Masood N. Khan M.D., FACP
ABSTRACT: It seems America is not going to be the same after 9/11. The land of freedom, milk and honey is now afflicted with Guantanamo, Abu Ghoraib and Patriot act. Although they are citizens of this country, Muslims have overnight become the contemptuous “THEY’. The life style of Muslim immigrants in this country did not help either. Perhaps it compounded the problem. Self-scrutiny has led to the realization by many Muslims that they failed to reach out to people around them, the neighbors, the colleagues on the job and the parents of their children’s schoolmates. Why Muslims isolate themselves whenever they are a minority? What could be the psychosocial factors behind such behavior? Is it an inferiority complex or a sense of self-righteousness that makes them too good to be friends with people of other faiths? Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) lived among Christians, Jews and idol-worshippers of Mecca. He reached out to them, cared for them and made pacts with them, all in accordance with divine injunctions, which Muslims have misinterpreted to distance from. Did they misunderstand Islam. Following article critically examines the traditional understanding of Islam as ‘Deen’. An objective study of the history of Muslims shows that this understanding (or misunderstanding) is definitely a product of later generations and perhaps a significant factor in the decline of Muslims.
The following verse of Al-baqarah (V 62) has long been conveniently shelved by Muslims. Its relevance to the challenges Muslims are facing in America demands that they resurrect it to their own guidance so that they know how they should relate with people of other faiths.
“The believers, Jews, Christians or Sabiens, whoever believed in Allah and the hereafter and worked righteously, there is reward for them with their Lord and they will have no fear nor they will grieve.” (2:62)
This verse has a very positive message for all human beings regardless of their inherited or embraced faith. Muslims have been categorized with Jews, Christians, Sabiens and indeed with ‘whomever’, as to how they can qualify for a reward with God. The criterion for this reward is quite plain. They should believe in Him and the Hereafter and live righteously. It does not say that Jews, Christians or Sabiens have to convert to Islam, to deserve this reward and to be spared of any fear or sadness.
But in another verse, which is as categorical as the above, it is said:
“If any one seeks a Deen other than Islam, it will not be accepted of him: he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter” (3:85).
And also in verse 19 of same surah it is repeated that, “Indeed with Allah ‘the Deen’ is only Islam”. These verses declare that with Allah (God) Islam is the only acceptable Deen which in Arabic means a way, an order or a system. If so, how can Jews, Christians and Sabiens deserve reward in the Hereafter when they have not accepted Islam? Apparently these two verses seem to contradict the previous verse. But hold! Do they really?
To overcome this dilemma, either Muslims acknowledge a contradiction in the text of Quran or take an incisive look at the very meaning of ‘Islam’. Since they believe Quran to be the divine message, the first choice is out of question. Definitely there has to be more to the meaning of Islam than what they have traditionally understood. Yet, it is unfortunate that they have tried to explain away these seemingly contradictory verses by such convenient explanations like subscribing to an idea, dangerous as it is, of ‘Abrogation of Verses’. It is said that the verse about ‘reward for Jews, Christians and Sabiens’ was superseded by later verses, rendering it abrogated and therefore inapplicable, or by giving defensive and distorted interpretation that the said verse relates to those Jews, Christians and Sabiens who existed prior to Mohammad (pbuh).
Such explanations simply do not stand to reason. If Islam is the only acceptable Deen with God, the criterion for reward for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike as in the above verse, cannot be anything other than Islam itself. In other words the referred verse does not cause any contradiction but gives a definition of Islam, which is ‘belief in God and the Hereafter and a righteous life’. In the light of this definition many of the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) become clear.
He said that “every child is born Muslim”. How can a child born to Jewish and Christian parents be Muslim? Yet if we understand Islam, fundamentally as belief in one God, yes every child is born with the inherent nature to believe in a supreme, omnipotent power and therefore a Muslim regardless of who its parents are. The Prophet has thus broadened the qualification for being a Muslim to a highly inclusive one.
He also said: “every messenger of God brought Islam to people.” Of course, the Islam brought by messengers before Mohammad (pbuh) was not the Islam Muslims practice today. Their practice of faith (the laws relating to code of conduct) was variable with each messenger. Why was it then called Islam? Is there a common basis between all the practices of faith that essentially defines Islam? And what is that common basis? The above saying of the Prophet indicates that a common basis does exist, again a very inclusive message. The following verse even defines it clearly.
“Say, O people of the Book! Come to a word fair between us and you, that we serve Allah and associate nothing with Him and that none of us take another for his Lord to the exclusion of Allah” (3:64).
Again, if Islam is the only Deen acceptable with God, then it should, in essence, provide a common ground to which people of all faiths can be threaded together, as has been enjoined in the above verse. This common ground expressed as ‘a word fair between us and you’ is defined in the verse to be an unadulterated belief in one God. Obviously any understanding of Islam that is based exclusively on its present jurisprudential structure with no room for a common ground, would simply contradict the above verse.
I think the three defining components of Islam (referred to in Quran as Deen), that emerge from these verses and the sayings of the Prophet, are following. They are immensely meaningful.
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Islam is based upon the fundamental truth that there is a Creator. Everything else in the universe is His creation that has submitted to His authority. Monotheism is fundamental to Islam – not as a hypothesis or dogma but as “The Truth’. Belief in the unity and existence of God gives meaning to the numerous signs spread in the universe, not to mention the inner peace and hope it gives to human beings.
