to make Malaysian citizens an important agency of change. Reforms, in other words, need not necessarily be government led, but inspired by the initiatives of the end users themselves, who are the citizens.
Islam Hadhari
Anwar has already affirmed that the government's concept of Islam Hadhari is ridden with inconsistencies, since the original user Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406 A.D.) used Islam Hadhari to describe how nomadic societies moved in a law-like manner from their tribal and primitive origins to a progressive civilization.
According to Ibn Khaldun, how this progressive movement begins is primarily due to how social organisms improve themselves. Hardened by their lives in the desert, the nomads would develop the cohesion to survive even harsher environments.
Those living in the urban centres, where luxuries and abundance predominate, would in turn become hollow in all spheres of their lives, making them vulnerable to the forces of corruption. This would lead to their secular decline.
It would then be up to the marauding nomads to conquer the urban dwellers, which in turn create a new cycle of civilisation based on renewed vitality, before the law of decay sets in again.
Nevertheless, these laws operate en masse and cannot be significantly influenced by isolated individuals. Indeed, there is very little talk of great men in Ibn Khaldun's books.
Although, individuals do effect the course of events, their influence is very limited. Based on this reading, Anwar asserted in an interview with malaysiakini that Islam Hadhari is conceptually flawed.
Islam Madani
By dint of this argument too, Anwar maintains, albeit by default, that Islam Madani is different from Islam Hadhari.
To begin with, Anwar's concept of Islam Madani believes that individuals and civil society must be empowered with the necessary freedoms, before meaningful reforms can take place; nor can the draconian ISA exist as the perpetual counterfoil to the individual's right to reform a society.
In an interview with Thomas Fuller of the International Herald Tribune in Munich, Germany, Anwar stated: "What is this ridiculous excuse that people are not prepared ? That it will result in civil strife or whatever?"
Clearly, Anwar believes in the power of the rational and thinking individuals; as did Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), a Muslim scholar whom Anwar has always embraced as an intellectual hero, due to his liberal leanings, Islamic conviction and nationalistic fervor.
In contrast, Islam Hadhari may not be willing to take things further, or lower, down to the level of the individuals yet; although one must hasten to add that the government is not lacking in conviction to change.
What Abdullah invariably prefers, in his own cautious manner, is to convene the necessary commissions first, whenever an urgent public issue emerges; as manifested in the creation of the Royal Police Commission, for instance, to look into all sources of abuses and dereliction of duty.
As such, one could argue that the difference between Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani is one of style, not necessarily substance.
Nevertheless, since Anwar has come to believe that the current form of Islam Hadhari is not based on a faithful reading of Ibn Khaldun's scholarship, he has begun to subject it to severe scrutiny.
Anwar's previous run-in with the government, when his rights were literally ignored and led to his jail term, has also provided him with the incentive and missionary zeal to argue that a consistent reform agenda needs to be based on the guarantee of individual rights, which Islam Madani fully embraces.
In due course, what Abdullah's government will counter, is that Islam Hadhari is more appropriate to the tenor and style of the Malaysian character, where all reforms are best pursued in the confines of expert commissions.
Taken in total, these are two Islamic alternatives, struggling for the hearts and minds of the Muslim electorate. To be sure, PAS provides a third, which is to enshrine Islam as the highest authority in the Malaysian constitution.
But PAS has since suffered heavily for its hyper-conservative and extreme approach. Thus, the Islamic discourse in the near future will be staged between Islam Madani and Islam Hadhari, with the focus on the extent to which individuals ought to be regarded as an agency of change.
Years ago, when Clifford Geetz, an American anthropologist at Princeton University, spoke of two Islams - with one being the stricter variety practised in the Maghreb, as opposed to the less literal one in Java, Indonesia - his scholarship was deemed a form of Orientalism, meant to split the Muslim community in two.
Thus, talk of multiple Islams is as much a taboo, as it is an offence to the religious sensibilities of Muslims. Why?
The strong reaction is mainly due to the status of the Quran, in the eyes of Muslims, as the final revelation, in which Prophet Muhammad, following a chain of prophets beginning from the days of Adam, is considered the Seal of all Prophets.
In other words, Prophet Muhammad is the Last Messenger of God, bearing His glad tidings and warnings to uphold a just social order. Muslims who are guided by this twin concept of divine certitude and prophetic closure, therefore, chafe at any notion of more than one Islam.
Reality, of course, does not always follow the revealed script in an immutable manner, despite the finality that has been attached to it. For centuries, various doctrinal expressions of Islam have existed, of which Sunnism and Shi'ism predominate.
In a recorded Hadith (Traditions of the Prophet), Prophet Muhammad himself warned that there would come a day where "there would be more than 72 versions of Islam".
Mindful of this fissure, Muslims have generally relied on the canons of classical Islamic scholarship to guide their faith. Religious knowledge has therefore been a premium. Interpreting Islam correctly, indeed positioning Islam in the right context, for the most appropriate interpretation, has been both a religious responsibility and an intellectual challenge.
The exercise is also encouraged by the Prophet Muhammad, who, prior to his demise, once affirmed that the Muslim community will not agree to errors.
Similarities, differences
In Malaysia, it is to the credit of the country's moderate political culture that there will soon be two versions of Islamic interpretation, both reasonable and moderate, which seek to best project the essence of reformist Islam, against Malaysia's multi-cultural backdrop.
