by Prof. Ella Landau-Tasseron/MEMRI
Both ISIS and its critics rely on Islamic texts, sometimes the very same texts. The nature and content of these texts require selective reading and allow various and even contradictory conclusions.
The following is the executive summary of Prof. Ella Landau-Tasseron's paper. The full paper is available here.
On September 19, 2014, a group of 126 Muslim
scholars addressed an open letter to the ruler of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In it they severely criticize ISIS' policies and actions, claiming that they
are deviations from Islam, which is a merciful religion. In justifying their
position, the critics sometimes cite the same texts used by ISIS, giving their
own interpretation. It should be mentioned that the letter did not spark public
debate in the Muslim world.
Below I
present the points of the clerics' criticism, with a short analysis of each point
(marked by an asterisk).
1. A Muslim claiming religious authority must
have a formal education; he must correctly apply Koran, hadith and legal
theory, consider all the texts relevant to any issue discussed, and avoid
selective reading. ISIS religious authorities do not meet these requirements.
* Al-Baghdadi has a PhD in Islamic legal
studies (Shari'a) from Baghdad University. This certainly makes him quite
knowledgeable in Shari'a. Furthermore, reading sacred texts selectively is
unavoidable because they always contain contradictions. The critics read
selectively too, omitting or explaining away texts that do not fit their
arguments.
2. A religious authority must possess a mastery
of Arabic. ISIS presents itself as the fulfilment of Allah's promise in Koran
24: 55, "Allah has promised those who believe and do good works that He
will establish them as successors (la-yastakhlifannahum) [to
those who preceded them] on earth..." ISIS maintains that the word la-yastakhlifannahum,
derived from the same root as the word khilafa, refers to
Al-Baghdadi's Caliphate. This interpretation discloses ignorance of Arabic, as
it distorts the true meaning of the verse.
* This verse has always been interpreted as
foretelling the victory and conquests of the Prophet and the early caliphate in
the seventh century. ISIS, emulating the pristine model, understandably applies
the verse to itself. True, the word la-yastakhlifannahum does not
literally refer to a caliphate, but some pre-modern Muslims thought that it
did. This means that ISIS has not introduced a new uninformed interpretation.
3. It is forbidden to oversimplify the Shari'a
and ignore established Islamic sciences and experts.
* The critics protest here the current trend of
"democratizing religious knowledge," in which autodidact Muslims read
the sources for themselves and sometimes reach legal conclusions. This trend is
facilitated by the internet and its appeal is great.
4. Leniency is always
preferable in religious matters. The propagation of Islam has always been done
by preaching, not by coercion. ISIS' actions contravene this Islamic principle.
* In devising this argument the critics resort
to a practice that they censure ISIS for, namely take verses out of their
context or rely on verses that are traditionally considered abrogated. It is
also erroneous to say that Islam was always propagated only by preaching. Both
history and Islamic law books prove otherwise.
5. The Shari'a
must not be applied rigidly and literally, as done by ISIS, but flexibly,
according to circumstances of place and time.
* Indeed, Muslim scholars have always shown
ingenuity in adapting Shari'a laws to changing realities. In modern times the
debate around adaptability has intensified, as Muslims face problems resulting
from a clash between Islamic and Western cultures and values. ISIS represents
an ultra-puritan attitude which, in part at least, is precisely a response to
Western and Westernized modernity. The critics take a more flexible approach.
6. It is forbidden to kill the innocent, as
ISIS often does. There must be a lawful cause for killing.
* "Lawful cause" is mentioned in the
Koran but without specification, so the term is vague. Pre-modern Muslims
debated whether unbelief was sufficient cause for killing, or only unbelief
combined with aggression. Both positions are supported by Koranic verses and
various interpretations and Prophetic sayings.
7. ISIS kills
journalists and aid-workers; these are comparable to envoys, whose killing is
forbidden.
* This analogy drawn by the critics
illustrates the feasibility of applying lenient traditional norms to modern
circumstances by deduction. Another such analogy is made between the modern
visa and the pre-modern aman, i.e. the legal institution that
protected foreign visitors in Islamic lands and vice versa, on condition that
they keep the laws of the host country. After 9/11, many Muslims argued that
the perpetrators had American visas, comparable to aman given to Muslims
in foreign countries. By committing a crime against their American hosts, these
Muslims thus broke Islamic law.
