Systematization of "the Thought"

What is the Characteristic Feature of the Beginning Period?

There occurs a radical break with previous ideological conceptions or a paradigm shift..

Here we observe a radical change in man’s attitude toward life and society. But the thought has not still been systematized and the discourse is dramatically “apologetic.” Accordingly, it has hardly been able to win the hearts and minds of the people. And it is this apologetic language that underlies the the failure of Muslim Thought in terms of becoming a robust ideology or gaining political and social power in contemporary period.

We can observe well this feature in all human cultures that experienced similar processes. While many intellectuals or even priests advocating the concept of natural law in Renaissance period were carrying on the one hand the banner of humanism which symbolize the rupture of relations with millenary Christian tradition, they were, on the other hand, trying to demonstrate that their arguments are compatible with the very principles of Christianity. For example, eventhough Desiderius Erasmus, one of the leading figures of Renaissance, did criticize the Roman Catholic Church and the clergymen of the period in a satirical way by giving references widely to the works of ancient Greek poems and philosophers, sometimes he was also having recourse to Christian resources, let alone being against the raison d’être of “the religion”, in seeking support for his arguments. Likewise, Galilei Galileo was at pains, when he wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, to prove that the conclusions drawn from his surveys on nature do not conradict with the Bible and arguing that the problem does not stem from the Bible itself, but rather is caused by “misinterpretations.” The same is true for the Muslim Thought in 19th century. In this period, Afghani and Abduh was, on the one hand, promoting the cause of “Returning to the Roots”, but on the other hand, they were trying to prove that “rationalism” or “science” is compatible with Islam. As is known, the discourse of them, is, in essence, “apologetic.” The fact is that both advocated the idea of “returning to the very sources of Islam”, but they could not show how this can be done. It is obvious that they were influenced by Western Thought, and their discourse bears witness to this. And this is the main reason why their arguments could not win the hearts and minds of the people.

In the upcoming stages of the beginning period, the minds are clarified with regard to the key concepts or core ideas, but the goal of “massification” can not be reached due to the fact that the thought has not still been systematized. For example, the naturalist and humanist discourse of Erasmus was influential in Renaissance period, but it could not transform itself into a “school of thought” for he was not able to “systematize” the thought. Probably the only thing he was able to do was to pave the way for Luther. In another saying, what Erasmus did in Renaissance period was “to lay the egg that Luther hatched.” So, the process of systematization, or, raising of the key figures like Descartes who laid the philosophical foundations of rationalism or Hobbes who determined the theoretical framework of secular sovereignity lasted at least a century. What Afghani and Abduh did in the beginning period of Contemporary Muslim Thought is, indeed, similar to what Erasmus did in Renaissance. They were too very influential in producing new ideas that led to a revolution in mind in Muslim world, but their discourse could not transform itself into a “school of thought” due to the fact that it was simply eclectic and apologetic. The thing he was able to accomplish was to pave the way for Qutb and Mawdudi. Nonetheless, we can say that the ideas produced by them did not have the characteristics of a robust ideology which could determine the future of mankind for the very reason that they did not engage in ideological combat with modernism.

Eventhough the discourse of Shariati partly signalled that he could manage to do it, this time it was not very competent on using the original language. And this proves that we did not manage to go through to the stage of Systematization of the Thought yet.