Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • 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
Theism and Polytheism: Reconciling Perceptions

Theism and Polytheism: Reconciling Perceptions

Terebessy, Leslie

Paperback

IslamGeneral Education

ISBN13: 9798745553738
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Apr 28 2021
Pages: 268
Weight: 0.72
Height: 0.67 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The umma is in turmoil. Wars are raging in different parts of the world. Why all this warmongering? Being affected by politics, Muslims turned from the Book of Allah to the traditions of the forefathers. The umma embraced Islamism. The turn was tantamount to a break from revelation as well as the sunna of the prophet, which was to follow the Book of Allah. The turn was triggered by efforts to reinterpret revelation. For rulers required an reinterpretation of revelation to furnish a justification of wars of aggression. These would be waged to enlarge the empire. The justification of wars of aggression required reinventing Islam as a teaching of war. It required tampering with the knowledge of revelation. The transformation required the politicization of exegesis and jurisprudence. The turn required recourse to unwarranted perceptions. Revelation would be perceived through tradition and with negligible utilization of reason. These practices, however, entail the perpetration of epistemological errors. Epistemological lapses encompass the perception of tradition is revelation, that tradition judges revelation and that parts of revelation were abrogated. These perceptions undermined the relationship between revelation, tradition and reason. In so far as these perceptions treat tradition as revelation, a judge and abrogator of revelation, they are also expressions of shirk. Wars of aggression to establish the dar al-Islam entailed jihad al-talab, in an epic - almost Hegelian - clash between the dar al-Islam and the dar al-harb. Jihad al-talab is prohibited in the Book of Allah. But Islamist jurists treat wars of aggression as a sixth pillar of Islam. Hawkish jurists treat waging jihad al-talab as a requirement of Islam. The justification of wars of aggression was expedited by the turn from revelation to tradition, the repression of reason, the treatment of tradition as revelation and recourse to the teaching of abrogation. Islamist ulama justified wars of aggression by asserting that all verses that restrict warfare to self-defence were abrogated by the verse of the sword. The treatment of tradition as revelation and recourse to the teaching of abrogation corrupted the knowledge of revelation. The corruption transformed Islam into a religion of war. The reinterpretation of Islam required the politicization of revelation. Exegesis and jurisprudence were enlisted to provide a justification of waging unlawful wars of aggression, prohibited by revelation. In furnishing this justification, Islamist ulama betrayed Islam as well as their profession. They reduced Islam to a political creed and their profession to the rank of propaganda. But problems persist. For the abrogation of all verses of reconciliation by the verse of the sword requires rejecting all verses that restrict fighting to self-defence or fighting against persecution. To reject a verse in the Book of Allah is to treat is as untrue. To treat a verse as untrue is kufr. Accordingly, all exegesis that requires the endorsement of the teaching of abrogation entails the perpetration of kufr. Renewal thus requires a return to revelation, the rehabilitation and re-engagement of reason, resetting the relationship between revelation, reason and tradition, rejecting the teaching of abrogation and the desacralization of tradition. Traditions are to be treated as records of the past but not as a root of legislation. But tradition is still treated as revelation and a judge of revelation. Traditionists even allow traditions to abrogate and replace parts of revelation. This transpired with the rulings on adultery and apostasy. Both are from traditions. But not everyone agreed with treating tradition as revelation. Tensions rose. At times they brought tragic results, for example the mass killing of rationalists by Musa al-Hadi in 786. Renewal requires a return to revelation, assisted by the rehabilitation and re-engagement of reason.

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