The Way to Salvation - STRUGGLE

STRUGGLE

The sole way of salvation and deliverance from eternal damnation towards which Surah Al-’Asr points is that every human being should strive and struggle within the limits of his capacity to attain the maximum degree of faith, righteous action, enjoinment of truth and of constancy. As far as the question of determining one’s capacities is concerned, there is a simple and foolproof procedure for this which each may apply to himself.

Self deceiving and self-pitying excuses of incapability may be induced by Satan (Devil), but the honest test of self-assessment is quite simply this: each Muslim should ask himself to what extent he is exerting himself in the economic struggle of life and to what degree his capacities and potentialities, mental and physical, are becoming visible in the over-all course of mundane pursuits. If a weak, frail and ungifted person who has either met complete failure or lagged far behind in the struggle of worldly existence tenders on the Day of Judgement some excuse for his shortcoming and deficiency in spiritual attainments, he is most likely to be pardoned by the Grace of Allah. But surely those who are progressing and flourishing in worldly matters cannot legitimately make such excuses. Nor should they expect from Allah any mercy on them. 

A Quranic verse puts this unambi-guously in these words:

“Nay, man will be a telling witness against himself, even though he were to put forward excuses!’ (LXXV:14, 15)

Source: The Way to Salvation (Book by Dr Israr Ahmed)

The Way to Salvation - KINDNESS

KINDNESS

A prophetic saying further elaborates this in these words:

‘He who is devoid of kindness is devoid of all good’.

A higher stage of ‘twasi bil-haqq’ is that of calling people to Allah, enjoining good and forbidding evil. A true Muslim should give clothing to the ill-clad, food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. But the greatest benefit he can render to his fellow beings is to turn them back from moral and spiritual bankruptcy and guide them to the straight path of the Quran and Sunnah. 

In one’s life journey to the ultimate goal, the duty of each Muslim is to catch hold of the hand of one who goes astray from the straight path of Islam and to guide him aright. Mutual counsel gives life to actions and fosters a healthy spirit among the individuals.

At a still higher stage, ‘twasi bil-haqq’ adopts the form of testifying to the truth and veracity of Islam (Shahadat-ihaqq) exalting the truth from Allah over all man-made ideologies (E’Ia-e-Kallmatillah), and establishing Islam both in the individual and social aspects of life (Iqamat-i-Din). The testimony to the truth may be by the tongue of a true preacher or the pen of a devoted scholar, or by the life of a man devoted to service. The highest and most revered form of this testimony is presented by a Muslim who leaves his house and family to fight the enemy for the cause of Allah (Jehad-fi-Sabilillah). Endurance is the greatest solace of a true Muslim while going through all the trials on account of ‘twasi bil-haqq’. Especially in the higher stages, mutual teaching and exhorting to constancy become so essential that ‘twasi-bis-sabr’ has been mentioned separately to highlight the collective and cooperative character of Muslim society.

It is no doubt difficult for all and sundry to attain the above mentioned highest stages of belief or ‘Iman’, righteous deeds, mutual exhortation of truth and mutual exhortation of patience and endurance. But if a man’s inner personality has not been corroded by some spiritual or moral ailment, it is almost certain that a healthy and potent seed of religious belief will flourish into wholesome and balanced branches of righteous actions, exhortation to truth and constancy.

It is surely excusable if a lay Muslim, who has very little knowledge of the fundamentals of Islam and performs the well known basic duties of ‘Shariah’ (Islamic code of law), confines himself to ‘twasi bil-marhama’ i.e., doing himself acts of kindness and compassion and advising others to the same, which is just the threshold of ‘twasi bil-Haqq’. But those who embark on rigorous spiritual exercises like repeated recitation of a religious formula called ‘Zikr’ to attain deeper and richer states of faith and belief, those who engage themselves in devotional prayers and ‘mustahabbat’ (some thing additional to what is obligatory of ‘farz’) but pay little attention to the more obligatory duty of ‘twasi-biI-haqq’ are seriously misguided in their attitude. Lives of these people are mostly either totally devoid of the essential religious duty of ‘twasi bll-haqq’ or they exhibit just a vestige of it in the form of occasional brief sermon or sporadic moralizing advice. This state of affairs is certainly wrong and needs to be rectified immediately.

In this connection a story reported by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) puts the urgency of this duty in very bold relief. He mentioned an extremely pious old man whom the angels testified that he never indulged in sin even for as long as the blink of an eye, but who never angered or got moved at the sight of people breaking the commands of God. Despite all his piety and life-long spiritual observances, Allah ordered the angels to destroy him first and then the entire community.

On the other hand, it should also be clearly understood that it is equally dangerous to aspire and struggle for the highest stages of ‘twasi bil-haqq’ through activities geared to establishing an Islamic order of society, but taking meager interest in spiritual devotions and performing only those prayers which are obligatory (farz), and attenuate faith to a mere theological belief without realizing its deeper meaning and cultivating it inwardly. All types of unbalanced attitudes and life-styles within these two extremes are misconceived and possibly dangerous.

Source: The Way to Salvation (Book by Dr Israr Ahmed)

The Way to Salvation - CONDITIONS - Levels

CONDITIONS

In the preceding paragraph (post) mention has been made of stages and degrees pertaining to the several conditions of success and salvation. A point of crucial importance as it is, a few brief remarks about them are in order here. Each of the three articles of belief, righteous deeds and mutual exhor-tation of truth admits of degrees and ranks. 

