Religious Criticism of Scientism: The Subjectivity of Taufīq al-Ḥakīm in the Short Story “Fī Sanah Milyūn”

Year 2023, , 257 - 281, 24.07.2023

Mohammad Muslih , Yulia Latifi

https://doi.org/10.26650/di.2023.34.1.1249910

Abstract

This paper studied the Egyptian modern short story “Fī Sanah Milyūn” by Taufīq al-Ḥakīm. The story tells us about the advancement of science and technology which was at its peak in 1000 CE, when people were made immortal. Then, they abandoned metaphysics. The radical Subject that destroyed the scientism structure then appeared by giving up his life. The question to be answered in this paper is: how did the Subject destroy tyrannical scientism and why? The analysis revealed that scientism deprived humanity of human beings and it was necessary for the radical Subject to destroy it. Through his scientific findings, the radical Subject created a transcendental paradigm of science as his criticism of positivistic scientism. The Subject built a fantasy about the eternity of God and the mortality of human beings as the replacement for scientism that had thrown God away from the picture and made human beings immortal. The movement of the author is a movement of an empty and split Subject. To seek fulfillment, the Subject kept moving to approximate The Real, namely a scientific order that had a transcendental-religious paradigm containing ordered values and honored the humanity of human beings.

Keywords

Criticism of Scientism, Relation Between Science and Religion, Arabic Literature, Taufīq al-Ḥakīm, Žižek’s Subjectivity

