The great reunification question

Is it possible to bring about a reunification between traditional Islam and neo-Salafism?

Some Muslims think that is the only way to install a measure of unity in the Ummah (Muslim community). While intentions are laudable, I doubt the question has any real meaning.

The epistemology of ‘traditionalism’ and ‘neo-Salafism’ is too incompatible to co-exist. There is a stark dichotomy between what is called the traditional Islam of the Four Madhhabs (Schools of Thought); and Salafism, which characteristically eschews the authority of the Maddhabs. Differences in epistemology are what separates ostensible co-religionists into sects.

Because sects function by monopolizing key signposts of the religion, including the religion’s name itself, they dominate at the expense of other sects.  In modern times, sects are a dimension most Muslim movements place high on their agenda, despite the Koran’s stance on sectarianism.

"You shall uphold this one religion and do not divide it." (42:13)

Some Muslims speak of the two ‘forces’- traditional Islam and neo-Salafism- as being healthy for Islam. That they act as a check and balance for the other’s extremism. The mere existence of Salafism, it is alleged, creates a "viable traditionalism", free from the fetters of "hidebound conservatism".

I call this line of reasoning subliminal propaganda, because it bolsters some tenuous opinions. The unwitting are forced to surrender the fact that first, neo-Salafism stands on the same intellectual and historical stage as traditional Islam; and second, that neo-Salafism and traditional Islam share more in common than they differ. Both are subtle points, and like most ideological statements, totally dogmatic.

Also, the statement plays up a deliberate misunderstanding of what traditional Islam is. Joseph Lumbard (Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition) describes it as divine revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a “vertical” connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.

If this sounds like gobbledygook to Salafists, it is no more dogmatic than Salafism’s own claim of being unqualified heirs to the untainted Islam that was practiced by al-salaf al-salihin (the Pious Predecessors). The main difference between both dogmas is that while traditional Islam has always labored to be inclusive; Salafism- especially the literalist flavor- remains devoted to the idea of being a ’saved’ minority.

Traditionalism, at least from an Islamic-historical perspective, isn’t simply a set of rules and rituals. It arrives as a package that enjoins ‘adherence’ to a Madhhab. Traditional scholars call this adherence taqleed (following qualified scholarship) and teach that it is obligatory for ordinary Muslims to follow the opinions of individuals known as mujtahids (those qualified to issue expert legal opinion).

Sunni (the majority group of Muslims) epistemology rests on the belief that valid fiqh (the science of Islamic jurisprudence) is consistent fiqh emerging from the deductive efforts of specialists. These mujtahids use tools established by their respective Schools to interpret Islam’s primary sources- the Koran and Hadiths.

Consistency and transparency are important facets in Sunni thought. As the name suggests, rigorous preservation of the Sunnah (the model established by the Prophet Muhammad) has always been a preoccupation of this group.

No ruling reached by ijtihad (independant reasoning), for example, is spared critical analysis from other scholars. Where there is unanimous consensus (ijma), the rule is then made binding on the Ummah.

That is not to say that the science of Islamic jurisprudence has always been exclusively dominated by the Four Schools. There were other schools in the past, but as Shaykh Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (Reliance of the Traveler) explains:

"…the difference between their work and that of the four living schools is firstly one of quality, as their positions and evidence have not been reexamined and upgraded by succeeding generations of first-rank scholars…"

So, when commentators speak of “viable traditionalism”, they only mean to harness the meticulously-researched positions of the Madhhabs, without emphasizing taqleed, which they rechristen as "fanatical loyalty".

It is clear then that “viable traditionalism” is nothing more than an ideological (aka Neo-Salafism) construct, made to take what is consistent with Salafist ideology, and discard what opposes it. Disingenuously, it expects “traditionalists” to sacrifice what they consider to be sacred values without exacting the same price on neo-Salafists. So where is the compromise? One sect grows at the expense of the other.

C.S Lewis hits the nail on the head when he explains that the attempt to discard “traditional” values cannot succeed without first assuming that there is some other higher set of values. The great irony is that a great many of those who “debunk” traditional values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process.

He goes on to observe: once you have rejected a part of religious tradition, you have ipso facto rejected the entire tradition. This is especially true for the whole idea of “viable traditionalism”, which purports to separate what is perceived to be good in traditional Islam from what is bad.

I’ll just call it vandalism which throws up, as an incidental thought, “bastardized traditionalism”. And that is merely an oxymoron for the ideology that inspires today’s so-called reformists.

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