Abdal Hakim Murad Authority within Islam

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Few people in the Islamic world bridge East and West, tradition and modernity the way Abdal Hakim Murad does. He studied and lectured at both Cambridge and Al A!har but he also sat at the "eet o" #u"i #haykhs. He$s on the board o" %he &esearch Center "or Islamic 'egislation and Ethics in (oha but he$s also the (ean o" the Cambridge Muslim College. He translated important classical works but he$s also a regular contributor in the )ritish media. *et what struck me the most, when I met him, was the way he combined +ast knowledge and intellectual sharpness with straight"orward humbleness. )ecause o" his e,periences and e,pertise, I speci"ically wanted to talk to shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad about the e+olutions o" authority within the global ummah. As the old -centers o" authority$ are either non e,istent or lost the impact they once had, I hoped to learn "rom him which institutions or indi+iduals are gradually becoming new points o" re"erence. His e+entual answer, howe+er, wasn$t at all what I had e,pected... It is often claimed Islam has no institutionalized authority but if we honestly look at history we can see that there have in fact always been certain centers of authority. The first khalifs the Al!Azhar "niversity the scholars of #amascus the $ttoman %ultan & they have all been e'am(les of concentrated authority. Today however it seems very difficult to find such centers or to assess the authority of the many different )rou(s institutions and individuals. *ould you say then that todays situation is an anomaly in the history of Islam+ I" you ha+e a religion with ethics, that religion will want its ethics re"lected in the laws and o" course you can$t ha+e a legal system and courts without ha+ing some structural authority. *et in the early centuries, Islamic law . the sharia . was as decentered as it could possibly be. Each khadi was de "acto independent and there was no statutory legislation. In the nineteen century, howe+er, the /ttomans had to reshape Islamic law into statutory law because in order to create a stable trading en+ironment "or their European partners they needed certain treaties and regulations . %hat led to the establishment o" a code called the -Mecelle$. 0owadays many Muslims assume that Islamic law has always been statutory, but in "act it-s a kind o" -Westerni!ation$. In the age be"ore the state got in+ol+ed with legislation it was something that grew

"rom the ground up. E+en more so, originally, the ulama represented the Muslims against the depri+ations o" the state. #o historically, despite the o+ersimpli"ications, the structure o" the religion and its authority has been detached "rom the structure and authority o" the state. 1eople o"ten tend to think that in Islam, religion and politics are the same, while in "act there was probably a closer interlocking between religion and state in many Christian states than in many Islamic parts o" the world. In the traditional Catholic world o"ten the empire and the church were one institution while the Islamic society knew the strange situation in which the scholars weren$t a part o" the imperial bureaucracy. )ut once statutory law became the norm worldwide, it was impossible "or the scholars to remain independent. I" the state started to legislate . which it wasn$t supposed to do in Islamic law . either they could take the stance that the state 2ust legislates on the basis o" its own secular pragmatism or they could try to -reduce the damage$ by becoming state employees. %hat led to concepts like -the grand Mu"ti$ o" a certain country or -the Islamic 3ni+ersity$ o" a certain state. 0owadays there"ore, the ulama is o"ten integrated into the state$s mechanisms. %hey ha+e a hard 2ob not becoming the state$s representati+es, putting "orward only those "atwa$s that the state appro+es. %hey$+e become a kind o" -clerisy$ and are o"ten seen as a part o" a hypocritical bureaucracy. Hence the crisis o" authority the -establishment ulama$ "inds itsel" in. ,robably it leads to much corru(tion but I su((ose corru(tion must also have e'isted in the days before the ulama was inte)rated into the state structures. Is that theoretically s(eakin) really (roblematic+ Is it at its core un!islamic+ $ne could ar)ue that it is -ust a different mode of or)anization. %he situation the traditional ulama sees us as being in at the moment is a kind o" -emergency mode$. In traditional sharia terminology, such a time o" emergency is called -nawa!il$. %hat$s the category you apply when there is a huge political mis"ortune, such as the e,pulsion o" the Muslims in the Iberian 1eninsula by the #panish In4uisition. All kind o" new rulings come into place in such a period because i" you "ollowed the classical "i4h, you$d be killed. And since the models o" many o" our present societies are alien to the premises on which the traditional sharia rests, we are considered to be in such a nawa!il period. For e,ample, the traditional sharia assumes the e,istence o" the e,tended "amily. #o when the wi"e is di+orced, the husband wasn$t supposed to continually support her because others would take care o" her. 0owadays howe+er, we get into situations where some people wouldn$t be looked a"ter or cared "or. #o what do you do when the basic assumptions that underlie the regulations aren$t pre+alent anymore5 %he "all o" the khali"at was another reason "or considering the situation o" emergency. 3ntil the 6789$s, less than a hundred years ago, e+ery #unni Muslim in the world had some dim idea that behind the di+ersity o" Islam, there was ultimately a uni"ying principle: the #ultan and the #haykh al Islam o" the /ttoman ulama. I" you had a dispute in #unni Islam o+er doctrine or sharia, theoretically there was someone who could resol+e it. It wasn$t binding, but it was authoritati+e because it came "rom the #haykh al Islam. %his was e+entually abolished by Atat;rk and nothing has really stepped in to replace that. In a way the abolition o" the khali"at certainly pro+ed that the decentered nature o" sharia most certainly remains a strength . that is to say, destroying one part doesn$t do much to the organism as

a whole . because the destruction o" the khali"at certainly didn$t destroy Islam. Mos4ues are still "ull. 0onetheless, a"ter a while, the unity o" the community on the sensiti+e nawa!il related issues becomes +ery doubt"ul and certain people started to base their "atwa$s too much on their immediate political circumstances or their psychological state. %hey let slip the precision instruments o" the classical Islamic 2urisprudence on basis o" the basic 2usti"ication o" nawa!il "i4h . which is -to do what keeps you ali+e$ . and came up with things like suicide bombing, which is completely inconcei+able in traditional Islamic sensibilities. *ou$re not e+en supposed to tattoo your body because it is sacrosanct, so "orget about killing yoursel". )ut the idea o" the 1alestians, "or e,ample, is that there is no <hali", that nobody in the world is going to help and that the in2ustices continue so that they can only reach "or things that would normally not be 2usti"iable. %hey see it as the only option instead o" 2ust letting the Israelis sit on their head "ore+er. %o in the absence of authority we see (ra)matism winnin) over morality+ Fundamentalism o"ten coalesces with pragmatism because they do not see themsel+es bound by the tradition or the restraint ethos o" that tradition. %hey$re thrown back on the scripture and their own psychic state and don$t consider the consensus o" hundreds o" years o" cautious scholars. #o the angry man alone in a room with a scripture is, in a sense, more power"ul than the scripture on its own. For the scripture in itsel" is 4uite tender, passi+e and +ulnerable and can be twisted into ser+ing any purpose . which is increasingly what we$re seeing. I" we look at the "amous "atwa o" )in 'aden against =ews and Crusaders, "or instance, which authori!es e+ery Muslim to kill any American combatant or non combatant is phrased in a way that indicates that he had no idea what a traditional "atwa looks like. He doesn$t re"er to any o" the classical debates, to any o" his predecessors or any consultation o" the chain o" narration. He 2ust said: >%hey$re attacking us so we ha+e to de"end oursel+es.? %hen he 4uoted a @ur$anic +erse that says we$re indeed allowed to de"end oursel+es and "rom it deducted that we can there"ore kill Americans. It is baseless in terms o" traditional Islamic argumentation, but all he had to do to spread his idea, was to throw his "atwa on the internet. %his is something the traditional scholarship can$t really cope with because that scholarship is so non hierarchical. #o you think this situation will chan)e+ As soon as things settle down and people stop panicking, as soon as the drones stop bu!!ing o+er our heads, it becomes e+ident to the ma2ority o" the Muslims that hot headed e""orts o" the narrowest interpretations don$t actually work in practice. It$s a messy thing that hasn$t really -deli+ered$ anywhere. Iran was the "irst place where it had a chance to pro+e itsel" but Iran e+entually is one o" the most secular places around when you look at the daily li+es o" people. %he wiser heads will say that there is much to be gained "rom reconnecting to tradition and traditional scholarship. In some cases howe+er, it$s not really accessible. In 'ibya, "or e,ample, Aadda"i killed it o"" "or "orty years. %here were some old scholars there but reconnecting teenagers is really di""icult "or people in their se+enties and eighties. Howe+er, one o" the huge ad+antages o" the non clerical model which Islam "a+ors is that you$re not stuck when your local spiritual leader is completely uncongenial. *ou can simply go to another

mos4ue. And I think part o" the resilience o" today$s Islam lies in the "act that they can go down the road to a di""erent mos4ue and "ind someone else that does deal with their issues. %he danger is o" course that they might be "ollowing +oices that pander to their insecurities rather than reassuring them that Aod is still in control o" history. *ould you say then like some do that Islam is in bit of a crisis or not+ %he merit o" the decentered model is to be seen in the "act that in spite o" the talk o" -the crisis o" Islam$ or -what went wrong with Islam$ many mos4ues are still crowded until o+er"lowing. (espite the decrepitude o" the structures, the collapse o" traditional Islamic education in many places, people still want Islam. E+en in those places that the West had declared secular. I think it actually makes many people in the West "eel a bit uneasy. #ociologists said it was impossible since -liberated$ people were supposed to want secularism. *et e+en though the %unisian go+ernment "or "i"ty years deliberately tried to s4uee!e religion out o" the %unisian soul, as soon as they get the chance, they +ote "or whoe+er has the longest beard or 4uotes the @ur$an. And we can gi+e more e,amples. In a country like %urkey, which was +ery strong in promoting secularism, mos4ues are still "ull. In Europe as well, Muslim minorities are still pretty resistant to many seculari!ing tendencies. We ha+e e+en come to the point where it becomes di""icult to claim that Christianity is still the de"ault religion. %here are churches e+erywhere, but there is nothing much going on inside them. Many people are either in the shopping malls or in the mos4ues. I there"ore don$t accept there is a crisis o" Islam. Actually, I think Islam is the great religious success story o" modernityB despite itsel". 3ltimately you 2udge a religion and the +alidity o" its truth claims on the basis o" whether it is still appealing to people or not. And people keep con+erting to Islam. %he Islamic leadership howe+er isn$t at all ready to assume that position. %heir discourse, theology or +ision o" history isn$t prepared "or it. %hey are still in their nawa!il mode o" >what$s the latest headline and how do we panic ne,t5? %he cartoons, Israel, terror, B it$s all boiling, but the reality on the ground is that something is in "act working. .ou say Islam is the bi) success story of modernity but at the same time the debates which brin) everythin) to the boilin) (oint are often about the friction between certain tenets of modernity like secularism and the way Islam tries to (osition itself within society. Much indeed depends on how the community will respond to the une,pected collapse o" the de"ault religion. 0ot so much in the 3#, but certainly in Europe because in Europe the sense is now that the host society is not ahl al kitab. %he people in Europe aren$t seen any longer as -people o" the book$, Christian or =ewish, but 2ust as hedonistic. %hat makes it harder to continue the discourse in traditional Islamic categories. It also makes the con+ersation generally more di""icult because +ery o"ten secularity "inds it +ery hard to de+elop a language to deal with religious people. %he Catholic Church "inds ways o" talking to Muslims . sometimes it gets it wrong, but there$s common ground there . but it$s really hard to con+erse with this sort o" -(arwinian "undamentalism$ o" the belie" in the sel"ish gene.

