Divisions between us are growing on a daily basis, even between groups of supposedly pious Muslims. When infused with other elements such as the colonial legacy, culture and our materialistic desires today, the Islam practiced today is a very muddled version of the original Islamic teachings. How do we disentangle ourselves and practice Islam the way it should be implemented?
Why are Muslims divided?
Muslims draw the main principles of Islam from the Qur’an and Sunnah. Where matters have not been specifically covered by the Qur’an and Sunnah (for example, due to new technology), then Muslims should rely on the pronouncement of the majority of learned scholars who have considered the matter based on the application of the Qur’an and Sunnah and have reached a consensus.
The Qur’an outlines the messages given to the people before us, what became of them, and what will become of us depending on how we behave. If we take heed of what happened to the communities before us, we will, through our behavior, know where we are heading. The precedent or fixed ways of Allah never change.
There is only one Qur’an, and there is only one Sunnah. So why are Muslims nowadays so divided about the practice of Islam?
There is only one set of rules in the Sunnah, and this was carefully recorded and compiled by the Companions who spent time with Rasulullah (SAW). However, the invitation and education on Islam as taught by Rasulullah (SAW), alongside the revelation of the Qur’an, lasted 23 years. None of the Companions accompanied the Prophet SAW day and night the entire duration of his messengership.
Thus, it may be correct that the Companions recorded the actions and verdicts of Rasulullah (SAW) correctly, but there is an added layer of personalized circumstances for each issue, which gives the appearance of contradictory Sunnah. For example, a young man asked Rasulullah (SAW) if he may kiss his wife during Ramadan, and the answer was no. An elderly man asked Rasulullah (SAW) the same question, and he was permitted to kiss his wife. The difference here was that younger people are more passionate, whereas elderly ones are less likely to be lustful. Situations are variable, and even an alternation from summer to winter can change the ruling on certain matters. Many Companions only saw things during specific timeframes or situations. One Companion may record the way things are done during a state of war, for example, while another observed how things were done in a state of truce. Different situations have different rules, so even rules on salat and fasting seem to appear different if one does not understand the original context.
However, obedience to Rasulullah SAW and the unity of the ummah were the overriding concerns of the Companions. When the Prophet (SAW) passed away, the Muslim diaspora began. Tens of thousands of learned Companions journeyed across the world in order to spread the message of Islam, and with them, the different rulings under the Sunnah based on what they knew. Each of them practiced and spread Islam based on his individual experience with and observation of Rasulullah (SAW).
None of their views were wrong but they did not unanimously agree on certain technicalities. This led to minor variations on the fiqh (regulations). It is noted however, that there was no divergence in the aqeedah or the core belief of the Islamic faith. Everyone was in agreement on the basic tenets of Islamic faith and its practices.
Despite their different opinions, the Companions never fought. Their divergent views did not generate animosity amongst them. The Companions and early scholars respected each other’s opinions and held on to the rope of Allah.
It is also important to note that the revelation of the Qur’an is divided between the era of Mekah and Madinah. Two thirds of the Qur’an was revealed in Mekah, before the early Muslims migrated to Madinah. The message of the Qur’an revealed in Mekah strongly emphasized the oneness of Allah, trust in Allah, and was intended to fortify faith and certainty of faith in Allah. Only a handful of people embraced Islam over the first 13 years of revelation in Mekah, but their faith was unshakeable. In its early days, the development lay on the strengthening of the faith of the individual and the cultivation of the bond of Islamic brotherhood. Islam was planted within the hearts of the early followers, and grew from within them, watered by the true belief of Allah, akhirah and the unseen. Over the years, through various adversities, these early developed the spiritual strength and resilience they needed to eventually migrate to Madinah for the sake of Allah.
If you study the sequence in which the invitation to Islam was done, Rasulullah (SAW) did not come charging to his people ordering them to wear the niqab or grow a beard as his opening line! This was not his priority. However the way we learn and teach Islam today is the opposite. When we see a woman, the first thing we try to impose on her is the hijab. We study and implement Islam from academic and technical aspects only, but not in order to get closer to Allah and His messenger.
