Controversies in Contemporary Islam

Oliver Leaman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134499823
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book helps to deepen our understanding of the varieties of contemporary Islam and the issues that are of most concern to Muslims today. Oliver Leaman explores some of the controversies and debates that exist within Islam and between Islam and other religions. He considers how the religion can be defined by looking at the contrast between competing sets of beliefs, and arguments amongst Muslims themselves over the nature of the faith. Areas covered include: Qur'anic interpretation, gender, finance, education, and nationalism. Examples are taken from a range of contexts and illustrate the diversity of approaches to Islam that exists today.

1 Islam and leadership of the community

When great leaders leave the scene, there is often a lively debate about who should succeed them. There was a dispute right after the death of the Prophet about who should succeed him as the leader of the Muslim community. Abu Bakr, his father-in-law (one of several), was nominated although ‘Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law were actually more direct family members. According to some historical sources, when the news of Abu Bakr’s nomination spread in Arabia, the uncle of the prophet al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Abdul-Mutalib and Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, went to ‘Ali and offered their allegiance and military support if he were to revolt against Abu Bakr’s nomination. According to many Shi‘i accounts, he refused to do so due to the need for unity. ‘Ali did become caliph eventually, the fourth caliph, but his successor and son Husayn was killed at the battle of Karbala and from that time on the family of the Prophet was largely excluded from power, although some local rulers have claimed a link with the family. It is perhaps surprising that Islam should prioritize family in this way, since it sees itself as a universal faith and the Qur’an is critical of tribalism. Why should the family of the Prophet be regarded as so significant, if the Prophet himself was just a man, albeit a highly significant messenger and for some thinkers the perfect man? There are a variety of responses to this question, and throughout this book the issue will be examined from a variety of perspectives. There is no doubt that the personhood of the Prophet is regarded as extremely important by most Muslims, since although the message he delivered came entirely from God and not from him, God chose him to be the messenger, his last messenger, and presumably he was not chosen at random.

This controversy has had powerful consequences in the Islamic world, frequently splitting it into hostile communities, and leading to protracted debates about where legitimate authority lies. For the Sunnis it is to be found in some mechanism often depending on the views of the majority of the scholars, or some other institution prepared and able to select a leader. For the Shi‘a, literally the shi‘at ‘Ali or party of ‘Ali, it has to be someone closely linked in some specific way with the family of the Prophet.

In 10/632 the Prophet is said by the Shi‘a to have summoned the community to Ghadr Khumm, a pool, and announced that ‘Ali was to be the new leader. This was on the occasion of his last pilgrimage to Mecca and he initiated the rules of carrying out the rituals of walking around the Ka‘ba, wearing the ihram (a simple white robe) and the words that are said on the occasion. The issue is not so much the status of ‘Ali but more the status of the ahl al-bayt, the family of the Prophet (literally, of the house). There are only two references to the family in the Qur’an and one seems to be much wider than the family of the Prophet, but refers to the community of Muslims as a whole (11.73) but 33.33 seems to refer to the Prophet’s own family, and this is often taken to refer to Fatima, his daughter, ‘Ali, his cousin and son-in-law and their children, Hasan and Husayn. There are ahadith that make this attribution clear, but of course there are also disputes about both the interpretation of those ahadith and their veracity, and we shall examine these to a degree in due course.

The line of Muhammad through ‘Ali and Husayn became extinct in 259/873 when the last Shi‘a imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who had no brothers disappeared within days of inheriting the title at the age of four. Many Shi‘a did not accept that he had died, instead holding that he was hidden and would return. There was a limit to waiting for this to happen, though, and after several centuries spiritual power was said to have passed to the ‘ulama, a group of thinkers who elected a supreme imam. Their imams are believed to be incorrigible interpreters of law and tradition. Sunnis and Shi‘as agree on the core fundamentals of Islam – the Five Pillars – and generally although not always recognize each other as Muslims. The Shi‘a add to the Five Pillars a reference to the family of the Prophet and there are differences in ritual and prayer, and of course law, but also a good deal of agreement. In 1959 Mahmud Shaltut, Head of the School of Theology at al Azhar University in Cairo, the most august seat of learning of Sunni Islam (but it is worth noting originally founded by the Shi‘a Fatimid dynasty in 358/969), issued a fatwa (ruling) recognizing the legitimacy of the Jafari school of law to which most Shi‘as belong. The Jafari School is named after its founder Imam Ja‘far Sidiq who was a direct descendent through two different lines of the Sunni caliph Abu Bakr. There are two main types of Shi‘a or Jafari jurisprudence, the much more influential Usuli which places a good deal of emphasis on ijtihad, the individual reasoning process of the legal authority, and Akhbari, which does the reverse. There are other Shi‘a schools, such as the Zaydi in Yemen, and the Isma‘ili.

