Let me begin by clarifying that for us Islam is not the name
of some unique faith presented for the first time by Mohammad (peace be upon
him) who should, on that account be called the founder of Islam. The Qur’an
makes it abundantly clears that Islam—the complete submission of man before
God—is the one and only faith consistently revealed by God to mankind from the
very beginning. Noah, Abraham, Moses and Christ—prophets who appeared at
different times and places—all propagated the same faith. They were not founders
of faiths to be named after them. They were each reiterating the faith of their
predecessors.
II.
What distinguishes Mohammad from the other Prophets?
(i) He
was the last Prophet of God.
(ii) God
revived through him the same genuine faith, which had been conveyed by all the
Prophets.
(iii) This
original message was corrupted, and split into various religions by people of
different ages, who indulged in interpolations and admixture. God eliminated
these alien elements and Islam, in its pure and original form, was transmitted
to mankind through Mohammad.
(iv) Since
there was to be no messenger after Mohammad, the Book revealed to him was
preserved word for word2 so that it should be a source of guidance for all
times.3
(v) The
life of Mohammad, and the manner in which he conducted himself, was also
recorded in a unique manner by his companions and by later compilers of the
Tradition. A more complete and authentic account of the life, sayings, and
actions, of any Prophet or historical personage, has never been compiled.4
(vi) In
this way, the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet together became a
reliable source of knowing what is Islam, what it stands for, what guidance it
provides, and what obligations it places upon us.
III. As
Muslims, we believe in all the Prophets who preceded Mohammad— not only those
who are mentioned in the Qur’an, but also those who are not so mentioned and
this is such an integral part of our faith that if we were to abandon it we
should cease to be Muslims. But for instruction we turn to Prophet Mohammad
alone Not on account of any prejudice, but because
a)
As the last of God's Prophets he brought us the latest
divine dispensation,
b) The
Word of God which reached us through Mohammad is pure divine language, free
of human admixtures, and preserved in its original form Its language is a living
language, spoken, written and understood by millions of people, and whose
grammar, vocabulary, idiom, pronunciation, and script have remained unchanged
from the time of revelation till today
c) As
1 have said earlier, we have a complete historical record of the life,
character, conduct, sayings, and actions of the Prophet Mohammad, preserved with
meticulous care, accuracy and detail since this cannot be said of other prophets
we can believe in them but we cannot emulate them
IV.
It is our belief that Mohammad's mission was for the world
as a whole and for all times, for,
(i) Its
universality has been clearly confirmed by the Qur’an,
(ii) It
is a logical consequence of the finality of his prophet hood. A prophet, after
whom there was to be no other, had to be a guide and leader for all men and for
all ages,
(iii) God
has provided through him a complete code which man needs to follow the right
path, and this in itself, supports the concept of finality, because without
completeness the need for other prophets would remain
(iv) It
is a fact that during the last 1400 years no man has arisen whose life and work
bears even the slightest resemblance to that of a prophet. Nor has anyone
presented a book, which could be remotely considered as divine communication.
Still less has there been a man to claim legitimate authority as a lawgiver for
mankind.
V. It
must, at this point, be understood why the need arose for God to communicate
with man through His prophets. This has to be examined in the context of the
sources of human knowledge .At the preliminary stage we gain knowledge through
empirical observation. At higher levels comes deductive reasoning accompanied by
scientific investigation. Man is sufficiently well equipped in these fields not
to require direct divine assistance. Though, no doubt, there is an ever present
divine will help man in his research and innovative endeavors and revealing to
him progressively the mysteries of His creation. Some gifted individuals
achieve, in moments of rare inspiration, new insights or discover new laws of
nature. But there is another type of knowledge, which is beyond the reach of our
senses or scientific study. This sphere of knowledge does not submit to any
instrument of scientific examination. Philosophy and science can only speculate
about it. Human theories about ultimate realities, based on reason, never
achieve the level of certainty, and their authors, conscious of their
limitations do not present them as conclusively proved. In respect of these
realities man is dependent on whatever knowledge is communicated to him by God.
How is this knowledge conveyed? Not through the operations of some publishing
house, where books are printed and handed over to each man, with instructions to
read them, and to discover the truth about himself, about the universe, and
about the manner in which he should organize his life. To convey this knowledge
to mankind, God chooses prophets as His messengers. He reveals the truth to them
and they communicate it to the people.
VI. The
work of a prophet is not limited to communication of the knowledge alone. He has
to explain, according to what is revealed to him, the relationship between God
and man and man and man as it factually is, and, as it actually should be He has
to prescribe a moral code, enunciate the principles of culture and civilization,
lay down the mode of worship, establish a frame-work of belief, and define the
moral imperatives, which must govern our life. The Prophet determines the rules,
which should form the basis of social and cultural relationship, economic.
Judicial, and political dealing, matters of war and peace, and international
affairs. The Prophet does not transmit merely a code of rituals commonly
regarded as 'religion'. He brings with him a whole system of thought and action,
which is called Al-Deen (a complete way of life) in Islamic terminology.
