Rashid Rida

Muhammad Rashid Rida was born in al-Qalamoun, Beirut Vilayet, present-day Lebanon, in 1865 into a distinguished Sunni Shafi'i clerical family. His family relied on money earned from their limited olive tree holdings and fees earned by family members who served as ulama (scholars). The Rida ulama had been in charge of the al-Qalamoun mosque for several generations. Rida's father was an imam (prayer leader) in the mosque. The family, who were Sayyids, claimed descent from the Ahl al-Bayt, specifically Husayn ibn Ali. Rida received a traditional religious education, attending elementary school at the local kuttab in Qalamūn before moving to the Ottoman government school in Tripoli. He then enrolled in Shaykh 's National Islamic School, where he learned hadith and fiqh.{{Cite book ==Muhammad Abduh==

Rida met Muhammad Abduh, one of the editors of Al-Urwah al-Wuthqa, as an exile in Lebanon in the mid-1880s and quickly came to view Abduh as his mentor. In 1897, Rida decided to study under Abduh's co-editor Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, who at that time was in Istanbul. Rida suspected the Hamidian administration was responsible for al-Afghani's death later that year and left Istanbul to rejoin Abduh, one of Afghani's students, now in Egypt. They started the monthly periodical al-Manar, where Rida worked as its chief editor and owner until his death in 1935. At this time, he also studied Ibn Taymiyya and his disciples, which eventually led him to embrace ideas including revulsion against folk Sufism, criticism of taqlid, and the desire to revive hadith studies. All of these became foundational themes of the Salafism. Following Abduh's death in 1905, Rida was seen as his de facto successor despite privately holding reservations about Abduh's ideas. Rida published several new editions of Abduh's works to make them conform more to the dogmas of the traditionalist creed than to Abduh's modernist beliefs. Abduh's disciples eventually divided into two camps: one, which included Saad Zaghloul and Ali Abdel Raziq, was founded in modernism and Westernized secularism, and the other, the al-Manar party, was based in the revival of Islam. Salafism, also known as Salafiyya, which sought the "Islamization of modernity," emerged from the latter. ==Islamic unity under Ottomanism==

In 1897, Rida, along with Rafiq al-'Azm and Saib Bey, formed the Ottoman Consultative Society in Cairo. The group consisted of Turks, Armenians, and Circassians living in Egypt and called for Islamic unity under Ottomanism; at this time, their ideas were consistent with those of the Young Turks. They condemned the autocratic Hamidian rule and European imperialism, and their ideas were distributed in Arabic and Turkish via al-Manar. The society disbanded in 1908 following the Young Turk Revolution, after which Azm joined the Committee of Union and Progress to pursue modernism and Rida became a vocal critic of the Young Turks. In 1898, Rida began publishing articles encouraging Ottoman authorities to adopt a new religious strategy within the existing caliphal and pan-Islamic policy under Sultan Abd al-Hamid II. He recommended training scholars and sharia judges responsible for issuing fatwas (legal rulings) and discussing religious affairs by standardising the creation of different institutions. He envisioned a Congress-published religious journal to counter innovative and heretic ideas and to share translations of religious works. The caliph would oversee affairs but was otherwise just like any other Congress member. Scholars would compile legal works from madhāhib (law schools) and adapt them to contemporary situations, and resulting legislation would be implemented by the caliph in all Muslim societies. Ottoman authorities were unreceptive and at times hostile to Rida's proposals, in particular criticising his suggestion of making the caliph an ordinary member of society. While they were open to considering a Muslim Congress, they preferred Istanbul as a hub rather than Mecca, as it would establish a parliamentary forum in the capital of the Empire. Sultan Abdul Hamid II himself opposed the idea of a Congress altogether, claiming it to be a ploy for Arab separatism and Hejazi autonomy. The proposals were also in direct contradiction to the established Ottoman policy on the Sultan's ability to enforce absolute authority. Despite rejection from the Empire, Rida continued supporting the preservation of the sultanate during the Hamidian Era through the first decade of the 1900s. He believed that the dynastic nature of the Ottoman state was reconciled with the classical legal approach that allowed caliphs to rule through force rather than with shura, consent, and adherence to Islamic law. While holding the Ottoman rule to be based on tribalism, he eventually decided not to rebel so openly against the Empire out of concern that it would damage the only Islamic temporal power. Instead, he focused on advocating reform for consultative governance within the confines of the state and writing to condemning partisanship in madhāhib and all forms of factionalism. He continued supporting pan-Arabism and promoted Arab eminence and Islamic unity. Rida believed that Arabs were better suited for Islamic leadership, thus linking Arab revival to Islamic unity. strongly believing that racial conflict was the cause of "Muslim weakness in the past." Rida's resentment for Abdul Hamid grew following the 31 March incident and subsequent 1909 Ottoman countercoup, which Rida saw as delegitimising Hamid's rule and his deposition as God putting an end to tyranny. After the revolution in October, he visited Istanbul hoping to establish a school for Islamic missionaries and to reconcile Arabs and Turks in the Empire. Both