Salaam to all,
This will be my last post in this thread.
The ‘Quranist’ tradition of my paternal family, a tradition started in the 1870s, has actually been deeply respected by most Sunni and Shia scholars and leaders we have across as a family for 130 plus years. Most traditional scholars, in my humble opinion, clearly understand piety in all forms to be a critical element of practicing Islam, and they do not have a problem when I testify that I am a Muslim, period.
There is obviously nothing wrong with the Hadith and the incredible erudition of the 5 traditional Madhabs, namely the Sunni Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali and the Shia Jafari schools of law. Knowledge can but does not always lead to faith. There are many non-Muslim Orientalists who are also experts in those schools.
How we deal with that formidable intellectual tradition in our hearts, how we choose to follow what we hear and why, and subsequently what kind of value we attach to their socio-political dynamics, can generate issues as they may lead to 'shirk' and impiety as they have since day one. There is nothing ambiguous in the Holy Quran about this critical matter.
Quote:
"...O people of the Scripture, let us come to a common agreement between us and between you; that 1) we do not serve except God, and 2) do not set up anything at all with Him, and 3) that none of us takes each other as patrons besides God...." (The Message 3:64)
“'Shall I seek other than God as a judge when He has sent down to you this Scripture fully detailed?'” Those to whom We have given the Scripture know it is sent down from your Lord with truth; so do not be of those who have doubt." (The Message 6:114 )
"Say: 'Which is the greatest testimony?' Say: 'God is witness between me and you, and He has inspired to me this Qur'an that I may warn you with it and whomever it reaches, that you bear witness that along with God are other gods!' Say: 'I do not bear witness!' Say: 'He is only One god, and I am innocent of what you set up!'” (The Message 6:19)
"And We have come to them with a Scripture which We have detailed with knowledge; a guide and a mercy to those who believe." (The Message 7:52)
"We have revealed to you the Scripture with truth that you may judge between the people by that which God has shown you, and do not be an advocate for the treacherous. " (The Message 4:105)
"And the Day We send to every nation a witness against them from themselves, and We have brought you as a witness against these. And We have sent down to you the Scripture as a clarification for all things, and a guide and mercy and good tidings to those who have surrendered." (The Message 16:89)
"And We have sent down to you the Scripture with truth, authenticating what is present of the Scripture and superseding it. So judge between them by what God has sent down, and do not follow their desires from what has come to you of the truth. For each of you We have made laws, and a structure; and had God willed, He would have made you all one nation, but He tests you with what He has given you; so strive to do good. To God you will return all of you, and He will inform you regarding that in which you dispute." (The Message 5:48)
|
Sadly, there are some Muslims, Shia and Sunni alike, who deal with their own pain, suffering, fears and other demons by seeking often false comfort in totalitarian and authoritarian structures often of their
own making, irrespective of the detailed position of many scholars and their scholarship. Perhaps in their heartbreaking zeal for emotional comfort, they become proponents of a man-made 'order' to be pilots by the infallible few, at the expense of the divinely sanctioned freedoms and responsibilities of the many.
Personally, I do not subscribe to the dubious and somewhat predictably paranoid notion that individual freedom of conscience and thought, and the moral slash social responsibilities which come with those freedoms as ordained by Allah in the Holy Quran - lead to chaos or anything other than what is promised by our Creator in his revelation, namely peace, happiness and salvation in this world and the world to come.
No Orwellian world view or 'order' can mitigate that promise with either emotional violence of inducing irrational fear that prey on individual insecurities, or sweet semantic twists, turns and promises that may resonate inside those hearts filled with fear and pain. One does not have to be a discrete mathematician to figure out that intolerant exclusions lead to sectarianisms, and those sectarianisms by definition lead to division, degeneration and eventual exploitation by the enemies of the faithful.
In my humble opinion, problems start when perhaps driven by the unresolved fear, some individuals create absolutist and intolerant - meaning tolerant only on its own terms -
de facto political movements and power relations that eventually lose sight of piety, that no longer remember that there is great indignity in speaking for others, and seek to unilaterally impose its views without the possibility of a role reversal for the sake of ‘the greater good’ irrespective of what the Holy Quran has to say.
