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Rehabilitating Islamic Exegesis and Jurisprudence: Restoring the Epistemology of Tawhid in Islam - Couverture souple
Synopsis
Islam is misunderstood not just by non-Muslims but also by a few Muslims. The reason for this misunderstanding stems partly from an approach that treats the use of reasoning to understand revelation as kufr. The repression of reason rests upon the misperception that revelation and reason are enemies rather than allies. This is based on the perception that belief in Allah is irrational, as it is not supported by any empirical or rational evidence. According to empiricism, religion requires a sacrifice of reason, usually on the altar of tradition. The misunderstanding of revelation resulted from the reluctance to engage reason to understand revelation. The reluctance to engage reason prevented the umma from understanding revelation. Accordingly, the umma turned to tradition. The reluctance to use reason also permitted perceptions against the teaching of revelation to adulterate knowledge. The turn from revelation to tradition was hastened by politics. Hawkish rulers, aspiring to enlarge the empire, wanted to bypass the prohibitions of wars of aggression, prohibited in revelation. The justification for waging wars of aggression was provided by like-minded ulama by treating tradition as revelation, recourse to hawkish tradition, and by recourse to the teaching of abrogation. According to this teaching, all verses of reconciliation, revealed earlier, are abrogated by contradictory verses revealed afterwards. But the Book of Allah is free of contradictions. The transformation of the teaching of revelation into a religion of war was aided by the repression of reason or “intellectual suicide.” The intellectual suicide was followed by political suicide, embarking on unprovoked wars of aggression in the form of jihad al-talab. The requirement to reinterpret revelation as a teaching of war tainted knowledge. Thus, the epistemology of revelation requires rehabilitation because it is marred by shirk and kufr. It encroaches upon tawhid. Refraining from trusting in verses because they were allegedly “abrogated” by traditions or verses that “contradict” them is kufr. Treating tradition as “equal” to revelation is an expression of scriptural shirk. Permitting rulings from traditions to “abrogate” and “replace” revealed rulings, as transpired with rulings on adultery and apostasy, is an expression of juristic shirk. Renewal accordingly requires restoring the proper relationship not just between revelation and tradition, but also between reason and tradition. It also requires the de-sacralization of tradition. It is necessary to affirm the pre-eminence of revelation in relation to all tradition, as well as the pre-eminence of reason in relation to tradition. This requires a restoration of the tawhidic basis of the epistemology of revelation, both exegesis and jurisprudence. The tarnished reputation of Islam provides reasons for believers to disassociate from what is perceived as a teaching of violence. It also discourages to potential reverts from embracing Islam. As a result of the reluctance to use reason, exegetes encountered difficulties in understanding revelation. Parts of the Book of Allah began to strike them as “unclear.” Accordingly, they alleged that revelation, which presents itself as “clear,” requires “clarification. The “clarification” would be provided by tradition. The turn to tradition to “explain” revelation rests on the assumptions that tradition explains revelation “better” than reason, and that tradition, after all, is also “revelation.” But the perceptions that parts of revelation are “unclear,” that tradition explains “better” than reason and that tradition, too, is “revelation” are problematic. For the first perception – that revelation is in parts “unclear” – contradicts verses in the Book of Allah which state that the Book is “clear.” A further problem with the perception that revelation is in parts “unclear” is that it attributes a personal trait to Allah, that of being “unclear.”
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