Published in Daily News Monitoring Service on December 12, 2004Too
frequently, the Muslim scholars quote Sir George Bernard Shaw and refer his
book -'The Genuine Islam". The paragraph that most often appears in their
works reads: "I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation
because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me
to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which
can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man
and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savor
of Humanity." [Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.]
Bernard Shaw, with an exuberant mood after studying Prophet Muhammad and
Islam, perhaps tracked his memory back to the history of medieval Christianity
and compared its malignant immoralities and debauchery with the nobility and
brotherhood of early Islam. He must have read that a year before Prophet
Muhammad's death, the Prophet made his last pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca.
There He gave a great sermon to his people that breathed a spirit of
generosity amongst all the people of Arabia and beyond. The Muslims created a
society more free from the widespread cruelty and social oppression than any
society had ever been in the world before.
In contrast, the 'Bull' of Pope Innocent III causing the massacre of 20,000
men, women and children (Albigenses) in France and the nailing of Martin
Luther's 95 questions on the Church door in Germany, it stretches a long
period in between. The European society passed through a massive reform during
this time. The reform movement of Peter Waldo of France, John Wycliffe of
England, Jan Hus of Bohemia (Czech), Girolamo Savonarola of Italy, Michael
Servetus of Spain, Ulrich Zwingli of Switzerland, William Tyndale of England
and hundred others must have influenced Bernard Shaw to lean heavily towards
the fairness of early Islam - the Islam that Prophet Muhammad once preached.
Obviously, Bernard Shaw could visualize the life of those pioneering reformers
of Christianity who were murdered, robbed, tortured, raped and burned to death
for their believing Christianity differently from the religious conviction
concocted by the church.
But little did Bernard Shaw know that the falsehood and tyranny of religious
dogmas that once poisoned Christianity in Europe, stealthily crept into Islam
after the death of the Prophet. Stoning to death, apostasy (execution for
renunciation of religious faith), and the "Bull" were the earth-shaking tool
for the Christendom prior to the formation of Martin Luther's Protestant
denomination of Christianity. Those venomous dogmas are strikingly forceful
today in some Islamic countries and are still being contended by the Mullahs
for their incorporation in these days. In fact, the "Bull" was a system of
expressing Papal ordinance to anyone in the Christendom to explain before a
religious court. The carbon copy of the "Bull" of Christianity is the "Fatwa"
in Islam today.
The word "Sunnah", up to the time of Prophet Muhammad, meant the practices of
antiquity especially in Yathrib - the city that had been ruled by the early
Jews since 66 AD who took shelter there to escape the massacre in Jerusalem by
the Romans. Ironically, Prophet Muhammad too took shelter there to save
himself and his followers from the tyranny of the Meccans. The name Yathrib
eventually got changed to Madinatun-Nabi (The City of the Prophet) and in
short Medina.
At the beginning, Islam's uncompromising monotheism was believed to be pivoted
on the words of God, revealed to Prophet Muhammad - as opposed to any personal
words of teachings similar to Buddha or Jesus. But the dogmas of Sunnah soon
acquired a different significance after the time of the Prophet. Particularly
from the ninth century it came to denote the practices of Prophet Muhammad
including whatever he said, did, or approved during his time. Being elevated
to the holiness with the same divinity as the Koran, the doctrine of Sunnah
has substantially turned Islam into a figure worshipper. Consequently, this
personality cult ensued war among its people and effectively derailed Islam
from its initial dedication to preventing widespread cruelty and social
oppression.
The Hadith literature - the source of the Sunnah, is imposingly believed to be
the words of Prophet Muhammad, passed through his companions. While
purportedly made in the name of the Prophet, a number of these sayings can
actually be traced to Zoroastrian culture, the Christian Bible and even the
laws and rituals of the Byzantine. In a manner of speaking, the limited
legislation in the Koran, basically the rules in regard to marriage, divorce,
inheritances, orphans, food and a few others occupy very little room in the
whole canon of Sharia Laws. A vast bulk of it comes from the Sunnah and
significantly from Bukhari, concocted and recorded about 200 years after the
death of the Prophet. Evidently, deeply merged in it, are the arbitrary laws,
induced by the Muslim emperors and kings of their own as they could not
successfully invoke to settle questions arising in such diverse categories as
systematic and moral theology, ritual, civil and military laws, etc.
