Back to Basics Islamic Course with Ustad Nasir Rashid

Introduction

Theology is the study of God primarily and religion more generally. By the nature of its subject matter therefore it should assume the epitome of the hierarchy of knowledge. Whether one believes in God or not, the question is important, because our behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and everything else in life, will be coloured by how we answer this question.

For a Muslim, the answer is affirmative, yet for most self-identifying Muslims, they don’t know why. As Imam Ghazali points out in his marvelous autobiography ‘al-Munqid min al-Dalal’, most people that follow religion do so for no other reason than the fact that their parents followed that religion. I can quite confidently say this has not changed in the modern era. This presents a problem, however, because most Islamic theologians while accepting the validity of such a Muslim’s faith, would still be critical of him/her. They require, when one is endowed with the pre-requisite faculties of mind and ability, that they utilise these gifts to buttress their inherited belief with additional proofs.

I concur. We are living in times very hostile to religious beliefs. Not hostile in a sense of religious persecution, for we in the West at least, as part of liberal democracies are afforded the unprecedented privilege in practicing our religions, but here lays the irony. The hostility is more subtle. Against a backdrop of political and institutional secularism, religion has been relegated to the private square. To believe in God is not trendy, and worse often considered backward. Our most recent national census corroborates the change, as there has been a marked increase in people self-identifying as an atheist.

In this context, it is often difficult for young people of faith to feel comfortable expressing their faith, without the fear of looking odd. What doesn’t help matters is that all religions, despite their fundamental differences, get categorised under the same umbrella as each other along with ancient myths and folklore. The cards are stacked against us then in this context, to develop a strong, proud religious identity. It is for this reason, that in my opinion, there has never been a greater need than today for Muslims to study theology. Imam Ghazali again puts it best, when he likens the study of theology (kalam) to medicine, it's needed in proportion to the illness (religious doubt), and if that be the case, theology should be compulsory today.

But how does one go about studying theology? Thinking about this question deeply has led me to devise this course. Before explaining these reasons in more detail, however, it’s important to understand the gap that it is designed to fill and the problems it rectifies, and to do that, allow me to present a brief history of theology.

History of Theology

If we are to try and trace back the history of Islamic theology, it makes sense, to begin with, the Quran, the unadulterated speech of God. Interestingly, to the dismay of the atheist, the Quran doesn't spend much time addressing the question of the existence of God. The Prophet's interlocutors all being theist, it is almost as though the existence of God being self-evident, all that remained was to clarify and rectify peoples misguided notions of God. That being the case we find the Quran replete with arguments against polytheist, Christian, and Jewish beliefs about God.

The Prophet is also not known to have engaged in speculative theology. The hadith literature is largely absent of any extra-Quranic discourse on God and His nature. Various reasons have been suggested for this. Hamza Yusuf (Aqida al-Tahawiya) suggests the meaning of the Quranic formulas about God were understood intuitively by the companions, while others have suggested the companions chose not to narrate this material onwards out of fear of the implications of a miss-transmission. Whatever the reason, most scholars agree that the foundations of all later theological debate and discussion are to be found later, in the response of the early Muslim community to initially political questions which were incidentally found to have theological implications.

These early political disputes led initially to the first schism in Islam, whereby the ‘Kharijites’ dissented from Sayiduna Ali on the question of the legitimacy of his leadership. This led to purely theoretical discussions about the right to rule and the capacity of human freedom in legislation because for them their slogan says it all ‘judgment belongs to God alone. This also raised the question of what should be the case of a grave sinner in the eyes of God. For the extremist Kharijites, the grave sinner was a disbeliever, but the later Mu’tazila position was mildly more sympathetic- not a disbeliever, but not quite a believer either.

