Putting ideological struggle to rest

…also published in Daily Trust

The growing proliferation of divisive and irreconcilable ideological tendencies in the Muslim- majority northern Nigeria has given rise to an ideological struggle amongst various ideological tendencies in the region. The atmosphere gets increasingly saturated with conflicting ideological polemics representing the tendencies involved. The struggle is particularly intense amongst the Sufits following the two major Sufi ideological sects i.e. Qadiriyya and Tijjaniyya, Sunni-Salafists, Shiites and the recently emerged neo-philosophers who seek to “reform” the entire Islamic religion by adopting and promoting alternative understanding of the religion in light of some archaic philosophies developed over the centuries but intellectually debunked by reputable Muslim scholars then.

Though the pristine version of Islamic religion as contained exclusively in the noble Qur’an and the authentically narrated Sunna according to the understanding of the Sahaba and the immediately succeeding generation i.e. Taabi’oon who are collectively referred to as Pious Predecessors (As-Salaf-As-Saaleh) remains intact anyway, yet, deep-rooted sectarian prejudices and pervasive ignorance continue to facilitate the proliferation of heretical ideologies amongst Muslims, and indeed facilitate the persistence of the associated ideological struggle.

The Nigerian Muslim community is indeed living through chaotic times in this regard. Besides, all along, those who first introduced heretical ideologies to it managed to do so only when they masqueraded as Muslim scholars or even “saints”, and ever since then, many self-proclaimed guardians of various ideological sects have continued to mislead gullible Muslims, push them away from the pristine version of the religion and indeed deepen the bases of disagreement amongst them.

In recent years also, some purported Muslim intellectuals have been vigorously promoting secular, atheist and unambiguously anti-Islamic ideologies through philosophical reading of Islamic texts. Nowadays, every attention-seeking person practices his purported critical reading skills on Islamic principles and moral values. This is even though many of them are mere creative-writing enthusiasts who are ordinarily supposed to practice their writing hobby on fiction writing, yet they instead poke their noses into issues that require expertise in advanced Islamic religious knowledge to address. Interestingly, one common characteristic amongst these neo-philosophers is that, they are too unintelligent to come up with their own understandings away from the understandings of ancient philosophers e.g. Mu’tazila, Ash’ariyya and even pre-Islamic Greek and other ancient civilizations’ philosophers.

Anyway, the confusion associated with this ideological struggle remains responsible for the growing tension amongst the followers of these differing ideological tendencies most of whom, albeit religious-minded, are largely not actually aware of the underlying politics of the struggle.  After all, the tension has on many occasions escalated into violent confrontation between some adherents of different Sufi sects or between some Sufists and some Sunni-Salafists. Also, the situation isn’t likely to change in the foreseeable future considering the absence of effective institutional measures to regulate public address especially on religious issues. This dilemma obviously underscores the need to come up with unconventional strategies to address the situation.

Though public preaching, teaching sessions and other religious enlightenment programs conducted by reputable Muslim scholars remain the most effective ways to address it, yet I have conceived an admittedly rather unconventional idea that would automatically put this persistent ideological struggle to rest without prejudice to anybody’s freedom of expression. My suggestion is that, the scholars representing all the ideological tendencies in the society should be encouraged, or rather challenged, to embark on regular conduct of public lessons to teach the major reference books of their respective sects, right from the beginning of each book to the end. Also, the lesson should be open to public attendance and should be broadcasted live or pre-recorded but unedited, on local radio stations and/or television channels. For instance, the Tijjaniyya scholars should be encouraged to introduce regular pubic teaching sessions of Jawahirul-Ma’ani starting from the beginning to the end. Likewise, the Shiite scholars should equally be encouraged to introduce regular public teaching sessions of Kitabul-Kafy, Tafsirul-Qummi, Tahzibul-Al Ahkaam etc., from the beginning of each book to the end. In the same vein, the Qadiriyya scholars should similarly be encouraged to embark on regular public teaching sessions of their major reference books.

At this juncture, some readers may wonder why I skipped the Sunni-Salafi scholars in the challenge. Well, the only reason is that, they are the only scholars who already do exactly the same thing. They already conduct regular public lesson and teaching sessions of their major reference books in every nook and cranny of the region and beyond, and their lessons are widely broadcasted in the media. They conduct regular public Tafsir sessions referring to all major Sunni-Salafi Tafsir books e.g. Tafsir-Ibn Kathir etc. They also conduct regular public teaching sessions where they teach Sahihul-bukhari, Sahih-Muslim, Sunan Tirmizi, Sunan Abi Dawood,Sunan-Nisa’i, Sunan-Ibn Majah, Muwatta, etc., from the beginning to the end. Besides, they already always quote all other major Sunni-Salafi major reference books including the books of Shaikul-Islam Ibn Taimiyya, Imam Muhmmad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab etc. They simply have no book considered unsuitable to be taught in public.  

I believe if all the scholars representing various Islamic sects take up this challenge, the public will need no guidance from any scholar to figure out the truth. Also, I am sure if this strategy is sustained, it would certainly guide the unsuspecting Muslims to realize the extent to which every sect complies with or contradicts the pristine version of Islamic religion thereby putting the ideological struggle automatically to rest.