Dissecting Abid Al-Jabiri's Critique of Arabic Reason

 

Dissecting Abid Al-Jabiri's Critique of Arabic Reason

If you have studied the philosophy of science, you will remember the discussion about epistemology, ontology and axiology. To simply refresh, epistemology is a way or procedure taken by someone to acquire knowledge, while ontology is concerned with what is the nature of science itself, and axiology talks about the usability or benefits resulting from a science. These three aspects are important and essential to know for anyone who wants to study a branch of science so that he knows the nature of science, how to learn it and later the knowledge he learns will have a positive impact on his life.

In the Islamic tradition, epistemology becomes very crucial because it determines the direction of the next rate of Islamic civilization. For example, the combination of metaphysics and epistemology studies in Islam has a weakness, namely the lack of sharpness in conducting studies in specific aspects. Because the dominance of kalam and Sufism is too strong, Islamic epistemology cannot develop naturally.

Departing from this, Muhammad Abid al-Jabiri, a cleric from Morocco, made an epistemological critique of the building of the Arab-Islamic scientific tradition. He tried to analyze the mindset of the Arabs throughout its history. The big project that was appointed by Al-Jabiri was caused by his concern to see the socio-political world of Muslims who were 'lost' to the West, thus giving birth to a way of thinking that tends to be inferior.

This inferiority affects the confidence of Muslims to compete with Westerners and at the same time results in the stagnation of knowledge in the internal sphere of Muslims. Islamic scholars no longer produce new scientific disciplines. Science becomes stagnant and does not develop even though the times are moving fast and very dynamically. This phenomenon is also contrary to the Islamic spirit which is pious likulli era wa eating which is relevant in every era movement and environmental change.

Al-Jabiri's critique of Islamic epistemology gave rise to three typologies of Arab-Islamic thinking throughout its history, namely bayani , burhani , and 'irfani . Through his conception, al-Jabiri actually wanted to say that we must pay attention to the characteristics of people's thinking in each generation in the history of Islamic development. If certain patterns of thinking can be identified, for example the dominant thinking patterns in an era, it can also be marked the direction of the rate of development of science after that. This identification also serves as an evaluation of how the Islamic epistemology should move.

Bayani epistemology has a text base which is symbolized in the Arab-Islamic tradition by the fuqaha (fiqh experts), namely those who base the truth of their thoughts on the authority of the text. The texts referred to here are religious texts, both in the form of texts of the Qur'an, hadith, and the words of the scholars. The source of knowledge of bayani reasoning is very dependent on the text or literature so that the inevitability of the validity of the text is a logical consequence of the existence of the bayani thinking model . This thinking model requires strict text verification, because it is useless if the text that is used as a source of knowledge turns out to have weaknesses in terms of validity.

According to Bayani , to measure the accuracy of the text, you don't need to bother looking for the parameters, you just need to check the source of the text, so that the accuracy level can be measured from there.

The role of reason in bayani reasoning is more likely to be ruled out (not that it is not used at all) than the role of the text itself. Rationality in this area only serves as a controller of lust so as not to arbitrarily interpret a text. The role of reason in bayani is unavoidable because after all the text is still a 'dead' text, it comes alive when it interacts with human reason.

Bayani's epistemology in the treasury of interpretation of the Qur'an can be found in fiqh-style interpretations or historical-based interpretations of the Qur'an ( tafsir bi alma'tsur ). For example, the interpretation of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari's work entitled Jami al-Bayan 'an Ta'wil ayy al-Qur'an . al-Tabari avoids interpretation by relying on ra'yu or personal opinion without any history behind his explanation. The consequence of the Bayani reasoning style is that it is too fixated on the sound of the text so that it seems to override other sources of truth that exist outside the text. However, bayani's way of thinkinghas dominated Arab-Islamic society since the first Muslim generation to date, so it is natural that some critics of Eastern civilization state that Islamic civilization is not far from textual civilization alone.

