travelling home essays on islam in europe

Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe

A forceful study of Islamophobia in Europe, considering survival strategies for Muslims on the basis of Qur’an, Hadith, and the Islamic theological, legal and spiritual legacy.

By Abdal Hakim Murad

ISBN 978-1-872038-20-9

VI + 321 pages

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How should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations.

In this series of essays Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur’an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness or despair. Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbours.

“Dust off your dictionary and dive in! Travelling Home is a wild, invigorating and delightfully erudite ride through the political, social, psychological, theological and semantic landscape of European Islam as it is now. Pitched at a Muslim readership, this collection of essays forms in aggregate a brilliant and incisive analysis of the position of Muslims in a Europe ‘surging rapidly in a nationalist direction’ with their indigenous Muslim populations ‘viewed by increasing numbers as a Dark Other fit only to be securitised and stigmatised, and perhaps, in the dreams of some, banished from Europe’s walled garden.’

More importantly, the book proposes a new, constructive approach. The author, who has been on the frontlines of Muslim affairs in Europe for the better part of thirty years, makes a forceful and nuanced argument for a return to a ‘traditional Islam’ which employs, ‘the cumulative wisdom of the Muslim centuries in all its amplitude’ in an attempt ‘to devise an uncompromising theory of Islamic belonging in the European homeland of the late modern melée’.

In the process he takes aim at, well, just about everyone, and he takes no prisoners. European Islamophobes in ‘an already confused Europe’, Islamists, Muslim extremists redefined as tanfiris – those who make Islam repellent, ‘the continued prominence of race-temple Islam in [ethnocentric] community leadership’ and Muslim leaders ‘whose highest ambition is to have their photograph taken beside an MP’ are all taken out in this scathing and witty take down of the real barriers to positive change. In practice, he posits, Muslims need to replace a ‘reactive identity-religion with its desire for status and revenge driven by ego’ and an externalised Islam, with a revival of the awareness of the ‘presence, power and compassion of God’ in the profound and quintessential tradition of Islamic spirituality.

Travelling Home is an essential and exhilarating read.”

— MICHAEL SUGICH, author of Hearts Turn and Signs on the Horizons.

“Probably the most important book ever published by a European Muslim scholar. Traditionally enlightened, mercifully uncompromising with the truth, intellectually and spiritually challenging, these eleven essays show the way forward in a dark and dangerous age. A must-read for ‘those who use reason,’ Muslim or other.”

— YAHYA MICHOT, emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Theological Seminary, author of Ibn Taymiyya: Muslims under Non-Muslim Rule.

“Travelling Home is a unique book which combines spiritual testimony with sharp insights on the current condition of Islam and Muslims in the West. It is written from the heart and is a magnificent example of the tremendous resources of the Islamic tradition to respond to the challenges of extremism, terrorism populism and islamophobia. The author provides a unique perspective to guide the new Muslim generations by showing that moral strength and search for beauty are more powerful than retaliation and anger if one is to be and remain in the Path of God. It is also a must-read for all the Europeans who struggle to make sense of the reality and legitimacy of Muslims in their midst.”

— JOCELYNE CESARI, Professor of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, author of What is Political Islam and Muslims in the West after 9/11.

‘Although primarily aimed at Muslims – the core message is the need for Muslims to find resources within their religion that can make them a force for good in Europe – the book is an equally important read for European policymakers and media to help them better understand Muslim communities and the plurality of voices within Islam, and to appreciate that Islam has always focused on adapting to the local context. Murad highlights the latter by referring to the Qur’anic verse ‘Wheresoever you may turn, there is God’s Face’ (Qur’an 3:115) in the very first paragraph of the book’s introduction, highlighting the universal message of Islam and arguing that it is not tied exclusively to one country or region. At a time when European state leaders are actively talking about the need for a European Islam that relates to European realities … Travelling Home shows that effective models for laying the foundations of a European Islam are already available.’

– JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE

‘The book was an excellent and satisfying read, engaging in a much-needed and profound way with ideas that go to the heart of Muslim faith and ethics, but which are often missed or only superficially touched upon in contemporary discourses on the plight of Muslims in Europe and of Islam in the West. … A timely and important contribution to Muslims on how to navigate the worlds of tradition and modernity.’

– SACRED WEB

‘This is a hugely important book. Abdal Hakim Murad tackles many of the Muslim community’s sacred cows as well as those of European society, and offers ways out of the morass in which we find ourselves.’

– MUSLIM WORLD BOOK REVIEW

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TRAVELLING Home by ABDAL HAKIM MURAD

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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe Paperback – 3 Jun. 2020

• Print length 328 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Quilliam Press Ltd
• Publication date 3 Jun. 2020
• Dimensions 21.5 x 2.7 x 13.9 cm
• ISBN-10 1872038204
• ISBN-13 978-1872038209
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quilliam Press Ltd (3 Jun. 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1872038204
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1872038209
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 21.5 x 2.7 x 13.9 cm
• 60 in Islamic Studies
• 6,402 in Travel & Tourism (Books)

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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe

Abdal Hakim Murad

9781872038209

This book was one of the titles selected for the Wardah Books Islamic Civilisation Book Club 2022.

"Probably the most important book ever published by a European Muslim scholar. Traditionally enlightened, mercifully uncompromising with the truth, intellectually and spiritually challenging, these eleven essays show the way forward in a dark and dangerous age." – Professor Yahya Michot, Hartford Seminary

How should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants, and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations.

In this series of essays, Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur’an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness, or despair. Abdal Hakim Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbours.

1: Can Liberalism Tolerate Islam?

2: Muslims and National Populism

3: British Muslims and the Rhetoric of Indigenisation

4: Islamophobia and the Bosnian War

5: The Venomous Bid'a of Tanfir

6: Good Anger, Bad Anger, and Shirk al-Asbab

7: 'Push Back with Something More Beautiful' (Qur'an 41: 34): Minority Muslims from Complainants to Therapists

8: A Theology of the Ahl al-Kidhab

9: Seeking Knowledge: the Multiple Horizons of British Islamic Studentship

10: Creation Spirituality

11: Zakat in the Postmodern Economy

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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe

Quilliam press.

SKU: SKU: QP010

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About The Book

How should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants, and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations.

In this series of essays, Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur’an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness, or despair. Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbors.

About The Author

Timothy John Winter (born in 1960), also known as Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, is a British Sunni Muslim Shaykh, researcher, writer and academic. He is the Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, Director of Studies (Theology and Religious Studies) at Wolfson College and the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Cambridge University. His work includes publications on Islamic theology and Muslim-Christian relations.

In 2003 he was awarded the Pilkington Teaching Prize by Cambridge University and in 2007 he was awarded the King Abdullah I Prize for Islamic Thought for his short booklet  Bombing Without Moonlight .

He has consistently been included in the "500 Most Influential Muslims" list published annually by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre and was ranked in 2012 as the 50th most influential.

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QP010
EAN 13 / ISBN	9781872038209
Author	Abdal Hakim Murad
Publisher	Quilliam Press
Pages	328
Manufacturer	Quilliam Press
Year Published	2020
Weight	1.0 lb
Width	5.5 in
Height	8.5 in
Depth	1.1 in

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• Language ‏ : ‎ English
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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe Quilliam Press by Abdal Hakim Murad

Review by Jocelyne Cesari

Travelling Home is a unique book which combines spiritual testimony with sharp insights on the current condition of Islam and Muslims in the West. It is written from the heart and is a magnificent example of the tremendous resources of the Islamic tradition to respond to the challenges of extremism, terrorism, populism and Islamophobia. The author provides a unique perspective to guide the new Muslim generations by showing that moral strength and search for beauty are more powerful than retaliation and anger if one is to be and remain in the Path of God. It is also a must-read for all the Europeans who struggle to make sense of the reality and legitimacy of Muslims in their midst.

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Home › Dr Tim Winter › A brief review of Professor Abdal Hakim Murad’s new book ‘Travelling Home, Essays on Islam in Europe’.

A brief review of Professor Abdal Hakim Murad’s new book ‘Travelling Home, Essays on Islam in Europe’.

By on July 15, 2020 • ( 16 )

I had thought of writing a detailed review of Professor Abdal Hakim Murad’s new book Travelling Home, Essays on Islam in Europe which he kindly sent me recently. Instead I felt moved to pen this heartfelt cri de cœur . Be advised: I say some rather rude things about Muslims in the UK. Nevertheless I have sent it to him.

I’m reading with fascination your new book.

Your whole approach to Islam and our English and European history is rich in its analysis and credible in offering solutions.

But something bothers me about it. Hard to put my finger on what it is.

Perhaps something along these lines:

I don’t know any Muslims who express your vision of an Islam inculturated and at home here in England and who understand the nature of the task ahead.

Most Muslims of my acquaintance turn a blind eye to violent extremists in our midst and condemn those (like me) who speak out publicly of the real dangers. No Englishman would think twice about taking action.

