Everyone has an opinion but the question is everyone qualified to an opinion? Is voicing an opinion in the community of Muslims based on merit or the right-to free speech? We must come to terms that Shar’iah is for all times and places and is capable of being lived in the West, and addressing matter of pertinence that unfold in the reality of that environment. The first and primary mistake that took place in da’wah in the West was that Muslims were at a loss regarding what ought to be the proper rules of engaging the West as Muslims. More often than not people turned to total immersion and consequentially loosing their Islamic identity or they turned to an orientation of militancy.
Islam and the West are not at odds there is no basis for the thesis of clash of civilization neither in our sacred texts nor in our tradition of scholarship. We must come to grips with the reality that the politics of the Muslim world and Western foreign policy has overshadowed an honest inquiry into the reality of how to live Shar’iah in the West. Islamic education is at such an all time low that when the term Shar’iah is mentioned in the minds of many two concepts emerge in thought and image: Islamic criminal law and the notion of khilafa.
To limit Shar’iah to these two points’ criminal law and khilafah is very simplistic and an understanding based on ignorance of what Islam, what Shar’iah is. First and foremost we must come to terms with the fact that Islam is a message to be communicated a model of life for all people, times and places and not just criminal law and political leadership these matters are outcomes not ends in themselves. It is true that Islam does not separate between political life and spiritual life they are not in conflict within the Islamic way of life but politics in Islam is a means not an end. The ends of Islam are preservation of life and intellect, family and wealth, dignity and upholding Islamic practice not political power and punishing crime. The goal of Islam is to elevate the quality of life not to punish and wield power. Confusion has emerged in the Muslim intellect because Muslims have misunderstood the reasons why da’wah movements historically emerged and have forgotten to regard time and place and context.
Da’wah movements do not represent the reality of Islam rather they stimulate awareness of Islam. The reality of Islam is represented in the sources of Islam. Understanding Islam as a living, viable, relevant mode of life necessitates primarily an education in the sources of Islam and not imbibing concepts alone we must imbibe concepts and the ethos of Islam and learn through study and practice. What is needed is to connect with revelation. The confusion that we face today is due to Muslims themselves and also to colonialism. The emergence of the West saw the destruction of places of Islamic learning with the demise of these centers and the colonial onslaught Muslims focused on political liberation. But the situation did not stop there in the midst of the Cold War the Muslim world was a playground for ideological warfare and in some cases a ground for military action and this is what we saw in the war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. The preoccupation with colonialism and ideological warfare and the fact that Islamic centers of learning were weakened in fact undermined the project for dialogue and exchange. What is demanded at the moment is a sober look at the affair, divorced from political and ideological pressures. Islam is now embedded into the fabric of Western society the question now is how will Muslims contribute as Muslims to society?
From the Translators.Click to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment