Understanding Islamic Governance: Redressing the Corruption of Knowledge - Softcover

Terebessy, Leslie

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798278217978

Verlag: Independently published, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

Leadership in Islam requires God-consciousness, righteousness, and upholding justice. It also requires knowledge of revelation and using reason to understand the relationships between causes and effects. Regrettably, good governance was not always evident in Muslim history. Rulers did not always meet the expectations articulated in the Book of Allah and practiced by the prophet. In fact, propelled by politics and mercenary ulama, parts of the umma neglected the Book of Allah. Prodded by rulers endeavouring to enlarge the realm and ulama that assisted them, the umma turned from revelation to follow tradition. The re-orientation of the umma from the Book of Allah to traditions was a catastrophe of epic proportions. It tore Islam from its foundation in revelation and anchored it in tradition. Muslims turned to follow the paths of the predecessors rather than the path of Allah. Mystics rendered parts of the umma bereft of reason. Thus, Muslims refrain from using reason to understand revelation under the delusion that this makes them better. Recourse to reason to understand revelation was equated with kufr. Refraining from engaging reason to understand revelation was justified by recourse to a tradition biased against reason. But refraining from using reason in religion enfeebles the umma. Refraining from reasoning prevents the umma from understanding revelation. It prevents it from following revelation and therefore also from realizing its full potential. The rejection of reason distanced the umma from its faith. “Intellectual suicide” plunged the umma into darkness. The umma also fell behind in the empirical sciences and technology, which left the umma at the mercy of its adversaries, who evolved better technology. In desperation, the umma turned to tradition. They disregarded the Book of Allah that teaches that persons who do not use their reason are worse than cattle (8:22). They also disregarded the verse that says that says that Allah will place confusion on people who do not use reason (10:100). When Muslims rejected rationality, they rejected knowledge. They reduced themselves to lame efforts to “Islamize” knowledge, not realizing that knowledge is already “Islamic.” It is not necessary to Islamize what is already Islamic. It is Muslims that require “Islamization.” Their reticence to use reason corrupted the epistemology of revelation and tainted it with confusion. Empirical knowledge requires “integration” with religious knowledge, not “Islamization.” Decades were wasted in efforts in the wild goose chase to “Islamize” knowledge. The distinction between “Islamic” and “un-Islamic” knowledge itself is “un-Islamic.” It has no foundation in revelation and is therefore alien to revelation. The epistemological difference is between knowledge and ignorance, not between knowledge that is “Islamic” and knowledge that is “un-Islamic.” Efforts to "Islamize” knowledge are products of anti-rationalism, a troubling expression of zealotry. “Intellectual suicide” triggered “political suicide.” Prodded by hawkish rulers and their allies, Muslims embarked upon a warpath against the rest of humanity. They were propelled by the perception of the perpetual war between the dar al-Islam and the dar al-harb. To this day misguided ulama teach that suicide missions are “martyrdom operations,” in a defiance of the teaching of revelation. Accordingly, the justification of wars of aggression required a reinterpretation of revelation. It required rendering permissible what Allah prohibited. It is time to return to the path of peace from the path of war. The umma requires a re-education. Responding to the “war on terror” necessitates a “war on error.” The epistemology of Islam requires purification from “unwarranted accretions” and the corruption of knowledge. This should be accomplished by the affirmation of the pre-eminence of revelation in relation to all tradition, the rehabilitation and re-engagement of reason, and the desacralization of tradition.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Independently published
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 13: 9798278217978
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 266
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