Tag: madhabs

  • Before you judge others…

    We are collectively responsible for the extremists that have hijacked Islam for their own personal agendas and political motives. If we had established the unity that is demanded of Muslims, the non-Muslims would never have the gap to produce plausible blame regarding atrocities often instigated by a third force that knows full well that Muslims are in too much disarray to provide any meaningful response.

    Each time I try to engage with a non-Muslim about the true essence of Islam versus what is reported in the main stream media, I am immediately hit with a barrage of comments and examples of how Muslims do not act in line with what we claim is the beauty and essence of Islam.

    But who cares, right? We need to focus on establishing sects and madhabs and Allah knows what else to define our superiority relative to others so that we can feel affirmed in our spirituality, while missing the point completely. I’m sick and tired of reminiscing about the glory days of Islam while our present actions make a mockery of that same legacy that everyone is quick to claim as their own.

    So here’s a few questions that I’d like to ask my fellow Muslims:

    1. Have you ever accused someone of being a kafir because of the way they behaved, rather than because they openly proclaimed not to believe in Allah and the last Prophet Muhammed (SAW)?
    2. Have you ever conducted yourself in a manner that would make it difficult to identify the Muslim in you when compared to another individual of the same ethnic origin?
    3. Have you ever put off doing the right thing because you didn’t think it was anyone else’s business how sincere your efforts at being a Muslim is, or is not?
    4. Have you ever engaged with a non-Muslim and made excuses or apologies about some aspects of Islam because you felt ashamed of what they questioned simply because you didn’t have the knowledge or appreciation of the issue to provide them with a reasonable response?
    5. Are you looking for affirmation and inclusion from the non-Muslims and celebrating our inclusion in the world sporting events rather than realising that we’re pandering for attention at the expense of our integrity?

    There are many more questions, and I have no doubt that some may interpret these questions as arrogance on my part. But I’m not here to appease anyone. I’ve been excluded from the Muslim community more times than I care to remember simply because I challenged their ritualistic approach to Islam that was almost always tainted with a healthy dose of cultural bias. We have turned Islam into a cult and the we cry that we’re being oppressed!

    I for one am tired of watching kids raised with the fear of non-compliance rather than the appreciation of the beauty and value that the adoption of Islamic principles offer us. I’m also sick of the hypocrisy of overt inclusion but distinct prejudice when it comes to accepting Muslims as Muslims regardless of their ethnic origins or caste. Being of Indian descent in South Africa, the sickening stench of the caste system still very much permeates the Ummah, and given the stories that people share from around the world about their challenges in finding a marriage partner because of this, it’s obvious that this is not restricted to South Africa only.

    We’re impotent. We are the generation of the Ummah that is a fulfilment of the statement of Rasulullah (SAW) that says that we will be large in numbers but weak like the foam of the ocean. So before you thumb your nose at a seemingly lesser Muslim, consider that you are part of this despised and contemptible Ummah, not because Islam is contemptible, but because our selective use and abuse of Islamic injunctions to suit our personal fetishes and fancies is what is making us contemptible.

    Audhubillah min dhalik…May Allah save us from ourselves, and may He save others from us. Ameen.

  • Ever see a non-aligned extremist?

    Just a thought…ever see a Muslim ‘extremist’ that didn’t belong to a specific sect? That’s the thing with sects, or aligning with specific sub-groups of Islam, or giving your iman a label. It’s the same with nationalism, or pledging allegiance to any specific sub-group of a broader movement. You’re automatically inclined to defend the specific view points of that sect rather than remaining objective and neutral in your application and compliance with the rulings and principles of the movement itself.

    The same is true for the raging debates between different sects and different schools of thought. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone that sincerely debates to arrive at the truth, rather than debating to defend their allegiance and adopted perspectives from the sect that they’re a part of.

    I can’t see anything other than three specific states of iman. We’re either guided Muslims, misguided Muslims, or non-Muslims. All the nuances and differing opinions around issues that do not take one out of the fold of Islam are simply whisperings of Shaytaan that successfully sow discord amongst Muslims by instilling a sense of pride or superiority in us about our alignment with what is considered by some to be a superior manner of practising Islam, not realising that our pride and haughtiness, no matter how we disguise it, could easily negate all our efforts in the process. 

  • The Arrogance of Religiosity

    My pet peeve on Tumblr, and in general regarding the way we address each other, is still the haughtiness that is displayed by people that pretend to be sincere in their use of the term ‘Oh so-and-so…’. Then there are those that use words like ‘Indeed’ and ‘Verily’ in their posts disguised as advice as if they are such authorities that such a pompous use of language is warranted.

    I say this about both the layman and the scholar alike. This use of language is taken from the style that is evident in the translations of the Qur’an, which is obviously fitting for Allah to use when addressing His creation. But to use it when talking to people or addressing people on Tumblr? Really? We think we’re so accomplished and aloof that we can address others as ‘O Muslims’ or ‘O Believers’ or use condescending terms like ‘Ahlul Bid’aa’ or the ‘Awwaam’ and the like?

    The annoyance I have with many people that assume a position of authority after studying Islam in some form or another is that more often than not they cease to engage meaningfully with others, and instead start assuming a level of superiority that is rarely, if ever, warranted. We’re so steeped in arrogance that the moment we study Islam formally, we assume that it’s our responsibility to start preaching before we even start practising.

