The Two Opposing Doctrines of Faith in Sunni Islam --part 2

The book al-Iman is analyzed on page 3. According to Madelung, while many people believe that the author of the book is unknown/ anonymous, a lot more believe that this book is actually the work of the Sunni traditionalist Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim.

The first chapter of the book al-Iman is entitled "chapter on the definition of faith in its perfection (istikmdl) and its degrees". Here, Abu Ubayd states that the ulama are divided into two groups.

• The position of the first group is, the Iman/faith consists in "sincere devotion (ikhlas) to God in the hearts, testimony of the tongues, and work of the limbs". (Position 1)
• The other party maintains that faith "is in the hearts and tongues". Works or actions are not part of the faith. (Position 2)

Abu 'Ubayd stated that the first position is supported by the Quran and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. He added that Islam rejects the second position. The second position is represented by the Sunni Imam Abu Hanifah or Hanafi Murji'ism. He argued that many Islamic rituals were reinstated in Medina beginning with the change in the direction of the Qiblah. And had the people not follow the new direction of the Qibla,

"this would have availed them nothing and would have amounted to a repudiation of their confession, since their first act of obedience was no better entitled to the name of faith than their second one"

Abu 'Ubayd maintain that the Murjiyyah and the earlier Hanafis were wrong because they did not include the Islamic acts and rituals (many that were established in Medina) as part of the faith.

On the other hand, the Murjiyyah reasoned that since the Quran already referred to the people in the early days of the Prophet mission (in Makkah) as Muslim, so all the newly established ritual would not have any effects on their Iman/faith. They also argued that if the ritualistic part of Islam was so fundamental or if it was crucial to completing the faith/Iman, then Allah swt should have not called the earlier folks Muslims!

The Two Opposing Doctrines of Faith in Sunni Islam

I am reading an interesting paper.

Here are the two opposing doctrines of Faith in Sunni

School of Abu Hanifa and Maturidi theology (Murjiyyah)
Faith/Iman is knowledge or verbal confession. Your work/actions are excluded.

Hanbali or Ashari theology (Traditional Sunni)
Faith/Iman is the knowledge, verbal confirmation and actions.

The author of this paper (Wilferd Madelung) has analyzed the

• Hanafi Sunni-Murjiyyah point of view by reading the book K. al-'dlim wa I-mula'allim of Abu Muqatil al-Samarqandi (d. 208/823)
• And the book al-Iman whose author is the Abi 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam al-Harawi

The court system in Malaysia is very unfair towads the Shia Minority

A judge in Malaysia decided to rule in favor of a politician. The politician, Muhammad Khusrin, who was the director of JAIS, was sued by the Malaysian Shia for Slander.

I don't really know if the judge is corrupt or incompetent, but his reasoning is extremely flawed. According to the judge (Singham), and I am translating verbatim

The Judge decided that the statement uttered by then director of the religious department on December 2010, which was published in the newspaper 'Utusan Malaysia' on December 17, was not referring directly to any individual. The statement is only referring to a group of Shia. The judge continued by saying that the statement never mentioned the plaintiff or any Shia.

And to add salt to injury, the judge said "The plaintiff only imagined that the statement is referring to himself".

I still don't know if the judge was bribed or not. Maybe he is sincere but very incompetent. This should have been an easy victory for the Malaysian Shia because the politician who was sued for slander and libel, made his slanderous remark on camera on national tv, after he arrested the plaintiff and 200 other Shias for being deviant on the December of last year. Here are the videos of the arrest.

These are some of the remarks made by the politician (who was then the director of the organization) who arrested the Shias of Malaysia for being deviant:

• JAIS Director Datuk Muhammed Khusrin Munawi said, they believe the group has been active for two years and they have enough evidence to relate the group as Syiah deviants before conducting a raid.
  
