Islamic existentialism
Islamic existentialism is an approach that uses existentialist themes like freedom, death, and meaning to explore the human condition within the framework of Islam, often seen in Sufi traditions and the philosophy of scholars like Mulla Sadra. Unlike Western atheistic existentialism, it typically grounds existence in God and emphasizes a personal connection with the divine, using existential questions to foster spiritual growth and understand human purpose in the world.
Key Aspects
Sufi Influence:
The term “Islamic existentialism” often refers to the examination of the human condition through the lens of Sufism, a mystical tradition within Islam.
Focus on the Human Condition:
It explores existential themes such as freedom, death, isolation, and the search for meaning, but within a religious context.
Rejection of Atheism:
Many proponents, like Turkish poet Sezai Karakoç, reject atheistic aspects of Western existentialism, like the absurdism of Albert Camus, instead linking human and natural reason to Allah.
Mulla Sadra:
The 17th-century Persian philosopher Mulla Sadra is a pivotal figure, developing a transcendent philosophy that synthesizes various Islamic traditions and shifts focus from essentialism to a form of existentialism, focusing on the nature of existence in relation to God.
Decolonization and Modernity:
In the Arab world, Arab existentialism served as a tool during the 1960s to grapple with issues of identity, sovereignty, and authenticity for Muslims in the context of colonial modernity.
Personal Relationship with God:
Islamic existentialism emphasizes building a personal relationship with God and finding meaning and purpose through faith, rather than creating meaning in a meaningless universe.
How it Differs from Western Existentialism
God’s Role:
Western existentialism often starts from a universe without inherent meaning or God, while Islamic existentialism posits God as the ultimate source of meaning and purpose.
Freedom:
While Western existentialism focuses on radical human freedom and responsibility, Islamic existentialism places these within the framework of divine guidance and submission to Allah.
Method:
It’s less a historical school and more a method for probing existential questions within Islamic thought and tradition, particularly in Sufism.
Existentialism’s effect on Muslims is not uniform, but rather manifests in varied and complex ways, influencing intellectuals, political movements, and individuals differently. Rather than being a monolithic Western imposition, elements of existentialist thought have been creatively engaged with and integrated into Islamic heritage for decades.
Intellectual and political movements
In the mid-20th century, especially during the postcolonial era, intellectuals in the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran adapted existentialist ideas to address the challenges of modernity, colonialism, and political authoritarianism.
- Arab Existentialism: In the 1960s, a vibrant movement emerged that used concepts from figures like Jean-Paul Sartre to explore themes of alienation (ghurba), anxiety (qalaq), and the search for authentic identity in a postcolonial world. It was used to critique state authoritarianism and to articulate the right of colonized peoples to self-determination.
- Anti-Western synthesis: In Iran and Turkey, some intellectuals adopted existentialist critiques of modernism but reoriented them against Western influence. Figures like Ali Shariati in Iran used existentialist thought to articulate a vision of Islamic identity in opposition to perceived Western decay.
- “Islamic Existentialism”: Some thinkers have intentionally synthesized Islamic philosophy with existentialist ideas. Poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal in British India developed an existentialist framework emphasizing individual self-creation within a communal and theological context. Sufi thinkers have also explored connections between Sufism and existentialism, focusing on the individual’s spiritual journey toward a direct, personal relationship with God.
Impact on individual Muslims
For many individual Muslims, existentialist ideas appear not as a formal philosophy but as responses to the modern world’s challenges, such as the rise of secularism, materialism, and loneliness.
- Navigating individualism and community: A key tension for many Muslims is reconciling the existentialist emphasis on radical individualism with Islam’s strong focus on community (𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑎). A version of Islamic existentialism, such as Iqbal’s, attempts to resolve this by stressing that individual fulfillment and self-actualization are achieved not in isolation but through one’s relationships with others and the natural world.
- Confronting meaninglessness and anxiety: Where atheistic existentialism, like Sartre’s, finds meaninglessness in a world without God, an Islamic perspective offers a transcendent source of meaning. The anxiety of existence, framed by figures like Sezai Karakoç, is a call to strengthen faith and remember one’s divine origin.
- Dealing with existential crises: For young or secularized Muslims experiencing feelings of spiritual emptiness or confusion, existential themes can be a route back to faith, rather than away from it. By grappling with questions of meaning, purpose, and death, some individuals use an existential lens to deepen their engagement with Islamic spirituality.
Influence on Muslim immigrants and refugees
For Muslim immigrants and refugees, existentialist dilemmas are often amplified by post-migration challenges related to identity, belonging, and cultural conflict.
- Cultural clash: An immigrant may face an existential conflict between their collectivistic cultural upbringing and the individualistic values of their new Western host culture. An existential approach can help them navigate the distress of this situation by identifying their choices and accepting the responsibility that comes with them.
- Identity confusion: The loss of social support systems and the experience of discrimination can lead to a confused sense of identity and feelings of isolation. Engaging with existential questions can provide a framework for these individuals to reflect on their identity in a new environment.
- Well-being and meaning: Research has shown that, rather than being a social problem, religion can serve as a positive force for the existential well-being of new immigrants, fostering a sense of social cohesion and meaning.