Abstract
As is known, secularism is the principle that separates the government, its institutions, and political authority from religious authority or religious figures. Secularism is known as a principle and intellectual approach that sees that human interaction with life should be based on a worldly basis, not a religious one. Secularism is commonly promoted as the separation of religion from state affairs. Here, the title of the article was chosen as The Ideology of Islamic Secularization, because many modern thinkers or reformers have applied this secular mechanism in dealing with Islamic doctrinal, jurisprudential, and historical issues. Such a trend can be called the modern rational school or enlightenment thinkers. Perhaps the most prominent pioneer in this field is the Islamic thinker with a reformist tendency, Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the most prominent pioneer of enlightenment thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab world. Muḥammad ʻAbduh is considered the founder of secularism in modern Egypt, but there has been much controversy over his attribution to secular or Salafist thought. This study follows the approach adopted by Muḥammad ʻAbduh and his influence on Middle Eastern thought by dividing the study into three fundamental axes. This study is considered the first and only one that deals with the problem of Muḥammad ʻAbduh affiliation in a precise manner. ʻMuḥammad's ʻAbduh historical reform and criticism had an ideological character influenced by the Enlightenment movement. He played a role in reforming Al-Azhar, endowments, Sharia courts, Arabic language, religious sciences, and others. He also dealt with historical criticism from a modern perspective. The research focused on some ideological aspects that changed his intellectual path to adopt another conservative ideology transferred by Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā. It can be said that Rida's reformist ideology for Islamic history and thought is a continuation of what Muḥammad ʻAbduh began, although he deviated slightly from the intellectual path despite being influenced by his teacher Muḥammad ʻAbduh, even though some Salafi reformers considered him a reformer that belonged to the Salafi school of thought.
Keywords
Ideology, Reform, Pioneer, ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh, Change Direction, Middle East, Intellectual Compatibility, Salafi, Criticism, Vision, Islamic Thinker, Islamic Secularization
1. Introduction
Islamic modernism is essentially a religious reform, "an attempt to liberate the Islamic religion from the constraints of rigid dogma, and to bring about reforms that make it adaptable to the complex demands of modern life. It is inspired and dominated primarily by theological considerations. From this definition, Charles C. Adams sees religious reform as dominated by theological considerations to liberate Islam from the rigidity of dogma and to demonstrate its adaptability to the demands of modern life. "He distinguished the Egyptian modernists from the reforms founded by the Indian group of rationalist reformers, whose aim was primarily a cultural movement, modifying Islam to fit the conditions of modern European civilization." In his critical analysis of political Islam, Islamic modernists emphasized the need to revive Islamic society through reinterpreting or reformulating their Islamic heritage in the light of the contemporary world. It is a response to the political, cultural, and scientific challenges of the West and modern life. Modernists attempted to demonstrate the compatibility (and hence acceptance) of Islam with contemporary ideas and institutions, whether rationalism, science and technology, democracy, constitutionalism, and representative government
| [1] | Ahmad N. Amir, Abdi O. Shuriye, Ahmad F. Ismail (N. D): Muhammad Abduh’s contributions to modernity, P. 3. |
[1]
.
Most studies of the prominent nineteenth-century Arab thinker and reformer
Muḥammad ʻAbduh focus on the religious reforms he initiated. Very few studies discuss his vision of modernization through educational, social, and political reforms.
Muḥammad ʻAbduh understood that these reforms were necessary to create a civil society based on a new form of urbanism (madaniyah). This article examines how
Muḥammad ʻAbduh bridged the gap between secular modernists and religious traditionalists by reinterpreting Islamic doctrine with a contemporary outlook.
Muḥammad ʻAbduh established an Islamic renewal movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to eliminate intellectual stagnation and promote rational thinking at both the theological and theoretical "historical" levels
| [2] | Indira Falk Gesink (2006 AD): Islamic Reformation: A History of Madrasa Reform and Legal Change in Egypt, Comparative Education Review 50, NO. 3, PP. 325-345. |
| [3] | Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad (1960 AD): ʻAbqarī al-Iṣlāḥ wa-al-Taʻlīm, al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh Cairo (Genius of reform and education, Imam Muhammad Abduh), Publishing Authority Misr Printing House, Cairo, P. 141. |
[2, 3]
The research aims to establish the ideology of reform and historical criticism depending on reading through the heritage of Muḥammad ʻAbduh while looking into the issue of intellectual compatibility, the flow of the ideas, and the change of the philosophy to link the movement of the ideological construction influence on the historical text from one side and the development of their reform vision and how their ideology has differed among the reform issues and Islam history on the other side. The reform vision of Muḥammad ʻAbduh in religious sciences and the events in the history of Islam differs from the beginning formation of Muḥammad ʻAbduh with his teacher Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, then his ideology and intellectual path changes during his second interval with his student Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā.
2. The Source Structure that Forms the Ideology of Muḥammad ʻAbduh
Muḥammad ʿAbduh (born 1849, Nile Delta area, Egypt—died July 11, 1905, near Alexandria) was a religious scholar, jurist, and liberal reformer, who led the late 19th-century movement in Egypt and other Muslim countries to revitalize Islamic teachings and institutions in the modern world. As
muftī (Islamic legal counselor) for Egypt, he effected reforms in Islamic law, administration, and higher education and, although resisted by conservatives, broke the rigidity of Muslim ritual, dogma, and family ties. His writings included the “Treatise on the Oneness of God” and a commentary on the
Qurʾān . Al-Azhar was the dream of any young man from a rural area as it offered great opportunities for social advancement. However, its teaching was obsolete, based mainly on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and grammar; the dominant method was that of literal commentary (sharh).
