Saturday, February 21, 2009

Textual Islam?

What is textual Islam? I had never heard the term until earlier today. Apparently it is when someone learns about their deen only from written sources, such as Quran, sunnah and books by scholars. Now to me this seems like the only way to go. Perhaps throw in a some lectures and classes and your set. Right? Wrong... well wrong according to some.

As a revert, I can't think of any other way to learn, but then I forget that if you are born into Islam you are more thank likely going to have had 'knowledge' given to you by other sources. You will learn from your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends teachers and so on. Now that doesn't sound too bad does it? In theory its great, but its sort of like the telephone game, as information is passed down through families and such, things can get distorted. Fiction can be passed off as fact and people start to learn things the wrong way. Culture gets thrown in there and boom, it starts to look less and less like Islam and more like.... well I don't know what it looks like, but not much like Islam.

I recently read a post on another blog where the poster (a revert) said that when she first accepted Islam she thought she was reverting to THE Islam, only to find out that there are many different sects, schools of thought and cultural divides. I was the same way. I thought that everyone that was Muslim did the same thing. Wow, was I wrong. Once I started to meet Muslims from other countries and sects I realized that it if I didn't 'stick to the books' I was going to get seriously confused. Not only did I have to stick to the books, but I had to be careful about which books. Alhamduliah I found a great community of sisters to help me and a wonderful teacher that guided us all through that maze. If I look back at my book collection from the beginning I wince sometimes thinking... 'did I actually read that?'. Now I am pretty careful about what I read, and when we started our bookstore hudastore.com, we sought advice on which types of books to stock and which to avoid.

So for now, I don't mind being someone that learned 'textually'.

12 comments:

Malekat_el7oriya said...

alsalamou alaikom,
first i wanted to say thanks for your comment :) and this is a great post. I've never heard he term textual islam either...well until now. And it does seem like the right type too.

Jamilah said...

Wa alaikum asalam

did you delete the post from your blog?

Anonymous said...

People sometimes use proverbs and think they are hadiths cause they make sense .

Even the most practising countries (i.e KSA) will mix culture with religion :) for example they think niqab is bidah and it's haram , the rightous face viel is something called ghashwa and anything else is not right, they think a shoulder abaya is mimicking men's wear(although it's not the case in other cultures) so it is not allowed!!! only headcover abaya is allowed.

Thanks for listening :)

Jamilah said...

Not quite sure what you mean about KSA saying that the niqab is bidah... but thats ok.

Yes you are right, every culture and country seems to throw in some flavor...

Sacrifice4Allah said...

Saudi Arabia is NOT a Muslim country! In fact it is one of the most corrupt countries on earth! No Muslim country exists! Only countries with a majority Muslim population because Shariah is not implemented properly anywhere on earth. SubhanaAllah!

Sacrifice4Allah said...

"Fiction can be passed off as fact and people start to learn things the wrong way. Culture gets thrown in there and boom, it starts to look less and less like Islam and more like.... well I don't know what it looks like, but not much like Islam."

Agree 100%.

Jamilah said...

KSA has its issues I agree. The gov there certainly is corrupt, but it holds some of our best scholars and most sacred sites.

بنت بيتر said...

I would disagree that Saudi is the most corrupt -- it appears to me they implement at least 90 per cent sharia, Allahu alim. And every country has cultural issues. But from an Islamic perspective, I think it is the best example right now for the Muslims.

And as sis Jamilah mentioned, the scholars and Islamic education is Saudi are the best we have in this day and age.

I would also agree that looking to the people cause us most of our problems. Alhumdullah Allah will guide those who sincerely want the truth. And then it becomes very easy :

Jamilah said...

Yeah I would not say its the most corrupt either. The Royal Family seems to be oblivious of things sometimes, but as a whole it is the closest thing we have to sharia law.

Sacrifice4Allah said...

"I would disagree that Saudi is the most corrupt"

If you look at my comment again, i stated it is ONE of the most corrupt, i didn't say it was the MOST corrupt.

As for it being the best example for Muslims right now, i completely and utterly disagree. Implementing a certain percentage of Shari'ah is not a good example. Shari'ah must be implemented FULLY not half-heartedly nor 50% or 90%.

In a popular Qur'an translation, translated in Saudi Arabia, Surah Al Mai'dah verse 44:

"And whoso judges not according to what Allah has sent down, they are the persons who are INFIDELS."

was translated as "And whoso judges not according to what Allah has sent down, has committed MINOR KUFR". Is that a good example???

If Saudi Arabia is the best example for Muslims today then why do they have 'Jihad rehab' centres(I'll send you a link to see for yourself if you want)when it is a well known fact that Rasulullah(Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam) and the Companions(radhiAllahu anhum) participated in Jihad?

What about allowing American troops to have bases inside the the Holy land???!! As well as allowing Non-Muslims to live in Saudi Arabia.

It has been narrated by 'Umar ibn al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: "I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim." - Sahih Muslim, Book 019, Number 4366

How about their lack of help towards the Palestinians?? What about the fact George Bush was invited to Saudi Arabia as well as the Emirates and greeted like an old friend?! Bush, the same criminal that started wars against the Iraqis, Afghans and Somalis? Remember the American troops who flew from the Arabian peninsula to bomb the people of Darfur?!!The Bush Administration who supports the fake state of 'Israel' by providing it with billions in aid by providing it with state-of-the-art military weapons to KILL MUSLIMS?!!!!

However, I agree with you on the point that Saudi Arabia has some of the best scholars on earth. MashaAllah. I am very wary of the governmental scholars though.

Jamilah said...

Ok, so some of us don't like KSA as much as others. The gov is a total pain, but I still would rather live there than here :)

Teer said...

Textually is the way to go!