Religious Freedom Here and Elsewhere…

(to know) “we made you into nations and tribes so you may know each other”-Qur’an

Adela Maria: I was preparing to present Part Two of America , the Religious Refuge and I became distracted by a news brief for Zenit.org. It is as follows:

The CPC list covers those countries where authorities engage in systematic violations of religious freedom. The commission’s recommendations for 2007 are: Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam

BAGHDAD, Iraq, MAY 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Iraqi bishops sent an urgent plea to the international conference being held in Sharm al-Sheikh, whose participants aim to approve a plan for the security of that war-torn nation.

The Chaldean bishops from the northern regions appealed especially for the protection of Iraqi lives, among them, those of the nation’s Christian minority.

AsiaNews reported the message, which said: “We are urgently asking the entire international community, the participants at the Sharm al-Sheikh conference, the coalition forces and the Iraqi political representatives to intervene without delay to protect innocent Iraqis, their property, their rights and their personal freedom.”

The bishops affirm that “Christians are authentic Iraqi people” and plea for protection.

“Christians,” they said, “have always sought to integrate themselves with their Arab, Kurd, Turk, Shiite, Sunni, Yezidi brothers, within the nation’s social life and have always had a most important role in the building of national historic values, decisively contributing to the destiny of Iraq through their peaceful way of life.”

“Enough with violence, threats, attacks and killings!” the statement urged. “Let us work together hand in hand to bring about unity, security and prosperity in our land, Iraq.”
ZE07050405

…then it occurred to me that I must write something about the various religious tribes in Irag…I found the following…This presentation is wholly/in part about the Sunni; the various dissenting groups from that sect. read on and realize how complicated the lives of Iraqis are …to be able to live in harmony….continued…Sunni/ Hanafi; Barelvi; Deobandi; Hanbali; Wahhabi;Maliki;Shafii
“

“In the name of God”

Religious Structures

While a precise statistical breakdown is impossible to ascertain because of likely inaccuracies in the latest census (conducted in 1997), according to best estimates, 97 percent of the population of 22 million persons are Muslim. Shi’a Muslims–predominantly Arab, but also including Turkomen, Faili Kurds, and other groups–constitute a 60 to 65 percent majority. Sunni Muslims make up 32 to 37 percent of the population (approximately 18 to 20 percent are Sunni Kurds, 12 to 15 percent Sunni Arabs, and the remainder Sunni Turkomen). The remaining approximately 3 percent of the overall population consist of Christians (Assyrians, Chaldeans, Roman Catholics, and Armenians), Yazidis, Mandaeans, and a small number of Jews.

**The Sunni population of Iraq is predominately Hanafi, while the Shi’i population is predominantly Ja’fari. Kurdish Muslims are mostly of the Sunni branch, but mainly follow the Shafi’i school of Sunni Islam, which distinguishes them from the majority of the Iraqi Arab Sunni Muslim population, which is primarily of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam. There is also a strong Sufi mystic following among the Kurds. Sufism contributes to a less orthodox practice of Islam among much of the Kurdish population.

Read this over one more time…and imagine…how did America enter this war so unprepared?

Islam came to the region with the victory of the Muslim armies under Caliph Umar over the Sassanians in A.D. 637 at the battle of Al Qadisiyah. The majority of inhabitants soon became Muslim, including the Kurds, although small communities of Christians and Jews remained intact in the area of present-day Iraq. Iraq has been the scene of many important events in the early history of Islam, including the schism over the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

Shi’a, although predominantly located in the south, also are a majority in Baghdad and have communities in most parts of the country. Sunnis form the majority in the center of the country and in the north. Shi’a and Sunni Arabs are not ethnically distinct.
From the mid-16th century to 1916, the Ottoman Empire ruled three disparate provinces-Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul-that comprise modern-day Iraq. To counter the influence of the Shia Safavid Empire in Iran, the Ottomans maintained Iraq as a Sunni-controlled state and largely had excluded from power Iraq’s Shia and Kurdish populations.

(Knowledge) and say” God increase my knowledge”

The Ottoman Empire organized society around the concept of the millet, or autonomous religious community. The non-Muslim “People of the Book” (Christians and Jews) owed taxes to the government; in return they were permitted to govern themselves according to their own religious law in matters that did not concern Muslims. The religious communities were thus able to preserve a large measure of identity and autonomy.

The British and the British-backed Iraqi monarchy continued the Ottoman policy of supporting the ruling Sunni Arab minority from the towns, villages, and tribes of Iraq’s central region. The Sunni leadership attempted to overcome Shia dissatisfaction by promoting a pan-Arab identity for Iraqis, arguing that Arab culture and the history of the Arabs transcended religious and communal ties. Shia, wary of being outnumbered by Sunnis in an Arab confederation, regarded the Iraqi monarchy’s pan-Arab ideology with suspicion.

The Kurds, as non-Arabs with their own nationalist aspirations, rejected the monarchy’s pan-Arabism.

The Iraqi monarchy tried to integrate the various fragments of Iraqi society though military conscription and national education. These integrationist policies achieved some modest success during the last two decades of the monarchy, but the Sunnis remained dominant. Shia penetration into the highest echelons of government and military was almost non-existent, and the vast majority of Iraq’s poor continued to be Shia.

Kurdish representation in both the government and the military was proportionately more substantial than that of Shia.

The decade of republican rule following the 1958 coup that toppled the monarchy brought mixed results for both the Shia and the Kurds. Economically, Shia fared better than they had under the monarchy. Religiously, relations between the secular ruling Sunni regimes and the Shia remained tense. The radically pan-Arab ideology of the regime excluded the Kurds. Following an initial improvement in relations, a pattern of negotiations over Kurdish autonomy followed by armed clashes developed.

Shi’a Arabs have supported an independent Iraq alongside their Sunni brethren since the 1920 Revolt; many Shi’a joined the Ba’ath Party and Shi’a formed the backbone of the Iraqi Army in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Although Shi’a Arabs are the largest religious group, Sunni Arabs traditionally have dominated economic and political life. Sunni Arabs are at a distinct advantage in all areas of secular life, be it civil, political, military, or economic.

Although members of the ruling Baath Party generally were ideologically committed to secularism, about 95 percent of Iraqis are Muslim and Islam was the officially recognized state religion.

Saddam’s Government for decades conducted a brutal campaign of killing, summary execution, and protracted arbitrary arrest against the religious leaders and followers of the majority Shi’a Muslim population and has sought to undermine the identity of minority Christian (Assyrian and Chaldean) and Yazidi groups.

Sunni-Shia tensions peaked following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Tens of thousands of Shia were arrested and deported during this period. In the Kurdish region, the pattern of negotiation followed by fighting continued. During this period, the regime also tried to enhance its legitimacy and rally support for the war effort by promoting a specifically Iraqi (rather than Arab) identity.

This effort included emphasizing Iraq’s ancient history and Mesopotamian cultural identity. Politically, the new trend took the form of increased representation in government for both Shia and Kurds. This strategy of combining repression with co-optation, along with the war effort, accelerated the integration of Iraqi society and produced a sense of common identity (excepting, for the most part, the Kurds). During the war with Shia Iran, Iraqi Shia did not revolt and mass defections to Iran did not materialize.

Tarab ~ The Colors of Music
with Khalil Bendib - Nabila Hilmi - Helen Zughaib - Afaf Zurayk
Tarab is one of the most important terms in the musical aesthetics of Arab culture. While difficult to translate precisely, tarab refers to a state of heightened emotionality in response to music, often translated as rapture, ecstasy or enchantment, as well as joy or sadness

Islam

Muslims are followers of Islam. One of the three major monotheistic religions in the world, Islam calls for complete acceptance of and submission to the teachings and guidance of God. Anyone may become a Muslim, regardless of gender, race, or nationality, by reciting a declaration of faith and embracing a lifestyle in accord with Islamic principles. Specific acts, including fasting, daily prayer, and the pilgrimage to Mecca, are considered the pillars of Muslim spiritual life.

There are an estimated 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide. They live in every world region and belong to many different cultures and ethnic groups. The 10 countries with the largest Muslim populations, in descending order, are Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, and China.

Of these, only Egypt is an Arab country, and despite the stereotypes, only 193 million of the world’s Muslims—15 to 18 percent of the total—are Arabs.

Islam is a system of religious beliefs and an all-encompassing way of life. The word Islamm comes from the word salaam, which means submission or peace. Muslims believe that God (Allah) revealed to the Prophet Muhammad the rules governing society and the proper conduct of society’s members. It is incumbent on the individual therefore to live in a manner prescribed by the revealed law and on the community to build the perfect human society on earth according to holy injunctions. Islam recognizes no distinctions between church and state.

( God)Allah-Diwani style

The distinction between religious and secular law is a recent development that reflects the more pronounced role of the state in society, and Western economic and cultural penetration. The impact of religion on daily life in Muslim countries is far greater than that found in the West since the Middle Ages.

The duties of Muslims form the five pillars of Islam, which set forth the acts necessary to demonstrate and reinforce the faith. These are the recitation of the shahada (”There is no God but God [Allah], and Muhammad is his prophet”), daily prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj).

