By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
27 January
2024
Sectarianism
Is The Result Of Personality Worship
Main
Points:
1. The belief
in Taqleed is the result of personality worship.
2. Contradictory
explanations of Quranic verses were presented by different scholars.
3. Extremism
and violence became a way of Muslims because of personality worship.
4. Muslims do
not scrutinise the views of religious scholars with the help of Quran because
of personality worship.
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Islam does
not approve of personality worship, especially in matters of faith. It enjoins
on the Muslims to revert to the Quran and Hadiths for guidance in religious or
social matters. In the Quran, God says:
"Today
I have perfected your faith for you, completed my favours upon you and chosen
Islam as your way."(Al Maidah:3)
Islam was
completed and perfected during the lifetime of the holy prophet pbuh and all
the teachings of Islam were made clear to the Muslims by the prophet pbuh.
Therefore, there was no need to make any changes in the Islamic laws or
introduce any new custom or ritual in it. Not the greatest of Islamic scholars
or any group of scholars was authorised to add any thing new in the religion.
The Muslims were advised to learn the Deen from scholars but the
scholars were warned against making innovations in Deen. The believers
were told to help each other in matters of Deen including in learning Deen.
But
gradually, the Islamic scholars acquired cult figure. They propagated their own
individual views on various issues of Islam. Different scholars came out with
different explanations of the verses of the Quran. Some times, they presented
contradictory explanations of the verses leading to new beliefs among the
Muslims. For example, take the issue of secularism. While some scholars have
the view that secularism is in consonance with Islam, the others say that
secularism is akin to atheism or Kufr. Since the common Muslims did not have
the knowledge of the Quran, they believed in the explanations and views of the
scholars. In this way, religious scholars developed their own followers and
their own schools of thought. This resulted in sects among the Muslims. Every
sect has its own imam or leader and the followers of one sect consider the
followers of other sects on the wrong path or even Kafir. They believe that the
followers of all the other sects are worthy to be killed. But the fact is that
the Quran does not approve of sectarianism. The Quran says:
"Indeed,
those who have divided their religion and become sects --you (O Muhammad) are
not (associated) with them in anything. Their affair is only (left) to Allah,
then He will inform them about what they used to do."(Al Anam:159).
God asks
His prophet to express his disapproval of sectarianism but the followers of
sects actually take pride in their sects. This is because of personality
worship among Muslims. One glaring example of personality worship among Muslims
is the commentary of the verse of surah Luqman by Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani.
The verse is as follows:
"And
We have commanded people to honour their parents. Their mothers bore them through
hardship and their weaning takes away two years. So be grateful to Me and your
parents. To Me is the final return." (Luqman:14)
Maulana
Shabbir Ahmad writes:
"Though
the Quran mentions the period of weaning away as two years, Imam Abu Hanifa
says it is two and a half years. He might have his own argument but the
majority of ulema say it is two years."
This is the
peak of personality worship. When the Quran clearly says that the period of
weaning away is two years, Imam Abu Hanifa says it is two and half years. And
instead of criticising Imam Abu Hanifa for having and propagating his belief
contrary to that of the Quran, he says that Imam Abu Hanifa might have his own
reasons to have a different view. Did he have a different Quran?
The issue
of blasphemy has also become the cause of much bloodshed among the Muslims
because of the personality worship. The Quran asks the Muslims to observe
restraint in face of blasphemy. The Quran says:
"You
believers will surely be tested in your wealth and yourselves, and you will
certainly hear many hurtful words from those who were given the scripture
before you and from the polytheists. But if you are patient and mindful of
Allah, then surely there is a resolve to aspire to."(Al-e-Imran:186)
But many
Islamic scholars have ignored this verse and have propagated violent approach
to blasphemy. They have the view that one who commits blasphemy should be
killed, even if the accused is a Muslim. The followers of those Islamic
scholars do no have the courage to question their views because of personality
worship. Therefore, there is a lot of bloodshed in the Muslim society in the
name of protecting the honour of the prophet pbuh. In Pakistan, Muslims kill a
Muslim at the order of a Islamic religious scholar or a cleric whom they follow
for blasphemy though the order or fatwa of the cleric is itself in violation of
the principle of the Quran. But the bloodshed is committed due to personality
worship.
The issue
of the Manhood of the prophet pbuh is also a cause of difference and bloodshed
among the Muslims. A section of the Muslim clerics believe that the prophet was
not a human being (Bashar) but Noor ( light). Those who believe that the
prophet pbuh was a human being are considered a blasphemer though the Quran
declares loudly that the prophet was a human being. The Quran declares this in
more than three verses.
"Say
glory to my Lord! Am I not only a human messenger."(Bani Israil:93)
"Say
you, in being a human being indeed I am like you, it is revealed to me that your
God is ne God, so be straight before Him and beg forgiveness from Him and woe
be to the associators."(Ha
Meem Sajda:6)
A sect of
Muslims has a belief contrary to the Quran' s only because of personality
worship. They consider the leader of their sect above the Quran or do not have
the courage to question the opinion of their religious leader. Ironically,
those who believe in the verses of the Quran are considered on the wrong path.
The issue
of establishing caliphate has also become an important issue among a large
section because some renowned Islamic scholars propagated their own
interpretations of the Quranic verses and interpretations of Islamic caliphate
of the initial years of Islam though the Quran does not prescribe any
particular form.of government as Islamic. Shah Waliullah even wrote a book on
Caliphate cementing the belief of the Muslims that the caliphate was the only
form of government for the Muslims and that every Muslim has his duty towards
establishing caliphate. In fact, the Quran only stresses on ensuring good
governance, equality, respect for other religions, protection of the rights of
minorities, honesty, righteousness etc. The Quran mentions both caliphate and
kingdom in the Quran. The Quran says that God bestowed caliphate to prophet
David pbuh but prophet Solomon pbuh prayed to God for a kingdom that would not
be rivalled by any king after him. God granted his prayer. Taloot was made the
king of his community against the army of Jaloot. Therefore, the Quran does not
specify any particular form of government for Islamic nations but some Islamic
scholars propagated the idea of the caliphate and the followers of those
scholars accepted their personal views as the position of the Quran. In fact,
this misplaced belief became the cause of civil war and bloodshed in the Middle
East during the last decade. The terrorist organisation ISIS exploited this
belief of the Muslims and claimed to have established a caliphate in Levant in
June 2014. It committed large scale slaughter of Muslims and rape of Muslim and
non -Muslim women in the region.
There are
other beliefs of the Muslims as well that are based on personality worship and
not on verses of the Quran. Therefore, personality worship among the Muslims
has caused much harm to Islam and the Muslims of the world.
URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/personality-worship-muslims-beliefs-quran/d/131598
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