by MEMRI
"Indeed, a Muslim is bombarded from all sides with sermons calling for Jihad; a Jihad, which is shorn of all its spiritual content and used simply as a synonym for qital, warfare".
Sultan Shahin, formerly a journalist who has worked in
India and the United Kingdom, is a leading Islamic reformer. He is currently the
editor of NewAgeIslam.com, a reformist website which publishes articles on the
struggle within Islam, especially with regard to radicalization in India.
On February 3, Sultan Shahin delivered a speech at a
counter-terrorism conference in the Indian city of Jaipur where he called for
reform from within Islam. "Moderate, progressive Muslims must urgently
evolve and propagate an alternative theology of peace and pluralism, human
rights and gender justice," he said, adding: "Radicalization has not
just happened overnight."
Following are excerpts from his speech:
"Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Has Attracted Over 30,000
Muslims From 100 Countries"; "But This Should Not Have Come As A Surprise
To Us In India"
"The ease and swiftness with which the so-called
Islamic State and the self-declared khilafat [caliphate] of Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi has attracted over 30,000 Muslims from 100 countries around the
globe in just one year has surprised many. But this should not have come as a
surprise to us in India. From Indian Subcontinent alone, less than a hundred
years ago, at least 18,000 Muslims had left their homes, even government jobs,
and marched off to fight for the last Ottoman Khilafat. This was madness, pure
and simple. Most ruined their lives and some died. But they are considered
ghazis [fighter] and martyrs. Important clerics including Maulana Abul Kalam
Azad [who later became the first education minister of India] issued fatwas
calling for Jihad or Hijrat (emigration) from British India, which was
considered Darul Harb (Land of conflict, ruled by infidels), as a religious
duty.
"So, for a large section of Muslims the lure of a
Khilafat that would rule the world, eliminate all other religions, particularly
all forms of idolatry, establish the truth of Islam, is nothing new. When
Baghdadi announced his khilafat, it was welcomed in many Muslim newspapers in
India. An influential cleric from Nadwatul Ulama [madrassa in the northern
Indian city of Lucknow], went so far as to post a letter to the so-called
Khalifa on his Facebook page, addressing him as Emir-ul- Momineen, spiritual
leader of all Muslims. He faced no protest, not even from Nadwa or Darul Uloom
Deoband.
"With the so-called Islamic State proudly
broadcasting its monstrous brutalities and inhuman practices like sex slavery,
the community is embarrassed and support is now muted. But this can only be
described as hypocrisy. India's most popular Islamic preacher and Ahl-e-Hadithi
televangelist Zakir Naik has been saying for years, that 'Allah has made halal [permitted]
for Muslims [to have] sex with slaves and women captured in war.' Muslim
religious leaders have never protested. But when ISIS takes these fatwas and
Wahhabi/Salafi teachings to their logical conclusion, actually kidnaps and
makes Yazidi, Christian and Shia women sex slaves, the community is embarrassed
and some clerics start saying Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.
"[N]ot only does [the] Koran specifically forbid
all violence against innocents and repeatedly warns against aggression, but the
Prophet himself avoided violence as much as possible in the most trying times
of Islam's infancy."
"Global Muslim Missionary Organization Tablighi
Jamaat... Which Has Up To 150 Million Adherents In Over 200 Countries Now, Focuses
Entirely On Segregating Muslims From The Mainstream"
"It is true that madrassas and mosques do not overtly
preach violence and terrorism. But it is also true that textbooks in madrassas
do preach supremacism, xenophobia, exclusivism and intolerance. Thus they do the groundwork for militant
ideologies by instilling in their students a binary thinking of Muslim/Kafir [infidel]
as opposites who cannot co-exist. As a result, some Muslims self-segregate and
alienate themselves from the mainstream. A global Muslim missionary organization
Tablighi Jamaat, for instance, which has up to 150 million adherents in over
200 countries now, focuses entirely on segregating Muslims from the mainstream,
asking them to maintain a separate identity, and prohibiting them from
following any customs they may have in common with the non-Muslim majority.
This Wahhabi/Salafi organization was recently banned from university campuses
in Pakistani Punjab but faces no such restriction in India.
