The seeds of creating civilization are all there within the very essence of
Islam. But weve lost the faculty that could make us discover, appreciate
and develop on that inherent civilization-creating scope. When you imbibe
that essence, you create glorious civilizations like the one in Madina 621
A.D, in Andalusia, in Baghdad.
You create Saladins (Salahuddin Ayubi) that
can vanquish the Lionhearts of the Occident by singlehanded might, more
spiritual than physical. It is then that souls, hearts and even minds are
enlightened. And when you stop seeing the worth of that amazing treasury of
wisdom, you get plunged into a dark ignorance and subservience, paving way
for imperialist colonizers, the enslavement to whom teaches you a servility
that erodes the very roots of civilization.
We are fragmented today, hopelessly torn apart and enslaved. But we have
with us an astounding civilization-creating force that lies sleeping beneath
the monstrosity of Western civilization. It is this that makes us,
vulnerable and weak as we are, so dreaded, so hated. Yes, today we are no
equal for the mighty West. We are vanquished, especially when our greatest
writers begin to say we have no civilisation to match the Wests. The
ongoing Crusade is not against us whore defeated, browbeaten. It is a
Crusade against the undying and undefeated spirit of our civilization that
has the power to rise from the ashes and spell the Wests doom.
The Wests clash is with a civilization that edifies itself on a stringent
morality__ inviolable, permanent, sacred, because it is Gods Word. In
contrast, the Western civilization has its basis in shifting self-interest
and expediency with the Darwinist survival of the fittest as the ruling
maxim. In its mad struggle for hegemony, so similar to the primitive
tribalism of Stone Age, the West has discarded morality. In todays
post-Modernism, morality is only an expedient tool, a ploy for silencing
the old fashioned moralists and feeding fat the raw instincts of
self-aggrandisement. I quote Mr. Robert Cooper, a senior diplomat of
Britain: "...the post-modern world must get used to the idea of double
standards... when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside
the post-modern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher
methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever
is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century
world... Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the
jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle."
With the power fallen, out of our folly, to these valueless, untamed
hegemons, a savage desire to retain it, expand it, impose it wherever the
Truth dares to raise its head has driven the West mad. Islam no longer has
formidable Caliphates and Salahuddin Ayubis to fight its case. But it has
another kind of power, the power of Truth__ muffled though it may be__ which
can never be snuffed out. That is why the West madly pursues this silent,
lonely Enemy of its sham power, its falsity, its immorality. That is why we
see it going crazy in a self-defeating mission to obscure the Truth of
Islam. For in the spirit of Islamic civilization is the death-knell of the
mere sordidness that calls itself post-modern civilization.
The civilization-creating scope that made Muslim civilizations in the past
what they were, is there within the very ethos of the Quran. We had Madina
and Andalusia and Constantinople and Baghdad because we had this miracle
with us, and we knew its worth. This miracle which is not just a book as we
know books, but a living discourse which SPEAKS to you. It addresses you, it
answers you, it questions you, it makes you think and reflect, and it makes
you ACT with its directness. It makes you the ool ul albab: people of
deep thought. The ethos of the Quran is empirical in character in the sense
that it emphasizes on Reason and sense-perception as the vehicles for
understanding life and the world, and for recognizing Allah. The God of
the Quran is the same Allah who blessed the human mind with the unique
faculty of Reason and sense-perception, who taught him the names of
things. And He asks us: Do you not think? Do we not think that in the
extraordinary design, the beauty, the complexity, vitality and fullness of
life, in the great miracle of Life and of the creation of the human being_
that miracle of head, heart and soul_ is the evidence of a God who has
carefully fashioned it all? Do we not think that all this exuberance, this
careful pattern, this meaning, this plan working in things is NOT but an
accidental random thing that suddenly began to make sense? When we suspend
these innate faculties that tell us to believe and teach us to find links
between the particular and the general, we sin against ourselves and against
The One who fashioned that self. And we turn just the apes with
over-developed cerebral hemispheres that we think we are. Asfalasafileen!
(Lowest of the Low!)
Just see the Quran asking you to see, to hear, to feel, to think: Can they
not look up to the clouds, how they are created; and to the Heaven how it is
upraised; and to the mountains how they are rooted, and to the earth how it
is outspread? (88:17-20) And again: Clear we have made our signs for men
of insight. And it is He who sendeth down rain from Heaven: and We bring
forth by it the buds of all plants and from them We bring forth the green
foliage, and the close-growing grain, and palm-trees with sheaths of
clustering dates, and gardens of grapes, and the olive, and the pomegranate,
like and unlike. Look you on their fruits when they ripen. Truly herein are
signs unto people who believe. (6:97-99).
