This past week I read this well-written post over at MuslimMatters. The author, Ibnabeeomar, logically presented his case on many Muslims missing the forest for the trees when they go to extremes in arguing for Halal/Zabiha meat all the while riba-based transactions plague their personal finances. It’s a beautiful piece that I recommend all of you take the time to read.
Many Muslims living in the West are understandably bothered by the petty arguments and polemics surrounding recurring hot topics such as Halal-vs-Zabiha, moonsighting, and participating in elections. They make the case for moving on and focusing on ‘bigger fish to fry’.
I couldn’t agree more.
Here in Saudi Arabia, while many of the issues particular to the West are non-existent, the same disease (‘missing-the-big-picture’-itis) plagues Muslims here as well. The problem here, as I see it, is that Muslims are stuck in neutral with their non-stop focus on Aqeedah.
This constant infatuation with perfecting one’s Aqeedah is like a never-ending cycle of mastering one’s basic math skills. It’s not enough that a class full of children is able to proficiently add and subtract, but they must all do it in exactly the same manner. It matters not that one student uses his fingers to add while another draws lines on paper to subtract or another does it all in her head. They must all continue studying this basic skill until it’s absolutely flawless.
I see this same counterproductive approach to this most fundamental of Islamic sciences. These Muslims, whose sincerity I do not question, overlook the social, educational, political and economic tragedies currently facing the Muslim world, believing the root cause of all our problems is our imperfect Aqeedah. If we simply focused on properly understanding Tauheed and all its ramifications, they claim, then Allah (swt) would shower His blessings down upon us all.
Actually, I can’t argue with this last statement – except with the narrow scope of how they define the ramifications of true Tauheed. For them, it means studying books on Aqeedah ad infinitum. I, on the other hand, take it to mean a Tauheed-inspired worldview in which every aspect of our life, not just the theological minutiae of Aqeedah, are dictated by the One (swt).
The Oneness of Allah (swt) is not rocket science, folks. Everything we need to know we learned in Kindergarten Sunday School.
The Prophet (saw) declared, "By Allah! I am not afraid that you will worship others with Allah after my death, but I am afraid that you will fight with one another for this dunya.” So if our dear Prophet (saw) did not fear overt shirk becoming established amongst his Ummah, then why are we so engrossed by it?
We have lost sight of the bigger picture – connecting our hearts to Allah (swt) while directing our energies towards a world where Divine justice reigns supreme – choosing to instead focus on the gory details of where is Allah (swt) or exposing those who 'worship graves'.
Disclaimer #1: I am not trying to undermine the importance of studying Aqeedah. But just as basic arithmetic skills are critical in creating a foundation for higher maths, Aqeedah is but a foundation for higher Islamic endeavors.
Disclaimer #2: Saudi Arabia is not alone in her ‘missing-the-big-picture’-itis. Every Muslim land suffers from this disease in one way or another. I just picked on their over-infatuation of Aqeedah as emblematic of the problem.
WAW
4 days ago
8 comments:
Salaam
I hope you can write more on this subject. It's kind of interesting to me--the big picture problem, but the overemphasis on aqeedah specifically. I guess I still don't understand why aqeedah is supposed to solve all our problems, or even how studying it is supposed to make us better Muslims. I mean, understand belief in Allah, don't do shirk, make that clear, sure. But I agree it seems that sometimes the point is belabored--exactly like your math skills analogy.
Assalaamulaikum. Wow, this is beautifully said Brother! I've been arguing this for a few years myself. People here in SA are so consumed with what can be considered as trivial matters (i.e. which foot they left their homes with this morning and being hell-bent on not allowing women-folk into mosques) but they don't pay enough attention to BEING GOOD PEOPLE... often overtly displaying their obsession for the material and overall lack of respect for human-kind in general with their uncouth intolerable un-islamic behaviour. Theres so much more that I want to add to this... it's overwhelming in a sense.
An excellent well written article.I would like to point out to sister Azra that it is wrong to call something which is considered as a veritable sunnah,quoting your words "as trivial matters".I am sure that was not your intent,but it would have been prudent to word it differently and convey the same message.Nevertheless I agree with you that we don't pay attention to BEING GOOD PEOPLE.
Assalamu alaikum,
Excellent post Brother Naeem! I always try to remember that you can't explain Shariah without Aqeedah and explain Aqeedah without Shariah while giving Da'wah to people (both Muslims and nonMuslims). Giving Da'wah is not a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, let's say you are giving Da'wah to the following people in a Muslim country: a poor Muslim farmer who doesn't pray(whose land is under threat of being confiscated by a corrupt government to hand over to a wealthy landowner), a poor Muslim man engaged in crime in order to feed his family or poor Muslim widow engaged in prostitution because there is no social safety net in their country (they hate committing these haraam actions but feel there is no other way to barely feed their families), and a wealthy Muslim businessman who claims to be too busy to pray because of running his businesses.