Most Muslims I know seem to dislike this country, its traditions, history, and culture, and know nothing of its literature, art, and music. You mention in passing George Herbert’s poetry (p. 67) as if it was the most natural thing in the world. For you – and me – it is! But no Muslim I know will have ever heard of him. If I tried to explain why he is a much loved poet I would meet with incomprehension. A 17th century priest of the Church of England who wrote metaphysical poetry? You have to be joking! Yet he is part of our cultural DNA. So is John Donne, John Milton, TS Eliot…

Muslims in the main come across as complete philistines. Yet you are different. The reason is obvious: you are an educated (white) Englishman with a long ancestry in Cambridge (the city and university). An outlier from the herd. In my own way I am similar.

So I remain pessimistic about an English expression of Islam. I would guess that 99% of Muslims (ie nearly all the non-revert Muslims) show no interest in this nor have the faintest idea of what it would look like. I wish it were otherwise!

Sorry to end on such a negative note!

best wishes

Categories: Dr Tim Winter , England , English Literature , Europe , European Muslims , Islam , Life in the West , Paul Williams , Recommended reading

I dare say this is a problem with English people as well. Many are not interested/aware that England has a history prior to their lives besides, perhaps, some strained awareness of Shakespeare. The Church which is among our oldest institutions has largely given up the ghost when it comes to not only maintaining its historic beliefs in Protestant Christianity but also even in its own importance as a vital part of the communities in which it serves.

We are content to roll over to American cultural supremacism, introduced via its media, multi-national businesses which have choked smaller businesses out of the areas in which they served and shall likely continue to do so after this pandemic as many will not be able to survive as people spend their money online.

This has, in my opinion, been further perpetuated in the media via the mass propagation of content in order to match its apparent obsession with social media, something that has even been admitted by one of the chiefs of the BBC with regards to journalism.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/14/bbc-journalists-addicted-twitter/

There was some hope that the lockdown would cause people to become more wholesome as we were forced to stay indoors and away from the enforced metropolitan lifestyle engineered by said multi-nationals. This has not happened and instead with regards to politics, social issues, and culture: it has become even more radicalized than before.

I doubt this will change anytime soon vaccine or no vaccine nor shall it be possible to revive the kind of society that we know now only in our dreams in this kind of environment since the damage has already been done.

We can only watch and marvel as that which we read about in sacred history, namely the self-destruction of society due to sin is being played out in real-time.

This subject needs to be nuanced. I’m not sure if got this right “ Most Muslims I know seem to dislike this country, its traditions, history, and culture, and know nothing of its literature, art, and music. “?? I mean why do they have to? For instance, do they have to enjoy reading for Shakespeare? Moreover, I don’t think English white youth are onto what you mentioned. I’m sure sitting on a couch watching NetFlix means more to them than what you said.

‘I mean why do they have to?’

A question that should not have to be asked.

A question that shouldn’t be asked, yes. However, Abdullah makes a good point that you are holding the masses to an unreasonable standard. Islam never expects all people to be scholars. English masses aren’t aware of their history or literature just as the Muslim masses aren’t. Lastly, the problem of European demand for assimilation is exactly what caused so many problems such as the holocaust. I hope you don’t mind me saying that if the Jews wanted to live in Europe for centuries without assimilation without adopting the culture of the host country than Muslims should also be able to live without assimilation.

I see many double standards in your review here Mr. Paul, with all due respect.

You mentioned George Herbert – John Piper has lectured and written about him –

“He wrote about 184 poems, and what is remarkable is that when he was seventeen, he wrote two sonnets for his mother, whom he loved very much. And in those sonnets he pledged himself to write only for the glory of God. So, in spite of all this battling with his public life in the years just after Cambridge, he held to that promise.

We know of no poems from the pen of George Herbert that do not deal with God or with the soul in relation to God. He is not like John Donne, who spent half his life, or more, writing poems of a more secular, natural kind. All of Herbert’s poems were devoted to God.”

Who was George Herbert? https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/who-was-george-herbert

Makes my point even more!

The full message by John Piper about George Herbert and his poetry and life:

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/saying-beautifully-as-a-way-of-seeing-beauty-the-life-of-george-herbert-and-his-poetic-effort

Maybe the reason is because you and Tim Winter ( Abdal Hakim Murad) are retaining some good aspects of Christianity that is still left in the spirit of English culture and traditions; and most of the Muslims come across as “complete philistines” to you, is because there is something inherent in the spirit of Islam that nurtures jealousy, hatred, rancor, spite, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc.

Just look at how Faiz and Stewjo turned on you with such hatred and rancor, etc.

Yet he [George Herbert] is part of our cultural DNA. So is John Donne, John Milton, TS Eliot…

They are all deeply informed by the Bible and Christianity and the Christian worldview. Especially George Herbert and John Milton . . .

Maybe T. S. Eliot less so – ( I confess that of course I have heard of him for years, for most of my life, but not really familiar with his poems, etc.) We read John Donne and John Milton, and Shakespeare and Chaucer, and Beowulf, etc. in high school and college. (in the USA in the 1970s and early 1980s)

But according to the Wikipedia article on him, he later converted to the Anglican church; after his secular period.

Most Muslims I know seem to dislike this country, its traditions, history, and culture, and know nothing of its literature, art, and music.

Paul, Why do you think most Muslims don’t like English culture?

Does not Islam itself conflict with western culture, western style government, freedom of speech, religion, food, etc. ? Islam has rules for art; and some Hadith even seem to say that most all music is wrong.

According to Islamic tradition, the principles of Islamic art are: 1. no iconography – no animals or humans – only floral and plant drawings, 2. Qur’anic Calligraphy 3. Symmetry 4. Geometric shapes – these principles are the basic plans of the carpets and buildings of Islam in history.

patrobin also has some good points about modern English culture – even young Brits don’t know about their older cultural heritage – the last 60 years are increasingly secular and it is understandable why practicing Muslims would not like modern secular western culture.

The last 60 years, in western Europe and USA, in general, has seen an increase in apostasy from religion and ethics and morality and increase in secularism – it is kind of understandable why most Muslims don’t “get into” English culture.

Do British schools teach the old values anymore?

Why were so many disillusioned and drifted away from Christianity after WW 2?

Why did the Beatles have such a massive impact?

3 of the 4 expressed disillusionment with organized religion, especially Lennon and Harrison (who converted to Hinduism, Hare Krishna) – but they were hypocrites because of their many adulteries, drugs, and materialism. Great music, but terrible role models.

The inculturation that Dr Winter is calling for is mostly relevant to converts who do not have a culture in which Islam is immediately soluble. They need to inculturate their Islam so as not to feel alienated. Inculturating their Islam gives their faith a substrate that allows them to leave a live a full life as British Muslims, with authentic names, halal tastes, artistic interests, etc. and to not have to imitate Arabs or Pakistanis.

Immigrant Muslims came with a preexisting cultural substrate that already allows them to live a coherent Islamic life as a Faisal Chaudhuri who likes subcontinent music and enjoys a tandoori. I don’t see why they should need to erase that to adopt the vestiges of authentic British Culture. They may be British by nationality, but only with a desire to integrate but not assimilate, and that’s okay.

That’s almost Scruton-like right wing conservatism bordering white culture supremacy…

…To live a full life…

Scruton was a great man.

I agree. I think he was maybe the most articulate conservative thinker in the recent years.

There is much in his thought Muslims could agree with.

Salaam, I do not know much about British Muslims – I am not British, I am Muslim, I am Pakistani, I am living in UK since 2.5 years as my company opened an office here, that I am setting up. But I have not only heard of all the poets, but T.S. Eliot is one of my favorites. I knew of these poets even before I traveled west.

I have lived for several years in USA also, there are very religious Christians there, in fact most of my close friends are from the Christian fellowship at my college – and most of them do not know these poets. I volunteer at my local cricket club in Wales where I live and none of the ladies in my team knows or cares about poetry.

Reading and loving poetry is not part of being Christian or Muslim, or British or Asian; it is the environment you are surrounded by. Its because Shiekh Abdal Hakim has always been a scholar and academician that he has a love for poetry. I read and hear him so much because of this attribute. I have a feeling the same is true for you, Mr. Paul Williams – which is what drew me to your YouTube videos. Also, I think the newer generation due to growing up with technology and watching things rather than reading – cannot feel the depths and beauty of poetry.

To correct Ken Temple, Faiz was Muslim due to birth but not practicing – he was communist by thought. Also, if you read Sufi poetry – there is more love and God than in any other poetry.

One thing I can say of what little I know of British Muslims, the initial people who came had little or no education; in addition, they came only for money. Britain, unlike Canada and Australia has never lured the highly educated into their country. They needed people to do their dirty work – and those are the sort of people who came from Asia. You know the required qualification in Canada and Australia is a Bachelor’s, in UK they have just moved to High School or Inter (late, but still way behind). The rich who come to study here, usually go back as life is better back home if you are well off.

