Amin Elkholy: the innovative reformist

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to illustrate that Reformism dominates much of Arab thought, and it has continued to be a major source of inspiration for contemporary Islamic philosophy. Thereafter, it shows that Amin Elkholy was a pioneer of reformism whose innovative thinking led Abd-el-Jabaar Elrefa’I and others to recognize him as the first hermeneuticist in the history of Islam.

Design/methodology/approach

The research traces Islamic Reformism's rise and development, evaluates its status in the map of modern Arab/Islamic thought and determines its main figures until arriving at Amin Elkholy. Then, it shows that through evolutionism and a comprehensive evolutionistic approach, Elkholy undertook renewal in Islamic reformism as a multidimensional innovation. So, the interaction between traditional renovation and Western evolutionism produced a highly fruitful philosophy of innovation and progress.

Findings

First, Islamic Reformism contains potential for continuous advancement and development. Second, Amin Elkholy has introduced a model of Islamic Reformism and achieved the situation of authenticity/modernization in a way that seems very compatible with our postmodernism era and postmodernist philosophy.

Research limitations/implications

The research framework has been Modern Arab Thought and Contemporary Islamic Philosophy since the beginning of the 19th Century. The approach entails some future expectations.

Practical implications

The approach entails some future expectations and suggests topics for further research.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first time to notice some compatibility between Islamic Reformism and postmodernism.

Citation

Elkholy, Y.T. (2025), "Amin Elkholy: the innovative reformist", Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHASS-04-2024-0049

1. Reformism

The starting point is that modern Islamic thought has been deeply concerned with the tension between tradition and modernity, as well as the balance between maintaining authenticity and embracing renewal. This has been the central issue that Islamic thinkers have wrestled with. In their attempts to address this issue, three main trends can be identified, as shown in Figure 1. The first trend is extreme fundamentalism (known as the salafiyya), which emphasizes the importance of preserving tradition and maintaining authenticity. In dialectical terms and dialectical interpretation, which Figure 1 illustrates, we can refer to this as the thesis.

The second trend is extreme modernism, which aims to radicalize modernization and even embraces Westernization as a way of following in the footsteps of European modernity. Therefore, this trend can be seen as the dialectical antithesis.

The third trend is the dialectical synthesis of tradition and modernity. This trend, known as Reformism, seeks to strike a balance between the past and the present, between classic literature and modern approaches and between heritage and contemporary ideas. Reformism has aimed to revive Islamic heritage while also renewing it through innovations. It represents the proper and balanced cultural situation in modern Islamic thought and the main tendency in contemporary Islamic philosophy. Reformism is the golden mean and also the golden middle way.

Arab and Islamic cultures are closely connected and interrelated. The Arab world is a central part of the Islamic world, and Arab culture is an important segment of what UNESCO recognizes as the sphere of Islamic culture. This cultural sphere includes 57 countries and occupies an intermediate position among all the cultures of the world. Arab culture is essentially at the heart of Islamic culture, as the Arabs were the first to embrace Islam, and those who struggled to spread its message and to expand its reach.

Islam, in turn, is not just a divine religion, or a set of heavenly beliefs and canon, but also a cultural identity, worldview, ethical system and an anthropological reality. It provides a cultural framework that, both in the past and present, has been able to incorporate non-Islamic influences and contributions. Islamic heritage forms the foundation of Arab culture and continues to shape its values, customs, habits and Folk Culture. Islamic heritage, as Hassan Hanafi (1935–2021) emphasizes, is still alive in the hearts of the masses, participating in the formation of their consciousness and types of behavior. Therefore, Reformism is essential in modern Arab thought, and it has continued to be a major source of inspiration for contemporary Islamic philosophy.

Reformism started in the 19th Century with the outset of the modern Egyptian/Arab renaissance, following Napoleon's military expedition (1798–1801). In 1805 Mohammad Ali’s ambitious reign began. He aimed to benefit from modern military power and industrial might by engaging with the West. Young Egyptian students were sent to Europe to study modern sciences from the third decade of the 19th Century. R. El-Tahtᾱwῑ (1801–1873), their wonderful religious supervisor (Imᾱm), was the pioneer of modernization in the Arab world and Islamic culture. He did his best to translate texts of French modernity in areas such as education, law, morals, policy and to convey enlightenment. Egypt was the first Islamic country to undertake renaissance and modernization, preceding Japan by a few decades as the first country in the Far East to do so [1]. This in itself was a kind of reformism.

Shortly after, Jamᾱl al-Dῑn al-Afghᾱnῑ (1838–1897) emerged as the first genuine modernist thinker in the Islamic world and the first philosopher of Islamic Reformism. Then Reformism was developed by al-Afghᾱnῑ's associate and great disciple in Egypt Muhammad Abdu (1849–1905), who was the leader of radical renovation in Islamic thought in theory, practice and living environments. Abdu introduced modern Islamic theology (neo-Kalᾱm) in his book Treatise of Monotheism (Resālt Al-Tawheed رسالة التوحيد). Monotheism/God’s Oneness is the core and essence of the Islamic belief. Abdu attacked “stagnation in the existent heritage” [2] as well as the reactionary conservatism so severely and confirmed “Fraternity of mind and religion in Islam” [3]. He was the leading proponent and advocate of the indispensable renewal of tradition, to restore the purity of Islam as a rational belief and to reform its culture to be a realistic and effective response to modern-day needs.

