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16 June 2014
By Saeed
Qureshi
Let us first of all admit that Islam is a religion
just like Christianity and Judaism; that it is a
monotheistic religion like Judaism. That it shares its
divine ancestry with Judaism and Christianity, even if
the latter two religions don't accept it, because they
claim to be the forerunners of Islam. It is in the
same way that Judaism doesn't accept Christianity
which came much after Judaism.
Let us also acknowledge that Islam has a rich heritage
and culture like other faiths. The
Islamic religio-social traditions and customs teach
how to dress up especially for the women, what to eat
(meals from legitimate income and in case of meat the
animals to be slaughtered in a religiously defined
way). The Islamic ethos also spells out the ways to
celebrate the religious days and how to host feasts.
It also includes the circumcision and the marriage
ceremonies. Islam does not encourage the kind of music
and modes of entertainment that arouse sexual, carnal
and lecherous sentiments.
Islam like other religions has symbols also. These,
inter alia are the mosque, rosary, holy water (Zam Zam),
beard, moon, black stone placed in one of the walls of
the House of the Lord (Khana Ka'aba), the green color,
the curved sword, minarets and turban. Like many other
religions the Muslims too have a holy book Qur'an. It
is our common knowledge that this religion sprouted in
the Arab land whereas the Christianity and the Jewish
were born in the North of the Arab peninsula.
Islam has a package of five basic beliefs. These are:
belief in one God or Allah, belief in Angels, belief
in Holy Scriptures (Torah, and Bible), belief in the
apostles or messengers of God, belief in the Judgment
Day, belief in God's omniscience, prior knowledge and
determination of all things.
Islam has also five pillars of Observance or
obligations. These are Shahada (declaration of faith)
that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is
the messenger of Allah. The second is Salat or prayer
with face towards Haram Sharif or Khana Ka'aba five
times a day. The third is the Zakat or alms which
ordains giving a percentage of one's income to the
poor and underprivileged. The fourth is Fasting during
the Islamic month of Ramadan. The fifth is Hajj or
pilgrimage once in life time if possible financially
or health wise.
There are two sources of
Islamic Sharia or law in Islam. While
the Quran is the primary basis for the Sharia, it is
in the second source the Sunna or the life of the
prophet as recorded in the Hadith that has been a
major source of information for the details of the law
only hinted or omitted in Koran. The
Sunnah or Hadith of Prophet Muhammad comprises his
actions, silent approvals, decisions, utterances,
sayings and edicts. The decisions and sayings of the
four successors of the prophet called caliphs are also
used as precedents for making decisions on matters
concerning Muslims or non- Muslims.
Sharia covers the entire
body of Islamic law as it developed since the time of
the prophet (six hundred legal references in Koran and
Prophet Muhammad's statements contained in the Hadith).
Shariah claries if there is confusion on a certain
matter and interprets rules and regulations, decisions
and edicts of the prophet and Quran.
The constituents of
Islamic Sharia are not confined to Quran and Hadith
alone. The other sources are some of the Pagan customs
from the Bedouins like Muta and dower and also the
traditional commercial/agrarian practices. A select
number of Roman and Byzantine laws have also been
incorporated in the Islamic Sharia. For instance the
plaintiff must produce evidence and witnesses
otherwise defendant can swear and clear himself.
Jewish, Persian and Greek traditions and laws also
form part of Sharia
The Quran narrates parables and stories of the ancient
prophets, nations, societies and civilizations and
warns as to why they prospered and why some of them
received divine wrath and vanished. It gives vivid and
detailed information about the life after death, the
Day of Judgment and the final destinations of the
Heaven and the Hell.
Islam judges or
evaluates the temporal and the ecclesiastical matters
and the deeds of a faithful through five parameters or
commands. These are: absolute duty, (Fard),
commendable (Mustajab), permissible (Mubah)
reprehensible but without punishment (Makruh) and
forbidden (Haram).These five criteria also fall under
Sharia. As already explained, the Sharia that governs
the conduct of a person or group is derived from the
text of Qur'an and also from the practical life of the
prophet.
The Islamic state was headed by Prophet Muhammad in
the city of Medina in 622 - 632 A D. This was that
actual period when the fundamental contours of a
Muslim state were laid down. Since prophet (SAW)
himself was the ultimate authority on all temporal and
divine affairs, his words, decisions and verdicts were
unquestionably accepted as the commandments of God
conveyed to him through divine revelation (Wahee).