I am struggling to find friends in this country – people from my background are not educated, and nor enjoy intellectual conversations. The British have no regards for God or religion, and cannot relate to a person who tries to practice Islam. This is one reason, I am in 2 minds to reside here long-term, though my boss has been telling me that once i complete 5 years, I will not get a renewal and must apply for residency. In US the friends I have from my community are highly educated, and the Americans are practicing Christians. In Pakistan it is the same. If Britain needs better Muslims it needs to attract them.

Inshallah one thing I pray for, before I leave I can visit Cambridge Muslim College, as I have even taken some courses with them, and enjoy their teachers. If you see the teachers of CMC, they would fit the profile that has been described by Sheikh Abdal Hakim – so inshallah all is not lost. Their kids will be the British Muslims that have been imagined in the book.

• Professor Timothy Winter ( Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad) responded to my critical review of his latest book ‘Travelling Home’ – Blogging Theology

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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe

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A forceful study of Islamophobia in Europe in an age of populism and pandemic, considering survival strategies for Muslims on the basis of Qur’an, Hadith, and the Islamic theological, legal and spiritual legacy.

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Diasporic Wanderlust: Sh. Abdal Hakim Murad’s “Travelling Home”

A book review of travelling home: essays on islam in europe by abdal hakim murad.

There is something strange happening in the Western world. Across hardly a half-century, religious observance in the West has not merely slackened, but vanished. The sudden decline of organized religion throughout Western civilization has been so precipitous, so staggering, that it in fact lacks any sort of parallel throughout history, almost as though overnight an entire civilization turned over in their beds and decided to stop believing in God. Nowhere has this civilizational collapse been more marked than in the stolid isles of the United Kingdom; a land once marked by the stern countenances and solemn observances of Cranmer and More, and fields on which “old maids bicycl[ed] to Holy Communion through the morning mist,” now long since torn up and desecrated. Upon their paved remains zoom large buses displaying the banal slogan of a vapid, hollow, and nihilistic class: There’s probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life. 

But parallel to one rising trend comes another: as one once-majestic decrepit village church after another is deconsecrated and destroyed, a new masjid is often erected in its place. While European nations move at an expedient rate towards a world where “…the Church is no longer regarded, not even opposed, and men have forgotten / All gods, except Usury, Lust, and Power,” the Muslim population of those self-same countries is set to exponentially increase. This provides the premise for Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe , a compilation of essays inspired by the lectures and writings of perhaps the greatest of all contemporary English religious thinkers, who, as a sign of the times, is neither an Anglican nor a Roman Catholic, but a Sunni Muslim: Dr. Timothy Winter, better known as Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad. 

In Sh. Murad’s estimation, the challenge for the newfound class of diasporic and convert Western Muslims is not merely to cement their existence in a land alien to their faith— so too were Egypt, Turkey, and even Makkah and Madinah, once upon a time. Rather, Europe is unique for having defined its existence for centuries in opposition to Islam. In his introduction, Sh. Murad chillingly outlines the multitude of ways the West has defined, constructed, and re-interpreted numerous facets of its history to position itself as the eternal bulwark against the encroachment of the Muslim world. Travelling Home is an eclectic work, even for an anthology, its topics ranging from the Bosnian War to the vicissitudes of modern consumerist neoliberalism, but if there is one theme that unites his varied strands of thought, it is a Muslim’s hope in Allah ﷻ, and in the ability of the faith to take root and blossom even in the most barren of lands. An example the shaykh presents that permeates the entire book is that of a devout hanif , hands clasping tasbih beads in prayer, lips quietly engaging in recitation, boarding a metro alongside the average “post-European” youth of today, hands clasped around the latest technological innovation, lips murmuring the lyrics of the latest pop drivel. 

What is it that connects these two individuals, without a common way of life or prism through which they view the world between them? Following the prophetic sunnah , Sh. Murad explicates these newfound myriad challenges with mercy and compassion, while remaining faithful to the Islamic tradition. Dr. Winter is, after all, not only a Muslim man, but an Englishman, and thus perfectly placed to walk the line between two worlds, as he looks upon the decline of both civilizations with great sadness and pathos. Even the title of the book, Travelling Home , easily interpreted as a nod to the sense of youthful adventurism and romanticism with which the Shaykh himself empathizes with, reveals itself as a condemnation of the anomie of modern society:

Britain is technically still home to the British, but in its unprecedented secularity it has become a travelling home , a laboratory for ever more radical beliefs and social practices. We deal not only with a loss of faith within individuals, but with its immense moral and social ramifications [page 208, emphasis mine].

Travelling Home does not concern itself only with social decay and civilizational decline, but with more individual and communal vices as well. Unjust anger, tit-for-tat vengeance, and sectarianism are not spared from analysis. While these inequities are by no means unique to Muslims, they have nonetheless been frustratingly prevalent among the diasporic community. Under the guise of a return to an austere traditionalism of yesteryear, false values diametrically opposed to our faith have been imported. Across the ummah , we see this result culminating in sharp and bruising online debates, each response more cutting and personal than the last, “race temples” scowling down at any not sufficiently affiliated to the lands Back Home who dare cross their doors, and beady-eyed gatekeepers of the manhaj perpetually on the lookout for any type of deviation from their preferred school. The fault here lies not in any one sect, whether salafi or sufi , deobandi or barelvi , but in an entire program of modernity that has infiltrated our deen . What Sh. Murad calls for is instead a return to real Prophetic values: mercy, courage, compassion, modesty, humility, honesty, and strength. While elements of the trends in Muslim communities that have been imported to the West may be culturally specific, Islam itself is not— and neither is the fitrah . The values imparted by the Quran and Sunnah cut deep into the hearts of every living human being, no matter how clouded by the fog of atheistic materialism. 

It is perhaps because of this that Travelling Home feels refreshingly modern, despite its distinctly traditionalist outlook (and not merely due to its repeated references to the ongoing worldwide coronavirus pandemic). In an era when most public Western Muslim leaders and intellectuals insist that the faith must be watered down, neutered, and reduced to its barest rubble, able to coexist with practically anything, in order to retain appeal for the younger generation, Sh. Murad boldly suggests that the classical Islamic tradition should be presented in full, in all its complex diversity, and that the taking of ilm and scholarship should be encouraged. In his ninth chapter “Seeking Knowledge: the multiple horizons of British Muslim studentship,” the Shaykh compares the wandering, unmoored Western Muslim, fruitlessly searching across the Muslim world for relics of what he imagines to be his lost ancestral heritage to a Majnun of Arab folklore, seeking his metaphysical Layla . Rather than condemning such foolhardy wanderlust, however, the Shaykh celebrates it, and provides thoughtful advice to young Muslims drawn to this path. Sh. Murad’s vision for the coming generation is bright and intellectually-minded, easily far more appealing than any drab modernist revisionism. 

As previously mentioned, the book is not, strictly speaking, an original text, but rather, an adaptation of previously published speeches and articles. Much of the material, however, has been expanded in its inclusion, oftentimes with a brand new conclusion or overarching theme. For example, his fourth chapter, “Islamophobia and the Bosnian War,” has been transformed into a detailed and bloodcurdling examination of how Orthodox theology was developed to target and eradicate the Balkan Muslim population. Thus, Travelling Home still has much to offer for even the most seasoned follower of the Shaykh. 

For those who are not as familiar with Sh. Murad’s writings, however, Travelling Home may prove itself a much denser read. Aside from its over 60 pages of endnotes and citations, the Shaykh’s famed writing style— clever, idiosyncratic, and even witty— gives the reader much to contend with. In one of the book’s most entertaining digressions, he envisions a newspaper column from a not-too-distant dystopic future Britain in which gender-bending and sexual deviancy have been elevated to the level of a state religion, and belief in traditional marriage consigned to a heresy. A lover of the English language, the Shaykh rejects out of hand much of the clunky, secular terminology that has been derived to communicate ancient Islamic concepts. “Islamophobia,” for example, a meaningless term, here becomes “Lahabism,” hearkening back to the mindless hatred those steeped in kufr have for tawheed , dating back to the time of the Prophet ﷺ. Even the Muslim himself has been reconfigured into an ‘Ishmaelite’ (or potentially, as Sh. Murad suggests, an ‘Ishma-elite’). Like Ishmael ﷺ, the Muslim is often cast out, trodden upon, despised. While he should never come to accept this treatment in the dunya , neither should he have any reason to lose all hope, and thus forfeit the akhirah as well. For the Ishmaelite, everything is always the way it was meant to be. For the curious and open-minded non-Muslim, Travelling Home also may prove beyond their regard, being more focused on the unique position occupied by diasporic Muslims in Western society. Many may be interested in an author who seems as well-read in Marx and Kirkegaard as he is in Imam Malik and Ibn Kathir, but they might find themselves better served by the Shaykh’s earlier text, Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions (2012). 

