"excerpts from "Open Letter To The Nation’s Leaders And
Intellectuals" written by Dr. Kassim Ahmad from Malaysia."
- The time may have come for us to do
a final reckoning with ourselves, our people, and the international
community. Never in the history of mankind have we faced such total
collapse as we do today.... Where has morality gone? Where on the
face of this earth is a group or groups of moral human beings?...
There is a limit to human endurance of suffering without protest;
that limit has been passed!
- When a group of our people in
Malaysia wants to bring back the Quran to the hearts of the populace
today, this is the significance and the implication. For a thousand
years, Muslims have strayed so far away from God’s teachings and
lived in such ignorance that they are powerless to destroy the evil
perpetrated before their eyes. Western civilization too has strayed
far away from the teachings of the prophets, including Moses and
Jesus.... Both East and West must return to God’s teachings,
particularly the Quran, His final, complete, perfect, and detailed
scripture.
- Alas, when Jema'ah Al-Quran
Malaysia (Quranic Society of Malaysia or JAM) was formed
precisely for this mission, a number of our leaders and
intellectuals leapt up and protested. "Anti-Hadith group! Anti-Hadith
group!" they screamed in accusation. What? Bringing the Quran to the
people so that they would understand, this is anti-hadith? So,
letting the people remain Quran illiterate, as in the past five
hundred years in Malaysia, is acceptable?
- I write this open letter to the
nation’s leaders and intellectuals in all communities in the hope
that we can study this matter calmly and rationally, without hurling
accusations and threats and creating an atmosphere of animosity and
tension. It is with a sense of responsibility and humility that I
ask this, for it is not a matter involving religious ritual, but one
of life and death for our people.
- In 1986, this writer published a
book, Hadis - Satu Penilaian Semula (its English
translation, Prophetic Traditions, A Re-evaluation will also
be published, God willing) with the intention stated above. Many of
the hadith compiled by Bukhari, Muslim and others that we use today,
according to this writer’s study, are in conflict with the teachings
of the Quran. I give instances in three areas:
- One, adulation of or unquestioning
acceptance of the teachings of a leader. Since this principle was
instilled, Muslims have feared others besides God; they have been
afraid to question leaders. Hence they became slaves of the leaders,
whereas the Quran exhorts us to free ourselves of all forms of
subservience, except to the One God....
- Two, prohibiting the use of the
rational mind. Generally, Muslims are taught not to use their minds
in religious matters. This teaching is spread through some false
hadith. Purportedly, the use of the mind in religious matters would
lead us astray. If the mind may not be used in religious matters,
why may it be used in other matters? Are religious and secular
matters to be kept separate? Indeed, this is what has paralyzed the
intellects of Muslims in comparison with others. The minds of
Muslims have been dead for a thousand years, killed by these false
hadith. On the contrary, the teaching of the Quran give the mind a
noble place. God deems human beings who do not use their minds worse
than animals! (7:179) God bars those who do not use their minds from
the fold of the faithful. (10:100)
- Three, suppression of creativity.
It is evident that for a long time, Muslims have not been creative.
Since the thirteenth century when Islamic civilization began to
decline, modern scientific discoveries and technological inventions
have been made by others, particularly those who hold that human
beings may know and may create progress. In the early days, Muslims
were highly creative because they adhered to the Quran’s dynamic
teachings, which urge Muslims to work and strive for success in this
world and the next. But since they turned to the teachings of the
hadith, their creativity declined, for these false hadith teach
resignation to taqdir (divine pre-destination) or fatalism.
Purportedly, good and evil are from God. The Malay proverb, "If you
are fated to gain a cupak (a small measure of rice) you will
not gain a gantang (a big measure of rice)," reflects this
world-view.
- All three teachings from certain
false hadith are clearly in conflict with teachings in the Quran.
The Islamic education system from the village pondok (rural
religious seminary) right up to the Azhar university, based on rote
learning and unquestioning acceptance, teaches that hadith cannot
possibly be in conflict with the Quran. This would be true of hadith
that are really from the Prophet. But history tells us that the
hadith compilations by Bukhari and others were made between 200 and
250 years after the Prophet’s death. These compilations are the
responsibility of Bukhari and others, not of the Prophet. The
Prophet’s responsibility as God’s messenger was to convey the Quran....
- Some religious leaders label as
apostates those who adhere to the Quran, accusing them of being
anti-hadith. According to certain hadith, apostates are punished by
being put to death. Are they not aware that leaders of Christian
Church during the Middle Ages in Europe also put to death apostates
from Christianity? Thus, this is not punishment under God’s law, but
one from the age of ignorance which entered the hadith through the
Torah (Old Testament), which had been tampered with. (Refer to Deut.