But when the Muslims in
subsequent times, through their conquests and
preaching missions came into contacts with other
civilizations and religions, they faced enormous
doctrinal and administrative challenges that had to be
resolved rationally if these did not have the
precedents within the Quran or the life of the founder
of Islam. It is in the wake of such intellectual and
doctrinal dilemmas that several schools of
jurisprudence for elucidation of Sharia to the outside
world and even to the inquisitive Muslim came into
being.
The four such orthodox
schools of Islamic law that dealt with the application
and expansion of Sharia in the subsequent times are:
Abu Hanifa: analogies,
parallels or Qiyas gleaned from Quran if there is no
order or injunction in Quran or Sunna.
Imam Malik: His
collections of laws relied on local traditions
of Prophet Muhammad and his companions in order to fit
into the customary law.
Al Shafi: Stipulates
compromise between tradition and independent thought,
restricts use of common sense as done in Imam Abu
Hanifa's Qiyas practice. He founded the science of
Muslim jurisprudence
Ibn Hanbal: He
was ultra conservative. His legal philosophy is called
Nass. Nass
is the binding ordinance explicit in the Quran and
Hadith. It
means sanctified
opinion derived from only Quran and Hadith and no
other source. While he rejected human reasoning
adopted by other three Islamic scholars, he preferred
even Shaky Hadith to determine a law or decision.
These schools operate
within the framework of Ijtehad that means
reinterpretation of Sharia or Islamic laws. The
decisions arrived at are ordained to be with Ijma or
consensus and not to be a single opinion (Raye) of an
individual.
Besides these schools,
the Muslim thinkers also tried to answer many
philosophical contradictions through intellectual
scrutiny and rational explanations. Such questions
were about the predestination, the free will,
mysticism, religious truths and intellectual truths,
role of reason in relation to the theological truths
and so on.
Apart from these
intellectual and religious debates ranging since the
passing away of the prophet till now, the simple
principle on which the entire Islamic religious
philosophy and precepts boil down is that man should
live like a servant of God and accept him as the only
creator who not only governs the universe and all the
existence but also watches the Muslims in the light of
their good and bad deeds or intentions.
Based upon the nature of a deed in this world, God, on
the judgment day, will give reward and punishment
accordingly. The obedience to God has not only to be
professed verbally but practically demonstrated
through five times daily and one time weekly prayers.
A faithful's virtuous life and personal good conduct
is also a testimony to his submission to God as his
subject.
Thus Islam wants man to
be an embodiment of all positive and good virtues such
as humility, charity, peace, chastity, kindness,
tolerance, love for fellow believers, respect for
elders, and women and so on. The crux of all these
noble traits is defined in one phrase that, "a good
Muslim is that whose tongue and actions are not
harmful to others". Islam means submission and Muslim
means who practices Islam and is unconditionally
obedient to God.
Prophet's Muhammad's period of leadership is deemed by
the Muslims as the ideal model both from mundane and
spiritual standpoints. To a lesser degree, the
caliphs' life of piety, self denial and untainted
dispensation of justice is also taken and followed as
beacons for Muslims. The Shia sect in Islam believes
only in the spiritual leadership of the fourth caliph
Hazrat Ali, who was the cousin brother and son in law
of the prophet also.
The ideological cleavage between the Shias and the
Sunnis is the incurable wound on the body of Islam.
Although, they share major common elements of faith,
yet the Muslim nation is irredeemably and rather
irreconcilably divided into two distinct factions
forever. Their mutual antagonism is as deep rooted and
chronically as bitter as the religious animosity
between the Muslims and the non-Muslims. This
festering fissure resulted from the claim of the
fourth caliph Hazrat Ali as the rightful successor of
the prophet for the caliphate.
As for fundamental
beliefs, Islam brooks no compromise, nor tolerance nor
any deviation. As for the rituals these are subject to
certain conditions that apply keeping in view the
physical, social and financial status of a faithful.
For instance pilgrimage is essential for those who can
afford it monetarily. The religious tax (Zakat) is
also contingent upon the economic position of a member
of Islamic fraternity. The fasting is also not
strictly applicable to those with infirm health,
pregnant women or during traveling or for similar
reasons.
Islamic culture goads
moderation, sanctity, piety and sobriety. It shuns or
discourages the indecent extravaganza, the morbid
exhibitionism, or lewd show off. For instance Islam
allows feasts on weddings and merry making on joyful
occasions but exhorts serenity and no lavish spending. In
matter of dresses or costumes, it is not necessary to
dress up like Arabs by wearing a big long rob but one
is ordained to cover the nakedness of certain parts of
the body.
The purpose is to maintain sanctity of one's body
which is more rigid in case of women for their being
an object of amorous eyes from the impious or sexually
pervert people. Understandably, such conditions can be
met by wearing even western, Chinese or African
dresses if these fulfill the basic criterion of
covering the body and maintaining modesty.
Mindful that the religious teachings and dogmas would
not remain rigid for all times and in different
societies, the prophet kept the door for amendments
and changes open in Sharia but without deviation from
the main corpus of Islamic teachings. This is called
Ijtehad (literally means exertion). So all the
interpretations or alterations in the Sharia worked
out by the succeeding Muslim philosophers and
religious scholars were done in the light of that
provision.
When we compare the western democracy with the Islamic
political system and the choosing of the leaders in
the primitive Islamic societies with that of the
modern times, we tend to forget that it was only after
the Renaissance and Reformation that the Europe
started embarking upon the democratic path. Otherwise,
the Christendom was afflicted with bloodletting
conflicts between old Roman Church and the proponents
of reforms throughout the Middle Ages. So to paint
only Islam as undemocratic is not a pragmatic or
truthful approach to the Islamic system of government.
Democratic system functions in a closely knit world
with fast communications as we have in the modern
times. Otherwise the Greek democracy that was
prevalent even before Christ was confined to the
cities. Beyond the city states, it could not be
expanded because an integrated system of voting or
conducting elections in the length and breadth of the
vast empire was not possible. Moreover, those were not
the ages of enlightenment and therefore the true
democratic culture even if conceived could not be
practically followed during the present times.
The Sharia that was
prevalent during the time of Prophet Muhammad and four
caliphs (632-661) can still be applicable if it is
suitably modified to bring it in conformity with the
phenomenally different world of today. The consensus
can be brought about, if the narrow concepts and
beliefs affected by sects and denominations, contrary
to the age of prophet, are set aside. Or at best these
sects can still function but the main consensus code
should remain supreme.
Which means that the
symbols are just a window dressing and have no
pronounced bearing on the life of a Muslim faithful?
The rituals are relative and are strictly obligatory
for those who have the capacity to observe them. The
beliefs are confined to the individual and are
personal. What matters most is the resolution or
dealing with the crimes, anti-social practices and
destructive actions of the citizens.
Islam presents a general framework for dispensation of
justice. The cardinal principle that Islam lays down
is the strict fair play, administering absolute
justice in complete disregard of someone being poor or
rich, influential or obscure, a common man or a man of
authority. It should be acknowledged that the modern
judicial system fulfills all these conditions if
applied by such a government that would respect and
sincerely promote law and justice.
It means that the
punishment to the convict is imperative but the choice
of the punishment and the mode of dispensation can be
improved or reformed for such punishments as beheading
with a sword. For instance, the theologians and
Islamic jurists must acknowledge and therefore
incorporate it in a new Islamic code that covering of
veil was not possible for women now as was done in
tribal or feudal societies in the past and even now.
It is also essential to change through an agreed
Ijtehad process that a rape female victim instead of
being further victimized and brutalized by the
religious laws must be helped against the male
rapists. So such unattainable or impracticable
conditions as to the production of four witnesses must
be discarded because in the present times, the
occurrence of rape and the identity of the rapist can
be verified by scientific means such as testing of
DNA.
The Islamic caveat
concerning the interest or mark-up has to be modified
because the complexion of the societies and the nature
of interest have undergone a radical change. The
Arabian society in the 6th or
7th centuries
was primarily agrarian. The usury or the interest was
charged in advance on cash given to a needful. Now the
concept of interest is not like those primitive
societies.
The interest bearing
economy is now profit making economy because the money
remains in circulation. That is how the wealth
increases and the economy grows. The old interest
concept which now is rather reinvestment for profit
has to be modified.
Similarly another issue
relating to patrimony or inheritance and alimony
(allowance paid by the husband to divorced wife) has
to be redefined in the modern societies when the civil
laws enshrined in the modern jurisprudence, treat
these issues better than the antiquated customs that
were derived from the tribal system. If a
reinterpretation is not thought about, still the
parallel legal or economic system cannot be ignored or
ruled out. The world today is interdependent. The
Muslims cannot live in isolation.
So it depends upon the
governments to apply and enforce laws, otherwise even
the best of rules and caveats fail and remain
ineffective. The example is the multitudinous Islamic
caliphates that used Islam to justify their
illegitimate hold on power. They fought each other for
power and decimated their rivals to the last man as
exemplified by the power struggle between Ummayd and
Abbasid and later between other Islamic dynasties.