Travelling Home is not destined to be universally popular. For starters, there is the author’s clear grounding in the tradition of tasawwuf to contend with, along with some of the Shaykh’s less common views, such as his belief that rulings on certain issues should be made lighter for Muslims living in the West, or that Western universities may become the next great breeding ground for a new generation of ulema . Notwithstanding these small disagreements, with the dearth of native literature from educated scholars on these issues stymying attempts at the organic growth of communities, the arrival of any text as insightful and perceptive as this one is certainly of great benefit. Travelling Home deserves a spot on every Anglophone Muslim’s bookshelf.

Amazon link to the book here . This is not a sponsored post.

About the Author: Luqman Quilliam is a guest contributor. He aspires to one day become a student of shariah. His interests include indigenous British Islamic heritage, statecraft, Islamic economics, and film. 

Disclaimer: Material published by  Traversing Tradition  is meant to foster scholarly inquiry and rich discussion. The views, opinions, beliefs, or strategies represented in published articles and subsequent comments do not necessarily represent the views of  Traversing Tradition  or any employee thereof.

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One response to “Diasporic Wanderlust: Sh. Abdal Hakim Murad’s “Travelling Home””

It would be interesting if the author further explores the following:

“Travelling Home is not destined to be universally popular. For starters, there is the author’s clear grounding in the tradition of tasawwuf to contend with.”

What is the issue of Tasawuf, one who reads the early Imams, no-one can disagree on the practise of this. Even Ibn Taymiyyah found it useful whilst Ahmad Ibn Hanbal frequented the company of people of Tasawuf. Abdal Hakim subtly is trying to prove that the way to engage with modernity is by using the methods of Tasawuf.

‘along with some of the Shaykh’s less common views, such as his belief that rulings on certain issues should be made lighter for Muslims living in the West,’

no example of this was mentioned in the book. The scholars allow dispensation in matters there is a legitimate difference.

‘or that Western universities may become the next great breeding ground for a new generation of ulema.’

Again no reference to the book given.

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Ilahiyat Studies

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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe by Abdal Hakim Murad

Makmor Tumin

Religious societies in Europe, especially Christianity and Islam, have been in total disarray since the birth of atheism, much like that of a cat being thrown into a flock of pigeons. Scientism underestimates the teaching of Christianity as they believe that science has successfully flown people to the moon. Muslim radicalists, on the other hand, are condemned as only being good at flying people toward buildings. With such a gruesome background, Dr. Timothy Winter, or Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, has been consistent with his approach of Sufism in dealing with nearly all earthly issues. His latest book, “Travelling Home,” explains how the problem of Muslims, in particular, can be solved through such a theological and mystical approach. With layers of themes and prose, he presented his book encompassing nine chapters, in which a few of the chapters require special and separate reviews. Given the density and complexity of the ideas presented in this book, the reviewer takes a selective approach in making the main idea of this book accessible to a larger audience.

Atheism , Europe , Islam , Secularism

Supporting Institution

University of Malaysia

• Murad, A. H. (2020). Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe. The Quilliam Press.

Primary Language	English
Subjects	Religious Studies
Journal Section	Book Review
Authors
Publication Date	November 22, 2022
Submission Date	March 15, 2022
Published in Issue

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Tumin, Makmor. “Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe by Abdal Hakim Murad”. 13/1 (November 2022), 155-159. https://doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2022.131.236.

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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe by Abdal Hakim Murad

• Ilahiyat Studies 13(1):155-159
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• University of Malaya

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Travelling Home Essays on Islam in Europe by Abdal Hakim Murad

• Vol. 13 No. 1 (2022)

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(First Paragraph) Religious societies in Europe, especially Christianity and Islam, have been in total disarray since the birth of atheism, much like that of a cat being thrown into a flock of pigeons. Scientism underestimates the teaching of Christianity as they believe that science have successfully flown people to the moon. Muslim radicalists on the other hand are being condemned as only being good at flying people towards buildings.

Article Details

Traditional Islam, Ideology, Immigrant Muslims, and Grievance Culture: A Review of Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe by Abdal Hakim Murad

A review of this important contribution to European Islamic theological reflection

Introduction

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, dean of Cambridge Muslim College (CMC), also known as Dr Timothy Winter of the University of Cambridge, is a prominent Islamic scholar and Muslim public figure of the British Isles. For decades, he has been active on the Muslim speaking circuit and gained recognition for publishing learned translations of classical works, particularly from the Sharia discipline of Sufism through the masterworks of scholars like Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī (d. 505/1111). His commitment to Sufism also led to his writing several critical essays in the 1990s and 2000s directed at Islamic groups that were either unsympathetic or actively hostile to the Sunni denomination to which he adheres, what I have referred to elsewhere as “Neo-traditionalism” and which he himself refers to as “Traditional Islam.” (I use the term “denomination” somewhat loosely to denote subgroupings within Sunni Islam, such as Salafism, Islamism, and Neo-traditionalism.)

With his founding of CMC in 2009, Shaykh Abdal Hakim (henceforth: Murad) appeared to set aside inter-denominational controversy in favour of broad-based institution building. And his contributions to Islamic education through the establishment of CMC are certainly not insignificant. The College arguably represents one of the most promising Islamic intellectual endeavours in Europe in recent years, and I hope and pray that it realises success that can be considered with pride centuries from now. I must emphasise, in this connection, that Murad has devoted much of his career to the intellectual development of the British Muslim community, one that is overwhelmingly made up of immigrants. 

In the interest of the reader understanding my perspective, I should also note that I have long known the shaykh personally and consider him a teacher of mine, although I have never formally enrolled in either of his Cambridge-based institutions. As I came to Islamic studies in the early 2000s, both under the tutelage of the ulama as well as “academically,” I began to read diligently his many essays on what had effectively become his website . They were erudite, at times bordering on the abstruse, but always illuminating in their own distinctive way. But one thing that I have come to recognise in them, more so than I did at the time, was their polemical nature. Murad was argumentative; and I would subsequently come to understand this as his response to the dynamics of inter-denominational competition among young British Muslims in the 1990s that had brought to the fore an often unedifying rivalry, in pursuit of market share, among the various groups in British Islamic activism. This activism has been illuminatingly explored by a number of social scientists in recent years, including Sadek Hamid , Khadijah Elshayyal , and Hira Amin , among others.

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Murad’s latest book, Travelling Home appears to be a reversion to his former style of writing “polemical essays” (p. 2) that are primarily aimed at an “internal” Muslim readership (p. 10). It comprises eleven chapters that are mostly reworked lectures and keynote addresses delivered between 2011 and 2019. Perhaps their relative infrequency in recent years, given his responsibilities at CMC, is what gave me the impression that he no longer wished to engage in what I consider to be “inter-denominational polemic,” though he himself rejects this characterisation. For better or for worse, this volume has disabused me of the notion that such polemics were behind him. Yet, this work is by no means simply a partisan screed and Murad does not direct his critiques solely at Salafis and Islamists. Neo-traditionalists are also criticised in the work, though in my reading, it is clear that this denomination represents the true Sunni mainstream for Murad, a viewpoint I consider questionable on theological grounds. Yet, this is no reason to stop reading one of the most thoughtful theologians of Islam in Europe, and indeed, the modern world. 

To be sure, Murad is approaching his subject matter with a decidedly different lens to that of the social scientists studying British Islamic activism mentioned earlier. These and other scholars who have written about the British Muslim community approach the subject from a “sociological” perspective which Murad contrasts repeatedly in his work with his more “theological” outlook. His suggestion, which more Muslims in the academy would do well to reflect on, is that such sociological perspectives, avowedly secular and materialist as they are, are out of step with the God-centred and more pastoral outlook of authentically Islamic scholarship. This does not mean that Murad entirely rejects empirical observation, of course. He makes use of statistics and similar sociological data when it helps illustrate empirical realities experienced by the community. In a sense, his arguable overemphasis of the deficiencies of social science are intended as a corrective to the severity of the imbalance in studies of the Muslim community that is the inevitable consequence of a secular academy becoming the home and training ground of most Muslim (but not usually “Islamic”) scholars studying their own communities in the West. 

Travelling Home is thus a wide-ranging work characteristically brimming with beneficial insights that recommend it well to Muslims who look with concern upon, among other things, the rise of the European right and their Islamophobic politics. For example, Chapter 4 on the Bosnian War, the Srebrenica massacre and their implications for Muslims in Europe makes for sobering but essential reading on a continent liable to forget that “the crime of Srebrenica was far worse than that of 9/11” (p. 93). By contrast, in Chapter 11 the reader can expect to reflect on how we might reconceptualise zakat in late capitalism given the evanescence of our “liquid modernity.” In this review, however, I will not simply be presenting a summary of Murad’s contentions from this book. Instead, I will home in on a handful of issues in which his ideas appear to fall short of what our dīn calls for at the present moment, at least in my estimation. This is not intended as a pointless counter-polemic, but rather, as the noted Harald Motzki (d. 1440/2019) once remarked , “Scholarship needs dispute in order to develop. It is necessary to make clear what is unconvincing and for what reason.” Consequently, Motzki exhorts that such criticism ought not to be taken personally, which is not something I fear from the author, but perhaps from some of those who share his viewpoint without sharing his erudition.

