Redressing Errors in the Exegesis and Jurisprudence of Islam

Islam is faulted for terrorism. Particular verses of the Book of Allah were misconstrued. The Book is misunderstood. Terror perpetrated by militants encouraged by wayward preachers makes matters worse. Muslims respond that Islam prohibits terrorism. It would be more accurate to say that the Book of Allah prohibits terrorism. For what we understand by Islam no longer encompasses just the Book of Allah. Extra teachings, in a few cases teachings that contradict the Book of Allah, are also treated as a "part" of Islam. The extra teachings encompass the traditions ascribed to the prophet. The work of the ulama is also presented as a "part" of Islam. We encounter traces of belligerence in hawkish traditions as well as in the teaching of jihad al-talab. The transformation of the religion of reconciliation into an agenda for war was enabled by recourse to teaching of abrogation. Verses that teach reconciliation were allegedly abrogated" by the verse of the sword. The teaching of jihad al-talab furnished a "religious" justification for waging unlawful wars of aggression. What triggered the corruption of knowledge in the first place? The corruption of knowledge was inaugurated by the repression of reason, which enabled the turn from revelation to tradition. The corruption of knowledge was amplified by the weaponisation of exegesis and jurisprudence. Exegesis and jurisprudence were weaponised when they were engaged to further the political agenda of territorial expansion. Hawkish rulers felt constrained by the teaching of Islam. They wanted a rendition of Islam that would justify waging unlawful wars of aggression. Accordingly, rulers enlisted hawkish clerics to render unlawful wars of aggression lawful. The reinterpretation of revelation as a teaching of war required by-passing the teaching of revelation. It required embracing perspectives that defy if not also deny parts of revelation. By-passing the Book of Allah was enabled by silencing reason. Recourse to reason was treated as kufr. The repression of thought transpired in politics, too. Five thousand philosophers were killed by Musa a-Hadi in 786, as part of the Inquisition, initiated by al-Mahdi in 780. The Inquisition or mihna was a persecution of thinkers, in a tragedy resembling that of Pol Pot. Because of their reluctance to use reason, exegetes could not understand the Book of Allah properly. Problematic assumptions and practices tainted exegesis and jurisprudence. Problematic perceptions encompass the perceptions that the Book of Allah is in part "unclear," incomplete" and even "contradictory." Problematic practices encompass the teaching of abrogation. The alleged scarcity of "details" would be redressed by recourse to traditions. The alleged "contradictions" in the Book of Allah would be rectified by recourse to the teaching of abrogation. Alleged "contradictions" would be resolved by treating verses revealed earlier as "abrogated" by verses revealed afterwards. Recourse to the teaching of abrogation enabled extensive tampering with the teaching of revelation. In treating jihad al-talab as the sixth pillar of Islam, hawkish ulema did not just render lawful what Allah made unlawful. In endorsing wars of aggression to propagate Islam by the sword, the ulama drifted from the teaching of revelation and embedded the use of force in religion. In the process of reinterpretation of revelation, the teaching of Islam was altered. It was turned into its anathema. The religion of reconciliation was reinvented as a religion of war. Embarking upon wars of territorial expansion and "propagating" the faith by the sword was an act of political self-destruction. For wars of aggression required Muslims to become aggressors. Unfortunately, aggression breeds aggression. It triggered retaliation which destroyed the empire.