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"Living introduction to Islam"

Hasan Suroor

A new book refutes the perception of the religion as a closed and rigid system.

IN THE overheated post-9/11 debate on Islam, hijacked by rabid Islamists on the one hand, and, equally rabid Islamophobes, on the other, many of its defining principles have been lost in translation, creating the notion of a doctrine which, by its insistence on total submission, has reduced its followers to automatons.

The popular image of Islam today, thanks as much to those who presume to speak in its name as to its detractors, is of a religion that is inherently undemocratic, inflexible, exclusivist, anti-woman and makes no allowances for human frailties. Mostly, Muslims themselves have contributed to this image: the "fatwa" against Salman Rushdie; the violent Muslim reaction to the Prophet's cartoons; the discriminatory laws against women in Islamic countries; and widespread intolerance of anything perceived to be "un-Islamic" have all helped to perpetuate the idea of Islam as a regressive faith.

So, what is Islam really like? Did Prophet Muhammad, in real life, remotely resemble the slightly intimidating and infallible figure we are presented with by the Establishment Islam? What exactly does "jihad" mean? What does the Koran say about those who choose not to be Muslims? What about the role of women in Islam? How does Islam approach issues such as social justice, racism, and relations with people of other faiths?

These are some of the questions Tariq Ramadan addresses in a new biography of Prophet Muhammad (The Messenger: The Meanings of the life of Muhammad, Allen Lane, £20) in an effort to correct the many misrepresentations that have become so much a part of received wisdom about Islam and its messenger. A senior research fellow at Oxford University, Professor Ramadan — named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the century — is a highly-respected, and often controversial, Islamic scholar who has been in the forefront of the Islam debate. The fact that he has been attacked both by the Bush administration, which banned his entry into the United States, and Muslim extremists is a testimony to his credibility. His book is not a polemical tract or aimed at anyone on either side of the Muslim/non-Islam divide. It is the work of a man who, both as a practising Muslim and a serious Islamic scholar, clearly feels uncomfortable with the way Islam has come to be seen. He describes the book as a "living introduction to Islam" for both Muslims and non-Muslims. In telling the story of the life of the Prophet, he takes readers through the early history of Islam and its relationship with other great religions of the time. But the focus remains on the Prophet.

People may ask: why another biography of Muhammad? Professor Ramadan himself raises this question and makes clear that the book does not set out to "disclose any new facts, or provide an original or revolutionary interpretation of the history of prophethood and its context." Its aim essentially is to emphasise the "humanity" of Prophet Muhammad and, thus, demystify him without in any way undermining his divinity as the Messenger of God.

Leading by example

Indeed, it was his "humanity," Professor Ramadan argues, that made it possible for Muhammad to lead by personal example. He was a flesh-and-blood figure, prone — like all ordinary human beings — to moments of weakness, sickness, and mortality. He was not some sort of a "superman" with powers to perform miracles.

"To those who, in his lifetime, wanted miracles and concrete evidence of his prophethood, Revelation ordered him to reply: `I am but a man like yourselves... ,'" Professor Ramadan writes and says: "That this man was chosen and inspired by God but also fully accepted his own humanity is what makes Muhammad an example and a guide for the Muslim faithful."

He recounts that when Muhammad died, one of his close companions refused to believe the news of his death saying that he had only been "raised to heaven" and would come back. He "threatened to kill whoever dared claim that the Prophet was dead." Upon which another companion asked him to be quiet and said: "... let those who worshipped Muhammad know that Muhammad is now dead! As for those who worshipped God, let them know God is alive and does not die." He then recited a Koranic verse which said Muhammad was "no more than a messenger," and his death did not mean people should "turn back" from the path he had shown them.

Muhammad was a warm, good-humoured, compassionate, and generous man who preached humility, tolerance, and co-existence with all, including non-Muslims. And he practised what he preached: "The Prophet himself was a model of equity toward those who did not share his faith. Through all the years of his mission, he had continued to receive important deposits from non-Muslim traders who went on dealing with him and wholly trusted him."

He would have shrugged off Satanic Verses and laughed away the Danish cartoons, but he would have resisted (waged "jihad") against injustice, oppression, and persecution. The Islam he preached and practised was not the Islam the fanatic Muslims and their mainstream apologists preach and practise. His Islam did not advocate violence against the so-called "infidels" but let people live according to their own beliefs. He said: "... I am not a worshipper of that which you worship, nor are you worshippers of what I worship. To you be your religion, and to me mine."

Simply by the recounting the life and times of the Prophet and juxtaposing it with verses from the Koran, this book — based on classical Islamic sources — refutes the perception of Islam as a closed and rigid system bogged down in rituals. For all those who have done so much damage in the name of Islam and, in the process, to Islam itself this book must be made compulsory reading.

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