In brief correspondence with the author, Murad has reminded me that polemic was widely deployed by great scholars like Ghazzālī, a scholar regarding whom Murad is one of the world’s leading experts. The Persian polymath was well known for theological critiques of the falāsifa and other heterodox groups. This is important, Murad argues, because in Islam, the truth is important. These points are well-taken. However, Ghazzālī also exhibits considerable ecumenism in other instances, perhaps most notably in his Fayṣal al-Tafriqa . Arguably, with a Muslim community already consumed by internecine conflict, ours is a time in which we need to make a special effort to encourage inter-denominational tolerance. I would argue that this would involve including mainstream Salafis and Islamists alongside Neo-traditionalists within the broad Sunni umbrella within which many modern ulama would consider them to belong. This does not necessarily mean disregarding “truth.” 

As Sherman Jackson argues , Ghazzālī’s Fayṣal appears in part to be an effort to temper the “extremist” intolerance of the influential Ashʿarī theologian, ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī, who readily engaged in takfīr of many non-Ashʿarī’s because of a misguided commitment to the truth. Indeed, Muslims today would do well to remember that all such groups, including the most heterodox and extreme, are usually seeking the truth and God’s pleasure as they see it. These are, of course, necessary but not sufficient conditions for right action, as Ghazzālī helpfully reminds us. While I cannot fully develop this argument in the present piece, I would like to suggest that alongside the truth, our efforts at engaging our Muslim interlocutors should be characterised by greater charity and compassion ( raḥma ), a value at the heart of Islam, and one which Murad speaks of eloquently in other parts of his work.

On Traditional Islam

Murad writes from within the “helpfully imprecise paradigm” that has come to be referred to by many Western Muslims as “Traditional Islam” (p. 3). Traditional Islam is loosely defined in relation to madhhab s, Sufism and kalām theology, but also asserts the significance of “ formal teaching authorisation ( ijāza )” through “continuous chains of narration” ( sanad/isnād ) going back to the Prophet (p. 138). This outlook exemplifies a well-trodden path of several Western Islamic scholars, perhaps most notably Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, although given Murad’s stance on the instrumentalisation of the ulama classes in many Muslim-majority states, he and Yusuf do not see eye to eye on how Traditional Islam should respond to this aspect of Muslim modernity. Having said that, Murad’s endeavour in this work is to demonstrate that Traditional Islam “can claim to represent a more intellectually and morally coherent response to the present emergency of Muslim integration than either secular scientism or Islamism” (p. 3). 

This sentence arguably identifies the main villains in his narrative, although he could be clearer. Anyone who knows Murad’s past writings will, however, recognise that aside from aggressive forms of secular ideologies, he sees the major threats to Traditional Islam as arising from within the Muslim community, most notably in the forms of Salafism and Islamism which he often disparagingly refers to as fundamentalism, all of which remain poorly defined in the present work and often appear to bleed into each other as a result. It is not without irony that Murad’s work thus appears to reinscribes the dangerous blurring of lines between peaceful Muslim activists and the kinds of nihilistic violence exemplified by groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, something that all Muslim public figures need to be careful to avoid in the context of the War on Terror whose undifferentiating dragnet is liable to criminalise any form of Muslim identity that is not approved by the state, including those forms that Murad so eloquently seeks to defend. While he clearly recognises that Salafism and Islamism do not necessarily entail violence (e.g. p. 230), he arguably contributes to a wider discursive context in which such nuances are easily lost.

Murad frequently distinguishes Traditional Islam from Salafism and Islamism by arguing that the latter two represent the ideologisation of Islam, whereas Traditional Islam is authentically rooted in the “time-honoured root-epistemology, the uṣūl ” which are connected through “continuous narrative” over centuries. This contrast between a polemically vague fundamentalism and Traditional Islam is found throughout the present work as well as in the shaykh’s previous writings. Yet, specific examples of differences are often difficult to discern—those other Islamic denominations also have their learned ulama who engage a long tradition of scholarship that will invoke great masters of uṣūl , whether this is a reference to jurisprudence or dialectical theology. Plenty of ulama of an “Islamist” orientation, e.g. Muṣṭafā Zarqā (d. 1420/1999), ʿAbd al-Karīm Zaydān (d. 1435/2014), Muḥammad ʿImāra (d. 1441/2020), and Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī (b. 1345/1926), will reference the great past masters of these disciplines, be they Bazdawī (d. 482/1089), Ghazzālī, Rāzī (d. c. 606/1209), Ījī (d. 756/1355), Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390), Zarkashī (d. 794/1392), and so many others. 

The same can be said for Salafi scholars who engage the discipline of uṣūl , although they are rarer. This is because many Salafis are descendants of what academic Islamic studies happens to refer to as “traditionalism,” that is, the early Islamic tendency notable among the Ḥanbalīs and the Ahl al-Ḥadīth that viewed with great hostility any kind of theological speculation. But even among Salafis one finds scholars who invest great energy in continuing the scholarly tradition of uṣūl al-fiqh or jurisprudence as exemplified by the likes of Juwaynī (d. 478/1185), Ghazzālī, Shāṭibī (d. 790/1388), Ibn al-Subkī (d. 771/1370), Zarkashī, and many others. While Salafis often express considerable reservations regarding the dominance of Ashʿarī theology in the writings of these pre-modern scholars, it is not clear why Murad should reciprocate historical Salafi intolerance by taking them out of the Sunni umbrella, a quasi-sectarian stance that he appears to encourage (p. 89n).

It is also worth considering critically the claim that Traditional Islam is perhaps uniquely grounded in a respect for ijāza s and isnād s, unlike its ideological competitors. Murad does not make this claim himself, but it is widespread in Neo-traditionalist circles. The problem with this claim is two-fold. Firstly, there are plenty of Salafis and Islamists who also possess impressive collections of ijāza s and isnād s. Two Islamists Murad mentions with disapproval (p. 222), namely Abū al-Aʿlā Mawdūdī (d. 1979/1399) and Qaraḍāwī are both known to have ijāza s and isnād s, and Salafis, with their special interest in hadith, also possess collections of ijāza s and isnād s including ones that go back to Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (d. 1206/1792), the highly problematic founder of what academics (usually non-pejoratively) refer to as “Wahhabism.” Indeed, as I have noted elsewhere , the possession of ijāza s and isnād s has not prevented individuals from engaging in the terroristic theology of Al-Qaeda. 

Secondly, Murad boldly states that Traditional Islam’s “highly-trained scholars […] do not become extremists” (p. 183). For this we find a counterpoint in the writings of the intellectual historian, Muhammad Qasim Zaman. In a number of works, most recently Islam in Pakistan: A History , Zaman illustrates instances in which the jihadism of the Taliban and likeminded groups in South Asia have often been tied to the ulama. These include Neo-traditionalist ulama, such as, for example, those of the Deobandi school. Deobandism’s Neo-traditionalist credentials can be exemplified by their strict commitment to the Ḥanafī school, their adherence to Māturīdī theology, and their cultivation of Sufism through the recognised ṭarīqa s alongside their transmission of knowledge through isnād s and ijāza s. Yet Zaman illustrates in this and his earlier work the extent to which learned ulama from this and other tendencies maintained close ties with the Taliban, themselves staunch Ḥanafīs. Scholarship or Traditionalism do not appear to preclude “extremism” at least as the word is widely, and very problematically, deployed in the West. 

On ijāza s and isnād s

A second and perhaps more fundamental problem for Neo-traditionalists more generally, (though not Murad in this instance), is their insistence on the centrality of ijāza s and isnād s which sometimes seems grounded in an apparent misunderstanding of the actual purpose of these scholarly tools. These forms of knowledge transmission have been illuminatingly explored in a wonderful recent monograph by Garrett Davidson entitled Carrying on the Tradition: A Social and Intellectual History of Hadith Transmission across a Thousand Years . As Davidson notes (p. 109-111), there are in fact two types of ijāza s that are frequently conflated by modern scholars, namely: ijāza s for the purpose of narration of hadith ( riwāya ), and those that act as qualifications that permit one to teach ( tadrīs ) and/or give fatwas ( iftāʾ ). Most of the time, Neo-traditionalists appear to intend the latter more advanced type of ijāza as the relevant kind while suggesting that its upholding is the sine qua non of authentic Islam. But many of those who uphold the normativity of the ijāza appear unaware that there is no consensus regarding such a practice—developed in the later centuries of Islamic history–as being essential to the sound preservation of the dīn . 

A striking illustration of this perspective comes from a scholar who is particularly well-regarded in Neo-traditionalist circles, namely the prolific Egyptian polymath, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505). Davidson (p. 110) cites Suyūṭī’s rather harsh judgement of those who insist on the necessity of the more advanced ijāza as follows:

An ijāza from a shaykh is not a condition for one to begin teaching and imparting one’s knowledge. Whoever knows that he is qualified to teach may do so, even if no one has issued him an ijāza . This is the way of the pious ancestors and righteous forbearers. This is true for every discipline and teaching and issuing fatwas, contrary to the opinion of some ignoramuses ( aghbiyāʾ ). 

