Alija Izetbegovic: A modern Muslim thinker - I

This analytical research evaluates the accomplishments of a modern Muslim European thinker. It briefly explores Izetbegovic's illuminating biography, a biography that projects his religious and national resolve, his passion for peace and justice, and his contributions to humanity.
The research also examines his outstanding insights into the Muslim dilemma, projected in an inadequate understanding of Islam, rejection of Islam as a way of life, apathy of the Muslim masses and inconsistencies in the implementation of the Islamic order.
The last part of the research explores Izetbegovic's regeneration programme that involves the implementation of Islam in all aspects of life, the renewal of the Islamic thought and the emphasis on the Muslim unity and solidarity.
Alija Izetbegoivc, former President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, co-founder and then honorary leader of the SDA (Party of Democratic Action), was born on August 8, 1925 in Bosanski Samac and died on October 19, 2003 at the age of 78.
He was born at the time of great upheavals, wars, holocaust, communist domination and destruction, which had left great mark on his personality. Izetbegovic was also brought up in an anti-Muslim milieu.
He was witnessing frequent oppressions of his own people and their struggle for self-identity and the quest for recognition. Hence, since his youth, he dedicated his life for the cause of his people. During the Second World War, for instance, Bosniacs suffered religious and ethnic persecutions and oppressions. In his best capacity and during this hard period, Izetbegovic helped out his people. He also became the member of the Bosniac group "Young Muslims." In 1946, he was arrested for his involvement in this organisation. He was behind bars for three years on the charges for the propagation of pan-Islamism and for promoting hatred. After serving the jail sentence, he successfully completed his studies in commercial law and held the post of a legal consultant.
In 1970, Izetbegovic wrote The Islamic Declaration and circulated it to the people of confidence. Although a book was written in 1970, it was not published until 1990 due to the fearful attitude of the communist regime towards the Bosniacs. A book was the major reason for the Yugoslavian communist regime to send to prison several Bosniac intellectuals including Izetbegovic. In the famous Sarajevo Trial, this group of Bosniacs was accused for conspiracy against the state and for planning to set up an Islamic state in Bosnia. Izetbegovic received a 14-years jail sentence. However, his sentence was reduced to five years and eight months and in 1988, after the collapse of communism, Izetbegovic together with all the other political prisoners, was released.
After the fall of the communism in Yugoslavia, Izetbegovic realised the need to establish a political party to bring together his people. In 1989, in Zurich, Adil Zulkarpasic and Izetbegovic found a short-lived Muslim Party of Yugoslavia. In 1990, Izetbegovic became one of the leaders in the creation of the SDA party (The Party for Democratic Action). The party became the most influential political party in Bosnia and won the 1990 elections. On May 25, 1990, after the first party election, lzetbegovic became its first President, and then he was elected as the first Bosnian President.
Izetbegovic was attentive to the fact that the disintegration of Yugoslavia was at stake. Therefore, he proposed the establishment of self-governing and independent federal republics under unified Yugoslavia, but Serbia and Croatia turned down his proposal. After the collapse of all peace attempts, in June 1991, Slovenia and then Croatia were the first Yugoslavian republics to declare independence. Izetbegovic, following in the footsteps of the former republics, called for a public referendum on Bosnia and Herzegovina independence. In March 1992, although Serbs boycotted the referendum, majority of the people in Bosnia, precisely 68.8%, voted for the independence.
After the independence, the three-and-a-half-year war began. Serbs supported from Belgrade and Croats from Zagreb fought for the destruction of the new-born country. During the bloody war, there were several attempts to achieve peace in the Bosnia conflict. Izetbegovic himself constantly led the Bosnian delegation, in almost all peace conferences, as he aimed to and violence and establish peace.
In November 1995, in the US city of Dayton, Alija Izetbegovic together with the then Croatian president Franjo Tudman and former Serbian president, accused of war crimes against humanity, Slobodan Milosevic signed the Dayton Accord. According to the agreement, the country was split into two highly autonomous entities, the Serb Republic with 49% of land, and the Federation with 51% of land. In the post-war period, Izetbegovic was politically active, but in October 2000, his old age and health complications forced him to step down from the presidency.
Izetbegovic was a lawyer, politician and respected scholar and author of a number of works. His first book The Islamic Declaration illustrates the major dilemma facing the Muslim world. The book is a religious, moral and to some extent political discourse. He wrote Islam between East and West while serving a jail sentence. The book reveals his deep knowledge of Western and Islamic civilisations. It was secretly smuggled into the US, and the first edition was published in 1984. Then, while imprisoned in former Yugoslavia (1983-1988) he wrote a book entitled My Escape to Freedom.
