Madhab

24 Pages 5943 Words

The ummah's greatest achievement over the past millennium has
undoubtedly been its internal intellectual cohesion. From the fifth
century of the Hijra almost to the present day, and despite the outward
drama of the clash of dynasties, the Sunni Muslims have maintained an
almost unfailing attitude of religious respect and brotherhood among
themselves. It is a striking fact that virtually no religious wars,
riots or persecutions divided them during this extended period, so
difficult in other ways.


The history of religious movements suggests that this is an unusual
outcome. The normal sociological view, as expounded by Max Weber and his
disciples, is that religions enjoy an initial period of unity, and then
descend into an increasingly bitter factionalism led by rival
hierarchies. Christianity has furnished the most obvious example of
this; but one could add many others, including secular faiths such as
Marxism. On the face of it, Islam's ability to avoid this fate is
astonishing, and demands careful analysis.


There is, of course, a straightforwardly religious explanation. Islam is
the final religion, the last bus home, and as such has been divinely
secured from the more terminal forms of decay. It is true that what
Abdul Wadod Shalabi has termed spiritual entropy has been at work ever
since Islam's inauguration, a fact which is well-supported by a number
of hadiths. Nonetheless, Providence has not neglected the ummah. Earlier
religions slide gently or painfully into schism and irrelevance; but
Islamic piety, while fading in quality, has been given mechanisms which
allow it to retain much of the sense of unity emphasised in its glory
days. Wherever the antics of the emirs and politicians might lead, the
brotherhood of believers, a reality in the initial career of
Christianity and some other faiths, continues, fourteen hundred years
on, to be a compelling principle for most members of the final and
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