Towards
Understanding Islam
Some
may think it pretentious of me to write a foreword
to a book by an Islamic thinker as outstanding in
our time as Mawlana Mawdudi, especially when any
need to introduce the eminent author or his
remarkable book Towards Understanding Islam
has been magisterially fulfilled by Brother Khurshid
Ahmad. Towards Understanding Islam
has already made its mark and this edition is only
an improved English version. However. I can hardly
neglect this opportunity to express our gratitude to
Allah, subhanahu wala'aia for having enabled
us to bring out a new revised version of a book
which has so deeply influenced such a large number
of men and women. Only recently I received a letter
from a friend in Brazil, saying how a leading
journalist had embraced Islam purely because of the
simple and persuasive exposition of the Islamic way
of life in Towards Understanding Islam.
There must be innumerable other examples of a
similar kind and I hope that the book will be even
more effective in its present form.
The
Islamic Foundation envisages a comprehensive plan to
bring the moving and inspiring work of Mawlana
Mawdudi before the world at large. in English and
other major European languages. Towards Understanding
Islam is only the first step and we hope
that other important books by him, certainly some of
the most influential in our age, will soon find
their way to thirsty souls and hungry intellects.
We
pray to Allah to bless our effort with mercy and
acceptance.
13
December, 1979
4 Miiharram 1400 A.H.
K. J. Murad
Director General
AUTHOR'S
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
The
present edition of Towards Understanding Islam is more than a new translation of my
book Risalah Diniyat: it is an
entirely new and revised version. The first edition,
which was rendered into English by the late Dr.
Abdul Ghani (Director of Public Instruction,
Afghanistan), was very brief and sketchy.
Unfortunately, Dr. Abdul Ghani did not live to
improve the translation. I later revised the
original book and made substantial additions to it.
Prof. Khurshid Ahmad, to whom my heartfelt thanks
are due for this labour of love, has now skillfully
translated this revised edition of Risalah Dinivat.
I am confident that the book will serve its purpose
better in this new form.
My
object in writing this book has been to provide all
those Muslims and non-Muslims alike who have
no access to the original sources with a brief
treatise giving a lucid, comprehensive and
all-embracing view of Islam. I have avoided minute
details and endeavoured to portray Islam as a whole
in a single perspective. Apart from staling what we
Muslims believe in and stand for, I have also tried
to explain the rational bases of our beliefs.
Similarly, in presenting the Islamic modes of
worship and the outlines of the Islamic way of life,
I have also tried to unveil the wisdom behind them.
I hope this small treatise will go far towards
satisfying the intellectual cravings of Muslim
youth, and that it will help non-Muslims to
understand our real position.
Lahore ABUL
A'LA
11th September, 1960
It
is a cherished intellectual fashion of our times to
highlight the challenge of secular civilization to
faith and religion. There is however, very little
reflection on the challenge that religion
particularly Islam poses to the sensate culture
of the age. For the last few centuries religion in
the West has been on the defensive, most often
apologetic, at all times making concessions to and
compromises with an approach to life and culture
that is alien to the values and ideals of religion.
The Muslim World has also weathered the global
onslaughts of Western civilization, especially its
politico-economic arm, imperialism, which inflicted
many a dent and deformity. The religious approach to
life and its problems was discarded and the role of
religion in the socio- economic spheres became
minimal. At both the conceptual and operational
levels the faith and religion of all those under
colonial rule, and of the Muslims in particular, was
reduced to a secondary position, if not to one of
total irrelevance. The situation is now changing.
The tide of Imperialism has receded. The Muslim
World, after attaining political independence, is
now engaged in an ideological effort to rediscover
its cultural personality. By drawing upon its own
spiritual and historical sources it is trying to
develop new attitudes and roles for restructuring
its own society and for the establishment of a new
world order. This new resilience in the Muslim World
symbolises the revivalist movement of Islam.
The
Muslims look upon the crisis of the twentieth
century as a crisis of values and believe that the
way out of the human predicament lies in the
construction of a new social order. The real need is
not to seek concessions here and there or to effect
a few changes in the institutional superstructures.
What is needed is a searching re-examination of the
foundations on which the entire structure of society
is built and of the ideals, which the culture
aspires to achieve. The crisis in economic and
political relations is the natural outcome of the
ideals, values and institutions that characterize
modern civilization. Islam, therefore, suggests that
it is only through summoning mankind towards a new
vision of man and society that its house can be set
in order. This calls for a basic change in man's
approach. It is only through a thorough
understanding of the social ideals and values of
religion and a realistic assessment of their
socio-economic situation resources, problems and
constraints that faith-oriented communities can
develop a creative and innovative approach to the
challenges confronting humanity today. This approach
must be ideological. The real objective which
inspires the Muslims is not a package of economic
and political concessions nor even certain changes
in the economic superstructure, but the construction
of a new world order, with its own framework of
ideals, values and foundations. The Western approach
has always assumed that radical change can be
brought about by changing the environment. That is
why emphasis has always been placed on change in
structure. This approach has failed to produce
proper results. It has ignored the need to bring
about change within men and women themselves and has
concentrated on change in the outside world. What is
needed, however, is a total change within people
themselves as well as in their social environment.
The problem is not merely structural, although
structural arrangements would also have to be
remodeled. But the starting point must be the hearts
and souls of men and women, their perception of
reality and of their own place and mission in life.
The Islamic approach to social change takes full
cognizance of these aspects.
Islam
is an Arabic word. It is derived from two
root-words: one Salin, meaning peace and the
other Silm, meaning submission. Islam stands
for "a commitment to surrender one's will to
the Will of God" and thus to be at peace with
the Creator and with all that has been created by
Him. It is through submission to the Will of God
that peace is brought about. Harmonization of man's
will with the Will of God leads to the harmonization
of different spheres of life under an all-embracing
ideal. Departmentalization of life into different
watertight compartments, religious and secular,
sacred and profane, spiritual and material, is ruled
out. There is unity of life and unity of the source
of guidance. As God is One and Indivisible, so is
life and our human personality. Each aspect of life
is inseparable from
the other. Religious
and secular are
not two autonomous categories; they
represent two sides of the same coin. Each and every
act becomes related to God and His guidance. Every
human activity is given a transcendent dimension; it
becomes sacred and meaningful and goal-centred.
Islam
is a worldview and an outlook on life. It is based
on the recognition of the unity of the Creator and
of our submission to His will. Everything originates
from the One God, and everyone is ultimately
responsible to Him. Thus the unity of the Creator
has as its corollary the Oneness of His creation.
Distinctions of race, colour, caste, wealth and
power disappear: our relation with other persons
assumes total equality by virtue of the common
Creator. Henceforth our mission becomes a dedication
to our Creator; worship and obedience to the Creator
becomes our purpose in life.
