Word of God and Work of God

Reading Sir Sayyid’s Stance on Islam’s Conformity with Rationalism and Science

By Dr Tauseef Ahmad Parray

SIR Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) was undoubtedly a multi-dimensional personality: a pioneer of Islamic modernism, educational and political activist, theologian, journalist, and the chief organizer of 19th century Islamic reformist thought in the Sub-Continent. Recognized as the first Indian Muslim to felt the need, and working, for a fresh orientation of Islam, Sir Sayyid called for a bold new theology (jadid ilm al-kalam) or reinterpretation of Islam. His contribution mainly falls in the educational and socio-religious reformation.

Back in 1960s, Aziz Ahmad (in his Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan) argued that Sir Sayyid’s achievements as a religious thinker in the context of Islamic modernism can be recognized as tackling with two broadly distinct problems: (i) the rationalization of the minutiae of non-essential dogma” and (ii) “the liberalization of Islamic law”. Regarding latter, Sir Sayyid’s work is so dynamic and constructive that it made tremendous impression on modern Islam in general and on Indian Islam in particular. Similarly, Wilfred Cantwell Smith (in his Modern Islam in India) remarked that the “ideas which Sir Sayyid was putting forth, and the religion he fashioned, was explicitly and in fact an Islam thoroughly compatible with progress, liberal and humanitarian morality, and its scientific rationalism”. This is how Sir Sayyid’s thought and contribution, as a socio-religious reformer, was perceived in the 20^th century.

Coming straight to the 21^st century, Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami (in his lengthy Forward to Prof. A. R. Kidwai’s edited volume, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Muslim Renaissance Man of India) states that Sir Sayyid was, “one of the architects of a Muslim intellectual renaissance in India hardly imaginable in the mid-nineteenth century”, for his efforts and contribution as a “scholar, social reformer, theologian, political thinker, journalist, legislator, cultural historian, pioneer in comparative religious studies, advocate for mass education”, and in many other fields. He, and his legacy, remains relevant even today for many reasons, and one of the major reasons, for Nizami, is that “the issues he faced 150 years ago are, for Muslim communities everywhere, as current as they were then, and perhaps even more intractable.”

These statements are self-evident regarding the impact, influence and relevance of Sir Sayyid’s scientific and rational thought, both in past and present. In this context and keeping in view the birth anniversay of this great reformer, this article presents an assessment of Sir Sayyid’s scientific thought, by highlighting his stance on Islam’s conformity with Rationality and Rationalism nd his views on Religion-Science compatibility and how his scholarship has been received by the Mulsim and non-Muslims.

Sir Sayyid’s Stance on the Religion-Science Compatibility: Is Islam compatible with science? Or is there conformity between reason and revelation? This was one of the fundamental issues faced, and addressed, by the Muslim modernists of 19^th century, including Sir Sayyid. Besides demythologizing the Qur’anic interpretation and calls for renewed ijtihad, one of the crucial and significant themes in the writings of Sir Sayyid was to characterize congruence in between the Sacred Text and science and reason. A staunch believer of Religion-Science compatibility, he considered natural law and divine law to be the same, because, he believed, revelation cannot be opposed to scientific actuality and that an agreement between God’s word and work is essential. His object was to remove apparent contradictions between Islamic teachings and science—hence his oft-repeated thesis: ‘Islam is nature and nature is Islam’. He, thus, proposed a rule in case of perceived conflict between a law of nature and the Qur’anic verse: the Work (nature) qualifies the Word (verse) of God; i.e., the Qur’an as the word of God cannot be in conflict and contradiction with Nature as the Work of God: “There is no matter in the Qur’an disagreeing with the laws of nature”.

He puts forth this thesis as: “it would be highly irrational to maintain that God’s work and God’s word are different and unrelated to one another. All beings, including humans, are God’s work, and religion is His word; the two cannot be in conflict”. Thus, he concluded that “Islam is in full accordance with nature” because “Islam is nature and nature is Islam”

Furthermore, Sir Sayyid argued that if we keep in view the principles deducible from the Quran itself, we shall find that there is no contradiction between the modern sciences, on the one hand, and the Quran and Islam, on the other.

