An Open Letter to the Muslim Community
As-Salaam-u-'alaykum!
There are many issues which need to be addressed
by the Muslim community. Without wishing to say I
have any of the answers, there are a great many
problems surrounding the hermeneutics (the theory of interpretation) of such
concepts as ijma, qiyas, and ijtihad, all of which
have, in different ways, contributed to what appears
to be the rather moribund state of modern
understanding concerning various facets of Shari'ah
and Tariqa.
I have no wish to reinvent the spiritual wheel, and
I have no desire to deviate from the teachings of
either the Qur'an or the Sunnah of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him). However, quite frankly,
what many people take those teachings to encompass
may be quite other than what the actual
original intention underlying what is being said may be.
For example, many people confuse tafsir and ta'wil, and even
in the latter case, some suppose that ta'wil
means interpretation. In reality, ta'wil alludes
to the process of being brought back to first
principles through Divine assistance ... something
quite different than interpretation and of great
significance since interpretation (or the veiling
of Revelation through personal, rational predilections)
of the Qur'an is forbidden ... a prohibition which
went unheeded both by the proponents of kalaam and
philosophy, and we suffer today as a result of the
distortions which have arisen through the varied
forms of these 'disciplines'.
Something of the flavor of the kinds of questions
which I feel need to be addressed can be found
in the following section of the book on Spiritual
Abuse and the Sufi Tradition which can be found
on the web site at:
The Boundary Problem
Many people believe the doors of ijtihad closed in the
11th-12th century, and believe this is quite appropriate.
I feel such a belief is both arrogant and dismissive of
the fact that Divinity continues to be manifested - even
if not in the form of Revelation or a continuing Prophetic
tradition - but in the form of ijtihad and, therefore, should
not necessarily be arbitrarily foreclosed on by human beings
but, rather, ijtihad should be examined for traces of how Divine
guidance exists in modes which, God willing, might serve to complement
the two basic sources of Divine assistance (i.e., Qur'an and the
Sunnah of the Prophet), and, thereby, be used by human beings
to address problems of today in circumstances which are, in some
ways, quite different from the time of the Prophet.
Some Christians are fond of the letters ‘wwjd’ - what would
Jesus (peace be upon him) do. An Islamic counterpart would
be ‘wwmd’ - what would Muhammad (peace be upon him) do,
and the fact of the matter is I am not convinced that a lot
of Muslims (and I am not necessarily excluding myself here)
understand the nature of the niyat and insight which go into
giving expression to action ... not only with respect to
themselves, but especially in relation to the Prophet. For a
non-Prophet to try to figure out what a Prophet might do in a
given set of circumstances is, I think, a rather risky business
... and, yet, many people suppose they understand where the
Prophet is coming from when he says the things which are
reported in the Hadith, or they believe they understand how
a Prophet would balance different considerations, or what
weights to assign, or what priorities are to be given to various
principles, or whether something which has been recorded
was intended for the parties to whom it was said only, or to
the generality of Muslims who lived at that time, or in some
more universal fashion ...
All too many people make pronouncements based on their
interpretation of things or someone else’s interpretation
of things, and, unfortunately, there often is not much
dialogue going on about the hermeneutical problems
which are entailed by the process of interpretation
or the possibilities which might be encompassed by
different modalities of ijtihad, or why the process of
reasoning should be limited to qiyas, or even what the
structural character of qiyas actually is - since there are
a wide variety of bases in which analogical reasoning
can be rooted. Similarly, everyone supposes they
understand the scope and character of aql ... which
usually reduces down to the manner in which
they, themselves, think ... much as we suppose
that common sense reflects our own way of
doing things.
Many Muslim thinkers have painted the Muslim
community into an almost untenable position. Many
of the rest of us have let them.
Perhaps, it is time for something new and different
to be tried - but something which is fully reconcilable
with the spirit of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Ijtihad is
the bridge here, but trying to find the right framework
of ijtihad or an appropriate set of principles for this
project is the challenge before us.