"Indeed, a Muslim is bombarded from all sides
with sermons calling for Jihad; a Jihad, which is shorn of all its spiritual
content and used simply as a synonym for qital, warfare. Even historical
fiction written by 20th century Urdu novelist Nasim Hejazi, for instance, can
be taken as a call for Jihad, far more effective than any overt Jihadi
literature. In most popular Urdu fairy tales, Dastan-e-Amir Hamzah, for
instance, the central character is fighting with demons who do not believe in
oneness of God and are thus kafir. The devotional poetry a Muslim listens to at
Sufi shrines contain lines like the following: 'Aaj bhi darte hain kafir
Haidari Talwar se,' meaning, even today the kafirs are afraid of the sword of
Hazrat Ali, the fourth caliph. Even the first biographies of the Prophet
written by Arabs called them 'Maghazi Rasulullah,' meaning battle accounts of
the Prophet.
"The first Muslims, the Arabs, could not
celebrate his devotion to peace, moderation, Huqooqul Ibad (human rights) and mystical
approach to religion. They could only hail him as a hero presenting him as a
great warrior which he was not. He barely lifted a sword once or twice, 14
years after prophethood, at the age of 54, purely in defense. The prayer a Muslim
has been hearing week after week in every Friday sermon for 1400 years is for
victory over kuffar (infidels), establishment of the true religion of Islam,
dominance over the whole world, elimination of idolatry from the planet, and so
on, all generating supremacism, exclusivism, xenophobia and intolerance.
"The idea of a permanent confrontation with the
kafir, thus, runs through our veins. In verses often quoted by militant
ideologues, God assures Muslims in two places in Koran (8:12 and 3: 151) that 'He
will cast terror into the hearts of the Kuffars (Unbelievers).' This is a
contextual verse, like some others, similarly militant and intolerant, revealed
during the course of the existential wars waged by the Muslims in early Islam.
Any rational Muslim would say today that these contextual war verses do not
apply to us anymore. But you will not find even those moderate scholars seeking
to refute terrorist ideologies saying that. In fact, the refutations go on to
actually justify the core theology of terror and violence."
"Apocalyptic Prophesies Are One Of The Chief Tools
Used By ISIS To Attract Muslim Youth To Be Part Of An End-Time War"
"A hundred thousand copies of an Arabic book
titled 'Refuting ISIS' has recently been distributed in Syria and Iraq. It is
also available online in English. The author Sheikh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi is, of
course, sincere in his refutation. But he too quotes from the same set of
end-time prophesies, seeking to prove that [ISIS leader] Baghdadi and his
clique are idiots and should be fought, thus giving credibility to these same
series of millenarian prophesies. So what he actually ends up doing amounts to
strengthening ISIS' propaganda of the allegedly coming apocalypse. Unlike Al-Qaeda,
which did not talk so much about apocalypse, ISIS vision is largely
apocalyptic. They base the justification for their war as being the prophesied
end-times war. They sacrificed many men capturing a militarily insignificant
town called Dabiq (which is also the name of their mouthpiece) because the
end-times prophecies refer to a war in this town.
"Apocalyptic prophesies are one of the chief
tools used by ISIS to attract Muslim youth to be part of an end-time war. These
end-time prophesies can only by questioned fruitfully by questioning the
credibility of narrations that were collected up to 300 years after the demise
of the Prophet and attributed to him, not by calling them akin to revelation. Some
of these prophesies also come from speculative readings of two allegorical
verses in the Koran: 4:159 and 43:61. Muslims have been asked not to speculate
about their meaning and leave them alone. But, of course, Muslims do, and the
result is prophesied scenarios of apocalyptic wars.
"Similarly, in its core theology even the
14,000-word fatwa issued recently (August 2015) by 120 scholars from around the
world, agrees with the militant ideologies. Their 'Open Letter to Al-Baghdadi'
also calls Hadith akin to revelation, knowing full well that all justifications
of killings of innocent civilians come from a hadith attributing to the Prophet
permission for killing of innocents in an attack at Taif by the use of catapult
(manjaniq): (Sahih Muslim 19:4321 & Sahih Bukhari 4: 52:256). This hadith
is also used by Al-Qaeda to justify use of weapons of mass destruction.
"In point 16, Hudud (Punishment), the moderate
fatwa establishes a general rule: 'Hudud punishments (death for apostasy, etc.)
are fixed in the Koran and Hadith and are unquestionably obligatory in Islamic
Law.' Having accepted the basic premise of the Baghdadi tribe [of ISIS] it goes
on to criticize its implementation in the so-called Islamic State. But once
moderate ulema [scholars] have accepted the basic premise of Hudud (Punishments)
based on some verses of Koran and Seventh century Bedouin tribal Arab mores
being 'unquestionably obligatory in Islamic Law,' what difference does actually
remain between moderation and extremism?
