Assalamu alaikum, firstly, I’m writing in a bit of a hurry, so this post is subject to editing at a later date.
I know that I’ve posted about my thoughts on “traditional Islam”, what kind of a Muslim I am, etc., however, given some of the stuff going on in some parts of the Muslim blogosphere at the moment, I felt the need to share some additional thoughts/limited observations.
I was speaking to a dear sister the other day, and it occurred to me that I’d discovered “traditional” Islam, as opposed to the Salafi dawa (and if that’s
not the correct term sorry), completely by accident. When I first became a Muslim, I knew nothing about madhhabs, etc., and probably that wasn’t entirely a
bad thing, as it’d have probably confused me at the time anyway. And the only reason that I was even introduced to the concept of madhhabs in the first place was
because I was constantly worried about whether or not my dog had touched my clothes, whether her nose was wet, whether or not her saliva had come in contact with my clothes, etc., etc. When I mentioned this to a brother he said to me, “why don’t you look into the Maliki madhhab, because in the Maliki school, dogs are considered to be clean, including their saliva, and that might give you some peace”. What? Madhhab? What is that? And so began my search.
I didn’t become a “traditional” Muslim because of some awful experiences at the hands of the “Salafiyyah”. I didn’t come to traditional Islam as a reaction to something else. I just sorta fell into it. I guess you could say it happened completely by accident. And I thought to myself, well, if I’m following the Maliki madhhab for this, why not just follow the madhhab exclusively? Especially because all other opinions regarding dogs, even with Salafis, held that at the very least, the dog’s saliva is considered impure. So if I followed a different ruling than that, considering even the dog’s saliva to be pure, then that would possibly affect other things like purity for prayer, i.e., were my clothes, place, and/or person considered clean/suitable for prayer? Perhaps in the Maliki madhhab yes, but for other madhhabs/methodologies, probably not. So it made sense to me that I just follow the Maliki madhhab exclusively. And based on what I’d read, and many knowledgeable people that I asked, I couldn’t find enough to tell me that this course of action was necessarily “wrong”. So that’s it, my journey to “traditional Islam” in a nutshell.
Perhaps that’s why I have no idea what people are talking about when they’ve talked about traditional Islam being a movement. Or that “traditional Islam” is sinking into the same sorts of schisms as the Salafis went through, etc. And I’ve been told by some that traditional Islam is a “movement”, and I’m part of this movement whether I like it or not, whether I realize it or not, and if I say I’m not part of this “movement”, if I attempt to validate my own truths/experiences, I’m just a naive little twit who’s not lived enough, and if I don’t agree with this view than I just need to grow up and get over myself. It’s as though I’m being forced to define myself as being part of some “movement” that I somehow unwittingly subscribed to, and a “movement” that I did not choose to be a part of. And I’m told that because I chose to follow a madhhab exclusively, that I became a part of this movement, whether I like it or not, and whether I want to accept it or not. And I sure whish someone would have told me this in the beginning, I mean, I was just trying to find a way to practice Islam, that gave me peace! I wasn’t trying to be a part of some movement, some backlash to the Salafi dawa or anything like that! I just wanted to find a way to practice Islam, dog guide included, where I wasn’t constantly worried about my own state of purity. And once I accidentally fell into this category of “traditional Islam”, I then sought to find a safe haven for me to be able to discuss my thoughts and feelings, to ask questions, in an environment where the words “kufr”, “shirk” and “bida” weren’t hurled at me every time I opened my mouth. I’m not going to sit here and say that I *never* got caught up in the traditional VS. Salafi debate, however, it was never my intention to. And based on some of the online schisms I saw, the articles I read, and even the recent attacks against certain scholars that I’ve seen going on, I felt more than comfortable following an established, recognized methodology, and not just the “pick and choose”, “anyone can make a ruling”, kind of stuff I saw going on. And this doesn’t mean that anyone who follows this methodology is necessarily “wrong”. Farbeit for me to make any kind of statement like that! I’ll leave that to more qualified people than myself. I’m just saying for me, I felt more comfortable in following a more established methodology.
However, I guess my opinions are only important if I have a sob story about how the Salafis done me wrong. Or, now it seems, that the traditionalists done me wrong too. Or maybe my opinions are only important or valid if I have a certain number of blog readers, or have attended a certain number of events, or have been through x number of failed marriages, or have attended x number of deen intensives, Arabic classes, online classes, etc., or have studied and/or lived in x number of countries for x number of years.
I’m guessing this blind Muslim woman’s opinion, who only became a “traditional” Muslim, not because of some movement that may have just happened to be around at the time I converted and the time I started following a madhhab, but merely because I was trying to find a way to comfortably, and with less stress and doubt, use a dog guide and be a practicing Muslim at the same time. I guess my opinion doesn’t matter. Or at least, I’ve been made to feel in subtle and not so subtle ways, that my opinion, that my questions don’t matter.
There seems to be a backlash in some quarters anyway, to the “traditional Islam movement”, I guess you could say, at least the “traditional Islam” that has presented itself here in the West, and the “traditional Islam” that some Western scholars have been advocating for. And from what I can tell, this “traditional Islam” was, for many, a reaction to the whole Salafi stuff of the 1990’s, and now, it seems, people are beginning to feel that traditional Islam, too, is being plagued by these same sorts of issues.
Now I can’t attest to whether or not this is true. I’ve not experienced this. I’ve just been mozying along, trying to gain as much knowledge as I can, here and there, limited by the fact that I can’t travel and attend every single event due to finances, and I’m stymied from learning Arabic due to the fact that I’ve not been able to find anyone who can teach me Arabic Braille, and learning Arabic online is not an option, as far as I can tell, because my screen-reader won’t read Arabic characters.
It seems that my truth is not the same as many others, and somehow, I’ve been told that because I’ve not “lived enough”, I’m not allowed to question why “traditional Islam” isn’t OK anymore, or why it seems all of a sudden people are saying that traditional Islam is cultish, etc.
My truth is probably different from many others’ truths. Being blind does that! Blindness puts you outside of pretty much anyone else’s parameters, and makes your experiences different than pretty much anyone else’s. And I should be allowed to speak, to ask questions, to say that I’ve not been through the same sorts of things that others have, and not be called silly, stupid, naive, immature, or any other demeaning terms.
Personally, I don’t care if someone else is traditional, Sufi, Salafi, progressive, whatever! Be whatever you want to be! It’s the bashing of others, the throwing around of words that IMHO, we should think very carefully before throwing them around. And I get the distinct impression that my blindness gives some people a reason to push me aside, label me as immature, because I have the gall to say that I don’t agree with something, that I have a question, or whatever. And I’m not the type of person to scream ableism every chance I get, but I’m not sure if it’s that, if it’s the fact that I’m a woman, or the fact that I have pretty much been on the fringes of the community, not really aphiliated with any kinf of “movement” or “leadership”, or community of people. I’ve just sorta been floating along out here, encountering people briefly and then drifting away, mostly. Just trying to live my life the best way that I can. Am I th eonly one who’s been like this? Am I really so naive, so out of touch?
Perhaps blindness in and of itself makes you naive, maybe attending a residential school for the blind for all of one’s grade school years makes one naive? If I’m naive, how do I get rid of this? Because I’ve been called naive all my life, and I don’t see myself as such. I don’t know everything, there are a lot of things that I’ve not experienced, however, for some things, I thank Allah that I’ve not experienced them, and for many things, I’d rather just remain naive about.
Anyway, my writing juices are running out so I’ll go for now.
