Saʽid Ḥawwa
Saʽid Hawwa | |
---|---|
سعيد حوى | |
Born | 1935 |
Died | 1989 (aged 53–54) Muslim Brotherhood of Syria |
Saʽid Hawwa (
Hawwa was also an early prominent scholar known for his vocal opposition to Iran's Khomeinist movement. In his treatise "Khomeini, Deviation in Doctrines, Deviation in Positions", Hawwa denounced Khomeini's beliefs as heretical and attacked Khomeinist revolution as a project to expand Iranian influence in the Arab World. Hawwa's treatise made a huge impact amongst Sunnis in the Muslim World, who were becoming increasingly opposed to Iranian policies.[2]
Life and career
Early life in Hama
Hawwa was born in 1935 and grew up in the `Aliliyat (Arabic العليليات) quarter of the central Syrian city of Hama.[3] According to Hawwa' autobiography, his father's family was descended from the al-Na`im tribe, which traced its lineage back to the Prophet Muhammad, while his mother's family belonged to the al-Muwali clan.[4] Due to the death of his mother and the temporary forced exile of his father as the result of a feud, Hawwa was raised in his early years by his grandmother.[5] Following the return of his father to Hama, Hawwa worked alongside him in his wholesale produce business.[6]
Hawwa was affected by the tense political atmosphere in Hama in 1940s, largely the result of the activism of
The importance of education and religion was impressed upon Hawwa by both his mother and his father.[8] The formative figure in Hawwa's young spiritual and educational life was Shaykh Muhammad al-Hamid (Arabic محمد الحامد), who taught religious instruction at Hawwa's high school and delivered religious lectures and sermons in Hama's famous Sultan Mosque.[9] Al-Hamid was a member of the Naqshabandi Sufi order and a proselytizer of the ideas of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, whom he had met during a stay in Egypt. Hawwa joined the Hama branch of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood at the direction of al-Hamid in 1953 and participated in the group's attempts to organize the city's youth in opposition to the various leftist movements active in Syrian politics at that time.[10]
Life in Damascus
Hawwa enrolled as a student in the Faculty of
Professional life
Hawwa graduated in 1961 and took posts as a school teacher responsible for religious instruction first in a town in the governorate of
Life in Saudi Arabia
Due to increasing tensions between the Ba`thist regime and the Syrian Brotherhood, Hawwa spent the period between 1966 and 1971 in Saudi Arabia, where he authored his first major works, including what was to become his most famous work Jund Allāh Thaqāfatan wa Akhlāqan (Soldiers of God, Culturally and Morally).[16]
Return to Syria and imprisonment
Hawwa returned to Syria in the aftermath of the détente that followed
Release and exile
Hawwa was released in 1978 and quickly left Syria for Amman, Jordan. While in exile, Hawwa continued to write and served in leadership positions in the Brotherhood, the Islamic Front in Syria (Arabic الجبهة الإسلامية في سوريا) (an Islamic umbrella group that emerged in 1980), and in the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood.[19][20] Hawwa suffered from a number of illnesses, including diabetes, and died in 1989 in Amman.
Ideas and influence
Scholars differ regarding Hawwa's intellectual orientation. Emmanuel Sivan refers to Hawwa as a "disciple" of Sayyid Qutb and, like Qutb, a proponent of Islamic revolution.[21] Similarly, Stephane Lacroix calls Hawwa a "convinced Qutbist."[22] Itzchak Weismann, on the other hand, believes Hawwa rejected Qutb's ideas. [23]
Quranic commentary
Michael Cook highlights Hawwa's differences with Qutb on Islamic doctrine in which Hawwa takes a more traditionalist/literalist not more moderate position than Qutb. Comparing the commentary on the Quran by Hawwa with that of Sayyid Qutb (and early modernists Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida), Cook notes that unlike Qutb (and Abduh and Rida) when it comes to commenting on 2:256,
- No compulsion is there in religion. Rectitude has become clear from error.