The believer is to pray in a prescribed manner after purification through ritual ablutions each day at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset, and nightfall. Prescribed genuflections and prostrations accompany the prayers, which the worshiper recites facing toward Mecca. Whenever possible men pray in congregation at the mosque with an imam, and on Fridays make a special effort to do so. The Friday noon prayers provide the occasion for weekly sermons by religious leaders. Women may also attend public worship at the mosque, where they are segregated from the men, although most frequently women pray at home. A special functionary, the muezzin, intones a call to prayer to the entire community at the appropriate hour. Those out of earshot determine the time by the sun. The Azan (Arabic for announcement) is the call or summons to public prayers proclaimed by the Muezzmn (crier) from the mosque twice daily in all Muslim countries. In small mosques the Muezzin at Azan stands at the door or at the side of the building; in large ones he takes up his position in the minaret.

The ninth month of the Muslim calendar is Ramadan, a period of obligatory fasting in commemoration of Muhammad’s receipt of God’s revelation. Throughout the month all but the sick and weak, pregnant or lactating women, soldiers on duty, travelers on necessary journeys, and young children are enjoined from eating, drinking, smoking, or sexual intercourse during the daylight hours. Those adults excused are obliged to endure an equivalent fast at their earliest opportunity. A festive meal breaks the daily fast and inaugurates a night of feasting and celebration. The pious well-to-do usually do little or no work during this period, and some businesses close for all or part of the day. Since the months of the lunar year revolve through the solar year, Ramadan falls at various seasons in different years. A considerable test of discipline at any time of the year, a fast that falls in summertime imposes severe hardship on those who must do physical work.

All Muslims, at least once in their lifetime, should make the hajj to Mecca to participate in special rites held there during the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. Muhammad instituted this requirement, modifying pre-Islamic custom, to emphasize sites associated with God and Abraham (Ibrahim), founder of monotheism and father of the Arabs through his son Ismail.

The lesser pillars of the faith, which all Muslims share, are jihad, or the crusade to protect Islamic lands, beliefs, and institutions; and the requirement to do good works and to avoid all evil thoughts, words, and deeds.

In addition, Muslims agree on certain basic principles of faith based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad: there is one God, who is a unitary divine being in contrast to the trinitarian belief of Christians; Muhammad, the last of a line of prophets beginning with Abraham and including Moses and Jesus, was chosen by God to present His message to humanity; and there is a general resurrection on the last or judgment day.

The Muslim year has two religious festivals–Id al Adha, a sacrificial festival on the tenth of Dhu al Hijjah, the twelfth month; and Id al Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast, which celebrates the end of Ramadan on the first of Shawwal, the tenth month.

To Sunnis these are the most important festivals of the year. Each lasts three or four days, during which people put on their best clothes, visit, congratulate, and bestow gifts on each other. In addition, cemeteries are visited. Id al Fitr is celebrated more joyfully, as it marks the end of the hardships of Ramadan. Celebrations also take place, though less extensively, on the Prophet’s birthday, which falls on the twelfth of Rabi al Awwal, the third month, and on the first of Muharram, the beginning of the new year.

God is the Light of heavens and earth

Sharia

During his lifetime, Muhammad held both spiritual and temporal leadership of the Muslim community. Religious and secular law merged, and all Muslims have traditionally been subject to sharia, or religious law. A comprehensive legal system, sharia developed gradually through the first four centuries of Islam, primarily through the accretion of precedent and interpretation by various judges and scholars. During the tenth century, legal opinion began to harden into authoritative rulings, and the figurative bab al ijtihad (gate of interpretation) closed. Thereafter, rather than encouraging flexibility, Islamic law emphasized maintenance of the status quo.

The word “Islam” means “submission.” A “Muslim,” therefore, is one who submits to the will of God. Shariah, frequently translated as “Islamic law,” is neither a document nor a code in the strict sense, but rather an amalgamation of scriptural (Quranic) injunctions, sayings of the Prophet Mohammed, juridical rulings, and legal commentaries dealing with all aspects of social, economic and political life, similar to Jewish Halakhic law.

Islam, like Judaism, is a religion of laws – it is the legal code, not a theology, which establishes the criteria of right and wrong, proper and improper behavior. Like Halakhah, Shari’a is believed to be ordained by God and its scope to be total, ranging from the loftiest ideals to the minutiae of daily life. Even the words Halakhah and Shariah, have similar meanings and may be translated as the “path” or “road” to righteousness. interpretation. Thus it is neither static nor monolithic, and may take different forms in different countries or from one period of history to another. A classic text on Shariah, by the fourteenth-century scholar, Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, deals with a wide range of subjects, including purity of heart, fasting, divorce, backbiting, crimes, and rules of warfare.
The hudud can be characterized as the Islamic “penal code” prescribed by Shariah. The rules of hudud identify punishable crimes, the types of witnesses needed to convict someone of a crime, and the punishments for various crimes.

Islam has no basic concept of inalienable rights and does not permit the individual to enjoy the freedoms of action and association characteristic of a democracy.

In Islamic states, where there is no formally recognized separation between religion and law, mosque and state, Shari‘a is enshrined and presented (if not always consistently implemented) as the final and ultimate formulation of the law of God, not to be revised or reformulated by mere mortal and fallible human beings. In Egypt, Algeria, and Palestine, the Shari‘a is virtually ignored as a guide to specific legislation or government policy on many vital issues. The remaining Muslim countries, which adopted Western-style legal and political systems under colonial tutelage, enshrine Islamic law in their codes and constitutions to various degrees. These nations range from Pakistan, with its intense political agitation over the interpretation and implementation of Shari‘a, to Indonesia, a self-proclaimed secular nation that is the home to more than 180 million Muslims.

Takfir — the condemnation of a Muslim by another Muslim as a kafir (i.e., disbelievers outside the pale of Islam) — is strictly prohibited in the Quran, the Hadith, and the writings of many eminent Muslim authorities. But fatwas of apostasy and heresy as well as kufr within the Muslim ummah are neither few nor far in between.

After Muhammad’s death the leaders of the Muslim community consensually chose Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s father-in-law and one of his earliest followers, to succeed him. At that time some persons favored Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and the husband of his daughter Fatima, but Ali and his supporters (the Shiat Ali, or Party of Ali) eventually recognized the community’s choice. The next two caliphs (successors)–Umar, who succeeded in A.D.634, and Uthman, who took power in A.D.644–enjoyed the recognition of the entire community. When Ali finally succeeded to the caliphate in A.D.656, Muawiyah, governor of Syria, rebelled in the name of his murdered kinsman Uthman. After the ensuing civil war, Ali moved his capital to Iraq, where he was murdered shortly there after.

Ali’s death ended the last of the so-called four orthodox caliphates and the period in which the entire community of Islam recognized a single caliph. Muawiyah proclaimed himself caliph from Damascus. The Shiat Ali refused to recognize him or his line, the Umayyad caliphs, and withdrew in the first great schism to establish the dissident sect, known as the Shias, supporting the claims of Ali’s line to the caliphate based on descent from the Prophet. The larger faction, the Sunnis, adhered to the position that the caliph must be elected, and over the centuries they have represented themselves as the orthodox branch.

In its ideal form, Shariah ensures the rights of all in an Islamic state. Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence; it forms the basis of Shariah and is a process of ongoing

Praise be to God

Sunni Islam

There was only one madh-hab (school of fiqh) during the time of the Righly-guided Caliphs. With the emergence of the Umayyad rule, the situation changed. The Umayyad caliphs did not have the same religious authority as the previous ones. After the Umayyad (661-750 CE) came the Abbasids. In comparison to the Umayyads, they were more supportive of Islamic law. The crystallization of four major Sunni madhahib of Islamic fiqh came about by the third century of Hijrah; before this there were about twenty different madhahib.

In the Sunni world there are now Four Orthodox Schools (Schools of Fiqh) of thought [the Four Madhahib]: the Shafi’i, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali. With regard to legal matters, these four orthodox schools give different weight in legal opinions to prescriptions in the Quran, the hadith or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the consensus of legal scholars, analogy (to similar situations at the time of the Prophet), and reason or opinion. Towards the end of the first century of Islam, Imam Abu Hanifa in Kufa and Imam Malik in Madina founded mazahib (schools) or religio-legal thought, named after them as the Hanafi and the Maliki schools. In the following century, the two other great schools were founded — the Shafei school of Imam Idris al-Shafei in Egypt and the Hanbali school of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal in Baghdad. The differences between the four famous Jurists Imaam Abu Hanifa, Shaaf’ee, Maaliki and Hanbaliy stem from their differences on principles. The basic principle according to Imaam Maaliki is to prefer Amal-e-Madinah, that is the practices of the people of Madina Munawwarah. However, that principle is not adopted by Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

The fanatical loyalty to a particular madh-hab among Muslims is decreasing. Now Hanafi, Shafi`i, Maliki and Hanbali and even Ja`fari followers pray together and work together. Most scholars hold that it is not required of the Muslim to follow a certain Fiqh School because nothing can be made required of Muslims except that made by Allah and His Prophet. When in need of Fatwa, Muslims could consult with any scholar regardless of his Madh-hab. A common Muslim is said to have no Madh-hab.

Sunni Islam does not possess clerical hierarchies and centralized institutions. The absence of a hierarchy has been a source of strength that has permitted the faith to adapt to local conditions. However, it also has been a weakness that makes it difficult for Sunni Muslims to achieve any significant degree of solidarity.

Despite some very minor disputes there are many Sub-Groups in the four groups like Kharjiites, Wahabis, Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamat, Ahle Hadith, Ghurba Ahle Hadits, Sunnis of Green Turban, Sunnis of Brown Turbans etc. etc. They declare each other wrong and seldom offer prayer behind each other.