of his goals were rejected and he became a sworn enemy of the Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). His initial optimism about the newly-appointed Sultan Mehmed V was short-lived as the effective power focused on supporting the Young Turks. Rida re-asserted his belief that the Young Turks had abandoned Islamism and Ottomanism to pursue a nationalist Turkification policy. When Rida supported the Young Turks, he put aside concerns about CUP's nationalism; by 1909, however, he accused the group of spreading heresy, Westernising Islamic government, and creating chaos. He wrote a number of articles in the Turkish press condemning policies based on nationalism and race and warned that nationalism was a European concept that violated Islamic principles, and would lead to the collapse of the multi-ethnic, multi-racial Ottoman Empire. He sought decentralisation of the Empire without challenging the legitimacy of the Ottoman Sultan, and made sure to distinguish between his opposition to CUP and his loyalty to the Ottoman state. Despite this, Rida attacked CUP members as early as 1910, calling them atheists and freemasons, alleging their exploitation of Islam was for selfish political gain, and that they sought destruction of the Islamic world. After the Battle of Tripoli in 1911 and the First Balkan War, Rida became deeply concerned about the imminent collapse of the Ottoman state and worried that colonial European empires would seize power from the Ottomans. The Egyptian nationalists, especially the Watani Party, attacked the society, calling it a conspiracy that sought conflict with the Turks, secession of Arab countries from the Ottoman Empire, and establishment of an Arab caliphate. Rida denied these allegations, but later explicitly advocated via the Society for Arab secessionism from the Ottoman Empire. 1913 coup d'état In 1913 CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) launched a coup to establish a one-party state under a de facto triumvirate of the Three Pashas, which consisted of Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha, and Djemal Pasha. During the years of the World War, Arabs and Salafis were harshly persecuted by Djemal Pasha, a CUP leader holding military and civilian power in Syria. Many Arabists would be court-martialed and executed, and many Salafi scholars exiled, leading prominent Salafis such as Rida and Tahir al-Jaza'iri to support the British-backed Arab Revolt led by Sharif Hussain. Rida joined the ranks of Sa'ud's boosters in the Arab world. Rida saw him as a strong Muslim ruler capable of preventing British imperial designs on the Arab world. In March 1914, Rida wrote in al-Manar that CUP was assisting Zionists in Palestine and accused Zionists of seeking to establish a Jewish state from "Palestine to the Euphrates". He warned that not a single Muslim would remain in the Promised Land of Judaism. Al-Manar became a chief source of spreading Arab anti-semitism in the months leading up to World War I, portraying Jewish people as the controllers of European finances. ==World War I==

During World War I, Rida's activities primarily involved negotiating with the British and Sharif Hussein of Mecca, attempting to persuade them on the issue of establishing a united pan-Islamic state with autonomy for different regions to prepare for the eventual collapse of the Ottoman Empire. He had always been suspicious of the British and became even more so after the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which was intended to divide Ottoman Arab provinces between Britain and France. Rida saw this as an attack on all Muslims, not just Arabs. ==Post-war==

Rida's militant opposition to Westernisation reached its peak in the aftermath of the war. In his 1922–23 work ''al-Khilafa aw al-Imama al-'Uzma (The Caliphate or the Supreme Imamate), he proposed comprehensive pan-Islamism and called upon Muslims to come together under their shared Islamic faith to shun emerging nationalist movements. He stressed the importance of Arab leadership in unifying Muslim ranks. Among the most important parts of his agenda was to thwart British imperial designs in the Arabian Peninsula. When Sharif Hussein declared himself Caliph of Muslims in March 1924 following the Turkish Abolition of Caliphate, Rida called him a heretic dangerous to the entire Muslim community and saw his seizure of power as a desecration of Islam. Rida later published the treatise The Wahhabis and Hijaz'', where he argued for Wahhabi rule over Hejaz and condemned Sharif Hussein and his family for their selling of Arab lands in complicity with the colonial powers' agenda for the sake of their personal dynastic ambitions. In the treatise, Rida also warned of British imperial ambitions in the region, which he claimed would subjugate its Muslim population. As early as the 1900s, Rida applauded Sa'ud's victories during the Saudi–Rashidi War. In 1919 he published Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's Kashf al-Shubuhat (Removal of Doubts) and in 1920 pushed Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab as a mujaddid of Islam. During the 1920s, more than 20 Wahhabi works were published through the al-Manar Publishing House, including fatwas condemning the Ikhwan. Majmuʿat al-Tawhid al-Najdiyya (Monotheistic Collection from Najd) another work published by Rida, was a four-volume collection of essays with writings by Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qudama, and Ibn Rajab, reportedly at the request of a Najdi merchant. This created friction between Sufi and Salafi factions in Syria. By 1926 references to "excessive zeal" had disappeared and the Wahhabi's initial failure was instead blamed on corrupt Ottomans and the British Empire. Rida asked followers