WHAT
IS ISLAM? Part 4 cocontd from Part-3 Islamic Society This was ISLAM that Muhammad (pbuh) presented to the world. He (pbuh) established it as a system with his unprecedented practical deeds. The exposition of this "unprecedented practical deeds" is that the Messenger Muhammad (pbuh) used to present this Deen to the people on argumentative reasoning. He (pbuh) used to make the people understand its purpose and rationale. He (pbuh) used to answer the objections of the opponents on pursuits of knowledge, wisdom and intellect. He (pbuh) used to invite their reflective thinking. Those who accepted it willingly -from the core of their heart -he (pbuh) used to associate them in his group of people. This was the party that established the society of Deen. This was the modern society he (pbuh) developed. This society, within a few days, brought bright and brilliant results. And the results provided living proof of its truthfulness to the entire world. Likewise its establishment, its frontiers expanded and the world at large saw a system where 'no one was subordinate to any one, nor was dependent; where every one used to live a life of freedom and dignity operating within the boundary walls of Laws of Allah'. This was the freedom that paid to develop the human potentialities enabling the man to march on the higher evolutionary stage of life. This is called the streamlining of the Hereafter. In the system of Deen, there was no concept of monarchy, capitalism, monasticism, or priesthood. On the contrary, the attributes of this society were paying respect to the man, keeping dignity and honour, and maintaining criterion of status in the society. In such a society (in the words of Hazrat Omar Farooque) 'the mightiest was the weakest till he is made to pay the due to the oppressed' and 'the weakest among the weak was the mightiest of the might till he gets his deprived right'. This all leads us to conclude that Islam is the System of life in which: 1. All the deficiencies of the human are made good and he develops his potentialities to the optimum 2. The human remains safe and secure from misery and devastation in life 3. He goes on ascending to the higher planes of his evolutionary stages of life 4. He remains at peace and reconciled from within by living peaceably. 5. The human marches forward as a pioneer for establishing peace and reconciliation in the world. 6. In the journey of life he enjoy a walk in perfect harmony with other members of the society and never commits anything that excites or irritates others for disrupting the balance of the society But this all can only be possible when: * The human submits completely to the Laws of Allah; not by his head but also by his heart * The human carries out this all with optimal temperance and perfect balance, manifesting no laxing or taxing. In this way all his efforts will bear fruit and none of his actions will go waste * Balance and proportion will develop not only in the fiber of his own personality but also in the entire society This is the only style of life, of which it has been said unequivocally in the Quran in Surah Aal-e-Imran, Verse 85: Contrary to it, whosoever adopts a style other than this, will never produce such results; and he will be a loser in the long run. This style is the other name of complying with the Qura'n. Surah Taahaa, Verse 47 in the Quran says: And peace will be for him who follows Al Huda, the Revelation. What Happened to Islam Later on? This was Islam that Allah prescribed for the man as a system of life. What happened with it? What did this "nation, the so called collection of Muslims" do with this Islam? It ignored each and every article of this system and replaced it with man made religion, where monarchy, capitalism, monasticism, priesthood came in full-blown. Very briefly it can be said that every element, which Islam came to abolish, one by one paved way into it. Its result was that the worldly matters of the people came in the hands of those who were at the helm of affairs in the government machinery and Islam was transformed into religion. This religion became a collection of a few theoretical beliefs and a commotion of traditions. Then started discussions on Beliefs. These discussions included the following thematic issues (and the differences on these issues led way to blood shed): - Is Adam's soul, in real sense, Allah's soul or separate from Him? - Are Allah's attributes old or new? - Is the Quran created or non-created? - Can God intend against His own intentions or not? - Are the humans the creators of their own deeds or not? - Can God tell a lie or not? - Will the people of the Heaven see God or not? - Is Allah eligible to decrease the blessings of the people of Heaven and the chastisement of the people of Hell? - Does belief increase or decrease? - Does reward and Sawaab rest on the wish of God or on the deeds of the man? - What is the length and breadth of Hauz-e-Kauser? - What is the volume of the 'cups' of the Heaven? - What is the length of the bunch of grapes of the Heaven? These were the discussions of the beliefs. Then started the academic issues. These included: - Fist-equal-length of Miswak creates haemorrhoids (piles) - Chewing Miswak makes man blind - How much water of the well is to be drained out if a piece of tail of the mouse falls into it? - Is the urine of the mouse sacred or not? - Should the swine that falls in salt mine and turns-to-be salt is eaten or not? - Is selling of slave girl's milk fair or not? - How many bowls of water is used for taking Ghusal (necessary bath)? - To what extent should the hands reach in doing Masah of the head? - Does the prayer become unapproved if no difference is made in pronouncing Zaad and zuaie, zuaie and saad, seen, tuaie and tay in the recitation? These were the issues of beliefs, theoretical in nature and meaningless in scope that wasted the nation's energies, time and money. And the nation is still entangled in these theoretical problems. Today the entangling in the theoretical issues is named as 'service to the Deen' and a 'great jihad in the service of Deen'. Just gloss over the situation that prevails today and compare 'what Islam was when it was presented' and 'what it has become today'. But there is nothing to worry. We have the Quran with us today. We can work to establish Deen as a system of life. Then we can achieve the greatness we, as Muslims, achieved in the past. ***
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