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The Hereafter, in this order of creation represents a ‘system of cause and effect’, for as you sow, so you reap. Established by God, this system has to be completely just. If the effect of any action in this life is injustice, the system will have to extend into the Hereafter where every action, we have to believe, will meet full justice in its final analysis. Only the Divine Wisdom then can determine the recompense of every action in the most comprehensive manner with justice at its best. Since we cannot comprehend fully the causative circumstances that affected any action in this world, we cannot and should not attempt to foretell how the justice will be dispensed and what will be the plight of a person on the receiving end of the divine justice, much less declaring people of other faiths, en masse, are sure to meet Hellfire. Following verse condemns such thinking as coming from those who are ignorant and “know not” “And the Jews say the Christians have nothing to stand on and the Christians say Jews have nothing to stand on: yet both are readers of the Scripture. Thus speak those who know not. Allah will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment.” (2:113)
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Human being is given freedom of choice and therefore burden of responsibility for all his conscious actions specially choosing between right and wrong. The demand for good deeds therefore underscores an expectation that human beings, after being guided by God, will use the choice correctly.
To put it together, Islam in its generic definition, therefore, is the order of creation by God, based upon the fundamental truth that there is one God, a system of cause and effect active in the universe extending into the hereafter, and a demand for good deeds from human beings using free will given to them, for which, they alone will be responsible.
Everything in the universe is bound by this order of creation as has been clearly mentioned in the following verse.
“Do they seek other than ‘Deen of Allah’ when to Him has submitted whosoever is in heavens and the earth sensibly or insensibly, and to Him they will return?” (2:8).
Human beings have no other choice except to accept this truth. And accept they will sensibly or insensibly, either through a conscious belief in God or by simply calling it ‘the laws of nature’. In another verse it is said:
“So turn steadfastly to “The Deen’ – the nature of Allah, for which man by nature has been fitted. There is no altering Allah’s creation. This is the right Deen, but most men do not know”. (30:30)
Here Islam “the Deen” is called ‘the nature of Allah’ with which human nature is made compatible. It is mentioned as the unalterable order of creation. In conformity with this verse, the Prophet has called Islam ‘Deen-al Fitrah, (the system of nature) and every newborn a Muslim.
A magnificent concept of Islam thus emerges in our consciousness. Islam is the order of creation operative in the universe which is beyond the rituals and jurisprudential confines. It is essentially generic and has got to be inclusive providing a common ground to people of all faiths to cordially communicate with each other for mutual guidance. It readily embraces every new-born as Muslim until that child grows up to be a denier of the system.
The impact of this deeper understanding of Islam here in America and for that matter in any place where Muslims coexist with people of other faiths can be profound and may revolutionize their dealings with them in a manner that Islam could never be misperceived as a threat.
The question we now face is what to make of ‘the standards for human conduct’ given in Quran and exemplified by the Prophet. Muslims call them ‘Quran and Sunnah’, the basis for their religious jurisprudence which is traditionally misunderstood as being “The Islam” and that too in an exclusive sense.
It is puzzling to see that on one hand human being is created on the nature of God and on the other, he has been given freedom of choice to do whatever he wants. This situation can result in a destructive chaos, especially if human actions are not in harmony with the nature of God. The divine guidance conveyed to mankind through messengers, is meant to eliminate this potential source of self-destructive behavior. The divinely ordained code of human conduct therefore should be a way to internalize Islam- the order of creation so that the inherent nature of God in human being is fulfilled to its full potential and is unfolded in deeds and actions.
Muslims believe that Mohammad (pbuh) is the final prophet. Then with his finality the conduct he exemplified, had to be highly comprehensive and applicable for all times and therefore evolutionary. In the verse revealed at the last Hajj of the Prophet when his mission was completed and so his departure from this world was near, God declared,
“This day I have perfected your Deen for you and completed my favor upon you and have chosen for you as Deen “Al-Islam.” (5:3)
The characteristics of the message of Islam as given to the Prophet, its comprehensiveness, finality and its applicability to all times are called Perfection of Deen’. The code of conduct exemplified by Mohammad (pbuh) is therefore the most effective way of internalizing Islam.
However it should be clearly understood that the Shariah of any prophet is the means and not the end. The end is to be a harmonious part of the order of creation, Islam, often mentioned in Quran as “Hidayah” or ‘to be guided’. This understanding should give Muslims the generosity of mind to reach out to fellow human beings with compassion. Then why do they lack such generosity and are so dogmatically closed-minded? One has to wonder if Muslims have confused the means with the end, ignored the end and have misdefined Islam inflexibly on the basis of the means only, suffocating it with its jurisprudential structure what is synonymously called “Fiqh”. This degenerated understanding of Islam is the product of later generations. The early Muslims understood what Islam was about, not a religion in the common sense of the word but the very order of creation operative in the universe. Their focus was to be a harmonious part of that order. They submitted to their Creator with a sense of deep connection and freed themselves from all forms of oppression. For them there was no compulsion in Deen and the code of conduct given by the Prophet was a blessed tool to achieve their goal. They used it wisely and properly without sacrificing the focus on that magnificent order of creation -Al-Islam- which they constantly strived to internalize.
Today unfortunately Muslims have narrow-mindedly reduced Islam to an earthly system, “a religion” like any other religion with undue emphasis on rules, regulations, rituals and mental inventories of rewards and punishments as defined by their so called scholars who they have made their idols. They have lost sight of that magnificent, enormously vast, generous and compassionate order of creation. The result is evident in their intolerance, closed-minded extremism and bigotry.