During the 13 years of the preliminary da’wah, only about 100 people embraced Islam (based on other sources, the number did not exceed 400). This is after the daily da’wah efforts by Rasulullah (SAW) for 13 continuous years. Why so few people in such a long time? With the wisdom of Allah, had there been too many Muslims in the early days, it would have encouraged a revolution. During the days of Mekah revelations, Allah had prohibited fighting and jihad. If Allah had allowed the Muslims at this time to fight and die for His cause, the handful of Muslims then would not have survived any confrontation with the Quraish, and the message of Islam would have died with them. Today, would we be patient enough to restrain ourselves from retaliating when persecuted unjustly?
The early message of the Qur’an, initially directed to the people of Mekah, asked for the refrain from dunia. Prior to the emigration (hijrah), most Muslims at that time had no dunia left: their houses and possessions had been confiscated by the Quraish, they had no wealth to speak of, and some of them did not even have enough food. Yet they were able to persevere because of the love of the message and were able to migrate from Mekah to Madinah, leaving whatever they had behind. This included their houses, income earning date palms, and wells of water, which was crucial for survival. Their surrender to Allah’s commandments were absolute and their love for dunia had been stripped bare.
Our practice of Islam today
Today we can’t even migrate from our own habits and culture for the sake of Allah. We observe the rituals, including the salah, Qu’ranic recitation and fasting, but our thinking, objectives and goals are corrupted with worldly desires. Our addiction to the material life, including all its bad habits, dictate our behaviour more than Islam does.
Over the years, people have also introduced their own cultural nuances to the deen. Some practices are so enmeshed in tradition that people still adopt them even when they are in glaring defiance of the Sunnah and the Qur’an. Some of these have crept into even the elements of basic worship. We are suspicious about any school of thought other than our own, and assume that all other Muslims are wrong. In reality, it is possible that our own practices are wrong. There are many cultural elements in weddings where the Qur’an and Sunnah are flagrantly breached. What about the way we eat, the celebrations we observe and even the way we are buried? Many of these are in major contravention of Islam, but we are fussing over whether our index finger should be static or moving during the tahiyyat.
As a consequence, we may have the beard and niqab, but not the manner, compassion or mercy befitting of a Muslim. What if we grow a beard to look pious, but have no element of Islamic manner within us? Today, we study Qur’an and tajweed, and attend different Islamic talks. Once we go home, our style of living is totally dunia, from the way we think, talk, dress, eat and drink. Our daily lives are mixed with Christian, Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Islam occupies a small space in our routines, and the rest are dictated by dunia. To compound the problem, the majority of us practice Islam by imitation and do not refer to the Qur’an, Sunnah or even with scholars and learned people on whether we are on the correct understanding.
The Companions lived only for the sake of Allah. The cultural backgrounds of the Arabs then were steeped in perverse traditions and materialism. However, the love of Allah eradicated the practice of anything which was inconsistent with Islam. The message of Islam caused the Companions to rise above their cultures.
Today, our Islam is heavily infused with cultural elements which do not sit comfortably with Islam. If at all, many are in direct conflict with Islamic values. Therefore, are we in a position to be able to obey Allah’s commands willingly?
When these early Muslims were commanded to migrate to Madinah, each of them was worth an entire nation in his strength of faith. Allah knows that a single person can change nations, for He has permitted it to happen in the past. One of the most inspiring stories in the Qur’an is about the Boy and the Kingwhere Allah demonstrated the power of one person to convert his whole community to Islam. The story proves the power of faith over the power of numbers. History will also demonstrate that Islam spread to places such as Malaysia and the Maldives because of the exemplary behaviour of one or two Muslims – not because of an invading armada.
By the conquest of Mekah, the number of Muslims had exceeded 10,000.