The
Creator has not left us without guidance for the
conduct of our life. Ever since the beginning of
creation He has sent down Prophets who have conveyed
His message to humanity. They are the source from
which to discover God's Will. Thus we have the chain
of Prophets beginning with Adam (peace be upon him)
and ending with Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Abraham, Moses, Noah, John, Zechariah and Jesus
(peace be upon them) all belong to this golden chain
of Prophets. The Prophets David, Moses, Jesus and
Muhammad (may peace be upon them all), brought
revealed books of guidance with them. The Qur'an,
the Book revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him), is the last and final of these books of
guidance.
The
Qur'an contains the word of God. In it is preserved
the divine revelation, unalloyed by human
interpolation of any kind, unaffected by any change
or loss to the original. In it is distilled the
essence of all the messages sent down in the past.
In it is embodied a framework for the conduct of the
whole of human life. There are explicit criteria for
judging between right and wrong; there are
principles of individual and collective conduct. In
it are depicted the human follies of the past. In it
are warnings for humankind, and in it are assurances
for continued guidance for those who seek God's
help.
The
Qur'an has depicted a path, the Straight Path (Siral
al-Muslaq'lin), which when followed
revolutionizes the whole of life. It brings about a
transformation in character and galvanizes us into
action. This action takes the form of purification
of the self, and then unceasing effort to establish
the laws of God on earth, resulting in a new order
based on truth, justice, virtue and goodness.
Men
and women play a crucial role in the making of this
world. They act as God's vicegerents (Khulofa')His
deputies and representatives on earth. They are
morally prepared to play this role. Success lies in
praying it properly, by enjoining what is right and
for hiding what is wrong, by freeing people from the
bondage of others, by demonstrating that a sound and
serene society can only result if one harmonizes
one's will with the Will of God. This makes seeking
the Creator's pleasure one's purpose in life,
treating the whole of creation as one's partner,
raising the concept of human welfare from the level
of mere animal needs to seeking what is best in this
world and what is best in the Hereafter.
This
is the Islamic worldview, and its concept of men and
women and their destiny. Islam is not a religion in
the Western understanding of the word. It is at once
a faith and a way of life, a religion and a social
order, a doctrine and a code of conduct, a set of
values and principles and a social movement to
realize them in history.
The
uniqueness of Islamic culture lies in its values and
principles. When Muslims, after an illustrious
historical career, became oblivious of this fact and
became obsessed with the manifestations of their
culture, as against its sources, they could not even
fully protect the house they had built. The strength
of Islam lies in its ideals, values and principles,
and their relevance to us is as great today as it
has ever been in history. The message is timeless
and the principles Islam embodies are of universal
application. In our search for a new world order
today, Islam emphasizes that we must aspire to a new
system of life through which to approach human
problems from a different perspective, not merely
from the perspective of limited national or regional
interest, but from the perspective of what is right
and wrong, and how best we can strive to evolve a
just and a humane world order at different levels of
our existence, individual, national and
international. That the present order is
characterized by injustice and exploitation is
proved beyond any shadow of doubt. But Islam
suggests that the present order fails because it is
based upon a wrong concept of man and of his
relationship with other human beings, with society,
with nature, and with the world. The search for a
new order brings us to the need for a new concept of
man and his role. From the viewpoint of world
religions in general, and of Islam in particular,
the focus of the discussion must be shifted to a new
vision of man and society, to an effort to bring
about change at the level of human consciousness, of
values, leading to new cultural transformation.
This
is the, concept of Islam that lies at the root of
the contemporary resurgence of Islam. It is in the
framework of these parameters that the Muslims are
today awakening to a new world role, facing the
problems of modernization, challenging the secular
concepts and institutions of the world
establishment, purging their thought and society of
alien intrusions from Western civilization, and
harnessing their resources to build a new order at
home which could act as a window on the Islamic
order for all humankind. Amongst the chief
architects of this new awakening in the world of
Islam is Mawlana Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi.
Born
in 1903 C.E., Mawdudi started his public career as
early as 1918. He wrote and spoke as editor,
scholar, religious thinker and leader of a
movement, authoring over a hundred works of varying
size and delivering more than a thousand speeches.
His death in September 1979 marks the end of an era.
He
made his debut in the intellectual life of the
Indo-Pakistan subcontinent in 1927, at the early age
of twenty-four, and created a stir by his voluminous
scholarly work Al-Jihad fil-lslam
("Jihad in Islam") first serialized in a
newspaper, and subsequently published in the form of
a book in 1930. From the early thirties he was a
major, dominating, undaunted figure on the
intellectual scene of the Indo-Pakistan
subcontinent. The monthly magazine, Tarjuman al-Qur'an,
which he edited since 1933, has been a major
influence on the minds of the Muslim intellectuals
of the subcontinent. Since the forties, when Mawlana
Mawdudi's writings began to be available in
translated versions, especially in Arabic and
English, his ideas have attracted an increasing
number of people far beyond the confines of the
subcontinent. It is no exaggeration to say that by
the time of his death he had become the most widely
read Muslim author of our time, contributing
immensely to the contemporary resurgence of Islamic
ideas, feelings and activity all over the world.
Islam,
however, was never a merely intellectual concern of
Mawlana Mawdudi. He consciously tried to live Islam
and to live for Islam. As far back as his
mid-twenties he had resolved not only to devote all
his energy to expounding the teachings of Islam, but
also to do all that lay in his power to transform
Islamic teachings into practical realities. Mawlana
Mawdudi was always emphatic in asserting that Islam
is not merely a body of metaphysical doctrines, nor
merely a bundle of rituals, nor even merely a set of
rules of individual conduct. It is indeed a way of
life, the bases of which lie rooted in Divine
Revelation; a way of life which is permeated with
God consciousness and is oriented to doing God's
Will and actualizing good and righteousness in human
life. A Muslim is committed to follow this way of
life, to bear witness to it by word and deed, and to
strive in order to make it prevail in the world.
Hence, in addition to his intellectual contribution,
in 1941 Mawlana Mawdudi founded a movement known as
the Jamaat-I-Islaim ("The Islamic
Organization"). He led this movement as its
chief from its inception till 1972. Even after
getting himself relieved of the duties of its formal
headship for reasons of health, he continued to be a
major source of guidance and inspiration for those
associated with the Jamaat-I-Islaim, and
indeed for a very large number of men and women
across the globe, who do not have any affiliation to
that organization. More and more people,
particularly Muslims of the younger generation, are
coming to appreciate Mawdudi and even identify with
the vision of Islam that he articulated so lucidly
and incisively.
