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 Muhammad Rashid Rida - Muhammad Rida or Rashid Rida or Rasheed Rida
(September 23, 1865, August 22, 1935) was an Islamic reformer,
the most important disciple of
Muhammad
Abduh and of
Jamal_al-Din Al-Afghani, an early radical
Islamist,
and the inspiration for
Hassan al-Banna and
Sayyid Qutb, founder and leader, respectively, of the
Muslim Brotherhood.
Live of Muhammad Rashid Rida
Rida was born in in the small village of al-Qalamun about 5 KM from Tripoli, then in the Syrian province of the
Ottoman Empire
and now in Lebanon. He was supposedly descended from a very pious family of
outstanding Muslim
Ulema,
as well-versed in Islamic knowledge. Many of his family were called sheikhs.
Rida started his education at a Kuttab (traditional Qur'anic School) in his
village where he learned the Qur'an, Arabic writing, and elements of arithmetic.
After graduating, he was sent to the Rushdiyya National Primary School in
Tripoli. There he studied Arabic grammar, math, the basics of geography, Islamic
Belief, Islamic rituals, and Turkish. He left the school after a year, because
most of the teaching was in Turkish. He then studied at the National Islamic School
(al-Madrasa al-Wataniyya al-Islamiyya) in Tripoli,
founded by Shaykh Husayn al-Jisr. There he was taught both traditional Muslim
theology and at least some "secular" content such as European languages and
mathematics and philosophy. He was exposed to the writings of
Muhammad
Abduh and
Jamal_al-Din
Al-Afghani in the short-lived pan-Islamic anti-colonialist journal al-`Urwa
al-wuthqa (the firmest bond) which Abduh and al-Afghani published in
Paris in 1884. In 1894, Abduh visited Tripoli briefly and Rida was his constant
companion. In 1897 he moved to Cairo to work with
Muhammad
Abduh. In 1898, they launched al Manar, which may have been Rida's
idea - a journal of Islamic reform. Al Manar supposedly comprised
"Quranic commentary" (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World
Thompson Gale (2004), p.597) but it also included political
articles and propaganda that had no relation to religious subjects. Rida died in
1905 en route to Suez.
Ideology of Muhammad Rashid Rida
Rida's philosophy evidently represented a transition from the
modernist, rational, liberal and reformist tradition represented by
Muhammad
Abduh and
Jamal_al-Din
Al-Afghani to the radical, violent, reactionary, racist and
Muslim supremacist philosophy of
Hassan al-Banna and
Sayyid Qutb.
Following the death of 'Abduh's in 1905, Rida came to be regarded as the leading
disciple of Abduh and exponent of Islamic reform, after he published an
extensive biography of Abdu. He also continued the Tafsir (commentary) of the
Quran
begun by Abdu. Most of Rida's energies were focused on publication of
al-Manar. However, he also wrote at length, both in Al-Manar and various books.
Despite extensive actual departures from Abduh, Rida's ideas were viewed as a
legitimate continuation of 'Abduh's thought, and a pathway for
reinvigorating Islam and demonstrating its compatibility with modernity.
In common with Abduh and Afghani, Rida blamed Muslim decline
on the
Ulema
(Muslim authorities), excesses of some
Sufi
sects which were opposed to political involvement(apparently he joined the Naqshbandi Sufi) and
taqlid
(imitation of previous jurists), and abandonment of what he considered the
original Islamic writ. Like them, he called himself a
Salafi,
in the sense that he wanted to return to "first principles" as he saw them, and
reinterpret Islam according to reason and first principles. He was convinced
that the "correct" Islam lay not in the pronouncements of the
Ulema
of al-Azar and other prestigious places, but rather in the rulings of village
elders and notables such as his own family.
