Dr. Abdul Wahab Al-Messiri is classified as one of the foremost critics of Arab modernity, as he has been a pioneer in the modernization project since early on in his academic priorities. The Jewish Encyclopedia, which took about a quarter of a century to prepare, is full of criticisms of the project that displaced God from the center of the universe and replaced humans with a set of material constants and absolutes, such as material benefit, progress, production rates, and pleasure.
Historical Roots of Modernity
The historical roots of modernity date back to the beginning of the European Renaissance era, and since then it has gone through three stages, as Al-Masiri states, starting with the modernization that extended from the Renaissance era to the nineteenth century, during which its pace increased. Then came the modernity stage, which began with World War I, where Western societies transformed from agricultural feudal and semi-feudal societies to commercial societies, and finally the stage of "post-modernity" emerged as these societies transitioned from industrial to imperialist capitalist societies.
Western Modernization Foundations
Al-Masiri believes that the Western modernization project is based on two fundamental ideas. The first is the belief in the necessity of confronting the universe nakedly, completely free from the constraints of civilization, history, and ethics, rejecting any metaphysical or constants beyond his material world and the limits of his mind. The second is the transformation of matter or what he calls "nature/material" to become the center of the universe instead of God or humans, with its laws surpassing everything and nothing surpassing them, with no goal or purpose, not giving humans any particular importance.
Removing Divinity from the World
Modernity is a complex historical phenomenon, so El-Messiri doesn't adopt a single definition for it, but rather presents multiple definitions. One of the most important is his description of it as a "project to remove divinity from the world," meaning that humans should not deify anything, worship anything, or even themselves. There are no sacred or divine aspects in the universe, no half-divine, and therefore, there are no sanctities or taboos of any kind, as there is no need to go beyond the material (temporal and spatial) given, as humans exist within their material world.
In another definition, El-Messiri suggests that modernity is the ability to change values after a very short notice, meaning the essence of modernity implies stillness and stability, rejecting the existence of absolute constants, and implying fluidity. Excessive change and movement lead to the absence of a center around which human existence can revolve.
Secularism and Imperialism
Modernity is organically linked to two Western phenomena: secularism and imperialism, and for El-Messiri, modernity is the flip side of secularism. Modernization, modernity, and post-modernity are three sequential stages in the process of secularism, as secularism is not a fixed essence that appears all at once in history, but a series of gradual stages achieved over time in economics, politics, and behavior. When the laws of secularism govern a field of human activity, that field becomes separated from religious, ethical, and moral norms, and becomes its own reference point. The economy is governed by economic laws independent of external religious and ethical references.
Imperialism cannot be separated from modernity, and imperialism itself cannot be separated from modernity either. This is because the accumulation of capital that made the construction of huge infrastructure in the West possible is actually an "imperial accumulation", the result of the colonial process that began with mercantilist exploitation and ended with the imperial division of the world. Many of the problems of Western modernization, such as unemployment, population explosion, and excess goods, were solved through colonialism; that is, by exporting them to the East.
The Doctrine of Bias
Al-Messiri practiced a dual critique of modernity; not only did he criticize its intellectual foundations and the basis upon which it was established, but he also practically contributed to shaping methodological approaches to undermine modernity on two levels: the first being the "Doctrine of Bias" project, and the second being the search for a civilizational alternative to the modernity project.
The Doctrine of Bias is considered one of al-Messri's genuine contributions, as he proposed the establishment of a field of knowledge that seeks to study the biases inherent in Western curricula and sciences, which he always describes as not being neutral, but rather carrying intellectual biases towards everything non-Western. Al-Messiri named this field "doctrine," instead of choosing the name "science of bias", to underscore its speculative and probabilistic dimension of knowledge, unlike the word "science", which implies precision, certainty, and false objectivity.
What are the main biases of Western modernity?
Al-Messiri began his Doctrine of Bias with a central question: what are the main biases of Western modernity? And is it suitable to be the foundation for Islamic Renaissance as Arab Enlightenment thinkers believe? Through the study of bias, he concluded that the Western values, which the West claims to be universal, are actually biased values that reflect the Western cultural model and do not represent other civilizations. Therefore, he called on Arab researchers to reject Western curricula and create Arab Islamic curricula that represent the civilizational self.
An Alternative Model for Modernity
Based on this, al-Messiri diligently sought to articulate the features of an alternative model for modernity based on our Islamic heritage, characterized as a generative non-accumulative model that starts with the human being instead of materialism, which is central to the Western modernity project. The alternative model does not adhere to the narrow view that assumes there is one point to which all phenomena advance, which is "infinite material progress," as if there is one nation and one knowledge. Therefore, the alternative model emphasizes diversity, cultural specificity, respect for humanity, not claiming perfection, and not labeling others as inferior.
In summary, El-Messiri offered fundamental criticisms of the Western modernity project, calling for the creation of an alternative model that reflects Islamic values and civilizational specificity.
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