Mawlana
Mawdudi, therefore, was no mere academician; he was
also a man of action engaged in a grim struggle for
the implementation of the Islamic vision. During
this struggle the many sterling qualities of .his
character came to the surface notably his
magnanimity and tolerance. It is because of his
involvement in practical matters, especially since
1948, that Mawlana Mawdudi often had to suffer
persecution at the hands of the men of authority in
Pakistan who failed lo perceive the real motives and
true character of his movement. Many a time he had
to court imprisonment, not unlike some of the great
heroes of Islam Abu Hanifah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
Ibn Taymiyah, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, and Sayyid Qutb
of our own time, to name only a few luminaries. Not
only that, in 1953 he narrowly escaped the gallows
and, in 1963, the bullets of an assassin. In braving
persecution for the sake of his cause, Mawlana
Mawdudi displayed a serene dignity and heroic
fearlessness, which won him the abiding love and
respect of friends and foe alike.
It
is remarkable that despite the exacting tasks laid
on Mawlana Mawdudi's shoulders as the head of a
large movement, he remained prolific as a writer and
his writings remained impressive, not only
qualitatively, but also quantitatively. His magnum opus, of course, is his translation and
tafs'ir (exegesis) of the Holy Qur'an, an epitome of his
elegant literary style, his erudition, and the
clarity and brilliance of his thought. One of the
major characteristics of Mawlana Mawdudi was his
ability to bring out the relevance of Islam to the
problems and concerns of man in the present age.
This is largely because he combined with his Islamic
scholarship awareness and knowledge of the
intellectual trends and practical problems of man in
the modern age. In encountering the challenge of
modernity. Mawlana Mawdudi displayed neither
ultra-conservative rigidity, nor proneness to be
overawed by the ideas and institutions current in
our time simply because they were fashionable in the
modern age or had gained respectability among the
nations which are currently the leaders of the
world. He wanted the Muslims to appropriate
creatively the healthy and beneficial elements from
the cumulative treasure of human experience, and to
employ them to serve the higher ends of life
embodied in the Islamic tradition. It is this aspect
of Mawlana Mawdudi, which has attracted many but at
the same time repelled many others, particularly the
ultra-conservative and the ultra-westernized
elements in Muslim society.
Towards
Understanding Islam is another
of his important books. It is an elementary study of
the basic concepts and principles of I slam. It
offers a simple, understandable and unsophisticated
interpretation of the meaning and message of Islam
for the ordinary reader, particularly the young. It
is not written in the browbeating style of theology
books, rich in awe-inspiring jargon and legal
quibbling but of little help in bringing the reader
into direct contact with the spirit of the faith.
Towards Understanding Islam is
a religious text with a difference. It offers a
simple exposition of Islam; its approach to life,
the articles of its faith, its worship and prayers,
and the scheme of life, which it envisages. The
method of exposition is steeped in the methodology
of the Qur'an. It offers in summary form the
essential teachings of Islam. And as the book is
primarily meant for lay readers and students no
attempt is made to burden the mind of the reader
with difficult or philosophic dissertations. The
language and style of the author are clear, candid
and rational.
Originally
written in 1932 in Urdu, under the title Risalah
Dmiyal, the book was intended as a textbook
for students of the higher classes and for the
general public. It served an important need and
became a popular Islamic reader. Most of the schools
and colleges of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent
adopted it as a textbook in theology and made its
study a part of their curricula. It has been
translated into many of the world's languages,
including English, Arabic, Hindi, Persian, German,
French, Italian, Turkish, Portuguese, Swahili,
Indonesian and Japanese. Malayalam, Tamil, Pushto,
Bengali, Gujrati and Sindhi.
The
first English translation appeared in 1940
(Translator: Dr. Abdul Ghani) and ran into many
editions. In the early fifties the need for a new
translation was felt for more than one reason. The
earlier translation suffered from certain
deficiencies. Moreover, the author re-edited the
text in the forties, making substantial alterations
and revisions. I was assigned the task of rendering
a new translation based on the revised text
(sixteenth [revised] edition), which I accomplished
in the mid-fifties. Although I kept the earlier
translation before me, only a very few paragraphs
were finally embodied in the new translation.
Strictly speaking, I did not venture a literal,
word-for-word, translation of the original text. I
tried to follow the original as faithfully as
possible, but departed wherever necessary from a
strictly literal rendering in the interest of a more
effective communication of the meaning of the text.
The learned author was kind enough to go through my
translation in 1959 and it was offered to the public
with his approval.
During
the last two decades many reprints of the 1959
edition have appeared. As the years went by I came
to feel that the translation needed further
improvement. My long stay in the United Kingdom
(1968-78) provided me with an opportunity for
further reflection upon a work done in my student
days. Now the Islamic Foundation is publishing a
revised translation. I am grateful to my friend Paul
Moorman. Editor. Middle East Education
and a former Foreign Editor, The Times Higher Educational
Supplement, for his
meticulous assistance in revising the present text.
I would also like to place on record the assistance
I received from Khwaja Abdul Wahid and Ansar Azam in
preparing my first translation. I cannot but record
my profound debt to Mawlana Mawdudi for the
influence his ideas and his noble example have had
on my own life, in all phases of its development so
far, and how impoverished I feel by his departure
from our midst towards life-eternal. May Allah bless
his soul and enable his intellectual progeny, to
which I among others feel proud to belong, to
continue his mission. Towards Understanding Islam is one of those books, which have
changed the lives of many and set them along the
Islamic path. Over a million copies of this book
have appeared in different languages of the world.
It is a unique privilege to be associated with the
production of this edition of the book.
Institute
of Policy Studies,
Islamabad, Pakistan.
1st Muharram, 1400November 20,1979.
KHURSHID AHMAD
Go
to Top
Chapter
1
ISLAM
What does it Mean?
The
Nature of Disbelief
The
Blessings of Islam
Every
religion of the world has been named either after
its founder or after the community or nation in
which it was born. For instance, Christianity takes
its name from its prophet Jesus Christ; Buddhism
from its founder. Gautama Buddha; Zoroastrianism
from its founder Zoroaster; and Judaism the religion
of the Jews from the name of the tribe Judah (of the
country of Judea) where it originated. The same is
true of all other religions except Islam, which
enjoys the unique distinction of having no such
association with any particular person or people or
country. Nor is it the product of any human mind. It
is a universal religion and its objective is to
create and cultivate in man the quality and attitude
of Islam.
Islam,
in fact, is an attributive title. Anyone who
possesses this attribute, whatever race, community,
country or group he belongs to, is a Muslim.
According to the Qur'an (the Holy Book of the
Muslims), among every people and in all ages there
have been good and righteous people who possessed
this attribute and all of them were and are
Muslims.
Islam
is an Arabic word and connotes submission, surrender
and obedience. As a religion, Islam stands for
complete submission and obedience to Allah.1 (1.
