Change and Changeability in Islamic Thinking (2)

 

In part (1) of this article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/07/change-and-changeability-in-islamic.html#links we have seen that basic sources of Islamic thinking are Quran and Hadith.  Islamic thinking may be defined as a religious approach adopted by the Muslims of a particular age/ century to solve the problems and implement Islam in their lives. One of the peculiarities of  Islamic thinking is that it is always initiated by a Mujadded who initiates Islamic thinking for his current century.  Every century/age has its distinct Islamic thinking but Islamic thinking  nourished in previous age/ century remains relevant in coming ages/centuries as well though it becomes lesser prominent than the Islamic thinking of the current century/age. The third peculiarity   of Islamic thinking is that it is always need based. The fourth peculiarity of Islamic thinking initiated by a mujadded is that it is order of the day and dominates all other religious thoughts prevailing among the Muslims in his age/ century.

 As mentioned above, Islamic thinking is always need based but Islamic thinking is not only need based but also principles based; Islamic thinking is always based on principles contained in Quran and Hadith (Sunnah) which are fixed principles and do not change with the changing needs whereas needs always keep on changing. The question arises how unchanged Islamic principles are applied to the changing needs of Muslims and human societies.

Actually the principles contained in Quran and Hadith deal with permanent needs of human societies (the only exception are those principles which deal with strategies/policies to implement Deen. For details plz see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/05/interpretation-of-deen-and-human_25.html). In other words, , Islamic principles are permanent needs of human societies. Permanent needs may be defined as  needs which keep on emerging from time to time with varying degree; need for application of Islamic principles also keep on emerging from time to time with varying degree. The peculiarity of Islamic thinking initiated by a Mujadded is based on such principles whose application is more needed than the other principles but it does not mean such other principles are not enforced. The other principles are enforced as lesser prominent principles in the current age/ century.

Another peculiarity of Islamic thinking initiated by a Mujadded is that it is order of the day in his century. It is dominant over all other religious thoughts prevailing among the Muslims in his age/ century. This quality of Islamic thinking initiated by a mujadded makes it easy to identify who may be rightly called as mujadded of his century- mujadded of a century is whose Islamic thinking is dominant over all other religious thoughts in his age/ century; who  shapes worldly and spiritual lives of the Muslims of his age more than any other person does.

Under the umbrella of Islamic thinking initiated by a Mujadded, many subordinate Islamic approaches/thoughts may also be nourished; such subordinate religious thoughts may be further elaborations and implications of the Mujadded’s thinking or such subordinate thoughts may be different but not contradictory to the Mujadded’s thinking. Imam Abu Hanifa (r.a),  along-with Imam Zaid (r.a) and Imam Jafar Sadiq (r.a) used to make sittings in Masjad e Nabwi to find out Islamic principles to implement Islam and discover solutions of problems. We know principles of zaidi jurisprudence are almost identical to those of Hanifi jurisprudence. Similarly Jafri jurisprudence presents most of the  principles similar to Hanifi jurisprudence, if not in name but in connotation. Imam Zaid and Imam Jafar’s Islamic thinking is not contradictory to that of Imam Abu Hanifa’s thinking though these thought processes may be different.  We have seen concept of Imamah and khilafah are though different but not contradictory https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/07/khilafah-and-imamah-not-contradictory.html. Imam Abu Hanifa’s Islamic thinking was order of the day and shaped worldly and spiritual lives of Muslims of his age/ century. Both Imam Zaid [d.122 AH] and Imam Jafar Sadiq [d. 143 AH] belong to century of Imam Hussain i.e. first century of Mujaddadeen;  Imam Abu Hanifa belongs to the second century of Mujaddadeen.

 Outside the umbrella of the Mujadded’s thinking, there may also be religious thoughts contradictory to the Mujadded’s thinking but such contradictory thoughts are always held by a minority. Such minority religious thoughts always prove to be fatal to religious, social, cultural and political harmony of the Muslims of the age/century.

For instance, Kharijites were the first such minority group who adopted religious thinking contradictory to the established Islamic thinking of their ages. This group’s thinking and activities proved really fatal to the unity of Muslims in terms of beliefs and political harmony, and caused much bloodshed among the Muslims. This group did not consider Hadith  as a source of Deen. After Kharijites, many other minority groups emerged among the Muslims who adopted thinking contradictory to the established Islamic thinking, and inflicted heavy blows to religious and political harmony of the Muslims. In our age too, we have groups like Ahl e Quran, Qadyanis and Ghamdi cult, who adopted thinking contradictory to the established Islamic thinking; and damaged social, religious harmony among the Muslims; Qadyani went even further to the extent of non-believing in 'Khatm e Nabuwwat', and were rightly declared as non-Muslims. 

In order to maintain religious, social and political harmony among the Muslims, it is necessary to control the negative minority thinking contradictory to the established Islamic thinking of the age. The author is not advocating to curb freedom of thinking; every person must be free to think. But any thinking contradictory/different to the established Islamic thinking should be first presented to the ulemas/learned persons before presenting to common people. If learned people/ ulemas declare such thinking as in line or different from the established Islamic thinking, such thinking should be allowed to be propagated among the common people. But if such thinking is declared as contradictory to the established Islamic thinking, such thinking should not be allowed to be propagated among the common people. [for difference between Different and Contradictory plz see  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/07/khilafah-and-imamah-not-contradictory.html]. For a fair decision as to what thinking is different and what is contradictory to the established Islamic thinking, such decision may be entrusted to the judiciary which may pass a verdict with the help of learned persons/ ulemas OR a separate forum may be established for the purpose.

Keeping in view the importance of religious thinking for the purpose of religious, social and political harmony, Muslim societies cannot afford leaving newly emerging religious thoughts unattended; such thoughts need to be channelized so that they may not be fatal to Muslims’ societies (concluded).

Change and Changeability in Islamic Thinking (1)

     

The basic sources of Islamic thinking are Quran and Hadith (Sunnah). Islamic thinking may be defined as a religious approach adopted by the Muslims to seek solutions of problems and implement Islam in a particular age. Islamic thinking is unique from any other religious thinking in the sense that Islamic thinking of a previous age does not become irrelevant in a current age though it becomes lesser prominent for implementing Islam and seeking solution of problems in that current age; Islamic thinking pertaining to a current age becomes more prominent for seeking solutions of  problems and implementing Islam in that current age . 

The second peculiarity of Islamic thinking is that Islamic thinking of every age is initiated by Mujaddid of that age, keeping in view the nature of problems to be faced by the Muslims in that age. According to a hadith, a Mujaddid  is raised on the turn of every century- this turn may be in the beginning or in the last part of a century. It means a Mujaddid may be raised in the first 33.33 years or the last 33.33 years of a Hijri century (Arabs did not use Solar Calendar; they used Moon Calendar and Hijri Calendar is a Moon Calendar). There may be only one Mujaddid  for a century. A Mujaddid may be born in one century and expire in another century; he would be Mujaddid for the century in which he expires. The reason is simple; a Mujaddid once becomes a Mujaddid remains a Mujaddid till his last breath- because there is only one Mujaddid in a century, it implies that a Mujaddid pertains to the century in which he expires. It may also be appreciated that centuries of ‘Mujaddadeen’ start from 47 hijri. Our Nabi (ﷺ) was born in 53 BH (571 AD); in this way the first century after our Nabi’s (ﷺ) birth according to hijri calendar completes in 47 hijri. Our Nabi (ﷺ) himself is the Mujaddid of this first century; in this way, centuries of Mujaddadeen, other than our Nabi (ﷺ), start from 47 AH. The Mujaddid of first century [47-147 AH] was Hazrat Imam Hussain (a.s). The present is the 14^th century of ‘Mujaddadeen’ [1347-1447 AH] and Iqbal is the Mujaddid of this century which will end up in 1447 AH.