Davidson does not translate the remainder of the passage which provides Suyūṭī’s explanation for the rise of the practice of issuing ijāza s which the latter otherwise expresses no objection to. Suyūṭī explains:

People simply established the practice of giving ijāza s because the qualifications ( ahliyya ) of an individual are for the most part unknown to beginner students who seek to learn from them since the abilities of [these novices] do not allow [them to evaluate the knowledge of their potential teachers]. Yet examining the qualifications of a scholar is a precondition for learning from them. The ijāza was thus created as a kind of certification of qualifications given by a scholar to the one granted an ijāza .

Aside from illustrating the sharply contested normativity of the ijāza as a prerequisite for assessing the reliability of a scholar, this passage also alerts us to the awareness of one of the most prolific scholars of Islamic history regarding the contingency of the structures developed by the later Islamic tradition which Neo-traditionalists often claim as timeless and indispensable. By contrast, Suyūṭī views ijāza s very much in the way that modern people view university qualifications with respect to secular knowledge—they are the standard means of demonstrating expertise in a field, but their absence does not automatically signal incompetence in every case. And in an age in which institutions of Islamic scholarship have witnessed a diminution in standards and quality control, the presence of such ostensible qualifications is not always the best measure of reliable scholarship. Rather than insisting on the normativity of such shibboleths, we perhaps ought to exercise the same circumspection as great master scholars like Suyūṭī and recognise the contingency of the ijāza system.

What does “ideology” really mean?

One of the other targets of Murad’s ire in his work is “ideology.” In his view, the traditional Muslim, when responding to the disasters wrought by the modern world upon the believer, “will categorically avoid ideology” (p. 122). This is because ideology, which Murad argues is “generally a disparaging term used to describe someone else’s political views which one regards as unsound,” is “purely materialistic” and borders on disbelief ( kufr ). His target, he alludes to without being explicit, is the twentieth century Islamist ideas of modern scholars associated with politically oriented movements from the Muslim world, most notably exemplified by organisations like Jamāʿat-i Islāmī and the Muslim Brotherhood and figures like Mawdūdī and Sayyid Quṭb (d. 1386/1966). His specific remarks are worth citing in full here:

Ideology, which attributes ultimate agency to the asbāb , is the essence of kufr , disbelief, and readily engenders totalitarian systems of thought, which seek to impose a single paradigm of human behaviour on society through the agencies of an ‘enlightened’ scientific state. This may be one reason why some twentieth-century Muslim reformists proposed that Islam itself is an ‘ideology’. (p. 123)

The footnote makes reference to a work on Mawdūdī for those unfamiliar with modern Islamic political theology. Murad obviously does not think particularly highly of his ideas. But regardless of what one thinks of Mawdūdī, one wonders what to make of such fierce albeit indirect polemics against an influential figure without engaging substantively with their thought. Indeed, I would argue that, such statements are out of step with Murad’s avowed commitment to uṣūlī principles. Such polemicising leads him to misrepresent his opponents by firstly defining ideology in a way that, on the one hand, his opponents would not recognise as accurate, and on the other, aligns ideology with kufr . Secondly, he points out that his opponents themselves use the term ideology, while disregarding the fact that their usage contrasts with the definition he provides. This could even be taken as suggesting that Murad holds such figures to uphold a view of Islam that is either itself kufrī or has close affinities with kufr . It should go without saying that this is not an intellectually reasonable approach to engaging the ideas of a figure like Mawdūdī. (In personal correspondence, Murad has pointed out to me that his allusions to Mawdūdī are very indirect, and that his main complaint is that the latter’s approach to Islam is reductive of its richness and diversity. My remarks should thus be seen as addressing what I consider to be one plausible reading of Murad, but not necessarily the reading he intended.)

A less hostile reading of Mawdūdī and other scholars of a similar orientation discloses a rather pedestrian reality: they used the term ideology as a synonym for words like Weltanschauung or worldview. To think that they would use the pejorative Marxist conception of the term Murad asserts as normative in modern discourse (p. 122f.) rather than the variety of positively connoted alternatives widely cited in the sort of postmodern literature the shaykh is so thoroughly familiar with does little to advance our understanding of either Islam or such modern movements. To take just one example of recognised non-pejorative conceptions of ideology, Terry Eagleton, in his classic Ideology: An Introduction , begins his book by citing sixteen definitions of ideology to illustrate just how contested the concept is. Of these fewer than half, by my reckoning, would count as necessarily pejorative in their meaning. Mawdūdī certainly did not use the word “ideology” to discredit his own ideas, and so attributing such a pejorative sense to his usage is not warranted.

In fairness, I should note that Murad is not the only Neo-traditionalist figure to disparage Islamists because of their use of this term. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has also written critically of Islamist “ideology,” and his rationalisation of such a usage is similarly unconvincing. A more detailed treatment of Mawdūdī’s conception of ideology will have to be dealt with elsewhere, but suffice it to say that such quibbling over words is not particularly illuminating. It is for good reason that so many scholars of “Traditional” uṣūl , as cited unselfconsciously by one Salafi scholar who obviously does not recognise the Traditional-Salafi distinction upheld by Murad, highlight the hermeneutic principle that it is pointless to quibble over words ( lā mushāḥḥata fī al-iṣṭilāḥ ).

Who are these “fundamentalists”?

A challenge in reading Murad is his disinclination from identifying his interlocutors explicitly. This may be intended to avoid the impropriety of gratuitously naming and shaming individuals—an Islamic value that finds Prophetic precedent. But I would argue that the value often appears to be misapplied in this work. Rather than protecting the identity of individuals, it appears to result in tarring entire perspectives with the same brush. We have already seen Murad’s references to Islamism, Salafism, and fundamentalism, which while never adequately defined, are at least terms that are used by others, and thus their meaning can perhaps be approximated. But perhaps not. Who is the “zealot” (p. 165), for instance, who rejects the Four Schools, rejects the schools of theology, or Islamic spirituality, and how widespread is such “zealotry” among Europe’s Muslims? Aside from the relatively isolated cases, it is not clear to me that mainstream Salafis or Islamists are especially exercised by people’s adherence to schools of law. Here , for example, is the leading Saudi Salafi scholar of his time, Ibn Bāz (d. 1420/1999), stating that there is nothing wrong in a layman following a madhhab . There is, of course, the unusual and indeed influential case of al-Albānī (d. 1420/1999) who did indeed deny people the right to follow a madhhab , but he does not characterise Salafism as a whole. The same can be said, making the necessary adjustments, for theological schools and Islamic spirituality. 

Similarly problematic is the vague referent of a term of Murad’s own coinage, namely the tanfīrī , literally “the one who drives people away (from Islam),” regarding whom he says the following (p. 165):

The tanfīrī [‘s…] conclusion that God abandoned the Umma , and that the scholars acted criminally for many centuries, can only kindle a great furnace of anger and doubt in his soul. This is ‘failurism’: the idea that our dīn failed, and that only with the rise of the new fundamentalisms in these latter days has it reappeared on earth. God, hence, seems hardly to be trusted: the Umma for centuries was abandoned by Providence. Hence tanfīrī rage is not only against the consensus of Sunni scholarship, but implicitly against God Himself, for having committed so cruel a dereliction of the Muslim people. Orphaned from his civilisation, unable to trust Heaven, the zealot’s soul can only emit a primal scream of agony, fear and hate.

But one wonders who in Europe Murad is actually referring to here that condemns Muslims as having been abandoned to misguidance by God for centuries. Are they the Salafis or the Islamists that cause him so much anxiety earlier in the text? Are they the various forms of immigrant Islam he expresses so much disquiet about throughout this work? It does not seem likely that these are the people he is referring to, for one would be hard pressed to find any such European Muslim actually believing that God had abandoned His umma for so long. It is true that some of these sentiments can be read into the writings of influential Islamist writers who lived and died beyond Europe, like Sayyid Quṭb, but as scholars like Roxanne Euben and John Calvert have ably illustrated, even such a controversial figure within the ranks of Islamism has a far more complicated legacy than Murad is willing to acknowledge. The only people this kind of language would seem to apply to are extremist groups like al-Qa‘ida and ISIS who find no sympathy with the mainstream Islamists and Salafis who are to be found in Europe or, indeed, anywhere in the world. 

