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ISLAM:
THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION OF INTEGRITY AND EQUILIBRIUM
Man
is a being in three parts
Man is a
being in three parts, composed of the spirit, the carnal soul and
the body, each needing to be satisfied. These three components are
so interrelated with one another, and their needs are so different
that neglecting one results in man’s failing to attain ‘perfection’.
As the
Quran expresses it, “Beautified for mankind is the love of
lusts-women, children, stored-up heaps of gold and silver, horses
of mark, cattle and tillage.” (3:14) Man’s physical make-up
and individual characteristics produce in him certain
inclinations, and he can neither avoid satisfying these lusts
which have been ingrained in him by the Creator, nor can he be rid
of them.
Just as we
do not mean that man is free to do whatsoever he wishes to satisfy
his lusts when we speak of his being unable to avoid satisfying
them, so too, we do not imply that he cannot do anything regarding
his inclinations when we speak of his incapacity to get rid of
them. On the contrary, he can change his inclinations by using his
will, and he can control his lust, anger and other emotions and
channel them to propel himself along the path of perfection and
wisdom.
Man
has to satisfy both his material and spiritual needs
Man, made
up of dust, which is the earthly element of his existence, and the
spirit, the heavenly element of his existence, has to satisfy both
his material and spiritual needs. Just as he is subject to the
power of anger and passion, he also can exercise the power of
intellect. He is neither a plant nor an animal only, but he is a
unique being having both vegetable and animal aspects.
Just as man’s
physical body is subject to its own pleasures and diseases, his
spirit too has its joys and ailments. What harms the body is
sickness, and what gives it pleasure lies in its well-being,
health and whatever is in harmony with its nature. As for the
pleasures and diseases of the spirit, they depend on whether the
carnal soul has been purified or not.
Man’s
most important problem is to attain happiness
Man’s
most important problem inseparable from his existence and the
ultimate aim of his life is to attain felicity and happiness. The
most consummate happiness for man is to become the embodiment and
manifestation of Divine Attributes and the characteristics. The
soul of a truly happy man is developed by the knowledge and love
of God, and it is illuminated by an effulgence emanating from the
Godhead. When that happens, nothing but beauty emanates from him,
since beauty can emanate only from what is beautiful.
Man’s
happiness lies in reformation of the three faculties of his
soul
It should
be kept in mind that true felicity cannot be reached or retained
unless all the faculties and powers of the soul are purified and
reformed. By reforming some faculties of the soul, or all of them,
for a short period of time only, happiness will not be attained.
Its case is similar to physical health. A body can be said to be
healthy only when all its limbs and organs are lastingly healthy.
Therefore, the individual who seeks to attain ultimate and perfect
happiness must free himself or herself from the clutches of the
demonic and animal forces and step onto the ladder to ascend to
higher realms.
When we
speak of man’s purifying his faculties and powers, we do not
mean that he should eliminate his desires and anger, and destroy
his reproductive instincts, or capacity for self-defense. Man
could not exist without these instincts, so he must preserve them.
If he did not possess the power of intellect, it would be
impossible for him to distinguish between good and bad, right and
wrong, true and false, and if he did not possess the faculty of
anger, he would not be able to defend himself against attacks
which threaten his life. If the force of sexual attraction and
desire did not exist in man, the continued existence of the human
species would be threatened. It is for man to avoid extremes in
expressing his powers and faculties and to maintain a balance and
moderation so that they may perform their functions properly. The
purification and training of each one of these faculties results
in the emergence of a particular ability in the human being.
The
purification and training of the intellect results in the
acquiring of knowledge, and ultimately of wisdom, in the human
being. The purification of the power of anger results in the
emergence of the faculty of courage, and subsequently of
forbearance. The purification of passion and desire results in the
development of the virtue of chastity. Those moral virtues, which
a man attains as he rises towards perfection and realizes true
happiness are wisdom, courage, and chastity.
If every
virtue is thought of as the center of a circle, and any movement
away from the center is considered a vice, the farther away the
movement from the center is, the greater the vice is. For every
virtue, therefore, there are innumerable vices; since there is
only one center in a circle, whereas points all around it are
infinite in number. With regard to deviation, it does not make any
difference in which direction the deviation occurs; deviation from
the center, in whatever direction, is a vice.
There are
two extreme points related to each moral virtue, one is a
deficiency, the other an excess. The two extremities connected
with wisdom are stupidity and cunning. As to courage, they are
cowardice and rashness; concerning chastity, they are lethargy and
uncontrolled lust.
Where does
man’s perfection lie?
