Rejection of Sectarianism

METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN 

by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

www.imranhosein.org

Rejection of Sectarianism

In the Pakistan in which Maulānā lived there were two major sects, Deobandis and Brelvis, who were locked in mortal and foolish sectarian combat with each other. Then there was the Ahl al-Hadīth sect, the Wahhabis, as well as Tablīgh Jamaat, and finally there were several groups within the Shia sect. He rejected all sects and refused to be identified with any of them, while steadfastly upholding the imperative of Muslim unity based on fidelity and adherence to the Qur’ān and, to the extent that it was in harmony with the Qur’ān, the Hadīth as well.    

He did identify himself as Sunni, but he did not recognize Sunni Islam as a sect. Rather, the term Sunni was coined in order that the main body of Muslims might respond to Shia sectarianism. He chose dynamic orthodoxy as the only road to salvation for the world of Islam: 

In the dynamic orthodoxy that has thus emerged lies, in the belief of the present writer,  the salvation of Muslims and of humanity at large. 

(QFSMS, Vol. 1, p. XXII) 

It must have taken an immense amount of courage for him to publicly declare, as he did on countless occasions: “I am not Deobandi, and I am not Brelvi, and I am not Ahles Hadīth, and I am not Wahhabi. I am Muslim!” The consequence was that all the sects rejected him, and he was left all alone in Pakistan to preach and to teach only those who would listen to him. Those, on the other hand, who brandished their Deobandi and Brelvi swords with relish, were adored by the masses. 

Maulānā rejected all divisions in the House of Islam based on Āhadīth, and was thus quite forthright in his rejection of the emergence of a Shia sect based on beliefs which largely depended on Āhadīth rather than the Qur’ān. For example, the main Shia belief which separated them from the rest of the Muslims, is the belief in the Imamate. They believe that Allah Most High designated the Ahl al-Bayt, i.e., the House of Muhammad (s) to succeed him in leadership of the community of Muslims. The first such successor was ‘Alī (r) himself. They therefore believe, with considerable pain and anger, that the over-whelming majority of Muslims chose, mysteriously so, to reject the appointment of ‘Alī (r) as the leaders, one after the other, as the leaders of the Muslim community. They were accused of being usurpers. 

Maulānā’s view was that the belief-system of Islam had to come from the Qur’ān: “… that it is not the function of the Hadīth literature – however valuable its role otherwise, but only of the Qur’ān, to lay down the constitutive factors of the Islamic Creed” (QFSMS, Vol. 1, p. xxvi).  

The belief in the Imamate was based entirely on alleged Āhadīth and could not be established from the Āyāt Muhkamāt of the Qur’ān. Hence it could not be admitted as part of the system of beliefs in Islam; rather, its claim to be a part of that belief-system had to be rejected. 

However Maulānā never considered the Shia to be outside of the House of Islam; rather, they were Muslims. In this matter of relationship with the Shia, he followed the way of his teacher and spiritual master, Maulānā Abdul Aleem Siddiqui (r), who maintained friendly ties with the Shia despite his rejection of their Imamate theory. 

Source: Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

to be continued .....