Seyyed Hossein Nasr on tradition and modernity

The contemporary Muslim who lives in the far corners of the Islamic world and has remained isolated and secluded from the influence of modernism may be said to live still within a homogeneous world in which the tensions of life are those of normal human existence. But the Muslim who lives in the centres of the Islamic world touched in one degree or another by modernism lives within a polarized field of tension created by two contending world views and systems of values. This tension is often reflected within his mind and soul, and he usually becomes a house divided against itself, in profound need of re-integration. If he is of an intellectual bent he sees on one side the rich, intellectual heritage of Islam as a still-living reality, a heritage which is precisely a message from the Centre and a guide for man in his journey from the rim to the Centre. It is a world view based on the supremacy of the blinding reality of God before whom all creatures are literally nothing, and then on the hierarchic Universe issuing from His Command (Amr) and comprising the multiple levels of being from the archangelic world to the level of material existence. It is a Weltanschauung based on viewing man as the ‘‘image of God’’ . . . as God’s vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth but also as His perfect servant (and) obeying His every command. It is based on the idea that all phenomena in the world of nature are symbols reflecting divine realities and that all things move according to His Will and their spiritual nature (malakut), which is in His Hands. It is based on the conception that only the law of God, the Sharı¯ ah, has ultimate claim upon the allegiance and respect of men and that it alone can provide for their felicity in its true sense.