Theological Fracas in the Cyberworld

by H. Muhammad

This whole article is about observation and analysis on human consciousness in its cyber dimensional form. It is purely based on observations and analysis on conversations, discussions and activities in a number of Muslims cyber communities.

If the human mind determines the shape of their social structure and culture within the parameter of their community in the physical world, this article attempts to reveal the pattern of cyber social community in the cyber world. It highlights the diverse theological patterns of understanding of commonly shared theological concepts. These patterns suggest the free flow of ‘ideas’ as a result of freedom of thoughts. The observation will also reveals how each community react to ‘stimuli of dissimilarity’ in the event of ‘idea’ clash. It is interesting to note how the outcomes of the clashes of theological ideas would affect the individuals within a cyber community. Taking that into consideration; one may ask, how would that reflect in the physical world and would there be lessons to learn from it?

This piece is specifically about the debates that have been going on endlessly between the ‘Sunni’ and the ‘Anti Hadis’ advocators. Please note that the labels Sunni and Anti-Hadis are used in this article solely for ease of understanding, as these are the commonly used terms. Also the 'war situation' in this article is metaphorically used to depict cyber-debate solely for the purpose of making it a bit more interesting.


The community.

It is a known fact that there are thousands of religious forums and email groups (cyber communities) on the net worldwide. And among them are forums and groups that are moderated by groups of Sunnis. Sunnis generally are those who uphold the Quran and Sunna (derived from Hadis). Their communities in the cyber forums are usually set up and run by Islamic NGOs, Student Associations, Dakwah groups and other sub-sect of all kinds. There are usually some key respected figures participating in the groups who for example are high position religious figures, political figures, Ustaz etc.

‘Anti Hadis’ on the other hand is a label given to those who do not believe in the authenticity of Hadis and do not consider Hadis to be a valid reference/guidance besides the Quran in order to elucidate the religion of Islam. They are people who uphold nothing but the Quran as their source of divine guidance.

In time, some of these cyber communities turned into battlegrounds between ‘Sunnis’ and ‘Anti Hadis’. Prior to joining such groups, 'Anti Hadis' will usually do some intelligence gathering. They will look up for groups or forums that are not moderated with high number of memberships. The more the merrier. These 'Anti Hadis' are deemed the Special Forces commandoes. They would slip-in into targeted Sunni cyber community in small numbers or some would prefer to be lone rangers. They will survey the area and do their target analysis. Upon the Anti Hadis commandoes’ first strike on the Sunni community, one could see the formation of the Sunni Brigade (described below) almost automatically.


The Sunni Brigade.

Sunni brigade in general can be classified into four groups and they are: Sideliners. True followers Replacement killers. Crusaders.

1. Sideliners.

These sideliners are the majority. They took up more than 95% of the Sunni brigade. They come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. They are in stand-by mode. They never participate in any of the clashes directly but there are some who would watch the progress closely. There will be no input coming from these sideliners. Within this group are a small number of them who are just fond of forwarding email messages. It is safe to say that quite a chunk of those messages are religious rubbish. At times one could find a lot of religious rubbish going around on the net in which quite a number of them are so sickening that it would bring embarrassment and degradation to the religion of Islam itself.

2. True followers.

True followers are a very interesting lot. These are the people who would ask questions during ‘ceramah’ or religious Internet Q&A sites. Their favourite sites are religious sites or just about any ustaz sites. They are most likely those who would have complete collection of Raihan or Rabbani nasyid albums. Some of them would have expensive Arabic khat art on their living room walls and in their car they would probably have ornaments of 'ALLAH and MUHAMMAD' or stickers of 'doa sebelum memandu' in Arabic. They usually 'short sell' themselves. They underestimate their own capability. They believe that religious matters are only for those with certain qualifications. They believe that they can fall into apostasy accidentally. Therefore, after reading books like Sulman Rushdy's Satanic Verses, they'll 'mengucap'. Some goes into the extreme of avoiding altogether those kinds of books. They are usually with low interest in the subject but nevertheless highly spiritedsoldiers. You can easily identify their inputs during debates. Their messages are usually short, merely showing their support to the other Sunnis and also to show others which side they're on. Nonetheless, some do write trashy remarks. They seldom have any points to make, but instead they would forward arguments or articles, which they see fit. They probably do this because they wouldn’t want to be responsible of thinking. They sometimes try reverse-psychology or intimidation techniques. Unfortunately sad to say, they all fire blanks.