I share these few examples with you, to make an important point. The history of Islamic theology is a dialectic enterprise. Events occurred, other religious traditions were encountered, books were translated, and all of this led naturally to questions that demanded an answer from Islam. The various positions that were adopted to meet this challenge eventually coalesced into what we now recognise as schools of thought, like the Mu’tazila, Ashariyya, and Maturidiyya. It is important to note the incidental nature of these discussions for they were responses to the above experiences, and it behooves us to wonder if what we consider to be ‘theology’ today could have been altogether different if an alternative set of events had occurred.

To continue for now however with our short history, the first three centuries of Islam saw the rise of the Mu’tazila, which were the first formal school of speculative theology. With the translation movement that began in the 2nd Islamic century, Hellenistic philosophy entered the Islamic intellectual world and the Mu’tazila took full advantage. They incorporated this new thinking into their epistemology which has since always been a point of contention from more traditional-minded scholars. Characterised as champions of the rational mind, they are seen (at least) by their adversaries to relegate scriptural evidence below the conclusions of the rational mind. Pitted against the Mu’tazila on the far side of the spectrum, we find the Traditionalists; a group that was traumatised by the audacity of the Mu’tazila and in response completely jettisoned the ‘intellect’ in religious discussion, not considering it reliable in the face of textual evidence. This crudely represents the ongoing tension of Aql vs Naql.

The other two significant groups in theology are Ashariyya and Maturidiyya, who later become the most widely followed schools in the Islamic world. Both schools position themselves as the middlemen between the unceremonious Mu’tazila who lack serious regard for religious text, and the over simplicity of the Traditionalists which often led them to anthropomorphic beliefs owing to their literal acceptance of text.

The future of theology from this point is just the story of rehearsing and refining the early discussions that occurred in the first few centuries of Islam. While the arguments and discussions became more technical and nuanced, the topics covered underwent little change. Fast-forward to today and theology across the Muslim world is still invariably an exercise in history as much as it is critical thinking. Hamza Yusuf admits this when he says ‘modern theological works are almost entirely devoid of contemporary issues such as evolution, dialectical materialism, postmodernism, and quantum physics-that pose serious challenges to all religions (Aqida Tahawiya).

Another problem with the way theology is taught today is the fact that we rarely consider the needs of the student and society. We rarely ask ourselves what the students want or need. It is my opinion that before we discuss intricate topics of the nature of God's attributes and how they may/may not be related to God’s essence, for example, it is prudent that we ask ourselves if this is still a concern for people discussing God today. It may be that many of the ‘incidental’ important topics of yesterday, are no longer topical, and have been replaced by other concerns.

Another important issue which I would like to address is the difference between positive (Cataphatic) and negative (Apophatic) theology. Historically, Islamic theology has always been negative, in the sense that it has primarily concentrated on what God isn’t and not what God is. God is not in space, God doesn’t have a beginning, God is not like us for example are the hallmarks of apophatic theology. It is understandable why this might have been the dominant approach, for the testification of faith itself reflects this approach- ‘There is NO God but Allah’. Even when God is described with positive attributes of power or knowledge, for example, there is such strong underlining of the incomparableness of the attribute to our experience, that it gets engulfed in apophatic concern.

There are several good reasons for this it seems to me. Firstly, the Quranic project as was discussed earlier was to clarify what God was to people that had misconceived Him. Jesus NOT being the son of God, was an important apophatic directive for a Christian audience. The kalam tradition also, working within a milieu of competing ideologies had to use negative theology as a tool to differentiate itself from what is considered to be heresies.

The only exception to this strong apophatic trend was the mystic Sufi movement. This is quite telling because the primary motivator for the mystics was to know God (Irfan) intimately, and not just define Him. I feel, like these Mystic Sufis, this approach is more suitable today. The modern world is increasingly spiritually bankrupt, one in which people often come to religion to fill a void of spirituality which the mechanical secular machine fails in. Theology has to be more than a logically consistent definition of God. Instead, people need to be able to connect with God personally, so that He can provide meaning and answers to their questions, be support and refuge when times are tough, and be a beacon of hope for the future.

