diversity in islam 2

8/6/2019 Diversity in Islam 2

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Diversity of Thought in

Islamic Shariah, Tariqah &Civilization

Presentation by Abbas Husain

Director

Teachers· Development Centre



WEL COME!

TODAY IS A DAY OF HOPE

W

HEN

YOU CAN

GATHER

ON

ASUNDAY TO HEAR THREE

SPEAKERS ON DIVERSITY OF

THOUGHT

ALL IS NOT L OST !



MY DUTYIS TO SHARE WITH YOU SOME

IN T RODUCTORY REMARKS

SOME DEFINITIONS AND NAMES OF

SOME BOOKS FOR FUR THER

READING«.Surely you know that we can·t clarify everything!!!



SO FIRST, SOME

DEFINITIONS

Diversity we see as a human

condition, inevitable and

unavoidable

We see uniformity as a great evil, not

to be confused with UNITY, which isa great good.



THE OTHER WORDSSHARI·A TARIQA AND CIVIL ISATION

ARE ASPECTS OF ISL AM

AND WE NEED TO OPEN THAT ONE

UP TOO«.



First things first

We need to clear our

minds about what Islamis and what are the

sources and resources

that make up the coreteachings of Islam



Most people would say That by Islam they meant the following texts:

THE HOL Y QURAN The Arabic Text, which is the Word of Allah

THE HADEES

The record of the Beloved Prophet·s words,acts and silences, preserved in many

collections,



IF YOU ARE WITH ME

SO FARYOU CAN EASIL Y SEE THAT

THAT IS A GREAT VARIETY

OF MATERIAL « NOT ALL OF IT ¶FITTABL E· IN A

MONOLITHIC STRUCTURE

CALL ED ISL AM



So when anyone says:Islam says this or that we must

learn to ask immediately:

´Islam is not a person who says

this or that: please name the

text: and then we will proceedfrom there«µ



AND NOW FOR SOME

BOOKS

THESE TIT LES HAVE INSPIRED ME

IN MY THINKING«.

SUREL Y THERE ARE OTHERS !



Progressive MuslimsOn justice, gender and pluralism

Edited by Omid Safi

Published by Oneworld Publications,

2005



Veils and KeysPossibilities of a contemporary

spirituality in the light of traditional

Islamic wisdom

By John Herlihy (Yahya Ahmed)

Published by A. S. Noordeen(1998)



Islam, Fundamentalism, and

the Betrayal of Tradition

Essays by Western Scholars

Edited by Joseph E.B L umbard

Foreword by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Published by Pentagon Press, 2005



The Heart of IslamEnduring Values for Humanity

By Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Published by HarperCollins

SanFrancisco, 2002

You h ave r eceived an ext r act fro m t h is book



Remembering GodReflections on Islam

by Gai Eaton

Published by Suhail Academy (2003)



THERE ARE T WO MORE

WOR

DS THAT IW

ISH TO

COMMEN T ON

MODERNITY

andDIAL OGUE



1. COMPLEXITYWE ARE PAR TICIPAN TS TO AL AYERED COMPLEX WORL D

SOCIALL Y

POL ITICALL Y

ECONOMICALL YIN T ERNATIONALL Y

ECOL OGICALL Y



2.IN T ERCONNECT EDNESS

A WIDEL Y CONNECT ED WORL D

A VIOLEN T STIR SOMEWHERE EL SE

e.g. IN T ERNE T



3.UNCER TAIN TYNO MORE ARE THERE POCKE TS

OF REL ATIVE CER TAIN TY

THE SPEED WITH WHICH NEW

JOBS ARE BEING CREAT ED FOR

NEW NICHE MARKE TS«THE PERMANEN T WHIT EWAT ER OF

ST EPHEN COVEY



4. GREAT CAPACITY TO

HARM

ONE VIRUS CAN WIPE OUT YEARS

OF DATA FR

OM AN

EN

TIRE

RANGE OF COMPUT ERS

ONE PERSON CAN INFL UENCE

THOUSANDS «FOR GOOD AND

EVIL TOGE THER«..



THESE ARE TO ME THE

FOUR FEATURES OF

MODERNITY

BRIEFL Y THEN: WHEN MAN

REPL ACES GOD AS THE

SOURCE OF MEANING IN

OUR UNIVERSE, WE ARE IN

MODERNITY.



The second wordWAS DIAL OGUE

I WISH TO DISTINGUISH BE T WEEN

THREE KINDS OF TAL K

Debate

Discussion and

Dialogue



debateWhen there are two different

positions, and each side talks about

the differences

We have a debate



DiscussionWhen, knowing that there are

differences, we agree to put them

aside and talk about thesimilarities and unities of our

positions«

«we have a discussion



DIAL OGUEBUT A DIAL OGUE IS NEITHER OF

THE ABOVE«.

