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His Eminence, the Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah answered a few questions about the following issues: The concept of religious reform and innovation, reforming religious thought:
The concept of religious reform and innovation
Q: Your Eminence, I would like to start with the definition of the term "religious reform", since it was commonly used by many educated people and scholars without being subjected to scrutiny or questioning. What does it mean? What is the difference between "religious reform" and "religious innovation"?
A: when we talk about religion in its authentic concept which is based on the rules governing its conceptions, progress, style, and goals, then we have to consider the matter of religious authenticity. Islam was based on the Quran that the Muslims deem as an Infallible Book, as mentioned in the following verse: "No falsehood can approach it from before or behind it." (41:42) Moreover, the Quran is Allah's words, and it is He Who grants it Divinity, rendering it the absolute truth.
On the other hand, the Quran is composed of words that have a certain range in which they vary according to the meaning, given that a word is composed of letters that connote certain meanings. Moreover, the Quran expresses its meanings in Arabic; the language that represents an artistic movement that does not restrict itself to the limited direct meaning, but rather it depends on the Quranic suggestions of the word that can make the mind reach wide horizons moving in the entire atmosphere surrounding the direct literary meaning. This is actually known in the language and jurisprudential scientific researches as "customary taste".
Thus, the meaning of the word is not based on the limited literal term, but rather on the range in which the word changes its meaning by the society that uses it. When we study a certain text, we have to consider its linguistic meaning, as well as its historic march, meaning how people understand it.
When it comes to religious authentication, we have to base it on the primary resources. The Holy Book is the Divine words that Allah has revealed to His Prophet (p.) that even he (p.) can not add to or take off from. However, the meaning of the Quranic words carries a human aspect that is related to man's awareness of the word's extensions in its usage, as well as its development. So, we noticed that different interpreters had different interpretations for this verse or the other, and if someone tried to interpret the words based on his cultural background that could be backward sometimes, then the interpretation would hold a backward meaning.
When we study the Sunnah, which sums up Prophet Muhammad (p.)'s Hadiths (traditions) and that was confirmed by the following verse: "So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you." (59:07)… when we study it, we have to make sure whether the Prophet had said it or not. This is because many narrators have fabricated certain Hadiths (traditions) and attributed them to the Prophet (p.), either for personal considerations or due to their submission to certain authorities that seek to ascribe to themselves the trait of divinity, by relating this authority to the prophetic traditions – which is common in the Islamic history. Therefore, we ought to authenticate (document) the prophetic tradition by checking the credibility of the series of narrators, as well as the meaning [checking whether the traditions (Hadiths) are compatible to the concepts of the Quran].
If the mentality authenticating the text was limited and backward, it would be natural to produce a limited and backward text that is in no way related to the real religious authentication. This rendered the religious thought a debatable and argumentative thought at times, and a backward thought at other times, because of the narrow minds of certain people who live in the cultural jails that they inherited from certain sources which were ignorant or did not enjoy literary awareness.
The process of saving the religion from cultural and political corruption requires enormous efforts in terms of authenticating the religious thought, in the sense that our deep religious understanding is open up to the artistic aspect of the Arabic language and well-aware of the historic circumstances in which the verses were revealed and on which the noble Tradition (Hadith Sharif) was based.
The term "religious reform" might suggest an inaccurate conception, because religion could never embody corruption in itself; considering that Muslims believe that it is Allah's Shari'ah (Islamic Law). Religious reform is the religious opinions (fatwas) issued by many Muslims and the rulings of the jurists, whose rulings are based on their own culture and whose commitments depend on their circumstances. As a result, the religious culture gathers all sorts of intellectual Fatwas, whether at the level of jurisprudence, theology, or the development of concepts related to man and life.
Thus, I have always tried to study religion on the basis of relating the meaning of the word to its suggestion. When you consider the linguistic meaning of the word, you have to study its suggestions and implications as well, in the sense that the Quran does not turn merely into a Book that talks about history, but rather a Book that extends to the present time and becomes part of man's development process, for Allah says: "In their histories there is certainly a lesson for men of understanding." (12:111)
When we study the historic stories of the prophets and their nations, we ought not to dive deep into history, but rather transmit the experiences that the prophets went through and deduce their particularities that do not die, but rather extend in life, for they are human particularities. This is clear in my book "Quranic inspiration" (Min Wahi Al-Quran), through which I tried to interpret the verses according to our present reality, meaning that we feel that it is related to our reality, on the ground and in the human struggles.
Reforming religious thought
I believe that the issue lies in reforming religious thought and reforming jurisprudence. However, this is a very hard and complicated process, since this might incite sedition when someone criticizes a certain backward line of this religious understanding, or a deviated line in that Fatwa. As a result, certain people try to take advantage of the sectarian differences ongoing among the Muslims themselves.
In our understanding, religious reform can be performed by going deep into the religious text and its extended meanings, rendering it a text of the entire life, rather than locking it in one of the narrow cells of our narrow backgrounds that might be of what originates from our past or because of which we fall in the swamps of reality! |