| By Mizan,
on 16-02-2004 05:28
|
Views : 2226  |
Favoured : 89 |
Published in : , Reviews |
Abou El Fadl, Khaled. The Authoritative and the Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: A Contemporary Case Study; (2nd Edition, revised and expanded), Dar Taiba, Austin, 1997.
This book marks a turning point in my understanding of Islam. I first picked up the book in the library at Universal School, Bridgeview, IL after recognizing the name of the author from an article on the Internet about his supposedly unorthodox views on many issues pertaining to contemporary Muslim society. Once I began reading, I could not stop until I completed all of the approximately 100 pages. The gift I enjoyed from reading this book was the ability to come to a new level of understanding regarding the wide range of tolerance for differing opinions in Islam, as well as a fuller appreciation for the rich tradition of scholarship that has characterized the Islamic sciences of hadeeth and fiqh.
The author utilizes a fatwa issued by a U.S. based organization regarding the incident of Mahmoud Abdul Rauf’s decision not to stand for the national anthem during a basketball game back in the mid 1990s. The fatwa claimed to settle the issue in a clear-cut fashion from the Qur’an and Sunnah. The issue of standing for the anthem was classified as a matter of worship and the fatwa declares the action to be forbidden. Several hadeeth are quoted as clear evidence of this position. The scary thing about all of this is that only a few years ago I would have bought this verdict hook, line, and sinker. I would have considered anyone who could not fathom the “clear proofs” put forth to be an innovator. And this is why the book helped me to make a transition to a new way of thinking about Islam and the modern plight of Muslims, especially in America.
The author uses the above fatwa as a case in point for his argument regarding the way our current lack of respect for the breadth and depth of classical Islamic scholarship has led to intolerance and error. He then discusses the fatwa and its supporting texts at length, ripping it apart piece by piece in order to illustrate not only the myriad categories of hadeeth, but also the considerations needed in order to appropriately utilize these texts in the context of usool ul-fiqh and its various classifications of actions. One who reads this book will realize how foolish many of us are today to think that we can just read the translation of any hadeeth and then make our own judgments on how to apply them. Further it will allow the reader patience and tolerance when dealing with differences of opinion amongst the Muslims when he realizes just how much the scholars differed through the ages. It is not that the author is calling for an “anything goes” approach to Islam. But by gaining the perspective he brings to the manner and methodology of differing, one can definitely come to a greater level of appreciation for the complex intricacies of sound Islamic scholarship.
For me this short book was a very important eye-opener on a range of topics that began with what I have stated above and extended into other issues pertaining to culture, politics, women, hadeeth and fiqh sciences, and most importantly the problem of authoritarianism being assumed by individuals who grab any text without regard for the vast legacy of scholarship and inadvertently turn Islam into a constrictive puritanistic expression of religion. In many ways I have found breathing easier since I read this book. It is ironic how the chaotic but free application of Islamic source material has resulted in mental slavery and oppression, while submission to the intricately developed systems of Islamic scholarship can actually set us free. As the title indicates, the main point of the book is to address this problem. Many who came to Islam seeking freedom through submission to The One, have been bound and gagged by those who belligerently use the Qur’an and Sunnah to speak on God’s behalf – thus abusing the authoritative and becoming authoritarian.
This recalls a host of issues that the Muslim world, especially the western convert, has been struggling with for some time. The people of knowledge, scholars and students, hold a tremendous position in Islam while Islam maintains no institutional church or clergy. This has been touted as a preventive measure against the abuses that other religious devotees suffered at the hands of evil and hypocritical officials who used the power of religion to manipulate the masses. The authoritarian in modern Islamic scholarship has seemingly assumed this position despite the fact that Muslims do not recognize any formal religious hierarchy. Conversely, the after-effects of colonialism has left the Muslim nation ignorant of who our scholars are leaving many guessing, and some even assuming that today’s Muslim scholarship is inadequate! In fact, in countries that have abandoned traditional Islamic education and have begun blindly imitating western schooling practices, the tracking system has channeled the most proficient students toward medicine, the second category toward engineering, and the least academically gifted toward so-called Islamic studies!
This last point goes beyond the scope of the short book to which I am responding, but another symptom of our modern plight that the author does address is that of Muslim women. In the wake of colonialism, the status of women who once enjoyed prominence among the great scholars of Islam has now diminished to the point that women scholars are hardly known, if at all – secluded in their homes and subjected to the authoritarianism of men who have warped the shari’ evidences for their actions from its appropriate context and application. What of those of us who were reared in the west without the disdain for public women and have submitted our understanding of the woman’s place to a post-colonialist error? Some of the hadeeth in this regard are brought under scrutiny by Abou El Fadl in this book because strangely enough, such hadeeth regarding women’s subservient place next to men were cited as evidence against standing for the national anthem! Yet, as absurd as this may seem, I was personally humbled in reading this book because only a short time ago, I myself would have adopted the position and proofs of this fawta without being cognizant of the methodological errors nor the social implications of the irrelevant texts being cited.
In closing I should mention that the author has recently published a lengthier and more comprehensive book on the same subject entitled “Speaking in God’s Name”. It is my intent to read this second book as soon as time allows, but I do believe the shorter work which I have discussed here is well worth the reader’s time and is perhaps a more appropriate introduction to the author’s other work.
Last update : 16-02-2004 05:28
|
|
|
Users' Comments  |
|
Average user rating
 (0 vote)
|
|
Add your comment
|
