A bigger context...

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, the lord of the worlds.


Abû Hurayrah relates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Islam began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers.” [Sahîh Muslim (1/130)] 


`Amr b. `Awf relates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “The religion will shrink back to the Hijâz like the snake shrinks back into its hole. It will cling to the Hijâz like the mountain goat clings to the mountaintop. The religion began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers who restore what the people corrupt of my Sunnah.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhî (#2630)] Al-Tirmidhî grades it as good and authentic (hasan sahîh). 


My last post drew alot of criticism as expected, and my brothers assumed that I was criticizing the different methods of preaching, and the criticism is based on not understanding their true intentions from outside. I would like to take some time and create a bigger context, which is not easy to realize sometimes.

During the life of the Prophet (PBUH), Islam dripped from his words and actions, and the companions followed to the letter, and rarely diverged from the path. This was the foundation of Islam. However, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was last of the prophets, and had to establish a path that will be valid for times to come. Allah gave him the vision to see the generations to come, and it is clear in his ahadith.

Until the sacking of Baghdad in 1258, Islam had a wild ride between best of the rulers and worst of the rulers. One thing that kept Islam in the forefront was that the scholars adhered to Quran and Sunnah and learned and taught authentic and detailed knowledge. So, after every secular and deviant ruler, a pious and righteous ruler was able to emerge, and revive the Ummah. After the sacking of Baghdad, Mongols burned majority of the books, and killed the scholars. Finally, they entered Islam on the hands of ascetic sufis, and adapted the unauthentic understanding of aqeedah and fiqh.

During this period, the remaining scholars panicked and tried to protect the remaining sources of authenticity of Islam by declaring a global freeze on ijtihad. Ijtihad was limited to within the scope of a madhab like hanafi, or mailki, so masses don't deviate from the path. It worked for a while, but then these factions hardened with generations, and the fanaticism reached its height until 20th century. By this time Ottoman (descendants of mongols) Empire became insignificant.

After the fall of Ottoman Empire, from 1900 - 1925, Muslims became restless, and knowledge was isolated to a few families of Masjid employees ("Imams"). Several movements were initiated by people like Muhammad Ilyas (Tableeghi Jama't), King AbdulAziz Al Saud (strict adherence to Sunnah), and secular minded Muslim leaders like Allama Iqbal. Most of these leaders were not educated in Quran and Sunnah, but they were activist with good intentions. These movements helped setup secular states with Muslim rulers and titles.

From 1960 - 1980, Muslims were divided in two major groups, born Muslims who only knew Islam as a culture that is passed on to them with a minimum belief in it to qualify as a Muslim, and the other group who considered themselves flag bearer of authentic Islam, but were empty of education to apply the Quran and Sunnah to their intentions. I was born in 1977, and was part of the first group until 2006, when I visited Seattle, Washington, and faced some events that opened my eyes to the bigger context, Alhamdulilah. I have never disclosed the nature of these events, and never will, as they are irrelevant.

From 1975 - 1979, the second group of Muslims had a mutiny, and these young ones wanted to revert to the Sunnah and give Muslims the status once held , but they did not have the authentic knowledge to apply to their intentions, and created a country based on deviant beliefs and extremist views. Non-Muslim countries reacted to it very strongly and they focused on the affairs of the Muslim countries. In reaction to that, so called Islamist movement begin, which took a violent turn in 1989, and that continues until today.

Parallel to these events, authentic knowledge of Islam was preserved in the hearts of the scholars who did not implement in the society with the fear of confrontation. These scholar took employment in the masajid and madrassas, but did not participate in dawah. On the other hand, the group from early 1900s focused on dawah, but without proper education. This is how Islam was preserved during the turbulent times.  

Since 1989, an underground movement, separate from the three groups described above, came into existence. It is a generation of young men and women, who are awakening to this bigger context, and engaging in learning Quran and Sunnah, and challenging the other three groups (the sleeping scholars, the vanila Muslims, the well intended ignorant Muslims). This generation is what I refer to as practicing Muslims, who will change the world as we know it. They begin as member of these three groups, but when confronted with authentic Islam, their inner soul shakes, and they turn into peaceful, but determined practicing Muslims.

All the previous movements have served their purpose. Now, what needs to be done to progress Islam is to engage and confront these three groups with wisdom and knowledge to convert them into positive force. We need to get the sleeping scholars to setup classes of tafsir, hadith, and arabic, and we need the well intended activists without knowledge to learn from these classes, and we need these activists to engage the vanila Muslims and non-Muslims to convince the need for progress of Islam in their lives.

In my estimation, this process require political stability, and rule of law, which is available in western countries, and will take around 20 more years to complete. However, recent Arab spring has sped up this process a little, there might be some set backs. Unfortunately, violent acts and uninformed recruiting of some Muslims, worshiping madhaib and traditions by other Muslims, and complacency of the third group towards Islamic knowledge is hindering this progress, and my effort has been to point out those hurdles. Sometimes the negative effect of these three groups cause so  much harm that a jolt is needed to revive that area, and the issue should be confronted verbally and peacefully.

It may seems that this movements is creating factions within Islam, which I have wrote against many times. However, if you look close, what I am saying is that if a Muslim pursues authentic knowledge of Quran and Sunnah, and tries to apply it in their life, it will be impossible for them to fall into any group whatsoever.

Bottom line is that any organization lead by people who are not educated enough to extract from the knowledge will harm the Muslim Ummah, although these leaders may have long beards, pray regularly, and well intended. Absence of authentic knowledge and its implementation is a guarantee of deviation. Good news is that I was contacted by two new groups that have been formed in Orlando, which shows the progress of this revival. May Allah help us revive authentic and peaceful Islamic thinking

Sayyidina Abu Umamah Bahili (RA) reported that two men were mentioned before Allah’s Messenger (SAW). One of them was a devout worshipper while the other was a scholar. So Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said, “The excellence of the scholar over the worshipper is like my excellence over the humblest of you.” Then, he said, “Surely, Allah, His angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earths, even the ants in their holes and even the fish invoke blessings on the teacher of the people about what is
good.” (Trimidhi #2694)

 JazakAllah Khairin

A student of knowledge
AbuArman Jumani