Among Sunni Muslims, effective power and the ability to maintain order are sufficient for legitimate authority, in stark contrast to the more uncompromising Shia views of government as the sole province of religious leaders. For Sunnis, even a bad Muslim ruler is preferable to chaos and anarchy, and the Sunni religious tradition contains only a limited right to rebel. However, if a ruler commands something that is contrary to God’s law, the subject’s duty of obedience lapses.

Originally political, the differences between Sunni and Shia interpretations rapidly took on theological and metaphysical overtones. In principle a Sunni approaches God directly; there is no clerical hierarchy. Some duly appointed religious figures, however, exert considerable social and political power. Imams usually are men of importance in their communities but they need not have any formal training; among the beduins, for example, any tribal member may lead communal prayers. Committees of socially prominent worshipers usually run the major mosque-owned land and gifts. In many Arab countries, the administration of waqfs (religious endowments) has come under the influence of the state. Qadis (judges) and imams are appointed by the government.

Love and Peace

Hanafi Islam

Within the Sunni Muslim tradition, Hanafi is one of four “schools of law” and considered the oldest and most liberal school of law. Hanafi is one of the four schools of thought (madhabs / Maddhab) of religious jurisprudence (fiqh) within Sunni Islam. Named for its founder, the Hanafi school of Imam Abu Hanifa, it is the major school of Iraqi Sunni Arabs. It makes considerable use of reason or opinion in legal decisions. Sunni Hanafi creed is essentially non-hierarchial and decentralized, which has made it difficult for 20th century rulers to incorporate its religious leaders into strong centralized state systems.

The Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence was founded by Abu Hanifa, born in Kufa, Iraq about A.D.700. He was one of the earliest Muslim scholar-interpreters to seek new ways of applying Islamic tenets to everyday life. In his lifetime Abu Hanifa was disgraced, called ignorant, inventor of new beliefs, hypocrite and kafir. He was imprisoned and poisoned. He died in 150 A.H. [circa 767-768 C.E.]. Abu Hanifa’s interpretation of Muslim law was extremely tolerant of differences within Muslim communities. He also separated belief from practice, elevating belief over practice. Hanafi took Shafi as his rival and vice versa.

Most of the Hanafi school follows al-Maturidi in doctrine. Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Mansur al-Samarqandi al-Maturidi al-Hanafi (d. 333) of Maturid in Samarqand, Shaykh al-Islam, was one of the two foremost Imams of the mutakallimûn of Ahl al-Sunna. He was known in his time as the Imam of Guidance (Imâm al-Hudâ). The majority of the Taliban are Maturidis.
Broad-minded without being lax, this school appeals to reason (personal judgment) and a quest for the better. It is generally tolerant and the largest movement within Islam. The Hanafi school is known for its liberal religious orientation that elevates belief over practice and is tolerant of differences within Muslim communities.

A sectarian dispute in the United States was transformed into a mass hostage taking by Hanafi Muslims in Washington, DC in 1977. The Hanafi Movement in the United States was founded by Hamas Abdul Khaalis in 1968. Khaalis, formerly Ernest 2X McGee, had been the Nation of Islam’s first National Secretary and a friend of Malcolm X. He had converted to orthodox Islam and founded the Hanafi Movement with money donated by Kareem Abdul-Jabar. On 09 March 1977, Khaalis and about a dozen of his followers armed with shotguns and machetes seized control of seized the District Building [city hall], the B’nai B’rith building, and the Islamic Center, in the District of Columbia. Khaalis said they were seeking revenge for the murders of Khaalis’ family members by Black Muslims in 1973. They held 134 hostages for more than 39 hours, they shot Washington DC city councilman Marion Barry in the chest, and they shot a radio reporter dead. The standoff ended and the hostages were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations. The Hanafis were convicted and sentenced to long terms in prison.

Hanafi scholars refuse to control a human religious or spiritual destiny, and refuse to give that right to any human institution. Among the Hudud crimes, those crimes against God, blasphemy is not listed by the Hanafis. Hanafis concluded that blasphemy could not be punished by the state. The state should not be involved in deciding God-human relationships. Rather, the state should be concerned only with the violation of human rights within the jurisdiction of the human affairs and human relationships.

Notwithstanding their common heritage from Imam Abu Hanifah, the scholars belonging to the Hanafi madhhab are divided in the Barelvi and the Deobandi school, and these two schools have different attitude toward Wahhabism.

The Sunni Hanafi school is dominant in the Arab Middle East, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The followers of Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 767) are found in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, China, North Africa, Egypt, and in the Malay Archipelago. The school is followed by the majority of the Muslim population of Turkey, Albania, the Balkans, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India and Iraq. Most of the Kyrgyz are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. Ethnic Kazakhs, who constitute approximately one half of the national population, historically are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi School. Ethnic Uzbeks, Uyghurs, and Tatars, comprising less than 10 percent of the population, also largely are Sunni Hanafi. Other Islamic groups, which account for less than 1 percent of the population of Kazakhstan, include Shafit Sunni (traditionally practiced by Chechens), Shiite, Sufi, and Akhmadi.

Sunni are found throughout Afghanistan. An estimated 84% of Afghanistan’s population is Sunni, following the Hanafi school of jurisprudence; the remainder is predominantly Shi’a, mainly Hazara. In March 2003 Ayatollah Mohammad Asef Mohseni, leader of the predominantly Shia Harakat-e Islami-yi Afghanistan, proposed that, along with the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, the Shia Ja’fari school of jurisprudence be included in the new constitution as an official sect.

Basmallah- In the name of God the Merciful The Compassionate

Barelvi Islam

Deobandis and Barelvis are the two major groups of Muslims in the Subcontinent apart from the Shia. Barelvi Hanafis deem Deobandis to be kaafir. Those hostile to the Barelvis deprecated them as the shrine-worshipping, the grave-worshiping, ignorant Barelvis. Much smaller sects in Pakistan include the Ahl-e-Hadees and Ahl-e-Tashee. The non-Pakhtun population of Pakistan is predominantly Barelvi. The stronghold of Barelvism remains Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan. By one estimate, in Pakistan, the Shias are 18%, ismailis 2%, Ahmediyas 2%, Barelvis 50%, Deobandis 20%, Ahle Hadith 4%, and other minorities 4%. The Ahle-e-Hadith is a small group of Sunni Muslims in India who do not consider themselves bound by any particular school of law and rely directly on the Prophet’s Sunnah. By another estimate some 15 per cent of Pakistan’s Sunni Muslims would consider themselves Deobandi, and some 60 per cent, are in the Barelvi tradition based mostly in the province of Punjab. But some 64 per cent of the total seminaries are run by Deobandis, 25 per cent by the Barelvis, six percent by the Ahle Hadith and three percent by various Shiite organisations.

The Muslim League was founded by the Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili Sevener Shiites. And Jinnah was an Ismaili. The barelvis and shias and ismailis and Ahmediyas joined the Pakistan movement, while the deobandis opposed the formation of Pakistan, since they wanted to islamise all of India. But the Deobandis in Pakistan owed their allegiance to Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Usmani, who organized the Deobandi ulema who were in favour of Pakistan into the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam. The so-called “nationalist Muslims” who opposed Partition, such as Maulana Azad and Maulana Maudoodi, were Sunnis.
The differences between these sects can be difficult to understand. For the Barelvis, (who are mostly from the Pakistan province of Punjab) the holy Prophet is a superhuman figure whose presence is all around us at all times; he is hazir, present; he is not bashar, material or flesh, but nur, light. The Deobandis, who also revere the Prophet, argue he was the insan-i-kamil, the perfect person, but still only a man, a mortal. Barelvis emphasise a love of Muhammad, a semi-divine figure with unique foreknowledge. The Deobandis reject this idea of Muhammad, emphasising Islam as a personal rather than a social religion.

The Barelvis follow many Sufi practices, including use of music (Qawwali) and intercession by their teacher. A key difference between Barelvi and Deobandi that Barelvi’s believe in intercession between humans and Divine Grace. This consists of the intervention of an ascending, linked and unbroken chain of holy personages, pirs, reaching ultimately to Prophet Mohammad, who intercede on their behalf with Allah. It is a more superstitious - but also a more tolerant - tradition of Indian Islam. Their critics claim that Barelvis are guilty of committing innovation (Bid’at) and therefore, they are deviated from the true path - the path of Sunnah.

The Pakistan Movement got support from the Barelvis (Low Church). It had faced opposition from the National Indian Congress which was supported by the Deobandi seminaries (High Church). However, after the establishment of Pakistan as an Islamic state in 1949, Barelvi Low Church was too mixed up with mysticism to be a source of Islamic law. Ironically, Pakistan moved away from the ’spiritual pluralism’ of the Barelvis, who had supported Pakistan, and relied on the more puritanical Deobandis who had opposed it.

Unlike the Deobandis, the Barelvis see the Prophet Mohammad as more than a man, a part of the divine light of Allah. This doctrine gives rise to a form of Islam that provides a space for holy men and esoteric practices and graves appear to be often more ornate than those found within Deobandi communities. The Wahhabi (Arabia), Deobandi (Pakistan and India) and Jamaat-I-Islami all are anti-sufi, and against the over devotion to Muhammad, whereas the Barelvis emphasize Muhammad’s uniqueness. Indeed, nearly 85% of South Asia’s Sunni Muslims are said to follow the Barelvi school, closer to Sufism. The remaining 15% of Sunnis follow the Deobandi school, more closely related to the conservative practice of Islam. Most Shiites in the subcontinent also tend to be influenced by the Sufis. Pakistan’s Muslims, like other Muslims in the region, tend to follow a school of Islam which is less conservative, and hence the support for strongly and overtly religious parties has been minimal.

