Is there a difference
between the terminology of the uṣūliyyūn and the fuqahāʾ?[1]
In the books of ūṣūl we find that the word sunnah means
established by a necessity that is not decisive, while in the books of the fuqahāʾ
we find that sunnah means what one is rewarded for doing and not
punished for leaving.
Answer (Sheikh Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):
Wa alaykum Assalām wa Rahamtullah,
Yes, there is a
difference between some of the terms that are used in the science of uṣūl al-fiqh and those same terms when they are used in fiqh. One of the most
prominent differences is the term sunnah. In fiqh, it means that
which is required to be done by way of recommendation, while in uṣūl al-fiqh, it is the second source of legislation, and this means: what has been
related from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, by way of
statements, actions and affirmations…and the matter manifests itself in more
than that when one thoroughly studies terminology. This is because the science of uṣūl al-fiqh only deals with sources of legislation, what words indicate and the
research behind rulings. As for fiqh, it looks for the detailed rulings
that are derived from their revelational (sharʿī) evidences.
[1](tn): Musa Furber, in
his preface to his translation of Sharḥ al-Waraqātby Imam al-Juwaynī
(Wroclaw: Islamosaic, 2014), explains the translation of these terms by saying,
‘Knowledge of the legal status and performance of actions is the subject of the
discipline of law (fiqh). How this knowledge is known is the subject of
jurisprudence (uṣūl
al-fiqh). The English phrase “Islamic
law” refers to the subject known in Arabic as “fiqh”. The original
meaning of “fiqh” in Arabic relates to deep understanding. Imam al-Ghazālī and
others note that the early generations used the term “fiqh” to refer to
knowledge of the path to the Afterlife, knowing the subtle vitiations of the
tongue, spoilers of deeds, having strong comprehension as to the paltriness of
this life, intense desire for the bounties of the Afterlife, and fear being
dominant in the heart. Later, the term settled on the definition we have now: “knowledge
of the legal rulings associated with deeds, obtained through specific
evidences.” A scholar of fiqh
is known as a faqīh (pl. fuqahāʾ). The
English phrases “Islamic legal methodology”, “foundations of Islamic law”, “Islamic
jurisprudence”, and the like, refer to the subject known in Arabic as uṣūl al-fiqh, which is defined as “knowing the general evidences of fiqh, how
to use them, and the conditions for the person using them.” A scholar of uṣūl al-fiqh is known as an uṣūlī (pl. uṣūliyyūn). The proper exercise of uṣūl
al-fiqh is ijtihād – exercising expert reasoning.’ (p.viii)
Maybe it is time to switch off the corporate media and use the internet more
A lot has come to light in the past few days and especially in the last 36 hours or so. The notion that members of the global elite worship the devil and engage in sadistic rituals has been floating about the "conspiracy" realm for decades, but now it has come to light through emails published by Wikileaks. The corruption of people like the Bushes and the Clintons is public knowledge, and almost banal. Politicians taking bribes and donations and then doing favours (passing laws, starting wars, granting pardons etc.) for those donors and bribers (corporations, banks, foreign governments etc.) is as normal as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, and of course, some politicians are more corrupt than others. Some politicians are more "bought" and controlled than others.
Over the past few weeks, more and more crimes and scandals have been unveiled through Wikileaks and Project Veritas, while at the same time the FBI is engaged in another criminal investigation. But now the criminality has broken through to a new level, or maybe I should say an even lower depth of depravity. Now we are looking at satanism and satanic rituals and the sexual abuse of children. You would think threatening a nuclear war with Russia was bad enough. Please watch the video at the top.
This illustrates why it is of paramount importance not to rely on the mainstream media for information about anything, and this was discussed in the second episode of my podcast. Anglosphere Muslims constantly complain about the mainstream media and claim not to trust them, but this lack of trust only applies to Islam and Muslims. When these same organisations talk about the European Union, Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Hillary Clinton, Tommy Robinson, climate change, and so on and so forth, they are to be believed wholeheartedly and with unflinching devotion. This is cognitive dissonance at best, hypocrisy at worst. Allah the Exalted has said, "You who believe! If an iniquitous person brings you a report, scrutinise it carefully in case you attack people in ignorance and so come to greatly regret what you have done." [al-Hujurat 49:6] In other words, if someone has proven themselves to be untrustworthy and dishonest, do not trust or believe them. Fact check.
