If readers want to clearly understand the essence of the West and Liberals, please read Miyskat [1] the work of Prof. Hamid Fahmy Zarkasyi or if you want to delve into the meaning of the word "Secular"[2] please refer to the book Islam and Secularism essay by Prof. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. If in Misykat's book it is discussed in detail about "West", "Liberal" and a thorough discussion of "Secular", but in the book Islam and Secularism explained in detail the primordial meaning, origins (the origin) and the history of the words Secular, Secularization and Secularism.
Book Islam and Secularism This book was named the best book of its time, and even today, no other book has fully explained and dismantled the meaning of "secular" as a doctrine and a thought issue that developed from the West and has become widespread in Muslim countries worldwide. This book has also been translated into various languages worldwide, including Persian, Turkish, Bosnian, Urdu, Tamil, Kosovo, Arabic, and others. Therefore, please own this book, as it has also been translated into Indonesian.
Meanwhile, the title of this article is a summary of the journal written by Dr. Adian Husaini with the title Various Fundamental Factors Why the West Became Secular-LiberalHowever, after I tracked down the journal website that published this article, I found no digital trace of it. Instead, I found a book with the same title as the one above. This isn't a problem, however, because the core message of the book is already contained in the journal in which it was published. I'm certain Dr. Adian Husaini has published the article in monograph form. A book would provide a more in-depth and serious discussion.
Why did the West become secular-liberal? This question is quite interesting, but difficult to explain. In this regard, Dr. Adian Husaini offers three important factors behind the West's choice of secular-liberalism. First, trauma towards history, especially the relationship between religious domination (Christianity) in the Middle Ages. Second, Bible text. Third, Christian theological problems. From these three factors, other problems spread until finally the birth of secular-liberal Western thinking.
Let's examine these three factors one by one. FirstHistorical tragedy. The history of Christianity has seen numerous divisions and conflicts between groups, leading to resistance, war, and ultimately persecution of those who opposed the Church. This history began with the times of Constantine, Antioch, and Alexandria. Then, with Constantinople and Rome, continuing with Catholicism and Protestantism, and even between various sects within Christianity.
After the conflict, disputes and bloody tensions between several powers and the Church, finally a Christian group emerged who thought that a tolerant and harmonious life order between social groups could only be implemented if the Church's power to regulate political issues was eliminated, as well as state interference in the Church. [3] This means that the Christian group was traumatized by the power of the Church which sporadically punished, tortured and even killed (inquisition) anyone who opposed the Church's decisions. Everywhere at that time the Church had uncontrolled power authority.
The cruelty of the Church Inquisition has given rise to various protests, condemnations and criticisms from among Christians themselves. Not without reason, they condemned and protested because they saw that the victims were not only Christians themselves who were considered deviants (heretics)[4] from the official doctrine of the Church, but also other groups who were considered to threaten the doctrine and hegemony of the Church, such as Muslims, Jews, witches and so on who had to be eliminated. If readers want to know how cruel the Church Inquisition was, please read Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Theology's World by Karen Armstrong.[5] Or searching Just Google Search the word “inquisition”.
Second, Bible Text. In the second factor, Dr. Adian Husaini examines how this problem relates to the authority of the biblical text and its meaning. When it comes to the Bible, various speculations regarding its authenticity are still debated. These debates don't even originate from Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, or Zoroastrians.
The debate originates within Christians themselves. This is evidenced by the emergence of differing versions of the Bible. Surprisingly, some Muslims have recently declared that the Bible's contents are very beautiful. Yet, the "beautiful" verses in the Bible don't even come close to the beauty of the words in the Quran. This is even refuted by Norman Daniel, who stated: “The Qur'an has no parallel outside Islam”[6]
Text (Old Testament) According to Richard Elliot Friedman, the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) is still a mystery to this day. “Who wrote this book is still a mystery” he stressed. Friedman gave examples such as the Book of Torah, or the Five Books of Moses. Even Friedman said that The Five Books of Moses is the world's oldest riddle. Not a single verse in the Torah mentions Moses as its author. And the text contains numerous contradictions.[7]
As for the Bible, the New Testament (The New Testament) Not much different from the Old Testament text, which faces many problems of authenticity and originality. Professor Bruce M. Metzger, a professor of New Testament language, writes in the introduction to his book that there are two conditions facing Bible interpreters. First, the absence of original Bible documents today.
