Assimilation and Originality: Ignaz Goldziher’s Critical Examination of Islam
This article will explore some of the criticisms of Islam conveyed by the Hungarian orientalist, Ignaz Goldziher. Born on June 22, 1850 AD and died in 1921, Ignaz was born into a Jewish family. His journey to understand and deepen Islam was not easy, but he succeeded in obtaining an education at Al Azhar University, becoming the first non-Muslim to be given the opportunity to study there. All the criticism he conveyed is documented in his book. One of his works that will be discussed in this article is “Muhammed and Islam”, written in 1917 AD. Specifically, in this book, Ignaz reviews the oddities regarding the originality of the Islamic religion. As the title suggests, Ignaz begins his criticism by explaining the meaning of Islam itself, then discusses the Prophet Muhammad as a messenger and the journey of conveying his message. According to Ignaz, the message brought by the Prophet Muhammad was the result of assimilation of Jewish and Christian teachings. However, this article will only discuss one part of the book “Muhammed and Islam”.
Discussion
Ignaz said that the seeds of psychic religion arise from awareness of causality in humans, feelings of dependence on something eternal, and exclusion from worldly life. This is in line with Schleiermacher’s theory that religion is rooted in feelings of dependence. Islam is a strong example of this theory, with its literal meaning of “submission” to Allah, indicating dependence on unlimited power. This principle is inherent in all religions in the form of moral views and worship. Islam, in its final form, was influenced by various factors, making it a dogmatic and strictly adhered to legal system. There are two factors that influence the historical development of a group: internal and external drives. Islam shows evidence of the first factor, but the second factor, assimilation of external influences, is more dominant. Islam took ideas from various cultures, such as Hellenism, Roman law, and Neoplatonic mysticism. Nevertheless, this thought was validated by divine revelation.
Ignaz also noted that the Islamic legal system began to take shape when Muhammad emigrated to Medina, where the thoughts he brought with him were not too different from the thoughts that already existed among the Jewish community who lived in Medina. At first, during the Mecca era, Muhammad only conveyed an eschatological concept, namely judgment by God on those who oppose His commands. However, his call changed when he arrived in Medina. There, Muhammad began to show other qualities, such as a war leader, conqueror, and organizer of new communities. This was the beginning of Islam gaining recognition and its name being recognized. Religious reconstruction emerged, with Muhammad not only as God’s messenger who gave warnings and saved others on the Day of Judgment, but also had a vision to restore the religion of Prophet Abraham which he considered to have been distorted.
Ignaz’s thinking has had a broad impact on Islamic studies, not only among Orientalists but also among Muslims themselves. For example, Muslim Ahmad Amin’s thoughts in his book entitled “Fajrul Islam”, which doubts several traditions because of Ignaz Goldziher’s theory. Ignaz is an intelligent and wise figure who opposes those who hinder his goals. As an orientalist who studied Islam, he was respected as a great orientalist teacher through his success in the academic field.
Schleiermacher, a German religious scholar who worked in a Christian environment, sought to understand the dynamics of religion by describing the relationship between humans and divine reality. Ignaz’s observation that Islam is the strongest example of Schleiermacher’s theory, that the Islamic religion emerged because of a feeling of dependence, is very relevant. Ignaz is considered to be one of the orientalists who has brought cultural and religious changes to Arab society. For Ignaz, religion is about a relationship with the source of life, which includes all aspects of life, especially in relationships between humans, and the essence is rudimentary feelings and various rituals as expressions of that relationship.
Ignaz views Islam as the true religion. For him, religion is about the relationship between humans and the source of life and fellow humans. However, Ignaz does not denigrate other religions, but rather recognizes the goodness in every religion. According to him, Islam was born in Medina, and the historical aspect of Islam is located there because the revelations conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad came down in that city, in contrast to Mecca which has not been greatly influenced by civilization and is more of a community with a strong identity of its own, difficult to be influenced by outsiders. The decade in Medina marked a change in Muhammad’s prophetic character, reflected in the content of the Qur’an. The differences between the Meccan and Medinan revelations appear in their style and rhetorical content. The early revelations were filled with fiery messages about God’s power and the day of judgment, while the Medinan revelations tended more towards the legal and practical aspects of life. This shows a change in Muhammad’s focus from spiritual aspects to the organization of everyday life.
