Comments on "Protestants" and "Pharisees"

So that they don't remain hidden in the comments section, here is some feedback that I recently posted in regards to some comments that I received on my recent Muslim-Answers.org - Main Page Update post:

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Well I'm disappointed that no examples were provided to demonstrate my "childish descriptions" (a potentially valid subjective opinion) and "half-truths" (which borders on slander if not substantiated). However, if one has to ask "what on earth is our author talking about", then I guess I should be faulted for assuming that readers would actually know something of the subject that I was writing about. If you think that "Protestant Islam" and "Pharisee like literalism" (personally, I really liked that one!) are inaccurate or illegitimate descriptions, then you need to explain why. I'm certainly not the first one to employ the "Protestant Islam" analogy. Like any analogy, this one should only be taken so far, although it does seemingly offer a valid critique of their invalidation of tradition, often shallow hermeneutics and forced ahistorical outlook. As someone who spent the first twenty-eight years of my life as a Protestant Christian and then about the first eight years of my Muslim life (four of it in Kuwait) as a so-called "Salafi", my former insider's view has caused me to see these descriptions as perfectly valid, at least on a certain level. I'll probably continue to see them as such until an informed and articulate person demonstrates to me why they're not. I'm standing by...

Based on what I know and what I've seen, there's no doubt that the so-called "Salafis" and "Wahabis" (and let there be no doubt that's who I was criticizing) have fallen into the error of excessive literalism and mixed-up priorities. It's often said that the Pharisees (at least as described in the New Testament) put the "letter of the law before the spirit of the law", which is quite often the error of the so-called "Salafis" as well. While keeping in mind that invoking the "letter of the law" is often used by liberal Muslims as an excuse for side-stepping the requirements of the Divine Law, I think that letter versus spirit is a legitimate criticism of the "Salafis/Wahabis". What's the point of having a long beard or a short thawb, both of which are undeniably from the Sunnah, but your heart is a mess, you believe in your own self-righteousness and you look down on almost all other Muslims as misguided? Ultimately, the essential error of the "Salafis/Wahabis" is believing that they're the only ones who are right while everyone else is wrong. Interestingly, this is not only what many scholars put forward as a characteristic of a misguided sect, but it's a classic characteristic of Protestantism as well.

As far as "illegitimate and dehumanising terminology", well I never used any of that. Labels and descriptions for certain groups have been used throughout the history of Islam. Not only did 'Ali Ibn Abu Talib, may Allah be please with him, call the Khawarij the "dogs of Hellfire", but the Prophet himself, may Allah bless him and give him peace said that the "Qadariyyah are the Magians of this Ummah". This was obviously because their denial of Divine preordainment (al-Qadr) forced them into the same essentially Manichaean theological position as the fire-worshipping Magians (Majus). My overall point being that such labels, in and of themselves, are permissible and in order to be called "illegitimate" they must be logically demonstrated to be as such. I'm still not sure where your "dehumanising" accusation came from, since both the "Protestant" and "Pharisee" labels that I employed come from groups that are all too human. Perhaps, and I feel that this might be the case, you're just against any type of intra-Muslim religious criticism at all. It would be nice if we lived in an Islamic utopia, but unfortunately there is such a thing as religious misguidance. Indeed, our noble Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went to great lengths to warn us about such misguidance, so even though it might be distasteful to some, it certainly isn't something that's inherently erroneous or uncalled for.

I was expecting that my new introductory essay on my Muslim-Answers.org page would spark some controversy, so your comments certainly didn't come as a surprise. Even though my Muslim friends, in spite of our disagreements, continue to range from strict "Salafis" to liberal "Progressive Muslims", I just can't allow my website to sit idly by while ideas that I see as Islamically harmful and divisive continue to run rampant amongst our often ill-informed communities. Although I certainly don't revel in undue controversy, I think that more Muslims need to be aware of what's going on...wa Allahu 'alim.