Second, the existing materials are diverse and differ from one another. Essentially, there are numerous discrepancies within the Bible text. This naturally fuels speculation and interpretations, making this biblical text highly susceptible to causing some Christians to lose faith in the authority of the Church, which claims to be God's sole representative on Earth.
Third, The problem of Christian Theology. The problem of Christology in the West stems from the fact that the concept of God is problematic. The development of thought about Jesus Christ (Christology) from influential Christian thinkers has led to the conclusion that the chaos of Christian thought in the Western world only reflects cultural confusion and that confusion is the fruit of the history of culture in the Western world itself. This was recorded by C. Groenen in his book History of Christological Dogma: The Development of Thought on Jesus Christ among Christians.[8]
Throughout the history of Western civilization, theological debates and problems have never ended. Scientists are forced to submit to theological doctrines they themselves do not understand and do not comprehend the meaning of theological concepts. This means that if a theological doctrine contradicts scientific reasoning, should it be claimed as truth? This has drawn strong protests from Western scientists. This has led to clashes of ideas and a confused understanding of the concept of divinity. A study of the history of Christian theology reveals numerous contradictions regarding the divinity of Jesus: was Jesus God or human? And various other complex theological issues.
In the Middle Ages in the West, reason had to be subordinated to Christian belief. Reason and philosophy were not used to criticize or oppose Church doctrine. Everything had to be subject to the text of the Bible and the authority of the Church. At that time, the Church taught things that contradicted the reason and science of Western scientists. This culminated in Western scientists such as Galileo Galilei (1546-1642), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), and Copernicus' admirer, Giardano Bruno (1548-1600), who were burned alive by Church authorities.[9]
It was during this period that Western scientists and Christian thinkers culminated in their opposition to the Church's arbitrary authority. Western Christian thinkers no longer wanted to be bound by religion under Church doctrine. They wanted to be free, liberated, and liberal, from the constraints of Church doctrine. They wanted to live free from religious interference, choosing to oppose all biblical texts. They were traumatized by the Church's history of cruelty and chose to live apart, excluding religion from their scientific and intellectual lives.
These are the three factors we attempt to summarize. There are undoubtedly many other factors yet to be uncovered. The few factors presented are only a fraction that can be simply analyzed as to why the West chose secular-liberalism. It was a long journey that Christian thinkers fought for, even at the cost of their lives.
Hopefully we will not fall into Secular-Liberal ideology.
Wallâhu 'alâm bis showâb
[1] Miyskat: Reflections on Westernization, Liberalization, and Islam. This book clearly and concisely explains the meaning of the West, Liberalism, and so on. Also read Prof. Hamid Fahmy Zarkasyi's work, Liberalization of Islamic Thought. Furthermore, Dr. Adian Husaini's interesting book, The Face of Western Civilization. These three books will enlighten readers regarding the title of this article.
[2] I chose the term "secular" from the original word, "sekuler" to make it easier for readers to understand and pronounce. This is because Indonesians sometimes "latah" (likely to imitate foreign languages and terms). For example, the word "science" becomes the word "sains" and so on.
[3] Please read Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, (Londoen: Phoenix, 2002), p. 115
[4] Heretics in Christian terms means heretical teachings. Heresy or Heretical School, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a theological or religious view or doctrine considered contrary to or in conflict with any belief, or religious system, considered orthodox or true teaching. Read https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajaran_sesat
[5] On page 456, Karen Armstrong describes how the Church Inquisition became one of the most “evil” and “terror” institutions in the dark history of Christianity. Armstrong writes this: “Most of us would agree that one of the most “evil” of all Christian institutions was the Inquisition, which was an instrument of terror in the Catholic Church until the
end of seventeenth century. Its methods were also used by Protestants to persecute and to control the Catholics in their countries"
[6] In Norman Daniel's book, Islam and The West: The Making of An Image, p. 53
[7] Please read Richard E. Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible, pp. 15-17
[8] See Adian Husaini, Various Fundamental Factors Why the West Became Secular-Liberal, in Tsaqafah: Journal of Islamic Civilization (Volume 3, No 1, Dzulqo'dah 1427), p. 18-19
[9] EA Livingstone, Oxford Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), on the problems of the Bible text. Read, https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno
1 comment