Download or read book Tackling Shirk and Kufr in the Exegesis and Jurisprudence of Islam written by Leslie Terebessy and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2024-05-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The umma is experiencing trauma because it drifted from the Book of Allah. It turned from the ayat of Allah to manmade traditions. Turning away from Allah is the reverse of salat. It turned from the "best hadith" to follow the ways of the predecessors, as if they could guide better than Allah. The umma drifted from the Book of Allah under pressure. With the authoritarian rule, rulers required a rendition of revelation that would "justify" practices prohibited in revelation, for example, waging wars of aggression. But wars of aggression entail the perpetrations of war crimes. Wars of aggression are unlawful in the Book of Allah. For "there is no compulsion in religion." To by-pass the restraints on wars of aggression, hawkish rulers engaged ulama to render lawful what Allah ruled unlawful, the propagation of Islam through waging wars of aggression. A war of aggression is known as jihad al talab. Hawkish ulama pronounced wars of aggression not just permissible; it became a sixth pillar of Islam. They turned the teaching of reconciliation into a manifesto of war between the dar al-Islam and the dar al-harb. In doing so, the created a monster: political Islam or Islamism. Rendering unlawful wars lawful required the politicization of research. It required the weaponization of exegesis and jurisprudence. Rendering the unlawful lawful required a departure from the teaching of revelation. This transpired through recourse to the teaching of abrogation, and the treatment of tradition as revelation. The rejection of any verse or verses in the Book of Allah, however, is an expression of kufr. This does not exclude the rejection of the verses that teach peace, allegedly "abrogated" by the verses of the sword. The treatment of tradition as revelation required equating manmade texts with the Book of Allah. This was an expression of shirk. Recourse to the teaching of abrogation and the treatment of tradition as revelation corrupted the knowledge of revelation. Embracing these misperceptions turned the teaching of peace into its anathema, a teaching of war. Traditional methodology requires the subordination of revelation to tradition. It also requires the subordination of reason to tradition. Tradition surpassed both revelation and reason. The treatment of tradition as "revelation" is an expression of shirk. In so far as the treatment of tradition as revelation treats tradition as a greater authority then revelation, the subordination of revelation to tradition is a greater expression of shirk. The tainting of traditional exegesis and jurisprudence by shirk render them less than reliable. It is necessary to bring the assumptions on which they rest into accord with the teaching of revelation. Early Muslims placed emphasis on tauhid. They followed the Book of Allah. Reason and freedom were respected. There was scant preoccupation with tradition. Military jihad meant self-defense or fighting against persecution. With time, however, the growing prestige of tradition tainted tauhid. The Book of Allah was deserted. Reasoning deteriorated. Restrictions upon freedoms heralded the emergence of authoritarianism. Aggressive jihad replaced defensive jihad. The knowledge of revelation was corrupted and exegesis and jurisprudence and the sharia were tainted by problematic perceptions. These encompass the perceptions that that tradition possesses the authority to "judge," "abrogate" and even "replace" parts of revelation. Redressing these problems requires the affirmation of the preeminence of revelation, rehabilitation and reengagement of reason, the desacralization of tradition, rehabilitation of penal legislation, and the purification of exegesis and jurisprudence of shirk.
