Practical
Questions about Islam - 2
Critic:-
You speak of communities. Nobody is concerned
for the fate of Christians and Jews, or even Hindus, but what about lonely wolves,
the most rare manifestations of life? We do not have our "tribe", our
"community"? Are Muslims prepared to *let* Allah punish us
unbelievers with the worst, forever, most cruel misery and pain in the *after*
life, and not helping Him (Who is most powerful and omnipotent according to
your religion) in that in this world?
Comment:-
Your question is based on a misunderstanding.
Allah is the fundamental objective Reality to which all things must adjust. The
Universe and all things in it exist according to their various laws and
structures. Those who flout these suffer and are destroyed. Put your finger in
the fire and see if you can prevent Allah from punishing you for that. Muslims
cannot do anything about this. But what happens in this world in our communities,
we have been given rules of dealing with that. Do not all nations have laws
that regulate the interaction between people? Are criminals who do harm not
punished to deter harmful activity? This has nothing whatever to do with what
religion they follow, what community they belong to or whether they are unique.
Critic:-
What does 'Allah priority' means to you for
example in your life? How is this concept manifested in the world?
Comment:-
The attributes of Allah are Unity, Truth,
Compassion, Justice, Beauty, Creativity and Ability among other things, all of
which are different aspects of the same thing and constitute the values that
Muslims are required to cultivate.
Critic:-
Truth - does not exist. There are only our
interpretations. Compassion - for me, is a really nasty habit. It makes every
misery even more miserable in it's "unselfish" and
"altruistic" form.
Comment:-
We do not agree with you as already
explained. What is it Science is looking for? Why test theories against nature?
As for compassion, it is a built-in as the ability to put oneself in the place
another and feel what they feel. I am not talking about what Freud calls the
Super-ego, something produced by social conditioning, but about a faculty
inherent in man and integral to his nature. Sympathy, empathy, love are words
for it. No community or even individual can exist without it. It flows from a
fundamental principle that "all things are treated according to their
similarities and dissimilarities" which is also a Law of Justice and
essential if we are to recognise and control things in the world instead of
utter confusion. In so far as we are all human our psyche treats others as we
treat ourselves and ourselves as others. This is why outer treatment that does
not conform to this leads to inner contradiction and suffering. It creates
guilt feelings and self-punishment such accident proneness, psycho-somatic
diseases. Or it leads to rationalisations that damage the mind with fantasies,
self-justification, excuse making, suppression, projection of blame, creating
scapegoats, introjection of virtue, self-grandiosity and so on.
The basic characteristics of the Spirit are
the interdependent impulses of faith, love and hope. They are essential for life
and all action. The absence of these produce doubt and confusion, greed (the
attachment or love of things beyond need or benefit), apathy (loss of interest)
and hopelessness and depression. Their inversions are delusion, hate (that
leads to aggression and violence) and fear (anxiety, stress). These are found
in all mental illnesses which also depress vitality and the immune system
causing proneness to physical diseases, both organic and infections. The social
consequences are widespread and so are environmental consequences because of
the need for compensation. For instance, greed and gluttony tend to compensate
for absence of human love - they are love for things and pursued because of
hope of satisfaction and faith in their efficacy. This puts pressure on
resources and the balance of the environment.
All this can be seen, and has been formulated
as "the deception of Satan" and the consequences can be regarded as
according to natural psychological and physical Laws and "divine
punishment".
Critic:-
You say: In a Muslim community, the Islamic
modes of conduct must be respected. Can we have a ghetto where we can walk
naked?
Comment:-
You can as long as it affects no one else.
Islam requires responsible behaviour. This means that people should consider
others and the community as a whole, avoiding anything that harms or annoys
them and doing what will benefit them.
Critic:-
Can we say that educated, smart and wise
Muslims, can also, like Christians, make a sad statement about a crowd who
lynched some weird black sheep, but their "hands are tied" and they
can only condemn such sad and unwelcome event?
Comment:-
I thought you did not believe in compassion!
According to the Quran:- "..... 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." 3:104
This is done through argument, teaching,
education and example.
Within the Islamic community or in
interaction with those who attack or oppress Muslims, the rule is to resist by
action. If this is not possible owing to lack of power, then resist by words.
If this is not possible, owing to oppression or incapability, then resist in
thought and prayer.
Critic:-
I was trying to say that I am glad when
people of Iraq for example
are fighting against the US
invading soldiers. But I wonder why they always do this in the name of 'Allah'.
I think than ..."oh come on, they attacked *you*, your home, family,
friends and country. Why can't you say "I'm fighting in *my own*
name"?