"In point 20 of the fatwa, the moderate ulema
seem to be justifying the destruction of idols and Sufi shrines, by talking of
the supposed Islamic obligation to destroy and remove all manifestations of
shirk (idolatry), only opposing the destruction of graves of the prophets and
their companion.
"In point 22 of the Open Letter, titled 'The
Caliphate,' the moderate ulema again concur with the basic proposition of the
Baghdadi clique: 'There is agreement (ittifaq) among scholars that a caliphate
is an obligation upon the Ummah. The Ummah has lacked a caliphate since 1924
CE.'
"This moderate fatwa even expresses belief in the
theory of abrogation, whereby terror ideologues debunk peaceful Meccan verses
that came at the beginning of Islam. Thus, like Sheikh Yaqoobi's 'Refuting ISIS'
this fatwa too strengthens the terrorist ideology, while criticizing its
practice."
"The Commonly Accepted Theology Of Most Muslims Agrees
With The Following [Seven] Features Of The Jihadist Theology" – God As
Implacable, Koran As Uncreated, Ahadith, Sharia, Jihad, Hijra, Caliphate
"This is not surprising. The commonly accepted
theology of most Muslims agrees with the following features of the Jihadist
theology:
"1. It regards God as an implacable,
anthropomorphic figure permanently at war with those who do not believe in His
uniqueness, as against the Sufi or Vedantic concept of God as universal
consciousness or universal intelligence radiating His grace from every atom in
the universe;
"2. Koran as an uncreated aspect of God, a copy
of the eternal Book lying in the Heavenly vault. Hence all its verses, in their
literal meaning, have to be treated as an eternal guidance to Muslims without
any reference to context;
"3. Ahadith or so-called sayings of Prophet Muhammad...
as akin to revelation, even though they were collected two to three hundred
years after the demise of the Prophet;
"4. Shari'a laws as divine, even though they were
first codified 120 years after God announced the completion of the religion in
one of the last verses in Koran;
"5. Jihad in the sense of Qital (warfare) as the
sixth pillar of Islam;
"6. Hijra (migration to Darul Islam – abode of
Islam – from Darul Harab – Land of disbelief and conflict) as a religious duty
and an act of devotion;
"7. A caliphate is an obligation upon the Ummah
(global Muslim community)."
"It Is Not Possible To Accept Classical Theologians
And Reject Their Modern Militant Offshoots"; "No Surprise That Some Of
Our Educated, 21st Century, Internet Generation Youth Choose To Rather Be Honest
Terrorists Than Dishonest Hypocrites"
"Twentieth century scholars like Syed Qutb
(1906–1966) of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979), of
India and later Pakistan, who founded Jamaat-e-Islami, are considered the two
fathers of modern Islamist terrorism or Jihadism. More contemporary ideologues
who have contributed enormously to the Jihadist discourse are Abdullah Yusuf
Azzam (1941-89) and Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi (Born: 1959), etc.
"Many Muslim scholars would distance themselves
from these militant scholars today. But the reason Jihadism is so influential
and attractive to so many is that the Jihadist theology is based on the popular
theology propounded by major classical Arab theologians like Ibn Taimiyya
(1263-1328), and Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab (1703-1792) or for that matter major
Indian theologians like Mujaddid Alf-e-Saani Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564 –1624)
and Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703–1762).
"For hundreds of years now, major Muslim
theologians have been engaged in creating a coherent and comprehensive theology
of supremacism, intolerance and violence in order to expand the Islamic reach.
They have conclusively made the lower form of Jihad, i.e., warfare, compulsory
for all able-bodied Muslims. Luminaries of Islam have established a theology
which basically says that Islam must conquer the world and it is the religious
duty of all Muslims to strive towards that goal and contribute to it in
whatever way they can. All these theologians present in essence a supremacist,
exclusivist, xenophobic and intolerant view of Islam and wield enormous
influence on our clergy today.
