Sayyid
Jamal al-Din Afghan is considered to be the founding father of Islamic modernism.
He was born in
Shair Garh, Kunar,
Afghanstan in 1838 and received his early education in various religious schools near Kabul,
Afghanstan and Qazwin and Tehran, Iran. At the age of seventeen or
eighteen, he went to India (1855/6) to continue his studies.
During his stay
in India until 1882, Afghan became closely acquainted with the positivistic
ideas of Sayyid Ahmad Khan and wrote his famous The Truth about the
Neichari Sect and an Explanation of the Necharis (Hakikat-i Madhhab-i
Naychari wa Bayan-i Hal-i Naychariyan), first published in 1881 in
Hyderabad, in rejection of S. A. Khan and his followers. The book was later
translated by Muhammad ‘Abduh into Arabic and published as The Refutation
of the Materialists (al-Radd ‘ala al-dahriyyin) in Beirut, 1886.
In 1870, he traveled to Egypt and Istanbul where he received a warm welcome from Ottoman officials and intellectuals who were instrumental in the creation of the Tanzimat reforms. Afghan went to Egypt for the second time and stayed there for the next eight years (1871-9) during which time he began to spread his philosophical and political ideas through his classes and public lectures.
At the beginning of 1883, Afghan spent a short time in London and then went to Paris. In Paris, Afghan begun to publish his famous journal al-‘Urwat al-wuthqa’ (“The Firmest Robe” – a title taken from the Qur’an) with the close collaboration of his friend and student Muhammad ‘Abduh whom he had invited from Lebanon to Paris. Due to a number of difficulties, al-‘Urwah was discontinued in September 1884 after eighteen issues. Through his essays and especially his polemic against Ernest Renan, a French historian, philosopher and positivist, Afghan established considerable fame for himself in the Parisian intellectual circles.
In 1886, he was invited by Shah Nasir al-Din to Iran and offered the position of special adviser to the Shah,
which he accepted. Afghan, however, was critical of Shah’s policies on the
question of political participation. This difference of opinion forced
Afghan to leave Iran for Russia (1886 to 1889). In 1889 on his way to
Paris, Afghan met Shah Nasir al-Din in Munich and was offered the position
of grand vizier. But Afghan’s unabated criticisms of the rule and conduct
of the Shah led to his eventual deportation from Iran in the winter of 1891.
Afghan was later implicated in the murder of Shah Nasir al-Din in 1896.
Afghan spent the last part of his life
in Istanbul under the patronage and, later, surveillance of Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid
II. The demands for Afghan’s extradition by the Iranian officials for his
alleged involvement in the assassination of Shah Nasir al-Din were rejected
by ‘Abd al-Hamid who, most probably, collaborated with Afghan for the
implementation of his political program of pan-Islamism or Islamic unity (ittihad-i
islam). To this end, Afghan sent a number of letters to various Islamic
countries and leaders to mobilize and unite them against the British rule
while at the same time trying to establish the foundations of a mutual
rapprochement between the Sunnis and the Shi`ites. According to some
historians, ‘Abd al-Hamid grew suspicious of Afghan’s meetings with some
Arab leaders and the British officials in Istanbul and did not permit him to
leave the country.
Afghan died of cancer in March 9, 1897 and was buried in
Istanbul.
His basic assumption was shared by the whole generation of the 19th century Muslim thinkers and activists: modern Western science and technology are essentially separable from the ethos and manners of European nations and can and should be acquired by the Islamic world without necessarily accepting the theological and philosophical consequences emerging from their application in the Western context. As we shall see below, Afghan’s views on science should be understood in the light of this general program of Islamic ‘reform’ or renewal (islah or tajdid).
Afghan’s political program of pan-Islamism (ittihad-i
islam) sought to mobilize Muslim nations to fight against Western
imperialism and gain military power through modern technology. Afghan’s
call for the independence of individual Muslim nations has been a key factor
in the development of the so-called “Islamic nationalism” and influenced
such Muslim figures as Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Abu’l Kalam
Azad in the Indian subcontinent and Namik Kemal, Said Nursi and Mehmet Akif
Ersoy in the Ottoman Turkey.
As a public intellectual and activist, Afghan articulated and expressed most of his ideas through his lectures and wrote very little. He published only two books in his lifetime. One is a history of Afghanstan and the other his famous refutation of naturalism and materialism, which he singled out as the most urgent threat to humanity in general and to the Islamic world in particular. It is worth noting that Afghan’s only published book of intellectual substance is directly related to the question of religion and science. Although very short, Afghan’s letter to Ernest Renan in response to his celebrated lecture at Sorbonne given in 1883, in which Renan openly attacked Islam as an obstacle to philosophy and science, is another important document for the understanding of Afghan’s position on Islam and modern science.
