The Salafi Hierarchy?

I was mostly busy in other stuff so I could not post for a week or so but I am back now. Anyway the topic that I would like to highlight today is the idea of a Salafi hierarchy i.e., although some Salafis claim that they only follow the first three generations but the way they act shows the existence of the following hierarchy. The Salaf, IT – Ibn Tayimmah, Abdul Wahab, Ibn Baz, Albani, Madina School, (pick you favorite local) Sheikh. Admittedly the Salafi mindset cannot retain this dichotomy in theory and practice for long and thus the result is that the movement fragments, mainly because of the following line of reasoning.

Person A: My Sheikh is on the correct Manhaj and aqeeda while yours is not since it is obvious from clear proofs that there is only one meaning of these statements. Your Sheikh is clearly on error.
Person B: No, my Sheikh is on the correct Maanhaj and aqeedah while yours is not since it is obvious from clear proofs that there is only one meaning of these statements. Your Sheikh is leading you to Bidaah.
Person A: No, No, my Sheikh is on the correct Maanhaaj and aaqeedaah while yours is not since it is obvious from clear proofs that there is only one meaaning of these statements. Your Sheikh is aan imposter.

An admission by you know who

Here is another excerpt from the Washington Times articles that I had referenced earlier. The text appears to be what amount to an admission by kingdom. The good thing is that at least they have realized their mistake.

A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom’s religious studies curriculum “encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the ‘other.’ ” Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts.

A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: “We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths.” The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated.

Dispatch from the Textbooks

Here is another excerpt from the Fourth Grade text book from KSA, according to The Washington Post, May 21, 2006. Notice that there is difference between hating the person’s beliefs and hating the person. So the following is hate speech, and people ask why do people do violent acts?

“True belief means . . . that you hate the polytheists and infidels but do not treat them unjustly.”

If this is not Anti-semiticism then what is?

The following is an excerpt from an eight grade Saudi Text book according to the The Washington Post (May 21, 2006) Read and decide for yourself what is going on here.

“Some of the people of the Sabbath  ….. were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship the devil, and not God.”

On the non-Arab Makrooh Issue

One commentor posted what amounted to a clarification on the issue of being non-Arab and being Makrooh. The commentor points a link to a blog. To be fair, the person has made a good point but I do not think that it goes far enough. I shall summerize and comment on the link. The person rightfully points out that whenever we look at or evaluate statements from another time and era we must take into account the cultural mileau in which the statement was made. We must evaluate Ibn Tayimmah’s statement based on this reasoning. Well said but this is precisely the point that most of the Salafis fail to see. On the other hand their are certain things like the fundamentals of religion which are to be taken as eternal and non-changing. Also there is a limit to the hermaneutics of any text. While one can apply the “being like non-Arab is Makrooh” statement being set in a historical and cultural context and exculpate Ibn Tayimmah, it still leave us with the even bigger problem of contemporary Saudi scholars making similar statements and a large number of Muslims believing in this statement without taking the cultural context into account. This is one of the main dangers of the “cut and paste Islam.”

The problem with many of the Salafis is that they apply only one type of hermaneutics and declare it as the only valid type of hermeneutics. In some instances people do not even call it hermaneutics and declare that what they are saying is the meaning and not an interpretation.