Discovering the Headcover - 5

Before I say anything, I am going to warn you that you must have read the previous episodes of this series in order to properly understand the foregoing discussion. So, please take your time to read them, if you haven't done so.

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An important issue that the Muslims face today is establishing connections with the disbelievers or non-Muslims. This issue is due to the definitive instructions in the Quran on the matter. For some people, especially those who live in the non-Muslim majority countries, this is not an issue in their minds, because they are either overwhelmed with such connections or they formed their diaspora in order to avoid any ties with the non-Muslims. For some others, they prefer not to dig in. In case of the extremists, they use the relevant verses of the Quran to justify their hostility against the non-Muslims and against the Muslims who interact with the non-Muslims. Despite all these, still another group of Muslims have worked their way to have a solution to the issue. If you read the Quran, however, not befriending the non-Muslims or not allying with them is there, explicitly mentioned and repeated, and expressed in an authoritative language that is directly addressing the believers. You cannot miss it. How come you work your way around it?

O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people. (5/51)

O you who believe! do not take for guardians those who take your religion for a mockery and a joke, from among those who were given the Book before you and the unbelievers; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah if you are believers. (5/57)

Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing with Allah , except when taking precaution against them in prudence. And Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the [final] destination. (3/28) 

O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves, for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the signs, if you will use reason. (3/118) 

O you who have believed, do not take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah against yourselves a clear case? (4/144)

Here, I am not going to discuss the details of the answer to that question, because my goal is not to scrutinize the social interactions but to scrutinize the method I proposed and used in analyzing the headcover issue. So, I am going to suffice with drawing some lessons and parallels between these two issues.

Did I tell you that those who worked their way around the problem of "befriending the disbelievers" did so mostly in the last 50 years or so! Guess why? They had no other choice. Until the end of the 18th century, the Muslims had the higher hand among the civilizations, and they did not have much affair with the non-Muslims other than trade or wars. This situation was rooted in one sense in the verses mentioned above. With the start of the demise of the power of Muslims, not only the strength of the faiths dwindled but also the ties with the non-Muslims grew stronger. When we came to the 1900's, the Muslims were simply vanquished by the disbelievers in virtually all fronts of life. So, it was not anymore a question, whether to engage with the non-Muslims or not. If you did not, you didn't have a chance to thrive. You had to learn from them. You had to establish friendship with them. You had to depend and rely on them. You had to ally with them. In short, you had to go against what was told in the Quran!

Then, what did those who found a solution do? How did they come to a solution? Simple and brief answer is 1- they looked at the historical and textual context of those verses, 2- they scrutinized the meaning of the words "disbeliever", "ally", "friend" not just as used among the people but as used in the Quran, 3- they did not solely look at the verses at hand but considered the big picture of the Quran, 4- they confined the "stay away order" against those who function in the abhorred ways mentioned in the Quran. In short, those who solved the problem developed a life style in which a person's disbeliever status is not necessarily derived from their beliefs but from their actions towards the Muslims. This conclusion mostly came from an analysis of the meaning of "disbeliever" in the Quran and a critical thought thereof. As an example of this approach, you can read this blog.

The above example about the "stay away order" can be used as a pattern to see how the minds of those who interpret Islam work. You can project this pattern to other matters, such as music, sculpture, arts, presence of women in the society, state-religion interaction. The scholars do not apply the critical thinking and objective analysis unless and until they have to. Until then, they go with blind imitation and status quo, claiming these to be the order of God. But when the time comes, suddenly God's orders change!

Nevertheless, I have good news. If you set aside the dominant view of the masses, the pure human conscience and intuition have the ability to see the direction towards the truth. This is a God-given ability to the human heart. That is, in all of those issues where the scholars cling to a blind imitation and side with the status quo, the free thinking individuals all along the history held the idea that "there must be another way of understanding God's words, still intended and willed by Him." An example of this is us today knowing that there are angelic non-Muslims and satanic Muslims, and so, there has to be a different way of understanding the aforementioned verses. Now with all these, let's get back to the headcover issue.

So far in the previous episodes, we looked at the psychological aspects of the matter and also made a methodological verification of the status of headcover as an "order of God". The last step involved a look into the meaning and function of "adornment". Then, we wanted to perform a self-check in order to make sure that we are not deviating from the straight path of God. Now, we saw that what we did as critical thinking while adhering to the word of God, although in the appearance against the beliefs of the masses and the governing understanding of the Quran, is in fact exactly what the "scholars" do and what the masses "think" when they fall into the obliging conditions. That is, if you wait long enough, you may see the scholars and masses voice the same ideas about the headcover that we have been working on so far. 

In fact, this series of blogs is not the only one announcing non-orthodox views on the issue of headcover, but the sources who do so are mostly linked to political endeavors or have life styles that are inconsiderate of God's expectations of a believer. And most of all, such non-orthodox views lack a connection and adherence to the word of God. As a result, even if those views on the headcover issue might be worthy of thinking, they are marginalized and outcast due to the accompanying factors mentioned here.

But again, before we go any further, we have to establish one thing for sure. What we are doing cannot be correct, just because there are others doing it. Conversely, what we are doing cannot be wrong, just because there is no one else doing it. Far from any connection to the number of others holding onto it, what we are doing can only be proven correct or wrong through compliance with the book of God and compatibility with the actions of His Messenger (pbuh).