The Idolatry of Modernity and the Impossibile State

In the concluding chapter of his book The Impossible State, Wael B. Hallaq argues that the crisis of the Muslim world is not a uniquely Muslim crisis, but is the crisis faced by all of humanity in our present times. This crisis stems from modernity, from Enlightenment philosophy, from a humanism that says “man is the measure of all things”.

Hallaq presents two worldviews in fundamental contradiction to one another. On the one hand, we have a theology that says we live in a universe saturated with moral values, with reasons that make normative demands of us (165). These moral demands transcend human subjectivity: they are part of the created world in which we live, and they come from God, the only Sovereign. On the other hand, we have a humanism that says we live in a value-free universe, and that the only moral constraints on us have their origin in human Reason.

Chanting & Aarti at the Hindu Temple of Toledo

On Tuesday, August 14, 2012, from 6:30-7:30pm, I visited the Hindu Temple of Toledo for an evening chanting service and aarti (an offering of light to the deities). On the phone that morning, the priest had told me the chanting service started around 6:30, so I arrived around 6:10. There were not many people there when I arrived; I took my shoes off in the “Shoe Room” and entered the temple area. 

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6:10pm – As I entered, I saw the priest and two adult laypeople near the statue of Ganesh (the one with the elephant head). It appeared that the priest was performing a small, private puja (worship/offering) before the community service; however, he may routinely perform a Ganesh puja before a service. Traditionally, Ganesh is always worshipped first (because he is “the remover of obstacles”, important for success in any endeavor) in a temple puja. He was anointing the Ganesh statue (murti) and decorating it—it seemed a fairly complex process.