Understanding change and changeability: The ethics of disagreement in Islamic thought
Disagreement without standard norms and values has become a dangerous trend as a slogan and motto in the contemporary history of human society, particularly in Muslim society. While it has been used by Islamic scholars as a means of developing Islamic thought and bringing positive socio-cultural...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Journal of Academic Perspectives
2015
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/50986/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50986/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50986/4/50986.pdf |
| Summary: | Disagreement without standard norms and values has become a dangerous trend as a slogan
and motto in the contemporary history of human society, particularly in Muslim society. While
it has been used by Islamic scholars as a means of developing Islamic thought and bringing
positive socio-cultural and economic-political changes, it has been leveled as
extremism/terrorism by politicians and civil society for their political interest or power struggle
in contemporary time. Examples of disagreement in bringing changes include; the military
administration and Ikhwanul Muslimun disagreement in Egypt, Sunni-Shiite disagreement,
changes through the democratic process by the Justice party in Turkey, changes through Islamic
revolutionary process in Iran, changes through the democratic process by Ikhwan al-Muslimin
in Egypt, changes in Islamic moderate approach by al-Nahdah in Tunisia, and changes through
the democratic process with moderate approach by Bangladesh Jamat-i- Islami in Bangladesh
and Pakistan. Differences of opinion are also found among Muslim exegetes’ interpretation of
the Qur`an such as contextual and historical interpretation by feminists, explanatory analysis by
rationalists and literal interpretation of the Qur`an by the traditionalists. However, the most
dangerous malady that afflicts the Muslim Ummah is that of disagreement and discord that has
penetrated into people’s ideas, beliefs, views, opinions, morality, behavior language, and
interactions. The early Muslims’ disagreements were not the cause of separating one from
another and managed to rid their personal weaknesses. The recent contours of disagreement
are related to various groups and organizations. In these situations, the question arises how to
bring positive changes through disagreement where people have differences of opinions and
views. It is also important for any tradition to have a systematic hermeneutical framework
towards an ethics of disagreement for beneficial and meaningful change. In religion, it is not
difficult to find a hermeneutical methodology that allows for differences and otherness to live
side by side, towards unity in diversity. It only needs to be reviewed.
Given the context, there is a need to examine the meaning, brief history, the causes and
ethics of disagreement, and to analyze these within the purview of contemporary Islamic
thought based on the textual arguments of the Qur`an and Sunnah. This paper also briefly
reviews the responses of Muslim scholars with a textual analysis and inductive approach to
analyzing the prospects of formulating an Islamic stance on changes and disagreements with
ethics in the current context. It is also hoped that the ideas raised will ultimately contribute to
understanding and clarify the Islamic stance on the issues for both Muslim and non-Muslim
communities in contemporary society. |
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