
By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam
09 October 2017
(The following is from the paper presented at a seminar on
Islamic humanism, organized in September 2017, by Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi)
Islam is Scriptures based religion and yet, it is the
theology that determines the beliefs and practices of its followers. When the
theology and the practice go awry, then the solution may be found by going back
to the Scriptures.
The relationship of a community with the rest of the world is
influenced by the concept of the “other” and the attitude to the other. In
Islamic theology, the other is the non-Muslim, and Kafir, an odious word, has
acquired the meaning of non-Muslim, which this paper, seeks to establish with
evidence from the Quran, as demonstrably incorrect. Kafir does not even mean
disbeliever, let alone non-Muslim.
The leading lights of all sects of Islam also mistranslate
and or misinterpret the verses of the Quran on fighting, and make it appear
incorrectly, that the Prophet of Islam was waging battles against the disbelievers
to end disbelief, when the Quran makes it clear, that the permission for
fighting is only to end persecution or oppression. This paper also establishes
that the Quran affirms that the freedom of conscience in Islam is absolute and
without any restraints. “Let there be no compulsion in religion” and “To the
peaceful disbeliever be his way and to me mine” are fundamental principles.
These principles were never compromised by the Prophet in his battles against
the religious persecutors.
The Twin Problems
of Growing Extremism and Islamophobia
The false ideology of the
traditionalists and the extremists
1. Kafir means non-Muslim/disbeliever
2. The Prophet was fighting battles against
the disbelievers to end disbelief. It is our duty therefore to wage holy war
until there is no more disbelief
Kafir is an odious word and
means a conceited person whose haughtiness makes him an ingrate rebel against
God, a rebel against his benefactors, one who is steeped in self-glory, and
self-gratification. These personal failings are reflected
in his behavior that makes him deny: the Hereafter, the prophets, scriptures
and the Signs of God. It makes him an enemy of: the prophets, the good people
and of God. A Kafir fights for evil causes, spreads mischief and disorder and
is a high handed oppressor. The Kafir is in war with the good people and the
good people are in war with the Kafir. The Prophet was therefore fighting the
Kafir who were the religious persecutors to end religious persecution. He was not fighting the disbelievers to end
disbelief.
The Quran does not describe the
disbelievers as Kafir in any verse of the Quran nor did the early Muslims have
such an understanding which is why the Muslims were tolerant of other religious
faiths. The false notion of “Kafir means the disbelievers”, developed only
later in Islamic theology but lay dormant for much of the history of Islam
which is why it did not become problematic earlier. It is in the post-colonial
period and most recently on account of political developments that required a
military response that the false ideas which lay dormant are surfacing and
providing ideological support to the extremists and for raising armies of
civilians to fight in several theaters of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
The truth is that religious persecutors from among the disbelievers were the
Kafir, and the war was against them only and not against the peaceful people
who were never considered Kafir although they were disbelievers. Quran uses the
word “la Yuminun” for the disbelievers and never Kafir.
The corresponding ideology of
the Islamophobes and of those from among the extreme right and the
neoconservatives:
1. Terrorist means Muslim
2. Since the terrorists are out to get us,
we should get them before they get us.
The ideology of the
traditionalists/extremists among the Muslims
and that of the Islamophobes are logically equivalent and equally false.
Neither are all non-Muslims Kafir nor are all Muslims terrorists. Neither was
there ever a war by Muslims against all disbelievers/non-Muslims nor are all
non-Muslims at war with all Muslims.
It can be seen that the two
ideologies based on falsehood provide justification to each other, and unless
refuted and defeated, can get out of hand and result in extreme strife and
distrust, and over a period isolate the Muslims and pitch them against the rest
of the world. Islamophobia turns out to be not irrational phobia but rational
fear considering the ideology of the extremists/traditionalists which remained
suppressed for centuries, but in the current political climate is gaining
strength.
The true Islamic ideology that
we must proclaim to defeat the ideology of the extremists:
1. Kafir does not mean disbeliever although
there are some who are Kafir among the disbelievers.
2. The Prophet was fighting battles against
the religious persecutors and their allies and helpers to end religious
persecution and establish the Deen of Allah in which there is no oppression but
there is justice for all. The Prophet was not fighting against the disbelievers
for their disbelief.
