Substantive versus Normative: Rereading Early Islamic Ideas1

Rahmatullah (18200010105)

Discussions about history are always interesting including the early history of the
emergence of Islam. There are a variety of theories that explain this topic from traditional to
revisionists sources. The traditional explanation start from narratives of stories told in classic
sources written by scholars (ulama). Based on this narration, there are at least three main
features of the emergence of Islam. First, the location of the Arabs as a place for the emergence
of Islam. The emergence of Islam is described in Mecca with the conditions of paganism and
its barbaric life (jahiliyah).

Second, the view of Islam as a monotheistic religion separate from other monotheistic
religions. In addition to being portrayed in an atmosphere of ignorance (jahiliyah), Islam is
also portrayed as being born in an area which was quite isolated from the influence of previous
Abrahamic teachings. This is to emphasize that Islam is not contaminated or influenced by
other teachings. This picture then perfects the third issue related to the finality and perfection
of Islam. Traditional sources explain that Islam has been perfect since the life of the Prophet
Muhammad.2

In contrast to traditional ideas, Fred Donner underlined that the early history of Islam
was born as an open community of faith (ecumenical community). He commented on the
traditional view as follows:

So much for the traditional view of how Islam began. One thing to note about
this portrayal, besides the incredible dynamism and success of the movement, is
that the traditional view portrays Islam as being, from the very beginning, a
distinct new religious confession. In particular, it is depicted as a religion that
was distinct from the earlier monotheisms, Judaism and Christianity, both of
which were widespread in the Near East (and indeed, even in Arabia)—this
despite the fact that the Qur’ān contains a great deal of material that is obviously
related to the Jewish and Christian traditions, such as fragments of stories about
various Hebrew prophets, about Jesus, etc.

1
Article review from Fred M. Donner, “How Ecumenical was Early Islam” in Near Eastern Languages
and Civilization, (Washington: University of Washington, 2013).
2
Mun`im Sirry, Kemunculan Islam dalam Kesarjanaan Revisionis, (Yogyakarta: Suka Press, 2017), hlm.
68-75.
 Therefore, there are at least two main arguments proposed by Donner. First, he uses the
Quran (in this case Donner accepts the Quran as an initial historical document that reaches us
and can be used). There are about 75 times the Quran mentions the word muslim, while the
word mu`min is almost 1.000 times. This confirms that the initial community referred to by the
Quran emphasized the community of faith (mu`min) rather than muslim. In addition, the
characteristics of the faithful are also described in al-Baqarah verse 62 and al-Maidah verse 69,
namely three main points, faith in God, the End Times, and good deeds.

Second, Donner strengthen his argument on the Medina Charter document in which the
openness of the teachings of Muhammad brought with the other religious entities. In fact, from
this document it can be seen that the Jews living in Medina at that time also became part of the
umma (community) which had the same rights as the followers of Muhammad. In addition, he
also collected early historical data which indeed mentioned more about the community of
believers (mu`min).

Based on this argument, I agree with the ideas from Fred Donner about the community
of believers who are open and dialoguing with other believer communities. This is an early
Islamic idea that can be understood as the kernel of history. Then in the development of history,
the community of faiths brought by Muhammad became increasingly crystallized and formed
a religious identity distinctive to other religions, especially with the same religion of
monotheism, Jews and Christians.

Therefore, I was underline the development of the meaning of Islam in two points. First,
Islam as substantive meaning is submission, obedience carried out by the community of faith
with the three main principles, faith in God, believe in hereafter, and do good deeds. While the
second point is the normative idea of Islam as a religious institution that is different from other
religions, including Judaism and Christianity. This second understanding is currently a
common understanding in our society. Personally, I don’t question this last point, it is just that
understanding about Islam as a religion is also equipped with the substance of the teachings of
Islam itself which teaches goodness and peace, as exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad and
the early generation who were open in the diverse society.