brands of islam

the following was said by a member of the Brodisc list: "how many brands of Islam should exist (Can somebody on this list, please, please answer this question!)? If one group does anything wrong, we as Muslims are going to get blamed for it."...Here's what i think about this statement: ---If there is only ONE Brand of Islam and a group of misguided fools from within it does anything wrong, the blamers will no doubt blame you anyways. Let's not worry about the blamers. we can respond to them, but let's not design our deen in reaction to critics. As a wanna-be believer I think "Brands of Islam" are good. a BRAND probably means one of two things: 1 -schools of thought/mazhab/sect; and 2 -i'll call it cultural manifestation or "flavor" I'll start by saying that, i believe, the deen, as taught by the Prophet, was/IS One - BUT, his companions understanding of it differed in various minute ways (hey, i don't blame them, they were human). don't misunderstand, The Best of the Sahaba knew what ALLAH and his NABI said and they passed it down to the next generation as they heard it, we have it recorded in Quran the many volumes of reliable hadith. But when it came to putting those same teachings into practice after the prophet's death, there were times when they differed among themselves. For example when they interpreted the teachings about leadership, the people of the Prophet's household "ahl al-bayt" formed their own understanding of that aspect of Islam. Basically...As far as schools of thought go, the earliest generations were not able to have ONE Islam. Aside from the whole shia/sunni imamate thing, there were those of the Kufa School with their view on the permissabilty of reason "ahl al-Rai" and how about those, the "ahl al-hadith", who felt that having the text of the revelation makes the use of reason unnecessary.... Now...what if there can be various interpretations of aspects of Islam other than just leadership or the use of reason? THIS surely leads to different "brands of islam" (where "brands" refers to other sects or schools of thought) each can support its own arguments with Quran and sayings of our beloved Rasul salatowasalam. not only can they have different interpretations on the practices (the WHATs and WHEREs and WHENs) of living as Muslims but also their own distict Ways of finding out what those practices ought to be (various rules for ijtihad - the HOW to get the WHATs)? ... *Coming up with yet another method "usul" or ONE BRAND, will NOT make the previous ones and the schlolars who practice them vanish.There will simply come into existance yet another "brand"of Islam.... I really have no problem with there being various schools of thought and them differing with one another, that is what makes Islam so dynamic, and it's history so interesting. if there IS a problem with this senerio, its simply a problem of the people's adab, good manners, and the ethics of disagreement, which the greatest scholars have always stressed (maybe not always practiced, but hey, I forgive them, they're human!) There are plenty of books about Ikhtilaf. This doesn't even include the difference between philosophy, mysticism, and theology. Just take a look at the Cultural Atlas of Islam by Ismail Faruqi, and definately read "Vision of Islam" by William Chittick and Murata, it explains the development of Islam through history quite well. We learn that these types of understandings overlapped each other. scholars participated in various types of learning, each with distict "brands" - schools of thought. Its Beautiful, the intellectual depth of Islam... OK... about the flavors of Islam, its cultural manifestion. What if... Some scholars go through the full procedure to come up with a new method of determining the SHARIAH, to unify the understanding of all muslims on the basics of islam, (or for a more humble reason like muslims being able to practice Islam in more meaningful manner as an American Minority)... OR What if... they do the required research into Quran, with full understanding: (ulum al Quran)-knowledge of language of the quran; -investigations into the occasions of revelation for the various suras and ayahs we have information about; -knowledge of the abbrogated and abbrogating verses; -investigations into what the great commentators of the past had to say about the various verses (tafsirs). And, aside from the Quran they investigate the life of the Prophet, his sayings (hadith) and characteristics (shama'il). And, aside from the example of the Prophet, they investigate the example of the earliest communities. And, also the work of the classical scholars and various schools of thought. (Usul al fiqh) And, also History, Psychology, Sociology, etc.... From all of these, the dilligent scholars figure out the basics of the Deen and craft the Mother Mazhab that is at the root of all Mazhabs, the one that unites them all under the banner of:"THE SHARIAH OF THE ONE TRUE ISLAM -cleansed of all baggage "There will still be the aspect of putting it into practice. There will be different Flavors, Unless this Mazhab advocates that we ONLY eat, dress, communicate -have language, travel, and work-earn a living exactly as our Prophet did, disregarding all regional considerations and technological developments. THERE WILL BE FLAVORS, even of this Mother Mazhab, as it is practiced in different parts of the world, not to mention the different parts of this country alone. we don't live in a vacuum, we interact with the natural environment and the local inhabitants. Its a part of Islam's great history: Spanish Islam, Chinese Islam, Indian Islam, African Islam, even a new American True Islam can have: -New Yorker True Islam -Southerner True Islam -California/Left Coast True Islam -American Heartland True Islam -Austin/Texas True Islam -South Beach True Islam... FLAVORS... OOOh Yeah! can't these all be considered "brands of Islam"?? (especially if they are packaged and sold properly) I'm all for regional adaptation of Muslim life. I'm not afraid of flavor and SPICE, No offence Rasulallah, but arab food IS BLAND!! SO, In Conclusion... yeah we have brands of islam. i think its a good thing. it makes islam relevant to different people in different places at different times. it also makes it easier to distinguish between people who are on to something good, and other who give off a bad vibe. i'm happy to identify myself as a Miami Muslim with bit of Austin flavor, a part-time follower of the Hanafite School of Fiqh, Maturidite School of Aqida, Ghazzalian Sufism and Rumi's School of Ishq, and the brand of activism as espoused by Jamil Al Amin in "Revolution by the Book". All of this is a part of MY Islam, and I doubt anyone can mistaken me for a Wahhabi. peace.