He also contributed works on his autobiography, projecting his great historical legacy. His works were translated into many languages and published internationally. In addition, his speeches, articles and interviews were published in more than ten books. He received a number of awards such as the Award of King Faisal, Medal from the Center of Democracy in Washington, and Forum Cran Montana Award. He was also conferred an honorary doctorate from a number of local and international universities.
History will remember Izetbegovic as a hero of the Bosniac struggle for the survival in the face of genocide and yet as one of the greatest contributors to the peace. His dream was a multiethnic Bosnia in which Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs would enjoy their cultural, religious and national rights. He believed that such ideals will prevail in Bosnia even at the time when his own people were killed in thousands in the heart of the democratic Europe.
He put peace and human dignity above political interests and, as a result, his culture of peace contributed much to the signing of the Dayton Accord. He accepted the compromise and convinced his people, after signing the Dayton Accord, that "this is not a just peace, but it is more just than continuation of war."
Izetbegovic was the most essential figure in the recent European history. He had practically shown that love prevails over hate, truth over lies, and peace over war. He personally contributed much to the end of the conflict, and saved Europe from repeating the second holocaust. He even did not call for revenge, massacres, and destruction of the religious monuments, even after about 250,000 men, women and children were killed, 50,000 women raped and more then one million displaced.
He upheld pluralism, multiculturalism, peace, and tolerance. Pady Ashdow, a high representative in Bosnia, proclaims that "he became the father of his people and figure who had done the most than anyone else to ensure the survival of modern Bosnian country." For Bosnians, Izetbegovic is the father of their nation, because under him, after hundreds of years, Bosnian sovereignty was reaffirmed. He restored the Bosniac cultural identity and taught Bosniacs the passion for self-esteem and commitment. Today, Bosniacs practise their religion and express their culture and tradition with dignity.
THE MUSLIM DILEMMA:
Since the advent of Islam, the Muslim world had witnessed progress and stability for centuries. Once, it had played significant role in the history of mankind and, as a result, changed the course of the world history.
In the course of the Muslim geographic and cultural expansion, though the Muslims were confronted by the ancient civilisations and their worldviews, but they established successfully a distinctive Islamic civilisation. Their supreme civilization overshadowed various languages, religions, and worldviews. Yet, Islamic civilization preserved the contributions of the ancient civilisations and, accordingly, became a house of antiquities.
But at the same time it gave birth to a brilliant Islamic civilization and encouraged the flourishing of sciences, literature, arts, crafts and philosophy. Sarton, for instance, declares decisively that the Islamic cultural dominance had lasted for centuries. The political supremacy, on the other hand, also had lasted for centuries but due to a number of factors, the Muslim world began to decline.
Its political and cultural decline, however, were apparent in the 18th and 19th century, after which the Muslim world became the subject of the Western imperialistic colonialism. Since then, the West has been controlling the Muslim world militarily, politically, economically and intellectually.
Throughout the Muslim history there has been a vibrant Islamic regeneration. The Muslims have responded to many challenges from within and from without. From within, many theological, legal, religious, scientific and philosophical challenges have been addressed, while from without, the Muslims' have responded to the Hellenist intellectualism, Eastern religions, crusades, colonialism, and modernity. However, as compared to the past challenges, which were met successfully, the most serious challenge, affecting almost all aspects of the Muslim life, has been posed by the Western colonialism, nationalism, and secularism.
As a result, colonial, post-colonial and modern periods have seen the diverse spectrum of the revivalist movements. They have responded to the internal challenges, as well, as to the intensifying Western influence upon the Muslim world.
The revivalist movements, including the conservatives, modernists, and secularists, as variously branded in the West, have attempted to respond differently to the decline of the Islamic civilisation, and have initiated diverse measures to impede its decline and to return the Muslim world to the straight path of development.
lzetbegovic, perhaps one of the most distinguishing European Muslim catalysts for the Islamic regeneration, was persistently aware of these developments. His center of attention was setting the Muslim house in order and, accordingly, encountering the confusion and challenge from within the Muslim community posed by the modernists and conservatives who have been each others bitter opponents. The conservatives insisted on the old forms - implementation of the seventh century Arabia - and modernists attempted to apply the alien forms.
The modern age, which Izetbegovic was well aware of, has brought new internal and external challenges. Therefore, various responses emerged among the Muslims, such as conservatism, traditionalism, modernism, nationalism, humanism, and secularism. These responses, consequently, resulted in the spectrum of conservative, liberal, and modern remedies being suggested by likeminded schools of thought.
