A Tale of Lost Heritage
A conversation last week made me reflect on the difference in connotation between the words “Azadi-e-Khayal” (freedom of thought) and “Azad Khayaal” (free thinker). I wondered how the later became so negative: a word so disgraceful that its commonly used in Pakistan as a slur for shaming those who dare to think outside the narrow, rigid and socially accepted confines. It carries more shame for women as it implicates moral corruption; an “azad khayal aurat” must be socially reprehended. How did it become so when our theological heritage encouraged reflection and free thinking? Who attaches shame and guilt with being azad khayal? Since when did free thinking become a sin? These are questions which I struggled to find answers for, until one day, when I visited Andalucía.
I had always heard anecdotes of long-lost glory of the Caliphate in Andalucía and the Golden Period of Islam by the religious enthusiasts. Anecdotes which are nostalgically told to describe the virtues of that period which got corrupted by “modernity” and “bidat” (religious innovation). The people of these age, they said, were on the “right path”. This mysterious right path which has varied, subjectively interpreted and adjusted to the needs of those who wanted to rule using fear and control. Dissent and reasoning were discouraged for power preservation in several realms including gender and spirituality. Not the least, fear and guilt have been used as tools to criminalize free thinking which today can be witnessed at both micro and macro levels of society.
But what I saw in Andalucía stunned me! I could not believe that critical thinking was the way of learning and education in the matters of not only social and natural sciences, but also religion. The society produced and nurtured the likes of Ibn-Khaldun and Averroes who were the founders of many modern disciplines such as sociology, economics, logic, arithmetic and philosophy.
My tour guide enthusiastically told that these philosophers and scientists were given patronage by the rulers. They were appointed on important roles and positions in the society. Her voice had a pinch of nostalgia when she proudly iterated the history of her city. A city that nourished a society of tolerance, where Jews, Christians and Muslims co-existed. Culture, arts and architecture flourished. Cordoba became a hub of medical sciences where Jews were the most prestigious physicians serving the Caliphs and royalties from all over Europe came to Cordoba to get healed. And it was almost 1000 years ago!
The intellectuals were celebrated, not persecuted. I was dumb founded knowing that the society tolerated dissent which would be punishable by death in certain parts of Islamic world today. For example, Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) criticized the method most Muslim historians used that focused on the credibility of the transmitter. He focused on the validity of the stories instead and encouraged critical thinking. He didn’t rely on religious dogma or tradition but opted to use a more scientific approach. And even with these views he was not hanged, rather appointed as a judge at various courts and as a professor several times. Imagine what would the society do today if anyone had the audacity to hold such views let alone profess them.
Ibn Khaldun also emphasized the significance of tradition of education to ensure the new generations of a civilization continuously improve in the sciences and develop culture (epistemology theory). He argued that “without the strong establishment of an educational tradition, it would be very difficult for the new generations to maintain the achievements of the earlier generations, let alone improve them”. But he was not talking about ordinary education, he emphasized the importance of education which nurtured human beings’ faculty to think and reason (fikr). The exact faculty that we punish our youth for. The exact faculty we kill our students and incarcerate our teachers for. The exact faculty we shame our women for. While walking through the pillars of Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, only thing I could think was that we in Pakistan breathe in a pre-medieval society. A society which collectively shuns “fikr” and “azadi-e-khayaal”; one of the biggest tragedies that has brought us to where we are today.
Averroes existed even further back (1126–11 December 1198). Born in Cordoba, he studied and professed hadith, fiqh, medicine, theology and philosophy. Averroes distinguished between three modes of discourse; the rhetorical (based on persuasion; he classified scripture in this category) accessible to the common masses; the dialectical (based on debate) and often employed by theologians and the ulama (scholars); and the demonstrative (based on logical deduction).
He argued that philosophy is based on deductive reasoning using careful methods and “scriptural text should be interpreted allegorically if it appeared to contradict conclusions reached by reason and philosophy. This interpretation must be done by those “rooted in knowledge” — a phrase taken by from the Quran 3:7, which for Averroes refers to philosophers who during his lifetime had access to the “highest methods of knowledge” ”. When criticized by theologians such as al-Ghazali for being a “disbeliever”, he defended philosophy by arguing that it’s a scientific approach to reach the truth and truth cannot contradict truth.