These are thus “polemical essays” also in the sense that they often sacrifice analytical precision at the altar of rhetorical expediency, and consequently appear to be wielded as a blunt instrument against an ill-defined other. Yet by remaining vague about his target, perhaps out of courtesy, I would argue that Murad might inadvertently suggest to his readers that such tendencies represent a palpable and sizeable threat within European Muslim communities. This is where polemics can become especially dangerous, given the securitisation of Muslims in the context of the War on Terror. While Murad does not make it explicit, the uninitiated reader may take from these kinds of passages which pepper the prose of this volume that such rootless extremism is a widespread tendency among Europe’s Muslims. The reality, by contrast, is that extremists of the ISIS variety are a vanishingly small if dangerous phenomenon that finds no haven or sympathy within the Muslim communities of Europe, and usually isolate themselves from these communities in order to pursue their illegal activities. 

The complexity of the Islamic tradition

Part of what Murad engages in this work is explaining the nature of “Traditional Islam.” But some of this, I would suggest, comes across as an exercise in presenting a mythical ideal that is polemically contrasted with the least charitable interpretation of the possible alternatives. An example may be taken from the remark that “the Prophetic teaching of amr bi’l-maʿrūf wa-nahy ʿan al-munkar , ‘commanding the good and forbidding the evil’, […] in the first instance must be verbal; indeed, unless one wields due political sovereignty it can be nothing else” (p. 169). In the present work, he elides the well-known and controversial fact that Ghazzālī argues for the permissibility of organising armed vigilantes to undertake the role of commanding the good and forbidding the evil without seeking the permission of the political authorities . As a Ghazzālī expert, Murad is naturally well aware of this idiosyncrasy of the premodern polymath’s thought. He has judiciously addressed the obvious inapplicability of this perspective in our own radically different era in an essay from 2003 (n. 10). While this is an excellent example of applying the appropriate charitable reading to the works of a scholar one views with favour, Murad also presents a striking example of the opposite.

With respect to the noted Salafi scholar, Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn (d. 1421/2001), Murad cites Thomas Bauer, the German author of a work entitled Die Kultur der Ambiguität: Eine andere Geschichte des Islam (soon to be published in English as A Culture of Ambiguity: An Alternative History of Islam ), to claim that Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn, rather than accept that the Qur’an had variant readings, sought to “advocate for a single authorised version of the text” (p. 220). This is quite a shocking claim to be made of any scholar, let alone a scholar of Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn’s standing within Ḥanbalī/Salafi circles. One would expect Murad to scrutinise Bauer’s claim, but rather than examining whether the German scholar’s assertions are accurate, Murad readily accepts them. 

For his part, Bauer is comparing an advanced multi-volume work on the ten variant readings of the Qur’an by the ultimate medieval authority in Qur’anic studies, Ibn al-Jazarī (d. 833/1429), with an entry-level text of a few dozen pages on Qur’anic studies more generally of Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn. That the latter does not really explore the variant readings of the Qur’an in such a short beginners guide is not altogether as surprising as Bauer seems to think it is. Had he, or Murad for that matter, undertaken a simple Google search, he would have found clear evidence that Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn was perfectly aware of, and certainly not opposed to, the variant readings of the Qur’an. But the case is illustrative of how a scholar as erudite as Murad can be driven, apparently by inter-denominational antipathy, to be so credulous regarding the shocking ignorance of the most senior scholars of a competing Sunni denomination that he would not seek to verify what should immediately appear to be an outlandish claim on the part of a scholar unsympathetic towards the admitted rigorism of some Salafis.

On grievance culture (and being therapeutic)

A theme that runs through much of Murad’s book is, to put it ironically, deep-seated grievances about the “grievance culture” of the “dreary conference-centred ideology-religion” of “Movement Islam” (p. 63f., 205). This may be encapsulated in the following quote from the final page of a chapter ostensibly discussing the significance of spiritual rootedness for Western Muslims:

By contrast there are fundamentalisms, radical Islamisms, and lethal dreams of Islam not as dīn but as ideology. […] The catastrophes of modern Islamist dysfunction, on the basis of which our neighbours rush to judge us, are the consequence of the bastardising of our discourse by narratives of postcolonial grievance and by illicit and unstable intrusions of formalist interpretation far from the Breath of the Compassionate. (p. 267)

Much of this ire is directed at immigrant Muslims as suggested in the above reference to “postcolonial grievance.” And it is not only “Movement Islam” that is targeted, but also  forms of immigrant religiosity and scholarship that do not conform to the very distinctive conception of Traditional Islam that Murad holds to be normative (p. 134f.). It strikes me as problematic that notwithstanding his own significant contributions to the British Muslim immigrant community alongside his excoriation of the nativist Islamophobia of the far-right, Travelling Home will seem to some readers to be suffused with a kind of anti-immigrant grievance. 

Nor is it only the ersatz Islam that many an immigrant has brought that is the object of Murad’s derision. Their current sense of religious precarity among immigrants elicits little by way of sympathy from Murad in a few striking passages. To those Muslims concerned about preserving their religion in an increasingly inhospitable if not downright hostile Europe, Murad offers little reassurance in the following remarks: 

Most Muslims in France migrated in order to eat more tagine or to seek a EU passport, but this, in Sharia terms, did not usually comprise a good reason for hijra . [The Prophet said:] ‘Whoever’s migration is for some worldly thing, or to marry a woman, then his migration is accordingly for that.’ (p. 125)

Murad previously expressed this sentiment in a 2019 lecture and separately in a recent interview as well. Yet, this is probably balanced out in the author’s own view by his defence, throughout this work, of the “Ishmaelite” as a symbol of the Muslim refugee who is the object of Europe’s contempt. The motivation underlying this critique of the intentions of Muslim immigrants is clearly to encourage Muslims to recognise that they must be engaged in daʿwa in some form to justify their residing in non-Muslim lands.

But his portrayal of purely worldly reasons doubtless distorts the variety of factors behind Muslim immigration to Europe. It is not clear on what empirical basis Murad asserts that the reasons for immigration were worldly in an Islamically blameworthy sense. This is perhaps an instance where the empiricism of a sociological approach could prove useful. Unlike the considerable efforts he expends to seek to understand and, at times, perhaps even justify the causes for European nativist grievance against Muslim otherness (p. 207f.), one feels that the same charity is not always extended to once colonised peoples. He might consider framing the issue quite differently by asking why it is the case that Muslims have immigrated to Europe in such large numbers rather than the contrasting possibility: European immigrants residing in comparable numbers in Muslim lands? What has created the massive disparities, what Jason Hickel refers to as “ The Divide ” between the Global South and the West? 

Murad is well aware that this is no historical accident, and in a footnote (p. 209f.) is willing to extend recognition to the suffering of First Nation peoples, Aboriginals and African Americans who suffered under settler-colonialism and slavery. This may be taken to be Murad’s affirmation of certain kinds of “postcolonial grievance” as legitimate, although this seems to be exclusive to those who have suffered settler colonialism or forced migration as slaves. His own grievances appear directed at the postcolonial immigrant to the metropole. In relation to such immigrants, he is willing to cite right-wing denialists of Islamophobia like David Goodhart with approval when they discuss the “decent populism” (p. 208n) of indigenous white Britons concerned about their country being overrun, as it were, by immigrants.

Curiously, he is unable to extend the same charity, and indeed, the “positive discrimination” he advocates for African Americans or Aboriginal peoples to postcolonial immigrants who would likely not have sought to pursue the metropole if their own lands had not been plundered to the astonishing degree that historians have documented during the same period in which settler-colonialists were decimating indigenous North American and Australasian cultures. Doubtless, making hijra to a land where one is liable to lose one’s religion is prohibited in the Sharia, but leaving aside the many Muslims who would have made hijra due to compelling circumstances, might the reason for the other Muslims who did make hijra out of the Abode of Islam due to their ignorance of the dīn have been the destruction of the institutions of Islamic learning in their homelands as a consequence of colonialism? Might this not at least be a question worth exploring before one criticises the offspring of those rendered religiously impoverished through the colonial dismantling of indigenous institutions of learning in Muslim lands? Surely this too would merit theological reflection in a way that would help us recognise the complex burdens modern Muslim immigrants to the West carry. 

In response to concern regarding the potential loss of religion on the part of subsequent generations of immigrant Muslims, Murad could give the glad tidings ( tabshīr ) of God’s boundless mercy that Ghazzālī finds solace in rather than offering severe ( tanfīrī ) judgements of the kind just alluded to. When criticising Salafis, Murad is able to recognise the capaciousness of some Sunni conceptions of the saved. For example, he cites Abū Ḥanīfa’s reported view that Muslims residing in non-Muslim lands ( arḍ al-shirk ) who were ignorant of even those minimal elements of the religion that were essential to being Muslim, such as affirming the Qur’an and the Sharia, could still be considered Muslim and hence saved (p. 132n). This would seem an apposite reference when thinking about immigrant Muslims as well. 

The foregoing critique is not to say that Muslims in the modern world should not actively cultivate a culture of Islamic learning rather than spending all their time crying over the spilt milk of colonialism. But there seems to be little sense in cultivating a “counter-grievance culture” regarding immigrants concerned for their children’s loss of religion. Surely the appropriate response to such circumstances is what Murad exhorts Muslims to do when confronted by Islamophobes—act as therapists and push back with what is better (Chapter 7). 