"It is not possible to accept classical
theologians and reject their modern militant offshoots just as it is not
possible to reject Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and accept Zakir Naik simply because
the latter is not actually having sex with sex slaves as Baghdadi is. Our
radicalized youngsters can very well see the hypocrisy of those who on the one
hand revere Taimiyya, Wahhab, Sirhindi and Waliullah and on the other hand
claim to oppose Qutb, Maududi, Azzam and Maqdisi and their followers like Osama
bin Laden and Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi. No surprise that some of our educated, 21st
century, internet generation youth choose to rather be honest terrorists than
dishonest hypocrites like their parents, community leaders, politicians, madrassa
teachers, mosque imams, intellectuals, etc. who keep saying Islam is a religion
of peace while also professing belief in the core theology of Jihadism,
equating it with Islam."
"The Idea Of Jihad Against Kuffar And Hijrat (Emigration)
To The So-Called Islamic State As A Religious Duty Is Preposterous At A Time When
Millions Of Arab Muslims Are Marching Almost Barefoot To Europe, The So-Called
Darul Harb"
"One of the key instructions of God was
moderation in matters of religion (Koran: 4:171 and 5:80). This was repeated
often by the Prophet 'Beware of extremism in religion, for it destroyed those
before you.' (Sahih al-Jami' nos. 1851 & 3248, M.N. al-Albani, no. 2680,
and & Al-Sahihah of M.N. Al-Albani, no. 1283.) But extremism has been
endemic in Islam, present almost from the beginning of Islamic history. Muslims
fought among themselves and quite vehemently even before the collection of
Hadith which they now consider divine, and codification of Shari'a which they
consider their religious duty to impose on the world.
"Muslims have still not found an antidote to
militant verses in the Koran. Considering all verses of Koran as providing
eternal guidance undermines the universality of essential, foundational,
constitutive, verses that were revealed largely in the initial years of Islam
in Mecca. We received very good advice from Pope Francis recently (September
2015), which is consistent with several verses in the Koran. Describing the
holy Koran has as a 'prophetic book of peace,' Pope Francis asked Muslims to
seek 'an adequate interpretation.' The Koran also asks Muslims repeatedly to
reflect upon the verses and find their best meaning, as in Chapter 39: verse
55; 39:18; 39:55; 38:29; 2:121; 47:24, etc.
"Calling Hadith and Shari'a divinely inspired and
fundamental elements of Islamic faith is irrational. Saying that it is a
Muslim's primary religious duty to help establish God's sovereignty on earth
and impose 'divine' Shari'a Laws on the globe is only a way to intensify
extremism which goes against the basic tenets of Islam. The idea of Jihad
against kuffar and hijrat (emigration) to the so-called Islamic State as a
religious duty is preposterous at a time when millions of Arab Muslims are
marching almost barefoot to Europe, the so-called Darul Harb, seeking refuge, a
refuge that is denied to them by the so-called Darul Islam in the Arab world.
"Muslims will just have to abandon the generally
accepted current theology that leads to violence and supremacism. We will need
to revisit all our literature, even popular fiction and romance, and explain to
our youth that we are now living in a multicultural, multi-religious world
where a binary thinking of Muslim/Kafir as opposites and permanent war with
them or self-segregation is just not viable. Even Saudi Arabia, which teaches
in its schools the worst forms of intolerance, xenophobia, supremacism and
exclusivism, has to deal with all religious communities.
"ISIS may be militarily defeated tomorrow and
even go out of existence. But this will not solve the problem of Muslim
radicalization. If our madrassas and educational institutions continue to
prepare the ground for self-segregation and militancy, expounding the current
theology, mixed with narratives of victimhood and marginalisation, Islam will
continue to be hobbled, Muslims will continue to struggle to fit in the way of
life in contemporary world.
"Moderate, progressive Muslims must urgently
evolve and propagate an alternative theology of peace and pluralism, human
rights and gender justice, consistent in all respects with the teachings of
Islam, and suitable for contemporary and future societies, while refuting the
current theology of violence and supremacism. Unfortunately, as we have seen
above, the task is not so easy. Radicalization
has not just happened overnight. Jihadi theology has evolved over hundreds of
years. Major theologians who have studied Islam independently have brought to
us a political version of Islam, stripping the religion of all its
spirituality.
"While it is primarily the duty of Muslims to
fight this ideological war within slam, this is no longer just a Muslim
concern. The world too must confront Muslim scholars with the supremacism and
extremism present in their theology and ask them to rethink Islam. Progressive
Muslims should join the rest of the world to defeat extremism in Islamic
theology."
MEMRI
Source: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/9158.htm
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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