FEATURE

Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, formerly Wymann-Landgraf, an American scholar associated with Al-Nawawi  Foundation, Chicago delivered a lecture on ‘Islam and the Question of Modernity’ on September 9 at Bangalore. Author of several books, Dr. Abd-Allah has taught at several universities in the US, Spain and Saudi Arabia. The lecture was organized by the Centre for Community Development (CCD).  Here we present a gist of his speech:

Often in general discussion the modernity is identified with secular humanism. But economic content of the modernity is neglected. In this business, science, technology, medicine etc become very important. It has to be borne in mind that modernity cannot succeed without religion if it is not beneficial to humanity and is not long lasting.
Man is known by the biological name Homo sapiens which means ‘animals with knowledge’. But man is basically Homo religosus as it is based on historical studies. They have always worshipped something. Even in Indian history there have been phases of religion and atheism. Twentieth century has been the most secular century worldover. It was an exceptional century. Religion underwent renewal and revival before the 20th century.
It is said a new religious movement is born every 12 hours in the 21stcentury. This testifies to the fact that humans are essentially religious. They are desperately looking for religion.
Religions always reinterpret themselves. Unless they do this, they get fossilized. Ancient Rome is a fine example. It had a huge pantheon of gods. Twentieth century is a century of rivalry. Modernity has created a crisis as it was in Roman empire.
Modernity is essentially a system of economy which is post agrarian. In agrarian phases, the economic system relied on land ownership and agricultural surplus. In the new economic system the corporates have an important role. East India Company made India’s transition from agrarian to industry. With new financial system, money found new form and functions. It led to the capitalist system and a new political system of nation-state. We have to keep our eyes on the economic system. The West cast its net wide and caught all the civilization and brought them on board. Philosopher Arnold Toynbee believed that Islam was a forerunner in this aspect. Islam had all elements of civilization. He found problems with Muslims as they lacked confidence, but their religion had all the element of a great civilization.
The synergy between Islamic, Chinese and Mongol civilizations brought forth modernity. Muslims were the first to usher the world into a new economic system whereby the wealth could be transferred from one to the other destination through a system akin to cheques as is the system today.
A horrendous development took place in the 14thcentury. It was bubonic plague. It probably began in Swat Valley (now in Pakistan) and gripped wide swathes of land from China to Europe. The black death crippled the world economic system. It was one of the reasons for fall of the Muslim Spain. It caused a great economic recession between 14th and 15thcentury. Following decline of the Muslim world, Europe rose. It brought in its wake the corporate system and colonialism.
Therefore, it is essential to understand the economic system in order to understand modernity and the challenges it poses. It is also absurd to think that the Europeans understand the economy fully. Modern democratic state is an apparatus to deal with the economic system.
Today, the economy has taken a lead over political system and the United States is nothing but ‘Democracy Incorporated’. Modern Corporations are extremely powerful and influence the governments more than the people can influence. The challenge is how do we save democracy from the stranglehold of the corporates.
A lot of confusion prevails in the Islamic world over the question,  how do we apply Islam and create value system? The Western economic machine has shown that it has seeds of destruction within itself. The First World War was about who would control the colonies. The Second World War was about control of oil and energy.
Some Muslims saw modernity as a threat. Some mistook modernity with Christianity. Muslims need to study the phenomenon objectively. Modernity remains a crisis for everyone. It is a spiritual challenge. The challenge is to control economic order in a way that it does not become a threat to world peace. Today we are psychologically vulnerable. 
(Dr. Abd-Allah suggested the following books for further reading on the topic: Islamic & European Expansion: The Forging of a Global Order [Paperback], Michael Adas, (Editor), 1993;  The World System in 13th century by Janet abu Lughout,  How do we Save the Democracy from Corporates? By Richard Bulliet, The case for Islamo-Christian Civilisationby Richard Bulliet: Modernist Islam 1840-1940, by Charles Kruzman by Oxford University Press; Liberal Islam by Charles Kruzman by Oxford University Press. )