Peace in Islam
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most
Compassionate
Reformist Feeling in the Islamic World
Many political and social analysts as well as
scholars, especially those interested in studying the development and evolution
of nations, notice that the Islamic world (spearheaded by the Arab world) is
pursuing an Islamic path in its fresh resurgence, and this new direction is
gaining increasing momentum. Many writers, thinkers, scholars, and leaders who
were advocating conformity with the values of western civilisation and
adherence to its norms and the complete adoption of its principles, began
rethinking their ideas and started to change their tone and replace it with a
new more cautious and wary approach. The call for the return of Muslim society
to the fundamentals and teachings of Islam became more powerful, paving the way
for the re-islamisation of all aspects of life.
The Causes
It worries the Islamists that the governments
and nations of the west have lived for centuries ignorant of Islam, knowing
nothing about Islam except fanaticism and stagnation, and viewing the Muslim
nations as nothing more than weak societies which can be easily led and
conquered. When Islamic revival emerged, they began to analyse and explain this
phenomenon according to many frameworks and theories totally alien to the true
essence of this religion. Some researchers said that this Islamic resurgence
was a result of the rising tide of extremist Islamic tendencies and intolerant
Islamic organisations. Others argued that it was a reaction to the political
and economic pressures felt by the Islamic nation. Still others saw the cause
for the rise of this phenomena as a means by which those who seek power will
achieve their desired goal. All these speculations are very far from the truth
because this Islamic direction is due to three main developments:
Materialism in the West
The materialist pillars upon which modernity
was established achieved an economic and technological advancement, but failed
to satisfy human needs and fulfil the conditions of a stable social life. The
western way of life which was founded on material knowledge, technical
know-how, innovation, invention and the dominance of the world markets with its
products, was not able to give the human soul a ray of light, a hint of
(spiritual) inspiration or a strand of faith. It was not able to provide any
means of peace and tranquillity for anxious souls. This is why it was natural
for a man living in these conditions to seek happiness in the purely material
world and look for ways of alleviating his suffering in ways consistent with
it. Indeed all that western life could offer him was material pleasure: an
excess of wealth, sex and other corrupted vices, with which he temporarily
indulges himself, only to find that he is not satisfied. With the decline of
family values and the rise of individualism, the modern man, along with the
‘modernised’ one, felt his soul crying out for freedom from this material
prison,searching for a release into the vastness of faith and spiritual light.
The Perfection of Islam
Secondly, and this is the positive aspect,
the Islamic thinkers rediscovered the fundamental virtues of Islam and the
comprehensiveness of its teachings; and they realised that Islam offers the
most detailed, most complete, all-encompassing system compared to all other
social philosophies that have ever emerged. For a long time the Muslims had
forgotten this fact, but when Allah allowed them to compare the social
principles of their religion with what the greatest of social scientists and
the most prominent of thinkers have discovered, they found that the difference
between the treasures of their great heritage and human attempts of thinkers
and philosophers was vast. In light of this, they found themselves responsible
for calling all people to this righteous path, Muslims
and non-Muslims alike.
The Course of Modernity
After two destructive world wars, new
principles, norms and social systems emerged, shaping the political, social and
economic life of various nations. However, it was not long before these new
standards were put into question and in some circumstances even abandoned or
changed. All this took place at a time when Islamic thinkers were busy
theorising, monitoring, weighing and returning to the Holy Book of their Lord,
the clear guidance of their Prophet and the bright history of their
civilisation. They found that there wasn’t a virtue in any worldly system that
was not already affirmed by Islam. As for social, economic and political
problems, related to these systems, Islam prescribes the route of prevention
and cure. The democratic system led the world for a while, encouraging many
intellectuals as well as the masses to think
of it as the ideal system. Nobody can ignore
the freedom it has secured for peoples and nations alike, and the justice it
has introduced to the human mind in allowing it to think freely, and to the
human being as a whole in allowing him the freedom to fulfil himself; and,
apparently, giving power to the people. Indeed, international relations after
the First World War came as a proof of the legitimacy of these ideas and most
of the world turned towards them wholeheartedly. However, it was not long
before people realised that individuality and unlimited liberty can lead to
chaos and many other short-comings, which ultimately led to the fragmentation
of the social structure and family systems, and the eventual re-emergence of
totalitarianism.
Nazism came to power in Germany, Fascism in
Italy and both Hitler and Mussolini began to force their people to conform to
what they thought; unity, order, development and power. Certainly, this system
led the two countries to stability and a vital international role. This
cultivated much hope, reawakened aspiration and united the whole
country under one leader.
Then what happened? It became apparent that
these seemingly powerful systems were a real disaster. The inspiration and
aspirations of the people were shattered and the system of democracy did not
lead to the empowerment of the people but to the establishment of chosen
tyrants. Eventually after a deadly war in which innumerable men women and children
died, these regimes collapsed.Concurrently, socialism and communism gained
adherents. Soviet Russia came onto the scene propagating its ideology and its
system, which changed remarkably during thirty years. The democratic/liberal
power, or to be more accurate, the old ‘colonial’ powers (or the new ambitious
ones), started thinking very seriously about stopping this rising tide. The
struggle between the two powers intensified while the nations and countries not
yet
aligned to this camp or that, wandered aimlessly,
and did not know whether to turn here or there. Among these countries were the
Islamic nations.
This social development and seemingly
inevitable confrontation reawakened the inspiration of Muslim thinkers which
motivated them to start weighing and comparing all the available options and
they ended up, after much contemplation, with the final conclusion: the need to
pursue the path of freedom independent of all these alien
systems, and the absolute necessity for a
return to Islam.
The Three systems in Prayer
I once said, humorously, to an audience,
"This prayer that we offer five times a day is nothing more than a daily
exercise on a practical social system which contains the best of communism and
democracy." In total surprise they asked: "How can that be?" I
said that the best that the communist system has to offer is its promotion of
equality, its attack on social classes, and its war on pride in private
ownership upon which class is based. All these elements are present and
completely felt by a Muslim when he enters the mosque. For when he first enters
the mosque he knows that this holy place belongs to Allah, and Allah alone; and
that there is no difference between one who finds shelter in it and one who
only passes through. In it there is no young or old, no lord or slave and no
discrimination nor classification.
When the Mu’adhin intones, "The prayer is due, the prayer
is due", the masses line up behind the Imam in one straight line as if
they were one solid wall. Nobody bows before the Imam does, and no one
prostrates before him. In every little movement the masses are obliged to
follow the Imam and not to supersede him in any way. This is the best that any
autocracy has to offer - everyone united, orderly and well organised.
However, the Imam does not act as he pleases.
On the contrary, he himself is bound by the instructions and constitution of
the prayer. If he should divert or make a mistake in a recitation or an action,
it is upon the young boy, the old man and the women who prays behind him to
correct his short-comings. It is their every right to
remind him, correct him and guide him to the
right path during their prayer. Moreover, it is obligatory on the Imam, whoever
he shall be, to bow down to the truth, and correct his mistake in the light of
their instructions.There is nothing in democracy that is better than the
virtues we have just cited.
Hence, what is in these man-made systems that
elevates them above Islam when Islam has so marvelously blended the best of
them together, to come up with one complete system?
‘Indeed, if it was from any
other than Allah then they would have found in it many
contradictions’
(Surat-al-Nisaa’ (4), ayah 82)
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