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Traditionalism as My Label
My subtitle to my blog is ‘A Traditional Muslim’s Blog’, an interesting title I thought for the blog when I originally set out.
The thought occurred to me, “Here I am, labeling myself!”
A few problems exist with labels in general.
Labels have become unpopular in the modern Muslim World, the catch-phrase of today is “I’m just a Muslim” (I add, “the plain vanilla-extract variety”).
Why this fear of words? For Muslims it has become quite common to blame labels instead of actual ideas. It is in the nature of all people to blame easy things for complex problems, were we to blame specific idea’s in question we would actually have to spend time to understand them. Therefore, we live in a world where many Muslims are quick to blame “Wahabi’s” for their ill’s just as quickly as others are ready to blame “Sufi’s”. This is a symptom of the larger problem of the Muslim ummah, an inability to think as the ‘other’. Muslims, in general, lack the ability to recognize the subtleties and complexities that lie in our history.
Secondly, labels have also become associated with certain ‘characters’ in people’s mind. It is therefore difficult to open a dialogue and hold positions that are contrary to what people have begun to expect from their mental effigy. Conversations routinely turn into strawman-arguments where neither party actually holds the belief that the other is disproving.
Third, one may have to feel like they must ‘live-up-to’ a label, and this is often a spiritual disaster. Salafi-burn-out is an example of this phenomenon, as it is not necessarily their beliefs or practices that wear them down, but a ‘buy-in’ into the rhetoric.
In the end, I prefer honesty, and I find a world without labels is a dishonest approach to life. I also believe a religion without labels inherently supports a reductionist approach to religion, both the “Reform” or “Wahabi” flavors. If we say there are no labels, then we have to get to the nitty-gritty and deal with actual practices and beliefs. On this path, we can find groups whose sole purpose is to eliminate institutions such as the Sufi Tariqas, the schools of Fiqh, and the practices such as various forms of Dhikr, Milad, or Hijab. Since traditional Islam is the superclass and ‘they’ are the subset, we find we are asked to eliminate our core practices and beliefs (in the spirit of ‘unity’). In this manner, entire areas of what has traditionally been understood as ‘Islam’ are wiped out.
Now amongst the variety of labels, ‘traditional’, is the most honest definition I can give to the casual reader of my positions and beliefs. Other titles (”Sunni”, “Sufi”) might imply a certain level of religiosity or piousness that I was not ready to deal with. Unfortunately, even with the use of the vague word ‘traditional’, debates have gone in that direction, where talks of ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ Muslims have entered the equation. From where I stand, such shifts in the topic seem to be guilt-driven (who said Catholic’s owned guilt?), and they are inherently off-topic.
New Labels
Traditionalism has it’s own unique problems as a label. First there is the confusion that arises with the word ‘tradition’ itself. To westerner’s it can imply modern-day Muslims of countries that are known to be “Islamic”. To modernists it can imply a lack of connection to the modern-world. To Islamo-phobes it simply implies ‘barbarians’. Of course, traditionalism is really none of the above.
Lately the use of “Western Islamic Traditionalism” or “neo-traditionalists” have been applied to thinkers such as Shaikh Abdal Hakim Murad or Shaykh Nuh. Again, a distortion of the truth, while these are some of the few representatives of traditional thinking in West, they have been taught by those from the East. In this regard, they are transmitters more than revolutionary thinkers, and therefore such titles are ill-suited. There is nothing Western about the traditionalism taught by today’s ulema and there is nothing ‘neo’ about joining in the learning from the chain of generations of scholars.
Traditional Islam, According to Me
For me, traditional Islam is the Islam of the majority of Muslims throughout history. It is the Islam of the quaint villages, the Islam of children who became our grandfathers, the Islam of the soldiers who died for it, the Islam of the great scholars of our past who lived for it. Traditionalism means following Islam as it has been understood by the majority of our predecessors, who learned from their predecessors, who learned from the Prophet Muhammad himself.
Traditionalism is abandoning moral relativism, realizing that the Prophet Muhammad knew and predicted the future and still had a lot to say about how to live without adding caveats such as “until the 20th century”. Traditional Islam is realizing that while a few questions of Islam are brand new, most of them have been answered and are not ‘colored by context’ to the point that we need to apply bleach to the entire load. Traditionalism is recognizing that even if there are new questions they should be answered by those who have studied Islam, in-depth, according to the traditional manner first.