In The Refutation of the Materialists, Afghan gives a scathing criticism of the naturalist/materialist position from the scientific, philosophical, ethical, and social points of view. He identifies the materialists as the epitome of evil intent on destroying human civilization. He traces the history of modern materialism to the Greek materialists, among whom he mentions Democritus, Epicurus, and Diogenes the Cynic. This short historical survey is followed by a scientific and philosophical criticism of Darwin and his evolutionary theory. Afghan rejects the idea of chance in nature and accuses the materialists of attributing “perception and intelligence” to atoms (i.e., matter) in and of themselves. He rejects totally the idea of universe as a self-regulating structure without a higher intelligence operating on it. This is without doubt the most philosophical section of the treatise.
Afghan then moves to his social and ethical
criticism of the materialists. According to him, the materialists are intent
to undermine the very foundations of human society. They try to destroy the
“castle of happiness” based on the six pillars of religion. These six
pillars are divided into three beliefs and three qualities. The first belief
is that man is a terrestrial angel, i.e., he is God’s vicegerent on earth.
The second belief is that one’s community is the noblest one both in the
sense of belonging to the human world against the animal and plant kingdoms,
and in the sense of belonging to the best human and religious society. This
inherent exclusivism, for Afghan, is the most important motive for the
global race of goodness, which lies at the heart of all world civilizations.
The third belief or doctrine that religion teaches is that man is destined
to reach the highest world, i.e., his innate ability to transcend the merely
material and realize the spiritual within himself.
In addition, religion inculcates three ethical
qualities in its followers. The first quality is what Afghan calls
“modesty” (haya’), that is, the modesty of the soul to commit sin
against God and his fellowmen. The nobility of the soul increases in
proportion to the degree of its modesty. Afghan considers this quality to
be the most essential element for the ethical and social regulation of
society. The second quality is trustworthiness, which underlies the very
fabric of a society. The survival of human civilization is contingent upon
mutual respect and trust, without which no society can have political
stability and economic prosperity. The third quality promulgated by religion
is truthfulness and honesty, which, for Afghan, is the foundation of social
life and solidarity.
Through these six pillars, Afghan establishes religion as the foundation of civilization and denounces materialism as the enemy of religion and human society. To stress this central point, Afghan mentions the Batinis and the Babis as followers of naturalism/materialism in the Islamic world. He also mentions Rousseau and Voltaire as modern materialists and uses a very strong language in condemning their “sensualism” and anti-moralism. He even goes so far as to classify socialists, communists and nihilists as nothing other than mere variations of materialism in the ethical sense of the term. He holds the materialists responsible for the destruction of such great nations in history as the Persian, Roman, and Ottoman Empires. Since the materialist does not recognize any reality other than gross matter and ‘sensuality’, he paves the way for the reign of passions and desires. In this sense, the materialist is immersed in the worst kind of metaphysical and ethical mistake and cannot be trusted even on a purely human level.
In the last part of the treatise, Afghan turns to religion and, among religions, to Islam as the only way to salvation for humanity. He compares Islam to other world religions and asserts its superiority, implying that Islam is the only religion to cope with the challenges of the modern world. It is worth noting that Afghan concludes his treatise with a short statement that has become the hallmark of Islamic modernism:
If someone says: If the Islamic world is as you say, then why are the Muslims in such a sad condition? I will answer: When they were [truly] Muslims, they were what they were and the world bears witness to their excellence. As for the present, I will content myself with this holy text: “Verily, God does not change the state of a people until they change themselves inwardly”. (Keddie, An Islamic Response to Imperialism, p. 173)
Afghan’s Major Works
- Al-Ta’liqat ‘ala sharh al-Dawwani
li’l-‘aqa’id al-‘adudiyyah (Cairo, 1968).
Afghan’s glosses over Dawwani’s commentary on the famous kalam
book of ’Adud al-Din al-‘Iji called al-‘aqa’id al-‘adudiyyah.
- Risalat al-waridat
fi sirr al-tajalliyat (Cairo, 1968). A work
dictated by Afghan to his student M. ‘Abduh when he was in Egypt.
- Tatimmat al-bayan
(Cairo, 1879). A political, social and cultural history of Afghanstan.
- Hakikat-i
Madhhab-i Naychari wa Bayan-i Hal-i Naychariyan.
First published in Haydarabad-Deccan, 1298/1881, this is Afghan’s most
important intellectual work that he published during his lifetime. It is a
scathing criticism and total rejection of naturalism which Afghan also
calls ‘materialism’. The book has been translated into Arabic by M. ‘Abduh
as al-Radd ‘ala al-dahriyyin (The Refutation of the Materialists).
- Khatirat
Jamal al-Din al-Afghan al-Husayni (Beirut,
1931). A book compiled by the Lebanese journalist Muhammad Pasha al-Mahzumi.
Mahzumi was present in most of Afghan’s talks in the last part of his
life and developed his conversations in to the present book. The book
contains important information about Afghan’s life and ideas.
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The End. Dec 10 2004