We know that creation is amazingly vast and intricate. From the tiniest and invisible protons and neutrons to the vast galaxies, it inspires wonder and awe. It is not only vast; it is well-ordered.
However, Reality
according to the Qur’an is not only made up of matter, of the things we can see
and hear and smell and feel and taste. It is not only made up of the vast
observable universe. There are parts of God’s creation which is beyond the
knowledge and experience of any human being. The Qur’an mentioned the seven
heavens, periods in time when man was not even a thing mentioned. It speaks of
angels created from light and inns made of fire. It speaks of another world –
the Aakhirah – which is better and more lasting than this world. To disbelieve
or reject the existence of all these simply because we cannot now perceive them
is to doubt the creative power of the Creator. It is like looking down a single
street and denying that anything exists around the street corners simply
because that is outside our field of vision.
Creation is also not a
one-off thing. God if He did so. God continues to sustain His creation and He
has the power to bring to an end or to cause new life or creation as He wills.
The Qur’an speaks of
everything in the universe as being created according to a measure which is set
by the Creator. The sun moves in a path of its own and ‘may not overtake the
mood’. All heavenly bodies float through space according to the laws set by
God. Plants need sunlight to grow and flourish. Birds and bees have been
inspired by the Creator with amazing sense of direction to enable them to
obtain food. People need oxygen to survive. Each creation follows or obeys the
special laws or norms built into it. A bee cannot live in the sea. A fish
cannot live on land. Each lives according to the laws set by the Creator. Each
lives in a state of submission. This is precisely the meaning of the Arabic
word ‘islam’.
Anything which follows the laws measured out for it by the Creator lives in a
state of submission or islam and is thus a ‘muslim’ which literally means
‘one who submits’.
We may use the word
islam with a small ‘i’ to denote the state of submission of all creation and
the word ‘muslim’ with a small ‘m’ to refer to all creation submitting, as they
must, to the laws by which each was created.
Every created being,
whether it is the sun with its life-giving light and warmth or the moon in its
orbit, daffodils shooting up in the spring, golden leaves falling in the autumn
to merge in the earth once more, a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a buddhist, a
Muslim or any other person breathing air – each, in a fundamental sense, is a
muslim, that is, one who submits to the laws and norms of God.
Human beings however
are different from other creation in one respect. While they must obey natural
laws relating to birth, life, and death, they have been given the power of
intellect which gives them the capacity to understand the universe and to shape
their environment. More than that, they have been given the freedom to choose,
whether to acknowledge the Creator and follow the guidance He has provided or
whether to go against their inherently good nature and the purpose for which
they were created.
If human beings use
this freedom to acknowledge God and follow his guidance, they then live
consciously in a state of Islam. They are no longer just passive muslims like
the rest of creation but conscious Muslims as well.
When we speak of Islam
with a capital ‘I’, we refer to the worldview described by the Qur’an in the
first instance and the totality of guidance it contains. A Muslim (with a
capital ‘M’) is one of who consciously accepts this worldview and follows the
guidance it contains.
Here we come to the
most important quality or characteristic of an individual. For many people in
today’s world, the most important characteristic of a person is the colour of
his skin, whether he is black or white or brown. For others, it is his
economic, social or political situation – whether he is rich or poor, whether
he is ruler or ruled, oppressor or oppressed.
For some people, the
most important fact about a person is his place of birth and the language he
speaks, his nation or his ‘tribe’. For others, a person’s main characteristic
is his social standing – whether he is regarded as an aristocrat, a
middle-class bourgeois, or a working class individual.
The most important
characteristic of a person, however, is none of these. In Islam a person’s
language or colour, for example, has no social, economic or political significance.
They are merely signs of the creative power of God to enable people to
recognise one another. The most important characteristic of a person is whether
he is a believer in god or not.
Confronted with the
full reality of existence, a person in complete knowledge and awareness
acknowledges his dependence on the Creator for life and guidance. Such a person
is described as a believer in God.
The Arabic word for
belief is ‘Imaan’.
It literally means ‘to know’, ‘to believe’, ‘to be convinced beyond the least
shadow of a doubt’. It does not mean blind, irrational belief.
The Arabic word for a
believer is ‘Mu’min’.
A Mu’min is one who knows and reposes unshakeable belief in the unity of God,
in His attributes, in His law and guidance revealed to the prophets and in the
Divine code of just recompense, of reward and punishment (to be discussed in
later). Without Imaan there can be no true and complete Islam.
On the other hand, a
person who refuses to acknowledge hid dependence on the Creator or indeed the
existence of a Creator is described as a disbeliever.
The word foe disbelief
in Arabic is ‘Kufr’
which literally means ‘to cover’ or ‘to conceal’. A person who denies God is
called a ‘Kaafir’
(concealer) because he conceals by his disbelief what is inherent in his
nature. A Kaafir also implies one who is ungrateful, one who refuses to
acknowledge the favours of his Lord and Creator. To disbelieve is therefore to
be unnatural and unreasonable. All this leads us to the most important
statement in Islam and in the life of a believer – the Shahaadah.