ISLAM AND MODERNITY – A SELECTIVE INFLUENCE OF CAPITALISTIC SET-UP

1. ISLAM AND MODERNITY – A SELECTIVE INFLUENCE OF CAPITALISTIC SET-UP BY DR. SOBIA TAHIR DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY GC UNIVERSITY LAHORE 30TH MARCH 2009

2. WHAT IS MODERNITY • A complex term referring to multiple trends of thought; • Started from 17th Century and lasted till 20th Century’s first half; • Became Markedly visible in 18th & 19th Centuries by Industrial Revolution; • Brought Liberalism, Democracy, Capitalism, Socialism, Urbanization, Health Care, Literacy and Mass Media with it; • Mothered Imperialism, Colonial Rule, Slavery, Exploitation, Wars and Weapons.

3. ISLAM AND MODERNITY • Muslim World welcomed Modernity warmly in the Beginning; • Healthy response in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, India and Indonesia; • The fervour went slow after fall of the Ottoman Empire in WWI; • Then Muslim World gradually “lost faith in the culture of Science and Materialism”; • The wake of colonialism pushed Muslim World to the defensive.

4. ISLAM AND MODERNITY • Muslim World in search of alternative Modernity; • Adopted a specific approach towards Modernity; • Islam being doubly divided: on the basis of sects and piecemeal adoption of Modernity; • Selective approach neither purely Islamic nor strictly modern; • Similar Selective attitude towards Capitalism.

5. WHAT IS CAPITALISM • An economic system based on: • Private ownership of means of production. • Open competition; • Profit motives; • Free markets; • Roman Empire being the birthplace of Capitalism; • Has roots in Islam, flourished in Arabia by 6th Century; • Advent of Islam in 7th Century expanded it to Europe. • Tariff ,Traffic, mudaraba and mufawada being the Arabic terms.

6. WHAT IS CAPITALISM • Modern Capitalism an off-shoot of mercantilism; • Flourished during the Age of Enlightenment (17th-19th Century); • Various phases include Commercialism, Monopolism, Industrialization and Globalization; • Led to Liberal Political movements and representative institutions; • On of the most misinterpreted systems, a synonym of inequality and exploitation.

7. ISLAM AND CAPITALISM – A Selective Approach • Economically Islam quite in consonance with Capitalism. However, Muslim World accepted Capitalism Selectively; • Selection always based on the interests of ruling classes; • Muslim World assimilated it partly (economically) and rejected liberalism and democracy; • The Selective Selection kept Muslim World backward and portrayed it anti-modernity.

8. ISLAM AND CAPITALISM – A Selective Approach • The concepts of fate and pre-ordained subsistence specifically highlighted; • These helped to keep people impoverished and justify disparities; • Liberal and democratic thought suppressed to safeguard dictatorship of monarchs and military regimes; • These portrayed as hostile, alien and threatening to Islam; • Reality being that these are threatening to Muslim rulers.

9. CONCLUSION • Islam in perfect harmony with Capitalism; • Islam helped it flourish and nourished it painstakingly; • Regretfully rejected its ripe fruits, that is, liberal outlook and democratic institutions; • Accepted its least useful elements leading to poverty, illiteracy and backwardness; • Fault lies neither with Islam nor with Capitalism rather with elite ruling class assisted by opportunist intelligentsia.

10. THANK YOU