Muḥammad ʿAbduh pursued his studies at al-Azhar for 12 years and received his highest degree in 1877. During his studies, he came into contact with
Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (On the rather obscure life of al-Afghani, one can consult the biography published by Homa Pakdaman titled Djamal ed-Din Assad Abadi did
Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1969)
| [5] | Mohamed Haddad (29 February 2020A D): A Muslim Reformist: Muhammad Abduh, C. 1, First Online, PP. 15–47. |
[5]
Muḥammad ʻAbduh is one of the symbols of the modern mental reform school, this school in its essence is the same as the mental school in the West, they both agree on one result, though there may be some differences, that result is “developing religion and thought to cope with the contemporary civilization”, the founder of this school is
Al-Sayyid Aḥmad Khān al-Hindāwī | [6] | Ahmad Amin (2012 AD): Zuʻamāʼ al-iṣlāḥ fī al-ʻaṣr al-ḥadīth, Muʼassasat Hindāwī (Leaders of Reform in the Modern Era, Al-Hindawi Foundation), Cairo, PP. 15-17-20. |
[6]
,
Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī was the first to set the features of this school, then it was established by his student
Muḥammad ʻAbduh | [7] | Al-Ghamdi, Saleh Abdullah (1436 H): Al-Islām alladhī yrydh al-Gharb (The Islam that the West wants) "A critical analytical study of Rand Institution’s report", Publishing Authority Al Awareness, Saudi Arabia, ED. 3, PP. 173-177. |
[7]
.
When reading in the heritage of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, it may be noticed that he doesn’t belong to the school of Jamāl al-Dīn al- Afghānī, but belongs to the school of Rifāʻah al-Ṭahṭāwī concerning reform; this result is built panoramically as circles lead to one another, Muḥammad ʻAbduh is a student of Sheikh Ḥasan al-Ṭawīl who was contemporary to Aḥmad Bik ʻUbayd, who was one of those close to Al-Ṭahṭāwī, consequently, ʻAbduh belongs to the school of Al-Ṭahṭāwī, and this is a problem that confuses some, this research deals with this problem through discussing the source structure that helped to form the intellectual side of ʻAbduh and they are defined in the following points:
1)
ʻAbduh wasn’t from the close students of
Ḥasan al-Ṭawīl, whose close students were Professor “
Aḥmad Taymūr Bāshā”, “Sheikh
Aḥmad Abū Khaṭwah”, “Sheikh
Muḥammad al-Mahdī”, “Sheikh
ʻAbd al-Wahhāb al-Najjār” “Sheilh
Ḥasan Manṣūr” and “Sheikh
Muḥammad al-Khuḍarī | [8] | Zaki Mohammed Mujahid (N.D): Al-Aʻlām al-Sharqīyah (Eastern flags), Publishing Authority Islamic West, Beirut, ED. 2, PT 1, P. 295. |
| [9] | Al-Marashi, Youssef (N.D): Nathr al-Jawāhir wa-al-durar fī ʻulamāʼ al-qarn al-rābiʻ ʻashar (Scattering jewels and pearls on the scholars of the fourteenth century), Publishing Authority almʻrft-byrwt, ED. 1, PT 1, P. 329. |
| [10] | Al-Zarkali, Khair al-Din al-Dimashqi (2005 AD): Al-Aʻlām (The World), Publishing Authority Al-Ilm Lil-Malayin, Beirut, Lebanon, ED. 16, PT 2, P. 183. |
[8-10]
, but
Ḥasan al-Ṭawīl’s interest in maths, philosophy, and politics
| [11] | Ahmed Timur Pasha (N.D): Tarājim aʻyān al-qarn al-thālith ʻashar wa-awāʼil al-rābiʻ ʻashar (Biographies of Notables of the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries), Publishing Authority Al Afak Al Arabiya, Cairo, ED. 1, PP. 123-125. |
[11]
, may influence partly in the formation of
ʻAbduh ideology.
2)
Ḥasan al-Ṭawīl did not mention that he was educated at the hands of
Aḥmad Bik ʻUbayd al-Ṭahṭāwī, but he was a student of: "Sheikh
Ḥasan al-ʻAdawī al-Ḥamzāwī", "Sheikh
al-burhān al-Saqqā", "Sheikh
Muḥammad al-Ushmūnī", "Sheikh
Aḥmad Sharaf ālmrṣfy", "Sheikh
ʻAbd al-Hādī Najā al-Abyārī", "Sheilh
alʼnbāby", "Sheikh
Muḥammad ʻUlaysh”
| [11] | Ahmed Timur Pasha (N.D): Tarājim aʻyān al-qarn al-thālith ʻashar wa-awāʼil al-rābiʻ ʻashar (Biographies of Notables of the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries), Publishing Authority Al Afak Al Arabiya, Cairo, ED. 1, PP. 123-125. |
[11]
.
3)
Ḥasan al-Ṭawīl didn’t join the faculty of
Al-Alsun which was established by
Rifāʻah al-Ṭahṭāwī, but when he joined it, it was a translation house not an intellectual house as Al-Azhar institution, it was all that
Aḥmad Bik ʻUbayd al-Ṭahṭāwī was the one that employed him as a translator in Jihadi court, because his mastery in language, only. When he examined him, he said: “… you’re a precious diamond that was hidden from us”
| [12] | Ahmed Timur Pasha (D. 30-7-1934 AD): Aʻyān al-qarn al-rābiʻ ʻashar (Notables of the 12th Century), article in Al-Risala magazine, I. 56, PP. 2-13. |
[12]
, he means here what is related to translation not thought, because
Aḥmad Bik ʻUbayd was a translator and wasn’t known as a thinker or something like that.
4)
Aḥmad Amīn, one of the symbols of the modern rational school, mentioned that
ʻAbduh grew in Egypt noticing the teachings of
Ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb surrounded him, teachings which dates back to the era of the messenger, to
Ibn Taymīyah, then to
Ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, ʻAbduh greatest hope was to do a good deed for the Muslims, his diligence and research led him to two basics that
Ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb set up his teachings upon: fighting heresies and polytheisms, and he began Ijtihad and reformist renaissance”
| [6] | Ahmad Amin (2012 AD): Zuʻamāʼ al-iṣlāḥ fī al-ʻaṣr al-ḥadīth, Muʼassasat Hindāwī (Leaders of Reform in the Modern Era, Al-Hindawi Foundation), Cairo, PP. 15-17-20. |
[6]
, The reform
of Muḥammad ʻAbduh in Egypt was similar to The one of
al-Sayyid Aḥmad Khān al-Hindāwī in terms of education, discipline and dealing with religion in tolerance and ease
| [7] | Al-Ghamdi, Saleh Abdullah (1436 H): Al-Islām alladhī yrydh al-Gharb (The Islam that the West wants) "A critical analytical study of Rand Institution’s report", Publishing Authority Al Awareness, Saudi Arabia, ED. 3, PP. 173-177. |
[7]
,
Muḥammad ʻAbduh has met Sheikh Sufi
Darwīsh Khiḍr his uncle to his father who had the most important influence in changing his life path, Sheikh
Darwīsh was influenced by the Senussi teachings which agrees with
al-Wahhābīyah in calling for returning back to the mere origin of Islam and purify it of the heresies and superstitious
| [13] | Mohammed Rashid Reda (2006 AD): Tārīkh al-Ustādh al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh (History of Professor Imam Muhammad Abdo), Publishing Authority Al Fadhila, Cairo, ED. 2, PT. 1, PP. 20-21. |
[13]
.
