The name of this blog is ‘Servile Conformism’, a phrase I’ve shamelessly borrowed from Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali and his spiritual autobiography al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (commonly translated as ‘deliverance from error’ or ’rescuer from misguidance’). The autobiography takes the form of an epistle written to an unidentified student, and in this epistle, Al-Ghazali explains how he came to know that Islam is the true faith of God. Servile conformism first appears in the second paragraph:
“Now then: You have asked me, my brother in religion, to communicate to you the aim and secrets of the sciences and the dangerous and intricate depths of the different doctrines and views. You want me to give you an account of my travail in disengaging the truth from amid the welter of the sects, despite the polarity of their means and methods. You also want to hear about my daring in mounting from the lowland of servile conformism to the highland of independent investigation (paragraph 2:McCarthy translation).”
Al-Ghazali goes on to explain in some detail about his early life, and how he dived head first into serious matters concerning the sciences, philosophy, and religion, mastering each topic before passing judgment on it. An impressive feat. He goes on to say:
“The thirst for grasping the real meaning of things was indeed my habit and wont from my early years and in the prime of my life. It was an instinctive, natural disposition placed in my makeup by God Most High, not something due to my own choosing and contriving. As a result, the fetters of servile conformism fell away from me, and inherited beliefs lost their hold on me, when I was still quit young. For I saw that the children of Christians always grew up embracing Christianity, and the children of Jews always grew up adhering to Judaism, and the children of Muslims always grew up following the religion of Islam. I also heard the tradition related from the Apostle of God--God’s blessing and peace be upon him!--in which he said: “Every infant is born endowed with the fitra[1]: then his parents make him Jew or Christian or Magian.” Consequently I felt an inner urge to seek the true meaning of the original fitra, and the true meaning of the beliefs arising through slavish aping of parents and teachers. I wanted to sift out these uncritical beliefs, the beginnings of which are suggestions imposed from without, since there are differences of opinion in the discernment of those that are true from those that are false (paragraph 6:McCarthy translation).”
Al-Ghazali’s aims are to get back to the pure faith that each man is born with. In the end, Al-Ghazali’s goals and motivations are not my own, but we share the same spirit in regards to the search for true beliefs. What is interesting about Al-Ghazali is that he turns to a form of radical skepticism where he doubts everything, and thoughtfully works his way back to Islam in a way that is strikingly similar to Descartes’ project in the classic ‘Meditations of first Philosophy.’
I do not believe it is possible to ever totally cast off the fetters of servile conformism, but the goal is noble enough to be pursued. I think it is an epistemological mandate to admit (at least to ourselves) that we are servile conformists, and then start working our way to the high ground of independent investigation.
[1] Fitra is an Arabic word that has the religious meaning of mankind’s natural disposition. This concept is derived from the Qur’an in Surah 30: 28-30, “He gives you this example, drawn from your own lives: do you make your slaves full partners with an equal share in what We have given you? Do you fear them as you fear each other? This how We make Our messages clear to those who use their reason. And still the idolaters follow their own desires without any knowledge. Who can guide those God leaves to stray, who have no one to help them? So [Prophet] as a man of pure faith, stand firm and true in your devotion to the religion. This is the natural disposition God instilled in mankind--there is no altering God’s creation--and this is the right religion, though most people do not realize it. (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem translation)”
