Reflections on the Modern Middle East
September 19, 2007, 3:20PM-5:20PM
Mugar 200, Cabot Intercultural Center, Tufts University - Medford, MA
Speaker: Nazik Yared, Author, Secularism and the Arab World: (1850-1939)

Summary

Nazik Yared, novelist and author of Secularism and the Arab World: (1850—1939), spoke about post-World War I tensions in the Middle East between populations that clung to the past and intellectuals who forecasted the needs of the future. Specifically, she focused on several approaches to progress that were often championed by intellectuals in the region.

First, Yared noted that spiritual and temporal realms had been unified since the dawn of Arab history, but that a number of intellectuals believed that separating these spheres would be critical to fostering progress in the region. While traditionalists contested that religion serves as a unifying factor in Arab societies, intellectuals such as Ahmad Lutfi Al-Sayid (d. 1963) argued that societies are constructed instead upon common interest. As well, Ali Abd al-Raziq (d. 1966) and Taha Hussein (d. 1973) noted that the absence of political discourse in the hadith suggests that Islam does not deal with temporal political concerns such as governance. Nazira Zein al-Deen (d. 1976) claimed that if Islamic laws had been subject to change in the past, further revision would be possible in the future. In general, intellectuals supported the view that eliminating religion from the temporal world would liberate rational thought from persecution by the clergy.

Second, intellectuals in the region articulated the limitations of religion for society, believing that a stronger distinction between religion itself and those who merely spoke about religion would lead to progress. While many secular intellectuals considered religion as suitable for the development of morals, they judged some religious clerics and fanatics as ignorant, corrupt, immoral, and superstitious. Traditional Muslims believed that Islamic texts are not intended for analysis and criticism, but intellectuals such as Nazira Zein al-Deen asserted that rationality should be used in order to interpret the Quran and hadith. Taha Hussein was brought before a tribunal in Egypt in relation to the banning of his book on pre-Islamic poetry, which claimed that Islamic texts—like any other literary text—should be subject to critique and study.

Finally, Yared spoke about the promotion of legal and political reform by intellectuals in the Middle East. Traditionalists identified elements of democracy in former Arab governments, such as the process of consensus that informed the selection of Prophet Mohammad’s successor. Meanwhile, some intellectuals claimed that such Arab governments would be better categorized as oligarchies that were not accountable to their citizens, and that Islamic shura is not a true representation of democracy. Intellectuals suggested that education and economic reform would create a genuine foundation of democracy in the Arab world. Education methodology that incorporated reason and questioning, rather than rote memorization, would promote awareness and criticism of existing legal and political structures. Likewise, the economic and political empowerment of bourgeoisie classes would increase checks and balances to increase the accountability of Arab governments.

~ By Julia Bennett (MALD ’08)

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