Download or read book Addressing Aberrations in the Exegesis and Jurisprudence of Islam written by Leslie Terebessy and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-08-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reason acquired a bad reputation in Islam. This was the result of a tradition which treats refraining from the use of reason in religion as a manifestation of piety. According to this "reasoning," Muslims are expected to refrain from using their reason in matters of religion. Exegetes were expected to suppress their reason on the basis of a hadith according to which the prophet forbade the use of 'reason-based tafsir' as disbelief (kufr). The disparagement of reason has a troubling past in Islam. It was propagated by the Sufis, who perceived people of reason as their enemies and the enemies of Islam. They alleged that there is a "tension" between reason and revelation. The perception that equated reasoning with disbelief goes a long way towards explaining not just the proliferation of violence but the fall of the Islam itself. For a civilization that does not value reason is doomed. It by using reason that we attain knowledge of revelation and receive guidance from it. To this day we hear religious teachers advising their protégés against the perils of reasoning.The rejection of the relationship between causes and effects did a great disservice to Islam. For rejecting the relationship between cause and effect entails a rejection of a significant part of the teaching of revelation. Islam teaches that there is a relationship between the way we act and what we gain from it. If we believe and perform praiseworthy acts, we go to paradise. If we disbelieve and do evil, we go to the fire. Evidence of flawed reasoning is also found in the teaching of the purposes of the sharia. This teaching, attributed to al-Shatibi, fails to highlight justice as a purpose of the sharia. How to explain this glaring omission? For in the Quran, justice is next to piety. In their backlash against the rationalists, who advocated both reason and justice, the traditionists disregarded justice. More evidence of poor reasoning may be found in the elevation of tradition to revelation, the assertion that tradition judges revelation, and the belief in the theory of abrogation. The rejection of reasoning had catastrophic consequences for the Muslim civilization. It facilitated the incorporation of a range of unwarranted assumptions within exegesis and jurisprudence, including the perceptions that revelation is "ambiguous," "deficient," that tradition is revelation, and that revelation is better explained by tradition than reason. Little attention was paid to the fact that the explanation of revelation by tradition also requires the use of reason. Another troubling practice was the subordination of reason to tradition, which was reflected in the belief that tradition had to be followed even against reason. The subordination of revelation to tradition was expressed in the perception that "tradition judges revelation" and that "revelation requires tradition more than tradition requires revelation." Are these statements in agreement with the teaching of tauhid? The subjugation of reason and revelation to tradition tainted the knowledge of Islam. Folklore was engaged to "explain" revelation. What is more, it was expected to do so without the use of reason. This produced a paralysis in the Muslim mind. Contradictory beliefs became embedded in exegesis as well as in jurisprudence. An example is the perception that traditions are "equal" to and subordinate to revelation, simultaneously. Another example is the replacement of parts of revelation by traditions, which resulted from the utilization of the teaching of the abrogation of revelation by tradition. The theory of abrogation enabled extensive tampering with the knowledge of revelation, to the point that it distorted and corrupted its teaching. The alleged abrogation of the peace verses by the ayah as-sayf, taken out of context, transformed the teaching of peace into a political agenda known as Islamism. It transformed Islam as the religion of peace into Islamism as an ideology of war and conquest.
Download or read book Permitting the Prohibited and Prohibiting the Permissible written by Leslie Terebessy and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-03-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Muslims are experiencing problems due to a misunderstanding of Islam. The misunderstanding of revelation resulted from the repression of reason by Muslim tradition. Reason is gift from Allah. To reject the blessing of reason betrays ungratefulness, which is among the meanings of kufr. Reason is disparaged by persons that feel threatened by it. The fear of reason precipitated the extermination of 5,000 rationalists by Musa al-Hadi during the mihna or Inquisition of 786. The killing of the philosophers confirms that "orthodoxy" was established by force rather than arguments. The persons that perpetrated this atrocity were not well versed in argumentation. Thus, they resorted to violence to force their perceptions on the umma through coercion, prohibited by revelation. The misunderstanding of revelation encouraged extremists to follow their passions. The misunderstanding was the result of traditional exegesis, which requires understanding revelation through the prism of tradition. Traditional exegesis treats traditions as a furqan of revelation. This is reflected in the perceptions that tradition "judges" revelation, and that revelation requires tradition more than tradition requires revelation. By treating tradition rather than revelation as the furqan, traditional exegesis defied tauhid. Treating tradition as a "judge" of revelation is tantamount to scriptural shirk. The traditional approach entails the repression of reason. But the refusal to use reasoning to understand revelation made it harder to understand revelation. It rendered traditional exegesis unreasonable and unreliable. The assumptions that render the traditional exegesis unreliable comprise the perception that reason is the enemy of revelation, that reason is subordinate to tradition, and that tradition may "judge," "abrogate," and "replace" parts of revelation. The repression of reason enabled the emergence of perceptions that defy revelation, the perceptions that revelation is "unclear," "incomplete," and "incoherent." Problematic assumptions encompass the perception that tradition is "equal" to revelation and that tradition is a root of the sharia. These perceptions generated unwelcome effects. The allegation that tradition is equal to revelation embedded scriptural shirk in exegesis. The perception that tradition may "abrogate" and replace the rulings of revelation by rulings from tradition embedded juristic shirk in traditional jurisprudence. The embedding of scriptural and juristic shirk into the fabric of the religious knowledge corrupted knowledge and a warped the penal code. The death penalties for blasphemy, apostasy and adultery, were incorporated into Islamic law without endorsement in revelation. These punishments embedded extremism into the law. The punishments were drawn from tradition rather than revelation. They result in injustice and impart to Islam a reputation for cruelty. The shirk at the foundation of the exegesis of revelation renders the knowledge brought by traditional exegesis and jurisprudence unreliable. Thus, requires reconstruction and rehabilitation. The reconstruction of religious knowledge requires a return to reason and the affirmation of the preeminence of revelation in relation to all tradition. Reconstruction also requires the affirmation of revelation as the foundation of all legislation in religion. It requires a return to a rational methodology of understanding revelation.
