Renowned Arab Intellectual: Islam Has Not Yet Had Its Martin Luther
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm believes that the main problem of Islamic societies is that they have been unable to reconcile their religious beliefs with the modern world. According to him, most Muslims want the development and prosperity of the modern world while simultaneously holding onto medieval thoughts and beliefs.
Religious intellectuals constantly debate and argue about why Islamic societies have fallen into comprehensive crisis and decline, thinking about everything except the fact that the problem with these societies is precisely that they are “Islamic” and still adhere to beliefs incompatible with their times.
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, a renowned Syrian philosopher and thinker, says in an interview about the growth of fundamentalism: “Islamists carry the symptoms of a disease. They reflect the failure of Arab modernity: the inability to develop and advance society, create welfare and prosperity, and so on. Islamism is a kind of mockery of this failed modernity.”
Sadiq al-Azm is considered the most important and influential figure of enlightenment in the Arab world. In a brief but substantive conversation with the newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung,” he has expressed the gist of his views concisely and clearly.
He considers cultural critique to be the most important task of intellectuals in Arab societies and believes that this critique should fundamentally and courageously begin with criticism of doctrines and religious foundations incompatible with modern structures.
Sadiq al-Azm himself began this critique years ago by writing the important book “Critique of Religious Thinking” and suffered greatly for it at the hands of fanatics, to the point that extremist groups issued a fatwa for his death. Today, with the expansion of the wave of fundamentalism and the revelation of its dangerous scope and dimensions, the critical theories of this thinker have found new resonance.
Read more: Awarding the Goethe Medal to the Syrian-born intellectual
The Shortcoming of Religious Authorities
Sadiq al-Azm accuses official religious authorities dominating the Islamic world, such as Al-Azhar in Egypt or the Saudi family with its rigid Wahhabi thinking, of preventing religious reform in Islam through force and fanaticism and not allowing this religion to adapt to the needs and requirements of the times. They opposed any modernization in Islam for fear of losing their authority and Islam being relegated to the private sphere.
These authorities feared that with the development of secularism, Islam would suffer the same fate as Christianity in the West, being removed from the public sphere and thus their authority would be undermined. Their concern was the preservation of spiritual and political authority.
Sadiq al-Azm accuses official authorities in the Islamic world of creating the conditions for the growth of fundamentalism, in such a way that its virus spread like a “disease” throughout Islamic societies. He states clearly that classical jurisprudence and traditional Islam inevitably lead to “ISIS” and there is no escape from it.
Al-Azhar: A Symbol of Conservatism and Traditionalism in the Arab World
Religious Reform More Important Than Secularism
Sadiq al-Azm considers the establishment of secularism, the principle of separation of religion from politics, to be very important but insufficient. He believes that with the preservation of Islamic beliefs based on jurisprudence and principles of Sharia, secularism is impossible. He says that first and foremost, this thinking itself must be reformed and adapted to the requirements of the modern world.
The author of “Critique of Religious Thinking,” who considers himself more indebted to Emmanuel Kant than any other thinker, believes that the only thing that can save Islamic societies from the current crisis and chaos is fundamental religious reform, somewhat in the way that Protestantism prepared the Christian faith to accept modern civilization.
Read more: Islamic Fundamentalism (1)
In Sadiq al-Azm’s view, the reform of “traditional Islam” should be carried out by Muslim intellectuals. Therefore, he praises the role of thinkers such as Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid in Egypt, Muhammad Arkoun in Turkey, and Muhammad Shahrur in Syria, but he regrets that the intellectual efforts of these individuals never became a powerful and effective current that could institutionally transform Islamic societies.
In his view, today the most important task of intellectuals and reformers in Islamic societies is to harmonize their religious beliefs with the standards of human rights and individual freedoms.
He emphasizes that Islam has so far not seen a deep-sighted and courageous reformer like Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism.
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm is considered the spiritual father of all secular and progressive Arab writers. This renowned Syrian thinker was born in 1934 in Damascus. He is not only well versed in Islamic and Arab culture but also has profound knowledge of Western philosophy and thought, which he has taught for years at prestigious universities.
Sadiq al-Azm has been repeatedly praised for his enlightening efforts in advancing democracy and respect for human rights. On August 28 of this year in the city of Weimar, Germany, the prestigious Goethe Medal was awarded to him.
