The Capsule Theory

The Capsule : A strategy for Infrajtihad

Islam is nowadays more than ever urged to plead innocent with regard to all sorts of extremisms striking people ‘s existence in its name. Luckily, these extremisms seem to have generated their own antidote, from within. I am pointing to revisionisms, reformations, progressive Moslems, moderate Islam (ism), leftist Islam(ism)…(1)

However, the problem is : What should be revised, reread or reinterpreted ? And what should never be approached? In order to ensure a certain unity amidst the Muslim community.

Our folks (thermometer of any undertaking seeking change ) being easily provoked on hearing collocations such as “ reinterpret Islam,” “reread Islam” and similar “unwelcome” slogans, I suggest Muslim thinkers and activists stick to a minimum of historic coherence when tackling such burning issues.

For that,  my little idea of the Capsule lies within the framework of an attempt aiming primarily at building a new Moslem’s thought , and , in the meanwhile, at avoiding such ideological and psychological clashes.

Islam and Modernity :  cross-breeding conditions

The matter consists in  figuring out a “technicalities-tactics” scheme for the grand enterprise of cross-breeding Islam and Modernity, an overview of a synchrony of the history of Islamic thought; that is to say an integrative form of Ijtihad that could be adapted to the current era, an epoch where, as Hassan Hanafi puts it, “ two legitimacies have collided; that of the present and that of the past; that of Religion and that of Revolution. And it is up to the creative patriotic thought to  unite the two legitimacies constituting the basis for  Arab ( and Muslim) existence.”(2)

The Capsule is , at a more precise level, a miniature of a strategic apparatus for the “ mother of battles” (3), the real one, which is the battle  to be waged on oneself; an intellectual ,spiritual and existential one , whose outbreak could be nothing but the brewing of a temporal-order need (change with a view to attaining progress and happiness ) on one side, and another of a religious order, on the other side : “Thus God does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change.” (4)

The Grand Jihad

In other words, it is an overview of a plan for the“ Grand Jihad” (5) ( al-Jihad al-Akbar ) the true one , the pacifist one, the one in accordance with  a Kuranic / Prophetic commandment ( which, unluckily, was reduced by many literalist Islamists to the “ smaller Jihad” , “ al-Jihad al-asghar “  (6) : “ Mu’mens  ( believers ) are those who believe in God and His messenger, then attain the status of having no doubt whatsoever, and strive with their money and lives in the cause of God .These are the truthful ones” ) (7) , cross-bred with a secular ( earthly ) motto bearing the same name, such as the one so dear to the late  Habib Bourghiba (8), which the latter  once applied to his weapon-free struggle against colonization, then to his post-independence development scheme when he mainly aimed at “uninstalling” the old, derelict version of mythical Islamic thought (9) from people’s minds. A rational-like enterprise peacefully taken over  later by the current leader Z.A. Ben Ali (10).

The religious facet of  the “ Grand Jihad “ motto  is all the more pacifist that the afore-mentioned verse where lies the commandment of “al-Jihad al-asghar” is preceded by another one emphasizing the pacifist perspective from which noble human relationships should be considered : “ O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of God is the most righteous. God is Omniscient, Cognizant. “ (11)

 And Moslems have always been oriented , by both the Sacred Book and Sunna towards the more basic and liberating Jihad : “al-Jihad al- Akbar”, and equally warned to think twice in order not to pay the price of any insensible decision on waging war :” You may fight in the cause of God against those who attack you, but do not aggress. God does not love the aggressors.”(12) . But unluckily it is the idea of “smaller Jihad”, also  known as  the “wholly war”, and not that of the “ Grand” one ,which, to the distress of all mankind, has been wrongly instilled into Moslems’ minds and, consequently, wrongly  implemented to the extent that it has reduced a Muslim’s mind to a “ war machine” whereas it  was once – at particular times - only imposed by particular historical circumstances..(13)

The Capsule Theory

Imagine a  two-forward-traction capsule with two engines; one is located at the front , fitting the cap : it is the" probe-tractor" ; the other is  located at the back, fitting the corresponding cap ; it is the "trigger-propeller ".

The capsule cockpit is subdivided into two communicating chambers, by default, thanks to a party "filter-wall."

The posterior half is a "reservoir- antechamber "( home for  Islam/Text / the Divine Truth ). As to the anterior half, it is room for the "cabin-lab" (host to the Median Culture (14) , that is true-to-life experience/ religiosity and the ensuing thought, with the “captain on board, the Muslim Wassat(15)).

The Median Culture, despite it being one single part of the whole integrative- and integrated- building of a contemporary Muslim's Religion, it is , by far, the most active territory.

And its success is dependent upon the sound positioning of all the system parts.

