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In the desert of
Arabia was Mohammad born, according to Muslim
historians, on April 20, 571. The name means highly
praised. He is to me the greatest mind among all the sons of
Arabia. He means so much more than all the poets and kings that preceded
him in that impenetrable desert of red sand.
When he appeared Arabia was a desert -- a nothing.
Out of nothing a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of Mohammad
-- a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which
extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of
three continents -- Asia, Africa and Europe.
When I thought of writing on Mohammad the
prophet, I was a bit hesitant because it was to write about a religion I
do not profess and it is a delicate matter to do so for there are many
persons professing various religions and belonging to diverse school of
thought and denominations even in same religion. Though it is sometimes,
claimed that religion is entirely personal yet it can not be gain-said
that it has a tendency to envelop the whole universe seen as well
unseen. It somehow permeates something or other our hearts, our souls,
our minds their conscious as well as subconscious and unconscious levels
too. The problem assumes overwhelming importance when there is a deep
conviction that our past, present and future all hang by the soft
delicate, tender silked cord. If we further happen to be highly
sensitive, the center of gravity is very likely to be always in a state
of extreme tension. Looked at from this point of view, the less said
about other religion the better. Let our religions be deeply hidden and
embedded in the resistance of our innermost hearts fortified by unbroken
seals on our lips.
But there is another aspect of this problem. Man
lives in society. Our lives are bound with the lives of others willingly
or unwillingly, directly or indirectly. We eat the food grown in the
same soil, drink water, from the same the same spring and breathe the
same air. Even while staunchly holding our own views, it would be
helpful, if we try to adjust ourselves to our surroundings, if we also
know to some extent, how the mind our neighbor moves and what the main
springs of his actions are. From this angle of vision it is highly
desirable that one should try to know all religions of the world, in the
proper sprit, to promote mutual understanding and better appreciation of
our neighborhood, immediate and remote.
Further, our thoughts are not scattered as appear to
be on the surface. They have got themselves crystallized around a few
nuclei in the form of great world religions and living faiths that guide
and motivate the lives of millions that inhabit this earth of ours. It
is our duty, in one sense if we have the ideal of ever becoming a
citizen of the world before us, to make a little attempt to know the
great religions and system of philosophy that have ruled mankind.
In spite of these preliminary remarks, the ground in
these field of religion, where there is often a conflict between
intellect and emotion is so slippery that one is constantly reminded of fools
that rush in where angels fear to tread. It is also not so complex
from another point of view. The subject of my writing is about the
tenets of a religion which is historic and its prophet who is also a
historic personality. Even a hostile critic like Sir William Muir
speaking about the holy Quran says that.
"There is probably in the world no other book which has remained
twelve centuries with so pure text." I may also add Prophet Mohammad
is also a historic personality, every event of whose life has been most
carefully recorded and even the minutest details preserved intact for
the posterity. His life and works are not wrapped in mystery.
My work today is further lightened because those days
are fast disappearing when Islam was highly misrepresented by some of
its critics for reasons political and otherwise. Prof. Bevan writes in
Cambridge Medieval History, "Those account of Mohammad and
Islam which were published in Europe before the beginning of 19th
century are now to be regarded as literary curiosities." My
problem is to write this monograph is easier because we are now
generally not fed on this kind of history and much time need be spent on
pointing out our misrepresentation of Islam.
The theory of Islam and Sword for instance is not
heard now frequently in any quarter worth the name. The
principle of Islam that there is no compulsion in religion is well
known. Gibbon, a historian of world repute says, "A
pernicious tenet has been imputed to Mohammadans, the duty of
extirpating all the religions by sword." This charge based on
ignorance and bigotry, says the eminent historian, is refuted by Quran,
by history of Musalman conquerors and by their public and legal
toleration of Christian worship. The great success of Mohammad's
life had been effected by sheer moral force, without a stroke of sword.
