“This distinction matters because Deen, as a complete way of life, implies that everyday, and all general actions, all occupations, can be made into acts of ibadah (worship) based on intention.”

Introducing Occupational Science to Muslim Occupations: towards decolonial praxis

by Hendricks, Galvaan & Ninowy

Rabbish rahli sadri wa yassirli amri 
wah lul uqdatan min lisaani, yaf kahu kauli

It is customary to start any address to an audience with these words of supplication privately or publicly. These words were uttered by Prophet Moosa Alayhi assalam, or Prophet Moses Peace and blessings be upon Him as he addressed the Pharoah. Translated into English it may mean, “My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance] and ease for me my task and untie the knot from my tongue that my speech is understood.”

I wrestled with whether I should start today’s share reciting these words publicly or silently in the academy, and began to ask myself why. 

As introductions go, introducing Muslim occupations to Occupational Science, I wondered why I wanted to recite the supplication quietly from people hearing me, here, today, in this moment in time, a sort of self filter, or masking from “being differently”? 

What about my westernized and colonial, apartheid education has made it so, to conjure up these thoughts and feelings, these filters, to quiet, to bring to shyness, for bringing to mind, the call upon God, in this space or the place, where the schisms between the so-called secular, and the religious, tango and tousle with each other. Ah apartheid and colonialism, that great thief that has trapped the multiplexities and pluralities into the singularity, the superior, the exceptional. 

My co-presenters Prof Roshaan Galvaan and Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya al-Ninowy and I, begin by sharing this anecdote, as we highlight some of the work that is called to in decolonial praxis of action and reflection, as we wrestle with the work of recovering, restoring, renewing, rediscovering, and re-articulating rich and diverse perspectives.

The purpose of today’s paper, is perspective making, joining the chorus of the many folks here at the conference in the making of voice, in the kaleidoscope of occupation, as we present our journey in introducing religious practices as Muslim occupations.

Our work is based on an upcoming paper in JOS entitled Tensions in describing Muslim religious practices: Insights generated from an Islamic monotheist perspective. 

Persons who self-identify as Muslims practice the religion of Islam and, although they constitute a quarter of the globe’s population (Pew Research Center, 2015), at 1.6 billion people and hereby cautioning myself from any claims of the mono cultural, mono epistemic and monolithic as there are 1.6 billion interpretations to being Muslim.

However, amongst the experiences shared are silencing, marginalization, or erasure, and has been recognized as “a multidimensional attempt to restore Western cultural practices as universal” (Sayyid, 2003, p. 285) and ‘Other’ Muslims in their beliefs, bodies, roles, routines, habits through using religion (Abbasi, 2020). It perpetuates divides through multiple, hierarchical relationships between so called knowledge bearers, knowing, and being (Maldonado-Torres, 2007). 

Using a qualitative research design, we generated data from critical reflections and explicated the tensions experienced and identified during an academic project describing Muslim religious practices in occupational science. 

What we acknowledged in trying to describe Muslim Occupations, was that descriptions of religious practices as human occupation (Jones, 2004) have tended to separate theological meaning from doing by offering an occupational exploration dissociated from its theological elements (Eyres, 2020). 

Recognizing this fracture, given the vastness of everyday occupations underpinned by religious intent, and more specific religious practices, such as the daily Call to Prayer (Adhan), to the Salah (Prayer) performed 5 times a day or more, to the Ghusl (Ritual Bathing), to the Wudhu or ablution, to the Hajj pilgrimage, why is it that we understand so little? 

Our work seeks to shed light on an Islamic monotheistic worldview and in doing so wrestle with cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) in how tensions arise in understanding occupation when action and meaning are separated through spiritual and religious schisms, and religious and non-religious practices. We seek to understand how different viewpoints of human occupation that value the theological influence meaning-making as a collective.

Although describing Islam as a religion is commonplace, it is insufficient. Religion is defined as a system of beliefs, worships, and rituals; whilst Deen, as Islam is preferably described, is a comprehensive way of life that includes all of individual and collective life. The use of Deen and religion interchangeably instigates a homogenous understanding and blurring, which glosses over the distinct differences between these concepts. From an occupational perspective, this distinction matters because Deen, as a complete way of life, implies that everyday, and all general actions, all occupations, can be made into acts of ibadah (worship) based on intention.

Therefore, we reflect on generating knowledge from within Islamic ontology and epistemology, resisting the tendency to write from the margins about Islam, from the perspective of Islam as a comprehensive way of life or deen.

At the core of this introduction, is understanding 

Who is Allah? We realize that there is an absence of an Islamic monotheist ontology in our writings in occupational science even though it permeates our understanding and participation in occupations. In Islamic monotheism, God is referred to as Allah. Allah is the same God of Adam, Moses, Abraham, Noah and Jesus Peace Be Upon Them All. Allah is understood to be mawjūd al-awwal, which means “He is the One whose existence is without beginning, and nothing was before him” (Surah al-Hadeed, S57:V3). By definition, Allah is The Creator – definitionally meaning He is uncreated, and everything else is Creation. He is eternal without beginning, everlasting without end, not part of his creation and not subject to change. This is the basis of Islamic ontology which we refer to as Multiplex ontology, drawing on the work of philosopher Al-Ghazali from the 11th century. Typically we have the physical and metaphysical as categories however multiplex ontology removes Allah from the metaphysical and places Allah in the Divine category. As the metaphysical typically places metaphysical created beings and the Uncreated, i.e. Allah in the same category.