3. Replacement Killers.

They are mostly smarter and more intelligent. They are those with high interest in the subject and highly spirited soldier at the same time. This group is usually in the process of learning the trick of the trade. They arm themselves with knowledge and would have started to do their own research. They are simple people who you’d most probably rub shoulders with at 'pasar malam' or ordinary folks who are waiting in line at the cashiers in TESCO or CAREFOURRE. They are mostly sincere, cool and polite in their inputs. They are the ones who would probably ask questions during a debate. At this level they have no 'killer weapons' yet but do watch out for them. Just wait and see how they will rise and come back with more advanced and sophisticated 'killing machine' in a short time. They are the ones who will be ardent contender to the 'Anti Hadis' commandoes.

4. Crusaders.

These are the cream of the crops. They can smell 'Anti Hadis' from miles away. They knew all the tactical warfare of 'Anti Hadis'. The instant an 'Anti Hadis' make a slight move they will be put under full constant surveillance by these Crusaders. Crusaders are also the ones who would be telling off the 'rubbish forwarders' for the junks they pass around. Crusaders can be recognized through their well-structured writings and their arguments would follow a certain flow. As expected, they choose to assume the responsibility of guarding the Sunni's faith and the faith of its followers. Generally, Crusaders can be classified into two. They are i. Formal Crusaders and ii. Informal Crusaders.

i. 'Formal' Crusaders are those who studied religion formally. They are the graduates of Al Azhar, UIA, University of Cairo, Medina U. etc. They hold degree in Feqah, Revealed Knowledge etc from these institutions. They usually hold high positions in government religious dept., NGOs, as well as key figures in political parties. They have vast religious knowledge but unfortunately they don't have good stamina. They have the advantage of possessing ‘nuclear bombs’. Their ultimate tactic is to call up the moderators of the groups and give them the code to nuke the 'Anti Hadis' out. 'Anti Hadis' who were banned from the groups then considered themselves as martyr.

ii. 'Informal' Crusaders are those who with no formal religious background. They are professionals in their own fields. They are usually highly educated and highly intelligent people. Sunnis should be proud of them. They are well respected in their community. They soak up religious knowledge in such a short time. They are very well informed and could be at par with ‘formal’ Crusaders as far as religious knowledge is concerned. They are very persistent and assertive and most of the times strive to have the last say. They can sustain in long battles with precision execution of reinforcement artillery and their stamina seems endless. But there are also times when they get nervous breakdowns due to over exertion. They are true warriors of the Sunnis. They are the 'Kalid al Walid’ in the brigade of Sunni cyber defenders.


‘Anti-Hadis’ Commandoes.

‘Anti Hadis’ come from wide spectrum of backgrounds. Majority of them are with tertiary education. What is unique about ‘Anti Hadis’ is that there are no leader or such thing as ‘ulama’ in the group. They are individuals who each have their own understanding of the Quran. They freely share their views and ideas among themselves because they all agree to the principle: (which is taken from a verse in the Quran) — ‘listen to all views and choose the best’. They can be generalized into two kinds: i. Non-radicals ii. Radicals.

i. Non-radicals.

This group is the majority. They make up 85% of ‘Anti Hadis’. They like to be involved in the group discussions among Anti Hadis but rarely engage directly in any confrontation with the Sunni Brigade in the cyberwar. Nevertheless, most of them do follow the progress closely.

ii. Radicals.

These are the Anti Hadis Special Forces Commandos. They are the ones who are actively involved in direct confrontations with Sunni Brigades in the cyber world. They intentionally provoke the Sunnis into debates. They like to challenge and be challenged. They would contest just about anyone and they even fight among themselves (as far as ideas and understanding is concerned). They seldom reveal their true identities even amongst themselves, so nobody knew for sure who was behind a certain name in the cyber world. In general, these radical Anti Hadis Special Forces can be classified into three types and they are; i. Emotionally radical ii. Consciously radical iii. Rationally radical.

i. Emotionally Radicals

These are ‘Anti Hadis’ extremists. They feel that they have been duped into believing and doing all sorts of rituals and ideas, which they now find ridiculous. They would use all kind of bad words in their writings. ‘Sunni bashing’ is their expertise and their favourite targets are sensitive Sunnis holy figures such as Bukhari, Abu Huraira and the Ulamas. It is hard to comprehend what their objectives are for opting for these extreme measures, intolerance and prejudices towards Sunni, but one thing for sure, they rouse those extreme and intolerance Sunni fanatics to wage war against them.

ii. Consciously Radicals.

Their writings and messages are mostly harsh and stern but do not fall into extreme category. Probably because they are still in the state of excitement of their newfound belief and that reflects in their writings. Their articles and writings are more concentrated on the subject of ‘un-Quranic’ rituals and disciplines in our Muslim society today.

iii. Rationally Radical.

In this group are those who could recall most of the verses on any subject matters in the Quran by the verse numbers almost in an instant. Their main interest is to get the meaning of certain words in the Quran by the Quran itself (using tools such as the Quran Concordance, etc). Some of their works are very time-consuming due to the painstakingly meticulous method they employ. They mostly analyse certain key words such as shalat, bait, bakka, Ramadhan etc.