The religion of Islam is patently secular in nature,
not in the religious sense but in terms of its
openness, liberalism and accommodation for all
opposing creeds and cultures. The incontrovertible
shining example of that is the Muslim rule in Spain
(756-1492), when the Christians and the Jews lived
with the ruling Muslims, enjoying equal rights and in
peace and dignity.
In the contemporary
times, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tunis, Morocco, Jordan,
Egypt and certain Central Asian states offer examples
of enlightened, accommodating, progressive Islamic
polities where minorities live in peace, harmony and
equality along with the Muslim majority. In these
countries, the Islamic laws have been enforced in such
a way that these not only fulfill the pristine spirit
of Islamic Sharia, but also meet the requirements of a
modern state.
Although polygamy is
practically nonexistent for the majority of the
Muslims, yet it is one of the stigmas that Islam
suffers from. The polygamy is prevalent mostly in the
Arab lands. In other countries it is sparingly
practiced in the tribal, feudal and religious classes.
But for outsiders this has invariably been used as a
slanderous tool against the Muslims to prove that the
women folks were sex chattels, were lesser equal and
inferior to the males.
That is true to a
degree. In order to deal with this contentious issue,
it is necessary that the Muslim jurists and
theologians should sit together and hammer out a
formula that should aim at discouraging the polygamous
tendencies and practices in the Muslim societies. Or
it can be declared forbidden through Ijtehad.
But I strongly reckon that as the societies tend to be
more progressive, the Muslims would themselves abandon
the polygamy. As a result, though, the divorce rate
would soar among the Muslims as we can see in the
western societies where polygamy is lawfully banned.
Even now the educated and independent women do not
like to marry a person who would be already married.
So the modernization of the Islamic conservative
societies would neutralize this social slur associated
with Islam. The domestic violence should be sternly
dealt by the Islamic governments but it would also be
hopefully outstripped and fade away with the passage
of time.
Modernism, liberalism and secularism is the answer to
the backwardness, indolence, underdevelopment and
intellectual, economic and social decadence of the
Islamic world. The Jews hammered out a historic
compromise in 18th century
when they imbibed and adopted the western ways of life
at the behest of the Jewish philosopher Moses
Mendelssohn. Professor Moses exhorted the Jews to
abandon their rigid fanaticism and Talmud and conform
to western culture.
Through a political movement aided by the capitalist
Europe and America the establishment of the state of
Israel was made possible in 1948. In the same way, the
Islamic religious fervor has got to be rational and
aided by the political and reformative spirit if the
Islamic countries want to be counted as modern nations
in contemporary world.
The first constitution is always vulnerable to further
alterations and amendments. Likewise, the original
Islamic ideologies and dogmas that became
controversial, counterproductive and rather
unworkable, should be overhauled while keeping intact
their spirit and core philosophy and teachings of
Islam.
If Ijtehad started barely 80 years after the demise of
the prophet of Islam by the Muslim reformers,
theologians, philosophers and scholars, then such an
endeavor is indispensable in the modern times when the
Islamic teachings are targeted for their
irrationality, obscurantism, subjectivity,
inconsistencies and for being out of sync with the
rapidly advancing imperatives of a highly competitive
modern world.
In Christendom, after prolonged controversies, debates
and bloodshed, the state finally managed to relieve
itself from the influence of papal supremacy or the
domination of the church. Every country established
its own church or denomination in Europe elsewhere in
the world, and of late in the United States. The
Church and state were separated for their respective
roles. That proved to be a blessing in disguise both
for the church and the state. Similarly, in Muslim
countries a gigantic effort is needed to harmoniously
blend the Islamic beliefs and religious creed with the
dynamics and progressive spirit of the modern
societies without compromising the essential
teachings.
In Islamic states, the state and religion have to
function without mutual conflict and contradiction.
There should be no place, for fundamentalism,
sectarianism, fanaticism, or rigid adherence to a
creed, that is outdated and ruinous to the
cosmopolitan nature of Islam. An enlightened and
updated fundamentalism (the age of prophet) is the
need of the hour for Islamic societies to move forward
and join the comity of modern states in technological,
scientific and in other domains of human and material
advancements.
The
writer is a senior journalist, editor of Diplomatic
Times and a former diplomat. You can read this and
other articles by him at his blog
www.uprightopinion.com |
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