A Reflection on the Qurn, Heritage, and Education - Essay Example

23 July A Reflection on the Qur’an, Heritage, and Education This book is based on a project called “Islam and Social Change.” Fazlur Rahman aims to study the main features and weaknesses of medieval Islamic educational system. He defines “Islamic education” as beyond the educational instruments and system, and prefers to base it on the rise of “Islamic intellectualism” (1). He believes that intellectualism comes from the development of original and sufficient Islamic thought, particularly that which leads to an appropriate interpretation of the Qur’an. This essay reflects on his ideas on the subjects of the Qur’an, laws, and education. It agrees with the foundations that the Qur’an laid for a comprehensive viewpoint on lawmaking and legal interpretation, as well as on a modern educational system that balances religious and rational sciences. The Qur’an is the foundation of Islam, which supports it as a way of life. The Qur’an is different from other religious texts, because it focuses on the moral development of humanity in a tangible and communal way (Rahman 2). It is different from Buddhist and Taoist texts that tend to be metaphysical or individualist in orientation. The Holy Bible of Christianity also attempts to morally guide Christians as individuals and as a community, but it does not attempt to affect the legal and political dimensions of human living. The Qur’an, on the other hand, is a blueprint not only for individual living, but how individuals should live together. It is a practical and moral guide for numerous issues, including peace, war, and various other public and private affairs (Rahman 2). This paper believes then that the basis of saying that Islam is a way of living is because the Qur’an provides for the direction of that way of living. In Christian societies, the Church and the law are separate, and so are the Church and legislative and executive functions of society. Muslim jurists, on the contrary, use the Qur’an to find answers to both historical and present-day legal questions and cases (Rahman 2). The idea is that God lives through the words of the Qur’an and to follow it completely entails that Muslims should believe in and depend on the Qur’an completely. This way, they truly fully surrender to Allah through living the Qur’an in every aspect of their existence. This essay agrees with Rahman that one of the main problems with present Islamic jurisprudence is the failure of jurists to have a unified reading of the Qur’an, which leads to an atomistic and insufficient understanding of the verses and the entire Qur’an itself. Rahman criticizes the deductive reasoning used on the Qur’an, such as using qiyas, or analogical reasoning, because it reduces it to its parts, instead of using the parts to appreciate it as a whole (Rahman 2). Like Rahman, this essay believes that to properly read the Qur’an, people must go beyond literally reading the verses, and instead, they must read it in relation to the whole of the text too. In other words, the process starts from the specific and then goes to the general goals and values of the text. Rahman is concerned that by diving the text into verses, they will have unintended legal and religious interpretations (Rahman 2-3). In order to properly read the Qur’an, this paper believes too that the thought systems must come from it, and not from external sources, like what the Sufis did (Rahman 3). This way, fundamental ideas and thought structures will be derived from the Qur’an itself and not from the outside, which are forced on the Qur’an instead (Rahman 3). Rahman calls his process as a new hermeneutical method that highlights the cognitive aspect of the Qur’an (4). It consists of studying the Qur’an using its text, instead of relying on external resources to make sense of it. For me, it means that interpreting the Qur’an does not require outside sources, but an analysis of what the text means in its parts and then as a whole. The idea is to go inside the Qur’an and then read it as an entire text, so that its meaning will be revealed to its readers. Reading the Qur’an requires “double movement,” which is an important process of understanding it, because it ensures contextualizing the meaning of the text to its past and modern times (Rahman 5). Rahman is not like other Islamic scholars, who insist that the Qur’an should be read as it is literally written in the past. This paper concurs with him that the Qur’an is a response to its historical and socio-economic and political conditions. This means that the proper ways of understanding it and applying it to modern society concerns a double movement (Rahman 5). First, readers must understand the specific answer in the Qur’an through studying the context to which it applied before (Rahman 6). This is a critical aspect of determining the answer’s rationes legis, or underlying principle of the law. Rahman underscores the significance of reading the text in light of the conditions of the entire Arabia during the spread of Islam (6). It will help to contextualize the meaning of the legal principles and why they were chosen, when competing values and goals existed during those times, because the answers are then based on these conditions and the values preferred at that era. Second, the particular answers in the Qur’an have to be generalized, where it is connected to the whole of the text (Rahman 6). This process will eliminate subjective interpretations, especially those which developed throughout history, because of opposing Islamic interpretations on the verses and what the Qur’an means. Properly applying Qur’an to the present also necessitates applying the values from the Qur’an, with consideration of existing conditions and structures. Rahman calls this refreshing the values of Qur’an. In other words, the process entails learning from the verses of the text, and then relating it to the whole of the text and to the society where it is based on, and then connecting it to the present, and then back to the unity of the text itself. The basis and ending of legislative