These were the likes of thinkers we needed to nurture. Knowledge and tolerance were the biggest weapons Caliphate of Cordoba had when it really boomed in the midst of European dark ages. How we got from having a tradition of “fikr” to persecuting free thinkers is not a secret. But where we go from here is what we need to think about. While in Cordoba, I thought of Allama Iqbal several times; he dreamt of a reform in his legendary poem “Masjid-e-qurtaba” almost 80 years ago. Here are a few stanzas:
Dekh Chuka Almani, Shorish-E-Islah-E-Deen
Jis Ne Na Chore Kahin Naqsh-E-Kuhan Ke Nishan
Germany witnessed the upheaval of religious reforms
That left no trace of the old perspective.
Harf-E-Galat Ban Gyi Ismat-E-Peer-E-Kunisht
Aur Huwi Fikar Ki Kashti-E-Nazuk Rawan
Infallibility of the church sage began to ring false.
Reason, once more, unfurled its sails.
Chashme-E-Francis Bhi Dekh Chuki Inqilab
Jis Se Digargoon Huwa Magribiyon Ka Jahan
France too went through its revolution
That changed the entire orientation of Western life.
Millat-E-Roomi Nazad Kuhna Prasti Se Peer
Lazzat-E-Tajdeed Se Woh Bhi Huwi Phir Jawan
Followers of Rome, feeling antiquated worshipping the ancientry,
Also rejuvenated themselves with the relish of novelty.
Rooh-E-Musalman Mein Hai Aaj Wohi Iztarab
Raaz-E-Khudai Hai Ye, Keh Nahin Sakti Zuban
The same storm is raging today In the soul of the Muslim.
A Divine secret it is, Not for the lips to utter.
Dekhiye Iss Behar Ki Teh Se Uchalta Hai Kya
Gunbad-E-Nilofari Rang Badalta Hai Kya!
Let us see what surfaces from the depths of the deep.
Let us see what color, The blue sky changes into.
Sada-O-Pursoz Hai Dukhtar-E-Dehqan Ka Geet
Kashti-E-Dil Ke Liye Sayl Hai Ehad-E-Shabab
Simple and doleful is the song of the peasant’s daughter:
Tender feelings adrift in the tide of youth.
Aab-E-Rawan-E-Kabeer ! Tere Kinare Koi
Dekh Raha Hai Kisi Aur Zamane Ka Khawab
O, the ever‐flowing waters of Guadalquivir
Someone on your banks is seeing a vision of some other period of time.
Alam-E-Nau Hai Abhi Parda’ay Taqdeer Mein
Meri Nigahon Mein Hai Iss Ki Sehar Behijab
Tomorrow is still in the curtain of intention,
But its dawn is flashing before my mind’s eye.
(Bang-e-dara)
Earlier stanzas of this poem (haven’t been added here) echo a society that thrived in Cordoba a 1000 years ago. When radicalization hadn’t taken over theology. Where education and free thinking were prevalent. Where religion was not completely hi-jacked by dogmatic, power hungry institutions and there was room for debate and reasoning. Education and tolerance fabricated social norms instead of ignorance and hatred.
***
Iqbal’s dream of a reform requires celebrating “azadi-e-khayal” and “fikr” (reasoning). It requires a will to change mindsets at individual as well as collective scale which is no easy task. It requires that we give our children space to breath! It requires that we nurture their curiosity not butcher it! We need to let them ask questions! And hope that we wake up one day and realize that there is no shame in being azad khayal.
Want to conclude my thoughts with another reminder by Iqbal:
Zamanay kay andaaz badlay gaey
Naya raag hai saaz badlay gaey
Khirad ko ghulami say aazad kar
Jawanon ko peeron ka ustad kar
Jigar say wohi teer phir par kar
Tamanna ko seenon main bedar kar
Jawanon ko sozi jigar bakhsh de
Mera ishq meri nazar bakhsh de
Pila de mujhe woh may pardah soz
Keh aati nahin fasl-e-gul roz roz
Woh may jis say roshan hai zameer-i-hayaat
Woh may jis say hai mastee-e-kainaat
Sources:
http://iqbalurdu.blogspot.com/2011/04/bal-e-jibril-124-masjid-e-qurtaba.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun
(Apologies for citing Wikipedia, but this is not an academic blog so I thought of getting away with it 😊 )