But in pure self-defense, after repeated efforts of
conciliation had utterly failed, circumstances dragged him into the
battlefield. But the prophet of Islam changed the whole strategy of the
battlefield. The total number of casualties in all the wars that took
place during his lifetime when the whole Arabian Peninsula came under
his banner, does not exceed a few hundreds in all. But even on the
battlefield he taught the Arab barbarians to pray, to pray not
individually, but in congregation to God the Almighty. During the dust
and storm of warfare whenever the time for prayer came, and it comes
five times a every day, the congregation prayer had not to be postponed
even on the battlefield. A party had to be engaged in bowing their heads
before God while other was engaged with the enemy. After finishing the
prayers, the two parties had to exchange their positions. To the Arabs,
who would fight for forty years on the slight provocation that a camel
belonging to the guest of one tribe had strayed into the grazing land
belonging to other tribe and both sides had fought till they lost 70,000
lives in all; threatening the extinction of both the tribes to such
furious Arabs, the Prophet of Islam taught self-control and discipline
to the extent of praying even on the battlefield. In an aged of
barbarism, the Battlefield itself was humanized and strict instructions
were issued not to cheat, not to break trust, not to mutilate, not to
kill a child or woman or an old man, not to hew down date palm nor burn
it, not to cut a fruit tree, not to molest any person engaged in
worship. His own treatment with his bitterest enemies is the noblest
example for his followers. At the conquest of Mecca, he stood at the
zenith of his power. The city which had refused to listen to his
mission, which had tortured him and his followers, which had driven him
and his people into exile and which had unrelentingly persecuted and
boycotted him even when he had taken refuge in a place more than 200
miles away, that city now lay at his feet. By the laws of war he
could have justly avenged all the cruelties inflicted on him and his
people. But what treatment did he accord to them? Mohammad's
heart flowed with affection and he declared, "This day, there
is no REPROOF against you and you are all free." "This
day" he proclaimed, "I trample under my feet all
distinctions between man and man, all hatred between man and man."
This was one of the chief objects why he
permitted war in self defense, that is to unite human beings. And when
once this object was achieved, even his worst enemies were pardoned.
Even those who killed his beloved uncle, Hamazah, mangled his body,
ripped it open, even chewed a piece of his liver.
The principles of universal brotherhood and doctrine
of the equality of mankind which he proclaimed represents one very great
contribution of Mohammad to the social uplift of humanity. All
great religions have preached the same doctrine but the prophet of Islam
had put this theory into actual practice and its value will be fully
recognized, perhaps centuries hence, when international consciousness
being awakened, racial prejudices may disappear and greater brotherhood
of humanity come into existence.
Miss. Sarojini Naidu speaking about this aspect of
Islam says, "It was the first religion that preached and
practiced democracy; for in the mosque, when the minaret is sounded and
the worshipers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied
five times a day when the peasant and the king kneel side by side and
proclaim, God alone is great." The great
poetess of India continues, "I have been struck over and over
again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes a man instinctively
a brother. When you meet an Egyptian, an Algerian and Indian and a Turk
in London, it matters not that Egypt is the motherland of one and India
is the motherland of another."
Mahatma Gandhi, in his inimitable style, says "Some
one has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent Islam --
Islam that civilized Spain, Islam that took the torch light to Morocco
and preached to the world the Gospel of brotherhood. The Europeans of
South Africa dread the Advent of Islam. They may claim equality with the
white races. They may well dread it, if brotherhood is a sin. If
it is equality of colored races then their dread is well founded."
Every year, during the Haj, the world witnesses the
wonderful spectacle of this international Exhibition of Islam in
leveling all distinctions of race, color and rank. Not only the
Europeans, the African, the Arabian, the Persian, the Indians, the
Chinese all meet together in Medina as members of one divine family, but
they are clad in one dress every person in two simple pieces of white
seamless cloth, one piece round the loin the other piece over the
shoulders, bare head without pomp or ceremony, repeating "Here
am I O God; at thy command; thou art one and alone; Here am I."
Thus there remains nothing to differentiate the high from the low and
every pilgrim carries home the impression of the international
significance of Islam.
In the opinion of Prof. Hurgronje "the
league of nations founded by prophet of Islam put the principle of
international unity of human brotherhood on such Universal foundations
as to show candle to other nations." In the words of same
Professor "the fact is that no nation of the world can show a
parallel to what Islam has done the realization of the idea of the
League of Nations."
The prophet of Islam brought the reign of democracy
in its best form. The Caliph Caliph Ali and the son in-law of the
prophet, the Caliph Mansur, Abbas, the son of Caliph Mamun and many
other caliphs and kings had to appear before the judge as ordinary men
in Islamic courts. Even today we all know how the black Negroes
were treated by the civilized white races. Consider the state of BILAL,
a Negro Slave, in the days of the prophet of Islam nearly 14 centuries
ago. The office of calling Muslims to prayer was considered to be of
status in the early days of Islam and it was offered to this Negro
slave. After the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet ordered him to call for
prayer and the Negro slave, with his black color and his thick lips,
stood over the roof of the holy mosque at Mecca called the Ka'ba
the most historic and the holiest mosque in the Islamic world, when some
proud Arabs painfully cried loud, "Oh, this black Negro Slave, woe
be to him. He stands on the roof of holy Ka'ba to call for prayer."
