By Dr. Moahib Saleh Mahdi – College of Islamic Sciences – University of Karbala
Dialectics of Thought Between Heritage and Modernity
- Dialectic of Reason and Text
When we look at the dialectical relationship between reason and text, and their mechanisms of interaction to reform life, apart from the claims and excesses of the modernistic presentation of this issue, we can see the inability of both traditional and positivist mentalities to create the required practical shift to uplift the nation and overcome stagnation and cultural decline.
The essence of the disagreement regarding reason, according to traditionalists and positivists, lies in the principles, concepts, and mental frameworks. Within the framework of traditional and positivist thought and the methodologies they follow, we aspire to avoid the one-sided vision within them and replace it with a unifying vision that connects the divine with the empirical and the normative with the situational. This vision seeks epistemic integration, drawing its knowledge principles from the revealed texts, which determine the overall meaning of existence and the foundations of sound thinking. It enables the use of reason to understand both the constants of natural and social realities, as well as their changes, to employ the gained understanding to develop human life and elevate it towards scientific, organizational, and emotional perfection.
The social, economic, cultural, and political crises that our nation is currently facing are, in essence, a crisis of a stagnant mind that has hardened thinking methodologies and lost its ability to act and influence. - Dialectic of the Structure of Reason and its Sources
Positivist reason suffers from the problem of its independence from revelation. This is the dilemma that Arab secularism and heritage critique studies have encountered. The flaw is exposed in their adoption of intellectual judgments derived from a historical experience of a different culture, while disregarding the role revelation played in shaping the scientific and methodological mind. The secular critique of heritage exposes the fallacies and risks in which secular advocates have involved themselves, as it is drawn from the boundaries of the positivist reason that began with Greek philosophy and extended through the European Renaissance.
The structure of reason and its source is the core of the conflict and dispute between different intellectual directions. This is seen in the existence of necessary intellectual principles that enable reason to judge truth or falsehood concerning procedural judgments and the overarching reality when analyzing culture and the role of the comprehensive vision in shaping judgments.
We reach an important conclusion: cultural renewal is linked to re-evaluating the credibility of acquired intellectual principles and judgments by employing innate principles of reason to discover contradictions and internal conflicts. By comparing inherited judgments with those emerging from an original perspective of total reality. - Dialectic of the Conflict Between Reason and Text
The problem of the conflict between heritage and modernity is, in fact, a problem of conflict between two mentalities: a traditional mentality, shackled by the verbal proofs and historical implications of the texts, and a integrative mentality that understands the text within its rhetorical and current context, striving to determine its overall objectives and link them with the general objectives of discourse.
The problem is related to determining the methodology to overcome any conflict or contradiction between practical and textual judgments, when they arise. Moreover, the issue is not about doubting the importance of revelation and reason in guiding human life, but rather about the conflict between two mentalities or methodologies of reasoning and thought, and the priorities of sources. To resolve this dialectic, the issue must be addressed within the framework of an integrative mind that relies on the Qur’anic vision and practical human experience. This is the mind that established the great Islamic civilization and then receded, making way for a traditional mentality. - Structure of Traditional Reason
Traditional intellectual stock is built from the Qur’an and Sunnah, between the Qur’anic vision and textual methodology. The Qur’anic vision is defined by general principles and overarching goals derived from the Qur’an, organized within systems that achieve internal coherence, structured in a value hierarchy distinguishing the primary from the secondary.
As for the Sunnah, it is primarily an applied model of the Qur’anic vision, as derived by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and manifested in his behavior and stances. Following the Sunnah is not about mimicking the Prophet’s actions without understanding their motives and goals but requires drawing principles and employing the Qur’anic vision that guided his conduct, even if it leads to deviating from the apparent action itself.