In the first century of ‘Mujaddadeen’ i.e. 47-147 AH, the Islamic concept of Khilafah- which lays emphasis on Islamic principle that Sovereignty belongs to Allah and man can exercise his will only to implement Allah’s Sovereignty- was tarnished when the rulers started considering themselves as supreme authority in deciding state’s matters. It was need of the hour that principle of Sovereignty of Allah must be again the decisive principle to decide Islamic state’s matters and it was due to this need  that Hazrat Imam Hussain (a.s) [d.61 AH] was raised as a Mujaddid of first century of Mujaddadeen and he challenged tyranny of the rulers of his age.

In the second century of ‘Mujaddadeen’ i.e. 147-247 AH, Islam had been expanded into vast new lands, and encountering new questions to be answered every day. Because ‘Ilm e Hadith’ was not yet fully developed and people were not able to find solutions of their problems on the basis of relevant and authentic ahadith, it was need of that time that ‘Ijtihad’ i.e. another Islamic principle should be resorted to find solutions of everyday problems. Therefore Imam Abu Hanifa (r.a.) [d.150 H] was raised as a Mujaddid who adopted ‘rai’/aqal (based on Quran and Hadith) as a tool to find solutions of problems faced by the people.

In the third century of ‘Mujaddadeen’ i.e. 247-347 AH, it was felt that ‘rai/aqal’ as a tool of ‘Ijtihad’ needs to be authenticated on the basis of sayings of our Nabi (ﷺ). Consequently Imam Bukhari (r.a) [d. 256 AH] was raised as a Mujaddid who undertook gigantic task of collecting authentic ahadith on the basis of most comprehensive ‘ilm ur rijal’. It may please be appreciated Hadith was not a facet of Islamic thinking which was confined to third century of Mujaddadeen- as mentioned earlier Hadith is the basic source of Islamic thinking. However Hadith got more prominence in the third century of ‘Mujaddadeen’ for seeking solutions of problems and implementing Islam in that age.   

In the fourth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 347-447 AH, ‘aqal/rai’-adopted as a prominent tool to implement Islam in the second century of Mujaddadeen- and Hadith- adopted as a prominent tool to implement Islam in the third century- were unified in the form of Imam Baqillani [d.403 AH] who was raised as a Mujadded to implement Islam through knowledge of Hadith and Islamic Law combined.

By the fifth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 447-547 AH, Islam had encountered new theological challenges due to interaction with Greek philosophy and need of a great philosopher and theologian was felt to dilute these challenges. Consequently Imam Ghazali (d. 505 AH) was raised as a Mujadded who, basing on Islamic sources, met successfully theological challenges posed by Greek philosophy.

By the sixth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 547-647 AH, under the influence of giants like Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Bukhari and Imam Ghazali, shariah was the main focus of the people. Need was felt to regenerate and uplift Love for Allah to the level of prominence and consequently Abdul Qadir Gillani (r.a) [d. 561 AH] was raised as a Mujadded who worked for spiritual purgation of people using Love for Allah as a tool. Similarly Rumi (r.a.) [d.670 AH] performed the same job in the seventh century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 647-747 AH and was developed into Mujadded of that century. 

In the eighth and ninth centuries i.e. 747-847 AH and 847-947 AH respectively, need arose to adopt Quran and Hadith as a prominent tool to implement Islam and consequently Imam Ibn e Qaseer [d.774 AH] and Imam Ibn e Hajr [d. 852 AH] were raised to the level of Mujaddadeen for eighth and ninth centuries of Mujaddadeen respectively. It may again be appreciated that Quran and Hadith are the basic sources of Islamic thinking in all ages. However, the Quran and Hadith were given special focus as a more prominent tools in eighth and ninth centuries of Mujaddadeen, to implement Islam and seek solutions of problems. 