of his Islah movement to support Wahhabis against three hazards that threatened the community from within: the "Shi'a fanatics," Sufism, and "Westernised preachers of atheism". Detractors accused him of becoming an official spokesperson for the Wahhabis due to financial assistance from Sa'ud, which Rida denied. Rida's endorsement of Wahhabism was the decisive factor in the spread of its influence beyond the Kingdom's borders. Wahhabi scholars consistently emphasised their affinity to mainstream Sunni legal schools and affirm that their tradition was among the several manifestations of Salafism. Al Sa'ud encouraged Saudi Muslims to tone down their dogmatic views and in the 1920s facilitated the movement of several of Rida's disciples to Hejaz, where, through education, their beliefs were shifted from exclusivist, narrow-minded Classical Wahhabism prone to takfirism to a more tolerant and accepting people. Attacks on Hejaz and Damascus Rida strongly championed Sa'ud's campaigns in Hejaz in 1924 and 1925. He wrote in al-Manar that the nascent Saudi state was the best hope for Islamic revival and portrayed it as the last major bastion of Islamic resistance to the colonial order. He celebrated Sharif Hussein's defeat in the Battle of Mecca, which he called a historic event. Sa'ud united Hejaz and Northern Arabia over the next several years, making his rule an Islamic alternative to Atatürk in Turkey. Rida saw his independence, religiosity, and pragmatism as an exemplification of balanced reform. Rida defended the new Saudi regime from its detractors, calling the Wahhabis "the best Muslims," as they observed the doctrines of Imam Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyyah. Rida made anti-Shi'ism "a major trait of his school" and called for a Wahhabi demolition of the shrines of al-Baqi. He called subsequently outraged Shi'ites rafidites and instruments of the Persians. In defense of the Wahhabis' religious credentials, Rida cited Tarikh Najd, a treatise composed by 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad Aal-al Shaykh, the son of al-Wahhab. He asserted that Wahhabis had sincere zeal for the Islamic faith and were among the most hostile to foreign influences. Rida later backed Sa'ud's campaign to eradicate fanatical Ikhwan rebels. == Salafism ==

during Rida's visit to Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow. Rida is sitting at the middle of seated row. Rida's early exposure to the Hanbali school in Syria informed his vision of a puritanical renewal based on the revival of the values of the Salaf, the first three generations of Islam, and argued that Salafism was "an Islam purged of impurities and Western influences". In 1905 he spoke of the Salafis as a collective noun, theologically distinct from the Ash'aris, and considered Wahhabis Salafis. He published an article in al-Manar called ''Speculative Theology is a bid'ah according to the Pious Predecessors, as well as a discussion of the importance of following the Salaf in the promotion of hadith sciences, the spread of which he identified with the Islamic revival. In 1914, Rida defined mad'hab al-salaf'' as "nothing other than to act according to the Qur'an." The term Salafi was historically used by Sunni scholars to denote Muslims who claimed Athari theology. This was how Rida initially learned to view the term. He and Syrian reformer Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi later referred to Salafi more distinctly as Sunni Muslims who adopted Athari theology and rejected allegorical interpretations of God's attributes. In the 1920s Rida came to see Salafism as religious fervour and puritanical revival of old Islamic practices. He also became a committed supporter of Saudi military expansions. While politically pan-Islamist, Salafism became increasingly puritanical and faced opposition by conservative quarters like Al-Azhar University. It did, however, find support from the Arabian Peninsula and the Ahl-i Hadith movement on the subject of Wahhabi revival. Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi, one of Riḍā's disciples, was appointed president of the Meccan Department of Printing and Publication, where he started a new al-Manar-adjacent Islamic journal, al-Islah, on Riḍā's recommendation. The journal pushed the key doctrines of Salafism and integrated Arabia into the transnational network of Islamic reformist efforts while fostering a broader sense of Islamic identity among the Arab elite. In 1912, Salafi scholars Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib and Abd al-Fattah al-Qatlan had begun working with Riḍā and their Salafiyya Bookstore was relocated and merged into Riḍā's Manar Bookstore. He was also invited that year to Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama by Nadwatul Ulama leader Shibli Nomani. The seminary's goals were compatible with Salafism and Riḍā did two lectures at their Lucknow campus, where he met several influential Ahl-i Hadith scholars. He then visited Darul Uloom Deoband, where he saw Deobandi scholar Anwar Shah Kashmiri give a talk on the Qur'an, hadith, Hanafi fiqh, the Deobandi school, and Indian Islamic revivalist Shah Waliullah Dehlawi. Riḍā highly praised this lecture. From the 1920s onwards Riḍā and his disciples conceptually expanded Salafism in a legal sense. He claimed to use scriptural proofs on legal issues as the Salaf had done. Despite promoting the non-madhab or pre-madhab approach to Islamic law, Riḍā and his followers did not dismiss the classical system of fiqh. They maintained that all four schools of law were virtuous, and promoted reconciliation between them, while still condemning sectarianism between schools. In a 1913 article in al-Manar, Riḍā declared Najd as the region in which Salafi theology was most widespread. In the 1920s, he and his students identified themselves as following a "Salafi approach" in jurisprudence, thereby widening Salafi paradigm to impact the realm of law. In 1922–23, he published a series of articles in al-Manar titled The Caliphate or the Supreme Imamate, where he proposed gradualist measures of education, reformation, and purification through Salafism. ==Death==