Abdu is the greatest reformist leader, and all reformists of the 20th Century are his followers. Amin Elkholy (1895–1966) is one of the most prominent of those followers of Abdu’s teachings.

2. From renovation to innovation

So, Elkholy was a prominent figure in Islamic reformism in the 20th Century. He argued that civilizational progress cannot simply be imported from either the West or the past but must instead be achieved through change and fulfillment. Consequently, he rejected both fundamentalism and Westernization in favor of an approach that balances authenticity with modernity to assert both. This presents a supreme reformist attitude.

Like Abdu, Elkholy believed that tradition must be kept active and alive, and therefore, he opposed the rigid adherence to old ways of thinking. In fact, he believed that those who blindly imitate the ancients and resist change are not only sinful, but also disbelievers, as they ignore important principles of Islamic jurisprudence. This principle is known as “Ijtihᾱd” and it means using independent reasoning to arrive at new judgments. Regarding the great figures of the past, Elkholy said his well-known aphorism about them: they were persons, and we are persons. They lived in their epoch, and we live in our epoch. While we should learn from them, we should not follow them step by step. Elkholy strongly believed that Reformism necessitates renewal so he has been an outstanding pioneer of renewal and innovation in the Islamic methodology.

According to him, the renovation of tradition is a duty, but it is not sufficient, and that true innovation is necessary to adapt to our dynamic world, that is, to reach the new, the unprecedented, which is appropriate for our time. Elkholy undertook saving authenticity by renewing tradition. He was a leader of Islamic innovators in fundamentality, and at the same time a leader of the fundamentalists in innovation.

Significantly, Elkholy was receptive to the benefits of modernism and modern philosophy. He spent time from 1923 to 1927 in Europe, first in Rome and then in Berlin, as a religious supervisor (Imᾱm) of the Egyptian Diplomatic missions and the embassy. After that, he continued to visit Europe frequently.

Worth mentioning is his visit to Brussels in the year 1935, to attend the international conference on the History of Religions, wherein he presented his research paper: The Relationship between Islam and the Reform of Christianity. This expanded paper was later published as a book, which has recently been translated into German [4].

Elkholy was well-versed in Italian and German and had a good understanding of European culture. He appreciated it without being overly fascinated by it. So, European culture is one of the poles of Elkholy's thought. Definitely, he held wholeheartedly a much-needed philosophical mark in modernism; it is Darwinism and evolutionism. Elkholy's philosophy of comprehensive innovation was based on the idea of evolutionism, which was extremely crucial in his Reformism philosophy. He was able to transform traditional renovation into modern innovation by activating and employing the Western concept of evolutionism in multiple dimensions. Therefore, evolutionism is the key idea of Elkholy’s Reformism, which is a philosophy of comprehensive innovation.

As Figure 2 shows, to gain a better understanding of Elkholy's philosophy and provide a nuanced exposition of it, I will first examine his approach to renewing tradition. Subsequently, I will explore how he embraced and utilized the Western concept of evolutionism. I will also examine his historiography of philosophy to conclude that his innovative Reformism is a supreme paradigm of authenticity/modernization in Islamic philosophy in the twentieth century, and it is highly appropriate to our era of postmodernism in the 21st Century.

3. Renewing in the reformism

All of Amin Elkholy’s contributions serve renewing and innovation in the Reformism, in one way or another. However, among his books, there are two masterpieces of exceptional significance: Renovators in Islam (المجددون في الإسلام) and Methodology of Innovation (مناهج تجديد).

The first one is the last of his books, the most well-known and most widespread. It is based upon a unanimous report (hadith pl. ahadith) of the Prophet Mohamad: “At the head of every century, Allah has sent to this nation a renovator of her religion.” In the Islamic heritage, there are several epistles and treatises dealt with this report, that is, with the idea of renovation and tried to identify the outstanding renovators along the Islamic history, especially in its golden age.

However, Elkholy took for example two manuscripts that he edited, the first is titled: A Report on whom Allah sends at the End of Each Century, by Galᾱl el-Dῑn al-Suyootῑ (جلال الدين السيوطي، التنبئةُ بمَنْ يَبعثهُ اللهُ على رأسِ كلِ مائة). It came from the 15h Century. The second is The Desideratum of the Disciples and the Donation of the Renovators according to the Masterpiece of the True Faithful figures, by Al-Marᾱghi al-Gergᾱwῑ (المَراغي الجرجاوي، بغية المُقتدين ومنحة المُجددين على تحفة المهتدين) from the nineteenth century.

Notice that both of them did not come from the golden age of Islamic civilization and its classics but rather from periods of regression and backwardness, so they demonstrate how the idea of renovation has always existed anyway. Therefore, Elkholy concluded that renovation, as well as independent reasoning, mainly Ijtihᾱd, is a fundamental tenet of Islam. It is an imposed duty, but it is possible to be an innovation, or rather it should be so. Moreover, he emphasized that innovations are better also in Islamic theology (Elm el-Kalᾱm) and not only in the provisions of jurisprudence. Elkholy said: “The evolution of beliefs is possible. In our time, it is an imposed duty, because both life and religion need it.” [5] Once again, it is a call to innovation and not Just renovation [6].