There is a correspondence in the
stand of the liberal and peaceful Non-Muslims, who proclaim the following:
1. Terrorist does not mean Muslim although there are some who
are terrorists among the Muslims.
2. We are fighting against terror to end terrorism and not
against the Muslims to end Islam.
While there are numerous peaceful liberals among the
non-Muslims who support the Muslims in their fight against Islamophobia, there
are very few Muslims who are even aware of the authentic and true Islamic
ideology, let alone proclaim the same boldly and fight extremism and the false
ideology of the traditionalists. This paper seeks to fill the knowledge void
with the authentic and clear meaning from the scriptures on the subject.
The
rest of the paper covered what has been covered by me in several articles on
this forum. The links to those articles are provided below:
What Is Kufr And
Who Is A Kafir In The Quran? (Full and Revised Text of the New Age Islam Series
on the Subject)
The Story of the Prophetic
Mission of Muhammad (Pbuh) In the Qu’ran (Part 4): The Medinian Period
The Story of the Prophetic
Mission of Muhammad (pbuh) in the Qu’ran (Concluding Part) Summary
The Much discussed and debated
Medinian Verses Relating to Fighting
The paper ended with the following conclusion:
To Summarize:
The
Quran, even among its very last revealed verses, makes a distinction between
those who are Kafir among the Mushrikin and those who are not, although all the
Mushrikin are considered disbelievers. Not all the Mushrikin are kafir and some
among the Muslims and the People of the Book are also kafir. Logically
therefore, all that we can say is that Kafir does not mean disbeliever,
although there are some who are Kafir among the disbelievers.
Fighting
is permitted against the oppressors to protect the weak and the oppressed and
not for any other cause. The faith of the Oppressor and the Oppressed is
immaterial. Those who fight to protect the weak and the oppressed, fight in the
cause of Allah and are the Mominin. The oppressors are Kafir. The faith professed
by those who fight in the cause of Allah, the Oppressor and the Oppressed are
immaterial.
In
Islam, the other is the Kafir, but they are not the non-Muslims but the unjust
and the oppressors who could be professing any faith including Islam. The cause
of Allah, identified from the Quran, is to end all injustice and oppression,
and all those who stand up for justice and fight against oppression are from
“the community of God” and the Muslims must form an “Ummat-e-Wahida” or a
united front with all such people to end injustice and oppression in the world.
The God
of Islam is the God of all the people and is not the parochial God of only the
Muslims in our theology for Allah says:
“Nay,-whoever
submits His whole self to Allah (by whatever name) and is a doer of good,- He
will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear, nor shall they
grieve” (2:112).
The
Muslim of the Quran, is therefore simply anyone who submits to God (by whatever
name), and is a doer of good deeds. There are therefore only two kinds of
people - those who stand for justice and against oppression are the friends and
helpers of God and the oppressors are the enemies of humanity and of God.
The
finding of this paper needs to be leveraged to transform young minds to think
in terms of objective attributes of people, rather than in terms of the narrow
stereo types based on a person’s religious identity. Since our theology says
otherwise, we need to work to change it according to the clear message of the
Quran brought out in this paper to remove the ideological basis for extremism
among the Muslims and to promote greater co-operation with all good people of
other faiths.
The objective of a University is to provide thought
leadership to the world to address the problems that beset humanity. This paper
may have succeeded in finding a solution to the current malaise of growing
radicalism among the young of one community. Radicalization infects all people
to a greater or lesser degree and tackling it in one community reduces its
appeal in other communities as well.
We need
to follow-up on our finding by organizing focused talks on the subject to take
the message to a wider audience within the University to start with, and then
based on our experience, to the whole world.
Naseer Ahmed is
an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant
after having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible
positions for over three decades. He is a frequent contributor to http://www.NewAgeIslam.com
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/naseer-ahmed,-new-age-islam/islam-s-relationship-with-the-rest-of-the-word---the-current-problem-of-extremism-in-a-false-ideology-and-the-antidote-from-an-authentic-understanding-of-the-truly-humanistic-message-of-the-quran/d/112817
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