Afghani. Zhema Rudin, Religious Reform And Thought

Sayyid Jamal ad-Din a1-Afghani, one of the outstanding figures of nineteenth-century Islamic history, has attracted increasing attention in both the East and the West in recent years. Afghani was one the first important leaders to try to reinterpret traditional Islamic ideas so as to meet the agonizing problems brought by the growing encroachments of the West into the Islamic world. Rejecting both pure traditionalism and blind imitation of the Christian West, he began what has become a continuing trend among Muslim modernists emphasizing pragmatic values needed for life in the modern world. These included political activism, the freer use of human reason, and efforts to build up the political and military power of Islamic states.Afghani strongly believed that the West was undermining the Muslim sense of identity by turning their conquered subjects away from their traditions, and that the West tricked Muslims into believing that Western ways of life and Western civilization was superior. Afghani argued throughout his life that Western civilization was not innately superior, it just happened to have the upper hand at that time because Muslim society was weak. Muslim society was, in his opinion, torn apart by internal division and immoral leaders. Furthermore, he felt that the Muslim people should take their future into their own hands.Although Afghani was, during his period of strongest influence, known primarily an ideologist of Pan-Islam, his style of thought has some affinity with numerous other trends in the modern Islamic world. These range from the Islamic Modernism to the Pan-Arabism and various other forms of Middle Eastern nationalism. Although Afghani's direct influence on these movements is often exaggerated, his mode of reinterpreting the Islamic past in modern terms displayed an approach that was to become increasingly popular in the Islamic world. Afghani has been chosen as a hero by so many modern Muslims. His example of devotion to the cause of liberating Muslims from their Western conquerors has added to his appeal in the contemporary Islamic world.By studying Afghani's life and writings, I tried to elaborate the importance of the Reformation that he advocated. On this paper, I argue that Afghani's call for religious reformation of Islam were not only a religious goal, but also a political one, meant to counter the infiltration of ideas from the West and the sense that Western society as a whole was to be imitated. I further argue that Afghani's argument was motivated by his belief that the world of Islam could only regain a place in history of greatness if it were united, instead of split by internal divisions.