5) The reform that
Muḥammad ʻAbduh went on wasn’t heresy, but he was preceded by sheik
Ḥasan al-ʻAṭṭār | [14] | Muhammad Abdo Al-Ghani Hassan (N.D): Silsilat Aʻlām al-ʻArab, al-Publishing Authority al-Miṣrīyah lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Tarjamah (He Series of Arab Figures, Egyptian), Egyptian Authority for Education and Translation, Cairo, 4th ed., pp. 11-74.), Cairo, PT 4, PP. 11-74. |
[14]
, and he was one of the prominent teachers of
Al-Ṭahṭāwī, and he was the one who prepared
Al-Ṭahṭāwī’s thought to accept the modern sciences
| [14] | Muhammad Abdo Al-Ghani Hassan (N.D): Silsilat Aʻlām al-ʻArab, al-Publishing Authority al-Miṣrīyah lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Tarjamah (He Series of Arab Figures, Egyptian), Egyptian Authority for Education and Translation, Cairo, 4th ed., pp. 11-74.), Cairo, PT 4, PP. 11-74. |
[14]
and sent him abroad
| [15] | Rifa'a Rafi' Al-Tahtawi (1265 H): Talkhīṣ al-Ibrīz fī Talkhīṣ Bārīs (Summary of Al-Ibriz in Summary of Paris), Bulaq Printing, PP. 7-29. |
[15]
, so how do we relate
ʻAbduh to
Al-Ṭahṭāwī school, not
Al-ʻAṭṭār’s or what followed
Al-ʻAṭṭār?
6)
Al-Afghānī had a reform vision of injustice (in the (fields of education and politics
| [16] | Sayyid Hadi Khosrow Shahi (1423 H= 2002 AD): Khāṭirāt Jamāl al-Dīn al-Ḥusaynī al-Afghānī, (Memoirs of Jamal al-Din al-Husayni al-Afghani) Report: Muhammad Pasha al-Makhzoumi, Al-Shorouk International Library, Cairo, 1st ED, PP. 38-39. |
[16]
, his educational vision depends on the mind, and it was identical to
Al-Muʻtazilah, he had some interpretations of some verses of The Holy Quran, such as his interpretation of the verse: (Oh, you who have believed, do not consume usury multiplied) (Al-Imran:130), he said: that reasonable usury is illegal as long as it isn’t doubled, Also, the verse: (And if you fear that you will not do justice, then marry one) {Al_Nisa:3}, he said that it isn’t illegal to marry more than one because there’s a fear of doing injustice
| [17] | Fahd Abdul Rahman Al-Rumi (1403 H): Manhaj al-Madrasah al-ʻaqlīyah fī al-tafsīr (The Rational School’s Approach to Interpretation), Publishing Authority Al-Shorouk, Cairo, ED 2,, PT 1, PP. 98-115. |
[17]
was similar to him in this educational views
| [18] | Taher Al-Tanaji (N.D): Mudhakkirāt al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh (Memoirs of Imam Muhammad Abduh), Publishing Authority Al-Hilal, PP. 19-20-83. |
[18]
. So,
Al-Afghānī and
ʻMuḥammad Muḥammad ʻAbduh's vision is to raise the minds to show the people that Islam calls for research and reflection
| [19] | Sayed Ahmed Farag (1407 H= 1987 AD): Judhūr al-ʻAlmānīyah al-judhūr al-tārīkhīyah lil-ṣirāʻ bayna al-ʻAlmānīyah wa-al-Islāmīyah fī Miṣr mundhu al-Bidāyah wḥty ʻām (The Roots of Germanism, the Historical Roots of the Conflict between Germanism and Islam in Egypt) Publishing Authority Al-Wafa, Mansoura, ED. 3, P. 6-11. |
| [20] | Abdel Aal, Maher Mohammed Attia (N.D): Al-Fikr al-iṣlāḥī lil-Ustādh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī wa-al-Shaykh Muḥammad ʻAbduh fī mīzān al-Daʻwah al-Islāmīyah (The Reformist Thought of Professor Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Sheikh Muhammad Abduh in the Balance of the Islamic Call), Journal of the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion and Islamic Studies, Zagazig, PP. 20-60-61-76-82-84. |
[19, 20]
, some even said: that
Muḥammad ʻAbduh is one of the most prominent students of
Al-Afghānī in his educational vision. But for the political vision, it’s
Saʻd Zaghlūl | [21] | Mustafa Fawzy Ghazal (1403 H): Daʻwat Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī fī mīzān al-Islām (The Call of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in the Balance of Islam), Publishing Authority Taybah, Riyadh, ED. 1, PP. 381-387. |
[21]
. ʻ
Muḥammad ʻAbduh's ideology in political reform was different from
Al-Afghānī’s. He believed that radical reform is from the inside, but
al-Afghānī believed in revolutionary reform
| [20] | Abdel Aal, Maher Mohammed Attia (N.D): Al-Fikr al-iṣlāḥī lil-Ustādh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī wa-al-Shaykh Muḥammad ʻAbduh fī mīzān al-Daʻwah al-Islāmīyah (The Reformist Thought of Professor Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Sheikh Muhammad Abduh in the Balance of the Islamic Call), Journal of the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion and Islamic Studies, Zagazig, PP. 20-60-61-76-82-84. |
[20]
.
