Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
MODERN CIVILISATION:
A
CONTINUATION OF ARABIC-ISLAMIC CIVILISATION
The present civilisation is, in respect of its merits, the continuation
of the Islamic civilisation, with the difference that theocentricism,
integralism and comprehensiveness have dropped off under the stress of certain
well-known historical circumstances, culminating in its transformation into a
purely sensate civilisation. However, its tragic inadequacy and diseased
condition is now taken notice of by all sane-thinking Westerners, together with
the necessityof adopting the Islamic
philosophy of civilisation for restoring the balanced accommodation of all the
values and thereby reverting to the original Islamic civilization from which it
sprang up. The thick curtain of hatred against Islam, nurtured assiduously for
centuries by a scheming priesthood, is the only obstacle. But the goodness of
human nature is bound to win the day, and the yearnings of the human soul for
Truth and Beauty and Justice are bound to attain realisation. The light of
reality has already begun to shine forth, as manifested in the following
considered judgment of Prof. H.A.R. Gibb, the famous British orientalist:
“… in its foundations we have seen
that Islam belongs to and is an integral part of the larger Western society. It
is the complement and counterbalance to European civilisation, nourished at the
same springs, breathing the same air. In the broadest aspect of history, what
is now happening between Europe and Islam is the reintegration of western
civilization, artificially sundered at the Renaissance and now reasserting its
unity with overwhelming force. The student of history, though fearfully
conscious of the pitfalls of analogy, cannot help recalling two earlier (though
even then not the earliest) moments in this secular process of creative
interaction between the two halves of the western world. It was the glory and
the greatness of the Roman Empire that it united them under its imperium and
that from that unity were born the spiritual forces which have governed the
course of Western history ever since. Halfway between that age and ours
occurred the first great intellectual adventure of Islam, when it absorbed the
heritage of Hellenism and brought it to a new flowering, the seeds from which
contributed to the Renaissance in Europe.
“The process could not end there. It
is going on before our very eyes, on a wider and vaster scale, though the
contrast offered by the Islamic world as a whole to the amazing technical
progress of Europe may still blind us to it: and it may be that the sequel will
be the same, that we must wait upon the Islamic society to restore the balance
of Western civilization upset by the onesided nature of that progress … At all
events Islam stands side by side with Europe in distinction from the true
Oriental societies of India and the Far East … for the fullest development of
its cultural life, particularly of its spiritual life, Europe cannot do without
the forces and capacities which lie within Islamic society…
“Within the Western world Islam still
maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites. Opposed equally to the
anarchy of European nationalism and the regimentation of Russian communism, it
has not yet succumbed to that obsession with the economic side of life which is
characteristic of present day Europe and present-day Russia alike. Its social
ethic has been admirably summed up by Professor Massignon: ‘Islam has the merit
of standing for a very equalitarian conception of the contribution of each citizen
by the tithe to the resources of the community; it is hostile to unrestricted
exchange, to banking capital, to state loans, to indirect taxes on objects of
prime necessity, but it holds to the rights of the father and the husband, to
private property, and to commercial capital. Here again it occupies an
intermediate position between the doctrines of bourgeois capitalism and
Bolshevist communism’.
“But Islam has a still further
service to render to the cause of humanity. It stands after all nearer to the
real East than Europe does, and it possesses a magnificent tradition of
inter-racial understanding and co-operation. No other society has such a record
of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of
endeavour so many and so various races of mankind … Islam has still the power
to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever
the opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by
co-operation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In its
hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is faced
in its relation with the East. If they unite, the hope of a peaceful issue is
immeasurably enhanced. But if Europe, by rejecting the cooperation of Islam,
throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue can only be disastrous for
both.”[1]
Besides the above judgment of H.A.R. Gibb, the verdict of Arnold J.
Toynbee, the fanatical crusader against Islam and zealous upholder of Christian
cause, is also worthy of note. He says (Civilisation on Trial, London, 1957;
pp. 87, 88, 205-209):
“What value are we to place on Islam
ourselves? … Islam’s creative gift to mankind is monotheism and we surely dare
not throw this gift away … Islam remains, with a mighty spiritual mission still
to carry out … (italics, present writer’s).
“Two conspicuous sources of danger—one psychological
and the other material—in the present relations of this cosmopolitan
proletariat (—i.e, westernised humanity—) with the dominant element in our
modern Western society are race consciousness and alcohol; and in the struggle
with each of these evils the Islamic spirit has a service to render which might
prove, if it were accepted, to be of high moral and social value.
