First of all, I apologize for the above jargon. It’s just the fact that I’ve been away from blogging for so long that my mind is itching to blurt it out. Anyways…

This month marks the first year of the passing of my beloved teacher, brother Muhammad (al-Amriki, shall I add). Pondering over the significance of his contribution, and given pauhfc’s queries about my comment in the previous post, I am led to the belief that his views are distinct from typical views of reform and revival in that it is a reform of the human condition through objective psychology and its sociological applications.

Before I go into that, we see that many Western educated activists have a tendency to look at the ummah through structural-functionalist lenses. That is, they advocate a reform of the institutions that we presently live in. This comes in various ways. For example, if you look at our subscribed RSS feeds on the right, the Malaysia Think Tank London advocates capitalism and the freedom of conscience. I guess the name “London” symbolizes its idea of a “Thatcherian” economic reform.

The Murabitun movement led by Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi (formerly, Ian Dallas) does not differ much in its perspective of structural-functionalist reform, though it does the opposite - denying capitalism and promulgating the return of gold-dinar and silver-dirham. Though I admire his exquisite writings, they are a touch too far-fetched to achieve in the foreseeable future. Abang Wan at the Think Tank is also admirably visionary, but his concerns are mostly on matters of public policy.

Further, when we look at so-called and loosely termed Islamists, what is most often expounded does not stray too far from structural-functionalism. The political maneuvres in Sudan orchestrated by the sharp mind of Dr. Hasan al-Turabi over the last 3 or so decades and its subsequent demise and Omar al-Bashir turning his back on Turabi demonstrate Islamists having to play by the rule of politics. One who lives by the sword dies by the sword.

I’m not condemning Turabi’s gallant attempt over the years, but I believe he took it too far when issuing his recent edict on woman-led prayer. If any, it is amazing how this man’s practicality in dealing with modern-day liberalist discourse is intertwined with his yearning for the implementation of Shariah and I am confident he is sincere in realizing that noble aspiration.

Yet, this reactionary attitude can only takes us to a certain distance if we neglect the symbolic-interactionist dimension. And as I see it, this is the true gem of where the late brother Muhammad’s thoughts lie.

But what do I mean by that? I would love to continue, but this week’s bout of midterm exams have forced me to stop here. Hopefully, next week I will youtube a short clip of my teacher explaining what I call the Socio-psychological Imperative. Many apologies for this cliffhanger! Till we meet again…