Ignaz reviews the development of understanding and belief in science which studies everything related to religious belief, or the knowledge of God which has become the basis of Islamic history since then. According to Ignaz, in Islamic religious practices, there is significant influence from Jewish and Christian rituals. This influenced his views on studying Islam, because he concluded that Islamic teachings had similarities with the rituals of other religions besides Islam.
For Ignaz, being a Muslim is not just about following rules or rituals, but more about carrying out God’s Will and achieving deep spiritual experiences. He emphasized that Islam is not just a copycat religion of Muhammad, but has its own uniqueness and authenticity. Ignaz also conducted an in-depth investigation into the divisions in the Islamic world, especially the divisions between Sunnis and Shiites. Even though Islam has been influenced by various cultures, philosophies, religions and traditions from Greece, Rome, Syria, Persia and even India, this does not reduce the complexity and uniqueness of the Islamic religion itself. Ignaz views it as important to understand the internal dynamics of Islam, including the divisions between the sects within it, to gain a more complete understanding of this religion.
According to Ignaz, the Koran is the work of the Prophet Muhammad, and the revelations contained in it are the result of a combination of ideas from other religions. He believes that the Koran conveyed by the Prophet Muhammad was only used as a tool to attract the attention of the Arab people so that they embrace Islam. This opinion was also expressed by Antonius Walaeus who considered the Koran to be a holy book which contains thoughts that are contrary to life and the universe. Ignaz used a strategy to doubt the authenticity of the Koran, saying that the teachings in the Koran were simply plagiarized from other books. However, this opinion was rejected by Abd. Halim am-Najjar who considers it a wrong understanding of the Koran.
In the Islamic view, people who embrace Islam are not referred to as converts, but as returnees (Muslims), namely those who have heard the call of da’wah and returned to religious truth. The focus of faith in Islam is not on Muhammad as an individual, but on the divine message conveyed through the Koran. Islam has five main pillars on which it is based. First, recognition of the oneness of God and Muhammad as His Messenger. Second, the implementation of the worship ritual which begins with reading prayers, kneeling and prostrating. Third, the practice of alms as a voluntary offering for community needs. Fourth, the first fast is carried out on the 10th of every month, which is influenced by the day of atonement in Jewish tradition. And fifth, pilgrimage to the holy place of Mecca as part of worship.
According to Ignaz, the Islamic religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad was not perfect because the existence of a perfect religion was realized after a continuous process of ijtihad. For him, the laws that existed in Islam at that time only applied to the culture of Arab society, and the hard efforts made by Muhammad were limited to the context of the problems faced during his lifetime. In Ignaz’s view, when Islam relies on historical witnesses, Islam cannot offer its followers a concrete model of life carried out by just one individual. He believed that words had greater power than swords, and that literally imitating the Prophet Muhammad was impossible. However, believers will not forget the historical description of the Prophet Muhammad. Even though they cannot imitate directly, they still take inspiration and learn from the examples given in history.
Ignaz is one of the most important and influential orientalist figures in Islamic studies. He offers some criticism of religion, saying that peace is not a virtue for Him, and that the struggle must continue. The Prophet Muhammad expanded his missionary mission throughout the Arab region, with the main focus on his own people and country. Despite facing many obstacles and obstacles, he finally achieved success. Islamic tradition itself, based on the words of the Prophet, shows that he preached to all mankind. According to Ignaz, basing Islamic interests only on the Koran alone is a big mistake. However, throughout Islamic history, the Koran has been the main guide for Muslims. Ignaz emphasized that we cannot understand Islam thoroughly without understanding the Koran. However, the Qur’an itself does not provide a complete understanding of Islam and its journey throughout history.
