The Algerian University of Kasdi Merbah conducted a scientific study on the philosopher Dr. Mohamed Othman Elkhosht and his Enlightenment tendency, throughout his career, including his biography, writings, approach, and philosophy, as well as his own concept of Enlightenment and its causes, in addition to studying his criticism of Intolerance, which stems from radical secular extremism or religious extremism.
The study also dealt with the renewal of religious thought according to Elkhosht, the concept of religion, its origins, and the renewal of religious discourse, emphasizing that he is an encyclopedist of culture who combines depth in the Islamic heritage and Western thought, and his works are distinguished by the combination of the rational approach and the background of faith, and for this reason he was called “the philosopher-jurist.”
The study was prepared by Algerian researcher Cyrine Bousalem to obtain an academic master’s degree at Kasdi Merbah University, Algeria. The discussion committee consisted of Prof. Ahmed Zighmi, and Prof. Muhammad Al-Siddiq bin Ghazala, and Prof. Omar Ben Rabah.
The study dealt with the writings and philosophy of Elkhosht, noting that his writings are taught in many universities, which deal with several branches of science, such as the foundations of religion, jurisprudence, comparative religion, philosophy of religion, political science, civil society, philosophy of citizenship, and other branches of science; to establish a new understanding and enlightened vision for many contemporary issues and problems based on a rational approach with a logical tone.
By going through Elkhosht’s books, his intellectual diversity can determined, as we find him to be a moderate jurist, a civil politician, an enlightened reformist, and a superior logician who has an intellectual dimension and a fundamentalist doctrine.
The character of Elkhosht as we know him
He is not afraid to engage in political discussions and to confront those claiming infallibility and those speaking in the name of religion. He succeeded in delving deeply into most branches of philosophy - if not all of them. He carried out the task of awakening and enlightening minds, moving away from imitation by adopting a free opinion.
Elkhosht dusted off our sleeves by seeking to achieve an enlightenment awakening that would lift the nation out of its bitter reality by working on intellectual, critical, enlightening reform that includes various social, political, jurisprudential, and intellectual fields. He refused to be an imitator of Western philosophers, but rather began studying their heritage and criticizing.
He did not criticize Western philosophy with self-criticism in which his faith and Arab-Islamic affiliation interfered. Rather, he clarified his objective opinion on various issues and problems in an objective manner. His criticism of Western philosophy appears in his works “Descartes' Rational Masks Are Falling Off,” “Rationality And Intolerance,” “Reasonable And Unreasonable In Religions Between Critical Rationality And Biased Rationality,” and “Reason And Post-nature.”
The research described Elkhosht’s thought as establishing principles that scholars should resort to, which is establishing an enlightening jurisprudential trend with the aim of eliminating stagnation, fanaticism, and tyranny of opinion, taking into account the circumstances and changes that have occurred in our era and searching for solutions that prevent people from getting confused, after seeing the bitter reality of Muslims. He had a call to Enlightenment, philosophical, jurisprudential reform.
Elkhosht called for adherence to the pillars of the true religion, and distinguished between constants and variables. He based his doctrinal intellectual positions on reason and religion, because they are the basis on which he relies, and this is clearly evident through his works: “The Development Of Religions” and “Comparative Religions”, “An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion” and “Religion And Metaphysics In Hume's Philosophy.”
The research also considered that Dr. Elkhosht’s call to establish a new religious discourse instead of renewing the old one; through subjecting human religious sciences to examination and criticism with a rational approach through implementing the correct Islam that existed during the era of the Messenger (PBUH), and not the Islam that terrorist groups and extremists believe in.
Conclusion
The problem does not lie in Islam, but rather in the minds of Muslims in understanding and interpreting religion, which created a jurisprudential and intellectual stagnation and a confusion between what is sacred and what is human.
Critical rationalism represents the cornerstone upon which the Enlightenment philosophy of Dr. Elkhosht was based. He was able to build an ideal rational system, and succeeded in dismantling the rational structure of human thought that arose around religion.
His philosophy is based primarily on rational criticism committed to Logic, scientific description, analysis, and philosophical criticism of the various issues of the modern era and beyond.
Finally, his call to establish a new religious era seeks to correct the mythical perceptions left behind by traditional human religious discourse, with an emphasis on confronting fanaticism, whether religious or secular, and eliminating any form of religious extremism; warning Arab-Islamic societies against falling into the trap of fanaticism.
It is noteworthy that Kasdi Merbah University is one of the three top universities in Algeria, and has an advanced ranking in international rankings. It ranked second nationally in Webometrics and ranked 193rd globally in 2023. It topped the list of rankings of Algerian universities for two years in a row.
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