What type of Enlightenment is required?

In stark contrast to the obscurantist Enlightenment promoted by its advocates, there exists a true enlightenment—the enlightenment of divine revelation. The light of the Sharīʿah—through which Allāh elevated the status of Man, decreed that he is at the center of the universe, created for a purpose, and bestowed with honor—is the genuine light by which Allāh illuminated the world and reformed the human condition. This is the only true enlightenment. Allāh says: {And We have sent down to you a brilliant light} (Qurʾān 4:174). It is the light of divine revelation: {…and will make for you a light whereby you will walk} (Qurʾān 57:28). Allāh also says: {But We have made it a light, by which We guide whoever We will of Our servants} (Qurʾān 42:52). There is no true light, and no genuine enlightenment, except through the light of divine revelation: {And whoever Allāh does not bless with light will have no light!} (Qurʾān 24:40). Without divine revelation, Man dwells in complete blindness: {Can the one who knows that your Lord’s revelation to you ˹O Prophet˺ is the truth be like the one who is blind? None will be mindful ˹of this˺ except people of reason} (Qurʾān 13:19). The light of revelation is the only true guidance and the sole light for Mankind. To attain this light, we require a genuine renewal of religion—not the atheistic renewal promoted by the Enlightenment advocates. Rather, we need the type of renewal the Prophet (PBUH) enjoined, which is achieved by restoring religion to its original purity. This entails purifying it by eliminating erroneous ijtihāds (individual reasonings) and the ignorances of the ʿawām (the unlearned or laypeople) that have corrupted and tainted it. The Prophet (PBUH) spoke about this type of renewal: “Indeed, Allāh will raise for this nation, at the head of every hundred years, someone who will renew its religion.”¹ That is, at the advent of every hundred years, Allāh will raise for the Muslim nation someone who will restore its religion (Islam) to its original purity—the purity upon which the Prophet (PBUH) and his Companions were. Religious renewal or reform concerning people’s religious conduct is necessary, as deterioration, deviation, and weakness may afflict Muslims repeatedly over time. Thus, whenever people stray from the true path of religion, set and perfected by Allāh, He sends one or more religious scholars who possess deep knowledge of true Islam to guide people wisely to follow the Qurʾān and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). This is the type of renewal through which Allāh produced a great nation from chaos and ignorance, granting authority to a generation that otherwise would not have entered history or attained the prominent role it held in the world for centuries—an achievement made possible only through pure divine revelation.In short, the Muslim nation will not achieve revival, nor will its condition be reformed, except by returning to the religion of its Lord—the path and creed of its predecessors. As Imām Mālik [may Allāh have mercy on him] said, “The latter part of this nation will not be rectified except by that which rectified its earliest part.”² Likewise, ash-Shāṭibī said in his al-Iʿtiṣām: “The latter part of this nation will not bring better guidance than what its earliest part was upon.”³ Allāh says: {Those are the ones Allāh guided to the right way. Follow, then, their way} (Qurʾān 6:90).