Rediscover spiritual humanism, the founding principle of Islam

Nowadays, the tensions created in Muslim countries by the meeting between the “local” and the “global” are very strong. Muslims are thus led to determine what, in their cultures, must be preserved.

The current, irreversible process of globalization therefore poses a paradoxically very positive challenge for Muslims: they are now called upon to rediscover the founding universalism of Islam, to go beyond nationalist withdrawals, dogmatic or ritual divisions (the ta’assub madhhabî), and to get to the essence of the Islamic message by departing from local morals and customs (Arab, Berber, African, Turkish, etc.), which they too often assimilate to the teaching of Islam, thus creating pernicious amalgamations.

The meteoric expansion of Islam, in several phases, was possible because Muslims carried within them the inner axiality of Tawhid, and because, consequently, they felt at home everywhere in the world. They knew how to recognize the Uniqueness in the multiplicity of cultures, languages ​​and religions; they indeed had a joint vision of these two levels of reality – Uniqueness and multiplicity – which allowed them to be in phase with their modernity, and would allow us to be in phase with ours.

They were unified enough, individually and collectively, around the axis of Tawhîd, to dialogue with the world, to rub shoulders with others in complete safety. They were eager to know and assimilate other civilizations. Classical Islam therefore lived, and even promoted a sort of globalization, but in its best aspect, that of spiritual universalism and not of current materialist standardization.

However, the wear and tear of time has produced an ossification of Islamic culture, since at least the 15th century. Muslims limited themselves, from then on, to reproducing inherited behaviors, fixed, because they were no longer adapted to their reality. According to the opinion of expert observers, such as Ibn Khaldûn, the fault lies in the fact that a rampant legalism has invaded Islamic culture; legalism, that is to say a disproportionate development of law compared to other disciplines of religious life.

Appropriating the term fiqh, which originally means “reflection”, “understanding”, and not “jurisprudence”, Muslim law has stifled major disciplines such as theology (under its different names: ‘ilm al-kalâm, ‘ilm al-tawhîd…), philosophy, considered to be in competition with Revelation, and especially spirituality, whether called tasawwuf or otherwise. This overdetermination of fiqh has produced and still produces a pharisaism, a religious hypocrisy from which many Muslim countries have not emerged.

Indeed, the world of forms, which fiqh manages, if it is not animated by spirituality, can only generate a gap, a “schizophrenia” between previously established prescriptions and ever-changing reality. It is for this reason that ‘ulamâ’ – Egyptians – like Suyûtî and Sha’rânî spoke of the necessity of recourse to spiritual ijtihâd: any religion can only live in phase with modernity if its spirituality allows it to transmute the world of forms: Kulla yawm Huwa fî sha’n: “Every day, He is at work” (Cor. 29: 55).

But back to the story. The more Muslims weakened, from the 9th/10th centuries (15th/16th centuries), on the spiritual, cultural and material levels, the more the hegemony of the West was asserted and, consequently, the more Muslims felt attacked, withdrew into themselves, closing themselves off to other cultures and other religions.

Colonialism deeply wounded Muslim identity and, faced with this phenomenon, Muslims became accustomed to no longer acting, but only reacting to Western imperialism.

A fixed and monolithic conception of the Islamic norm then prevailed, restricting the universalist dimension of Islam. At the same time, the territory of Islam was fragmented and compartmentalized, and Muslims, now hardly able to move within this vast space, often assimilated their religion to local customs and particularities. The breadth of vision and the spirit of discovery which characterized the civilization of classical Islam had disappeared.

In the 20th century, the Arab-Muslim world experienced various more or less “secular” ideologies which ended in failure, because they did not answer the question of the true identity of the peoples concerned: Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism, socialism… At the same time, those who followed the Western model ended up perceiving the “disenchantment” and the crisis of values which raged in the West, and some began to look for solutions in their own culture Islamic; They also noted that the forced Westernization carried out by certain regimes had generated psychological divisions and enormous social inequalities.

The return to Islamic identity is therefore a logical reaction: it is quite simply the vital reflex of ‘returning home’. But what Islamic identity are we seeking to promote? That of frustration, of ‘single thinking’ and withdrawal into oneself, or that of a spiritual humanism which has been able to heal the wounds of the past and recover a universalist vision of the world? Muslim countries must give themselves the means to move beyond the stage of resentment so that a positive psychology emerges.

