Muslims' Original Sin
"Even Though" Umayyad Islam: Injustice as an Ugly Frock
Imagine your child comes home from school, complaining that their teacher would yell at them and use harsh, lewd language to discipline and torment them. Would you say, “oh well, even though she does that, she is still your teacher, so she must know better.” Surely, you would be an awful parent if you overlooked your child’s wellbeing and safety like that.
If you heard of a woman, who defends herself against a rapist, would you say “he must have had his reasons,” or “God gave men an insatiable desire so this outcome is inevitable.” Surely you would not say something so ghastly and abhorrent. What an unethical, deplorable position to take, you might say.
But why is it, that when it comes to the majority of Muslims’ approach to Islam today, we undertake the same approach of “Even Though Islam.” I define ‘Even Though Islam’ as: making a thousand excuses for our sick system, inept leaders and our morally weak scholars, and still thinking we can be good Muslims.
Look back on your life, and your interactions with random Muslims in your life. How many of them say things like: “even though they are silent on these injustices, they are our Muslim scholars, and we owe them our loyalty and respect.” Or, “even though this ruler is a known butcher, he is still Muslim and I will still go to hajj this year because at least this regime is spending money on maintaining the sacred sites.”1
It seems like this is the Islam that most people have been conditioned to accepting: an Islam that overlooks the cornerstone central principle kernels of the Qur’an— justice, ethics and sacrifice—and instead, focuses on a cursory Islam of forms, ritual and signaling piety. This is an Islam that is adorned with the frock of ugliness, plain and simple. The Qur’an warns of those who garb their faith with the garb of injustice. Consider the verse in Surat Al-An’am, Verse 82: ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَلَمۡ يَلۡبِسُوٓاْ إِيمَٰنَهُم بِظُلۡمٍ “Those who believe and do not shroud their belief with injustice.”
When we look at most of what outrages Muslims today, it is only on the level of the emotional, but when it comes to the ethical, structural and historical problems befalling the ummah, we are suddenly deaf, dumb and mute. We are resigned to “Even Though Islam” or “Lowest Common Denominator Islam”: one that gives any so-called Muslim leader, scholar or nation—no matter how corrupt, thieving, or treacherous—a free pass to do as it pleases, a “Carte Blanche Islam”, because, well, they are so-called Muslims at the end of the day and that is good enough.
The idea that, a ruler of a Muslim-majority country can be a known womanizer, butcher, an assassin, a thief and a robber, but we say, “oh, but he is Muslim.” The idea that a professed ‘guardian of the sacred holy sites’ in Jerusalem or Mecca can directly and indirectly aid and abet the globalist neoliberal project, but we still carry on as if that is a normal—even expected—mode of rule.
Or this crooked understanding that as long as someone does not do apparent kufr like bowing down to clay idols, then we must obey them because they are our ruler and our wali amr in charge of our affairs as Muslims and we owe them undying fealty according to Divine Law. We think that the only affront to God is stone idols, when in reality, it is the idol of our own weak faith and our making gods out of tyrants.
This is perhaps the most cancerous and dangerous type of depraved thinking prevalent among Muslims today.
Where does this type of Islam stripped of an ethical, Qur’anic core come from? Since when did Islam don the frock of dhulm (injustice) mention in Surat al-An’am?
Well, the answer is rooted in a specific space and time, it is not exactly a mystery. It is an uncomfortable answer, and not many people are willing to venture and seek the truth, because it means sacrificing a lot of your cardboard Islamic education and hardwired conditioning, but it comes from Islam’s earliest days. Consider this quote by Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl:
“In a short space right after the Prophet dies, who comes to power? The old artistorcacy of Mecca, the very people who persecuted the Prophet. The way they implement Islam is the way the Qur’an talks about the Bani Israel […] the corrupting influence of power is like the corrupting influence of Shaytan. Shaytan doesn’t necessarily come and say “oh, become immoral, become a devil worshipper, become possessed by Satan.” Shaytan comes and says, “let me give you an alternative Islam… an Islam that allows you to enjoy yourself.” That is the greatest deception of Shaytan.” Watch the full talk, here.
Muslims have no concept of original sin, but if they did, then it would be the Umayyad invention of “Even Though Islam” and reverting back to jahiliyya ways of power-grabbing corrupt rule, but now it is more dangerous: it comes with an Islamic facade. “Even Though” the Prophet’s grandson was ruthlessly beheaded for the corrupt ruler Yazid to claim power, they are till Muslim and must have had their reasons, we say.
“Even Though” Mu’awiyah did everything in his power to install his son, he is still a companion and deserves our respect, we shrug. “Even Though” we have sufficient proof that shows they fabricated Hadiths to push the narrative of absolute fealty to corrupt leaders as long as they are Muslims, they are still our pious predecessors and hence knew better than us about Islamic authority.
Do not mistake me for a Shi’i ideologue. Yes, I love the Aal al-Bayt and would lay my life for them, but this is not about the Prophet’s family per se, but about an Islam that would accept criminality over truth, and corruption over justice. We do this just to live a comfortable lie about our “perfect past” and our glorious ancestors who could do no wrong. This is the literal definition of a cult of ancestor worship and is nothing more than a soft form of paganism. There are no gods in Islam except Allah, and the Truth is a liberating (if difficult) path to tread.
Very few living scholars acknowledge this reality even though many know the truth, they are afraid to be deemed partisans or part of a heretical sect. Thus, they bow down to this sanitized idea of a perfect Islamic historical past, one that glorifies the khilafas of yesteryear at the expense of self-critique, reality and integrity. But one must first confront one’s self and one’s past to be able to face God, otherwise our condition will never be rectified. Luckily, there are a few scholars left who speak about “Umayyad Islam” today, such as Professor Khaled Abou El-Fadl:
“The Umayyad dynasty did everything within its power to corrupt and stymie Islam as an ethical revolution. They invented an enormous number of hadiths about the duty of obedience that is owed to a ruler, even if the ruler is unjust; wives should obey their husbands even if the husbands are unjust; slaves should obey their masters even if the masters are unjust; people simply need to say the Shahada to be Muslim; people just need to do their worship; that people need not think of what the Prophet himself did, that is, sacrifice his best interests. For that is what the Prophet did, the stellar Companions did it, Ali, Husayn, and Hassan did. Instead, Umayyad Islam said, ‘you do not have to do what Muhammad did, and you can still be Muslim.’” Watch the full khutba, here.
We cannot allow for our Islam and our relationship to God to be defined by the Shaytan and his allies, who, for centuries, have been rejoicing in Muslims’ ignorant and complacent slumber. How many of us are brave enough to look in the mirror of our past, and Prophetically carry the message of the Qur’an in our hearts and in our actions without fear of scorn or retribution? How many of us are willing to dust the devilish cobwebs of lies, deception and fabrication meant to stifle and suffocate the message of Prophecy, the message of light, truth and justice for all humanity? When will we finally rid our Islam of the ugly frock of lies and injustice? Doing away with “Even Though Islam” is no longer an option, it is imperative. It is existential. Otherwise, we risk becoming among those “whose efforts are in vain in this worldly life, while they think they are doing good.” (Kahf: 104) When this happens to an entire ummah, no wonder we have already ceded the fight to the unjust.
The Qur'an addresses this fallacy directly, “Do you consider providing the pilgrims with water and maintaining the Sacred Mosque as equal to believing in Allah and the Last Day and struggling in the cause of Allah? They are not equal in Allah’s sight. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.” (Tawba: 19)