However, there remain significant differences between the two forms of Islam and these are what tend to be emphasized. Many Sunnis would contend that the Shi‘a seem to take the fundamentals of Islam very much for granted, shunting them into the background and dwelling excessively on the martyrdoms of ‘Ali and Husayn. This is best illustrated at ‘Ashura when each evening over a period of ten days the Shi‘a commemorate the battle of Karbala and in some communities a wailing imam whips the congregation up into a frenzy of tears and chest beating which sometimes results in self-mutilation and injury. It is alleged that instead of missionary work to non-Muslims, the Shi‘a harbor a deep-seated disdain toward Sunni Islam and prefer to devote their attention to winning over other Muslims to their group. On the birthday of the Mahdi, the person who is due to return and end history, the Shi‘a often weep to demonstrate their hopes for his appearance while they acknowledge the poor state of the world without him. The concept of the Mahdi also exists in Sunni theology but has a far less leading role, and little in the way of ceremonies are connected to him.

On a practical daily level, Shi‘a have a different call to prayer, they perform wudu‘ (ablution) and salat (prayer) differently including sometimes placing the forehead onto a piece of hardened clay from Karbala, not directly onto the prayer mat when prostrating. They also tend to combine prayers, sometimes worshipping three times a day instead of five. The Shi‘a also have some different ahadith and prefer those narrated by ‘Ali and Fatima to those related by other companions of the Prophet. Because of her opposition to ‘Ali, those narrated by ‘A’isha, the Prophet’s youngest wife, are the least favored. She is not counted by them as part of his family. Shi‘a Islam in some of its forms also permits mut‘a – fixed-term temporary marriage – which is banned by the Sunnis. They claim that mut‘a was originally permitted at the time of the Prophet. Again, reliance on different historical accounts supports alternative interpretations of what should be done by Muslims.

The Prophet’s farewell speech

It is the events at Ghadr Khumm which really figure at the heart of the controversy. The Prophet is said to have given a sermon during which he exhorted them to treat one another well and mentioned the rules of what was commanded and what was forbidden. Finally he referred to the significance of the Qur’an as a source of guidance in the future. He then transmitted the last passage from God to be revealed which made the Qur’an complete:

This day the disbelievers despair of prevailing against your religion, so fear them not, but fear me. This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed my favor to you, and it has been my pleasure to choose Islam for you as your religion.

(5.3)

The question is, does this give a special priority to his family and in particular ‘Ali? The implication is that certain people were chosen by God to continue the movement and refine it, and perhaps the family of the Prophet are indicated, once we take this together with other things that were done and said on that day. It is important for the Shi‘a that 5.3 was revealed not on the Day of ‘Arafa but at Ghadr Khumm, immediately after the Prophet had declared ‘Ali as mawla, his friend. The verses of their ahadith that speak of the declaration also add that the Prophet had made it before a gathering of a huge number of pilgrims. Having finished the campaign in the Yemen, the troop of 300 horses that the Prophet had sent out in Ramadan was now approaching Mecca from the south. ‘Ali had ridden on ahead of his men, eager to meet the Prophet as soon as possible and to join him on the pilgrimage (and also perhaps to seal the succession?), which he now had done. Among the state’s fifth of the spoils there was enough linen to clothe the whole army, but ‘Ali had decided that it should be handed over to the Prophet untouched. This led, not surprisingly, to hostility to ‘Ali and complaints were made to the Prophet.

The Prophet is supposed to have replied: “Am I not nearer to the believers than their own selves?” and he suggested that ‘Ali is the nearest to the Muslims after him. At Ghadr Khumm, he gathered all the people together, and we are told by the Shi‘a taking ‘Ali by the hand he repeated these words, to which he added the prayer: “O God, be the friend of him who is his friend, and the foe of him who is his foe”; and the negative comments against ‘Ali were silenced. This is linked with an aya which reads:

O Messenger! Make known what has been revealed to you from your Lord, for if you do not, you will not have conveyed his message. God will protect you from mankind. God does not guide those who do not believe.