Islamic scholar 'Abd al-Qadir Al-Maghribi in early 1935 C.E Riḍā died on the return trip from Suez to Cairo after seeing off King ibn Sa'ud. The Sheikh of al-Azhar, Mustafa al Maraghi, remarked that Rida had three main opponents: Muslim modernists, non-Muslims, and religious obscurantists. Egyptian hadith scholar and Rida's disciple, Ahmad Shakir wrote: == Views ==

Tawhid Rida's vision of tawhid formed the central theme of his reformist teachings, as he believed it was supported by rationality and opposed all forms of superstitious beliefs, oppression, and ignorance. Later Muslims' deviation from pure tawhid as practiced by the Salaf, Rida argued, led to their decline and subjugation. Echoing ibn Taymiyyah, Riḍā also condemned the practice of tawassul as religious innovation. Riḍā called for the destruction of tombs and structures built above graves and banning practices associated with grave veneration, which he condemned as polytheism. Among these acts were worshipping creatures as deities besides God; believing God granted part of his divine powers or shares aspects of his dominion with the humans; and believing in the lordship of God, but worshipping worldly beings, such as seeking aid from the dead during sorrow. Muhammad Abduh, Rashid Rida's early mentor, had adopted an Ash'ari methodology of metaphorical and interpretive view of what he viewed as potentially anthropomorphic descriptions of attributes of God. Rashid Riḍā, who was advocating Salafi theology after the First World War, began writing lengthy refutations of his teachers views. In his commentary to Risalah al Tawhid, he criticized Abduh for straying away from the literalist Salafi approach. In response to Abduh's statement that the most important aspect of tawhid was belief in "God's oneness in His essence and the creation of the universes"; Riḍā remarked that Abduh failed to mention tawḥīd al-ʾulūhiyyah, the view of Allah as the only god, and disagreed with Abduh's stance on divine attributes. As a Salafi, Riḍā pushed back against the Ash'ari and Maturidite schools and advocated the traditionalist doctrine of Qur'anic letters, recitation, and voice being uncreated (ghayr Makhluq) word of God, a belief based on the works of ibn Taymiyyah. In Riḍā's editions of Abduh's works, his views that contradicted traditionalist creed were either deleted or critiqued in commentaries to conform to Salafi doctrines. Tajdid and taqlid Riḍā believed that the early Muslims' upholding of tawhid and sunnah were the primary reasons for their spiritual and material success. He praised their independence, free from blind adherence and motivated by Quranic teachings. He believed Muslim decline began after the end of the Islamic caliphates in the 13th century, when the Arab rule, and the influence of their adherence to sunnah, ended. Riḍā also believed that non-Arab rulers engaged in religiously-harmful innovation and superstition. Based on his reading of hadith, he believed that a second Islamic victory was prophesised and undertook initiatives for global revivalism as a result. Riḍā travelled to Europe only once, on political grounds; he did not speak English or other European languages. He disliked the social life and was critical of Christianity. Despite this, he had a robust sensitivity to challenges faced by Muslims in the modern world. He believed that the inner decay of Muslims, as well as the efforts by the Catholic Church, prevented Europeans from embracing Islam. He wanted Muslims to accept aspects of modernity only to the extent to which it was essential for the recovery of Islamic strength. He considered it a duty for Muslims to study modern science and technology. He repeatedly urged legal experts and the scholars to come together and produce modernised legal works based directly from the Qur'an and hadith in a way that was accessible for all believers. and was especially critical of what he considered taqlid (blind following) of excessive Sufism, which he believed to have distorted the original message of Islam. He encouraged both laymen and scholars to read and study directly the primary sources of Islam by themselves. This principle enabled Riḍā to examine contemporary subjects through a modern lens. He believed that the "fragmentation of Muslims into sects and parties" resulting from taqlid was particularly harmful and would lead to worship of someone other than God, which was in direct contradiction of tawhid. Theologically Riḍā argued that rigid adherence to madhāhib prevented Muslims from thinking independently and prohibited their right to access the Scriptures directly. This enabled tyrants, supported by corrupt scholars, to justify oppression and preserve their rule. He also believed that hadiths regarding the Saved Sect referred to the ahl al-Ittiba, the people who followed proof-texts. He considered those who were pro-''mad'hab to be innovators and thus dangerous to Islam. Despite this, he did not ignore the legacy of the four mad'habs'' and viewed their legal literature as a resource from which he derived rulings, adapting to changing circumstances. Although he placed The Four Imams at the peak of juristic excellence, he claimed that ibn Taymiyyah was more relevant for contemporary Muslims in practice. Riḍā's criticism of taqlid extended beyond sharia and Islamic theology to include socio-political developments. He