References

• Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1992. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt32bg61. google scholar
• Akmal, Ramayda. “Subjektivitas Pramoedya Ananta Toer Dengan Novel Perburuan: Pendekatan Psikoanalisis-Historis Slavoj Zizek.” Tesis, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2012. http://etd.repository. ugm.ac.id/penelitian/detail/51211. google scholar
• Al-Hakîm, Taufîq. “Fî Sanah Milyun (In Year 1000).” In QasasFalsafiyyahArinıAllah (Collection of ShortStoriesShowMe WhatAllahLooksLike). Mişr: Dar Mişr al-Tabâ’ah, 1953. google scholar
• Armstrong, Karen. Masa Depan Tuhan: Sanggahan Terhadap Fundamentalisme Dan Ateisme [The Future of God: The Reclaiming of Spirituality ’s Mystical Roots]. Translated by Yuliani Liputo. Bandung: Mizan, 2011. google scholar
• Audah, Ali. “Sastra Arab Mutakhir [Contemporary Arabic Literature].” Ulumul Qur’an, 1996. google scholar
• Bakar, Osman. Tauhid & Sains, Esai-Esai Tentang Sejarah Dan Filsafat Sains Islam [Tauhid and Science, Essays on the Islamic History and Philosophy of Science]. Translated by Yuliani Liputo. Bandung: Pustaka Hidayah, 1994. google scholar
• Barbour, Ian G. Isu Dalam Sains Dan Agama [Issues in Science and Religion]. Translated by Damayanti and Ridwan. Yogyakarta: UIN Sunan Kalijaga Press, 2006. google scholar
• Menemukan Tuhan Dalam Sains Kontemporer Dan Agama [Finding God in ContemporaryScience and Religion]. Bandung: Mizan, 2005. google scholar
• When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners? New York: Harper, 2000. google scholar
• Budianta, Melani, Ida Sundari Husen, Manneke Budiman, and Ibnu Wahyudi. Membaca Sastra (Pengantar Memahami Sastra Untuk Perguruan Tinggi) [Reading Literature: Introduction to Literature Understanding for University Students]. Magelang: Indonesia Tera, 2002. google scholar
• Coward, Harold, and Daniel C Maguire, eds. Visions of A New Earth: Religious Perspectives on Population, Consumption, and Ecology. New York: State University of New York Press, 2000. google scholar
• Daiyf, Syauqî. Al-Adab al ‘Arabıy al Mu’Asir FıMisra. Mişr: Dar al-Ma’arif, 1951. google scholar
• Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method. London: NLB Verso Edition, 1915. google scholar
• Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archeology of Human Sciences. London: Vintage Books, 1994. google scholar
• Haught, John F. Science & Religion: From Conflict to Conversation. New York: Paulist Press, 1995. google scholar
• Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolution. Chicago. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1910. google scholar
• Latifi, Yulia Nasrul. “Kritik Nawal Al-Sa’dawi Terhadap Konstruksi Wacana Agama Tentang Relasi Gender Dalam Suqut al-Imam, Adab Am Qillah Adab, Dan Zinah (Pendekatan Subjektivitas) [Nawal al-Sa’dawi’s Criticism of Religious Discourse Construction in Suqut al-Imam, Adab Am Qillah Adab, Dan Zinah: A Subjectivity Approach], Dissertation, Faculty of Cultural Sciences.” Disertation, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2020. google scholar
• “Women’s Liberty in Religious Discourse (Nawal Al-Sa’dawî’s Fantasy in Zînah).” Poetika: google scholar
• JurnalIlmu Sastra 9, no. 1 (July 26, 2021): 11-22. https://doi.org/10.22146/poetika.v9i1.61321. google scholar
• Latifi, Yulia Nasrul, and et.al. Metode Penelitian Sastra I [Method of Literature Research I]. Yogyakarta: UIN Sunan Kalijaga Press, 2006. google scholar
• Latifi, Yulia Nasrul, and Wening Udasmoro. “The Big Other Gender, Patriarki, Dan Wacana Agama Dalam Karya Sastra Nawal Al-Sa’dawî [The Big Other of Gender, Patriarchy, and Religious Discourse].” Musawa Jurnal Studi Gender Dan Islam 19, no. 1 (September 28, 2020): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.14421/musawa.2020.191.1-20. google scholar
• Muslih, Mohammad. Falsafah Sains: Dari Isu Integrasi Keilmuan Menuju Lahirnya Sains Teistik [the Philosophy of Science: From the Integration of Knowledge Issues Toward the Birth of Theistic Science]. Yogyakarta: Lembaga Studi Filsafat Islam, 2020. google scholar
• Myers, Tony. Slavoj Zizek. London: Routledge, 2003. google scholar
• Popper, Karl R. Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Harper and Row, Harper Torchbooks, 1965. google scholar
• Robert, Robertus. Manusia Politik: Subjek Radikal Dan Politik Emansipasi Di Era Kapitalisme GlobalMenurut Slavoj Zizek [Political Human: The Radical Subject and Emancipatory Politics in the Global Capitalism Era According to Slavoj Zizek]. Tangerang: Marjin Kiri, 2010. google scholar
• Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and theMirror of Nature. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1919. google scholar
• Sudiarja, A. Agama Di Zaman YangBerubah [Religion in the Changing Age]. Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2006. google scholar
• Suseno, Franz Magnis. Menalar Tuhan [Rationalizing God]. Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2006. google scholar
• Swidler, Leonard, and Paul Mojzes. The Study of Religion in an Age of Global Dialogue. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000. google scholar
• Thiselton, A. C. A Concise Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publication, 2002. google scholar
• Wattimena, Reza. Filsafat Politik UntukIndonesia Dari Pemikiran Plato, Edmund Husserl, Charles Taylor, Sampai Dengan Slavoj Zizek [The Philosophy of Politics for Indonesiafrom Plato, Edmund Husserl, Charles Taylor, to Slavoj Zizek]. Tkp.: Pustaka Mas, 2011. google scholar
• Zizek, Slavoj. Tarrying with the Negative: Kant, Hegel, and the Critique of Ideology. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. google scholar
• The Plague of Fantasies. London, New York: Verso, 2008. google scholar
• The Sublime Object of Ideology. London: Verso, 2008. google scholar
• The TicklishSubject: TheAbsent Centre of Political Ontology. London, New York: Verso, 2000. google scholar