The Prophet’s family makes a stand

Daniel Pipes once posted a series of questions on his website, on the pretext that Muslims who got too many wrong answers were, in all likelihood, extremists. However crude the challenge was, one question seemed reasonable to ask.

"Are Sufis and Shi’ites fully legitimate Muslims?"

You will be surprised at the range of responses this evokes in Muslims. Some simply dismiss it, citing Daniel Pipes’ so-called Islamaphobic reputation as ample reason to disregard whatever comes out from his mouth. Some argue that the question is presumptuous, coming as it does, from a non-Muslim. The thoughtful ones might do a double-take, and then express puzzlement. Why is the question even asked? Sufism has been an integral part of Islam from the beginning, addressing the third part of the formula that goes: islam (submission), iman (belief) and ihsan (making beautiful). And scholars of the majority Sunni stream of Islam had long ago recognized the validity of some Shia schools. Yet others would laugh and call Pipes mad. These others would say, in emphatic terms, that Sufis are innovators and Shia the worst kind of apostates.

The existence of this last group makes both the asking and answering of the question vital, because today’s sectarian violence is unprecedented in Islam’s history. From the political and religious embargo waged against the Shia in Saudi Arabia, to the razing of Shia shrines in Pakistan. From the Hazara massacres of Afghanistan to the suicide bombing of civilians in Shia-dominated Iraq- all of them dip from the same ideological stance that Shi’ism is not Islam. They are signs of a common order, a shared doctrine that has swept across the Muslim Ummah, largely unrecognized for what it is. This group has managed to take over the Islamic discourse. So successful is their pogrom, Western media and commentators actually believe that ideological Islam- whose most visible offspring is Usama bin Laden- is equal to Islam itself.

Fortunately, some Muslim leaders are beginning to stir from self-imposed exile. Battle lines are being drawn; the hearts and minds of Muslims ushered across to the safety of traditional Islam. King Abdullah of Jordan- whose lineage is traced directly to Prophet Muhammad- spent a year gathering fatawa (religious edicts) from the leading scholars of Islam before convening a meeting of enormous significance. 170 Sunni and Shia scholars, including intellectuals from 40 countries, assembled in Amman to retake what had been quietly and criminally handed over to the extremists. 4 July 2005 might well be a date that will go down in history as being the turning point in the fight against extremism. It is the day when Muslims, true Muslims, finally found the courage to say: "Enough is enough!"

By the end of the International Islamic Conference, all representatives of the Islamic world put pen to paper, affirming this document:

‘True Islam and its Role in Modern Society’

In accordance with the fatwas issued by the Honourable and Respectable Grand Imam Shaykh al-Azhar, the Grand Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Sistani, the Honourable and Respectable Grand Mufti of Egypt, the Honourable and Respectable Shi’i clerics (both Ja’fari and Zaydi), the Honourable and Respectable Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, the Islamic Fiqh Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Grand Council for Religious Affairs of Turkey, the Honourable and Respectable Grand Mufti of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Respectable Members of its National Fatwa Committee, and the Honourable and Respectable Shaykh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi;

And in accordance with what was mentioned in the speech of His Hashemite Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan during the opening session of our conference;

And in accordance with our own knowledge in sincerity to Allah the Bounteous;

And in accordance with what was presented in this our conference by way of research papers and studies, and by way of the discussions that transpired in it;

We, the undersigned, hereby express our approval and affirmation of what appears below:

1) Whosoever is an adherent of one of the four Sunni Schools of Jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali), the Ja’fari (Shi’i) School of Jurisprudence, the Zaydi School of Jurisprudence, the Ibadi School of Jurisprudence, or the Thahiri School of Jurisprudence is a Muslim. Declaring that person an apostate is impossible. Verily his (or her) blood, honour, and property are sacrosanct. Moreover, in accordance with what appeared in the fatwa of the Honourable and Respectable Shaykh al-Azhar, it is not possible to declare whosoever subscribes to the Ash’ari creed or whoever practices true Sufism an apostate. Likewise, it is not possible to declare whosoever subscribes to true Salafi thought an apostate. Equally, it is not possible to declare as apostates any group of Muslims who believes in Allah the Mighty and Sublime and His Messenger (may Peace and Blessings be upon him) and the pillars of faith, and respects the pillars of Islam and does not deny any necessary article of religion.

