Overview

The umma is experiencing trials. This is due to the estrangement from the Book of Allah. For there was a reorientation from revelation to tradition, a shift from a revelation-centric to a tradition-centric epistemological paradigm. The estrangement is reflected in the practice of the recitation of the Book of Allah with minimal understanding. The reorientation was triggered by politics, the aspiration of hawkish rulers for a reinterpretation of revelation that would justify wars of aggression, prohibited in revelation. These would be waged under the banner of Islam under the pretext of the propagation of religion through jihad al talab, purportedly the sixth pillar of Islam. The reluctance to engage reason corrupted knowledge, in what Fazlur Rahman referred to as ""intellectual suicide."" The reticence to use reason engendered a ""tradition of intellectual retardation."" The war on rationality was justified by recourse to a tradition that equates using reason to understand revelation with kufr. The misunderstanding of revelation, triggered by the reluctance to engage reason, estranged the umma from its religion. The war against reason was perpetrated in defiance of the teaching of revelation. For the Book of Allah encourages the use of reason. The turn from revelation to tradition was reflected in, and reinforced by the recording of traditions. The turn resulted in the eclipse of revelation by tradition and in the eventual disintegration of the empire. Recourse to problematic exegesis enabled the practices of the predecessors, reflected in the traditions, to become a part of ""revelation from God."" Bellicose ulama reinvented Islam as a teaching based on tradition and the teaching of abrogation. This produced ""traditional"" and ""political"" Islam, respectively. The emergence of traditionalism was expedited by treating tradition as revelation, while the emergence of Islamism was expedited by the ""abrogation"" of all verses that restrict warfare to self-defence. Reinventing the teaching of reconciliation as a religion of war was a brazen defiance and corruption of the teaching of revelation. Jihad al-talab or ""holy war"" against non-Muslims would be waged as a requirement of Islam in the epic struggle between the dar al-Islam and the dar al-kufr, the Islamist version of the ""conflict of civilizations thesis."" By treating wars of aggression, prohibited in revelation, as a requirement of the faith, hawkish ulama betrayed Islam, debased their profession placed the umma on a warpath. They plunged the umma into endless wars of empire-building which it could not win in the long term. Fascism comes with a price - as the Nazis and their allies learned the hard way - and which, because of the corrupt teachings of Islamist ulama parts of the umma continue to pay. Unlawful wars of aggression triggered suffering not just for the victims of aggression, but for Muslims too, when aggrieved parties retaliated. Muslims suffered setbacks in France, in Baghdad by Mongols in 1258, at Vienna in 1529 and 1683, and as of late in Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever aggression triggers at times disproportionate retaliation. Misunderstanding was triggered by the weaponization of exegesis, tainted by unwarranted presuppositions and practices. Muslims treat reports by transmitters as ""revealed"" and even ""sent down"" by Allah. Problematic practices encompass treating tradition as ""revelation,"" able to ""judge,"" ""abrogate"" and ""replace"" parts of revelation. This transpired with the ""replacements"" of revealed punishments for apostasy and adultery by capital punishments derived from traditions. This reflected juristic excess. Problematic beliefs encompass the perception that revelation is ""unclear,"" ""insufficiently detailed"" and ""contradictory."" But these perceptions defy all verses that teach the reverse. Accordingly, all perceptions that revelation is in parts ""unclear"" and ""insufficiently detailed"" are expressions of kufr, and hence require being treated accordingly.

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