My Islam to see Globalization
Once upon time during my discussion with few colleagues, a simply notion of Islamic backwardness unleashed our Islamic humanism to suspect the Western style of globalization as the most recent issue uprooting and deflating Muslim awareness of their religious worldview. They no longer have idea of what constitutes either praiseworthy or blameworthy. What resulted then, after a long drawn explanation, have been personalities of simple mindedly capitalist, positivist, hedonist and irreligious modernity. This presupposed, should Muslim abandon their obsolete paradigm of historically Islamic tradition, they might be able to rejuvenate a modern mindset and vision of future to shape the world of their own as did the West. This blames Muslim, West has been holding, not only for their incapacity to think of reliable framework that might adequately give them light to adjusting their life to the changing world but also rigidity to grasp a revealed doctrine non-relevant to meet with the present complexities.
Muslims therefore, are argued to give a more appropriate meaning of their out-to-date religious perception as inhibiting scientific progress and becoming of obstacle towards modernity in a way that the Western deemed to have constrained and confined the spirit of innovative mind. As such is to drive and cultivate a new paradigm upholding perpetual emphasis on certain basic assumptions and gradual awareness of a world beyond our own homes where a utopia and challenge of unexplored life lay in store for us. It is a life of reality where religion has nothing to do with whatever matters. Will therefore, the religion be forgotten that day? If so, it must be the sole reason that its role is restricted to a domain that leaves neither necessity nor role in a secular modern world.
My standing at first, tends to discern certain arguments whose progenitors are my own daily friends. A flawed conception of underlined thinking has been positioning Islam as subject to Globalization in a sense that religious rhetoric to be justified so long as it endorsed Western-type of modernity. This era requires a prolonged rejuvenation of Islamic thought that may produce a more moderate understanding towards modern development like the way it is supposed to be, the West argues. Significant rethinking and fresh reinterpretation on certain scriptural meanings is needed so as to adjust Islam with nowadays world projection. Globalization provides us with lenses of secular thought through which we are to elucidate our values in a broader context of critically western way of analysis. This analysis attempts to scientifically explore this life expanding human’s ideas based on ratio at the expense of the to-be-flushed out cultural and religious calculations. This life is therefore engaged with only current western-programmed globalization that continues, at least in its dominant face, the ideals of progress, positivism, secularism, perfect society of forever removing religion and irrationality from human history.
What next happens is growing acceptance among Muslim of an unavoidable fact that Islam (Al-Quran) is to be viewed through mirror of globalization lent by secular professors. Does it mean, Islam’s unending relevance over times and spaces is now questioned? Yes it is. This gradually will induce on us a dream of future where no religion is involved to manage our flawless life.
My standing latter comes to venture into what our discussion has resumed. This venture initiates what we view as of alternate to possible headway we think we may be able to draw on. That we are to put aside a prone-to-be-regarded-modern way of thinking to critically and skeptically question our Islamic relevance, is worth of considering. This way urges a transformative attitude of how we should better look into our desperate world. Islam is not to be framed by globalization; rather this principle is vice versa. We have to internally cease adopting the Orientalist codes of seeing ourselves not through our historical eyes but through the lenses of Western categories. Islam has its own way of adjusting world plurality and globalization so as to keep it away from defying its religious arrangement. It is the ultimate scheme through which justification upon globalized progress is given or declined.
Islam, therefore has been coming to be seen as an increasingly discourse of counter towards Western globalization of particular matters. [1] It is indeed, about an alternative towards Western globalism, that is, a promise of a more spiritual society based on a unity of thought, of an alternative epistemology, an alternative notion of science and political economy. This means that the vision of the Ummah must draw on the cultural resources from Islamic history using them to engage with other civilizations through inclusive dialogue. However, the universal must be stated within evolutionary terms, as part of the human unfolding drama.
While the above presents an alternative paradigm of Islam, it is the vision of an Ummah, a global community of believers and non-believers that defines this alternative globalism. From this time, they know that the future of a more religiously accommodative globalization would be worth precisely as much as the paths they walk on to make this dream of alternative discourse come true. Finally, I would like to remind all, the overall globalization refers not only to economic, political and social domains but most importantly to that of religion. This implies global consciousness of Muslim Ummah towards enduring Islamic role to guide that globalization in any way whereas the converse is not applied. No matter what this will imply, regarding globalization that may be likely to favor Islam, I am intensely eager to make such possible headway adding to the already framed array of options that Muslim Ummah might have opted so as to behave within current world globalization. And let us see what special contribution each of us can perform that the globalization would have been to serve this life on our Islamic favor. We are not people who, when dark night approaches, lose either nerve or direction and alter our course in response to changing sign. Islam will always light our steps up.
Footnote:
Inayatullah, Sohail. Islamic Civilization in Globalization: From Islamic future to a post-western civilization.
