The Crisis of Identity: The plight of young Muslim in the Modern World
A vast subject that is seemingly not comprehensible and it is extremely difficult to choose which aspect of this pertinent issue to discuss, certainly I have no authority or expertise to analyse and opine on this topic. The problem is aggravated by the chaos and disparity of the modern world with its complete loss of orientation.
Erik Erikson who coined the term believes that its one of the eight developmental crises that someone in his/her teenage years will face but he explicitly acknowledges that it is a recurring issue regardless of age, specifically when “a sense of personal sameness and historical continuity" is lost. A young Muslim in Egypt or Pakistan will not experience the effects of this crisis the same as a Muslim in the UK.
To my understanding not many contemporary Muslim thinkers have dealt with this issue, in fact Professor Seyyed Hussain Nasr is the only intellectual to have undertaken such a task. His books have both depth and gravitas and are highly recommended for any Muslim in search of a life compass. ‘A young Muslims guide to the modern world’ & ‘Islam and the plight of modern man’.
I am writing this not as a knowledgeable specialist of this area which draws thought, study, examination, scrutiny and reading from many areas but as a Muslim youth in academia who lives in the west and has religious, moral apprehension and foreboding.
I have deep concerns of the challenges faced by Muslims in general and youth in particular in confronting the unremitting continuous avalanche of difficult, confusing and often perplexing questions.
We live at the heart of the modern world, a continent which is unique in that it has produced and established atheism as a signature of modernism (Marx was not Chinese but German).
We live in a continent which broke with its static, lazy and dark medieval past and based its worldview on conflict which persists throughout from Hegel’s dialectics to Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations. Moreover a place of social and political upheaval with its violent, acrimonious past which only in space of two decades more than sixty million people lost their lives in conflict of attrition and supremacy.
We live in a country which once ruled most of the world with its deep historical development in terms of its ideology and ideals, social structure and fabric, the essence of its existence woven in a complex, capricious and confounding tapestry.
I have a feeling which is not possible to eloquently describe but if painted in a picture and conjured in a canvass would be that of Edwards Monks scream.
The massive explosion of information, the staggering technological advancement, the fluidity and speed by which social, political and philosophical ideals of the society changes, the current and dynamism of thought; just to mention a few ,What outcome is expected from this? Natural man and the artificial world a virtual world of so much that would make us end our short life in just wondering about it before we would be able to comprehend it let alone live it and experience it.
Its paramount for a Muslim to face these challenges as far as possible armoured with the deep understanding of his culture and heritage coupled with equally profound and scholarly understating of the modern world. It’s easy to dismiss west as dynamic, hardworking or materialistic savages but an accurate picture which is not just the simulacrum of reality but closer to it will emerge after studying it.
I would like to zoom in and to point to a few things which I think are important
Islamic world view, be it jurisprudential or ontological, mystic or philosophical, is based on certain principles and premises which lay the foundation of its colossal body. A blue print of its tenets a master plan of its structure, this foundation shapes its morals, socio- economic system , political organization and ipso facto its world view.
Undoubtedly if my great great grand father travelled from Afghanistan to England in 1700 AD although he would have found the food and weather of London extraordinary but would not have felt that he had left the earth and landed on Mars. He would have seen a society based on some ethical and moral code, different in form but similar in essence. God, afterlife, prophecy, spirituality, eschatology and religiosity would not have been alien concepts to his hospitable hosts. The differences would have manifested themselves more like contrasts in a family.
Today its different, you face a culture and civilization where godlessness is pride, morality is reduced to sitcom sketches, consumerism is rampant, materialism and hyper reality has replaced everything known to a dignified civilized man of 1700 AD.
The soul of natural man has been hijacked by a poisonous artificiality.
The scourge of globalisation has whipped the world entire and we are in reality living in a global village not isolated islands so where ever one lives he would not be completely immune from modernism and its effects.
The difference in cultures and ideas and the constant challenges that they pose to a young Muslim with a vacuous and shallow understanding of the world give rise to a debilitating crisis of identity, who am I ? What makes me the person I am? What I want? What I don’t want? What is the answer and what/who to follow? Do I have a culture or something to be proud of? Should I forget my past and embrace the new culture? Should I be ashamed of my heritage?