The historical development of the relationship between the Sunnah and the Qur’an, and how it has come to be viewed by later generations as an independent source equivalent to the Qur’an, is the product of efforts to collect Hadiths and distinguish the authentic from the weak. This process resulted in a halt in the use of reason within the text and a retreat in ijtihad among those who strictly followed the Sunnah, in contrast to another group that adopted a methodological approach of analogy (Qiyas), attempting to revive the spirit of the legal rules methodology initiated by scholars such as Ibn Abdul-Salam, Al-Suyuti, Al-Sabki, and Al-Shatibi in facing the dominance of textual methodology.
Meanwhile, followers of the Ahl al-Bayt school relied on a combination of sciences such as Usul al-Fiqh to reach a comprehensive understanding, which regulates the intellectual process of understanding the meanings of texts and extracting the underlying judgment in them, ensuring its application in reality without nullifying reason or restricting it, allowing its use in both natural and social human affairs. - Between Reason and Causality
The relationship between reason and the law of causality, as well as the role of beliefs and the unseen in defining this relationship, takes humanity from the world of superstition and sorcery to the realm of scientific and intellectual inquiry when it liberated human thought from the magical conception of nature and equipped it with a scientific understanding.
In the history of Islamic civilization, when Muslim theologians tried to confront the excesses and illusions of Greek philosophy in this regard, their attempt soon turned into a conflict between Muslim philosophers and theologians, leading to the elimination of most of the sciences developed by Muslims based on contributions from previous civilizations in both the unseen and natural realms.
When tracking the journey of reason between Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, and the theologians, we observe the confusion in the intellectual framework when attempting to affirm divine omnipotence in a way that negates the law of causality and diminishes the value of scientific methodology. There is a need to acknowledge causality and discuss the discussions around it, addressing the rules and systems of intellectual movement when studying the natural system and developing natural sciences. - Between Values and the Projectionist Method
Another dialectic exists between social theory methodologies: the positivist approach, which disregards values and their influence on social and political development, and the projectionist approach, which emerges from value-based ethical commitments, neglecting the structure of reality and mechanisms of social change.
The solution to this dialectic lies in identifying the unique nature of human behavior, distinct from the behavior of inanimate objects and animals, and the blending of organic and natural characteristics with psychological and spiritual qualities, granting humans the ability to free themselves from natural necessities. The individual’s behavior also differs from the collective culture, which sets common behavioral norms.
Therefore, we see in the methodology of Martyr Sadr, his call to study history and its relationship with social phenomena, aiming to establish a social science based on metaphysical principles and historical realities.
Delving into history, we find that Ibn Khaldun spoke about the Western system, which was immersed in the prevailing positivist stance that neglects the spiritual and ethical dimension, wishing to add a normative dimension that relies on the current reality as a reference for validity, aiming to retain the dominant position of Western society and block efforts to develop alternative civilizations and different social forms.
Despite the historical specificity of the prevailing positivist methodology in Western social studies and its rejection of the conceptual and value-based reference of revelation, most social researchers in the Arab and Islamic world rely on positivist approaches in their studies of social phenomena. In recent decades, research and writings by Islamic thinkers rejecting secularism and the positivist methodology have emerged, but the majority of these studies have adopted a projectionist methodology in dealing with social reality, which ignores the preferential structure of society and history, relying on simple inferences and social realities.
Thus, it is essential to seek a methodological integration in social studies to overcome the reductionism present in both positivist and projectionist approaches. This integrative methodology relies on higher premises as the normative foundation for scientific research and uses the comprehensive goals of Islamic social action to understand the nature of social relationships from within, creating theories and developing a conceptual apparatus that ensures internal consistency and the ability to interpret social facts. - Interconnection of Systems
A thesis for intellectual education must be established on an interconnected system that transcends reductionism, partial theories, and merely applying reason to one aspect of existence while neglecting others. The cultural revival and effective civilization we aspire to build can only be achieved by relying on higher tendencies that encourage individuals and societies to strive and work hard to achieve the values of justice, knowledge, cooperation, goodness, and solidarity. These should interact with intellectual capacities to transform lofty ideals into organizational models and practical means that go beyond the fragmented views of both the positivist and traditional intellectual systems.
