Islamic Liberalism and America

This article was previously published in Indonesian at 16/8/2004

There has been a sharp debate in Arabic lands about the relation between the trend of Islamic liberalism and American policy. Sayyid Yasin, a senior researcher at Centre of Ahram Strategic Studies of Egypt for instance, tried to associate the liberal Islamic trend in Arab with US foreign policy. Yasin referred to the report of United States (US) researcher, Cheryl Bernard, who work at National Security Research Division, The RAND Corporation, under the title of Civic Democratic Islam; Partner, Resources, and Strategies (2003). To Yasin, Bernard’s report is ‘dangerous’ since it is not only contained of trends of Islamic thought –Islamic fundamentalism, revivalism and terrorism—but also strategic report for the US foreign policy. That research recommends the US to confront Muslim fundamentalists, by supporting Islamic secularism, modernism, and liberalism. Yasin finally accuses that Islamic secularism, modernism and liberalism is none other than the US ‘message’.

Yasin raised up about two matters: first, about the transformation of a nation’s political policy; second, about the originality of Islamic liberalism.

First, this charge is not new. A similar charge is used by Islamic fundamentalism against the trend of Islamic liberalism. They assumed that there is a ‘smell’ of US involvement in the trend of Islamic liberalism. They forgot that Cheryl Bernard’s research and etc is both a recommendation as well as a criticism of US foreign policy. Before the tragedy of 11 September 2001, the US played a huge share in developing Islamic fundamentalism which is the origin of terrorism. America has just been rethinking its policy as soon as they realized that their national security was threatened by the terrorists brought up by their own military and the CIA.

The US support, in the form of fund, military equipment, strategy of war, are real in the case of Al-Qaeda network led by Ben Laden, Taliban regime, and Afghani mujahedeen (defenders of the faith), when it clashed with the Soviet Union. Now the history turned! Their colleagues become a real enemy, and undermined the life of the US (Musthafa Abd Rahman: 2003). The intimate relation between US and Saddam regime in the war against Iran is not a secret. In the Iranian-Iraqi war, the Soviet Union was behind Iran, while US supported Iraq. Now the US toppled Saddam. The US has spoiled the Islamic fundamentalisms in Saudi Arabia, by neglecting the danger of wahhabism which has disseminated the seeds of terrorism. Only after the 11 September tragedy did America became busy in freezing Saudi funding institutions that give financial support to terrorism.

Unfortunately, as conveyed by Fareed Zakaria (Newsweek, 29/06/2004), the Saudi people still empathize with Islamic fundamentalism rather than with Islamic reformism. The tragedy of 11 September has not changed them. They consider Ben Laden a hero and claimed that tragedy of 11 September was a US-Israeli conspiracy. However when terrorists killed 35 persons and wounded 200 persons (12/05/2003) in Riyadh, they came to realize that what had happened in New York happens in the holy land as well. Now they also live in fear due to the escalating terrorism. Since then there has been the emergence of Islamic moderation against the mainstream of radical wahhabism. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia have asked the preachers and ulemas to talk about Islamic moderation and tolerance!

The 11 September tragedy gives precious lesson for the US and several countries supporting religious fundamentalism. Cynically, Egyptian thinker, Sayyid Al-Qumni in his book Syukran Yâ bin Lâdin (Thanks Ben Laden!) wrote that US and fundamentalist countries have to thank to Ben laden. Without him, their political choice will never change!

The Roots of Islamic Liberalism

The claim that the concept of Islamic liberalism is merely a US message is often heard. People who are concerned with the issue of freedom of thinking and faith, democracy, rationality, woman’s roles, human rights and so on are seen as influenced by the Western agenda. This assumption indicates that Islam has no original teaching regarding those matters.

However, we can find the root of Islamic liberalism from the reformist figures in Tunisia and Morocco such as Syekh Abd Aziz al-Tsa’alabi. In 1904, al-Tsa’alabi wrote a book under the title L’esprit Libéral du Coran which is translated into Arabic as Rû

hut Tah

arrur fîl Qur’ân (Liberal Spirit in Koran). At that early time, he called for the urgency of revitalizing woman’s roles, tolerance, rejecting fanaticism, reinterpretation of jihad verses, and the urgency of dialog between Islam and other religions. The amazing thing is that al-Tsa’alabi laid his notions upon the liberating élan contained in Koran. To him, if Koran could not be the liberating élan, it will be shackled by fanatic interpretation, and not the liberal interpretation. Al-Tsa’alabi’s work indicates that the roots of Islamic liberalism is strongly embedded in the verses of the Koran.

Another example is Gamal al-Banna. This youngest brother of the founder of Al-Ikhwanul Muslimun (Muslim Brethren), Hasan al-Banna, claimed that his elder brother was a liberal figure. He admitted that the Koran is a liberal book. Al-Banna said that his elder brother is a man who recognized the freedom of faith. Even in the principles (mabâdî’) of Al-Ikhwanul Muslimun, he inserted verses supporting freedom of faith like man syâ’ fal yu’min waman syâ‘a fal yakfur (anyone may believe or disbelieve in god). Al-Banna viewed that exclusivity and fanaticism within the activist of Al-Ikhwanul Muslimun is a ‘virus’ of Sayyid Quthb’s thought; and not the original thought of al-Banna. Through his work, like Na

hwa Fiqhin Jadîd (toward a new fikh), Tatswîrul Qur’ân (revolutionizing Koran), al-Mar’atul Muslimah Bayna Tah

rîril Qur’ân wa Taqyîdil Fuqâhâ (woman between Koranic liberation and the shackle of Muslim scholars), al-Banna indicates that liberalism is the most original vital élan in the Koran.

Our conclusion is this: the trend of Islamic liberalism has nothing to do with the US message, conceptually as well as politically. The Islamic liberalism upholding democracy will always be critical upon the US foreign policy which contradicts democratic principles. Islamic liberalism and US will be in a line whenever they encounter fundamentalism or terrorism. But the second motive is different: the US against terrorism with the motive of security an its interest, while Islamic liberalism challenges fundamentalism and terrorism since both are against Islam’s basic notions, and potentially exterminate the future of Islam. []

Mohamad Guntur Romli, Student of Al-AzharUniversityCairo, Egypt, and Activist of KOSIEM (Komunitas Islam Emansipatoris)

(Translated by Lanny Octavia, edited by Jonathan Zilberg)