Elkholy’s second masterpiece, Methodology of Innovation, is a collection of papers covering a wide range of topics. Its subtitle is “On Grammar, Rhetoric, Exegesis, and Literature.” So, Elkholy's innovative Reformism has reached many fields of Arabic and Qur’anic sciences, of which he is considered a leading authority.

Starting in November 1928, Elkholy worked as a lecturer in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature. He eventually became head of the department and vice-dean of the Faculty of Arts at the “Egyptian University.” This university was later renamed “Fouad I University” and is now known as “Cairo University.” Elkholy is a co-founder, and one of the prominent figures who laid the stately esteemed academic foundations of Cairo University as the first modern, secular university in Egypt. Nowadays Cairo University is one of the largest universities in the world and occupies an advanced position in world rankings.

In those areas of the Islamic tradition, Elkholy overrode and surpassed the old methods, systematically and academically. In the field of grammar, he set new guidelines for an approach that is closely related to and correlated with real-life situations and lived reality. Life appears in the title of his book Problems of our Linguistic Life [7], to reflect this focus on the practical applications of grammar rules. In current studies, these lively lines attract the attention of many grammarians. Likewise, he introduced innovative methods for literature and literary criticism, considering the local, the regional and the global as three overlapping circles.

In rhetoric, his innovative method combines traditional heritage origins with modern Western schools, particularly Italian. His renewal of rhetoric depended on emancipating it from philosophical and logical burdens while confirming its connection to psychology [8]. His main book in rhetoric is The Art of Discourse (فن القول). Elkholy adequately explained how this title reflects a radical renewal in rhetoric, both in terms of its study and in terms of its teaching [9]. It is so important to notice how the title The Art of Discourse reflects an aesthetic sense or literary character. Accordingly, he asserted that al-Qur’an represents the highest standard of rhetoric because of the marvelous inimitable impressions al-Qur’an leaves on souls, and its unique and unforgettable impact on people’s hearts.

Additionally, Elkholy is the modern biographer of Mᾱlik ibn Anas (90–179 AH/708–795 A.D.). Mᾱlikῑ School is one of the four major Sunni trends of jurisprudence; herein, Elkholy also introduced a new method for a biography that focuses on the lively experience, or Life Experiences [10], as he declared in that book’s subtitle.

His contributions to innovation reached their pinnacle through his distinctive renewing school of Qur’an exegesis. In other words, his methodology reached its peak with a groundbreaking approach to interpreting the Qur'an. The Holy Qur’an is indeed the essence, core and foundation of Islam, as well as a central constituent of the Arab culture. Therefore, Elkholy unique approach to studying al-Qur’an is his most prominent achievement. He is the scholar who has overridden traditional methods of exegesis to activate modern instruments, paving the way for a contemporary understanding of al-Qur’an.

To achieve such a lively and contemporary understanding of al-Qur’anic verses, Elkholy harmoniously combined traditional methods with insight drawn from modern human sciences such as historical, social and psychological approaches and above all lines taken from literary criticism. He has developed a new method called: the Literary Interpretation of Qur’an [11], which means to approach the Holy Qur’an as a Literary Text, according to what may be called: a type of literocracy. Moreover, the exegeses according to this method must proceed with topic and then topic, to analyze a theme throughout the Holy Text, meanly through the distribution of the theme across the Text, rather than interpreting a verse and then the following verse according to their arrangement in the Text, as in traditional methods of exegesis.

It is the thematic exegesis of al-Qur’an. Its anticipations go back to the 4th Century AH, in a treatise by Abo Soliman Mohammad ibn Ibrahim al-Khattᾱbi (319–388 AH) entitled: Statement in the Inimitability of al-Qur'an (محمد بن إبراهيم الخطابي، البيان في إعجازالقرآن), ‎[12] and then somewhat by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (691-751AH/1292–1350 A.D.) through his treatise On the Oath (في القسم). Its full maturity and activation have been achieved by Elkholy and Hanafi. Thus, from Amin Elkholy to Hassan Hanafi, there exists a significant sector in contemporary Islamic thought concerning the thematic exegesis of al-Qur’an [13].

According to his literary school, Elkholy referred to al-Qur’anic narratives as the art of storytelling in the Qur’an. He considered it a marvelous and inimitability creation, that served both an aesthetic and a moral purpose. Elkholy emphasized that al-Qur’an has been intended to leave a lasting impact on the human psyche and to affect it rather than simply telling or recounting historical events.

During the academic year 1947–1948, Mohammad Ahmed Khalaf Allah (1916–1983) wrote a highly controversial doctoral dissertation titled The Art of Storytelling in the Holy Qur'an (الفن القصصي في القرآن الكريم), under the supervision of Elkholy. However, despite Amin Elkholy’s strong methodic defense, the University did not approve this dissertation and refused to certify it. This was one of many instances where Elkholy fought for innovation. Nonetheless, this refused thesis has been published in several editions [14]. Once again, Elkholy emphasizes that The Holy Qur’an is intended for religious and ethical edification, not for natural science or historical documentation.