Traditionalism is taking a step back and analyzing accepted norms, and why they are so readily accepted. Traditionalism is realizing that the very concept of a nation-state was alien to Muslims. Traditionalism is about learning our history, not twisting it based off of things reported in wikipedia.
Specifically, my form of Osmanli Traditionalism is recognizing that the Calipha ruled overarchingly but communities ruled themselves absolutely. Traditionalism is about realizing the fact that though maps show Ottoman land borders stopping well before Persia, the Caliph’s words were still being read in Indian mosques. Traditionalism is about reading about our leaders, from amongst orientalist lies, separating fact from fiction, and finding the gems of wisdom they held while learning from their mistakes.
My personal understanding of ‘traditionalism’ is finding wisdom about our spiritual authority as well as worldly authority in the ayat:
O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination. 04-59
And the hadith:
The Prophet called us to pledge allegiance to him which we did. We had been asked to pledge to the following: �We shall listen and obey whether willingly or unwillingly whether we are in difficulty or at ease, and even when we do not receive what is your right and that we shall not contest the authority of our rulers�. The Prophet of God said: You can only rise against them if you witness outright Kufr in any matter from them, in which you have a clear evidence from God. (Sahih Muslim 1709)
I understand from this that any rebellion from the Caliphate was literally anti-Islamic, that the scourge of reform/separatist movements including that of the Wahabi/Salafi were political far more than religious. I fear the recurrence of danger from a group that was once ready to kill the Ottoman Muslims which they believed ’showed outright Kufr’. If those accusations led to civil-war yesterday, what will they do tomorrow?
Traditional Islam is realizing history does repeat itself, and in that manner today’s terrorists were yesterday’s Wahabi seperatists and today’s modernist ‘thinkers’ were yesterday’s “Young Turks”.
And who is representing the villager who was simply doing his salat, his dhikr according to his Shaykh, reciting his Quran, praying the Janaza for those who passed, earning from the land? Who was it who subscribed and sold their trinkets for the Sultan Osman I? Who was it who sent their sons and daughters fighting at Galipoli, wearing a Henna mark while being ridiculed by more ‘modern’ officers? That is the realm of the traditionalist.
Traditionalism is about submission, the very definition of Muslim. Submitting to those in authority, submitting to our ulema, submitting to our parents, submitting to our wives, submitting to our husbands. Submitting in all those ways in order to learn the lesson involved in absolute submission to Allah. Traditionalism is realizing that certain things were meant for kings and others were meant for servants. Traditionalism is not anger-rooted fatalism, but the realization that we are like Mary’s (AS) hand.
Traditional Islam is about realizing that tradition is constantly evolving and is inherently pluralistic and compassionate. It is continuously becoming modern by answering new questions and supporting multiple opinions. It is about rolling up our sleeves and dealing with specific problems and issues within the context of that tradition, not trying to escape the Prophet’s (S) words at every opportunity..
With all this in mind, ‘Traditionalism’ is very easily critiqued, yet I am surprised I don’t see such criticisms -ever-.
In the next part I will join in the critique of traditional Islam … hey, it’s in vogue!
May 31st, 2006 - 9:26 pm
Asalaamu alaikum.
Wow, alhamdulAllah. You basically described what I have been striving (though rather unsuccessfully) to practice in my deen. And you articulated it when I could not. JazakAllah khairun.
June 1st, 2006 - 3:39 am
Very intersting thoughts. You of course know my opinions.
W/respect to labels - what do you think of the shakespearean phrase “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”??
Does it matter what we call our beliefs, so long as we believe them? It is not the label which we place our trust in, but the thought and idea of the things that label invokes which we care about…not that we should be afraid of labels - they have meaning, but it seems to be the outer shell to a far more important and substantive inner membrane.
If we substitute the superficial label for the substantive importance of that label, one runs the risk of missing out on deeper meanings. One almost wishes one could lose the label, and retain one’s beliefs, if only to ensure that the purity of those beliefs are not corruped by mere semantics and the ultimately limited consciousness of the human vocabulary.
June 1st, 2006 - 6:53 am
Aaminah as-salamu’alaikum,
I’m glad, I will be adding your links to my site. Your welcome, BarakAllahufeekum.
-Yursil
June 1st, 2006 - 6:56 am
Hello Steve,
That may be true, unfortunately in the Muslim community the abandoning of labels comes hand in hand with abandoning certain principles and practies. It is used a purging method rather than one of building respect and understanding.
Also, in many cases, Islamic labels are more utilitarian than boastful, and deal with qualifications and specialities in specific parts of spiritual education. Thus they are useful tools in recognizing teachers and students in those areas of study.
