Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
4. Standard of Moral Judgment:
Coming now to the standard of moral
judgment, it is Law, as has been clearly set down, among others, in the
following verses:
“And those who do not judge on the standard of what
Allah has revealed, verily they are transgressors.” (5:50).
“And those who do not judge on the standard of what
Allah has revealed, verily they are unjust.” (5:48).
“And those who do not judge on the standard of what
Allah has revealed, verily they are infidels.” (5:47).
This means that only actions
performed in obedience to ‘Law’— the Law grounded in the transcendental value
of Divine Pleasure—are morally approvable or virtuous,[1] and
those performed in defiance of ‘Law’ and obedience to ‘Desire’ are morally
condemnable or vicious.[2]
“Say:
‘Truly, my prayer and my (service of) sacrifice, my life and my death are (all)
for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds: No partner has He: This am I taught,
and I am the first of those who bow to His Will”. (6:162-163).
Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
Chapter 2
THE
HOLY PROPHET’S DIVINE MISSION
The Holy Prophet was born and brought up among the pagan Arabs whose
spiritual, moral and social outlooks we have discussed in the previous chapter.
But, how different, radically different, from their philosophy of life is the
revolutionary Message of the Qur’an?
There was a sprinkling of Jewish and Christian groups also present in
that country since some centuries, who were as backward in terms of culture as
the pagan Arabs. Even so, however, they possessed better religious philosophy
and ethical teachings. But, how different, radically different, from their
philosophies of life is the Qur’anic philosophy?
Indeed, the Qur’an emerged in history with a philosophy which in its
structure, dimensions and outlook differed vitally from all the existing
religions and philosophies, adding new dimensions even where it agreed and
correcting the wrongs wherever they existed in any religion—not only in respect
of Arab paganism but also with reference to other religions of the world. And,
no wonder, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!) claimed the Qur’an as
the greatest of the miracles bestowed on him by Allah Almighty.
And, then, another important fact, to which we have made a passing
reference in the foregoing, deserves full notice—the fact, namely, that the
departure of the Qur’an from the prevalent thought in religion or ethics or
social structure is not of a re-actionary character but positive in its nature.
In other words, the Qur’anic Message emerges in a positive, original,
constructive, and comprehensive principle which contains within it potentially
the entire system of its philosophy,[1] like
the seed of a tree which is said to contain the tree within it
potentially,—even as the holy book says: “Seest you not how Allaah sets forth a
parable ?—A Goodly Word (i.e., the Divine Message) (is) like a goodly tree,
whose root (is) firmly fixed and its branches (reach) to the heavens, (and) it
brings forth its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord …” (14:24). Thus,
it did not grow out of something pre-existing through re-adjustments and
pruning but emerged as an exclusive and self-subsisting reality, which supplied
the sound model of thought and action in every sphere of life, so that any
belief or any principle of action which had affinity with it to any extent—even
if only in name—became transformed by coming into contact with it, casting off
its wrong dimensions and the wrong approach to reality contained in it.
It is this we find in the case of the pre-Qur’anic Arab virtues of
generosity, courage, loyalty, veracity, patience, etc. In that connection, it
may be observed, beyond what we have already noticed, that certain noble moral
concepts—noble in terms of their nomenclature—have been possessed by all human
communities, including the most primitive. It is, however, not the names of
those concepts but their contents that are important. Otherwise, to possess the
basic notion of generosity, or courage, or loyalty, etc., is the very demand of
human nature. Indeed, it is the very condition of human existence.
In the final analysis, the fact cannot be denied that what could not be
achieved upto this day in terms of comprehensive and balanced Wisdom by the
greatest thinkers of the world—Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Hegel, Marx, etc.,—and
by the greatest religions, was achieved through the Qur’an by an unlettered
person who had no access to any wisdom of the world and who was born & brought up in a community whose highest intellectual achievement was nihilistic
and hedonistic poetry. Yes, he was unlettered and enjoyed not the slightest
advantage of any Wisdom in his environment,—unlike Jesus Christ, who was born
and brought up in the prophetic lore of the Israelites, unlike Gautama Buddha,
who received the highest education as a prince and whose environment was saturated
with the accumulated learning of the Hindu sages, and unlike Aristotle, Plato,
Hegel, Karl Marx, and others, who had drunk deep at the fountains of knowledge
that existed through the labours of previous thinkers. And, then, he gave that
Wisdom not through any academic process of research and creation & polishing
up of thought from inside academies and libraries, but in an extempore
manner—orally and in bits, whose collection under his guidance assumed the form
of a Book that contains a thoroughly consistent and comprehensive philosophy
and code oflife. If, therefore, the Qur’an
is not the greatest existing miracle of history—what else it is? And how could
such a superhuman achievement take place without a superhuman basis of
achievement? Indeed, there is no way but to accept the Qur’an as the Word of
God. And that it claims to be from the beginning to the end.
