The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists (15 page)

The moderate Muslims I am talking about in this book are those who believe in Islam, honor their obligations toward God, and believe that Islam is fit for every day and age. They do not treat their religion as if it were a fossilized monument, but treat it as a dynamic and active faith. Consequently, mod- erate Muslims honor the past achievements of their fellow Muslims, but they live in the present. The reforms that they advocate are not intended to ignore or subvert the will of God, but are intended to realize the Divine Will more fully while respecting the integrity and coherence of the faith. Mod- erate Muslims take seriously the Qur’anic injunctions and Prophetic statements elucidating that balance and moderation are at the heart of all good and at the core of every virtue. They understand, or at least make an effort at understanding, Islamic theology, which maintains that balance and modera- tion are primary laws upon which God’s creation is founded, and they are also the primary attributes necessary for the at- tainment of personal, social, and political justice. Struggling to discipline oneself to be of a moderate and balanced tempera- ment, even when tempted by anger or rage, is the key that un- locks higher levels of spiritual and moral achievement. It is reported that the Prophet Muhammad once explained that the earmark of the Islamic faith is moderation and that Muslims should set an example to others by being in all matters fair- minded, balanced, and moderate. Many Muslims around the globe take this message to heart and try their best to be the kind of people the Prophet described. These are the moderates I describe below.

Before embarking upon the task of describing and defining moderate Muslims, and differentiating between their beliefs and the beliefs of puritan Muslims, we must first undertake the critical step of explaining what they agree on. We must es- tablish the set of theological convictions adhered to by the

overwhelming majority of Muslims. These are the tenets that define the Islamic faith, both because Islamic texts describe these beliefs as fundamental and basic to the religion and also because cumulative generations of Muslims have established a consensus that these particular convictions constitute the theo- logical foundations of the religion. In other words, first we need to discuss what all Muslims believe in and agree on.

part two

CHA RTING THE MODER ATE VERSUS

PURI TAN DIVIDE

five

WH AT ALL MUSLIMS AGREE UPON

A

s is the case with all religions, there is a core set of beliefs and practices that define the religion of Islam. These are

the least common denominators that distinguish and define the Islamic faith. At a minimum, this core would include what are known as the
five pillars of Islam
. These five pillars are considered the heart and pulse of Islam, and it is often asserted that believing in and accepting them as the foundational arti- cles of the faith differentiates between a Muslim and non- Muslim. The five pillars of the faith are the following:

1. The testament of faith (
   shahada
   ): To believe and profess that there is no God but God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. The testament of faith is the most fundamental and critical pillar of Islam. Muslim theolo- gians agree that believing in and pronouncing the testa- ment of faith is the defining conviction and act that makes one a Muslim. The converse is also true: denying the testament of faith means that one is not a Muslim. At the most basic level, the testament of faith means a strong and unwavering conviction in one God, who has no partners or equals, and who was not begotten and who begets no other. The testament also means believing that Muhammad is God’s prophet and messenger, who
   

   faithfully transmitted what God revealed to him. Believ- ing that Muhammad was but a human being who pos- sessed no Divine powers or attributes is a critical part of the Islamic faith. Muhammad’s role was restricted to transmitting the literal Divine revelation, word for word, and to acting faithfully upon God’s commands. Muslims do not worship the Prophet Muhammad, but they do honor and respect him as God’s messenger, and they treat him as a high moral example to be followed on all mat- ters.
   

   This is considered to be the basic meaning of the testament of faith, but there are various implications and details that fol- low from it, and those implications are of critical importance to the faith. Some of these Islamic theological tenets, despite their pivotal importance to the faith, are poorly known in the West. In fact, people in the West are often surprised when they learn, for instance, about Islam’s relationship to Judaism and Christianity. Therefore, in introducing some of these Islamic tenets, it is best to let the Qur’an speak for itself. Hence, in this particular section I will be quoting extensively from the Qur’an.
   

   As was stated earlier, the Qur’an and the Sunna (the au- thentic traditions of the Prophet) are the primary sources of Islam, which contain the beliefs and teachings of the Islamic faith. All Muslims accept the Qur’an—the Divine word re- vealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the Qur’an is considered to be the literal, authentic, and unadulterated word of God. It is a tenet of the Islamic faith that the Qur’an is completely authentic; it has not been redacted, altered, re- vised, or corrupted in any way. However, other than the Qur’an, which was authored by God, there is a body of oral traditions attributed to the Prophet, known as the Sunna.
   