Comment:-
Islam is about transcending one's narrow
self, to identify oneself with the Objective and Universal. A Muslim, one who
surrenders to Allah, does all things in the name of Allah which means that it
should be according to the will of Allah as revealed, an act of justice and
goodness, not from any subjective motive such as personal revenge. It also
means that he is asking the help of Allah and reinforcing his own resolutions.
An invasion may be the will of Allah, a punishment against injustice, and
resistance against it may not be just.
Critic:-
You said: Human beings have partial knowledge
because of insufficient capacity for perception intelligence and reason,
limited experiences and because they select data, interpret it and organise it
according to desire, fear and presuppositions and according to habits,
fantasies, social conditioning and the rationalisation of self-interest, greed,
lust, vanity, pride, envy etc.
Now you are talking like a psychoanalyst. Are
you trying by the means of language, by mixing your rhetoric and mine to
convert me?
Comment:-
No we do not try to convert but only present
the facts. I am telling you what I have learnt from the Quran. You can
understand it or not. It is for Allah to convert.
Critic:-
This is what I like about some educated
Muslims - they have the ability and strength to confess their limitations to
themselves. For my system of philosophy, this is the first step of
self-overcoming and progressing - looking around for yourself and at yourself,
not like some quasi-eastern western "guru" looking for "truth
that is in ourselves".
Comment:-
Yes, that merely justifies personal
prejudices and fantasies and keeps a person firmly fixed where he already is.
No progress can be expected from that attitude.
However, Truth IS in us and needs uncovering.
As I pointed out Allah is the Real and His spirit is in us, though dormant.
From another angle:- We are formed from the
materials, forces, and laws that also govern the Universe. It is, therefore,
possible, to attain knowledge not only by outer observation, study and
awareness but also by inner observation, study and awareness. Some of this
information is built into our genes to which we have much greater intimate
access than to outer facts. In fact, unless one has inner awareness one cannot
filter the truth from fantasy.
Critic:-
It is not enough, and in most cases it is
counterproductive to inform a patient about his/her unconscious mind. This
unconscious mind is most probably real point of identification of man's tendency
to reformulate their existing questions and to bring up new questions. My
domain of contemplation demands constant war (in Nietzschean sense).
Comment:-
Islam requires striving (Jihad). This is
constant war against inner and outer sources of falsehood, illusion, deception,
malfunctions, contradictions and evil (against Satan). Religion also has to be
constantly reformulated as I have explained. As stated before, Islam is not
really interested in mere thoughts and ideologies but in the awakening of consciousness,
conscience and will.
Critic:-
Why don't Muslims keep up with the modern
world and separate religion from politics, science and economics and make a
clear distinction between the private and the public domain? I understand that
there is a small group that calls itself "Secular Muslims".
Comment:-
Are we to encourage the development of social
Schizophrenia and the social and mental contradictions that create much
confusion and malfunction.
Islam, being surrender to Allah, is about
Unity and the creation of an all comprehensive self-consistent world view and
way of life that will facilitate the development of inner psychological
integration, social unity and harmony with the rest of the Cosmos. These are
all interdependent aspects of the unity with Allah.
As Islam is
surrender to Allah, the terms “Secular Islam” or “Secular
Muslim” are obvious self-contradictions. Such doctrines can only be
followed by people who are hypocrites either deliberately or because they have little
knowledge of Islam and do not strive to acquire knowledge or practice it.
Question:-
Does Islam have such concepts as
"Freedom", "Civilised" and "Democracy" or their
equivalent on which the Western nations pride themselves and which the present US administration
wishes to impose on everyone else even through military force?
Comment:-
These notions are subjective with little
meaning or agreement. They are value judgements that seem to be based on
nothing. They are mainly illusions used as slogans by people wishing to
convince themselves of their superiority over others. If we wish to think
intelligently then values cannot be understood in isolation but they must be
seen in context as belonging to a system, a world view, an idea of what man is
and his cosmic function. This gives us the notions of "Purpose",
"Means" and "Success".
You are asking about Islam not Muslims. I
cannot answer for all Muslims, but as already pointed out several times, Islam
is surrender to Allah, the ultimate Reality, and it is His attributes such as
Unity, Truth, Compassion, Justice, and Ableness etc. that provide the
fundamental concepts, facts as well as meaning and values for Muslims. These
are also the attributes of the divine spirit within man. The function of man is
to be a Vicegerent. The purpose of Islam is spiritual development, the
actualisation of the potentialities within him, the reactivation of the spirit,
that which makes us alive and gives us consciousness, conscience and will.
Achieving this is "Success".
For Islam, therefore, a person or community
could be regarded as "Civilised" in proportion to which these
attributes are manifested. "Freedom" would mean the degree to which a
person is self-determined by the spirit within him and the absence of idolatry
and external oppression. "Democracy" would mean the degree to which
that all communal affairs are conducted through mutual consultation and
agreement by self-determined individuals for their mutual benefit.