Personally, I find it at once tragic and somewhat amusing when some Muslims only ‘accept’ the Quran within the context of ultimately their own understanding of a Hadith, instead of doing it the other way around.
By doing so, they perhaps inadvertently assign a ‘divine’ value to important scholarship and particular scholars, and create clearly misguided
de facto partnerships that inevitably lead to more division and impiety as the clear line between the ‘important’ and the ‘divine’ become increasingly blurred in their individual minds. Things become ‘black and white’ and their way becomes the ‘only’ way for everybody – all in the name of ‘unity’ and ‘righteous order’ in a losing battle to lord over and judge what Allah alone has the power to create, preserve and destroy as per His divine Judgment and Will.
It is important to mention that proponents of Fascism in all of it forms have also historically used 'disorder' and 'chaos' to undermine civil liberties, and eventually lost after much bloodshed and suffering. Allah is indeed Just and guarantees final victory only to those who do not break their covenant with Him in their hearts and deeds.
A Madhab can does assist in consolidating that covenant IF and ONLY IF the individual Muslim allows himself to be rightly guided in his HEART by the ONLY divine and FINAL revelation that supercedes all previous revelations – the Holy Quran.
Quote:
"We have decreed that the believers will be victorious." (30:47)
"GOD will support with victory those who support Him. GOD is powerful, Almighty." (22:40)
"GOD will surely defend those who believe. GOD does not like any betrayer, disbeliever." (22:38)
"O you who believe, if you support GOD, He will grant you victory, and strengthen your foothold." (47:7)
|
It is not about following or not following a Madhab, but
how and why we follow whatever we choose to in our hearts, and to what end. A Madhab can be a light that illuminates the Word of Allah, but NEVER assign itself as an intermediary between Allah in the minds of a Muslim who follows its erudite interpretations and norms. Then again, there is not much a Madhab can do when the individual Muslim is blinded by his own desire to seek ephemeral comforts of
de facto idolatry in a private world where he/she hears only what reinforces their blindness. The ‘input’ always matches the ‘expectation’ as he/she perhaps inadvertently assigns 1)
de facto ‘partners’ in the process, 2) has all of the thinking conveniently done for him by those ‘partners’ of his making, and 3) becomes too entangled in the ‘branches’ before neglecting the ‘root’ of the faith.
The Holy Quran provides clear guidance in this matter.
Quote:
"Say (O Muhammad), 'Whose testimony is greater?' Say, 'God is the witness between me and you that THIS QURAN was given to me to preach it to you, and to whomever it reaches.' However, you certainly bear witness that you set up other gods beside. Say, 'I will never do what you are doing; I disown your idol-worship.'" (6:19)
"When our verses are recited for them, those who do not expect to meet us would say, 'Bring a Quraan other than this, or change it.' Say (O Muhammad), 'I cannot change it on my own initiative. I simply follow what is revealed to me. I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the retribution of a terrible day.' ...Who is more wicked than one who invents lies about God, or rejects His revelations? The guilty never succeed. Yet, they idolize beside God those who possess no power to harm them or benefit them, and say, 'These are our intercessors with God.' ...such is idol-worship." (10:15-18)
|
Sadly, often such 'partnerships' are easily formulated in light of just the initial comments
here from Maulvi Muhammed Yusaf. Only Allah knows what is truly in the hearts of His creations, but statements such as the one listed below from the video, can for all practical purposes, enable a Muslim to perhaps inadvertently create the type of 'partnership' with Allah and His words - a type of 'partnership' clearly prohibited in the Quran and repeatedly classified as the worst kind of 'shirk' - and lead to all subsequent real life pitfalls as revealed in the Holy Quran.
Quote:
We need to talk about the OBLIGATION to follow a mujtahid*. ... by mujtahid, we mean a person SUPREMELY QUALIFIED to REPRESENT the INTENT of the LAW GIVER ...
