This was not a shopping weekend, but it is hard to miss and resist the fusion of souk and mall in this glitzy city. The Institute of Ismaili Studies invited me to speak to their alumni on how one may think of moral philosophy in a modern world. More challengingly, how might such a philosophy be taught by secondary school teachers.
It turned out to a great meeting, allowing me to reflect deeply on the kind of issues that I have been thinking about for a long time. These are preliminary thoughts shared on this blog.
Allow me a short digression. What really impressed me was the participants at this meeting. They were men and women who were involved in one or other way in education. Some of them were experienced, while others were recent graduates or still students. They were not only involved in Islamic religious education, but these issues clearly were most important for them.
Having read about the Aga Khan and seen a video documentary two years ago on how the Ismaili are facing modernity, I was surprised to come across very similar concerns among them about living in a modern world. I thought that they had overcome what many other Muslims were grappling with. They were concerned about the image of Muslims and rising tide of Islamophobia, suspicious of American foreign designs and policies on Muslims, and also about permissive values infiltrating religious communities.
At the same time, though, they were clearly interested and willing to confront difficult questions thrown at them. I was here for 2 of the 3 days, but saw enough of a deep and critical engagement with the three of us invited to speak.
The first talk was presented by Dr. John Hull on religious education. He began with his view of education in general, and then presented a Christian theology of education for the modern world. He argued that freedom was the central distinction and pre-occupation of humanity. This quality was given to both men and women as part of the special creation of God. Created in the image of God, creativity was their destiny. And education should be directed to this goal. Moreover, he added, all religions should and were able to develop an argument for primary value of freedom. There was a place for training and even indoctrination in an educational system, but freedom was and ought to be the ultimate goal.
Prof. Liam Geron followed with an equally provocative thesis the next day. He traced the history of the Enlightenment in Europe and its antagonistic relationship with religion. Whilst championing the cause of ‘Man’ and of freedom, the Enlightenment and the liberal state were deeply committed to the suppression of religion. He also related the failed promises of the Enlightenment to rid humanity of barbarisms. In the name of science, state and the pursuit of wealth, the Enlightenment and its successors unleashed terrible wars and mass killings on humanity. Moreover, he turned to the modern liberal state as the inherited legacy of the Enlightenment. It too was committed to the elimination of religion from having any influence in society. Homing in on schooling, he showed how systematically religious education was prevented from playing a constructive role in the life of individuals and society. In the war against terror, religion was being used to serve the ends of the state.
I followed later with a talk on ethics and modern Islam. I began where Prof. Gearon did with the Enlightenment thinker Kant. However, I presented two interpretations of the Enlightenment. The first was lead by Alasdair MacIntyre who argued that there was no ethics possible in the aftermath of Kant. Having destroyed all foundations of an ideal model of life, Kant could only bequeath a future devoid of ethical commitment. Against this judgment, however, I presented the argumen of Abd al-karim Soroush who recognize value in the ethical heritage of the Enlightenment. Turning the ethical heritage of the Middle Ages on its head, the Enlightenment provided a basis for science and development that made ethics possible. Going on from this modern ambiguous heritage, I turned to present how contemporary Muslims related to ethics. Using the example of human rights, I pointed out how identity had become a major obstacle in thinking about ethics and human rights. I then turned to the ethical heritage of Islam, and proposed that a close and critical reading might be helpful. As an example, I provided an overview of Al-Mawardi’s Adab al-Din wa ‘l-Dunya.
I hope to share my reflections on this meeting in another Blog, and perhaps a more detailed paper. My reflections will include a really interesting article that I read of Armando Salvatore on Muslims and the European public sphere.