Although the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has staked a claim on promoting Islam Hadhari (progressive Islam), this concept will now be keenly contested by Anwar Ibrahim's Islam Madani (modern Islam). How will the battle-lines be drawn ? While the personality of both individuals are diametrically opposed, with the former being gentle and soft, where the latter is strong and combative, what will truly animate the future debate between Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani will be their doctrinal emphasis on the role of the individual and government.
Not unlike PAS' attempt to insist that Malaysia must first have an Islamic law, manifesting first and foremost in the introduction of an Islamic penal code, before it can become an Islamic state; the debate of Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani will be intensely focused on Islamic tenets, especially what they say about human rights.
To understand how the two will seek to win the hearts and minds of Muslim and non-Muslim Malaysians, one must begin a cursory comparison of the two platforms. For what it is worth, such an exercise will yield some similarities and differences.
Due to their emphasis on uplifting the standards of governance, both Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani would obviously converge on restoring the integrity of the respective political institutions that define the hallmark of good government. This much is certain.
Thus, reform of the bureaucracy, executive, judiciary and police authorities would figure very highly on the agenda of both sides. It is here that Islam Madani and Islam Hadhari would cancel each other out, as both have a reformist impulse and outlook.
What makes them differ, however, is the extent to which an individual or non-governmental organisation (NGO) should be privileged with the right and responsibility to effect those systemic changes or institutional improvement.
Indeed, how large a space should the individuals and civil society be given to attempt reform ?
In the months to come, when he is recovered from back surgery, Anwar will answer to the effect that such space must not be curtailed, in order to make all levels of government more accountable.
Hence, Anwar will press on with his agenda to make Malaysian citizens an important agency of change. Reforms, in other words, need not necessarily be government led, but inspired by the initiatives of the end users themselves, who are the citizens.
Islam Hadhari
Anwar has already affirmed that the government's concept of Islam Hadhari is ridden with inconsistencies, since the original user Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406 A.D.) used Islam Hadhari to describe how nomadic societies moved in a law-like manner from their tribal and primitive origins to a progressive civilization.
According to Ibn Khaldun, how this progressive movement begins is primarily due to how social organisms improve themselves. Hardened by their lives in the desert, the nomads would develop the cohesion to survive even harsher environments.
Those living in the urban centres, where luxuries and abundance predominate, would in turn become hollow in all spheres of their lives, making them vulnerable to the forces of corruption. This would lead to their secular decline.
It would then be up to the marauding nomads to conquer the urban dwellers, which in turn create a new cycle of civilisation based on renewed vitality, before the law of decay sets in again.
Nevertheless, these laws operate en masse and cannot be significantly influenced by isolated individuals. Indeed, there is very little talk of great men in Ibn Khaldun's books.
Although, individuals do effect the course of events, their influence is very limited. Based on this reading, Anwar asserted in an interview with malaysiakini that Islam Hadhari is conceptually flawed.
Islam Madani
By dint of this argument too, Anwar maintains, albeit by default, that Islam Madani is different from Islam Hadhari.
To begin with, Anwar's concept of Islam Madani believes that individuals and civil society must be empowered with the necessary freedoms, before meaningful reforms can take place; nor can the draconian ISA exist as the perpetual counterfoil to the individual's right to reform a society.
In an interview with Thomas Fuller of the International Herald Tribune in Munich, Germany, Anwar stated: "What is this ridiculous excuse that people are not prepared ? That it will result in civil strife or whatever?"
Clearly, Anwar believes in the power of the rational and thinking individuals; as did Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), a Muslim scholar whom Anwar has always embraced as an intellectual hero, due to his liberal leanings, Islamic conviction and nationalistic fervor. In contrast, Islam Hadhari may not be willing to take things further, or lower, down to the level of the individuals yet; although one must hasten to add that the government is not lacking in conviction to change.
What Abdullah invariably prefers, in his own cautious manner, is to convene the necessary commissions first, whenever an urgent public issue emerges; as manifested in the creation of the Royal Police Commission, for instance, to look into all sources of abuses and dereliction of duty.
As such, one could argue that the difference between Islam Hadhari and Islam Madani is one of style, not necessarily substance.
Nevertheless, since Anwar has come to believe that the current form of Islam Hadhari is not based on a faithful reading of Ibn Khaldun's scholarship, he has begun to subject it to severe scrutiny.
Anwar's previous run-in with the government, when his rights were literally ignored and led to his jail term, has also provided him with the incentive and missionary zeal to argue that a consistent reform agenda needs to be based on the guarantee of individual rights, which Islam Madani fully embraces.
In due course, what Abdullah's government will counter, is that Islam Hadhari is more appropriate to the tenor and style of the Malaysian character, where all reforms are best pursued in the confines of expert commissions.
Taken in total, these are two Islamic alternatives, struggling for the hearts and minds of the Muslim electorate. To be sure, PAS provides a third, which is to enshrine Islam as the highest authority in the Malaysian constitution. But PAS has since suffered heavily for its hyper-conservative and extreme approach. Thus, the Islamic discourse in the near future will be staged between Islam Madani and Islam Hadhari, with the focus on the extent to which individuals ought to be regarded as an agency of change.
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