Another literal meaning of the word Islam is
"peace' and this signifies that one can achieve
real peace of body and mind only through submission
and obedience to Allah. Such a life of obedience
brings with it peace of the heart and establishes
real peace in society at large.
- Editor.)
Everyone
can see that we live in an orderly universe, where
everything is assigned a place in a grand scheme.
The moon, the stars and all the heavenly bodies are
knit together in a magnificent system. They follow
unalterable laws and make not even the slightest
deviation from their ordained courses. Similarly,
everything in the world, from the minute whirling
electron to the mighty nebulae, invariably follows
its own laws. Matter, energy and life all obey
their laws and grow and change and live and die in
accordance with those laws. Even in the human world
the laws of nature are paramount. Man's birth,
growth and life are all regulated by a set of
biological laws. He derives sustenance from nature
in accordance with an unalterable law. All the
organs of his body from the smallest tissues to the
heart and the brain, are governed by the laws
prescribed for them. In short, ours is a
law-governed universe and everything in it is
following the course that has been ordained for it.
This
powerful, all-pervasive law, which governs all that
comprises the universe, from the tiniest specks of
dust to the magnificent galaxies of the heavens, is
the law of God, the Creator and Ruler of the
universe. As the whole of creation obeys the law of
God, the whole universe, therefore, literally
follows the religion of Islam for Islam
signifies nothing but obedience and submission to
Allah, the Lord of the Universe. The sun, the moon,
the earth and all other heavenly bodies are thus
'Muslim'. So are the air, water, heat, stones, trees
and animals. Everything in the universe is
'Muslim' for it obeys God by submission to His laws.
Even a man who refuses to believe in God, or offers
his worship to someone other than Allah, has
necessarily to be a 'Muslim' as far as his existence
is concerned.
For
his entire life, from the embryonic stage to the
body's dissolution into dust after death, every
tissue of his muscles and every limb of his body
follow the course prescribed by God's law. His very
tongue, which, on account of his ignorance advocates
the denial of God or professes multiple deities, is
in its very nature 'Muslim'. His head which he want
only bows to others besides Allah is born 'Muslim'.
His heart, which, through his lack of true
knowledge, cherishes love and reverence for others,
is 'Muslim' by intuition. These are all obedient to
the Divine Law, and their functions and movements
are governed by the injunctions of that law alone.
Let
us now examine the situation from a different angle.
Man is so constituted that there are two distinct
spheres of his activity. One is the sphere in which
he finds himself totally regulated by the Divine
Law. Like other creatures, he is completely caught
in the grip of the physical laws of nature and is
bound to follow them. But there is another sphere of
his activity. He has been endowed with reason and
intellect. He has the power to think and form
judgments, to choose and reject, to approve and
spurn. He is free to adopt whatever course of life
he chooses. He can embrace any faith, and live by
any ideology he likes. He may prepare his own code
of conduct or accept one formulated by others.
Unlike other creatures, he has been given freedom of
thought, choice and action. In short, man has been
bestowed with free will.
Both
these aspects co-exist side by side in man's life.
In
the first he, like all other creatures, is a born
Muslim, invariably obeying the injunctions of God,
and is bound to remain one. As far as the second
aspect is concerned, he is free to become or not to
become a Muslim. It is the way a person exercises
this freedom, which divides mankind into two groups:
believers and non-believers. An individual,
who chooses to acknowledge his Creator, accepts Him
as his real Master, honestly and scrupulously
submits to His laws and injunctions and follows the
code. He has achieved completeness in his Islam by
consciously deciding to obey God in the domain in
which he was endowed with freedom of choice. He is a
perfect Muslim: his submission of his entire self to
the will of Allah is Islam and nothing but Islam.
He
has now consciously submitted to Him Whom he had
already been unconsciously obeying. He has now
willingly offered obedience to the Master Whom he
already owed obedience to involuntarily. His
knowledge is now real for he has acknowledged the
Being Who endowed him with the power to learn and to
know. Now his reason and judgement are set on an
even keel for he has rightly decided to obey the
Being Who bestowed upon him the faculty of thinking
and judging. His tongue is also truthful for it
expresses its belief in the Lord who gave it the
faculty of speech. Now the whole of his existence is
an embodiment of truth for, in all spheres of life,
he voluntarily as well as involuntarily obeys the
laws of One God the Lord of the Universe. Now he
is at peace with the whole universe for he worships
Him Whom the whole universe worships. Such a man is
God's vice-regent on earth. The whole world is for
him and he is for God.
In
contrast to the man described above, there is the
man who, although a born Muslim and unconsciously
remaining one throughout his life, does not exercise
his faculties of reason, intellect and intuition to
recognise his Lord and Creator and misuses his
freedom of choice by choosing to deny Him.
Such a man becomes an unbeliever in the language
of Islam a Kafir.
Kufr
literally means 'to cover' or 'to conceal'. The man
who denies God is called Kafir (concealer)
because he conceals by his disbelief'
what is inherent in his nature and embalmed in his
own soul for his nature is instinctively imbued
with Islam'. His whole body functions in obedience
to that instinct. Each and every particle of
existence living or lifeless functions in
accordance with Islam' and is fulfilling the duty
that has been assigned to it. But the vision of this
man has been blurred, his intellect has been
befogged, and he is unable to see the obvious. His
own nature has become concealed from his eyes and he
thinks and acts in utter disregard of it. Reality
becomes estranged from him and he gropes in the
dark. Such is the nature of Kufr.
Kufr
is a form of ignorance, or, rather, it is
ignorance. What ignorance can be greater than to be
ignorant of God, the Creator and the Lord of the
Universe? A man observes the vast panorama of
nature, the superb mechanism that is ceaselessly
working, the grand design that is manifest in every
aspect of creation he observes this vast
machine, but he does not know anything of its Maker
and Director. He knows what a wonderful organism his
body is but is unable to comprehend the Force that
brought it into existence, the Engineer Who designed
and produced it, the Creator Who made the unique
living being out of lifeless stuff: carbon, calcium,
sodium and the like. He witnesses a superb plan in
the universe but fails to see the Planner behind
it. He sees great beauty and harmony in its working
but not the Creator. He observes a wonderful
design in nature - but not the Designer! How can a
man, who has so blinded himself to reality, approach
true knowledge? How can one who has made the wrong
beginning reach the right destination? He will fail
to find the key to Reality. The Right Path will
remain concealed for him and whatever his endeavours
in science and arts, he will never be able to attain
truth and wisdom. He will be groping in the darkness
of ignorance.
Not
only that; Kufr is a tyranny, the
worst of all tyrannies. And what is 'tyranny'? It is
an unjust use of force or power. It is when you
compel a thing to act unjustly or against its true
nature, its real will and its inherent attitude.