The Barelvis believe the Prophet is a human being made from flesh and blood [bashar] and a noor [light] at the same time. This is like the example of when Gabriel, who is also noor [light], used to appear to the Prophet in the form of a man, flesh and blood. He is infallible and perfect and free from all imperfections and sinless (as are all Prophets). He is human but not like other humans. Allah has given him the ability to see the whole of Creation in detail while he is in his blessed grave as if he was looking at it in the palm of his hand. This is called being “nazir” (”witnessing”). Allah has given him the ability to go physically and spiritually to anywhere in the Created Universes he pleases whenever he pleases (peace be upon him) and to be in more than one place at the same time. This is what is meant by “hazir” (present). This is not the same as believing that he (peace be upon him) is present everywhere all the time!

(Jamil) God is beautiful and loves beauty

Deobandi Islam

The northern Indian Deobandi school argues that the reason Islamic societies have fallen behind the West in all spheres of endeavor is because they have been seduced by the amoral and material accoutrements of Westernization, and have deviated from the original pristine teachings of the Prophet.

Deoband is a town a hundred miles north of Delhi where a madrasa (religious school) was established there in 1867. The so-called ‘Deobandi Tradition’ itself is much older than the eponymous Dar-Ul-Ulum at Deoband. The Deoband madrasa brought together Muslims who were hostile to British rule and committed to a literal and austere interpretation of Islam.

For the last 200 years, Sunnis often have looked to the example of the Deoband madrassa (religious school) near Delhi, India. The Deoband school has long sought to purify Islam by discarding supposedly un-Islamic accretions to the faith and reemphasizing the models established in the Koran and the customary practices of the Prophet Mohammed. Additionally, Deobandi scholars often have opposed what they perceive as Western influences.

Just as Sikhs originated from Hinduism, but are not Hindus, and Protestants came from Roman Catholicism, but are not Catholics, similarly, the Deobandi sect originated in the Sunni community, but are not strictly Sunnis. The tack of Darul Uloom Deoband is in accordance with the Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, Hanafiate practical method (Mazhab) and the disposition (Mashrab) of its holy founders, Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Qasim Nanautavi (Allah’s mercy be on him!) and Hazrat Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi (may his secret be sanctified).

The Deobandi interpretation holds that a Muslim’s first loyalty is to his religion and only then to the country of which he is a citizen or a resident; secondly, that Muslims recognise only the religious frontiers of their Ummah and not the national frontiers; thirdly,that they have a sacred right and obligation to go to any country to wage jihad to protect the Muslims of that country.

The Deobandi interpretation of Islamic teachings is widely practiced in Pakistan. The Deobandi movement in Sunni Islam, was founded in response to British colonial rule in India and later hardened in Pakistan into bitter opposition to what its members views as the country’s neo-colonial elite. The Islamic Deobandi militants share the Taliban’s restrictive view of women, and regard Pakistan’s minority Shiia as non-Muslim. They seek a pure leader, or amir, to recreate Pakistani society according to the egalitarian model of Islam’s early days under the Prophet Mohammed. President Musharraf himself, is a Deobandi, actually born in the city in India, where the school took it’s name.
During the first half of April 2000, the Government of Pakistan permitted a 3-day conference organized by the Deobandi Muslim political party Jamiat-Ulema-Islami (JUI). Several speakers at the conference made anti-Western political declarations. Deobandi and Barelvi sects struggled, sometimes violently, for control over local mosques in Lahore neighborhoods.

The fundamentalist Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom brand of Islam inspired the Taliban movement and had widespread appeal for Muslim fundamentalists. Most of the Taliban leadership attended Deobandi-influenced seminaries in Pakistan. The Taliban was propped up initially by the civil government of Benazir Bhutto, then in coalition with the Deobandi Jama’at-ulema Islam (JUI) led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman [who by 2003 was the elected opposition leader at the Center in Islamabad and whose protégé is now the chief Minister in the NWFP]. Traditionally, Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence was the dominant religion of Afganistan. The Taliban also adhered to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, making it the dominant religion in the country for most of 2001. For the last 200 years, Sunnis often have looked to the example of the Deoband madrassah (religious school) near Delhi, India. Most of the Taliban leadership attended Deobandi-influenced seminaries in Pakistan. The Deoband school has long sought to purify Islam by discarding supposedly un-Islamic accretions to the faith and reemphasizing the models established in the Koran and the customary practices of the Prophet Mohammed. Additionally, Deobandi scholars often have opposed what they perceive as Western influences. Much of the population adheres to Deobandi-influenced Hanafi Sunnism, but a sizable minority adheres to a more mystical version of Sunnism generally known as Sufism. Sufism centers on orders or brotherhoods that follow charismatic religious leaders.

Although the majority of the Islamic population (Sunni) in Afghanistan and Pakistan, belong to the Hanafi sect, the theologians who have pushed Pakistan towards Islamic Radicalism for decades, as well as the ones who were the founders of the Taliban, espoused Wahabi rhetoric and ideals. This sect took its inspiration from Saudi Hanbali theologians who immigrated there in the 18th century, to help their Indian Muslim brothers with Hanbali theological inspiration against the British colonialists. Propelled by oil-generated wealth, the Wahhabi worldview increasingly co-opted the Deobandi movement in South Asia.

Hanbali Islam

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was kept in prison for 28 months, with a heavy chain around his feet. He was publicly humiliated, slapped and spat upon. Every evening he used to be flogged. All this was because of the controversy regarding whether the Quran was `uncreated’
The Shaf’i school is considered the easiest school and the Hanbali is considered the hardest in terms of social and personal rules.

The government of Saudi Arabia vigorously enforces its prohibition against all forms of public religious expression other than that of those who follow the government’s interpretation and presentation of the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam. This is despite the fact that there are large communities of non-Muslims and Muslims from a variety of doctrinal schools of Islam residing in Saudi Arabia. Under the Hanbali interpretation of Shari’a law, judges may discount the testimony of people who are not practicing Muslims or who do not have the correct faith. Legal sources report that testimony by Shi’a is often ignored in Saudi courts of law or is deemed to have less weight than testimony by Sunnis. The explanation of Saudi officials is that their Hanbali school of Islam religiously mandates that they deny other religions the right to function openly on the Arabian Peninsula - a right that is clearly protected in international law.

Wahhabi

This branch of Islam is often referred to as “Wahhabi,” a term that many adherents to this tradition do not use. Members of this form of Islam call themselves Muwahhidun (”Unitarians”, or “unifiers of Islamic practice”). They use the Salafi Da’wa or Ahlul Sunna wal Jama’a. The teachings of the reformer Abd Al-Wahhab are more often referred to by adherents as Salafi, that is, “following the forefathers of Islam.”

The basic text of this form of Islam is the Kitab at-tawhid (Arabic, “Book of Unity”). Central to Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab’s message was the essential oneness of God (tawhid). The movement is therefore known by its adherents as ad dawa lil tawhid (the call to unity), and those who follow the call are known as ahl at tawhid (the people of unity) or muwahhidun (unitarians). The word Wahhabi was originally used derogatorily by opponents, but has today become commonplace and is even used by some Najdi scholars of the movement. Most Wahhabi people live in Saudi Arabia. Almost all people in Mecca and Medina belong to this school.

The Caliphate was brought into being by the implementation of Islam for about three decades. They called this shortlived experiment Khilafat Rashidah, the rightly-guided Caliphate, implying thereby that the rulers that followed were misguided. Fundamentalists seek the restoration of the Islamic State i.e. the Khilafah, and by electing a Khaleefah and taking a bay’ah on him that he will rule by the Word of Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’Ala) i.e. he will implement Islamic laws in the country where the Khilafah has been established.
Wahhabism [Wahabism] is a reform movement that began 200 years ago to rid Islamic societies of cultural practices and interpretation that had been acquired over the centuries. The followers of Abdul Wahab (1703-1792) began as a movement to cleanse the Arab bedouin from the influence of Sufism. Wahhabis are the followers of Ibn ‘Abd ul-Wahhab, who instituted a great reform in the religion of Islam in Arabia in the 18th century. Mahommed ibn ‘Abd ul-Wahhab was born in 1691 (or 1703) at al-Hauta of the Nejd in central Arabia, and was of the tribe of the Bani Tamim. He studied literature and jurisprudence of the Hanifite school. After making the pilgrimage with his father, he spent some further time in the study of law at Medina, and resided for a while at Isfahan, whence he returned to the Nejd to undertake the work of a teacher.

Aroused by his studies and his observation of the luxury in dress and habits, the superstitious pilgrimages to shrines, the use of omens and the worship given to Mahomet and Mahommedan saints rather than to God, he began a mission to proclaim the simplicity of the early religion founded on the Koran and Sunna (i.e. the manner of life of Mahomet).

To understand the significance of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab’s ideas, they must be considered in the context of Islamic practice. There was a difference between the established rituals clearly defined in religious texts that all Muslims perform and popular Islam. The latter refers to local practice that is not universal. The Shia practice of visiting shrines is an example of a popular practice. The Shia continued to revere the Imams even after their death and so visited their graves to ask favors of the Imams buried there. Over time, Shia scholars rationalized the practice and it became established. Some of the Arabian tribes came to attribute the same sort of power that the Shia recognized in the tomb of an Imam to natural objects such as trees and rocks.

