✦ Fundamental Differences Between Modernity and Tradition and Their Intellectual Impacts ✦
Delivered in a Lecture by Ahmad Javed Sahib
In his insightful lecture, Ahmad Javed Sahib discussed the key differences between modernity and tradition, their foundational principles, and the resulting intellectual consequences. Below are the major points highlighted:
① Tradition refers to a consciousness and code of existence based on three fundamental realities: God, human, and the universe.
② Adherents of tradition examine all affairs through the lens of these three realities.
③ A traditionalist perceives every issue within the interconnected context of God, humanity, and the cosmos, giving divine command central importance in decision-making.
① Modernity is defined by excluding God from the three-dimensional framework of tradition.
② In modernity, God is regarded as a poetic imagination, detached from the actual course of life.
③ This trend emerged under the influence of capitalist ideology.
④ The constructive element of modernity is secularism, while capitalism plays a key role in its expansion.
① In tradition, beneficial knowledge is that which enhances awareness of God.
② Modernity is a continuation of the Enlightenment, but also a reactionary disappointment with it. While the Enlightenment ended religious oppression, it introduced intellectual tyranny.
③ According to the Enlightenment, man is a rational being, and reason is the final authority.
④ In modernity, the function of intellect and mind is limited to solving temporary issues, and concepts like truth and purpose are seen as meaningless.
① Modernity has no permanent worldview; its ideologies and objectives constantly evolve with time.
② In contrast, the worldview of tradition is based on the immutable principles of God, man, and the cosmos.
① In tradition, the universe is a collection of signs and objects that point clearly toward Allah.
① Modernity is not an intellectual movement, but an attitude that urges adoption of a specific lifestyle for existential fulfillment.
② Modernity is a permanent existential framework, not merely an intellectual product.
① The statement “Religion should adapt to circumstances” is a powerful tool of modernity. In reality, religion is a divine message that brings about transformation itself.
② Democracy and secularism are synonymous, and the secular essence of democracy cannot be eliminated.
① History is the practical mechanism of the rise and fall of principles that are associated with a nation's moral, intellectual, and practical excellence.
② Only those nations that possess intellectual and moral superiority, along with higher capacity for action, remain safe from historical decline.
Delivered in a Lecture by Ahmad Javed Sahib
In his insightful lecture, Ahmad Javed Sahib discussed the key differences between modernity and tradition, their foundational principles, and the resulting intellectual consequences. Below are the major points highlighted:
◈ Concept of Tradition
① Tradition refers to a consciousness and code of existence based on three fundamental realities: God, human, and the universe.
② Adherents of tradition examine all affairs through the lens of these three realities.
③ A traditionalist perceives every issue within the interconnected context of God, humanity, and the cosmos, giving divine command central importance in decision-making.
◈ Foundation of Modernity
① Modernity is defined by excluding God from the three-dimensional framework of tradition.
② In modernity, God is regarded as a poetic imagination, detached from the actual course of life.
③ This trend emerged under the influence of capitalist ideology.
④ The constructive element of modernity is secularism, while capitalism plays a key role in its expansion.
◈ Knowledge, Reason, and Reality
① In tradition, beneficial knowledge is that which enhances awareness of God.
② Modernity is a continuation of the Enlightenment, but also a reactionary disappointment with it. While the Enlightenment ended religious oppression, it introduced intellectual tyranny.
③ According to the Enlightenment, man is a rational being, and reason is the final authority.
④ In modernity, the function of intellect and mind is limited to solving temporary issues, and concepts like truth and purpose are seen as meaningless.
◈ Lack of a Stable Worldview
① Modernity has no permanent worldview; its ideologies and objectives constantly evolve with time.
② In contrast, the worldview of tradition is based on the immutable principles of God, man, and the cosmos.
◈ Concept of the Universe
① In tradition, the universe is a collection of signs and objects that point clearly toward Allah.
◈ Modernity: An Attitude or an Ideology?
① Modernity is not an intellectual movement, but an attitude that urges adoption of a specific lifestyle for existential fulfillment.
② Modernity is a permanent existential framework, not merely an intellectual product.
◈ Impacts of Modernity
① The statement “Religion should adapt to circumstances” is a powerful tool of modernity. In reality, religion is a divine message that brings about transformation itself.
② Democracy and secularism are synonymous, and the secular essence of democracy cannot be eliminated.
◈ Principle of History
① History is the practical mechanism of the rise and fall of principles that are associated with a nation's moral, intellectual, and practical excellence.
② Only those nations that possess intellectual and moral superiority, along with higher capacity for action, remain safe from historical decline.
