sectarian ideology

The use of history in theological debate: A critical reading of the narrative of Al-Jaad bin Dirham

Author's name: Abdullah Al-Ghazi

‎

 
Every Islamic sect has historical narratives, and the epistemological foundations of these narratives may be weak. Some of these narratives can transform into a collective consciousness used to explain a general situation or to criticize a particular opinion, and are adopted by a group of people organized within a theological or jurisprudential school. These historical narratives then transform into sectarian ideologies that form a general historical vision for their believers and are used in sectarian debates, whether in the legitimacy of the self or in refuting the other, in the positions of “historical interpretation” and “theological and jurisprudential criticism.” However, these sectarian ideologies are merely false consciousness. Applying a historical reading of general Islamic sources will reveal the origin of this false consciousness, which is to transcend the problems of heritage and build historical knowledge on texts with a specific context that the researcher is biased towards—by virtue of his upbringing and affiliation—without questioning or comparison. Al-Ja’d ibn Dirham, who was killed in the late Umayyad era; It is one of the most important historical narratives in the consciousness of later generations of those belonging to the archaeological context - in its general sense - which has transformed into a sectarian ideology used for interpretation and criticism. The presence of this historical narrative is still present in the consciousness of a number of people from this context to this day, even at the level of university theses; this is with the development of historical criticism tools! Therefore, this book was intended to provide a critical reading of the narrative of Al-Ja'd ibn Dirham according to the reading of later scholars of the hadith; demonstrating the confusion of Islamic sources about this figure, a confusion that raises certainty about any specific vision of the truth of its intellectual affiliation, the geographical origins to which it goes back, and the nature of the opinions for which it was executed. This book also shows how this historical narrative was transformed, due to the selection of some narrations and sayings and the exaggeration in their employment; into a sectarian ideology that does not have that clear connection to the historical reality that it has always been imposed on and linked to; This is so that this historical narrative can explain every deviation from the path of the archaeological context in the chapter of attributes, while using it to criticize the general dissenters, even if they had no connection to Al-Ja'd ibn Dirham or the statement for which he was executed, according to what those belonging to the archaeological context selected from the stories told about his execution. The narrative of Al-Ja'd ibn Dirham was merely a sectarian ideology that a group of people believed in until our present era. However, scientific research, with its methodological tools, has taken care of dissipating its influence. Perhaps this book will play a role in correcting the historical awareness of those working in this field from the sons of the archaeological community - to whose context the author belongs - on the one hand, and will open the way for other reviews presented by the sons of other Islamic sects of their sectarian narratives on the other hand.