He also believed that in secular matters where Islam is silent, Muslims should imitate the western practices. He believed in religious pluralism and considered it absurd to believe that God’s prophets appeared only in Arabia and Palestine to reform a handful of Arabs and Jews, and that other peoples were denied knowledge of the divine. He may be considered, as Riffat Hassan argues (in her chapter on South Asia in Shireen T. Hunter’s Reformist Voices in Islam) as a pioneer in “Inter-faith Dialogue” as “he worked for greater understanding and goodwill and harmony among Muslim sects and between Muslims and non-Muslims”.

Thus, the ideas put forth by him, and the religion fashioned by him, was, to use Smith’s terminology, in fact an Islam thoroughly compatible with progress and the “[Western] scientific rationalism. It will not be an exaggeration to call Sir Sayyid as being, undoubtedly, the most rational in his approach and ideas.

 Sir Sayyid’s ‘Rational Interpretation’ of Islam and its Scholarly Reception: Various writings, both in past and present, have emphasized and appreciated different areas of Sir Sayyid’s thought and activity, social, political, religious, educational and culturalin which he made reforms. But almost all agree that his prime achievement was a revival of Muslim morale and prestige in British India, and that to him goes the credit for having re-established the dynamism of the Muslims in India as a socio-political force. Sir Sayyid’s socio-religious reforms, of various sorts, which he initiated and introduced, have been highly appreciated, though sometimes criticized (especially by some Ulama) as well. In this context, below is presented a brief summary of the views, praise and appreciation of some of the scholars and writers (both Muslims and non-Muslims), revealing both the importance as well as relevance of Sir Sayyid’s rational interpretation of Islam and his reformist thought.

For example, Aziz Ahmad regards his efforts as a “dynamic and constructive achievement that made a tremendous impression on modern Islam. In the words of Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Sir Sayyid was one of the towering personalities in the galaxy of the 19^th century Muslims reformers, who zealously worked to bring about a change in the Muslim thought and behavior and in fact contributed many essential elements to the development of modern Indian society. For Trara Chand, he brought “a revolution in Muslim thought” and Bashir Ahmad Dar (in his Religious Thought of Sayyid Ahmad Khan) considers Sir Sayyid as “the first man in modern India to realize the necessity for a new interpretation of Islam that was liberal, modern, and progressive.

Similarly, Sir Sayyid’s reformist efforts, as summarized by FrancisnRobinson (in his chapter on South Asia in 5th volume of The New Cambridge History of Islam), were “aimed to fashion Muslims who were able to operate with success in the world of Western knowledge and British power”. In his opinion, Sayyid Ahmad’s achievement was more than just the fashioning of Islamic modernism and creating the key institution of Muslim higher education; he inspired innovation across a broad front designed to help Muslims embrace modernity, which came to be called the Aligarh movement.

It is an undeniable fact that a significant and systematic activity introduced by modernists like Sir Sayyid was an emphasis on the need to reinterpret Islamic law through dynamic legal tools (like Ijtihad) and through rational approach.

To cut a long story short, it is not an exaggeration to say that Sir Sayyid was a true heir of Shah Waliullah’s reformist legacy and one of the pioneers of Islamic modernism. He emphasised, in high terms, the socio-religious and intellectual reform and is truly recognized as the initiator of a revolution in Muslim thought, who called for a new theology to respond to the modern challenges and change. Emphasizing a rationalist approach to Islam and to religious matters, Sir Sayyid held the view that there is no contradiction between Word of God (Quran) and Work of God (Nature). In keeping with his rationalist attitude, he underscored the importance of Ijtihad and a rational interpretation of Islamic religious sources and thought, for he believed that both of these were necessary to make Islam acceptable to the new age, and that Muslims would not understand Islam and others would not appreciate it unless it was presented rationally. He, thus, proved as the pioneering representative of Islamic modernism in South Asia who presented a new orientation of Islam and reacted to the modern age.

Note: Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s birth anniversary is on the 17th of October, Monday

• Dr Tauseef Ahmad Parray is Assistant Professor, Islamic Studies, Govt. Degree College Sogam, (Kupwara). Feedback at [email protected]

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