by Hagai Mazuz
Although there is a debate among scholars of Islam and the Muslim world as to whether Islam is the most important factor in the daily lives of all Muslims, irrespective of nationality, people in the Western world find it hard to accept that medieval texts can dictate the daily routine of other societies -- a result of mirror imaging, of assuming that everyone is "just like us," from which Westerners suffer when they try to understand the Muslim world.
For Muslims, Muḥammed was the ideal Muslim. Sunni Muslims believe that they should model their behavior and pattern their lives after his. This means blindly imitating his habits, practices, and lifestyle whether they understand why he did what he did or not. This is called the Sunna (in Arabic, The Way of Life). In it, how the perfect man – Muhammed -- acted is how all Muslims should act; those who imitate Muḥammed are called Sunnis.
Nevertheless, the second Caliph, 'Umar, who reigned from 634-644, did not accept these givens at face value. According to one Muslim tradition, for example, he went to the Ka'ba during the Hajj -- the required pilgrimage to Mecca -- and, addressing the square, stone Ka'ba around which one os supposed to walk three times, said: "Oh Allah! I know that you [the Ka'ba] are nothing but a stone, which cannot harm and cannot help, but since I saw the Messenger of Allah [Muḥammed] touching and kissing you, I am also doing this just because he did so. Then he said: "This is something that Muḥammed did and we will never not abandon it." [Saḥiḥ al-Bukhari, volume II (Cairo, 1953), p. 419].
Why did the Muslims not hide this strange and embarrassing tradition? 'Umar's reaction could make others question it and could lead them to apostasy or internal dissent within the young Muslim community.
After all, circumambulating and touching the Ka'ba is a central part of the Ḥajj, and constitutes one of the five basic pillars of Islam. Non-Muslims could easily use this curious tradition in their polemical arguments against Islam
The purpose of this ḥadīth [Muslim tradition] is to teach the Muslims that although 'Umar understood this problem as a contradiction between logic and faith, he preferred to follow the faith in the Sunna of Muḥammed -- which is what all Muslims are instructed to do: to accept things on faith, even if these things might appear odd or irrational.
People would later ask the great Muslim scholar, Ibn Taymiyya, why did he refuse to eat watermelon? He would reply that this was because he could not find any tradition that described how Muḥammed handled watermelon seeds. Ibn Taymiyya apparently decided it was best not to eat watermelon -- avoiding the problem altogether.
Lately, Mahmoud Abu Tir, a senior Hamas leader recently released from an Israeli prison, told an Israeli TV reporter that the reason he dyes his beard with henna is because this is what Muḥammed did: Muslim tradition teaches that Muḥammed ordered the Muslims to dye their beards with henna to differentiate themselves from the Jews and the Christians, who did not do so.
Another example of the power of following Muḥammed's Sunna occurred a few years ago in Bahrain. According to Bahraini law, girls cannot be married before the age of 16. When one man in his 30s married a 10-year-old girl, the authorities put him on trial. In court, the defendant showed the judge a ḥadīth according to which Muḥammed married his favorite wife, 'Aisha, when she was only eight years old (some say nine). "If Muḥammed did it," the defendant told the judge, "clearly a Muslim is allowed to marry a 10-year-old girl." Further, the defendant told the judge: "If you are saying that what I have done is wrong, then you are basically saying that what Muḥammed did was wrong." The judge acquitted the defendant. Sunna law trumped Bahraini secular law. The International Center for Research on Women estimates that there are 51 million child-brides; almost all of these marriages take place in Muslim countries.
These are only a few anecdotes which demonstrate the strength and influence of the Sunna in the lives of the Muslims. Muhammed created the Muslim community in his image: Islam is the embodiment of Muḥammed's actions, character and soul.
Islam deals with every aspect of Muslim life; as such, it is not just a guide for purely religious matters such as prayer, charity, and pilgrimage. It also deals with political, social, and business matters, and even enters the bedroom.
People in the West believe in the separation of church (religion) and state; people in Islam do not. Islam dominates all aspects of life. Allah's truth is final, as are Allah's demands, which he transmitted to mankind via his messenger, Muḥammed.
The desire to imitate Muḥammed's lifestyle explains both Muslim attitudes towards non-Muslims, and how institutions like Jihād were created. From the time Muḥammed fled Mecca for Medina in 622 until his death in 632, he and his followers engaged in military campaigns against those who refused to accept him as a prophet. The Islamic nation (the Umma) was forged in war, led by Muḥammed, whom Muslims strive to imitate with all their hearts and souls.
With the fundamentalists' view of Muḥammed, it is hard to see how, given the present circumstances, Islam and the non-Muslim world can come to a compromise in which both sides live peacefully together. Sadly, if things continue as they are, we may well witness a major confrontation between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds, as already can be seen in the current persecutions of Christians in, for example, the Sudan, Egypt and Iraq.
Only after such confrontations, and a defeat for the Muslim fundamentalists, maybe then, and only then, can Muslims who do not view Muḥammed as their sole model, and who wish to implement other views, have a chance to do so.
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment