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Islam &
Pluralism
A Contemporary Approach
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Shah
Abdul Halim
Chairman of Islamic Information
Bureau--Bangladesh
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08/05/2003
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To
every knowledgeable person it is clear that Muslim countries put
together are no match to US--not to speak of the West as a whole.
Muslim countries are backward in the field of education.
Technologically Muslim countries are far behind the West. The Muslim
countries jointly or singly cannot challenge the US let alone the
West. Why then the West is suspicious of the Muslim Ummah
(nation)? This question needs to be addressed afresh from an
academic point of view to erase misgiving of the West towards the
Muslim world for nobody can hope for a peaceful future in the world
unless the mistrust between the Muslims and Judeo-Christian West is
removed.
One
must not overlook the fact that Western orientalist scholars frequently quote from the text, from the
revealed verses of the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet,
peace be upon him (pbuh)--sometimes out of context to justify their
contention. It cannot however be denied that our earlier scholars
sometimes did interpret texts in a way that as if it was the only
valid explanation and that the prevailing situation of their time
was the last situation. As newer conditions
surfaced afterwards, a
need for a new interpretation--the of revealed text of the Quran and
sayings and practices of the noble Prophet (pbuh) and what he had
endorsed by remaining silent when certain things happened before him
and he did not oppose them—was demanded. Orienatlist scholars
chose some medieval opinions and propagated them as sealed
components of Islam. The
goal was to show that Islam is rather intolerant. And now
orientalist scholars and Western media are making concentrated
propaganda to prove that Muslims do not believe in pluralism and
there is no question of living with them peacefully and no hope of
coexistence with them.
The
core of Islam is that its followers, the Muslims, submit if new
truth is established through ijtihad (research and investigation).
The Muslims therefore always change their position if more
appropriate and correct conclusions are arrived after careful and
meticulous use of reasoning. Islam therefore is a dynamic religion
which is able to match with the ever changing milieu. The West
however intentionally repeats some of the old ijtihad made by some
of scholars and intellectuals of the earlier generation of Muslims.
One example is that it repeats the thousand years old ijtihad which
had divided the world into dar al Islam (the abode of peace) and dar
al harb (the abode of war). The contemporary Muslim scholars and
jurists have however divided the world into two realms: dar al
ijabah (the land of acceptance, land whose people have accepted
Islam and Islamic values are practiced) and dar al dawah (the land
of invitation, land to which dawah has been presented and its people
are invited to Islamic values and practices)1.
Dr. Alwani, president of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA)
and also a member of Jeddah based International Academy of Fiqh,
pointed out in an interview with the ‘Islamic Horizons’ that an
“example of misguided rulings is the fatwa that countries like the
United States are dar al kufr and dar al harb, where Muslims have
the right to circumvent their laws and regulations”2.Dr.
Alwani pointed out: “We are living in North America as a small
minority among non-Muslims in a pluralistic, multicultural and
multi-ethnic society. Muslims have the facility of opting to live
their lives as Muslims according to the Islamic Shariah and Fiqh. We
need a lot of understanding from our Fuquha and Ulema in the North
American environment, and if they issue Fatwa without studying this
environment, they will be doing a great disservice to the North
American Muslim community. Indeed their rulings, or rather their
misinterpretations, will have a serious effect on the future of
Islam in this continent”3.
Dr.
Alwani also identified
that “in the past, scholars were unanimous in their view that the
entire earth was the land of Allah and did not divide it into such
spheres. Instead, some scholars like Imam al Razi considered the
earth to consist of dar al ijaba, which replaces the term dar al
Islam, and dar ad dawah, which replaces the term dar al harb. Dar ad
dawah means a land for dialogue and inter-faith communication, a
land where people are not classified, but all human being are
considered one family. This family has two parts. One is identified
as ummat al ijaba, instead of ummat al Muslim, and other as ummat ad
dawah, instead of kuffar or harbiyun. This part of our heritage and
legacy represents Islam more correctly than the other part, because
the whole earth has been created by Allah as humanity’s home. The
Prophet (saws) told us that the entire earth is a masjid and pure.