2) There exists more in common between the various Schools of Jurisprudence than there is difference. The adherents to the eight Schools of Jurisprudence are in agreement as regards the basic Islamic principles. All believe in Allah the Mighty and Sublime, the One and the Unique; that the Noble Qur’an is the Revealed Word of Allah; and that our master Muhammad, may Blessings and Peace be upon him, is a Prophet and Messenger unto all mankind. All are in agreement about the five pillars of Islam: the two testaments of faith (shahadatayn), the ritual prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), fasting the month of Ramadan (sawm), and the Hajj to the Sacred House of Allah. All are also in agreement about the foundations of belief: belief in Allah, His Angels, His Scriptures, His Messengers, and in the Day of Judgement, in Divine providence — good and evil. Disagreement between the ‘ulama’ is only with respect to the ancillary branches of religion (furu’) and not the principles and fundamentals (usul). Disagreement with respect to the ancillary branches of religion (furu’) is a mercy. Long ago it was said that variance in opinion among ‘ulama’ “is a good affair”.

3) Acknowledgement of the Schools of Jurisprudence within Islam means adhering to a fundamental methodology in the issuance of fatwas. No one may issue a fatwa without the requisite personal qualifications which each School of Jurisprudence defines. No one may issue a fatwa without adhering to the methodology of the Schools of Jurisprudence. No one may claim to do absolute Ijtihad and create a new School of Jurisprudence or to issue unacceptable fatwas that take Muslims out of the principles and certainties of the Shari’ah and what has been established in respect of its Schools of Jurisprudence.

4) The essence of the Amman Message, which was issued on the Blessed Night of Power in the year 1425 H. and which was read aloud in Masjid al-Hashimiyyin, is adherence to the Schools of Jurisprudence and their fundamental methodology. Acknowledging the Schools of Jurisprudence and affirming discussion and engagement between them ensures fairness, moderation, mutual forgiveness, compassion, and engaging in dialogue with others.

5) We call for casting aside disagreement between Muslims and unifying their words and stances; reaffirming their mutual respect for each other; fortifying mutual affinity among their peoples and states; strengthening the ties of brotherhood which unite them in the mutual love of Allah. And we call upon Muslims to not permit discord and outside interference between them.
Allah the Sublime says:

"The believers are naught else than brothers. Therefore make peace between your brethren and observe your duty to Allah that haply ye may obtain mercy."
(Al-Hujurat, 49:10)

Praise be to Allah alone.

The inclusion of the line “Likewise, it is not possible to declare whosoever subscribes to true Salafi thought an apostate…” seems almost like an afterthought. Why not? Since virtually half the groups above it are considered by Salafists to be deviants, or at the very least, innovators. Sana Abdallah of United Press International (UPS) bluntly surmises that the document attempts to thwart “…the wrath of the Salafi militants and to try to attract them to the teachings of ‘true Islam’.”

Nonetheless, it is important to note that one of the signatories was the Islamic Fiqh Academy of Saudi Arabia, the most prominent institution for Salafist thought in the world. The real test lies in whether its various branches mimic the Fiqh Academy’s gesture. Are lists like these, for example, going to be pulled down anytime soon? Or is the ideological base merely adopting the very same custom that they delight in accusing the Shia of holding; which is taqiyya, defined loosely as “Concealing or disguising one’s beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury.“.

What is clear that is that matters can no longer remain the same. The document’s five points pull the rug from under Muslim extremists who have, since the beginning of the eighteenth century, sought to dictate what Islam is and should continue to be. The arrogance of today’s terrorists spring from the same arrogance that attended the birth of modernist movements which sought to ‘reform’ Islam, either by combining Western ideas with religion or by reducing the importance of Islam’s intellectual tradition. The last is important because there has been a recent tendency to unfetter the constraints that traditional scholars had placed on the interpretation of sacred texts.

The Amman Initiative not only re-affirms the sanctity of the four Sunni Madhhabs, it invokes the traditional adherence of Muslims to them, a process that is known as taqleed. Unlike other religions, Islam has seldom, if ever, been held together by a religious institution, relying instead on the Koran and other texts which in effect interpret it. Religious authority lies therefore in written texts and their interpretations. What the extremists did, before embarking on a murderous rampage, was to reject the traditional internal checks and balances on the interpretation of the Koran and Hadith. Every terrorist act today is based on a pseudo-fatwa either permitting or praising it. The Amman Initiative rejoins Islam to its thousand-year old roots of responsible and confident scholarship, where religious identity is not shaped by an insatiable and genocidal craving to label those outside it as deviants, apostates or innovators.

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