“The extinction of race consciousness
as between Muslims is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam, and
in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the
propagation of this Islamic virtue … It is conceivable that the spirit of Islam
might be the timely reinforcement which would decide this issue in favour of
tolerance and peace.
“As for the evil of alcohol, it is at
its worst among primitive populations in tropical regions which have been
‘opened up’ by Western enterprise … the fact remains that even the most
statesmanlike preventive measures imposed by external authority are incapable
of liberating a community from a social vice unless a desire for liberation and
a will to carry this desire into voluntary action on its own part are awakened
in the hearts of the people concerned. Now Western administrators, at any rate
those of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ origin, are spiritually isolated from their ‘native’
wards by the physical ‘colour bar’ which their race-consciousness sets up; the
conversion of the natives’ souls is a task to which their competence can hardly
be expected to extend; and it is at this point that Islam may have a part to
play. “In these recently and rapidly ‘opened up’ tropical territories, the
Western civilization has produced an economic and political plenum and, in the
same breath, a social and spiritual void…
“Here, then, in the foreground of the
future, we can remark two valueable influences which Islam may exert upon the
cosmopolitan proletariat of a Western society that has cast its net round the
world and embraced the the whole mankind; while in the more distant future we
may speculate on the possible contributions of Islam to some new manifestation
of religion.”
[1] Whither Islam?, London
1932, pp. 376-379. (Italics, present writer’s).
The message of Islam
brought by the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad pbuh was the
last link in the long chain of invitations toward Allah Almighty by the noble Prophets.
Throughout history, this message has remained the same: that human beings
should recognise that their true Sustainer and Lord is One God, that they
should submit to Him Alone, and that the lordship of man be eliminated. Except
for a few people here and there in history, mankind as a whole has never denied
the existence of Allah Almighty and His sovereignty over the universe; it has
rather erred in comprehending the real attributes of Allah, or in taking other
gods besides Allah as His associates.
This association with Allah
Almighty has been either in belief and worship, or in accepting the sovereignty
of others besides Allah. Both of these aspects are Shirk in the sense that they
take human beings away from the religion of Allah Almighty , which was brought by the Prophets.
After each Prophet, there was a period during which people understood this
religion, but then gradually later generations forgot it and returned to Jahiliyyahh. They started again on the
way of Shirk, sometimes in their belief and worship and sometimes in their submission
to the authority of others, and sometimes in both.
Throughout every period of
human history the call toward Allah Almighty has had one nature. Its purpose is
'Islam', which means to bring human beings into submission to Allah Almighty,
to free them from servitude to other human beings so that they may devote
themselves to the One True God, to deliver them from the clutches of human
lordship and man-made laws, value systems and traditions so that they will
acknowledge the sovereignty and authority of the One True God and follow His
law in all spheres of life. The Islam of Muhammad pbuh was for this purpose as well as the messages of the earlier Prophets.
The entire universe is
under the authority of Allah Almighty, and man, being a small part of it,
necessarily obeys the physical laws governing the universe. It is also
necessary that the same authority be acknowledged as the law-giver for human
life. Man should not cut himself off from this authority to develop a separate
system and a separate scheme of life. The growth of a human being, his
conditions of health and disease, and his life and death are under the scheme
of those natural laws which come from Allah Almighty; even in the consequences
of his voluntary actions he is helpless before the universal laws. Man cannot
change the practice of Allah Almighty in the laws prevailing in the universe.
It is therefore desirable that he should also follow Islam in those aspects of
his life in which he is given a choice and should make the Divine Law the
arbiter in all matters of life so that there may be harmony between man and the
rest of the universe.
Jahiliyyahh, on the other hand, is one
man's lordship over another, and in this respect it is against the system of
the universe and brings the involuntary aspect of human life into conflict with
its voluntary aspect. This was that Jahiliyyahh
which confronted every Prophet of Allah Almighty, including the last Prophet pbuh in their call toward submission to One God. This Jahiliyyahh is not an abstract theory;
in fact, under certain circumstances it has no theory at all. It always takes
the form of a living movement in a society which has its own leadership, its
own concepts and values, and its own traditions, habits and feelings. It is an organized
society and there is a close cooperation and loyalty between its individuals,
and it is always ready and alive to defend its existence consciously or
unconsciously. It crushes all elements which seem to be dangerous to its personality.
