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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Second Pillar of Islam: Rethinking the Replacement of Ethics by Rituals in Islam

The Second Pillar of Islam: Rethinking the Replacement of Ethics by Rituals in Islam

Terebessy, Leslie

Paperback

Islam

ISBN13: 9798863952949
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Oct 10 2023
Pages: 254
Weight: 0.76
Height: 0.53 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Are traditional Muslims prioritizing rituals at the expense of ethics? Why are there no books in Bukhari on justice, ethics, reason or freedom? Even Shatibi refrained from treating justice as a purpose of Islamic law. What triggered the neglect of ethics? This was a result of sectarianism. The rationalists emphasized justice, freedom and and reason. But five thousand of them were exterminated in 786 by Musa al-Hadi during the mihna or inquisition. The brutality of this purge, as reported by Suyuti, is reminiscent to the Reign of Terror in revolutionary France a millennium later in 1793 to 1794. Both purges reflected a descent into repression. The difference was that in France it was the rationalists that persecuted the traditionists, while in Islam it was the traditionists that persecuted the rationalists. The two purges reflected a breakdown of efforts to reconcile reason and tradition at the epistemological and political levels. In Islam, disagreements regarding the roles of reason and tradition in the exegesis of revelation spilled into politics. In Islam this dispute was resolved in favor of the traditionists. The repression of reason, however, had far-reaching consequences. Unfortunately, the repression of reason corrupted knowledge. The reluctance to engage reason enabled recourse to unwarranted perceptions in the epistemology of revelation. As a result, traditional exegesis and jurisprudence rest on faulty premises. The repression of reason corrupted the knowledge of revelation partly by enabling the turn from revelation to tradition and treating tradition as revelation from Allah. Accordingly, exegesis and jurisprudence require rehabilitation. They require being rooted in perspectives that agree with, and not defy the teaching of revelation. Further challenges encompass the perception that reason is subordinate to tradition, the perception that isnad matters more than matn, and recourse to the teaching of predestination. Perceptions that tradition is revelation from God, that it judges, completes, abrogates and replaces parts revelation are particularly troubling. All research rests on presuppositions. If a particular presupposition veers from revelation, all research based upon it becomes flawed. This transpired with a few presuppositions in exegesis and jurisprudence. Flawed presuppositions encompass the perceptions that revelation is in parts unclear, incomplete, and incoherent. The repression of reason assisted the turn from ethics to rituals, too. The emphasis on form at the expense of substance is reflected in the emphasis on rituals at the expense of ethics. But the Book of Allah emphasizes ethics. This is evident in verses nineteen to thirty-five in chapter seventy of the Book of Allah. The excessive emphasis on formalities at the expense of substance is reflected in the emphasis on recitation (form) at the expense of comprehension (substance). Formalism is also encountered in Islamic finance, where the form of an agreement takes priority over substance. Thus, loans are portrayed as profit-based agreements. Formalism is also present in the Muslims are expected to behave. There is emphasis on washrooms with the left foot, or men letting their beards grow. Emphasis on form is reflected in prayers, which encompass prostrations and related movements. The emphasis is on rituals (form) rather than on ethics (substance). Ritual (form) is also present in the requirement to perform the pilgrimage, which also requires the performance of a progression of physical acts. The sacrifice of the cow is a part of the ritual. The emphasis on rituals emphasizes form (rituals) rather than (substance) performance of praiseworthy acts. The emphasis on form over substance erodes the ethos of Islam. Retrieving the vitality of Islam does not require neglecting rituals. It requires a restoration of the emphasis on ethics, justice, rationality and freedom.

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