| Innovation and Religious Reform
Excerpts of an interview for Al-Sumariyya Iraqi satellite channel, His Eminence talked about a number of issues about the concept of religious innovation and reform, and the price those who call for innovation have to pay throughout their march, on 02/05/1430 H., 27/04/2009 A.D. Q: Your Eminence, you have always worked on consecrating the concept of the innovative Shiite Islamic thought, what does this term mean? And what does it have to do with the concept of religious reform? A: When we used to think about Islam in a civilized way, we discussed the traditional thought that tries to render Islam a historical state that locks Muslims in the past, to remember its fights, forget the present and abstain from making the future, unlike what Allah says, that he wants people to live the experience of the age they are living in, for He says: "This is a people that have passed away; they shall have what they earned and you shall have what you earn, and you shall not be called upon to answer for what they did." (02:134) We notice that our religious scholars of the past, whether Sunnis, Shiites, or former thinkers, used to live their age and deduce the Ijtihadi jurisprudent rulings from the circumstances that surrounded them and the cultures they were raised or brought up on. We say: We should not imitate the scholars of the past, but rather we have to read them to accept what we are convinced of and refuse what we are not convinced of. We also have to live our circumstances and culture, for they transmitted to us what they had, while we can not transmit to them what we have. Therefore, we embarked on presenting to the world the Islam that opens up to all the issues of man, and moves for the freedom of the entire mankind; the freedom that makes it possible for every group of thinkers to present its own thought, so that each one understands the point of view of the other concerning what he is committed to, and not what we already know about him.
Therefore, we call on the Muslims to open up to the Quranic method of dialogue and reaching common terms, not only between the People of the Book and Muslims, but also between the secularists and Muslims. Moreover, we believe in the inter-human dialogue, the dialogue between religions, the dialogue of the secularists with religion, the political dialogue among different politicians, and the scientific dialogue in the various scientific theories, because dialogue is the closest path to understanding and meeting. Criticizing the Innovative Thought Q: Is the innovative thought that you interpreted by the human dialogue one of the major reasons for the strict criticism campaigns conducted against you, considering that maybe you crossed red lines and certain fixed elements that incited arguments about Your Eminence's opinions, maybe at the jurisprudent level in some cases? A: Every person who considers changing and reforming the reality must expect to be countered by those who bow before traditions and the influences of reality, for they say:"Surely we found our fathers on a course, and surely we are followers of their footsteps, (The warner) said: What! Even if I bring to you a better guide than that on which you found your fathers?" (43:23-24). So, we believe that we have to shock the reality and bare responsibility of the results of this shock. In addition, I have not heard a scientific discussion conducted by those on my opinions, but rather, all they did was offending me as a person and not my thoughts. The truth is that they can not bare change in what they have got used to or what they consumed and considered to be holy issues and axioms, at the time they actually are absolutely baseless. Thus, I used to reply to such misguiding Takfiri campaigns with what the Prophet (p.) used to say to his people: "God, forgive my people, for they do not know." So, what we do is that we initiate the idea, make it interact with the reality and extend to the future, so that it would eventually find listening ears and minds that think about it. Therefore, when some of the leftists used to employ traditional words in fighting their opponents, such as saying that so-and-so is a reactionary or a collaborator, I used to reply by: If it is dialogue what you seek, then I am ready, but if your aim is not dialogue, then I must tell you that, in Iraq, we mastered living with these shocks, so we can easily bare many more incitation.
Based on this, we believe in the freedom of the people that are educated and possess the potentials to criticize anyone, whether a Christian or an Islamic religious figure, or from other religions, and whether a political, cultural, or social figure, and so on. In conclusion, we consider the jurist to be a mortal, for Allah said about the Prophet (p.): "Say: I am only a mortal like you; it is revealed to me." (18:110), and, "Say: "I am no bringer of new-fangled doctrine among the messengers, nor do I know what will be done with me or with you." (46:09). Allah also says: "If I had knowledge of the unseen, I should have multiplied all good, and no evil should have touched me." (07:188), and, "Say: "I tell you not that with me are the treasures of Allah, nor do I know what is hidden, nor do I tell you I am an angel. I but follow what is revealed to me." (06:50). Allah also says: "Say: "I have no power over any good or harm to myself except as Allah willeth." (07:188). If Allah speaks of the Prophet (p.) in this manner, how could we consider the ordinary people to be more important than him (p.)?! |
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