Sorunlu ‘Religion’ Kavramı ve Hinduizm Kurgusunun Bîrûnî’ye Atıfla İrdelenmesi

Year 2010, Issue: 23, 1 - 22, 01.01.2010

Syed Farid Alatas

Abstract

Problematizing the Concept of Religion and the Construction of Hinduism with Reference to al-Býr†ný

Abstract

Problematizing the Concept of Religion and the Construction of Hinduism with Reference to al-Býr* ný Social scientific concepts originate from cultural terms in everyday language. As such, they present problems when brought into scientific discourse and used to talk about areas and periods outside of those of their origins. The result is a distortion of the phenomena to which they are applied. By the 18th century “religion”, from the Latin religio, came to be used as a scientific concept, referring to belief systems other than Christianity. When “religion” is applied to beliefs other than Christianity, for example, Islam or Hinduism, there is an implicit or explicit comparison with Christianity, which results in an elision of reality and a cultural Christianization of these other belief systems in the sense that it is the characteristics of Christianity which are attributed to these other “religions”. This has become a problem in the social sciences because of the fact that it was European Christendom that became culturally dominant, resulting in the cognitive hegemony of European knowledge. This does, however, suggest the possibility of alternative constructions of ‘Hinduism’. This paper critically examines the concept of religion as it is applied to Hinduism. It also makes reference to the Muslim scholar, al-Býruný’s construction of the beliefs that he encountered in India. It examines his Kitab Tahq¢q ma li al-Hind and looks for a construction that predates the coming of European Orientalist studies and social science

Keywords

Religion, Social Sciences, Hinduism, Islam, al-Biruni