The source structure that formed ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh ideology, is the aforementioned school, the prevailing atmosphere among scholars in this age, is a preoccupation with science, thought, and culture, the similarity of ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh reform vision with others, is a similarity in the view, not the conclusion text to demonstrate the idea, there can’t be an identical similarity between two without any influence, the effect here is by the surrounding environment that has the same thoughts and visions.
To notice the change of
Muahmed ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh intellectual path, we must differentiate between his first part of life with
al-Afghānī, and his second part of life with his student
Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā, ʻAbduh has transferred a lot from Al-Afghani and he said at the beginning of his treatise: “Our instructor
Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī clarifies and gave us lots of comprehensives and I called the treatise
alwrādāt fī Sirr al-Tajalliyāt | [22] | Muḥammad ʻAbduh (1344 H =1925 AD): Risālat al-wāridāt fī naẓarīyāt al-mutakallimīn wa-al-Ṣūfīyah fī al-falsafah al-ilāhīyah, wa-al-ʻaqīdah al-Muḥammadīyah (The Message of Roses on the Theories of the Theologians and Sufis in Divine Philosophers and the Muhammadan Creed), Al-Manar Magazine, Cairo, ED. 2, PP. 2-32. |
[22]
, then we find
Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā transfer what indicates
ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh retreats in his thoughts
| [23] | Mohammed Hussein al-Dhahabi (N.D): Al-tafsīr wa-al-mufassirūn (Interpretation and Interpreters), Wahba Library, Cairo, PT 2, PP. 405-406. |
[23]
, and he says in the footnote of his book al-
Wāridāt: “I know that he-may God bless him-has retreated about lots of these theories that he wrote down in this treatise, then it appeared to him that it wasn’t invalid, of them: Everything that is based on estimating the knowing of the almighty God compared to the knowing of his creation, and we will mention some of them”
| [22] | Muḥammad ʻAbduh (1344 H =1925 AD): Risālat al-wāridāt fī naẓarīyāt al-mutakallimīn wa-al-Ṣūfīyah fī al-falsafah al-ilāhīyah, wa-al-ʻaqīdah al-Muḥammadīyah (The Message of Roses on the Theories of the Theologians and Sufis in Divine Philosophers and the Muhammadan Creed), Al-Manar Magazine, Cairo, ED. 2, PP. 2-32. |
| [24] | Mohamed Amara (1408 H= 1988 AD): Al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh mujaddid al-Dunyā bi-tajdīd al-Dīn (Imam Muhammad Abduh, the Reformer of the World by Reforming the Religion), Publishing Authority Al-Shorouk, Cairo, ED. 2, PP. 24-56. |
[22, 24]
, this is an evidence that
Muḥammad ʻAbduh retreated for some of his concepts, also his interpretation to the verse 32 of Al-Imran: (Whenever Zakariyya enters the sanctuary, he finds provision with her.” (Al-Imran:37), he said, it’s a miracle, Mariam had a sanctuary for praying, Zakariyya used to pledge her worshipping, he sees a dignity for her that she had fruits in the off-season.”
| [24] | Mohamed Amara (1408 H= 1988 AD): Al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh mujaddid al-Dunyā bi-tajdīd al-Dīn (Imam Muhammad Abduh, the Reformer of the World by Reforming the Religion), Publishing Authority Al-Shorouk, Cairo, ED. 2, PP. 24-56. |
[24]
.
3. The Reformist Ideology of Muḥammad ʻAbduh
In the opening lines of his treatise on monotheism (1898),
Muḥammad ʻAbduh notes that the word tawhid in its original meaning refers to “the belief that God is one and has no partner
(la sharika lah)” (Abduh 1994: 17). This is the fundamental pillar of Islam, which every Muslim acknowledges through the Shahada:
La ilaha illa Allah. So important was the concept that an entire theology was named after it: the main aim of monotheism is in fact “to prove the oneness of God in himself and the act of creation”
| [25] | Margherita Picchi (2021 AD): Muhammad 'Abduh and the Doctrine of Tawhid: from Theology to Politics, 'Islamic political theology', Edited by Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato, PP. 67-88. |
[25]
.
ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh's vision of reform and renewal went beyond the reforming of religious institutions like Al-Azhar, to be a greater center for reform in fundamentals, branches, jurisprudence, Sufism theology and interpretation, with the practice of Ijtihad in a form that he set to two determiners:
1) The first determiner: the need should be the basis of renewal, and it should be suitable and compatible with the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
2) The second determiner: is the assurance of the necessity of renewal and work on this with gradual reform,
ʻAbduh has clarified for
Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā on their first meeting that he works for religious reform on two parallel sides, which are the line of doctrinal, jurisprudential, and intellectual reform, and the side institutions’ reform which he outlined in three items:
Al-Azhar, endowments, and the Sharia courts
| [17] | Fahd Abdul Rahman Al-Rumi (1403 H): Manhaj al-Madrasah al-ʻaqlīyah fī al-tafsīr (The Rational School’s Approach to Interpretation), Publishing Authority Al-Shorouk, Cairo, ED 2,, PT 1, PP. 98-115. |
[17]
.
