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 * Proposed article title: Imitation of non-Muslims by Muslims Redirects: Tashabbuh bi’l-kuffār, Tashabbuh تشبه
 * Note: It could be fine to use the Arabic term. For examples, see this article: Glossary of Islam
 * No apostrophe in "non-Muslims"


 * Short description Imitation of non-Muslim practices by Muslims (al-tashabbuh bi’l-kuffār  التشبه بالكفار  ?).
 * Not to be confused with "tashabbuh bi-llāh"

Imitation of non-Muslims by Muslims (التشبه بٱلكفار) is a Sunni Islamic doctrine that considers imitation of others, mainly of non-Muslims, as deplorable. Historically, the Islamic literary genre of tashabbuh treatises, which oppose imitation, have played a significant part in forming both Islamic orthodoxy and Muslim inter-religious relations.

Definitions

 * According to Meir Hatina, tashabbuh is religious prohibition against imitating the infidel. Youshaa Patel says, the verb tashabbaha can alternatively be translated as resembles, assimilates, or conforms. p 366.
 * Edward William Lane defines the Arabic term, tašabbuh, as: “He became assimilated to him or it. He assumed, or affected, a likeness, or resemblance to him, or it. He imitated him or it. He made himself to be like, or resemble him or it.”

According to Youshaa Patel it's the Hadith, not the Quran, supports the architecture of this doctrine.

Q 5:51, in full, reads:

A subsequent verse (Q 5:55) tells the believers who their true friends are: “Your

friend is only God, and His Messenger, and the believers….”

Time line
According to Youshaa Patel, the pivotal hadith on imitation (1514 of Abu Dawood) progressed from a narrative statement to a normative dictum in three stages: (a) transmission among early Muslim authorities; (b) classification in canonical hadith collections; and (c) interpretation by the ʿulamā.ʾ Patel says (p.363) that the custom likely to have first spread from late Umayyad Damascus, to Abbasid Baghdad, after the caliphate moved from the Umayyads to the Abbasids in the 8th century AD.
 * Ibn ʿAbbās (Muḥammad’s cousin) (d. ca 68/687-688) p.602

The doctrine and the sources
Tashabbuh is first mentioned in Hadith 1514, book 16 of Abu Dawood Sulayman (b. Ash'ath al-Sijistani (d. 888-9). This hadith states that “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them” and this serves as one of the most frequently cited expressions on the 'Tashabbuh doctrine'.

Youshaa Patel names this Hadith as 'imitation hadith'. P362. According to Patel, the Prophet Muḥammad may not have said “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them” as a standalone statement. Patel says, detailed analysis of its transmission history of the Hadith indicates that, even if prophet would have said, then, it's likely to have been part of a longer statement with a more specific context. Subsequent generations of Muslims separated this phrase out and in the course of time infusing new interpretations unto it, allowing distinct meaning to permeate independently. p 363.

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According to Muhammad Khalid Masud, while many traditional scholars relied on Abu Dawood's report/ hadiths, good number of scholars doubt these Hadiths for the reason, first, no mention is found in the earlier Hadith collectors, namely Bukhari (d. 870), Muslim (d. 875) and Malik (d. 795). Secondly Abu Da’ud version differs in content with Hadith mentions of Ibn Hanbal’s (d. 855) Musnad, Abu’l Qasim al-Tabarani’s (d. 881) Mu’jam, and Abu ‘Isa Muhammad’s (b. 'Isa al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)) Jami’. Same time there can be some chance that Hanbal's Hadith is earlier one and Abu Da’ud's hadits is derived from Hanbal's following Hadith.

I have been sent close to the Day of Judgment with the sword in order that God alone is worshipped without any associate. My sustenance is placed under the shade of my lance and humiliation and subjugation is ordained for those who oppose me. Whoever imitates a people belongs to them.

~ Ibn Hanbal, Musnad (Riyadh: Dar al-Salam l’il nashr wa’l tawzi’, 2000), section Musnad Abd Allah b. Umar, Hadith no. 4869.

Masud says Abu Da’ud and Tirmidhi, both, have been criticized on the technical ground that links among narrators seem weak.

The following version in Tirmidhi Hadith, on one hand refers to different styles of greetings among other religious denominations, same time emphasizes the religious context of the hadith. One who imitates others does not belong to us. Do not imitate the Jews and the Christians in the ways they greet; the Jews greet raising (ishara) fingers and the Christians by raising palm of the hand.

