The ISIL Renaissance

Over the past few weeks, no four letters have been more prominent among the mainstream news media than the threat of I.S.I.L or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. What started as an organization called ISIS (Islamic state in Iraq and Syria) claiming to fight the tyrannical regimes in Syria and Iraq today has captured almost the entire world’s attention with their beheading videos and their claim to establish an Islamic Caliphate. 

What is discerning to me in light of recent events is that, again like the aftermath of 9/11, Muslims all around the world are being looked at with suspicion. I find people asking questions on why Muslims cannot control these so called extremists within their communities. There is a sense that Muslim communities are weak in that, such a cancerous ideology cannot be unjustified and contained. 

To make matters worse, the times of distress are upon us also called the ‘Fitna’ in Arabic. With wars raging endlessly across the Middle East, Ukraine and Africa, journalists all around the world no longer look at reporting raw and real boring news but instead look to fuse information with sensationalism thus giving a much distorted picture of the reality that confronts us. Like I have mentioned in my earlier posts two things happen as a result – 

1. The depressed and lonely turn to other outlets for news such as the internet to gain their information and consequently get sucked into the vortex of extremist thought.
2. The media constantly looks at weaving a good guy vs. bad guy rhetoric by profiling such individuals as belonging to a bad organization with militants who have designations, titles and a hierarchical order in which they go about doing their business; In fact my personal opinion is that almost all these so called terrorist organizations have no sense whatsoever of where they are headed, why they are headed that way and how it all came to this. There is no “structure" within their “organizations” and they are guided by an ideology that has no place in Islam, of which they are fully aware of but are fearful of admitting given that they are already at the point of no return.

If I look though history, I see parallels here with gloomy Europe just before the renaissance period. Though it took 400 years to culminate, the end result was an astounding era of rational thought that wiped out false beliefs, turned grief into a creative outlet and brought a sense of positivity all across Europe. What the Islamic world needs today is exactly that renaissance.  In my opinion there are 4 goals that need to be aimed at to bring about this change.  Ironically, I call these goals the ISIL goals- 

Intention –

In the Islamic faith, the intention or ‘Niyat’ forms an important part of every act of supplication and action. It follows from the idea that in order to have a positive action, you need a positive thought first. Similarly, there has to be a ‘consensus in thought’ among Muslims of today that a change is indeed needed towards reformation. There are still large sections within Muslim societies that are afraid to review Shariah law for fear of offending Islamic principles. Frankly, I find this silly since Islamic principles were designed to be forward looking in essence and certain laws governed by Shariah no longer seem to be forward looking (though they might have been at the time of the prophet and shortly thereafter). The day the major Muslim leaders converge on the idea that we as a people (Ummah) want to be forward looking will be the day in my opinion, Islam wins its greatest ‘Jihad ‘.

Sectarian Peace –

Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is said to have predicted the split of the Islamic faith into two distinct sects – The Shias and Sunnis, 200 years before it actually happened. It therefore follows that there might be no going back and uniting these sects. That said, I am surprised of the utter hatred these two groups have for each other, given that we have the same concepts in place – Tauheed , the oneness of the Almighty and a love for our dear prophet. The hatred in my opinion is all politically instigated and it is therefore necessary that we have governments in Muslim lands that are free from such prejudices. Saudi Arabia and Iran are examples of governments that have used their political influence to arm twist other secular countries to have Sunni-Shia divisions within their lands. Sectarian peace can only exist if these governments preach peace and portray a sense of oneness to all sects within their lands.

Interpretation –

Perhaps the most influential part of how the world sees Islam is in the interpretation of the laws under the Shariah. There is a massive difference in the way countries like Malaysia and Turkey follow Islamic law vs. countries like Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Somalia. I am not professing what is right and wrong. The point I am trying to make is that there has to be uniformity in what works in today’s society and what does not work. In what might be a controversial thought, I feel the need to have an equivalent to a new testament for the hadith. What is the hadith after all? – A collection of historical actions and stories about the prophet that may or may not have stood the test of time in terms of being accurate. The highly learned and respected within the Islamic world will need to come together, review the Quran and Hadith and finally come to laws that make sense in today’s generation, free from ambiguity and interpretation. There should ideally be only the Quran for divine guidance and a ‘reformed’ book that takes from the hadith and Quran to serve as a textbook of living in the Muslim community.

Leadership –

For all the goals mentioned so far to work effectively, Islam’s need of the hour is a strong and robust leadership. Though the caliphate model would seem ideal to most Muslims, my sense is that we need a more innovative solution in this day and age. Unlike, the Rashidun caliphates (first four leaders after the Prophet), the subsequent leaders till today have for the most part been corrupt, unaccountable and unapologetic.  I would prefer a corporate style of leadership where Islam’s ‘CEO’ is completely accountable and is constantly kept in check by a ‘board of directors’ comprised of respected and highly learned leaders from all walks of Islamic society.