3) The reformist vision of
Muḥammad ʻAbduh relied on the concept that reason is the base of knowledge, and everything that contradicts reason, should be rejected. Consequently,
Muḥammad ʻAbduh denied all the narrations that contradicted reason, so he interpreted the verses of the Holy Quran and the sayings of
Muḥammad ʻAbduh the prophet, which is a modern vision of
Al-Muatazila Ideology, that’s called the issue of “improvement and ugliness”, which means that everything that reason agrees with, is acceptable, and what it disagrees with, should be interpreted or rejected
| [26] | Muhammad Amara (1979 AD): al-Aʻmāl al-kāmilah li-Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (The Complete Works of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani), Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing, Beirut, PT. 3, P 298, PT. 4, PP. 252-274, PT. 5, PP. 14-15, PP. 428-467. |
| [27] | Adnan Imam (1424 H): al-tajdīd fī al-Fikr, (Renewal in Thought), Publishing Authority Ibn al-Jawzi, Saudi Arabia, ED. 1, PP. 360-362. |
| [28] | Mohamed Abu Zahra (N.D): Tārīkh al-madhāhib al-Islāmīyah (History of Islamic sects), Publishing Authority al-Fikr al-Arabi, Cairo, PP. 124-127-162. |
[26, 27, 28]
, then he started interpreting the Quran in a rational approach, he implemented his instructor
Al-Afghani’s approach, that even the enlightened Christians gathered by the Masjid’s door to listen to him
| [24] | Mohamed Amara (1408 H= 1988 AD): Al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh mujaddid al-Dunyā bi-tajdīd al-Dīn (Imam Muhammad Abduh, the Reformer of the World by Reforming the Religion), Publishing Authority Al-Shorouk, Cairo, ED. 2, PP. 24-56. |
[24]
, he also mentioned that the religion is received by minds from the missionaries and warners
| [29] | Mohammed Abdu (N.D): Al-Islām bayna al-ʻIlm wa-al-madanīyah (Islam is the evidence of science and civilization), Arabic words for translation and publishing, Cairo, PP. 8-102-103-118-119. |
[29]
on the contrary this is solidness that shouldn’t be related to Islam
| [30] | Mohammed Abdu (1346 H=1928 AD): Al-Islām wa-al-radd ʻalá muntaqidīh (Islam and the Response to Its Critics), Al-Rahmaniya Press, Cairo, PP. 9-63. |
[30]
, he considered the Quran as a book for religious sciences, not the universe’s sciences, he wanted to imitate the messengers who ask the people to use their senses and minds
| [27] | Adnan Imam (1424 H): al-tajdīd fī al-Fikr, (Renewal in Thought), Publishing Authority Ibn al-Jawzi, Saudi Arabia, ED. 1, PP. 360-362. |
[27]
, this can be clarified through the following:
4) The first part of the fourth verse of Surat Al-Fil: (striking them with stones from Sijjil) (Al-Fil:4), it’s the story of
Abrhh al-Ḥabashī who wanted to destroy the
Al-Kaʻbah, so God sent them Papal birds that threw his army with stones from Sijjil, the army perished,
ʻAbduh interpreted that Sijjil stones here are “smallpox and measles”
| [31] | Mohammed Abdu (1341 H): Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Ḥakīm, Juzʼ ʻAmma, (Interpretation of the Holy Quran, Part Amma), Islamic Charitable University, Egypt, ED. 3, PP. 157-188. |
[31]
, this interpretation was criticized by many
| [32] | Abdul Rahman Taj (1972 AD): The article of al-ṭayr al-abābīl fī wāqiʻat al-Fīl wa-mā yarāhu al-Shaykh Muḥammad ʻAbduh fī dhālika, magazine (The article on the Ababil bird in the Elephant Incident and what Sheikh Muhammad Abduh approves of in this regard), The Arabic Language Academy, magazine, I. (29), 1 Egypt, PP. 18-20. |
[32]
.
5) He dealt with The prophet
Muḥammad ʻAbduh's life and rejected the hadith of “the prophet’s childhood and chest shattering”; that
Gabriel or some angels shattered the prophet’s chest and took out the clot of Satan’s luck from his heart then they washed his heart in a golden basin with
Zamzam water, then they returned the heart in the prophet’s chest
| [33] | Al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Ismail: Sahih al-Bukhari (349 - Book of Prayer); and Muslim, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj: Sahih Muslim (260, 261 - Book of Faith). |
[33]
, he said: this hadith contradicted the Quranic verse; (you have no authority over my servants) [Al-Hijr:42], so, how God said that the Satan has no authority over the believers of God, then he touches the prophet
Muḥammad ʻAbduh, and he added, “this hadith is speculative news because it’s a single narration”
| [31] | Mohammed Abdu (1341 H): Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Ḥakīm, Juzʼ ʻAmma, (Interpretation of the Holy Quran, Part Amma), Islamic Charitable University, Egypt, ED. 3, PP. 157-188. |
[31]
.
6) He dealt with the prophet
Muḥammad ʻAbduh call in its first stages and said that it dealt only with rational evidence, and people should investigate the Quran in their minds
| [27] | Adnan Imam (1424 H): al-tajdīd fī al-Fikr, (Renewal in Thought), Publishing Authority Ibn al-Jawzi, Saudi Arabia, ED. 1, PP. 360-362. |
[27]
.
7) He said that the Quran has mentioned the equality of man and woman, which is the basis of unity, and the preacher of affinity and sympathy with humans, depending on his interpretation of the Quranic verse: (O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both many men and women)
| [31] | Mohammed Abdu (1341 H): Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Ḥakīm, Juzʼ ʻAmma, (Interpretation of the Holy Quran, Part Amma), Islamic Charitable University, Egypt, ED. 3, PP. 157-188. |
[31]
.
8) In addition to his numerous articles in the official gazette and Al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, ʿMuḥammad ʻAbduh most important writings he included Risālat al-tawḥīd (“Treatise on the Oneness of God”); a polemic on the superiority of Islam to Christianity in its inherent receptivity to science and civilization; and a fragmentary commentary on the Qurʾān, completed after his death by a disciple. In theology, Muḥammad ʻAbduh sought to establish the harmony of reason and revelation, the freedom of the will, and the primacy of the ethical implications of religious faith over ritual and dogma. He deplored the blind acceptance of traditional doctrines and customs and asserted that a return to the pristine faith of the earliest age of Islam not only would restore the Muslims’ spiritual vitality but would provide an enlightened criterion for the assimilation of modern scientific culture.
9) In matters of Islamic law, which governed Muslim family relationships, ritual duties, and personal conduct,
Muḥammad ʻAbduh tried to break through the rigidities of scholastic interpretation and to promote considerations of equity, welfare, and common sense, even if this occasionally meant disregarding the literal texts of the
Qurʾān. From his death to the present day,
Muḥammad Muḥammad ʻAbduh has been widely revered as the chief architect of the modern reformation of Islam
.