Those who believe in the existence of God and in the genuineness of the
phenomenon of Divine Revelation, and yet refuse to accept the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be on him!) as the Messenger of God and the HolyQur’an as a divinely-revealed Book, land
themselves in the quagmire of absolute irrationality. And the same can be said
about the other categories of the Unbelievers also.
This irrationality becomes evident when we examine the attitudes adopted
in respect of his claim by his opponents, their judgments emerging in the
following terms: (1) it was an act on his part of downright lying, forgery and
imposture; (2) it was a case of self deception under the influence of some
serious and peculiar form of madness.
As to the first: Human nature being what it is: He who never spoke a lie
in his dealings with human beings,—nay, he who conspicuously shone out as the
very personification of Truth and Integrity (al-Sadiq and al-Amin) from the
very beginning of his life, how could he indulge day in and day out, for
twenty-three years, in forging lies in the name of God? Then, who can possibly
forge lies deliberately and consciously in the name of God? Only a diehard
atheist with a firm devilish mind; because a simple philosophical atheist with
any degree of human character would regard any such thing as obnoxious. But,
what do we find in his case? Practice of the highest human virtues of truth,
justice, mercy, forgiveness, sweetness, sympathy, generosity, selfless service to
and suffering for the cause of humanity, etc.,[2] on
the one hand, and the total submergence of his personality in a living and
positive devotion to God and the utmost sacrifice in His Way, on the other.[3]
Then, had he been an adventurer, employing the name of God as a subterfuge, why
should he have insisted on belittling himself by attributing all his merits not
to himself but to God, and by confining his status to that of a human being and
a Servant of God?—while it was easy for him, with all his dynamic personality
and with all the primitive and vulgar superstitiousness of his countrymen, to
claim some form of divinity for himself. All of us know that a human being like
Jesus has been elevated to the status of the Son of God and has been accepted
as such by a large section of mankind inspite of the monotheism projected by
the Bible, and Gautama Buddha has been worshipped by his followers very much as
a god inspite of the atheistic foundations of Buddhism. Moreover, if his
mission would have been based merely on political adventurism, what need was
there for him to antagonise his countrymen by confronting them with the
challenge of a radically-different religion and undertaking, as a consequence,
the most poignant sufferings and the greatest risks? Therefore, only a person
who has been totally blinded by prejudice can even think of bringing forward
the allegation of imposture.
As to the second: The foundations of human behaviour being what they are:
What do we really find? The records of his life are in existence. And what do
they reveal? Only one thing: that he possessed a most sound physical health and
a most sound mind that any human being ever possessed. And the fact that, even
under the stress and strain of the greatest adversity, he never lost his
equanimity of mind but greeted the worst crisis always with super-human
fortitude and forbearance and an unfailing smile, as also the fact that he
combined in his personality utmost mercy with the utmost bravery, speak volumes
not only of his spiritual, moral and mental grace and greatness but also of the
extraordinary soundness of his nerves. Indeed, only a mentally-diseased person
can think about him that he could ever be mentally diseased.
In the final analysis: If Truth has any reality and Reason any value, and
both of them any meaning: The Holy Prophet Muhammad (in whom God’s greatest
Blessings abide!) is, by all canons of Truth and Reason, the Messenger of God
to humanity.
[1] Ref : “The Philosophy of
Unit”, pp. 157-172 (vol. 1).
[2] Even the tributes paid by
the non-Muslim scholars, which we have quoted elsewhere, are enough to give
some idea as to what type of character and personality he possessed.
[3] Both the Qur’an and the
Sunnah bear irrefutable evidence to the fact that, with all the super-human
labour that he had to undertake for building up the multi-dimensional
spiritual, moral, social, economic and political Revolution that he
accomplished in history and with all his self-imposed rigours and sufferings of
poverty, he would regularly pass a large part of the night, when others would
sleep, in standing in prayer before God, until sometimes the skin of his feet
would crack and bleed.