At that moment, the prophet announced to the world, this verse of the holy
QURAN for the first time.
"O mankind, surely we have created you,
families and tribes, so you may know one another.
Surely, the most honorable of you with God is MOST RIGHTEOUS AMONG
you.
Surely, God is Knowing, Aware."
And these words of the holy Quran created such a
mighty transformation that the Caliph of Islam, the purest of Arabs by
birth, offered their daughter in marriage to this Negro Slave, and
whenever, the second Caliph of Islam, known to history as Umar the
great, the commander of faithful, saw this Negro slave, he
immediately stood in reverence and welcomed him by "Here come
our master; Here come our lord." What a tremendous change was
brought by Quran in the Arabs, the proudest people at that time on the
earth. This is the reason why Goethe, the greatest of German poets,
speaking about the Holy Quran declared that, "This book will go
on exercising through all ages a most potent influence." This
is also the reason why George Bernard Shaw says, "If any
religion has a chance or ruling over England, say, Europe, within the
next 100 years, it is Islam".
It is this same democratic spirit of Islam that
emancipated women from the bondage of man. Sir Charles Edward Archibald
Hamilton says "Islam teaches the inherent sinlessness of man.
It teaches that man and woman and woman have come from the same essence,
posses the same soul and have been equipped with equal capabilities for
intellectual, spiritual and moral attainments."
The Arabs had a very strong tradition that one who
can smite with the spear and can wield the sword would inherit. But
Islam came as the defender of the weaker sex and entitled women to share
the inheritance of their parents. It gave women, centuries ago right of
owning property, yet it was only 12 centuries later , in 1881, that
England, supposed to be the cradle of democracy adopted this institution
of Islam and the act was called "the married woman act", but
centuries earlier, the Prophet of Islam had proclaimed that "Woman
are twin halves of men. The rights of women are sacred. See that women
maintained rights granted to them."
Islam is not directly concerned with political and
economic systems, but indirectly and in so far as political and economic
affairs influence man's conduct, it does lay down some very important
principles to govern economic life. According to Prof. Massignon, it
maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites and has always in
view the building of character which is the basis of civilization. This
is secured by its law of inheritance, by an organized system of charity
known as Zakat, and by regarding as illegal all anti-social
practices in the economic field like monopoly, usury, securing of
predetermined unearned income and increments, cornering markets,
creating monopolies, creating an artificial scarcity of any commodity in
order to force the prices to rise. Gambling is illegal. Contribution to
schools, to places of worship, hospitals, digging of wells, opening of
orphanages are highest acts of virtue. Orphanages have sprung for the
first time, it is said, under the teaching of the prophet of Islam. The
world owes its orphanages to this prophet born an orphan. "Good
all this" says Carlyle about Mohammad. "The
natural voice of humanity, of pity and equity, dwelling in the heart of
this wild son of nature, speaks."
A historian once said a great man should be
judged by three tests: Was he found to be of true metel by
his contemporaries ? Was he great enough to raise above the standards of
his age ? Did he leave anything as permanent legacy to the world at
large ? This list may be further extended but all these three tests
of greatness are eminently satisfied to the highest degree in case of
prophet Mohammad. Some illustrations of the last two have
already been mentioned.
The first is: Was the Prophet of Islam found to
be of true metel by his contemporaries?
