Part 2: Jinnah's contradictory statements on secularism and an Islamic system must be seen in the context of Syed Ahmed Khan's radical naturalist reinterpretation of Islam. Its central characteristic was its brutal criticism of Taqlid (which was continued by Iqbal). The Aligarh School not only deeply influenced the intellectual milieu of the Muslim League of the 1940s, it provided the intellectual justification (right or wrongly) for reconciling Islam with modernity, secularism, democracy, and scientific rationalism.
Hence, to turn Jinnah's statements into a justification for theocracy totally misrepresents how opposed he was to the Taqlidi ulema of his times. In contemporary Pakistan, however, when we talk of the imposition of an "Islamic system", it is sadly not Sir Syed interpretation of Islam that we refer to (most of the public is not even familiar with this interpretation). But the interpretation of the opponents of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. It is the taqlidi and other orthodox ulema whose interpretation of Islam is put forward and sadly also accepted as the genuine Islam.
Have Syed Ahmed Khan, Iqbal and Jinnah lost in the grand project of reforming the Islamic intellectual tradition? Your thoughts...
20 авг 2024
