Arresting and Reversing the Militarization of the Epistemology of Islam: Tradition and the Transformation of the Religion of Peace into a Religion of

Traditional Muslims are struggling to "fit in" the "contemporary" world. Why is that? Is there is a tension between "tradition" and "modernity"? Are Muslims trapped between the past and the present? Tradition teaches that all non-Muslims are kuffar. Traditional Muslims receive sectarian education. They adhere to tradition rather than revelation. But traditions change; principles do not. Traditions does not possess the timelessness and universality of revelation. Traditions were relevant in the past; revelation is relevant at present, too. Traditionists treat tradition as "revelation," they treat past practices by the predecessors as binding. They treat tradition as a "judge" of revelation. To treat tradition as a "judge" of revelation is to reverse the relationship between revelation and tradition, to place the rulings of persons above the rulings of God. It is to fall into shirk. This is what transpired in Islam. It transpired as a result of the reticence to engage reason. The reticence to engage reason to know revelation corrupted knowledge. The corruption of knowledge in turn plunged the umma into a string of trials and tribulations. The umma is experiencing a crisis after crisis. The misunderstanding of the teaching of revelation resulted from the reluctance to use reason to know revelation. The corruption of the knowledge of revelation was exacerbated by the politicization of exegesis. The politicization of exegesis resulted in a misrepresentation of the teaching of revelation. The political rendering of Islam was triggered by the effort to "reinterpret" the teaching of revelation to endorse the expansionary aspirations of feudal regimes. Exegesis was corrupted by assumptions that flout key teachings of revelation. These encompass the assumption that the Book of Allah is in parts "unclear," "incomplete" and even "incoherent." These assumptions provided the "justification" for the turn from revelation to tradition. Reading revelation "in light of tradition" tainted the knowledge of revelation. The corruption of knowledge was exacerbated by the reticence to use reason in the reading of revelation. Problematic presuppositions in exegesis caused exegetes to reach perceptions that differ from what revelations teaches. As a result of the corruption of knowledge, Islam is a faint reflection of its former self. Propelled by rage, radicalized persons fall into error and perpetrate terror. They were encouraged by "scholars" who treat terror as "martyrdom operations." What could explain misguidance on this scale? The religion of reconciliation was reinterpreted as a religion of war. This required turning from revelation and a rejection of reason. The fall into the abyss of "intellectual retardation" was enabled by the rejection of reason as a way to understand revelation. But it is asserted that Islam is not responsible for terrorism. That is true for the Islam of the Book of Allah, which permits fighting in self-defense, or against persecution. But the Islam of the militant ulama is not the Islam of the Book of Allah. It is the Islam of traditions, and the Islam of all the good, bad and the ugly in that tradition. It is the Islam of jihad al-talab, or the propagation of Islam by the sword. It is the Islam of the clash between the dar al-Islam and the dar al-harb, the realm of peace vs the realm of war. It is the Islam of extremists. It is time to tell the emperor that he has no clothes on. Present-day Islam is a result of a millennium of "interpretation." This did not transpire without its politicization. Islam was politicized to render it amenable to the political or empire-building agendas of the ruling elites. Politicized ulama, benefiting from the patronage of the rulers, stepped up to the task of providing what the rulers wanted: an Islam divested of troublesome teachings on ethics, rationality and justice.