The Last Religion
RELIGION
Religion itself is derived from the word 'religio' which
means to bind. It is that which binds man to the truth. As such every
religion possesses ultimately two essential elements which are its basis
and foundation: a doctrine and a method.
These two elements, the doctrine and the method, the means
of distinguishing between what is Real and what appears to be real, exist
in every orthodox and integral religion and are in fact the essence of
every religion. No religion, whether it be Islam or Christianity, Hinduism
or Buddhism, can be without a doctrine as to what is absolute and what is
relative. Only the doctrinal language differs from one tradition to
another. Nor can any religion be without a method of concentrating on the
Real and living according to It although the means again differ in
different traditional climates.
Every religion believes in a transcendent Reality that
stands above the world of change and becoming. The doctrine is thus a
discrimination between the Absolute and the relative, between grades of
reality, degrees of universal existence. And the method is precisely the
means of attaching the relatively real to the absolutely real once one
realizes that the reality of the soul and the world that surrounds it is
not absolute but relative, that both the soul and the world derive their
sustenance from a Reality that transcends both the soul and the
world.
This relation between man and God, or the relative and the
Absolute is central in every religion.
The Islamic perspective is based upon the consideration of
the Divine Being as He is in Himself not as He is incarnated in
history.
There are certain religions which emphasize a particular
incarnation of the Divinity or various manifestations of the
Absolute.
Islam is a religion based not on the personality of the
founder but on Allah Himself.
THE NATURE OF
MAN
Islam legislates for man according to his real nature as
he is with all the possibilities inherent in the human state as such. But
what does 'man as he is' mean? Seen in his ordinary condition man is a
weak and negligent being. He is usually subservient to his surroundings
and a prisoner of his own lust and animal passions. He does not know what
it really means to be man and does not live to the full potentialities of
his human condition.
INTELLIGENCE, WILL and
SPEECH
The Islamic revelation conceives of man as this
theomorphic being and addresses itself to that something in man which is
in the form of the 'Divine'. That something is :-
INTELLIGENCE An intelligence that can
discern between the true and the false or the real and illusory and is
naturally led to Unity or tawhid. Islam asks what is intelligence and what
is its real nature. The real nature of intelligence is ultimately to come
to realize that La ilaha ill'Allah, that is to come to know that in the
end there is only one Absolute Reality. It is to realize the absolute
nature of Allah and the relativity of all else that is other than He. The
Qur'an calls those who have gone astray from religion as those who cannot
intellect, 'la ya'quilun', those who cannot use their intelligence
correctly. It is very significant that the loss of faith is equated in
Qur'anic language not with the corruption of the will but with the
improper functioning of intelligence.
WILL
A will to choose freely between the true
and the false. What is the nature of the will? It is to be able to choose,
to choose freely between two alternatives, between the real and the
unreal, between the true and the false, between the Absolute and the
relative. Were man not to be free religion would have no real meaning.
Free will is necessary to the religious conception of man and this is as
much true of Islam as of any other religion.
SPEECH The power of speech, of the word to be
able to express the relationship between the Divinity and man. Speech is
the most direct manifestation of what we are, of our innermost being. We
cannot express our being in any way more directly than speech. Speech is
in a sense the external form of what we are inwardly.
KNOWLEDGE
Christianity is essentially a mystery which veils the
Divine from man. In Islam, it is man who is veiled from God. The Divine
Being is not veiled from us, we are veiled from Him and it is for us to
try to rend this veil asunder, to try to know God.
Islam is essentially a way of knowledge; it is a way of
gnosis [ma'rifah]. Islam leads to that essential knowledge which
integrates our being, which makes us know what we are and be what we know.
In other words, Islam integrates knowledge and being in the ultimate
unitive vision of Reality.
REVELATION
Man needs revelation because although a theomorphic being,
he is by nature negligent and forgetful; he is by nature
imperfect.
Man cannot alone uplift himself spiritually. He must be
awakened from the dream of negligence by one who is already awake. Man is
thus in need of a message from heaven and must follow a revelation in
order to realize the full potentiality of his being and have the obstacles
which bar the correct functioning of his intelligence removed.
The most profound reason for the need of revelation is the
presence of obstacles before the intelligence which prevent its correct
functioning. More directly, the fact that although man is made in the
'image of God' and has a theomorphic being he is always in the process of
forgetting it. He has in himself the possibility of God-like but he is
always in the state of neglecting this possibility. That is why the
cardinal sin in Islam is forgetfulness. It is negligence [ghaflah] of what
we really are. It is a going to sleep and creating a dream world around us
which makes us forget who we really are and what we should be doing in
this world. Revelation is there to awaken man from the dream and remind
him what is really means to be man.