When Jahiliyyahh takes the form, not of a
'theory' but of an active movement in this fashion, then any attempt to abolish
this Jahiliyyahh and to bring people back
to Allah Almighty which presents Islam merely as a theory will be undesirable,
rather useless. Jahiliyyahh controls the practical
world, and for its support there is a living and active organization. In this
situation, mere theoretical efforts to fight it cannot even be equal, much less
superior, to it. When the purpose is to abolish the existing system and to
replace it with a new system which in its character principles and all its
general and particular aspects, is different from the controlling Jahili system, then it stands to reason that this new system should also
come into the battlefield as an organized movement and a viable group. It
should come into the battlefield with a determination that its strategy, its
social organization, and the relationship between its individuals should be
firmer and more powerful than the existing Jahili
system.
The theoretical foundation
of Islam, in every period of history, has been to bear witness "La ilaha illa Allah"-"There is no deity
worthy of worship except Allah" - which means to bear witness that the
only true deity is Allah, that He is the Sustainer, that He is the Ruler of the
universe, and that He is the Real Sovereign; to believe in Him in one's heart,
to worship Him Alone, and to put into practice His laws. Without this complete
acceptance of "La ilaha illa
Allah", which
differentiates the one who says he is a Muslim from a non-Muslim, there cannot
be any practical significance to this utterance, nor will it have any weight according
to Islamic law.
Theoretically, to establish
it means that people should devote their entire lives in submission to Allah
Almighty, should not decide any affair on their own, but must refer to Allah's
injunctions concerning it and follow them. We know of Allah's guidance through
only one source, that is, through the Messenger of Allah pbuh. Thus, in the second part of the Islamic creed, we bear witness 'Wa ashhadu anna Muhammadar Rasul Allah" - "And I bear
witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."
It is therefore necessary
that Islam's theoretical foundation – belief – materialize in the form of an
organized and active group from the very beginning. It is necessary that this
group separate itself from the Jahili society, becoming independent
and distinct from the active and organized Jahili
society whose aim is to block Islam. The centre of this new group should be a
new leadership; the leadership which first came in the person of the Prophet pbuh himself, and after him was delegated to those who strove for
bringing people back to Allah Almighty's sovereignty, His authority and His
laws. A person who bears witness that there is no deity worthy of worship
except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger should cut off his relationship
of loyalty from the Jahili society, which he has
forsaken, and from Jahili leadership, whether it be
in the guise of priests, magicians or astrologers, or in the form of political,
social or economic leadership, as was the case of the Quraish in the time of
the Prophet pbuh. He will have to give his
complete loyalty to the new Islamic movement and to the Muslim leadership.
This decisive step must be
taken at the very moment a person says, "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadar Rasul Allah" with his tongue. The Muslim
society cannot come into existence without this. It cannot come into existence
simply as a creed in the hearts of individual Muslims, however numerous they
may be. Unless they become an active, harmonious and cooperative group,
distinct by itself, whose different elements, like the limbs of a human body,
work together for its formation, its strengthening, its expansion, and for its
defence against all those elements which attack its system, working under a
leadership which is independent of the Jahili
leadership, which organizes its various efforts into one harmonious purpose,
and which prepares for the strengthening and widening of their Islamic character
and directs them to abolish the influences of their opponent: the Jahili life.
Islam was founded in this
manner. It was founded on a creed which, although concise, included the whole
of life. This creed immediately brought into action a viable and dynamic group
of people who became independent and separate from the Jahili society, immediately challenging it; it never came as an abstract
theory devoid of practical existence. And, in the future it can be brought
about only in this manner. There is no other way for the revival of Islam in
the shade of Jahiliyyahh, in whatever age or
country it appears, except to follow its natural character and to develop it
into a movement and an organic system.
When Islam, according to
the method described above, starts a Muslim community on this basis, forms it
into an active group, and makes this faith the sole basis for the relationship
between the individuals of this group, its ultimate aim is to awaken the
'humanity of man', to develop it, to make it powerful and strong, and to make
it the most dominant factor among all the aspects found in man's being. It
seeks to implement this purpose through its teachings, its rules, its laws and
injunctions.
Some human characteristics
are common with those of animals, even with those of inorganic matter. This has
misled the exponents of 'scientific Jahiliyyahh' to consider man to be nothing more than an animal, or even than inorganic
matter! But in spite of the characteristics which man shares with animals and
inorganic matter, man possesses certain other characteristics which distinguish
him and make him a unique creation. Even the exponents of 'scientific
ignorance' were forced to admit this, the evidence of observational facts
choking them; but even then, their admission of this fact is neither sincere nor
unequivocal.