(5.67)

which the Prophet was directed to reveal at this point, according to Shi‘a accounts. This seems to suggest that ‘Ali might be indicated here, given what came later, but if you read a couple of verses before this verse 5.67 this is not so clear. These verses speak of the People of the Book, of the Torah and of the Gospel. Verse 68 reads in part: “Say: ‘O People of the Book, you have nothing unless you observe the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed to you from your Lord’.” It continues to make critical remarks about the hostility of those who do not believe. There does not seem then to be so obvious a link between any of these verses and ‘Ali or the family of the prophet. It seems to refer to the People of the Book, calling on them to be faithful at least to their original revelations.

There are many ahadith about this incident at Ghadr Khumm, and they either embroider the event with very direct evidence of the Prophet’s positive comments on ‘Ali or seek to downplay them, depending on the allegiance of the sources of information. “‘Ali is the mawla of whom I am the mawla. O God! Have friendship towards those who have friendship for ‘Ali, and have enmity towards those who have enmity for ‘Ali.” In Arabic the word mawla has a wide range of meanings. Here it is used in the sense of a friend and a loved one and what the above saying of the Prophet means is that anyone who holds the Prophet dear holds ‘Ali dear as well. Hence, whoever loves the Prophet should also love ‘Ali. However, the report is not even remotely related to the question of the caliphate or imamate, from the Sunni point of view. This was perhaps a time when ‘Ali was under attack by some Muslims and the Prophet felt the need to make his close relationship with him explicit. Yet the Shi‘a surely have a point in arguing that if the Prophet’s cousin is referred to in this positive way then he is being at the very least promoted as a potential successor for an authority role.

It might, as was suggested earlier, be thought strange for Islam to stress the nature of a particular family, in a religion where everyone is a servant of God. But families are important in the Qur’an. Prophetic history begins, according to the Qur’an, with Adam, who is called safwat Allah (the elect of God). He was followed by Noah (Nuh), who was sent as a messenger by God to his people who rebelled against God’s message, and were thus destroyed by the flood. Then came Abraham (Ibrahim), the father of the rest of the prophets. With his son Ishmael (Isma‘il) he built the Ka‘ba, the first house for the worship of the one God. Ishmael was also a prophet, and the ancestor of the prophets who are exclusive to Islam such as Shu‘ayb, Salih, Hud, and finally Muhammad, the last prophet. Isaac (Ishaq), Abraham’s second son, was also a prophet and the father of prophets. Among his descendants were the family of ‘Imran, the father of Moses, and Jesus, as well as other earlier prophets who were sent by God to the Children of Israel. The Qur’an declares that God has elected Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham and the family of ‘Imran. It further states that they were “descended one from the other” (3.34). All the prophets and their families are therefore of one physical and spiritual lineage. They and their households are the elect of God, purified and honored and placed in a higher position than the rest of humanity.

The people of the House of the Prophet Muhammad (the ahl al-bayt) were likewise chosen by God and purified from all evil and sin, according to the Shi‘a. On the other hand, it is worth pointing out that the families of earlier prophets are not referred to in this complimentary way in the Qur’an. The justification for this distinction could be that the Prophet is of course the seal of the prophets, so he has a special significance, and his family might also. So the family of the Prophet is said to be chosen by God and purified from all evil and sin. Yet because Muhammad was the last prophet sent to guide humanity to God, his descendants could not assume his prophetic role. Their mission was to be the imams, or guides, of the Muslim community, and to preserve the message given to Muhammad by God for the world. Like many of the earlier prophets, the imams had to endure rejection and opposition by their people and even in some cases martyrdom. The family were subjected to especially difficult circumstances and so needed to be special themselves, and hence the significance of the character of the family in Shi‘a theology.