I don't want to revolutionize Islam - because Islam is
God-given and quite adequate to the needs of human beings
as it is. What needs to be revolutionized are the ways in which
Muslims understand the nature, principles, and essence of
the many dimensions and levels encompassed by Islam.
One should not try to reduce Islam down to what this or
that group of Muslims think or say. Presumably, this may
be one of the reasons why the Prophet said: "My community
will never agree in error" - and I believe it is an error to
seek to stifle the voice of ijtihad.
In saying this, I do not mean to say that every exercise of
ijtihad is correct. There is a difference between permissible
degrees of freedom and seeking to take license.
Although the Prophet warned against bi'dat - those innovative
measures which transgressed sacred boundaries - many Muslims
have used this warning as a bludgeon to attack anything with which
they disagreed, and, then, they site the Hadiths concerning bi'dat in order to
defend such attacks. However, most, if not all, of the Hadiths concerning
bi'dat tend to be of a general, ambiguous nature, and later Muslims
have merely inserted their own theological antipathies into this
ambiguity, claiming that what they mean is what the Prophet meant.
This is not only a specious mode of reasoning, it is, spiritually
speaking, extremely dangerous to suppose one knows what
the Prophet thought and meant on any given occasion. Only God
and the Prophet know this, and unless God provides the sort
of Divine assistance which gives insight into such matters, then, in reality,
one is merely voicing an opinion - which may, or may not, be well-
formed.
When Hazrat 'Umar ( may Allah be pleased with him) introduced the public saying of tarawih prayers - despite the fact the Prophet, with the
exception of the first few nights, said these prayers in private, Hazrat 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) described this as a good innovation. So, obviously, not all innovation should be confused with the kind of innovation or bi'dat against which the Prophet sought to warn us.
Similarly, if all innovation is inappropriate, then, why was the Prophet
reported to have said: "If a person sets down in Islam a good custom (sunna hasana), which is put into practice, that person will have written for oneself the wage of those who put it into practice, while nothing will be diminished from the wages of those who put the custom into practice; and, if a person sets down in Islam a bad custom which put into practice, then, this person will have written for one the load of those who put it into practice, while nothing will be diminished from the load of those who put the custom into practice." Ijtihad - along with other uses of reason, discussion, and rigorous examination - may be necessary to struggle toward being able to differentiate between good customs and problematic customs.
Clearly, the onus of moral responsibility is on anyone pursuing ijtihad, just as spiritual responsibility rests heavily upon any individual (s) who would initiate laying down a new custom in Islam. But, then, isn't this the nature of human existence - to strive, in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity, toward a healthy, constructive faith, not only for oneself but the community as well?
Jihad is not primarily about risking oneself physically against an armed antagonist, but, rather, jihad - and ijtihad is, as the root of the word suggests, a form of jihad - is embedded in a willingness to struggle against ignorance, bias, hatred, prejudices, negative emotions, likes and dislikes - all of the processes within us which impair and distort understanding of, and acting upon, the truth.
The Qur'an says: "O ye who believe, fight against those infidels close to you." (9: 123). There is no infidel closer to each of us than our own nafs, and ijtihad is to struggle against the tendencies within the nafs to be kufr and, in the process, seek both to hide, as well as to hide from, the truth - not only with respect to ourselves, but also in relation to others, Creation, and Divinity.
If the five pillars were all there is to deen, then, why do the
Qur'an and the Sunnah deal with so much more than those
five pillars? If the relgious law was all there was to deen, then, why are such matters restricted to just 500, or so, verses in the Qur'an. If the five pillars were all there is to deen, then, why did the Prophet speak about iman, ahsan, tariqa, and haqiqa? If being Muslim exhausted the possibilities of Islam, then, why did the Qur'an and the Prophet also speak about being Mu'min
and Mohsin?
