Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Rehabilitating the Knowledge of Islam: Rebuilding Traditional Exegesis and Jurisprudence

Rehabilitating the Knowledge of Islam: Rebuilding Traditional Exegesis and Jurisprudence

Terebessy, Leslie

Paperback

IslamGeneral EducationInternational Relations

ISBN13: 9798286109975
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 13 2023
Pages: 246
Weight: 0.67
Height: 0.61 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Muslims face different threats, mostly external. But threats to the umma's well-being also emanate from within the umma. For the knowledge of the Book of Allah as well as exegesis and jurisprudence were corrupted by politics. Rulers required a justification of wars of aggression to enlarge their empires. But aggression is prohibited in revelation. To bypass the restrictions on aggression, rulers enlisted militant ulama to furnish a justification of wars of aggression. Furnishing this justification required reinterpreting revelation as a teaching of war. This required tampering with the teaching of revelation. The reinterpretation was expedited by recourse to tradition and the teaching of abrogation. According to this teaching, a hundred and twenty verses were abrogated by verse 9:5 in the Book of Allah, the verse of the sword. The teaching of abrogation treats all allegedly abrogated verses as untrue. But to treat a verse as untrue entails kufr in that verse. The reinterpretation of revelation as a teaching of war was buttressed by the perceptions that tradition is revelation and that using reason to understand revelation is kufr. The reinterpretation of revelation was further buttressed by the perceptions that traditions possesses the power to judge, abrogate, and replace parts of revelation. These perceptions treat tradition as equal or superior to revelation. Accordingly, they are expressions of shirk. Treating traditions as revelation paved the way for the teaching of dual revelation. But the duality of revelation presupposes a duality of divinity. For the ulama treat tradition not just as revelation or wahy but also as tanzil what Allah sends down. This is reflected in their practice of extracting legislation from traditions. But Allah does not share His Lawgiving with anyone (18:26). That they treat traditions as what Allah sends down (tanzil) is evident from their taking legislation from traditions. For the Book of Allah teaches that the right to legislate is the exclusive prerogative of Allah. He alone in the Lawgiver. And the Book of Allah refers to those who do not judge (legislate) by what He sent down (anzala) as wrongdoers, unbelievers and rebels. The repression of reason prevents the umma from understanding the Book of Allah. This estranges Muslims from Islam. The rejection of causality plunged the umma into backwardness. The repression of reason confusion in exegesis and jurisprudence, rendering them less than rational. The rejection of causation, the foundation of the teaching in predestination, encourages Muslims to act without considering the effects of their acts. Recourse to tradition and the teaching of abrogation required rejecting all verses of the Book of Allah which teach that the Book is clear, detailed and coherent. It requires kufr in all verses which teach that the Book is clear, detailed, and coherent. The reinterpretation of revelation as a teaching of war required the politicization of Islam. The knowledge of revelation was corrupted. Islam was reinvented as Islamism. This is a tragedy. For Islamism is embroiling the umma into unjustified wars with non-Muslims. Wars in the Persian Gulf furnish evidence of this. Part of the umma remains trapped in the myth of the war between the dar al-Islam and the dar-a-harb. By treating unlawful wars of aggression as a sixth pillar of Islam, they rendered lawful what Allah prohibited. They perceive jihad al-talab as a requirement of the faith. Jihad al talab is treated as a sixth pillar of Islam. Jihad al-talab, requires waging wars on non-Muslims once a year, every year, even when the non-Muslims are not attacking the umma. This requires attention. It is necessary to return to revelation. This return requires the rehabilitation and re-engagement of reason, the de-sacralization of tradition, and the rejection of the teachings of abrogation and predestination. It requires the affirmation of the pre-eminence of revelation.

Also from

Terebessy, Leslie

View All

Also in

Islam

View All