But Rida diverged from Abduh and Afghani in very significant
ways. Rida was, or became a pan-Arab advocate as much or more than a pan-Islamic
advocate and used al-Manar to promote pan-Arabism with an Islamist slant. During
and following World War I, he opposed the breakup of the Ottoman Empire because
he correctly foresaw that it would mean the end of the Caliphate, and he
likewise opposed the British sponsored Pan-Arab movement of Feisal, especially
when it was defeated in Damascus.(ref)
Rida's version of Ittihad - Islamic unity - called for a Caliphate
as
Maududi
had. Rida was profoundly affected by the dissolution of the
Caliphate
by
Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk. He believed that the abolition was part of a
conspiracy by the west to sow disunity among Muslims and weaken them. He cited
Lord Cromer as stating the unity of
Muslims was a challenge and a source of resistance to the forces of the
Christian countries and that it had to be watched carefully
(Dawoody, Ahmad Mohsen al-, The
Intellectual Repercussions of the Abolition of the Caliphate in Egypt,
unpublished MA thesis submitted to Leiden University, 1999, p. 25.)
Rida's caliphate would be be a collection of states, with a
supreme Mujtahid to rule as an expert on matters of religion, with the consensus
of a Shura council (Zubaidi, 1989, p. 15).
As Bassam Tibi points out, (Tibi, p. 153) and as others have pointed out
(especially Raziq), there
was no
Caliphate
in the time of
Muhammad,
and the Caliphate as such is not mentioned in the
Quran
(the word Khilafah appears, but in another context). Therefore there is a
contradiction between the supposed return to "first principles" on the one hand,
and the insistence on a
Caliphate
or Islamic rule on the other.
Rida identified many defective Muslim
traditions with "Israiliyyah" - traditions that were supposedly inserted
into Islam by converted Jews, and that were therefore suspect. Both from
his early life history, in which he abandoned a Turkish school for an Arabic
language one, and from his writings, it is apparent that Rida advocated Arab
supremacy within the Islamic world. In his Fatwa against the translation of the
Quran,
he argued that parts of the Quran were untranslatable, and that only Arabic
speakers could fully comprehend it. Translations of portions of the Quran could
be made for those who required it for ritual purposes. However, a translation
would produce a variant meaning. He explained:
The Qur'an prohibited taqlid
[imitative reasoning] in religion and denounced the imitators. Deriving [the
rulings of] religion from the translation of the Qur'an is an imitation of
its translator, so it is a deviation from the guidance of the Qur'an and is
not in accordance with it.(Al-Munajjid and Khuri,
Fatawa al-Imam Muhammad Rashid Rida, Dar al-Kitab al-Jadid, Beirut, 1970,
vol. 2, pp. 642-650. Tr by Mohamed
A. M. Abou Sheishaa
ref)
In theory, at least, Rida's philosophy was liberal. He pleaded
for
Ijtihad
(innovation). He stressed that Islam is based on reason and
claimed that the Islamic Sharia is founded on the basis of
Ijtihad. Without
Ijtihad, in his view, Islam could not adapt and could not be an an eternal
religion. Thus, anyone who is opposed to
Ijtihad is undermining the basis
of Islam and of Sharia. "What a heinous crime is being committed, then, by these
ignorant persons who call themselves the Ulema of Islam," he wrote. (Tafsir
al-Manar vol. IV Cairo, 1375 (1956) p.240). The call for perpetual and free
Ijtihad could hardly sit well with
Sunni Ulema
who believe that the gates of
Ijtihad are closed, and especially not with
traditional
Salafi
theologists.
In apparent contradistinction to those who view Islam as prescribing a whole
way of life to the smallest details, Muhammad Rashid Rida claimed that Islam gave
great liberty to order the
affairs of every day life. Islam requires that issues should be settled by
consultation, The restrictions on Ijtihad placed by the ulema are not warranted,
according to him. (Tafsir al-Manar vol. V Cairo, 1374 (1955) p.189).
