The Rise Of Hanafi Rationalism / Kemunculan Semula Pemikiran Rasional Mazhab Hanafi

Again this is for the larger benefit of the Muslims. The non Muslims will be going like 'Alamak more religious stuff - Syed is getting boring'.  

Well non Muslim friends, you are not the biggest elephant in the living room. So do console yourselves. Please watch this You Tube Video and please do read my comments that follow.

Link :  https://youtu.be/Mb2MOsjzetQ

My comments :  What do I think of this video? Well yes and no.  I consider myself ultra fundamentalist extremist Muslim. This means there must be evidence for what you say. 

Has anyone figured out the bunch of WHY questions yet? Whatever god you worship, why does your god want to exist? Begin from the beginning ok. Get straight to the point.

The Malay proverb says : 

Alang-alang menyeluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan

Literal translation: Since you happen to put your hand in a container full of pickles, might as well dip your whole arm in the container.

If you are going to do something, you might as well go all the way. This comes from the fact that the ripest pickles sink to the bottom, thus if a person is putting their hand in the jar, they might as well go all the way and take the best from the bottom of the jar.

So dont waste time pussy footing. Dont waste time arguing about this religion and that religion, this sect and that sect. Get straight to the basic question.  Why does your god want to exist?  Whatever your answer, keep asking why again. Then again why. Keep asking why.  See where it leads you. 

Anyway the guy in the video belongs to the Hanafi sect. 

There are Sunnis (Sunnah Wal Jamaah), there are Shias, Salafis, Soofis and other sects. 

The Sunnis are broken up into four major subsects ie Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali and Shafie.

Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei are Shafie.

Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia (Uzbek, Tajik, Bokhara) all the way to Turkey are very largely Hanafi.

The Hanbali and Maliki are found in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa. 

These four sects within Sunnism co exist quite well - although in India there are differences between the Hanafis and the Shafies. 

Hanafism is attributed to Imam Abu Hanifa - who was the first Imam of jurisprudence or Imam Fiqah to appear on the scene after the death of the prophet. This was the earliest guy - so they say.

The interesting thing about Hanafism is their larger reliance on debate and rational thought. The Hanafis were called the rationalists (well not sufficient enough in my book)  -  my father and grandfathers were all Hanafis.

"The Hanafis were also know as the ahlul raa'iy or ashab al raa'iy  (Arabic: أهل الرأي‎ )  advocates of ra'y, 'common sense' or 'rational discretion', advocating the use of reasoning to arrive at legal decisions."

Fast forward to today. The chaos and confusion that is the 'Muslim' world today is largely caused by those who are irrational (quite obviously).  

This would include the Salafis and those who keep repeating again and again 'kita tidak boleh menggunakan akal dalam agama'.  Most certainly these folks would not be Hanafis.

Considering the amount of irrational behaviour, there is a huge vacuum, a really huge vacuum, to be filled up.  

And I think the Hanafis are stepping forward to show the 'rational face' among the Sunnis again.    Hence the  Hanafi guy in the video. He  is saying  'Folks dont worry,  we can use reason and intellect in Islam. This is what Imam Abu Hanifa said . . bla bla bla.'

I think there will be a resurgence of Hanafism in many parts of the Sunni world soon.  Might I add that one of the most knowledgeable and influential Muslim 'academics'  in Malaysia is also a Hanafi. So maybe there is some hope.

Because everyone is getting tired of all this irrational behaviour among the Muslims.  The Muslims themselves are asking, 'Is this how things should be? Isnt there any other method? More reasonable, more rational methods".

This is what the Hanafi guy is all about

Of course those of you who are familiar with this blog know that I have long ago thrown out their baby with their bath water and all.