Elkholy’s literary interpretation of the Qur'an is a school/seminar that has its followers and disciples, and M. A. Khalaf Allah may be one of the most active among them. However, the most active and noteworthy figure is Aisha Abd al-Rahman/Bint al-Shati (1913–1998), who was both a student of Elkholy and later his wife. She holds the distinction of being the first woman in history to engage in the exegesis of the Qur’an through her two authored books The Rhetorical exegesis of the Holey Qur’ᾱn- 1962 (التفسير البياني للقرآن الكريم) and The Rhetorical Miracle of al-Qur’ᾱn – 1971 (الإعجاز البياني للقرآن), both of which followed Elkholy’s method.

It is highly significant that she shared Elkholy in pioneering the field of Islamic and Arabic hermeneutics. She is the first person in Arab culture to provide a hermeneutical reading of a specific text. It was reading of a prose work of art by Abul ‘Alā al–Ma‘arri (973–1057) titled The Epistle of Forgiveness (أبو العلاء المعري، رسالة الغفران), where the author explores Heaven and Hell in the afterworld, conversing various deceased historical figures. The main figures are Arab poets and grammarians, and also Adam the first man who was asked some linguistic questions in that imagined world. Bint al-Shāṭi’ edited this Epistle through a comprehensive approach and dedicated the book to Elkholy “who taught her how to read,” [15] she wrote. It has been the subject of her doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Taha Husayn. So, it has been argued that: “in the first half of the twentieth century Egyptian intellectuals like Taha Husayn, Amin Elkholy and Āʼishah Abd al-Raḥmān, better known as Bint al-Shāṭi’, shaped Arabic Islamic hermeneutics via language debates” [16].

The Epistle of Forgiveness is a journey into the afterworld. Spanish orientalist Miguel Asín Palacios (1871–1944) and others have demonstrated the Islamic sources of the Divine Comedy and how the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was inspired by al–Ma‘arri in writing it. However, Bint al-Shāṭi” sympathetically reads The Epistle of Forgiveness as a way to relive al–Ma‘arri’s experience. She sees it “not as a Dantesque journey into the afterworld, but rather as the blind poet experiencing another possible earthly world” [17]. In short, it is a hermeneutical reading, particularly exposed in her book New Reading of The Epistle of Forgiveness: Text of a play from the Fifth Hijri Century [18].

Hermeneutics is a method for applying Elkholy’s proposed rule, which states that the interpretation of al-Qur’an should be in the line with the close relationship between the Holy Qur’an and the lived human reality, that is, life itself [19]. This means new horizons of exegesis, and a new method of interpreting the Text according to the context and to the position of the reader. It is an understanding – of the Text-that is based on a “lived” inner experience and reflects a direct awareness of the human and historical situation. In essence, Hermeneutics as a universal discipline can be seen as “science of a text” [20] or rather one of the text sciences. At the same time, Hermeneutics should be regarded as a linguistic task and also as a psychological and mental task concerning texts in general and sacred texts in special.

In fact, Hermeneutics is a theory of understanding linguistic communication and provides a method for interpreting it. Hermeneutically, understanding is not an all-or-nothing matter but instead something that comes in degrees. However, it is an integral understanding, wherein semantic holism – as F. Schleiermacher asserted – let any given piece of the text needs to be interpreted in light of the whole text to which it belongs, and both need to be interpreted in light of the broader language in which they are written and their larger historical context [21]. These are the key principles of Elkholy’s approach to the Literary Interpretation of al-Qur’an. Much has been discussed about the status of “Elkholy as a hermeneuticist” [22]. Moreover, he is recognized as the pioneer of hermeneutics in modern Islamic thought. This fact has been confirmed by a book titled Sheikh Amin Elkholy: The First Hermeneuticist in the Islamic world, written by the Iraqi philosopher of religion Abd-el-Jabaar Elrefa’i (1954-?) [23].

Amin Elkholy can be seen as a parallel figure to Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) who is the pioneer of hermeneutics in modern European thought. In fact, modern hermeneutics is a German philosophy. Most of its anticipators and great figures are Germans: Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger and Gadamer. Additionally, the inspired doctrines of Johann Herder’s philosophy of language, of Friedrich Schlegell’s philosophy of philology, and staunchly the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl in the 20th Century [24], have provided significant support. Phenomenology and hermeneutics share a common methodological approach that is based on human experience in the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.

