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Intel - Terrorism
Muhammad Rashid Rida

"In God we trust.
All others we monitor."

• Muhammad Rashid Rida was born in Syria (1865-1935) during the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

• Most of the Arab-Islamic contributions to the debate on the shari'a draw upon two Islamic writings of the early twentieth century, works that are already acclaimed as classics. One is Rashid Rida's al-Khilafah wa al-imamah al-'uzuma/The Caliphate and the Great Imamate; the second is 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq's al-Islam wa usul al-hukm/Islam and the Basis of Government. In the first we encounter the idea that Islam is din wa dawla/unity of religion and state; in the second we learn the opposite, that although such a unity has been imputed to Islam, the notion lacks any justification in the primary sources, that is, in the Qur'an and the hadith.
  [source: Challenge of Fundamentalism, pp. 150-151]

• Together they edited a journal of Qur'anic commentaries, "Al Manar" ("The Lighthouse").

• It was during this exile from Egypt that Abduh gave a series of lectures in Beirut - updated and given again at al-Azhar - that were later revised and published by his student Rashid Rida as Risalat al-Tawhid [The Theology of Unity] in 1897.
  [source: Enemy in the Mirror, p. 107]

• Unlike his two predecessors, al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh, Rida lived long enough to witness the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, at the hands of the British Empire.

• Rida positions blame for the destruction of the Caliphate on the Ummah itself.

• It is difficult to exaggerate the enormity of Rida's contribution to 20th century jihadi ideology. Rida wrote the very influential "al-Khilafah wa al-imamah al-'uzuma" ("The Caliphate and the Great Imamate") that framed the great debate over the Caliphate. Published in 1923, but comprised of essays written sometimes many years earlier...

• Rida, whose life bridged both the Caliphate and post-Caliphate eras, explored some very practical ways for the Ummah to recover from the loss of the Caliphate. First, said Rida, the Ottoman Empire had ceased to remain relevant, because it failed to modernize itself.

• Also key, for Rida, was the concept of Islamic superiority because Islam "derived from divine inspiration".

• Rida, like Abduh and al-Afghani before him, argued in favor of modernity...
• Rida, whose life bridged both the Caliphate and post-Caliphate eras, explored some very practical ways for the Ummah to recover from the loss of the Caliphate. First, said Rida, the Ottoman Empire had ceased to remain relevant, because it failed to modernize itself.

• ...but fiercely spoke out against nationalism.

• Ever mindful of not overstepping the delicate boundaries between remaining faithful to the Qur'an and Hadith and straying from them, Rida proposed developing the next Caliph through a seminary-like institution, but, of course, specific to Islam. "What is needed", argued Rida, "is for the next Caliph to be so well grounded in Islam" that he could modernize the Caliphate without diluting Islam.