8. ISIS attacks Muslims, but jihad must be
defensive and waged only against non- Muslims. Furthermore, it must be waged
with a lawful cause, right intention, lawful goal and lawful conduct. The cause
must be prior aggression against Muslims, the intention must be to fight in
Allah's way, the goal must be "to make Allah's word supreme," and the
right conduct is to kill combatants only. ISIS deviates from all of these. The
goal of jihad was achieved when the Arabian Peninsula was Islamized by the
Prophet in 630-31 CE, so that offensive jihad has become redundant. The
post-Prophet Islamic conquests cannot serve ISIS as a model because they were
merely defensive. The Prophet's execution of prisoners cannot serve ISIS as a
model, because those prisoners were war criminals like those tried in
Nuremberg. ISIS also errs by urging every Muslim to participate in jihad,
because jihad is incumbent upon the community as a whole, not upon each and
every Muslim.
*Most of the terms and categories used by the
critics here are borrowed from the Western doctrine of just war. However, the
rules of jihad are not entirely compatible with that doctrine. Contrary to the
critics' claim, the Koran, the hadith and pre-modern Islam did preach
offensive war. In fact, the Islamic lawful goal of "making Allah's word
supreme" means establishing the reign of Islam by converting or subduing
non-Muslims – either by preaching and persuasion or by violent means. Thus
there is a contradiction between the critics' two statements ("jihad is
only defensive" and "jihad's goal is to make Allah's word
supreme"). To resolve this contradiction the critics devise an innovative
interpretation: The goal of jihad has already been achieved by the Prophet,
they say, so only defensive jihad is now legitimate. To my knowledge, no
pre-modern Muslim scholar has offered this interpretation.
As for the right conduct of war, early Muslim
scholars set some rules, such as "do not kill children," but these
were later voided of content by means of ingenious interpretations. Similarly,
the Koranic rules concerning prisoners of war stipulated that they may be released for a ransom or gratuitously. Muslim
jurists complemented these rules based on reported actions of the Prophet, so
that prisoners could also be executed or enslaved. It seems that the
earliest rules of conduct for jihad are more compatible with current
international norms than are the classical Shari'a regulations.
The
critics do not take into account all the Koranic verses and reports relevant to
the issue of jihad (thus contravening their own advice to al-Baghdadi). In
particular, they omit to mention the traditional interpretations of the
so-called "sword verses," and many other verses and hadiths,
which enjoin the Muslims to fight infidels "in the way of Allah"
regardless of the need for defense.
Furthermore,
the terms lawful cause, right goal, and right intention are fuzzy. They appear
to be means to restrict offensive war, but they are not necessarily so. In
Islam there is precedent for regarding as aggressors all non-Muslims who refuse
to convert, thus providing a "lawful cause" for attacks on them even
if they have not committed actual aggression against Muslims. The goal of
making Allah's word reign supreme is "right" in Islamic terms, but it
does not stipulate restrictions on offensive war. As for the conduct of war,
ISIS can easily find in the Islamic sources precedents or justifications for
most of their actions.
9. It is forbidden to
label other Muslims "unbelievers" (takfir), as ISIS does.
* Labeling other Muslims "infidels"
or "unbelievers" has serious consequences, because in Islam apostates
must be executed. The consensus in pre-modern Sunni Islam has been to refrain
from excommunication as much as possible. Since the mid-twentieth century,
radical Muslims use takfir in order to legitimize violence against
governments in Muslim countries, and against other Muslims in general.
10. ISIS persecutes Christians although they
have had a covenant with the Muslims for 1,400 years (dhimma, meaning
that they paid a poll tax, abided by certain restrictions, and were protected
in return). Moreover, Koran 9:29 –
"Fight those who have been given the Scripture but do not believe in
Allah... until they pay the poll tax, humiliated" – applies only to those
amongst the Peoples of the Book (Christians, Jews and Sabians) who are
aggressors. The Christian of Arab descent, who were allies of the Muslims, had
a special status, in which they did not pay a humiliating poll tax but rather a
non-humiliating tax equivalent to the zakat tax paid by Muslims.
* The dhimma
was abolished by the Ottomans in 1856. Nevertheless the predecessor
of ISIS, "The Islamic State of Iraq," declared the dhimma contract
null and void in 2007 on the grounds that the dhimmi had violated it. A
new dhimma covenant was drafted by ISIS in 2015. Thus the organization
in fact offers Christians the same three options traditionally offered
to most non-Muslims: Convert to Islam, pay tribute and become
protected-humiliated subjects (dhimmi), or face the sword. By
this measure ISIS equates itself to the second caliph, Umar bin al-Khattab (d.
644 CE), considered to be the initiator of the dhimma arrangement.
As for
the historical arguments regarding the special status of Christian Arabs, it
has some basis. The Christians of the Arabian Peninsula were part of Arab
Muslim society, and apparently experienced no
discrimination. The Christian Arabs in the Fertile Crescent did pay tribute,
but were treated more leniently than Christians of other descent.
I know
no basis in the sources for the argument that Koran 9:29 only applies to
defensive war against aggressive Christians (or Jews, etc.)
