Classical Islam in the Age of Islamism: Paul Salahuddin Armstrong
How do you deal with Islamists in your own community? We asked the co-director of the UK's oldest Islamic association.
By Elliot Friedland
Wed, November 11, 2015
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Paul Salahuddin Armstrong, co-director of the Association of British Muslims. (Photo: Supplied)
Paul Salahuddin Armstrong is an Islamic scholar and activist and the co-director of the Association of British Muslims, the UK's oldest Islamic organization. Since he converted to Islam in 2000, he has been involved in interfaith and outreach work as well as promoting what he terms classical Islam as opposed to Islamism.
He is the founder of Khilafah Online, an organization trying to reclaim the concept of Khilafah from Islamists and the Wulfruna Sufi Association, which promotes a mystical interpretation of Islam.
He graciously agreed to speak with Clarion Project Dialogue Coordinator Elliot Friedland about the Association of British Muslims and Islam in the UK.
He tweets: @paulsarmstrong
Clarion Project: How do you envision the role of Islam in Western countries?
Paul Salahuddin Armstrong: Religion should be a source of inspiration for people, something which invites to pursue higher, hopefully nobler ideals.
Religion should help us find the strength inside ourselves to do what is right, beneficial and wholesome and help us transcend those less noble aspects to Human nature. I believe all our great spiritual traditions have this same purpose at their core, and my research over the years gives me no reason to think otherwise.
Islam is an enlightening spiritual tradition which can inspire and help those who adopt it both develop spiritually and reach their full potential in life.
In our modern multicultural, multireligious societies, Islam should contribute to the spiritual well-being of everyone, working in partnership with and alongside other religions and spiritual traditions for the benefit of all.
Clarion: There are many Islamists in the UK, some operating in Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb-ut Tahrir, who support the establishment of a caliphate run by sharia governance.
How does your organization deal with such individuals and groups?
Armstrong: Both Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb-ut-Tahrir operate openly in the UK, and through various front organizations. Obviously, this poses immense challenges to ordinary Muslims whose faith is inspired by Classical Islam, who reject the politicization and warping of Islamic teachings to suit the agendas of groups like Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb-ut-Tahrir and similar organizations.
"Khilafah" simply means something that follows on from something, a "khalifah" (caliph) is someone holds an office in this respect. In terms of Islam, the Khilafah is a reference to those who lead after Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Whether this refers to a specific system of government (as Islamists claim) or not has long been a point of disagreement among Muslims.
At the Association of British Muslims (AoBM), we do not believe Islam promotes any specific system of government. Islam does however encourage us to develop systems of government and national institutions based on the Rule of Law, freedom from oppression, and to freely observe religion, including other religions such as Judaism and Christianity.
We see from this the beginnings of what we now refer to as Universal Human Rights, which is why AoBM enshrined Universal Human Rights at the very heart of our Ten Principles.
We hope that through inviting people to more deeply research and understand the Holy Quran and Classical Islam, many misconceptions can be transcended, and Muslims can come to a more profound understanding of Islam, liberating them from sectarian, extreme and ideological approaches to religion.
A 17th century Mughal painting, showing conversation between Muslim sages. A 17th century Mughal painting, showing conversation between Muslim sages.
Clarion: It is easy to show why the Islamic State is an extremist organization, but the narrative of Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood is less obviously dangerous because it is non-violent.
What is being done in the Muslim community to counter the narratives of groups like the Brotherhood?
Armstrong: The connection between Daesh (ISIS) and Islamist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb-ut-Tahrir is like that between the former Soviet Union, China under the rule of Mao Zedong, or North Korea today and radical Communist groups operating in other countries.
Radical Communists as normal citizens in open societies are not necessarily violent; they simply believe in a different system of government and claim they would like to implement it.
Citizens in open societies are free to hold whichever views they want and are not necessarily breaking any laws. Nevertheless, if a person believes all religions should be suppressed, their ministers sent to labor camps, places of worship seized and shut down, and that everyone should be indoctrinated into Atheistic Dialectic Materialism (to give but one example), this is hardly a view compatible with those upon which liberal open societies are based.