So man’s
perfection, the ultimate purpose of his existence, lies in
maintaining a condition of balance and moderation between the two
extremes relating to every virtue. As regard with the result of
maintaining a balance and moderation, Ali ibn Abi Talib is
reported to have said:
Surely
God has characterized the angels by intellect without sexual
desire and passions, and anger, and the animals with anger
and desire without intellect. He exalted man by bestowing
upon him all of these qualities. Accordingly, if man’s
intellect dominates his desire and ferocity, he rises to a
station above that of angels, because this station is
attained by man in spite of the existence of obstacles which
do not vex the angels. (Nahj al-Balagha)
One of the
important points to mention with regard to man’s earthly
existence is that he is a social, civilized being living in
co-existence with his fellowmen, so that his earthly life covers
social, political, and economic aspects as well as spiritual ones.
Man, because of his worldly nature, can be too obedient a servant
of his desires. When men who are under the influence of their
lusts gain power to rule over their fellows, they light fires of
oppression on the earth and reduce the poor and the weak to being
their slaves. The human history is full of such instances. God, on
the other hand, is All-just and never approves injustice and
oppression, so the religion He has revealed must, and does, cover
all aspects of human life.
Islam and
other ‘religious’ traditions in guiding man
It can be
argued that almost all the moral or religious movements of revival
prior to Islam arose in reaction to the circumstances then
existing in a certain locality. This explains why they were
lacking in some principles and failed to give complete guidance
for all aspects of life. Taoism, for instance, taught the
corrupted community of China which had sunk into all kinds of
vices, the complete negligence of material pleasures. The
Confucian world-view was opposed to the principles of Taoism, and
called the people who had been leading a monastic life based on
spiritual purification and individual piety to found a virtuous
state, and live a fully social life.
The same is
true with the Indian people. The vast, fertile country of Rajahs
was the object of several invasions which occurred over the
centuries, and the Indian religions developed extreme mysticism
and asceticism as a reaction against the luxury and debauchery
which had been once prevalent.
As for
Christianity, particularly in the beginning, it developed too much
as an other-worldly religion. This was partly because it emerged
as a reaction to Jewish hypocrisy and materialism but more
particularly, as Jesus Christ himself admitted, because it was not
the final and complete Divine message for mankind, but the
revelation only for one nation at a certain period:
I
have much more to tell you, but now it would be too much for
you to bear. When, however, the Spirit of truth comes, who
reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the
truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will
speak of what he hears and will tell you of things to come.
(John, 16:12-13)
Five
centuries after Jesus, the Spirit of truth appeared in the person
of the Prophet Muhammad (God’s blessings be upon him), bringing
the whole truth to mankind. God revealed that He had sent him to
the whole of mankind (34:28). He never spoke on his own authority,
but he always spoke of what was revealed to him, as foretold by
Jesus and also mentioned in the Qur’an (53:3-4). Besides, no
prophet other than Muhammad (peace be upon him) emerged after
Jesus and no one other than him revealed the truth about God.
Almost everyone in the world had been associating partners with
God before his advent: “Most part of men believe not in Him, but
they associate other gods with Him” (Qur’an, 12:106). As
people measured not God with His true measure (6:91), some imputed
to Him a son without any knowledge, while some others regarded the
angels as His daughters, although He is exalted completely above
what they were describing. Thus, Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, came and revealed the truth about God and emphasized
His Unity. With him God perfected religion and declared that the
true religion with Him is Islam (3:19) and, therefore, whoso
desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of
him; in the next world he shall be among the losers. (3:85) As
related by Jesus himself (John, 16:14), the Prophet Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings, “acknowledged the true glory of
Jesus” by revealing to the world what is important for people to
know about his life and teachings. Finally, the message which
Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, brought from God is the
last and the complete message for mankind because he is the Seal
of Prophets.
Islam
contains complete guidance for all aspects of human
relationships, and for all nations and ages
Unlike any
other religion, which, because it was confined to one nation, and
to a certain period only, lacks the principles to control the
whole of life, Islam contains complete guidance for all aspects of
human relationships, and for all nations and ages. Islam is a
system of faith related to behavior which combines action,
intention, and faith, and takes the totality of life of the
complete man into consideration. Although it gives much emphasis
to the spiritual aspect of man’s existence, yet it never
neglects the social, administrative and economic aspects of life.
Thus, the Qur’an expresses the qualifications of the guides
appointed to educate men, and describes the foundations of a
perfect community as follows:
Thus,
We appointed for you a Messenger from amongst you so that he
will recite to you Our signs, purify you, and teach you the
Book, wisdom and teach you what you know not. (2:151)
Islam is
the way of love, knowledge and action, therefore, as expressed in
the verses quoted above, man needs signs. Every event in the
universe and human life is a sign, on which man is to contemplate
and through which he can find ways to the Sublime Creator.
