Abstract:
Among the more significant contemporary trends of thought is traditionalism, which is based on a number of religious and mystical principles. Advocators of this trend of thought are intrinsically loyal to Eastern civilizations and religions.
Their standpoint on tradition and modernity is different from that of Fundamentalism, Modernism, Religious Reformism, Trans-Religious Spirituality, and Extremist Mahdism. Emphasizing on the opinions of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, one the prominent figures of the traditionalist thought, the present article attempts to offer a traditionalist viewpoint on the issues of Mahdawiyyah (Muslim Messianism) , Fundamentalism, and criticism of Modernity.
Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, one of the most renowned Iranian Muslim philosophers in the West, is the grandson, on the maternal side, of the late Sheikh Fazlollah Nuri, a well-known figure in the constitutional movement. Having been born into a devout family that maintained a conservative environment he completed his rudimentary studies in Iran.
In his youth, he was sent to the USA where he familiarized himself with Western academic culture, and furthered his studies. Upon receiving his PhD, he returned to Iran and taught in various universities for about twenty-two years. During this time, he was trained in Islamic philosophy and mysticism by Masters of these disciplines including Allamah Tabataba’i, Seyyed Abul-Hasan Qazwini, Mahmood Shahabi, Mahdi Elahi Ghomshe’i, Jawad Mosleh, and Seyyed Kazim ‘Assar and so on.
Dr Nasr is not only knowledgeable in philosophy and Western studies, but also has a profound knowledge of Islamic culture and civilization and has published numerous writings in the English language.
In the Western world today, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and the Traditionalists are seen as irrevocably intertwined, and he is considered one of the most distinguished advocators of this philosophical thought and is endowed with the chair of Islamic studies at George Washington University.
During his formative years, Nasr’s mind developed along philosophical and spiritual lines; so although he could have become a great physicist as his professors has said, those developments caused him to espouse the paths of Traditionalists, such as Rene Guenon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon, all of whom were exponents of Traditionalism and in his own statement, he found his lost treasure in the thoughts of Guenon.
Hamilton Gibb, Harry Wolfson and I. B. Cohen were professors whom Dr. Nasr referred to reverentially due to their assistance with regard to writing his doctoral dissertation, “Science and Civilization in Islam” and for his being acquainted with Islam.
Dr Nasr is a Shi’ah expert in Islamic sciences and spirituality, who is possessed of the chair of Islamic studies in the West. He is the only Iranian and Muslim scholar who has been invited to deliver an address at the Gifford Lectures where prominent figures such as Alfred Whitehead, Bergson and Annemarie Shimmel have also lectured.
Before the Islamic revolution of Iran, he was president of the Society of Wisdom and Philosophy, and, together with close colleagues Henry Corbin and Toshihiko Izutsu, he collected the writings of Islamic philosophers and comparative discussions between Islamic and other Eastern philosophies. He studied Islamic philosophy under Allamah Tabataba’i and attended these lectures along with Henry Corbin. Many professors of philosophy and mysticism in Iran, the Islamic countries, and the USA are among his students, one of whom is William C. Chittick, a distinguished expert in Islamic mysticism.
Nasr is one of the Traditionalist philosophers who follow the first and the second generations of the philosophical trend which included Rene Guenon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Frithjof Shuon, and Titus Burckhardt and is famous for sharing Traditionalist characteristics with the likes of Martin Lings, Huston Smith, Marco Pallis, Philip Sherard, and Rama Coomaraswamy.
He says about his interest in Traditionalist thinking, such as belongs to Guenon, Coomaraswamy and Shuon: Thus I became familiar with works of Guenon, Coomaraswamy and subsequently Frithjof Shuon – 3 great Traditionalist writers – and studied them eagerly.
In approximately my third year at M.I.T., I gradually came to detect Traditionalist teachings, and finalized this philosophical challenge. I found a rational worldview that supported my thoughts. I recognized this to be the truth which satisfied me intellectually and was in agreement with my life and religion. This kind of philosophy had a general post-physical observation which criticized Western philosophy and science as if they were expressing my views.
Due to their basic principles in philosophy, art, architecture, miniature, and other domains of culture, these thinkers have a standpoint opposite to modern and post-modern thinkers’ viewpoint.
Traditionalists believe in eternal wisdom, and truths which are post time-and-place, and tend to engage in a mystical interpretation of religions. They consider religions as sharing a transcendental unity and attempt to present a spiritual and traditional interpretation of the modern world. According to the Traditionalists, transcendental unity of religions means that all religions are different inclines enabling the traveler to access the peak which is divinity and human perfection.
The concept of inner unity of religions from the viewpoint of the Traditionalist differs quite radically from the pluralism presented by a number of scholars of religions like John Hick. In religious pluralism, multiplicity of religions is an acceptable issue, each religion possessing truth for its specific followers; for example, Islam is true for Muslims and Christianity for Christians.
In contrast, traditionalists believe that religious unity occurs in the higher spiritual realm not on the earthly realm, so that all religions are divinely inspired and share the same core. Although they acknowledge the scientific and theoretical study of other religions as a necessary and admirable undertaking, they do not believe all religions to be true, considering a number of religions to be artificial or fake and thus invalid, so that they emphasize inner commitment to and practical observance of the law of the only true religion.
Based on the position of an elevated unity of religions, there are three main principles to their approach:
1. All major religions share a divine source.
2. These religions are universal but have different manifestation.
3. Traces of original eternal wisdom can be found in these religions.
المرتجی
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