Instead, the scandals keep coming to light and spokesmen for Islam in the west continue to parrot the mainstream media narrative that Trump is the result of some form of creeping fascism. This is superficial thinking at its finest, and it is indeed what happens when one not only relies on the mainstream media for news but also insulates oneself within the bubble of political correctness. For decades now, Anglosphere Muslims have had the luxury of dismissing any critique of Islam or Muslims, whether valid or not, as "Islamophobia", "racism", "bigotry" etc. As explained in my articles on cultural Marxism and Islam being a "religion of peace", the false dichotomy that is imposed on people is this: if you don't proclaim that Islam is a "religion of peace", you must mean to say that Islam is the same as ISIS, and therefore you are an Islamophobic bigot. Anyone who is not a Muslim and tries to criticise or even understand why white girls are being raped all over the UK or why ISIS exists is a racist, and so on.
This creates a false sense of security. Just because these questions and criticisms are shamed into silence (which is a typical tactic of cultural Marxists/the progressive left), it is then assumed that the non-expression of such criticisms, questions and opinions is the same as their non-existence. In actual fact, these opinions and criticisms continue to brew under the surface, waiting for the opportunity to be expressed.
Donald Trump brought that opportunity when he announced his candidacy, and brought down the "inhuman reign of the lie". Calling him one or several of the "six hirb" (Sexist, Intolerant, Xenophobic, Homophobic, Islamophobic, Racist, Bigot) has had no effect, just as it had no effect on the British citizens who voted for Brexit. Shaming people into silence is no longer working, the politically correct bubble is disappearing and therefore dismissing any critique or question as racist or Islamophobic is no longer going to wash. Questions will have to answered and critiques will have to be responded to.
Nevertheless, the inhuman reign of the lie still has some sway, and thus these spokesmen for Islam in the west continue to fret and cry about Trump's "outrageous statements, actions, positions and attitudes" while appearing to be completely oblivious of the horrors of the sweet-tongued politician. Her crimes against Muslims (and humanity at large) fill volumes, and her sweet words are nothing but part of her cultural Marxist ideology. Furthermore, the authorities of Islam have been telling Muslims, since 2001, to get out of such countries and come back to the Muslim world.
2) If they are really there to preach Islam, how it is intelligent to dismiss half of the American population as bigots and fascists and instead worry about the educational and political institutions "not doing their job"? What happened to the importance of dialogue and "reasonable discussion"? Why not use dialogue to intellectually challenge those institutions? Besides, who told them they would be loved and accepted in the first place?
Maybe the dialogue is nothing more than empty platitudes.
Maybe it is just a veneer for more earthly desires.
Maybe Anglosphere Islam is finally being exposed for what it is: intellectually and morally bankrupt.
In this episode, I sit down with Marcus from Indiana and discuss the upcoming election in the United States. Talking points include: *Why Trump? *Globalists vs. Nationalists *Brexit *Russia *Muslims in the Anglosphere compared to Muslims in the Muslim world *Media
UPDATE (07/19/2019): The video below has been removed from YouTube, so I have added the video above, which more or less covers the same points.
The video above is a brief summary of the ideology known as cultural Marxism, which appears to be the dominant ideology of the globalists as they seek to establish some form of global governance. As opposed to classical Marxism, which pits the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, cultural Marxism pits minorities (who are understood to be "oppressed" and "under-privileged") against the majority (who are understood to be the "oppressors" and "privileged"). In Europe and the Anglosphere, the majority is represented by white people, traditional families, heterosexuals, those who are not transgender (now called "cisgender") and, of course, Christians.
Therefore, non-white people, and especially blacks (e.g. Black Lives Matters) are used to demonise and attack whites. Homosexuality and transgenderism are promoted heavily on TV and in motion pictures. And you can guess what religious group is being used to attack and undermine Christianity. That would be Muslims, obviously, as they make up the dominant minority religious group. The current European migrant crisis, in which mainly Muslim men from Africa, the Arab world and the Indian subcontinent are flocking to the European Union in droves, fits into this plan well as it undermines both Christianity and white European culture in general, even though migrating to Europe is not what Muslims have been commanded to do.
