Thinking, Speculating and Reacting

 

Assertion:-

I appreciate that every faith has its share of literalists. Christians have their fundamentalists. Jews have the ultra-Orthodox. For God's sake, even Buddhists have absolutists.

But what this book, "The Trouble with Islam Today", hammers home is that only in Islam today is literalism mainstream. This means that when abuse happens under the banner of Islam, most Muslims have no clue how to dissent, debate, or reform ourselves.

Comment:-

There are as many different kinds of Muslims as there are in any other religion, from those who understand things very literally to those who speculate about symbolic meanings; from the very naive and simple to the very intelligent, sophisticated and complex; from those who understand things superficially with little insight to those with deep insight and understanding. Differences arise also because of levels of education.

The fact is that there are most certainly verses in the Quran that must be taken literally. These concern instructions. But even these can be understood at a simple particular level or in a more general sense. E.g. Stealing is forbidden, but we can understand stealing as referring to objects, time, reputation and so on. There are not only instructions but also exceptions that circumstances justify and there are underlying principles. Apart from Justice and Truth, the Quran also teaches compassion, tolerance and forgiveness. The sermons in mosques deal with how things can be understood and applied and this will depend on how much the Imams know and how enlightened they are. A reading of the Quran shows that it is constantly appealing to people of understanding.

Critic:-

The Book, "The Trouble with Islam Today", shatters our silence. It shows Muslims how we can re-discover Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking -- known as "ijtihad" -- and re-discover it precisely to update IIslamic practices for the 21st century. The opportunity to update is especially available to Muslims in the West, because it is there that we enjoy precious freedoms to think, express, challenge and be challenged without fear of state reprisal. In that sense, the Muslim reformation begins in the West.

Comment:-

That might well be the case because there are more educated Muslims there. But they will have learnt from the many Muslim thinkers that existed and still exist in Muslim countries.

But there are also in the Quran similitudes and allegorical verses (Quran 3:7) that require meditation but lend themselves to a host of different interpretation. Though they have several aspects and multiple meanings it is also a fact that they can be misinterpreted according to personal prejudices and self-interest. This type of interpretation is most certainly forbidden. It is a serious sin to attribute such falsehoods to Allah. It is, therefore, necessary to be very careful about speculation. We require knowledge not opinion. This requires research and meditation.

As the Prophet (saw) said:-

"Whoever interprets the Quran according to his opinion without knowledge and is right is wrong".

The reason for this is not difficult to see: Speculation does not yield knowledge and you cannot be certain that it is the truth.

Critic:-

People throughout the Islamic world need to know of their God-given right to think for themselves. So "The Trouble with Islam Today" outlines a global campaign to promote pluralistic and progressive approaches to Islam.

Comment:-

Certainly Allah has given us the faculties for perception and thought and the application of it - receiving data, processing it and action based on it.

But human beings have "Fallen" owing to arrogance and their faculties do not function according to the potentialities placed in them. That is why Allah sent Messengers with a teaching to facilitate human development. But it is their speculation based on their limitation that produced the plurality of sectarianism.

That is the whole gist of the Quran. Do you not understand this! Are there not a sufficient number of sects in Islam for you?

"Surely, We have created man in the best of moulds. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low; Save those who believe and act right; for theirs is a reward unfailing." 95:4-6

"Then He made his progeny of an extract, of a fluid held in low esteem. Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit, and made for you the faculties of hearing, and sight and heart; little is it that you give thanks." 32:8-9

"But most of them follow naught but conjecture (suspicion, fancy, guesswork, speculation); verily, conjecture can by no means take the place of (or avail against) truth. Verily, Allah is Aware of what they do." 10:37

"But if you follow most of those who are in the land, they will lead you astray from the Way of Allah. They follow naught but opinion (conjecture or suspicion) and they only guess." 6:117

"And, verily, this your religion (or brotherhood) is one religion (or brotherhood), and I am your Lord; so keep your duty unto Me. But they (mankind) have broken their religion (or affair) between them into sects, each sect rejoicing in its own tenets." 23:52-53

"Verily, those who divided their religion and became sectarians, you have no concern with them. Their affair is in the hands of Allah, He will then inform them of that which they used to do." 6:160

"Say: O people of the Book! Exceed not in your religion other than the Truth, and follow not the lusts (prejudices, fantasies, superstitions) of a people who have erred in the past, and who lead many astray, and who go astray from the Even Path." 5:77

"And follow (or pursue) not that of which you have no knowledge; verily, the hearing, the sight, and the heart, of all of these it shall be asked (to give an account)." 17:36

It is of course inevitable that owing to differences of age, experience, education, intelligence and motive and ability etc. people will differ in the amount of knowledge they have. But the purpose of Discipline, Education and Research is to enhance knowledge, motive and ability. It is absurd, for instance, that a schoolboy should allow the products of insufficient information, inadequate understanding, fantasy and prejudice to override the greater knowledge of a university graduate in his own estimation or that of others.