Hawwa does not take the opportunity to denounce the misconception of Islam being "spread by the sword", and agrees with early commentators that Christians and Jews must pay tribute to avoid conversion to Islam by.[24]
In his commentary on 7:163–166, which alludes to a story of violators of the sabbath being turned into apes ("miserably slinking") by God, Hawwa also differs with Qutb and the other commentators taking the story literally and denouncing attempts by modern Muslims to reinterpret the verse as a metaphor.[25]
On the subject of 4:34 which is traditionally interpreted as endorsing male dominance and the right of husbands (under some circumstances) to beat disobedient wives --
- Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.[26]
Hawwa again differs from the other commentators by excoriating supporters of "freedom and equality for women", and by not including qualifiers to the verse (beating is a last resort, the verse only concerns husbands and wives, the husband should not be a dictator) or complements towards women (women often excel their husbands in many areas) to soften his defense of the verse.[27]
Works
- Allah Jalla Jalaluhu (الله جل جلاله)
- Al-Rasul Salla Allah `Alayhi wa Sallim (الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم)
- Al-Islam (الإسلام)
- Jund Allah Thaqafatan wa Akhlakan (جند الله ثقافة وأخلاقا)
- Min Ajl Khutwa Ila al-Amam `ala Tariq al-Jihad al-Mubarak (من أجل خطوة إلى الأمام على طريق الجهاد المبارك)
- Tarbiyyatuna al-Ruhiyya (تربيتنا الروحية)
- Fi Afaq al-Ta`alim (في آفاق التعاليم)
- Jawlat fi al-Fiqhayn al-Kabir wa al-Akbar (جولات في الفقهين الكبير والآكبر)
- Al-Madkhal ila Da`wat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin (مدخل إلى دعوة الإخوان المسلمين)
- Hadhahi Tajribati wa Hadhahi Shahadati (هذه تجربتي وهذه شهادتي)
- Kay La Namdi Ba`idan `an Ihtiyajat al-`Asr (كي لا نمضي بعيدا عن احتياجات العصر)
- Jund Allah Takhtitan (جند الله تخطيطا)
- Jund Allah Tanziman (جند الله تنظيما)
- Al-Asas fi al-Tafsir (الأساس في التفسير)
- Al-Asas fi al-Sunna wa Fiqhiha (الأساس في السنة وفقهها)
- Al-Khumayniyya: shudhudh fil-'aqa'id, shudhudh fil-mawaqif (Khomeinism: Deviations in faith, deviations in political positions)
References
- ^ Lacroix, Stephane (2011). Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 124–125.
- ISBN 9780190233143.)
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- ^ Hawwa, Sa`id (1987). Hadhahi Tajribati wa Hadhai Shahadati. Cairo, Egypt: Maktabat Wahba. p. 7.
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- ^ Hawwa, Sa`id (1987). Hadhahi Tajribati wa Hadhai Shahadati. Cairo, Egypt: Maktabat Wahba. pp. 141–142.
- ^ Sivan, Emmanuel (1990). Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 43, 105–106.
- ^ Lacroix, Stephane (2011). Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 125.
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- ^ Cook, The Koran, 2000: p.35-6
- ^ Cook, The Koran, 2000: p.33
- ^ "Surat An-Nisa' 4:34] – The Noble Qur'an – القرآن الكريم". al-quran.info/#4:34. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
- ^ Cook, The Koran, 2000: p.39
Further reading
- Weismann, Itzchak. "Sa'id Hawwa: The Making of a Radical Muslim Thinker in Modern Syria." Middle Eastern Studies 29.4 (1993): 601-623.
- Weismann, Itzchak. "Sa'id Hawwa and Islamic Revivalism in Ba'thist Syria." Studia Islamica 85 (1997): 131-154.
- Cook, Michael (2000). The Koran : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192853449.