For more information about religion and science issues go to www.metanexus.net
Group Project by
Samia Siddiqui and Christine Lucier
"Islam, Modernity, and Postmodernity"
Dr. Khalid Blankenship, Temple University
SUMMARY OF LECTURE
Blankenship gave a lecture on Islam in modern and postmodern settings. He
intended to answer the questions of what does and will Islam mean to the
world, and what does and will modernity and postmodernity mean to Muslims
and non-Muslims.
He began the lecture by discussing the concept of premodernity and by questoning
whether or not modernity and postmodernity could be isolated from this concept.
This question posed a paradox since it is difficult to look at a premodern
time with our present mindset. He pointed out that some scholars feel that
we cannot know about the past since the ancient texts don't "speak"
to the reader. There exists "an arrogance of the present when talking
of the past." Therefore, one of the possibilities that exists is that
things haven't changed in the modern world.
Blankenship defined the concept of modernity as the idea of a modern world
brought into existence by science leading to an ideology of materialistic
beliefs. He discussed two systems that endow life with meaning: eastern
and western ideologies. The driving force behind eastern ideology is reincarnation.
The goal of this is departure from existence, which gives purposefulness
to life by striving to achieve nirvana. The driving force behind western
ideology is judgement. In this, there is a need for absolute power of God
in order to ensure absolute judgement. Life becomes more meaningful in this
way since the goal is a better afterlife.
The two major concepts of modernity, according to Blankenship, are humanity
and progress. Humanity by itself is not sufficient; with it comes the need
for progress. In order for people to see the meaning of humanity they need
a sense of progression towards a better life on this world. This becomes
the ideology of modernity.
Through the expectations that accompany progression, modernity engineered
its own crisis. The legitimacy of the modern state is in jeopardy because
it can't deliver the higher standards of living which are expected from
progress. The crisis of postmodernity comes about by material doubts of
modernity. Without the concept of progress it would be impossible to reach
a state of utopia.
Postmodernity says modernity is just religious dogma and seeks to break
these chains by looking at the situation from the ground up. This uses people's
thoughts and feelings as the foundation. From this foundation arises a common
mindset. In this way, the door for Islam is opened. Islam cannot be viewed
as a wrong ideology because it has a lot room for interpretation in its
texts. At the same time it also disintegrates the Islamic texts because
it leads to a lot of ambiguities and doubts.
One problem with the role of Islam in the world is that it is in a state
of powerlessness since the masses of the Muslim population are not a part
of the industrial world. Because of the state of powerlessness, the Muslim
governments don't have influence over industrialized nations. As a result
of this non-Muslims lack knowledge of the Islamic ideology. The common mindset
of Islam in a postmodern world will be hard to achieve unless this problem
is resolved.
The Western values are dependant upon material terms. They have both political
and economic power. Islam, on the other hand, poses the threat of an ideological
power in a postmodern world. It offers to make a contribution to the purpose
of life by providing a common framework of ethics and morals.
SAMIA'S RESPONSE
I thought that Professor Blankenship's lecture had a lot of potential. He
intended to answer very interesting questions but ran out of time. I personally
was a lot more interested in his view of Islam in a modern and a postmodern
world. But most of his lecture was spent on concepts of modernity and postmodernity.
I felt that he wanted to talk about a lot of topics and so went off on tangents
at some points. Some of the ideas didn't seem to connect to the lecture
topic. Nevertheless the topics that were discussed were quite interesting.
The concept of modernity of trying to build a "paradise" on this
world with the help of science and technology and progress and the idea
that progress is what provides for meaning in life really intrigued me since
I have a totally different point of view on what gives life meaning. Religion
for the most part gives meaning to my life. I am sure that for others this
is not the case.
Blankenship's very brief discussion on the role of Islam as a religion in
a postmodern world was very confusing. He stated that postmodernity opens
the world for Islam but it also undermines it. I feel that although Islam
cannot offer materialistic power it can offer purpose and meaning in life.
I guess, that is what Blankenship wanted to expand upon. I had a little
trouble with understanding how postmodernity would undermine Islam. I guess
he was trying to say that because there would be room for interpretation
it would lead to ambiguities.
CHRISTINE'S RESPONSE
I was raised as a Christian, but I no longer practice the religion. I don't
think that my morals and beliefs really fit into any specific religion.
There are many aspects of many religions which appeal to me.
Coming from this point of view, I agreed with Blankenship's suggestion that
Islam could be the common religion for the post-modern world. This seems
possible because of the vast amount of room for interpretation in the Islam
texts and thus the vast amount of room for people to be able to fit the
basics of their beliefs into the infrastructure of the Islam religion.
Out of all of the main religions in today's world of modernity, Islam is
the only one that has these qualities. Therefore, if we are to reach a common
religion in our postmodern utopia, it must arise either from Islam or from
the creation of a new religion which combines different elements from several
of the existing religions. However, it is much easier to bring about change
in society through the use of a pre-existing structure, since there would
already be a sense of solidarity within it. The only factors that are missing
for the change to take place are the resources and the opportunity. In the
event that these factors become present, Islam could potentially serve as
the pre-existing structure through which a common, postmodern religion will
arise.