After Rasulullah SAW passed away, Islam had not been established beyond the Arabic shores. However, the surviving Companions continued transmitting the message of Islam, travelling far and wide to foreign soil on a one way journey. This is why there are so few Companions buried in Madinah. These travellers were the ones who planted the seeds of Islam across the world, and these seeds germinated to produce the 1.6 billion Muslims today. They spread Islam by adopting the manner of Rasulullah SAW in inviting others, following the strict sequence of instilling iman and love of Allah and His messenger first before imposing any regulations.
Pillars are not enough
Islam is founded on five pillars, and we have whittled those pillars to the size of matchsticks – fragile, inadequate and unable to bear any strain. A pillar is designed to support a building, but most of us just leave our Islam at the pillars and do not bother with the building. Many of our pillars are broken, incomplete, weak and even non-existent. We just focus on the rituals, meaning our relationship with Allah, but ignore the other part of our obligations, which is to work on our relationship with the creation of Allah.
Even today when we try to spread Islam, even to our children, we do it by imposing rules and regulations, and not for the sake of getting to know Allah. We pass on Islamic rituals by force, but not by information. When our children fly the coop, they rebel and stop practicing Islam. Further, they are easy prey for non-Muslims – with their heavily diluted Islamic knowledge, they do not know the merits of Islam enough to defend it. Non-Muslims capitalize on this vulnerability to make them doubt the existence of God and Islam.
When Muslim families emigrate to non-Muslim lands (usually for economic benefit), it is normal that by the second or third generation, there is no Islam left within the family.
All this is due to our own lack of knowledge and faith. We tell our children to believe in God, but we cannot even overcome our worry of receiving our provision for tomorrow (when Allah has already told us that our provision lies with Him and has already been ordained). Today, we are emphasizing the halal and haram without developing the iman first. We worship without understanding how Islam works, how we can work for Islam, and how Islam can work for us. How many of us have gone for umrah and hajj without any inherent understanding of what these rituals are intended to achieve? We travel to Mekah and Madinah with dunia in our hearts and emerge with our hearts still drowning in dunia. We make plentiful du’a before the Ka’bah, come home laden with gifts and shopping, but remain none the wiser about Islam.
Our Islam is clouded with a lot of jahiliyyah, or ignorance. This is why we are still racist and elitist in our attitudes. When it suits us, we elevate our status and lower the status of Allah, whether through our money, nationality or education. We were never inculcated with the proper deen to begin with, nor truly understood the message of Islam all along. We are heavy handed with the regulations but are not living the message. Once we observe some rites and avoid the haram, we think that our Islam is complete and that we are fine. However, our lives are empty of the core message of Islam, we still carry on irrational hatred of others, even Muslims, based on racism and ingorance! No matter who we are, and how good we are, our message is still dunia and this is what we feed our children.
Can we live up to the Companions?
The first regulation in Madinah was for each of the Ansari (resident Muslims in Madinah) to share half of what he had with the incoming Muhajireen (emigrants from Mekah). This meant half of whatever he owned, whether date farms, houses, camels, merchandise or money. The Ansari at that time were fledgling Muslims, and had only embraced Islam one or two years prior. Yet, they fulfilled Allah’s command and shared freely. In fact, Sa’ad Ibn Muadh (RA) went even further and offered Rasulullah (SAW) to take whatever he (SAW) needed, and that he would make do with whatever was left over.
Can we fulfil this command today? If we are asked to sacrifice even ten per cent of our belongings, or donate our car to a poor person, we would immediately disobey! Even in giving charity, we only give spare change, in amounts which are not beloved or precious to us. We do not possess the firmness of faith as the people of Mekah.
The emigrants of Mekah had to endure massive suffering, to the point where they lost almost everything they ever owned. In terms of possessions, they hit rock bottom. Can we endure what the Muhajireen endured?
Allah in His mercy, does not require that level of sacrifice from us, because He knows majority of us will fail. Yet, imagine if the majority of the early Muslims had also failed, where would Islam be today?
