Critique of the various segments of Pakistani population

[Eskander]

The secularist : They fail to see how secularism is a natural development of the Judeo-Christian civilization. The bible and the person of Jesus (as) didn't come with laws to govern a state. Early Christianity was more or less a spiritual version of Judaism. However, when the church gained political power, they misused it and you know the rest of the story. Islam on the other hand encompasses how a state and society should run, and there isn't a conflict of the material and spiritual needs in Islam. Secularism is alien to Islamic civilization and it will fail miserably. It has failed in Turkey and it only works if the government is actively oppressing religious groups and quelling dissenting opinion as in certain Central Asian Muslim states

Islamist : God won't transform a country into a land of milk and honey simply for the reason that its people are practicing religion in a very artificial manner, ie carrying out rituals. You need technocrats, bureaucrats, engineers, doctors, scientists, educators, businessmen and Islamic scholars working in unison with integrity to achieve success. The Shariah includes Stoning a women to death for adultery and chopping the hands of a thieve but it doesn't revolve around that. The main objective of Shariah is securing justice and protecting the honor, property, mind/body and faith of a person. The current political order of the world won't even allow (help) a Caliphate like order to exist. You should aim at empowering every Muslim state and creating a EU and NATO like organization, it is the modern equivalent of a caliphate.

Leftist : A small minority but in influential positions unfortunately. They should realize that the world has moved on from communism. It has failed in every single country where it was implemented. North Korea, Stalin's USSR, Pol Pot regime should deter anyone from supporting communism. It's not an economic theory and not even close to being scientific. It's an ideology blind to criticism.

Sufis cults : I will address the Sufis who have a more philosophical bent to them. Speculative theosophy has done a lot of damage to the practical character of Islam. Whether it's Wahdatul wujud in its full panenthiestic force displacing monotheism, or the concept of fana (annihilation) taking precedence over active participation in society as responsible citizens. The influence of Persianized neoplatonism is very apparent and it's contrary to the shape given to Islam by the Prophet (pbuh). The Khanqah system should be replaced or reformed so it actually fulfills its role of disciplining Muslims spiritually, otherwise it's a front for collecting sadaqah.

Salafi literalist: While it's good to take a look at Quran and Hadith without the lens of blind conformity, it's delusional to think one can reach the understanding of the Salaf by skipping the 1400 years of scholarship. It's also important to understand that various cultural and historical forces have distorted the hadith material we have, therefore, we should also criticize the matn and not rely on sanad alone , otherwise we will have many illogical, contradictory and disturbing narrations being passed around as hadith. It's also important that we allow regional cultures to accommodate themselves with Islam and that we don't suffocate them under the cover of puritanism.

 

[Lincoln]

A centrist point of view is very good, it tries to create a balance as long as the other two extremes are also reasonable (conservatism and liberalism) but the issue is that people on these extremes do not budge, they want all of it, or none of it.

 

[V. Makarov]

Salafi literalist: While it's good to take a look at Quran and Hadith without the lens of blind conformity, it's delusional to think one can reach the understanding of the Salaf by skipping the 1400 years of scholarship. It's also important to understand that various cultural and historical forces have distorted the hadith material we have, therefore, we should also criticize the matn and not rely on sanad alone , otherwise we will have many illogical, contradictory and disturbing narrations being passed around as hadith. It's also important that we allow regional cultures to accommodate themselves with Islam and that we don't suffocate them under the cover of puritanism.

Modern ambiguities regarding Ahadith mostly arise from the subcontinent, because people here started to deliberately follow Ahadith that were fabricated. For example, the prayer for breaking a fast in Ramadan, is not proven in even a single Hadith. And in Pakistan, the prayer is displayed on the TV screen at Maghrib prayer as if it is obligatory. Watch this video for more details.

The biggest blunder in Indo-Pak is that we do not ask our Molvis for references from Quran-o-Sunnat, and we end up following random rituals which have nothing to do with Quran-o-Sunnat. Once a person starts reading Quran and authentic Ahadith themselves, a lot of wrong and weird things our religious scholars do, start to make sense. If you want to have complete knowledge on what these things are, please listen to this man, who also has this channel.

Furthermore, you are right to say that the Matn of the Hadith also needs to be seen from the lens of Quran, and the sanad, exclusively, cannot validate a Hadith. Luckily for you, the authors of Sahi Bukhari, and Sahi Muslim have compensated for every such thing. They rejected ALL the ahadith that were against the teaching of Quran. Plus, many Muhadith, have done a lot of work on other books also, but few are of the same quality as of Sahi Bukhari and Muslim. Once you read the Quran yourself, you become 95% competent enough to judge whether a Hadith is right or wrong. Completely rejecting Ahadith on the basis that "all of them are fabricated" is false. Similarly, accepting all the Hadith on the basis that "Hadith Hadith hoti hai, sahi ho ya jaali" is also extremely wrong. All such things are discussed in extremely great detail by the scholar that I have mentioned in the links above. He belongs to no sect whatsoever. If you like researching religion, he will prove to be a mountain of knowledge, as he has exposed everything that you have been taught wrong, in the light of Quran and Sunnah.