It may well be that, as with the =ewish marginali!ation, this will secure the distincti+eness and sur+i+al o" the Muslim communities. A benign neglect would 4uite 4uickly bring about assimilation, but a sense that the mainstream doesn$t like certain people, makes it easier "or those people to retreat in their own +alues. %hey wonder why they should integrate into a society that doesn$t like them.

I have the feelin) that many of the youn) (eo(le that find themselves ri)ht in the middle of the debates on identity culture reli)ion and society dont )o to the traditional ulama their mos/ues or the institutions of their community for advice. Instead they seem to turn to ins(irational s(eakers like Tari/ 0amadan Amr 1haled Hamza .ussuf 2akir 3ai/ and many others who often draw bi) crowds. I4m not tryin) to assess their s(ecific teachin)s or (ersonalities here but could it be said in )eneral that such (eo(le are becomin) somewhat new authoritative fi)ures+ I don$t know. %he penetration o" their substanti+e ideas in the normati+e Muslim communities is +ery hard to map. It$s hard to see out there that there are mos4ues that -"ollow$ them or that there are organi!ations, websites or maga!ines that step in their line. I" you look at the younger generation in the 3<, most o" them still associate themsel+es with the traditional scholars o" the subcontinent. %hey$re "iercely loyal. %he number o" Muslims who can detach themsel+es "rom their own religious upbringing and who are interested in something di""erent with a more international character is probably +ery small . in the 3< perhaps "orty to "i"ty thousand all together. #ome o" them might attach themsel+es to certain charismatic speakers and those speakers can become big stars, so to speak, but there are also others who think the solution is a #ala"i alternati+e which has the ad+antages o" being well "unded and o" ha+ing a strong presence on the internet. And the #ala"is can o" course do what they like because o" the close ties the )ritish go+ernment has with #audi Arabia.

Is there a bit of a )a( then between the traditional scholarshi( and the ins(irational s(eakers or the leaders of certain movements+ And shouldnt that )a( somehow be brid)ed+ %here are many "acets to it. A. We li+e in a time where e+erything is changing "ast. ). Many scholars aren$t subsidi!ed like they used to be in the past. C. %he responsibilities to master the traditional mechanisms o" Islamic law re4uire an immense amount o" memori!ation, patience and wisdom. (. %hey need to meaning"ully understand the modern world and the place o" the religious community within it. As such it is e,tremely di""icult "or the young Muslims to master all o" this. #o the scholarship becomes a bit di+ided between scholars which are westerni!ed but don$t know the sharia as they should and traditional scholars who are o"ten +ery cautious about e,pressing any +iews at all about modernity.

*hen I came to you I had somehow ho(ed that to find out more about where the new centers of authority were really to be found in contem(orary Islam. .et I have the feelin) that you think its all /uite uncertain that they are everywhere and nowhere at the moment. &eligion, as you know, is +ery hard to predict. #o when anybody asks: >Where is it going5? I would ha+e to answer: >Aod only knows.? %he current situation would ha+e been unguessable twenty years ago. And where do you (lace yourself in all of it+ I$m simply an academic o" Cambridge and I try my best to be in+ol+ed in +arious pro2ects on the local as well as the international le+el but it would surprise me that many Muslims in the 3< ha+e e+er heard o" me. I guess they know my brother a lot better since he$s a "amous sports 2ournalist. 5uite a modest answer considerin) your standin) amon) the international ulama. .our (osition mi)ht even sur(rise certain (eo(le since youre an 6n)lish convert who (laces himself within the %ufi tradition. .et youre not the first hi)hly res(ected scholar I s(oke to whose teachers have been %ufis so by now I came to the conclusion that %ufism isnt at all such a mar)inalized as(ect of Islam as (eo(le often claim. %hat$s true. I" you look at the /ttoman Empire, "or e,ample, nobody e+er was -against$ #u"ism. %his concept o" Islam being anti #u"i is there because o" #audi puritanism. )ut that$s a +ery recent e+olution. And e+en #audi Arabia is "ull o" #u"is. In medina I went to some o" the biggest #u"i gatherings you can imagine. )ut itCs abo+e all important to remember that it$s not so much about #u"ism itsel". #u"ism is 2ust a name. %he ultimate proo" o" the religion is the saints. %hey are the miraculous e,pressions o" di+ine lo+e. And it$s through them that we come to know the prophet. %he prophet isn$t 2ust the theory. He has always been a li+ing part o" Islam. He was a "ully reali!ed, "ully alert, Aod send human being who was at the center o" his society and miraculously trans"ormed that society. And a"ter he died, he became the li+ing heart o" Muslim piety and most certainly the center o" #u"ism. %hat takes people some time to learn, because in the West they o"ten see Islam as a regression to some Mosaic style religion, but that whole letter spirit dichotomy doesn$t make sense

