Muslim conference – with question marks

On 3-4 December 2014 there was a large-scale conference held on the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, to meet the urgent need to make a statement about the Islamic State⁹. The symposium – unique in the world and of historical importance – condemned terrorism and extremism.

There were about 700 participants from 120 countries – there were Muslim and Christian representatives, among others Tavadros II Coptic Pope, leaders from the eastern churches and religious leaders of the Muslim world – at the conference, which was held at the most important educational centre of the Sunni Islam, and the closing statement¹⁰ of which declared the Islamic extremism crime against mankind. Aggression committed in the name of religion has never been condemned on such a high-level Muslim forum before.

The document states that any violence aiming at driving out Christians from the areas under the control of Islamic groups is “considered a crimi-nal act”. The wording of the declaration is clear: Islamic State and the “al Nusra” Islamic group has nothing to do with the “real” Islam. Terrorising and driving away the defenceless, killing the innocent and demolishing sa-cred places are all crimes against mankind, which is condemned by Islam.¹¹ The fact itself, that the conference was organised and the declaration was created shows that the religious and secular intellectuals of Islam are concerned about what can be done against terrorism. It is important that the declaration emphasizes the responsibility of the religious intellectuals

9 The Isalmic State (ad-Dawlah al-ʾIslāmiyyah), or with its other names Islamic State of Iraq and Levant or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (the English acronym is ISIS) is a Sunni djihadist terrorist organisation, in the creation and succesful rise of which the USA and its allies have a so far not clarifi ed, but serious role.

10 The original text can be found here: http://www.azhar.eg/conf2014/ar-eg/

(L.d.:14.10.2015.)

11 http://www.magyarkurir.hu/hirek/tortenelmi-jelentosegu-iszlam-konferenciat-tartottak-az-al-azhar-egyeteme (L.d.: 14.10.2015.)

(ulema)¹² to fi ght against the Islam interpretation of terrorism. It states that everything the terrorists and the extremists do is a crime against mankind, and that “Islam is innocent” in these negative phenomena. It recognises that the fear from Islam is present in the West, and decides that this must be fought against with all possible means.

However, the document does not specify what the expressions kafi r¹³ and musrik¹⁴ mean to Christians. There is no allusion to how the Islam relates itself to the most sacred secret of Christianity: the Holy Trinity, which – stigmatised as pantheism – is traditionally the greatest ignominy in the eyes of the Muslims. It does not specify how great the responsibility of the religious intellectuals, Wahhabism¹⁵, the Salafi sts¹⁶ and especially the Azhar University, is in the violent acts committed against Christians

12 In Arabic ulamá („academics of religion”), a collective name for the academics of the Islam religion, and the practitioners of religious knowledge. The fundamental function of ulama is to adjudicate following the saria – the law based on Islam - and to practice and teach the religious knowledge. Ulema comprises the academics (mutakallims) of the classical Muslim dialectic theology (kalam), the learned followers of mysticizm and sufi sm, the authors (mufassirs) of the Quran interpretations, scholars (fi kh) of law fakih, pl. fukaha) the compilers (muhaddis) of traditions (haddis) serving as sources of law and the kadis (who judge in all kinds of cases) and the muftis who are entitled to publish for-mal legal opinions (fatva). In a wider sense the not particularly educated local religious leaders, the mollahs, the worship leaders (imams) and the Friday orators (hatibs) also belong here, but generally the higher educated religious leaders are identifi ed with the ulema.

13 An expression used to differenciate between muslims and non-muslims, it corresponds to the term “giaour”. The members of the ulema use it more subtly, anyhow it is not clear how they regard Christians.

14 Polytheistic, pagan, idolist, “associator” who does not believe in the oneness of Allah, those who worship others beside Allah, those who set rivals or partners beside Allah etc.

Plural: musrikún. (See: Quran 16:20, 61:9.)

15 It is an anti-modernisation religious movement connected to the name of Mohamed ibn Abdul-Wahhab, an 18th century Muslim scholar, who belonged to the Sunni, within that to the Hanbalita school of religious law. It became widespread in the 20th century, but is not acknowledged by the four classical schools of religious law.

16 In Islam Selef (or Salaf) means the genberation of the companions of Prophet Muham-mad (peace be with him) and the two generation following them (Tabiín – followers).

These three generations were famous for their religious knowledge, fear of god, justice and good deeds. Slafi sm tried to prove that Islam can remain valid in modern age and that it can be compatible with intellect and science. Nowadays those who call them-selves Salfi ts and belong to the sunni branch are generally characterised by conserva-tism, and they accept only certain scholars of the Islam religion.

during the “Arab Spring” – for example in Egypt¹⁷. The declaration does not mention either the relationship of Islam to violence in the 21st century or does not say what can guarantee the change if the religion of Mohamed has had a violent history from the beginning¹⁸. The bloody political Islam presents such a great problem, that it is not enough to say “Islam in fact is the religion of peace”.

