Background
Rida, Rashid was born in 1865 in Tripoli.
Islamic modernist Islamic philosopher
Rida, Rashid was born in 1865 in Tripoli.
Educated locally.
Writer and journalist. Director °f a seminary in Cairo for Muslim missionaries. Enthusiastic participant in Islamic politics.
Rida fell very much under the influence of Muhammad Abduh and did a great deal through his journalistic writings and editorship of alMunar to publicize the views of Abduh and alAfghani throughout the Islamic world. Like his Predecessors he was interested in the q uestion why (he Islamic world, which in the past was so far in advance of the Christian, had fallen into a more backward position in the twentieth century. Rida suggests that the Europeans’success is based upon •heir adherence to a notion of nationality and (heir abandonment of religion. Muslims can discover such a principle of unity and community ■n their religion. Rida was far more committed to a Sunni interpretation, and particularly a Hanbali Vei'sion, of Islam than were his predecessors, and he regarded the Wahhabis in Arabia as coming closest to the most genuine form of Islam. The best sort of society is an Islamic community which ■s led by a caliph, advised by the ulama with the result that the laws of Islam are developed to take account of modern society and its requirements. The interesting philosophical aspects of Rida's thought occur mainly in his writings on tafsir, the 'nterpretation of the Qur'an, and he brings out in an interesting fashion the role of the notion of n,oslaha in jurisprudence. If the notion °f maslaha is important in the construction of law, (hen that law will have to vary as conditions vary, since what counts as being in the interest of the community and its members will alter in different Orcumstances. The great danger to religion is adherence to taqlid, to blind obedience to tradil(°n, reliance upon which has been so disastrous m Islamic history. Those who are qualified to exercise their judgement on the nature of law, the ulama. should do so in the context of the circumstances of the time and not just rely on traditional practices. In this way Islam will be accompanied by rules which express the essence of the religion, and not practices which have grown up over time but which have led to stagnation and weakness. Rida played an important part in creating a particular approach to the notion of Islam in modern society. He took a more traditional path than his mentor Abduh and provided an intellectual basis for the pursuit of the Sunni interpretation of the role of positive law. Many Islamic modernists were influenced by his approach and tried to use it to combine the traditional aspects of religion with the demands of modernity.