No. A Muslim is required to expand his knowledge by personal effort and consultation with others who may have superior knowledge. He must hold any opinion he has tentatively and under the principle of uncertainty that is incorporated in the formula "Insha Allah".

It is necessary to understand that Islam in the main is against Philosophical speculation. Though it is not against "reason", that is regarded as thinking, pondering, that is information processing. This is a power we have been given as agents of Allah. It does not mean “free will”. We do have a will but it is dependent on Allah. What is normally mistakenly called “free will” simply refers to freedom from external constraints or compulsions. But there are inner causes for all we do.

Islam is concerned much more with the “heart” than mere thoughts or verbal statements, which are three levels of functioning. “Heart” refers to the being of a person and Islam is therefore much more interested in perception, motives and action.

Perception refers to observation and awareness. Motives refer to interests that drive action, attention and reason. Action includes speech, thought and interaction with the environment (God's world) and with self-discipline. Action then supplies us the data of experience as well as modifying us and our faculties.

At a more fundamental level Islam is concerned with the spiritual faculties of faith, love and hope that govern motives. These are interdependent vitalising and creative forces without which no action is possible. All invention requires them. Human beings as agents of Allah have a creative function with respect to the world. It is Faith that creates what was not there before.

"Z" wrote:-

There are many anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic critics on these internet sites who write the biggest nonsense and insist on searching for the mythical standard Muslim or Muslims that fit their prejudicial stereotype. Much is recycled from the many bigoted authors in the "Islamophobia Book Club"

Comment:-

The question is: Why are these Christian critics so interested in the behaviour of some Muslims rather than that of their fellow Christians? And why do they select only those whom they can criticise among Muslims but ignore those who behave similarly or also culpable among Christians? Do they have nothing constructive to say and only destructive? This does not earn any respect but only hostility. And one stops reading their post because their negativity is already predictable. Is this biased negativity not a thoroughly futile time-and-effort wasting exercise?

The problem is the inability or failure to think correctly. There are several fallacies in their thinking as there are among most human beings:-

(1) The failure to distinguish between interpretations and opinion about things and the reality of things.

(2) The failure to understand that people have different amounts of partial knowledge and different people have different parts.

(3) The failure to understand the context of events and actions, the different sets of circumstances with respect to which things must be understood.

(4) The failure to understand that information and the data of experience can be arranged in different ways for different purposes and seen from different angles and to different depths and that different attitudes and mind sets reveal different things.

(5) The error of judging the set of values and standards that a people might accept by means of a set of alien values and standards that do not apply and that the critics might have acquired accidentally or by social conditioning and might even be quite unaware of.

(6) The failure to understand the difference between a teaching or the set of values and standards and the people who may or may not understand them or adhere to them to different degrees or not at all.

(7) The error of selecting a particular subset from a whole set according to personal interest or prejudice and regard them as representing the whole set, ignoring all other subsets.

(8) The failure to notice or mention that things are not completely alike but may be both similar and dissimilar. Similar or dissimilar sets may have the same kinds of subsets and differ because they also have different subsets.

(9) The error of comparing one set with another by selecting the worst subset of one and the best subset of the other.

(10) The error of partiality - of identification oneself with any subset of the whole, also called idolatry.

"O you who believe! Be you steadfast in justice, witnesses for Allah, though it is against yourselves, or your parents, or your kindred, be it rich or poor, for Allah is nearer both than either. Follow not, then, lusts (prejudices, superstitions, passions), so as to act unjustly (or with bias); but if you swerve or turn aside, Allah is well Aware of what you do." 4:135

The critics ought to know from their own scriptures that human beings have limitations and are fallible and that is why religions exist to reform them. It would be much fairer if they looked into what their fellow Christians did and do. And it would be more useful if they worked more positively to reform themselves and their fellows?

From the Islamic point of view each person is responsible for his own action and will be rewarded or punished accordingly and not for that of others. People ought, therefore, to concern themselves with their own actions.

"O you who believe! You have charge of your own souls; he who errs can do you no hurt if you are rightly guided. Unto Allah will you all return, and He will declare to you the truth of that which you did." 5:105

"He who accepts guidance, accepts it only for his own soul: and he who errs, errs only against it; nor shall one burdened soul bear the burden of another." 17:15

Muslims are forbidden to indulge in negativism and backbiting:-

"O you who believe! Let not one people deride (or ridicule) another people perchance they may be better than they, nor let women deride other women, perchance they may be better than they; and do not find fault with (or defame) your own people nor insult one another by (offensive) nicknames; evil is a bad name after faith, and whoever does not desist, these it is that are the unjust. O you who believe! Avoid most of suspicion, for surely suspicion in some cases is a sin, and do not spy nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, surely Allah is Oft relenting, Merciful." 49:11-12

"O you who believe! Stand steadfast as witnesses for Allah with justice; and let not hatred of (or towards) a people tempt you to injustice. Act with equity, that is nearer to piety, and fear Allah; for Allah is Aware of what you do." 5:8

"Allah loves not publicity of evil speech, unless one has been wronged; for Allah is Hearer and Knower." 4:148

"Will you order men to piety and forget it yourselves? You read the Book, do you not then understand? " 2:44

Do not Christians have any similar moral rule? And do they not know that Jesus, also a Prophet in Islam, taught:-

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Matthew 7:3-5

Question:-

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Head of the Anglican Church, is reported to have given a lecture to Lawyers in Britain (Feb 7 2008) in which he said that the recognition of Shariah Law in Britain is inevitable and even a good thing. This has caused great consternation. What do Muslims think about this?

