A Battle of Thoughts

This article was published in Indonesian at 31/5/2004

The term “ghazwul fikri” is very popular in Islamic circles. This term originated from the Arabic language and literally means “battle of thought” though who used it for the first time is not known. The works of Sayyid Qutb, Muhammad Qutb, Said Hawwa, and the ideologists of the Muslim Brethren often used this term with a “crusader’s” spirit.

The users of this term believe that Western thought tends to attack and to have a negative impact on Muslim thought. Those thoughts may poison and keep Muslims away from Islam. “Therefore”, as Muhammad Quthb said, the “battle of thought is far more dangerous than physical war.” They also believe in the existence of “influence theory” wherein a Muslim will be influenced and trapped in the nets of Zionism and crusaders whenever they study the Westerner’s anda particularly the orientalist’s work in detail.

I think, “ghazwul fikri, “influence theory”, must be observed critically. Since every thought -whatever and wherever its source- is a form of “battle” and has influence upon anyone engaged in it.

The Muslims who have observed and engaged with Western thought have never been destructive. On the contrary, they are reformists whose names are recorded honourably in the history of Islamic modern thought. Take for example, Rif’at Tahtawi, Muhammad Abduh, Al-Kawakibi, Taha Hussein, Muhammad Iqbal, Fazlur Rahman, Syed Hussein Nasr, Hassan Hanafi, and Nurcholish Madjid. They all are reformists who have contributed a lot to the development of Islamic thought.

On the contrary, people who read the works of the advocates of “ghazwul fikri” and influence theory, have become engaged in destruction and violence. Take for example Osama ben Laden and the 19 terrorists who exploded the WTC on ninth of September 2001 all of whom were familiar with the books of Sayyid Quthb. In an interview far before the 9/11, Osama admitted that Fi Dhilal al-Qur’an by Sayyid Qutb was the most influential book he had ever read.

The most important ghazwul fikri for the Muslim now is to fight against the simplistic and foolish thoughts which frequently require them to hate and taunt their “enemy” while the true enemy is themselves.

It is the time for Muslims to think positively, openly, critically, and to dare to take their own position without being ruled over by authoritarian thought in the name of religion.

The most important ghazwul fikri for the Muslim now is to fight against the racist, intolerant, and hateful thoughts held towards others. Some of those thoughts are the inheritance of the past, and the rest are their own conceptions derived from an anti-Western and anti-Orientalist schizophrenia. [Luthfi Assyaukanie]

(Translated by Lanny Octavia, edited by Jonathan Zilberg)