“Why is History Important?” A Summary of Our Episode with Adnan Rashid.
The question is quite intriguing and many answers come to mind. Our guest Adnan Rashid delivers the answer to this question when he says “history teaches us lessons”. Through this episode we explore the importance of history in helping us understand the present challenges.
Topic 1 Social media
Host Tanzim and Rafael allude to the impact social media has played in the spreading of dawah and Adnan Rashid responds by reminiscing about using “big VCR tapes” showcasing the great debate performances from da’ees Ahmad Deedat and Dr Zakir Naik. Since then we have seen an explosion in the dawah scene particularly in the UK with notable examples Hamza Tzortzis, Suboor Ahmed and Adnan Rashid himself making up the older generation of contemporary YouTube Dawah men. Their knowledge has passed on to the likes of Ali Dawah and Adnan Rashid’s own son Musa Adnan who continue to inspire the Muslim youth to question the status quo put forth by secular liberals. The UK Muslim community and even the global community have much to thank Adnan Rashid and his colleagues for their incredible contribution towards bringing Islamic arguments to the table and superseding the lacklustre arguments put forward by Christian academics. The YouTube videos produced by Adnan Rashid et al regularly number hundreds of thousands of views demonstrating their immense popularity even among non-Muslims on the powerful video sharing website. Adnan Rashid concludes that the use of technology is paramount to the success of the Muslim ummah and it is important that we fully invest to benefit the development of the Muslim World and even towards a 2nd Golden age of Islam.
Topic 2 Dawah Scene
All of the speakers agree that there is something special about the UFC style debates that are present in the UK as opposed to the USA. The fact that you can be bombarded from all four sides whether its Christians, right wingers, atheists and liberals means you have to be able to answer when called upon explains Adnan Rashid. Co-host Rafael adds that Dr Mohamed Ghilan remarked these challenges mean that Muslims need to relearn their faith especially the Seerah, Aqida and the Qur’an to be able to answer for their faith.
Topic 3 The Ummah’s greatest challenge
The hosts ask Adnan Rashid “What is the greatest problem facing the Ummah”. Adnan Rashid replies that the main problem facing the Ummah is an identity crisis. We as an Ummah have forgotten the achievements of our past civilisations in the scientific, literary, philosophic, poetry, military and state-building realms. Adnan reveals that there is a great amount of literature in the Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages that have been greatly underappreciated by the modern world. This has added to the divisions of the Ummah with the weak bonds displaced by the stronger nationalistic tendencies. In fact Adnan alludes to the lines drawn up as borders between nations that had not existed the year before. In fact we are seeing the effects of these colonial creations today for instance the Sykes Picot agreement which has proven to result in growing instability in the countries Syria and Iraq. Horrific war and devastation governs these borders where weak ethnic and religious bonds keep the nations from splitting apart although de-facto sense they have. Extremist groups have taken advantage of the weak central governments of Iraq to wreak havoc and destruction only to be pushed pack momentarily until they resurface again because they main issues that give rise to these extremist groups have not been resolved.
These groups exist because of the colonial medalling and it is time for us to take control of the narrative and be well informed about the geopolitical situation of the Muslim Ummah.
The solution to this Adnan says is appreciating our bonds as Muslims by highlighting our past achievements as an Islamic Civilisation rather than a cabal of different nations of varying nationalities. The situation of the Ummah has seen a great decline as nationalism, secularism and liberalism have taken hold in our respective nations. To resolve this it is important to take control of the narrative and start to build our sense of Islamic identity. Some new initiatives such as the new Islamic Summit between Turkey, Iran and Malaysia may only be cosmetic changes and ironically did not host nations of the Arab League. We need leaders like Erdogan, Imran Khan and Dr Mahathir to lead the ummah to greater unity.
There is hope that these new initiatives can inspire greater Islamic Unity to confront the aggression and blatant Islamophobia that exists in the world today.
