Islamic
Community
Question:-
What is an Islamic or Muslim Community? Can
you describe the essentials of the way of life of Muslims living in such a
community?
Answer:-
Islam means "Surrender to Allah".
It refers to (1) a State of Being,
but it also refers to (2) the associated teaching, the purpose or goal, and the
method of achieving the goal, and to (3) the Way of Life that is and leads to
Surrender.
Muslim means persons who have adopted Islam
and surrendered to Allah, having given up their egos, and associated thoughts,
motives and actions, in order to become agents of Allah. As Islam is also
called the Straight Way
as distinct from the Destination, Muslims are also persons who have undertaken
to strive to Surrender. This also means that, as the Spirit of Allah is within
people and constitutes their Real Self, which is normally dormant, they have
undertaken to activate it and actualise their potentialities.
The activation of the Divine Spirit in man
implies the extension of its attributes, namely, consciousness, conscience and
will, and the activation of the Divine Attributes in man such as Justice,
Benevolence, Mercy, Truth, Power, Creativity, Responsibility and Initiative.
The aim of the Community is, therefore, the cultivation of these.
"O you who believe! Respond unto
Allah and His Messenger when He calls you to that which quickens you; and know
that Allah comes in between a man and his own heart; and that He it is unto
Whom you shall be gathered." 8:24
"And Allah sends down water from the
sky, and quickens therewith the earth after its death; verily, in that is a
sign to a people who can hear." 16:65
"Hold fast, all together, to the
cable of Allah, and do not separate (divide or part in sects); but remember the
favours of Allah towards you, when you were enemies and He made friendship
between your heart, and on the morrow you became brothers, by His grace. You
were on the edge of an abyss of fire, but He rescued you there from. Thus does
Allah show to you His revelations; perchance you may be guided;
"And that there may spring from you a
nation who invite to goodness, and bid right conduct, and forbid what is wrong;
these are the successful." 3:103-104
"Be not like those who parted in
sects and disagreed after there came to them manifest signs; for them is mighty
woe." 3:105
"Say: As for me, my Lord has guided
me unto the Straight Way, a right religion, the faith of Abraham, the upright,
for he was not of the idolaters. Say: Verily, my worship and my sacrifice, and
my living and my dying belong to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." 6:162-163
The Islamic or Muslim Community is one which
consists of like minded persons who have undertaken to live by the Islamic Principles
in thought, motive and action. Fundamentally, this consists of the Duty to
Allah, the Creator of All, and conformity to His Purposes. This can be
subdivided into (a) duties to oneself, (b) duties to other people, the Muslim
community and mankind, (c) duties to the environment (land sea and air), the
world and all things in it (including animals, plants and minerals) and to the
Cosmos, in so far as human beings absorb, transform and emit materials, energy
and order.
The Principles on which the community is
based can be summarised as the 5 Pillars and the 3 Duties:- (1) Remembering
Allah (2) Prayer (3) Charity (4) Abstinence (5) Pilgrimage (6) Striving (7)
Seeking Knowledge (8) Endurance.
Muslims should divide their day as follows:-
(a) Parts of the day are set aside for Meditation (Zikr), Prayer, and Study of
the Scriptures as well as seeking self-knowledge and other kinds of Knowledge
about Creation. (b) In social interaction - in acts of mutual benevolence,
consideration, friendliness, tolerance, forgiveness, generosity, help, charity,
example, reinforcement in good resolutions and efforts, advice, teaching,
co-operation, unison and mutual consultation in running of affairs that concern
all. All this also requires self-restraint, patience, and negation of the Ego.
(c) Work should be done with attention, knowledge, purposefulness,
self-awareness, self-criticism with a view to achieving excellence, perfection,
skill and self-control, maximising usefulness, benefits, and economy, reducing
wastage of resources, pollution, disruption and disorder.
The day is structured so that there is a time
set aside for each of these, but they are also intermingled so that each
reinforces the other and does divide life into separate compartments. The whole
of life is a pilgrimage towards Allah or the Real Self and symbolised in the
world by the Kaaba which also forms the communal centre.
The three duties also have an over all
function throughout life. Striving refers to the removal of evil and vices, but
also to efforts to establish the virtues and to channelling energy in
beneficial directions. It refers to a struggle to eliminate, not so much the
immoral or unethical actions such as theft, murder and fornication, but to the
causes, the harmful features within a person such as greed, envy, pride, lust,
vanity, hate, anger, laziness, addictions, prejudices, injustice, obsessions,
cowardice, fantasies, deception, self-deception and so on. Striving can be
psychological, within oneself, or social within the community, or political
against attacks from others.
All this requires awareness, knowledge and
self-knowledge. They are not the same thing, though each facilitates the other.
Knowledge is consciousness of Truth which is an Attribute of Allah. The pursuit
of knowledge is an on going matter. It refers not merely to having intellectual
information, but also to understanding and to application, particularly to
oneself and is a means of self-development. There is knowledge of facts,
meanings and values and these are inter-related. The members of the Islamic
Community honour knowledge, virtue and ability, strive for these and honour
those who have them. They strive to learn from them, and those who have it
teach and guide those who seek it.
