From my book: "An Exploration of Religion and the Meaning of Life!"
When looking at Islam, we have a community that has at
its heart and core, a most precious and distinct possession: “A Book.”
This is a scripture that sets forth the teachings
and legislation for the community and the essential themes for the faith. This is
the material that the followers of Muhammad could gather from various sources
after his death and has come down to us as the Koran. It is the fundamental document for the religion of
Islam and is regarded by the faithful as the holy, revealed, eternal Word of God.
Muhammad called his new religion “Islam,” a word that means submission to the will of Allah. One who accepts Islam and makes such submission
is a Muslim and termed a mu’min. (Believer) One who does not accept Islam is
kafir. (Unbeliever) Islam means devotion to God, and is regarded as a newer
version of the religion of Abraham.
(This original religion declined, and was then
renewed by Moses. After Moses things
were renewed once more by Jesus, and then
again by Muhammad. Jews, Christians and
Muslims are all “People of the Book,” but according to Islam, Muhammad is
the “last of the prophets!”)
Islam is a very structured religion! To live in submission to Allah and in
obedience to the teachings of the Prophet, a Muslim must follow certain rules
formulated for him.
There is a certain hierarchy of rules that are to
be followed.
• In
the first instance, these rules are provided in the Sharia, which is the Koran.
• In
the second instance comes the Hadith, or “The Traditions”
If something was not addressed in the Koran, guidance was sought in the
“Traditions.” (What the Prophet had said
and done.)
This vast accumulation of traditions was digested
into the collections of the Hadith, six of which are considered the
canonical collections.
(It is well known that much of the Hadith material was
spurious, but for the study of Islam even those traditions, which the community
invented and attributed to Muhammad, have their
value! Often as much value as those that
may actually have come down from him.)
• The
third instance is “Ijma,” which is the consensus of
community standards.
• The
fourth instance relies on Giyas, which is the application of analogical
reasoning to the other three sources for the deduction of new rules.
This combination of rules, starting with the
Sharia, combines to form a religion that is structured in such a way as to give
adherents a strict set of guidelines on the method of proper conduct.
There is great comfort in the structured
environment of Islam. It places importance in the observance of daily routine
and ritual.
This, combined with the strong family and social
ties (tribal) that are encouraged, makes for a religion that is both vital and
dynamic in its zealousness, while at the same time fostering a strong inertia
and resistance to change from outside sources.
Therefore, the main obstacle to growth and
development in Islam is the overwhelming sense that there is absolutely no need
for change.
In fact, by its very nature, Islam preaches that it
is complete and fully developed as the personal word of God.
(This has also been the case in the Christian
church, which means we have religions that are stuck in the nineteenth century
in the case of Christianity, and the
twelfth century in the case of Islam.
Where we have a conflict with most Christian and Muslim fundamentalists
is that the answer to these criticisms will always be met with the question;
“Well, what’s the matter with that?”)
One of the greatest drawbacks to Islam is that it
operates on the surface as being infallible, much as Christianity does. Among
Muslims however, it is acknowledged that the Prophet Muhammad left no actual
interpretation of the Koran, but rather said it should be read
and taken literally as the word of God.
(This way, anything that goes wrong is obviously “God’s Will.”
It is also one of the main reasons that a Muslims will end every second
sentence with the phrase “Insh-Allah” - or –“God willing!” Being as pragmatic as they are, this puts the
onus back on God for whatever happens, and absolves them of being in “Shirk.”)
This interpretation by various individuals depends
on everyone’s personal understanding and experience, as well as their social,
political, and economic environment.
(In fact, this happened almost exactly the same
way among the early Christians.)
This means we have a divine text that is adding to
the confusion by being interpreted differently from scholar to scholar, and
person to person. Naturally, the clergy
interprets and decides which part of the Koran they want the general population
to use.
They are also the ones that give guidance to; “what
it really means.” (This is also the reason that Radical Islam can justify
almost anything to conform to their toxic message.)
The sad truth of the matter is that in Islam, as in every other religion in the
world, there are no shortages of people who try to put themselves in positions
of influence and power.
All this for the purpose of spreading their own
version of reality amongst the masses.
Traditional authorities, beginning in the time
shortly after Muhammad, viewed holy law as the revealed will of God
and subordinated politics to holy decree.
Historically however, it was politics (tribal or
otherwise) that invariable shaped Islamic law and led to a complex discourse on
a subject that was contentious on the surface, but at its base rather simple.
The religious precepts are pretty straightforward,
but the task of explaining them and choosing a method for their application is
left in human hands.
This means they are automatically constrained by
human limitations!
On top of this, Muslims became politically divided
early in their history with the division into the Shiite and Sunni sects, (see
below) and that influenced their respective understandings of the law and its
applications.
After Muhammad’s death, Islam also got off to a
rocky start when warfare was used to spread the faith, and three of the first
four Caliphs died by violence.
The fourth Caliph, Ali, was a cousin of Muhammad and his
followers then tore the community in two by claiming that Ali should have been
the first caliph by virtue of his blood ties to Muhammad.
These people came to be known as the Shiite sect,
(Iran, Pakistan) while the great majority of the followers of Muhammad, who claim that succession does
not rely on blood ties, are known today as the Sunni. (Everybody else, led by Saudi Arabia.)
A great many differences exist to this day between
these two main sects of Islam, and the distinctions go far
deeper than just who should have succeeded Muhammad.
In fact, it was in the interpretation of the Koran
itself that there were already differences.
Because of this, we find different “creedal
statements” circulating amongst the communities of both the Shiite and Sunni’s,
as well as amongst the Sufi, who are a mystical branch of Islam.
These became the subject of discussion and
commentary that in time grew into different Islamic theologies.
This also led to a condition within the
faith where almost anyone could at one time or another could consider a person
of another sect to be a non-believer and heretic.
One result of this was that Islam developed divisions,
and so part of the task was to distinguish orthodox belief and practice as
opposed to various schools of heretical teaching.
(The similarity between this and the situation
between the Catholics and Protestants is not mere coincidence, but the result
of the schisms that can develop between different groups of similar beliefs!)
Perhaps what Islam needs is a “Reformation” along
the same lines as the upheaval of the Catholic Church by Martin Luther.
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