A Handbook of British Islam
E-Book, Englisch, 368 Seiten
ISBN: 978-0-9916145-6-1
Verlag: Isaac Publishing
Format: EPUB
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INTRODUCTION This handbook is intended to provide a framework of basic information on certain aspects of the Muslim community in the United Kingdom. On this can be hung the ever-changing controversies, issues, rhetoric and debates which engage both Muslims and non-Muslims at present. Although most Muslims in the UK are decent, law-abiding individuals whose primary focus is providing for their families, and who follow a traditional version of Islam, they are becoming subject to a process of radicalisation. This radicalisation is a worldwide phenomenon, as Islam increasingly returns to its roots in the form of classical Islam with its concomitant political dimensions. A main focus in this book will be contemporary ideologies, in particular those coming under the heading “radical” because it is radical Islam which has the greatest impact on the lives and situation of non-Muslims. However, it must always be recognised that there is a great diversity in British Islam, and that many Muslims have made very valuable contributions to British society, for example, in the fields of science, medicine, literature, architecture, economics and sport to name but a few. The government has rightly recognised some of these contributions through the award of honours. Why being a minority poses problems for Muslims Islam is unique among major world religions in its emphasis on state structures and governance, which are considered to be of as much importance as private belief and morality (if not more). Much of Islamic teaching is concerned with how to rule and organise society within an Islamic state and how that Islamic state should relate to other states. The late Dr Zaki Badawi, president of the Muslim College in London, commented: Muslims, from the start, lived under their own law. Muslim theologians naturally produced a theology with this in view – it is a theology of the majority. Being a minority was not seriously considered or even contemplated... Muslim theology offers, up to the present, no systematic formulation of the status of being a minority.1 Islam, which developed in a historical context of political and military dominance, has not evolved a theology of how Muslims should live as a minority i.e. in a society which is not ruled according to Islamic law. It is small wonder that British Islam is in a state of flux and internal discord as Muslims debate how they should live and behave in a non-Muslim society. While this debate obviously applies in many non-Muslim countries, it is particularly vigorous in the UK. In 1997 Abu’l A‘la Mawdudi’s famous work, Jihad fi Sabilillah (Jihad in Islam), which has shaped much of contemporary Islam, was re-printed in a fresh edition by the UK Islamic Mission Dawah Centre. It contains this paragraph about what will happen when Islam takes power in a non-Muslim nation: as soon as the Ummah of Islam seizes state power, it will outlaw all forms of business transacted on the basis of usury or interest; it will not permit gambling; it will curb all forms of business and financial dealings which contravene Islamic Law; it will shut down all brothels and other dens of vice; it will make it obligatory for non-Muslim women to observe the minimum standards of modesty in dress as required by Islamic Law, and forbid them to go about displaying their beauty as in the Days of Ignorance; it will impose censorship on the film industry. With a view to ensuring the general welfare of the public and for reasons of self-defence, the Islamic government will not permit such cultural activities as may be permissible in non-Muslim systems but which Islam regards as detrimental and even fatal to moral fibre.2 What unites Muslims Most Muslims would agree on the following three items as essential components of their Muslim identity. 1. Creed The Islamic creed runs: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” This is understood to mean that Muhammad is the last and final messenger. It is usually recited in Arabic and is known as the shahada or kalimatu shahada. It is the first duty of every Muslim to affirm their faith with the words of the creed. Some Muslims believe that the mere recitation of these words is sufficient to convert a non-Muslim to Islam, even if there is no belief. 2. Shari‘a
(Islamic law) Using the Qur’an and traditions (ahadith) of the life of Muhammad, early Islamic theologians and jurists produced detailed regulations to govern not only the private lives of individual Muslims but also the conduct of politics, economics, warfare, criminal justice, inheritance and family law, and many other aspects of communal life. The term shari‘a (literally “way” or “path”) is used to refer to this body of law. Most Muslims agree on the need to follow shari‘a. 3. Umma The umma is the Islamic nation i.e. whole community of Islam, comprising all Muslim people. No matter how great the differences between Muslims, there is a virtually universal belief that they must support each other against non-Muslims. What divides Muslims Much of this handbook is devoted to describing different groups within Islam. Here are some broad categories. Ethnic Even in the days of Muhammad there was discrimination on the basis of birthplace and tribe, with his Meccan-born followers considered superior to those born in Medina, and his own tribe, the Quraish, the most dominant of all. Inter-ethnic conflict has continued throughout Islamic history, with Arab, Turk and Persian fighting each other. A phenomenon of our own times is the increasing dominance of Arab Islam over non-Arab Islam, for example, in Indonesia and Central Asia. The same can be seen in the UK where the Asian majority within the Muslim community is increasingly being influenced by the Arab minority. Tensions exist between Asians, Arabs, Africans, Caribbean converts and white converts. Mosques tend to become dominated by one particular ethnic group, although there are a few which are able to maintain an ethnic diversity. Sectarian Within twenty years of Muhammad’s death there was a huge and bloody leadership conflict which split the Muslim community into three groups. Two of these survive today as the Sunni and Shi‘a streams of Islam – still at war with each other in certain parts of the world. The conflict was rooted in theological differences about how the succession to the caliphate should be organised and who were therefore the legitimate successors to Muhammad’s authority. Theology is the source of a surprisingly high proportion of the differences within Islam today. Even the unifying factors cited above can also be dividing factors: • There are some sects who are not accepted as Islamic by other Muslims. One such is the Ahmadiyya, who were founded in the Punjab in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. They suffer severe persecution in Pakistan because of their belief in an ongoing prophethood after the death of Muhammad i.e. that Muhammad was not the final messenger of God (see page 179). The Ahmadiyya are of particular importance in the UK as they are very active here in proselytising. • Shari‘a causes division because several competing versions of shari‘a exist, devised by different scholars of the eighth and ninth centuries AD. In the UK, where the majority of Muslims have roots in the Indian sub-continent, the most popular would be the Hanafi school of shari‘a. Another cause of division is the fact that the shari‘a has little to say about many modern situations in which Muslims may be unsure how to conduct themselves. Perplexed Muslims must turn to their twenty-first century leaders for guidance, and those leaders give a variety of different instructions, thus causing futher divisions. It must be remembered that there is a growing number of completely secular Muslims, who do not practise their faith at all, and are Muslim only in culture. They are a hidden minority within the community and often unrepresented in discussions and debates. Radical-traditional-liberal This theological divide spans all the formal sects and groups within Islam. The question of how literally to take the original teachings of Islam is arguably the main subject of debate for British Muslims today. It is definitely an important Islamic issue for British non-Muslims. Liberal Muslims are happy to adapt their faith to fit modern Western standards of human rights. (They are distinct from secular Muslims in that liberal Muslims do have a faith and will doubtless pray and observe various other religious practices.) Traditionalists accept Islam as it developed over its first centuries and became fixed by the schools of law. They do not accept innovations or new interpretations, and many may practise “folk Islam” and Sufism. Most reject secularism and Western...