We
have seen that all that is in the universe is
obedient to God, the Creator. To obey, to live in
accordance with His Will and His Law or (to put it
more precisely) lo be a Muslim
is ingrained in the nature of things. God has given
manpower over these things, but it is incumbent that
they should be used for the fulfillment of His
Will and not otherwise. Anyone who disobeys God and
resorts to Kufr perpetrates the greatest
injustice, for he uses his powers of body and mind
to rebel against the course of nature and becomes an
instrument in the drama of disobedience. He bows his
head before deities other than God and cherishes in
his heart the love, reverence and fear of other
powers in utter disregard of the instinctive urge of
these organs. He uses his own powers and all those
things over which he has authority against the
explicit Will of God and thus establishes a reign of
tyranny.
Can
there be any greater injustice, tyranny and cruelty
than that exhibited by this man who exploits and
misuses everything under the sun and unscrupulously
forces them to a course, which affronts nature and
justice?
Kufr
is not mere tyranny; it is rebellion, ingratitude
and infidelity. After all what is the reality of
man? Where do his power and authority come from? Is
he himself the creator of his mind, his heart, his
soul and other organs of his body or have they
been created by God? Has he himself created the
universe and all that is in itor has it been
created by God? Who has harnessed all the powers and
energies for the service of man man or God? If
everything has been created by God and God alone,
then to whom do they belong? Who is their rightful
sovereign? It is God and none else. And if God is
the Creator, the Master and the Sovereign, then who
would be a greater rebel than the man who uses God's
creation against His injunctions and who makes
his mind think against God. harbours in his heart
thoughts against Him, and uses his various faculties
against the Sovereign's Will.
If
a servant betrays his master you denounce him as
faithless. If an officer becomes disloyal to the
state you brand him as a traitor and renegade. If a
person cheats his benefactor you have no hesitation
in condemning him as ungrateful. But such acts
cannot begin to compare to the one, which the
disbeliever commits by his Kufr. All that a
man has and all that he uses for the benefit of
others is a gift of God. The greatest obligation
that a man owes on this earth is to his parents. But
who has implanted the love of children in the
parents' heart? Who endowed the mother with the will
and power to nurture, nourish and feed her children?
Who inspired the parents with the passion to spend
everything in their possession for the well being of
their children? A little reflection would reveal
that God is the greatest benefactor of man. He is
his Creator, Lord, Nourisher, Sustainer, as well as
King and Sovereign. So what can be greater betrayal,
ingratitude, rebellion and treason than Kufr,
through which a man denies and disobeys his real
Lord and Sovereign?
Do
not think that by committing Kufr man does or
can do the least harm to Almighty God. Insignificant
speck on the face of a tiny ball in this limitless
universe that man is, what harm can he do to the
Lord of the Universe Whose dominions are so
infinitely vast that we have not yet been able to
explore their boundaries even with the help of the
most powerful telescope; Whose power is so great
that myriads of heavenly bodies, like the Earth, the
Moon, the Sun and the stars are, at His bidding,
whirling like tiny balls; Whose wealth is so
boundless that He is the sole Master of the whole
universe: and Who provides for all and needs none to
provide for Him? Man's revolt against Him can do Him
no harm: on the other hand, by his disobedience, man
treads the path of ruin and disgrace.
The
inevitable consequence of this revolt and denial of
reality is a failure in the ultimate ideals of life.
Such a rebel will never find the thread of real
knowledge and vision; for knowledge that fails to
reveal its own Creator can reveal no truth. Such a
man's intellect and reason always run astray; for
reason which errs about its own Creator cannot
illumine the paths of life.
Such
a man will meet with failures in all the affairs of
his life. His morality, his civic and social life,
his struggle for livelihood and his family life, in
short, his entire existence, will be unsatisfactory.
He will spread confusion and disorder. He will,
without the least compunction, shed blood, violate
other men's rights and generally act destructively.
His perverted thoughts and ambitions, his blurred
vision and distorted scale of values, and his evil
activities will make life bitter for him and for all
around him.
Such
a man destroys the calm and pose of life on earth.
And in the life hereafter he will be held guilty for
the crimes he committed against his nature. Every
organ of his body his brain, eyes, nose, hands
and feet will complain against the injustice and
cruelty he had subjected them to. Every tissue of
his being will denounce him before God Who, as the
fountain of justice, will punish him as he deserves.
This is the inglorious consequence of Kufr.
It leads to the blind alleys of utter failure, both
here and hereafter.
The
Blessings of Islam
These
are the evils and disadvantages of Kufr. Let
us now look at some of the blessings of Islam
You
find in the world around you and in the small
kingdom of your own self-innumerable manifestations
of God's divine power. This grand universe, which
ceaselessly works with matchless order and in
accordance with unalterable laws, is in itself a
witness to the fact that its Designer, Creator and
Governor is an Omnipotent, All-Powerful Being with
infinite power, knowledge and resources, a Being of
perfect wisdom. Whom nothing in the universe dares
disobey. It is in the very nature of man, as it is
with every other thing in this universe to obey Him
Besides endowing man with the capacity to acquire
knowledge, the faculty to think and reflect, and the
ability to distinguish right from wrong. God has
granted him a certain amount of freedom of will and
action. In this freedom lies man's real trial; his
knowledge, his wisdom, his power of discrimination
and his freedom of will and action are all being
tried and tested. Man has not been obliged to adopt
any particular course, for by compulsion the very
object of the trial would have been defeated. If in
an examination you are compelled to write a certain
answer to a question, the examination will be of no
use. Your merit can be properly judged only if you
are allowed to answer the questions freely,
according to your own knowledge and understanding.
If your answer is correct you will succeed; if it is
wrong you will fail, and your failure will bar the
way to further progress.
The
situation, which man faces, is similar. God has
given him freedom of will and action so that he may
choose whatever attitude in life he likes and
considers proper for himself Islam or Kufr.
By
the correct use of his knowledge and intellect a man
recognises his Creator, reposes belief in Him, and,
in spite of being under no compulsion to do so,
chooses the path of obedience to Him. He understands
both his own nature and the laws and realities of
nature itself: despite the power and freedom to
adopt any course, he adopts the way of obedience and
loyalty to God, the Creator. He is successful in his
trial because he has used his intellect and all
other faculties properly. He uses his eyes to see
the reality, his ears to listen to the truth and his
mind to form right opinions. He puts all his heart
and soul into following the right way he has so
chosen. He chooses Truth, sees the reality, and
willingly and joyfully submits to his Lord and
Master. He is intelligent, truthful and dutiful, for
he has chosen light over darkness. Thus he has
proved by his conduct that he is not only a seeker
after Truth but is its knower and worshipper as
well. Such a man is on the right path, and is
destined to succeed in this world and in the world
to come.
