Every Muslim talks about the Golden Age of Islam, and is nostalgic about it. Rightly so. In terms of science, medical progress, scientific achievements, and philosophical, religious inquiries, Islam and Muslim societies were recognized as the gateway to knowledge. While the Muslims derive great satisfaction in recounting the past glory of Islam, no one is interested in answering the questions as to how these things ended?
There must be a reason for this. Why Islam suddenly went into a deep freeze intellectually speaking. The process of going from religious commitment to religious confusion begs understanding and inquiry especially by Muslims themselves.
Critical to the understanding of the problem is to note the attitude of the early Muslims; if they had actually been insular and resistant to the ideas and beliefs of other cultures, there never would have been the flowering of philosophy, poetry, ethics, and mysticism, influenced by the best thinking of the surrounding cultures.
Their main mission was to lend Quranic authority to contemporary social struggles and engage with local customs, culture & traditions to synthesize & evolve a dynamic culture of their own. The Quranic framework became the matrix of their society and social moral values.
This they could have hardly done without critical thinking and a spirit of free inquiry. In their mind were questions about freedom and tradition. What is it that they were inheriting, as well as what capacities they had for critiquing that inheritance? These questions were in their face as much as they are now in the face of contemporary Muslims. Yet the earlier generation did not falter. They pursued knowledge relentlessly and with an open mind. All of this resulted in the glory of that Islam which the Muslims now pine for and refer to as “going back to”.
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1:14 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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