My Imam is Better Than Yours

The Crisis of Authority Within Islam

One of the most profound differences between the Christian faith and Islam has to do with the doctrine of perspicacity.  The Christian faith declares that God's revelation to His people is, at root, simple and clear.  The plough-boy can discover understand the core, essential messages of the Scriptures--on his own.

For Islam this is not so.  The believer has no hope of understanding or interpreting the Koran, the hadith, and Sharia without an imam, a teacher.  This explains why it is that what is being declared or taught at particular mosques by particular imams is so significant.  Islam is not a perspicacious faith: it is a hidden and complex religion in which there is no certainty, and no universal clarity.

Can one "get by" in Islam without being tied in to a particular mosque and teaching tradition?  Only if one is content to be nominally Islamic; the fervent believer needs a chosen teacher to make things clear.  Otherwise, all is fog.

The fundamental and authoritative documents of Islam are, firstly, the Koran, written or at least verbally delivered by Muhammad.  Secondly, we have the hadith which are traditional stories handed down about things Muhammad said and did.  Within a century or so after Muhammad's death:

more than 500,000 traditions of Muhammad's life in written and oral circulation, and Muslim scholars decided to undertake the effort of sifting through them and distilling the most authentic accounts.  Since the teachings of Muhammad are essential to Islam, it was necessary to distinguish accurate teachings from pretenders.  [Nabeel Qureshi, Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, p.2016),  p.56]

Amongst Sunni Muslims there are six collections of hadith that are considered the "real deal": Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, Ibn Majah, Al-Nasai, and al-Tirmidhi.  These are the collections which are considered by most Islamic scholars as "more reliable than any others."  [Ibid.]

At this point, then, we commence descending into a dim tunnel.  In order to "get to grips" with Islamic doctrines, we must needs rely upon the choices Islamic authorities make for us as to what are reliable records of Muhammad, and what are not.

Over the centuries Islamic teachers have attempted to understand all the teachings of Muhammad systematically, as presented in the Koran and the hadith.  "The end product, or the point of discovery, is sharia."  [Ibid.]  This process is so oblique and complex, only specialists can get involved.  Hence the Koran and the Hadith lack perspicacity, or clarity--and, therefore, accessibility--to the ordinary lay Islamic reader.  They cannot get anywhere without an imam, a guide.  And they have no way of knowing whether their particular imam is sending them up the creek without a paddle.

Qureshi explains just how specialised and complex this is:

Not just anyone can engage in Islamic jurisprudence, called ijihad. Since there are thousands of verses in the Quran and hundreds of thousands of hadith, it is expected that only trained Muslim jurists can engage in determining what sharia teaches.  The jurist must give primacy to the Quran, then consider the actions (sunnah) and sayings (hadith) of Muhammad, following by reviewing the consensus of Islamic scholars, or ijma, before using his own reasoning (qiyas).  By following these four steps, a Muslim jurist can make a decision, or fatwa, about what sharia teaching on a given matter.  [Ibid., p.57.]

But there is a hand grenade in the woodpile.  It is called abrogation.   Some teachings and sayings of Muhammad were countermanded by subsequent sayings.  There is no clarity on what is earlier and what is later.  Only tradition or consensus.  One can even have an actual text abrogated, but obedience to it still required.  Go figure that one out.  Naturally, there are few who can.

Since Islamic doctrine lacks perspicacity, it leans upon experts, who effectually hold captive sway over the minds and consciences of their devotees.  For every serious Islamic believer, it all depends upon one's expert-of-choice.  Choose your poison--as it were.  This is why local mosques and their imams are so critical and influential: "my (or, our) imam says the Prophet teaches the moon is made of green cheese.  That's good enough for me."