"Islam" of the Taliban*

"Islam" of the Taliban

Islam is a very simple and easy to follow religion. Even the illiterate Bedouins of Arabia understood it, and the philosophers of Iran and Greece were also fascinated by it. Because it is Allah's guidance for entire humanity.

Islam means: Surrendering our desires to the guidance of Allah. Unfortunately this is the most difficult task for human beings.

Man for his own interest changes the rulings of Islam. Sometimes for the sake of temporary expediency and sometimes due to situational requirements such a change may also become widely accepted. When successive generations are nurtured upon this change, then the sacred words of elders, quotes of predecessors, wise sayings of the mashayakh become part of the religion, though there is no proof of that in the original religion, and whose negative repercussions the entire Ummah has to endure.

Several examples of such suffering can be given. One example is imposing Taqleed i.e following opinion of a particular Imam.

What was the necessity for the imposition of Taqleed? What is the arguments for its justification? Irrespective of this, great Scholars never allowed (Taqleed) to abide by only one opinion or school of thought, in changing circumstances ignoring the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet for deducing the rulings according to the situations.

First of all Taqleed was made allowed for common people, then it was made obligatory for the scholars, then the door of ijtihad (deducing rulings from Quran and sunnah) was closed, then the whole Ummah was made bound to a single Mazhab (jurisprudential opinion).

See how the world has changed and the circumstances have advanced, and we still claim that door of ijtihad has been closed, then what will be the result? How will the problems be solved? And in such a situation, if Islam is considered outdated and impractical, then who is to be blamed?

Assess the harms of Taqleed from the fact that Sheikh Mustafa Zarqa, may God have mercy on him, a great figure in the Islamic world, wrote in his book al-Madkhal al-Fiqhi, who despite being a Hanafi Scholar, that when the Ruler of Syria requested the Hanafi scholars to enact and encode the Sharia law, as it is difficult to refer to classical jurisprudence books in courts, the scholars objected by saying, "How can it be done that which our elders did not do?" As a result, Shari'a laws and Shari'a departments were abolished, replaced by European laws, in which everything was systemetically compiled, numbered and coded which is easy to refer to.

However, the work was done later. An example of which exists in the form of "Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyyah", but it was too little, too late.

This is the problem of the Taliban as well. They are in power in the 21st century, where the world is changing moment by moment. In such a situation, if the ruling class is suffering from "elderism"and "blind following" and don't want to refer to the Quran and Sunnah, then how can the problems be resolved?

Their ban on women's education is due to their blind allegiance to their elders, their elders, scholars and jurists, do not even allow women to go to the mosque, how can they allow them to go to madrasahs, schools and higher education?

Centuries ago, Hanafi scholars had closed the doors of mosques, schools, education to women based on their opinion or due to the compulsions of the prevailing circumstances at that time. Today, it cannot be practiced, nor can any proof of its justification be brought from the Quran or the Sunnah.

In Islam, there is no discrimination between men and women as far as religious rulings are concerned, except for natural differences. From the Shariah point of view, within Islamic limits, women can go to the mosque, continue their education, and participate in every sphere of life without mixing, but "Taliban's Islam" has greatly damaged the image of Islam.

That's why I would like to say that Taliban are not the representatives of true Islam. We distance ourselves from their un-Islamic actions. The 'Islam' of the Taliban may be 'Hanafi Islam' or 'Afghani cultural Islam' but it cannot be the pure Islam of the early centuries.

In authentic Islam, women have to avoid free mixing with opposite gender, but other than that they can study, work, and enjoy all the equal rights. It is the duty of those who run the government to ensure segregation, and provide all the facilities and opportunities required by them.

Our history is full of female huffaaz, scholars of Hadith, fiqh, and social workers. Even today, the Ummah needs educated, religious mothers. By closing the doors of education on them, how can we raise a religious, civilized generation?

Sheikh Abdus Salaam al Madani

Founder,

Aspire College of Excellence for Islamic Studies