Historical records show that all the contemporaries
of Mohammad both friends foes, acknowledged the sterling
qualities, the spotless honesty, the noble virtues, the absolute
sincerity and every trustworthiness of the apostle of Islam in all walks
of life and in every sphere of human activity. Even the Jews and those
who did not believe in his message, adopted him as the arbiter in their
personal disputes by virtue of his perfect impartiality. Even
those who did not believe in his message were forced to say "O
Mohammad, we do not call you a liar, but we deny him who has given you a
book and inspired you with a message." They thought
he was one possessed. They tried violence to cure him. But the best of
them saw that a new light had dawned on him and they hastened him to
seek the enlightenment. It is a notable feature in the history of
prophet of Islam that his nearest relation, his beloved cousin and his
bosom friends, who know him most intimately, were not thoroughly imbued
with the truth of his mission and were convinced of the genuineness of
his divine inspiration. If these men and women, noble, intelligent,
educated and intimately acquainted with his private life had perceived
the slightest signs of deception, fraud, earthliness, or lack of faith
in him, Mohammad's moral hope of regeneration, spiritual
awakening, and social reform would all have been foredoomed to a failure
and whole edifice would have crumbled to pieces in a moment. On the
contrary, we find that devotion of his followers was such that he was
voluntarily acknowledged as dictator of their lives. They braved for him
persecutions and danger; they trusted, obeyed and honored him even in
the most excruciating torture and severest mental agony caused by
excommunication even unto death. Would this have been so, had they
noticed the slightest backsliding in their master?
Read the history of the early converts to
Islam, and every heart would melt at the sight of the brutal treatment
of innocent Muslim men and women.
Sumayya, an innocent women, is cruelly torn
into pieces with spears. An example is made of "Yassir
whose legs are tied to two camels and the beast were are driven in
opposite directions", Khabbab bin Arth is made lie down on
the bed of burning coal with the brutal legs of their merciless tyrant
on his breast so that he may not move and this makes even the fat
beneath his skin melt. "Khabban bin Adi is put to death in
a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off his flesh piece-meal."
In the midst of his tortures, being asked weather he did not wish Mohammad
in his place while he was in his house with his family, the sufferer
cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself his family
and children and why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not
only surrendered to their prophet their allegiance but also made a gift
of their hearts and souls to their master? Is not the intense faith and
conviction on part of immediate followers of Mohammad, the
noblest testimony to his sincerity and to his utter self-absorption in
his appointed task?
And these men were not of low station or inferior
mental caliber. Around him in quite early days, gathered what was best
and noblest in Mecca, its flower and cream, men of position, rank,
wealth and culture, and from his own kith and kin, those who knew all
about his life. All the first four Caliphs, with their towering
personalities, were converts of this period.
The Encyclopedia Brittanica says that "Mohammad
is the most successful of all Prophets and religious
personalities".
But the success was not the result of mere accident.
It was not a hit of fortune. It was a recognition of fact that he was
found to be true metal by his contemporaries. It was the result of his
admirable and all compelling personality.
The personality of Mohammad! It is most
difficult to get into the truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch.
What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes. There is Mohammad the
Prophet, there is Mohammad the General; Mohammad the King; Mohammad the
Warrior; Mohammad the Businessman; Mohammad the Preacher; Mohammad the
Philosopher; Mohammad the Statesman; Mohammad the Orator; Mohammad the
reformer; Mohammad the Refuge of orphans; Mohammad the Protector of
slaves; Mohammad the Emancipator of women; Mohammad the Law-giver;
Mohammad the Judge; Mohammad the Saint.
And in all these magnificent roles, in all these
departments of human activities, he is like, a hero..
Orphanhood is extreme of helplessness and his life
upon this earth began with it; Kingship is the height of the material
power and it ended with it. From an orphan boy to a persecuted refugee
and then to an overlord, spiritual as well as temporal, of a whole
nation and Arbiter of its destinies, with all its trials and
temptations, with all its vicissitudes and changes, its lights and
shades, its up and downs, its terror and splendor, he has stood the fire
of the world and came out unscathed to serve as a model in every face of
life. His achievements are not limited to one aspect of life, but cover
the whole field of human conditions.
If for instance, greatness consist in the
purification of a nation, steeped in barbarism and immersed in absolute
moral darkness, that dynamic personality who has transformed, refined
and uplifted an entire nation, sunk low as the Arabs were, and made them
the torch-bearer of civilization and learning, has every claim to
greatness. If greatness lies in unifying the discordant elements of
society by ties of brotherhood and charity, the prophet of the desert
has got every title to this distinction. If greatness consists in
reforming those warped in degrading and blind superstition and
pernicious practices of every kind, the prophet of Islam has wiped out
superstitions and irrational fear from the hearts of millions. If it
lies in displaying high morals, Mohammad has been admitted by
friend and foe as Al Amin, or the faithful.
If a conqueror is a great man, here is a person who rose from helpless
orphan and an humble creature to be the ruler of Arabia, the equal to
Chosroes and Caesars, one who founded great empire that has survived all
these 14 centuries. If the devotion that a leader commands is the
criterion of greatness, the prophet's name even today exerts a magic
charm over millions of souls, spread all over the world.
