Monday, January 01, 2007

Kafirs' R us-My seposen response Part 2

Dr Farish A Noor also didn’t come up with an alternative for the term “kafir”. Even the term “non-muslim” is not accepted by him. What should we call them then? Muslims? I don’t think that is an option!
Dr Farish A Noor also condemned Ibnu Taimiyah by saying that he opposed positive open discussion and also called for a clear divide between muslims and ‘kafir’. I am not a big fan of Ibnu Taimiyah, but I could not tolerate anyone who did not give a true picture about him.
Ibnu Taimiyah only called for purification of Islam and its practices due to the fact that too much “fahaman asing” had crept into this deen during his time. Greek philosophy was one and it had been discussed in the creed (akidah) subject. As a result, the subject of creed (akidah) had become very complicated subject. It used to be very simple and could be understood even by the badouins in the time of prophet. This complication had produced so many divisions and sects which had weakened the ummah. To name a few, 'Muktazilah' , 'khawarij', 'Qadariah', 'Jabariah' etc.
He also used his critical thinking to criticise any aspects of the Islamic practice that brought weakness to the ummah. One of it was the tendency of the ulama’ of that generation to blindly follow the ulama’ that come before them (taklid). He thinks that taklid by the ulama’s of his generation had made Islam not able to deal with new things. Thus, he opened back the door of ‘ijtihad’…
to be continued

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