While the video above concludes that the outcome of cultural Marxism will be the marginalisation of traditional European culture, one could take it further and see that cultural Marxism ultimately seeks to destroy the family, because the family is the main barrier between the individual and the state. If the family can be broken, especially by removing fathers from the picture, people are forced to turn to the state as provider and caregiver. This is exactly what has happened to blacks in the United States since the expansion of the welfare state:
The welfare state destroyed what the transatlantic crossing, slavery, the civil war, the Great Depression, and two world wars could not: the black family:
Tragically, Muslims in the Anglosphere and especially the US are following down the same path, believing that they are loved and respected by those in power when in actual fact they are being used and exploited (through political correctness, promotion of victim mentality etc.) for much greater political and ideological ends. The video below is a more detailed explanation of cultural Marxism:
Please note what the speaker says about Wikipedia's page on cultural Marxism. It used to exist, but is now called 'the cultural Marxist conspiracy theory' and is merely a short paragraph on the page about the Frankfurt School. This was also explained by Vox Day, and thus he went on to set up Infogalactic, where the original page can now be found. Wikipedia has thus itself become a tool of cultural Marxism.
Another thing we can glean from this video is that if cultural Marxism were active in the
Muslim world, for example, it would seek to undermine Islam and would be
promoting minority religions in the process, most likely Christianity.
Cultural Marxists, being ardent atheists, couldn't care less about any religion or its adherents. To them, religion, nationality, gender, race etc. are all social constructs and thus wholly arbitrary, and therefore there are no objective standards.
What is indeed very sad is that Muslims are supposed to be conservative. To give a few examples, (in addition to being religious):
In other words, apart from the occasional anti-war march (which, oddly enough, only take place when the American president is a Republican), we have nothing in common with the progressive left. They are nice to Muslims and they use sweet words, but this is only because it suits the ends of their sick ideology. Are any leftists protesting now as Hillary Clinton and her cronies threaten war with Russia? Do Muslims in the Anglosphere and especially the US even care (or do they even know?) that Hillary and her cronies are responsible for destroying large parts of the Muslim world, such as Libya, Iraq and Syria? Apparently not. And with nuclear war between the United States and Russia becoming increasingly likely (may Allah protect us all), followers of "AmerIslam" don't seem too worried about the prospects of glowing green for the next millennium and being visible from Alpha Centauri. But this is the effect of cultural Marxism: it mesmerises and brainwashes. Why are Anglosphere Muslims being brainwashed and herded like cattle? It's not hard to understand when one realises that they have detached themselves from the authorities and therefore do not listen to them. It's also easy to be brainwashed if you believe that your passions and desires will be fulfilled, e.g. the higher standard of living that is to be found in the United States and the Anglosphere compared to most Muslim countries.
The video above mentions brainwashing but also talks about religion in general, in addition to Christianity. Christianity is the main target because it is the dominant religion of the capitalist west, not because it is Christianity per se. Religion is an obstacle for cultural Marxism because, like the family, a religious community is a major source of support for the individual, and the objective of Marxism is for every individual to depend on the government. This means that if Muslims were to become the majority religious group in any Anglosphere or European country, they would then be targeted because they would be an obstacle to that objective. In essence, it's a trap. Muslims in the Anglosphere and Europe are being used as and treated like "useful idiots".
Comments on Ayaan Hirsi Ali's recent video (she's not completely wrong)
[This article was updated on October 14, 2016]
This is not a bad video, but there are some points that need to be refuted or clarified. Prager University has provided a transcript, so we can break this down point by point:
1. Ayaan says:
"I was raised a practicing Muslim and remained one for almost half my life. I attended madrassas,
that is, Islamic schools, and memorized large parts of the Quran. As a child, I lived in Mecca
for a time and frequently visited the Grand Mosque. As a teenager, I sympathized with the
Muslim Brotherhood.
At 22 while my family was living in Kenya, my father arranged my marriage to a member of our
family clan, a man that I had never met. I ran away, made my way to Holland, studied there
and eventually was elected a member of the Dutch parliament. Now I live in the United States.
In short, I have seen Islam from the inside and the outside."
