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Between Western Academia and Pakistan: Fazlur Rahman and the fight for fusionism*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2017

MEGAN BRANKLEY ABBAS
MEGAN BRANKLEY ABBAS*
Affiliation:
Department of History, State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo Sturges Hall, Geneseo, New York, United States of America Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In the wake of European colonization, Muslims across the globe have wrestled with the problem of intellectual dualism, or the bifurcation of knowledge into the distinct Islamic and modern Western spheres. This article examines the career of Pakistani intellectual and University of Chicago professor, Fazlur Rahman (1919–1988), who emerged as a particularly significant figure in this debate over intellectual dualism in the latter half of the twentieth century. Arguing that academic methodologies were integral for Muslim understandings of Islam, Rahman broke down the dichotomy between Western and Islamic knowledge in favour of a merging of the two, an approach I term ‘fusionism’. He propagated this fusionist vision, with mixed success, in his native Pakistan and across the Islamic world. In his position as a respected professor at the University of Chicago, Rahman furthermore re-imagined and utilized the Western university as a valuable space for modern Islamic thought, thereby challenging any sharp boundary between the two discourses and their respective institutions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2017 , pp. 736 - 768
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

I am grateful to Muhammad Qasim Zaman and Leah Klement for providing feedback on multiple drafts of this article. Their comments, along with those of the two anonymous reviewers, were indispensable in helping me revise the article for publication.

References

1 I thank John E. Woods for providing me with a tour of Pick Hall and sharing his recollections of Rahman. John E. Woods, Personal Interview, 9 November 2012.

2 For the purposes of this article, ‘traditionalist’ denotes those Muslims who follow the authority of an established school (madhhab) of Islamic law, which, in the case of Pakistan, is usually Hanafi. In contrast, the label ‘modernist’ refers to those Muslims who argue for the necessity of continual and sometimes radical ijtihad (original legal reasoning) in order to adapt Islam to changing social contexts.

3 For several examples, see: Denny, Frederick M. (1991). ‘The Legacy of Fazlur Rahman’, in Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck. The Muslims of America, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 96–110 Google Scholar; Sells, Michael (2011). ‘Foreword’, in Fazlur Rahman. Prophecy in Islam: Philosophy and Orthodoxy, Reprint, University of Chicago Press, Chicago Google Scholar; Waugh, Earle and Denny, Frederick (eds) (1998). The Shaping of an American Islamic Discourse: A Memorial to Fazlur Rahman, Scholars Press, Atlanta Google Scholar; Waugh, Earle (1999). The Legacies of Fazlur Rahman for Islam in America, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol. 16.3, pp. 27–44 Google Scholar.

4 For writings focused on Rahman's Qur'anic hermeneutics, see: Cragg, Kenneth (1985). The Pen and the Faith: Eight Modern Muslim Writers and the Qur'an, George Allen & Unwin, London, pp. 91–108 Google Scholar; Jacques, R. Kevin (2002). Fazlur Rahman: Prophecy, the Qur'an, and Islamic Reform, Studies in Contemporary Islam, 4, pp. 63–83 Google Scholar; Saeed, Abdullah (2004). ‘Fazlur Rahman: A Framework for Interpreting the Ethico-Legal Content of the Qur'an’, in Farouki, Suha Taji. Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur'an, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 37–66 Google Scholar. A notable exception to this Qur'anic focus is Farid Panjwani's article on Rahman's ideas about education. See: Panjawni, Farid. (2012). Fazlur Rahman and the Search for an Authentic Islamic Education: A Critical Appreciation, Curriculum Inquiry, Vol. 42.1, pp. 33–55 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 In light of this reified conception of civilizational discourses, proponents of intellectual dualism tend to obscure moments of historical cross-pollination between Islamic and Western thought. Nevertheless, over the past several decades, historians have examined the extensive networks of intellectual exchange among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the pre-modern eras. One particularly notable example is the work of George Saliba, including: Saliba, George (2007). Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Boston Google Scholar.

6 I am indebted to the work of Alasdair MacIntyre for the language of intellectual traditions and commensurability. See: MacIntyre, Alasdair (1988). Whose Justice, which Rationality?, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame Google Scholar.

