Islam & the Cultural Imperative
Published by Haseeb June 25th, 2006 in Islam, Umar Faruq AbdallahThis article is quite old, and I probably have mentioned in before, yet in lieu of all of this debate over music, culture, etc. I thought it would be beneficial for you all if i reposted this excellent article by Dr. Umar Faruq Abdallah.
Islam & The Cultural Imperative (PDF 332 KB)
Here is an excerpt:
Persons handing down legal judgments while adhering blindly to the texts in their books without regard for the cultural realities of their people are in gross error. They act in contradiction to established legal consensus and are guilty of iniquity and disobedience before God, having no excuse despite their ignorance; for they have taken upon themselves the art of issuing legal rulings without being worthy of that practice…. Their blind adherence to what is written down in the legal compendia is misguidance in the religion of Islam and utter ignorance of the ultimate objectives behind the rulings of the earlier scholars and great personages of the past whom they claim to be imitating.
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This is pure understanding of the law. Whoever issues legal rulings to the people merely on the basis of what is transmitted in the compendia despite differences in their customs, usages, times, places, conditions, and the special circumstances of their situations has gone astray and leads others astray. His crime against the religion is greater than the crime of a physician who gives people medical prescriptions without regard to the differences of their climes, norms, the times they live in, and their physical natures but merely in accord with what he finds written down in some medical book about people with similar anatomies. He is an ignorant physician, but the other is an ignorant jurisconsult but much more detrimental.
4 Responses to “Islam & the Cultural Imperative”
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from: United States us
Pingback on Sep 18th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
You forgot Wrestlemania in your poll…
Salamu `Alaykum
The article doesnt explain much and simplifies the issue greatly.
My teachers tell me that `urf (custom) is one of the most sensitive of topics in fiqh and its `usul. Especially difficult is determining whether or not a ruling was based on customary practice or vice verse. This is why I found Azhar `Uthman’s point on this weak aswell.
There is no use bringing about “culture”, “custom”, or “times” in the debate on Music. It is sufficient that there is khilaf on it - khilaf that is mu`atabar - and this entails that there is no nahi al munkar in this regard.
Wasalam
I found it to be a great article and very insightful. Now May I ask what issues are being simplified very greatly? The references are top notch and handling of the maliki position on the urf/custom is spot on. We also have to figure in that that this is not a scholarly article but an article that is aimed to mass audience.