Moreover, the success of a Muslim's act will depend, on one side, on a good start; it has to be the result of a cross-breeding of a temporal / earthly necessity and a religious desire, pumped up by the "trigger-propeller"  out of the "cabin-lab" chamber and /or the neighbouring " reservoir-antechamber."

Fulfilling one's goals will depend, from this perspective, on how much effort (often painful) one has made; it will depend on how well one has contributed their faith/effort to building an experience-based thought, that is . And this is the spirit and purpose of the Median Culture.

The success of a Muslim's act will also depend, on the other side, on the intensity of the "pull" ( role of the "tractor-probe" ) towards the religious ideals : Divine Unity, Retribution, Redemption, Mercy, Clemence, Intercession ( Chafa'a ), avoiding associationism ( chirk )...

Thus, the "push" and the "pull" in a Muslim Wassat 's process of accomplishing his/her act will have engaged onto  the Kuran-hedged path : "O humans, you are irreversibly heading for a meeting with the Lord "(16)  and will have fitted with the broader God-shaped sphere of Umma Wassat : " We thus made you an impartial community, that you may serve as witnesses among the people, and the messenger serves as a witness among you.  ..." (17)

Both the "push" and the "pull" movements can by no means be of any use in the experience-centered thought- building operation if the "cabin-lab"( room for the Median Culture ), when looked into ,does not keep working in a centripetal mode with regard to the "reservoir-antechamber"( room for Islam/Text) .

The Median Culture takes from the source and never gives anything back, for it is essentially, and simply, based on the following principle: It is not Islam/ Text that needs revision, reformation, interpretation or re-reading , but it is the experience/ thought /religiosity of Muslims who already bear, inside themselves, the quintessence of Islam/ Text.(18)

All in all, the Capsule Theory is a “believe - think – act “ model for a Moslem Wassat (19)

                                         Mohamed Hammar

· Literally “ijtihad” means “effort of interpretation”; I would also call it “pre-ijtihad”, the “other ijtihad”, “underground ijtihad” .

(1) Cf mainly the following currents : “Progressive Moslems” of Omid Safi ( U.S.A ); Leftist Islam of Hassan Hanafi ( Egypt ) and the progressist works of Farid Esack ( South Africa )

(2) H.Hanafi, proponent of the “ heritage and revival” project, in an article ( in Arabic ) “ Salafism and Secularism” http://a.amaaz.free.fr

(3) Name borrowed from the famous self-defense losing battles of the ousted Iraqi regime (once in 1991, then in April-March 2003 against the Coalition Force )

(4) The Kuran 13 : 11 , translation of Dr Rashad Khalifa, http://submission.com

(5) The Grand “strife” or “struggle”

(6) For insight into Jihad and the idea that “ al-akbar” is the rule whereas “ al—asghar” is the exception, see :

a. Muhammad Achmaoui, Practical Islam ( in Arabic ), 2nd ed., .Sinai Ed., Cairo ,1989, p.p 98-109

 b.Mohamed Talbi, God’s  Protégés ( in Arabic ),Ed. Cérès Editions, Tunis, 1992,

 p.168

(7) The Koran 49 : 15 ; source No 4

(8) The first president of the Republic of Tunisia.

(9) Based in this latter undertaking on the works of the famous Tunisian Mufti & Interpreter Muhammad Tahar Ben Achour, as well as on those of the feminist writer and reformist Tahar Haddad.

(10) See the national educational reformation, mainly that of the ‘religious education” curriculum ( late 1980s - early 1990s )

(11) The Koran 49 : 13; source No 4

(12)  “ The Koran 2 : 190; source No 4

(13) cf source No 6 again.

 (14) For insight into this idea, which is the core topic of Infrajtihad we are putting forward, compared to The Capsule, which is  the recipient where the Median Culture interacts with other functional bodies, see other articles in French on http://islaminfrajtihad.canalblog.com

(15) Wassat = of the middle; median ; and from Wassatia/ Umaatun Wassatun/ Ummatan Wassatan ( the inflicted Arabic form as it appears in the Kuran 2 : 143 ; cf source No17 for the translation.

(16) The Koran : 84 : 6 ; source No 4

(17) The Koran 2 : 143 ; source No 4

(18) Algerian thinker, the late Malik Bin Nabi once warned :”( Then) every Moslem has been convinced of his religion since the day when the first verse was revealed at Ghar Hir’a.And he who tries to come up with means to convince Moslems of their religion is therefore wasting his time, and probably that of Moslems themselves.” In A  Moslem’s Role and Mission ( in Arabic ), Ed.Dar al-Fikr, Damascus, 1989.

(19) cf source No 15

This is an updated version of the same article published on :

http://www.beiruttimes.com/site2/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1223921988&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&