believed these associations and the consequent partisanship influenced ''mad'hab affiliations and fanaticism. He was more critical of al-Mutafarnijun, Europeanised emulators who he regarded as guilty of taqlid for abandoning the path of the Salaf. While the madhab partisans are influenced by administrative positions of power and promote governmental interests, the Mutafarijun'' divided the Muslim community based on differences in language, nationality, and geography, and conceived new identities within the nation-states, which Riḍā considered significantly more harmful. Secularism and modernism Riḍā believed that the management of state affairs and its principles were an integral part of Islamic faith. Accordingly, he called for the restoration of an Islamic caliphate and waged fierce battles against secularist trends that emerged during the 20th century. He considered calls for separation of religion and state to be the most dangerous threat to Islam. Riḍā admired ibn Taymiyyah and ibn Abd al-Wahhab in particular and was inspired to adopt a more conservative and orthodox outlook. Riḍā disagreed with Sidqi's beliefs that hadith was prone to corruption due to flawed transmission and that Muslims should rely solely on the Qur'an, which Riḍā took as a minimisation of Muhammad's importance. He believed modernists had gone too far into Westernism in their reformist attempts, leading Muslims to lose their faith. He used the Qur'anic term Jahiliyya to refer to ignorance of pre-Islamic Arabia and the conditions of contemporary Muslims, and believed that governance not adhering to sharia was apostasy. This idea would become a major rationale behind the armed Jihad of future militant organisations. Riḍā believed that a society that properly obeyed sharia would be successfully resistant to both capitalism and class-based socialism, since this ideal society would be immune to temptations. He dismissed modernist advocacy of cultural synthesis, emphasizing the self-sufficiency and comprehensiveness of Islamic faith. His aggressive rejection of Westernisation eventually led to the formation of transnational Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami. Anti-Zionism and antisemitism Riḍā published an article condemning Zionism in 1898, making him one of the earliest scholarly critics of the movement. He warned that the Jewish people were being mobilised to migrate to Palestine with European backing to establish a Zionist state, and urged Arabs to take action, In his 1929 treatise Thawrat Filastin (The Palestinian Revolution), he claimed that the Jewish people were historically fanatic observers of in-group solidarity and exclusivity, and refused to assimilate with other cultures. Riḍā listed a number of historical crimes against the Israelites including polytheism, usury, and offenses against the prophets of Islam. He claimed that God was punishing them for this by taking away their kingdom and subjecting them to centuries of Christian persecution. In one of his final texts, published in 1935, Riḍā told Muslims to unite and "take the path traced by our ancestors, who defeated the Jewish in the first epoch [of Islam] and expelled them from the Arabian Peninsula." Riḍā viewed the Zionist enterprise as part of a wider British imperial scheme to consolidate their regional dominion and provoke civil strife among Muslims. Riḍā propagated antisemitic stereotypes and conspiracy theories that would later become popular across the Arab world and various Islamist movements. He believed Jewish people were controlling the Western banking system and were behind turning Christian states against Muslims. He wrote that the establishment of a Jewish state was preparation for the arrival of their Messiah, which Riḍā thought to be the anti-Christ and would be killed by Jesus, the true Messiah in Islam. He believed that Jewish people were competent only in the financial sector and required British military backing to make up for their inadequate skills in other areas. He also claimed the Jewish people were a "selfish and chauvinist, cunning and perfidious" people who sought to exploit and exterminate other people. Riḍā believed that the term "freemason" itself referred to the re-construction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. He claimed and emphasized that while the founders of Freemasonry came from both Judaism and Christianity, the Jewish people led and dominated the movement. He also argued that Jewish people wielded immense influence over the Committee of Union and the treasury of the Ottoman Empire. Within two years of the Young Turk Revolution, Riḍā convinced that the Ottoman Empire had succumbed to a "Zionist-Masonic influence." In spite of this, Rida did promote efforts to reconcile between Muslims and Christians. Habib Jamati said in his eulogy for Riḍā that Riḍā "had also befriended Christians and struggled alongside them for their common nation." Shi'ism and Baháʼí Riḍā gradually became a sharp critic of Shi'ism throughout his life. In a 1929 book, he wrote that he was once willing to work with the balanced reformers among Shias but that the situation has changed. He alleged that they "worship the dead," attributing to their incessionary practices towards Awliyaa in their shrines. He called upon Shias to condemn these practices and, while he did not censure all Shias, he left them with few options but to comply. Pan-Islamic unity was still conceivable, but it had to be on Salafi terms. In 1927, following heightened communal tensions, al-Manar published a series of anti-Shi'i articles written by Riḍā's disciple Muhammad Taqi ud din al-Hilali. Rida condemned the Shia for "supporting the Tatar and Crusader invasions" and alleged that Raafidi doctrines were formulated by a