He had not studied philosophy in the school of Athens
of Rome, Persia, India, or China. Yet, He could proclaim the highest
truths of eternal value to mankind. Illiterate himself, he could yet
speak with an eloquence and fervor which moved men to tears, to tears of
ecstasy. Born an orphan blessed with no worldly goods, he was loved by
all. He had studied at no military academy; yet he could organize his
forces against tremendous odds and gained victories through the moral
forces which he marshaled. Gifted men with genius for preaching are
rare. Descartes included the perfect preacher among the rarest kind in
the world. Hitler in his Mein Kamp has expressed a similar view. He says
"A great theorist is seldom a great leader. An Agitator is more
likely to posses these qualities. He will always be a great leader. For
leadership means ability to move masses of men. The talents to produce
ideas has nothing in common with capacity for leadership."
"But", he says, "The Union of theorists,
organizer and leader in one man, is the rarest phenomenon on this earth;
Therein consists greatness."
In the person of the Prophet of Islam the world has
seen this rarest phenomenon walking on the earth, walking in flesh and
blood.
And more wonderful still is what the reverend
Bosworth Smith remarks, "Head of the state as well as the
Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was pope without the
pope's claims, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without an
standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed
revenue. If ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a right
divine It was Mohammad, for he had all the power without instruments and
without its support. He cared not for dressing of power. The simplicity
of his private life was in keeping with his public life."
After the fall of Mecca, more than one million square
miles of land lay at his feet, Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes
and coarse woolen garments, milked the goats, swept the hearth, kindled
the fire and attended the other menial offices of the family. The entire
town of Medina where he lived grew wealthy in the later days of his
life. Everywhere there was gold and silver in plenty and yet in those
days of prosperity many weeks would elapse without a fire being kindled
in the hearth of the king of Arabia, His food being dates and water. His
family would go hungry many nights successively because they could not
get anything to eat in the evening. He slept on no soften bed but on a
palm mat, after a long busy day to spend most of his night in prayer,
often bursting with tears before his creator to grant him strength to
discharge his duties. As the reports go, his voice would get choked with
weeping and it would appear as if a cooking pot was on fire and boiling
had commenced. On the very day of his death his only assets were few
coins a part of which went to satisfy a debt and rest was given to a
needy person who came to his house for charity. The clothes in which he
breathed his last had many patches. The house from where light had
spread to the world was in darkness because there was no oil in the
lamp.
Circumstances changed, but the prophet of God did
not. In victory or in defeat, in power or in adversity, in affluence or
in indigence, he is the same man, disclosed the same character. Like all
the ways and laws of God, Prophets of God are unchangeable.
An honest man, as the saying goes, is the noblest
work of God, Mohammad was more than honest. He was human to the
marrow of his bones. Human sympathy, human love was the music of his
soul. To serve man, to elevate man, to purify man, to educate man, in a
word to humanize man-this was the object of his mission, the be-all and
end all of his life. In thought, in word, in action he had the good of
humanity as his sole inspiration, his sole guiding principle.
He was most unostentatious and selfless to the core.
What were the titles he assumed? Only true servant of God and His
Messenger. Servant first, and then a messenger. A Messenger and prophet
like many other prophets in every part of the world, some known to you,
many not known you. If one does not believe in any of these truths one
ceases to be a Muslim. It is an article of faith.
"Looking at the circumstances of the time
and unbounded reverence of his followers" says a western
writer "the most miraculous thing about Mohammad is, that he
never claimed the power of working miracles." Miracles were
performed but not to propagate his faith and were attributed entirely to
God and his inscrutable ways. He would plainly say that he was a man
like others. He had no treasures of earth or heaven. Nor did he claim to
know the secrets of that lie in womb of future. All this was in an age
when miracles were supposed to be ordinary occurrences, at the back and
call of the commonest saint, when the whole atmosphere was surcharged
with supernaturalism in Arabia and outside Arabia.
He turned the attention of his followers towards the
study of nature and its laws, to understand them and appreciate the
Glory of God. The Quran says,
"God did not create the heavens and the
earth and all that is between them in play. He did not create them all
but with the truth. But most men do not know."
