Removing the Veil: Freeing Islam from Its Traditions

By Leslie Terebessy

Muslims are experiencing tribulations because they strayed from the straight path. They turned from revelation to tradition. The transmitters of traditions emerged as "authorities" for the umma. This was not just a result of problematic exegesis and jurisprudence. The turn to tradition was triggered by rulers who requested the recording of traditions. The rulers requested the recording of traditions because they wanted a "religious" justification for the repression of dissent within the realm, and a "religious" justification for waging wars of aggression abroad. The wars were to enlarge the empire. The justification of the repression of domestic dissent was provided by the apostasy law, based on a tradition. The "religious" justification" for unlawful wars of aggression was furnished by the "abrogation" of the verses of reconciliation by the verse of the sword. Henceforth, Islam would be "propagated" through compulsion, prohibited in revelation. For the verse that teaches that "there is no compulsion in religion" was among the "abrogated" verses. The teaching of abrogation represents a stunning tampering with the teaching of peace. It transformed the religion of peace into a religion of war. Militant ulama transformed Islam into Islamism. They also provided "religious" justification for present-day acts of militant jihadism. This justification occurs for example in the tradition according to which "the blood of the kafir is halal for the believer." Tradition is expected to "judge" revelation in Islam. But treating tradition as a "judge" of revelation reverses the relationship between revelation and tradition. It subordinates the rulings of Allah to the "judgement" of persons. This is problematic. It encroaches on the preeminence of Allah. How did this transpire? The emergence of these perceptions was enabled by the prohibition of using reason in religion. This prohibition rendered the umma bereft of reason. This was a catastrophe. For the prohibition of using reason in religion prevented exegetes from comprehending revelation. Preventing the umma from understanding revelation in turn alienated the umma from its religion. Because of estrangement from revelation, the umma turned to tradition. But tradition is a poor substitute for revelation. Muslims turned from the Book of Allah to books of traditions. The Book says: "And the messenger saith: O my Lord Lo mine own folk make this Qur'an of no account." They justified turning away from the Book of Allah by asserting that tradition, too, is "revelation," and that tradition "contains" the Book of Allah. The treatment of traditions as revelation was to equip tradition with the authority "to judge the Book of Allah." It was to enable tradition to rectify putative "flaws" in revelation. These "flaws" allegedly encompass "ambiguity," "incompleteness" and "incoherence" (contradictions). For example, it is alleged that revelation features "unclear" verses. It is also asserted that revelation does not provide sufficient "details" on how to pray. These assertions are in defiance of revelation presenting itself as "clear," "detailed," and "coherent." The effort to "explain," render revelation "clear," "detailed," and "coherent" is predicated on a rejection of key features of revelation: clarity, completeness, and coherence. In so far as efforts to "explain" revelation by recourse to tradition resulted in an "eclipse" of revelation by tradition, the relationship between tradition and revelation requires rethinking. It requires an epistemological transformation, a paradigm shift. For the traditional paradigm diverted the umma from following revelation to following tradition. The paradigm shift required is the shift from a prophet-centric paradigm to a paradigm centred on Allah. For the prophet-centric paradigm produced a parallel faith based on tradition rather than revelation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09TDSMXXW
• ISBN13: 9798424081149
• Release Date: February 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"