to us. /" course we need letters, because we need boundaries in our li+es, we need rules and we need rituals but there has to be spirit as well. And that spirit is what the prophet is. He is the sharia, the ethical boundaries, but also the mi$ra2, the spiritual ascension. %he saint in Islam is there"ore the one who shows you the greatness o" the prophet because his li"e meticulously con"orms to the last detail o" the sunna out o" total lo+e and surrender. %he sel" is gone and only the prophetic "orm remains. %he dignity, the ancient wisdom, the sel"lessness, the lo+e "or othersB you see it in the prophet and you see it in the saint. #id you meet many (eo(le who you would call saints like that+ #ure. )ut they don$t always show up the way you$d want it. #ometimes they$re +ery scary. #ometimes they beat you up because that$s what you need and deser+e. %hey take a stick and hit you until the rubbish comes out. %he Western seeker has this mystical Aeorge Harrison idea o" a white haired sage in a cabin in the Himalayas who gi+es you a bit o" ad+ice that makes you "eel really spiritual and enlightened. )ut that$s not the reality o" it. %he reality is a lot o" "asting, tears, shedding blood, being hitB %he "unction o" the teacher is to beat you. %he word -guru$ in #anskrit actually means -hea+y$ but many seekers do not want that. %hey want light and smooth spirituality with nice incense and chanting. %rue saints, howe+er, sometimes tell you all about yoursel". *ou see them two minutes a year and they can tell you: >you$+e done this and that while you should do that and this.? %hey lea+e you "labbergasted as to how they knew, you go away and you$re completely shattered and ruined. )ut it does help you spiritually ad+ance. And then they go on and help another thousand people. *hat do you think is the reason that they are so ca(able of hel(in) (eo(le to s(iritually advance+ %he saints remind us o" the "act that religion is not about doing stu"" "or the sake o" treats a"ter death but that it$s about consciousness and remembrance now and in e+ery moment. %hey remind us that it$s about constantly being in Aod because in the saints you see the royal 4ualities and incredible dignity that that con"ers. =ust being with them makes you kind o" recon"igure yoursel" completely. #o when you see them, you disco+er what lo+e is really all about. /ur culture sings about lo+e endlessly because it actually doesn$t ha+e any o" it. It became the basis o" our society but it$s a kind o" coitus interruptus: the slogan o" -lo+e is all you need$ is e+erywhere on the co+ers o" maga!ines, in music and soap opera$s but it$s not really there. 1eople need it, they ha+e the yearning, but nothing is gi+ing it to them so theyCre sort o" endlessly trying new things. I see it with my students. %heir girl"riends dump them and they try again and againB but basically you can lo+e anybody. I" you$re not so "ussy about it, you can marry anybody as long as you let Aod constrain you on the rubbish. A saint is beyond that sort o" narrow minded egocentrism and shows us what real di+ine lo+e is about. 7ould I conclude then that the true s(iritual authorities in Islam accordin) to you are in fact the saints+ 'ike I o"ten say: >I" you ha+e not seen the saint, you ha+e not seen the sunna.?

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