Why have such diverse paths, as alternatives, to the Muslim dilemma emerged? Izetbegovic points no finger at anyone in particular, but lashes generally at conservatives and modernists, claiming that their ignorance regarding the real understanding of the religion of Islam partly contributed to the Muslim dilemma. Both groups do not view Islam as a din, but as a religion in the Western senses of the term.
Therefore, Izetbegovic asserts that by "perceiving Islam as merely a religion, the conservatives come to the conclusion that Islam should not, and the modernists that Islam can not, answer the questions of the modern world." Amir Shakib-Arslan (d. 1946), likewise, associated misunderstanding of Islam to these two groups by declaring vigorously that "these sophisticated 'ultra-moderns' and conservative conventionalists are ruining Islam between themselves." Therefore, Izetbegovic was conscious, likewise Muhammad Nuwayhi (d. 1980), Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, of the urgent need for the effective transformation of the Islamic thought and for a comprehensible exposition of the religion of Islam.
Unlike conservatives and modernists, al-Attas has a very unique description of the term din. According to him, the word din represents the conceptual and the coherent meaning of the religion of Islam. The word, as such, projects the Islamic vision of Reality encompassing unity of spiritual and the material world; and man's relationship with God as a basis of freedom and responsibility, of justice, of knowledge, of virtue, of brotherhood, of the individual and of the society.
The main proponents of conservatism, lzetbegovic affirms, are Imams and Shujuhs (Shuyukh). They have emerged as a modern professional 'clergy', and have monopolised, though illegitimately, the interpretation of Islam. Izetbegovic is of the same mind as majority of the modernists in criticising 'Ulama's credibility in regards to their knowledge of the foreign languages and their mastering of the modern philosophy and sciences.
The 'ulam's thinking, likewise, was also restricted by blind by adhering to the past and the literal understanding of the religion of Islam, which resulted in their attempt to duplicate the classical forms, rather than to regenerate Islam according to the changing conditions of the modern society. Their scholastic understanding of Islam, besides, resulted in rejecting of anything new; any remodelling of the Islamic thought has been equated as an attack on the integrity of Islam. Instead, Islam has been increasingly opened to the theology and mysticism, but not toward science. The conservatives also became traditional critics of the West and advocated its total cultural isolation and even its total rejection.
Izetbegovic lashes in some way at the Ahl al-Hadith (the Traditionalists), followers of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), Ibn Taymiyah (d. 1328) and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792) and their literalist approach to Islam and rejection of everything except the Holy Qur'an and the Traditions of the Prophet (PBUH).
Therefore, Izetbegovic, Muhammad 'Abduh (d. 1905), Jamal al-din al-Afghani (d. 1897) and other Muslim revivalists, attempted to do away with the rigidities of the scholastic interpretation of Islam and the adherence to mysticism and theology. However, unlike Muhammad Ali ibn al-Sanusi (d. 1859), Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624) and Shah Wali Allah of Delhi (d. 1762), who attempted a purification of Sufism; Izetbegovic is of the same opinion as conservatives, for he rejects Sufism categorically, without even considering its role in the Muslim history and civilisation.
The modernists, Izetbegovic argues, are quite numerous and influential in government, education and public life. However, these secularised modernists, mostly educated in the West, demonstrate a deep sense of inferiority towards the West and a personal superiority over their own society. Being poorly educated in Islamic tradition, they fail to realise the fundamental differences between the Islamic and Western civilisations. They quickly become determinant that abolition of the old tradition, culture and faith and, on the other hand, imitation and replication of the foreign will overnight solve all problems in the Muslim world.
As a result, the modernists have brought to their countries revolutionary-reformist ideas and alien secular forms. Thus, the Muslim world has experienced diverse emulations and experiments with socialism and capitalism. However, most of the secular reforms in the Muslim world, which have contradicted the Islamic principles, have failed. Religion and tradition, modernists had concluded, have been the major obstacles for the successful implementation of secular reforms. 'Such blame resulted in the restriction and even extinction of the Islamic practices. Therefore, the modernist's blind imitation of the West has prevented development of the Muslim self-esteem and the regeneration of Islamic civilisation based on the Islamic teachings.
The modernists attempted blindly to transplant and replicate the alien forms without realising that such secular forms contradict the Islamic principles. In this regard, the examples of Japan and Turkey, Izetbegovic reminds, are classics of the modern history. Japan has continued to develop her own system, aiming to unite tradition and progress while Turkey's modernists chose the opposite path.
