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QURANIC VIEW OF
RELIGION
The Quran uses the word ‘din’,
usually translated as ‘religion’, in different contexts with
different meanings. Judging, rewarding or punishing (1.4;
51.6; 82.18-9; 37.53; 56.86); way, law, constitution (12.76);
penal law (24.2), the collection of moral, spiritual and
worldly principles, system, way of conduct (33.5; 40.26);
servanthood, obedience (16.52); peace, order (8.39) are the
most important and frequently used of these meanings.
With Islam God completed the religion He
revealed and chose for mankind. Literally, Islam means
‘submission, peace and salvation’. In its most essential or
fundamental aspect, Islam is epitomized in the most frequently
recited of all Quranic phrases, the Basmala — In the
name of God, the Merciful (al-Rahman), the
Compassionate (al-Rahim). Both words are related to the
quality of rahma, meaning mercy and compassion. God
manifests Himself essentially through His absolute,
all-inclusive Mercy and Compassion, and Islam is founded upon
that affirmation. The mission of the Prophet Muhammad, with
whom God sent Islam to mankind, is called in the Quran "a
mercy for all the worlds", for the whole of
creation.
Islam is uncompromisingly monotheistic.
The concept that begins and ends Islamic theology is the Unity
of God. In the light of that concept, the universe is seen as
an integral whole, whose parts are all interrelated and
co-operative. That is why there is such a splendid
co-ordination, harmony and order throughout the universe and
within each individual organism, including man. The harmony
and orderliness prevalent in the universe and man come from
the Unity of God Who alone created them and He is absolute,
without partner or peer or like. The universe operative
according to the laws God has established, is, in the literal
sense of the word, Muslim, absolutely submitted to God. That
is why there is stability, order and harmony in the operations
of the universe.
Nevertheless, among creatures man has
been equipped with freedom of will. While the other creatures
are unable to fully manifest the Divine Names the All-Willing,
the All-Knowing and the All-Speaking, man has so comprehensive
a nature as to be a perfect mirror to God’s Names and
Attributes. God has also equipped him with the knowledge of
things or a capacity to learn and discover — ‘names’, in the
language of the Quran — and made him His vicegerent to rule on
the earth according to His laws. But, having free will means
being faced by choices, so man’s life is the course of his
choices between the opposed possibilities of right and
wrong.
Religion is a universal intellect, a
guidance from beyond human reason and human
experience
So that he may survive and fulfill his
functions as God’s vicegerent, man is empowered with three
principal faculties. These are his appetites — for the
opposite sex, offspring, livelihood, commodities, etc.; his
anger or forcefulness in defense and struggle; and his power
of reasoning or intellect. Since man is tested in his worldly
life and has freedom of will, these faculties are not
restricted in creation by God. However, man’s individual and
collective happiness lies in his disciplining them for the
sake of a harmonious, peaceful social life. Unless he so
disciplines them, these faculties may drive man to immorality,
illicit sexual relationships, unlawful livelihood, tyranny,
injustices, deception and falsehood, and other vices. To
prevent the chaos and suffering that must follow undisciplined
exercise of human powers, man must submit to an authority that
will guide and regulate his collective affairs. Since
subjugating some people to others more wealthy and powerful
means an open injustice and it is impossible for humankind to
find out a justice to encompass all people, there is need for
a universal intellect, a guidance from beyond human reason and
human experience, to whose authority all may freely give their
assent. That guidance is the religion revealed and perfected
for man by God through His Prophets, namely
Islam.
Islam is the name of the religion which
God revealed to mankind through all of the
Prophets
Islam is the name of the religion which
God revealed to mankind through all of the Prophets. All of
them, upon them be peace, came with the same essentials of
belief — belief in the existence and Unity of God; belief in
the final destruction of the world and the Resurrection and
Judgment; belief in Prophethood and all the Prophets without
distinction; belief in the Divine Scriptures; belief in angels
and Divine Destiny and Decree without excluding human free
will. All of the Prophets called people to worship only One
God and preached and promoted the moral virtues and condemned
vices. The differences lie in particular rules and injunctions
connected with economic and political relationships at a
particular epoch, and in the fact that while all the previous
Prophets were sent to a specific people for a specific epoch,
the Last Prophet, Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings,
was sent to all mankind for all time. To be Muslim requires
belief in all the previous Prophets and in the originals of
the previous Scriptures.
