Intellectual Traditions in Islam - Fifth Essay

The fifth essay is about "The Limits of Islamic Orthodoxy" presented by Norman Calder.

In this presentation Norman Calder gave details of his observations and knowledge about Islamic "Orthodoxy", meaning "right teaching" in Islam, with a disclaimer that he is writing only his observations and not judging right or wrong for anyone. In this essay he talks about Islamic Orthodoxy in general and sunni belief of right teaching, in specific.

To clarify these orthodoxies, he categorizes religious beliefs for all people in all times into five groups:

1. Scripture - means reaching God through scriptures, that God has revealed
2. Community - means correct belief can be articulated through those communities which are chosen and guarded by God
3. Gnosis - reaching God through mystic knowledge and having direct communication with God
4. Reason - understanding God through reasons - all philosophers fall into this category
5. Charisma - communities who believe that God has appointed, throughout the generations, one particular person to express and guard His message; this person has Charismatic knowledge of God and he defines right belief for people.

All the religions are, in general, a combination of those five categories.
Within Islam, Shia fall under "charisma"; philosophers (Al-Farabi and Avicenna) and Mu'tazila fall under "reason", sufis fall under "gnosis" and sunnis lies somewhere between "scripture" and "community."
Then Norman Calder focuses his observations specifically on sunni interpretation of orthodoxy (right beliefs) and their limits. Those beliefs are derived from "Qisas al Anbiya" (tales of prophets); "Sirat al-nabi"; Quran; hadiths; Fiqh (Islamic Law); Kalam (Islamic Theology); and Tafsir (commentaries on Quran and Hadith).
These kinds of boundaries have room for all kinds of interpretations, but in reality when someone gives his own understanding of Quran or Hadith that Tafsir or commentary is usually questioned and becomes open to accusations if it deviates from commentaries of previous well established commentators.
Norman Calder concludes about traditional sunni orthodoxy as "...that sunni Islam is primarily a religion of community, scripture and gnosis, marginally fo reason, and hardly at all of charisma."
In contemporary world in 19th century, a man named Muhammad 'Abduh wanted to bring reforms in Islam to make it relevant to the mdoern world. He brought this notion that intellectual traditions of the past are of no use for today's world so they should go back to the beginning and start from the Quran. He represented the Salafi tendency in Islam and played a major role in shrinking the rich intellectual traditions of Islam.