Rescuing Muslims from Militants: Rethinking Jihad al-Talab

The umma is experiencing trials on an epic scale, in different ways. What happened? Muslims strayed from the true path. They are casualties of inherited Islam. They let go the Book of Allah and began to follow traditions. Allah said he would not change the condition of people until they first change what is in themselves. But Muslims turned from revelation to tradition. Muslims are taught an exclusive rather than an inclusive Islam. Tradition upholds parochialism, stripping Islam of its universalism. This resulted from the re-orientation from revelation to tradition. The reorientation - an epistemological paradigm shift - was triggered by politics and assisted by the repression of reason. Fazlur Rahman referred to the repression of reason as ＂intellectual suicide.＂ It brought a ＂tradition of intellectual retardation.＂ It plunged the umma into backwardness. Reluctance to use reason to understand revelation reduced the umma’s knowledge of revelation. It made it harder for the umma to follow revelation. The repression of reason alienated the umma from its religion. The repression of reason was triggered by politics. It corrupted the knowledge of revelation and enabled the emergence of Islamism. The repression of reason enabled recourse to perceptions contrary to the teaching of revelation. These perceptions were used to re-articulate the teaching of revelation as a teaching of war. These ＂enabling＂ perceptions encompass the view that, contrary to the teaching of revelation, the Book of Allah is in parts ＂unclear.＂ The remedy for this would be recourse to tradition to clarify revelation. A second perception is that, again contrary to the teaching of revelation, the Book of Allah is ＂insufficiently detailed,＂ as it does not provide details for example on the right way to pray, or the percent of zakat to pay. The alleged ＂deficiency＂ of detail would likewise be rectified by recourse to tradition. The third allegation against the Book of Alla is that, contrary to it teaching, the Book of Alla is not ＂free of contradictions.＂ The presence of contradictions in the Book would be redressed by recourse to the teaching of abrogation, alien to the teaching of revelation. But recourse to these required a defiance of the teaching of revelation. For the Book of Allah teaches that it is ＂clear,＂ ＂detailed＂ and ＂free of contradictions.＂ The repression of reason enabled recourse to the teaching of abrogation, which enabled the transformation of the religion of peace into a teaching of war. This was exemplified in the articulation of the state of humanity as a war of Islam against the dar al harb, and buttressed the teaching of jihad al-talab, which not merely rendered crimes against humanity (wars of aggression) permissible but treat them as a (sixth) pillar of Islam. For jihad as represented by hawkish jurists requires to umma to wage unprovoked and unlawful wars of aggression every year at least once a year, even if non-Muslims are not attacking Muslims. This aggressiveness was buttressed by recourse to traditions such as the tradition according to which the prophet was ＂ordered to fight people until they testify that there is no god but God.＂ But bellicosity did not serve the umma well. It was defeated in France in 732, by the Mongols in 1258 and at the Gates of Vienna in 1529 and 1683. Recently, parts of the umma were subjected to punishing bombing campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. The repression of reason, the treatment of tradition as revelation and recourse to the abrogation of the verses of reconciliation by the verse of the sword, enabled the emergence of the ＂jurisprudence of terror,＂ exemplified by the fatwas of Yusuf al-Qaradawi. This represents the nadir of ＂Islamic＂ jurisprudence and shows the extent to which the politicization of scholarship can corrupt knowledge and become a threat to humanity. The jurisprudence of terror provides ＂religious＂ justification to terrorists. Both require being restrained.