I am very happy that I have found Shahab Ahmed at this time.
Thanks to Farooq Hamid for introducing me to his book, “What is Islam”. It
is an amazing book. I am reading it these days. I am also very sad that I have
found Shahab Ahmed at this time. He is dead.
Shahab Ahmed was a phenomenal person. He accomplished so much in such a
short time, had he lived longer, he would have given a lot to the world. What I gather online about him, he was somewhat
younger to me. He was born in Singapore to Pakistani physicians, came to
USA, studied in Princeton and taught in Harvard. He was a polyglot and had extensive knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. This book has 45 page list of
cited work, in small print. It is more than 500 pages long, which could easily
be a thousand-page book had the print size be of regular size.
His first sentence, says it all.
"I AM SEEKING TO SAY THE WORD
“Islam” in a manner that expresses the historical and human phenomenon
that is Islam in its plenitude and complexity of meaning."
His first chapter, “Six Questions about Islam” is like
the Muqadima of Ibn Khaldoon. It raises the six questions he thinks are
fundamental to understanding of Islam, for both Muslims and non-Muslims.
He presents a different narrative. The prevailing version of Islam focuses on initial centuries and first generation of
Muslims. He talks about the later time, from 1350 to 1850, when Islam was the dominant
religion of the land from Balkans to Bengal, a phrase he uses in the book.
He makes the point that was Islam, practiced, lived
and celebrated at that time. It deserves to be classified as Islam and should
not be relegated to a second-degree status. That is what he perhaps will try to
put a case in the remainder of the book: What is Islam.
The six questions highlight the various thoughts, practices
and concepts prevalent in present day Islam, but run at times contrary to the
established dogma of Islam.
First, the Greek influenced reason based philosophical
version of Islam. It clearly claims the dominance of reason over faith. Faith
has to be subservient to reason: if it is not reasonable, it cannot be Islamic.
The scripture is for the common man. Those who can apply reason and interpret
the nature, are able to find Divine Truth without being following rituals. Ibn e
Sina, the greatest Muslim philosopher makes no bones about it. Divine is wajib al wajoob., the essence
of all existence and can be found with reason. He proudly asserts his faith in a Persian couplet which
essentially states that if Ibne sina were a Kafir, there would be no Muslim anywhere.
Can a belief of reason over faith
be Islam?
Second, the way of the Awliya Allah, the Friends of God. Sufis can attain the personal experience, kashf, through the rigorous developmental exercise of the holistic faculties. The have found the way(Tariqat) to the Truth (haqiqat) that they do not need to follow the law (Shairat). Anyone able to make this connection through a spiritual experience will find Divine Truth and does not have to follow the rituals. Can this path bypassing shariat be Islam?
Third, the illumination theory of Suhurwardi, that everything is illuminated by God’s light and the almost pantheism of Ibn Arabi, wahdat al wajood, are the basic ingredient of later day sufism. This concept exist in contradiction with Good and Evil as binary opposites. Here Divine exists everywhere and every act of worship is essentially worshiping God. Can this be Islam?
Fourth, widely prevalent form of art and expression
in the Islamic world, poetry, has the dominant theme of Love. Claimed as the
religion of love, mazhab e ishq talks of earthly (often homoerotic) to Divine Love. Penned by poets from Rumi to Jami
to Hafiz (the greatest of them all), this poetry and verbal imagery is understood by all. It even talks about understanding and developing a bond
with the Rival lover (Raqeeb se, by Faiz). Can this be Islam?
Fifth, the art, including the paintings and pictorial
representation is all secular (except architecture). The pictorial
representation of humans has been claimed and celebrated by the Islamic culture
and society. Can this be considered Islamic when there are clear
prohibitions against image making?
Sixth, wine drinking and its social acceptance has been, for
all the times, a part of the Muslim culture, despite been considered forbidden. Old
literature is replete with mannerism of drinking. Naseeruddin Tusi tells the ‘right
way to drink’. Social drinking
gatherings including by kings, philosophers (Ibne Sina) and Sufis (Shams Tabrez)
were acceptable and prevalent. Wine
drinking pottery with God’s grace engraved on them were commissioned by Mughals
(Jehangir) and Ottomans. Wine in poetry may have allegorical meaning but the
reason that symbol existed was that wine was a reality in Muslim culture.
How can this be Islam?
One may comment that many of the six questions could be
related to the ‘elite’ of the society, whether political, social, intellectual
or spiritual, and common man may have always been following the dogmatic
tradition. Shahab makes the point, that on the contrary, we see that the street
culture is/was imbibed by the ethos of
issues mentioned above. The penetration of all these thoughts in the common
culture, and not restricted to the elite is exemplified by a widely sung kafi
of Ghulam Farid, in Saraiki.
Aye Husne Haqiqi, Noor e Azal, teeno wajib tay imkaan
kahun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJs81iqSJhE
Then he mentions, for the initiated that in this kafi,
popular in the uneducated and unlettered masses, the following concepts,
mentioned in six questions, and more, are raised: Avicennan philosophy of
Necessary, Contingent-Possible, Pre Eternal, Self-Essence; Neo Platonic
emanationism of Highest Heavens, Celestial Spheres, Spirit, Matter,
Vegetable, Animal, Human; Suharwardian Illuminationist Beginning less
Light; Akbarian Intellectual Sufism of Absolute Pure Existence, Becoming
known of the Originary Archetypes, Display of Attributes and Acts; Mazhab e
Ishq of Real True Beauty, Beloved of Every Heart, Houri, Farily Lass,
Handsome Lad, Love, Sita, My Darling Love; Text book questions of Kalam/
philosophy/theology of Essence of
the Reality of Quiddity, Species, Positions, Modes, Measures, suspicions,
Prehensions, Conviction, Notion; Sufi experiences of Tasting Rapture;
Music of dholak, tambur, table, meter, note beat; Natural Phenomenon of
Water, Fire, Narcissus, tulip; Quranic Prophetology of Noah, Abraham,
Mohammad; Pantheism of Pothi, Gita, Granth, Veda, and what not.
Islam, as practiced and lived in those five centuries, 1350-1850, (the 8th to 13th Hijri centuries) deserve its space in today's question about Islam. That was the time that many of the theological disputes had been settled, and the philosophers and sufis and the purists had agreed to disagree. Form Balkans to Bengal, there was a remarkable similarity in culture, elite classes had similar manners and customs, wore similar styles of dress, enjoyed much of the same literature and graphic arts. Their educational institutions had similar curricula, people on many levels of society had similar notions about the ground rules of cooperation and dispute and shared common institutions, arts, knowledge, customs and rituals. That is what Shahab Ahmed makes a case to be considered as the legitimate place in time and history to answer the question: What is Islam.
Shahab Ahmed finished this great book in 2015 and died the
next year from Leukemia. May his soul rest in peace.
Eye opener
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