The only difference is that in dar al ijaba, the message of Islam
has been established, and in dar ad dawah the message has to be
spread. We all know what the nuances of performing dawah are, and
certainly that misguided dar al harb / dar al kufr ruling is not
among the instruments of dawah”4.
“The famous 5th Hijra century Imam al Mawardy, in fact said that
even if we have one Muslim family living in a non-Muslim state,
their home will be the home of Islam.
The reality is that wherever Muslims find the freedom to
practice Islam, that place will be dar al Islam for them, and there
is no need for them to migrate to some other dar al Islam for this
purpose” .
Lebanese
jurist and professor at T.C Williams School of Law, University of
Richmond, USA Dr. Azizah al Hibri while addressing a selected
gathering in Dhaka preferred to divide the world in to land and
people where dawah , the message of Islam has been presented on the
one and where dawah, the call and guidance of Islam has not been
presented or yet to be present on the other rather than dar al Islam
(the abode of peace) and dar al harb (the abode of war). Yet other
scholars grouped lands and people dar al sulh (the abode of peaceful
coexistence or on contractual peace). There can be further
classification of states in the light of the spirit of the Quran and
the Sunnah, the Traditions of the Prophet (pbuh).
The
West also repeats the old ijtihad of the Muslim scholars that
non-Muslims living in Muslim countries have to pay jiziah tax even
though contemporary jurists have ruled that paying of jiziah is not
compulsory and binding. In fact the second rightly guided caliph
Omar bin Khattab reviewed the jiziah policy (tax imposed on the
non-Muslims) and abrogated the jiziah imposed on old people,
children, orphans and unsupported women5.
Omar even ordered to pay monthly allowance to a Jew when he saw him
begging door to door. As long as non-Muslims pay some taxes as a
mark of their obedience to the Muslim state, there is no need for a
special tax only to be paid by the non-Muslims.
The renowned Islamic jurist Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi is his book
‘Fiqh-uz-Zakat’ (the Jurisprudence of Alms) mentioned that
Caliph Omar bin Khattab dropped jiziah on the Christian of Banu
Taglib tribe on their request and imposed another tax.
Dr. Qaradawi opined that it is not necessary that non-Muslims
pay jiziah. It is enough if the non-Muslims pay a tax equal to zakat6.
Eminent Arab economist Dr. Monzer Kahf currently working with
Islamic Development Bank (IDB) opined that jiziah can be charged
only from the subjects of the conquered lands7.
Moulana Maududi also holds the same view. Moulana argued that
Pakistan not being a conquered land the question of imposing jiziah
on the non Muslims citizens of Pakistan does not arise8.The
day of colonization is over. Modern states have been established by
the joint struggle of both Muslims and non-Muslims. The imposition
of jiziah has therefore become irrelevant and impractical. In fact
Islam makes no difference between Muslims and non-Muslims as far as
the basic necessities are concerned (Al Quran Chapter 2: verse 126).
1-
Fakhr al Din Al Razi quoted
by Dr. Taha Jabir al Alwani in ‘Globalization: Centralization not
Globalism’, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences,
IIIT.US. Vol. 15. No. 3. Fall 1998, p. vii
2-
‘Muslims in the West
need contemporary fatwa’. Available in www.witness-pioneer.org
3-
Ibid.
4-
Ibid.
5-
Dr. Hassan Al Alkim in
‘Islam & Democracy: Mutually Reinforcing OR Incompatible’.
Article contributed in Dr. Azzam Tamimi ed. ‘Power-Sharing
Islam’. Liberty for Muslim World Publications: UK. 1993, p. 87.
6-
Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi,
‘Fiqh-uz-Zakat’. Bengali Edition. 1982, Vol. I, pp 144-152.
7-
Quoted in ‘Zakat and
the Tax System’by Shah Abdul Hannan, Unpublished work.
8-
‘Rasail Wa
Masail’(letters and Issues). Bengali Edition. 1999. Vol. IV, p
158.
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