Jewish-Zoroastrian conspiracy aimed at "perverting Islam and weakening the Arabs." Riḍā considered the Baháʼí Faith to be a completely separate religion from Islam with its own laws. He thought they to be polytheists and esotericists pretending to be Muslim and that they were a destructive internal threat to Islam. He saw Abduh's friendship with Baháʼí leader 'Abdu'l-Baha Abbas as a betrayal to Islam. Women Riḍā believed that men and women were treated equally in Islam in terms of spiritual obligations and their ability to earn God's favor. To support Islamic gender roles, which defined a woman's position in both household and society, he pointed to issues such as sexual freedom, women's exploitation in the workplace, and the rising cases of illegitimate children, which he thought were all creating problems in European societies. He believed these gender roles represented the proper solution to these social problems, and that, while men are heads of the household, Muslim women were allowed to choose a spouse and were clearly given stipulated rights and responsibilities in a marriage. He also asserted that consent from the male guardian of a woman was essential for a marriage to be valid, since it stabilised the domestic order and befits the honor of both women and men. He criticised followers of the Hanafi school who didn't adhere to this stipulation as bigoted partisans to ''mad'habs'' guilty of abandoning the Qur'an and sunnah in favour of their law schools. Riḍā encouraged Muslim women to participate in the social life of Islam as they did in earlier Islamic eras, but stressed that men were more capable and superior in terms of strength, intelligence, learning, and physical labour, which is why they have legal guardianship over women. However, like a ruler over his subjects, male authority should be exercised through shura and that they should strive to be like Muhammad, who exemplified kind treatment of wives. Riḍā also defended Islamic slavery, asserting that it protected women from harm and gave everyone chance to bear children, and therefore is not in conflict with justice. Riḍā wrote that every woman should have a legal guardian, so that women who are "prevented from being wife or mother [are] not thereby prevented from enjoying protection and honour." He felt that Muslim men, but not Muslim women, could marry non-Muslims to expand the reach of Islam. On riba Riḍā considered that certain types of usury (riba) may be permitted in certain cases, such as extreme poverty or larger public interest. He was influenced by both ibn Qayyim and Abduh in his beliefs about riba, though some of the beliefs he glossed from Abduh were tweaked to fit his agenda. Riḍā believed that only the first increase in a termed loan was permissible in sharia, classifying it as riba al-fadl, a term used by ibn Qayyim. Based on his analysis of the reports in Tafsir al Tabari that described the practice of riba during the pre-Islamic period, Riḍā distinguished the former from the usury practised during the pre-Islamic period (Ribā Âl-Jāhilīyyá). However, he considered any further increase in returns or postponement of maturity date unlawful. Riḍā wrote that riba rendered capitalism fundamentally at odds with an Islamic system as it directly violated Divine command. When state-sponsored Turkish translations of the Qur'an in the newly established Turkish Republic were published in 1924, Riḍā characterised the project as a long-term plot to displace the Arabic Qur'an and to tamper with Islamic rituals. He wrote that Mustafa Kemal's regime promoted heretical ideas to undermine Islam and that God "revealed it to the Arabian Prophet Muhammad in the clear Arabic tongue." Riḍā issued a fatwa prohibiting Qur'anic translations. Among his objections were that identical translation of the Qur'an was impossible; translation would serve to sever "Islamic ties of unity" by stoking racial divisions; and the translation would be lesser in quality, as the reader would be "limited" by the translator's understanding. He was clear, however, that the prohibition was only on translations meant to substitute the Arabic Qur'an. He viewed the Arabic language as the common medium uniting Muslims of all nations and promoted Arabic as an integral pillar of his reform efforts and later issued a fatwa stipulating that knowledge of Arabic is obligatory for every Muslim. However, he expanded the legal realm of the ibadah to incorporate personal and civil laws, including marriage and divorce. Riḍā divided muamalat into moral issues and morally irrelevant issues. The former are similar to ibadat rules, moral norms defined by God, therefore making them unchangeable. Violators of these rules, he thought, were sinful transgressors. The latter could be solved through the process of analogical reasoning, or Qiyas, which is a fundamental principle necessary for the relevant application to the law. Medieval jurists such as al-Qarafi and ibn Taymiyya considered istislah as a logical extension of Qiyas, whereby a consideration of utility neither explicitly enjoined nor excluded by the revealed texts would be assumed as a valid basis for judgment. Riḍā adopted this rationale, acknowledging that conclusions of istislah were not legally binding as a firmly-grounded Qiyas (as opposed to Qiyas without precise textual basis), as "no individual is entitled to require or forbid others to perform an act without Divine authorization". Overturning muamalat rulings were predicated on the condition of compulsion (darurah) and were only to be undertaken by a competent jurist, who may derive the appropriate ruling based on his ijtihad. Drawing on Hanbali and Shafi'i legal traditions that supported the continuity of ijtihad, Riḍā employed its doctrine into practice. He