There are many events and cricles organised these days addressing adab al-ikhtilaf as some fanciful complex code of conduct neglect of which is heading towards fanaticism and rigidness. It is being used as a show of tolerance, open mindedness, and to further the call towards creating a moderate Muslim – a Muslim who is not only tolerant and open minded but accepting of all views relating to Islam despite their flimsy origins and even non-Islam. Most Muslims are over-whelmed by these lectures organised by well-funded organisations and delivered by renowned scholars imported from Muslim world with extensive chains of Ijazas, robes and turbans using rich classical texts as a source. There is something unique and common about these so called Scholars that they all subscribe to a common theological viewpoint, mainly Sufism. Ironically they are not open to criticism of their own theological viewpoint or willing to accept difference of opinion over it, which in reality makes their message a call to their way and a mere lip service to the concept of respecting difference of opinion. They would never for once consider Ibn Taymiyah’s opinion (who is known as Shaykhul Islam) on innovated Sufi practices or other classical scholars who were strictly opposed to dancing darveshes (Hadrah) calling them ‘Mad Men’ such as Imam Malik and Imam Qurtubi to name but a couple.
What we have in front of us is an attempt to blur the lines between truth and falsehood to create a middle way, a way which suggests there can be many truths as long as the one putting forward is a traditionalist scholar from one of the mainstream Sufi sects and falsehood is not as black and white as some ‘extremists’ may have you believe. First a tolerant mind is created and then injected with a new definition of Truth and falsehood. This leaves a Muslim youth already over-whelmed and mesmerised by false sense of spirituality radiating from these big personalities intellectually dependent with feeling of having gained some higher type of deep knowledge when they have actually learnt nothing Islamically productive.
The message of these individuals and organisations centres on certain buzz words which include tolerance, co-existence, middle-way and so on. Buzz words are great tools which have worked for them but someone needs to highlight the contradictions. Tolerance extends to all other religions and ways of life except fellow Muslims who the Western governments refuse to co-operate or work with, the same for co-existence and the so called middle way is clearly leading to a way other than Islam.
Adab al-ikhtilaaf (ethics of disagreement) is an important Islamic concept which Muslims must understand and observe that level of tolerance required, however only where the difference of opinion actually exists based on a legal Shari’I argument not philosophical European Islam garbage put together by bored civil servant and enforced through British home office fundings and sell-out Sufis.
This has been on my mind for a while so my first entry goes to expose how this particular Islamic concept is being abused to call towards the corrupt sufi doctrine.