Such
a man will always choose the right path in every
field of knowledge and action. The man who knows God
with all His attributes knows the beginning as well
as the ultimate end of reality. He can never be led
astray, for his first step is on the right path, and
he is sure of the direction and destination of his
journey in life. He will reflect on the secrets of
the universe, and will try to fathom the mysteries
of nature, but he will not lose his way in mazes of
doubt and scepticism. His path being illumined with
Divine Vision, his every step will be in the right
direction. In science he will endeavour to learn the
laws of nature and uncover the hidden treasures of
the earth for the betterment of humanity. He will
try his level best to explore all avenues of
knowledge and power and to harness all that exists
on earth and in the heavens in the interests of
mankind.
At
every stage of his enquiry his God-consciousness
will save him from making evil and destructive uses
of science and the scientific method. He will never
think of himself as the master of all these objects,
boasting to be the conqueror of nature, arrogating
to himself godly and sovereign powers and nourishing
the ambition of subverting the world, subduing the
human race and establishing his supremacy over all
and sundry by fair means or foul. Such, an attitude
of revolt and defiance can never be entertained by a
Muslim scientist only a Kafir scientist
can fall prey to such illusions and by submitting to
them expose the entire human race to the danger of
total destruction and annihilation2. (2.
The situation, which confronts modern man today, is
similar. Dr. Joad says: "Science has given us
power fit for the gods, and to its use we bring the
mentality of schoolboys and savages." The
famous philosopher Bertrand Russell writes:
"Broadly speaking, »e are in the middle of a
race between human skill as to means and human folly
as to ends, every increase in the skill required lo
achieve them is to the bad. The human race has
survived hitherto owing to ignorance and
incompetence: but, given knowledge and competence
combined with folly, there can be no certainty of
survival. Knowledge is power, but it is power for
evil just as much as for good. It follows that
unless man increases in wisdom as much as in
knowledge, increase of knowledge will be increase of
sorrow." (Impact of Science on Society, pp.
120-121.) Another leading thinker has put the
paradox in these words: "We are taught lo fly
in the air like birds, and to swim in the water like
fishes: but how to lire on the earth we do not
know." (Quoted by Joad in Counter Attack From
the East, p. 28.)
A
Muslim scientist, on the other hand, will behave in
an altogether different way. The deeper his insight
into the world of science, the stronger will be his
faith in God. His head will bow down before Him in
gratitude. His feelings will be that as his Master
has blessed him with greater power and knowledge so
he must exert himself for his own good and for the
good of humanity. Instead of arrogance there will be
humility. Instead of power-drunkenness there will be
a strong realisation of the need to serve humanity.
His freedom will not be unbridled. He will be guided
by the tenets of morality and Divine Revelation.
Thus science will in his hands, instead of becoming
an instrument of destruction, become an agency for
human welfare and moral regeneration. And this is
the way in which he will express his gratitude to
his Master for the gifts and blessings He has
bestowed on man.
Similarly,
in history, economics, politics, law and other
branches of arts and science, a Muslim will nowhere
lag behind a Kafir in the fields of inquiry
and struggle, but their angles of view and
consequently their modus operandi will
be widely different. A Muslim will study every
branch of knowledge in its true perspective. He will
strive to arrive at the right conclusions.
In
history he will draw correct lessons from the past
experiences of man, and will uncover the true causes
of the rise and fall of civilisations. He will try
to benefit from all that was good and right in the
past and will scrupulously avoid all that led to the
decline and fall of nations. In politics his sole
objective will be to strive for the establishment of
policies where peace, justice, fraternity and
goodness reign, where man is a brother of man and
respects his humanity, where no exploitation or
slavery is rampant, where the rights of the
individual are upheld, and where the powers of the
state are considered as a sacred trust from God and
are used for the common welfare of all. In the field
of law, the endeavour of a Muslim will be to make it
the true embodiment of justice and the real
protector of the rights of all particularly of
the weak. He will see that everybody gets his due
share and no injustice or oppression is inflicted on
anyone. He will respect the law, make others respect
it, and will see that it is administered equitably.
The
life of a Muslim will always be filled with
godliness, piety, righteousness and truthfulness. He
will live in the belief that God alone is the Master
of all, that whatever he and other men possess has
been given by God, that the powers he wields are
only a trust from God, that the freedom he has been
endowed with is not to be used indiscriminately, and
that it is in his own interest to use it in
accordance with God's Will. He will constantly keep
in view that one day he will have to return to the
Lord and submit an account of his entire life. The
sense of accountability will always remain implanted
in his mind and he will never behave irresponsibly.
Think
of the moral excellence of the man who lives with
this mental attitude his will be a life of
purity and piety and love and altruism. He will be a
blessing unto mankind. His thinking will not be
polluted with evil thoughts and perverted ambitions.
He will abstain from seeing evil, hearing evil, and
doing evil. He will guard his tongue and will never
utter a word of lie. He will earn his living through
just and fair means and will prefer hunger to a food
acquired unfairly through exploitation or injustice.
He will never be a party to any form of oppression
or violation of human life and honour. He will never
yield to evil, whatever the cost of defiance.
He will be an embodiment of goodness and nobility
and will defend right and truth even at the cost of
his life. Such a man will be a power to be reckoned
with. He is bound to succeed.
He
will be highly honoured and respected. How can
humiliation ever visit a person who is not prepared
to bow his head before anyone except God the
Almighty, the Sovereign of the universe? No one can
be more powerful than he for he fears none but
God and seeks blessings from none but Him. What
power can make him deviate from the right path? What
wealth can buy his faith? What force can shape his
conscience? What power can compel him to behave, as
he does not want to?
He
will be the wealthiest. No one in the world can be
richer or more independent than he for he will
live a life of austerity and contentment. He will be
neither a sensualist, nor indulgent, nor greedy. He
will be contented with whatever he earns fairly and
honestly and however much ill-gotten wealth is
heaped before him he will not even look at it. He
will have peace and contentment of heart and
what can be a greater wealth than this?
He
will be the most revered, popular and beloved. No
one can be more lovable than he for he lives a
life of charity and benevolence. He will be just to
everyone, discharge his duties honestly, and work
for the good of others. People's hearts will be
naturally drawn towards him.
No
one can be more trust worthy than he for he will
not betray his trust, nor will he stray from
righteousness: he will be true to his word, and
straightforward and honest in his dealings. He will
be fair and just in all his affairs, for he is sure
that God is ever-present, ever vigilant. Words fail
to describe the credit and good will, which such a
man commands. Can there be anyone who will not trust
him? Such is the life and character of a Muslim.
