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.
