Singing from the same hymn sheet: the thoughts of Adamu and Mustapha on divided Islam

One of the regular visitors to my blog, Adamu Abdallah Awudu, sent me this letter. He stated that he did not intend it for publication as such. It was in response to my stating that I am a liberal Muslim. I have published it nonetheless and issued an attached response because I believe that the matter in issue goes beyond the two of us. Please read on.]

Dear Mustapha Hamid,
I have been a 'disciple' of your blog ever since I was introduced to it by Ato Kwamena Dadzi. I find it very educative and interesting as it touches on the three spheres of life that interest me most i.e. politics, religion and social issues. I have so far read almost all your articles but commented on only a few. In your article with the title “Letter to my friends- Part 2” you made reference to yourself as a “Liberal Muslim”.

Even though you didn't elaborate on what you meant by the term “Liberal Muslim” I still find it necessary to share with you my views on the subject. This is because as Muslims living in the western world many a time, I have been confronted with this issue both at work and in other social spheres by both Muslim and non-Muslim friends.

Many a time my colleagues at work will come up to me to ask if I am a Liberal Muslim, Sunni or Shiite but my answer has always been “I am a Muslim”. I have tried my best several times successfully and unsuccessfully to explain to them that we have one and only one Islam.

I do not intend to send you this article to publish on your blog, but if possible as a dialogue so that we can both share and enrich our knowledge of Islam. Allah knows best. Have a nice day and wasalam alaikum warahmatu laahi ta'ala wabarakatuhu. May Allah increase us in knowledge and “iman” (faith).

Your brother in Islam
Adamu Abdallah Awudu
“Mythologies” are the title of a book by the post-structuralist theorist Roland Barthes. It is a collection of essays examining the tendency of contemporary social value systems to create modern myths. Roland Barthes didn't propound the theory of myth for Islam. However it could serve as a formidable tool to deconstruct the myths of liberalist, conservative and fundamentalist Islam with which I and other Muslims have been struggling with for years.

In his last sermon delivered in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat', Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was reported as saying: “O People, no Prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my example (the sunna) and if you follow these you will never go astray”

The Prophet (PBUH) did not say he has left behind, Liberal, Conservative, Fundamentalist, Tijaniyah or Ahmaddiyah. In Qur'an Chapter 3 verse 19, Allah says “the true religion with Allah is Islam…” Clearly Allah does not make mention of Liberalist, Conservative, or Fundamentalist Islam among others. Allah has repeated over and over again in the Qur'an that the religion he has ascribed to us is Islam.

In Qur'an Chapter 3 verses 84-85, Allah says: “We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to Allah do we bow our will (in Islam). If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).

These verses of the Qur'an clarify that the religion Allah has given to mankind is Islam, and even went further to warn that He will never accept any religion apart from Islam. There are several other verses in the Qur'an in which Allah (SWT) has made clear the fact that there is only one religion and that is Islam.

It is also reported that the prophet (PBUH) said, the three questions that a man will be asked in his grave or Barzakh will be about his Lord, the Prophet and his religion. Having made it significantly clear that surely the religion of Allah is one and only one true Islam, the question that arises is that from where arose Liberal, Conservative, Fundamental and other forms of Islam?

In writing about the process of mythologization, Roland Barthes refers to the tendency of socially constructed notions, narratives, and assumptions to become “naturalized” in the process that is, taken unquestioningly as given within a particular culture.

These socially constructed notions according social theorists are the by-products (often unintended or unconscious) of countless human choices rather than laws resulting from divine will or nature. It can be clearly identified from Barthes mythology theory and the theory of Social constructionism that the myths of Liberal, Conservative and Fundamental Islam have nothing to do with the divine religion of Islam but rather are human choices.

Based of the above argument, I subscribe to the view that there is no such thing as Liberal, Conservative or Fundamental Islam. These are contemporary “myths” carefully constructed for two reasons. They are created by us to justify certain actions of ours that are either contrary to the teachings of Islam or to justify later innovations that have been (whether consciously or unconsciously) included in Islam.

Insha' Allah in part 2, I will discuss the effects of the myths of Liberal, Conservative, and Fundamental Islam on us as Muslims and our religion in the Western World. How it shapes the perception of Islam to non-Muslims and the message it conveys to both Muslims and non-Muslims. Finally as Muslims, how can we repair the damaged image of Islam- A religion of peace?
Mustapha's Response:

First of all, I must thank you for your thoughts on this matter. I have re-titled this piece as “singing from the same hymn sheet…,” because I do not differ from you just as I believe that no Muslim will differ from you regarding the fundamental position that there is only one Islam. Indeed not just Islam, but there is in my view only one of all religious traditions.