In effect there is a clash between different cultures and ideas, two opposing world view of materialism against monotheism.
On one side a militant ferocious secular ideology with enormous power and hubris with all the triumphalism, and rightly so, that sees itself as pinnacle of human civilization.
This was declared clearly by Francis Fukuyama in his the end of history and the last man
‘What we may be witnessing is ….the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.’
Although he referred specifically to political system that same idea is dominant theme in all areas.
Not only conservative traditional Muslims but many influential figures in the western intellectual tradition oppose modern technological and scientific achievements which are all born out of empirical progress through a gradual and laborious history.
Needless to say all scientific disciplines studied worldwide in educational institutions from chemistry to anthropology are more or less the same.
The synthesis of these techniques and the behavioural changes they have brought about are all modern phenomena and could be best described by the term modernism.
To these thinkers modernism as an ideological construct shaped by technology and application of scientific ideas are not only positive but inherently destructive and an anathema to happiness and prosperity of mankind.
Modernism is responsible for mechanisation of life, subjectivity of beauty, destruction of environment, hyper reality, restricting natural thinking and virtual world of stupidity and laziness.
I would not wish to dwell on this issue much, but would mention what professor Nasr has iterated in his book.
Darwinian evolution has reduced the status of man viewed in Islam as Allah’s vicegerent and appointed successor on earth. A supreme being unique and great whom gets the spirit of existence from an infinitely great being, “I breathed into him from my spirit “(XXXVIII: 72), is demoted to the rank of a staphylococcus, an animal a bacterium whose sole aim in life is to multiply and pass on the genes to future generations.
Evolutionary man has no dignity he is not honoured, he has no value.
Darwin meant what he said” Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible ink of his lowly origin” W.S Gilbert quickly seized that idea and made it plainer “Darwinian man though well behaved is really just a monkey shaved”.
What we learn as a revealed truth with no objection is a subject to be studied in epistemology, the theory of knowledge. It should be eviscerated and viewed with a critical eye armed with necessary tools. The implications of desecrating human being and his existence are far wider than could be fathomed.
A never land for Muslim youth: three discourses
Predominantly there are three views uttered amongst those who have expressed views on this. The merits of each will not be discussed but it’s necessary to raise them.
I) The west was and is an alien world to Muslim, its ideology, way of life, customs, traditions and societal norms are in contrast to Islamic ideals and values, the two will never be compatible. A sensible man will try to change it but since the tide is so strong that it is impossible to strive for change a lucid (mu’men) believer will try to avoid it all together.
II) Its superficial and shallow to dismiss west as a cesspool of inhumanity. Modern civilization is the pinnacle of human achievements; we should revel in its majestic beauty and unparalleled success. It has added to the quality of life and is striding to conquer and dominate territories that ancient civilizations only dreamed. It’s a rose-garden which has thorns and one should take care to avoid those.
Western Muslims and the Future of Islam Tariq Ramadan
III) A middle ground is possible, modern world is like an ocean and a good swimmer should know its dangers and benefits. Any moment you could be hit by a shark or drown in despair , to evade them you need to be trained to recognise the threats, educate yourself of what you should expect and how to deal with every condition. Be ready and prepare for the worst and always move, don’t stand still otherwise you risk going down.
Self abnegation: revival of Islamic self-esteem
“One who does not realize his own value is condemned to utter failure. (Every kind of complex, superiority or inferiority is harmful to man).”Imam Ali
A young Muslim unaware of history and culture would think that after more than 1400 years Islam has achieved nothing. Muslim countries stretching from Indonesia to Balkans live in abject poverty, destitution and underdevelopment. Political, economic and social infrastructures have hardly developed; scientific, technological and educational breakthroughs are unheard of and almost all of these countries are dependent on the west.
At home, constant attack on the principles of Islamic belief from many influential circles and massive propaganda to discredit the prophet of this religion would certainly do irreparable damage to the psyche of young men, its not surprising that some resort to violence to avenge what they see as a crusade waged against them.