analysis fully depend on the Qur’an’s unity of meaning and goals. This essay proceeds to exploring the meaning of seeking values from experiencing the Qur’an without relying on secularism, which it partially agrees with. Rahman argues that the “substantive teaching” of the Prophet relies on understanding the Qur’an, as a way of living, is about the living. Thought the ultimate end is to be with God, the Qur’an is written, so that it can be lived. This essay believes in this statement too, because the Qur’an is guiding the living in the mortal world, so that it will help the latter attain Paradise in the afterworld (14). The emphasis remains on how to live, or the moral conduct of humanity. It is a conduct that affects people’s thoughts, attitudes, actions, and practices. Rahman also emphasizes the role of knowing the values of the holy text as it is lived, without being secular. For Rahman, “Secularism is necessarily atheistic” (15). His idea of “God consciousness” is convincing, because it is based on an ethical order that shapes sociopolitical structures (Rahman 15). It is the precise kind of consciousness that transformed Muhammad into the Prophet, because he offered something extremely relevant to many people, a set of unchanging beliefs and values that provided stability to the uncertain world of his times. In addition, it offers justice and peace, as well as social equality, which the marginalized and the lost needed in their lives. “God consciousness,” for this essay, however, can also be secular and not atheistic, if the secular follows the basic values of religion. Some examples are the principles of justice and equality. They are in the Qur’an and other religious texts, and they are also embodied in secular texts, such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In this case, these principles are not atheistic and are still religiously bound, thereby religiously meaningful too. Still, in the case of the Qur’an, the secular is atheistic, because it diverges from the union of religion and private and public affairs. On this instance, this paper agrees with Rahman. This paper now discusses the medieval educational system, where it is interesting to note the rejection of rational sciences in favor or religious sciences (Rahman 33), which harmed the development of the Qur’an and the educational system. Indeed, life is short and priorities have to be made, but this paper agrees with Rahman that the Qur’an also calls for thinking about the universe, so that knowledge gaps could be filled up (Rahman 34). The lack of jobs and poor support to philosophy and the sciences led to the stifling of these bodies of knowledge during medieval times (Rahman 34). Some famous Muslim scholars criticized philosophy, for instance, as a science of heretics, because of how they questioned religion and God, as well as giving value to the essence of the human body. This paper understands these concerns, because they seem to secularize society and they undermine the teachings of Islam. However, if Islam is to prosper intellectually, it is better to also allow these sciences to prosper and to have an intellectual discussion. Through intellectual debates, Muslims and non-Muslims alike can attain higher religious cognition that Rahman envisions. Studies on the Qur’an, in this paper’s opinion, will be more productive and engaging through various intellectual intersections. The differences in ideas, values, and principles can deepen the interpretation of the Qur’an, since it will be defended against its critics. Furthermore, it will also enrich the studies of the Qur’an, because its scholars will strive to answer the questions using its text. This brings the paper to its next point, regarding the idea that science is a significant element of the Qur’an, and without it, Islamic education, civilization, and religion languished. Rahman narrates that during medieval times, scientific and philosophical inquiry waned in Muslim societies. The West used the science that Muslims originally made, and the former advanced in this field (50). The West became so good with the sciences that they became richer and more powerful, and soon, they colonized Muslim territories. Rahman explains that because of these circumstances, the Muslims realized the calling of the Qur’an for rational sciences, because Muhammad also knew the importance of rational sciences to the fulfillment of the Qur’an. This paper agrees, because through sciences, technology is developed. And through technology, society advances socially and economically. At the same time, political structures gain local and international power, when they have accumulated economic wealth. The Qur’an realizes the dynamics between rational and religious sciences and its impact on Islam’s power and influence, but the medieval educational system resisted the underlying teachings of the text on this matter. To play catch up in the rational sciences is not easy, which proves why the Qur’an has to permeate every dimension of existence, where it promotes the pursuit of all bodies of knowledge, including that which may contradict it. Fear for differences and contradiction is not helpful to the Qur’an. When opposition rises, the Qur’an will fight back and remain steadfast, because it possesses the principles to sustain intellectual discussion throughout time. The Qur’an offers a complete way of living, including learning and studying the sciences. Rahman narrates the rise and fall of the rational sciences, which affected the development of Islam too. Islamic scholars feared the rational sciences for its secular and heretic aspects. But the more that they rejected these intellectual discussions; the more it weakened the vivacity of Islam as a science and religion. For this paper, the more that the Qur’an tackles these differences, the more that it refreshes Muslims and non-Muslims with the eternity and relevance of its underlying values, as well as its ratio legis. Hence, the Qur’an is and can be relevant to modern times through the use of double movement, which also balances religious and rational sciences. Read More