Ayaan's life story has been subject to plenty of doubt and suspicion, as this documentary shows. I don't want to start with an ad hominem attack but as so much of her "expertise" is rooted in her life story and she mentions it at the very beginning, the fact that people have found holes in it cannot he ignored. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that everything she says can be dismissed. Furthermore, if she indeed was a Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer, or member, that would certainly make her apostasy a lot more understandable. Being spiritually pimped and exploited (see point 4 in the linked article) does have a tendency to put people off.
2. Ayaan says:
"I believe that a reform of Islam is necessary and possible. And only Muslims can make that
reform a reality. But we in the West cannot remain on the sidelines as though the outcome of
this struggle has nothing to do with us. If the jihadists win and the hope for a reformed Islam
dies, the rest of the world will pay a terrible price. The terror attacks in New York, London,
Madrid, Paris and many other places are only a preview for what is to come."
An attempt at reform began just over two hundred years ago and its seeds are bearing fruit today in the form of ISIS, al-Qaedah, Boko Haram, al-Shabab and other Kharajite offshoots. The violence that we see (in New York, London, Paris, Orlando, Brussels etc.) was not, is not and will not be committed by Orthodox Muslims, i.e. the overwhelming majority, and they are those who adhere to the Orthodox schools of theology and law. (See the appendix in the linked article).
"For this reason, I believe that it’s foolish to insist, as Western leaders habitually do, that the
violent acts committed in the name of Islam can somehow be divorced from the religion itself.
For more than a decade, my message has been simple: Islam is not a religion of peace."
This is true. Islam is not a religion of peace, and it's not a religion of war either. Rather, and this is something that is never admitted in the English language, Islam is more than a religion, it is a system of governance. The Revealed Law (Ar. shariah) has laws and institutions that govern all aspects of life, from prayer and fasting to marriage and divorce, buying and selling to waging war and drawing up peace treaties.
Muslims living outside the Muslim world, and especially in Europe and the Anglosphere, are terrified of admitting this as the obvious question will then be asked of them by their hosts: why are you here? Are you trying planning some sort of political takeover? Furthermore, if Islam is not a system of governance, the verses in the Qur'an that discuss fighting and killing are devoid of context (i.e. war led by the rulers and authorities) and thus left to be understood as endorsing acts of vigilantism, however horrific and grisly.
So, why are they there? They are there for worldly reasons. They are there for the better salaries and the higher standards of living. A Muslim residing in the US once told me that I could come over there and be an imam and earn $100,000 USD per year with a free house and free car. These people are hustling, plain and simple. A sincere Muslim would be seeking to live in a Muslim country, where it is easy to practice his faith.
Where does the slogan "Islam is a religion of peace" come from?
It is actually a slogan that was invented in the West to trick and deceive Muslims, and it has worked spectacularly well. Orthodox Muslims rely on authorities, and one of our authorities, the late Imam, Muhammad Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, may Allah have mercy on him, talked about this almost fifty years ago in his book Fiqh as-Seerah. From the Arabic editions that I have, I can see that the second edition was published in 1968, and the book (as demonstrated in the passage I'm about to quote) refers to a work published after 1960, so we can assume that the first edition was published between those two years. On p.224-226 of the English translation (The Jurisprudence of the Prophetic Biography, Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 2008) Imam al-Bouti states the following:
'As for the fallacies and distortions which have been covertly introduced into the concept of jihad, they have been clothed in the garb of two theories which appear to be in conflict but which, on a deeper level, are in essential harmony. This harmony is based in the fact that, taken together, these two theories make up a single instrument whose purpose is to nullify the legitimacy of jihad. According to the first theory, Islam was spread solely by the sword, as it were, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions employed coercion such that the Islamic conquest which took place at their hands was based on subjugation and tyranny rather than on inward conviction and thought. As for the second theory, it makes the very opposite claim, namely that Islam is a religion of peace and love in which armed struggle would never be given legitimacy except for repulsion of unannounced aggression, and whose followers would never go to war unless they were forced to do so because some other party had initiated hostilities.