7 In 1961, the stronghold of traditional Sunni Islamic education, Egypt's al-Azhar, added departments of medicine and engineering to its Islamic faculties. In 1975, the Indonesian government mandated that Islamic schools devote 70 per cent of instructional time to secular subjects compared to just 30 per cent to Islamic ones if they wanted state recognition and financial support.

8 Zaman, Muhammad Qasim (2012). Modern Islamic Thought in a Radical Age, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 143–175 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Zaman, Muhammad Qasim (2002). The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, pp. 60–86 Google Scholar.

10 Without a doubt, Iqbal's engagement with Western thought extended well beyond his creative interaction with the writings of Albert Einstein. For the most detailed demonstration of Iqbal's fusionism, see: Iqbal, Muhammad (2009). The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Reprint, Dodo Press, London Google Scholar.

11 As Rahman recalled several decades later: ‘Unlike most traditional Islamic scholars of that time, who regarded modern education as a poison both for faith and morality, my father was convinced that Islam had to face modernity both as a challenge and an opportunity.’ See: Rahman, Fazlur (1986). ‘Fazlur Rahman’, in Berman, Phillip L.. The Courage of Conviction, Ballatine Books, New York, p. 195 Google Scholar; Masud, Muhammad Khalid, et al. (1988). In Memoriam: Dr. Fazlur Rahman (1919–1988), Islamic Studies, Vol. 27.4, p. 397 Google Scholar.

12 Masud, In Memoriam, p. 390.

13 Other notable Muslim academics from Rahman's generation include: Isma'il al Faruqi, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Majid Khadduri, and Muhsin Mahdi.

14 Masud, In Memoriam, pp. 397–398.

15 Paul Walker, Personal Interview, 15 November 2012.

16 Rahman, Fazlur (1952). Avicenna's Psychology: An English Translation of Kitab Al-Najat, Book 2, Chapter 6, Oxford University Press, London, p. viii Google Scholar. Rahman also dedicated Prophecy in Islam (1958) to van den Bergh.

17 ‘Excerpt from John Marshall's diary, Durham’, 2 July 1951, folder 442, box 50, series 401R, records group (RG) 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, Rockefeller Archives Centre, Tarrytown, New York (hereafter RAC).

18 ‘Excerpt from JM's diary, London’, 14 April 1951, folder 442, box 50, series 401R, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

19 Rahman, Courage of Conviction, p. 195.

20 Ibid., pp. 195–196.

21 Rahman, Prophecy in Islam, p. 35.

22 Ibid., pp. 36–45.

23 Ibid., pp. 59–64.

24 Ibid., pp. 59–64.

25 On the nature of Islamic revelation, Rahman wrote: ‘The Qur'an is thus pure Divine Word, but, of course, it is equally intimately related to the inmost personality of the Prophet Muhammad whose relationship to it cannot be mechanically conceived like that of a record. The Divine Word flowed through the Prophet's heart.’ Rahman, Fazlur (2002). Islam, 3rd Edition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 33 Google Scholar.

26 Rahman, Prophecy in Islam, pp. 45, 64.

27 Rahman, Islam, pp. 121–127; Rahman, Fazlur (1965). Islamic Methodology in History, Central Institute of Islamic Research, Karachi, pp. 118–129 Google Scholar.

28 Rahman, Prophecy in Islam, p. 45.

29 Rahman, Courage of Conviction, p. 196.

30 Rahman had been a visiting professor at the McGill Institute during the 1953–54 academic year, and after the experience, worked with Smith to secure a permanent post.

31 Although Islam was not published until 1966, Rahman began work on it while at McGill. Smith reported in 1959 that Rahman had begun serious work on a major history of Islam as a religion, most definitely referring to Islam. See: ‘Report of Activities: July 1959’, folder 101, box 11, series 427.R, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC. Rahman stated in his 1968 resignation announcement from the Islamic Research Institute that he had written the book in 1958. See: ‘Resignation of Fazlur Rahman: Text of Letters’, Dawn, 6 September 1968.

32 For prominent examples of this mode of historical critique: see: Gibb, H. A. R. (1947). Modern Trends in Islam, University of Chicago Press, Chicago CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gibb, H. A. R. (1953). Mohammedanism: A Historical Survey, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, London Google Scholar; von Grunebaum, G. E. (1964). Modern Islam: The Search for Cultural Identity, 1st Vintage Edition, Vintage Books, New York Google Scholar; Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. (1957). Islam in Modern History, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey Google Scholar.

