When Freedom of Islamic Religious Practice is Absolute, What Happens?
On Muslim Institutions in NYC, America, with a bit of generalization here and there..
Disclaimer: I can be wrong on many things, please correct me if you feel like it!
My friend Jim is a very inquisitive guy. As a “self-proclaimed” atheist, his knowledge of the Deobandis, the ability to distinguish Islamic schools of thought, and knowledge of the Hyderabadi Biryani, and how is it different from other biryanis, is impressive to say the least. His interest expands to Central Asia, the Soviet intervention and its effects, and Eastern European history, and all these makes for interesting conversations nonetheless, as one can imagine. We usually gather around food, and let the thoughts wander, and the discussion flows. Our last conversation was over Afghani Kabab & Qabuli rice, needless to say, it involved a lot of food, and a lot of thought.
As we met after the Isha prayer, I went to the mosque nearby to pray and even when googling ‘nearby masjid’ you get an idea of what is the denomination of that mosque is and read through the reviews to read people’s “comments” about this or that place being “doing things wrong” or “not on the correct sunnah”, and cycle through the unsolicited fatwas and declarations of inclusion & exclusion of faith of swathes of people in 5 or 6 words.
Religious Authority, And The Organizing Of Religious Thought
As someone who was brought up in societies where a ‘religious authority’ has been recognized as an official employment path and the responsibility of the state to an extent, the complete absence of one makes me wonder about how this shapes the religious discourse within America (or doesn’t). The idea of an ‘organized’ religion is never new and will never be, but the idea I would like to point out here is the idea of a scholarly council. A Fiqh council in religious societies has always been an organizing force for the practice, be it in an official or non-official matter. A clear example is the existence of dedicated ministries in Muslim societies that are dedicated to organizing not only the institutional aspects of the administration of religious spaces, but also setting the discourse in these institutions. Apart from setting a mainstream school of thought (or Madh’hab) in a society, Fiqh councils can be used as a reference to orthodox Muslims seeking guidance in their ordinary lives, and this benefit cannot be ignored.
Has this authority been abused? Yes.
The examples from recent and not-so-recent memory spring to mind easily when we think of religious authorities being enablers for injustice, authoritarianism, and oppression in general in so many forms. We can think of this in Saudi Arabia for example as a society in which the interaction between religion and the state has been interesting, and at points scary. Religious authority has always been a tool in the hand of the authority, without it making honest attempts to position itself as the moral authority of the nation (and to many Muslims in extension), and in recent memory, the religious authorities has been reduced to a degree of insignificance that state officials can make ‘religious statements’ or religious interpretation of religious texts without interference from the scholars to correct, or comment on these statements. In fact, we can refer to other societies in which sermons are nothing but state propaganda, and the state can interfere with the religious teachings to an extent that something as significant as Friday Prayer’s times can be changed by the state, and it remains an unquestionable behavior by the authorities.
This is not unprecedented only to our modern times, but we have seen it time and time again throughout our Islamic - and non-Islamic - history in general.
“It seemed to me that the chief message of religion is responsibility. Its message is the same even to kings: that they should be responsible.” - Alija Izetbegovic
Religion is a Moral responsibility, and Freedom.
If we want to discuss the idea of a religious belief, we can refer to the idea of the ‘judgement day’ as a way to demonstrate that Religion as a philosophy provides the ground for “Free Will” and moral responsibility. This begs the question, when Muslims are stripped from the moral individual authority of religious practice under systems in which ‘everything religious’ is decided by the state, what does this leave to the person in the religious sphere beside the outward/mechanical practice of religion? This can be scrutinized even at the family level if say, everyone is forced to go to Friday prayer, or if as mentioned above, the time of the prayer is change by the authorities. The religious practice is still not devoid from the spiritual aspect in that sense, but the application of free will of religious thinking is stripped down from the individual level, and outsrouced to the authorities. In that case, the individual moral & intellectual responsibility in attempting to understand the faith from its different aspects is left to whoever ‘the state’ decides, and what it decides as appropriate religious practice/thinking.
The idea of free will and moral consequence can be applied also at the Muslim’s interaction with religious schools, Fiqh, Madhaheb, and other aspects of the religious practice as well. But how does this tie into the American Islamic practice?
Different Masjid, Different Practice.
The lack of ‘central’ religious authority is very visible in my observations from the different Masajid in NYC as an immigrant per se. Coming from an environment where there is a ‘central’ school of thought that is in interaction with other schools provided a structure for the practice of the masses to a certain extent. This not only allowed me on the personal level to have a sense of stability towards the interaction with the faith itself, but it also allowed me to structure my religious intellectual endeavors to an extent. Having a base to start from in the religious exploration is paramount to having an understanding of how to compare and engage. In that aspect of practice, the tensions that arise from the following of each ‘Tariqa’ or way can lead to a form of internal disconnect between the Islamic society from a larger perspective (also given the ethnic divisions between the followers). I have been in masjids which are a mile apart, but their communities couldn’t look any different and on opposite ends of ideology, practice, and even community. This has led me to thinking:
Does the absence of a central Ifta’/Fiqh council allow for this vast array of interpretations of Islam? Or is this a byproduct of being an Islamic minority in general? (since this also applies to the Muslim communities in the UK as well.)
The US for example has many Fiqh councils (FCNA, AMJA to name a couple) and many followers who follow schools that are based outside the US (the Salafi movement previously stemming from Saudi, The Deobandi movement from South Asia), and this opens up to that question. One can argue that this is also the case for Muslim majority societies as well, the major difference in Muslim majority societies is that there is a significant interaction between the followers of the different schools it allows for bigger engagement without this apparent disconnect that is visible in monitory communities in the US/UK.
TikTok Imams: Where Do They Come From?
We all have come across this phenomena of young muslim influencers in their early twenties throwing fatwas left and right in 10 second videos (while also looking fresh and hip as well), and we all wondered: How did we get here?
I asked Imam Marc Manley about this issue and his response was the lack of traditional methods of religious scholarly learning, and that “the west in terms of Muslims, has beyond a buffet” are contributing factors. The critical difference I notice between the muslim east, and the muslim west, is that those ‘TikTok influencers’ in the religious sphere tend to have an important distinction. The Eastern Muslims will tend to shy away from fatwa in general, and tend to direct their influencing in general preaching, while the ‘young Muftis’ in the West tend to go into Fatwa comfortably. Is this a symptom?
While I was thinking of this issue, I consulted my friend Abdulrahman and his first question was: “And what’s the problem?”
I am here not referring to a problem exactly. I genuinely believe that Islam is able to absorb different interpretations within it with ease. The ability for the practice to differ in its branches from Uzbekistan, to Senegal, while maintaining its core intact is part of the reason why Islam spreads in the speed that it does. The challenge I find is: ‘What will remain from the theological perspective if every small community interprets Islam in its own way without a unifying body of sorts?’ (akin to the ministries of religious affairs in Muslim majority countries).
I guess, this is what Islamic practice in minority communities look like, and I’m genuinely fascinated by it.. Maybe because this is the first time I witness Islam in action as a part of a minority..
Salaam..