If
you understand the true character of a Muslim, you
will be convinced that he cannot live in
humiliation, abasement or subjugation. He is bound
to prevail and no power on earth can overwhelm him.
For Islam, inculcates in him the qualities, which
cannot be driven out.
And
after living a respectable and honourable life on
this earth, he will return to his Creator Who will
shower on him the choicest of His blessings for
he will have discharged his duty ably, fulfilled his
mission successfully and emerged from his trial
triumphantly. He is successful in life in this world
and in the hereafter will live in eternal peace, joy
and bliss.
This
is Islam, the natural religion of man, the religion
that is not associated with any person, people,
period or place. It is the way of nature, the
religion of man. In every age, in every
country and among every people, all God-knowing and
truth-loving men have believed and lived this very
religion. They were all Muslims, irrespective of
whether they called that way Islam. Whatever its
name was, it signified Islam and nothing but Islam.
Go
to Top
Chapter
2
Faith:
What does it Mean?
How to
Acquire the Knowledge of God?
Faith in the Unknown
Islam
means obedience to God. And it is common sense that
this obedience cannot be complete unless man knows
certain basic facts of life and places firm faith in
them. What are those facts? And what are the
essentials, which a man must know to fashion his
life in accordance with the Divine Way? This we
propose to discuss in the present chapter.
First
of all, one should have an unshakable belief in the
existence of God; without this, obedience to Him is
clearly impossible.
Then,
one must know the attributes of God. It is the
knowledge of the attributes of God, which enables
man to cultivate the noblest of human qualities and
to fashion his life in virtue and godliness. If a
man does not know that there is One and only One God
who is the Creator, the Ruler and the Sustainer of
the Universe and there is none else to share with
Him even a shred of Divine power and authority, he
may fall prey to false gods, and offer his homage to
them in search of favours.
But
if he knows the divine attribute of tawhid (Oneness
of God), there is no possibility of this. Similarly,
if a man knows that God is Omnipresent and
Omniscient and sees, hears and knows everything that
we do in public or private including our
unexpressed thoughts! Then how can he afford to
be disobedient to God? He will feel that he is under
eternal vigil and will, therefore, behave
accordingly. But he who is not aware of these
attributes of God may be led, because of his
ignorance, into disobedience. It is the same with
all the other attributes of God.
The
fact is that the qualities and attributes which a
man must possess, if he wants to pursue the way of
Islam, can be cultivated and developed only out of
profound knowledge of the attributes of God. It is
the knowledge of God's attributes, which purifies a
man's mind and soul, his beliefs, morals and
actions. And a mere cursory acquaintance with or
just an academic knowledge of these attributes is
not sufficient there must be an unflinching
conviction firmly rooted in the mind and heart of
man so that he may remain immune from insidious
doubts and perversions.
Moreover,
one must know in detail the way of
living by following which one can seek the
pleasure of God. Unless a man knows the likes and
dislikes of God, how can he choose the one and
reject the other? If a man has no knowledge of the
Divine Law, how can he follow it? Thus knowledge of
the Divine Law and the Revealed Code of Life is
essential.
But
here, again, mere knowledge is not enough. Man must
have full confidence and conviction that is the
Divine Law and that his salvation
lies in following this code alone. For
knowledge without this conviction will fail to spur
man to the Right Path and he may be lost in the
blind alley of disobedience.
Finally,
man must also know the consequences both of belief
and obedience and of disbelief and disobedience. He
must know what blessings will be showered upon him
if he chooses God's way and leads a life of purity,
virtue and obedience. And he must also know what
consequences follow if he adopts the way of
disobedience and revolt. Thus, knowledge of life
after death is absolutely essential for this
purpose. Man must have an unwavering belief in the
fact that death does not mean the end of life; that
there will be resurrection and he will be brought to
the highest court of justice, to be presided over by
God Himself; that on the Day of Judgement complete
justice will prevail; and that good deeds will be
rewarded and misdeeds punished. Everybody will get
his due; there will be no escape. This is bound to
happen. A sense of accountability is essential for
fully-fledged obedience to the Law of God.
A
man who has no knowledge of the world to come many
considers obedience and disobedience quite
immaterial. He may think that the obedient and the
disobedient will both meet a similar end: after
death, both will be reduced to mere dust. With this
attitude of mind, how can he be expected to submit
to all the inconveniences and troubles that are
inextricably associated with the life of active
obedience, and avoid committing those sins which do
not apparently bring him any moral or material loss
in this world? With this mental attitude a man
cannot acknowledge and submit to God's Law.
Nor
can a man, who lacks firm belief in
the life hereafter and in the Divine Court of
Judgement, remain steadfast in the turbulent waters
of life with its temptation to sin, crime and evil;
for doubt and hesitancy rob a man of his will to
action. You can remain consistent in your behaviour
only if you are firm in your beliefs. You can
whole-heartedly follow a course only if you are sure
of the benefits that will accrue to you by following
it and of the losses that will engulf you if you
disobey it. Thus, a profound knowledge of the
consequences of belief and disbelief and of the life
after death is crucial.
These
are the essential facts, which one must know if one
wants to live the life of obedience, that is, Islam.
Faith
is what we have described in the foregoing
discussion as 'Knowledge and Belief. The Arabic word
lman, which we have rendered in English as
faith, literally means 'to know', 'to believe' and
'to be convinced beyond the least shadow of doubt'.
Faith, thus, is firm belief arising out of knowledge
and conviction. And the man who knows and
reposes unshakable belief in the Unity of God, in
His Attributes, in His Law and the Revealed
Guidance, and in the Divine Code of Reward and
Punishment is called Mu'min (faithful).
This faith invariably leads man to a life of
obedience and submission to the Will of God. And one
who lives this life of submission is known as Muslim.
It
is therefore clear that without faith (lman)
no man can be a true Muslim. It is the indispensable
essential; rather, the very starting point, without
which no beginning can be made. The relation of
Islam to lman is the same as of a tree to its
seed. As a tree cannot sprout forth without its
seed, in the same way it is not possible for a man
who has no belief to start with, to become a
'Muslim'. On the other hand, just as it can happen
that, in spite of sowing the seed, the tree may, for
many reasons, not grow, or if it does grow, its
development may be impaired or retarded, in the same
way, a man may have faith, but due to a number of
weaknesses, he may not become a true and staunch
Muslim.
From
the viewpoint of Islam and lman, men may be
classified into four categories:
1Those
who have firm faith a faith that makes
them whole-heartedly submit to God. They follow the
way of God and devote themselves heart and soul to
seeking His pleasure by doing all that He likes and
by avoiding all that He dislikes. In their devotion
they are even more fervent than is the common man in
pursuit of wealth and glory. Such men are true
Muslims.
2.
