The following discussion has been taken from the General Discussion
Forum of Studying Islam (http://www.studying-islam.org), one of our sister
sites. While Jhangeer Hanif is the moderator of this discussion, Ayesha
Hassan has compiled it for publication in the journal (Editor).
The history of this world is a story of
rise and fall of civilizations. An intimate study would reveal that this
rise and fall has definite causes: it is not spontaneous. Therefore, it
is vital to learn what actually triggers it and whether it can be reversed.
In the following discussion, an attempt has been made to pinpoint the reasons
of the downfall, which in fact means the hurdles that need to be removed
in order to take the Muslim Ummah back on the track of prosperity.
Aslam: What are the causes which
led to the downfall of the Muslims? How should Muslims salvage their lost
glory and prestige?
Admin: In a nutshell two causes
have contributed to this downfall: Severing ties with the Qur’an and
having no standing in the fields of science and technology. Regaining lost
glory would depend on overcoming the above two obstacles.
Imran776: God has blessed men
with innate and revealed guidance. If a person does not follow the innate
guidance, he is unlikely to follow the revealed guidance. One of the main
reasons for the downfall of Muslims is not paying heed to the innate guidance.
Aslam: How did the link with
the Qur’an get severed?
Jhangeer Hanif: The link got
severed because people started to approach the Qur’an with preconceived
notions about the Qur’an.
Aslam: Can we count Sufism
as one of the causes of the downfall of the Muslims?
Jhangeer Hanif: Every movement
that takes the Muslims away from the Holy Qur’an is responsible
for their downfall.
Tariq Hashmi: Sufism obscured
the real picture of the true concept of Islam and hindered its effective
propagation; hence it brought about a negative influence.
Aslam: Some scholars insist
that the downfall of the Mutazilites was one of the causes of Muslim downfall.
Do you agree?
Jhangeer Hanif: I’d rather
relate the downfall to the general attitude of the Muslims than relating
it to some faction.
Aslam: I believe that the ascendancy
of the Asharites led to the blind following of certain schools of thought
which is one of the causes of the downfall.
Jhangeer Hanif: Blind following
is one of the main causes of the downfall of the Muslims, I agree. Have
you ever thought why blind following gained acceptance among the masses?
Aslam: The reasons can be summarized
as intellectual lethargy, political turmoil and the fall of the Mutazilites.
Jhangeer Hanif: You are right.
Slamming the doors shut to intellectual inquiry into the original sources
of Islam has also been one of the main causes.
Aslam: How can we clamber out
of the pit of blind following (Taqlid)?
Ayesha: We can achieve this
by inculcating critical analytical skills within ourselves as well as our
children. Unless we learn to question something and appraise its validity,
we cannot hope to do away with blind following. The level of intellect
can vary from person to person but a certain basic level of intellect has
been given to everyone. This also incorporates the sense of judgment. That
is why people who do not use their intellect have been admonished in our
religion.
Jhangeer Hanif: Clambering
out of blind following does not seem to be an easy thing to do. Education
seems to be the only cure at the moment. Educating the masses that ideas
only matter and not personalities, a man remains a man even after acquiring
a great deal of knowledge, difference of opinion should be respected, and
finally ideas should be criticized and not those presenting them.
‘Taqlid’ is actually a verbal
noun which means ‘to gird your neck with a band’. This thus shows obedience
to and following a particular person. As a term, it denotes following someone
without asking ‘reason or argument’ for the religious verdict so forwarded.
Initially, taqlid was not related to one particular school of thought.
Common Muslims were only supposed to go to the scholars and, without asking
them any reference or argument for religious verdict, take fatwa from them
as regards their problems or issues. Later, Muslim scholarship thought
that this might give rise to ‘following the low desires’ by taking fatwa
from so many scholars and then accepting only that which is favorable to
the seeker. In other words, the scholars thought that allowing the Muslims
to take fatwa from many scholars would cause them to fall prey to satanic
whispers since they would not be following Allah but Satan by accepting
easy verdicts. Seeing this, the Muslim scholars took another drastic step.
They issued the verdict that only one jurist should be followed throughout
the lifespan. Since only four schools of thought were preserved in complete
form, the Muslim scholars propagated these, which eventually became prevalent
among all the Muslims. In the beginning, there seems to have been no bigotry
among the adherents of these four schools of thought. However, as it was
based on ‘following without thinking’, false feelings of pride and prejudice
ultimately found place in the hearts of the blind followers. This is why
that the adherents of these schools think of others as inferior. I hope
you understand that this is totally against the spirit of Islam—a
religion that supports critical thinking.
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