Islam
places great stress on morality. In a hadith report recorded in the Muwatta of
Imam Malik, the Prophet Muhammad is said to have declared: ‘I have been sent to
the world to establish the pinnacle of morality.’ Accordingly, the Quran places
great stress on social ethics, which includes perseverance, mercy, forgiveness,
avoidance of conflict, justice, and benevolence. The Quran exhorts Muslims to be
patient and steadfast and not to unnecessarily enter into conflict with others.
It repeatedly calls upon Muslims to tolerate difficulties and things that they
may dislike, and speaks of heaven as reward for those who remain steadfast. --
Maulana Waris
MazhariIslam, Muslims and Extremism
By
Maulana Waris Mazhari
(Translated
from Urdu by Yoginder
Sikand)
Critics claim that Islam conduces to, or
explicitly preaches, extremism and mindless violence. Some radical Islamist
movements, that are a product of local circumstances as well as certain
international political developments, are undoubtedly engaged in extremism in
the name of Islam. This is particularly unfortunate in that it gives Islam a bad
image as well as provides ample ammunition to Islam’s critics. Lamentably,
Muslim leaders, especially the ulema and other religious figures, are so
enraged and offended by this unjustified criticism of Islam that they are simply
not ready to admit that radical Islamists are indeed misusing the fair name of
Islam to engage in extremism, which is readily apparent across the Muslim world
and even elsewhere.
It is imperative, however, that serious and
committed Muslim scholars and activists crititice and condemn the politics of
extremism in the name of Islam. What is the best way for them to do so,
especially since these radical groups claim to base their ideology, politics,
and practice on the Islamic scriptures?
No ideology or movement based on it can survive
long if it is founded on extremism, because extremism is an un-natural method of
seeking to achieve one’s goals. If extremism is the very basis of a movement,
the movement is bound to fail in the long run as extremism inevitably leads to
chaos, disruption and strife. In other words, extremism is its own negation and
nemesis.
Islam places great stress on morality. In
a hadith report recorded in the Muwatta of Imam Malik, the Prophet
Muhammad is said to have declared: ‘I have been sent to the world to establish
the pinnacle of morality.’ Accordingly, the Quran places great stress on social
ethics, which includes perseverance, mercy, forgiveness, avoidance of conflict,
justice, and benevolence. The Quran exhorts Muslims to be patient and steadfast
and not to unnecessarily enter into conflict with others. It repeatedly calls
upon Muslims to tolerate difficulties and things that they may dislike, and
speaks of heaven as reward for those who remain
steadfast.
The bases of non-violence are patience,
steadfastness, and tolerance. If steadfastness and patience are abandoned,
violence takes over. That is why, according to a hadith report, the
Prophet is said to have commented that when faced with oppression and injustice,
to wait for succor is the best form of worship. The Prophet was ordered by God
to seek to avoid conflict, as far as possible, with his enemies. The Quran and
the Hadith are replete with exhortations addressed to the Muslims to abide by
justice and goodness in relations with others. Thus, for instance, the Quran
says:
‘Nor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel [evil]
with what is better: then will he between whom and you was hatred become as it
were your friend and intimate. And no one will be granted such goodness except
those who exercise patience and self-restraint—none but persons of the greatest
good fortune’ (41:34-35).
The Quran instructs the Prophet to be soft and
kind towards others thus:
‘It is part of the mercy of God that you deal
gently with them. Were you severe or harsh-hearted, they would have broken away
from about you: so pass over [their faults], and ask for [God’s] forgiveness for
them’ (3:159).
The Prophet always chose gentleness over
harshness, as is apparent from numerous references in the books of Hadith and
history. For instance, instead of wishing him ‘peace be unto you’ (asalam
aleikum) many Jews would say to him ‘death be unto you’ (as-samu
aleikum). Once, angered by this, the Prophet’s wife Ayesha said to them,
‘The curse and anger of God be upon you.’ At once the Prophet corrected his wife
and said, ‘O Ayesha! God is gentle and loves gentleness, and He gives to
gentleness what He does not to harshness’.
The Prophet always sought to avoid confrontation,
if that were at all possible, no matter how crucial the issue, even if it
concerned the basic foundations of Islam. Thus, for instance, in his time the
Ka‘aba was not structured on the same pattern as Abraham had originally set it,
but, in order to avoid confrontation, the Prophet did not rectify it. Likewise,
the Prophet had to suffer immense persecution in Mecca in the first thirteen
years of his prophethood, but yet he never raised a finger against his
opponents. Then, after he migrated to Mecca, he entered into a peace treaty with
the Jews and pagans of that town.
Compared to medieval Europe, relations between
different communities were far less strained in several parts of the medieval
Muslim world. The influence of Islamic teachings was undoubtedly a major factor
for this. Thus, in Muslim Spain the Jews prospered, economically as well as
intellectually. When the Muslims lost control of Spain in the late fifteenth
century, both the Spanish Muslims and Jews were subjected to horrendous
persecution by the Church and the Christians. At this time it was the Muslim
Ottoman Empire that came to the rescue of the Spanish Jews, who sought refuge in
different parts of that empire. Even such a brazen advocate of American
imperialism as the Jewish scholar Bernard Lewis has acknowledged this
fact.
