Moderate, Liberal, Conservative & Traditional Islam

We've heard the mass media saying about Islam being moderate, traditional, modern, conservative, liberal etc. My question is where does the difference lie, how and why does it happen throughout the Muslim world?

Salam, dear Faiz.

Thank you for your question. Indeed I do not find any difference or contradiction among the adjectives which the mass media has listed.

I think the confusion in understanding how to reconcile these adjectives together in one body arises from the misconception associated with such terms. Lately, they have undergone serious semantic changes in their meanings which have given them negative connotations outside their original ones.

What Do They Mean?

According to the new connotations of the terms, "modernity" means cutting off all roots and all relations with the past, whereas "tradition" refers to what is stagnant, and incompetent to move with the time.

"Liberalism" connotes looseness and lack of restraints related to moral codes, it concentrates on sexual freedoms and calls for erosion of social or parental authority on the individual behavior.

Again, "conservative" connotes being old-fashioned and having a "dull" mentality. Sure in these senses the adjectives will never reconcile or co-exist in one body.

A more reasonable approach to these terms will find that not only they are all in harmony, but they also can not work except together.

Modernity, for example, means the changing of time with new trends and innovations in all fields of life; politics, economics, technology sociology, and so on. It also means the capability of the individuals or nations to change with the time, interact with innovations and handle the new trends.

"Liberal" means this talent to open up and mix with everything and everybody around us specially those who are different. It is a state of open mindedness which makes one able to understand others and cope with their lives even if they are strange to him. It helps one to acquire new styles of life while one is mixing with the others.

On the other hand, "tradition" means the ability to keep the nation's or the individual's established value system and deep rooted culture dictated by religion, history and other factors in order to preserver the identity and the spirit of such nation or individual.

The Necessity of Each

Any civilization needs all these elements in order to survive. Modernity helps it develop and advance, liberalism helps it socialize and build up a new style of life ready to get the messages of the new world in order to live in an atmosphere of mutual understanding with others.

Tradition is important to both elements as it helps to adjust the handling of such modern trends and innovations as well as regulating the process of acquisition to new styles of lives so as to select what is convenient to a nation's value system and to reject what is not.

Being moderate is important while one is weighing up what to take and what to leave from modernity and liberalism. According to some backgrounds, Muslims are too radical to accept or even negotiate any aspect of modern life for fear of breaching away from faith, an experience which was so drastic with Taliban when they closed down schools and prohibited women from going out of their homes.

In some other Islamic countries women are not allowed to have IDs or to vote. On the other extreme, some Islamic communities open up to all that is coming to them from the West without distinction to an extent that they have lost their own identity.

Thus, when Allah said that He has created this Muslim nation to be moderate, he meant to direct us to the mid way policy which is the general policy of Islam:

*{Thus We have appointed you a middle nation, that ye may be witnesses against mankind, and that the messenger may be a witness against you.}* (Al-Baqarah 2:143)

How They Work Together

There are many examples in our contemporary Muslim life where modernity, liberalism, tradition and moderation work together. In the field of politics, most Muslim countries have selected to be "democratic republics".

This pattern, though new to Islam, as well as to the whole world, proved to be in full harmony with the Islamic values searching for more freedoms and self-representation for its citizens.

The status of women is another outstanding example of Islam being traditional, conservative and liberal at the same time. Muslim women obtain the highest degrees of education and reach top hierarchy jobs, while keeping their Islamic traditions such as wearing hijab and respecting their natural roles as wives and mothers.

Muslim families have made extensive use of modern theories of education and child upbringing. Now children and teenagers have more power of expressing themselves and shaping their own future than before.

But this has never contradicted with the conservative and traditional Islamic rule of preserving family values such as children respecting their parents and parents loving, caring, and sacrificing for the sake of their children, the ties among members of the extended family, and so on.

When It Doesn't Work

On the contrary, the following is a case where modernity worked against tradition. In the 1950s many Islamic countries adopted a socialist economic system much colored with communistic shades. Definitely the tradition of Islam which pays a great respect for individuality and personal property collided with such innovation based on a totalitarian style of life.

Consequently this system had to collapse leaving the country in a big economic mess which the people still suffer from after 30 years of abolishing it.

Generally, Islam can embrace all these characteristics as it is capable of keeping up-to-date and in full harmony with the changing world around it without having to sacrifice its established values or deep rooted tradition.

I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.

Salam.