'Now, despite the fact that, as we have noted, the contents of these two theories are antithetical, the opponents of Islam have nevertheless sought to use both of them as means of achieving one and the same end. They have done so in the following manner. First, they promote the notion that Islam is a religion of tyranny and hatred towards non-Muslims. Then they wait until this rumor has aroused the desired reactions among Muslims, who duly begin seeking means of refuting this unjust description of Islam. Then, while the Muslims are busy searching for the appropriate response to this misrepresentation, one of these same cynics concocts a defense of Islam - based, no doubt, on painstaking, unbiased research and inquiry! - saying, in effect: "Islam is not, as some have claimed, a religion of the sword; rather, quite to the contrary, it is a religion of peace and love and would never legislate armed struggle unless there were a need to repel unanticipated aggression, and its adherents would never be encouraged to consider war as long as there is a way to maintain peace."
'Disturbed by the initial fabrication of Islam, simple-minded Muslims gave an enthusiastic applause to this "splendid" defense. Given their eagerness to respond to such an unjust claim concerning their religion, they readily accept this "defense" as valid and begin bringing forth one piece of evidence after another to demonstrate that Islam is, indeed, a peaceable, conciliatory religion which has no reason to interfere in others' affairs unless they assault it on its own turf, rousing it from its tranquil pose.
'What these simple people fail to realize is that this is exactly the result being sought by those who circulated the initial rumor, and those who promoted the falsehood which was later put forward as a "defense" of Islam. The aim which both these groups seek to achieve by means of various carefully studied premises and tactics is to erase the notion of jihad from the minds of all Muslims, thereby putting to death any ambitions which they might cherish in their hearts. Evidence for this may be found in the following passage from our colleague Professor Wahbah al-Zuhayli's book entitled Athaar al-Harb fi al-Fiqh al-Islami ("The Influences of War in Islamic Law"), where he quotes a relevant statement by the well-known British Orientalist Anderson. We include the quote in context as follows:
"Westerners, and especially the British, fear the emergence of the notion of jihad among the Muslims, lest they be united in their thoughts and take a stand against their enemies, and it is for this reason that they seek to promote the belief that jihad has been abrogated. Truly did the Almighty God speak when, concerning those who have no faith, He said, "But when a precise revelation mentioning war has been sent down, you see those in whose hearts is a disease (i.e. hypocrisy) looking at you with a look of one overcome by death." [Qur'an 47:20]
"I met with the British Orientalist Anderson on the evening of Friday, June 3, 1960, and I asked him his opinion on this matter. His response was to advise me to say that based on the principle expressed in the adage, "Rulings change with the times", jihad is no longer required of Muslims. The reason, he said, was that he does not believe jihad to be consistent with the current state of international affairs, in the context of which Muslims have now become associated with international organizations and bound by international treaties. Moreover, he added, jihad is means of forcing people to enter Islam, whereas people have become accustomed to the notion of liberty, and their sophisticated manner of thinking will prevent them accepting an idea which is imposed upon them by force."'
We can learn a lot from this, but a few side notes need to be made first:
a. The Imam refuting the point about Muslims not waging war unless attacked by surprise is based on the fact that a Muslim ruler will rely on intelligence and launch preemptive strikes if it is established that another country is either planning a physical attack or engaged in some form of clandestine aggression, such as ideological subversion. The same applies if another country has a treaty with the Muslims and then violates it. (Also, whether or not to attack will be based on the ruler's judgment, i.e. where does benefit lie?) In other words, a Muslim ruler will not just sit there idly, blissfully unaware of what is going on in the world around him. Rather, like any sensible ruler, he will keep an eye on the interests of his country and defend those interests as and when necessary.
b. Imam Wahbah az-Zuhayli is also an authority and through quoting Anderson, way back in 1960, he warned about something that spokesmen for the Islam in the West ended up falling into in 2010, namely the Mardin Declaration, which explicitly states that times have changed and Muslims are bound by international treaties, and therefore there is no such thing as the Muslim world (Dar al-Islam), Dar al-Kufr, emigration etc..The declaration was deftly refuted, and the official website for that abomination ceased to exist a few years ago.
"Islam is a religion of peace" is a fabricated slogan that has no basis in fact. This explains why, in the English language at least, discussion on jihad or Islam in general is restricted to this dichotomy: either Islam is ISIS and al-Qaedah etc. or it is a big white, fluffy teddy bear. There is no room for a midway position. Furthermore, anyone speaking about Islam, jihad, terrorism will be pigeonholed into to one of these two extremes depending on what they say or don't say. For example, if someone does not explicitly state that Islam is a religion of peace, he will be accused of equating Islam with ISIS and terrorism, and therefore such a person is "Islamophobic" and "anti-Islam". If someone says that Islam is not ISIS, such a person will be assumed to besaying that Islam is pacifist. Even worse, especially in the political sphere, what one says about Islam will be given more credence and concern than what one actually does towards Islam and Muslims.