Since the tenth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 947-1047 AH, the chain of up-coming Mujaddadeen has been transferred to the sub-continent. In this century, the Indian Muslims were facing a serious challenge in the form of concept of Unity of Religion which propagated that all religions preached for the same God; no matter, if methods adopted by religions were different.  This concept/philosophy of Unity of God aimed at attaining salvation through ‘sheer love to God’ without pursuing any specific form of worship. Some Muslim mystics also got influenced by this philosophy due to prevailing philosophy of ‘wahdat ul wajood’, and due to Love for Allah, which was a cardinal principle in Islam. As a result, the movement of Unity of Religions got impetus in India, and consequently Muslims’ separate identity was seriously endangered. In these circumstances, need emerged for a leader which could re-establish Muslims’ separate identity on the basis of Islamic principles; it was due to this need that Shaikh Ahmad Sirhendi (r.a) [d. 1034 AH] was raised as a Mujadded which introduced philosophy of ‘wahdat ul shahood’ to remove negative impact of ‘wahdat ul wajood’ and emphasized those Islamic principles which require Muslims to establish their separate identity.

In the eleventh century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 1047-1147 AH, propagation of hadith was the main approach of Indian Muslims to seek solution of  problem  and implement Islam in India. Before Abdul Haque Muhaddis Dehlvi (r.a), India was almost deprived of ‘ilm e hadith’, and it was the crying need of time to propagate ‘ilm e hadith’ widely in India. Resultantly Abdul Haque Dehlvi (r.a) [d.1052 AH] was exalted to the status of Mujadded of eleventh century of Mujaddadeen.

By the twelfth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 1147-1247 AH, Indian Muslims were experiencing downfall in all fields- political, social, cultural and religious. There was a need for regeneration in all fields. Consequently Shah Waliullah (r.a) [d.1176 AH] was raised to the status of Mujadded of this century, and he worked for Muslims’ economic, cultural, social, religious and political regeneration in India.

By thirteenth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 1247-1347 AH, the Indian Muslims, under influence of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhendi (r.a), Abdul Haque Dehlvi (r.a) and Shah Waliullah (r.a) had adopted shariah based on Quran and Hadith as the main approach/ principle to find solution of problems and implement Islam.  With strong commitment to shariah, Love for Nabi (ﷺ) was also required to be adopted as more prominent approach to implement Islam; resultantly Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Barailvi (r.a) [d.1340 AH] was elevated to the status of Mujadded for this century.

By the fourteenth century of Mujaddadeen i.e. 1347-1447 AH, the Indian Muslims, due to slavery, un-Islamic traditions crept into Islamic mysticism and rotten religious beliefs had gotten to the bottom of downfall where there was no hope left for regeneration of the Muslim. It was this dark scenario in which Iqbal (r.a) [ d.1357 AH] was raised to the status of Mujadded  for this century. Iqbal (r.a) imbued the Muslims with a new hope, made rotten religious beliefs apparent to them, presented a true picture of Islam and Islamic mysticism before them and infused them with strong craving for political, social,  and spiritual regeneration. The corner stones of Iqbal’s Islamic thinking were Quran, Hadith and Love for our Nabi (ﷺ). The present is the century of Iqbal and it will continue till 1447 AH (2025 AD (continued).

    

Great Game and the C-Pak Project

                     

We have already seen in the article http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2013/06/imperatives-of-pakistans-foreign-policy_13.html   that USA’s prime consideration behind regional politics of South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and Western Asia is to stall China’s economic and political domination in the region. C-Pak project is the vanguard leading China to this economic and political domination in the region.  The USA’s Afghan policy is also based on the same consideration.  The first policy option of the USA was to establish a pro-USA and secular Afghan regime which should be able to protect USA’s regional interests. Having failed in achieving this first policy objective due to fierce resistance put up by Afghan Taliban, the USA’s second policy option is to tolerate an Islamic regime including Taliban provided such regime may become a hurdle in China’s way to political and economic domination in the region.  That is why we see, on the one hand, USA’s efforts to include Afghan Taliban in the present Afghan set up and, on the other hand, USA sabotaging peace talks between Afghan regime and Afghan Taliban,  if Taliban come closer to China. 

