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limited to the realm of thought, but also   with European society, Abduh issued               among the Muslim youth in India and    moral guides for mankind. Many verses
                                   incited movements. These movements      a statement which was very famous:                    one of his disciples, Chiragh Ali (1844-  in the Qur’an relate to legal and political
                                   were massive and radical. The reform    “wajadna al-Islam biduni al-muslimin fi               1895) followed in his footsteps as a   issues, but should be seen asethics’
                                   in the 19 century was inspired by the   aurubba, wa fi al-misr wajadna muslimin               reformer. He advocated the importance   moral postulates. Laws should not be
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                                   condition of the Muslim people who were   biduni al-Islam” (In Europe we found                of reforming the shari’a (Islamic law).   understood literally and punitive, as
                                   colonized and fell under the shadow of   Islam without Muslims, while in Egypt                According to him, Islamic law was the   Muslims did in the past because that
                                   the spread of Western civilization, which   we found Muslims without Islam). Those            product of jurists and therefore Islamic   would make it seem as if Islamic law
                                   was considered the locomotive of the    words show Muhammad Abduh’s high                      law should change its main target. The   was only concerned with punishments
                                   new world order. As-Syaukanie (2009:    appreciation of modern European                       essential reform of Islamis the changes   and sanctions. The idea of the Islamic
                                   25-34) mentions the following Muslim    rational civilization that produced a real            jurists made in Islamic law. According to   state of Pakistan, according to him,
                                   scholars as thinkers of Islamic reformism   Islamic ethos in everyday life. Abduh’s           Ali, the search for the truth in Islam would   was the result of an obsessive desire to
                                   in the 19 -20 centuries.                rationality appears in his fatwas when he             never end.                             implement this kind of “punitive” Islam.
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                                   The first is Rifa’a al-Tahtawi (1801-   served as the Mufti of Egypt. Among his               The greatest reformer in India was     In short, these reformers’ positive
                                   1873). Tahtawi was a pioneer reformer   controversial fatwas are those about the              Muhammad Iqbal (1875-1938). His most   attitudes towards changes are based
                                   in the 19  century. In his magnum       lawful status of bank interest, the non-              influential workis The Reconstruction of   on their beliefs that change is part of
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                                   opus, Takhlish al-Ibriz ila Bariz, he   obligation for Muslim women to wear the               Religious Thought in Islam in which he   the basic principles of Islam. Reformers
                                   expressed the need for Muslims to draw   hijab, and the permission for Muslims to             referred to many Western philosophers   consider ijtihad the most plausible
                                   on and adopt modern political concepts   eat meat slaughtered by non-Muslims                  such as George Berkeley, Immanuel      argument for change. In Islamic
                                   such as nationalism, democracy, and     (As-Syaukanie, 2009: 26).                             Kant, William James, Alfred North      jurisprudence, ijtihad is not about
                                   equality because these concepts were    In 19 century India another Islamic                   Whitehead, and Bertrand Russell.       primary sources such as the Qur’an, the
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                                   useful for the progress of the Muslim   reformer was born. He was Sayyid                      Iqbal did not only authorize Muslims’   Prophetic tradition (sunnah), the Muslims’
                                   community. Tahtawi’s appreciation of    Ahmed Khan (1817-1898), whose position                use of Western knowledge even he       consensus (ijma’) and analogy (qiyas),
                                   modern sciences and his positive attitude   in India was similar to that of Tahtawi           recommended Muslims to learn and to    but concerns the method of istinbat in
                                   towards the West were enthusiastically   in Egypt. As Abduh, Sayyid Ahmed                     take benefit from it. Iqbal’s arguments   order to produce law. Ijtihad is a rational
                                   greeted by one of the next generation   Khan was also a rationalist who did                   about the necessity of convincing      way for Muslims to understand religious
                                   of Egyptian clerics, Muhammad Abduh     not hesitate to accept modern culture.                changes would inspire many scholars    texts but it is not included in the texts
                                   (1849-1905). Abduh was a reformer       He criticized orientalists who distorted              around the world. Of Iqbal’sfollowers,   themselves. Muhammad Arkoun defined
                                   who urged Muslims to conform to some    the understanding of Islam, just as he                Fazlur Rahman (1919-1988) was even     ijtihad as naqd al-’aql al-islami or the
                                   aspects of modernity. He used to live   criticized conservative Muslim scholars               more radical about the issue of Islam   critical logic of Islam. According to him,
                                   in Paris at the invitation of his “mentor”   whom is understood Islam as well.                and social change. Rahman was          what is necessary for modern Muslims
                                   Jamaluddin Al-Afgani and he also        In one of his works, Khan criticized                  convinced that the most principal and   now is not a mere re-interpretation of
                                   visited London and several other major   conservative clerics who blindly imitated            foremost ideas in the Qur’an are its   classical legal issues, especially Islamic
                                   European cities. From his encounters    others. He also yielded wide influence                ethics. The Book of Allah reveals the   law, but the radical deconstruction of the



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