For my M.A. pre-911, I did extensive field research on Islam in India. Islam (and India) continues to intrigue me today…not because of politics or terrorism but because of its worldview which varies greatly from mine. I am a firm believer that in order to work and live in a pluralistic society, it’s best to start with understanding and commonalities versus fighting over the differences, (though healthy, mature debate can lead to understanding).
Last summer I read a book by Muslim author Akbar S. Ahmed Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization which revolutionized the way I view Islam and I believe it can help us understand contemporary Muslim worldviews in such a way as to breed discussion and positive interaction rather than fear, knee-jerk reactions and prejudice.
In his book, Ahmed uses three categories to describe the prevailing Muslim worldviews in light of globalization. He identifies three Indian cities as metaphors for those views. The cities “represent different interpretations of Islam in the minds of the local people associated with particular Muslim perspectives.” The 3 models are recognized worldwide, says Ahmed, although they are labeled differently by different societies and peoples (Ahmed, 33).
In brief, while each retains the core Islamic faith in the Quran and the Prophet, they differ radically:
Preserving – Islam preserving orthodoxy and the purity of Islam, especially in the face of non-Islamic peoples/politics, etc., being able to stand up to the West/US in so doing. It can be as meaningful as apologetics and valuing the fundamentals of Islamic faith and practice or as violent as militancy and terrorism. In South Asia it may be represented by groups such as Dr. Zakir Naik (Islamic Research Foundation - Mumbai), the Deoband movement with it’s Tablighi movement as well as those more militant underground groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Taliban which condone violence as part of their core beliefs.
Accepting – Islam accepting the mystical and superstitious – Sufism – focusing on people and places of spiritual power even to an extreme – holding those as equal to or above the authority of the Quran and traditional teaching. In South Asia this can be represented by the Chisti Sufi movement out of Ajmer and the Barelvi movement out of Bareilly, UP, India. (See map)
Synthesizing – Islam finding harmony with modernity – keeping orthodox faith in tact while incorporating modern values such as women’s rights, democracy, education for women, feminism, secularism, etc., Progressive. In South Asia it may be represented by those embracing Aligarh University and the Ahmadiyya sect.
Ahmed’s models are generalizations. Individuals, communities, societies and countries can embody multiple models at once. Yet with the aid of these three 3 models one can better appreciate how Muslims view themselves. Here are two examples I can give that may help demonstrate these models:
A woman wearing a t-shirt and jeans changing into a full burqa and hijab face-covering in an airplane just before disembarking can mean she is Synthesizing at heart yet conforms to the Preserving community – whether it be the influence of family, friends or society – each pulling her one way or another. A Muslim who loudly and even abrasively shows an affinity for the Quran and Sharia (law) demonstrates a Preserving identity yet he may also empathize with modern women’s rights and education for all, including in modern sciences, showing a clear overlap with the Synthesizing model.
This is meant to be an introduction to and interaction with the differing Muslim world views based on Akbar Ahmed’s model. By no means is this meant to be a reference guide on Islam. I am currently working through this at length, examining each of the 3 models as it is expressed in India. I really believe this model can help us understand and interact with Muslims in a much more effective way.
My Journey
For over a decade I have functioned on the conclusion that some issues in Christians relating to Muslims have limited value…like apologetics. To further explain, unless a person is a genuine seeker of truth and a mutually beneficial relationship, the first questions coming from SA Muslims in my experience are most likely not coming from a heart-felt conviction of the truth. They are simply telling regurgitated teachings given in madrasas and masjids all over the region. Unlike most Hindus, Muslims are taught an apologetic against Christianity from a very young age. Thus, this predisposes them against Christians and Christianity. Using apologetics with South Asian Muslims I found is a circular argument at best. Very few of those I spoke with ever spoke about their personal views…only those espoused by their community. I realize this is a particularly South Asian cultural value - the community as a whole being valued over an individual’s perceptions and ideas.
I have run into many Muslims who stand on apologetics as if it were The Answer to interacting with non-Muslims. I have witnessed them teach Christians about Islam and passionately go on and on about the logic of the Quran. I’ve seen Christians do the same – using apologetics with Muslims as if this approach was The Answer. In my view, if anything, this particular approach for interfaith understanding creates hostility and anger on both sides rather than drawing them closer together in understanding relationships. This led me to at times dismiss the value of apologetics, even speaking against it, offering much more practical tools instead.
Then something happened. I read Akbar Ahmed’s book.
Until then, I had looked at Islam through the traditional learning I was taught: that the Islamic worldview was divided into the two main branches - Sunni and Shia, both with their Sufi and popular Islamic expressions - Sunni Islam reflecting the majority of Islam in the world and Shia Islam the minority with the various representations of its belief system. Both divisions in Islam cling to the core 5 Pillars, 6 main beliefs along with the main schools of Islamic law. Do please forgive the oversimplification - but combine this with their more militant and progressive expressions, throw in the challenges of nominalism, materialism and secularism, humanism, and even tribalism, etc., and there you have it. Again, this is intentionally an oversimplification but I think the idea remains clear and intact.
An example of how this perspective might look:
Sunni and Shia remain distinct yet Popular and Sufi Islam occur in both. Parts of Popular and Sufi Islam move beyond orthodox Islamic teaching and are rejected by it in both divisions, thus the circles move outside the Sunni and Shia squares. Most categories non-Muslims have used to describe Islam have been an attempt to use Islam’s own definitions – how does how do politics and religion relate, etc., as well as from how Muslims described themselves to the rest of the world.