This empirical character is what encourages scientific thought and
discovery. The Creator of these faculties in us wants that we should use
them to find Him in the world through His Creation. This empirical outlook
is exclusive to the Quran among all religious scriptures. The Bible, for
instance, demands an approach based on suppressing the minds need for
finding logic in things. The discrepancies, the clashes with scientific
facts necessitate an allegorical-metaphorical reading which relates more to
the imagination and the heart than the mind and the senses which the Quran
evokes into active use. It was the emphasis on empiricism that led to the
spurt of scientific discovery and invention among Muslims in the Middle
Ages. It is no surprise, therefore, that as long as the Muslims were aware
of the essence of the Quran, they spearheaded all branches of science. It is
also no surprise that Galileo had to make himself heretic in order to
declare what he had found to be true; that Copernicuss view of the earth
and the planets revolving around the sun had to be denounced because it was
contrary to the literalism of the Bibles teachings. And yet Muslim
scientists explored new avenues in physics, astronomy, biology, mathematics,
sociology without having to defy their religion. Muslim scientists and
social-scientists were all pious, practising men of faith. For a Muslim
doesnt need a rejection of Faith in order to discover and explore. His
faith has more room, a greater latitude. It is more in tune with Truth. And
it lays down the acquiring of knowledge as a sacred duty of every Muslim
man and woman.
And the Quran is Realism. It doesnt beckon you away from life and the world
with some blissful anodyne of asceticism or self-denial. It teaches you to
live fully, as Allah loves to see in His people an evidence of His bounty.
Its concept of worship is not just praying and invoking and remembering
God. Every aspect of living life, if it is done with commitment, sincerity
and faith, according to the Prophet (??? ???? ???? ????)s way is worship.
Worship in Islam is action, and its rituals are means to train man to live
fuller, better, more purposefully.
Islam helps you face the world in all its bareness, telling you, You shall
indeed be tested. It tells you that suffering, loss, pain are natural to
life; that this is the essential human condition. It shows you life without
extenuation, without making it live-able by dulling the senses. And it has
more to give you. The Quran says: We shall most certainly try you with fear
and hunger and with the lack of possessions and labours fruits. But give
glad tidings to those who remain steadfast, and when calamity befalls them,
they say: It is to Allah we belong and to Him alone shall we return. That
is the attitude to life Islam gives you. It gives you the necessary Eemaan,
strength, patience in the face of the storminess of life so that you can
stand up against the winds, live through it all with admirable stoicism
without retreating, without escaping. It instils in you an acceptance of
life as it is, and a strength of purpose to live it out meaningfully through
all the odds. It teaches you to face resolutely towards the Sunlight so
that all shadows fall behind. And this is the height of sovereignty Man can
reach.
Islams emphasis, as exemplified also by the Qurans Realism, is on making
us useful to the world. Its essence is a kind of activism that creates the
ideal individual, the ideal community and in turn, the ideal civilization.
The Islamic concept of Life and the Hereafter is pivotal in creating that
civilization-creating spirit. In Islam belief is credible only if it comes
with Amal (action). Only when that is sincere, consistent and involves your
struggle with heart and soul does it count for true Faith. Salvation in
Islam is no guarantee, not sold out for mere labels of a religion. It has
to be worked for, earned by making yourself deserving of the Mercy of Allah.
This outlook of Islam creates the spirit of action that the Muslim character
is endowed with. It makes you try, and try hard, for fear of standing before
Allah and being accountable to Him and the possibility of your action
proving not good enough. It is this that makes you strive, work harder to do
more to get a better deal for yourself and create a better world with your
amal in the process. That is the difference between religion and deen.
The deen makes you act, try, do good and make a better world for yourself.
While religion tells you what to believe in, deen teaches you how to live
without having to deny any of your two halves_ physical or spiritual. The
Islamic concept of Akhirah (Hereafter) and the element of fear that comes
with the prospect of standing before God with the record of all that youve
done is very very useful in generating action.
This element of fear is the true disciplinary force of Islam. The Quran
tells us that the human self is inspired with both taqwa
(God-consciousness) and fujur (the instinct to do evil). The latter often
tends to take its hold over the self because it is the easier way to get
things your way so that they serve your worldly interest best. A quick look
at history tells you how, under the influence of power, man has played out
the beast in him. And it emphasizes the need of some regulating,
disciplining moral force_ the fear of accountability to Someone more
Powerful.
Last update : 31-05-2005 22:07
|
|
|
(0 vote)