June 10th, 2006 - 7:21 am
Salam alaikum,
I’m glad you wrote this piece - and I must return to it to digest more fully when my mind isn’t thinking of all the jobs I have to do. This question of traditional Islam is important to me, because I current reside in that no-man’s land of confusion.
I came to Islam with the Salafi Dawah and spent the first three years of my Islam in that environment - not to any extreme, but that was my backdrop. Over the past fives years or so I have migrated more towards a kind of “do the minimum” Islam - the five prayers, giving charity, but no real knowledge. But since getting into writing a weblog, which is helping me to clarify my thoughts, this question of “the correct way” is really hitting me.
One of the frequent visitors to my weblog always leaves quite detailed comments about the salafi way being the correct way, but many others are treading this traditionalist path. As a convert to Islam, I have many questions about how we know who the true scholars are - because I am like an orphan to this culture - I am not connected to its history. I guess this is best expressed in a post I wrote in April, called “The Nomad”:
http://neurocentric.blogspot.com/2006/04/nomad.html
I wonder if you would have any comments for me. I am a genuine searcher. These days are really confusing.
Kind regards,
Br Tim
June 11th, 2006 - 6:33 pm
Brother Tim
(i found the article!)
Assalamu alaikum,
Your confusion strikes a cord, and believe me.. its experienced by many. But i have simple words for you… Listen to your heart. Follow that which invites your soul, that brings it to life, that leads you to the experience of the ultimate joy. It is true, we have many scholars out there, that claim many things… we have many groups, who have different priorities..
But as one of our scholars said, Allah has reserved a special place in the human being for Himself, where the gaze of divine Mercy and love descends, and verily that is the heart. What we must do is ask ourselves, what is it we want in life.. what is our goal, surely it is the Pleasure of Allah. Then each must work out their path to this..
Some call for a khilafa, for a state..others rally around for jihad- but to be successful in the former we start with the individuals.. with ourselves. Corrupt and diseased hearts will only reap corrupt and diseased actions… harsh words… but how often do we engage in ‘good’ actions with the wrong intentions which deems them worthy of nothing…
Strong societies, strong foundations, start at the base roots..the individual.. an within each individual is the heart, which the beloved of Allah (peace be upon him) said, if it sound, then the whole body is sound…. and indeed, the soundness of the heart will emit in all of ones actions like a radiating light, the light of a mu’min.
For myself, my journey began on these reflections.. though blessed with a family and community of Muslims, something was lacking..the frequent quarrels, petty back talking, etc i witnessed between Muslims an even at the masajid made it obvious that something was missing… and soon i was on a search for something greater… and that was the “Prophetic Character”, as i realised that truly that was the foundation of Islam. So my search began to find the scholars who called to Allah with the display of the Prophetic character, following the footsteps of the noble prophet (peace be upon him) building solid communities based on firm and pure hearts.. who went on to call the masses to the deen with the precious light that emitted from the very inner fibres of their beings..These men and women, who strengthened their spirits and souls over their bodies until their physical pain bore unto themno burden as long as their hearts were in the right place…
When i found these scholars, the inheritors of the Prophetic Character, the Prophetic Knowledge, who call for the rectification of the Muslim ummah through the rectification of their hearts… who sought to rekindle the love and brotherhood, and above all the Mercy of the best of Humanity..who put value in ’small kindnesses’ and taught Muslims that they were ambassadors of their Prophet and must reflect his character… for me, when i found these scholars, i knew i found the heirs of the prophets.
June 11th, 2006 - 6:37 pm
The last paragraph should be present tense
Indeed these Scholars are around. May Allah preserve and protect them and help us benefit from them.
June 11th, 2006 - 8:09 pm
Salaam alaikum,
Beautiful entry, Br. Yursil. And to neurocentric, “I am like an orphan to this culture”– what a beautiful expression. Subhanallah, our Prophet himself, peace be upon him, was an orphan and was given guidance…
August 29th, 2006 - 8:42 am
Giving without reserve
It is with reticence that I am writing this. I do not wish to place myself on the moral high ground or to sermonise anyone. This chapter tries to show the truth and importance of dreaming of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam). These words seek to confirm that ours is a Prophet of Mercy and a Bearer of Good Tidings. It also aims to portray the consequence of du’aa in the Masjid al-Haram. It is moreover meant as a method of encouragement for our children to some day continue with the Prophetic Tradition of raising an orphan for the sake of Allah, The One of Unbounded Grace. So that they may by this means know that there is more to life than just prayer and fasting. And that they should give of themselves unreservedly. That they might through it also, temper their adhkaar with compassion.
