The Sunni Traditionalists: Islam, People and Power Boxset

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2016

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

The anti-government protests that began in the Arab world in 2010 triggered division between the religious scholars of Islam’s largest branch – the traditional Sunnis. Some of the most senior Sunni scholars in the world held fast to the idea that revolution, and even simple protest, was forbidden in Islam. Others decided to back armed groups in Syria, though not the global jihadists of al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Presenter Safa Al Ahmad travels to Egypt to meet Dr Abbas Shouman, one of the most senior scholars at Islam’s most famous seat of learning, Al Azhar University. She also tells the story of Sheikh Ramadan al-Bouti, a famous Syrian Islamic scholar whose stance on the uprisings cost him his life.

(Photo: Anti-Government protesters in Cairo. Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the first edition of Islam, people and power on the BBC World Service.
0:10.0	I'm Safa al Ahmed, journalist and documentary maker.
0:15.0	I've spent my career covering the Arab world.
0:18.0	I speak the language.
0:19.0	It's where I grew up.
0:21.0	But the uprisings in the revolutions that began in 2010 took even me by surprise.
0:27.0	After decades of dictatorship, the rulers were facing the wrath of their people.
0:32.0	I was too angry.
0:34.0	I was like seeing lots of corruption.
0:35.0	They didn't even hide it.
0:36.0	And I was telling my friends, I think something is going to happen.
0:38.0	But I never imagined it was a revolution.
0:40.0	So many people were waiting for that spark.
0:43.0	The autocratic governments of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia fell.
0:48.0	The Syrian regime fought on. I've reported on these events, but also I've become intrigued by the ideas.
1:00.6	In a region where Islam is a dominant faith, Muslims have been asking, is rebelling against an oppressive government a religious obligation or is it a sin?
1:09.0	There are many voices in the
1:13.7	the revolution but there are many verses in Korean and prophetic traditions
1:17.6	that speak about if a ruler or a president is oppressor the system corrupted, you shouldn't be silent about it.
1:25.0	But when dictators fall, what next?
1:28.0	Should Muslims strive to build countries enforcing Islamic law,
1:32.0	or should there be a separation of religion and politics?
	...

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