Like Sheep without a Shepherd:The Lack of Leadership in Sunni Islam1

Be it in Palestine or Egypt, Iraq or Afghanistan, New York City or Madrid, Bali or Casablanca, Karachi or Baghdad, the atrocities committed by so-called Muslim militants are directly linked to the lack of leadership in Sunni Islam.

In Islam, the spiritual chain of command is clear. Muslims are obliged to follow the Qur’an, the Sunnah and the ‘Ulama’. The Holy Qur’an calls upon Muslims to:

“Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and the holders of authority from among you” (4:59).

The “holders of authority” are the religious scholars and not, as has been erroneously interpreted, leaders in general.

The Prophet Muhammad stressed the authority of the ‘ulama’ over the Muslim Ummah. He said that: “On the Day of Judgment I will take pride in the scholars of my community, for the scholars of my community are like the prophets preceding me.” He also declared that “The scholars are rulers over the people” and that “The scholars are the heirs of the prophets.”

So long as Muslims hold fast to the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the ‘ulama’, the guardians of the sacred sciences, they are sure not to stray. The Prophet Muhammad warned that in later days “the worst of the people would become its leader.” While this applies to despots and dictators, it applies equally to unqualified upstarts who assume the leadership of the Islamic movement.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban were led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, a parochial person who never even visited the capital Kabul. Although Mullah Omar never completed his religious education, he was bold enough to grant himself the title of Amir al-Mu’minin and cover himself with the Prophet’s cloak.

In Egypt, the ranks of the Islamic Jihad are filled with the young, the uneducated, the disenfranchised and the desperate. While the Islamic Jihad does indeed include intellectuals and professionals - most of whom went over the edge because of torture - the group is not led by bona fide religious scholars, which leads to obvious excesses like the November 1997 massacre of 58 tourists and 4 Egyptians at Luxor in southern Egypt.

As for al-Qaeda, known as the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders, its leaders include Usama bin Laden, a civil engineer, and Ayman al-Zawahari, a medical doctor who became the leader of the military wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Vanguards of Conquest, in the 1990s. Its other senior leaders include Mohammed Atef, bin Laden’s military chief, who was a police officer in Egypt.

As for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the nebulous al-Tawhid group, he was raised in an unfurnished hut with only mattresses on the floor. Although this high school dropout possesses no scholarly credentials of any sort, he assumes the title of Shaykh and commits crimes in the name of Islam, bringing shame to the religion of mercy he claims to follow.

How is it, then, that such individuals have assumed a leadership role in the Sunni world? While the question is complex, part of the problem lies in the closing of the doors of ijtihad in the 10th century. Ijtihad refers to the post-Prophetic interpretation and application of Islamic Law to changing times and circumstances. Those who practice ijtihad are known as mujtahidun or jurists while taqlid refers to the act of following a mujtahid. In the early centuries of Islam, when the doors of ijtihad were still open, any new development was interpreted and analyzed in light of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Since the demise of ijtihad one thousand years ago, Sunni Muslims have been obliged to follow the law as understood and interpreted by medieval scholars.

For this reason, Sunnism sometimes has difficulty dealing with modernity. Issues like birth control, insurance, interest and cloning are often received in a reactionary fashion by Sunni Muslims, particularly among the Wahhabis and Salafis, who adhere to an arid literalism and reject the very concepts of taqlid which they denounce as “blind following.” Without taqlid of the most learned living mujtahid, however, Sunni Muslims are left without vital direction and guidance. As a result, some Sunni militants deliberately target civilians, including women and children, and engage in atrocities such as rape and torture as was seen in Afghanistan and Algeria. Clearly, where scholars are absent, ignorance will reign.

The revival of ijtihad among Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah is imperative. A living tradition of ijtihad would keep Islamic Law active, modern and contemporary. The demise of ijtihad and taqlid among Sunnites has left a void which is increasingly being filled by scholarly charlatans and merchants of religion. Individuals like bin Laden and al-Zawahari have no authority whatsoever to pass fatwas or religious edicts. Not only are they not mujtahids, they are not even ‘alims. It is a case of the blind leading the blind which leads to errors and excess. The creation of an independent scholarly hierarchy of Muslims is long overdue.

As a result of closing the doors of ijtihad, the independent interpretation of Islamic Law based on reasoning, many Sunni Muslim militants of today are like sheep without a shepherd, wandering aimlessly in the night. In the context of Sunni Islam, ignorance is not bliss. It is death and destruction. Unless Sunni Muslims hold fast to the Qur’an, the Sunnah and the ‘ulama’, the ignorant among them will continue to fall prey to wolves in sheepskins, illegitimate leaders and pseudo-scholars for “

Verily! Allah does not change the plight of a people, unless they change what is in themselves” (Qur’an 13:11).

• 1. This article, which was originally published in Al-Bawaba: The Middle East Gateway on July 25th, 2004, was picked up by the wire and rapidly reprinted in several dozen media sources across the world. Judged to be a “great essay” by Donald Sensing, the article became a required reading in “Religion after 9/11”, a university course taught by Charles Grodin, Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy, at the College of St. Scholastica. Since al-Bawaba does not archive its articles, “Like Sheep without a Shepherd” is no longer available on its web site. We are pleased to reproduce it in this more permanent medium for the sake of posterity.