Dr. Ahmad Al - Baghdadi on the enlightenment in the arab world

I don't think that we can say that we are enlighteners. To say that were are enlightened, I also think that's not true. We can say that we are modernists, we use the tools of modernity, but to say that we are modernized, that's not true, because reality is different. I wrote an article, a lot of people criticized it, and some got upset, saying that the issue of stupidity is a genetic issue, that it originates within genes. When I read Dr. Mona Abood's book on the meme, 'mimics', that was proposed by the English intellectual Dawkins, on that there are mimics that dictate certain beliefs that are in the mind that copy in coming generations, and then become established. And perhaps if things change, the meme could disappear. And therefore the meme is considered to be a virus of the mind, that takes over the intellectual background where it becomes established and then appears as a public certainty. e.g."We are against women." e.g. I talk about democracy in my lectures at university, but I could be a totalitarian husband. e.g. I could talk about equality, but not apply it to women, considering she's a lower species. e.g. I could talk about human rights, but I don't uphold them. Lots of issues like this have persisted in our minds as absolute truths. I think that the problem is within the context of The Enlightenment. The simplest understanding of The Enlightenment is that abolishment of authority from the mind, in all its forms, whether it's of ownership, or religious, and especially the religious. If we like to apply this definition to the Arab world, and Kuwait which is our topic for today, of course we will find lots of intellectual, social, cultural, mental, subjective problems, because the mind of the Arab and Muslim mind is in a "tangle" in the religious issue and the religious isolation and social isolation, and tradition. And therefore religion has become an easy case in the Arab and Muslim mind. Since the moment of birth, there is religion. The call to prayer is always in the ears. No choice in this matter. Then your birth certificate takes down your religion which is considered one of these absolute truths. Then after that life, school, family, marriage, divorce, death, even death is practiced in a religious way. Therefore religion for us is really an identity for our lives, from cradle to grave. Even those who claim to be secularists, can't remove themselves from this. They get married, divorced and inherit according to religion. Therefore there is no disassociation from religion, or from the authority of tradition, that we "got used" to. For us Muslims we have conservative political systems that don't change, not change but the leader doesn't change unless he's dead, either by assassination or by natural cause. But if we leave the political side and focus on the religious, we'll find that from this understanding that the kind of enlightenment that we are talking about, the Western enlightenment is an impossible matter. The enlightening that we are talking about, not The Enlightenment is a potential matter, and I will present a few points and examples of their presence in our country. Of course the enlightenment as a global issue, no society can disassociate itself from its side effects. Therefore, Arab societies I think are in a greyish area. It doesn't have the strict identity of the enlightenment nor of religion, but it's in between. And this really makes it in a lot of intellectual predicaments, and so Arab societies, including the Kuwaiti society, knows about the enlightenment but they didn't practice it till today. The Enlightenment came with the West. The Kuwaitis knew about The Enlightenment from the occupier, but they applied it to their lives in a personal way, with their own thoughts. The Enlightenment can't be far from religion, but can be at a distance from religious rule. Any enlightened person in our society today no matter their ability to remove themselves from religion, they will return to it one form or another. And so this difficulty shows that The Enlightenment has pillars -- which Dr. Mohammed Arkon spoke about yesterday -- on top of which is secularism. The separation of religion from the state or from politics. This is impossible. This never happened to any Arab or Kuwaiti society, and nothing seems to indicate a move in this direction. Part of The Enlightenment, in its shadows is modernity. We import the tools of modernity from the West, but we can't embrace modernity with all creativity, in independence of the mind, in freethought. We can't. We can't on our life's level to isolate ourselves from this issue, just like we can't learn about it from our directed, traditional schooling. If modernity can only be implemented by becoming independent of religious understandings, modernity might join between the two, the tools and subjects, like Sayyed Al-Qutb holds, and to become a "modern" man, as in someone who can use the computer, but for example in but can't hold other views in your public life, which like I said is the religious matter. Modernity might be impossible. Modernity is, really, what leads to The Enlightenment. We, can all say that we are "enlightened". And therefore Kuwaiti society in reality has practiced this enlightenment, but hasn't understood or entered this stage, and doesn't seem to be close to enntering this stage. The talk about The Enlightenment is more wishful thinking that it is reality. But being enlightened is a true practice. From what we buy, from our use of things... and so Kuwait experienced a lot that could be described as an enlightened society, and an enlightened state. Enlightenment in Kuwait has many observations that I can mention to you The Jahra battle, I think it formed the religious identity through The Enlightenment, when then the brotherhood, not the Muslim Brotherhood, but the Wahhabi, that demanded that Sheikh Salem (Al-Sabbah) to stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, gambling, prostitution in Kuwait. Sheikh answered that he acknowledges these matters and that he's prepared to abolish them publicly, but he can't prevent people to do what they like within their own homes, and he can't handle the responsibility of what foreigners do that he has no authority over. This is societal enlightenment. That is, the ruler doesn't involve himself, and follow people wherever they are. [Does it] within the boundaries of allowing there to be peace in social life. Dr. ... in his book talks about the cultural enlightenment; how Kuwaitis published their books in various Arab newspapers, and established magazines, like 'AlKuwait', 'AlBetha'(The Scholarship), 'Taw7eed'(unity), 'AlKuwaiti-Iraqi'... Around 19 magazines. As well as the cultural associations that are evident of an enlightenment of the intellect that is present in Kuwaiti society. When you talk about a charitable collective in 1913, the charitable bookstore that was built in 1922, incredible moments in the history of Kuwait. And therefore Kuwaitis did not accept, but rejected Wahhabism. It seems that some Kuwaiti intellectuals were more affected by the enemies of Wahhabism, than their actual preaching. And Sheikh ... who used to insult the Wahhabists said [some good poetry]