I mentioned the English language above because the divide between Anglosphere Muslims and Muslims in the traditional Islamic heartlands is growing.The former incline towards the candidate with sweet words while the latter are looking at the reality on the ground.
4. Ayaan says:
"When I assert this, I do not mean that Islamic belief makes all Muslims violent. This is
manifestly not the case: There are many millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. What I
do say is that the call to violence and the justification for it are explicitly stated in the sacred
texts of Islam. Moreover, this theologically sanctioned violence is there to be activated by
any number of offenses, including but not limited to adultery, blasphemy, homosexuality and
apostasy—that is, to leave Islam. Those who tolerate this intolerance do so at their peril."
Thank you. Yes, there are indeed millions of peaceful Muslims in the world, i.e. Muslims who have no interest in committing acts of terrorism or reckless violence.
The verses that command to killing and fighting are to be understood in the context of war, because Islam is also a system of governance. War is declared and conducted by rulers and authorities.
Regarding capital and corporal punishments, these too are implemented by rulers and authorities. This is not the job of shariah hippies and fake, self-appointed caliphates. Furthermore, when authorities are in charge of these matters, they bear in mind the command that such punishments are to be warded off by means of ambiguities, (i.e. the judge must look for ambiguities in the case) because it is better to make a mistake and pardon someone than to make a mistake and punish someone. This explains why the Ottoman Empire, over the hundreds of years of its existence, carried out the punishment of stoning exactly once. For Orthodox Muslims, the overriding principle of the law is supposed to be mercy, not justice. On the Day of Judgment, we want the Lord's mercy, not His justice.
5. Ayaan says:
"As someone who has known what it is to live without freedom, I watch in amazement as those
who call themselves liberals and progressives—people who claim to believe so fervently in
individual liberty and minority rights—make common cause with the forces in the world that
manifestly pose the greatest threats to that very freedom and those very minorities.
In 2014 I was invited to accept an honorary degree from Brandeis University for the work I have
done on behalf of women’s rights in the Muslim world. That invitation was withdrawn after
professors and students protested my criticism of Islam. My subsequent “disinvitation,” as it
Free Courses for Free Minds
.com
came to be called, was no favor to Muslims—just the opposite. By labeling critical examination
of Islam as inherently “racist,” we make the chances of reformation far less likely. There
are no limits on criticism of Christianity at American universities…or anywhere else for that
matter. Why should there be of Islam?"
The partnership between the Islamists and the progressive left is complete freakball. It makes no sense and Ayaan deserves sympathy on that point. However, she needs to give up this notion of reformation, as explained above, and to give up the notion that Islam or the Muslims need her. This just smacks of narcissism.
6. Ayaan says:
"Instead of contorting Western intellectual traditions so as not to offend our Muslim fellow
citizens, we need to defend both those traditions and the Muslim dissidents who take great
risks to promote them. We should support these brave men and women in every way possible.
Imagine a platform for Muslim dissidents that communicated their message through YouTube,
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These are the Muslims we should be supporting—for our
sake as much for the sake of Islam.
In the Cold War, the West celebrated dissidents such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Andrei
Sakharov, and Václav Havel, who had the courage to challenge the Soviet system from within.
Today, there are many dissidents who challenge Islam, but the West either ignores them or
dismisses them as “not representative.” This is a grave mistake. Reformers such as Tawfiq
Hamid, Asra Nomani & Zuhdi Jasser and many others must be supported and protected. They
should be as well known as Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, and Havel were in the 1980s.
If we do in fact support political, social and religious freedom, then we cannot in good
conscience give Islam a free pass on the grounds of multicultural sensitivity."
Ayaan is saying, more or less, that living in the Muslim world is akin to living in the Soviet Union. Yes, it is true that many Muslims, especially women, live under the tyranny of their own families, but this happens inside and outside of the Muslim world. It's not always connected to the rulers and governments. The "dissidents" she mentions were never prevented from leaving the Muslim world, nor were they imprisoned therein or put into labour camps, as was the case with the Soviet dissidents she mentions. Furthermore, the Soviet dissidents were concerned with refuting and abolishing communism, not reforming it. One of them, Solzhentisyn, was also a rather fierce critic of the West, which cannot be said of any of these Muslim "reformers".
