Islamic culture:
In Arabic, “culture” derives from the expression “thaqifa al-shay’a thaqfan wa-thiqafan wa-thuqufatan”, meaning to master something. “A man described as thaqif, thaqf or thaquf is skilled and understanding. They coupled the word with another, saying thaqif laqif… and thaqif laqif, manifestly cultured and quick to grasp. A boy described as laqin thaqif is perceptive and intelligent; what is meant is that he has a firm knowledge of what he needs.”[1] Al-Zamakhshari said: “Among its figurative usages are: he educated and cultivated him; were it not for your cultivation and instruction, I would have been nothing; and have I been refined and cultivated except at your hands?”[2]
In our age, use of this word has become widespread in the technical sense corresponding in translation to the Latin term “Culture”: “In its general sense, it means acquiring skill and understanding; in its narrow sense, developing certain mental faculties or regulating certain bodily functions. This includes cultivation of the mind and of the body, and physical, literary or philosophical culture.
In its broad sense, culture is the acquired illumination of the mind and development of taste, critical sensibility and judgement in the individual and society.
The term ‘culture’ denotes the totality of attitudes, customs, traditions, beliefs, concepts, abilities, actions and social forms practised by human groups. It includes the values passed down through generations by education and social communication.
E. Taylor is considered the first to have offered a scientific definition of culture, in Primitive Culture (1871 CE), although the concept had been known long before. He used culture as a synonym for civilisation, saying: ‘Culture or civilisation is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, literature, morals, law, custom, and all other abilities and practices acquired by a person as a member of society.’”[3]
Many definitions of culture have been proposed without agreement among researchers. It is sufficient to say that these definitions follow two orientations:
One regards culture as comprising values, beliefs, standards, rational interpretations, symbols, ideologies and similar products of the mind.
The other regards culture as referring to the entire way of life of a people, the interpersonal relationships of its members and their orientations.[4]
Malik Bennabi (d. 1393 AH/1973 CE) was among the first Islamic writers to define this term. He said: “Culture is defined in practical terms as a set of moral qualities and social values that an individual receives from birth as initial capital in the environment into which he is born. Culture, accordingly, is the environment in which the individual forms his temperament and personality.
This comprehensive definition of culture determines its concept: it is the environment that reflects a particular civilisation and within whose bounds the civilised person moves. We thus see that this definition encompasses the philosophy of the individual and the philosophy of the group, that is, the ‘givens’ of the individual and the ‘givens’ of society, bearing in mind the need for these givens to harmonise within a single entity brought about by the process of synthesis performed by the spiritual spark when the dawn of a civilisation is announced.”[5]
This brief account of “culture” points to its connection with the question of the “interpretation of Islam”. Many Islamic writers have sought to Islamise culture by presenting “Islamic culture” as the collection of disciplines, knowledge and values that form a Muslim’s mentality and personality and distinguish the characteristics of Muslim society and the Muslim community.
Within this framework, the interpretation of the realities, ends and objectives of religion is addressed.
[1] Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-Arab, entry “th-q-f”.
[2] Asas al-Balaghah, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1419 AH, 1/110.
[3] The Arab Encyclopaedia, 7/307, entry “Culture”. I have made some corrections to the translation of Taylor’s words on the basis of another translation in Cultural Theory by Michael Thompson and others, translated by Dr Ali Sayyid al-Sawi, National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, Kuwait, 1997 CE, introduction, p. 9.
[4] Cultural Theory, p. 29.
[5] The Conditions of Renaissance, Dar al-Fikr, Damascus, 2013 CE, pp. 89-90. Malik Bennabi also wrote The Problem of Culture, which offers a thorough discussion of the term.