defined the application of ijtihad strictly in terms of "pure adherence to the provisions of the Qur'an and sunnah and upon the understanding of the Salaf" and restricted its scope by enforcing the authority of scholarly consensus. He called upon all Muslims to unite by taking the Salaf as their role models. Early issues of al-Manar emphasized the virtues of the Salaf and extolled their feats, such as their intellectual dynamism and especially the early Islamic conquests. Riḍā believed that the period of the early Muslim community epitomized pristine Islam to its perfection. However, Riḍā was clear in specifying that general principles cannot supersede clear-cut texts. He stated that a soundly transmitted Scriptural text could only be superseded by a specific text which is more superior or by general texts of Qur'an and authentic hadiths that allow believers to prevent damage to themselves or to commit prohibited actions in a state of emergencies. He wrote that this permission was only valid during cases of extreme necessity and that the degree of allowance was proportional to the scope of necessity. Maintaining that Revealed texts were superior to maslaha, Rida's legal approach towards them was based on the criterion and mechanisms elaborated by classical jurists such as al-Shatibi and al-Tufi. In addition, Riḍā's legal doctrine continued the juristic traditions of a number of prominent jurists between the 10th and 14th centuries such as al-Ghazali, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, al-Qarafi, and ibn Taymiyyah. During these four centuries, Islamic jurists had commonly employed maslaha as an amenity for legal resolution and juristic dynamism. As Riḍā saw it, the classical jurists had sufficiently elaborated the "philosophical, moral and hermeneutical controls" for valid use of the principles of maslaha. Riḍā credited al-Ghazali and al-Shatibi for his revivalism of maslaha, which revamped the principle within the traditional legal framework of Qiyas. Riḍā's doctrines were later extended by modernists to uphold maslaha as an independent legal source, making Qiyas dispensable and formulating positive laws directly on utilitarian grounds, for the "wisdom behind the Revealed Laws is no longer inscrutable," which created new implications. Riḍā vehemently denounced these ideas and Egyptian lawyer Ahmed Safwat for promoting "non-adherence" to the Qur'an and sunna, in particular matters in the name of public utility. Though Riḍā believed that mujtahids were obliged to take a broad view of all considerations affecting the public interest, "textual limits" had to be respected. The general public was obliged to follow the qualified mujtahids unquestionably on wordly Transactions and their consensus was a legal source (''hujja shar'iyya''). Politics Riḍā believed that problems faced by Muslims required political reform and his anti-imperialism was characterized by radical pan-Islamist stances. Riḍā contended that those who engaged in defence of Islam, its propagation, and its teaching should not engage in politics, in line with orthodox Sunni doctrine, though he was also vehemently against secularist calls for separation of religion and state. He criticized Islamic scholars for compromising their integrity, and the integrity of the Islamic law, by associating with corrupt worldly powers. In advocating the restoration of the caliphate, he reiterated the unity of both the spiritual and temporal aspects of Islam, which was in direct opposition to the emerging tides of secularism across the Arab and Turkish worlds. He suggested conditions necessary for the revival of the ideal caliphal rule and proposed ways to prevent the return to the Ottoman imperial system. Instead of criticising Sufism based on its perceived role in the Islamic historical scheme, Riḍā opposed Sufis because he considered their activities to be innovations without textual precedents or any sanction in the practices of the earliest generations. Riḍā opposed secularist criticisms accusing religion of being responsible for wars and human suffering, asserting that the materialist and irreligious conceptions of humanity were the prime instigators of warfare and bloodshed throughout history. In Riḍā's view, wars were an integral component of human history, and Islamic law regulated conflicts to just wars based on the doctrine of Jihad. He praised the religious campaigns of Muhammad and Rashidun Caliphate as an exemplary model of Jihad to be emulated against the European imperial powers. He saw Jihad as a binding duty for all capable male Muslims, not only to defend the religion but also to bring non-Muslims into the Islamic faith. However, since the obligation of Jihad could only be fulfilled by strong men, the more immediate task was to acquire scientific and technical knowledge. Riḍā nonetheless distinguished between wars to spread Islam (Jihad al-Talab) and wars to defend Islam (Jihad al-Daf). While the latter was always obligatory, the expansion of Islam into non-Muslim territories was not obligatory unless Muslims were not allowed to live according to sharia or unless Islamic preaching efforts were hampered by the non-Muslim state. Riḍā's final substantial treatise, The Muhammadan Revelation (al-Waḥī al-Muḥammadī), published in 1933, was a manifesto in which he proclaimed that Islam was the only saviour for the deteriorating West. Insisting that Islam called for the unity of all people, opposing all forms of racist hierarchies that were responsible for the World War I and the corrupted League of Nations, Riḍā presented a Universal Islamic Order as a substitute for the crumbling Wilsonian system. == Influence and legacy ==