For
Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the Qur’anic narrative is not part of the story as an objective description of a past event. In other words, we should not view the Qur’anic narrative as an “informational” discourse that can be described as right or wrong, but rather as a “performative” discourse whose goal is moral and practical. This idea makes it possible to acknowledge that the Qur’anic narrative may be worthless if viewed from a historical perspective, while its value is somewhat moral. Abduh states, “There is nothing in the Qur’an that is part of history as a narrative of the past of the nations and cities we know. Rather, the Qur’an contains verses and lessons drawn from the experiences of the prophets with their people; this serves to teach God’s laws (Sunan Allah) to warn those who rejected the message of Muhammad, and to console the prophet and the believers. For this reason, the Qur’an is not concerned with the details of events or their sequential order”
| [34] | Roy Olivier (1992 AD): The Failure of Political Islam, Seuil, P. 204. |
[34]
.
4. The Ideology of the Historical Criticism of Muḥammad ʻAbduh
Muḥammad ʻAbduh ’s historical side was subjected to debate, like his intellectual and doctrinal sides
| [35] | Hafez Muhammad HaiPublishing Authority Al-Jabri (1402 H= 1982 AD): Al-Shaykh Muḥammad ʻAbduh wʼrāʼh fī al-ʻaqīdah al-Islāmīyah – ʻarḍ wa-naqd, (Sheikh Muhammad Abduh and his view of Islamic doctrine - presentation and critique), PhD thesis in Islamic law, College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Umm Al-Qura University, P. 4. |
[35]
,
Muḥammad ʻAbduh ’s historical vision was according to his reformist ideology, and this can be proved through what follows:
1) He indicated that science may spread in times of discord, he indicated what happened twenty years after the death of the prophet, when
ʻAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib began to urge teaching Arabic literature and asked for setting rules for it when he realized the people’s need for that, and Muslims began to feel the light of knowledge in the shade of these disputes over caliphate which spread in the countries
| [29] | Mohammed Abdu (N.D): Al-Islām bayna al-ʻIlm wa-al-madanīyah (Islam is the evidence of science and civilization), Arabic words for translation and publishing, Cairo, PP. 8-102-103-118-119. |
[29]
.
2) He referred to the difference between the Umayyad’s caliphate life and the right caliphs, they weren’t apathetic.
Muʻāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān created a new system for the mandate of the covenant
| [29] | Mohammed Abdu (N.D): Al-Islām bayna al-ʻIlm wa-al-madanīyah (Islam is the evidence of science and civilization), Arabic words for translation and publishing, Cairo, PP. 8-102-103-118-119. |
[29]
as if he hints that this pattern of change or political development was a part of the reform.
3)
Muḥammad ʻAbduh saw that the reform should be calm and, on the ideology (knowledge of the colonists through the historical side was through his indulging in supporting the
al-Thawrah al-ʻUrābīyah, which he believed as a path of proceeding towards reform
| [36] | Qahtaan Abdul Rahman Al-Douri (2020 AD): ʻUlamāʼ ʻāmlwn "ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Muḥammad ʻAbduh, Muḥammad Riḍā, ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bādīs, mḥmd al-Sanūsī" (Working scholars: Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, Muhammad Abduh, Muhammad Rida, Abdul Hamid bin Badis, Muhammad al-Sanusi), Publishing Authority al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, ED. 1, PP. 190-191. |
| [37] | Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad (2020 AD): ʻAbqarī al-iṣlāḥ wāltʻlym: al-Imām Muḥammad ʻAbduh (Genius of Reform and Education: Imam Muhammad Abduh), Publishing Authority al-Qalam, Beirut, ED. 1, PP. 94-97. |
[36, 37]
,
ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh commitment to deepening the patriotic spirit and striving for the colonists in a reformist approach depends on education and bringing up was contrary to his instructor
al-Afghānī’s political reform ideology
| [20] | Abdel Aal, Maher Mohammed Attia (N.D): Al-Fikr al-iṣlāḥī lil-Ustādh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī wa-al-Shaykh Muḥammad ʻAbduh fī mīzān al-Daʻwah al-Islāmīyah (The Reformist Thought of Professor Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Sheikh Muhammad Abduh in the Balance of the Islamic Call), Journal of the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion and Islamic Studies, Zagazig, PP. 20-60-61-76-82-84. |
[20]
.
4) He referred to the nations’ ideology through history to reject the oppose, he said that throughout history, nations used to refuse to submit to those who oppress them, the more they refuse it, the more they don’t incline to them, at that time they despise them, and spit it out as a kernel
| [38] | Afghani, Muhammad Abdu (2015 AD): al-ʻUrwah alwthqy (The Firmest Bond), Hindawi Foundation, Cairo,, P. 34. |
[38]
.
5) He said that the reason for the Muslims’ unity weakness in the early Islamic Eras, was the attitudes of some caliphs towards the hostiles, as
al-ʻAlawīyīn wāltturk and
wālddaylam and others, the caliphs thought that they were enslaving them with their power and favor, to guarantee that they wouldn’t revolt against them
| [29] | Mohammed Abdu (N.D): Al-Islām bayna al-ʻIlm wa-al-madanīyah (Islam is the evidence of science and civilization), Arabic words for translation and publishing, Cairo, PP. 8-102-103-118-119. |
[29]
.
ʻMuḥammad ʻAbduh's vision here was an interpretation of the historical event in an analytical form more than an intellectual one.
6) He referred to the division of the Islamic unity into peoples and sects, and he found an obvious gap among the speakers which he traced throughout history and found the strongest of them was on the side of the masters of reason and philosophy against the masters of jurisprudential schools, he defined them as eras of hateful fanaticism arose from the raging partiality
| [39] | Muhammad al-Bahi (N. D): ālfkr al-Islāmī al-ḥadīth wa-ṣilatuhu bālāstʻmār al-gharbī (Modern Islamic Thought and Its Relevance to Western Colonialism), Wahba Library, Cairo, ED 10, P. 127. |
[39]
.