Download or read book Redressing Errors in the Exegesis and Jurisprudence of Islam written by Leslie Terebessy and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2024-04-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islam is faulted for terrorism. Particular verses of the Book of Allah were misconstrued. The Book is misunderstood. Terror perpetrated by militants encouraged by wayward preachers makes matters worse. Muslims respond that Islam prohibits terrorism. It would be more accurate to say that the Book of Allah prohibits terrorism. For what we understand by Islam no longer encompasses just the Book of Allah. Extra teachings, in a few cases teachings that contradict the Book of Allah, are also treated as a "part" of Islam. The extra teachings encompass the traditions ascribed to the prophet. The work of the ulama is also presented as a "part" of Islam. We encounter traces of belligerence in hawkish traditions as well as in the teaching of jihad al-talab. The transformation of the religion of reconciliation into an agenda for war was enabled by recourse to teaching of abrogation. Verses that teach reconciliation were allegedly abrogated" by the verse of the sword. The teaching of jihad al-talab furnished a "religious" justification for waging unlawful wars of aggression. What triggered the corruption of knowledge in the first place? The corruption of knowledge was inaugurated by the repression of reason, which enabled the turn from revelation to tradition. The corruption of knowledge was amplified by the weaponisation of exegesis and jurisprudence. Exegesis and jurisprudence were weaponised when they were engaged to further the political agenda of territorial expansion. Hawkish rulers felt constrained by the teaching of Islam. They wanted a rendition of Islam that would justify waging unlawful wars of aggression. Accordingly, rulers enlisted hawkish clerics to render unlawful wars of aggression lawful. The reinterpretation of revelation as a teaching of war required by-passing the teaching of revelation. It required embracing perspectives that defy if not also deny parts of revelation. By-passing the Book of Allah was enabled by silencing reason. Recourse to reason was treated as kufr. The repression of thought transpired in politics, too. Five thousand philosophers were killed by Musa a-Hadi in 786, as part of the Inquisition, initiated by al-Mahdi in 780. The Inquisition or mihna was a persecution of thinkers, in a tragedy resembling that of Pol Pot. Because of their reluctance to use reason, exegetes could not understand the Book of Allah properly. Problematic assumptions and practices tainted exegesis and jurisprudence. Problematic perceptions encompass the perceptions that the Book of Allah is in part "unclear," incomplete" and even "contradictory." Problematic practices encompass the teaching of abrogation. The alleged scarcity of "details" would be redressed by recourse to traditions. The alleged "contradictions" in the Book of Allah would be rectified by recourse to the teaching of abrogation. Alleged "contradictions" would be resolved by treating verses revealed earlier as "abrogated" by verses revealed afterwards. Recourse to the teaching of abrogation enabled extensive tampering with the teaching of revelation. In treating jihad al-talab as the sixth pillar of Islam, hawkish ulema did not just render lawful what Allah made unlawful. In endorsing wars of aggression to propagate Islam by the sword, the ulama drifted from the teaching of revelation and embedded the use of force in religion. In the process of reinterpretation of revelation, the teaching of Islam was altered. It was turned into its anathema. The religion of reconciliation was reinvented as a religion of war. Embarking upon wars of territorial expansion and "propagating" the faith by the sword was an act of political self-destruction. For wars of aggression required Muslims to become aggressors. Unfortunately, aggression breeds aggression. It triggered retaliation which destroyed the empire.