Neither striving nor the pursuit of knowledge
has much value unless there is persistence and patience. Endurance refers to
constancy, perseverance, forbearance, tolerance, patience, the bearing of
misfortune or adversity, the overcoming of fickleness and distractibility, the
creation of concentration, strength of purpose, and single-mindedness, the
ability to bear hardships and suffering without perversion of thought, feeling
and action. The keeping of one's words, promises, contracts, oaths and treaties
are included here. The Quran also warns against the temptation to let hatred
seduce a person into doing injustice, and recommends that when evil is done to
a person he should return it with good. Difficult tasks and goals can only be
undertaken and successfully achieved by those who are willing to bear the
suffering that the required efforts entail. The purpose of endurance is,
therefore, the establishment of a permanent self. It is only he who has such a
permanent centre who can compare different things and perceive changes.
Endurance also refers to several other
related qualities that overlap with other aspects of Islam, and have physical,
psychological and social significance:- (i) Cultivating consciousness of Allah
(Taqwa.) (ii) Cultivating Trust in Allah (Tawakkul) (iii) Striving to please Allah.
(iv) Gratitude to Allah (Shukr) (v) Repentance (vi) The avoidance of excesses,
waste, squandering, hoarding, gambling. (vii) Avoiding intoxicants, addictives
and inferior foods such as pig meat. (viii) Earning one's living only by honest
and beneficial means. (ix) Moderation in the consumption of food and other
wants. (x) Fulfilling ones trust and natural obligations. Cultivating and
promoting (xi) Peace (Salam) (xii) Justice (Adl) (xiii) Equality (Musawa) (xiv)
Brotherhood (Ukhuwah) (xv) Love (Mawadah) (xvi) Mercy (Rahma) (xvii)
Forgiveness (Afw) (xviii) Invitation to the faith (Dawah). (xix) Consultation
(Shuni) (xx) Avoidance of usury. (xxi) Avoiding harm to others (xxii) Keeping
promises, agreements and treaties.
All these aspects are not separate from each
other nor independent of each other but, as a human is a unity in which all
parts affect each other and a community is also a unity in which individuals
affect each other, then each of these aspects also affects the others. The
activities of the individuals modify them and this affects their behaviour and
affects on others. All react according to (a) their external experiences and
what they have been conditioned to "E", (b) their inherent nature
"I" and (c) the ideas, values and purposes "V" that they
have accepted.
A distinction, therefore, arises between
those who have no "V", those who have a "V" that reinforces
"E", those who have a "V" that reinforces "I",
and those in whom "V" dominates. From the Islamic point of view man
should behave according to his inherent nature as made by Allah. However, this
nature includes the ability to learn and develop. And that is why he has also
been sent a "V" through the Messengers which we can distinguish from
others by "Q".
"Then set your purpose for religion
as a man upright by nature - the nature made by Allah in which He has made men;
there is no altering (the laws of) Allah's creation; that is the right
religion, but most people do not know - turning to Him only, and be careful of
your duty to Him and keep up prayer and be not of those who ascribe partners to
Him (polytheists),. of those who split their religion and became schismatic,
every sect rejoicing in its own tenets." 30:30-32
This Islamic way of life is similar to those
usually found in the Religious Monasteries of various faiths to which some
people retire from the world as Monks often practicing celibacy. But Islam is
against such withdrawal. The world itself contains the facilities that be used
for self-transformation and the purpose was to transform the world. Whereas it
seems superficially that Islam failed in doing this, the fact is that the world
has most certainly been transformed by Islam, but that changes come about
gradually and through a succession of impulses and these are not yet complete.
"Then We made Our Messengers to
follow in their footsteps, and We sent Jesus, son of Mary afterwards, and We
bestowed on him the Gospel, and We put in the heart of those who followed him
kindness and mercy; but monkery (or monasticism), they invented it - We did not
prescribe it for them - (We commanded) only the seeking of Allah's pleasure,
but they did not observe it with its due observance; so We gave to those of
them who believed their reward, but most of them are transgressors." 57:27
"O you who believe! Be careful of
your duty to Allah and believe in His Messengers: He will give you two portions
of His mercy, and provide for you a Light with which you will walk, and forgive
you, for Allah is Forgiving, Merciful; so that the followers of the Book may
know that they do not control aught of the grace of Allah, and that Grace is in
Allah's hand. He gives it to whom He pleases; and Allah is the Lord of abundant
Grace." 57:28-29
"Your Lord is Absolute, Merciful; if
He pleases He can remove you and can cause what He will to succeed you, even as
He raised you up from the seed of other people." 6:134
"But nay! I swear by (or call to
witness) the Lord of all points of the rising and setting places East and West
that We are certainly Able to replace them with others better than them, and We
shall not be overcome." 70:40-41
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