Of course, there is a “double standard” in the West’s treatment of the Muslim world; of course, as Marcel Gauchet writes: “the West is blind to the effects of the globalization of the economy and morals” in Muslim countries, it “does not appreciate how the penetration of its ways of doing and thinking is destructive for the social relations in place 1”.

But the Muslim world must devote itself more to self-criticism, to objective and constructive self-criticism 1), in order to better understand itself and 2) to deliver a better image of itself.

The re-Islamization of society, which is reportedly underway in many Muslim countries, should not be brandished as a slogan; it must not lead to a standardization of dress or thought; rather, it must be experienced as a contemporary reading, and therefore adapted, of the rich and complex heritage of Islam.

It must not be limited to the world of forms: overall, Muslims have integrated Western technology, as Rashîd Ridâ already wanted, but that is not enough (those responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001 had also integrated the technique…). Above all, it is psychological behaviors that must change, because they determine political and social structures. So, as a Westerner, I see a lack of rigor and efficiency in certain Muslim societies, which is of course contrary to the ethics of Islam.

In the West, Muslim thinkers affirm that a “liberation theology” should be fostered in Islamic countries, like that which had been implemented in South America by certain Christian circles: in this way, Muslims could better sort out between the real and fundamental values ​​of Islam on the one hand, and on the other hand the accumulation of mentalities and customs which have been added over the centuries.

However, Muslims have assets, of which they sometimes seem little aware:

– The Islamic religious referent still manages their lives, which provides them with a collective moral strength which remains, despite all the handicaps, very dynamic; this is not the case in other regions of the world, hit once again by materialist “disenchantment”, which leads to nihilism. Despite the violent shocks caused by the irruption of modernity in Muslim countries, there remains a perceptible baraka because Islam is a living religion, and which maintains within it a living spirituality.

– In Muslim countries there is human potential, by which I mean “human warmth” which is increasingly lacking in the West. Despite the presence of a certain hypocrisy, there remains a social fabric, maintained by religious life, which is sorely lacking in the West. This is why Europeans – retired or not – will settle in the Maghreb, especially in Morocco as well as in Tunisia, while the former “pieds-noirs” settlers go again to Algeria.

– Beyond that, the Muslim world can bring – and already brings – to the West the example of a strong faith – when it is presented intelligently – and even spiritual nourishment. The West is indeed reaching the bottom of materialist civilization: if it still feels sure of itself in terms of having it, it is more than ever in search of being. In our fairly unstructured societies, where the diversity of individual experiences can be dizzying, Islamic spirituality balances and awakens young people from North African immigration, but also native Europeans.

Perspectives/proposals:

– The solution does not lie in backwardness, whether we call it “Salafism” or otherwise. We must look to the future by focusing on the spiritual universalism of Islam. Only spirituality gives meaning to Muslim identity, because it allows us to overcome antagonisms and logics of confrontation.

– In the name of Furqân, the Islamic principle of “discernment”, Muslims must find the middle way between blind imitation of the West and its visceral rejection: they can draw from it virtues such as the spirit of organization and civic-mindedness, analytical tools taken from the human sciences, etc., without in any way betraying their deep Islamic personality. Incidentally, I can testify that in the West there is also a certain ”single thought”, a ”political correctness” which quite subtly imposes ideas and behaviors, which exercises censorship and pressure, indirect but real.

– Muslim countries must make an effort to train their populations if they want to avoid the “clash of ignorance”. These populations must be taught the richness and diversity of classical Islamic culture so that they reject Islamic “ready-to-wear” fashion and do not let others impose a standardized way of life on them: an “Islamic globalization” which standardizes religious and social life is no more desirable, in my opinion, than “American globalization”.

– The various Muslim authorities do not know how to communicate, particularly with foreign countries; they should carry out information actions aimed at Western and other media, which criticize them for not sufficiently denouncing terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam.

Western media always highlight these acts, but ignore the enormous work of human development and peace education carried out by many Muslim groups, regardless of the sensitivities to which they belong. To present the essential message of Islam to the world, Muslim states and Islamic organizations must ensure the emergence of a civil, diverse and free elite, with access to international media.

In truth, we must give a soul to globalization, and Islam can greatly contribute to this.