Of course for all four examples above it's important to perfect their Aqeedah in order to encourage them to start perfecting their 'ibadah (let's imagine none of the four perform their prayers, fast, etc). However, we also have to take into account the external circumstances of the poor Muslims cited above. While the wealthy businessman has willingly chosen not to practice Islam even though he has the time and opportunity to, the other three (farmer, criminal, prostitute) are caught in a destructive cycle of poverty and political oppression that prevents them from fully practicing Islam properly. Poverty is not so much what's preventing them from practicing Islam as it is the oppression/corruption along with it. If a legitimate government governed fully by Shariah were to take care of their needs (allowing the farmer to keep his land, providing charity and job opportunities to the criminal and prostitute) they would have been more free to practice Islam fully even if they remained poor.
But as long as we Da'wah carriers ignore poor oppressed Muslims' external circumstances, instead focusing on getting them to pray more while admonishing them for earning haraam income while not realizing their desperation to earn income, any income, we come off as not being understanding to the needs of the poor and oppressed in our societies. And while it's possible to help a few hundred poor oppressed Muslims to get out of their dire circumstances through opening up a few charities, what if a society has millions of people living in poor oppressed conditions? Then we have no choice but to focus on the governments' failure to take care of the needs of its people, particularly the ones most vulnerable to exploitation.
Also other examples of how there is no one-size-fits-all Da'wah approach, what if you come across Muslims living in the West who Mash'Allah are fully practicing Muslims (they perform their 'Ibadah, observe certain personal aspects of shariah like hijab, raising kids with tarbiyah, etc) but they support democracy and see no place for Shariah in the modern world? How is targeting these Muslims' Aqeedah going to help when they are perfectly capable of perfecting Aqeedah themselves already? Also when discussing Islam with non Muslims why do we Dawah carriers wind up just discussing about Shariah without explanation about Aqeedah? For example when non Muslims ask why Muslim women cover, why do we try to find excuses for why Allah ordained this practice instead of explaining to non Muslims that we live by what our Lord ordained, and then when they ask well why do you believe in God, we launch into an explanation about the truth of the Islamic Aqeedah? I think it helps if we think about the relationship between Aqeedah and Shariah in terms of giving Da'wah. Sorry if my long-winded post isn't clear feel free to ask questions everyone!
BTW Sister Azra you made an excellent point about how we fail at instilling proper Islamic manners (Akhlaq and Adaab) within ourselves and our children. Here in KSA for example, most schools predominantly made up of Muslim children, fail to instill basic Islamic manners into the children. They have Islamic studies/Quran/Arabic classes available but then that's just teaching children concepts of Islam without teaching them how to live by those concepts. So you'll find children here being disrespectful towards teachers and maids/laborers, lying and stealing from each other, etc. I'm not saying only schools should instill basic manners, parents have to step up to this task as well. If we just learn about Islam without practicing it, the knowledge will become a burden upon us on the Day of Judgment (meaning we'll be questioned about why we didn't essentially "practice what we preached").
AA-
@Amy, I sorta understand where these folks are coming from. They somehow equate strong Aqeedah to strong Iman (faith), but I see Iman SO much more than just Aqeedah. Iman is about loving Allah (swt), loving Muhammad (saw), good deeds, and so on.
@Azra, excellent point! These poor manners, especially my Muslims espousing to be pious, is very problematic. They seem to have forgotten that being NICE does not come from a book - it comes from being a good person, as you said. Indeed there is so much more to say.
@R, hey, get your OWN blog! :-)
Great points, all of them - especially this one: "But as long as we Da'wah carriers ignore poor oppressed Muslims' external circumstances, instead focusing on getting them to pray more while admonishing them for earning haraam income while not realizing their desperation to earn income, any income, we come off as not being understanding to the needs of the poor and oppressed in our societies."
If our humanity were to ever outpace our feigned piety, we would all understand this point you made.
Another aspect of your comment is the need by so many 'good' Muslims to judge these 'bad' Muslims. We are so quick to jump on the poor sap who isn't praying while completely ignoring the context of his struggles, failing to be concerned and loving neighbors. Again, we just need to be GOOD PEOPLE, as Azra stated.
LOL Jzk brother I've been toying with the idea of blogging for awhile, thanks for the encouragement!
Wa 'alaykum salaam. Indeed. We're missing the كليات in so many things, 'aqidah included. Thanks for the article.
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