Much more could be said about this book, both positive and critical. For example, Murad offers important reflections on the concept of Islamophobia (Chapter 2), and in particular, the debates around defining it that have been raging in Britain over the past year or so. I hope to consider these elsewhere in future. I also found his remarks on academic Islamic studies—my own professional home—quite edifying. As he notes in Chapter 9, the distance between academic studies of Islam and Muslim perspectives on their own tradition has happily narrowed considerably in recent years. Consequently, academia is more and more welcoming of committed Muslims given the increasing philosophical indefensibility of past exclusionary attitudes (p. 240). The era in which university academics were required to conform to the orthodoxy of secular materialism appears gratefully to be on the wane. 

In conclusion, however, I wish to reiterate that notwithstanding the foregoing critique of Murad’s learned work, Western Muslims can benefit from reading and engaging this book not in a reactionary manner, but in the spirit of the great master Imam al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820), as related by Ghazzālī : in pursuit of the truth for the sake of God while keeping at bay the lowly desires of the ego. I have tried my best to approach this text in that spirit, and I have doubtless failed in some instances to do justice to this complex and multi-layered work. I can only hope that others will read this important contribution to European Islamic theological reflection and use it as a springboard to cultivate a richer Islamic discourse on the continent.

Note: I am grateful that despite his understandable reservations about my critical reading of his work, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad offered useful comments and corrections on an earlier draft of this article. Naturally, I am solely responsible for any errors it contains.

Day of the Dogs, Part 16:  The Weapon of the Believer

Day of the Dogs, Part 15:  DNA Doesn’t Lie

Shaykh Usaama al-Azami is Departmental Lecturer in Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford. He began pursuing Arabic studies formally in 2002. He subsequently enrolled at Oxford University, completing his BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies in 2008. From 2005 onwards, he attended regular classes at Al-Salam Institute with Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi, from whom he narrates numerous classical works including the Hidaya of al-Marghinani and the Sahih of al-Bukhari. Over the years Shaykh Usaama has been able to study with, and/or obtain ijazat from a number of scholars. They include Shaykhs Ahmad ‘Ali Lajpuri, ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Kattani, Yunus Jaunpuri, Muhammad Rabi’, ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Turayri, ‘Abd-Allah al-Judai’ (without ijaza), Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, Muhammad Al Rashid, Nizam Ya’qubi, Jihad Brown (without ijaza), and Ziyad al-Tukla. From 2010-2015, Usaama was based at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies, where he completed an MA and later a PhD on contemporary Islamic political thought.

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February 6, 2021 at 12:50 AM

This was an excellent review. I have tremendous respect for the esteemed Shaykh and enjoy his writings and videos, but I wonder how someone as erudite as Sh Abdal Hakim Murad can be so dismissive of other Muslims with whom he might disagree on issues of “ideology” or politics, even as he encourages Prophetic compassion and patience when dealing with overtly anti-Muslim, right-wing Europeans. Time to put aside the destructive battles of the 90s.

February 21, 2021 at 10:55 AM

As a supporter of “Traditional Islam” and an enthusiastic devourer of all things from Sh Abdul Hakim Murad, I nevertheless found this to be a brilliant review of this book and also a useful critique of some aspects of the “Traditional Islam” view of the other major tendencies within Islamic activism, (such as Salafism, Islamism and Modernism). They all have provided Muslims with beneficial insights into the nature, causes and reality of our current situation. I am optimistic that there is a convergence going on, a meeting of minds if you like, among many people who were initially caught in the crossfire of these tendencies a few decades ago.

February 22, 2021 at 3:05 AM

Masha Allah great work keep it up

March 1, 2021 at 7:53 PM

Well put, Mubashir. Too often, Muslims who view the faith and the challenges of our modern realities through the lens of a particular paradigm suffer from a type of “temporary blindness” (an inability to recognize the merits of another approach or emphasis). It need not always be a question of “either this or that”. For example, a prophetic approach grounded on compassion in dealing with uninformed critics of the faith and its followers (espoused by Sh Murad) can and ought to coexist with a parallel movement designed to secure the rights of Muslims in the West. There is no wisdom (neither Prophetic nor Ivory Tower) in failing to stand up for vulnerable Muslims who bear the often violent brunt of anti-Muslim sentiment. Muslim communities in the West have produced individuals with diverse predilections, talents, and motivations. InshaAllah they can all benefit the Ummah.

September 2, 2021 at 6:01 PM

Didn’t really enjoy the review. Having read all the book the only thing that Azami seems to pick up on is Traditional Islam. The book is lucid, very well-written and brings up some excellent points, which sadly have not been touched in this review. It also seems that the Azami is averse to traditional Islam, because according to Murad’s definition the Ikhwaan are not fully included.

Murad has also been consistent in his critique of Salafism and Wahhabism, which in itself is a hallmark of traditional Islam. Scholars such as Ibn Abideen, Sawi, Dahlan and others offered a similar critique. Azami also argues that the hallmark of Traditional Islam is its reliance on the system of Isnad. This is not true, as the Salafis also have Isnad to their teachers. As for the deobandi and Barelwis, Murad may not necessarily see certain strands as part of traditional Islam. Murad contests that reformists movements may have a pert of traditiona but do not represent traditional Islam fully (Deobandis, Barelwis, Ikhwani’s, UKIM etc.)

AbdulHafidh Ahmed

November 28, 2021 at 12:34 PM

With all due respect this is not a “review” but an attempted refutation. I appreciate that coming from a Salafi this is actually quite balanced but there are numerous over the top accusations in this piece:

1. For the author to accuse Sh. AbdulHakim Murad of anti Immigrant sentiment is really a low blow and in fact is proof that even the shaykh can’t critique our attitudes without us assuming the pose of the victim.

2. It is known that Saudi Arabia massively funded the Taliban movement in the 90s taking over something like 4000 madrassas, even today there is the Salafi Haqqani network within the Taliban. In addition to the people around Mullah Omar. The Taliban would break up sufi gatherings and beat up the people, which is proof of the Salafi influence and the distance from Deobandism in that period. It seems that they are now returning to Traditional Islam

3.On the issue of the Ijaza system, Islam must be taught Islamically and even if Imam Suyuti criticised an over emphasis on the Ijaza surely that does not mean he endorsed the do it yourself approach of people like Al Albani or the modern university system (nobody suggests that writing a dissertation and getting a PhD makes you into an Alim). Also what does it matter if a salafi has an Ijaza with a chain of transmission including people who are traditionalists, (e.g on the issue of Tawassul the Salafis believe it makes you a kafir, that was the explicit position of Ibn Abdul Wahhab) The paper and ink of the Ijaza means nothing if you make Tabdee’ or even takfir of the people in the chain.

4. As for whether the Salafis are Sunnis, those who hold to the positions of Ibn AbdulWahaab make takfir on the basis of a person holding absolutely normative and uncontroversial positions of men like Imam Suyuti, so why does the author act surprised, Shaykh AbdulHakim’s position actually seems less unequivocal than the oficcial position of Al Azhar for example.

There is a lot more that can be said of this attempted refutation, let’s just leave it there

June 14, 2022 at 8:46 AM

May Allah SWT have mercy on Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad, as well as Dr Usaama al Azami.

June 14, 2022 at 8:50 AM

Junghio is blatantly wrong with his last point, in regards to Shaykh AHM from what I understand is that he consides Deobandis to be traditional Muslims, but that tht difference between the groups are not something that would’ve been picked up on in premodern Islam.

Ahmed Farzan Zaheed

August 16, 2022 at 12:52 AM

I feel like a kindred soul to to this writer – for I have the same sense of grievance against his rambbings as he does aginst Dr. Abdul Hakim’s ramblings.

First of all let’s state the obvious: Dr. Abdul Hakim Murad is not a prophet and his sayings are not revelations from on High, they are his (admittedly very-learned) opinions. People who are like-minded will be influenced by him, people who are opposed to what he represents will want to refute him. And it is obvious which camp Dr. Usama belongs to.

Which brings us to the second point – inspite of his seeming intellectual bent – Dr. Usama’s writing seems to be all about camps (and groups and labels) – Neo-traditionalist, Salafi, Sufi, etc. etc……When he does discuss ideas it seems to be in order to refute it…..(his refutation of the the necessity of isnaad, his admittedly-mild attempt at a refutation of the of the Sunni teaching of obedience to rulers, etc.)

And then his ability to deny the obvious is mind-boggling. For example in his statement:

Who is the “zealot” (p. 165), for instance, who rejects the Four Schools, rejects the schools of theology, or Islamic spirituality, and how widespread is such “zealotry” among Europe’s Muslims? Aside from the relatively isolated cases, it is not clear to me that mainstream Salafis or Islamists are especially exercised by people’s adherence to schools of law.”

Really???? Dr. Usama? Have you really met any salafis? Where have you been? And how can you be professor of contemporary Islamic movements? You seem have so little direct experience of them!

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