Once upon time during my discussion with few colleagues, a simply notion of Islamic backwardness unleashed our Islamic humanism to suspect the Western style of globalization as the most recent issue uprooting and deflating Muslim awareness of their religious worldview. They no longer have idea of what constitutes either praiseworthy or blameworthy. What resulted then, after a long drawn explanation, have been personalities of simple mindedly capitalist, positivist, hedonist and irreligious modernity. This presupposed, should Muslim abandon their obsolete paradigm of historically Islamic tradition, they might be able to rejuvenate a modern mindset and vision of future to shape the world of their own as did the West. This blames Muslim, West has been holding, not only for their incapacity to think of reliable framework that might adequately give them light to adjusting their life to the changing world but also rigidity to grasp a revealed doctrine non-relevant to meet with the present complexities.
Muslims therefore, are argued to give a more appropriate meaning of their out-to-date religious perception as inhibiting scientific progress and becoming of obstacle towards modernity in a way that the Western deemed to have constrained and confined the spirit of innovative mind. As such is to drive and cultivate a new paradigm upholding perpetual emphasis on certain basic assumptions and gradual awareness of a world beyond our own homes where a utopia and challenge of unexplored life lay in store for us. It is a life of reality where religion has nothing to do with whatever matters. Will therefore, the religion be forgotten that day? If so, it must be the sole reason that its role is restricted to a domain that leaves neither necessity nor role in a secular modern world.
My standing at first, tends to discern certain arguments whose progenitors are my own daily friends. A flawed conception of underlined thinking has been positioning Islam as subject to Globalization in a sense that religious rhetoric to be justified so long as it endorsed Western-type of modernity. This era requires a prolonged rejuvenation of Islamic thought that may produce a more moderate understanding towards modern development like the way it is supposed to be, the West argues. Significant rethinking and fresh reinterpretation on certain scriptural meanings is needed so as to adjust Islam with nowadays world projection. Globalization provides us with lenses of secular thought through which we are to elucidate our values in a broader context of critically western way of analysis. This analysis attempts to scientifically explore this life expanding human’s ideas based on ratio at the expense of the to-be-flushed out cultural and religious calculations. This life is therefore engaged with only current western-programmed globalization that continues, at least in its dominant face, the ideals of progress, positivism, secularism, perfect society of forever removing religion and irrationality from human history.
What next happens is growing acceptance among Muslim of an unavoidable fact that Islam (Al-Quran) is to be viewed through mirror of globalization lent by secular professors. Does it mean, Islam’s unending relevance over times and spaces is now questioned? Yes it is. This gradually will induce on us a dream of future where no religion is involved to manage our flawless life.
My standing latter comes to venture into what our discussion has resumed. This venture initiates what we view as of alternate to possible headway we think we may be able to draw on. That we are to put aside a prone-to-be-regarded-modern way of thinking to critically and skeptically question our Islamic relevance, is worth of considering. This way urges a transformative attitude of how we should better look into our desperate world. Islam is not to be framed by globalization; rather this principle is vice versa. We have to internally cease adopting the Orientalist codes of seeing ourselves not through our historical eyes but through the lenses of Western categories. Islam has its own way of adjusting world plurality and globalization so as to keep it away from defying its religious arrangement. It is the ultimate scheme through which justification upon globalized progress is given or declined.
Islam, therefore has been coming to be seen as an increasingly discourse of counter towards Western globalization of particular matters. [1] It is indeed, about an alternative towards Western globalism, that is, a promise of a more spiritual society based on a unity of thought, of an alternative epistemology, an alternative notion of science and political economy. This means that the vision of the Ummah must draw on the cultural resources from Islamic history using them to engage with other civilizations through inclusive dialogue. However, the universal must be stated within evolutionary terms, as part of the human unfolding drama.
While the above presents an alternative paradigm of Islam, it is the vision of an Ummah, a global community of believers and non-believers that defines this alternative globalism. From this time, they know that the future of a more religiously accommodative globalization would be worth precisely as much as the paths they walk on to make this dream of alternative discourse come true. Finally, I would like to remind all, the overall globalization refers not only to economic, political and social domains but most importantly to that of religion. This implies global consciousness of Muslim Ummah towards enduring Islamic role to guide that globalization in any way whereas the converse is not applied. No matter what this will imply, regarding globalization that may be likely to favor Islam, I am intensely eager to make such possible headway adding to the already framed array of options that Muslim Ummah might have opted so as to behave within current world globalization. And let us see what special contribution each of us can perform that the globalization would have been to serve this life on our Islamic favor. We are not people who, when dark night approaches, lose either nerve or direction and alter our course in response to changing sign. Islam will always light our steps up.
Footnote:
Inayatullah, Sohail. Islamic Civilization in Globalization: From Islamic future to a post-western civilization.
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