*Ijtihad (Arabic اجتهاد) is a technical term of Islamic law that describes the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources, the Quran and the Sunnah. A person who applies ijtihad is called a mujtahid, and traditionally had to be a scholar of Islamic law, an Islamic lawyer or alim.
|
Once an individual allows him/herself to empower a scholar with the cloak of
de facto infallibility, he/she can easily indulge in intellectual dishonesty by either hearing only what they with to hear, or by outright taking things out of their context. When that happens, that person finds him/herself perhaps inadvertently wallowing in ultimately the conviction of nothing other than his/her own vanity as reinforced by such self-induced dishonesty and dogma. At that point, there is nothing we can do but pray.
Quote:
"When they are told, "Follow what GOD has revealed herein," they say, "We follow only what we found our parents doing." What if their parents did not understand, and were not guided?. The example of those who reject is that of one who repeats what he hears of sounds and calls, without understanding. Deaf, dumb, and blind; they cannot understand." (2:170-171)
"And who is more wicked than one who is reminded of his Lord’s verses but he turned away from them, and he forgot what his hands had done. We have made veils upon their hearts from understanding them, and a deafness in their ears. And if you invite them to the guidance, they will never be guided." (The Message 18:57)
"And when God Alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter are filled with aversion; and when others are mentioned beside Him, they rejoice!" (The Message 39:45)
|
They forget that the Holy Quran is revealed for all of mankind, not just the elite few especially at this Information Age of higher literacy and better access to knowledge. They appoint partners and perhaps even believe in their hearts that it will be such partners, and not those who have benefited from their piety in intent and deeds, can 'intercede' on their behalf when the time comes.
Quote:
"Say, 'To God belongs ALL INTERCESSION. To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, then to Him you will be returned.' When GOD ALONE is advocated, the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter shrink with aversion. But when idols are mentioned along with Him, they become satisfied." (39:45)
"Spend from our provisions to you before a day comes wherein there will be no trade, no nepotism, and NO INTERCESSION." (2:254)
"Beware of the day when no soul will help another soul, no ransom will be accepted, NO INTERCESSION will be useful, and no one will be helped."
(2/123)
|
The Holy Quran is not rocket science, and can be understood at multiple levels by individuals irrespective of their faculties. We have a fundamental responsibility as Muslims use those faculties and allow ourselves to be happy in this world, as an integral part of this world, and not at the expense of others we so hastily judge.
Quote:
"...We have revealed to you this book to provide explanations for everything, and guidance, and mercy, and good news for the submitters/muslims." (16:89)
"Shall I seek other than GOD as a judge, when He revealed THIS BOOK FULLY DETAILED? (6:114)
"The word of your Lord is COMPLETE in truth & justice." (6:115)
"The followers will say to their leaders, "It was you who schemed night and day, then commanded us to be unappreciative of GOD, and to set up partners to rank with Him." They will be ridden with remorse, when they see the retribution, for we will place shackles around the necks of those who disbelieved. Are they not justly requited for what they did?" (34:33)
"Why do they not study the Quraan? Or are their locks on their hearts?" (47:24)
"That is because God was not to change anything He bestowed to a people, unless they change what is in themselves. God is Hearer, Knowledgeable." (The Message 8:53)
|
Luckily for us, perhaps a majority of Muslims and Muslim scholars do instinctively understand the Word of Allah in hearts, and a great traditional scholar such as Sheikh Hamza Yusuf can reiterate the supreme importance of genuine faith, and piety as an integral expression of that faith as revealed in the Holy Quran. I humbly suggest that we listen closely to what he has to say
here and understand why inclusion and tolerance is perhaps better than exclusion and intolerance. The scholarly Sheikh knows that at the end of the day, he is perhaps as good a Muslim or ‘submitter’ as the illiterate Yusuf Mia who is also pious with perhaps just an ‘instinctive’ understanding of the word of Allah.
Peace, Sohel …