A review of the book «Muslims between the religious discourse and the divine discourse»
By the writer and researcher
Dr. Ali Shu’air
The second edition of the book «Muslims between the religious discourse and the divine discourse» was published in Cairo. The edition was published by Al-Nokhba House for Printing, Publishing and Distribution. The author of the book is the Emirati writer Ali Mohammed Al-Shurafa Al-Hammadi.
It is worth mentioning that the writer is a graduate of the Egyptian Military Academy in 1966. He held several positions, most notably the director of court of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s from 1973 to 1995.
From a national perspective, the book refers to the painful Arab reality and the danger of bloody conflicts that threaten the region’s existence. The reason of this threat is the error in understanding the divine discourse directed to humanity in general and to Muslims in particular through the holy Qur’an. The author’s cry is to warn everyone to the shed of blood in the name of religion. Especially, the Arab conflict is threatening the safety and unity of some Arab countries. In addition, there is the Sunni-Shiite conflict which is an issue that worries everyone and casts a shadow over the reality of the current situation, which threatens the unity and future of the Islamic world.
The divine discourse is the keyword
The author called for the need to heal the rift caused by departing from the teachings of the Qur’an and the correct teachings of the Prophet which corresponds to the Qur’an. This can be achieved through introducing some important concepts so that the preachers will turn to the conveying of a religious discourse in accordance with the divine approach that urges us to unite and enjoy peaceful coexistence and brotherhood in Allah.
The author Ali Mohammed Al-Shurafa Al-Hammadi divided the call into two parts. The first he called the religious discourse and meant all the texts that were added to the original sacred scripts or religious heritage accumulated since the death of the Prophet peace be upon him until present. These additions are likely to contain some of the wrong backgrounds, or contain false accounts by evil doers. Then, many fatwas emerged encouraging intolerance and violence away from the jurisprudence of reality. Therefore, there is a need to open a specialized channel of communication to agree upon the right path, provided that all those who provoke diversion or hostility against are to be excluded from this dialogue, to ensure neutral results.
The second discourse, the divine speech, refers to what is stated in the Qur’an, which cannot contain any kind of falsehood. Hence, it is necessary to adopt the divine discourse because it corrects some misconceptions that threaten Muslims to annihilation as a result of division and rivalry between each other.
Speech of hatred threatens social peace
The danger lies in the fact that some people influence the convictions of some Muslims. This causes Muslims to be divided into sects, groups, and parties. Some of these parties deny the others or shed the blood of others. The author warns against the dangers of adopting some Israeli accounts, or some of the falsely attributed sayings of the Prophet. This requires a precise revision to the Islamic heritage written down by people. In p. 28 of his book, the author says: “Some of those who are called Islamic preachers along with the so-called narrators of Hadith were able to overwhelm the minds of Muslims with narrations that drain the energy of Muslims in political and sectarian conflict. This conflict created psychological barriers within the community and led to the spread of the speech of hatred, which threaten the social stability”. The practical reality of division obviously appears within the Sunni camp itself which has been divided into many divisions.
The Sunni-Shiite conflict
The author goes on to say, “The term Sunna appeared in the middle of the Abbasid era. At that time, various Sunni sects emerged, including the Ashayarah, Hanafi, Malik, Hanbali, Shaafa’is, and others. At the era of Al-Dhahir Baibars, it was decided to set the four Sunni doctrines as a basis for the social system in the acts of worship, transactions, litigation. A multiplicity of schools emanated from these doctrines. In fact, the problem is that some schools took Takfir as faith, killing and slander as judgment, hatred as a motto, and the speech of hatred as a behavior”.
Some of the Persians appeared and publicized narrations attributed to some of the Companions to differentiate between Muslims. Therefore, the Israeli and the other tales caused sectarian problems, and therefore multiple sects emerged in all the Islamic groups. The Persian scholars relied on the injustice suffered by Hussein in Karbala to build a new sect. thus, the Shiites appeared as counterparty of the Sunni sect.
Since the martyrdom of Al-Husayn, there has been a kind of hostility between the two extremes of the Islamic nation. This hostility reached to the extent that the two sects then set their doctrines on erroneous narratives, they believed in contradicting narratives, they adopted their views without scrutiny, and the Sunni-Shiite conflict exploded. This conflict caused major casualties throughout the Islamic history until the present time.
Defamation of Islam
The ink on paper bears the cry of the author and warns all Muslims of the danger of this division on the Islamic religion as a whole. The extremist movements have distorted the image of Islam abroad. This leads us to say that radicalism has given the fanatic right in the West countries an opportunity to convince many movements to join them to face Muslims in a conflict based on identity. Whether this has been done unintentionally or ignorantly, the results are the same, which is the blocking of the civilized face of the Islamic religion and the export of the opposite concepts of the image of the Muslim individual. Just as some villains in the past have written many false texts, the extremists at present spread the same thoughts which were born from the womb of yesterday’s plot.
Shortages in religious discourse
Religious discourse may have been confined to the five pillars of Islam, namely, the reciting of the monotheist slogan, prayer, zakat, fasting and Hajj. Most of the preachers forgot to include the transactions in trade, industry, agriculture, science, and all other fields. The Islamic nation retarded and our countries got weaker.
The preachers neglected the social and educational programs, and everything related to the building and development of human beings. Thus, at times, the Muslim individual who suffers from schizophrenia appeared on the scene. The values of justice, mercy, and cooperation have been ignored. Most of the rival groups have neglected the teachings of the Quran that urge for thinking, learning, building and development, in favor of the discourse of sectarianism and conflict.
At the level of the family, although Islam honored the wife because it is the backbone of the society and recognized its material, moral and social rights, the reality is counterproductive; the women’s right to inherit, choose the husband and many other rights were ignored. This contradicts the teachings of the texts of the holy Qur’an and the true legacy of the noble Prophet. In the field of childhood, the painful reality shows that the violation of the orphan’s right has become widespread.
On the social level, the concept of charity disappeared in the behavior of the Muslim individual as a concept that extends to include the relationship between the blood relatives, neighbor’s rights and honesty. Negative behaviors spread; like injustice, lies, perjury, espionage, negativity, gossip, etc. It is remarkable that the text of the holy Qur’an forbade all evil traits, and urged us to all good qualities. So, the author attributed the problems of the Islamic world to the Muslims abandon the Qur’an in our behavior and deeds. It is known that the Messenger of Allah – peace be upon him – was a comprehensive illustration of Quran walking on the ground.
Crisis of the Term
from the above mentioned, it is clear that the problem of Muslims requires correcting the text conveyed by human beings. However, the problem is that there are those who understand the term renewal of religious discourse on contradiction of what is really intended. Some explain the previous sentence that there are those who want to change the instructions of the holy Qur’an. This understanding appeared likely because the enemies of the religion, such as the irreligious and the non-adherents, are leading the scene for non-noble purposes. Therefore, the concept of correcting misconceptions should be exported through specialists in the notable religious institutions such as Al-Azhar.
In summary, it is possible to simplify the author’s message that he calls for the sovereignty of the divine discourse, purification of the burdens of impurities created by human beings and raising the awareness of Muslims of the requirements of true religiosity. This is the factor of comprehensive renaissance, and the true gate to eliminate extremism that threatens the existence of Arabs and Muslims on the map of the world.
Source:
Blog of Dr. Salah Shu’air