~ Tirmidhi, al-Jami’ (Riyadh: Dar al-Salam li’l nashr wa’l tawzi’, 2000), chapter Privacy and Manners, section Greetings, p. 1923.


 * Apocalyptic version:
 * I was sent [by God] on the eve of the Hour [to fight] with the sword until God is worshipped alone without any other partner ascribed to him. My provision has been placed under the shadow of my spear, and abasement  and contempt have been placed upon the one who disobeys my command.  And whoever imitates a people becomes one of them.  p.368

Discourse against imitation
According to Youshaa Patel seeds of Tashabbuh doctrine got planted during ninth and tenth century AD; Developed as a literary genre 14th -15th century, spread across globe 19th 20th century as impact of Salafism and in response to colonialism.

According to Youshaa Patel, while the meaning of the Hadith “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them” would appear simple at the out set; describing objectively how imitation would influences  group belonging and social identity; and even more fundamentally, the saying also indicates that, the more time people stay together, the more they become similar. However, most Muslim religious scholarship (ʿulamāʾ), deviate from such neutral meaning, and apply the hadith to create traditions to establish clear divisions by defining who would belongs to the Muslim community, by interpreting the hadith as a strong warning for Muslims to keep themselves different from non-Muslims, especially Jews and Christians (ahl al-kitāb). Patel says, In a single statement, the hadith differentiates between “us and them,” while bringing Muslims together same time making them distance from others; effectively puts pressure on Muslims to conform to the Muslim community and also forewarns about the risks of nonconformity like stigma, sin, and exclusion.

Patel says, in present times, Muslim religious leadership in North America frequently refers to this doctrine to discourage Muslims against participating in celebrations like Christmas, Halloween,and Valentine’s Day, and from emulating non-Muslim ways of dressing and other cultural practices.

Bruce Lawrence mentions an anecdotal tashabbuh incidence from 11th century Al-Biruni's book on the topic of 'The Exhaustive Treatment of Shadows'  where in literalist  muezzins  were reluctant to use astrolabe in spite of accuracy it offered, since they were afraid to use any thing pertaining to Byzantine non-Muslims, then Al-Biruni retorted to them saying "The Byzantines also eat food and walk around in the market. Do not imitate them in these two things”.


 * According to Muhammad Haniff Hassan, Sunni Muslim scholarship (P 7.) holds that, means of civil disobedience are western import, not only proscribed by primary sources of Islam, amounts to innovative bid'ah, but also  the concept of civil disobedience in it's all forms is al-tashabbuh bil-kuffar immitating ways of non-Muslim in this case imitation of West. Hassan notes,  Shaykh Al Albany regards such imitation of others through acts of civil disobedience Muslims would end up utilizing illicit means to correct the ruler and society and Shaykh   Al-Muhsin Al-Abbad Al-badr is also of similar opinion.
 * According to Mohamed Bin Ali, for modern Salafis social dimension of WB give and take of gifts from non-Muslims, joining them in their religious festivals, listening to  music especially non-Islamic one, using non-hijri calendar as tashabbuh. Former Mufti of Saudi Arabia, too, had said that participating in celebrations and feast of non-Muslims is not allowed.
 * Bustamam-Ahmad, Kamaruzzaman. Islamic thought in Southeast Asia: New Interpretations and Movements. United Kingdom, University of Malaya Press, 2013. P 10, 11.

literature
Roel Meijer’, G. E. Von Grunebaum


 * Naǧm al-Dīn al-Ġazzī (1570–1651 AD), Ḥusn al-tanabbuh li-mā warada fī l-tašabbuh
 * Ibn Taymiyya


 * Muhammad Shams-ul-Haq Azimabadi


 * Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi

Fatwa literature

 * Abd al-Hayy al-Lucknawi
 * Rashid Ahmad Gangohi,
 * Ashraf Ali Thanawi
 * Kifayatullah Dehlawi
 * Muhammad Shafi Deobandi

Tashabbuh and orthodoxy
From the view point of the traditional Islamic scholars and clergy, keeping tab on tašabbuh (imitation) and bidʿa  (innovation) is essential, if unchecked, can disrupt Islamic orthodoxy. Imitation (tašabbuh) and innovation (bidʿa), overlaps and complements each other in maintaining and enhancing the authority of the Prophet Muḥammad’s sunnah.