The Confrontation: Anti Hadis tactical warfare.

In the immortal world of cyberspace, there’s no need for bulletproof vests or underground steel bunkers. A confrontation in the cyber world is a showdown of minds. All that matters are wits, information, knowledge and understanding. All these are put to a test. These are the decisive factor that makes the difference. Roughly 95% of ‘Anti Hadis’ got their first introduction to their newly found understanding from the net. So this is the place where they most feel comfortable to put their understanding to a test — a confrontation. There seem to be a pattern of ‘Anti Hadis’ tactics in waging cyber wars against the Sunni Brigades. Below are generally ‘Anti hadis’ tactical warfares.

1. Ambush – As mentioned earlier, Anti Hadis favourite ambush are on ‘rubbish convoys’. This type of warfare is usually executed by ‘Anti Hadis’ radical newbies. They are testing out their knowledge. But don’t be surprised that sometimes, Anti Hadis themselves are the ones who pose as the ‘rubbish forwarder’. They intentionally collect religious rubbish on the net for the purpose of using it against the Sunni. Sometimes they would pose as a pious, uncorrupted Sunni with the intention of acquiring ‘ilmu’. They would then ask leading questions and set a trap for the Sunni.

2. Lure – Anti Hadis would post controversial articles or writings with the hope to get responses from the Sunnis. They set these as bait to get the Sunnis attention. The war will rage as soon as the first response comes.

3. Assassination – this type of warfare are done by the Anti Hadis ‘Elite Squad’. They are the anti hadis elites and they are after specific target, mainly the Sunni Crusaders. They never get involved with any ongoing clashes but they do monitor the Crusaders closely. Once a Crusader goes out of line, they will move in for a kill. They are also known as ‘Izrael’ (angel of death) because when they make a move it will be short, precise and decisive. Their mission — to demoralize the Sunni Brigades. But to some Sunni Brigade they are known as ‘The Devil’.


The aftermath.

One may ask what is the purpose of this entire theological fracas. What good does it do? Of course the war seems to be a never-ending war. It seems that it is reaching a stalemate — probably there will be a few sporadic clashes here and there, nobody will raise the white flag, and people will choose to believe what they want to believe. But there are two important points that need to be highlighted.

One of the most popular and easiest ways to ignite a war is by a surprise attack on convoys of 'religious rubbish' passing through. 'Anti Hadis' jump at this opportunity by ridiculing the Sunnis mainly to make a point on how absurd they think the sunnis religious belief is. This will in turn cause havoc and the war will drag on. Sunni Crusaders are aware of this tactics, this is classic 'Anti Hadis attack 101'. They will make sure there will be no 'rubbish convoys' passing through'. Therefore, the benefit of this is that at some point in time there will be a drastic decrease in the number of 'religious rubbish’ (which degrades the religion of Islam) being passed around on the net.

In a good heated debate neither party could afford to make stupid mistakes by relating references that do not exist. Either party will be a sitting duck if they do. All books and reference will be out in the open — Quran translations of all kinds, Bukhary Hadis collections, and a vast amount of other religious references. More people from both parties will start reading; more people will then begin to understand. At the end of the day, like it or not, all these theological fracas will create more Sunnis with the knowledge of the religion that they choose to believe in. At least then, they are no longer following blindly.

Amazingly in the end, the passionate but violent exchanges of wits and wisdom then turn out to be a blessing in disguise one might say. One shall find that debating is a form of learning method where one put one’s own understanding to a test, which in turn will further strengthen one’s own belief and gain understanding and tolerance. It creates wiser and well-informed individuals between the two parties and further strengthens their beliefs in what they choose to believe thus creating more people with open mind, tolerant, respecting others’ beliefs and most importantly non-judgmental. Ironically, 'anti hadis' could turn out to be the agents that help advocate and instill a stronger belief in the heart of the Sunnis. In the end both parties are winners and nobody’s a looser.



*writer's note*

Hopefully you will be able to see that debating/confrontation as one of the learning methods where you put your own understanding to a test, which in turn will further strengthen your own belief and gain understanding and tolerance.

If you wish to engage in one, I suggest that don’t get emotional if you were to find yourself on the losing end. Make some adjustments, re adjust and re-invent yourself and get on with it again. Perhaps you might opt for a more challenging battle – climb to the peak and confront those atheist and those agnostics. There the fight has to be at the same level of battle theatre (knowledge of science) since the Quran is no longer a relevant book of reference because they ( atheists) never believe in it.

Perhaps, then you will be at the point where you no longer follow but you explore, in an exploration into GOD.

© H. Muhammad