THE HUMAN
CONDITION
Man's central position in the world is not due to his
cleverness or inventive genius but because of the possibility of attaining
sanctity and becoming a channel of grace for the world about
him.
The Islamic conception of man is that man participates
fully in the human state, not through the many activities with which he
usually identifies himself but by remembering his theomorphic nature. And
because he is always in the process of forgetting this nature he is always
in need of revelation.
There is no single act which has warped and distorted
human will. Rather, many by being man is imperfect, only God being
perfection as such. Being imperfect man has the tendency to forget and so
is in constant need of being reminded through revelation of his real
nature.
Man is in absolute need of religion without which he is
only accidentally human. It is only through participation in a tradition,
that is, a divinely revealed way of living, thinking and being, that man
really becomes man and is able to find meaning in life. It is only
tradition in this sense that gives meaning to human existence.
The privilege of participating in the human state, in a
state which contains the opportunity and possibility of becoming God-like,
of transcending the world of nature, and of possessing an immortal soul
whose entelechy lies beyond the physical world, carries with it also a
grave responsibility.
The very grandeur of the human condition is precisely in
that he has both the possibility of reaching a state 'higher than the
angels' and at the same time of denying God.
Being given the possibility of being God-like through the
acceptance of the 'trust of faith', man can also play the role of a little
deity and deny God as such. Therein lies both the grandeur and seriousness
of the human condition.
Each being in the Universe is what it is. It is situated
on a particular level of existence. Only man can stop being man. He can
ascend above all degrees of universal existence and by the same token fall
below the level of the basest of creatures. The alternatives of heaven and
hell placed before man are themselves an indication of the seriousness of
the human condition.
Man is presented with a unique opportunity by being born
in the human state and it is a tragedy for him to fret away and waste his
life in pursuits which distract him from the essential goal of his life
which is to save his immortal soul.
COVENANT
There is in Mecca in the house of God a black stone which
is in fact a meteor. In the Islamic tradition, this stone which fell from
heaven, symbolizes the original covenant [al-mithaq] made between man and
God. God taught man the name of all the creatures as we are told in the
Qur'an ass well as in the Old Testament. This means that God gave man the
possibility of dominating over all things, for to possess the 'name' of a
thing means to exercise power over it.
It is a miracle that human existence is given the
possibility of denying its own source. But man is given all this and much
more in return for something which God wants of him and the black stone is
the symbol of this covenant made between man and God.
By accepting the covenant man has in turn certain duties
to perform:
- make his intelligence conform to the Truth which comes
from the Absolute
- make his will conform to the Will of the Absolute and
his speech to what God wants of man
In return for all the blessings and gifts that God has
given man, man must in turn remember his real nature and always keep
before him the real goal of his terrestrial journey. He must know who he
is and where he is going. This he can do only by conforming his
intelligence to the Truth and his will to the Divine Law.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE
MUSLIM
To accept the Divine covenant brings up the question of
living according to the Divine Will. The very idea of Islam is that
through the use of intelligence which discerns between the Absolute and
the relative one should come to surrender to the Will of the
Absolute.
This is the meaning of Muslim: one who has accepted
through free choice to conform his will to the Divine Will.
Islam is actually like a several storied mountain and
everything in it has different degrees and levels of meaning, including
the concept of Muslim itself.
Firstly, anyone who accepts a Divine revelation is a
'Muslim' in its universal sense, be he a Muslim, Christian, Jew or
Zoroastrian. In its first meaning, Muslim refers to that human being who
through the use of his intelligence and free will accepts a divinely
revealed law.
Secondly, 'muslim' refers to all creatures of the Universe
who accept Divine law in the sense that they conform to the unbreakable
laws which the Western world calls 'laws of Nature.'
It is the Will of the Creator that expresses itself in
what is called 'laws of nature' in Western thought, and everything in the
Universe is in a profound sense Muslim except for man who, because of this
free choice given to him as a trust to bear, can refuse to submit to His
Will.
It is only man who can stop being Muslim in this second
meaning of the term 'muslim', whereas all other beings are 'muslim' in
this sense by virtue of their complete submission to the Divine Will which
manifests itself as 'laws of nature'.
