The Importance Of Islam

In this book, ‘What is Islam? The importance of being Islamic:’ Shahab Ahmed has presented a complete, a fascinating definition of Islam that contradicts with the dominant Islam in this contemporary society. Shahab’s idea of Islam is built upon various subdivisions, and these subdivisions serves as a scaffolding to help him construct the idea of historical Islam sophisticatedly. Since he wants us to be sophisticated, therefore he has endorsed the notion of Sufism i.e. mysticism and paradoxical poetic rhetoric in his definition of historical Islam thus discarding the predominated form of Islam, i.e. the Islam which is restricted to the Text. To him, Islam is the hermeneutical engagement with the source in a way that ultimately produces meaning

the version based on the Text only, which sometimes becomes violent also, needs to be casted-off considering the importance of need of open-mindedness and tolerance in the modern day world. Shahab Ahmed’s thoughts reflect the critique of predominated version and since there exists a sense of violence in this version as well as other restrictions and limitation, therefore his particular conceptualization of Islam may lead to the constructive and engaging developments if the efforts would be made at an individual level for the production of self. Since there are two spheres, human sphere and then there is an unseen, and the process of revelation has slowed down in human sphere, i.e. within us but the eternal revelation is in process, therefore the main belief in the predominated version gets dismantled with this stance on the matter and process of revelations. Also one of our section leaders addressed the example about befall of Wahi upon ‘honeybee’, so after having engaged with reading material and

His out of the box approach could not be more timely if we look at the tragedies and events currently faced in Islam. A very few of them, i.e. the Salafis, i.e. the members of a strictly orthodox Sunni Muslim sect advocating a return to the early Islam of the Quran and Sunna tends to have understanding of the larger picture of Islam based on their belief over Text only which makes the circumstances sometimes violent if there is a contradiction in the beliefs and thoughts within the society. Since, as written above, Shahab Ahmed’s conceptualization of Islam opens doors for contradiction and differences, therefore I believe that his conceptualization of Islam can be substituted with the predominated Islam because of such contradictions and differences and because of the productive meaning making via these