The separation of the Qur’anic narrative from the historical narrative was undoubtedly a useful response to the challenges posed by modern science to the sacred books. To implicitly support the Qur’anic narrative of this or that event as historically inaccurate is a bold position. According to Muḥammad ʻAbduh, such a conclusion does not harm the Qur’an because its value is determined by its relation to its moral teachings. True, this position was not without flaws. Indeed, to admit that a “distorted” version of an event can be adopted to meet moral needs is to tolerate all forms of manipulation of history to meet needs that moralists consider legitimate. Muḥammad ʻAbduh did not deprive himself of this, as is evident in his pamphlet The Position of Islam and Christianity in the Face of Science and Civilization. Like most Muslim reformers of the nineteenth century, ʿMuḥammad ʻAbduh's concern was preserving history's moral function, leaving it to professional historians to deal with its methodology.
5. Results and Discussions
While most studies on the life of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the most prominent thinker and reformer of the nineteenth century, focus on the religious reforms he launched, very few studies discuss his vision of modernization through educational, social, and political reforms, and while these few studies also focus on the stereotypical modernist approach without referring to the source structure that shaped Muḥammad ʻAbduh ideology, this study concludes with some important results:
1) Muḥammad ʻAbduh’s reforms were necessary to create a civil society based on a new type of urbanism (madaniyya).
2) Muḥammad ʻAbduh does not belong to the school of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in a broad sense.
3) Muḥammad ʻAbduh is considered one of the founders of Islamic modernism, primarily in Sunni Islam, but not exclusively.
4) Muḥammad ʻAbduh was an Egyptian jurist, theologian, exegete, Grand Mufti of Egypt, journalist, and liberal religious reformer who played a major role in the modernization of Al-Azhar, the most important center of Islamic learning in Sunni Islam and in Islamic activism in the entire Islamic world.
5) Muḥammad ʻAbduh's positions on theological issues were largely rationalist, condemning imitation, the uncritical submission to established beliefs and customs, and calling for the restoration of ijtihad, a critical and innovative approach to religious issues.
6) He believed that he should acknowledge his biblical roots while adapting to Western modes of expression and developed an approach to fundamentalist textual studies.
7) Muḥammad ʻAbduh was a personality whose ideas varied between religion, science, education, and politics, and a distinguished model of the political intellectual and the educated politician. He devoted his life and thought to linking Islam with progress, working on two main goals: the first: is "liberating thought from the shackles of tradition.
8) Muḥammad ʻAbduh focused in his reform program on three: First: proving the rational essence of Islam against traditionalists and modern opponents. Second: building the science of faith based on a modern vision. Third: reforming the educational system, especially the education system.
9) Muḥammad ʻAbduh launched the famous intellectual debate about reconciling heritage and modernity, an intellectual debate that would occupy the attention of Arab thought throughout the twentieth century. Especially since the events of imposing protection or colonialism on Arab countries, and then the results of the two world wars, shook the position calling for following in Europe's footsteps in everything. A wave of doubt spread in the sublime European virtues and their ability to achieve happiness. A new generation of thinkers and leaders of national liberation movements emerged, realizing the necessity of renewal and adopting the means of progress and advancement. Their intellectual production was a continuation of the project of reform, modernization, and enlightenment. It constituted a continuation of the Muḥammad ʻAbduh school, whose influence was evident even among the currents that opposed him.
10) Muḥammad ʻAbduh is the banner around which a very wide debate took place through the modernist ideologies he produced in contemporary Islam in Egypt and the Middle East.
6. Conclusion
We have seen before that many have quarreled over the recognition of Muḥammad ʻAbduh's intellectual paternity, both during his lifetime and after his death. Each group or school was keen to prove that Muḥammad ʻAbduh belonged to its camp. It must be admitted that the disputes were not only in religious circles but also in reality. Here, Muḥammad ʻAbduh did not remain a direct disciple of anyone throughout his life. His own source and cognitive structure influenced the formation of his reform ideology. We find that he became a more systematic thinker than his teacher, and he had a more lasting influence on the Islamic mind in Egypt and the Middle East.
Muḥammad ʻAbduh rejected many of those to whom his teachings addressed him, but he continued to work beneath the surface, the unrecognized foundation of the religious ideas of the average educated Muslim.
The study has shown that Muḥammad ʻAbduh's origin was quite different from Afghani's. Afghani came from a distant place that cannot be determined with certainty and moved like a meteor from one country to another; Muḥammad ʻAbduh, on the other hand, was firmly rooted in an ordinary family in the country in which he was to carry out his main work.
In Muḥammad ʻAbduh's writings, we find traces of various Islamic influences: Sufism, Mu’tazilite theology, activism, and orthodoxy. The Epistle of Monotheism was intended to be a brief and simple statement on theological issues. In distinguishing between the essentials of religion and its non-essentials, Muḥammad ʻAbduh claimed that the main source of Muslim decline was their inability to distinguish between the essentials and the non-essentials. Revelation and reason are complementary paths to truth since reason is the faculty that enables a Muslim to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Freedom of will also depends on human knowledge or reason.
Muḥammad ʻAbduh considered Islam to be the cornerstone of private and public life and for him, the cure for the ills of Muslim societies lay in returning to true Islam by restoring its essentials in the Qur’an and Sunnah (the sayings of the Prophet) and interpreting these texts in the light of modern times.
Here it can be said that the core of the dispute is originally a mental problem that does not accept history except as a form of idealizing the figures who served the cause of religion and the nation: and because Muḥammad ʻAbduh biography written by his student Muhammad Rashid Rida was in line with the spirit, it was particularly well received by the Salafis, and some of them attributed it to him because Muhammad Rashid Rida's reform marginalized some liberal attempts that claimed to be extensions of Muḥammad ʻAbduh thought, such as: (Qasim Amin - Ali Abdel Razek - Salama Moussa - Taha Hussein and others). It can also be said that Muhammad Abduh deserves to be called the Egyptian reformer and defender of Islamic modernity or rational Islam that focused on addressing religious, legal, and educational reform, as Muḥammad ʻAbduh "modernity" went hand in hand with a return to the ideal past or a re-understanding of the Islamic heritage in the ideal rational form that suits the time and place, and his "rationality" was moderate due to his belief in divine transcendence that limits the scope of intellectual investigation, which led some to refer to him as having a Mu'tazilite tendency.
