Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
The
Spirituo-Moral Duties —Some Vital Facts:
Among the Duties to
Self, besides the duties based on the earthly environment of Man, the Holy
Qur’an has explicitly prescribed certain duties which bear reference to the
transcendental dimension of his personality and may, therefore, be termed as
spirituo-moral, or, ethico-religious, duties. It says, for instance:
“Virtue does not
consist in turning your faces towards the east and the west (in
direction-worship, which has formed part of the practices of superstitious
nations, including the Greeks, the Hindus and the Christians), but virtue is of
him who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the Angels and the Book (i.e.,
the Divine Scripture) and the Prophets; and gives of his wealth, for love of
Him (i.e., from the purest self-less motive), unto kindred and orphans and the
needy and the wayfarer and those who ask and for the emancipation of slaves;
and establishes Prayer; and pays the Poor-rate; and is of those who perform
their covenants when they have covenanted; and is of the patient in adversity
and affliction and time of violence. Such are those who have proved themselves
true (in their Faith). Such are the God-fearing” (2:177).
Besides the essentially
moral duties, this verse bears reference to the spirituo-moral duties also;
which, though they appear to stand in the category of duties to others, are
actually duties to Self—as we shall shortly observe.
The function of such duties is to nourish the faith that the
world is a Moral Order, thereby continuously reinforcing the moral fibre of
human beings and furnishing the ground for moral struggle—indeed, the sure
ground; and they are to three types of personalities, viz., (1) God, (2) the
Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!) and, (3) the
Angels. With them may also be mentioned the duties of belief in Divine Guidance
and in the Life Hereafter.
Now, since the Holy
Qur’an affirms the existence of the personal God, Who is the Possessor of all
Perfection and Who undertakes to lead His creatures to perfection adequate to
them, duties to Him become the foremost duties. However, those duties are, in the
final analysis, duties to Self because God being al-samad (112:2), He does not
stand in need of anything from anyone while the entire Creation depends on Him
for everything. Moreover, God being the ultimate condition of the realisation
of Man’s moral ideal, every duty to God is really duty to Self.
Duties to the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (the Divinely-Blessed) originate, like the duties to God, in
the Islamic Article of Faith itself; and they have been laid down by the Qur’an
in the interest of the Muslims themselves, because :
Firstly, he alone is the
Leader who is to be followed unconditionally. Thus the bond of loyalty to him
is the bond of integrity of the Islamic world-community.
[In that connection, it
is necessary to emphasize that the ‘bond of loyalty’ to the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be on him!) resides in absolute allegiance to him, which means
that the association of anyone else in that allegiance as a condition of faith
in Islam—in terms of conferring upon anyone, or accepting anyone’s claim to,
divinely-bestowed Authority, on the basis of prophetic status or any status
akin to it, in any sense whatsoever, is disbelief in the Prophet’s status, and
is regarded as disbelief in Islam itself, and that inspite of otherwise
absolute allegiance to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!)—expels a
person from the fold of Islam in the same way as when he associates anyone in
any manner in the Godhood of Allah.]
Secondly, he is the
Model of Perfection whom every Muslim is under obligation to imitate for
advancement in his spiritual and moral life. But to imitate him consequentially
is not possible without practicing love and respect for him, which has been
prescribed as duty.
Thirdly, he is the
Medium through whom Divine Grace flows
to his followers in respect of their spiritual and moral
purification (62:3-4).
These facts necessitate
the maintenance of a constant dutiful attitude in terms of love and respect for
him.
However, just as duties
to God are really duties to Self, because they involve the self-perfection of
the moral agent, in the same manner duties to the Holy Prophet (Peace be on
him!) are really duties to Self, because of the benefits that accrue to the person
who fulfils them.
As regards the Angels,
they are, according to the Holy Qur’an, possessors of the attribute of
personality (3:39, etc.). Also, they are sinless (i.e.,
holy) beings and function as executors of Divine Will in the universe (66:6).
Thus, duties towards them appear to stand under three
categories, viz., (1) duty of belief in their existence; (2) duty of love for
their sinless-ness; and (3) duty of respect for them as functionaries of the
Divine Order.
The duty of belief in
the existence of the Angels forms a part of the Islamic Creed, which means that
it has a basic significance in the Islamic system. The question might arise
here, however, that moral duty is duty of action and not of belief, and hence
the duty of belief should not be included here. But the fact is that the duty
of belief in the Angels is a duty of attitude and is actually a necessary
prerequisite to the cultivation of purity in moral outlook on the basis of
which alone moral life can be Islamically pursued. Thus it comes under the duty
of the Moral Perfection of the Self. Also, this duty has a reference to Divine
Control in the life of humanity, which highlights God’s function as the Moral
Ruler of the world.
We learn from the Holy
Qur’an about two functions of the Angels which bear a direct reference to our
moral life, viz., bringing the Revelations to the Prophets from God for the
guidance of man— Archangel Jibreel (Peace be on him!) being the chief functionary
in this respect (22:75; 2:97); and recording the deeds of human beings for
presentation to them on the Day of Judgment (82:10-12), when virtue and vice
shall be finally and comprehensively recompensed by God.
It may be observed here
in passing that belief in the Divine Messengers and the Divine Scriptures,
mentioned in the above-quoted verse (2:177), and forming part of the Islamic
Creed, bears reference to the existence of the Law concerning the Guidance of Man
as a spiritual and moral being. Similarly, belief in the Life Hereafter has a
bearing on the moral life of man, as also on his spiritual life, being the
pre-requisite to the performance of the moral action with the purest motive
wherein all earthly considerations are transcended.
Source
to be continued . . . . .