In contrast to bayani , the burhani thinking model emphasizes the power of reason and relies on rationality. He is required to prove a statement with a rational demonstration, usually this kind of model is often found in scholars with a philosophical pattern. Burhani's epistemology was first known among Arab-Islamic civilizations through the role of al-Kindi through his work entitled al - F alsafah al-Ula . Through his work, al-Kindi wants to emphasize that philosophy is a human science that has the highest position because with it all the essence of things can be known.

Burhani reasoning focuses on reality ( al-waqi' ) , whether in the form of natural phenomena that occur, social or humanitarian. The method or way of thinking of the Burhani model as with the conceptual or abstraction thinking model, starts from many facts and then abstracts it into a concept. In addition, other methods can be discursive, namely by having a dialogue with one particular object with another object. Burhani reasoning does not only act as an effort to understand and convey a message of knowledge, but also includes all things so that understanding of a knowledge becomes clearer and more understandable to others.

Usually, this kind of interpretation is often done by theologians or mutakallimin to explain the field of belief. In the treasure of interpretation, the method of spiritual reasoning is found in Tafsir Fakhruddin al-Razi, namely Mafatih al-Ghaib . Admitted by al-Razi, the method he used to interpret the verses of the Qur'an was the pen method with a philosophical approach. A similar reasoning is also found in Tantawi Jauhari's interpretation entitled alJawahir fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim . Through scientific interpretation ( science ), as stated by Tantawi, there are at least 750 verses of the Qur'an whose content is directly related to science. This then opens an opportunity for the interpreters to interpret the Qur'an with a scientific point of view.

The emergence of scientific -style interpretations indicates the involvement of burhani reasoning in the process of extracting the meanings of the Qur'an, so that the dominance of its interpretation is colored by cross-disciplinary studies, especially science based on rationality or philosophical approaches.

The last epistemology is irfani . This model of thought emerged more as a response to Greek rationalism which was very thick with its philosophical flow. Irfani's epistemology is not based on the text as bayani or the power of ratio as burhani , but is based on a direct gift from God when the heart as a means of acceptance is ready to accommodate it. Irfani can also be interpreted as the disclosure of knowledge obtained through the irradiation of essence by God to His servant ( kasyf ) after spiritual practice ( riyadlah ) which is carried out on the basis of love. Irfaniplaces religious spiritual experience as the basis for thinking. The irfani dimension mainly lies in the inner aspect while reason is used to explain the spiritual experience

The thinking system of al-irfaniyyun (intuitive thinkers) starts from something that is inner to outer or from meaning to pronunciation. The mind for the intuitive is the source of knowledge, while the outer is the radiance of what is in it. For Irfani 's epistemology , a text of the Qur'an does not only stop at its outer meaning , but also goes far behind its literal aspect which actually stores God's messages to be conveyed by means of a text.

This interpretation using the epistem ' irfani , for example, has been carried out by one of the Nusantara scholars, namely Kiai Salih Darat when he interpreted the al-wustha prayer contained in surah al-Baqarah verse 238:

حَٰفِظُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلصَّلَوَٰتِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ ٱلْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا۟ لِلَّهِ قَٰنِتِينَ

Keep all (your) prayers, and (maintain) wustha prayers. Stand up for Allah (in your prayers) with humility'.

In that verse, Allah has ordered humans to always keep their prayers with the conditions and pillars, and keep the wustha prayers . Kiai Saleh Darat interpreted this verse beyond the sound of the original text. In his interpretation, in addition to fulfilling the pillars and conditions of prayer, the validity of prayer must also be accompanied by presenting the spirit of prayer, namely sincerity, tawadhu'an, grant and sincerity. The presence of the heart in prayer is considered very important, therefore it must be attempted as much as possible at least when takbiratul ihram . Through the presence of the heart in his prayer, he can be said to have kept the prayer of al-Wusth a. This is because what is in the midst of humans is the heart and the heart is the intermediary between the body and the human spirit.