Ignaz applied the method of historical criticism to Islamic studies, which changed our understanding of Islamic history and provided the foundation for the establishment of Islamic studies as a modern academic discipline. His contribution opened the door to a deeper understanding of the development of Islamic scientific disciplines. Ignaz carefully adopts Geiger’s approach in understanding the inner struggles of a historical period through critical reading of sacred texts. Goldziher’s motivation for studying Islam shifted to the individual level, and there is agreement among Goldziher’s biographers that he was a deeply religious man. Goldziher engaged in sophisticated linguistic debates and deepened understanding of Islamic traditions, recognizing the primacy of the Arabic language.
During his stay in Egypt, Goldziher’s direction of thought changed completely towards Islam, and he firmly called Islam monotheism. He became a renowned scholar during this period and received a number of scientific awards. For Goldziher, the essence of this religion is not sufficient to explain the development of Islam as a proper worldview and normative system. In his analysis, Islamic history is not only revealed from the core of the religion, but is more marked by the assimilation of new ideas and adaptation to certain historical and social circumstances.
According to Ignaz, Islam has shown a receptive character from the beginning. In Goldziher’s work, religious tradition is not an independent variable in Islamic history, but is strongly influenced by social, economic and political developments. In his critical and historical approach, Ignaz follows Abraham Geiger in utilizing classical texts as the main source for reconstructing religious history, without being too attached to early Islamic religion. In his analysis of Islamic traditions, Goldziher discovered religious tendencies that reflected the social and political conflicts of the period of their composition.
Based on his critical reading of tradition, Goldziher interprets Islamic history as a growing deviation from the original religion. Although the message of the religion was essentially “purely anti-dogmatic” and spiritual, historical developments drew the transcendental religion of Islam into worldly affairs and compromised the ethical content of Islam. According to Ignaz, the Muslim religion was born in the same divine context as Judaism and Christianity. Goldziher does not perceive Islam as an unchanging, holistic entity. In his interpretation, the historical appearance of Islam does not originate from the revealed core of the religion, but is an accidental result of its principles, as well as contingent historical developments. Goldziher is considered key to Islamic religious reform and social change in the Muslim world. His involvement in Islamic studies appears to have been driven by deep concerns about the role of religion in the modern world.
Goldziher writes that today’s young Muslims lack knowledge and understanding, or even passion for their religion. His thinking is based on the theory of religious evolution, in which he considers Islam to be an integral part of the general development of humanity. Ignaz Goldziher stands out as a leading historian in the field of Arabic and Islam in his time. Although the Western world has advanced greatly in its understanding and discussion of Islam compared to Goldziher’s time, his views remain relevant. According to Goldziher, being Muslim means doing God’s will with mental agreement and life’s actions which are closely interrelated. However, being Muslim is not just about following the rules, it also involves a life of piety and religious experience. Goldziher observes that Islam provides the strongest example of Schleiermacher’s theory that religion arises from feelings of dependence. He places Islam as the true religion, and Ignaz also confirms this view. The final paragraph in this book discusses the dark side of Islam, especially in the context of the image of Muhammad and the concept of war. Muhammad’s development from messenger of peace to warrior gave rise to debate about the compatibility of Islamic teachings with morality. Despite changes in Muhammad’s views and actions, Islamic teachings remain complex and cannot be fully understood through the Qur’an alone.
Conclusion
Ignaz doubts the originality of the Islamic religion which claimed that Muhammad was the messenger of God, by obtaining evidence from reading historical texts. According to him, Islam from the start has led to dogmatization, with demands for obedience and submission. Muhammad is believed to have only assimilated Jewish and Christian teachings, without making a significant contribution to Islamic thought which later became dogma. This raises doubts that Islam is not perfect, because the Koran, which is considered a divine revelation, cannot answer all problems. Ignaz thinks that Muhammad was a magician who succeeded in creating a work in the form of the Koran.
By : Muhammad Mafaza & Ahmad Athour Rohman Alhakim
Ignaz Goldziher, Muhammad and Islam. (America: Gorgias Press, 2009), 1-29.
