Extremists
As someone whose field of academic study is Islam, my interests, unfortunately for me as I prefer the ivory tower, have been thrown into the spotlight over the past few years. Normally this might not be such a bad thing but one finds oneself having to explain things over and over again. Simple things. The same thing. And then it makes no difference at all.
For example, I have written interminably on Islamic extremism, jihadis, the reasons for the rise of intolerance in the Muslim world but the general perception (and I’m talking about people I have had ongoing dialogues with) is unchanged. Never mind those facts: we know that the terrorists are terrorists because they are Muslims. We know that Islam is the problem. Not extremists within Islam but Islam.
Now I cannot take this approach for two reasons: firstly it is not true and if I somehow managed to catch this contagion I would be thrown out of my University should I be foolish enough to commit such statements to academic scrutiny and secondly, as a student of Sufism it is not a view that it is possible to hold.
I will talk about Islam and Sufism in a post over the next few days but suffice to say that all the Sufis that are somehow held up to be a ‘reaction’ to Islam or somehow apart from it and therefore ‘good’ were Muslims. Doubtless the idea is that Islam was so intolerant that the Classical Sufis had to ‘pretend’ to confIrm but that is not born out by either an examination of their lives or the writings of such Sufis as Rumi, Al Ghazzali, Hujwiri, Jami, Bahauddin Naqshband or ibn Arabi. In fact, none of these Sufis ‘conformed’ and were often in trouble for their teachings - or perhaps (just as today) their listener’s understanding (or mis-understanding) of what they were saying. So conformity wasn’t a problem to them - if they wished to renounce Islam they could have. If they wanted to project their teaching in another framework they could have - they were Sufis.
But let’s leave that for another post. Here I want to nail down this ‘Islam equals extremism’ motif. It will not have escaped anyone’s notice (I hope) that this is what the notorious cartoon was claiming. This is my sole objection to it: I object to it as I would any untruth portrayed as truth and remaining unquestioned, but all the more so because it is my area of study.
I am going to quote some sayings of Muhammad, not the guy in the picture with the bomb on his head but the historical figure - then we can talk about extremism, it’s sources and the various types that besiege us from all angles. In this (unfortunately) I will have to recap from previous posts. No matter. Here is an hadith, a saying of Muhammad:
A time is soon coming to mankind when nothing of Islam but its name will remain and only the written form of the Quran will remain. Their mosques will be in fine condition but will be devoid of guidance; their learned men will be the worst of people under heaven; corruption coming forth from them and returning among them.
Assuming that no-one made this up (not exactly the sort of PR a Muslim would invent should they be on a mission to insert falsified traditions) then what could it possibly mean?
Perhaps if Islam is extreme and ‘evil’ by nature, Muhammad foresaw a time when the Mosques would be peopled by ‘moderates’ or (God help us), non-violent, kind-hearted peaceniks. Perhaps even, though one shudders at the hideous possibility, he had in mind the specific genus of scumbag that rejoices in the name of (whisper it).....liberal. Maybe the ‘worst people under heaven’ and the ‘corruption’ is meant to signify a time when Muslims departed from the ‘original dispensation’ of sowing evil, death and chaos?
But there’s more:
my people will divide into 73 sects, all of which but one will go to hell. And folk will come forth from among my people in whom passions will run as does hydrophobia in one who suffers from it, permeating every vein and joint.
Again, is it possible that here Muhammad is intending to convey that Hell is to be populated with those Muslims who fail in their duty to kill, maim and generally run amok murdering innocents and small babes. Perhaps the ‘hydrophobia’ is a propensity to goodness which left unchecked by the counterbalance of depredation may spread like a cancer?
Apparently the answer is yes.
There is a theological problem here though because by this token the religion which is the polar opposite of ‘evil” Islam - where doers of good will go to ‘hell’ - would be Christianity - where doers of good will go to ‘heaven’. No problems - except that one would expect Muhammad in his many comments on Christianity to outline this dichotomy. Only, strangely, he does not. Instead he accepts Christianity (and, even more oddly, Judaism). The following verses from the Qur’an are quite explicit:
[7:159] Among the followers of Moses there are those who guide in accordance with the truth, and the truth renders them righteous.
[5:47] The people of the Gospel shall rule in accordance with God’s revelations therein. Those who do not rule in accordance with God’s revelations are the wicked.
[2:62 & 5:69] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the Christians, and the converts; anyone who believes in God, and believes in the Last Day, and leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.
[3:199] Surely, some followers of the previous scriptures do believe in God, and in what was revealed to you, and in what was revealed to them. They reverence God, and they never trade away God’s revelations for a cheap price. These will receive their recompense from their Lord. God is the most efficient in reckoning.
One might be tempted to think at this point that there is a fatal flaw in the ‘Islam equals terrorism’ theory. But we know that cannot be - because we are told it by experts ad infinitum (nauseum?) and with mind-numbing (literally) regularity. So we must look elsewhere - we need another explanation.
Yes, I have succumbed to satire and juvenile behaviour to score inane points in a lame manner.
I would have created a cartoon instead but I can’t draw - you’ll have to put up with this. Can’t promise there won’t be more......
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