I recently watched a lecture by a “famous” “Salafi” shaikh. I’ll not state the speaker’s name but I’m sure some of you will recognize the ideas below.

I reminded myself to listen to the lecture with an open mind — even though I was not personally impressed with him the first time I heard him speak. I still think he made a few valid points in his lecture but the rest was a bit too bothersome to not blog about. Herein I will display many of my previously unspoken opinions and make public my dissent from “orthodoxy”.

The topic of the lecture was gender-related although he didn’t really cover the topic appropriately. He stated that he has a different opinion about the approach to this topic so his lecture was a bit roundabout while he explained his approach.

The shaikh’s position was that most Muslims’ discussions with non-Muslims are so apologetic that the fundamentals of Islam (”Sunnism” or “Salafism”, rather) are overlooked and the opportunity for “dawah” (calling to Islam) is lost.

He thinks that in paying attention to the small secondary and tertiary aspects of Sunnism in discussion with non-Muslims, Muslims forget to convey the concept of “tawheed” (oneness and worship-worthiness of God). In his own words, conveying “tawheed” to non-Muslims will bring more converts when they learn the concept of “one God, one Creator, worship him alone”, “why go through anyone else?”, “how much more simple do you want it to be?” He explains that the non-Muslim has a ruler which changes “daily” and is basically running a “game” in which the Muslims will never win because the Western perspective is so skewed that discussing with them on a detailed level is useless.

I believe his “teach fundamentals” approach is deceptive. From the perspective of Sunnism (or other orthodox group), the basics will not allow a ‘correct’ practice of Islam. There are many further requirements of a Muslim than just believing in God. I think that this erroneous approach has led to many incidences of so-called “Salafi burnout”. As it goes, the new convert finds excitement in his rebirth as a Muslim, he happily absorbs all the knowledge he can. As time goes on, he is more and more troubled — suddenly, the “simple” religion is too complex and he is unable to continue with it.

So it IS important to make known to questioners all of the minutiae of Sunnism. Any concepts which are true will be easy to explain to anyone, even a ‘godless’ Westerner. True Quranic concepts like doing good, giving charity, defending justice, making peace between people, practicing restraint and being kind are easy to explain. Whereas justifying stoning, full veil (seclusion), prohibitions on dogs, music, arts, clothing and so on will be difficult and rightfully so.

The shaikh also gets into something a little more disturbing and the point of this whole rant. While I agree with these statements of his…

“The Quran says, ‘We did not leave anything out of this Book’”
“God did not tell us to turn to other sources”
“When you have something which is divine, you don’t mix it with something manmade.”
“Only God has the authority to legislate.”
“When something is perfect, you don’t add or subtract from it.”

… the problem comes when one realizes the interjections he’s putting in. The last statement in that list was actually, “When something is perfect — the Quran and sunnah — you don’t add or subtract from it.” Many Muslims won’t understand the discrepancy here. But I have a huge issue with the “sunnah” (practices derived from alleged collections of Muhammad’s sayings) being labeled “perfect” or “divine”.

A tendency I have seen over and over in my conversations with Muslims is the mislabeling of sources. Most recently, it has been said to me, by Muslims, that, “in the Quran”, tattoos are forbidden and stoning is “clearly” prescribed as a punishment for adultery. While it may be argued that the “Shariah” has absorbed those rulings and made them part of orthodox Islam, these items are unquestionably NOT in the Quran. I don’t know whether the confusion of sources is from ignorance or from truly believing that the hadeeths are actually and essentially God’s rulings. If the latter is true, it would explain a lot, as the Quran forsees (25:30), but would also be disappointing.

I’ve also seen such things written by non-Muslims: “the Quran commands separation of males and females during prayer”, “the Quran promises 72 virgins for martyrs” and “the Quran encourages Muslims to kill all non-Muslims.” All false statements, but taken as true by many.

This problem is very serious and there’s more to come in a future post.

Suggested Further Reading:
Did Muhammad really say that?
Disentangling the Human from the Divine
The Implications of Hadith for Islam