Elkholy studied Schleiermacher while living in Germany in 1926–1927 [25]. He then made use of his main hermeneutical ideas such as semantic holism mentioned above, the interpretation as the art of understanding, the horizon of the interpreter and the mutual reproduction of the meaning between the text and the interpreter. Hermeneutics exists nowadays in contemporary Islamic philosophy, particularly in the work of Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid (1943–2010) who held the same chair as Elkholy: professor of the Qur’anic sciences, and he is considered as a continuer of Elkholy School. Abu Zaid extensively applied the hermeneutical method, which emphasizes that each text is embedded in a specific cultural and historical context. He provided a detailed analysis of the context of al-Qur’an during the 7th Century, arguing that this context must be taken into consideration in al-Qur’an exegesis. This is the content of his controversial book or rather controversial masterpiece The Concept of the Text: A Study in the Qur’anic Sciences [26]. Hassan Hanafi in his turn is prominent in the Arab hermeneutics. He is the philosopher of “Tradition and Innovation,” and one of the most important worldwide hermeneuticists. His hermeneutical philosophy has had a profound influence on the development of contemporary Islamic philosophy and continued to be widely studied and debated by scholars. Figure 3 shows a significant line of Quranic exegesis by Amin Elkholy, Hassan Hanafi and Nasr Abo Zaid. They are liberal theologians, search for humanization of Quranic exegesis by Hermeneutics.

4. Life and evolutionary reformism

In the epic of Elkholy's innovations, we have to notice that life is the most frequently used term in his various contributions and in his discourse. Let us turn to the scientific theory of life, of natural history and of biology, namely Darwinism and evolutionism.

According to Elkholy, evolution is a condition for modernization, as it involves development, change, alternation and transition from one stage to another. Additionally, it drives the creatures to struggle for survival and for development. Evolution is also a condition for religious renewal, as it opposes stagnation and petrifying. Innovation itself is an evolution of renovation, it is evolutionary renovation that can make religious thought time-appropriate and capable of surviving in all eras. We can view the literary interpretation of al-Qur’an as an evolution of exegesis. Everything invokes evolutionism.

However, the topic of evolutionism so far is a contentious and thorny issue, even in Western societies. This is due to the ongoing debate between creationism and evolutionism. In Dallas, Texas, “The Institute for Creation Research” views evolutionism as a matter of religious belief. In 1996, during my visit to the Museum of Natural History in Chicago, I did see a hall dedicated to the ongoing conflict between Darwinism and the Church. This exemplifies the fact that some American universities, such as the University of Nebraska, often have one or more students who debate against Darwinism, in defense of religion and of monotheistic creationism.

Therefore, it is significant and noteworthy that Elkholy, a religious figure who has received religious education and held various religious positions, wholeheartedly embraced evolutionism. He declared that the conflict between Darwinism and faith is a matter related to the Hebrew scripture, specifically certain verses in the Torah. However, as Elkholy emphasized, in the Holy Qur'an, there are no specific details regarding this issue, rather, there are only general ideas or references about creation. Elkholy also stressed that the Holy Qur'an consistently encourages reasoning and leaves the details of natural and life phenomena for scientific research. In his historiography of ethics and teaching of the history of ethics, which I will discuss later, Elkholy pointed to the origins and anticipations of Darwinism in the Islamic heritage, with figures such as Ibn Sῑnna, ibn Tufa'yl, el-Qazwῑnῑ, ibn Khaldoun and Brethren of Purity [27]. Astonishingly, the Brethren of Purity, in particular, presented the idea of evolution and biodiversity in a clear and comprehensive form similar to modern-day theory [28]. According to Muhammad Hamidullah (1908–2002) – in his book The Emergence of Islam: Lectures on the Development of Islamic World-view, Tradition and Polity, 1993 – that Epistles of Brethren of Purity may have influenced Charles Darwin, as these Epistles have been under translation into English since 1812.

Elkholy, along with some other clergymen both in the East and the West, advocated for theistic evolution. Theistic evolution is the belief that the evolutionary is of God's creation, and that it represents a continuous process that serves as a stronger manifestation and a powerful demonstration of God’s omnipotence [29]. Elkholy argued that God did not simply create a ready-made world but instead implemented a more intelligent approach. God created a world that involves subtle mechanisms like the unity of species’ origin, the precise process of natural selection and the effective rule of survival for the fittest.

Consequently, it was possible for Elkholy to extend the evolutionist view to all aspects, whether material or ideal. He declared that “scholars could no longer accept the emergence of a complete ready-made whole entity at once, whether this entity is an idea, language, art, or culture” [30]. Everything is subject to the code of evolution. The innateness of religion and its truths do not prevent the evolution in religious life, and this corresponds to the evolution of human reality. Thus, religious thought must undergo evolutionary renovation, which is innovation.

So, Elkholy demonstrates that within modern Arab thought, the concept of evolutionism, which pertains to development and progress, is not exclusive to the secular trend. It can also be embraced and integrated within the religious trend and Islamic Reformism. Moreover, and more strikingly is that he launched his evolutionary claim from the most reputed and esteemed Islamic University, i.e. from the lecture halls of Al-Azhar, through his lectures on the history of philosophy to Al-Azhar’s students.

5. Historiography of philosophy for evolutionism

Elkholy studied and obtained his degree from the School of Islamic Jurisprudence, not Al-Azhar which is renowned as the oldest and greatest center for Sunni Islam. Nonetheless, he actively contributed to the advancement of learning methods and curricula at Al-Azhar, as well as the promotion of its jurisprudence. It is worth noting his treatise On the Mission of al-Azhar in the Twentieth Century–in 1936.