Who is a prophet?
A Prophet is one who, purified of all
sins and vices and having a deep relation with God, guides
people to truth and sets a perfect example for them in life
with his exalted character. Absolute truthfulness,
trustworthiness, communication of Divine Message without
hiding anything in it, having the highest intellectual
capacity, wisdom and profound insight, sinlessness and being
free from all mental and bodily defects are essentials of
Prophethood. Just as the planets are attracted toward the sun
by the invisible force of gravitation, so too people are
attracted toward the Prophet by the force of his profound
relation with God, by certain miracles, and by the sheer
nobility of his person, his purpose and his
character.
Faith or belief is the very essence of
religion
Faith or belief is the very essence of
religion. Belief is not just a simple, brief affirmation based
on imitation. It has degrees and stages of expansion or
development as from, say, the seed of a tree to the fully
grown, fruit-bearing state of that tree. Belief contains so
many truths pertaining to all Names of God and the realities
contained in the universe, that the most perfect of all human
sciences and knowledge and virtues is belief, and knowledge of
God originating in belief based on argument and investigation.
This degree of belief has many degrees and grades of
manifestation to the number of the Divine Names. Those who
have been able to attain the degree of certainty of belief
coming from direct observation of the truths on which belief
is based, can study the universe as a kind of Divine
Scripture.
The Divine Scripture (the Quran), the
universe, and man
The Divine Scripture (the Quran), the
universe, and man, are three kinds of manifestation of one
truth. Therefore, there cannot be in principle a contradiction
or incompatibility between the truths of the Quran (from the
Divine Attribute of Speech) and the truths derived from the
objective study of its ‘counterpart’, the created universe
(from the Divine Attributes of Power and Will). Within an
Islamic civilization, true to its authentic, original impulse,
there cannot be a contradiction between science, the objective
study of the natural world, and religion, the effort in
personal and collective life to seek the approval and good
pleasure of God. True belief is not something based on blind
imitation; it should appeal to the reason as well as the
heart, and combine affirmation by the reason and the inward
experience and submission of the heart.
There is another degree of belief, namely
certainty coming from direct experience of its truths. This
depends on regular worship and reflection. The one who has
acquired this degree of belief can challenge the whole of the
world. So, the Muslims’ foremost duty is to acquire this
degree of belief and try, in utmost sincerity and purely for
the sake of pleasing God, to communicate it to others.
Belief and worship
The highest aim of creation and its most
sublime result is belief in God. The most exalted rank of
humanity is the knowledge of God. The most radiant happiness
and sweetest bounty is the love of God contained within the
knowledge of God; the purest joy for the human spirit and the
purest delight for man’s heart is the spiritual ecstasy
contained within the love of God.
From belief follow the different kinds of
worship of God: worship that is responsive to explicit
injunctions like the prescribed prayers, fasting, alms-giving
and pilgrimage; worship that is obedient to the prohibitions
such as against drinking alcohol, gambling, usury, killing,
deception, etc. In order both to strengthen one’s belief and
to attain higher ranks of perfection, one should be careful
about the ‘acts’ of the heart and intellect, such as
contemplation or reflection, invocation or recitation of God’s
Names, self-criticism, perseverance and patience,
thankfulness, disciplined living, perfect reliance on God, and
so on. Moral virtues are the ‘fruits’ of religious life; the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, said: I
have been sent to perfect the virtues.
Divine Religion also has rules to
regulate man’s collective life. Through belief and worship,
and through its intellectual, moral and spiritual principles,
Islam aims to educate the individual in the best way possible;
through its social and economic principles, it aims to
establish an ideal society. Its final aim is that there should
be no dissension, corruption, anarchy and terror in the world
and that all people may obtain happiness in both
worlds.
