"no thicker than this line"

For a while now I've been really curious about Oriental Orthodoxy, and especially Ethiopian Orthodoxy. It is amazing that Christianity starts off as an African / Middle Eastern religion but that the forms of Christianity which originate in MENA cultures (Coptic, Ethiopian Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, etc.) are considered heretical by the majority. Ostensibly, this is because these churches rejected to Council of Chalcedon of 451 CE and developed a subtly different Christology.

In particular, I have started to wonder if, from an Islamic perspective,  the Ethiopian Orthodox Church should be thought of as having a special status among the People of the Book. 

One of the main inspirations for this notion is the story of the Muslim emigrants who sought asylum in Ethiopia from the Negus Ashama. Muhammad (saaws) himself called this Christian Negus a righteous king, had the  Negus represent him in a marriage and even led his funeral prayer. 

(Scene from the film "The Messenger")

 Al Hakam: King Negus: The Holy Prophet’s representative and true follower
An Ethiopian Journal: First Hijra

Planet Grenada
"i've seen ethiopians knocking out rome"
"i've seen ethiopians knocking out rome" (part 2)
ideology and temperament (the habashis)

To be continued...

moors and mujaddids

The Moors Gate: Bab El Magharbeh is a Moorish Science Website but I've started to wonder if they are moving in a more orthodox direction with their promotion of The Book of Assistance by Imam 'Abdallah Ibn Alawi al-Haddad (Widely considered to be the mujaddid of his day). In earlier posts they have also recommended works by Ibn Al-Arabi and Imam Al-Ghazali. I wonder how they go about bridging the teachings of Noble Drew Ali with those of the classical scholars.

see also:
moors, snakes and st. patrick
compass for a sea of scholars

two by eteraz

I thought I'd share two pieces from Ali Eteraz's series on Islamic Reform.

The first is The making of the Muslim left. In it, Eterez recommends

"creating a viable and well organised Muslim left. It would be an intra-religious movement as opposed to a universalist one (though obviously it doesn't shun allies). It would be a cousin of the international left, but in a Muslim garb. Just as the Muslim right found Islamic means to justify the destructive ideas from the enlightenment (Fascism, Marxism, totalitarianism, evangelical religion), the Muslim left should find Islamic means to justify the positive ones (anti-foundationalism, pragmatism, autonomy, tolerance)"

I have reservations about some of the specific bullet points in his platform (listed in the article), but I definitely agree that if the above principles gained a foothold in the Muslim world and spread it would be a good thing.

In the second article, The Islamic Reformation, Eteraz rightly points out that unfortunately the "Islamic Reformation" has already begun. What do I mean by that? Something I've realized for a while now is that since becoming Muslim I've gained a greater appreciation for the older forms of Christianity such as Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. (I was raised Protestant) And whatever else you might think about the ideas of the Reformation or the sins of the ancient Church, it is pretty clear that the Protestant Reformation irreversibly shattered the unity of Christianity and unleashed high degrees of religious violence across the face of Europe. And in an similar way, the zeal of some of the Islamic "reformers" has undermined the tolerance which is a basic part of classical Islam (see people of direction) and has led to the creation of less tolerant, non-traditional sectarian groups.

For further exploration of the comparison between orthodox/traditional Islam and Catholicism check out:
protestant islam
more protestant islam
reverse missionaries
the radical middle way
"...being the last one around"