There had been a wave of reform within al-Azhar, which led to the inclusion of global philosophy in its curricula. So, Elkholy was called up in 1927 – shortly after his return from Germany-to teach the history of philosophy at the Faculty of Religious Sciences (Usool Ad-din), where the photo of Figure 4 was taken. This was in the beginnings of teaching Western philosophy in Al-Azhar.

Elkholy taught three different courses, each consisting of a series of lectures. These lectures were then compiled into three separate works: 1-Book of Goodness,1927 (كتاب الخير) ‎2- Collection of Lectures on Philosophy and its history, 1932 (كُناش في الفلسفة وتاريخها) ‎3- History of Religions and Sects, 1935 (تاريخ الملل والنحل).

These works exemplify a methodical approach to the history of philosophy and systematic historiography of philosophy. The ideas are presented in a well-organized and succinct manner, incorporating numerous headings and subheadings. They expose the ethical doctrines and their practical applications, offering critiques of each assertion and exploring their relevance to the Islamic culture.

The most significant work is the first one: Book of Goodness, wherein Elkholy set off his evolutionary claim. It comprises a series of lectures delivered in 1927 on an overall history of ethics, or, as he called it: moral philosophy. The subtitle of Book of Goodness is: An enlarged study of moral philosophy applied to Eastern life and Islamic Thought. The journey commences with Plato [31], followed by Aristotle and then was continued by the Aristotelians in Classical Islamic philosophy, who are also known as the Islamic Peripatetics. Next, the exposition moves on to the heading: “Doctrine of Evolutionism,” as a transition to the modern era.

Under the heading “Doctrine of Evolutionism,” Elkholy initially explained the Renaissance, philosophy of F. Bacon (+1626), and of R. Descartes (+1650), as well as the signposts, characters and elements of modern philosophy. What a Reformism! How exciting is that in the 1920s, inside Al-Azhar, Elkholy taught the students – in the Faculty of Religious Sciences − rationalism, causality, empiricism, materialism and natural philosophy … …etc. After these excellent introductories, he dedicated the lectures to explaining and discussing Darwinism and evolutionary theory, considering them as ideal examples of modern scientific rational doctrine.

He mentioned that there are other noteworthy ethical tendencies, such as moral sense, deontology, imperativism, utilitarianism, and more, including the philosophies of Gassendi (1655+), Kant (1804+), Bentham (1832+) and J.S. Mill (1873+). However, he clarified that there was no room or time in the lectures to discuss them.

Afterwards Elkholy’s lectures focused exclusively on evolutionism, which he considered to be the ideal paradigm. So, he presented all modern moral philosophy within the framework of Evolutionism. In other words, the exposition of modern Western ethics was reduced to an exposition of an evolutionist philosophy. It is important to note that this even included Thomas Hill Green (1836–1882) the philosopher known for his moderate religious reformism and contributions to ethics, free will policy, economy and societal approaches. Green's philosophy as a whole was subjected to an evolutionist interpretation. Yes, there exists the so-called evolutionary epistemology of T. H. Green, but he himself was a leading figure in British Idealism, which is not inherently an evolutionary philosophy. Green's ethical stance was not evolutionism but rather neo-idealism. The display of this perspective as a purely evolutionary philosophy in Elkholy's historiography reflects his extreme approbation and enthusiasm for evolutionism [32]. Nevertheless, Evolutionism according to Elkholy is not a doctrine but rather a fruitful method and an operating norm-criteria.

Finally, he added a supplementary section on the history of ethics to Book of Goodness or rather to his lectures themselves. This section began with the ancient oriental civilizations of the Middle East. Likewise, his historiography of philosophy in his other work Collection of Lectures on Philosophy and its History, began with such a historical approach that started from the ancient oriental civilizations. He argued that philosophy has been present since the dawn of human civilization [33]. Elkholy discussed the philosophy of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, as well as of the Hebrews, Persians and ancient India [34].

6. Conclusion

Briefly, the conclusion is as follows: despite being nearly a century old, Elkholy's philosophy remains highly relevant to the twenty-first century, which is characterized by postmodernism and multiculturalism. Therefore, it is highly contemporary Reformism, or rather, so current.

First and foremost, we observe that Elkholy is a pioneer among Islamic hermeneuticists, while hermeneutics is one of the three pillars of contemporary postmodernist philosophy. The other two pillars are deconstructivism and the archeological method. However, hermeneutics, despite its current fame and significance, is not the sole aspect of Elkholy’s thought that resonates with the postmodernist era.

Let us take a broader perspective, to see that the postmodern era is also the era of post-colonialism and post-West-centralism, as well as post-positivism in the philosophy of science, post-enlightenment according to Sandra Harding (1935-?) the feminist philosopher of science for example [35], and post-secularism as proposed by Jürgen Habermas (1929-?) who considers the Enlightenment as an unfinished project and other post-so and so.

In all such post-movements, “relativism” can be viewed as a representative of postmodern values, both epistemologically and culturally. Relativism stands in direct opposition to “absolutism”- which is the antithesis of relativism. In this sense, absolutism to some extent, represented the modern values and criteria from the seventeenth century till the middle or the second half of the 20th Century [36].