Man’s servanthood to God
Many Western intellectuals and their
counterparts in the Muslim world assert that servanthood to
God or religious life is a compensatory device contrived to
console man for his own weaknesses and defects. Nevertheless,
although modern man, armed with science and technology,
entertains the illusion that he can be free of belief in and
servanthood to a Supreme Being, and though he sees himself as
a powerful one, yet he will, if it serves his self-interest,
so far abase himself as to bow in worship before the meanest
thing. Modern man is stubborn and unyielding, yet will
countenance great degradation for the sake of a single, brief
pleasure; he is unbending, but so mean as to kiss the feet of
devilish people for the sake of some vulgar advantage. He is
conceited and domineering but, since he can find no point of
support in his heart, he postures like an impotent,
vainglorious tyrant. He is a self-centered egoist, who strives
to gratify his material, carnal desires and to pursue personal
interests or particular national interests that coincide with
his own.
The sincere believer does not degrade
himself to bow in worship before even the greatest of the
created. He is a dignified servant of God who does not take as
object of worship a thing of even the greatest benefit like
Paradise. Though a modest servant, and gentle in his nature
and his bearing, he does not lower himself voluntarily before
anybody other than his Creator beyond what He has permitted.
Though aware of his weakness and neediness before God, he is
independent of others, because he relies upon the Wealth and
Power of his One Master.
For all practical purposes, the
assumption of modern Western civilization is that collective
life consists of competing selfish interests which are in a
state of necessary conflict, arbitrated by force or might. It
promotes as the bond that unifies particular communities an
aggressive and negative nationalism which has often
degenerated into a brutal racism. The result, for the majority
of the world’s peoples, of the recent dominance of Western
civilization, has been acute misery and humiliation; and for
the favored minority, gratification of worldly needs
accompanied a continual stimulation and increasing of those
needs which engenders more competitiveness and
anxiety.
The life of religion and servanthood to
God accepts ‘right’, not ‘force’, as the point of support in
social life. It holds, in place of the realization of selfish
interests, virtues and God’s approval as the aim of collective
life, and in place of necessary conflict, it holds to the
principle of mutual assistance. It promotes, not racism and
negative nationalism, but the ties of religion, profession and
country, as the bonds within and between communities. Its aim
is to put a barrier against the attacks of worldly desires
and, by urging the soul to sublime goals, it encourages man on
the way to perfectibility. Right calls for unity. Virtues
bring solidarity. The principle of mutual assistance means
coming to the aid of one another. Religion secures brotherhood
and attraction. By disciplining the corporeal self and urging
the soul to virtue, it brings happiness in this world and the
next.
The reasons why the unbelieving modern
civilization has been so long triumphant over the
Muslims
Here it may be asked why the unbelieving
modern civilization has been so long triumphant over the
Muslims. The answer was given by Said Nursi in his writings.
He argued that, although a Muslim must be Muslim in all his
attributes and actions, he cannot always be so in practical
life. Also, it is not always the case with a transgressor or
unbeliever that every attribute and action of his should
originate in his unbelief or transgression. Therefore, by
virtue of having Muslim attributes and acting in conformity
with Islamic principles more than a Muslim who fails in
practicing Islam, an unbeliever may be victorious over a
Muslim.
God has established two kinds of laws:
one is the Shari’a, known by everybody, which is the
body of God’s laws issuing from His Attribute of Speech and
governing man’s ‘religious’ life. The reward or punishment for
following these laws or not usually pertains to the afterlife.
The other body of Divine laws comprise those governing
creation and life as a whole, which issue from His Attribute
of Will and are generally (but wrongly) called the ‘laws of
nature’. The reward or punishment for them mostly pertains to
this world. The Quran insistently draws attentions to
‘natural’ phenomena, which are the subject-matter of sciences,
and urges their study. In the first five centuries of Islam,
Muslims succeeded in uniting sciences with religion, the
intellect with the heart, the material with the spiritual.
However, in later centuries, the West took the initiative in
sciences. This has meant that their obedience — although
unconscious — to Divine laws of ‘nature’, has enabled their
dominance over the Muslim world, which failed to practice both
the religious and scientific aspects of Islam. Power and force
have some right in life, they have been created for some wise
purpose. Armed with power through sciences and technology, the
West has got the upper hand over the Muslims.
By suffering the attacks of the hawk, the
sparrow develops its defensive strengths and skills. In a
comparable way, God has allowed the world of unbelief to
attack Islam so that Muslims may acquire the necessary skills
and strengths and restore Islam to its original purity and
re-gain its authority in the world. |
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