We can even stretch the logic to state that there is just one “religion”, there are no “religions”. This is because all the Prophets of God stated clearly that they were not distinct from the ones that came before them. After the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), every Prophet that came after him sought to fulfill his word. That is why the Qur'an states: “And they say, be Jews or Christians that you may be rightly guided. Say: nay follow you the religion of Abraham who was ever inclined to God; he was not of those who set up gods with God”. (Q: 2: 136)

That is why Judaism, Christianity and Islam are called Abrahamic religions. The Qur'an itself refers to the adherents of these religions as “the people of the book”. Ideally therefore there should not have been Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Indeed there should not have been Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Bahaism and the countless other religions that kept transforming out of the Abrahamic branch. Indeed when Christianity started, it was tagged as a Judaic sect.

But we need to appreciate that ideal is different from reality. “Let us face it: everything is wonderful as an ideal. Communism is egalitarian as an ideal. Capitalism is fair as an ideal. The United States constitution guarantees liberty and justice for all, as an ideal. Muslims know that the reality is very different. As people of conscience, we have to address Islam's realities too”.-Irshad Manji. And the way to address these realities is to acknowledge that people have different ways of understanding or perceiving reality especially so if that reality is intangible or not palpable such as God.

I will give you an even more explicit verse that discourages sectarianism in Islam. “Believers, fear Allah as you rightly should, and…cling one and all to the faith of Allah and let nothing divide you…thus Allah makes plain to you his revelations, so that you may be rightly guided.” (Q: 3:102) Therefore I am with you on the fact that ideally there should be no liberal, conservative or fundamentalist Islam. Indeed my undergraduate long essay titled “Sufism and Reformism in Islam” deals with this issue of sects in Islam.

I will quote the last two paragraphs of the work to illustrate to you my position on this matter. “I therefore find the modern controversies between the Wahabiyya and the Tijaniyya unfortunate. I dare say that, the wahabiyya are no more or no less Muslims than the Tijanis…if therefore anybody is guilty of anything, then it is the entire Muslim ummah (community) because Allah states in the Qur'an: “As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, you (Muhammad) have no part in them…” (Q: 6:159)

So I am with you one hundred percent on the fact that there is only one fundamental Islam. I consider myself a Muslim. I have never said that I am either Tijani or Wahabi or whatever. Indeed I don't consider myself as belonging to any sect. I state for purposes of intellectual discussion, that I am a liberal Muslim because as you can see from my conclusion in my long essay, I believe that anybody who recites the khalimat shahada, prays five times daily, fasts in the month of Ramadan and pays the zakat is a Muslim. If God enables them to perform the hajj, that is an added bonus.

I don't care about the details of whether they engage in 'wird” or they fold their arms in prayer or some other minor details. But for some, what I call minor details matter for them. And they are the ones who have constituted themselves into sects. To say that I am a liberal Muslim is not to belong to a sect. It is way of thinking that accepts that we are all fundamentally Muslims. Not everybody accepts this way of reasoning.

When someone insists that only his view point represents the legitimate Islam and that the rest of us are deviationists, that is extremist thinking and to distinguish myself from such a fellow, I will state that I am a liberal Muslim. Irshad Manji refers to herself as a Muslim refusenik. This is her definition of a Muslim refusenik. “I am a Muslim refusenik. That doesn't mean I refuse to be Muslim; it simply means I refuse to join an army of automatons in the name of Allah…I believe that we Muslims are capable of being more thoughtful and humane than most of our clerics give us credit for. But for the sake of an honest discussion, I have to challenge you to come clean about the Islam that you reflexively defend. Is this Islam in its real form or Islam as an ideal?

Please read my article on this blog titled “Does Islam Teach Intolerance”? carefully and you will appreciate my position. So you see, as far as Allah has endowed us with different levels of reasoning and of understanding reality, we shall differ in the ways we relate to phenomenon including religious phenomenon. My belief in the right of individuals to understand reality the way they do is what I call liberalism. I do not belong to a sect. We are both singing from the same hymn sheet.

Credit: Mustapha Hamid, mustaphamid.net