Revelation and Tradition in Islam: Tradition Redefines Revelation

By Leslie Terebessy

The umma is in trauma. It is in trauma because it drifted from the Book of Allah to books of traditions. The reason for this turn was politics. Rulers required a justification for waging wars of aggression, prohibited in revelation. They required a justification for the repression of their enemies, too. As they could find no justification for these practices in the Book of Allah, they turned to traditions. Different rulers asked different ulama to record the traditions. Unfortunately, the turn from revelation to tradition brought adversity. In the longer term, it ensured the fall of the umma. Tradition does not guide as well as revelation. There is no comparison. As a result, Islam at the present differs from Islam of the past. Tradition became an "independent" root of the law. But legislation in religion is the exclusive prerogative of Allah. To treat the transmitters of traditions as "lawgivers" is shirk. How could tradition supersede revelation when it was revelation that inaugurates tradition in the first place? The corruption of knowledge began with the recording of traditions. Recording of traditions was embarked upon in defiance of the prohibition of "adding" to revelation in the Book of Allah (69:44-46). Traditions were also recorded in defiance of the prophet's prohibition of writing his traditions. The parties that recorded the traditions defied Allah as well as the messenger. Traditionalists justified the turn to tradition by the assertion that tradition too, is "revelation from God." They produced a tradition to justify this assertion. Traditional ulama also assert that tradition possesses the authority to "judge," "abrogate" and even "replace" parts of revelation. These perceptions reflect a catastrophe of epic proportions. They heralded the paralysis of exegesis and jurisprudence, exacerbated by the reluctance to use reason to understand revelation. This misperception was justified by recourse to a tradition according to which using reason to understand revelation is kufr. However, the reluctance to use reason prevented exegetes from understanding revelation. A few verses began to strike them as "unclear." They would seek clarity by recourse to tradition. Hence, they would treat tradition as a "judge" of revelation. Treating tradition as a "judge" of revelation, however, is problematic. For it subordinates revelation to tradition. It reverses the relationship between revelation and tradition, subordinating the Book of Allah to the books of men. As a result, tradition would supersede revelation as guidance and root of legislation. The treatment of tradition as a judge of revelation was also justified by the perception that revelation is in parts "insufficiently detailed." But revelation presents itself as "clear" and "fully detailed." Why would a Book that is "clear" and "fully detailed" require further clarification? To say that the Book is in parts unclear and insufficiently detailed is to reject verses that teach the contrary. To reject any verses of the Book of Allah is to disbelieve in those verses, it is to perpetrate kufr. Accordingly, treating revelation as in parts "unclear" and "insufficiently detailed" reflects kufr. Thus, the perceptions that the Book is in parts "unclear" and "insufficiently detailed" render all exegesis and jurisprudence built on them fundamentally unreliable. Exegesis and jurisprudence resting upon flawed assumptions in not equipped to bring reliable results. The "explanation" and "detailing" revelation by tradition, rather than "clarifying" and "detailing" revelation, corrupted the knowledge of revelation. It enabled the generation of the teaching of jihad al-talab, which embroiled the umma in wars that brought defeat. Muslims were defeated in France, by the Mongols in 1258, and at the gates of Vienna in 1529 and 1683.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09HQBZZ1N
• ISBN13: 9798493109010
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"