Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity. Tariq Ramadan

some men there are who say, ‘Our Lord, give to us in this world’; such men shall have no part in the world to come… (Qur’ān, 2:200)

      Others, as much as their humanity allows, want to be here in order to be better over There:

      And others there are who say, ‘Our Lord, give to us in this world good, and good in the world to come’ (Qur’ān, 2:201)

      It is living one’s daily existence, working and committing oneself; putting one’s faith in order to test one’s own actions, angers, and deceptions. It is being with God amidst men and giving to what one has the meaning of what one is:

      … but seek, amidst that which God has given thee, the Last Abode, and forget not thy portion of the present world; and do good, as God has been good to thee. And seek not to work corruption in the earth; surely God loves not the workers of corruption. (Qur’ān, 28:77)

      It is to be with one’s whole being in this life, carrying the witness of one’s faith through actions of justice and goodness. It is tantamount to rejecting nothing of what one “is” in order to be with one’s whole being. This before God and men:

      The best of men is the one who is most useful to his fellow men. ²

      Yet, our epoch challenges us. The society of entertainment, excessive consumption and generalised individualism coexists with the most extreme destitution and the most total misery. In front of these fatalities, where is the meaning? Filled with the remembrance of God, at which source, in all this modernity, can we quench our thirst?

      Each person knows the re-routing of this life which kills something in us: sitting in front of the television, battered by a torrent of information, and paralysed by the scope of fractures. This is tantamount to acknowledging God, but living without a life. It is losing one’s mind because one has lost one’s heart, and this day in and day out.

      One would love nonetheless to know how to be a man, how to be a woman before God, in the mirror of one’s own conscience, in the looks of those who surround us. One would so wish to find the strength to beautify one’s thoughts and to purify one’s heart. It is everyone’s hope and expectation to live in serenity and to plod along in transparency: the palms of the hands patiently directed towards heaven, at the heart of all this modernity.

      A man, a woman, it is simply a question of being. To be good and do good. Which man has not wished to be for his companion the horizon of his expectations; to walk on the same shore and, out of tenderness and pardon, make of their union a sign. A couple that is for humanity what the sun is for nature, the warmth and sign of creation. Which woman has not wanted, with this same will, to be for her husband the energy of the way, at the heart of this modernity?

      Which mother, which father or which parent has not hoped for their children the most harmonious space, the most united family, and the most liberating interior force? Who has never wished to see in the eyes of his son or daughter, in the depths of their heart, the sparkle of thankfulness and conviction that make faith? Which son or daughter has not desired living between two beings, carried by their love, nourished by their values and strong in their coherence, at the heart of this modernity?

      Such simple things in so troubled an epoch. To be good and do good, before God, is the meaning of this call, chanted more than 17 times a day, yesterday as it is today, at the heart of this modernity:

      Guide us in the straight path… (Qur’ān, 1:6)

      Walking along the right path, the path of the just middle, to remember God and keep in one’s heart the sense of values and finalities. Always walking along despite the dangers and adversities, despite the injustices and horrors, trusting in God so as not to despair of men and events. Walking along, and walking again, simply trying to be a man and trying to be a woman. In transparency and clarity accepting one’s weaknesses and humanity, finding at the heart of forgiveness the strength of one’s own humility. To be humble, in order to be at the heart of modernity. As also the remembrance and the reminder:

      Remember thy Lord in thy soul, humbly and fearfully, not loud of voice, at morn and eventide. Be not thou among the heedless. Surely those who are with thy Lord wax not too proud to serve Him; they chant His praise, and to Him they prostrate (Qur’ān, 7:205–6)

      This by facing up to all inhuman individualism, all reflexes of consumption, all televisual or cinematographical illusions and all neglects. By rejecting all injustices, by opposition to all exploitation, by fighting against all miseries. By saying and maintaining with determination the strength of this humility and trust in God, in an infinite manner. By finding the road in action; arming oneself with light through patience. In the fraternity of men against the society of individuals, in the union of liberties against the egoism of independence. The right path, at the heart of modernity: our spirituality, in our heart, is at the heart of life.

      By rejecting neglect and listening, deeply listening from the deepest recesses of ages, listening and hearing, the voice of the ancient slave Bilāl calling the faithful to his faithfulness, five times a day, and for eternity. Looking, in the echo of this voice and in the rhythm of prayers, looking and finding the direction and the way, at the heart of all this modernity.

       Notes

       1. Aḥadīth reported by Bukhārī.

       2. A ḥasan Ḥadīth reported by al-Dāraqutnī.

      Introduction

      The world is constantly moving: man seems to be acceding further every day to greater autonomy, as he also sets out to a greater freedom. Scientific progress and technological discoveries have made of rationalisation and efficiency the two emblems of our time. So much so that one very often confuses the fact of modernity with what appears to be, by distortion, the ideology of modernism (we shall return to this shift in meaning which is neither harmless nor gratuitous). It remains that the idea of modernisation has today one of the most positive connotations. To make it one’s own is by extension to accept the principles of modernity: rationality, change and freedom.

      It is indeed a haunting question at the end of this second millennium to know whether Islam and the Muslims will embark on the train of progress. To compare the Western world – which is permanently stir red by scientific and technological effervescence, with the Muslim world, which is invariably stilted in memories of flourishing times, clinging to old traditions which mix local culture with Qur’ānic references – is indeed interesting. For one may ask whether the rejection of progress or modernity is not inherent in Islam itself. Such is the contrast, as some have claimed, that it is incumbent to “modernise Islam” if there is to be any chance of seeing Muslims living in harmony with their time, and in order that they might finally adapt themselves.

      The question becomes then, can the Muslim world accede to modernity without denying some of the fundamentals of the Islamic religion? Do we have the means to modify from within the links between a millinery traditionalism and an imperative reform which will turn faces towards the present? Many in the West propose, in all legitimacy, this reflection to their Muslim interlocutors. This reflection inevitably engages us in a crucial debate, in the course of which it would be possible for us to fix, all at once, the points of convergence and divergence between Western and Muslim concepts. This because it may well be that the sole reference to Western history, viz. events as much as mentalities, cannot be enough to give account of the complexity of the problem. We cannot therefore make the economy of fixing with precision the acceptance of certain words and concepts. And this applies as much to the terminology in usage in the modernised West, so evident in appearance, as to that of the Islamic tradition so foreign because of the same appearance.

      We shall attempt, in this Introduction, to determine what the concept of modernity really covers. By dint of Western history, this notion has taken the flavour of its origin and it is this specificity, which we should keep in mind. In Part One, we shall study the fundamentals of the Islamic religion. We will try to explain, ‘At the Shores of Transcendence’, the basic elements of Islam’s universe of reference (in the sense of religio, of the bond between God and man). Then it would be possible