Islamic Perspective on Fundamentalism: Historical Analyses I

In this interview of Seyyed Hossein Nasr by an American TV channel, he gives an analysis of modern history [starting at 15:00 on "what went wrong with Islam recently"] (18-20th century) of Muslims concentrating on colonial, post-colonial situation, essentially from Islamic point-of-view, or at least his independent analysis as Muslim, who is opposed to secular-modernist scholars, which is very imperative. Dr Asad Zaman, professor at IIIU, has repeatedly stated the need of re-writing entire history of past 300 years and its all major developments & aspects from Islamic point of view, especially in this research paper, Developing an Islamic World-View.

Now, we've popular writers like Karen Armstrong taking lead, writing 'interesting' books on the development of so-called fundamentalism in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, interpreting the past 300-year history essentially from a modern, "secular-fundamentalist" * perspective. She and her likes are committed moderns calling all religious people fundamentalists, without distinguishing them from those who commit indiscriminate violence against innocent people, who resist the onslaught of modernity that threatens their religion. Hence again, we see a deep-rooted Euro-centrism in the works of such scholars who are many in number and dominate the scene.

In such a condition of intellectual bankruptcy in Muslim world, such lectures, presentations, interpretations from an Islamic point-of-view are blessings from on high to those who want freedom from the fetters of this world and coercive modernity that robes people of freedom to choose their own destiny.

________________________
* This latter term, "secular-fundamentalist," has been coined by Nasr, I came across in The Heart of Islam of the author, which perfectly fits with the mentality and acts of moderns who profess secularism imposing on others, and curtailing the freedom of 'other civilizations to be themselves'. This fundamentalism is most brutal and harsh 'than the most extreme of religious fundamentalism'.

Dealing with Karen

I am not at all angry with her. Karen has proved to be a quite resourceful writer, in her autobiography The Spiral Staircase, about which I wrote in some previous post. Certainly, she is a fast learner who is emphatic to other voices and perspectives, but, as usual with moderns, sentimental, such that it stops her looking at things the way they are. (Although it was her this quality which made her sympathetic, as well as in her writings, to Islam, in times when it was being maligned in West.) I don't want to list here her grave shortcomings as a good human being which Westerners may never quote as bad manners; but which only the genius of Islam identifies and cures, such as following one's own lust to the extent of making it one's 'god', as Qur'an puts it.

Her story of failure in finding God by becoming part of the Catholic church, as nun, was quite helping and made me more firm in the religion of Abraham. She spend a large part of life as ex-nun despising, disowning and rightly debunking the Church order and all the innovative lies they came up with contrary to the message of Jesus. She came across modern biblical scholarship and this led her to come close, unknowingly at that time (or still) in my view, to the Qur'anic perspective of Christianity: Qur'an severely criticizes the lies they later invented in the name of god; made Sayyidina Isa the alleged Son of God, which she found was only 'Son of Man' as Jesus said. And that much part of Bible available today was written by man, St Paul and other who came before him.

The bottom-line is: My belief in Islam is enhanced by the fact that when I don't see a perfectly traditional Christian, a Buddhist, or else, finding Allah as He is, it is only that Allah himself has closed all other doors to him, except Islam. Even when she started writing A History of God, having nothing other work/project to do, she was done with God, who never responded to his prayers at convent, nor could she feel him for a moment for those seven painful, 'unhealthy' years as a nun...