Comment:-

The Archbishop is one the foremost thinkers in Britain, but unfortunately few people understand him or bother to examine what he says. Most people go by prejudices and stereotypes rather than knowledge. There has been a mindless hysteria against him by the tabloid press that seeks sensation and scandal, by politicians looking for popularity, and by the set of self-opinionated people with limited intelligence who like to publish their opinions and impose it on others, all of whom lack knowledge about the Shariah.

We can learn a lesson from this episode about the nature of thinking.

Human being can be said to have three psychological systems that govern their behaviour:- (1) The Sub-lingual System of inherent instincts, reaction to experiences and conditional reflexes. (2) The Lingual system which depends on tokens, signs, symbols and concepts that stand for experiences rather than the experiences themselves. (3) The Super-lingual which depends on conscious awareness of the objects of experience, their contexts and their relation with the person.

These correspond to the distinction in man between the physical, the mental and the spiritual.

A correspondingly similar distinction can be made within the Mental or Lingual Psychological system. We have:- (a) The Sub-rational level where people react to words or their sounds without thinking. The words are slogans meant to cause emotional or physical reactions. The words Democracy, Islam and Shariah, for instance simply arouse positive or negative reactions in many people. (b) The rational level. Here the words stand for certain concepts. They have meanings - connotations, associations and denotations and thinking implies processing all this. Not many people do this and they do so only occasionally. (c) The super-rational level. Here the individual experiences something, realises it, is aware of the significance of the ideas - their function in the scheme of things, their relationship with himself and his system of experience. This manifests in his behaviour. He builds his life on it. At this level language can be used symbolically rather than literally and we can speak of transcendental thinking or meditation.

If people are truly Muslim, i.e. they surrender to Allah, then they will certainly want the Shariah Law as long, of course, that it is truly based on the teachings and spirit of Islam as found in the Quran and Hadith. And it will have to be interpreted and applied by enlightened and learned Muslims in the light of modern conditions. That is to say the word "Shariah" is understood as truly an Aspect of Islam and is not merely a slogan. Many people including Muslims have not understood that Islamic Law is not intrinsically rigid, but that exceptions owing to extenuating circumstances are also recognised and that the Law is based on certain underlying principles. Apart from teaching Truth and Justice, Islam also teaches compassion, tolerance and forgiveness. This allows modification in the severity of laws but it must be applied with wisdom lest leniency encourage the proliferation of evil, thereby contradicting compassion itself.

The debate about the introduction of the Shariah Law in Britain and elsewhere has and will separate those in the Muslim community who are truly Muslim and those who are not and may well be hypocrites.

The fact is that Britain and most other countries are multi-cultural and there are different religions and associated value systems. A truly Democratic Nation would recognise this fact and cater for all sections of the population instead of imposing something on all.

It is not necessary of course that Shariah Law should replace British Law, but that it should be recognised under British Law so that Muslims can be judged by it if they wish. It will not affect non-Muslims and even Muslims could chose to go to the secular law of the State. Compromises can exist so that no glaring contradictions and conflicts between these laws is allowed.

The secular Law is created by members of Parliament who are supposed to be elected by and represent the citizens. Muslims are citizens. There ought not, therefore, to be a problem. But of course, the fact is that the members of Parliament are chosen and controlled by Political Parties and the Laws are made by those who control the Party in power which is usually elected by a minority of citizens which is subjected to intense propaganda through the media at great expense. And only a very few of the issues that the government deals with are superficially discussed in public. Most citizens do not posses the knowledge or understanding to make informed decisions.

That being the case it is not very likely that there will be a consensus on this issue. But circumstances might well arise that force these changes.

In so far as it imposes uniformity through a single Law on the whole community, Democracy as practiced in the West, is more like a Dictatorship of those who acquire power. But even if it is regarded ideally as the rule of the majority, it is a dictatorship of the majority over the minority. And each individual will find himself in some respects in some kind of minority. Fortunately, however, no set of people have as yet acquired absolute or total power over all aspects of the life of all citizens though Politics is progressing towards this as enabling technology develops.

When will it be recognised that "Democracy" should mean that Human beings have:- (1) The right to autonomy, self-determination, and to the pursuit of the ideals and the means in knowledge, organisation and resources, to promote their own welfare, development and self-fulfilment (2) The duty to respect and promote these rights in others (3) Flouting these rights is the great crime.

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