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I have actually had conversations with people who look at the whole period of Muslim civilization from Mu'awiya until the fall of the Ottomans as one big Bid'a, or evil innovation. They see nothing good in it. They reject every achievement and accept only an occasional scholar here and there and nothing more.
This attempt at puritanical revision has cut off Muslims from their heritage just as much as the Christians cut us off from our religious knowledge during the period of Colonialism. And now, instead of being able to say that it's outsiders who are trying to destroy our identity, we are being destroyed from within.
Everyone always talks about how non-Muslim culture is invading the Muslim world. Shouldn't we really be asking why Muslim culture isn't currently strong enough to repel unIslamic ideas?
Most of the arts and cultural activities taking place in the Muslim world are now being done by wrong-doers who disbelieve in Allah because the extremists are suppressing good halal artistic expression. These so called "Reformers" are no better than the people Allah mentions in Suraat al Baqara who are really causing trouble in the Earth although they think they are doing good. "Wa idha qee la lahum la tufsidu fil ardi qawlu inama nahnu muslihun. Ala inahum hum al mufsidun wa lakin la yashurun."
They cause dissension and doubt among Muslims even to the point of disrupting gatherings, shouting during Jummah and attempting to break up circles of Muslims through deceit, politics and intrigue. These self-styled reformers often treat other Muslims harshly, calling them kuffar and other bad names to their faces, and you and I have both seen these kinds of sad happenings.
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And the first thing that struck me was the tone of his writing. He was not writing as if he had to defend Islam from the constant attacks of a dominant non-Muslim society. He wasn't writing as if he had to prove Islam was true. It was amazing to me to read because he was writing in a relaxed manner.
He was telling jokes, writing humorous stories, philosophizing about life. He was writing at a time when Islam was dominant! When people took it for granted that Islam was right and that Muslims were on top of the world. My God!
To have such a perspective that we can only dream of! Imagine waking up and not even having to think about defending Islam from the attacks of everyone around you. Imagine hearing the adhan and not having to worry about government soldiers watching you as you went in the Masjid and taking down your name.
As I read other Muslim authors such as Al Ghazali and Ibn Hazim and poets such as Hafiz and Rumi, I realized how far from a balanced way of life we really are! Those people who want to reject all of this are also rejecting that invaluable treasure which we call the Muslim mind. You can't have a program that rejects the very thing you want to achieve: the stable growth and maintenance of a Taqwa-oriented community that serves Allah. You can't say, "We must make Islam dominant in the Earth" if you don't know how to govern and maintain a healthy Muslim community after dominance has been achieved. This is what the civilization of Islam for the last 1400 years can teach us. This is where we can draw our lessons.
Sometimes they drive them away from Islam, rather than forgiving shortcomings, overlooking faults and giving words of wisdom and kindness like the Qur'an commands.
You know, I started reading a book by Al Jahiz, a famous Muslim author from about a thousand years ago.