11. ISIS harshly persecutes the Yazidis,
but they belong to the Peoples of the Scriptures, like Zoroastrians, Hindus,
Buddhists and many others. All of these were recognized by the greatest
pre-modern Muslim scholars as eligible for the protected-humiliating status,
and the Yazidis must be accorded the same status and must not be persecuted.
* The Koran accorded the protected status only
to "the Peoples of Scriptures," identified as Jews, Christians and
Sabians. Other idolaters must either convert or face the sword. However, early
Muslim scholars recognized most non-Muslims as comparable to the Peoples of the
Scriptures, and accorded them the protected-humiliating status; this is the
basis of the critics' demand regarding the Yazidis. ISIS, however, claims that
the Yazidis are idolaters, on the basis of research conducted by ISIS scholars.
12. ISIS takes slaves, but enslavement
is forbidden. Islam always strove to abolish slavery, which indeed has been
banned throughout the world based on a universal, including Muslim, consensus.
* Contrary to the critics' claim, the Shari'a
never strove to abolish slavery but only to regularize it. It was, however,
considered virtuous to set Muslim slaves free. Slavery has indeed been
abolished, at least in theory, by the international community, but ISIS members
do not regard the international community as a model. They see themselves as
reviving a custom of the Prophet when they enslave prisoners of war and take
slave girls as concubines.
13. It is forbidden to coerce anyone to
convert to Islam. Many verses in the Koran express toleration of non-Muslims.
It is also forbidden to enforce the Shari'a in the public sphere, because, as
the Koran says (13:31, 26:4), Allah wants there to be infidels and sinners on
earth.
* Pre-modern Muslim scholars had to determine
the attitude of Islamic law towards non-Muslims, given the contradictory
Koranic verses such as: "No compulsion is there in religion…"(2:256)
versus the recurrent injunction to fight non-Muslims "until all religion
belongs to Allah" (Koran 2:193, 8:39, 48:16). Pre-modern Muslim scholars
considered as abrogated, or otherwise explained away, the tolerance verses; the
injunction to wage jihad was considered binding, superseding all the verses
expressing tolerance. Differences in detail notwithstanding, the scholars
established that some groups must be coerced to convert to Islam or die, such
as Arab idolaters, apostates and Manicheans. Others must not be coerced, but
they must surrender to the Muslims. The critics in fact refute the pre-modern
consensus by reestablishing the validity of the tolerance verses.
Enforcing
the Shari'a in the public sphere is by no means an ISIS innovation. In
pre-modern Shari'a books it is considered one of the major tasks of the Muslim
ruler. Religious police (hisba) in some modern Muslim countries
and in ISIS territories continues this tradition.
14. ISIS denies women their rights, their
freedom of movement, and their right to study, work, and dress according to
their taste. Forced marriages are also practiced under ISIS. Islam forbids all
this.
* The Shari'a contains many rules that, by
modern liberal standards, are discriminatory against women. However, these may
be interpreted and applied in a variety of ways. The critics point at ways to
improve social conditions for Muslim women without renouncing the Shari'a or
adopting a foreign system of law.
15. ISIS kills children and forces children to
participate in fighting and other atrocities. Islam forbids such practices.
* As far as I can tell there are indeed no
Islamic legal precedents, or reports about the Prophet, that can justify ISIS'
treatment of children.
16. ISIS enacts the Koranic punishments (hudud)
without following the correct procedures that ensure justice and mercy.
* The Koran stipulates specific punishments for
certain crimes, such as public stoning for unlawful sexual intercourse and
amputation of hand and/or foot for theft. Pre-modern Islamic law usually
evinces a strong tendency to limit the application of the hudud as far
as possible, by complex procedures for establishing guilt and by defining
mitigating circumstances. Apparently, a nascent, controversial Islamic regime
such as ISIS may attempt to show Islamic fervor through strict application of
the hudud.
17-18. The torture and abuse inflicted by ISIS
on both the living and the dead are un-Islamic, and they harm Islam's image
among other nations.
* The Shari'a does not enjoin torture and
abuse; sometimes it bans such conduct explicitly. For example, Prophetic
sayings forbid abuse of the dead and execution by fire. ISIS justified the
latter atrocity as a measure-for-measure act: The Jordanian Pilot was executed
by fire because he caused innocent people to burn by bombing them.
19. ISIS members attribute their conquests to
Allah, thus attributing to Him the atrocities that they commit during their
conquests. It is forbidden to imply that Allah is responsible for evil acts.
* The critics adduce here an innovative
theological argument against the perpetration of atrocities.
20. ISIS destroys tombs of prophets and of
Companions of the Prophet; but visiting such tombs is permitted, even
beneficial, and destroying them is forbidden. This is indicated by the Koran
and hadith, and by the fact that the Companions buried the Prophet and
the first two caliphs near the mosque in Medina.
