Tradition as recognized by mainstream Muslim thought is not synonymous with arachaic convention but understood as a stalwart against stagnation and a medium for moderation and continuity

by NAZIM BAKSH

When Muslims in the West describe themselves as traditional, it might seem as if they are adding yet another label to a dizzying array of social and religious typologies that already exist in their communities. The concern with defining tradition is not a vain attempt to reframe the Enlightenment debate of reason versus revelation, or tradition versus modernity. Rather, tradition, albeit the Islamic Tradition, is the gladiator's arena where the most bitter conflict for the hearts and minds of ordinary Muslims is taking place.

The word tradition comes from the Latin traditio, meaning to hand down or to pass on knowledge or truths embodied in ritual practices, culture and beliefs from a past authority to subsequent generations within a religious community. The central purpose of a tradition is to act as a bridge between then and now, between a sacred moment in history and the profane present. Tradition is much more than just a word or a concept; it is a paradigm.

In the Islamic context, Tradition is the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. It is the way of the Prophet when he walked on Earth. It is the summation of the entire religion of Islam. The sunna is fashioned from the words of the Prophet, his actions and acquiescence to the words and actions of others, and his personal attributes (sifat). Without it there could be no Islam. At a general level, the people of Sunna-Tradition-include all believers who wish to engage in the affairs of this world according to the precedent set by the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, his followers and those who followed them in the 300 to 500 years after his death. This is a huge tent and, yet, it does not include everyone.

The reason it is inclusive and exclusive has to do with the thorny issue of continuity in the Tradition. The dispute over continuity has turned into a crisis of global proportion among Muslims today. If the sunnah is the link between the Prophet Muhammad and his followers who have come after him, how can the latter be sure the Tradition they have inherited is valid? The vast majority of ordinary Muslims will generally go to great lengths to ensure that their beliefs and actions, in particular those prescribed by religion, conform to the Tradition of the Messenger of God. The Muslims' preoccupation with authenticity in following the Tradition is unprecedented when compared with the Jewish or Christian faith communities.

Authenticity, however, is going to be constantly challenged in the process of handing down any tradition. Transmission obviously involves adaptation and interpretation, which, any keen observer will admit, makes it susceptible to corruption. This was often the challenge with oral traditions, but it is also a major concern with written traditions.

The early Muslim community knew that the only way to apply the Islamic Tradition and be right nine times out of 10 was to rely on a body of authority. The early experts of Islamic law, theology and spiritual psychology developed a rigorous intellectual methodology to ensure that the sunnah of God's Messenger would not only survive, but be transmitted intact to subsequent generations of believers.

First in line among the experts were the muhadithin, men and women who were adept at gathering, classifying and transmitting the authentic hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. They are important because hadith are the raw material that the masters of the sacred Islamic sciences depended on to assemble and shape the edifice of the Islamic Tradition.

The linchpin of their methodology is known as isnad or silsilah. Isnad is the human link that keeps Tradition constant over time. In concrete terms, it means that any community that is committed to authenticity must hinge its practice of the Tradition on the doors of scholars who studied with scholars, who took their knowledge from scholars, in a continuous and unbroken chain all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. This is no ordinary matter. The spiritual lifeline of the believers depends on this system working. And for hundreds of years, it was the heartbeat of the Tradition.

The classical term coined to describe followers of the sunnah and the experts of the sacred sciences charged with preserving it was ahlus-sunna wal-jama'ah, literally, "the people of the Prophetic Tradition and the majority."

Ahlus-Sunna — the people of Tradition — are often referred to in shorthand as Sunnis. The term needs to be rescued from abuse by anyone who thinks it still has any credible religious relevance. "Sunni" is a highly ambiguous and imprecise term, and at a time when faith and power are commingled in Muslim societies, it has become an "ism". In popular discourse, Sunnis are the ones who "clash with Shi'as in sectarian violence in the streets of Karachi", or they are "militant Sunnis" in reference to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and now it's the "deadly Sunni triangle" in Iraq. "Sunna" and "Sunnis" are very different; the former is divinely protected from error, the latter evidently are not.{sub type="reg";}