33 In this discussion, I follow Rahman's own use of the term ‘orthodox’, which he deployed to denote the mainstream Sunni ulama.

34 Rahman, Islam, p. 186.

35 Ibid., p. 187.

36 Ibid., pp. 186–192.

37 In the mid-1970s, Rahman himself acknowledged a moment of brilliance in medieval Islamic thought when he devoted an entire book to notable medieval Muslim scholar, Mulla Sadra. However, Rahman made sure to note that Sadra's creativity was exceptional for his time when ‘most other students who, in order to gain vainglorious fame, devoted themselves to the hairsplitting details found in later learned books which offered little insight into real problems’. See: Rahman, Fazlur (1975). The Philosophy of Mullah Sadra, Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi, State University of New York Press, Albany, p. 2 Google Scholar.

38 Rahman, Islam, p. xiii.

39 Italics added by author. Ibid., p. 240.

40 Ibid.

41 According to Smith, the Lahore job offer was ‘a permanent and very highly paid and quite prestigious post in Lahore, as University Professor of Arabic’, presumably at Punjab University. Wilfred Cantwell Smith letter to John Marshall, dated 1 December 1956, folder 1772, box 7, RG 36, McGill University Archives.

42 Fazlur Rahman letter to U. Kramet, dated 11 July 1959, folder 7562, box 253, RG 2, McGill University Archives.

43 Central Institute of Islamic Research Grant Description, folder 11, box 1, series 465.R, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

44 On McGill's end, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who was ever keen to have Rahman return to Pakistan in a position of Islamic leadership, secured Rahman leave from McGill. Fazlur Rahman letter to Chadbourn Gilpatric, dated 10 January 1961, folder 12, box 1, series 465.R, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

45 The two men argued that the Institute should not exhaust itself with collating and editing ancient manuscripts but rather commit itself to historical research on Islamic principles and then contemporary applications of them. Specifically, they proposed that the Institute be re-organized around six research fields: aesthetic, sociological, economic, international, educational, and legal divisions. With each division headed by a qualified professor, their respective teams would then identify pressing problems facing the Muslim community in their field, research relevant Islamic teachings, and then propose properly Islamic solutions. Shafiq, Muhammad (1994). The Growth of Islamic Thought in North America: Focus on Isma'il Raji al Faruqi, Amana Publications, Brentwood, Maryland, p. 14 Google Scholar.

46 ‘Interview: CG, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 27 June 1962, telephone’, folder 101, box 11, series 427, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

47 Shafiq, Growth of Islamic Thought, p. 15.

48 ‘The Central Institute of Islamic Research’, folder 11, box 1, series 465R, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

49 ‘The Central Institute of Islamic Research’, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

50 In much of his discussion of the Sunnah and Hadith, Rahman drew from the historical methods and revisionist narrative developed by Ignaz Goldziher and Joseph Schacht, but he also had serious disagreements with these noted Western academics over the history of the Sunnah as a concept and how to understand fabricated Hadith.

51 Rahman, Islamic Methodology, p. 19.

52 Rahman, Islamic Methodology, p. 23.

53 Describing his general principle, Rahman wrote: ‘A hadith which involves a prediction, directly or indirectly, cannot, on strict historical grounds, be accepted as genuinely emanating from the Prophet and must be referred to the relevant period of latter history. We do not reject all predictions but only those which are fairly specific.’ Rahman, Islamic Methodology, pp. 46–53.

54 Ibid., pp. 85–147.

55 Rahman, Fazlur. (1967). The Qur'anic Solution of Pakistan's Educational Problems, Islamic Studies, Vol 6.4, pp. 318–320 Google Scholar.

56 Ibid., p. 318.

57 Rahman, Fazlur (1974). ‘Some Islamic Issues in the Ayyub Khan Era’, in Little, Donald. Essays in Islamic Civilization, McGill University Press, Montreal, pp. 291–295 Google Scholar.

