MAJALAH AL-HIKMAH EDISI 3 | 2015

16 Taha Jabir al-Awanis The Ethics of Disagreement in Islam Introduction The Ethics of Disagreement is one of the magnum opus that has never failed to give a re- markable contribution to Islam and Muslim literature. It was once recognized by Dr Taha Jabir himself that it is like a remedy to the Muslim World, whose life has been impacted with the disease of discord due to a wrong understanding of the ethics of disagreement ( adāb al- Ikhtilāf ). The book has been translated into many languages, published several times due to its demand and importance of its message. Taha Jabir, when he wrote this book, he was not aware of it consequences, rather his intention was more toward realizing the message of Islam, yet it eventually turned out to be magnificent. Dr Taha Jabir was born in Iraq in 1935, and died recently on March 4, 2016 at the age of 81. He was indeed a renowned Muslim scholar, who contributed immensely in Islamic legal theory, jurispru- dence ( fĩqh ), Qur’anic sciences and Islamic thought. Some of his great contributions are Taqlĩd and Ijtihād , Towards an Islamic Alternative in Thought and Knowledge, Taqlĩd and the Stagnation of the Muslim Mind, The Crisis of Thought and Ijtihād . Although, the theme of this book ( adāb al-Ikhtilāf ) re- lies very much on the classical Jurists, it undeniably provides an introduction scholars in to the subject of disagreement in general. As Toha Jabir emphasized, it can be useful for Muslims in con- temporary time, as to relate with the excellent personalities propounded by the Prophet SAW in his beloved Compan- ions, and forwarded in later generations of tabĩ c , and tabĩ c tābi c ĩn . These values are pre- cious that we have to put it back into restoration particular- ly when the Muslims were split into many divisions due to the political pressure and other cir- cumstances. Many fragments were noticeable and had divided the Muslims, as each and every group took different or opposing directions towards each other, and thus fractured the society. Much worse, some of these so-called Islamic groups went too far in justifying their “Islamic” move by declar- ing others with many labels and identification in support of their claim to Islam. Such an attitude of accusing Muslims as “disbelievers”, “apostates” and “heretics” were rampant during his time and unfortunately the same attitude has been flourish- ing in this particular period of time. Therefore, the message laid down by Taha Jabir needs some kind of reappraisal that we Muslims need to look back into the message of this book. Judicial Disagreement of Ear- ly Fuqaha’ Taha Jabir had attempted to lay down the values of the early Islam in facing up with differ- ences, particularly by analysing some instances of judicial disa- greement among the early fuqaha’ . It is of great im- portance to expose the Muslims that differences during this time were very common and were encouraged by the dĩn , Islam. Yet, they need to be grounded with certain adāb : Marina Munira Abdul Mutalib Akidah and Religion Studies USIM. KOLUM PENSYARAH