13:5-10) Do our people know that according to the teachings of the
Quran, one is given full freedom to choose one's religion? Thus,
killing someone for religion is totally forbidden by God and is a
great sin.
- The study of the hadith has been
developed into a complex one in Islam from the 9th to the 15th
century. The early hadith scholars established a method of sifting
out the weak hadith and retaining only the genuine ones. However, we
must realize that knowledge develops, and one of the conditions for
development is freedom to criticize. No philosopher, scientist or
scholar is free of weaknesses, and one of the ways of overcoming
weaknesses is through scientific criticism. We have seen the
weaknesses of the method used by the early hadith scholars in the
existence of many hadith which are in conflict with the Quran in
Sahih Bukhari (Bukhari’s compilation of hadith that are regarded
as genuine) and others.
- Now we need to review the
definition of sahih or authentic hadith. Does it mean
confirmed as genuine only on the basis of isnad (chain of
narrators) or also on the basis of matan (meaning of text)?
Between isnad and matan, which is the more important? As we are
talking about the sayings and doings of the Prophet, the term sahih
must be based on matan which is in line with the Quran, for the
sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad could not possibly be in
conflict with the teaching of the Quran.
- It is clear why we need to do a
re-evaluation. Every Muslim believes in the Quran and puts it above
all other teachings. Our problem is the Quran-illiteracy of Muslims
whose language is not Arabic, and of Arab Muslims whose language is
Arabic. They do not know which of the hadith taught to them are in
conflict with the teachings of the Quran and which are not. Many
false teachings have been slipped into the hadith by foes of Islam
in those days (the Jews, the Christians, the Persians) to undermine
Islam from within. If Muslims wish to be great again, and surely
they do wish it, re-evaluating the hadith on the basis of the Quran
and understanding and practicing the teachings of the Quran are
unavoidable conditions.
- Certainly, when this re-evaluation
is carried out, certain changes and adjustments will need to be made
in our beliefs and practices. As these changes are made to correct
and improve, we need not fear making them. In fact, we should
welcome them. What we should fear is going on practicing wrong
traditions after knowing them to be so.
- But these few changes and
adjustments involve major matters:
- One, we must reject adulation of
leaders. We must bow only to God. All human beings are equal--none
higher or lower than the other. This will rekindle the spirit of
jihad (struggling in God’s cause) among Muslims....
- Two, we must reject taqlid
(un-questioning acceptance of human authority). We must use our
minds to gain knowledge. We read all books, but critically. We learn
from all teachers, but without forgetting our critical faculty. In
this way, we shall inherit only the good from our ancestors; the bad
we shall cast aside. Thus will the Islamic intellect blossom again.
- Three, we must reject fatalism. Our
fates as individuals and as a nation is shaped by ourselves, not by
taqdir (divine predestination). The law is: those who strive
will attain; those who do not strive will not. Man cannot know his
capacity until he tries. The Omniscient God knows everything from
beginning to end, but man does not know what God knows. This change
will revive the creativity of Muslims; and science, philosophy, art
and technology will bloom again in the Islamic world.
- These are the three major changes
we must make as individuals and as a people when we re-evaluate the
hadith on the basis of the Quran and when we return to the Quran. Is
this impossible? I think not. The best ways of making these changes
can be discussed and decided by our leaders and intellectuals.
- As we have seen, the anti-hadith
allegations hurled at us are the result of ignorance or
misunderstanding on the part of the people and a handful of leaders
who fear for their position and authority. These can be overcome
through sincere and fair discussion. We all declare ourselves to be
Muslims. What, then, prevents us from holding talks to find an
amicable solution based on truth? If both sides are sincere, adhere
to the spirit of brotherhood among the faithful, and base the talks
on the Quran, as God commands, there is no reason why we cannot
solve this problem.
- We have no intention of toppling
the ulama (religious scholars or leaders) or wresting away
their positions. We only want the Muslims, including the leaders and
the intellectuals, in our country to adhere truly to the Quran.
- Some claim that this problem need
not be re-opened as it was solved long ago. These people are like
ostriches, burying their heads in the sand and saying there is
nothing to worry about since they can see nothing! Islamic
communities all over the world as well as in our country are bogged
down with problems they cannot overcome. Why? Because we live in
darkness. How could we see in the dark? We need to get out of the
darkness by using a bright torch. That torch is the Quran.
- As I stated in the beginning of
this letter, the time has come for Muslims and mankind in general to
return to God’s teachings. Our society, both national and
international, is hit by crisis after crisis; the only way we can
overcome these is by returning to the teachings of the Omniscient
God, i.e., the Quran. Such is the importance of the Quran to us and
to the world.
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