58 Rahman, Fazlur (1964). Riba and Interest, Islamic Studies, Vol. 3.1, pp. 1–8.Google Scholar

59 Ibid., pp. 8–37.

60 Ibid., pp. 40–41.

61 Italics in original. ‘The Central Institute of Islamic Research’, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, RAC.

62 Ibid.

63 Fazlur Rahman letter to Cyril James, dated 18 December 1961, file 8263, box 274, RG 2, McGill University Archives.

64 Rahman, Fazlur (1982). Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 123 Google Scholar.

65 Rahman, ‘Some Islamic Issues’, p. 294.

66 Rahman made numerous attempts in his press releases and in the Institute's monthly Urdu journal, Fikr-o-Nazar, to persuade members of the ulama to focus on the contents of his arguments about riba rather than the source of his methodology. With the exception of Abu Usaama Hasan al-‘Ajami (whose article from the Deobandi journal, Bayyinat, was reprinted by Rahman in Fikr-o-Nazar in April 1964), very few did. See: al-‘Ajami, Abu Usaama Hasan (1964). ‘Afikar’, Fikr-o-Nazar, No. 10, pp. 59–79.

67 Rahman later said that the letters had been stolen by his personal secretary and then passed onto Thanawi.

68 ‘Thanvi, Rahman State Their Case’, Dawn, 9 October 1963.

69 S. A. Vahid, ‘Islamic Research’, Dawn, 11 October 1963.

70 For examples, see: M. Saleh Atfla, ‘Islamic Research’, Dawn, 12 October 1963; Ziauddin S. Bulbul, ‘Islamic Research’, Dawn 15 October 1963.

71 ‘Islamic Research—Dr. Rahman's Justification’, Dawn, 19 October 1963.

72 Dawn Staff Correspondent, ‘Questions and Answers’, Dawn, 9 October 1963.

73 ‘Views of Central Islamic Research Institute Director Criticised’, Dawn, 23 October 1963.

74 Rahman, ‘Some Islamic Issues’, pp. 299–300.

75 ‘Sialkot main Doktor Fazl ur-Rahman ke khalaf mazahare’, Nawa-i Waqt, 4 September 1968.

76 Rahman, ‘Some Islamic Issues’, p. 301.

77 For coverage of the press conference, see: ‘Qur'an hakim khuda ka kalam hai awr iska aik aik lafz rasul pak par nazal hua tha’, Nawa-i Waqt, 4 September 1968; ‘Holy Quran Totally Divine Word’, The Pakistan Times, 4 September 1968.

78 Leonard Binder, Personal Interview, 28 August 2012.

79 ‘Resignation of Fazlur Rahman: Text of Letters’, Dawn, 6 September 1968.

80 ‘Kitāb “Islam” ke gumrahkun mandarjat’, Nawa-i Waqt, 26 August 1968.

81 Ibid.

82 Interestingly, some of the signatories’ objections to Islam seem less like genuine disagreements than lost-in-translation misunderstandings. Throughout the book, Rahman offered nuanced defences of Muhammad and the Qur'an to counter Orientalist criticisms, but, perhaps unaware of the academic context for Rahman's statements, the ulama misconstrued Rahman as agreeing with the very points he sought to discredit. These moments of mistranslation highlight the ‘otherness’ which the ulama ascribed to the Western academic study of Islam.

83 During a visit to Pakistan in January 1969, Charles Adams, director of the McGill Institute of, met with the recently resigned Rahman who discussed the accusations that he was a ‘McGill spy’. Adams then reported this information to Acting Director Donald Little and the McGill administration. See: Donald Little letter to Rocke Robertson, dated 20 February 1969, folder 13189, box 356, RG 2, McGill University Archives.

84 For details on Ayub Khan's Islamic policies, see: Ansari, Sarfraz Husain (2011). Forced Modernization and Public Policy: A Case Study of Ayub Khan Era (1958–69), Journal of Political Studies, Vol. 18.1, pp. 45–60 Google Scholar; Qasmi, Ali Usman (2010). God's Kingdom on Earth? Politics of Islam in Pakistan, 1947–1969, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 44.6, pp. 1225–1253 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

85 Qasmi, God's Kingdom, pp. 1238–1247.

86 I thank Muhammad Qasim Zaman for bringing to my attention the possibility that Rahman's ties to Ayub Khan's authoritarian state may have been a primary motivation behind ulama attacks.