Furthermore, emphatic support for this change in approach can be found in the Quran itself. The constant refrain of the Quran is that Allah often finishes passages with a couplet of his names/attributes which are relevant to that discussion. God is interested in providing us with positive information to populate our concept of Him. While the Quran does have statements of apophatic nature, like the famous verse ‘nothing is likened unto Him’, these are negligible in comparison. It is as though God wished for the audience of the Quran to first connect to God in a way that gave them meaning, and then clarified by way of a footnote that this personal, approachable God is not to be confused with creation.

What is the ‘Back to Basics Islamic fundamentals course'?

What type of person enrolls on this type of course? What are their expectations? and what do we mean by personal obligatory knowledge? are all important questions to consider. As time passes, the decline in even the most basic Islamic knowledge in society is shockingly rapid. Young Muslims today often come from families where they inherited very little religion from their parents, and so are looking for and require an introduction to Islam. Teaching them prayer from a book like ‘Nur al-Idah’ fails to recognise this point, as the book was never written for the layman, but rather for formal students of the religious sciences and budding scholars. The breakdown of prayer for example in its legal dimensions of fard, wajib, sunnah, and mustahabb, with all of their corollary consequences of omission, is a heavy and unnecessary load for a novice to carry. So, the first goal is to devise a course that is complete and comprehensive, such that a person can fulfill their religious obligations immediately on completion.

Additionally, I feel we need to start a little further back than most courses of this type do. While I recognise that I am teaching Muslims, and it should be taken for granted that they believe in Allah, the Quran, and the Prophet, it isn’t always so simple. As noted earlier, young Muslims are growing up in an environment that is very critical and condescending about religious beliefs. Furthermore, we are encouraged from inception in our education system to question and critique and to not accept ‘truths’ at face value. The combination of these two facts means that our discussion about God must begin with why we (humans) feel there is a good reason to believe in a creator to start with. Based purely on logical and rational premises, these arguments aim to satisfy the student of the starting point of traditional Islamic studies, that Allah exists, that he revealed the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad is his true messenger.

Another key difference with this course is what I am choosing to omit. Personal obligatory knowledge is considered knowing enough that will allow one to complete their obligations in religion. As there are 4 practical pillars of Islam (prayer, zakat, fasting, and hajj), it is no surprise then that most fard al-ayn courses include a module on each of these areas. I disagree, however, as I am trying to teach this course in a very short space of time, hoping that it will suffice the student immediately afterward. I feel it is better to limit the teaching to prayer alone. Each of the other pillars is so seldom done (Zakat- once a year, hajj- once a lifetime) or so simple (fasting- don’t eat, drink or have sexual relations), that they can be ignored at this stage.

Of course, I am trivialising, as each of these acts of worship represents vast knowledge and detail, but that’s my point, this was always supposed to be the domain of scholars, not laypeople. If someone needs to work out their zakat, they would usually clarify the calculations with a scholar. Similarly, if beyond the basics, there is a particular concern that is being raised about the fast, this would be answered by a scholar at the time. The prayer on the other hand, due to its immediacy in our daily lives, does warrant a more thorough treatment at the individual level.

A Breakdown of the Course

Theology

Based upon Imam Ghazali's autobiography, we will go on his philosophical journey with him. We will ask fundamental questions about what knowledge is, and how can we be certain about anything. After passing through radical doubt and skepticism we will arrive safely at the threshold of belief in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
Introducing God through his names and attributes- Using a unique, new method of teaching theology, we will get to know God through positive theology. Each name will allow us to not only understand God conceptually but also learn how He interacts with us daily to give us more meaning.

Worship

Purification- We will discuss the importance of purification in Islam and the different methods of maintaining purification before engaging in worship
The Prayer- Students will be taught everything they need to know to be able to pray correctly. Stripped down to basics, a new revert to Islam will be able to leave the course ready to worship Allah.

Enrollment

I am in the final stages of the completion of the course. Please keep an eye out on my Instagram for details.

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