If the five pillars were all there is to deen, then, why would
the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) be so pleased
with Mu'adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) when
the latter indicated, after being asked by the Prophet what
his judicial envoy to Yeman would do if he could not find an
answer to a legal question in either the Qur'an or the Sunnah,
that he (Mu'adh - may Allah be pleased with him) would form his
own opinion concerning such matters? Why would the Prophet
say, upon hearing this response: "Praise be to God Who hath
guided the envoy of His envoy to what pleases the envoy of
God"?
All too frequently affairs in mosques and Muslim communities
all around the world are controlled by the rule of pedigree rather
than the principles of spiritual understanding. For example, if
someone knows Arabic, then, ipso facto, this aspect of pedigree
is apparently supposed to make someone's opinion superior
to that of someone who does not speak or read Arabic. Yet,
nowhere in the Qur'an does one find anything to support such
a presumption.
Rather, the criterion which is mentioned in the Qur'an as a means
of differentiating among Muslims is the condition of taqwa. Taqwa
is not dependent on one's linguistic skills but on the condition of
one's heart, the purity of one's niyat, or intention, and the propriety and
judiciousness, God willing, of one's actions.
Arabic will not necessarily help one penetrate to the meaning of the
Qur'an. Indeed, among the many verses in the Qur'an which indicate this are the following: "Say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge." (20: 114), and:
"We raise by grades (of Mercy) whom We will, and over every lord of knowledge, there is one more knowing. (12:76) - - our need is for Divine Grace and support, not necessarily Arabic ... although knowledge of Arabic can be one form of such Grace. Arabic is not the Source of Grace, but, rather, God is, and knowledge of Arabic is but one manifestation of such Grace.
Knowledge of Arabic did not help the people of pre-Islamic Arabia. God had to intervene before Divine assistance came in the form of an Arabic tongue - namely, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to whom revelation was given. Moreover, since Arabic is a created thing, one cannot reduce the Qur'an, which is the uncreated word of God, down to created being. At best, Arabic is a locus of manifestion through which uncreated Divine guidance is given expression.
Obviously, knowledge of Arabic is not of any assistance to those who feel their facility with Arabic gives them the right to kill innocent people. In fact, these killers of innocents, place their own interpretation of things above the Qur'an.
The Qur'an says: "Whoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if that person killed all of humankind, and whosoever saves the life of another human being, it shall be as if that person had saved the life of all humankind." (5:32)
I have been looking in the Qur'an and the Sunnah for some mention of Osama bin Laden and how God has appointed him and his associates to tell the rest of humanity about what constitutes corruption. I also am looking for a detailed explanation of how one would go about establishing, demonstrating and verifying the evidence which "proves" that, for instance, all of the people who died, when the World Trade Center's two towers collapsed, were guilty of corruption.
The last time I looked, the charge of corruption requires a judicial proceeding in an authorized court (and what constitutes an "authorized" court for judicial review is another matter altogether). Such matters cannot be decided through fiat, fatwa, or in absentia ... even if we were to assume (which is a highly contentious assumption) that any of the self-styled, would-be hijackers of Islam have jurisdiction in matters that happen beyond their own borders and localities.
Without feeling at all inclined to side with the perpetuation of Israeli attrocities against innocents in the occupied territories of Palestine, the fact of the matter is, despite knowledge of Arabic, the leaders and followers of Hamas and Hezbollah continue to kill innocent people in Israel ... people about whom such leaders have no knowledge about whether, or not, such people are guilty of manslaughter or corruption in the earth. Furthermore, even if such people were guilty of corruption, I have seen no evidence which warrants that such life and death decisions have been arrogated by Allah to organizations like al-Qaeda, and, surely, it is an exercise in self-serving hubris for the leaders of such organizations to claim they have been appointed by God to look after such matters.