The kisa‘ incident

In both Sunni and Shi‘i Muslim tradition, one important event symbolizes the status of the ahl al-bayt and the human as well as spiritual dimensions of their relation to the Prophet. This is the tradition or episode of al-kisa‘ (the mantle, or cloak) which the Prophet spread over himself and Fatima his daughter, ‘Ali, and their two sons Hasan and Husayn. This tradition has taken a number of different forms, each stressing one or another aspect of the excellences of the family of the Prophet and his love for them. Ahmad b. Hanbal relates on the authority of Umm Salama, the Prophet’s wife, that Muhammad said to Fatima one day:

“Bring me your husband and two sons.” When they had all come together he spread over them a cloak, and laying his hand over them, he said: “O God, these are the people of the House of Muhammad! Let therefore your prayers and blessings descend upon Muhammad and the people of the House of Muhammad; for you are worthy of all praise and glory.” Umm Salama continued: “I then lifted the mantle to enter in with them, but he pulled it away from my hand saying, ‘You too shall come to a good end’.”

The point which this version of the kisa‘ tradition emphasizes is that the ahl al-bayt are only five: Muhammad, ‘Ali, Fatima, and their two sons Hasan and Husayn. Umm Salama, one of the most highly venerated of the Prophet’s wives, was denied this special status. On the other hand, Sunni interpreters of this passage suggest that there was no need for the Prophet to include his wives or wife since they were automatically considered to be part of his family. In another version of the kisa‘ tradition when the Prophet covered the relevant family members with the cloak God then sent down the verse: “Surely God wishes to remove all abomination from you, O People of the House, and purify you with a thorough purification” (33.33). This version of the tradition provides the meaning of the kisa‘ event. The mantle is a symbol of divine mercy and blessing covering the Prophet and his holy family. It is, moreover, a source of consolation and serenity in the face of the great sufferings and martyrdom which the Prophet’s family had to endure after him. The kisa‘ finally sets apart the “holy five” from the rest of the faithful, and distinguishes them from the rest of the Prophet’s family. From a less sympathetic point of view, though, this passage can be taken to be merely a reference instead to the wives of the Prophet, which is certainly the context of the earlier ayat (verses) in the Qur’an.

The event of the kisa‘ provides the occasion for the revelation of the verse of purification just cited, according to the Shi‘a. Before the sectarian conflicts which split the Muslim community set in, classical tradition was almost unanimous in interpreting this verse as referring to the Prophet, his daughter Fatima, often called al-Zahra‘ or the radiant by the Shi‘a, her husband and cousin, ‘Ali, and their two sons Hasan and Husayn. In still another version of the kisa‘ tradition, the continuity of the Prophet’s family with those of earlier prophets is clearly indicated. The close friendship between the Prophet and what came to be considered the holy family, a relationship which went far beyond the bond of blood relation, may be seen in the incident of the mubahala, or prayer ordeal, with which the Prophet challenged the Christians of Najran to a competition in which the different sides would each pray and the truth would as a consequence emerge. In the mubahala verse of the Qur’an, God orders the Prophet and his opponents to “Call together our sons and your sons, our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves” (3.61). In the view of some Qur’an commentators and muhadithun, the Prophet’s sons are Hasan and Husayn, “his women” refers to Fatima, and “his self” refers, apart from himself, to ‘Ali. When the people of Najran saw them, they recognized their high status with God, and as a result they declined the mubahala and opted instead for peace. The presence of his family was felt to be especially efficacious, thus indicating their special significance.

Tradition asserts that the Prophet sensed the hostility which his community was to show to the People of his House after him. Love for the Prophet’s family is insisted on by God in the Qur’an: “Say, ‘I ask nothing from you save love of next of kin’” (42.23). Shi‘a commentators have generally agreed that “the next of kin” here intended are the ahl al-bayt, the House of the Prophet, and often add a “my” in front of them. On the other hand, it could just refer to love among relations, a far more neutral idea. The People of the House of the Prophet Muhammad have been for the Shi‘a pious an example of generosity, steadfastness in the face of hardship, and a source of solace in time of trials and afflictions. After days of fasting and prayers for the health of the two sick children Hasan and Husayn,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Islam and leadership of the community
• 2 Islam and the Qur’an
• 3 Islam and God
• 4 Islamic design, civilization and the city
• 5 Islam and nationalism
• 6 Islam and equality
• 7 Islamic economics
• 8 Islam and morality
• 9 Islam and law
• 10 Islamic education
• 11 Islam and the Other
• 12 Islam and belief
• 13 Islam and Sufism
• 14 Islam and entertainment
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index of Qur’anic references
• Index