    These are generalisations, I admit. And like all generalisations, there are exceptions. But look around you and I am quite certain you’ll agree that the number of sincere and humble scholars of the present day are few and far between. Most people that ascend the pulpit these days assume that by putting in the general disclaimers about what supposedly refers to them before it refers to anyone else is sufficient to disguise the arrogance and condescension with which they engage with those that don’t formally study Islam.

    It’s the same old thing. We forget what it’s like to be Muslims, because we’re so indulgent in wanting to tell everyone how they’re supposed to be Muslims. I’m often reminded of the stories of the Sahaba when they used to travel to foreign lands. They didn’t first need to learn the language and the culture and make big bayaans and write extensive treatises in their efforts to spread the word of Islam. They convinced others about the superiority of Islam over any other way of life simply through the way they conducted themselves. By contrast, these days we’re told that we are not qualified to engage in debate or discussion with anyone about Islam unless we hold a man-made title that signifies our level of proficiency in Islamic studies.

    We’ve turned Islam into an academic pursuit, embellished with sects and madhabs and pretentious scholars, while forgetting how to simply be Muslims. May Allah save us from ourselves.

  • What Kind of Muslim Are You?

    verse2verse:

    Everytime this comes on my Dashboard, I WILL REBLOG!!! 🙂

  • Scholarly Debates Gone Wrong

    Here’s a very interesting article that a sister shared with me today. It provides some much needed context on the four madhabs. However, the most interesting part for me was the extended debates at the end of the article in the comments section. A few really important points that I liked are quoted below:Imam Al Qurtubi mentions towards the end of his commentary on these verses in hisAl Jami’ Li Ah’kam Al Qur’an:

    These people claiming to be fixing the conditions are only assuming so, while in reality they’re sowing corruption. Furthermore, the people of meaning say: “whoever makes a claim has lied”, which is true.

    Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah had put it during the 2011 Deen Intensive Rihla in Turkey:

    The crisis of the Muslim community is a crisis of adab, i.e. a crisis of character and manners

    It’s narrated that a man came to Imam Malik and was trying to argue about a certain matter. Imam Malik quickly responded with:

    As for me, I’m in a state of certainty from my Lord about what I’m doing. As for you, you’re in doubt, so go find someone else in doubt like yourself to argue with

     

    Scholarly Debates Gone Wrong

  • Madhabs…why?

    honeststrangers:

    “Rasulullah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Make things easy! And do not make them complicated! Be cheerful! And do not be repulsive.””

    —

    Bukhari (via oneislam)

    This hadith echoes the thoughts in my head right now. Whenever I find myself delayed in the performance of my dhuhr salaah, I have to fight the tendency to want to debate (in my head) whether I should refer to the Shaf’i or Hanafi madhab to determine whether or not it is still permissible for me to perform dhuhr. 

    I’ve chosen to follow the Shaf’i view on this. My reason being that I cannot see how it would be possible for two Muslims (a Shaf’i and a Hanafi) to be standing side by side, with one performing Dhuhr and the other performing Asr at exactly the same time, and have both of their salaah accepted as having been read within the prescribed window for that prayer. It’s illogical!

    Islam always makes sense to me. Logical sense. This situation defies logic. So for this reason (amongst others) I find it impossible to respect these differences between the madhabs. If the Shaf’i followers believe that they are acting within the bounds of the Sunnah, and the Hanafi followers also believe that they’re acting within these same bounds, then is it not possible that in fact a combination of the two madhabs are in fact within the bounds of the Sunnah anyway? 

    The more I try to rationalise this, the more entangled I feel! But I refuse to apply a label to myself in the process other than being a Mu’min (a Believer!) and nothing else. Unless something was specifically forbidden, I will make it as easy as possible for me to practise my deen. This world is insane enough as it is, let alone the enormous trials that are placed on anyone that resists hedonism or liberalism. Anyone trying to live a decent, respectable, and modest life, regardless of religious persuasion, is fighting against the massive currents of corruption, immodesty, and vulgarity. Add to this the ridiculous burdens placed on top of Muslims to try to determine which one of the madhabs we’re supposed to follow and the numerous debates and arguments and inconsistencies that go with that, and it’s not difficult to understand why the youth are so rebellious these days. 

    We’ve created a legacy of Islam that is prone to ridicule, and we fool ourselves by arrogantly believing that we’re standing out because we’re the strangers that Rasulullah (SAW) referred to. I doubt that we are. I think that the moment we align with a group that considers itself to be of those strangers, we cease to be strangers and therefore cannot ever be certain of our status. Yet we persist in our divisions, and our sects and our folly with words and interpretations and man-endowed titles of scholarly supremacy! 

    Just the thought of it all is horribly disheartening. 

  • All we do is talk talk…

    We spend too much time researching and articulating our differences and too little time on our character. It’s easier to be an armchair critic than it is to be a practising philosopher. Discussing and debating ideals and perspectives is great, but like everything else, only in moderation. If my dashboard is anything to go by, then there is a very definite disparity in the amount of effort applied to practising, compared to discussing and refuting.

    Surely Islam has more to offer than the excessive debates between sects and madhabs? The next time you feel inclined to post something, reflect on whether it is pre-emptive, constructive or simply argumentative? More often than not, it’s argumentative hidden behind the guise of it being an effort to guide a potentially innocent person that may stumble across the misleading interpretation or viewpoints being rebutted.

    I think that if we focused more on practising our deen and less on debating it, we may just find that the true beauty of Imaan is realised rather than the incessant debating that prevents us from uniting.

  • They are the losers, those who make the religion hard and tough. They imperil themselves who enforce tough practices of Islam. They destroy themselves, those who are extremes.

    Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)