The document does not say what should be thought about the Hadith¹⁹ which are used by the violent to justify their deeds. The conference does not clarify the relationship of present day Islam to the medieval texts;

should Sunnah be understood literally, and if yes, how does it relate to the demands of present day society?

The declaration does not deal with who has the right to interpret text in Islam, although this question is considered one of the greatest religious problems of the Islam world. Earlier the scribes interpreted the texts, but since the majority of the people can read and all the texts are available to anybody even with the help of a cell phone, who can stop anyone in theory or

17 “Arab spring” is the series of organised anti-government demonstrations that broke out – apparently with the assistance of foreign intelligence services – in the beginning of 2011. Among the countries concerned there is still chaos in Libya and Syria. The name is expressive, it spread reaching back to the “Spring of Nations” alluding to the 1848 wave of European revolutions. As prior events to the so called “Arab Spring” demonstrations and anti-government movements started in the North African countries in 2010, the con-sequence of which was that the North African governments fell after one another leaving total anrchy or temporary western puppet regime in their vake. Following the “Arab Spring” we can state that we can talk about the unity of the Arab world in the cultural and emotional sense but defi nitely not in the poitical sense.

18 We can fi nd examples from the life of Muhammad, for example the cruel execution of the leader of the village of Khaybar, or the extermination of the Qurajza tribe in Medina.

Islam spread with the help of military violence, the Muslim army moved with tremen-dous speed conquering Byzant, Persia, the whole of North Africa, the majority of the Iberian Peninsula, Syria, South-East Anatoly, the territory of Iran and Transoxany.

19 Hadith is the collection of Muhammad’s sayings, teaching and implicit approvals also comprising the Sunna (the life and example). In most branches of Islam – with the exception of the Quaritans for example) Hadith is the second most important source directly following the Quoran. Haith has two parts, one is Isnad that is the chain of narra-tors, the other is Matn, that is the text itself. Hadith records the words, acts and approvals of the prophet and also his explanations, and interpretations relating to all walks of life.

Hadith can be found in the various collections of Muslim scholars, which were compiled in the early centuries of Muslim civilization. Six such collections are considered to be the most authentic.

in practice from interpreting the ayats²⁰, of the Quran or the Sunna according to his own ideas? What can authorise us to say, that what the fundamental-ists are doing is not the “true” Islam? It should be explained why the way the “radicals” (and generally the political Islam) handle these texts is bad, who can be considered authentic hermeneutic, and also it would be good to see the religious discipline, which reassuringly resolves the question of hermeneutics in everyday life.

However, in the Sunni Islam there is not, there has never been and there cannot be clergy²¹. There are no authorities or institutions even similar to the pope or the Magisterium, so we do not exaggerate by saying that within Islam by keeping some basic rules, everybody can understand their Muslimhood according to their idea. However, if only Allah is the one and only judge of good Muslimhood, Allah himself and only Allah can declare somebody as a good or bad Muslim, then nobody can be excluded from the community, not even those, who clearly go opposite the fundamental principles of Islam, though observing them formally.

Muslim religious scholars themselves think, that steps must be taken against terrorism by military means. However, development from the part of Islam can only be expected, if in the future they fi nd the source of the violent manifestations and the reasons of their success. The fundamental question is if violence originates from the basis of Islam or it is the result of historical circumstances Islam was involved in, and so it can reject it as Christianity did in its self-refl ection²². However, this way it is inevitable

20 The Quoran comprises of 114 chapters (sura, i.e. ‘fence’), which are made up of short poems (ayat). The Quoran has 6348 ayats all together.

21 Ulema cannot be called clergy, because it does not offer sacrifi ce and does not constitute a distinct group.

22 The the purifi cation of memory “calls everyone to make an act of courage and humility in recognizing the wrongs done by those who were borne or bear the name of Christian.

It is based on the conviction that “Because of the bond which unites us to one another in the Mystical Body, all of us, though not personally responsible and without encroaching on the judgement of God who alone knows every heart, bear the burden of the errors and faults of those who have gone before us.” John Paul II adds: “As the Successor of Peter, I ask that in this year of mercy the Church, strong in the holiness which she receives from her Lord, should kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters.” (Incarnationis mysterium, 11.) The Pope repeats that “Chris-tians are invited to acknowledge, before God and before those offended by their actions, the faults which they have committed.” Then he comes to the conclusion: “Let them do so without seeking anything in return, but strengthened only by “the love of God which has been poured into our hearts” (Rom 5:5)”. (cont. Ref. He.)

that Islam should exercise self-criticism. Without clarifying these questions it is impossible to solve the problem that many people are encouraged by their Muslim leaders to blame the “rich West” for their own problems, and the disciplinary and theological questions won’t be resolved either, in the lack of which the Islam cavalcade cannot be controlled, the theory and practice cannot be harmonised, and the fundamental differences of the Islamic monotheism and Christian faith cannot be resolved.

The declaration rigidly refuses to consider terrorism as a religious issue, as the internal problem of Islam, although it would be necessary to clearly state what “true Islam” is, because only against this can we determine the notion of “not true” Islam. But what authority can do this?