post modernism and islam

GROUP 1

• HUMA HAFEEZ

• HUMA ASLAM

• SUMAIRA

• KINZA

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY,ISLAMABAD

BEFORE ELABORATING POST MODERNSM ….LETS MAKE OUR SELVES AWARE OF MODERNISM ….WHICH FURTHER MODIFIED INTO POST MODERNISM ……..!!!

• Modern view or method, especially tendency in matters of religious belief to subordinate tradition to harmony with modern thought’. Modernism means the recent phase of world history marked by belief in science, planning, secularism and progress. It drives towards the industrialization and emphasized on materialism as a way of life.

Modernism

Post modernism

It is a general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others.

• Postmodernism is "post" because it denies the existence of any ultimate principles, and it lacks the optimism of there being a scientific, philosophical, or religious truth which will explain everything for everybody - a characteristic of the so-called "modern" mind

PARADOX of POST MODERN POSITION

• As the philosopher Richard Tarnas states, postmodernism "cannot on its own principles ultimately justify itself any more than can the various metaphysical overviews against which the postmodern mind has defined itself."

CHARACTERIZ

ING

POST

MODERNISM

1

• Presuppose a questioning of

• A loss of faith in religion

• The project of modernity,

• Spirit of pluralism,

Heightened skepticism of traditional

orthodoxies,

• Fully a rejection of a view of a world as

a universal totality

• Expectation of final solutions and

complete answers.

• Postmodernism coexists with

the age of

the media, in

many profound ways th

e

media are the centra

l dynamic, th

e

Zeitgeist, t

he defining feature, o

f

postmodernism.

`• The connection between postmodernism and ethno-religious revivalism- or fundamentalism-needs to be explored by social and political scientists.

• The continuity with the past, however apocalyptic the claims, remains a strong feature of postmodernism.

Continuity with past

• Metropolis

becomes

centra

l to postm

odernism

.

• There is a class element in postmodernism,

and democracy is a pre-condition for it to

flourish.

• Postmodernism allows, indeed

encourages, the juxtaposition of

discourses, an exuberant

eclecticism, the mixing of diverse

images.

• The idea of plain and simple

language sometimes appears to

elude the postmodernist masters

in spite of their claims to

accessibility.

Islam and Post

Modernism

MUSLIM ENTRY TO THE POST MODERNIST PHASE OF HISTORY

• Its origin was Europe …

• In spite of the strong influence of

postmodernism on the art,

architecture and literature of the

west postmodernism has to made

much of an importance on Muslims.

MUSLIM MODERISM

, Modernism provided important

weapons to Muslim leaders like

Jinnah, Iqbal and Sir Syed as they

used it against British to best

represent the interests of their

community; Muslims.

The modern period had led Muslims into a dead end…….

• Dictators• Coups• Corruption • Nepotism in politics • Low education standards • An intellectual paresis• The continuing oppression of women • The under-privileged • Grossly unequal distribution of wealth are some of its

characteristics.

ISLAMIZATION

• The Ramadan war in 1973, General

Zia’s “Islamization program”, the

start of Afghan Jihad, the Arab oil

ban Islamic activity was also noted

in countries far from the middle east

like Nigeria and Indonesia.

PERCEPTIONS OF THE WESTERN THREAT

MUSLIMS & WESTERN CULTURE DIFFERNCES ……

• West perceives Islam as the major next enemy after communism

• Patience, peace and equilibrium

are emphasized in Islam.

• But post modern age is based on

speed especially; the media

thrive on and intoxicated by

speed. Silences, withdrawal,

meditation, advocated by all the

religions are simply not

encouraged by the media.

Islam teaches …….!!

Western culture is…

MUSLIM DELEMMAS

• Islam is misunderstood by

people of west

• Islam is being portrayed as

religion of terrorist .

•

• . Second most important problem for Muslim society is the negative stereotype image of a Muslim woman portrayed by media,

• Another dilemma which Muslims are facing

is for education which has taken them far

away from the steps of development.

MUSLIM ANGUISH

• Muslim killing a Muslim not for an Islamic cause but for political and economic reason

MUSLIM ANGUISH

• Nevertheless violence and cruelty are not in the spirit of the Quran, nor are they found in the life of the Prophet (S.A.W) not in the life’s of saintly Muslims.

Conclusion…..

CONCLUSION

• Many perplexing questions are emerging in the context of such situation that what can postmodernism mean for Muslims? When does it become distinct from modernism or is it essentially modernism is another shape? Is it yet another concept borrowed from the west to be applied or misapplied to Muslim society with the ideas like ”progress” , “rationality” and “secularism”? Can the application of a term fostered in the European literary tradition be valid in Africa and Asia?