Furthermore, Tawfiq Hamid, Asra Nomani and Zuhdi Jasser are dismissed as "not representative" because, just like ISIS and all the terrorists and Islamists, they have no authority to speak about Islam. We have objective standards and we have authorities who uphold and define those standards, and this is what protects Islam against both reformation and self-destruction. Did the Protestant Reformation ultimately strengthen Christianity or leads to its breakdown and fragmentation? If the three people mentioned want to make their own "Islam" that is compatible with Western values, or their own personal desires, then that's their business. Islam and the Muslims have no need of them.
And this leads to my next point: Islam is not compatible with the West, i.e. Europe and the Anglosphere. The historian Norman Davies, in his seminal work Europe: A History, explains that Islam 'created the cultural bulwark against which European identity could be defined.' In other words, Europe is defined, from its very foundation, as being other than Islam. The term "Western values" includes more than Christianity, for not only has Judaism played a major part, we also have to consider the various secular movements, such as communism and fascism. What they all have in common is that they are not Islam.
7. Ayaan says:
"We need to say
to Muslims living in the West: If you want to live in our societies, to share in their material
benefits, then you need to accept that our freedoms are not optional.
Islam is at a cross roads of reformation or self-destruction.
But so is the West.
I’m Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Harvard University for Prager University."
Muslims should not be living in the West if they truly care about their faith. (One can also see the sixth point in this article) The clear expectation, especially for those living in the Anglosphere, is that one must learn to compartmentalise one's faith and subjugate one's values. This is perfectly understandable. In Surat an-Nisa (4:97), Allah addresses the believers by saying, "Is not Allah's earth vast enough?" This means that if Muslims are struggling to implement their faith anywhere in the world, they need to move to wherever they can implement their faith. And this works both ways. Muslims in Europe and the Anglosphere shouldn't whinge and complain about the lack of Islam all around them. They should pack up and move. Likewise, people in the traditional Muslim heartlands who don't like Islam or don't want to be Muslim should pack up and move. If they prefer French secularism, they should move to France. If they prefer the American way, they should move to America. Don't stay where you are and try to impose your way of life upon the majority.
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was a Makkan, and his lineage in that location goes back thousands of years to Ibrahim and Ismael, peace be upon them, but to protect himself and his community, he migrated to Madinah and died there.
The first episode of The Foreword, an alternative English-language podcast about Islam and Muslims.
Talking points: • How did Islam reach us? How did it get to us? • The importance of the authorities (Ar. maraaji) • Why did Muslims move to the Anglosphere and Europe? • What have the maraaji said about this? What is their position? • Who is running “Islam in the West”? • Therefore, what should Muslims be doing if they live in these countries? • Why do we need an English-language alternative? Other topics that come up in this episode include: "Islamophobia", rape gangs, migration, the top-down imposition of Shariah law in the west and the impending backlash,
Assalaam alaykum, I would like you to advise me in a fiqhī[1] matter. I am
a Syrian citizen residing in France and everyone knows that the French government has
declared war, openly and unequivocally, against my country Syria and its people,
and the one in charge of our beloved country has declared that France is at war
with our beloved country. I have a commitment with the French government in that
they give me the right of residence and there is an agreement between me and
them, based on the fatwā of my
master, the Sheikh, the late martyr, Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān al-Būṭī. I
am in France and I do not have any profession or manual vocation. I am not
proficient in anything but trade, and by Allah’s grace, I am successful in
commercial matters. The issue is that the French government is at war with my country,
so is it permissible for me to co-operate with them or take a loan from the
bank in order to help my commerce with the knowledge that I am dealing with them
as Allah has commanded, i.e. to treat them well, and not take them as allies? Please benefit me and may Allah reward you with every goodness.
Answer (from Sheikh Muḥammad Tawfīq
Ramaḍān):
Wa alaykum Assalaam,
It is within your capacity to return
to your country in order to guarantee that you are far from the violations
of the Revealed Law that you are exposed to over there. This is with respect to
you, let alone your family if you have a family and your children if you have
children.