Mapping the typology of interpretation based on Al-Jabiri's Islamic epistemological classification is important for the reviewers of the interpretation of the Qur'an to know. At least he can play a role in the initial analysis when he wants to examine the tendency of reasoning from a commentary, because from here the mufassir's reasoning in interpreting the Qur'an can be immediately caught by a commentator.

Al-Jabiri's epistemology, for example, can be used as an initial foundation to find out the roots of differences that often trigger conflicts between the two camps, for example the tension between the kalam experts and the Sufis which often leads to disbelief. Through Al-Jabiri's epistemological analysis, it can be seen that the root of the difference lies in the crossing of Bayani 's mindset which tends to be tied to texts with Irfani reasoning which relies a lot on intuition and the role of Burhani reasoning which is dominated by rationality.

The existence of contradictions in the discourse of interpretation which tends to be counter-productive is usually preceded by an error in the placement of the point of view used. One side holds on to the perspective of rationality, while the other side wants to draw it to the spiritual dimension by using a mystical approach. For example, when an interpretation is dominated by burhani reasoning , what is presented in that interpretation are descriptions of Islamic kalam or theology. When the debate uses a theological perspective that tends to prioritize rationality, the mysticism approach is typical of Irfani 's reasoningit becomes irrelevant to participate in deciphering it. In the end, when the mysticism approach tries to be forced into the rationalism debate, it will only result in a counter-productive discussion.

The project of Abid Al-Jabiri's thought has given its own color in the map of Islamic renewal. The epistemological criticism offered opens the veil to the Islamic world for the building of epistemic reason that has been operating in the midst of Islamic civilization. The undeveloped spirit of criticism from the rational-empirical model of thought that actually lived in the Western Islamic world resulted in the stagnation of the Islamic world. By criticizing Arabic reasoning, it means dismantling and exploring the deepest layers of the design of Arab thought to uncover "epistemological defects" and then fix them, or even look for alternatives.

The inferiority of Muslims towards Western science may be caused by the discourse of Islamic science which still dwells on bayani and irfani reasoning. In fact, in order to be friendly with the times and collaborate with scientific findings, Burhani's reasoning must always be utilized.

Dissecting Abid Al-Jabiri's Critique of Arabic Reason

If you have studied the philosophy of science, you will remember the discussion about epistemology, ontology and axiology. To simply refresh, epistemology is a way or procedure taken by someone to acquire knowledge, while ontology is concerned with what is the nature of science itself, and axiology talks about the usability or benefits resulting from a science. These three aspects are important and essential to know for anyone who wants to study a branch of science so that he knows the nature of science, how to learn it and later the knowledge he learns will have a positive impact on his life.

In the Islamic tradition, epistemology becomes very crucial because it determines the direction of the next rate of Islamic civilization. For example, the combination of metaphysics and epistemology studies in Islam has a weakness, namely the lack of sharpness in conducting studies in specific aspects. Because the dominance of kalam and Sufism is too strong, Islamic epistemology cannot develop naturally.

Departing from this, Muhammad Abid al-Jabiri, a cleric from Morocco, made an epistemological critique of the building of the Arab-Islamic scientific tradition. He tried to analyze the mindset of the Arabs throughout its history. The big project that was appointed by Al-Jabiri was caused by his concern to see the socio-political world of Muslims who were 'lost' to the West, thus giving birth to a way of thinking that tends to be inferior.

This inferiority affects the confidence of Muslims to compete with Westerners and at the same time results in the stagnation of knowledge in the internal sphere of Muslims. Islamic scholars no longer produce new scientific disciplines. Science becomes stagnant and does not develop even though the times are moving fast and very dynamically. This phenomenon is also contrary to the Islamic spirit which is pious likulli era wa eating which is relevant in every era movement and environmental change.

Al-Jabiri's critique of Islamic epistemology gave rise to three typologies of Arab-Islamic thinking throughout its history, namely bayani , burhani , and 'irfani . Through his conception, al-Jabiri actually wanted to say that we must pay attention to the characteristics of people's thinking in each generation in the history of Islamic development. If certain patterns of thinking can be identified, for example the dominant thinking patterns in an era, it can also be marked the direction of the rate of development of science after that. This identification also serves as an evaluation of how the Islamic epistemology should move.