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab was concerned with the way the people of Najd engaged in practices he considered polytheistic, such as praying to saints; making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques; venerating trees, caves, and stones; and using votive and sacrificial offerings. He was also concerned by what he viewed as a laxity in adhering to Islamic law and in performing religious devotions, such as indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women. When Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab began to preach against these breaches of Islamic laws, he characterized customary practices as jahiliya, the same term used to describe the ignorance of Arabians before the Prophet.

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab focused on the Muslim principle that there is only one God, and that God does not share his power with anyone — not Imams, and certainly not trees or rocks. From this unitarian principle, his students began to refer to themselves as muwahhidun (unitarians). Their detractors referred to them as “Wahhabis”–or “followers of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab,” which had a pejorative connotation. The idea of a unitary god was not new. Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, however, attached political importance to it. He directed his attack against the Shia.
Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab’s emphasis on the oneness of God was asserted in contradistinction to shirk, or polytheism, defined as the act of associating any person or object with powers that should be attributed only to God. He condemned specific acts that he viewed as leading to shirk, such as votive offerings, praying at saints’ tombs and at graves, and any prayer ritual in which the suppliant appeals to a third party for intercession with God. Particularly objectionable were certain religious festivals, including celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday, Shia mourning ceremonies, and Sufi mysticism. Consequently, the Wahhabis forbid grave markers or tombs in burial sites and the building of any shrines that could become a locus of shirk.

His instructions in the matter of extending his religious teaching by force were strict. All unbelievers (i.e. Moslems who did not accept his teaching, as well as Christians, &c.) were to be put to death. Immediate entrance into Paradise was promised to his soldiers who fell in battle, and it is said that each soldier was provided with a written order from Ibn ‘Abd ul-Wahhab to the gate-keeper of heaven to admit him forthwith. In this way the new teaching was established in the greater part of Arabia until its power was broken by Mehemet Ali. Ibn’Abd ul-Wahhab is said to have died in 1791.

The teaching of ul-Wahhab was founded on that of Ibn Taimiyya (1263-1328), who was of the school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Copies of some of Ibn Taimiyya’s works made by ul-Wahhab are now extant in Europe, and show a close study of the writer. Ibn Taimiyya, although a Hanbalite by training, refused to be bound by any of the four schools, and claimed the power of a mujtahid, i.e. of one who can give independent decisions. These decisions were based on the Koran, which, like Ibn Hazm, he accepted in a literal sense, on the Sunna and Qiyds (analogy). He protested strongly against all the innovations of later times, and denounced as idolatry the visiting of the sacred shrines and the invocation of the saints or of Mahomet himself. He was also a bitter opponent of the Sufis of his day.
The Wahhabites also believe in the literal sense of the Koran and the necessity of deducing one’s duty from it apart from the decisions of the four schools. They also pointed to the abuses current in their times as a reason for rejecting the doctrines and practices founded on Ijma, i.e. the universal consent of the believer or their teachers. They forbid the pilgrimage to tombs and the invocation of saints. The severe simplicity of the Wahhabis has been remarked by travellers in central Arabia. They attack all luxury, loose administration of justice, all laxity against infidels, addiction to wine, impurity and treachery.

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab’s mission in his own district was not attended by success, and for long he wandered with his family through Arabia. Realizing that he needed political support and authority to effectively reverse the status quo, Ibn Abdul-Wahhab presented his program of reform to the governors of the central Arabian city-states. He began by approaching Othman ibn Mu’amar, the governor of Uyayna, his home state. Ibn Mu’amar was receptive to Abdul-Wahhab’s ideas and allowed him to preach within the city. As word of the movement spread, however, strong pressure to silence Ibn Abdul-Wahhab came from powerful tribes in the region who viewed change as a threat to their decadent lifestyle. Fearing invasion, Othman ibn Mu’amar felt compelled to ask the reformer to leave Uyayna.

At last he settled in Dara’iyya, or Deraiya (in the Nejd), where he succeeded in converting the greatest notable, Mahommed ibn Sa’ud, who married his daugther, and so became the founder of an hereditary Wahhabite dynasty. This gave the missionary the opportunity of following the example of Mahomet himself.

This association between the Al Saud and the Al ash Shaykh, as Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab and his descendants came to be known, effectively converted political loyalty into a religious obligation. According to Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab’s teachings, a Muslim must present a bayah, or oath of allegiance, to a Muslim ruler during his lifetime to ensure his redemption after death. The ruler, conversely, is owed unquestioned allegiance from his people so long as he leads the community according to the laws of God. The whole purpose of the Muslim community is to become the living embodiment of God’s laws, and it is the responsibility of the legitimate ruler to ensure that people know God’s laws and live in conformity to them.

Under ‘Abd ul-Azlz they instituted a form of Bedouin (Bedawi) commonwealth, insisting on the observance of law, the payment of tribute, militaiy conscription for war against the infidel, internal peace and the rigid administration of justice in courts established for the purpose. Wahhabis consider Wahhabism to be the only true form of Islam. They do not regard Shi’as as true Muslims are particularly hostile to Sufism.

It is clear that the claim of the Wahhabis to have returned to the earliest form of Islam is largely justified. The difference between ul-Wahhab’s sect and others is that the Wahabis rigidly follow the same laws which the others neglect or have ceased altogether to observe. Even orthodox doctors of Islam have confessed that in Ibn ‘Abd ul-Wahhab’s writings there is nothing but what they themselves hold. At the same time the fact that so many of his followers were rough and unthinking Bedouins has led to the over-emphasis of minor points of practice, so that they often appear to observers to be characterized chiefly by a strictness (real or feigned) in such matters as the prohibition of silk for dress, or the use of tobacco, or of the rosary in prayer.
Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab died in 1792.

The Wahhabi ulama reject reinterpretation of Quran and sunna in regard to issues clearly settled by the early jurists. By rejecting the validity of reinterpretation, Wahhabi doctrine is at odds with the Muslim reformation movement of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This movement seeks to reinterpret parts of the Quran and sunna to conform with standards set by the West, most notably standards relating to gender relations, family law, and participatory democracy. However, ample scope for reinterpretation remains for Wahhabi jurists in areas not decided by the early jurists.

The 1920s marked the beginnings of modern Arabia. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz understood the potential advantages Western technology offered; the importation of a fleet of automobiles and, later, the building of airstrips gave him the means of reaching distant parts of his territory in a fraction of the time required previously. He also ordered the creation of an extensive information network based on the wireless telegraph, through which he was able to extend his “eyes and ears” across the country. However, some of his followers were less than enthusiastic, and their leader spent much time and effort explaining personally the value of the telephone in particular. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz finally overcame their opposition by inviting skeptics to listen to recitations from the Qur‘an being read down the phone line.

Aware that the fledgling nation would be ill-equipped to function in the 20th century without industrial modernization, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was eager to embrace technology; however, he was no less aware that change had to be selective and gradual if it was to be accepted by the citizenry. Arabist and historian Leslie McLoughlin pointed out that “it was the insight of Ibn Sa‘ud that slow change without disabling disputes was better than speed of change with great disruption.”
Under Al Saud rule, governments, especially during the Wahhabi revival in the 1920s, have shown their capacity and readiness to enforce compliance with Islamic laws and interpretations of Islamic values on themselves and others. The literal interpretations of what constitutes right behavior according to the Quran and hadith have given the Wahhabis the sobriquet of “Muslim Calvinists.” To the Wahhabis, for example, performance of prayer that is punctual, ritually correct, and communally performed not only is urged but publicly required of men. Consumption of wine is forbidden to the believer because wine is literally forbidden in the Quran. Under the Wahhabis, however, the ban extended to all intoxicating drinks and other stimulants, including tobacco. Modest dress is prescribed for both men and women in accordance with the Quran, but the Wahhabis specify the type of clothing that should be worn, especially by women, and forbid the wearing of silk and gold, although the latter ban has been enforced only sporadically. Music and dancing have also been forbidden by the Wahhabis at times, as have loud laughter and demonstrative weeping, particularly at funerals.

The Wahhabi emphasis on conformity makes of external appearance and behavior a visible expression of inward faith. Therefore, whether one conforms in dress, in prayer, or in a host of other activities becomes a public statement of whether one is a true Muslim. Because adherence to the true faith is demonstrable in tangible ways, the Muslim community can visibly judge the quality of a person’s faith by observing that person’s actions. In this sense, public opinion becomes a regulator of individual behavior. Therefore, within the Wahhabi community, which is striving to be the collective embodiment of God’s laws, it is the responsibility of each Muslim to look after the behavior of his neighbor and to admonish him if he goes astray.

In the 1990s, Saudi leadership did not emphasize its identity as inheritor of the Wahhabi legacy as such, nor did the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, the Al ash Shaykh, continue to hold the highest posts in the religious bureaucracy. Wahhabi influence in Saudi Arabia, however, remained tangible in the physical conformity in dress, in public deportment, and in public prayer. Most significantly, the Wahhabi legacy was manifest in the social ethos that presumed government responsibility for the collective moral ordering of society, from the behavior of individuals, to institutions, to businesses, to the government itself. King Fahd ibn Abd al Aziz Al Saud repeatedly called for scholars to engage in ijtihad to deal with new situations confronting the modernizing kingdom.