The world is not illusion, nor without purpose. It
has been created with the truth. The number of verses inviting close
observation of nature are several times more than those that relate to
prayer, fasting, pilgrimage etc. all put together. The Muslim under its
influence began to observe nature closely and this give birth to the
scientific spirit of the observation and experiment which was unknown to
the Greeks. While the Muslim Botanist Ibn Baitar wrote on Botany after
collecting plants from all parts of the world, described by Myer in his
Gesch. der Botanikaa-s, a monument of industry, while Al Byruni traveled
for forty years to collect mineralogical specimens, and Muslim
Astronomers made some observations extending even over twelve years.
Aristotle wrote on Physics without performing a single experiment, wrote
on natural history, carelessly stating without taking the trouble to
ascertain the most verifiable fact that men have more teeth than animal.
Galen, the greatest authority on classical anatomy informed that the
lower jaw consists of two bones, a statement which is accepted
unchallenged for centuries till Abdul Lateef takes the trouble to
examine a human skeleton. After enumerating several such instances,
Robert Priffault concludes in his well known book The making of
humanity, "The debt of our science to the Arabs does not
consist in starting discovers or revolutionary theories. Science owes a
great more to Arabs culture; it owes is existence." The same
writer says "The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized
but patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive
knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged
observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to Greek
temperament. What we call science arose in Europe as result of new
methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation,
measurement, of the development of Mathematics in form unknown to the
Greeks. That spirit and these methods, concludes the same author, were
introduced into the European world by Arabs."
It is the same practical character of the teaching of
Prophet Mohammad that gave birth to the scientific spirit, that
has also sanctified the daily labors and the so called mundane affairs.
The Quran says that God has created man to worship him but the word
worship has a connotation of its own. Gods worship is not confined
to prayer alone, but every act that is done with the purpose of
winning approval of God and is for the benefit of the humanity
comes under its purview. Islam sanctifies life and all its pursuits
provided they are performed with honesty, justice and pure intents. It
obliterates the age-long distinction between the sacred and profane. The
Quran says if you eat clean things and thank God for it, it is an
act of worship. It is saying of the prophet of Islam that Morsel of
food that one places in the mouth of his wife is an act of virtue to be
rewarded by God. Another tradition of the Prophet says "He who
is satisfying the desire of his heart will be rewarded by God provided
the methods adopted are permissible." A person was listening
to him exclaimed 'O Prophet of God, he is answering the calls of
passions, is only satisfying the craving of his heart. Forthwith came
the reply, "Had he adopted an awful method for the satisfaction
of his urge, he would have been punished; then why should he not be
rewarded for following the right course."
This new conception of religion that it should also
devote itself to the betterment of this life rather than concern itself
exclusively with super mundane affairs, has led to a new orientation of
moral values. Its abiding influence on the common relations of mankind
in the affairs of every day life, its deep power over the masses, its
regulation of their conception of rights and duty, its suitability and
adaptability to the ignorant savage and the wise philosopher are
characteristic features of the teaching of the Prophet of Islam.
But it should be most carefully born in mind this
stress on good actions is not the sacrifice correctness of faith. While
there are various school of thought, one praising faith at the expense
of deeds, another exhausting various acts to the detriment of correct
belief, Islam is based on correct faith and righteous actions. Means are
important as the end and ends are as important as the means. It is an
organic Unity. Together they live and thrive. Separate them and both
decay and die. In Islam faith can not be divorced from the action. Right
knowledge should be transferred into right action to produce the right
results. How often the words came in Quran -- Those who believe and do
good thing, they alone shall enter paradise. Again and again, not less
than fifty times these words are repeated as if too much stress can not
be laid on them. Contemplation is encouraged but mere contemplation is
not the goal. Those who believe and do nothing can not exist in Islam.
These who believe and do wrong are inconceivable. Divine law is the law
of effort and not of ideals. It chalks out for the men the path of
eternal progress from knowledge to action and from action to
satisfaction.
But what is the correct faith from which right action
spontaneously proceeds resulting in complete satisfaction. Here the
central doctrine of Islam is the Unity of God. There is no God but God
is the pivot from which hangs the whole teaching and practice of Islam.
He is unique not only as regards his divine being but also as regards
his divine attributes.