Our era of postmodernism, often associated with postcolonialism, posits that the values and criteria of modernism/colonialism which were perceived as absolutism, representing the singular paradigm of civilization and of progress, must be subjected to critical examination and refutation. Those values and criteria reached their end in the era of postmodernism. We must rid ourselves of them and address their dysfunctions, shortcomings and transgressions, including the subjugation of non-Western traditions, the dismissal of non-Western knowledge systems and the environmental degradation they have caused. Such aspects need to be discarded and those values and criteria should be substituted with something superior, more advanced, more humanistic and more equitable. In essence, absolutism must be supplanted by relativism.

Since the 17th Century, the concept of absolutism has been prevalent in modern science and scientific epistemology. This is evident in the notions of absolute time, absolute space, and the constant mass of Newtonian deterministic physics. Absolutism has clearly been manifested in science so it has been the characteristic spirit of modernist mentality. Newtonian deterministic physics was considered flawless and widely embraced as an idealized model and a unique paradigm of science, applicable to all phenomena and universally valid. It was independent of social or historical contexts, isolated and shielded from cultural interpretations to be purely Western. The truths it presented were unaffected by the observer who observes the world through neutral and impartial observation, implying a state of complete objectivity. It is absolute objectivism.

During the first decade of the 20th Century, relativism entered scientific epistemology, driven by the major revolution in physics known as Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics. This revolution had profound implications that propelled scientific progress and invalidated the concept of absolute truth and absolutism. It rejected the notion of mechanical determinism, which claims objectivism and certainty. In physics, absolute space and absolute time were replaced with the spatio-temporal continuum, and objectivity was replaced with inter-subjectivity. The concept of mass became variable. The observer, as a knower or subject, became an integral part of the equations of nature, affecting them through her/his instruments, velocity and position. As a result, relativism became actualized as the idea of absolute truth and absolutism was discarded.

In 1962, a revolution broke out in the philosophy of science, prompted by Thomas Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. This revolution transformed the philosophy of science from a narrow focus on the logic and methodology of science to a holistic view that encompassed the socio-psychological factors, values and relationships with other cultural institutions. It also considered the history of science and related cultural dimensions. In essence, this revolution led to a humanistic approach to understanding science and its philosophy. Everything that is human must be relativistic. As a result, relativism has taken center stage and come to the forefront.

Modernism viewed the Epistemological Absolutism of modern science, as well as the cultural absolutism of Eurocentrism as a singular model of civilization and progress. However, this perspective has since declined and receded. It is now recognized that scientific epistemology cannot be separated from its contemporaneous socio-political changes and transformations. It was the combination of these factors that jointly contributed to the emergence of postmodernism in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond.

At present, there is no single center or centralization. Instead, there are several successful models of advanced culture that affirm the value of multiculturalism. International cultural relations and interactions are no longer a directive solely from the center to the peripheries. They have transformed into dialogue, collaboration and participation between parties. At least, this is how it should be in order to confirm the identity of each party, in a more just multicultural world, free from subjugation, marginalization or exclusion.

In this multicultural world, there is no need to adhere strictly to the Western prototype of progress. There exist multiple types of progress, including the Japanese miracle, the Chinese giant, the Korean industrialization, the Malaysian triumph over poverty, India’s Silicon Valley and Argentine’s aircraft industry, among others. Each culture carries the responsibility and privilege to assert its identity and showcase its unique character. This enables it to contribute to human richness and enhance the diversity in a global multicultural community.

The task and mission of contemporary philosophy in non-Western cultures, like the Islamic world, lie in demonstrating cultural character, its dynamics and progressivity. So, we are currently in an era that calls for the activation of Islamic reformism.

Elkholy embraced and successfully accomplished the mission of Reformism. As evident from his approach, he possessed a well-integrated mindset that was neither extreme nor imbalanced but rather struck a harmonious balance between the traditional self and the Western influence. This mindset enabled him to maintain the authenticity/modernization equilibrium and effectively steer in a reformist direction. Amin Elkholy, indeed, introduced the renovation of Islamic heritage and implemented innovative reformism as effective tools for evolutionary modernization and development, in order to preserve the Islamic cultural identity and to confirm its progressivity.

Figures

Figure 1

Diagram of Dialectic

Figure 2

Diagram of Amin Elkholy’s Thought

Figure 3

The course of an hermeneutical exegesis of the Quran

Figure 4

Elkholy was delivering a lecture on Philosophy at Al-Azhar University

Notes

1. See a comparison of modernization between the Arab World and Japan in Elkholy (2006).

2. Abdu (1901)

3. Abdu (1898).

4. Elkholy (1965b). The Germanic translation of this book: Amῑn al-Hūlῑ, Die Verbindung des Islam mit der christlischen Reformation, űbersetzung und Kommentar von Christiana Paulus, 2011. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. (Reihe fűr Osnabrűcker Islamstudien, Band 4).

5. Elkholy (1965a)

6. I have to talk about a response to this call. It is: Elkholy and Yomna (1995). This book tried to transform the Quest of Physics in Islamic theology, in order to be an epistemological quest, rather than an ontological one. So, this innovative Islamic theology can participate in motivating scientific research in the Islamic world. This book was awarded the Cairo University Incentive Prize for futurology in the field of humanities, 1998.

