Some Lost Islamic History for ya: Salahudin was a hardcore Ash`ari. Every day before Fajr, he made it an OBLIGATION for the muadhin to recite the Ash`ari Aqidah from a book before giving adhan. I bring this up because many of the Muslims who praise him today would not even have considered him to be a part of Ahlus-Sunnah had he lived during our time. One of his top generals was a man by the name of Ibn Qudama al Maqdisi. Ibn Qudama is recognized as being the greatest Hanbali scholar to have ever walked this earth. Why does this matter? Because historically, Hanbalis & Ash`aris were staunch theological opponents. They boycotted each other, wrote books refuting each other, & did not allow their students to sit in the others study circles. So what? Who cares? Now, IF ANY MUSLIM were to oppose Salahudin, it would have been Ibn Qudama. But what did we see here instead? The two of them put aside their theological differences and recognized a common enemy in a greater context than that of their own peripheral disputes. If they had not done so, then only God knows if they would have won the crusades. There is a HUGE lesson in that. And it begs the question: If during the crusades, a time when religion was polarized & divisions were rampant, two otherwise opposing men were able to come together to fight a common enemy, why is it that 900 years later, in an era of Postmodernity, where we each are each entitled to our own truths, we are failing to do the same?
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 04:54:19 +0000
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