Islam and Curiosity

Abhorring questioning is ingrained in the Islamic World. The rich traditions of philosophy, science, and renewable legal reasoning had came to a halt by the 15th and 14th centuries. Islamic teaching became confined to memorizing original works and reciting them by heart without any critical addition which was frowned upon. Meanwhile, mainstream Islam became confined to superstition-laden Sufi orders with quasi-divine debilitating hierarchies.

During the Ottoman period, Persia and the Arab World turned into backwaters and a wedge was driven between the two poles of Islamic World. The Islamic institutions couldn’t assimilate the new sciences which are based on constant questioning and modernity was not understood by rulers despite several references to and reports about the new sciences in the Ottoman empire.

With the colonial takeover in India and later in the Ottoman empire, a clear vision of the effects modernity came in, and some institutions were upgraded. A reform nucleus was formed throughout almost the entire Islamic World. Alas, the underlying entrenched cultural bias against questioning remained pervasive and mainstream.

Throughout the 20th century strides have been covered in the Islamic World and Muslims spread all over the globe. Nonetheless, the anti-questioning stance remained recalcitrant and rooted in the Muslim family, with loads of exceptions and shining examples.

Secular, atheist or whatever, Islam remains the initial seed from which the minds of more than one billion people spring. Igniting an Islamic reformation by reintroducing a rigorous questioning culture into Islam should be the stepping stone out of the deadlock.

It is also a bit of a paradox that despite the dogmatic Islamist regime in Iran, a culture of questioning and dialectics is found in Iran. It is easier for Iranians to question basics and part with old structures. tc