Islam
weds sciences and spiritual purification and morality
Man, by
contemplating these signs, under the guidance of the Holy
Scripture, can attain to the knowledge of God and faith, and can
lead a virtuous life based upon this faith, thus purifying his
soul of evils and sins. Again by means of the same signs, man has
been able to found modern sciences, which have their origin in the
‘signs’, which are the ‘Divine laws of nature’. It should
be pointed out that only a soul which has been purified can bring
benefit to mankind through the sciences. Otherwise, as witnessed
in the last phase of human history, science and technology can be
so deadly to mankind that millions of people lose their lives, and
other millions of them are left homeless as orphans and widows.
Only when purified souls are endowed with sciences and enabled to
employ them, does this lead to true felicity and salvation for
mankind.
Man,
although purified and endowed with the sciences, has to share his
life with his fellowmen. That is why the Last Messenger of God, as
stated in the Qur’an, was sent together with the Book, which
contains the Divine principles of social life, and with the
Balance so that human beings could follow absolute justice. The
Balance is the Divine standard in conformity with which Authority
puts the Book into practice in order to secure justice in the
society. Thus, any religion or system which lacks the principles
of spiritual purity or the conditions of a virtuous social life is
far from providing true felicity for mankind. As will be
explained, and as witnessed by history, Islam has been able to
give complete guidance for the life of this world and the next,
with nothing essential omitted. The Prophet Muhammad (upon him be
peace and blessings) having been sent as “the blessing for all
the worlds”, and with the Quran, which will last forever without
being corrupted, there is no requirement for any renewal of the
Divine message through another Prophet.
Does
Islam have to change with the passage of time?
Some
people, however, argue that the passage of time itself is a
sufficient ground for the need of new guidance and, hence, a
religion which was revealed some fourteen centuries ago must
necessarily grow obsolete and become a thing of the past, not
suited to the needs of the new age. This objection is totally
unfounded. Islam’s teachings, first of all, are eternal, because
they have been revealed by God, Who knows all about the past,
present and future and Who Himself is eternal. It is the human
knowledge which is limited. It is the human eye which cannot see
the vista of future, not God Whose knowledge is above all the
limitations of time and space.
Second,
Islam is based on essential human nature, which is constant and
not subject to change according to time and space. It is a modern
illusion which sees everything subject to change. In human life
and in nature there is a beautiful balance between elements of
permanence and change. It is the outward forms which change while
the fundamental principles, the basic values and the essential
human nature together with men’s basic needs remain unchanged.
The Quran and the Sunna propound the eternal principles of
Islam, while through Ijtihad particular needs of every age are
deduced from them. Ijtihad, however, is neither independent
reasoning as thought of by Schacht nor free-thinking as defined by
Gibb, but it is a technical term in Muslim jurisprudence. It is a
legal principle which has been defined by Muslim scholars as “the
competency or legal ability to deduce rules of law through
juristic speculation from original sources where definite
authentic decisive texts are not specific.” To cite an example,
Islam has no objection to making laws to control the modern
traffic, but murder will remain as a capital sin and a grave crime
which deserves a heavy punishment even if it is committed by a
driver.
A man comes
to a famous Muslim jurist and says to him: “You argue that the
Quran contains every principle to cater for modern needs. If
so, can you show me whether the Quran teaches us how many
loaves of bread can be made from a kilo of flour?” The jurist’s
answer is very significant to understanding the essence of the
matter: “Yes, the Quran teaches us how many loaves of bread
can be made from a kilo of flour. It enjoins us to refer to the
people of expert knowledge for what we do not know ourselves.
(16:43) So, go and ask a baker about it. ”
Islam is
the only religion which has established machinery for the
perennial evolution of human society in accordance with the
fundamental principles and permanent values of life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Said Nursi,
Sozler (The Words 1, The Words 2), Istanbul, 1958
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Isaratu’l-I’caz,
Istanbul
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Abu Dharr-i
Naraqi, Cami’u-s-Sadat, Tehran
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E. Hamdi Yazir,
Hak Dini Kur’an Dili, Istanbul,1960
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A. Izzeti, The
Revolutionary Islam, 1980
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New Testament,
American Bible Society, 1977
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Ali Shariati,
Medeniyet ve Modernizm (Turkish trans.)1980
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M. A. Pouya,
Fundamentals of Islam, Karachi
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Abdulkadir Udeh,
Islam Seriati (Turkish trans.)
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Abdul-Wahhab
Khallaf, Islam Tesri’ Tarihi (Turkish trans),1970
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A. A.al-Mawdudi,
Towards Understanding Islam, 1970
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Islam Nizami
(Turkish trans.) Istanbul,1978
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