In defence of identity: blind self-confidence and cultural knowledge
Science and civilization in Islam seyyed hussain Nasr
Islamic identity and Islamic reality:
Youth-centric culture:
Parallel worlds, nightlife, and day life:
A Concomitant state of change:
Hero worship, youth culture:
Erik Erikson who coined the term believes that its one of the eight developmental crises that someone in his/her teenage years will face but he explicitly acknowledges that it is a recurring issue regardless of age, specifically when “a sense of personal sameness and historical continuity" is lost. A young Muslim in Egypt or Pakistan will not experience the effects of this crisis the same as a Muslim in the UK.
To my understanding not many contemporary Muslim thinkers have dealt with this issue, in fact Professor Seyyed Hussain Nasr is the only intellectual to have undertaken such a task. His books have both depth and gravitas and are highly recommended for any Muslim in search of a life compass. ‘A young Muslims guide to the modern world’ & ‘Islam and the plight of modern man’.
I am writing this not as a knowledgeable specialist of this area which draws thought, study, examination, scrutiny and reading from many areas but as a Muslim youth in academia who lives in the west and has religious, moral apprehension and foreboding.
I have deep concerns of the challenges faced by Muslims in general and youth in particular in confronting the unremitting continuous avalanche of difficult, confusing and often perplexing questions.
We live at the heart of the modern world, a continent which is unique in that it has produced and established atheism as a signature of modernism (Marx was not Chinese but German).
We live in a continent which broke with its static, lazy and dark medieval past and based its worldview on conflict which persists throughout from Hegel’s dialectics to Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations. Moreover a place of social and political upheaval with its violent, acrimonious past which only in space of two decades more than sixty million people lost their lives in conflict of attrition and supremacy.
We live in a country which once ruled most of the world with its deep historical development in terms of its ideology and ideals, social structure and fabric, the essence of its existence woven in a complex, capricious and confounding tapestry.
I have a feeling which is not possible to eloquently describe but if painted in a picture and conjured in a canvass would be that of Edwards Monks scream.
The massive explosion of information, the staggering technological advancement, the fluidity and speed by which social, political and philosophical ideals of the society changes, the current and dynamism of thought; just to mention a few ,What outcome is expected from this? Natural man and the artificial world a virtual world of so much that would make us end our short life in just wondering about it before we would be able to comprehend it let alone live it and experience it.
Its paramount for a Muslim to face these challenges as far as possible armoured with the deep understanding of his culture and heritage coupled with equally profound and scholarly understating of the modern world. It’s easy to dismiss west as dynamic, hardworking or materialistic savages but an accurate picture which is not just the simulacrum of reality but closer to it will emerge after studying it.
I would like to zoom in and to point to a few things which I think are important
Islamic world view, be it jurisprudential or ontological, mystic or philosophical, is based on certain principles and premises which lay the foundation of its colossal body. A blue print of its tenets a master plan of its structure, this foundation shapes its morals, socio- economic system , political organization and ipso facto its world view.
Undoubtedly if my great great grand father travelled from Afghanistan to England in 1700 AD although he would have found the food and weather of London extraordinary but would not have felt that he had left the earth and landed on Mars. He would have seen a society based on some ethical and moral code, different in form but similar in essence. God, afterlife, prophecy, spirituality, eschatology and religiosity would not have been alien concepts to his hospitable hosts. The differences would have manifested themselves more like contrasts in a family.
Today its different, you face a culture and civilization where godlessness is pride, morality is reduced to sitcom sketches, consumerism is rampant, materialism and hyper reality has replaced everything known to a dignified civilized man of 1700 AD.
The soul of natural man has been hijacked by a poisonous artificiality.
The scourge of globalisation has whipped the world entire and we are in reality living in a global village not isolated islands so where ever one lives he would not be completely immune from modernism and its effects.
The difference in cultures and ideas and the constant challenges that they pose to a young Muslim with a vacuous and shallow understanding of the world give rise to a debilitating crisis of identity, who am I ? What makes me the person I am? What I want? What I don’t want? What is the answer and what/who to follow? Do I have a culture or something to be proud of? Should I forget my past and embrace the new culture? Should I be ashamed of my heritage?
In effect there is a clash between different cultures and ideas, two opposing world view of materialism against monotheism.