Topic 4 Extremism
As Muslims we all acknowledge that there is an extremist wing of the Islamic community that has done tremendous damage to the image of Islam and resulted in a spike in Islamophobic attacks. Adnan Rashid emphasises the importance of condemning extremism while rejecting its association to Islam. Co-host Tanzim asks whether this approach is too defensive and gives way to the arguments that there is a correlation between Islam and extremism. Adnan Rashid clarifies that Muslims should not give others the chance to take control of the narrative condemning extremism while going on the offensive highlighting the damage western intervention and colonialism has caused creating a vacuum for extremist elements. All sides conceded that the Muslim community is always on the defensive on these issues and there must be a multi-pronged approach to dealing with this issue. Adnan Rashid gives the example of Imran Khan President of Pakistan who highlighted Islamophobia as a major issue during his address at the UN in 2019. Adnan goes on to outline the need for further political representation, fair and balanced journalism, peer reviewed academic works and grass roots activism
Topic 5 Islamic Civilisation
Rafael begins by saying that he didn’t really appreciate the concept of Islamic civilisation until he went to Morocco where he was amazed at the hospitality and brotherliness that he felt from his Moroccan brothers. This is juxtaposed with the polite but distant feelings he had towards fellow Christian Europeans.
Rafael asks a great question “Is there a time when the Islamic civilisation declined?”
Adnan responds firstly by criticising the Christians for their own decline in most of Europe with exceptions in Poland and Italy. Christianity, he says only lives through its marvellous monument and structures without a soul unlike the Islamic civilisations. Adnan says “This Ummah will always remain an Ummah” and the Muslim civilisation will always last till the end of times. The “system of Islam is perfect but the humans are not” says Adnan Rashid and he goes on to mention the difficult times during the fitna of Uthman Ra and Ali Ra and then onto the classical period the Umayyads and the Abbasids which were less than perfect in the way they governed. However, there was periods of high level of development in health, science, education, the law and governance. There has been no period where Islam was governed totally and perfect and Adnan says the Khawarij are those who seek perfection in their religion and system of governance.
Topic 6 Rulers and Rebellion
Adnan Rashid despairs at the state of the Ummah due to several rebellions including those of Libya and Syria and Egypt. He highlights the result of the rebellions with new dictatorships such as Sisi’s and emboldened dictators like Assad still in power. “Was it worth it”? asks Adnan Rashid with up to million people murdered and many more in asylum it appears that it was not worth it, in fact Assad, Haftar and Sisi are worse are only stronger after the respective rebellions. Adnan Rashid’s views align with those of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf whose past comments on the humiliation of Syrian made rounds in 2019.
In this part of the episode I feel it is important to respectfully disagree. The people of Syria had no choice but to fight their ruler because there was mass disappearances and torture of average civilians and even young children. The determination of the Syrian people to fight back is brave and courageous despite the consequence. It is always easy to say live under a dictator when you’re not living under one yourself.
Adnan Rashid offers alternatives saying the scholars of the land must guide the nation with regards to political matters and the people should not be swayed by rag tag political movements that rebel and disturb the status quo. Adnan Rashid correctly goes back to history saying this is a common theme in the Islamic history, Hussain Ra vs Yazeed and Ibn Zubayr vs Al-Hajjaj where rebellion followed by disaster and havoc ensues.
Topic 7 Gradualism
Perhaps a gradual approach is needed and promoted by Adnan Rashid. The way of Rajib Tayyip Erdogan who has transformed Turkey over 20 years in power. Despite his flaws all sides agree he has made significant reforms in promoting Islam in the public domain such as ending the headscarf ban, changing the curriculum and even endorsing Islamic friendly programs like Ertugrul. A slower approach leads less destruction and more stability and nation building remarks Adnan Rashid.
Conclusion
This episode touched on many facets that are quite interesting. Whether to rebel or not is a highlight and should be discussed and explored further on another episode. Many scholars have sided with the political quietist approach while political activists seek a complete top-down change such as Hizbut Tahrir. Perhaps a round table or debate is in order.
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