Download or read book Rehabilitating the Sharia written by Leslie Terebessy and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2024-06-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Iranian revolution took place in 1979, as the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan. These events accelerated the resurgence of Islamic activism, at the expense of socialism. Resistance to the Soviet occupation took place in Afghanistan, while a social upheaval accompanied the Iranian revolution. The events in Iran and elsewhere in the Muslim world were not merely a reaction against the culture of the West, but driven by a multitude of factors.(B. Sultan B. Ali Al-Muhairi, "Islamisation and Modernisation within the UAE Penal Law, ALQ, V. 11, No. 1, Brill, 1996) These encompassed disenchantment with secular blueprints for reform in post-independence Muslim states. The calls to implement the hudud in Muslim lands were a part of the quest for dignity and self-determination. The problem was that the penal code they were enacting was marred. For penal law as misunderstood by politicized jurists was derived through politicized jurisprudence. Politicized jurisprudence rests on presuppositions that defy the preeminence of revelation as a root of the sharia. It is essential to preserve the preeminence of the Book of Allah at all times as the exclusive root of religious law. The fusion of tradition with revelation resulted in confusion. It was an expression of scriptural shirk. In keeping with the perception of tradition as "revelation," it was asserted that tradition is sacred. But the fuqaha treated tradition as more than just revelation understood as wahy. They also treated as "sent down" by Allah or tanzil. That the fuqaha treated tradition not just as wahy but also as tanzil is attested to by their deriving penal laws from tradition. They were forced to treat tradition not just as wahy (inspiration) but as tanzil, (what Allah sent down) for verses 44, 45 and 47 of al-Maida make it plain that whoever who judges by (draws legislation from) what is not tanzil is a kafir, a zalim and a fasiq. But are traditions tanzil? Traditions are not the words of Allah. They are not even the words of the messenger. They are paraphrases of paraphrases of words ascribed to the prophet, recorded in defiance of the prohibition of doing so by Allah as well as the prophet. The confusion of tradition with revelation, embedded in jurisprudence on the unwarranted assumption that tradition is tanzil enabled extreme punishments to enter penal law. Enforcing legislation without a grounding in revelation, however, will unavoidably result in miscarriages of justice. The poor perception of Islam is exacerbated by penal legislation, particularly the death penalties for adultery and apostasy. The death penalty for adultery is unwarranted, as the Book of Allah prescribes lashing, based upon the testimony of four reliable witnesses. The death penalty for apostasy encroaches upon the freedom of religion and likewise remains without foundation in revelation. From the perspective of the Book of Allah, both punishments are ultra vires and thus unenforceable. Enforcing them would entail miscarriage of justice, and the perpetration of murder. This would require being dealt with accordingly. The sharia is expected to protect people from crime, not to cause the administrators justice to commit crime. Both punishments result from the breakdown of reason. For traditionists treat the use of reason in religion as treason. By depriving the umma of recourse to reason, the ulama withdrew the umma from of the ranks of the muakallafuna, rational and responsible persons. Refraining from the use of reason ensured that Muslims would misunderstand the teaching of revelation. It also ensured that the Muslim umma would fall behind the rest of the world in all empirical pursuits and technology. The backwardness resulting from anti-rationalism rendered the umma vulnerable to external assaults. The umma ended up being "protected" by non-Musli...
Download or read book Islamic Jurisprudence on the Regulation of Armed Conflict written by Nesrine Badawi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Islamic Jurisprudence on the Regulation of Armed Conflict: Text and Context, Nesrine Badawi argues against the existence of a “true” interpretation of the rules regulating armed conflict in Islamic law. In a survey of formative and modern seminal legal works on the subject, the author sheds light on the role played by the sociopolitical context in shaping this branch of jurisprudence and offers a detailed examination of the internal deductive structures of these works.
Download or read book Sharia Law and the Death Penalty written by Michael Mumīsa and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Quran and the Secular Mind written by Shabbir Akhtar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-10-31 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking. The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.