 

Personality profile: Umar Ibn Al Katthab

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to be introducing a new series of posts in my blog that will talk about leading figures in Islam and history in general. Ideally I would have liked to start with our beloved prophet (PBUH), however given the man that he was and his achievements, I want to take time to research and make it relevant  and special for readers. I therefore start the series with one of his close aides, the second caliph according to the Sunni tradition- Umar Ibn Al khattab. 

Much has been said about the man, and stories relating to his piousness are a part of every Muslim gathering and event.  Encyclopedia Britannica describes Umar as follows : 

“ʿUmar I, in full ʿumar Ibn Al-khaṭtāb    (born c. ad 586, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]—died Nov. 3, 644, Medina, Arabia), the second Muslim caliph (from 634), under whom Arab armies conquered Mesopotamia and Syria and began the conquest of Iran and Egypt.

A member of the clan of ʿAdi of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (Koreish), ʿUmar at first opposed Muḥammad but, by about 615, became a Muslim. By 622, he had become one of Muḥammad’s chief advisers, closely associated with Abū Bakr. His position in the state was marked by Muḥammad’s marriage to his daughter Hafsa in 625. On Muḥammad’s death in 632 ʿUmar was largely responsible for reconciling the Medinan Muslims to the acceptance of a Meccan, Abū Bakr, as head of state (caliph). Abū Bakr (reigned 632–634) relied greatly on ʿUmar and nominated him to succeed him. As caliph, ʿUmar was the first to call himself “commander of the faithful” (amīr al-muʾminīn). His reign saw the transformation of the Islāmic state from an Arabian principality to a world power. Throughout this remarkable expansion ʿUmar closely controlled general policy and laid down the principles for administering the conquered lands. The structure of the later Islāmic empire, including legal practice, is largely due to him. Assassinated by a Persian slave for personal reasons, he died at Medina 10 years after coming to the throne. A strong ruler, stern toward offenders, and himself ascetic to the point of harshness, he was universally respected for his justice and authority.”

As described correctly, a large part of Sunni Islam as we see it today has roots in policies that were implemented by Umar during his reign. For this reason, my view is that he is easily attributed to be one of (if not the only) true architects of modern Islam after the prophet (PBUH). Many practices that you see today including the Tarawih prayers during the holy month of Ramadhan and the compilation of the Quran into the book we know of are as a result of orders given out by Umar during his reign.  Among the various stories that are prevalent on his humbleness and fairness as the ruler of Muslims (amīr al-muʾminīn), there are two that distinctly fascinate me.

The first one relates to the power he bestowed on the administrative officials of his state during his reign as the second caliph of Islam. Here was an all-powerful ruler, leader of over a billion people, who placed so much trust in his administrative officials, that he himself had to ask permission and seek approval from these officials if their services were to be availed. The story begins on one of the days of Ramadhan when Umar approached the official in charge of the people’s treasury seeking a loan. Despite being the ruler, Umar lived a most humble life and on the advice of his wife decided to take a loan from the treasury to buy his daughters some new clothes on the occasion of Eid. Umar asked the official if he could borrow some money with the intention of repaying once his salary was received at the end of the month (The fact that a ruler at the time received a salary from the treasury and the fact that he had to seek permission to take a loan itself is fascinating for me). But the story goes on to show how capable the people whom Umar placed his trust on were. The official replied that he would gladly give Umar the loan from the People’s treasury provided Umar signs a written affidavit that he would not die till the end of the month!! The official then goes on to say that the treasury was made up of the people’s contribution and to take this money without the guarantee of repaying would be a grave sin. Umar immediately realized his mistake and recalled his decision to take the loan.

The second story, similar in context and equally riveting goes something like this: It was late evening when Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet approaches Umar’s house to talk to him on an urgent issue. Umar had just wrapped up a meeting with his administrative officials. On seeing Ali and learning of his purpose of visit, he immediately enquires if the matter he would like to talk about is regarding the state or something personal. Ali replies it was the latter. On hearing this, Umar extinguishes that lamp that was already lit, and lights another lamp. Puzzled by this rather odd reaction, Ali asks for a reason to which Umar replies “ My dear Ali, the oil that burns in the first lamp has been bought with money from the treasury i.e the People’s treasury. To use this lamp while we speak of personal matters would be highly unfair and unethical. For this reason, we can have the conversation at my expense i.e using the second lamp which burns of oil bought from my salary.”

How many of our present day leaders follow such an honest and fair path? How many of our present day leaders can be so accountable? Is this not what the Arab spring set to bring about ? Both these stories coupled with his achievements in history to take Islam far from the lands from where it was born and more importantly to rule these lands in a such a just and right manner makes him in my view one of the greats in Islam’s 1400 year old history. Though there is much controversy among Shia Muslims on his genuineness, they would agree that if not for this ‘commander of the faithful’ and the solid foundations that he laid, Islam today would have not survived the long list of events that took place in the very lands in which he ruled.