In this respect the service
rendered by Islam's pure way of life has produced concrete and valuable
results. Islam based the Islamic society on the association of belief alone,
instead of the low associations based on race and colour, language and country,
regional and national interests. Instead of stressing those traits which are
common to both man and animal, it promoted man's human qualities, nurtured them
and made them the dominant factor. Among the concrete and brilliant results of
this attitude was that the Islamic society became an open and all-inclusive
community in which people of various races, nations, languages and colours were
members, there remaining no trace of these low animalistic traits. The rivers
of higher talents and various abilities of all races of mankind flowed into
this vast ocean and mixed in it. Their intermingling gave rise to a high level
of civilization in a very short span of time, dazzling the whole world, and
compounding the essences of all the human capabilities, ideas and wisdom of
that period, in spite of the fact in those times travel was difficult and the
means of communication were slow.
In this great Islamic
society Arabs, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Moroccans, Turks, Chinese,
Indians, Romans, Greeks, Indonesians and Africans were gathered together - in
short, peoples of all nations and all races. Their various characteristics were
united, and with mutual cooperation, harmony and unity, they took part in the
construction of the Islamic community and Islamic culture. This marvellous
civilization was not an 'Arabic civilization', even for a single day; it was
purely an 'Islamic civilization'. It was never a
'nationality' but always a ‘community of belief.’
Thus they all came together
on an equal footing in the relationship of love, with their minds set upon a
single goal; thus they used their best abilities, developed the qualities of
their race to the fullest, and brought the essence of their personal, national
and historical experiences for the development of this one community, to which
they all belonged on an equal footing and in which their common bond was
through their relationship to their Sustainer. In this community their
'humanity' developed without any hindrance. These are characteristics which
were never achieved by any other group of people in the entire history of
mankind!
The most distinguished and
best known society in ancient history is considered to be the Roman Empire.
Peoples of various races, languages and temperaments came together in this
society, but all this was not based on 'human relationship' nor was any sublime
faith the uniting factor among them; rather their society was ordered on a
class system, the class of 'nobles' and the class of 'slaves', throughout the
Empire. Moreover, the Roman race - in general - had the leadership and the
other races were considered its subjects. Hence this society could not achieve
that height which was achieved by the Islamic society and did not bring those
blessings which were brought by the Islamic society.
Various societies have also
appeared in modern times. For example, consider the British Empire. It is like
the Roman society to which it is an heir. It is based on national greed, in
which the British nation has the leadership and exploits those colonies annexed
by the Empire. The same is true of other European empires. The Spanish and
Portuguese Empires in their times, and the French Empire, all are equal in
respect to oppression and exploitation. Communism also wanted to establish a
new type of society, demolishing the walls of race and colour, nation and
geographical region, but it is not based on 'human relationship' but on a
'class system'. Thus the communist society is like the Roman society with a
reversal of emphasis; there nobles had distinction, while here the proletariat
has distinction. The underlying emotion of this class is hatred and envy of
other classes. Such a selfish and vengeful society cannot but excite base
emotions in its individuals. The very basis of it is laid down in exciting
animalistic characteristics, and in developing and strengthening them. Thus, in
its view, the most fundamental needs of a human being are those which are
common with the animals, that is, ‘food, shelter and sex.’ From its point of
view, the whole of human history is nothing but a struggle for food!
Islam, then, is the only
Divine way of life which brings out the noblest human characteristics,
developing and using them for the construction of human society. Islam has
remained unique in this respect to this day. Those who deviate from this system
and want some other system, whether it be based on nationalism, colour and
race, class struggle, or similar corrupt theories, are truly enemies of
mankind! They do not want man to develop those noble characteristics which have
been given to him by his Creator nor do they wish to see a human society
benefit from the harmonious blending of all those capabilities, experiences and
characteristics which have been developed among the various races of mankind.
Allah Most High says about
such people:
“Say (O Muhammed), ‘Shall we
(believers) inform you of the greatest losers as to (their) deeds?
(They) are those whose effort is
lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work’
Those are the ones who disbelieve in
the verses of their Lord and in (their) meeting Him, so their deeds have become
worthless; and We will not assign to them on the Day of Resurrection any weight
(i.e. importance).
That is their recompense – Hell - for
what they denied and (because) they took My signs and My Messengers in
ridicule.” Surah al-Kahf 18:103-106.