Rashid Riḍā is widely regarded as one of "the ideological forefathers" of contemporary Islamist movements Some Salafi Purists criticise Riḍā for straying from quietist Salafi principles. The pro-government Madkhali Salafists condemn Riḍā for his influence on Salafi activists, Islamists, and Salafi-Jihadists. Others, however, including Salafi scholars such as Albani, generally praise him and popularised his treatises in Jordan, while also making commentaries on Rida's works. Ali al-Halabi, a disciple of Albani, has praised Riḍā for his contributions to Salafi revival in Jordan. Salafi activists (harakis) also used Riḍā's works to build a revivalist platform focused on Islamic socio-political and cultural reforms (Islah) with a long-term objective to establish an Islamic state. Prominent figures in this rival camp include Abu Hanieh, Safar al-Hawali, Abu Qatada, Muhammad Surur, and Abdurrahman Abdulkhaliq. Abu Qatada and Abu Hanieh established a Jordan-based movement known as Ahl Al-Sunnah Wal Jama'a and published a new al-Manar magazine to commemorate Riḍā's monthly publication. Riḍā's political doctrines deeply influenced Islamists like Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, as well as subsequent fundamentalist movements across the Arab world. Al-Banna was highly influenced by Riḍā's Salafism movement as well his pan-Islamist activities through socio-political means to re-generate an Islamic state and established the Muslim Brotherhood, a mass political party which sought to establish an Islamic state in Egypt within the existing constitutional framework. The movement demanded the Egyptian government to recognize sharia as the supreme source of law and remove the European law codes. Riḍā's Islamic state theory was adopted by Usama Bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, who followed the terminology used by Riḍā and later by Hasan al-Banna to differentiate between an Islamic State and the caliphate. In contrast to other Islamist movements like Hizb ut-Tahrir, who believed the caliphate to be the only valid government, the two Al-Qaeda leaders believed in the legitimacy of multiple Islamic national states, referring to them as Emirates, such as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, until the 1990s, when, according to Bin Laden, it lost legitimacy. Riḍā's strategy to establish an Islamic State is also believed to have influenced ISIS in their 2014 declaration of caliphate in Mosul. Under Saudi rule, Sufi institutions in Mecca were closed and replaced with Riḍā's Salafi comrades and Najdi scholars. In 1961, the Islamic University of Medina was founded and served as an international seminary for the propagation of Salafi ''da'wa''. Riḍā's efforts were instrumental in fostering the modern transnational network of Salafi scholarship across the world. Early Salafi Egyptian scholars built extensive relations with Wahhabi scholars through education, travel, and religious gatherings. These scholars would continue writing to condemn innovations and various Sufi practices within the theological framework laid down by ibn Taymiyyah, the Najdis, and Riḍā. Their organisation, Ansar al-Sunnah al Muhammadiyyah, became the bastion of Salafism schooling in Egypt. Riḍā and his Salafi disciples also formed the Young Men's Muslim Association (YMMA), an Islamist youth organisation that spearheaded attacks against liberalism and Western cultural trends, in the 1920s. In his treatise The Exoneration written in response to Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Salafi-jihadist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri cited Riḍā's anti-colonial fatwa, which he issued to condemn the Tunisian naturalization issue, to argue that a Muslim who applies for Western citizenship by his own choice is guilty of non-belief. Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi described Riḍā as "the true mujaddid of Islam of his time" and viewed him as the most prominent scholar who advocated traditionalism in contemporary Islamic history. Qaradawi described Rida's thought as a "lighthouse" that "guided the ship of Islam in modern history". The Egyptian Salafi hadith scholar Ahmad Shakir conferred the title of Hujjat al-Islam to Riḍā and extolled his Qur'anic commentary Tafsir al-Manar as a "real defense of religion" in the contemporary era, encouraging everyone to read it and spread its message. Riḍā's religious efforts not only influenced the Arab world, but also made major impact in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Riḍā received requests for fatwas from his followers in Indonesia and Southeast Asia and answered them through al-Manar. These fatwas were regarded by the indigenous reform-oriented scholars as their main source of inspiration and became influential in shaping the intellectual thought of religious circles in 20th century Indonesia, introducing them to Salafi reformist ideals. Riḍā was an important source for many 20th century Salafi scholars, including al-Hilali, al-Khatib, al-Qasimi, ibn Uthaymin, Abdur Razzaq Malihabadi, Vakkam Abdul Qadir Moulavi, and, most notably, al-Albani. ==Selected works==

Published works by Riḍā include: • ''Tarikh al-Ustaz al-Imam al-Shaykh Muhammad 'Abduh'' – a three-volume biography of Muhammad Abduh • ''Nida' lil Jins al-Latif or Huqkq al-Mar'ah fi al-Islam'' (A Call to the Fair Sex) • Al-Wahy al-Muhammadi – rational and historical proofs indicating that the Qur'an is a Divine Revelation • Dhikra al-Mawlid al-Nabawi – summary of a Prophetic biography • Al-Wahda al-Islamiiyya (Islamic Unity) (initially Muhawarat al-Muslih wa al-Muqallid; Debates between the Reformer and the Imitator) • ''Al-Sunna wa al-Shari'a'' (The Prophetic Tradition and Islamic Law) • Al-Muslimin wa al-Qibt (Muslims and the Copts) • Al-Wahhabiyyun wa al-Hijaz (The Wahhabites and the Hijaz) ==See also==