Maliki Islam

Maliki is one of the four schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam, named for Malik ibn Anas (ca. 710-95), a leading jurist from Medina. This school recorded the Medina consensus of opinion, and uses hadith (tradition) as a guide. The Maleki is predominant in north, central and west Africa and Egypt. Following the tradition of Imam Malik, this school appeals to “common utility…the idea of the common good.”

Malik did not record the fundamental principles on which he based his school and on whose basis he derived his judgements and to which he limited himself in the derivation of his rulings. In that respect he resembled his contemporary, Abu Hanifa, but not his student, ash-Shafi’i, who did record the principles he used in derivation and defined them precisely, specifying the motives which moved him to consider them and their position in deduction. Malik only transmitted from people in whose mursal and balaghat hadith he had absolute confidence. That is why his great concern was with the choice of transmitter. When he had confidence in the character, intelligence and knowledge of the transmitter he dispensed with the chain of narration. Malik clearly stated that he took the practice of the people of Madina as a source. He never wore shoes whilst in Medinatul Munawwarah [Medina]. He never sat on a horse or used the toilets in this blessed city. He always went out of the city to relieve himself.
Maliki is practiced in North Africa and parts of West Africa. It is the second-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 25% of Muslims. Arabia, North and West Africa, Upper Egypt and the Sudan is the location. The colonial legal system influenced development of Morocco’s legal system while shari’a courts continued to apply Maliki fiqh to matters of family law. Also local tribunals applying customary law. Following independence in 1956, a Code of Personal Status (al-Mudawwana) was issued, based on dominant Maliki doctrine,

Shafi`i Islam

The Shaf’i school is predominant in east Africa, Indonesia and southeast Asia. Al Shafii’s (d. 855) thought influenced Indonesia, Southern Arabia, Lower Egypt, parts of Syria, Palestine, Eastern Africa, India and South Africa.

The school remains predominant in Southern Arabia, Bahrain, the Malay Archipelago, East Africa and several parts of Central Asia. Shafi’i is practiced in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is followed by approximately 15% of Muslims world-wide.
The Shaf’i school is considered the easiest school and the Hanbali is considered the hardest in terms of social and personal rules.

Hanafi took Shafi as his rival and vice versa. Tradition, the consensus of the Muslim community and reasoning by analogy are characteristics of this school.

Most Kurds in Iraq follow the Shafii school of Sunni Islam. A minority of Kurds, concentrated in parts of the Kifri and Klar areas of Kirkuk, follow the Hanafi school.

The Shafi’iyyah school of Islamic law was named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i [Shaf’i, Shaafi`ee] (767-819). The school of Imam Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Shafii of the Quraysh tribe of the Prophet, brought up in Mecca. He later taught in both Baghdad and Cairo and followed a somewhat eclectic legal path, laying down the rules for analogy that were later adopted by other legal schools. He was a descendant of the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, and came to Egypt in the 9th century. Saladin who founded the first madrasa, dedicated to the Shafi’i rite near the tomb of its founder, Imam al-Shafi’i. Al-Shafi`i was known for his peculiar strength in Arabic language, poetry, and philology. Imam Shafi`i was called devil and imprisoned. Prayers were said for his death. He was taken in captivity from Yemen to Baghdad, in a condition of humiliation and degradation.

Then at the time of Al-Shafi’i, the Prophet’s ahadith were gathered from different countries, and the disagreements among the scholars increased until Al-Shafi’i wrote his famous book, Al-Risalah, which is considered the foundation of Islamic jurisprudence. The Shafi’i tradition is particularly accessible to English speaking Muslims due to the availability of high quality translations of the Reliance of the Traveler

The Ottoman state began as one of many small Turkish states that emerged in Asia Minor during the breakdown of the empire of the Seljuk Turks. The Ottoman Turks began to absorb the other states, and during the reign (1451–81) of Muhammad II they ended all other local Turkish dynasties. The early phase of Ottoman expansion took place under Osman I, Orkhan, Murad I, and Beyazid I at the expense of the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Bursa fell in 1326 and Adrianople (the modern Edirne) in 1361; each in turn became the capital of the empire. The great Ottoman victories of Kosovo (1389) and Nikopol (1396) placed large parts of the Balkan Peninsula under Ottoman rule and awakened Europe to the Ottoman danger. The Ottoman siege of Constantinople was lifted at the appearance of Timur, who defeated and captured Beyazid in 1402. The Ottomans, however, soon rallied.

April 23, 2003
Iraq Repeats the Arab Legacy of Tribe, Religion and State
By Rami G. Khouri

Many today ask who’s the next Anglo-American target in the campaign to (choose your favorite) fight terrorism, implement UN resolutions, stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, promote liberty, oppose tyranny and spread democracy throughout the Middle East. The better question to ask is “what’s next” in this region, in terms of political sentiments and dynamics? Iraq offers important hints, and some previews.
The most hopeful but fanciful expectation is for a smooth transition to democracy in Iraq and a subsequent snowballing effect that sees democratic pluralism roll over the Middle East like a wave of righteousness. I wish it would happen. Many Arabs, Iranians, Turks and others in this area have spent our entire adult lives working for this — but this is probably not the moment, for we are not naÔve enough to expect democracy to emanate from the barrels of Anglo-American guns.
It is important to accurately grasp what is happening in Iraq today. The removal of Baghdad’s Baathist regime has unleashed indigenous Iraqi political and social sentiments that have been bottled up for half a century. Iraqis consequently express a lively variety of identities, allegiances and ideologies. We witnessed something similar throughout the Arab world in the period 1986-93, when this region experienced a low intensity democratisation and limited political liberalisation. Sudan, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon and other countries saw the birth of dozens of newspapers, thousands of non governmental organisations, and scores of political parties. Many of these reflected rich local identities and traditions — religious, tribal, ethnic, ideological, national and regional. The most successful new groups were the Islamists, who tapped public resentment against the modern Arab security state system. But few of the new political groups survived, and fewer yet had any impact on the exercise of Arab political power.
That stunted political moment taught us hard lessons: we should not confuse freedom of association and expression with the real exercise of democratic decision making; and we should expect sudden political openings to be quickly filled by the strongest and oldest indigenous identities — namely, religion and tribe.
Iraq today repeats this pattern. As citizens are free to express themselves, Iraq seems like a marketplace of identities, rather than of ideas or ideologies. The Kurds in the north, long ago, made it clear that they wish to affirm their Kurdish cultural/national identity, in a loose federal association with the rest of Iraq. Elsewhere, the most powerful expression of Iraqi identity to assert itself since the Anglo-American armada attacked a month ago has been religious Shiism, the branch of Islam that defines Iran and nearly two-thirds of Iraqis. Crowds of a few hundred Iraqis emerged to cheer American marines and retired generals; over a million Iraqis gathered to commemorate the deaths of Shiite leaders some 14 centuries ago, as we witnessed Tuesday in the Shiite holy shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf.
Some here and abroad fear that Iraq may be moving towards a religious state. That is unlikely to happen, because the natural short-term expressions of religious identity will soon give way to negotiated political and national relationships among the main Iraqi groups. Also, several religious, tribal and political currents compete for supremacy within the Shiite community in Iraq (as we’ve already witnessed in the form of assassinations and political confrontations).
The shape of things to come in Iraq and the Arab world will reflect how religious, tribal, national, regional and ethnic identities are integrated into a national political system that incorporates all parties yet also fairly reflects real power balances. Observers of this region regularly make the mistake of badly confusing three primary forces that define the modern Middle East: religion, ethno-nationalism and statehood. These are three very different things and they usually do not coincide within our modern Arab states that the European powers created last century, which explains many of our chronic tensions.
In Iraq today, we see religion, ethno-nationalism and statehood competing to establish a more comfortable relationship than was imposed on them by the British in the 1920s. Iraqis on their own can work out a suitable governance system.
It would be a cruel verdict if the United States were to make the same mistakes in Iraq in the early 21st century that the British made in the early 20th century — importing their preferred Iraqi leaders, midwiving an alien governance system, marginalising powerful indigenous religious, tribal and ethnic identities, hand-picking tribal and commercial elites who enjoy disproportionate local power, using local actors and then spitting them out when they are no longer needed and, eventually, precipitously leaving the land in the hands of local generals after generating a large amount of material destruction and political resentment.
End of Sunni logistics.amf

More on Shia tribes in future web articles…it is necessary to study and learn…in order to love and respect one another. There is a future…we must trust in God Adela Maria, BSP

America as a Religious Refuge
The Seventeenth Century

AdelaMaria: History repeating itself! Slaughter and more slaughter in the name of freedom of religion
[ PART 2 ]

PERSECUTION IN AMERICA

The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution

Expelled from Massachusetts in the dead of winter in 1636, former Puritan leader Roger Williams (1603-1683) issued an impassioned plea for freedom of conscience. He wrote, “God requireth not an uniformity of Religion to be inacted and inforced in any civill state; which inforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civill Warre, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.” Williams later founded Rhode Island on the principle of religious freedom. He welcomed people of every shade of religious belief, even some regarded as dangerously misguided, for nothing could change his view that “forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils.”

The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for cause of Conscience, discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace. . . .
Roger Williams, 1644
Rare Book and Special Collections Division,
Library of Congress (19)
________________________________________

Execution of Quakers

Mary Dyer (d. 1660) first ran afoul of Massachusetts authorities for supporting theological dissenter Anne Hutchinson. As a result Dyer and her family were forced to move to Rhode Island in 1638. Converted to Quakerism in England in the 1650s, Dyer returned to New England and was three times arrested and banished from Massachusetts for spreading Quaker principles. Returning to Massachusetts a fourth time, she was hanged on June 1, 1660.

