| Understanding Tradition | | Print | |
Bookmark:
|
Page 3 of 3 With clarity comes a tendency to close ranks. The people of Tradition have always been remarkably tolerant and that's because the Islamic Tradition is vast. It allows for a wide range of valid practices. Take, for example, the Prophet's command: "Pray as you see me pray." From this came four different and legitimate applications that have been valid for more than a thousand years. There is no need to revisit the matter unless a new issue arises. Armed with the books of hadith, unhinged from the jama'ah, the freethinkers aggressively pursue a single prayer formula not realizing that the consequence of their actions is what Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad aptly described as "jurisprudential chaos." Sheikh Hamza Yusuf's approach to teaching the Islamic tradition in the West for the past 15 years provides a remarkable example of just how vast the Islamic intellectual tradition is. On any given issue of contention in the Tradition, he always explains the position of the jama'ah and encourages ordinary Muslims to make their actions conform to it. At the same time, he would cite valid minority opinions and ask that they too be given respect. To reject minority opinions that are from within the sacred Tradition, Sheikh Hamza warns, is to erode the beauty and rich diversity of the Tradition itself in the hearts of its subscribers. Since writing The Spirit of the Islamic Tradition six years ago, there has been a significant return to Tradition and this trend will continue to take firm roots in our communities on the shoulders of hundreds of young teachers who, while not yet fully grounded in the intellectual tradition, are nevertheless adept at transmitting verbatim to students what they have learned of the Tradition from their teachers through the medium of core Islamic texts. Anyone who wishes to walk this noble path today would do well to start by studying with them. ____________________ NAZIM BAKSH is a producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto. |