Using this lens to view Islam, I think Americans in particular remain troubled in regard to understanding Muslim peoples. Which voice do we listen to? Who speaks for Muslims in general, articulating their ideals? What’s the difference between a Saudi Wahhabi Muslim versus a Shaikh Muslim from Mumbai or an Ansari Muslim in Bihar or a Khan in Chicago? What implications do those differences have for community development and business…even for interfaith relations? We have found language differences helpful as well as some practical differences, yet we Americans still remain in the dark about most Muslim peoples in the world, let alone here in South Asia.
Then comes Akbar Ahmed’s models to help. (Circles come from a colleagues idea interacting with Ahmed's model).
By using what we already know about Islam as described above and combining it with Ahmed’s model I think this can revolutionize our thinking. It certainly has revolutionized mine.
While thinking through these things, I ran into one of my South Asian friends who is part of a well-known Muslim organization in the country. He specializes in apologetics specifically using the Quran and Hadith. Out of sincere friendship for this man, I once again sat at his feet, ready to learn from him, though I confess I have grown dissatisfied with Muslim apologetics I’ve heard time and time again. For me, it seems to offer little practical, let alone theological help for understanding.
As I listened, I put Ahmed’s model together with what I was hearing from him and I was floored. Here is a man whose heart and mind was thoroughly convinced of his ideals. I thought of his background. Using Ahmed’s model, I realized he most likely had a very strong Preserving influence on his life as a Muslim. To preserve the truth is of critical importance for him and now sharing with me, he was demonstrating that. He was articulating something of great value to himself. He desperately needed those answers apologetics could give him for his faith and life. Now, it naturally exuded from his lips with passion as he could express his ideals in a greater and more meaningful depth than ever. I have not met many people like him - who are not simply regurgitating what some scholar or theologian has touted. I still hold strongly to the limited effectiveness of apologetics for community understanding, but my conclusions have been amended to include affirming my friend’s passion and the reasons for it.
This is not to ignore other significant issues. There still remains the tendency to do something not because it is effective but because we are good at doing it - even apologetics. Just because someone uses apologetics to defend or explain his world-view does not mean it will do the job … that others truly will understand. Adding Ahmed’s model to what we Americans already know could greatly help us in our pursuit of understanding Muslims in our own backyard.
As helpful as these models are, they are simply generalizations. Sometimes the models overlap and at other times individuals move from one to another depending on community expectations, etc.. Muslim countries do not neatly fit one model, yet with the aid of these three 3 models one can better appreciate how mainstream Muslims view themselves (Ahmed, 38-39). Ahmed correctly observes:
Mystics reach out to other faiths, traditionalists want to preserve the purity of Islam and modernists attempt to synthesize society with other non-Muslim systems. But most people in the West do not understand the complexity of Muslim society through such models…they reduce understanding of US relations with the Muslim world to good versus evil and divide Muslims crudely into moderates versus extremists. (Ahmed, 32)
And further, Ahmed offers explanation in response:
While Muslims were aware of the process of globalization and may [have] wished to participate in them, they felt they were being denied access to its benefits. In their disappointment, they turned in anger to role models who promised them some hope of redeeming their honor and dignity. That is why so many young Muslims in the age of globalization prefer bin Laden to Bill Gates. (Ahmed, 16).
A Muslim must balance the need to strive for the next world while living in this one – it is well to recall the classic definition of ideal Islam as achieving perfect equilibrium between these two worlds, deen and dunya respectively, or between spirituality and worldliness. Each of the models just defined attempts to achieve precisely this, although by means of manifestly different strategies. In each case, Muslims work to find a happy medium between the pull of the market and the mosque. The problem, as will become clear, is that each lays greater emphasis on one or the other, which upsets the delicate balance that Islam once struggled so assiduously to maintain. So while Ajmer followers may spend more time thinking of the hereafter and ignoring the world, those favoring the Aligarh model may be doing the opposite. Confident that it is the guardian of the faith, Deoband believes that it has struck the right balance between deen and dunya.
The models just described also provide some perspective on the broad Muslim responses to one another. That is one of the advantages of reducing large and complex populations to models and categories. Ajmer followers for example, think Deobandis are too critical of other faiths and too preoccupied with opposing mystics, while they find Aligarh followers too concerned with the material world. For their part, the followers of Deoband would consider those of Ajmer guilty of innovation and close to heresy and those of Aligarh far too secular and influenced by the West. The Aligarh group would perceive Ajmer as backward and would dismiss Deoband as little more than a rabble of ignorant clerics. Jinnah, although he had not studied at Aligarh himself, saw its students as ‘the arsenal’ of the Muslim in his campaign for a modern Muslim homeland to be called Pakistan and himself was constantly attacked by clerics as a ‘nonbeliever.’
With this greater understanding, it becomes easier for us to:
- Understand more succinctly those Muslims we interact with in community
- Respect Muslims’ values and be able to dialogue in meaningful ways
- Provide handholds of understanding and connection in community
I have already experienced some profit from these 3 categories in my work. As I used Akbar’s categories to help a hafiz and former Deoband Imam – understand differences in Christianity’s denominations, he quickly understood, even identifying his recent believers into Akbar’s categories with a smile. It greatly helped him understand their differing perspectives and what is valued by each. I honestly feel this is impacting his understanding of non-Muslims…and his own community.
In a day when people are weary of American and Islamic relations, Ahmed’s book brings hope that our relationships can truly be meaningful on the basis of understanding.
The first half of Ahmed’s book is a great read and very applicable. The final half of the book delves into the interpretation of Western politics and Islam. It is definitely thought provoking and worth studying, though it is only a sideline to the value of this book for my purpose.
For further study see:
Flipkart.com (for Indian orders) Journey Into Islam
Study guide on the book itself
Study guide on the book itself
Journey into Islam Ahmed’s site about worldwide Islam today
Journey into America Ahmed’s site about American Islam