However, and despite this tradition of which
Muslims can justly be proud, the fact of extremist thinking in some influential
Muslim circles today cannot be denied. Certain local factors as well as
international political developments have given this tendency a great fillip,
but this should not be used as an excuse to deny the existence of this tendency
or to deny the role of Muslims themselves in fomenting strife and conflict or to
place the blame for this lamentable state of affairs entirely on
others.
Today, certain radical groups who call themselves
‘Islamic’ are playing havoc with the lives of innocent people, non-Muslims as
well as Muslims. They are engaged in thoroughly uncalled-for violent acts in the
name of Islam while considering themselves ‘lovers of Islam’. They seek
justification for their actions in Islam itself. It is thus very natural that
many non-Muslims, and even some Muslims as well, are bound to develop negative
feelings, even revulsion, for Islam based on the wrong claims and heinous acts
of these radical self-styled ‘Islamic’ groups.
Among the various factors for the emergence of
violence in the name of Islam is what I consider the very serious carelessness
of the Muslims themselves. Here I wish to deal with two aspects of this
question, the first of which relates to the matters internal to the Muslims, and
the second which relates to relations between Muslims and
others.
Muslims have always been divided on the basis of
sectarian affiliation. This is not a new phenomenon. These various sects, which
number in their dozens, are divided on the basis of some minor issues, but
mostly their differences relate to different claims about the past. These latter
have become a major source of heated contestation and strife among Muslims
today. Sometimes, this even leads to killings on a massive scale, as happens
occasionally in countries like Pakistan. We must admit that many Muslims simply
have no tolerance for Muslims of other sects, leave alone for people of other
religions. Lamentably, Muslim religious leaders have made no serious efforts to
unite Muslims, who are miserably divided against each other on the basis of sect
and jama‘at. They have done precious little to end sectarian hatred and
strife, which are causing such damage to Muslims in
general.
The generally pathetic status of Muslims at the
global level has led to pervasive and widespread despondency and the perception
of being oppressed by others. In turn, this has led to emotionally surcharged
feelings of revenge, which underlies the appeal of what is called ‘Islamic
awakening’ among large sections of the Muslim youth. In fact, it would not be
wrong to say that much of what passes of as such ‘Islamic awakening’ is simply a
expression of this desire for revenge for the oppression that Muslims in
different parts of the world have suffered or perceive themselves as having
suffered. In a very simplistic manner, its advocates have sought to convince
other Muslims that this ‘Islamic awakening’ is tantamount to, or synonymous
with, reviving the ‘Golden Age’ of Islam and the revolutionary traditions of the
pious predecessors. Muslim scholars and others who dare to critique their claims
are branded as ignorant about Islam and even as agents of the
West.
Consuming even a little alcohol is prohibited in
Islam because this might well lead to addiction. Likewise, Islam forbids even
the slightest form of extremism because it can lead to people becoming addicted
to it. The Prophet Muhammad is said to have declared that if even a bit of
something is addictive it is forbidden or haram in Islam. This is a very
meaningful statement. Relating it to the present-day phenomenon of extremism and
violence, one can confidently assert that all forms of extremism and
uncalled-for violence, no matter how slight, are sternly forbidden in Islam.
This issue can be further understood in the light of another instance.
Some ulema have issued fatwas and statements allowing for Muslims to
engage in suicide bombings in the particular context of occupied Palestine,
although suicide is considered wholly forbidden or haram in Islam.
However, allowing for suicide bombings in the case of Palestine rapidly led to
some Muslim groups taking to, and considering, suicide bombings to be the most
effective means of taking on their opponents. Some radical so-called Islamists
now boast that while the West has atom bombs, they have an even more deadly
weapon in their arsenal—human bombs. And so this phenomenon of suicide bombings
has rapidly spread from the narrow confines of Palestine, where they were
deployed to target the Zionist oppressors, to various other parts of the world,
including Muslim countries, where, such as in Pakistan, they have now become an
almost daily occurrence, causing the death of thousands of innocent Muslims
themselves and enormous destruction, including of schools and even of Islamic
institutions.
Extremism is a bottled-up genie, which, once
allowed out of the bottle, refuses to go back again. It has now become
imperative for Muslim religious and political leaders and activists to seek to
push back this genie into its bottle. They must openly and explicitly condemn
the chaos and strife that is being caused in various parts of the world in the
name of jihad. It is not enough, as is today generally the case, for our leaders
to simply claim that Islam is a religion of peace and that it is opposed to
terrorism. These sort of abstract and general statements are clearly
insufficient to make any dent whatsoever in the prevailing situation. For this
to happen, our leaders must readily denounce, in very clear and explicit terms
and by specifically mentioning their names, the organizations, movements and
individuals that are promoting what the Quran condemns as ‘strife in the world’
(fasad fil- arz) in the name of jihad. They must clearly declare that
such elements are not the mujahids they claim to be, but that, in fact,
they are rebels. In this way, one hopes, the popular support that such elements
who spread chaos in the name of jihad will decline and they can be socially
ostracized.
*Maulana Waris Mazhari is the editor of the
New Delhi-based monthly Tarjuman Dar ul-Uloom, the official organ of the
Graduates’ Association of the Deoband madrasa. He can be contacted
on w.mazhari@gmail.com
*Yoginder
Sikand works with the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion at the National
Law School, Bangalore.
9:30 PM
Sultan Shahin
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