While following the Divine imperative of using reason, Islam has never forgotton the restrictions of human reason and has always deeply venerated the principles which transcend human thought. Or, alternatively, reason roughly as corresponding to `aql, was always open to the higher levels of knowledge, to sacred knowledge and Islamic metaphysics (al-`ilm-u ilâhiyyah).
In Islam there is no modernism, because there can nothing be more modern, ie new and shining in its light of truth than the Islamic message, because it transcends time.
A utopia, meaning the place which is not anywhere on this earth, or a perfect society in this world of fitna or tribulation is not an Islamic concept, as it disregards the dichtonomy and conditions of the two worlds, ie the perfect state is only to be found with God and in the Here-After.
So, what could correspond to the idea of a utopia is really the Divine Presence in the dunya (this life) and the akhira, the Here-After. ( Quran 5-3 )
In the de-christianized West however utopianism seeked "to establish a perfect social order by purely human means."
This utopianism "disregards the presence of evil in this world in the theological sense and aims at doing without God, as if it were possible to create an order based on goodness but removed from the source of all goodness." TIM p.107
First of all and in contrast to the profane models of development and ordering of society, Islamic development is always dependant on the Divine, the Master of Creation, Allah.
Secondly, there is no societal or other development of any kind unlessthere is 'inner development', ie. purification and growth ( tazkiyyah) at a personal, spiritual level. (Quran 8-53 )
Thirdly, the Islamic description of a perfect society is primarily the prophetic period of al-Madina. This is a time in human history, when the Messenger of Allah
taught the Muslims and guided them to become a growing community (ummah) of believers, a community which was centered around the divine message and the living exemplification of it, ie the Messenger of Allah .As there cannot be a better leader and spiritual teacher than the Holy Prophet
, there cannot be a better society either, and every future society has to measure up to this pattern.Or, otherwise, the perfect society in Islam is beyond this earthly plane, it is more a point of reference than a locus for political maneuvering.
So, what prevented - until quite recently - the growth of utopianism in the Islamic sphere is:
a.) Islamic realism, that on earth imperfection cannot be eliminated,
b.) the awareness inspired by the Quran and the hadith that there is a deteriorization (decadence) in time, i.e. "the gradual loss of perfection in the Islamic community as it moves away from the origin of revelation" and that
c.) an improvement in society (if not a perfection of it) can only come about with the help of God.
b.) the awareness inspired by the Quran and the hadith that there is a deteriorization (decadence) in time, i.e. "the gradual loss of perfection in the Islamic community as it moves away from the origin of revelation" and that
c.) an improvement in society (if not a perfection of it) can only come about with the help of God.