Tuesday, January 17, 2006

There was an article today in Dawn on ‘enlightened moderation’.

The term has been stuck on my mind since I first heard it and I’ve been trying to make sense out of it for quite some time now.

I guess it’s a relative term, depends on what you perceive as enlightened. What maybe be enlightening for me might be quite conservative and from the ‘dark ages’ for you. That’s about the first part- ‘enlightened’

What about ‘moderation’? I agree one should not go to extremes, and should be moderate enough to accommodate different viewpoints. But what moderate has become synonymous with, is ‘liberal’. Indulging in all sorts of fazooliyat ant then coming home and offering four rakahs of namaz in a hurry, that’s the ideal ‘moderation’!

Combine both the terms- enlightened moderation. What do you get? A mélange of ideas?

The article is quite good. The writer says that enlightenment and moderation just don’t go together. It should rather be moderate enlightenment but then this too sound stupid!!