This belief in Allah influences why and how we perform our occupations and the meanings and purpose in everyday life. When we open ourselves to embrace an Islamic monotheist multiplex ontology, we can draw on interconnected, enriched understandings and fullness in relating to, connecting to, and knowing from and about Allah. 

What is the Quran?

The Quran is Kalamullah (the word of Allah) (al-Tahawi, 10th century/2017) revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) via Archangel Jibreel over a period of 23 years. Viewed as the final revelation, the Quran is the final message following previous revelations to the messengers: the Torah to Prophet Musa, Zabur to Prophet Dawood/David, and Injeel to Prophet Esa/Jesus (Peace and Blessings be Upon Them). It thus offers connections with earlier messages as a culmination of the divine message that clarifies the nature of divine reality and inspires purpose to humanity (AI-Ahqaf, S46:V9). 

The Quran was passed on through an oral tradition from narrator to narrator by memorizing its original form. This oral form was later scribed, and through this successive and continuous process, it has remained unchanged for over 1400 years. This mass transmission of the Quran as memorized in hearts, recited on tongues, and heard with ears, contributes to a certainty that its contents reflect Allah’s revelation and thus is undisputed (Al-Ghazali, 11th century/2019). The power of oral traditions in transmitting knowledge is revered and serves as a reputable source of counsel when needed in making decisions or understanding occupations in everyday life, and forms part of Multiplex Epistemology.

What is the Sunnah? 

The message of the Quran is embodied in the practical example offered by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The character and behaviour of the Prophet (PBUH) has been referred to as “the walking Quran”; that is, “Wa ma ‘allamnahu shi’ra wa ma yanbaghee lahu, in huwa illa dhikrun wa Quranun Mubeen”, which in English may mean “We have not taught him (Prophet Muhammad PBUH) poetry, nor it is befitting for him. He (Prophet Muhammad PBUH) is not but Dhikr (Remembrance/Praise) and the Clear Quran” (Surah YaSin, S36:V69). Hence, the Quran provides the everyday application of the traditions and practices that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. This is called the Prophetic Sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH); namely, what was done (actions and behaviours), what was approved of or what was said (reasoning and guidance offered). 

Observations and recollections of the Sunnah as the prophetic example of excellence were systematically collected and documented as Hadith by the Prophet’s companions. This developed into a field of study called Hadith Sciences. The chain of transmission describing the Hadith is called the isnad and verifies the historical authenticity of the prophetic practice.

So, what does this all mean?

Our ways of knowing include divine revelation which is based on the primary sources of Quran and the authentic Sunnah (Prophetic example) as recorded in the hadith (narrations) and sources of reason, senses, and spiritual unveiling. We draw on multiplex ontology, multiplex epistemology and the conception of the human being with a mind, body and a soul. Senturk, a Turkish scholar, refers to multiplex epistemology as marâtib al-ulûm (multiplex epistemology) (Şentürk et al., 2020).

In describing Muslim occupations, we draw upon these types of knowledge which are not mutually exclusive nor alternatives; rather, complementary to each other. 

Multiplex epistemology differs from uniplex epistemology which engages one level of existence (material or ideal) and source of knowledge such as observation or interpretation. In Multiplex epistemology, ways of knowing are multiplex or multi-dimensional; that is, revelation (wahy), empirical (hissiyat) – sense data, rational/logical (‘aqliyyat), reported (reflexive) (naqliyyat), spiritual/sufi/inner experience (kashfiyyat) and used complementarily.

From this multiplexity, we have the multiplex theory of human action, where the primary source of the agency of human action is the soul/metaphysical heart. This work is under development so we intentionally glimpse over this. Suffice to say, we are unlearning, learning, soul-searching, we’re curious and it's messy, yet exciting with a lot of work ahead. 

Exploring Muslim occupations built on Multiplex Ontology and Epistemology from the hills and valleys of the Uyghurs of China to the sands of Timbuktu in Mali and the ancient sites of Syria offers great promise across the globe. There is opportunity to explore inherent connections of diverse individual and collective Muslim occupations, the obvious such as pilgrimage, ghusl (ritual bathing), wudhu (ablution), adhan (call to prayer), and dua (supplication), and the not so obvious.

As introductory relationships go, we hope we have started to build dialoguing that bodes well for relational transparency and epistemic vitality for richer ontologic and epistemic perspectives.

Acknowledgements:

This work was collaborative in nature, with shared co-authorship. This work is situated in decolonial praxis in the context of settler colonial contexts. As such we wish to gratefully thank and honor the deep social relations, knowledges and languages that arise from the indigenous lands on which we live, travel and learn. We express our heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed in one way or another.

This presentation was given at the Society for the Study of Occupation SSO Conference | San Diego, USA | Saturday 22 October