Right from the inception, the Hadith literature presents the rational readers
with contradictory statements. Whether it was permissible to write down
traditions of the prophet in the early days of Islam is a serious question.
Abu Huraira, a late convert to Islam and a companion of the Prophet, narrated
nearly 3,500 Hadith. This prolific narrator of Hadith stated in one Hadith
that the Prophet, once observing his followers writing down his sayings, gave
them a resolute warning to refrain from such a venture. He then cited the
evils of making religious books out of the personal sayings of previous
Prophets. Finally he told them: "Do you not know that nothing but the writing
of books beside the book of God led astray the peoples that were before you?"
Even in one Hadith of Abu Huraira, evidently the sayings of the prophet,
compiled before this warning, were heaped together and burned.
While the Koran dictates the companions of the prophet to "Obey God and obey
His Messenger": (Koran: 04.059), the rediscovering of the Hadith, despite
being prohibited by the Prophet himself, is extremely mind boggling. Most
importantly, its incorporation in the Islamic laws and rituals, tantamount to
defiance of the Koranic decree "Obey His messenger". But ironically, such a
defiance, though otherwise is a sin, seems to have turned into a "holy act" in
the resolution of those early Imams who reshaped Islam with their love and
inclination to human worshipping. During the ninth and tenth century, however,
the reshaping of Islam was more for administrative connivance. Evidently, the
wrinkles of Islam are too many today to iron out.
Quite often, the Ulemas and the Islamists quote the Koran and point out the
verses where "Obey God, and obey the Messenger" appear. They then try to
rationalize the incorporation of the Sunnah in the Islamic paradigm as
consistent with the Koranic message - i.e. "obey the Messenger". Surely, the
presence of such verses in the Koran is quite relevant and justified because
Prophet Muhammad wasn't just a prophet, he was a commander, a judge, a leader,
a ruler, a teacher and a preacher. Obviously, obeying his order and direction
was of paramount importance for all of his companions, soldiers and people in
his time. Besides, none could "Obey God" unless they "obey the Messenger" in
believing what God had dictated to him. Plainly put, this phrase, "obey the
Prophet" does not construe that every word he ever said is sacred and
indicates perpetuity for all time.
There is a verse that offers a definitive clarity as to the
misinterpretations of the phrase "obey the Messenger" as decreed in the Koran.
No doubt, this misinterpretation has derailed Islam from its initial orbit for
more than a millennium. The full text of the verse reads: "O you who believe!
Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those in charged with authority among
you. If you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to God and His
Messenger" [004.059].
Keeping historical events in mind, one must not interpret that "refer it to
God and His Messenger" means the Koran and the Hadith. The Koran was not even
compiled when the prophet was alive and most Hadith literature was not
collected until two hundred years after his death. Besides, papers and
printing press were not present at that time to offer easy access of the Koran
and the Hadith to every hand of the Muslims.
Obviously, the phrase - "refer it to God and His Messenger" clearly indicates
those relatives, companions, and friend of the Prophet that were around him.
Clearly, it was only them who could approach and "refer" to the Messenger for
clarification. Another verse reads: "O you who believe! obey God and His
Messenger and do not turn back from him while you hear." [008.020]. Here the
expression "do not turn back from him while you hear", undoubtedly addresses
those who could hear him because of their proximity to the Prophet.
A vast number of the Islamic doctrines are strangely absent in the Koran. They
are, however, profusely enshrined in the Hadith and their prominence is
supported in Islamic laws with parallel holiness with the Koran. Historian
Will Durant tells us that the Christian Church took over some religious
customs and forms prevailing among the pagans in pre-Christian Rome. The
vestments of pagan priests, use of incense and holy water in purification,
burning of candles, light before the altar and more importantly the law of
Rome as a basis for Christian Canon Law. The Jews once found the Mosaic laws,
despite its wealth of details, insufficient itself without the assistance of
case laws and traditions. Eventually, the Talmud (oral law) arose to supply
this need.
Similarly, the crawling of Sunnah into Islamic laws spans over several
centuries. In short, it started after the death of Harun ar-Rashid, the Caliph
of Baghdad in 809 AD. About seven years before his death he had made a Will
and his eldest son al-Amin, was given the caliphate comprising of the Arab
lands while al-Ma'mun got the Persian territories and not the Caliphate. As
al-Ma'mun could not compromise with his father's Will he, with the help of
Iranian army from Khorasan, marched into Baghdad and had his brother killed.
