Learning from What Happened during the Enlightenment

If it were up to me, studying the events which led to the Enlightenment should be compulsory learning for Islamic religious figures (students of knowledge, Imams, scholars, et al.). Muslim pedagogues should learn from Christian errors which drove many to despise religion, and Islamic institutions should also quiz them on it and make them think about what practical measures should be taken to ensure the safeguarding of the reputation and credibility of the Islamic scholarly establishment in order to prevent Islam from undergoing its own ‘enlightenment period.’

Deism derived its strength from the perceived and/or actual immorality of the Church. Disgraceful Christian representation of religion played a vital role in facilitating the emergence of the Enlightenment, which planted the seeds for the eventual spread of secularism and all its accompanying ills. Representatives of Islam are duty-bound to abstain from being immoral and ensure that they are not 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 as such, for their reputation has a substantial impact on the feeble Iman of tens of millions around the world.

I fear that if the perceived immorality of many Shuyukh (putting aside whether it is warranted or not) continues to cultivate, then Muslims, similar to many Christians, will grow antipathetic to religion. Most Western Christians today ignorantly think that Western democracies should be indebted to Christianity for supposedly reshaping their ancestors’ political and religious thinking. On the contrary, it was deism and other ideological revulsions of religion—particularly mainstream Christianity—to which modern Western nations should be ‘indebted.’ It was the tyranny and backwardness of the Church from which people flocked 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚, not 𝑡𝑜!

Unlike Christians, Muslims are not haunted by such a horrible and disappointing history. Yes, Muslims today should not exaggerate their past glories, but comparing past Islamic empires with their Christian counterparts is a false equivalency. Moreover, Allah سبحانه وتعالى has not burdened Muslims with a religion riddled with intellectual obstacles similar to the Trinity, divine incarnation, incoherent doctrines of scriptural inspiration, etc. Muslims today are already in a much better place without having done anything; nevertheless, it is possible to throw all this down the gutter if we are not too careful.