 

[Eskander]

Modern ambiguities regarding Ahadith mostly arise from the subcontinent, because people here started to deliberately follow Ahadith that were fabricated. For example, the prayer for breaking a fast in Ramadan, is not proven in even a single Hadith. And in Pakistan, the prayer is displayed on the TV screen at Maghrib prayer as if it is obligatory. Watch this video for more details.

The biggest blunder in Indo-Pak is that we do not ask our Molvis for references from Quran-o-Sunnat, and we end up following random rituals which have nothing to do with Quran-o-Sunnat. Once a person starts reading Quran and authentic Ahadith themselves, a lot of wrong and weird things our religious scholars do, start to make sense. If you want to have complete knowledge on what these things are, please listen to this man, who also has this channel.

Furthermore, you are right to say that the Matn of the Hadith also needs to be seen from the lens of Quran, and the sanad, exclusively, cannot validate a Hadith. Luckily for you, the authors of Sahi Bukhari, and Sahi Muslim have compensated for every such thing. They rejected ALL the ahadith that were against the teaching of Quran. Plus, many Muhadith, have done a lot of work on other books also, but few are of the same quality as of Sahi Bukhari and Muslim. Once you read the Quran yourself, you become 95% competent enough to judge whether a Hadith is right or wrong. Completely rejecting Ahadith on the basis that "all of them are fabricated" is false. Similarly, accepting all the Hadith on the basis that "Hadith Hadith hoti hai, sahi ho ya jaali" is also extremely wrong. All such things are discussed in extremely great detail by the scholar that I have mentioned in the links above. He belongs to no sect whatsoever. If you like researching religion, he will prove to be a mountain of knowledge, as he has exposed everything that you have been taught wrong, in the light of Quran and Sunnah.

I am familiar with Mirza Engineer but he relies on Zubair Ali Zai and Sheikh Albani too much for my liking ( I respect both scholars btw), who don't necessarily follow the same methodology of muhadith like Imam Suyuti, Mulla Ali Qari etc. There is a difference of opinion when it comes to methodology of hadith verification. That's why it's not easy to understand Islam from Quran and hadith books ONLY , it can get very complicated if you are aware of the technicalities. A thorough understanding of all Islamic Sciences is definitely required

Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim and the other muhadith did try their best to not quote a hadith going against Quran and reason but it's an entirely different argument to say they succeeded. We find many narrations which are clearly fabricated in Bukhari, such as monkeys stoning an adulterous member of their group for eg or the Prophet (nazubillah) attempting suicide at the onset of his career, both narrations were rejected by latter scholars

Mullahs have certainly damaged the credibility of Islam by narrating too many karamats , most of which are folk tales but l won't be surprised if some are true. One of the good point raised by Mirza Engineer is that Islam disproves of supernatural happenings and encourages its followers to exercise effort and the companions didn't perform karamats, though they were most worthy of it. They starved, fought and bled, were martyred and displaced from their own homeland.

However, I don't like the disrespectful attitude of Mirza Engineer as it drives people away and creates barriers. I also disagree with Mirza Engineer on the continuation of ilham on the basis of Umar (ra) informing Sarriya miles away ( classified as Sahih by none other than Albani). Like Iqbal, l think there is an inner dimension to Islam, and you can verify the truth of Islam by progressing on the spiritual path, which is the essence of ihsan or taswauf. I hope Mirza Engineer oneday appreciates the science of ihsan in Islam as it's the heart of our religion, without which we will be performing rituals with a dead heart. I also hope , he would criticize ideas only and leave name calling aside, esp if it's a pious predecessor.

But he's an interesting individual and l hope he will become more like ghamidi in manners or like his teacher Moulana Ghulam Ishaq in views ( who spend his entire life bringing sects together and building bridges ).

 

[chinasun]

Pakistan has a rich cultural civilization and is the cradle of human civilization. Even secular culture is no weaker than any other country. I don't understand. Many people in Pakistan's secular class worship Western culture. You are also the most powerful and civilized country in the world. Ancestors can do things, why do not have confidence!Turkey, Iran and even Afghanistan all have their own dreams. No ideal, no future!

 

[SD 10]

Pakistan has a rich cultural civilization and is the cradle of human civilization. Even secular culture is no weaker than any other country. I don't understand. Many people in Pakistan's secular class worship Western culture. You are also the most powerful and civilized country in the world. Ancestors can do things, why do not have confidence!Turkey, Iran and even Afghanistan all have their own dreams. No ideal, no future!

the worshipping of western has gone down considerably but still a long way to go....it was on its peak in the 60s.