N Muhammed khaleel
Decolonial Islam faces ample of problems, spawned by colonialism. Colonialism had not only created a formidable brunt on politico-economical spheres of the nation states but also on societies, mainly on Muslim multitude. Building colonialism in Muslim society was much risky process to be implemented. Using the sociology (also known as colonial sociology)/social anthropology they could find that it is the ‘tradition’ that bind all Muslims under a single and true faith, which is to be demolished to achieve their aim. it was mostly done through Islamic traditional institutions such as madras’s(Islamic seminary),where the Islamic traditions are taught perfectly. Through creating the ‘progressive ‘among Muslims the Islamic tradition was ‘other’ised and alienated. but the aftermath of their aggression was highly affected on the Islamic faith. many new interpretation of Islam negating the holy imams(spiritual leaders and scholars) and which persist to follow only the fundamental texts of Islam such as Quran and hadees (prophetic statements).but in Islam interpreting those according to one’s own opinion, who hasn’t much knowledge about Islamic prohibited. so these interpretations bigoted many Islams such as liberal ,progressive ,radical ,modernist ,orthodoxy and thus constituting a concept ‘Islam as Islams’(ahmed,2015).
I argue that colonial intervention in Muslim multitude, especially in educational field had produced much faith issues and thus created a notion of ‘Islam as Islams’.i don’t claim that the the entire cause of the rise of such a notion is colonialism.but it is no exaggeration to say that it has a pivotal role in shaping this notion. one of the most problem with this notion is the misunderstanding of Islam and confusing public sphere of which is right. taking a bird view of the Kerala context my argument will be some more blatant.
Islam, tradition and Muslims
Islam became perfect by the advent of prophet. But it is hard to follow and practice Qur’an his statements without the assistance of Islamic scholar’s .so the texts and orders are understood through these scholastic interpretations. Following predecessors is prime to any religion, tradition or society. after the colonial intervention in muslim multitude through educational reforms many ‘educated’(who hasn’t much knowledge about Islam but learned material education much) persons appeared in the mainstream arguing the authority and power in Islam. all those came with negating predecessors and insisted on new modern interpretations of one’s own. This problem created a religious crisis in Kerala and exacerbated the intra religious harmony.
The “tradition” as Talal Asad says:”consists essentially of discourses that seeks to instruct practitioners regarding the correct form and purpose of a given practice that precisely because it is established, has a history. These discourses conceptually relate to past and a future through a present. “His words implies of about the authority of tradition in a religion or society. To my extend, tradition in Islam is a ‘becoming’(its formation through several procedures) at initial stage and frequently became a ‘being’(the authoritative power).
As said above, many came with different interpretations claiming to be modern progressive and so on. The group which persisted and followed the divine path shown by predecessors were came to be known as orthodoxy (they were also known as sunni fraction in Kerala).
Colonialism and educational reforms
“Colonialism tried to deform all the cultural traditions of Islam” (Huntington,1996).colonialism started its expedition after a deep study on the society where they are going to intervene. on the study with Kerala Muslims they found out that it is the tradition that binds all Muslims under a single roof and encourages them to resist colonialism. they came to know that the madrassas are the centers which teach Muslims about their tradition.
With aim of demolishing madrassa system they started to make educational reforms for Muslims. Two methods were adopted for this. first ,to include material education in madrassa syllabus and thus belittle credential education. Second, to disseminate English education through madrassas to replace Arabi from the Muslim discourses. such a project had great result when practiced at world level. An institution teaching Islamic subjects in English was established near Al-Azhar university(a well known muslim university) under the leader ship of Mr. dunlop. stipend and scholarships were also given to students. many opted these institution and resulted in the decrease in Arabi learners and hence its importance. such a project was started also in India by establishing a madrassa at Kolkata in 1784.
Taking the context of Kerala, former method was implemented through three strategic forms. first, to give credential education only in Malayalam language. two persons were appointed for this, kunji moyi haji and sayed abdul gafoor shah, who prepared syllabuses hidayathul muslimeen and sanmarga deepam respectively according to British opinions. to teach Islamic education in Malayalam language and to negate arabi.PN Muhammed moulavi pulikkal was appointed with this regard.third, to force madrassa teachers to include material education in the present syllabus. Financial assistance such as government grand and other motives were given. This belittled credential education in madrassas. Colonial regime promoted material education in madrassa but disregarded credential education. Later theses madrassas were converted to school as which is now known as mappila aided schools (swalih,2013).
The students who studied in those schools were of weird views about Islam and its representation. as they were not enough learned about Islam they incepted to interpret and misconstrue the holy texts such as Quran and hadees. some views were liberal, radical, claiming progression etc. all these persons stared to establish groups, parties such as jamaet’ islami, mujahid, and most them has separate existence(identity) in Kerala context. all these groups tried to scorn alienate sunnis ,who strongly holds the tradition. some of the persons in these groups even negated both Quran and hadees arguing that both were male-centered. thus public could see many groups claiming Islam with different and diverse views which lead their consciousness to understand ‘Islam as many islams’. one of the most problem with those different interpretations is that the public could understand it as Islam .because of their argument from inside Islam they also became an inclusive category. Thus even the radical views of those groups such as ‘non-Muslims arte not deserved to live in Muslim countries’ are misunderstood as the teachings of Islam. Even there is a clear demarcation between Islam and Muslims (i.e., what they do and how they approach Islamic doctrines) there is a western constructed notion that what Muslims do is the Islam. i do not fully allege that colonialism is the sole factor in this regard. but it has a pivotal role in making such a trouble to suffer decolonial Islam.
after the great hangover of colonialism, Islam is in the path of regaining its legacies and cultural forms. but the decolonial Islam finds the problem of a relocation in the society. There is only one Islam which follows both holly texts, agree to earlier scholars, depends on Islamic tradition rather than finding liberal paths.
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N.Muhammmed khaleel is a research intern at Madeenathunnoor college of Islamic science. He is interested and engages in terrorism and political violence studies, mappila studies etc.