Muslim modernists obviously contradicted the stand of Jesus (A.S.) who was explicit in declaring "Do not think that I came to destroy... I did not come to destroy but to fulfil" (Matt. 5:17). In this regard, Izetbegovic was aware that each civilisation, particularly Islamic civilisation, is based on very unique unchangeable principles. For instance, unchangeable principles of the Western civilisation reflected in individualism, humanism, secularism, and rationalism, have been borrowed from the Greeks. Similarly, the Chinese civilisation is based on the Confucian-Taoist-Buddhist unchangeable principles. All harmoniously roam within and beyond the bounds of society by balancing this-worldliness and other-worldliness.
Modernist's secularisation resulted in increased adoption of western models in politics, law, education, and economics. By using alien forms, the Muslim countries have continued to be under foreign domination. These countries, Izetbegovic argues, have become spiritually and materially dependent on alien philosophy, way of life, aid, capital, and support. Being in this chaotic position, the Muslims have to begin true decolonialization process.
Conservatives and modernists are not the only cause of the Muslim decadence, Izetbegovic asserts, but a core cause lay in the degradation and rejection of the Islamic teachings. In this regard, lessons from the Muslim history have shown clearly that "all our triumphs and failures, political as well as moral, are only the reflection of our acceptance of Islam and its application in our daily life." He provides examples from the Muslim history by stating astonishing expansion of the Islamic civilisation followed immediately after the death of the Prophet (PBUH).
The Islamic civilisation expanded over a huge area stretching from Arabia, in the west to North Africa and Spain, and in the east to South Asia, Central Asia and Indonesia. This territorial expansion was followed by cultural expansion, which culminated in the emergence of a unique civilisation with a unique worldview. However, Izetbegovic compares the position and the role of the Muslims in the contemporary world by arguing that Muslims are enslaved, uneducated, poor, and a divided community.
He insists that the abandonment of Islam and suppression of Islamic thought from active and vigilant life and its reduction to passivity are also among the major causes for the Muslim dilemma. He reminds that every Muslim advance began with the affirmation of the Holy Qur'an. Devotion to the Book did not cease, but the Muslims have neglected its active character. The Qur'an, instead, became a Book for recitation and memorisation with a total neglect of its principles for practice and reflection upon. In this regard, Izetbegovic agrees with Muhammad Asad (d. 1992) that a change must come from within and definitely the Muslim attitude towards their perfect religion must change.
Following the path of Muhammad 'Abduh, Izetbegovic realised that another cause of equally universal importance for backwardness among the Muslim peoples is the system of education. After the wave of modernisation, the Muslim world saw the establishment of traditional and secular education systems. These education systems have been educating two different worldviews, which contributed to and intensified the struggle between the conservatives and modernists. He holds that for centuries our peoples have been deprived of educated people.
Instead, there are two categories, equally undesirable, namely uneducated and wrongly educated. Izetbegovic argues, there is not a single Muslim country that has developed its own sophisticated education system. This vital institution has been either neglected or entrusted to the foreigners who spread their curricula and ideology. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the liberation of the Muslim education system because as such it can not produce leaders of tomorrow-to lead the Muslim community. In addition, the secular education system, in particular humanities and social sciences produce an anti-religious attitude among the Muslims.
The tragic gap between the conservatives, the modernists, and the Muslim masses, has emerged and persists. The modernists have brought to the Muslim countries alien forms and initiated 'declericalization.' A struggle emerged, similar to the struggle between the state and the church in Modern Europe. The Gospel's call for "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is to God's" (Matthew 22:21) has been widely accepted by the Muslim modernists also, although such an idea was not known in the Islamic civilisation in the past. Such struggle also resulted in the execution of Muslim activists and imprisonment of hundreds.
Alien forms and all attempted reforms, initiated by the modernists, have been rejected by the Muslim masses, as they oppose Islam. Such alien forms were adopted not adapted in the civilisation with a different tradition, culture, and values. Western forms, Esposito explains that it led to: "secularism, materialism and spiritual bankruptcy. Neither Western liberal nationalism nor the Arab nationalism/socialism of Egypt's Gamal Abd al-Nasser had succeeded." The gap and conflict between the masses, the conservatives and the modernists brought passiveness and internal conflict, and as a result, most of the reforms and programmes had failed.
The Muslim masses Izetbegovic argues, can only be moved up with Islam, and not with alien reforms. Therefore, the Muslim world needs new intelligentsia, which thinks and feels Islam. Only such intelligentsia, together with the Muslim masses, would bring about Islamic regeneration in the Muslim world.
(To be Concluded)