There is no difference between, on the one hand, terrorists like Osama bin Laden and, on the other hand, those individuals who are either fraudulent Sufi shaykhs or who seek to force everyone to submit to their individual brand of exoteric, dogmatic theology. all of these categories of individual are spiritually abusive toward those who may be mesmerized by them because neither bin Laden, nor false mystical guides, nor theological zealots are not interested in helping people toward the truth, but, rather, seek to induce people to become committed to the self-serving agendas of such spiritual narcissists. Each of these sorts of individual perpetrate spiritual terrorism in relation to their followers before they seek to do damage - whether socially, economically, politically, physically, or spiritually - to those who are 'considered other' and, therefore, treated as alien and inhuman by the self-appointed "leaders".
Moreover, alleged "leaders" such as bin Laden, or the 'shaykhs' who become idols to their mureeds, or the exoteric theologians who insist that their way is the only way to understand Islam induce their followers to suppose that the belief system being promulgated represents a 'ticket to heaven'. Yet, such "leaders" continue to avoid the fact that little, or none, of what they are doing - as opposed to what they are giving lip-service to - reflects either the teachings of the Qur'an or the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
For example, the Qur'an says: "Say: Surely, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds." (6:162). There is nothing in this about paradise or 70 virgins.
In fact, what the terrorist "leaders" are counseling the suicide bombers to do (and the same argument could, with slight modifications, be extended to mystical charlatans as well as many exoteric theologians) is an exercise in shirk, for the alleged "leaders" are waving the promise of Paradise and sexual favors before such individuals, and this is nothing less than associating partners with God since niyats are being formed and actions are taken that are being done for other than the sake of God ... instead, under such circumstances, the focus is on the reward rather than the a willingness to offer service and, if necessary, sacrifice one's life and death for the Purpose or Himma of Allah, without any thought of compensation - as the Qur'an indicates: "Those who spend their wealth for increase in self-purification, and have in their minds no favor from anyone for which a reward is expected in return, but only the desire to seek for the Countenance of their Lord Most High." (92: 18-20)
If what such "leaders" are telling the followers were true, then, why don't we see these leaders doing precisely the deeds which they are exploitively encouraging Arabic-speaking children to do? Why do these "leaders" always use proxies to suffer the consequences of their (that is, the leaders') beliefs? If Paradise is the purpose of life - and I don't know anywhere in the Qur'an where it says that Paradise, per se, is the purpose of life - then, why aren't these brave "leaders" assuming the roles of presumed martyrs rather than sending children and others to do such things? 'O ye of little faith'.
And, less anyone may misunderstand the foregoing, I am not advocating that the "leaders" actually should, themselves, go around terrorizing or killing innocent people rather than using children to do this. Irrespective of whether children are exploited to undertake such acts or "leaders" actually walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, what is being done (the indiscriminate killing of innocent people) is wrong from any Islamic perspective one cares to examine.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) never killed anyone. However, he was always in the midst of the most dangerous part of any battle.
Jesus (peace be upon him) will not hide from the dajjal. Jesus (peace be upon him) will seek out and confront the imposter directly.
Obviously, people like bin Laden don't have much faith in the rightness and justness of their cause. They hide in the shadows and seek to get others to risk their lives ... apparently believing - unlike Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Jesus (peace be upon him) - that God will not be with them if they should come out into the open and fight with integrity and nobility rather than through terrorizing the innocent from afar via proxy agents.
Imam Hussein and Imam Hasan (may Allah be pleased with them both) each knew he would be killed prior to the time of his death. Yet, this knowledge did not cause them to shy away from what had to be done, nor did such knowledge sway them to harm either innocent people or not-so-innocent individuals.
Indeed, as the Qur'an indicates: "You express your desire for death if you are truthful." (62:6) However, since the aforementioned, terrorist "leaders", such as bin Laden, only express the desire for the death of others (whether this be their followers who are duped or the innocent victims of the carnage which such individuals let loose on the world), and do not express a desire for their own death, one might well question the truthfulness of what such so-called leaders pronounce to the world. But, since these people speak Arabic, well, I guess, we should all bow down to what they say - rather than to Divinity - because if it is spoken in Arabic, then, it must be true.
