Longing For An Enligthened Discourse On Hadith

 Longing For An Enlightened Discourse On Hadith

M. Bakri Musa

 

Discussions on hadith are heavy on establishing their authenticity through recitations of their long chain of narrators (isnad), less on relating their contents (matin) to the Qur’an, or the lessons that could be applied to contemporary challenges. 

 

            The typical discourse is heavy on mindless recitations of ancient Arabic texts. Never mind that your listeners cannot comprehend that. The purpose is less to enlighten, more to dazzle them.

 

            Dr. Maza’s recent long lecture in Kangar to launch the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Imam Nawawi’sForty Hadith Module was typical. Cut out his rhetorical flourishes and glut of gratuitous Arabic, and his talk could have been reduced to under 20 minutes. His cluttered slides were but distractions.

 

            As a result, many of his sharp observations were missed. His searing criticism of the mushrooming Tahfiz schools and their half-baked teachers consumed with their desert attire was spot on. Likewise his praise for Chinese schools and their well-trained teachers and disciplined milieu. He also condemned the pecuniary peddling of religion by contemporary ulama. That they are as yet not as avaricious as American evangelicals is no comfort. 

 

            Preachers have yet to appreciate that the adult’s attention span is limited. Inundating them with factoids serves little purpose. Those long droning presentations reflect another far more significant reality–lack of appreciation of the value of time, specifically that of your audience. A culture that does not value time suffers a severe handicap.

 

            The Zimbabwean but ethnic Arab Mufti Menk once gave a three-hour lecture in Kuala Lumpur, mesmerizing his audience in debunking the familiar hadith “seek knowledge even if you have to go to China.” At least Maza’s two-hour talk covered five! Menk conceded the first part of the hadith as that was also in the Qur’an. It is the ‘going to China’ bit that he scoffed. How could a 7^th Century Prophet have heard of China any more than he could of Kuala Lumpur, he mocked to the delight of his gullible audience.

 

            Meanwhile, an Indonesian high school student Bina Izzatu Dini was intrigued by that hadith, what with everything from sejadah (praying mat) to the model of the Kaaba being made in China these days. She discovered that, contrary to Mufti Menk’s brash ignorant assertion, Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w., being a trader before receiving his prophethood, would have heard of China as the ancient Silk Road traversed north of Mecca.

 

            Bina Dini’s curiosity and subsequent essay won her a scholarship to a Chinese university. Regardless of whether that hadith is sahih or not, she benefited directly in exploring it. And she did not have to wait till the Afterlife! That was also a far more beneficial exercise than arguing on the veracity of what was said (or not said) a millennium and a half ago! 

 

            When MOE introduced Nawawi’s Forty Hadith Module into schools last year, non-Muslim students were exempted, suggesting that Imam Nawawi’s wisdom would benefit only Muslims. That would be akin to asserting that studying Socrates would benefit only atheists, or Greeks!

 

            Ponder Nawawi’s first pick, “actions be judged by intentions.” That could stimulate a lively discussion a la Socrates. Consider that you tried to kill someone but your shot missed and instead killed the tiger that was lurking behind your target, ready to pounce on its victim but for your shot. Your intention was evil but your deed proved otherwise.

 

            Deeds are clear; motives and intentions, less so. When the Soviets sent Sputnik into space in 1957, that triggered America to launch its own very expensive program. America’s motives were realpolitik–not to be outmatched by the Soviets in this potential new and powerful military arena. Anything but pure! Thus many, especially clerics, argued that the funds would be better spent on earth.

 

            Today with satellites, we can predict the weather with better accuracy, guide planes more safely, and I can converse on video with my grandchildren ten thousand miles away. Quite a bounty regardless of the initial warped motive for America entering the space race.

 

            Framers of the American constitution had the noblest intention to be inclusive when they inserted “We, the people” in the preamble. However, their deeds were otherwise. That “we” referred only to property-owning white men. Only now it is being expanded to be truly inclusive.    

 

            How do you square those with “actions be judged by intentions?” 

 

            In the ensuing endless lectures, seminars, and in-service programs accompanying the launching ofForty Hadith Module, I have yet to hear these critical questions asked, or the universality of those hadith explored.

 

            No surprise that non-Muslims are turned off, mocking MOE’s intention of providing “ a positive impact as well as real picture of Islam’s universal values and its practices in a pluralistic society in Malaysia.” On the contrary, non-Muslims see the Module as another “Islamization” ruse.

 

            Rumi would not have been the most widely read poet today had Coleman Barks not universalized Rumi’s essence and message by using neutral rather than overtly Islamic words. Thus God and Supreme Being for Allah so non-Muslims could relate to Rumi’s wisdom. 

 

            Introducing the hadith module was a good deed; MOE’s intention, less so. It is less to bring Malaysians together through exploring the universality of Forty Hadith, more a misguided messianic dakwah to Islamize our schools, and thus sow divisions among citizens.