Revisiting the Analytical Paradigm of Islam: Redressing Anomalies in Religious Knowledge

Islam is a monotheistic religion, part of the Abrahamic faiths. However, its teaching was altered by militant exegesis. With the replacement of the peace verses by the verse of the sword by militant exegetes, the religion of reconciliation, as Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, the chief of the defunct ISIS put it, became a "religion of war." How could this happen? Traditional Islam is defined by "tradition." Tradition is defined by the ulema, at times acting under political pressure. Believers are expected by traditionists to perceive revelation through tradition. We are expected to follow the ways of the forefathers. But did the forefathers always follow the Book of Allah faithfully? Or did they depart from it from time to time? Does tradition always faithfully reflect and follow revelation? Moreover, the Book of Allah advises against following the forefathers. They might not have gotten everything right. They may have gotten a few things wrong. If we follow their errors, we could also fall into error. Who guides better than Allah? Traditional Islam encompasses revelation, the prophetic traditions and the work of the ulema. A few acknowledge a role for reason. It is wise to differentiate between the four, traditionally the four chief "roots" of the sharia, as failing to differentiate them could result in "conflating" them. Establishing and retaining key differences is an integral part of reliable analysis. However, there are irregularities in the traditional paradigm of analysis. For the traditional exegesis produced a flawed rendition of Islam. The treatment of tradition as revelation, for example, is problematic. Chief aberrations encompass the disparagement of reason, the treatment of tradition as revelation, the subordination of revelation to tradition and the teaching of abrogation. The disparagement of reason encouraged refraining from using of reason. This transpired the Book of Allah endorsing the use of reason, notwithstanding. Refraining from the use of reason reduced the knowledge of revelation. The misunderstanding of revelation rendered revelation harder to follow. In desperation, Muslims turned from revelation - which they could not understand due to the prohibition of the use of reason - to tradition, in the expectation of finding better guidance therein. The treatment of tradition as revelation triggered a re-orientation from revelation and its partial replacement by tradition. Recourse to abrogation enabled re-inventing Islam - the religion of reconciliation par excellence - as a religion of war. Achieving renewal entails recovering and practicing the true teaching of Islam. To recover the true teaching of Islam requires the rehabilitation and re-engagement of reason, affirming the preeminence of revelation in relation to tradition, a desacralisation of tradition, and a rejection of the teaching of abrogation. Muslims face a plethora of problems. Prominent is a deficit in the knowledge of religion. The ability to interact with the community, whether at the regional or global level is also among them. At the core of these problems is the corruption of knowledge. For knowledge was tainted by flawed exegesis, traditional as well as Islamist. Muslims experiencing difficulties in relating to non-Muslims as well as to each other because the knowledge of their religion is eluding them. It is eluding them because, as taught by tradition, they refrain from recourse to reason to understand religion. Rather than use reason to understand and follow revelation, they were persuaded by traditional ulema to follow traditions, uttered and transmitted by persons, rather than the Book of Allah. Traditionists justify the turn from revelation to tradition by presenting what is essentially hearsay as "revelation." These traditions are presented to us as "supplementary and explanatory revelation," as if Allah did not explain with sufficient clarity.