There Is No Church In Islam, But The Influence Of Traditional Theologians Is Enormous, Inhibiting Muslims Adapting To Modernity
By Dr.
Mohammad Ghitreef, New Age Islam
9 February
2022
In The
Seventeenth Century, Some Voices Of Protest And Resistance Rose From Within;
The Voice Of Calvin, Father Erasmus, And Of Martin Luther Et Al, Gradually
Became Louder And Louder
Main Points:
1. Ulema in Arabia
described television, telephone, films, and other modern gadgets and media
equipment as satanic tools.
2. Evolution of
Arabic and Islamic sciences and progress of thought among Muslims has come to a
halt in the sixth century AH.
3. In countries
like Spain after Reconquista some prominent bishops were terrorizing the poor
defeated Muslims, Jews, and even Christians belonging to other sects
----
In the past
and more specifically before Renaissance the Church had been ruling the roost
in Christendom. Bishops and holy fathers of different denominations as
representatives of the Pope, had been engaged in money-making by selling
indulgences to sinners and criminals who confessed their crimes before them.
Very lucrative and profitable business indeed.
In
countries like Spain after Reconquista some prominent bishops were terrorizing
the poor defeated Muslims, Jews, and even Christians belonging to other sects
giving them only two options; either be baptized or be burned alive. Those who
wrongly felt safe by accepting Christianity due to coercive proselytizing were
being suspected to be secretly Muslim and were spied on, and if anyone was
found guilty in Inquisition courts then the whole family, even the extended
family and group of friends was wiped out or set on fire. So Muslims who had
newly converted to Christianity and Jews would face the worst kinds of torture,
termination, and heinous killings throughout Spain, Portugal, and other
adjoining countries.
The Pope
had been so powerful that even kings and emperors had to accept their dictates
or face its dire consequences. History tells us that the emperor Henri IV of
Italy, had barefooted and bareheaded to knock on the door of a castle in Italy
wherein the Pope was residing, for three days and nights, begging and pleading
to his majesty the Pope, to open his door, which he simply refused to do. That
was the nature of the all-powerful Church once upon a time. Its ruthlessness, and its oppression of the
people was on its peak.
In the
seventeenth century, some voices of protest and resistance rose from within;
the voice of Calvin, Father Erasmus, and of Martin Luther et al, gradually
became louder and louder, joined by scholars, artists, writers, and free
thinkers, and in due course stirred a revolutionary movement in Florence, other
towns in Italy, and elsewhere in Europe. Pastor Erasmus, Martin Luther, and
Calvin propagated the notion that anyone can interpret the word of God; the
Bible, and not just the Pope.
The Church
confronted these dissident and nonconformist voices violently. It incarcerated
thousands, burnt hundreds alive, and inflicted on many more the worst kinds of
torture and killing. From this Protestantism came out reformation and
enlightenment. It led to its first mass demonstration in revolting against the
cruel kingship in France and the bloody French revolution broke out on 5 May
1789, culminated on 9 Nov 1799 as a harbinger of a radical political and social
change.
In the wake
of the French revolution, there followed revolutions, upheavals, and liberation
movements in every corner of Europe. The ninetieth century witnessed new
scientific inventions, an enormous industrial explosion, and the emergence of
new political, economic, and social ideas that eventually created the new
western civilization which is still in progress and ruling today’s world
unchallenged as well as unparalleled.
In contrast
to the West, the Muslim world has been living under the duress of its own
church. Its church is a unique combination of traditional Ulema, jurists,
sultans (kings), and Godmen. This undeclared church has been challenged by
free-thinking Ulema like Ibn Hazm, Muslim Philosophers like Ibn Rushd, and
luminaries like Ibn Khaldun and latterly Shah Waliullah et al, yet they all
miserably failed to bring about a genuine change in the prevalent state of
affairs among Muslims globally.
The
evolution of Arabic and Islamic sciences and progress of thought among Muslims
has come to a halt in the sixth century AH, and it has been declared that the
door of ijtihad has now been closed. This spirit of Taqlid has become fully
entrenched in the Muslim Ummah in every field, be it Quranic arts, Hadees
legacy or Islamic jurisprudence etc, and whatever voice has been raised against
it has been crushed on the grounds that a different voice is a kind of
innovation, infidelity, and heresy.
And thus
the ulema believe themselves to be the sole spokespersons of Islam, their
monopoly has a resemblance in many ways to that of the Pope. Now the Muslim
mind is inexplicably guarded by the same imperceptible church built during the
Abbasid period, no one can stand against it. If anyone dares to do so, all the
clergy together would side-line him.
With
denying the law of causation the Asharites in general and imam Al-Ghazali
amidst them, in particular, stood against rationality and reason. Being a
Shaikhulisma (the greatest Alim of his age) not only for his age but for the
coming generations too, all the other Ulema followed his footsteps
unquestioningly, and the situations since his times till day did not change
much. As Ghazalian standards of knowledge in Muslim societies are still in use
and the majority of Ulema blindly follow the same pattern of thinking set by
Ghazali a thousand years ago, while human knowledge is always in constant
change and progress. This is why history tells us that when one of the Ottoman
sultans wanted to introduce new European techniques in training the army and reorganizing
some other governmental sections the then Turkish Shaikh ul Islam was enraged
and issued a fatwa against the Sultan invoking the special troops; the
Janissaries, loyalists to the royals, to save Islam from this “heretic” step.
The result was that they rose in revolt against the Sultan and all the reform
was withdrawn.
And Ulema
in Arabia described television, telephone, films, and other modern gadgets and
media equipment as satanic tools that should be haram and forbidden. And that
is why we see Ulema resisting vehemently Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his reform
movement in the Indian subcontinent in the ninetieth century and afterwards.
And the story of Ulema around the world more or less is the same. These are, to
me, the signs of an invisible church in Islam.
The only
difference I can presume between Islam and Christianity in this respect is that
we Muslims are privileged to have a protected sacred Divine text, the Quran,
while Christians and other people of different faiths, in contrast, are not so
lucky to preserve the original religious texts with them.
I think
Muslim Ummah could not go ahead in any field without breaking the chains of
Taqlid (blind imitation) and without liberating from this blind imitation of
elders (Aslaf) and patriarchs. Without this kind of breakup, no breakthrough is
possible. For that purpose, there must be a separation between politics and
religion in practice, if not also in theory. In fact, the core values of
religion are reflected in its moral values and politics more or less is and
should be based on human practical wisdom, experiences, and rational thinking.
It doesn’t mean that it should be devoid of any morality, never, yet human
practice and experience lead us to pragmatic ways which are totally indifferent
to the nature of religious morality.
However, in
practical terms, the traditional Muslim society with all its weaknesses and
unhelpful circumstances, under the influence of the rich treasures of Sufism
and jurisprudence, had established a practical compromise in which the king or
sultan was supposedly looking after worldly affairs and the jurists and Sufis
were striving for moral reform in the society. It was as if a balance had been
struck. In the present times, the global movements of Islamism have hit hard
this balance with their misrepresentation. They have tried to create unrest in
politics and ethics alike. With their false rhetoric and the irrational
narrative, they have stripped that balance and tried to destabilize both
politics and ethics. This has upset the established balance in Muslim societies
and has given rise to extremist movements and violent organizations in
different countries. This phenomenon is, of course, more harmful to Islam than
the forces of Islamophobia could be.
----
A
regular columnist of New Age Islam, Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef is a Research
Associate with the Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement
of Muslims of India, AMU Aligarh.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/church-traditional-theologians-modernity/d/126337
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism