Abderrahmane Tahaâs Translation of Modernity into an Islamic Paradigm: Towards an Ethical Project of Liberation

Salah Basalamah

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Chapter 6 Abderrahmane Tahaâs Translation of Modernity into an Islamic Paradigm: Towards an Ethical Project of Liberation

In: Contemporary Moroccan Thought

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Salah Basalamah

Salah Basalamah
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 222â247

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004519534_007

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Abstract

Modern social theory has debated the possible existence of multiple modernities as alternatives to the dominant Western version. On the other hand, several decolonial thinkers have called for a de-linking from the hegemonic universalist representation of western modernity by creating decolonized âtransmodernâ epistemic locations. In most cases, western modernity has been relativized â demoted from being the absolute model to only one expression among others â if not resized into an utterly local phenomenon that has managed to extend its influence on the rest of the world through its empires. However, besides a number of critiques of western modernity mainly by social theorists, there has been a paucity of philosophies that have conceptualized not only the coexistence of these modernities but also the conditions of their ethical differentiation and integrity. The Moroccan philosopher Abderrahmane Taha was probably the first to provide a conceptual framework for the creation of an endogenous Muslim modernity that would stand as an alternative to the universalized western expression. The two focal themes of the books by Taha â one addressing ethics (The Question of Ethics: A Contribution to An Ethical Critique of Western Modernity, 2000) and the other modernity (The Spirit of Modernity: An Introduction to the Founding of a Muslim Modernity, 2005) â may seem remote. However, these titles intersect in that modernity seems to be a central preoccupation of the author, while they follow a logical sequence from the âcritiqueâ of western modernity to bring to the fore the âfoundationâ of an alternative modernity â a Muslim version â where ethics is a defining feature. In the proposed contribution, I would like to argue that in the concept of translation there is another important connection between ethics and modernity. That concept (i.e., translation) stands not only for the application of the founding principles of the âspirit of modernityâ according to Taha (majority, critique and universality) but also for the inherently ethical process of transforming Arab-Islamic philosophy and ethos from a dependent, imitative mode of being towards the West to an autonomous, liberated and self-directed one. Through his philosophical system, Tahaâs purpose is to translate the spirit of modernity â stripped bare from its hegemonic western representation â into an integral Muslim version that not only follows some core Islamic principles (ethics) but also proposes itself as a more effective answer to the global challenges of our time (modernity). This translation, I argue, contributes to the establishment in translation studies of a philosophy of translation.

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Contemporary Moroccan Thought

On Philosophy, Theology, Society, and Culture

Series:Â Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, Volume: 186

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004519534

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 24 Oct 2024

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Part 1 Projects in Philosophy and Philosophical Thought

Part 2 Projects in Theology, Theological Politics, and Sufism

Part 3 Projects in the Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

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Chapter 6 Abderrahmane Tahaâs Translation of Modernity into an Islamic Paradigm: Towards an Ethical Project of Liberation

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Contemporary Moroccan Thought

On Philosophy, Theology, Society, and Culture

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Chapter 6 Abderrahmane Tahaâs Translation of Modernity into an Islamic Paradigm: Towards an Ethical Project of Liberation