We are not even close to the level of the faith of the Muhajireen and the Ansari, but we implement the rituals, injunctions and sanctions and we think this is Islam! We cherish all the rituals but when it comes to giving up something for Allah, we hesitate and even refuse. We are unable to commit because our strength of faith has not been fully developed. Without a strong and united Muslim community, whether locally or globally, we will always be fragmented, caught between our cultures, our sheikhs, and our own interpretation of Islam based on our personal traditions and not the Qur’an or Sunnah. The colonists divided and conquered to rule, and the Muslims continue with that division even long after colonization had ended.
Reasons for the differences in opinion
The differences in opinion first arose when the ahadeeth were compiled. The original purpose of the Hadith compilations had different origins. Imam Malik was the first to compile the collection of ahadeeth, because he was mandated by the Khalifa to produce a concise compilation that was suitable to be packed for travels. Malik’s Muwwatta is not a comprehensive collection of ahadeeth nor was it intended to be. Imam Abu Hanifa compiled a collection of Hadith when he was in Iraq and therefore his resources, intention and sources of information were different.
Even so the ahadeeth did not contradict each other on the basic principles of the faith. No ahadeeth would dispute the oneness of Allah, the existence of the Hereafter or the requirement of the five time daily prayer. The variances in reports were minor, and only in the matter of technical details and jurisprudence. The Muslims of that era did not have any issues with the differences.
Around 300 years after Hijrah, the judges faced problems producing consistent verdicts because each of the Hadith compilations contained different details. For example, one hadith might prescribe a certain fine for an offence, but another one might prescribe a lower fine. This lack of uniformity became problematic for the judges. To lighten the discretion of the judges, the Khalifah at the time decided that the claimant was entitled to select the school of jurisprudence he wanted the judge to follow, whether Imam Malik, Imam Shafi’ee, Imam Hanbali or Imam Hanafi.
Later on, people became overly rigid with the application of the school of thought or mazhab. This created enmity to the extent that people would refuse to marry their daughters to someone observing a different mazhab. Even today, some people claim that anyone not following his particular school of thought is not a real Muslim! Centuries later, the scholar Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah suggested the abolishment of the mazhab system, but this led to a revolution. This issue still continues to divide the ummah today.
However, is this topic a valid ground for creating conflict with other Muslims? If our hearts are tied to Allah and His messenger, it would not matter. The small differences, especially in today’s turbulent age, should not be a cause of division within the ummah. If we have no unity of ‘ulama, discussions about different school of thoughts we will create even more rifts. We should be talking about Allah instead and be united, until such time where we have a common Khalifa or Muslim leader to render a common verdict for all of us to follow.
The non-Muslims added on to these divisions. For generations, colonialism brainwashed us to drown in dunia. They allowed our forefathers to continue practicing Islamic rituals at the surface, but eliminated true Islamic education. This caused an ever deepening adoption of the Western lifestyle, morals and values. After a while, even regular attendance at the masjid became unheard of and was scorned upon by Muslims. Islamic rituals were relegated to something for the uneducated peasants do, while the rest of society was conditioned that departing from Islamic rituals would make them more elite and sophisticated. This attitude prevailed even up to the 1950s and 1960s and even well into the 1970s – affecting the very people who have raised the generation we are living in today. For the majority of Muslim families – look into the family albums during this time: the dressing and lifestyle of those generations are far removed from Islam.
The ummah continues to be in deep jahiliyyah and is far away from the message. This is why we cannot even differentiate between religion and culture. Unless we fix the basics, learn and live Islam, any Islamic revival will fail.
With this level of ignorance, we are edging towards the pre Islamic ignorance of Mekah. We are now so rooted in racism, tribalism, blind imitation and materialism that these override our Islamic values. We should go back to the times of Mekah, which is to go back to the roots of tawheed and hold on to the rope of Allah. We need to talk about the love of Allah first, and not argue about the small issues. We should learn and spread Islam with mercy the way it was done during the founding years of Islam. It is only then that the ummah can develop and we can practice Islam in the way it was intended to be practiced.
May Allah guide us and save us from our own ignorance, ameen.