This brutal murder caused severe antagonism between the Arabs and the
Iranians.
Consequently, al-Ma'mun had to shift his strategy that severely downgraded the
Arabs in his army. After realizing that it would not be safe either to depend
solely on the army from Khorasan, al- Ma'mun decided to have mercenaries from
Turkey. The Turks were then easily approachable and sufficiently numerous. The
rapid growth of Turkish influence in the administration, court, and army
eventually made the Caliph merely a puppet in the hands of the Turkish
generals. He remained banished in Samara - far away from Baghdad. With his
absence from the power-point, Islamic laws started brewing in the cauldron of
the Turks - basically, Nestorian Christians having extended ties with Rome.
The Popes in Rome always viewed Islam as a threat to their Hellenic
Christianity and papal power.
The Turkish judges and high-ranking officers had very little knowledge about
the new religion of Islam. Now the religious hypocrisy, borrowed from Rome,
was more powerful in quelling down any decedent than the power of army. Any
innocent people could have been charged and punished with treason or heresy
just the way it was carried out in the Christendom. The entry of Turkish
soldiers in the Abbasid service began a process that gave a distinctive shape
to the administrative, political and cultural life of the world of Islam.
Concurrently, this atmosphere generated a class of professionals and was
called the "Ulema" towards the dying days of the Abbasid dynasty.
During the period from 933 to 937, a number of small but influential mercenary
leaders erupted around Caspian and Persian-sea. They were knows as the Buyids,
Ghaznavids and Seljuqs. The Buyids had taken over the power in Iraq at the
invitation of the Caliph. Systematically, they had formulated their
theological and juridical ideas in the name of Islam. And more than ever the
'Ulemas' functioned as the brokers to authenticate the Caliphs' rule being in
agreement with the Prophet's precedents - the Sunnahs including the way the
Prophet rode his camels, cleaned his teeth and kept his beard.
Muhammad Shahrur, a Syrian civil engineer, authored a book in 1992, entitled
al-Kitab wa-l-Qur'an (The Book and the Quran). A review indicates that
millions of copies of this book have been sold throughout the Arab world
despite the fact that its circulation has been banned in many Islamic
countries. Its success could not have been materialized unless there are a
huge number of people who are in favor of its advocacy. The need for
reinterpretation of Islamic laws, tradition and precepts to contemporary
society has been thunderously echoed in this book and it covers such issues
ranging from the role of women in the society to the acceptance of the virtues
of the non-Muslim world
While we take comfort in the strength of Islam as the torchbearer during the
'Dark Ages', the inclusion of the misinterpreted Sunnah in the formation of
Islamic epitome and the compilation of the Sharia Laws is merged with
conspiracy and administrative connivance. Though demeaning, the ecclesiastical
and temporal polity of the Islamic world was, unfortunately, built on these
flimsy and corrupted sources that have been in existence for about a thousand
years.
The reverences in which the Prophet was held by his contemporaries can be
rationalized as their nostalgic passion that might have led them to preserve
and repeat his sayings. This is normal and understandable. But to incorporate
those sayings as Islamic edicts and to invoke them to prove that a certain act
was performed by the Prophet, and therefore to be imitated by all believers,
puts Islam in the same footings of personality cult that centered on
Muhammad's sayings, doings, habits and choices. Though idol worshipping is a
forbidden dictum in the Koran but it has stealthily mounted on all Islamic
edicts behind the shield of a boasting Sunnah.
No doubt, millions of educated Muslims today are highly critical of the
adherence to ancient and corrupted dogmas. In reality, the ill-conceived
Sunnahs have poisoned Islam with such a severity that the cure, short of an
Islamic Martin Luther, cannot be achieved.
[Sources: Classical Islam, Von Grunebaum; Traditions of Islam, Alfred
Guillaume; The Muslim Creed, A.J. Wensinck; Muslim Theology, Duncan B.
Macdonald; A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani; The Outline of
History, H.G. Wells; Mankind's Search for God, various.]
mesbah_uddin@hotmail.com
Mesbah Uddin A researcher and a freelance writer has contributed this article
from the United Kingdom.