87 ‘University Press Release, 13 October 1969’, folder 14, box 24, Allen G. Debus Papers, Special Collections Research Centre, University of Chicago Library. Rahman filled the professorial chair recently vacated by Muhsin Mahdi, who had departed for Harvard.

88 Paul Walker, Personal Interview, 15 November 2012; Stephen Humphreys, Personal Interview, 30 August 2012.

89 Leonard Binder and Fazlur Rahman, ‘Islam and Social Change: A Research Proposal’, Grant Number 07400141, Reel 3087, Ford Foundation Archives, RAC.

90 Italics added by author. Ibid.

91 T. M. Smith Memo to Reuben Frodin, ‘Binder and Rahman: Comparative Islamic Education’, dated 22 January 1973, Grant Number 07400141, Reel 3087, Ford Foundation Archives, RAC.

92 Fazlur Rahman, ‘A Report on My Visit to Pakistan’, attached to letter dated 7 October 1974, Grant Number 07400141, Reel 3087, Ford Foundation Archives, RAC.

93 Rahman wrote directly to Prime Minister Bhutto about the constitutional amendment that declared the minority to be Ahmadiyya non-Muslims. Rahman especially objected to a speech in which Bhutto characterized the amendment as a ‘secular decision’ with origins in Pakistan's ‘secular constitution’. Rahman wrote: ‘we [do not] have a secular constitution but an Islamic one—and self-professedly so! And this Islamic Constitution has Islamically [enabled this decision].’ Within a month, Bhutto responded to the letter in order to explain that his emphasis on secularism had been intended for an international audience. See: Fazlur Rahman letter to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, dated 2 December 1974, Grant Number 07400141, Reel 3087, Ford Foundation Archives, RAC; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto letter to Fazlur Rahman, dated 5 January 1975, Grant Number 07400141, Reel 3087, Ford Foundation Archives, RAC.

94 ‘Report of Professor Fazlur Rahman's Visit to Pakistan in Summer 1975 in Connection with the “Islamic Education” Project of the University of Chicago’, undated, Grant Number 07400141, Reel 3087, Ford Foundation Archives, RAC.

95 Ibid.

96 Rahman, Islam and Modernity, p. 33.

97 Ibid., pp. 33–39, 46–47.

98 Ibid., p. 72.

99 Fazlur Rahman drew out these universal Qur'anic principles in his 1980 book on the Qur'an. See: Rahman, Fazlur (2009). Major Themes of the Qur'an, 2nd Edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago Google Scholar.

100 Rahman, Islam and Modernity, p. 7.

101 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

102 Rahman, Fazlur (1985). ‘Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies: Review Essay’, in Martin, Richard C.. Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, p. 192 Google Scholar.

103 Ibid., pp. 193–194.

104 Rahman, Islam and Modernity, p. 4.

105 Ibid., p. 124.

106 For detailed studies of Rahman's influence on Indonesian Muslim scholars, see: Burhani, Ahmad Najib (2013). Transmission of Islamic Reform from the United States to Indonesia, Indonesia and the Malay World, Vol 41.119, pp. 29–47 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Abbas, Megan Brankley (2015). Knowing Islam: The Entangled History of Western Academia and Modern Islamic Thought, PhD Thesis, Princeton University.

107 For another and more in-depth discussion of Rahman's engagement with Gadamer, see: Moosa, Ebrahim (2000). ‘Introduction’, in Rahman, Fazlur. Revival and Reform in Islam: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, pp. 9–23 Google Scholar.

108 Rahman, Islam and Modernity, p. 8.

109 Gadamer, Hans-Georg (2004). Truth and Method, 2nd Revised Edition, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York Google Scholar.

110 Rahman, Islam and Modernity, p. 9.

111 Said, Edward (1994). Orientalism, 25th Anniversary Edition, Vintage Books, New York Google Scholar.

112 During his years at Chicago, Rahman also occasionally consulted for the United States Department of State and, in one instance, provided his assessment of the Shi‘i population in Pakistan. See: Confidential Memo from Secretary of State, Washington DC to American Embassy in Islamabad, ‘Pakistan's Shi‘a Community’, dated 22 July 1986, United States Department of State Archives, released to the author as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.