Mary Dyer led to execution on Boston Common, 1 June 1660
Color engraving.
Copyprint Nineteenth Century

Courtesy of The Granger Collection, New York (20) Although they were victims of religious persecution in Europe, the Puritans supported the Old World theory that sanctioned it, the need for uniformity of religion in the state. Once in control in New England, they sought to break “the very neck of Schism and vile opinions.” The “business” of the first settlers, a Puritan minister recalled in 1681, “was not Toleration, but [they] were professed enemies of it.” Puritans expelled dissenters from their colonies, a fate that in 1636 befell Roger Williams of RI and in 1638 Anne Hutchinson, America’s first major female religious leader. Those who defied the Puritans by persistently returning to their jurisdictions risked capital punishment, a penalty imposed on four Quakers between 1659 and 1661. Reflecting on the seventeenth century’s intolerance, Thomas Jefferson was unwilling to concede to Virginians any moral superiority to the Puritans. Beginning in 1659 Virginia enacted anti-Quaker laws, including the death penalty for refractory Quakers. Jefferson surmised that “if no capital execution took place here, as did in New England, it was not owing to the moderation of the church, or the spirit of the legislature.”

Intolerance in Virginia
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson reflected on the religious intolerance in seventeenth-century Virginia, specifically on the anti-Quaker laws passed by the Virginia Assembly from 1659 onward. Jefferson apparently believed that it was no more than an historical accident that Quakers had not been physically punished or even executed in Virginia as they had been in Massachusetts.

Notes on the State of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson
New York: M. L. and W. A. Davis, 1801
Rare Book and Special Collections, Library of Congress (21)

JEWS FIND A REFUGE IN AMERICA

For some decades Jews had flourished in Dutch-held areas of Brazil, but a Portuguese conquest of the area in 1654 confronted them with the prospect of the introduction of the Inquisition, which had already burned a Brazilian Jew at the stake in 1647. A shipload of twenty-three Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil arrived in New Amsterdam (soon to become New York) in 1654. By the next year, this small community had established religious services in the city. By 1658 Jews had arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, also seeking religious liberty. Small numbers of Jews continued to come to the British North American colonies, settling mainly in the seaport towns. By the time of the Declaration of Independence, Jewish settlers had established several thriving synagogues.

Touro Synagogue
Designed by Peter Harrison, constructed in 1762, and dedicated in 1763, Touro Synagogue is considered an architectural masterpiece. It is the sole surviving synagogue built in colonial America.

Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island.
Photograph by Jack Boucher, 1971.
Copyprint, Historic American Buildings Survey,
Prints and Photographs Division,
Library of Congress (22)

Torah Breastplate
A breastplate is an ornamental covering for the Torah, designed in imitation of the breastplate worn by the High Priest, as described in the book of Exodus. Breastplates, similar to the one seen here, were used in colonial synagogues.
Torah Breastplate
Gilt silver
c. 1810
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island (24)
________________________________________

Matza Board
During the colonial period, this board was used at Touro Synagogue to prepare the dough for Matzoh (unleavened bread) used in the Passover season.
Matza board
Wood
Eighteenth Century
Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island (25)

THE QUAKERS

William Penn
A youthful William Penn (1644-1718) portrayed in armor suggests that at this point in his career he may have been considering following his father into a military profession. Soon after this portrait was made, Penn became a member of the Society of Friends, one of whose fundamental tenets was the renunciation of force.

William Penn (age 22), 1666
Oil on canvas Eighteenth-century copy of a seventeenth-century portrait, possibly by Sir Peter Lely
Historical Society of Pennsylvania (26)
________________________________________
Penn’s Frame of Government

In his famous charter of religious liberty, William Penn pledged that all citizens who believed in “One Almighty and eternal God . . . shall in no wayes be molested or prejudiced for their Religious Perswasion or Practice in matters of Faith and Worship, nor shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any Religious Worship, Place or Ministry whatever.” Pennsylvania became a reference point a century later for Americans opposing plans for government-supported religion. “Witness the state of Pennsylvania,” a group of Virginians urged its House of Delegates in 1785, “wherein no such [religious] Establishment hath taken place; their Government stands firm and which of the neighbouring States has Members of brighter Morals and more upright Characters.”

The Frame of the Government of the Province of Pennsilvania in America, 1682
William Penn
England: William Bradford, before 1689
Rare Book and Special Collections Division,
Library of Congress (27)

The Quakers (or Religious Society of Friends) formed in England in 1652 around a charismatic leader, George Fox (1624-1691). Many scholars today consider Quakers as radical Puritans, because the Quakers carried to extremes many Puritan convictions. They stretched the sober deportment of the Puritans into a glorification of “plainness.” Theologically, they expanded the Puritan concept of a church of individuals regenerated by the Holy Spirit to the idea of the indwelling of the Spirit or the “Light of Christ” in every person. Such teaching struck many of the Quakers’ contemporaries as dangerous heresy. Quakers were severely persecuted in England for daring to deviate so far from orthodox Christianity. By 1680, 10,000 Quakers had been imprisoned in England, and 243 had died of torture and mistreatment in the King’s jails. This reign of terror impelled Friends to seek refuge in New Jersey in the 1670s, where they soon became well entrenched. In 1681, when Quaker leader William Penn (1644-1718) parlayed a debt owed by Charles II to his father into a charter for the province of Pennsylvania, many more Quakers were prepared to grasp the opportunity to live in a land where they might worship freely. By 1685 as many as 8,000 Quakers had come to Pennsylvania. Although the Quakers may have resembled the Puritans in some religious beliefs and practices, they differed with them over the necessity of compelling religious uniformity in society.

Quaker Meeting
This undated image depicts a feature of Quaker religious practice that made early Friends so repugnant to other denominations: their insistence on equality for women, including the right–in defiance of the apostle Paul’s injunctions–to speak in Meeting for Worship and to preach the Gospel.

Philadelphia: Quäkerkirche.

Wood engraving from Ernst von Hesse Wartegg, Nord-Amerika, seine Stadt und Naturwunder,
das Land und seine Bewohner in Schilderung. Leipzig: 1888.
General Collections, Library of Congress (28)
________________________________________

Quaker Book of Discipline
This collection of “advices” on the behavior of American Quakers was a compilation of guidelines covering every aspect of Quaker life. These advices were periodically issued between 1682 and 1763 by the highest institutional authority in American Quakerism, the Yearly Meeting. This compilation appears to have been made by the Meeting itself for distribution to local Quaker meetings throughout America. Its purpose was to establish “Decency and comely Order in all our Meetings of Worship, & Plainness in the particular Members of our Society.” Though often ascribed to the Puritans (who, in fact, liked bright colors and, in moderation, the good things of life), “plainness” was a Quaker ideal.

________________________________________

William Penn, Missive van William Penn . . . Geschreven
aan de Commissarissen van de vrye Societeyt
der Handelaars (Amsterdam, 1684).
[Dutch translation of Penn’s 1683 letter to the Free Society Traders]
Rare Book and Special Collections,
Library of Congress (30)

THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
Baptismal Certificate
This certificate features characteristic Pennsylvania German motifs.

Baptismal Certificate
Pennsylvania German fraktur woodcut with watercolor, 1807
Prints and Photographs Division,
Library of Congress (31)
________________________________________

The Narrow Gate
This Pennsylvania German illustration depicts a familiar 19th century evangelical motif of the narrow gate to Heaven and the broad and seductive road to Hell, where the devil and his minions await the self-satisfied sinner.

The first group of Germans to settle in Pennsylvania arrived in Philadelphia in 1683 from Krefeld, Germany, and included Mennonites and possibly some Dutch Quakers. During the early years of German emigration to Pennsylvania, most of the emigrants were members of small sects that shared Quaker principles–Mennonites, Dunkers, Schwenkfelders, Moravians, and some German Baptist groups–and were fleeing religious persecution. Penn and his agents encouraged German and European emigration to Pennsylvania by circulating promotional literature touting the economic advantages of Pennsylvania as well as the religious liberty available there. The appearance in Pennsylvania of so many different religious groups made the province resemble “an asylum for banished sects.” Beginning in the 1720s significantly larger numbers of German Lutherans and German Reformed arrived in Pennsylvania. Many were motivated by economic considerations.

Footwashing

Many of the German sects that emigrated to Pennsylvania brought with them “primitive” Christian practices such as footwashing, seen here being practiced by the women of the Moravian Brethren.
Pedilavium das Füsswaschen der Schwestern
Engraving from David Cranz, Kurze, Zuverlässige Nachricht, von der,
unter den Namen der Böhmisch-Mährischen Brüder Bekannt,
Kirche Unitas fratrum, Halle: 1757
The Library Company of Philadelphia (33)

ROMAN CATHOLICS IN MARYLAND
Although the Stuart kings of England did not hate the Roman Catholic Church, most of their subjects did, causing Catholics to be harassed and persecuted in England throughout the seventeenth century. Driven by “the sacred duty of finding a refuge for his Roman Catholic brethren,” George Calvert (1580-1632) obtained a charter from Charles I in 1632 for the territory between Pennsylvania and Virginia. This Maryland charter offered no guidelines on religion, although it was assumed that Catholics would not be molested in the new colony. In 1634 two ships, the Ark and the Dove, brought the first settlers to Maryland. Aboard were approximately two hundred people. Among the passengers were two Catholic priests who had been forced to board surreptitiously to escape the reach of English anti-Catholic laws. Upon landing in Maryland the Catholics, led spiritually by the Jesuits, were transported by a profound reverence, similar to that experienced by John Winthrop and the Puritans when they set foot in New England. Catholic fortunes fluctuated in Maryland during the rest of the seventeenth increasingly smaller minority of the population. After the Glorious Revolution of 1689 in England, the Church of England was legally established in the colony and English penal laws, which deprived Catholics of the right to vote, hold office, or worship publicly, were enforced. Until the American Revolution, Catholics in Maryland were dissenters in their own country, living at times under a state of siege, but keeping loyal to their convictions, a faithful remnant, awaiting better times.