7. Recommendations
This study concludes with an important recommendation, which is to promote extensive reading about the ideology of inter-source intertextuality that shaped, influenced, and formed Muhammad Abduh’s reformist thought. Perhaps there was a hidden secret school that influenced the intellectual intertextuality of these reformers as a whole. Perhaps the first indication of such a thing is what we presented under the title: (The source structure that helped to form the intellectual side of ʻAbduh). I believe that this study will be a new gateway to many serious research articles that reveal matters that have not yet been addressed.
We can also look at the modern reformist side in the Middle East, for example in Egypt, such as the rational enlightenment movement that works to criticize the Islamic heritage through intellectual writings and special newspaper and television programs and make comparisons between these methods and the intellectual style of the reformist thinkers of the 19th century. Is there an intellectual intertextuality between them, or is there an ideological development with the passage of time and the difference in articles and scientific and research mechanisms?
Abbreviations
ND | No Date |
AD | Hijri Date |
M | Gregorian Date |
ED | Edition No |
PT | Part |
D | Date |
C | Chapter |
I | Issue |
P | Page |
PP | Pages |
Author Contributions
Moḥamed Elnakep: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing
Paolo Branca: Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization
Shalabi Elgeidi: Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Elnakep, M., Branca, P., Elgeidi, S. (2024). The Ideology of Islamic Secularization of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the Most Prominent Pioneer of Enlightenment Thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab World. Humanities and Social Sciences, 12(6), 246-253. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19
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Elnakep, M.; Branca, P.; Elgeidi, S. The Ideology of Islamic Secularization of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the Most Prominent Pioneer of Enlightenment Thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab World. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2024, 12(6), 246-253. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19
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Elnakep M, Branca P, Elgeidi S. The Ideology of Islamic Secularization of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the Most Prominent Pioneer of Enlightenment Thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab World. Humanit Soc Sci. 2024;12(6):246-253. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19
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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19,
author = {Moḥamed Elnakep and Paolo Branca and Shalabi Elgeidi},
title = {The Ideology of Islamic Secularization of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the Most Prominent Pioneer of Enlightenment Thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab World
},
journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
volume = {12},
number = {6},
pages = {246-253},
doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20241206.19},
abstract = {As is known, secularism is the principle that separates the government, its institutions, and political authority from religious authority or religious figures. Secularism is known as a principle and intellectual approach that sees that human interaction with life should be based on a worldly basis, not a religious one. Secularism is commonly promoted as the separation of religion from state affairs. Here, the title of the article was chosen as The Ideology of Islamic Secularization, because many modern thinkers or reformers have applied this secular mechanism in dealing with Islamic doctrinal, jurisprudential, and historical issues. Such a trend can be called the modern rational school or enlightenment thinkers. Perhaps the most prominent pioneer in this field is the Islamic thinker with a reformist tendency, Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the most prominent pioneer of enlightenment thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab world. Muḥammad ʻAbduh is considered the founder of secularism in modern Egypt, but there has been much controversy over his attribution to secular or Salafist thought. This study follows the approach adopted by Muḥammad ʻAbduh and his influence on Middle Eastern thought by dividing the study into three fundamental axes. This study is considered the first and only one that deals with the problem of Muḥammad ʻAbduh affiliation in a precise manner. ʻMuḥammad's ʻAbduh historical reform and criticism had an ideological character influenced by the Enlightenment movement. He played a role in reforming Al-Azhar, endowments, Sharia courts, Arabic language, religious sciences, and others. He also dealt with historical criticism from a modern perspective. The research focused on some ideological aspects that changed his intellectual path to adopt another conservative ideology transferred by Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā. It can be said that Rida's reformist ideology for Islamic history and thought is a continuation of what Muḥammad ʻAbduh began, although he deviated slightly from the intellectual path despite being influenced by his teacher Muḥammad ʻAbduh, even though some Salafi reformers considered him a reformer that belonged to the Salafi school of thought.
},
year = {2024}
}
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-
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Ideology of Islamic Secularization of Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the Most Prominent Pioneer of Enlightenment Thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab World
AU - Moḥamed Elnakep
AU - Paolo Branca
AU - Shalabi Elgeidi
Y1 - 2024/12/19
PY - 2024
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19
DO - 10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19
T2 - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP - 246
EP - 253
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2330-8184
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241206.19
AB - As is known, secularism is the principle that separates the government, its institutions, and political authority from religious authority or religious figures. Secularism is known as a principle and intellectual approach that sees that human interaction with life should be based on a worldly basis, not a religious one. Secularism is commonly promoted as the separation of religion from state affairs. Here, the title of the article was chosen as The Ideology of Islamic Secularization, because many modern thinkers or reformers have applied this secular mechanism in dealing with Islamic doctrinal, jurisprudential, and historical issues. Such a trend can be called the modern rational school or enlightenment thinkers. Perhaps the most prominent pioneer in this field is the Islamic thinker with a reformist tendency, Muḥammad ʻAbduh, the most prominent pioneer of enlightenment thinkers in the Middle East and the Arab world. Muḥammad ʻAbduh is considered the founder of secularism in modern Egypt, but there has been much controversy over his attribution to secular or Salafist thought. This study follows the approach adopted by Muḥammad ʻAbduh and his influence on Middle Eastern thought by dividing the study into three fundamental axes. This study is considered the first and only one that deals with the problem of Muḥammad ʻAbduh affiliation in a precise manner. ʻMuḥammad's ʻAbduh historical reform and criticism had an ideological character influenced by the Enlightenment movement. He played a role in reforming Al-Azhar, endowments, Sharia courts, Arabic language, religious sciences, and others. He also dealt with historical criticism from a modern perspective. The research focused on some ideological aspects that changed his intellectual path to adopt another conservative ideology transferred by Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā. It can be said that Rida's reformist ideology for Islamic history and thought is a continuation of what Muḥammad ʻAbduh began, although he deviated slightly from the intellectual path despite being influenced by his teacher Muḥammad ʻAbduh, even though some Salafi reformers considered him a reformer that belonged to the Salafi school of thought.
VL - 12
IS - 6
ER -
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