As regards the attributes of God, Islam adopts here
as in other things too, the law of golden mean. It avoids on the one
hand, the view of God which divests the divine being of every
attribute and rejects, on the other, the view which likens him
to things material. The Quran says, On the one hand, there is
nothing which is like him, on the other , it affirms that he is
Seeing, Hearing, Knowing. He is the King who is without a stain of
fault or deficiency, the mighty ship of His power floats upon the ocean
of justice and equity. He is the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is the
Guardian over all. Islam does not stop with this positive statement. It
adds further which is its most special characteristic, the negative
aspects of problem. There is also no one else who is guardian over
everything. He is the meander of every breakage, and no one else is the
meander of any breakage. He is the restorer of every loss and no one
else is the restorer of any loss what-so-over. There is no God but one
God, above any need, the maker of bodies, creator of souls, the Lord of
the day of judgment, and in short, in the words of Quran, to him
belong all excellent qualities.
Regarding the position of man in relation to the
Universe, the Quran says:
"God has made subservient to you whatever
is on the earth or in universe. You are destined to rule over the
Universe."
But in relation to God, the Quran says:
"O man God has bestowed on you excellent
faculties and has created life and death to put you to test in order
to see whose actions are good and who has deviated from the right
path."
In spite of free will which he enjoys, to some
extent, every man is born under certain circumstances and continues to
live under certain circumstances beyond his control. With regard to this
God says, according to Islam, it is my will to create any man
under condition that seem best to me. cosmic plans finite mortals can
not fully comprehend. But I will certainly test you in prosperity as
well in adversity, in health as well as in sickness, in heights as well
as in depths. My ways of testing differ from man to man, from hour to
hour. In adversity do not despair and do resort to unlawful means. It is
but a passing phase. In prosperity do not forget God. God-gifts are
given only as trusts. You are always on trial, every moment on test. In
this sphere of life there is not to reason why, there is but to do and
die. If you live in accordance with God; and if you die, die in the path
of God. You may call it fatalism. but this type of fatalism is a
condition of vigorous increasing effort, keeping you ever on the alert.
Do not consider this temporal life on earth as the end of human
existence. There is a life after death and it is eternal. Life after
death is only a connection link, a door that opens up hidden reality of
life. Every action in life however insignificant, produces a lasting
effect. It is correctly recorded somehow. Some of the ways of God are
known to you, but many of his ways are hidden from you. What is hidden
in you and from you in this world will be unrolled and laid open before
you in the next. the virtuous will enjoy the blessing of God which the
eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the
hearts of men to conceive of they will march onward reaching higher and
higher stages of evolution. Those who have wasted opportunity in this
life shall under the inevitable law, which makes every man taste of what
he has done, be subjugated to a course of treatment of the spiritual
diseases which they have brought about with their own hands. Beware, it
is terrible ordeal. Bodily pain is torture, you can bear somehow.
Spiritual pain is hell, you will find it almost unbearable. Fight in
this life itself the tendencies of the spirit prone to evil, tempting to
lead you into iniquities ways. Reach the next stage when the
self-accusing sprit in your conscience is awakened and the soul is
anxious to attain moral excellence and revolt against disobedience. This
will lead you to the final stage of the soul at rest, contented with
God, finding its happiness and delight in him alone. The soul no more
stumbles. The stage of struggle passes away. Truth is victorious and
falsehood lays down its arms. All complexes will then be resolved. Your
house will not be divided against itself. Your personality will get
integrated round the central core of submission to the will of God and
complete surrender to his divine purpose. All hidden energies will then
be released. The soul then will have peace. God will then address you:
"O thou soul that art at rest, and restest
fully contented with thy Lord return to thy Lord. He pleased with thee
and thou pleased with him; So enter among my servants and enter into
my paradise."
This is the final goal for man; to become, on the,
one hand, the master of the universe and on the other, to see that his
soul finds rest in his Lord, that not only his Lord will be pleased with
him but that he is also pleased with his Lord. Contentment, complete
contentment, satisfaction, complete satisfaction, peace, complete peace.
The love of God is his food at this stage and he drinks deep at the
fountain of life. Sorrow and defeat do not overwhelm him and success
does not find him in vain and exulting.
The western nations are only trying to become
the master of the Universe. But their souls have not found peace and
rest.
Thomas Carlyle, struck by this philosophy of life
writes "and then also Islam-that we must submit to God; that
our whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever he
does to us, the thing he sends to us, even if death and worse than
death, shall be good, shall be best; we resign ourselves to God."
The same author continues "If this be Islam, says Goethe, do we
not all live in Islam?" Carlyle himself answers this question
of Goethe and says "Yes, all of us that have any moral life, we
all live so. This is yet the highest wisdom that heaven has revealed to
our earth."
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