   These Sunna contain descriptions of the Prophet’s conduct in different contexts and situations, and also teachings, judg- ments, instructions, and statements, all attributed to the Prophet. Unlike the case of the Qur’an, the issue with the Sunna is its authenticity—whether the various reports and tra- ditions are accurately attributed to the Prophet. All Muslims understand that some traditions and reports were fabricated and then improperly attributed to the Prophet. However, Mus- lims accept that Prophetic traditions or reports that are verifi- ably authentic are to be treated as obligatory and binding.
   

   The God that Muslims believe in is referred to as Allah in Arabic. Christian Arabs refer to Jesus as Allah as well. This point is worth emphasizing, because there is a common mis- conception in the West that Muslims worship a deity other than the God of Abraham or that the word
   Allah
   is exclu- sively used by Muslims. Muslims believe that they worship the same God that Jews and Christians worship. In Qur’anic usage, the phrase “People of the Book” refers to the followers of the Abrahamic faith, mostly Christians and Jews. (The rea- son I say
   mostly
   Christians and Jews is that the Qur’an men- tions Sabians as well, but Muslim jurists extended the People of the Book status to Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Sikhs, and some jurists even added Confucians to the list.) Addressing the People of the Book, the Qur’an reminds the followers of the three monotheistic religions that they all worship the same God. The Qur’an states: “Tell them [Christians and Jews] that we believe in what has been sent down to us and we believe in what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is one and to Him we submit.”
   1
   

   It is a tenet of faith in Islam that Muhammad is the final prophet in a long line of Abrahamic prophets all conveying the same basic message to humanity. Therefore, a Muslim must necessarily believe in Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and many
   

   others as prophets of the same and one God—all bearing the same essential message of submission to God. For example, the Qur’an proclaims the following testament of faith: “The Prophet believes in what has been revealed to him by his Lord. And so do the faithful believe in the same. Each one believes in God and His angels, His Books and the prophets and We make no distinction between the apostles. They all say, ‘We hear and obey, and we seek your forgiveness O Lord, for to You we shall journey in the end.’”
   2
   As this verse emphasizes, God considers all the Abrahamic prophets to be equals, and all the prophets upheld the same core set of beliefs.
   

   The same idea is made even more explicit in the following Qur’anic revelation addressed to Muslims: “Say, we believe in God, and in what has been revealed to us, and in what had been sent down to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their offspring, and what has been revealed to Moses and Jesus and to all other prophets by their Lord. We make no dis- tinction between them, and we submit to Him and obey.”
   3
   In this verse, it is Muslims who are commanded to believe in all the Abrahamic prophets equally and without distinction. However, according to Muslim theology, while some of the Abrahamic prophets were sent to a particular tribe or nation, Muhammad carried the final and perfected Divine message to all of humanity. In addition, Muslims believe that aspects or parts of the earlier messages sent by God were altered, de- formed, corrupted, or otherwise derailed from their initial purpose, and Islam was sent to reclaim and restore the origi- nal message to its pristine form.
   

   One important example of this is the concept of the Trinity in Christianity. Muslims do not believe that Jesus made any claims to being Divine or that he taught the doctrine of the Trinity. The Qur’an affirms the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the virginity of Mary, and the miracles of Jesus
   

   and asserts that Christ was aided by the Holy Ghost. However, the Qur’an contends that some of the followers of Christ mis- understood or misrepresented his teachings by claiming that he was Divine or that he was God’s begotten son. Therefore, in Muslim belief, Jesus was another Abrahamic prophet, just like Moses, preaching the same message of submission to God. In Qur’anic discourses, Jesus is claimed as a Muslim prophet, in the sense that his message to humanity was at its core the same as that of Muhammad. According to the Qur’an, the Torah and the
   Injil
   (New Testament) are divine books revealed by the same God who authored the Qur’an. However, Muslims be- lieve that various historical forces interceded, leading to a pro- cess in which parts of these Divine texts became corrupted by human revisions, alterations, and omissions.
   

   Nevertheless, the Qur’an insists on the essential unity of all the Abrahamic messages; the moral and spiritual path they set out is in a fundamental way of a similar nature. Therefore, for instance, the Qur’an asserts: “God has laid down for you the same way of life and belief that He had set out to Noah, and that We have enjoined for you, and that We had bequeathed to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus so that you will establish the faith, and not divide amongst yourself.”
   4
   The Qur’an states that there is an essential unity not just in revelation and prophetic teachings but in creation. Therefore, the Qur’an often refers to the various prophets as Muslim, and it also de- scribes nature and creation as Muslim as well. According to the Qur’an, revelation and creation attest to God’s unity and affirm the moral obligation of recognizing that God is worthy of grateful supplication and submission.
   5
   

2. Prayer (
   salat
   ): Muslims are required to perform five for- mal ritual prayers a day. Shi’i Muslims perform the same five prayers, but instead of doing them five separate
   

   times, they perform them three separate times during the day. Muslims are also required to perform a congrega- tional prayer in the mosque once a week, on Fridays, known as
   jum‘ah
   prayers.
   