Rida must have been among the first to become aware of Zionism and to warn of the dangers of Zionism as he saw them. In 1898, he wrote in
Al Manar:
Apathetic people, lift up your heads and see what is happening. Consider
what people and nations are doing...Does it please you that the newspapers
around the globe are reporting that the impoverished of the most miserable
people [the Jews] whom all governments are expelling from their countries,
have so mastered knowledge and civilization that they can come to your
country, colonize it and transform its masters into wage laborers and its
affluent men into paupers... Ponder this problem [Zionism] and make it the
subject of your conversations, to ascertain if it is just or unjust, true of
false. If it is clear that you have neglected to defend the rights of your
fatherland and the interests of your nation and your religious community,
ponder and study, debate and examine the matter. It is a worthier subject
for consideration than focusing on shortcomings, spreading slander and
insulting the innocent. It is more worthy of discussion than ridiculing and
accusing your [Muslim?] brothers. (Rida,
Muhammad Rashid, Khabar wa itibar (News and Views) al-Manar (April 9,
1898), p 108)
Works by Muhammad Rashid Rida
Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Hakim known as Tafsir al-Manar
(Continuation of the commentary on the Qur'an begun by 'Abduh. Rida continued up to surat Yusuf
XII, verse 100)
Al-Tafsir al-Mukhtasar al-Mufid (Intended as a summary of the
Tafsir, begun by Rida and published by Muhammad
Ahmad Kan'an and Zuhayr al-Shawish as Muhktasar Tafsir al-Manar,
3 vols, Beirut-Damascus, 1984)
Al-Manar Journal (The first volume was published in 1315A.H. [1898],
the second section of the last volume (volume 35) was published and distributed
after his death on 29th Rabi' II, 1354/1935)
Tarikh al-Ustaz al-Imam al-Shaykh Muhammad 'Abduh (A biography
of his teacher published in three volumes)
Nida' lil Jins al-Latif or Huquq al-Mar'ah fi
al-Islam )"A Call to the Fair Sex" or "Women's Rights in Islam").
Al-Wahy al-Muhammadi (Rational and historical proofs
that the Qur'an is a Divine Revelation).
Tarjamat al-Qur'an wa ma fiha min Mafasid wa Munafat al-Islam, Matba'at
al-Manar, Cairo, 1344/1926.
al Naqd Dhikra al-Mawlid al-Nabawi (Summary of the Prophet's biography
and the foundations of Islam al-Manar 20, 1336/1918).
Al-Wahda al-Islamiiyya ([Islamic Unity]. Most of this work was first
published under the title Muhawarat al-Muslih
wa al-Muqallid ["Debates between the Reformer and the Imitator"])
Yusr al-Islam wa Usul al-Tashri' al-'Amm ("The Accommodating
Spirit of Islam and the Sources of General Jurisprudence" published in 1928.)
Al-Khilafa wa al-Imama al-'Uzma ("The Caliphate and the Greater
Imamate" Cairo, Manar Press.)
Al-Sunna wa al-Shari'a ("The Prophetic Tradition and Islamic Law")
Al-Muslimun wa al-Qibt ("Muslims and the Copts")
Al-Wahhabiyyun wa al-Hijaz ("The Wahhabites and the Hijaz")
Al-Manar wa al-Azhar ("Al-Manar and al-Azhar"]+
Ami Isseroff
References and bibliography
Abou Sheishaa, Mohamed Ali Mohamed,
A Study of the Fatwa by
Rashid Rida on the Translation of the Qur'an, Journal of the
Society for Qur'anic Studies, No 1, Vol 1, October 2001.
Enayat, Hamid, Mottahedeh , Roy P. Modern Islamic Political
Thought, London, I.B. Tauris, 2004.
Rizq,Yunan Labib
Al Ahram:
A Diwan of
Contemporary Life(305): Looking toward the Levant,
Al Ahram weekly, No 449, Sept. 30- Oct 6, 1999.
Tibi, Bassam, The Challenge of Fundamentalism, UCLA, Berkeley, 2002.
Zubaidi, Sami, Islam, the people and the state, London, Routledge, 1989.
Synonyms and alternate spellings:
Mohamad Rashid RIda, Muhammad Rasheed Rida
Further Information: Al-Banna, Hassan
Muslim Brotherhood
Qutb, Sayyid History of Islam and the Arabs
Islamism
Jihad
Maududi, Abul ala
Abduh,
Muhammad
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