Bayani epistemology has a text base which is symbolized in the Arab-Islamic tradition by the fuqaha (fiqh experts), namely those who base the truth of their thoughts on the authority of the text. The texts referred to here are religious texts, both in the form of texts of the Qur'an, hadith, and the words of the scholars. The source of knowledge of bayani reasoning is very dependent on the text or literature so that the inevitability of the validity of the text is a logical consequence of the existence of the bayani thinking model . This thinking model requires strict text verification, because it is useless if the text that is used as a source of knowledge turns out to have weaknesses in terms of validity.

According to Bayani , to measure the accuracy of the text, you don't need to bother looking for the parameters, you just need to check the source of the text, so that the accuracy level can be measured from there.

The role of reason in bayani reasoning is more likely to be ruled out (not that it is not used at all) than the role of the text itself. Rationality in this area only serves as a controller of lust so as not to arbitrarily interpret a text. The role of reason in bayani is unavoidable because after all the text is still a 'dead' text, it comes alive when it interacts with human reason.

Bayani's epistemology in the treasury of interpretation of the Qur'an can be found in fiqh-style interpretations or historical-based interpretations of the Qur'an ( tafsir bi alma'tsur ). For example, the interpretation of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari's work entitled Jami al-Bayan 'an Ta'wil ayy al-Qur'an . al-Tabari avoids interpretation by relying on ra'yu or personal opinion without any history behind his explanation. The consequence of the Bayani reasoning style is that it is too fixated on the sound of the text so that it seems to override other sources of truth that exist outside the text. However, bayani's way of thinkinghas dominated Arab-Islamic society since the first Muslim generation to date, so it is natural that some critics of Eastern civilization state that Islamic civilization is not far from textual civilization alone.

In contrast to bayani , the burhani thinking model emphasizes the power of reason and relies on rationality. He is required to prove a statement with a rational demonstration, usually this kind of model is often found in scholars with a philosophical pattern. Burhani's epistemology was first known among Arab-Islamic civilizations through the role of al-Kindi through his work entitled al - F alsafah al-Ula . Through his work, al-Kindi wants to emphasize that philosophy is a human science that has the highest position because with it all the essence of things can be known.

Burhani reasoning focuses on reality ( al-waqi' ) , whether in the form of natural phenomena that occur, social or humanitarian. The method or way of thinking of the Burhani model as with the conceptual or abstraction thinking model, starts from many facts and then abstracts it into a concept. In addition, other methods can be discursive, namely by having a dialogue with one particular object with another object. Burhani reasoning does not only act as an effort to understand and convey a message of knowledge, but also includes all things so that understanding of a knowledge becomes clearer and more understandable to others.

Usually, this kind of interpretation is often done by theologians or mutakallimin to explain the field of belief. In the treasure of interpretation, the method of spiritual reasoning is found in Tafsir Fakhruddin al-Razi, namely Mafatih al-Ghaib . Admitted by al-Razi, the method he used to interpret the verses of the Qur'an was the pen method with a philosophical approach. A similar reasoning is also found in Tantawi Jauhari's interpretation entitled alJawahir fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim . Through scientific interpretation ( science ), as stated by Tantawi, there are at least 750 verses of the Qur'an whose content is directly related to science. This then opens an opportunity for the interpreters to interpret the Qur'an with a scientific point of view.

The emergence of scientific -style interpretations indicates the involvement of burhani reasoning in the process of extracting the meanings of the Qur'an, so that the dominance of its interpretation is colored by cross-disciplinary studies, especially science based on rationality or philosophical approaches.

The last epistemology is irfani . This model of thought emerged more as a response to Greek rationalism which was very thick with its philosophical flow. Irfani's epistemology is not based on the text as bayani or the power of ratio as burhani , but is based on a direct gift from God when the heart as a means of acceptance is ready to accommodate it. Irfani can also be interpreted as the disclosure of knowledge obtained through the irradiation of essence by God to His servant ( kasyf ) after spiritual practice ( riyadlah ) which is carried out on the basis of love. Irfaniplaces religious spiritual experience as the basis for thinking. The irfani dimension mainly lies in the inner aspect while reason is used to explain the spiritual experience

The thinking system of al-irfaniyyun (intuitive thinkers) starts from something that is inner to outer or from meaning to pronunciation. The mind for the intuitive is the source of knowledge, while the outer is the radiance of what is in it. For Irfani 's epistemology , a text of the Qur'an does not only stop at its outer meaning , but also goes far behind its literal aspect which actually stores God's messages to be conveyed by means of a text.

This interpretation using the epistem ' irfani , for example, has been carried out by one of the Nusantara scholars, namely Kiai Salih Darat when he interpreted the al-wustha prayer contained in surah al-Baqarah verse 238:

حَٰفِظُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلصَّلَوَٰتِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ ٱلْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا۟ لِلَّهِ قَٰنِتِينَ

Keep all (your) prayers, and (maintain) wustha prayers. Stand up for Allah (in your prayers) with humility'.

In that verse, Allah has ordered humans to always keep their prayers with the conditions and pillars, and keep the wustha prayers . Kiai Saleh Darat interpreted this verse beyond the sound of the original text. In his interpretation, in addition to fulfilling the pillars and conditions of prayer, the validity of prayer must also be accompanied by presenting the spirit of prayer, namely sincerity, tawadhu'an, grant and sincerity. The presence of the heart in prayer is considered very important, therefore it must be attempted as much as possible at least when takbiratul ihram . Through the presence of the heart in his prayer, he can be said to have kept the prayer of al-Wusth a. This is because what is in the midst of humans is the heart and the heart is the intermediary between the body and the human spirit.

Mapping the typology of interpretation based on Al-Jabiri's Islamic epistemological classification is important for the reviewers of the interpretation of the Qur'an to know. At least he can play a role in the initial analysis when he wants to examine the tendency of reasoning from a commentary, because from here the mufassir's reasoning in interpreting the Qur'an can be immediately caught by a commentator.

Al-Jabiri's epistemology, for example, can be used as an initial foundation to find out the roots of differences that often trigger conflicts between the two camps, for example the tension between the kalam experts and the Sufis which often leads to disbelief. Through Al-Jabiri's epistemological analysis, it can be seen that the root of the difference lies in the crossing of Bayani 's mindset which tends to be tied to texts with Irfani reasoning which relies a lot on intuition and the role of Burhani reasoning which is dominated by rationality.

The existence of contradictions in the discourse of interpretation which tends to be counter-productive is usually preceded by an error in the placement of the point of view used. One side holds on to the perspective of rationality, while the other side wants to draw it to the spiritual dimension by using a mystical approach. For example, when an interpretation is dominated by burhani reasoning , what is presented in that interpretation are descriptions of Islamic kalam or theology. When the debate uses a theological perspective that tends to prioritize rationality, the mysticism approach is typical of Irfani 's reasoningit becomes irrelevant to participate in deciphering it. In the end, when the mysticism approach tries to be forced into the rationalism debate, it will only result in a counter-productive discussion.

The project of Abid Al-Jabiri's thought has given its own color in the map of Islamic renewal. The epistemological criticism offered opens the veil to the Islamic world for the building of epistemic reason that has been operating in the midst of Islamic civilization. The undeveloped spirit of criticism from the rational-empirical model of thought that actually lived in the Western Islamic world resulted in the stagnation of the Islamic world. By criticizing Arabic reasoning, it means dismantling and exploring the deepest layers of the design of Arab thought to uncover "epistemological defects" and then fix them, or even look for alternatives.

The inferiority of Muslims towards Western science may be caused by the discourse of Islamic science which still dwells on bayani and irfani reasoning. In fact, in order to be friendly with the times and collaborate with scientific findings, Burhani's reasoning must always be utilized.