Father Andrew White

The “Apostle to Maryland,” Father Andrew White (1579-1656), described the celebration of the first mass upon the arrival of the Ark and the Dove, “We celebrated mass for the first time . . . . This had never been done before in this part of the world. After we had completed the sacrifice, we took upon our shoulders a great cross that we had hewn out of a tree, and advancing in order to the appointed place . . . we erected a trophy to Christ the Savior, humbly reciting, on our bended knees, the Litanies of the sacred Cross, with great emotion.” This is the only known seventeenth-century image of Father White. The palm trees depicted in the background reveal the artist’s ignorance of conditions in Maryland.

Father Andrew White
Engraving by G.G. Heinsch, 1655, in Mathias Tanner, Societas Jesu apostolorum imitatrix Prague: Typis Universitatis Carolo-Ferdinandeae, 1694
Special Collections Division, Georgetown University Library (39)
________________________________________

Piscataway Prayers

Like some of their Protestant counterparts in the colonies, the Jesuits in Maryland assumed the responsibility of converting the native population to Christianity. They were quite successful, owing to men like Father White, a skilled linguist, who translated spiritual exercises into the Piscataway language.

Catechism in Piscataway Indian Language

Father Andrew White,
from Manuale Sacerdotum, 1610
Special Collections Division, Georgetown University Library. (40)
________________________________________
Communion Ostensorium

An ostensorium, also called a monstrance, is used at Catholic communion services to display the consecrated Host. Markings on the base indicate that it was commissioned by George Thompson (fl. 1658-1663), first Clerk of Court of Charles County, Maryland, or by one of his descendants.

Ostensorium
Silver gilt, glass, metal, c. 1700
Georgetown University Art Collection,
Washington, D.C. (38)

Maryland Act Concerning Religion

In 1649, Catholics in the Maryland Assembly passed an act stipulating that no Trinitarian Christian “shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, molested, or discountenanced, for, or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within this Province.” Though this act was not as inclusive as similar ones in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, which brought theists within their purview, it was another in a series of progressive measures taken by early American colonists to emancipate themselves from the European belief in enforced religious uniformity.



Maryland Governour and Council (Proceedings) [page one] - [page two] - [page three]
Maryland Governour and Council (Proceedings) May 1647- February 1651,
including “An Act Concerning Religion,” Manuscript volume
Department of Special Collections, Maryland Archives, Annapolis (35)
________________________________________
Cecil Calvert

In this fanciful recreation Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, is showing his 1649 Act Concerning Religion to the ancient Spartan lawgiver, Lycurgus. Here Calvert is depicted in a long line of civil libertarians, running from the ninth-century Saxon king, Alfred, on Calvert’s left through William Penn, in the broad-brimmed hat, to Benjamin Franklin, viewing the proceedings from Heaven in his familiar fur hat.

Cecil Calvert presenting to Lycurgus his Act Concerning Religion
Engraving by James Barry (1741-1806), 1793
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (34)
________________________________________
Catholic Church at St. Mary’s City, Maryland

These artist’s recreations of the first free standing Roman Catholic Church in British North America are based on extensive historical and archaeological research, conducted by the staff of Historic St. Mary’s City. The church was probably built in 1667 at St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s seventeenth-century capital.

Catholic Church at St. Mary’s City, Maryland,
c.1670,

Gouache on paper by Leslie Barker. Copyprint, 1997
Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland (36e-f)
________________________________________
Catholic Religious Medals

These religious medals, worn by seventeenth-century Catholic colonists in Maryland, bespeak a society spiritually administered by the Jesuits. Excavated at St. Mary’s City, they represent, from left to right: St. Ignatius Loyola (on the reverse, St. Francis Xavier); “the Five saints,” all canonized in 1620: St. Teresa of Avila, St. Isidore the Husbandman, and St. Philip Neri on one side, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier on the other; a sacred site at Zaragosa, Spain, where the faithful believed that the Virgin appeared to the apostle St. James the Greater upon a pillar of jasper; and St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier side by side.

Catholic religious medals

Metal, Seventeenth century
Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland (36 a-d)
________________________________________
Virgin Mary at St. Mary’s City
This white clay fragment of a statue of the Virgin Mary was discovered at St. Mary’s City at the site of the home of Garret Van Sweringen, a Dutch Roman Catholic who settled in Maryland in the 1660s.

A Head of the Madonna
Clay, Seventeenth century, Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland (37)

VIRGINIA

The Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer, which contains the liturgy used by the Church of England, was compiled during the reign of Edward VI (1547-1553) and revised under Queen Elizabeth I. The prayer book, used in Virginia church services, was published in all shapes and sizes. Here is a page from the large 1662 edition and the same page as it appears in a 1730 shorthand edition, with the order slightly altered. The creator of the shorthand system, James Weston, advised his readers that he had omitted the “Forms of Matrimony . . . at the Desire of the Subscribers, that the Price might be less.”

The Book of Common-Prayer
and Administration of the Sacraments,
and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church,
According to the Use of the Church of England . . . .
London: by his Majesty’s printers, 1662
The Book of Common Prayer in Short-Hand, According to Mr. Weston’s Excellent Method . . . . London: 1730
Rare Book and Special Collections Division,
Library of Congress (41-42)
________________________________________

Official Instructions on Religion
This manuscript is an eighteenth-century copy of the original Virginia Company records, owned by Thomas Jefferson and sold to the Library of Congress as part of Jefferson’s library in 1815. The document illustrates the Virginia Company’s concern for the health of the church. It orders the settlers to offer generous financial assistance “to the intent that godly learned & painful Ministers may be placed there for the service of Almighty God & for the spiritual benefit and comfort of the people.”

Virginia Church Laws, 1618
Manuscript volume, Eighteenth-century copy
Virginia Miscellaneous Records,
1606-1692 (the Bland Manuscript),
Rare Book and Special Collections,
Library of Congress (43)

Virginia was settled by businessmen–operating through a joint-stock company, the Virginia Company of London–who wanted to get rich. They also wanted the Church to flourish in their colony and kept it well supplied with ministers. Some early governors sent by the Virginia Company acted in the spirit of crusaders. Sir Thomas Dale (d. 1619) considered himself engaged in “religious warfare” and expected no reward “but from him on whose vineyard I labor whose church with greedy appetite I desire to erect.” During Dale’s tenure, religion was spread at the point of the sword. Everyone was required to attend church and be catechized by a minister. Those who refused could be executed or sent to the galleys. When a popular assembly, the House of Burgesses, was established in 1619, it enacted religious laws that “were a match for anything to be found in the Puritan societies.” Unlike the colonies to the north, where the Church of England was regarded with suspicion throughout the colonial period, Virginia was a bastion of Anglicanism. Her House of Burgesses passed a law in 1632 requiring that there be a “uniformitie throughout this colony both in substance and circumstance to the cannons and constitution of the Church of England.” The church in Virginia faced problems unlike those confronted in other colonies–such as enormous parishes, some sixty miles long, and the inability to ordain ministers locally–but it continued to command the loyalty and affection of the colonists. In 1656, a prospective minister was advised that he “would find an assisting, an embracing, a comforting people” in the colony. At the end of the seventeenth century the church in Virginia, according to a recent authority, was prospering; it was “active and growing” and was “well attended by the young and old alike.”

Baptism of Pocahontas

Like the other seventeenth-century British colonies, Virginia aspired to convert the native populations. The Virginia Company’s instructions to its governors required them to make conversion one of their objectives. The most famous early convert was Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, head of the Powhatan Confederacy. Pocahontas was baptized by the Reverend Alexander Whitaker before her marriage to John Rolfe in 1614.

The Baptism of Pocahontas, 1614
Oil study for mural by John Gadsby Chapman, c. 1837-40

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Educational Trust (44)
________________________________________

Jamestown Communion set
Silver, 1661
The Trustees and Vestry of Bruton Parish Church,
Williamsburg (45)

________________________________________
Anglican Religious Credentials

One of the handicaps faced by the Church of England in Virginia and the other American colonies was its lack of authority to ordain priests. To receive holy orders, candidates were obliged to travel to England. This was an obstacle some were unwilling to confront. As a result, the Church of England often experienced a shortage of priests in America. Among the pious young Americans who made the perilous journey was Thomas Read, a Virginian, who was ordained by Richard Terrick, Bishop of London, on September 21, 1773, at which time he also received a license to preach in Maryland. Read’s ecclesiastical credentials, as well as a special, protective carrying case, which has his name etched on its front, are seen here.


License and ordination papers of Anglican priest with special carrying case
Vellum and metal, 1773
Washington National Cathedral, Rare Book Library (46)