By Dr Tarik Abou Nour, imam and theologian, president of the IESIP (Institut d’Enseignement Supérieur Islamique de Paris) and head of the doctrine-malikite.fr website.
Since the criminal attacks that struck our country, France, we have heard many voices calling for the reform of Islam, the second religion of our country. Yet a serious and in-depth analysis of this modern ill, terrorism, shows that it is the bad fruit of several factors that have nothing religious about them, namely rejection of the other, hatred and contempt for life, spiritual precariousness, literalism… Most of these terrorists come from the world of crime, often against a background of social exclusion.
If we are set on reform, it will inevitably be of two kinds.
1. The reform of hearts and behaviour
By concentrating our efforts on the moral, civic and spiritual education of our children, and more broadly by purifying our hearts of the inner diseases that sully and veil them, such as pride, hatred, envy, ostentation, selfishness, love of power… Allah commands us in the Qur’an: “Avoid committing sin, whether openly or in secret” (Qur’an 6:120). This requires an enlightened spiritual education, the greater jihad to tame our inner enemy, the carnal soul (nafs). It implies appropriate training for our imams and an organisational reform of Islam in France.
2. Reform in the sense of ijtihad
The exclusive domain of competent scholars (oulémas), it cannot touch the fundamentals, but concerns cultural, contextual or circumstantial elements, as well as responses to current events (known as nawâzil), with respect for the spirit and the noble purposes of the scriptural text. In what follows, we shall focus on this last point.
Admittedly, in Islam we have no clergy, but we have specialist scholars (oulémas) who have always worked independently and scrupulously to protect our scriptural texts from any reckless interpretation and from any exploitation for worldly ends. Muslim scholars have differed on several matters concerning the branches of the religion, because the companions themselves had differed. The birth of the four schools is an expression of legal divergence, accepted and justified in jurisprudence.
The right question that arises is this: which are the fundamental elements that cannot be changed, and which admit debate and ijtihad on the part of specialists? To answer this essential question very precisely, two broad classes of status of legal rulings are distinguished.
“Qat‘iyy ath-thubût wa ad-dilâla – Definitive in its authenticity and unequivocal in its meaning.”
This means any command or text of the Qur’an or of the authentic Sunna that is unanimously held to be sound and authentic with regard to its chain of transmission (ath-thubût), without any divergence among specialist scholars on the reliability of that chain. It should be noted in passing that the Qur’an is a text described as qat‘iyy ath-thubût, that is to say there is certainty about the authenticity of its chains of transmission. And which is firm and explicit, admitting only one meaning (ad-dilâla), clearly attested by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or his companions, and/or unanimously accepted by all the scholars (ijmâ‘). Examples: “washing the face and the feet is an obligation in ablution with water”, “performing the five daily prayers”, the pillars of creed such as the oneness of God, His unlikeness to His creatures… These are, in general, matters that form the hard core and the incontestable foundations of Islam. For this category, divergence is not accepted among Muslims and no ijtihad is possible, for otherwise it would be distortion and betrayal of the religion. It should be noted in passing that the matters in this category are limited and few in number.
“Zanniyy ath-thubût aw ad-dilâla – Conjectural as to its authenticity or speculative as to its scope.”
That is to say, there is no authentic text (ath-thubût) from the tradition (Qur’an, Sunna, sayings of companions) and no consensus of the scholars on the matter, or the authentic text concerning it admits several possible interpretations (ad-dilâla) by competent scholars… Thus the tools of “ijtihâd” (juristic effort) apply to the matters of this second category (these tools will be used exclusively and solely by competent scholars).
Thus the muqallid (the Muslim who has not attained the rank of scholar and who lacks the intellectual, scholarly and spiritual competence to rule on new matters and/or to interpret the sacred texts) is obliged to follow a scholar or a committee of scholars (collective ijtihad). Our scholars say on this subject: “whoever follows a scholar, God will reproach him for nothing on the Day of Judgement”. In fact, according to the hadîth, the scholar, even if he errs, will have at least one reward for his ijtihâd. Each person’s vigilant heart and critical sense must also remain awake, so as not to sink into blind imitation and not to sacralise scholars or their opinions, for they remain fallible human beings.
If the muqallid Muslim begins of his own accord to rule on matters, he endangers, by this irresponsible act, the stability of the community and helps to provoke fitna and the division forbidden in Islam.
Divergence, a richness framed by ethics
While justified difference is a richness and an openness, it must take place with respect for the opinions of others and in a spirit of love and brotherhood, far from any sectarianism or exclusion of the other. We must therefore constantly improve our relationship to otherness. Difference or divergence must in no way lead to forming clans, to quarrelling or to breeding hatred… Let us cite the example of the scholars of the four schools of doctrine, who respected and esteemed one another despite the difference concerning several branches of the religion, such as the difference over certain sunan of the obligatory prayer, or even over the manner of performing it (position of the hands, moving the index finger or not in the tashahhud, making one salâm or two salâm at the end of the prayer…). The same is true of the recitation of the Qur’an, “al-qirâ’ât”, which differs into seven accepted readings (or ten).
Any divergence that breeds hatred and exclusion of the other is considered a dangerous division. One must respect the other, one’s brother or sister, in order to be able to exchange properly with him. One must know how to respect Allah’s creatures. In these times of peace in which we live, thanks be to Allah, fruitful exchange between human beings, with its proprieties, is the only guarantee of the good and wise communication of the beautiful values of Islam. Also, and above all, setting an example oneself, through exemplary conduct, is an eminent form of this good communication (da‘wa) and of our daily struggle against every form of Islamophobia.
The danger of takfir
Takfir (exclusion) is generally the bad fruit of division and of disrespect for the other. The basic general rule is as follows: any Muslim who bears witness that God is one and that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His last Messenger, and who denies none of the pillars of Islam, cannot on any pretext be considered kâfir. That person remains Muslim even if they commit sins. For the sinner, there is the open door of sincere repentance, which allows all sins to be effaced, even the greatest…
God alone knows the secrets of hearts, and on the Last Day He will decide to forgive whom He wills and to punish whom He wills, according to each person’s intention and faith.
It therefore befits every sincere Muslim never to judge people, despise them, insult them or accuse them. He must always have sound judgement, a good opinion of others and the best possible interpretation of whatever he may see or hear. He must never expose the faults and failings of others. Finally, mutual respect is a guarantee of cohesion and unity: despite all differences, we must therefore love one another, exchange and help one another for the good of humanity. Good counsel (an-nasîha wa al-maw‘iza al-hasana), with its conditions and its proprieties, is part of the “essential” exchange for reforming the individual and society with kindness, starting from the feeling of love of good for our neighbour.
By Dr Tarik Abou Nour. Source: doctrine-malikite.fr.