Finally, there is the highest meaning of Muslim which
applies to the saint. The saint is like nature in that every moment of his
life is lived in conformity with the Divine Will, but his participation in
the Divine Will is conscious and active whereas that of nature is
passive
In summary,
- The first meaning of Muslim pertains to nature;
- The second meaning of Muslim pertains to man who has
accepted a revelation;
- The third meaning of Muslim pertains to the saint who
not only has accepted revelation, but lives fully in conformity with the
Divine Will.
UNITY
Islam is a universal concept that comprehends man and the
Universe about him and lies in the nature of things. In a more particular
sense, as a religion which was revealed nearly fourteen hundred years ago,
it continues to base itself on what is in the nature of things,
concentrating particularly on the Divine nature itself. For this reason
Islam is based from beginning to end on the idea of Unity [tawhid], for
God is One.
Unity is the alpha and omega of Islam.
In addition to being a metaphysical assertion about the
nature of the Absolute, Unity is a method of integration, a means of
becoming whole and realizing the profound oneness of all
existence.
Every aspect of Islam rotates about the doctrine of Unity
which Islam seeks to realize first of all in the human being in his inner
and outward life. Every manifestation of human existence should be
organically related to the Shahadah, La ilaha ill'Allah, which is the most
universal way of expressing Unity. This means that man should not be
compartmentalized either in his thoughts or actions. Every action, even
the manner of walking and eating, should manifest a spiritual norm which
exists in his mind and heart.
Unity expresses itself socially in the integration of
human society which Islam has achieved to a remarkable degree.
Unity manifests itself politically in Islam's refusal to
accept as the ultimate unit of the body politic anything less than the
totality of the Islamic community, or the ummah.There is only one Muslim
people, no matter how scattered and far removed its members may
be.
In the realm of arts and sciences, Islam has always sought
to unify all domains of knowledge, and its function is to integrate. The
history of Islam has demonstrated this aspect in both philosophy and
science as well as in art, in which forms were elucidated and elaborated
to display Unity.
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT
ISLAM
Being based on Unity, Islam has envisaged a total way of
life which excludes nothing. Its legislation is quite realistic in
conformity with its perspective, which is based on the real nature of
things. Islam envisages not only the saint but also the usual man with all
his strengths and weaknesses. For this very reason it has been falsely
accused by many Christians as being worldly or being the religion of the
sword.
It is true that Islam has legislation for even war whereas
Christianity orders man to turn the other cheek, and is mild and gentle in
its teachings. But what is forgotten is that
- either a religion is made for saints, as Christ said,
'My Life is not of this world' in which case it leaves aside political,
social and economic questions and envisages all of its followers as
potential saints and, in fact, can only function in a society of
saints;
- or a religion tries to encompass the whole of man's
life, in which case it must take into account the whole of man's nature
with all the weaknesses and shortcomings it has, and legislate for the
political and economic life of man as well as the purely religious
aspect of his existence.
The criticism against Islam as a religion of the sword is
thus not a valid one. Islam, by legislating war, limited it whereas
Christianity left it outside of its consideration. It is not accidental
that the most devastating wars of this century have begun in the West
where Christianity has been the dominating religious influence.
War, in a limited sense at least, is actually in the
nature of things and Islam, rather than leaving it aside as if it did not
exist, limited it by accepting it and providing religious legislation for
it. One can at least say that the terrible wars of this century have not
come out of the Muslim world, but out of what some people have called the
'post-Christian' West.
A religion which seeks to encompass the whole of life must
consider all of its realities.
- Christianity, concentrating on man's spiritual life,
did not consider his political and social needs;
- Islam, basing itself on Unity, had to integrate all of
human life and could not overlook any aspect of it.
CHARACTER OF
ISLAM
The character of Islam is directly connected
with the fact that it is both the 'primordial religion' and the last
religion in the present life of humanity. Islam considers itself as the
primordial religion [al-din al-hanif] because it is based on the doctrine
of Unity which has always existed and which lies in the nature of things.
It sought to accomplish this by its uncompromising emphasis on Divine
Unity and by seeking to return man to his original nature [fitrah] which
is veiled from him because of his dream of negligence.
According to the Islamic perspective, God did
not send different truths through His many prophets but different
expressions and forms of the same fundamental truth of Unity, using as a
basis the three elements of intelligence, will and speech which makes the
realization of Unity possible.
