Download Week 5 – Diversity in Islam

Week 5 – Diversity in Islam
Dr. James N. Anderson @ Matthews OPC – Summer 2016
1. Shia Islam
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Shia (lit. ‘party’): the branch of Islam holding to hereditary succession through Ali.
- Ali was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, and the fourth caliph (656–661).
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The Sunni-Shia division is more political than theological (cf. East-West Schism of 1054).
- Shiites have the same core Islamic beliefs and seek to follow the Five Pillars.
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Shiites remain a minority today: 10-15% of the world Muslim population.
- Shia majorities: Iran (90-95%), Iraq (65-70%), Azerbaijan (65-75%), Bahrain (65-75%).
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Shiites hold that Muslim leaders should come from Ahl al-Bayt (“People of the House”).
- Imams must be descendants of Ali; they are divinely guided, sinless, and infallible.
- There are different Shia branches which disagree about the proper line of succession.
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Shiites have their own hadith collections and schools of jurisprudence (sharia).
2. Sufism
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Sufism: the mystical tradition within Islam that prioritizes inner spiritual life and experience.
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Sufism is not a sect within Islam (like Shia) but a diverse tradition of Islamic spirituality.
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Sufism emerged partly in reaction to stale, rationalistic, legalistic forms of Islam.
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Sufism places emphasis on piety, rigorous spiritual disciplines, and mystical experiences.
- Examples: recitation, meditation, asceticism, prayer, visitation, singing, dancing
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Sufis are typically viewed with great suspicion by other Muslims (esp. traditionalists).
3. Folk Islam
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Folk religion: crude, popular, syncretistic forms of religion found in poorer societies.
- Example: “folk Catholicism” in some Latin American countries (animism, voodooism)
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Folk Islam: an impure, syncretistic, pragmatic form of Islam found among poorer Muslims.
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Folk Islam is mainly concerned with protection from evil (esp. Satan) and relieving suffering.
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Common practices: use of ‘magical’ objects, exorcisms, spiritualism, occult rituals.
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Folk Islam generally finds more support in the Hadith (Islamic traditions) than in the Quran.
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Distinguishing between ‘high’ and ‘low’ Islam is important for missions in Muslim contexts.
4. Reform Movements: Fundamentalist Islam and Modernist Islam
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Basic question raised by the decline of Islam: What went wrong and how do we fix it?
- Fundamentalist Islam’s answer:
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“We’ve drifted from our Islamic roots; we need to get back to those roots.”
- Modernist Islam’s answer:
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“We’ve failed to come to terms with modernity; we need to modernize Islam.”
- Both movements advocate reform—but very different kinds of reform!
Fundamentalist Islam
Modernist Islam
Islam is fundamentally at odds with modernity.
Islam can be reconciled with modernity.
Muhammad was the perfect model for Muslims.
Muhammad was a man of his time and culture.
Islamic sources should be applied quite literally.
Islamic sources need to be critically contextualized.
Sharia must be the only law for Muslims governments.
Sharia can be combined with other systems of law.
Quranic injunctions to ‘fight’ can still apply today.
Quranic injunctions to ‘fight’ historically conditioned.
The historical understanding of jihad is normative.
Primary emphasis should be on internal spiritual jihad.
World divided between Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb.
Classic twofold division is simplistic and anachronistic.
Western culture is uniformly bad and anti-Islam.
Western culture is a mixture of good and bad.
Education must be exclusively Islamic.
Education can make use of non-Islamic traditions.
Main problem with world: it hasn’t embraced Islam.
Main problems are secularism and fundamentalism.
Modernist Muslims are compromisers and traitors.
Fundamentalists have hijacked Islam for political ends.