According to Richard Gauvain in Salafi Ritual Law and Practice, Al-Wala' wal-Bara' is main principle, ritualized according to al-tashabbuh hadith,  by which  (Salafi) Muslims tend to  distance themselves from all non-Muslim  beliefs and practices. Gauvain says at times Salafi scholar like Al-Albani's ''extended this principle even to hold prayers in a mosque with one's shoes. as permissible, because as per Al-Albani's analogy the Jews do not pray in their shoes; while usually, praying with shoes on, is not the case and runs counter to the wider Islamic consensus, and more specifically to Hanbali jurisprudence.'' According to Joas Wagemakers purpose of Al-Wala' wal-Bara' concept, in early Islam, may have been about  not allowing taking of help from non-Muslim by making Muslims to choose one of the two political entity in times of war, eventually that purpose may have been conflated to not allowing imitation of non-Muslim (tashabbuh al-kuffar or al-mushabaha -li-l-kuffar), that may bee the reason development of such understanding among most  Salafi scholars.


 * Deoband     Ashraf Ali Thanwi

Pact of Umar
While Pact of Umar deals with restrictions on Christian subjects not to imitate Muslims, the hadith based tashabbuh literature attempts to restrict Muslims from imitating non-muslims.

Transvaal fatwa

 * Article on Arabic Wikipedia ar:الفتوى الترنسفالية

Transvaal fatwa was issued by Muhammad Abduh (1849 – 11 July 1905), an Egyptian modernist Islamic scholar, and then Grand Mufti of Egypt. **on 25th December 1903.

(**Copy pasted from Muhammad Abduh). In December 1903 Abduh had received a petition from a Muslim from Transvaal, South Africa seeking fatwa to understand a) whether it would be permissible to use European style hats? b) Whether it's okay for Muslims to eat meat slaughtered by Transvaal Christians c) Was it okay for a Muslim of Shafi Madhhab to perform communal prayers led by a Hanafi imam? Abduh's fatwa hold that if believer is not intending apostasy then wearing a hat would not amount tashabbuh; about  denying validity of prayer with imam of other Islamic sect, Abduh hold that would amount to undermining unity of Islam; Abduh's fatwa also deduced to permit eating meat of the animals slaughtered by Jews and Christians, they being people of the book. This fatwa steered an immediate backlash and a long discourse on the topic in Muslim world.

Copt - Muslim relations
According to Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, since the twentieth-century, fundamentalist revivalism among both Copts and Muslims, along with urbanization  and also the inhospitable disparagement, by Salafiyya high priests of imitation of Christians in western forms, as well as folk custom of cult of saints and worshiping them together, has caused reduction in sharing of interfaith saints, shrines and ritual culture among Copts and Muslims.

Cosmopolitanism and tashabbuh
According to Muhammad Khalid Masud, in both Muslim and non-Muslim societies,  the twenty-first-century discourse pertaining globalism, pluralism, integration, multiculturalism, Islamophobia and inter-faith dialogues has opened up further concerns regarding  cosmopolitanism and tashabbuh. Masud says that,G. E. Von Grunebaum discusses the doctrine of tashabbuh bi’l-kuffar, which forbids imitating non-Muslims. Grunebaum argues that, this doctrine inculcates a sense of religious superiority that blocks interaction with other non-Muslims. By prioritising similarities and differences, the tashabbuh doctrine sets unequivocal marker of cultural authenticity within the theological context of religious identity, effectively discouraging cosmopolitanism among Muslim societies, is a common belief. Masud says that this common belief that the pursuit of cultural authenticity and religious identity in the contemporary Muslim world dissuades cosmopolitanism is problematic. This belief complicates the concept of cosmopolitanism by binding it with the issue of cultural authenticity. Derryl N. MacLean  says, after recontextualizing South Asian Islamic religious opinions on tashabbuh bi’l-kuffar, Masud argues that British imperialism and subsequent communalism and nationalism perturbed Indo-Muslim cosmopolitanism, Masud further says, in the process distinct political and cultural differences between religion and culture were emerging, also along with new forms of openness were being imagined; MacLean says, in spite of taking note of accommodation through change in context as discussed in Masu's study, interpretations of tashabbuh seem to remain constrained by its place in the broader fiqh.

Categories to be added
Category:Islamic culture, Category:Sunni belief and doctrine Category:Islamic philosophy Category:Islamic terminology Category:Taboo Category:Cultural anthropology Religious discrimination Category:Moral psychology Category:Social philosophy