Those who do have faith, who believe in God, His Law
and the Day of Judgement, but whose faith is not
deep and strong enough to make them totally submit
to God. They are far below the rank of true Muslims,
deserve punishment for their defaults and misdeeds,
but are still Muslims. They are wrongdoers but not
rebels. They acknowledge the Sovereign and His Law
and, although they are violating the Law, they have
not revolted against the Sovereign. They admit His
supremacy and their own guilt. Thus they are guilty
and deserve punishment, but Muslims they remain.
3.Those
who do not possess faith
at all. These people refuse
to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and are
rebels. Even if their conduct is not bad and even if
they are not spreading corruption and violence, they
remain rebels and their apparent good deeds are of
little value. Such men are like outlaws. Sometimes
outlaws may act in accordance with the laws of the
land, but this does not make them loyal and obedient
citizens; in the same way the apparent good deeds of
those who revolt against God cannot compensate for
the gravity of the real wrongs, revolt and
disobedience.
4
Those who neither possess faith nor do good deeds.
They spread disorder in the world and perpetrate all
kinds of violence and oppression. They are the worst
of the people; for they are both rebels and
wrongdoers and criminals.
The
above classification of mankind shows that the real
success and salvation of man depends on faith (lman).
The life of obedience (Islam) takes its birth
from the seed of lman. This Islam of a person
may be flawless or defective. But without lman
there can be no Islam. Where there is no Iman
there is no Islam. Where there is no Islam there is Kufr.
Its form and nature may vary, but it remains Kufr
and nothing but Kufr.
How
to Acquire Knowledge of God?
Now
the question arises of how to acquire knowledge of
and belief in God, His Attributes, His Law and the
Day of Judgment?
We
have already referred to the countless
manifestations of God around us and in our own
selves, which bear witness to the fact that there is
One and only One Creator and Governor of this
Universe and it is He Who controls and directs it.
These manifestations reflect the divine attributes
of the Creator: His great wisdom. His all-embracing
knowledge, His omnipotence, His mercy. His
all-sustaining power in short His attributes can
be traced everywhere in His works. But man's
intellect and capacity for knowledge have erred in
observing and understanding them. Some men have
argued that there are two gods, others have
professed belief in a trinity, and still others have
succumbed to polytheism. Some have worshipped nature
and others divided the Creator into the gods of
rain, air, fire, life, death and so on.
Similarly,
men have put forward many erroneous notions about
life after death; for instance, that man is reduced
to dust after death and will not rise to life again;
or that man is subject to a process of continuous
regeneration in this world and is punished or
rewarded in future cycles of life.
Even
greater difficulty arises when we come to the
question of a code of living. To formulate a
complete and balanced code that conforms to God's
pleasure merely using human reason is an extremely
difficult task. Even if a man is equipped with the
highest faculties of reason and intellect and
possesses matchless wisdom and experience, the
chances of his formulating the correct views on
existence are slight. And even if, after a lifetime
of reflection, he does in fact succeed he will still
lack the confidence that he has really discovered
the truth and adopted the right path.
The
fullest and fairest test of man's wisdom, reason and
knowledge might have been to have left him to his
own resources without any external guidance. But
this would have meant that only those with the
determination and ability to find the path of truth
would find salvation. God, therefore, spared His
human creatures such a hard test. Through His Grace
and Benevolence He raised for mankind men from among
themselves to whom He imparted the true knowledge of
His attributes, revealed to them His Law and the
Right Code of Living, gave them the knowledge of the
meaning and purpose of life and of life after death
and thus showed them the way by which man can
achieve success and eternal bliss.
These
chosen men are the Messengers of God His
Prophets. God has communicated knowledge and wisdom
to them by means of revelation (Wahi), and
the book containing the Divine Communications is
called the Book of God, or the Word of God. The test
of man's wisdom and intellect therefore lies in
this: does he recognize God's Messengers after
observing their pure and pious lives and carefully
studying their noble and flawless teachings? A man
of wisdom and common sense would accept instructions
given by the Messengers of truth. If he denies the
Messengers of God and their teachings, his denial
would signify that he was devoid of the capacity to
discover truth and righteousness. He would fail his
test. Such a man will never be able to discover the
truth about God and His Law and life after death.
It
is an everyday experience that when you do not know
a thing, you look for somebody who does know. If you
get ill and you cannot treat and cure yourself, you
go to a doctor and follow his instructions without
question. Why? Because he is properly qualified to
give medical advice, possesses experience and has
treated and cured a number of patients. Similarly,
in matters of law you accept whatever a legal expert
says and act accordingly.
In
educational matters you trust in your teacher. When
you want to go to some place and do not know the
way, you ask somebody who knows it, and follow the
way he points out. In short, the course that you
adopt in your day-to-day life about matters, which
you do not or cannot know, is that you approach
someone who does know about them, accept his advice
and act accordingly. You make every effort to select
the proper person. But from then on you accept his
advice unquestioningly. This kind of belief is
called "belief in the unknown" (Iman-bi'l-ghayb).
Iman-bi'l-ghayb
signifies that you get knowledge of what was not
known to you from one who knows. You do not know God
and His real attributes. You are not aware that His
angels are directing the machinery of the whole
Universe according to His orders, and that they
surround you on all sides. You have not the proper
knowledge of the way of life through which you can
seek the pleasure of your Creator. And you are in
the dark about the life to come. Such knowledge is
given to you by the Prophets, who have had direct
contact with the Divine Being. They are the persons
whose sincerity, integrity, trustworthiness,
godliness and absolute purity stand as irrevocable
witnesses to the truth of their claim to knowledge.
And above all, the wisdom and force of their message
makes you admit that they speak the truth and
deserve to be believed and followed.
This
conviction of yours is Iman-bi'l-ghayb. Such
a truth-discerning and truth-acknowledging attitude
is essential for obedience to God and for acting in
accordance with His pleasure; for you have no other
medium than God's Messengers for the achievement of
true knowledge, and without true knowledge you
cannot proceed on the path of Islam.
Go
to Top
Chapter
3
Prophethood:
Its Nature and Necessity
Brief
History of Prophethood
The
Prophethood of Muhammad
Muhammad's
Prophethood: A Rational Vindication
Arabia
The Abyss of Darkness
The Saviour is Born
Diamond in a
Heap of Stones
A Revolution Comes
Why all that Enmity?
A Changed
Man at FortyWhy?
His
All-embracing Message
His
Contribution to Human Thought
The Greatest
Revolutionary
The Final Testimony
The Finality
of Prophethood
Our
discussion so far has made the following points:
1.The
right course for man is to live in obedience to God,
and for such a life of obedience knowledge and faith
are absolutely essential: knowledge of God and His
attributes. His likes and dislikes. His chosen way
and the Da