Mankind did not evolve gradually from
polytheism to monotheism. Man was originally a monotheist who fell
gradually into polytheism, and has to be reminded periodically of the
original doctrine of Unity.
History consists of a series of cycles of decay
and rejuvenation. The Islamic conception of history is one of a series of
cycles of prophecy, each cycle followed by a gradual decay leading to a
new cycle or phase.
Islam believes itself to be the third great
manifestation of the Abrahamic tradition, after Judaism and Christianity.
Now, as Christians know so well, trinity is a reflection of unity so that
this third manifestation of the Abrahamic tradition is in a sense a return
to the original Unity, to the 'religion of Abraham'. As Judaism represents
the law or the exoteric aspect of this tradition and Christianity the way
or the esoteric aspect of it, so does Islam integrate the tradition in its
original unity by containing both a law [shari'ah] and a way [tariqah].
If Islam is the 'primordial religion' it is
also the 'last religion' and in fact it is through this particularity that
it becomes not just religion as such but a particular religion to be
accepted and followed.
By re-affirming what all the prophets have
asserted over the ages, Islam emphasized its universal character as the
primordial religion and by considering itself as the last religion [a
claim no other orthodox religion before Islam ever made], Islam attained
its particularity which distinguishes it and gives it its specific form as
a religion.
No religion can in fact be the universal
religion as such. It is so inwardly, but outwardly it must be a particular
religion which induces men to accept and follow it through specific forms
and rites. Man, living in the world of the particular, must begin from the
particular in order to reach the universal. The beauty of revealed
religion is precisely that although externally it is a form, it is not a
closed form but one which opens inwardly towards the Infinite.
THE PROPHETIC
CYCLE
Islam also had to have a particular form and
that came from its character as the last religion. With the Prophet the
prophetic cycle came to an end. The Prophet who was the 'Seal of Prophecy'
[khatam al anbiya'] announced that there would be no prophets after him
and history has gone to prove his claim.
Islam does not envisage an indefinitely
prolonged march of history for eons on end. It believes that the history
of the present humanity has a beginning and an end, marked by the
eschatological events described in the Qur'an and Hadith. It is until the
occurrence of these events that no new prophet shall come. At the end of
the cycle Islam believes, like Christianity, not in the coming of a new
prophet but in the second coming of Christ. Until such a happening Islam
is the last religion and the Prophet the last prophet, not to be followed
by another revelation from heaven.
This particularity of Islam as the last
religion in the prophetic cycle gives it the power of synthesis so
characteristic of this tradition. Being the final message of revelation,
Islam was given providentially the power to synthesize, to integrate and
absorb whatever was in conformity with its perspective from previous
civilizations. Islam integrated in its world-view what was ultimately in
conformity with the Shahada, La ilaha ill'Allah, which is the final
criterion of orthodoxy in Islam. Coming at the end of the prophetic cycle,
Islam has considered all the wisdom of traditions before it as in a sense
its own and has never been shy of borrowing from them and transforming
them into elements of its own world view.
In Islam, as in every orthodox tradition,
originality means to express the universal truths that are perennial in
manner that is fresh and bears the fragrance of spirituality, indicating
that the expression comes not from outward imitation but from the source
of the Truth itself.
Spiritual vitality, like organic, comes not in
creation from nothing but in transformation and integration into a pattern
which comes in essence from heaven.
SUMMARY
Islam is based on the universal relation
between God and man, God in His Absoluteness and man in his profound
theomorphic nature.
Islam bases the realization of this central
relationship on intelligence, will and speech and consequently on
equilibrium and certitude..
Islam has sought to establish equilibrium in
life by channeling all of man's natural needs and inclinations, all those
natural desires and needs such as that for food, shelter, procreation,
etc. given by God and necessary in human life, through the Divine Law
[Shariah].
Upon the firm foundation of this equilibrium
Islam has enabled man to build a spiritual castle based on contemplation
and the certainty that there is no divinity other than the
Absolute.
Islam is a Divine revelation which was placed
as a seed in the heart of man who was the receptacle of this Divine
message.
Man is the container. He cannot break this
container; he can only purify it and empty it of the pungent substance
that fills it so that it can become worthy of receiving the Divine
nectar.
The seed of Islam was placed in the heart of
man through the Qur'an and the instrument of its propagation among men,
the Prophet. From this seed there grew that spiritual tree which has
created one of the greatest civilizations in history, a tree under whose
shade a sizeable segment of the human race live and die today and find
meaning and fulfillment in life.
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