The USA’s Indian policy is also based on the same consideration of stalling China’s economic and political domination in the region.   That is why USA has decided to promote India as a counterpoise to China, and has added an additional dimension to already going -on economic and political competition by initiating military competition in the region through promoting Indian defense capabilities.  Hence India has access to more than 95% of USA’s defense technology; India has been declared as safe heavens for USA’s and western investors; India is being assisted in a big way to advance its nuclear capability and missile technology, and reflex its military muscles through its naval power in the whole region.  Such an advancement and projection of India’s military power in the region is likely to worry not only Pakistan but also other regional countries particularly Indian Ocean countries. Such a scenario may force Pakistan and other regional countries to develop a counterbalance to India in the Indian Ocean. Such a counterbalance may be none other than Pak-China. The reason is simple; because the C-Pak vanguards Chinese economic and political domination, it should be Pak-China defense capabilities which can act as counterbalance to India’s military capability in the region. For the purpose, Pakistan and China may decide to convert Gawadar, Pasni, Ormara and Gewani into naval bases. The choice is with USA and India- whether they want to go on with political and economic competition or they want to add to this competition a new dimension of military competition.  

The question is whether USA and India may be able to stall C-Pak by adding military dimension to already going-on political and economic competition. The answer is big No; the naval forces of USA and India at the best can watch commercial cargoes going to and from Gawadar port to/ from Indian Ocean countries and beyond. There may be two major considerations of beefing up Indian defense capability; the first is to sell weapons to India, which, in turn, would support USA’s weapon industry; the second is to establish India as a military counterbalance to China so that Indian resources may be used to prolong USA’s supremacy in the world. 

This policy of promoting India as a military counterbalance to China  does not bode well due to two reasons. First, it will be counter -productive, as mentioned earlier, this policy would force Pakistan and China to convert Baluchistan coast into naval bases from where military power may be reflected well deep into Indian Ocean and beyond.   Secondly, India cannot compete China in economic and military terms because China is already five times bigger economy than India and much advanced than India in military field as well. In this scenario, India cannot afford initiating a military competition with much weaker position and with the competitors which share their borders with India’s; the neighboring competitors can do much damage to a competitor having pluralistic society like India. Already more than a dozen big freedom movements are running in India. It would be amazing if India chooses waging war within its boundaries, in return of helping USA abroad. The USA’s objective behind promoting India as a counterbalance to China is to use India’s resources to prolong USA’s military supremacy in the world; USA is beefing up India as a gladiator who is destined to be sacrificed later at some time.  

India has also a wiser option to be adopted in this Great Game. Instead of becoming a pawn of USA’s policy, India can integrate with regional economic and political alliance being emerged in the region. In this way, India, on the one hand, can avail opportunities presented by the regional alliance and, on the other hand, can avail western investments. But for integrating in the regional economic and political alliance, India needs to do two things: first is to solve its issues with Pakistan, including Kashmir dispute, and the second one is to shun away military competition with China. 

Pakistan’s role in this Great Game should not be relying on Chinese military might to protect its economic and political interests in the region; Pakistan should demand its fair military share in the emerging regional set up. China is going to gain a lot in terms of economic and political domination in the region through this Great Game.  Pakistan may also get its share by maximum Chinese investments in Pakistan and by transfer of latest technologies from China. 

The USA and India can continue with sabotaging activities to destabilize Pakistan through Afghanistan. Pakistan should respond to such sabotaging activities by beefing up its intelligence resources within India and Afghanistan and reply USA and India in the same kind. Pakistan cannot delay effective response to India and USA for any longer. For the purpose, Pakistan would have to extend all out support to Afghan Taliban against USA forces in Afghanistan; Afghan refugees may also be sent back to Afghanistan to add to Taliban’s manpower.  But of course in order to implement this policy, Pakistan would have to convince China and other pro- C-Pak countries that such policy is required essentially to implement C-Pak project. All pro- C-Pak states would have to confront USA’s and India’s sabotaging activities by supporting Afghan Taliban and Pakistan so that USA and India may be replied effectively within India and Afghanistan.

The Great Game going on in the region offers Pakistan opportunities to advance and promote its economic and military strength. India is playing on the wrong side; this fact may speed up the process of Pakistani economic and military build- up many times.