IT IS NOT ABOUT WHAT WE DIFFER

ABOUT NOR WHAT WE AGREE

ABOUT

IT IS ABOUT OUR WILL INGNESS TO

SEE REAL ITY WITH THE EYES OF

THE OTHER



I AND THOUWHEN I AM WILL ING TO SEE WHAT

YOU SEE THE WAY YOU SEE

IT..UN TIL YOU ARE VAL IDAT ED IN YOUR HUMANITY, THEN I AM

HAVING A DIAL OGUE.

AS YOU CAN SEE THE CORE VAL UE

IN DIAL OGUE IS



RESPECT

Unless there is respect, there is no

possibility for a dialogue«.



IT ISN·T CL ASH OF

CIVIL ISATIONSBUT lack of civilisation that disallows

the possibility of dialogue!

A FULL Y MODERN APPRECIATION

OF THE ROLE OF ISL AM AS A

WORL D CIVIL ISATION HAS YE T TOBE MADE.



A convenient map of the Paradigm

Changes in Islam

is offered by the catholic theologian

HANS KUNG

It bears consideration.



Hans Kung Islam

Past, Present & FuturePublished by Oneworld Publications

2007



The abiding substance of Islamic faith:

The message: ¶There is no God but God,

and Muhammad is His Prophet.· The decisive revelation event: the sealing

of the previous revelation event (Christian

and Jewish) by the revelation given to the

Prophet.

The distinguishing feature of Islam: the

Qur·an as God·s word and book.



The changing paradigm (=P)

(macromodel of society,

religion, theology):¶An entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and

so on shared by the members of a given community· (Thomas S.Kuhn).



Paradigm of the

original Islamiccommunity

Split in the original

community. First confrontation

between Islam andChristianity: Byzantium

Paradigm of

the ArabEmpire

MuhammadBorn c. 570

Public activity 613 (?) - 632

PI

PII

Four rights-guidedcaliphs:

Abu bakr

UmarUthman

Ali

Shiite opposition



Paradigm of

the Arab

Empire

Crisis of the Arab

empire. Second

confrontation: Spain

Classical paradigm

of Islam as a worldreligion

PII

PIIISunni Islam

(Shiites)

Four law schools

Rational theology

Arabic philosophy

Al-Ghazali·s

synthesis



Classical paradigm

of Islam as a world

religion

PIII

End of caliphate of

Baghdad. Third

confrontation: crusades

Paradigm of

the Ulama and

Sufis

Sunni Islam

(Shiites)

Four law schoolsRational theology

Arabic philosophy

Al-Ghazali·s

synthesis

PIVEnd of Arabic philosophy

L aw schools as a political

force

Sufism as a mass

movement

Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Taymiyyah



Paradigm of

the Ulama and

Sufis

PIV

Rise of European

modernity. Fourth

confrontation: Ottoman

expansion

ModernizationParadigm

PVFirst Shiite State

Islamic

Modernism

Reaction



Modernization

Paradigm

PV

Downfall of Ottoman

empire. Fifth

confrontation:colonialism

Contemporary

paradigm

(postmodern)?

PVI



Dominant Structural Element Of The Different Paradigms

661 7501258

Nineteenth

century

Twentieth/

twenty-first

century

Prophet Umayyads Ulama ModernizersHuman

Rights?Abbasids

Caliphs Monarchy Sufis Traditionalists Islamism?Mu·tazilah

Qur·anIslamic

law4 law

schoolsPopular

movements ConservatismWomen·s

rights?

Original

community

Shiite

oppositionShariah

Brotherhoods Secularism Minority

rights?

No God but God and Muhammad his ProphetPI PII PIII PIV PV PVI

P a r adigm of

t h e or iginal

Islamic

c o mm u nity

(M edina- M a kk a h)

P a r adigm of

t h e Ar a b

empi r e

(D amasc u s )

C lassical

pa r adigm

of Islam as

a wor ld

r eligi o n (B ag h dad )

P a r adigm of

t h e U lama

and Suf is

(r egi o nalizati-

o n )

Mo de r nizati o n

pa r adigm

( Istan bu l-

C ai ro)

Co ntemp or a r y

pa r adigm

( p o stm o de r n )?

( gl ob alizati o n )



Instead of being overwhelmedI invite you to rejoice that the Quran

contains this magnificent verse:

IF ALL THE T REES WERE PENS AND ALL

THE OCEANS INK«STILL WOUL D NOT

THE WORDS OF GOD BE EXHAUST ED,

EVEN IF WE ADDED SEVEN MORE!--- SURA KAHF 18:110



ABBAS HUSAIN

DirectorTeachers· Development Centre129-G Block 2 PECHS Karachi 75400

www.tdc.edu.pk

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: 021-4310217/4392949

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