Andrew Rippin's Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices: The PDF

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Extra info for Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices: The Contemporary Period (Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices)

Sample text

Despite earlier optimism, technology has not managed to solve the basic problems of the world such as starvation. Faith in the moral evolution of humanity (especially the trust in democracy) has been destroyed in the furnaces of Auschwitz; the reality of continuing racism and of the potential for evil that lurks in humanity is felt. The impact of the industrialization of the world in terms of unemployment, pollution, maldistribution of goods and the merging of cultures has been recognized. Feminism and the assertiveness of less-developed countries (with a view to directing their own future through their own value systems) have both accompanied and perhaps been precipitated by post-modernism.

For the Radical Islamists, modernity may be embraced, but not to the extent of modifying what are argued to be essential elements of the faith—Sunday for juma‘ prayer, rather than Friday, since it is more convenient, or the abolition of Ramadan for purposes of increasing production are to be rejected. Another point which distinguishes the groups is the Fundamentalist argument that the Qur’anic society is by no means an unobtainable ideal: it is very practical, within reach and worth pursuing; Modernists tend to see the ideal as one towards which Muslims must keep striving ceaselessly.

That, from some people’s perceptions, those methods are now being severely tried is, of course, a part of the overall internal Muslim debate. Ibn Taymiyya, who died in 1328, is the intellectual hero of the fundamentalist tendency. He argued strenuously for purging Islam of various practices prevalent at his time, especially popular Sufi practices such as excessive asceticism, tomb visitations and saint worship, along with beliefs such as miracle working. He argued against these things by appealing to the 30 Muslims: their religious beliefs and practices Qur’an and the practice (sunna) of Muhammad; anything which could not be justified on this basis was to be rejected.

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