We were asleep at the Mashrabiyya Hotel in Khalid bin Walid Street in Shubayka, Makkah al-Mukarramah when, by the Mercy of Allah, I had the most beautiful dream. I saw myself standing in the holy presence of our Truthful Prophet Muhammad (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam). Our Prophet (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam) was spotlessly dressed in white robes and a white turban. I stared aghast. Our Incorruptible Prophet (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam) stood about two meters away and faced me directly. I do not have the words with which to suitably portray this most wonderful man, the Seal of the Prophets (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam). I had never seen anyone so unimaginably holy, so indescribably handsome. I reached for my turban, embarrassed for not wearing it. “Leave it,” I said to myself. “You are in the Company of the Prize of creation.” A brilliance shone from our Guided Prophet (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam). Our Prophet (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam) smiled at me. I wished that the dream would last forever. The heavenly smile lasted between ten and fifteen minutes, it felt like.
Alhamdu-lillaah. I had never considered myself deserving of such an honour. “What does that smile mean?” I asked myself over and over again.
Part of my du’aa in the Holy Mosque in Mecca, was to ask Allah, The One Who Makes Clear to us His signs so that we may be grateful, to Grant to ourselves the opportunity and blessings of raising an orphan for His sake.
My wife and I had, over a number of years, tried to adopt a baby by applying at several local agencies, and were given all sorts of excuses which disqualified, and sometimes discouraged us. Reasons given were that we were not married according to South African law, that few babies from local Muslim parents came up for adoption, and the fact that we have children of our own. We were faced with, what was to my mind, the worse aspect of the South African race laws. These regulations and those administering it, in this case, the social workers, prescribed that a ‘brown’ orphaned child had to be matched with ‘brown’ adoptive parents. A ‘yellow’ baby could only be placed with prospective ‘yellow’ adoptive parents, a ‘white’ orphan could not be raised by ‘black’ adoptive parents, and so on. They played dominoes with human lives. Some social workers were more ready to read the ‘race act’ than others. In an interview and in response to a question on whether we would mind adopting a child from a ‘lower rung’ of the colour scale, I told them that “a nice green one would do.” A jab to my ribs from my wife quickly halted the acid flow down the sides of my mouth. Stirring the ire of our then masters by criticising their political beliefs would not help, she meant. “When the white boss tells a joke, and regardless of its lack of humour – laugh!” she chided me later. Race inequalities existing at the time ensured that hundreds of black orphans went begging in more ways than one. It virtually excluded us from adopting a child. No orphans that matched our race and blood mix were on offer and they weren’t likely to easily present themselves for adoption, we were told. My wife is of Indian (as in “Indian” from India, as opposed to “American” Indian) stock and I am of (well) mixed blood.
On the morning of Wednesday, 1st June 1994, just three days after arriving back home from Haj, we received a telephone call from Melanie Van Emmenes of the Child Welfare Society. She explained that a five-month old girl had come up for adoption. The baby had earlier undergone successful abdominal surgery and she asked whether we would adopt the child. We jumped at the chance.
A rush of adrenaline replaced the after-effects of travel. We were re-energised. Capetonians usually visit local pilgrims before departure and also on their arrival back home. We excused ourselves from the few visitors and asked my mother-in-law to host them in our absence. My wife and I immediately went to the Adoption Centre in Eden Road, Claremont. We signed the necessary papers.
Afterwards, we told our children that we were about to receive an addition to the family. We plodded through a maze of red tape in order to legalise the process. (My wife and I had to marry in court because Muslim marriages were not recognised then, believe it or not). A few days later, my wife, brother and I collected the petite infant from a foster-mother in Newfields Estate. I shall never forget the joyous feeling when I first carried the frail waif past the front door. Her name is Makkia. We named her after the great city from which we had just returned.
Taking her into our home is one of the better things that we have done. Makkia has added a marvellous dimension to our lives. She is part of our life’s work. I shall always be grateful to the people who had assisted us with the adoption.
The meaning behind the glowing smile from our Trustworthy Prophet Muhammad (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam) had played itself out in the most delightful way. Weighing any other form of creation against our Brave Prophet (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam) is a meaningless exercise, I have come to realise. Allah, The One Who Is Sufficient For those who put their trust in Him, Had Granted our want through our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (sallal-laahu ‘alay-hi wa-sallam).