Taking belief first, even the ordinary believer who accepts faith, that is who believes in the tenets of Islam and does good deeds, becomes a member of a great and beautiful spiritual fraternity — a company which lives perpetually in the sunshine of God’s grace.

Within itself however ‘Iman’ has a glorious hierarchy, of which two grades are specified by the Quran: the highest grade is that of the prophets, who get plenary inspiration from Allah (SWT) and who teach mankind by example and precept and that of the ‘Siddiqeen’, the most sincere lovers of truth, who support the truth with their person, their means, their influence, and all that is theirs. This second rank was held by the closest companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), such as Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique  (RAA).

Similarly the category of righteous deed (amal-i-saleh) applies to a wide variety of actions, beginning from the very ordinary moral acts of kindness like removing a stone from a road on which men walk. In its higher reaches it is attributable to thorough obedience to Quranic injunctions covering all aspects of a Muslim’s life, including even the minor details of his personal life. It means more than just conformity to an external code of law. At its highest level it permeates all actions to attain a state of moral excellence which the Quran calls ‘ihsan’ and ‘taqwa’.

In a like manner ‘twasi bil-haqq’ has several grades. Its lowest stage is exhorting one another to perform acts of kindness and compassion, ‘twasi bil-marhama’, on occasions which arise fairly commonly in every day life. A sense of kindness and compassion has been ingrained in the nature of human beings and only the most wicked one lacks it. According to a Quranic verse, those who discourage or forbid others from feeding the poor have touched the nadir of moral depravity.

Source: The Way to Salvation (Book by Dr Israr Ahmed)

The Way to Salvation - UNITY

UNITY

If an exhortation is made to uphold the truth without evil forces putting obstacles in its way, if a programmatic and concerted call is issued to establish social justice but tyrants and oppressors merely keep silent, then either the advocates of Truth have some clandestine agreement with the forces of injustice, or they are working for just a part of the Truth, not the whole of it. Men thriving upon injustice may not deem it necessary to suppress a movement towards social justice if they find that that particular part of the truth is harmless to their vested interests. 

But total commitment to truth and the struggle to establish it inevitably brings persecution and harassment. Every step on this path invites ever greater ordeals and challenges. A poet has rendered this in a beautiful couplet:

“People consider being a true Muslim an easy affair.

Nay! It is like stepping in the pyre of love and martyrdom. ”

At this stage there is no alternative for men of faith in the true religion but to unite their aspiration and energies. Encouraging and helping each other, being firm and patient themselves and exhorting others to firmness and patience, they must form a united front, what the Quran calls a ‘solid cemented structure’  In so doing, they will make themselves an embodiment of the Quranic verse:

“O Ye who believe! persevere in patience and constancy. Vie in such perseverance ; Strengthen each other. And fear God so that ye may succeed and prosper.” (III : 200)

At the stage of ‘twasi-bil-haqq’ (mutual exhortation to Truth), it is perhaps impossible for Muslims in their individual capacities to stand up to the opposition mounted against them by the evil forces. It is therefore, imperative, that they unite into a well-organized group. This is the reason why the Quran has given the injunctions regarding ‘Haqq’ and ‘Sabr’ in the Arabic grammatical form of “tafa’uI’. that is to say, in the verse ‘Wa twaso biI-Haqqe wa twaso bis-sabr’ there is an implicit reference to the necessity of a united and organized group life for Muslims. 

These virtues we must exercise both for ourselves and in relation to others. We must set an example for others and take the excellence of others as an example for ourselves, so that we may not fall short of what is due from us. In this way we strengthen each other and bind our mutual relations closer in common service to God. In the later part of the passage quoted above from Maulana Farahi’s book, he says, ‘-and since the establishment of ‘Khilafat’ depends on obedience to an ‘Ameer’ (the leader), it is essential that Muslims submit themselves to discipline. It is, therefore, clear that belief, righteous deeds, mutual exhortation to truth and mutual exhortation to steadfastness are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are bound together closely in a strictly logical sequence, four stages of a single straight path.

Faith is like a seed from which sprouts the bud of righteous conduct. The bud grows into a mature plant with leaves and flowers of mutual exhortation to truth and constancy. This also explains why the Quran almost always couples faith and good deeds, even when only faith is mentioned, the reader can easily understand that it covers in its connotation all of the four requirements. For instance, in the following verse:

‘Lo! those who say: Our Lord is Allah, and further stand straight and steadfast….’ (XLI 30)

Here only the most fundamental of Islamic beliefs, i.e., belief in the providence of Almighty Allah, has been mentioned, though, it should be taken to include the other fundamentals, such as Hazrat Muhammad’s prophet hood (peace be upon him) and the reality of life in the Hereafter. And in ‘Summa-Staqamu’ (further stand straight and steadfast) have been summed up the remaining three conditions, viz., righteous conduct, mutual exhortation of truth and mutual exhortation to persistence in truth. At other places in the Quran, in addition to the primal condition of belief only mutual exhortation has been mentioned. The following verse of Surah ‘AI.-Balad’is an example of this:

“Then will he be of those who believe and enjoin compassion”. (XXC: 17)

The truth of the matter is that all these four conditions are basic to the Quranic way that leads to eternal bliss and salvation. Elucidation and explanation of these requirements and detailed accounts of their stages and degrees are found throughout the Holy Book.

Source: The Way to Salvation (Book by Dr Israr Ahmed)