Professor Hamid Rafi Abadi: Islamic Ideology from Variegated Sources

By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam 13 May 2023 Religion in our contemporary times, has been under tremendous duress, given the onslaught from various ideologies. Ideology, if we look at its genesis is product of Renaissance in Europe. It gained prominence with the decline of philosophy. Although, there seems to be no apparent tussle between philosophy and ideology, but there are unresolved conflicts that galore the turf between them. With the prominence of Marxism and its strong impact on every aspect of life, ideology as a term came to be associated with Marxism, which described its contours. Religious scholars and intellectuals too started using the term, primarily for refuting and rebutting Marxian ideology. Although, Marxism, like capitalism too have its merits but the religious class and petty mullahs without understanding the Marxian worldview, started criticising it, because it exposed a lot of them. So, like Islam was opposed initially and even now, same fate was met out to Marxism, because it believes in Atheism, whereas its values of justice and equality were retrograded into oblivion, by harping only about its rejection of God. On the other hand, capitalism, while paying a lip service to God, undertakes all ungodly measures to destroy humanity, religion and planet for unending greed. The current book, under review although is an attempt by a versatile scholar, researcher and writer Prof Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi, to deliberate about various aspects of Islam, that is inclusive of its ideology. It is a compilation of his articles, published more than three decades ago, and now the old edition had been out of print, this new one has revived the old discussions anew. The relevance of these articles has not been lost, although his thought process from a young man to an experienced academic certainly has evolved. This evolution would certainly have added more ambience and scholarly insights if he was to write this book again, on the similar themes. The collection has a solid Foreword contributed by former Editor of Radiance weekly, S Ameen Ul Hasan Rizvi, who observes that Rafiabadi, has an inquisitive mind that is not just confined to old schools of thought, dry philosophical debates, but is guided by pondering over Quran and constantly inferring from Allama Iqbal, Mawlana Abul Ala Mawdudi and Ali Shariti. In his Introduction to the collection, Prof Rafiabadi informs us that through this collection of his essays, he intends to manifest the fact that Islam wants to create a revolution in every aspect of human life. The unity among Muslims is in shambles, despite believing in the same God, Prophet and Book. The sects, schools of thought, regionalism and linguistic divide all have contributed to the destruction of unity among Muslims. Islam has emphasized on unity and collectivism. There was a strong unity during tribal era, something Ibn Khaldun terms as Asbiyyah. Now with the end of tribal era, there is a need to re-evaluate to what extent we need to follow the leader of Muslim (Ameer) and how much dissent is to be tolerated. This theme like others in the book is discussed in the light of Philosophy and philosophers, but Islamic treatment of the subject is not neglected, as verses of Quran and Hadith are quoted extensively. Human Nature in the light of Islamic philosophy is an important contribution of this work, because Islam believes that each person is born as a pure, pristine soul, but later on the environment renders him/her as a Muslim or non-Muslim. But the question being left unanswered is what about proselytization? As every religion considers itself as the sole upholder of truth, thus if others do not convert to it, they are doomed in this and afterlife. The concept of Knowledge is holistic in Islam, and Prof Rafiabadi, unlike others does not believe in the segregation of the same, between secular and religious. Knowledge in Islam is productive, helping to understand the true purpose of life and preparing for Afterlife. There is however a distinction of knowledge as being productive (Ilm e Nafia) and non-productive (Ilm e Gair Nafia), or to use Imam Ghazali’s criteria being Farz e Ain (obligatory on all) and Farz e Kifaya (Obligatory for few, will exempt all). Materialism and Atheism are a constant theme that have engaged brilliant minds among Muslims, to rebut it. Atheism and its challenge have been addressed, and there are very few staunch atheists among Muslims, although the cadres of those who call themselves as Ex Muslims is growing. Even atheism can have positive aspects, because it first denies that there is no God, hence accepts the La Ilaha. The reasons for atheism can be many, including dogma, superstitions, role of Christian clergy and anti-progressive attitude of religious scholars. Material philosophy like Marxism, has been refuted or rebutted, although the criticism may all not be academic, in philosophical sense, but certainly most Muslims have accepted materialism as a way of life, if not philosophically understanding its nuances. It is reflected from the extravagance in Muslim countries, lavish life styles, extra marital affairs and corruption in which most Muslim countries are mired with. Given the context of the writings, the young Rafiabadi seems to be perturbed with the onslaught of communism, class struggle and atheism while the fact about Muslims failing to understand capitalism, how it promoted violence and neo colonialism, arms industry, giving rise to new conflicts and how in this process exploited religion, even escapes the critical eye of Rafiabadi. Sometimes the writing seems to demonize Karl Marx, although Ali Shariti and Hasrat Mohani adored him, while Marxism inspired as well as its rejection by Muslims, helped them consolidate their own response, that includes the failed project of Islamic banking or explaining the tussle between Mustakbirun (arrogant & powerful) and Mustadifoon (wretched of the earth), to use Ali Shariti’s terms. Monotheism is the central and basic pillar of Islam, and its essence cannot be discounted. The whole tussle among the Semitic and non-Semitic religions with Islam is about Monotheism. Then there is a chapter about the philosophy of Eid too, why is it celebrated and what are its outcomes. Allama Iqbal’s philosophical discourse has been a greatest influence on all religious personalities and intellectuals, some have rejected, few criticized him and a vast majority has accepted his discourse and narrative. His real message as deliberated in his philosophy, doctoral thesis, letters and six lectures later published as Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, have been meagrely analysed by the Muslim blind followers. His criticism of wrong practices of Sufism is rarely engaged or brought forth. Also, he laid a great emphasis on the character building particularly of youth. Muslim youth again is a very burning topic and scholars are trying to understand the roots of rage among a section of Muslim youth. Islamophobia has been reinforced by the radicalized, violent and terror acts of a fringe group of Muslim youth, although these were not issues when Allama Iqbal, was calling Muslim youth to reinvent the past and construct a great future. Allama’s philosophy inspired Ali Shariti too. The criticism of Ali Shariti of Existential philosopher Jean Paul Sarte’s views about man, the quantum of freedom he should enjoy and God too form an important part of the work. The relations between Ulema (religious scholars) and intellectuals has been antagonistic since centuries. They both belong to different world and their weltanschauung is opposed to each other. There have been attempts to bridge the divide but little positive outcomes have been achieved. The travelogue of Dr Rafiabadi, with his teacher Maulana Taqi Ameeni to his alma mater Madrasa e Ameenia, is a lament about the sad state in which our madrasas are running. The trials and tribulations that humans do face, seem to have made their way to the madrasas too. The criticism about West and ideologies seems to be inspired by Mawlana Mawdudi and others, with little original introspection about the things that went wrong with Muslims. This shifting of blame to West and conspiracies, certainly has not helped Muslim world progress and evolve. Hence, this type of criticism still makes sense to most Muslims, as they have been fed on the staple diet of being victims of conspiracies of the West. Overall, this book is a good addition to some important themes of what constitutes a small portion of Islamic ideology. Despite the elapse of more than three decades, the arguments made in the book, still remain relevant, although that points towards the sad fact that arguments of Muslims have not changed, rendering the Muslim milieu as stagnant, with little fresh ideas making inroads among Muslims. ----- M.H.A.Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir. URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/hamid-rafi-abadi-islamic-ideology/d/129768 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism