Why are there no Muslim philosophers?

Hasan Azad

Few days back, I chanced upon to read this article in a popular web magazine NewAgeIslam.com and thought to share few excerpts from this thought provoking article. Hasan Azad, the author of this article says that his friend posed the question to me that why are there no Muslim philosophers while I was studying some critical Western texts of philosophy in the fall of 2009 with him. Hasan writes,"Although this is a complicated question - which I do not take at face value, given that Kaviraj is himself an important postcolonial thinker - it does point to a significant failure of Muslim thinkers to engage their own intellectual tradition, together with the Western tradition of thought".

He continues and states that on one level the question "Why are there no Muslim philosophers?" is an absurd one. Hamid Dabashi and Walter Mignolo, both major thinkers in their own right, mention the names of a number of Muslim philosophers (Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Azmi Bishara, Sadeq Jalal Al-Azm, Fawwaz Traboulsi, Abdallah Laroui, Abdolkarim Soroush, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr). Wael Hallaq - himself also a very important thinker - has added to that list in his own commentary on the relation of politics and knowledge (Muhammad Arkoun, M Abed al-Jabiri, Ali Harb, Hasan Hanafi, and Muhammad Shahrur).

Hasan wonders why Euro-American public discourse seeks to identify and promote "moderate" Muslims over "extremists"? He ask how Muslim academics themselves contribute to this politicised geopolitical narrative by trying to identify "moderate Muslims and Islam" over other forms of Islam, which are more varied and variegated than anyone could ever imagine. My argument is that by characterising Muslims according to such a "racialised binary", as critical race theorist David Tyrer describes it, Muslim academics are playing the role of "house Muslims".

In recent past I myself have heard a term "pseudo-secularism" used mostly during discussions among Indian politicians. Hasan, too, was charged that he is indulging in "pseudo-intellectualism" while he was trying to put forward his view-point during a conversation. It is a charge, Hasan feels, that normally does not warrant a response, as it is often made to stop a discussion short without addressing the substantive question posed. She or he (the person chose to remain anonymous) argued that one of the advantages that Muslims had was they "refused" to think within colonial paradigms, and that is the advantage that Muslims still have. (It is not clear to me over whom Muslims have or had "the advantage").

Hasan Azad is a doctoral candidate specialising in Islamic Studies at Columbia University. You can read the full article here: http://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/hasan-azad/why-are-there-no-muslim-philosophers?-are-muslim-academics-playing-the-role-of--house-muslims-?/d/87535