• He added that the teachings of Syiah if let to be spread could pose as a threat to the nation’s security as its fanatic followers regard Muslims from other denominations as kafir.
• According to the Islamic Jurisdiction Administration Enactment of 1989, Syiah is considered a deviate from Sunnah Wal Jamaah as some of its teachings contradict from from aqidah and syariah views.
• 
  Among its practices include excessive praising of Saidina Ali, allowing mutaah (contractual) marriages, rejecting hadith narrated by Sunnah Wal Jamaah and labeling other the companions of the Prophet as kafir.
• Khusrin said all those who were detained will be charged under Section 12 © of the Selangor Syariah Criminal Enactment 1995 which are insulting, rejecting, or dispute the violation of the instructions set out and given a fatwa by the religious authorities

Many of his statements were printed in newspaper and other medias (TV and radio)

Its director, Datuk Mohammed Khusrin Munawi said they have been investigating the group since two years ago and after gaining enough evidence to tie them as a hardcore follower of the teachings of the Shia, then the headquarters was raided. He said that the Shiite doctrine, if left to grow could threaten national security because of the fanatical followers of the sect considers other Muslims as infidels.

"For them, the blood of the followers of other faiths is lawful and it means that adherents of the followers of Sunnah Wal Jamaah could be killed.

"Shia doctrine is more dangerous than other deviated teachings like Al Arqam (a local deviated group that was banned by the government). Shi'ite followers in Iran and India, for example, are fighting between Muslims merely because of different faiths.

"This shall be avoided in the country and the purpose for which it blocked," he told reporters when met at the location of the raid here today.

Penn State Sexual Abuse

Absolutely shocking and horrible.

Jerry Sandusky, the child molester & also an assistant coach, was arrested for sexually molesting 9 little boys over the period of 15 years at the Penn State University Campus. The University did absolutely nothing to either stop the abuse or to keep the children away from the molester. The University did not even attempt to report the pedophile to police. A number of eye witnesses saw the molester sodomizing little boys in the locker room. See an incident reported in the New York Times (caution very graphic).

The eye witness did nothing to stop the act

A pedophile caught in the act, and you’d think a graduate student would know enough to stop the rape and call the police. But McQueary, who was 28 years old at the time, was a serf in the powerfully paternal Paternoland. According to the report, he called his dad, went home and then the next day went to the coach’s house to tell him.

The head coach didn't think it was his duty to call the police.

Paterno, who has cast himself for 46 years as a moral compass teaching his “kids” values, testified that he did not call the police at the time either.

The athletic director did nothing.

Tim Curley, the Penn State athletic director who had been a quarterback for Paterno in the ’70s. Curley did not call the university police, who had investigated an episode in 1998 in which Sandusky admitted he was wrong to shower with an 11-year-old boy and promised not to do it again

The vice president of Penn State did nothing

The eye witness repeated his sodomy story for Curley and Gary Schultz, a university vice president who oversaw campus police. Two more weeks passed before Curley contacted McQueary to let him know that Sandusky’s keys to the locker room had been taken away and the incident had been reported to The Second Mile, the charity Sandusky started in 1977.

The president of Penn State did nothing.

Curley told the university president, Graham Spanier, about the matter, and it got buried.

There were other incidents too. The University did absolutely nothing. As Maureen puts it "Like the Roman Catholic Church, Penn State is an arrogant institution hiding behind its mystique."

An attorney for the victims pointed out that

"This situation is perfectly analogous to all the Catholic church cases I've litigated," Anderson said. "People at the top protected the institution at the peril of children. Here the coaches and administrators of Penn State were acting just like the bishops, cardinals, and archbishops of these dioceses. The same moral and legal quagmire exists. Penn State protected the football program's reputation instead of the children." He said that Sandusky's alleged acts, just like the Catholic priests, were both "cunning and careful."As a result, Anderson said, "They (Penn State) clearly face severe legal exposure for institutional failure. They are liable for these incidents."

Early Sunni Doctrine Concerning Faith

I will try to read this article in the next few days, Insha Allah.

Early Sunnī Doctrine concerning Faith as Reflected in the "Kitāb al-Īmān" of Abū 'Ubayd al- Qāsim b. Sallām (d. 224/839)
Author(s): Wilferd Madelung
Source: Studia Islamica, No. 32 (1970), pp. 233-254
Published by: Maisonneuve & Larose
URL