I don't have a problem with people who speak, read, and write Arabic. I have a problem with people who try to argue that because they speak, read, and write Arabic that this facility, in and of itself, grants them some sort of superior understanding of Islam or the Qur'an or the life of the Prophet. If this were really true, the Muslim world would not be in such a mess, for the spiritual mess with which the Muslim community is faced has been created, in no small part, by Arabic-speaking people - whether these be national leaders, imams, the members of local mosque councils, mullahs, academics, theologians, or terrorists.
In fact, my experience of the last thirty years as an aspiring Muslim and seeker of truth has shown me, again and again, that many - although not all - of the so-called leaders of various Muslim communities are practitioners of emotional, social, educational, and spiritual terror. In other words, all too frequently, such so-called "leaders" seek to terrorize anyone (and they utilize many techniques to accomplish this ... from: rumor mongering, to: campaigns of slander, outright lies, and character assasination) who does not agree with them and who is unwilling to be a servant of taqlid - that is, blind following of a dogma which they have dressed in the clothes of Islam for public consumption.
The time is long overdue for the Muslim community to reclaim Islam. However, the people from whom Islam needs to be reclaimed are not those in the West who seek to distort or undermine Islam through various kinds of media, educational, and intel-op mischief. Rather, the ones from whom Islam needs to be reclaimed - and such knowledge is a birthright of every human being - are those within the Muslim community who seek to exploit Islam and Muslims to serve the agendas of their own nafs and entanglements in dunya.
Islam is supposed to be a deen which is unmediated by any form of clerical intervention. Yet, everywhere one looks within the Muslim community, there are imams, theologians, mullahs, official-sounding councils, educational institutions, media moguls, and politicians that are seeking to become the intermediary between individuals and Divinity.
Not only do we live in an age in which the door to ijtihad should not be closed, we live in times when this form of rigorous striving toward truth is more necessary than ever. The challenge before us is to learn how to use this process wisely ... in a constructive manner which gives expression to all facets of the Qur'an and the sunnah of the Prophet and not just selected portions which have been removed from the full spiritual ecology of Islam in order to subjugate and exploit the minds, hearts, and lives of the Muslim community - both individually and collectively.
Each individual has the responsibility to strive to realize the truth according to her or his God-given capacity to do so. This responsibility cannot be contracted out.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: "Islam began as something strange, and it will revert to being strange as it was in the beginning, so good tidings for the strangers." Someone asked: "Who are the strangers." The Prophet said: "The ones who break away from their people for the sake of Islam."
Islam may be reverting to something strange as it was in the beginning. The people from whom the strangers must break away are those who claim to understand Islam but, on the basis of their actions, clearly do not.
However, the process of breaking away through, among other things, the exercise of ijtihad is not a child's game. We must all be sobered by the fact that the Prophet Muahmmad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said:
"There are 71 sects among Jews, and only one of them is correct. There are 72 sects among Christians, and only one of them is correct. There are 73 sects among Muslims, and one of them is correct."
Ijtihad is the process of seeking for the truth. It does not constitute a license to create or advocate one of the 72 other sects.
Moreover, clearly the Prophet was indicating there are truth seekers amongst both the Christians and Jews, for, he spoke about the 'true way' to be found all the different sects in both the Jewish and Christian spiritual traditions. Consequently, a person should seek out all those - whether Muslim or non-Muslim - who are sincere seekers of the truth.
In fact, did not the Prophet counsel us: "To seek knowledge, even unto China"? Furthermore, this was said at a time when one might suppose there were no people who had declared Shahadah in any formal sense, and, yet, the Prophet was alluding to the existence of knowledge even there.
Knowledge, understanding and wisdom are not the preserve of Muslims. God gives to whomsoever Divinity pleases.