Should such people not simply hold views of this kind, but actively promote them, they could end up becoming the conduits through which many citizens are indoctrinated and recruited either as foot-soldiers for some foreign regime, or a radical movement within open societies that should they grow large enough, could potentially threaten and destabilize these very nations themselves.
At AoBM, we see the danger and work with our partners to challenge the narratives of Islamists, revealing how hollow they are in comparison to Islam, and encouraging people to reflect on where such paths lead, and whether their promises hold true.
We highlight the reality of life under groups like Daesh and Boko Haram, which is brutal and very far from Islam.
Clarion: Reports suggest Muslims in the UK are deeply suspicious of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, yet the government obviously needs to have a strategy to counter-terrorism. What in your opinion should the government be doing differently to build trust within the Muslim community?
Armstrong: Since 9/11, Muslims have been in the spotlight, both in the UK and abroad, and are often the objects of great suspicion. After 15 years, this has obviously taken its toll, so it's really no surprise that many Muslims are fed up and suspicious of government schemes that target them, or certainly appear to target them as "at risk" communities.
The vast majority of British Muslims have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism, and indeed abhor Islamist terrorist groups more than the average citizen for their attacks on Muslims (the main victims) and all the damage they have done to predominantly Muslim countries, and our religion's reputation, that in turn has negatively impacted Muslims around the world. In addition, Muslims have seen far-right groups rise in the past decade, and both anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bigotry are on the increase.
In that lies part of the solution to this issue of mistrust. Governments need to be equally tackling all forms of extremism, and all groups that promote violent extremism, with the same tenacity. When Muslims see far-right and extremist "Christian" groups being tackled with the same determination, this shows that governments are serious about tackling extremism and safeguarding the security of all their citizens, rather than appearing to be simply picking on Muslims.
In addition, governments need to be more open (where able), about what they've discovered and why they're taking the actions they're taking. I realize this is a difficult matter, and some information can't be released into the public domain straight away, for legal reasons or security concerns.
But where possible, this sense of openness certainly does increase trust.
Clarion: What should Muslims in the UK and America be doing differently to eradicate extremism from within their midst?
Armstrong: British and U.S. Muslims, like all citizens, have a responsibility to contribute to the well being of the communities in which we live.
When our religion is hijacked by extremists, we have a duty to educate ourselves about our own religion, to understand what it is really about. We should encourage our family members, people we go to mosque with and the wider communities to rediscover this wholesome spiritual tradition that has been inspiring people all over the world for the past 14 centuries.
A Muslim who understands Islam could never join Daesh or similar groups. Through learning about our religion from the Holy Quran and other credible Classical Islamic sources, we will be doing an immense service to ourselves, our families and our communities, and this is by far one of the best ways of confronting and eventually eradicating this supposedly "religious" extremism from within our midst.
Clarion: Why, in your opinion, have so many British Muslims joined the Islamic State?
Armstrong: In percentage terms, not many British Muslims have joined Daesh. We have around 2 or 3 million Muslims living in the UK. How many have joined Daesh? Perhaps around a thousand? The MoD (Ministry of Defence) estimated it was around 500 last year, which is a tiny fraction of the British Muslim population. Nevertheless, it's still a worrying figure...
The people who join Daesh fall for a false narrative, empty promises, and are sold the idea they are building the foundations of a allegedly better, utopian society. The reality is of course very different, but Daesh are accomplished propagandists and very well organised.
What is often missed, is that some of the recruits to Daesh are very recent converts, people who know very little about Islam, who in many cases converted at a vulnerable time in their lives and it is this vulnerability, along with their ignorance that Daesh seek to exploit.
Hence people in every community are potentially at risk, it's not simply those from traditionally Muslim communities.
This is a point that should be of grave concern for everyone, and needs to be informing the strategies we employ to tackle and eradicate Daesh.
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/classical-islam-age-islamism-paul-salahuddin-armstrong