Download or read book Islamic Thought written by Abdullah Saeed and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-11-22 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic Thought is a fresh and contemporary introduction to the philosophies and doctrines of Islam. Abdullah Saeed, a distinguished Muslim scholar, traces the development of religious knowledge in Islam, from the pre-modern to the modern period. The book focuses on Muslim thought, as well as the development, production and transmission of religious knowledge, and the trends, schools and movements that have contributed to the production of this knowledge. Key topics in Islamic culture are explored, including the development of the Islamic intellectual tradition, the two foundation texts, the Qur’an and Hadith, legal thought, theological thought, mystical thought, Islamic Art, philosophical thought, political thought, and renewal, reform and rethinking today. Through this rich and varied discussion, Saeed presents a fascinating depiction of how Islam was lived in the past and how its adherents practise it in the present. Islamic Thought is essential reading for students beginning the study of Islam but will also interest anyone seeking to learn more about one of the world’s great religions.
Download or read book The Fundamentals of Tawheed Islamic Monotheism written by Abu Rumasah and published by IslamKotob. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Civil Democratic Islam written by Cheryl Benard and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the face of Islam's own internal struggles, it is not easy to see who we should support and how. This report provides detailed descriptions of subgroups, their stands on various issues, and what those stands may mean for the West. Since the outcomes can matter greatly to international community, that community might wish to influence them by providing support to appropriate actors. The author recommends a mixed approach of providing specific types of support to those who can influence the outcomes in desirable ways.
Download or read book Constructing a Religiously Ideal Believer and Woman in Islam written by A. Duderija and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive study, Adis Duderija examines how Neo Traditional Salafi thought (NTS) and progressive Muslims interpret the normative concepts of 'Believer' and 'Muslim Woman' in contemporary Islam
Download or read book Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra Volume 4 written by Josef van Ess and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-10-22 with total page 839 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theology and Society is the most comprehensive study of Islamic intellectual and religious history, focusing on Muslim theology. With its emphasis on the eighth and ninth centuries CE, it remains the most detailed prosopographical study of the early phase of the formation of Islam. Originally published in German between 1991 and 1995, Theology and Society is a monument of scholarship and a unique scholarly enterprise which has stood the test of time as an unparalleled reference work.
Download or read book The Muslim Brotherhood written by and published by Routledge. This book was released on with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The System of Islam Nidham Al Islam written by Taqiuddin an Nabahani and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-06 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This excellent book is translated from the original Arabic book 'Nidham ul Islam' by Sheikh Taqiuddin An Nabahani, an Islamic jurist, 'alim, writer and the founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir - the largest Islamic global political party under a single leadership. It lays out the fundamentals to develop a strong Islamic personality and da'wah carrier. It begins with laying the foundation by explaining the correct way to belief. It proves the existence of a creator intellectually and the Quran as the final revelation sent to humanity by Allah (swt). It then goes on to clarify the important creedal concept of Al-Qada wal Qadar (fate and destiny), which is often held in a vague or confused manner. The third chapter, its largest concentrates on explaining the different ideologies that exists namely Capitalism, Communism and Islam highlighting the differences between them giving the reader a clear framework to understand the world that we live in. After having laid the basis for the correct belief, intellectual and political thinking, it then moves onto address the key Islamic legal principles. The short chapters are intended to focus on the most important aspects such as Usuli subjects like the meaning of Hukm Shar'i, the types of ahkam shariah, Sunnah and emulating (ta'assi) the actions of the Messenger (saw). The last section of the book also clarifies misconceptions regarding spirituality and morals according to Islam as well as articulating the need for a constitution for the future Islamic state.
Download or read book Women and the Glorious Qur n written by Gunawan Adnan and published by Universitätsverlag Göttingen. This book was released on 2004 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Virtue Piety and the Law written by Katharina Anna Ivanyi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-09-25 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Virtue, Piety and the Law Katharina Ivanyi offers an analysis of Birgivī Meḥmed Efendī’s (d. 981/1573) al-Ṭarīqa al-muḥammadiyya, a major work of early modern Ottoman paraenesis, championing a conservative Islamic religiosity with considerable reformist appeal into the modern period.
