TECHNIQUE OF RESOLVING THE EXTERNAL CONFLICT

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

2. TECHNIQUE OF RESOLVING THE EXTERNAL CONFLICT:^[1]

 

The conflict between good and evil rages not only within the inner world of the human personality but also in the external world of social phenomena. That conflict also has to be resolved if the moral development of the human beings in general has to be ensured. This is so, because man is a social being, and he is born and grows in society, whose good and evil influences have a potent influence on the formation of his character in either direction, i.e., good and evil. The social order has to be, therefore, of necessity transformed into, and maintained as, a moral order, if the individual is to attain his true moral stature. That is why the Holy Qur’an has commissioned the Muslim Fraternity to strive for transforming the human society into a moral order (3:110).

 

The transformation of the society into moral order, however, presents a challenge to all morally-struggling individuals. Hence, every Muslim has been commanded and commissioned to meet this challenge with all his might and to wage a determined struggle without respite all his life to defeat the forces of evil and to enthrone the forces of good. The Holy Qur’an calls it Jihad* and says:

“O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah, seek the Medium of Approach (al-Wasilah)^[2] unto Him, and strive with might and main (jahidu) in His Way (which comprehends spiritual and moral tazkiyah at individual and collective levels): that you may succeed.” (5:35).

 

* The word Jihad means: the act of exerting one’s utmost for achieving an end. As a Qur’anic term it stands for waging relentless war against evil, whether it exists in the personality of the moral agent—in his inner self—or in his societal environment. Islam evaluates the former as ‘Greater Jihad’ and the latter as ‘Lesser Jihad’, evidently because the former is the very basis for the latter.

Again:

“And strive hard for Allah (which includes eradication of vice and establishment of virtue on earth)—as is due unto Him hard striving (jihad). He has chosen you (for this striving), and has not placed upon you any narrowness in religion.” (22:78). 

 

In human nature we find that there are only two incentives which bring out the best in man and lift him up in the scale of personality, namely, ambition and danger. Jihad provides both. Now, the greater and the more difficult of achievement the ambition,—and what social ambition can be greater than the transformation of human society into a moral order—, the greater the dangers that are involved. And the greater the dangers involved, the greater the incentive for the maintenance of disciplined struggle and integrity of character; and the greater the said incentive, the greater the tazkiyah

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[1] For a comprehensive understanding of this problem, readers are referred to the author’s: “Dynamics of Moral Revolution.”

[2] According to the Holy Qur’an, God is All-Seeing, All-Knowing, Everywhere-Present, and Above all need of the least dependence in anything or anyone. But just as he has created the angels to act as the Medium for the execution of His Will in the universe, He has created the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!) to act as that Medium for the Muslims through which they can acquire the spiritual capacity for meaningful and consequential approach to Him—an approach which should, assume the level of contact in the transcendental dimension, flowering finally into the establishment of genuine and living intimacy, with God. In both cases, the Medium is there, not because of any deficiency in God’s Power, but because of the demands placed in the constitutions of the universe and Man by God for the execution of His Plan.

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times