From this point of view individuals and
nations in the West and elsewhere on this globe fall far short of the Ideal,
but there are big differences between individuals and between various sections
or groups of people.
Three things need to be understood:- (a)
These values represent a goal towards which one strives. They should be seen
not as absolute states but as relative - there are degrees. (b) They cannot be
forced or imposed on others but only voluntarily accepted. Islam is, therefore,
not about forcing but about education. (c) As these states consist of several
characteristics, it is the case that some people are superior to others in some
respects while being inferior to them in other respects.
"There is no compulsion in religion;
the right way is henceforth distinct from the wrong. And whoever rejects false
deities and believes in Allah, he has grasped a firm handle which will not
break; but Allah is both Hearer and Knower. Allah is the patron of those who
believe, He brings them forth from darkness into light. But those who
disbelieve, their patrons are false deities; these bring them forth from light
to darkness. Such are fellows of the Fire, they will dwell therein."
2:256-157
"He indeed is successful who causes
it (the soul) to grow! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts it!"
91:9-10 (Also see 3:104, 7:157,
23:102, 24:51, 58:22, 59:9, 64:16, 87:14
Question:-
If Islam is what
you say it is then how is it that there are Muslims who preach hate and promote
and condone terrorism which also gives Muslims a bad name and brings
retaliation against them? Or are you denying that any of this is true?
Comment:-
It has been pointed
out several times that Islam is a teaching, and provides an Ideal and a
discipline and that Muslims are people who understand and practice Islam to
various degrees. They may be real Muslims i.e. in submission to Allah or His
Word, to different degrees or even not at all. They may be hypocrites or
deluded or they may mistaken as Muslims by others. The word
“Muslim” in the ordinary use of the word simply refers to a group
of people who have certain names or are born, are brought up, live in or come
from certain countries or cultures.
Human beings have
limitations and are a mixture of good and evil in various proportions. All this
applies to all other people also. Selecting one group for criticism is obvious
bias and hypocrisy. Islam recognises human limitations, but provides a method
of gradually overcoming them. Religion, as has been pointed out, is for
sinners. This means that, in truth and justice, one cannot judge the teaching
by the people, or the individuals by the group, or the good persons in one
group with the bad in another, but we can only judge the difference between the
behaviour of a person before and after he applies the discipline. And even then
we can only do so if we know how much effort he has made and what his outer
circumstances and the inner state and motives for his behaviour are.
There are in
general three interacting factors that militate against the establishment of what
is intended:- (1) The differences mentioned above. (2) The tendency to form conflicting
groups. (3) The limitation of thought such as selectivity, suppression, exaggeration,
fantasy, extrapolation. We can also another factor:- (4) All the above could be
overcome through appropriate disciplines, education and the organisation of the
conduct of affairs. These exist and could be further developed and applied through
intelligence, but the other factors obstruct and pervert such efforts, though
they have also been modified by them to some extent. This modification requires
constant conscious effort. But there are cycles of effort and relaxation, of
waking and sleeping as the Quran points out.
(1) There is a
great diversity of intelligence, awareness, knowledge, abilities, experiences,
behaviour patterns, motives, ideas, opinions among them and they live in a
variety of conditions and environmental, economic and political circumstances. This
affects their perception, interpretation and behaviour. All this applies not
only to Muslims but also to people of all other faiths and nationalities. The
Quran recognises diversity and human limitations but requires self-development
by the application of an appropriate discipline and the pursuit and application
of objective knowledge.
(2) There is a
human tendency to form groups that include some people and exclude others.
People feel vulnerable and weak in the face of a world that is much greater and
more powerful than themselves. They want to increase their significance and
power by identify themselves with something greater but have a limited capacity
to do so. For the human mind understanding means relativity. Things are
recognised by their contrast from other things, usually their opposites –
black against white, good against evil, idealism against materialism, upper
class against lower class, us and them and so on. This leads to social disintegration,
sectarianism and all kinds of schisms. There is a tendency to mentally increase
the contrast to make things clearer. Groupings and sub-groupings lead to
competition and conflicts. Islam emphasises the underlying unity and requires
us to transcend the pair of opposites and sectarianism.
(3) There is a
tendency for people to selectively compare the worst in other groups with the
best in their own groups because this gives them a sense of superiority over
others. They also want to interpret what others say or do in the worst light
while doing the opposite for those in their own group. They want to exaggerate
their own virtues and diminish their vices while doing the opposite for others,
especially when there is antagonism, confrontation, competition and conflict.
This, of course, creates conflicts that exaggerates and is exaggerated by the tendency
to form groups. A vicious circle develops that traps people until circumstances
or some greater force incorporates the groups. The Quran warns against this
tendency and requires us to seek truth and do justice even against ourselves.
----------<O>----------
Contents