However the duties and obligations of a Muslim extend far beyond the Muslim community. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: "Assist any person who is oppressed - whether Muslim or non-Muslim." In addition, the Prophet is reported to have said: "If you love your Creator, then, love your fellow human beings first." Or: "Creation is like God's family, for its sustenance is from Allah. Therefore, the most beloved unto God is the individual who does good to God's family."And, finally, "What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted; to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured."
There is no preference to be given to Muslims over non-Muslims in any of the foregoing. We must strive, through the process of ijtihad - both individual and collective, as well as in conjunction with both Muslim and non-Muslim - to find constructive, creative solutions to the many problems with which humankind is confronted. Truly, we are all in this realm of Creation together, and we must sever the shackles of taqlid which have been holding the Muslim community - and, now, the rest of the world - hostage for years.
No one except God and the Prophets have a right to tell me what Islam is about. My duty, as it is the duty of every human being, is to rigorously explore the teachings of God and the Prophets, and the followers of the Prophets, in order to try to discover the nature of deen which is the God-given means of helping me to realize fitra, my innate, spiritual capacity.
I am willing to listen to, and discuss issues with, almost anyone in relation to the foregoing spiritual quest. But, I do not feel under any compulsion to accept what someone else says just because they may have been born into a Muslim family, or because they speak Arabic, or because they studied Shari'ah in Mecca or Medina, or because they have a title such as imam or shaykh.
I would be remiss in my spiritual duties to give any of these people a free, critically unexamined ride - although there is an adab to this process of critical examination. Moreover, these people who claim to understand Islam would be lacking in humility to presume that things should be any way other than this.
Of course, one of the tactics which is used by "leaders" attempting to retain their power, influence, status, fame, jobs, and/or funding is to claim that the foregoing ideas are divisive and undermine the unity of the Muslim community. I hate to be the one to break the news to these ill-informed, but often-calculating "leaders", but there is no unity in the Muslim community - this is part of the problem.
There is no consensus within the Muslim community on how to proceed, or what to do, in relation to any number of problems with which the Muslim community is confronted. The Muslim community does not speak with one voice - it speaks with 73 voices and the 72 false voices are attempting to drown out, if not confuse the process of striving for truth ... indeed, these 72 false voices all say, with respect to anything, which differs from their point of view, that the unity of the Muslim community is being underminded and threatened by, for instance, the exercise of ijtihad.
As we approach closer and closer to the Latter Days (if we have not already entered them), I do not know - prior to the second-coming of Jesus (peace be upon him) and his victory over the dajjal or anti-Christ - if there is a part of the Divine Purpose which will permit the Muslim community to attain any semblance of unity - especially, since, for nearly 1400 years, successive Muslim community has squandered countless opportunities to accomplish this very thing. However, the absence of such unity notwithstanding, every Muslim still has a responsibility to seek the truth - indeed, the Prophet is reported to have said that "the seeking of knowledge is an ordinance obligatory upon every Muslim" and just so we are clear about what kind of knowledge the Prophet is referring to, he also is reported to have said: "Should the day come wherein I increase not in knowledge wherewith to draw nearer to God, let the dawn of that day be accursed", and again: "No person will be learned unless one puts one's knowledge into practice.".
Consequently, for people to cry foul with respect to the issue of "Muslim unity" in order to stifle a sincere discussion about, and search for, the truth is a red-herring. Such ploys are nothing more than an attempt to control the discussion in a manner that is favorable to the perspective in which they have a vested interest and, unfortunately, all too often, wish to impose on others (and this is done in nearly every Muslim country and community on the face of the earth, and not just among the Taliban of Afghanistan) - even though, according to the Qur'an, there is supposed to be no compulsion in matters of deen.
Time is running out - both individually and collectively. How we use the time which remains is of great importance. As the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: "Every person who rises in the morning either does that which will be the means of one's redemption or one's spiritual ruin". We should not be so arrogant as to suppose we know everything there is to know about such matters or that our way of understanding the Prophet's or the Quranic teachings is correct - either wholly or in part.
We must continue to strive and struggle for the truth. Ijtihad is one of these ways.
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