* The issue of pilgrimage to holy graves has
been hotly debated among Muslims for centuries. Some regarded it as an
infringement upon monotheism. Vehement opponents to these customs were, among
others, Ibn Taymiyya and Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab. ISIS is not the first
Islamic movement to oppose the veneration of the dead and the cult of tombs.
21. ISIS has rebelled against legitimate
rulers, which the Shari'a forbids. A legitimate ruler may be deposed if he
becomes an avowed apostate or prevents Muslims from practicing Islam. However,
a ruler may not be deposed merely for being unjust, hated or even for failing
to implement the Shari'a.
* Apparently, the critics assume that no Muslim
ruler is likely to openly renounce Islam or ban the Shari'a; therefore, no
rebellion is likely to be licit by Islamic law. They cite Koranic verses to the
effect that failure to judge by Allah's law brands one as a sinner, a wrongdoer
or an unbeliever (Koran 5:44-45, 47) – but not such that falls beyond the pale
of Islam. This quietist attitude developed under the traumatic impact of the
early civil wars (fitan, 656-661, 680-692 CE) and became a Sunni
consensus. Radicals despise this attitude and rise against Muslim governments
precisely because these governments fail to judge by Allah's law as they
understand it. The radicals cite precisely the same verses as do the critics to
justify their revolutionary view.
22. It
is forbidden to declare a caliphate without the consensus of all Muslims, lest
internecine wars ensue. If ISIS regards the 1.5 billion Muslims currently
living around the globe to be believers, then al-Baghdadi cannot be caliph,
because they do not all accept him. Conversely, if ISIS considers all Muslims
except its followers to be infidels, then the number of its followers is too
small to establish a caliphate, because a small community of Muslims does not
require a caliph.
* Here the critics again express the attitude
born of the historical Sunni trauma of internal wars (fitan) and reflect
the theories banning opposition to government. The argument that a small number
of Muslims needs no caliph has no basis in the Islamic sources. Indeed the
early history of the caliphate points to the opposite, since the first caliph
was rejected by most of the Arab tribes and even by some of the Companions of
the Prophet. Tradition dealt with the problem by reporting that all the
Companions eventually complied, and by branding the remaining dissidents as
apostates (i.e., as non-Muslims).
23-24.It is forbidden to abolish the boundaries
of nation states, as ISIS does. It is also unjust to call upon foreigners to
immigrate into Syria and Iraq at the expense of the local population; in fact,
it is similar to Israel's crime of replacing Palestinians with Jewish
immigrants. Contrary to ISIS' doctrine, migration ceased to be an obligatory or
a meritorious Islamic act after the conquest of Mecca in 630 CE.
* Arabs and Muslims did not reject the concept
of nation-states even though, in the Middle East, it was related to the demise
of the Ottoman caliphate and was artificially implemented by imperial powers.
However, the concept of nation-states has no root in the Shari'a. For radicals
who wish to emulate pristine Islam, nation-states are a foreign element that
must be uprooted, and migration to the one true Islamic caliphate is currently
the right course of action, just as it was in the Prophet's time. Long after
the Prophet's time, Muslim scholars usually held that Muslims should not live
in a land where they were not free to practice their religion. ISIS can easily
claim that the restrictions in Europe on the veil, and on the level of the
sound of the call for prayer (adhan), are restrictions on Muslims that
necessitate their migration to a truly Islamic land.
Conclusion
The critics are appalled by ISIS' atrocities
and do their best to delegitimize it. They make no reference to the fact that
ISIS is building an Islamic state that revives past Islamic institutions, such
as the contract between community and ruler (bay'a), the seizure of war
booty, the poll tax on Christians, the Koranic punishments for specific crimes
(hudud), Shari'a courts and civil courts (mazalim), the choice
offered to polytheists between conversion and the sword, and the owning of
slaves. ISIS' goal, to make Allah's word supreme (by force if
necessary), is directly derived from pre-modern Sunni consensus. In modern
times most Muslims are not driven to commit atrocities in order to implement
this goal. However, objecting to it explicitly or refuting it convincingly is a
difficult task, as this goal and the jihad needed to achieve it, are based on
the core texts of Islam.
Both
ISIS and its critics rely on Islamic texts, sometimes the very same texts. The
nature and content of these texts require selective reading and allow various
and even contradictory conclusions.
Prof. Ella Landau-Tasseron/MEMRI is a retired professor at the Department for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research fields are early Islamic history, the Arabian tribal system, Islamic political institutions, hadith, Islamic historiography, and jihad. Among her publications are a series of articles on the tribal society in pre- and early Islamic times, two monographs on the institution of the Islamic "oath of allegiance," and a monograph on non-combatants in Islamic thought.
Source: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8873.htm
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment