Islamic neo-traditionalism

Islamic neo-traditionalism is a contemporary strand of Sunni Islam that emphasizes adherence to the four principal Sunni schools of law, belief in the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of theology and the practice of Sufism, which its followers consider to be representative of the classical Sunni tradition.[1]^:225[2]^:11–13 It is opposed to Wahhabism, Salafism, liberalism and progressivism within Islam, and Islamic modernism.[3]^:199

Muslim scholars in the Arab world that have been described as neo-traditionalist include Gibril Haddad,[3]^:205 Abdallah bin Bayyah,[4] Ali Gomaa, Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Muhammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti,[5] and Ahmad al-Tayyeb.[1]^:227 The Lebanese Sufi movement Al-Ahbash has also been described as neo-traditionalist.[6] In the West, Muslim scholars Hamza Yusuf and Timothy Winter have been described as such.[7]

Beliefs

Islamic neo-traditionalists believe Islam fundamentally consists of three concepts defined in the Hadith of Gabriel: islam, iman and ihsan. These are believed to correspond to the fields of fiqh, aqidah and Sufism within the Islamic intellectual tradition respectively. Fiqh is regarded as being delineated by the Shafiʽi, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools of law, aqidah by the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of theology, and Sufism by tariqas. The orthodox understanding of the religion is therefore thought to lie with the scholars of these fields who possess an unbroken scholarly lineage or chain of transmission (isnad) to their classical authorities, which ultimately end with Muhammad.[3]^:198–199 A scholar's authoritativeness is judged by whether he has been issued an ijazah by his teachers, which lists their scholarly chain and grants him a license to teach on its authority.[2]^:215

Polemics

Neo-traditionalists oppose modernist trends in Islam and the Salafi movement, which do not consider interpretative validity to be reliant on scholarly lineage and permit new interpretations of religious texts that conflict with opinions inherited through them.[2]^:44–45

Neo-traditionalists argue against the Salafi position that strict adherence (taqlid) to a school of law is unnecessary, claiming that it implies previous generations of Sunni Muslims were mistaken in their understanding of Islam, that it is impossible to derive correct rulings without relying on a school's legal principles, and that it will lead to laypeople making ijtihad, thereby irreversibly disrupting Sunni legal unity and introducing new practices to the religion.[3]^:202–203

The literalist Taymiyyan approach to interpreting the attributes of Allah is considered to be anthropomorphic and in contradiction to the 'orthodox' creed of the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools by neo-traditionalists. Those who subscribe to them are accordingly classified as heretics, including salafis.[3]^:206

History

Islamic neo-traditionalism emerged in the West during the 1990s following the return of several Muslim scholars who had studied at 'traditional' centres of Islamic learning in the Arab world, including Hamza Yusuf, Timothy Winter and Umar Faruq Abdullah, who intended to disseminate the 'traditional' knowledge they had learned. Western neo-traditionalism is characterised by isolated spiritual retreats during which neo-traditionalist scholars, seen as a living link to the 'authentic' Sunni tradition, instruct their students, known as 'seekers of sacred knowledge'. Critiques of modernity are prevalent in the movement, which is held responsible for spiritual decay, the decline of Islamic metaphysics and the subsequent rise of reformist Islamist and liberal movements.[7] Western neo-traditionalists have established their own religious educational institutes, including Zaytuna College and the online Islamic seminary SeekersGuidance.[2]^:38

Following the Arab Spring, neo-traditionalist scholars adopted a counter-revolutionary stance due to the prohibition of resistance against political authorities by a number of pre-modern Sunni jurists, and concerns that revolutions would empower Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.[1]^:230–234 The subsequent alliance of neo-traditionalist scholars with the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and their silence towards or outright approval of their actions, has attracted criticism, particularly the conduct of Ali Gomaa and Hamza Yusuf after the August 2013 Rabaa massacre.[1]^{:230–231; 235}

See also

• Traditionalism (Islam in Indonesia)
• Political quietism in Islam

References

1. al-Azami, U. (2019-09-26). Neo-traditionalist Sufis and Arab politics: a preliminary mapping of the transnational networks of counter-revolutionary scholars after the Arab revolutions. C.Hurst & Co. Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78738-134-6.
2. Newlon, Brendan (2017). American Muslim Networks and Neotraditionalism (Thesis). UC Santa Barbara.
3. Mathiesen, Kasper (2013). "Anglo-American 'Traditional Islam' and Its Discourse of Orthodoxy". Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. 13: 191–219. doi:10.5617/jais.4633. ISSN 0806-198X.
4. al‐Azami, Usaama (2019). "'Abdullāh bin Bayyah and the Arab Revolutions: Counter-revolutionary Neo-traditionalism's Ideological Struggle against Islamism". The Muslim World. 109 (3): 343–361. doi:10.1111/muwo.12297. ISSN 1478-1913.
5. Sedgwick, Mark (2020-02-28). The Modernity of Neo-Traditionalist Islam. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-42557-6.
6. Pierret, Thomas (2010). "Al-Ahbash". Basic Reference. Scotland, UK: Edinburgh Academics. 28: 217–229. doi:10.1017/S0020743800063145. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
7. Quisay, Walaa (2019). Neo-traditionalism in the West: navigating modernity, tradition, and politics (http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text thesis). University of Oxford.