   Muslims are encouraged to pray in the mosque as much as possible. In fact, each mosque holds a congregational prayer for each of the five prayers daily, which is usually attended by fewer Muslims than those who attend the Friday
   jum‘ah
   prayers. The person leading the congregational prayers is usu- ally called an
   imam,
   but other terms, such as
   shaykh
   or
   ‘alim,
   have also been used.
   

   The Friday
   jum‘ah
   prayer is designed to bring Muslim com- munities together to listen to a sermon before performing a prayer together as a congregation. The sermons are supposed to discuss the issues of concern to the whole community, but in current practice often the sermons focus on imparting gen- eral moral lessons without discussing any particular problems that might plague the community. Uncensored, Friday ser- mons often become occasions for mobilizing the masses and for inducing political change. Historically, Friday sermons have sparked many protests, riots, and even full-scale rebel- lions against one government or another. Today, in some Mus- lim countries, governments attempt to dictate the topics that may be discussed in the Friday sermon. At the conclusion of the Friday prayer, in order to strengthen the social bond and sense of unity in the Muslim communities, worshippers are en- couraged to shake hands and meet and socialize with each other.
   

   Other than the five ritual prayers and the weekly congrega- tional prayers, Muslims are encouraged to perform informal prayers that could be done any time in the day. Muslims may volunteer additional ritual prayers that are performed accord-
   

   ing to specifically prescribed movements, or they may pray and supplicate to God in any position and in any place. Some non-Muslims are under the misimpression that Muslims may worship God only through prescribed ritualistic movements. This is not true. It is an article of faith in Islam that the rela- tionship between God and the individual is direct and per- sonal. Therefore, other than the prescribed five prayers, a Muslim may communicate with God in any way that meets the requirements of purity and cleanliness as well as respect and dignity.
   

3. Fasting of Ramadan (
   siyam
   ): During the Muslim month of Ramadan, from sunrise to sundown every day for thirty days, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking, if they are physically able to do so, as well as from sex, vi- olence, and cursing. This is a month in which Muslims focus on all forms of self-discipline, including refraining from anger, backbiting, and all forms of bad habits.
   

   During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to intensify their efforts of struggling to overcome their base and vile desires and weaknesses. In Islamic sources, this is known as
   jihad al-nafs,
   or the struggle against oneself. Put differently, during the month of Ramadam, each Muslim is expected to undertake a personal jihad. According to the Prophet’s teach- ings, this struggle for self-purification is the highest possible form of jihad. In addition to self-purification, Muslims are ex- pected to intensify their efforts at building their relationship with God. They are expected to assess the nature of their past relationship with God, and repent and mend whatever breaches exist in this relationship. Moreover, fasting is sup- posed to remind Muslims of the sufferings of the poor, and therefore Muslims are expected to give generously to the poor.
   

   In fact, part of the communitarian obligations upon Muslims is to arrange for public meals in which the poor are fed, espe- cially during Ramadan. The month of Ramadan is a month of intensified training for individuals and the Muslim commu- nity. However, Muslims are encouraged to fast at least a couple times a week throughout the year if their health per- mits, and to continue their exercises in developing self-control and discipline.
   

4. Almsgiving (
   zakat
   ): This is a set percentage (ranging from 2.5 percent to 20 percent, depending on the sect) of their wealth to the poor annually. In addition to these alms, Muslims are strongly encouraged to give to charity (
   sadaqa
   ), each according to his or her wealth and ability.
   

   The giving of charity is one of the most repeatedly em- phasized obligations in the Qur’an. The Qur’an mentions groups of people particularly deserving of charity: the poor, the orphan, relatives in need, wayfarers and strangers or aliens in the land, and prisoners of war or other people in a state of bondage. The charity in this case is aimed at freeing them from their bondage. It is also considered highly praise- worthy to give charity to seekers of knowledge, scholars, and students in need. Importantly, most Muslim scholars make no distinction between giving charity to Muslims or non- Muslims. This includes giving charity to non-Muslim prison- ers of war or others suffering from the oppression of bondage. The puritans, however, insist that charity must be given only to Muslims.
   

5. Pilgrimage (
   Hajj
   ): A pilgrimage to Mecca once in a life- time for those Muslims who can afford the trip and whose health allows them to make it.