On one side a militant ferocious secular ideology with enormous power and hubris with all the triumphalism, and rightly so, that sees itself as pinnacle of human civilization.
This was declared clearly by Francis Fukuyama in his the end of history and the last man
‘What we may be witnessing is ….the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.’
Although he referred specifically to political system that same idea is dominant theme in all areas.
Not only conservative traditional Muslims but many influential figures in the western intellectual tradition oppose modern technological and scientific achievements which are all born out of empirical progress through a gradual and laborious history.
Needless to say all scientific disciplines studied worldwide in educational institutions from chemistry to anthropology are more or less the same.
The synthesis of these techniques and the behavioural changes they have brought about are all modern phenomena and could be best described by the term modernism.
To these thinkers modernism as an ideological construct shaped by technology and application of scientific ideas are not only positive but inherently destructive and an anathema to happiness and prosperity of mankind.
Modernism is responsible for mechanisation of life, subjectivity of beauty, destruction of environment, hyper reality, restricting natural thinking and virtual world of stupidity and laziness.
I would not wish to dwell on this issue much, but would mention what professor Nasr has iterated in his book.
Darwinian evolution has reduced the status of man viewed in Islam as Allah’s vicegerent and appointed successor on earth. A supreme being unique and great whom gets the spirit of existence from an infinitely great being, “I breathed into him from my spirit “(XXXVIII: 72), is demoted to the rank of a staphylococcus, an animal a bacterium whose sole aim in life is to multiply and pass on the genes to future generations.
Evolutionary man has no dignity he is not honoured, he has no value.
Darwin meant what he said” Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible ink of his lowly origin” W.S Gilbert quickly seized that idea and made it plainer “Darwinian man though well behaved is really just a monkey shaved”.
What we learn as a revealed truth with no objection is a subject to be studied in epistemology, the theory of knowledge. It should be eviscerated and viewed with a critical eye armed with necessary tools. The implications of desecrating human being and his existence are far wider than could be fathomed.
A never land for Muslim youth: three discourses
Predominantly there are three views uttered amongst those who have expressed views on this. The merits of each will not be discussed but it’s necessary to raise them.
I) The west was and is an alien world to Muslim, its ideology, way of life, customs, traditions and societal norms are in contrast to Islamic ideals and values, the two will never be compatible. A sensible man will try to change it but since the tide is so strong that it is impossible to strive for change a lucid (mu’men) believer will try to avoid it all together.
II) Its superficial and shallow to dismiss west as a cesspool of inhumanity. Modern civilization is the pinnacle of human achievements; we should revel in its majestic beauty and unparalleled success. It has added to the quality of life and is striding to conquer and dominate territories that ancient civilizations only dreamed. It’s a rose-garden which has thorns and one should take care to avoid those.
Western Muslims and the Future of Islam Tariq Ramadan
III) A middle ground is possible, modern world is like an ocean and a good swimmer should know its dangers and benefits. Any moment you could be hit by a shark or drown in despair , to evade them you need to be trained to recognise the threats, educate yourself of what you should expect and how to deal with every condition. Be ready and prepare for the worst and always move, don’t stand still otherwise you risk going down.
Self abnegation: revival of Islamic self-esteem
“One who does not realize his own value is condemned to utter failure. (Every kind of complex, superiority or inferiority is harmful to man).”Imam Ali
A young Muslim unaware of history and culture would think that after more than 1400 years Islam has achieved nothing. Muslim countries stretching from Indonesia to Balkans live in abject poverty, destitution and underdevelopment. Political, economic and social infrastructures have hardly developed; scientific, technological and educational breakthroughs are unheard of and almost all of these countries are dependent on the west.
At home, constant attack on the principles of Islamic belief from many influential circles and massive propaganda to discredit the prophet of this religion would certainly do irreparable damage to the psyche of young men, its not surprising that some resort to violence to avenge what they see as a crusade waged against them.
In defence of identity: blind self-confidence and cultural knowledge
Science and civilization in Islam seyyed hussain Nasr
Islamic identity and Islamic reality:
Youth-centric culture:
Parallel worlds, nightlife, and day life:
A Concomitant state of change:
Hero worship, youth culture:
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