لنستخرج كنوزا من المعرفة و الإبداع و العلم و الأفكار
1.0 INTRODUCTION Since thousands of years ago, the world has witnessed the emergence of many civilizations from many nations that possess their own characteristics which resulted from factors such as thinking and reasoning, environment or external influence from other civilizations. There are also some civilizations from certain nations that still maintain its existence till today and there are some who completely vanished and remained as the materials for historical research. A civilizations that has come to a halt from making contributions is different than a civilization that has extinct or destroyed. A standstill is a spontaneous process faced by a
civilization that is caused by a damage of some or all of its criteria. Conceptually,the civilization still exist, in fact maybe some of the elemental concepts are still being practiced, but the scope of contributions is becoming very limited. An Islamic civilization at its standstill from making contributions still possess some components that still contributes to other civilizations. Meanwhile, extinction and destruction means a civilization ceased to exist and turned into the remnants of cultural heritage which is usually being assessed through architectures, scholastic literatures and philosophy (Dannawi, 2006). For the Muslims, a pause from making contributions has its own significance (Dannawi, 2006). Among the blessings that arise from this event is it makes the Muslims work hard to restart the journey of the civilization. They realize the huge responsibilities they have to bear as a result of the slowdown of a civilization, which some of the Muslims take it as a punishment from people’s deviations from the true Islamic teachings and practice. It is unreasonable for a civilization to make a noticeable contribution under such transgress state as it is unreasonable to leave the transgress situation untreated without a fair punishment (Dannawi, 2006). Truly the rise of islah movements that emerge during the time where the Muslims are being challenged with predicaments is a blessing against those deteriorations. This movement apparently has never stopped to call for the Muslims to return to Islam in its true sense and perfect nature. This movement always give reminders that it does not matter how advanced a human civilization can be, the pureness of Islam has to be maintained and protected at all times. It is clear that the emergence of Islah is a manifestation of perseverance by some Muslims to put Islam and its followers in the most honorable and respected place (Mohamed, 2015). 2.0 THE DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPT OF ISLAH AND TAJDID The word Islah originated from the Arabic word اإلصالح ,in verbal form (infinitive) from the root words -يصلح-أصلح إصالحا , taken from the base component ح-ل-ص and defined by Ibnu Manzur(1990, p. 517) in Lisan Al-Arab as an antonym to destruction (فساد (which means to prevent destruction or to restore or repair something that has collapsed or damaged. In Mu’jam Muyassar, islah means to repair a damage or to eliminate rivalry and disunity among the people or to improve something (Al-Nahwiy, 1991). Meanwhile, according to Kamus Dewan (Malay – English Dictionary), Islah means the effort to rectify a situation to another situation which is right, accurate and suitable as well as to solve crisis in a good or peaceful way (Kamus Dewan Edisi Ketiga ,1997). El-Muhammady (2015) suggested that, the word Islah covers more extensive meanings which is to make something good, correct, reasonable with proper position, well-organized, soleh (pious), piety, healthy, flourishing, useful, beneficial, appropriate, eligible, to put something to where it belongs, to return back to the deserving, to correct, to improve or make better,to renew whatever needed, to rectify,to make something successful, to create peace between two rivals and so on and so forth. Besides that, Ibrahim Madkour in Al-Mu'jam Al-Wajiz stated that the word اإلصالحcontains two meanings; beneficial and compatibility as well as protected from damages. This word, when combined with other words, will have specific meanings; for example if it is
combined with الشيء) something) then it means to repair; if it is combined with إليه) to him) then it means to do/act good; if it is combined with the pronoun هـ) its) then it means to allow, correct, improve or beautify; when it is combined with بينهم) amongst them) then it means to eliminate conflicts and rivalry between both of them; when it is combined with عمله في) in his/her work) orأمره في) in his/herendeavors) then it means come with something good and beneficial (cited in Abdurrahman, 2015). From the above definitions of Islah, it is clear that Islah is being widely used and it carries various meanings covering various aspects. In the al-Qur’an for instance, the word Islah and its fragments are used in all aspects of human lives from improving oneself and repenting, to reconciliation ofa husband and a wife when in disputes, up to the extent of solving the matters of the nation. In fact, it is also being used as a prophetic and an apostolate message in upholding Allah’s words (Yaacob, 2006). The concept of Islah technically means an effort to repair the conditions of the Muslims which have impaired or transgressed from the teachings of al-Qur’an and Prophetic Sunnah (verbally transmitted record of the teachings, deeds and sayings, silent permissions (or disapprovals) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) by the method of summoning the Muslims to return to the level of the Muslims in early generation of Islam, under the leadership and guidance from Rasulullah SAW or at least reaching near their levels and conditions. Islah does not mean to change the religious teachings to make it fit to the times, instead it is the humans themselves who have to change in order to fit to the Islamic teachings which is based on alQur’an and theSunnah of Rasulullah SAW (Yaacob, 2006). Tajdid, according to Ibn Manzur (1990), originated from jaddada and yujaddidu. Tajdid means sayyarahu jadidan which is to make it new or it breathes new. The basis for the concept of tajdid among the Muslims is based on the hadith of the prophet Muhammad SAW: عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه : أن رسول الله صلي الله عليه و سلم قال : إن الله يبعث لهذه الأمة علي راس كل مائة سنة من يجدد لها دينها. (رواه أبو داؤد) Translation: From Abu Hurairah r.a.from Rasulullah SAW he said: “Verily Allah will send to this nation at the top of every one hundred years the people who renew (to the nation) the religion.” (Hadith narrated by Abu Daud) Al-Qaradhawi (1994) in his book Min Ajli Sahwah Rashidah Tujaddidu al-Din wa Tanhadu bi al-Dunya mentioned, al-Azizi defined tajdid as reviving things learned from al-Qur’an and alSunnah and other matters corresponded to both of them. This type of tajdid is more prone towards tajdid amal (renewals of attitude towards work/actions. He also suggested tajdid as an effort and attempt to restore something to its original condition. This matter is explained by him as:
“The practice of tajdid means the effort to restore something to its original state until it appears like a new thing. This is done by strengthening something that is weak, repairing something that is old and patching something that is cracked until it resembles its original state. In other words, tajdid does not mean demolishing the original structure or replacing it with a new one. The effort to practice tajdid in the religion does not mean changing the religion but restoring it to be like during the times of Rasulullah SAW, his companions and the tabi‘in (the generation of Muslims who were born after the death of the Prophet Muhammad SAW but who were contemporaries of the Companions). Meanwhile, Muḥammad al-Ghazali likens the process of tajdid by referring to the act of washing clothes. What is done is washing the clothes so they become as clean as new, not changing, adding or removing something from the clothes entity in order to show its renewed form even though the stain is still there (Ramli & Majid, 2012). This means tajdid is the effort to improve the understandings for the Muslims and the entire nation towards Islam, not to repair the teachings of Islam itself. As a revealed religion, Islam has been perfected by Allah SWT. Any changes made by humans will only impair that perfection, not improve it. Islam also does not need continuous improvements as though it evolves with time. The perfection on the understanding of Islam is gained through changes on human, not on Islam itself (Ramli & Majid, 2012). Therefore in the context of Islam, a new thing must not change the religion, instead the interpretations and opinions have to be renewed due to situational demands, yet it should not deviate from the meanings and the requirements of the arguments in the al-Qur’an and alSunnah. In other words, reviving Islam means bringing the nation back to the original teachings of Islam which has been polluted and forgotten with the changes of situations and time, or making new translations and opinions according to time yet still based on al-Qur’an and alSunnah (Abidin , 2015). Tajdid can also happens in two conditions; physical tajdid and maknawi tajdid. The physical tajdid is the improvements that involve physical aspects. For example the restoration of classical buildings such as palaces, houses of worship and mosques. Physical restoration does not mean demolishing the old building and then build another building based on a new model on the old site, but what is referred to as restoration is maintaining the old building by restoring its original formwith all the panorama (Al-Qaradhawi ,1994, see also Majid , 2000). On the other hand, Tajdid Maknawi happens to the religion whether in the form of understanding renewals (tajdid fikri) or tajdida mal which includes tajdidi mani and tajdid ruhi (spiritual renewals). Abu Ala al-Maududi said, tajdidi mani is a human need to rectify the understanding and practice of Islam as soon as it is tainted with jahiliyyah (ignorant or the period preceding the revelations of al-Quran) element. The need to perform tajdid on the Islamic faith is explained by an authentic hadith from Abu Hurairah r.a.:
عن أبي هريرة أن النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم قال قال ربكم عز و جل لو أن عبادي أطاعوني ألسقيتهم المطر بالليل و أطلعت عليهم الشمس بالنهار و لما أسمعتهم صوت الرعد و قال رسول الله إن حسن الظن بالله عز و جل من حسن عبادة الله و قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم جددوا إيمانكم, قيل : يا رسول الله و كيف يجدد إيماننا؟ قال : اكثروا من قول الا إله إلا الله. Translation: From Abu Hurairah r.a.the Prophet SAW said, “Your Lord commanded, “if only my servants are obedient then I will provide for them rain at night and I will give them sunlight during the day. And surely I will not scare them with the sounds of thunder and lightning.” Rasulullah SAW added, “Verily a good notion towards Allah SWT is the best deed by Allah’s servants”. And then Rasulullah SAW added some more, “renew your faith.” Whereby Rasulullah SAW was asked, “How do we renew our faith?” Rasulullah SAW answered, “(By) reciting a lot of la ilahaillallah.” (Hadith narrated by Ahmad) Renewals in religion is to call out for the Muslims’ commitments towards Islam in its holy and pure form. It is an improvement process or a change aims at bringing back the Muslims to the perfect Islamic purity. This means that tajdid is related to the effort to return the attitude and practice of the Muslims towards the teachings of Islam itself and not to replace Islam with a new teaching because it is considered to be no longer suitable with the times ( Mohamed, 2010). The main keys to religious tajdid are awareness and understanding. An understanding in the religionis not merely the understanding on the laws contained in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) knowledge, but that understanding covers the extent of knowledge related to Islam that we gained which is truly pure and authentic from the teachings that can mislead and confuse the Muslims. In short, tajdid or islah carries the same meaning, which is the process of change based on aqidah (faith). These terms carry the meanings of the resurrection of Islam starting from restorations and changes to be done in some aspects that has shaken the stability and harmony of the Muslims.