7. Elkholy (1958a).

8. See: “البلاغة وعلم النفس” “Rhetoric and Psychology,” in: Elkholy (1961), “مناهج تجديد: في النحو والبلاغة والتفسير والأدب” Methodology of Innovation: On Grammar, Rhetoric, Exegesis, and literature, General Egyptian Book Organization, Cairo, 1995. pp. 135–163. Elkholy (1945).

9. Elkholy (1958b).

10. Elkholy (1962), “مالك بن أنس: تجارب حياة” Mᾱlik ibn Anas: Life Experiences, Egyptian Organization for Authoring, Translation and Publishing, Cairo. Cf. Amin, “مالك بن أنس” Mᾱlik ibn Anas: Three Parts in One Volume, General Egyptian Book Organization, Cairo 1993.

11. See concise proper expositions: Haidar (n.d.) – Abdullah (n.d.). – El-Refae’i Abd el-Jabbᾱr (2019).

12. Khalaf et al. (1956).

13. Elkholy (2021). See: Hassan (2018).

14. Khalaf and Mohamad (1950). See: Wielandt (1971, pp. 134–151).

15. Abd al-Raḥmān, Āʼishah Bint al-Shāṭi’ (1993).

16. Moosa, Ebrahim, Arab and Islamic Hermeneutics, in: Malpas and Gander (2015).

17. Idem.

18. See: Abd al-Raḥmān, Āʼishah Bint al-Shāṭ;i’ (1970), “قراءة جديدة في رسالة الغفران: نص مسرحي “من القرن الخامس الهجري” A New Reading in “Epistle of Forgiveness”: Text of a Play from the Fifth Century AH, Arab Research and Studies Institute, Cairo.

19. Elkholy, Methodology of Innovation, p. 233 ff. Also: C.f. Maher and Abd el-Rahman (2019).

20. Ricoeur (1973).

21. Forster (n.d.).

22. “في الآفاق الفلسفية للتفسير: أمين الخولي هيرمنيوطيقيًّا” “On Philosophical Horizons of the Exegesis: Amin Elkholy as a Hermeneuticist.” It is the second Chapter of: Elkholy (2000), “أمين الخولي والأبعاد الفلسفية للتجديد” Amin Elkholy and the Philosophical Dimensions of Innovation, Dar Elma’aref in Egypt, Cairo, pp. 67–81. At present, there are some approaches to Elkholy as the first Arabic and the first Islamic Hermeneuticist. The best or at least highly esteemed one is that by Elrefa’i Abd-el-Jabaar (2019, pp. 171–191.) This has been republished in a book mentioned in the following endnote.

23. Elrefa’i, Abd-el-Jabaar (2020), “الشيخ أمين الخولي: أول هيرمنيوطيقي في عالم الإسلام” Sheikh Amin Elkholy: The First Hermeneuticist in the Islamic world, Noor Publishing. https://www.noor-publishing.com.

24. Elkholy (1999). For a comprehensive and integrated presentation of hermeneutics, its development, and dimensions, see: Mostafa, Adel (2007), “فهم الفهم: مدخل إلى الهرمنيوطيقا: نظرية التأويل من أفلاطون إلى جادامر” Understand the Understanding: An Introduction to Hermeneutics: Theory of Interpreraion from Plato to Gadamer, Dar Ru’ya, Cairo. available at https://www.hindawi.org/books/83586869

25. Khaleel (1954. p. 141). Herein, Khaleel asserted that Elkholy surely had studied Schleiermacher.

26. Abu-Zaid, Nasr Hamed (1990).

27. Elkholy (1996), “كتاب الخير: دراسة موسعة في الفلسفة الأدبية مطبقة على الحياة الشرقية والتفكيرالإسلامي” Book of Goodness: An enlarged study of moral philosophy applied to Eastern life and Islamic Thought, The National Egyptian Library, Cairo. p. 96. Book of Goodness is a posthumous book. I have edited its handwriting manuscript to be published for the first time as above, during the celebration of Amin Elkholy’s birth centenary held by The Supreme Council of Culture in Egypt.

28. Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends (1957, p. 178).

29. Polkinghorne (1996).

30. Elkholy, Book of Goodness, op. cit., p. 57.

31. Elkholy, Book of Goodness, pp. 39-51.

32. It may be said that there is some arbitrariness to take the philosophy of T.H. Green as evolutionism. However, there is the other view of Elkholy and of others such as Colin Tyler, who is highly interest in the philosophy of T.H. Green. See Tyle (1998), “Evolution of the Epistemic Self: A critique of the evolutionary epistemology of Thomas Hill Green and his followers”, Bradley Studies, 4 (2): 175–94. I.S.B.N.1362-0916.

33. Elkholy (1934), “كناش في الفلسفة وتاريخها” Collection of Lectures on Philosophy and its History, Faculty of Religious Sciences- Al-Azhar University, Science Printing Press, Cairo. p. 25–26.

34. Elkholy (1934), pp. 29–92.

35. See Harding, Sandra, “Gender, Development, and Post-Enlightenment Philosophies of Science,” in Narayan and Harding (2002).

36. For more details, see Elkholy (2020).