VII. The
mission of a prophet does not end with the announcement of this way of life to
the world at large. He has to guide the people who follow him, explaining to
them the implications of the Islamic creed, the moral code, the divine
injunctions and commandments, and the form of worship that sustains the whole
system. He has to demonstrate, by practice, the faith he preaches, and his life
should be a model which people may be able to follow to organize his own lives.
He must give training to the individuals and the Muslim society as a whole to
prepare them for practical participation in the evolution of Islamic culture and
civilization. The believers must grow under his guidance into an organized
community engaged in establishing the Islamic system of life so that God's word
should prevail upon all other words.
Not all the Prophets completely succeeded in this
mission. There were many who failed not because of any personal fault or
inadequacy. They did not succeed because of the prejudice and intolerance of the
people or because the circumstances were not favorable. But every prophet had
the same mission, and it is a fact of history that Mohammad succeeded in
establishing the Kingdom of God on earth, as it is in the heavens.
VIII. The
audience of the Qur’an and the Prophet Mohammad was the whole of mankind from
the very outset, and those who accepted the Word acquired the status of
believers without any distinction. At no time was the invitation of the Qur’an
addressed to the people of any particular area, race, tribe, colour or language
.The Qur’an always calls upon the "progeny of Adam” or "the mankind” to accept
Islam. The specific instructions and injunctions are meant for those who have
come to believe in Islam, and they are always addressed as "those who believe "
That the message of Islam was universal in character is proved by the fact that
those who accepted the message acquired equal rights and status as believers,
regardless of all differences of origin. The Qur’an says, “The believers are all
like brothers”. The Prophet said: "those who subscribe to our beliefs, and adopt
the Islamic way of life, have the same rights and the same obligations as we
have. The Prophet announced, “Listen! You have one God as you have one father
(Adam). There is no distinction between an Arab and a non-Arab. There is no
preference for the black over the fair, or the fair over the black. There is
distinction only in submission to God. The most virtuous among you is the most
honourable in the eyes of God”.
IX. Among
the fundamentals of Islam, the most important is belief in one God, —not just
the conviction that He exists or that He is one—but that He alone is the
Creator, Master, Ruler, and Administrator of all that exists. The universe
exists because God wills it to exist, it functions because God wills it to
function, and God provides the sustenance and the energy, which everything of
the universe requires for its existence and growth. All the attributes of
Sovereignty reside in God alone, and no one else has a share in them in the
slightest degree. He alone possesses all the attributes of Divinity, and no one
other than God possesses any of those attributes. He views the whole universe,
and all that it contains, in a single instantaneous glance. He has direct
knowledge of the universe, and all that is there in the universe. He knows not
only its present, but its past and its future as well. This omnipresence and
omniscience is an attribute of God alone and of no other. There was no ‘before’
him and there is no ‘after’ him. He has been there always and will be there
always—eternal and abiding. All else is transient. He alone is eternally living
and present. He is no one’s progeny and He has no progeny. Whatever exists,
besides His self, is His own creation, and no other can identify himself in any
manner with the Lord of the universe, or claim to be his son or daughter. He is
man's single Deity. To associate anyone in His worship is as great a sin as it
is an act of infidelity. He responds to man's prayers and He alone has the power
to accept or reject them. Not to ask of him is senseless arrogance, and to turn
to others is sheer ignorance. To seek of him and also of others, is to associate
equals with him.
X. The
sovereignty of God in Islam is not just a supernatural phenomenon. It covers all
aspects of political and legal sovereignty also and in these too no one other
than God has any share. In God alone vests the rightful authority to exercise
power on this earth, and over those whom God has created in it. No monarch, no
royal family, no elite class, no leader of any religious group, no demkcracy
established on the basis of the sovereignty of the people, can participate in
God's sovereignty. Whoever claims such a position is a rebel, as are those who
leave God and turn to other people in obedience. Similarly, any institution or
individual attempting to assume political and legal sovereignty and restrict the
jurisdiction of God to spheres of personal law or religious duties is really a
usurper and a rebel. The truth is that no one can claim to be a lawgiver on
God’s earth, and no one can challenge the supreme authority of God Almighty in
any sphere.
XI. Certain
natural consequences flow from this Islamic concept of God.
(a) God
alone is the real Deity and no one other than God has any right to be worshipped
by man.
(b) God
alone has authority over the forces of the universe, and he alone can fulfill or
frustrate man's hopes. Man should turn to Him alone in prayer. He should never
imagine that prayers could be addressed to anyone but God.
(c) God
is the Master of man's destiny and no one else can interfere with the fate of
others or with his own fate. Man’s hopes and fears must, therefore, be directed
only to God. No one else should be an object of fear or source of favour.
(d) God
is the Creator of the world and He alone has complete and direct knowledge of
the reality of man and of the world. Only He can guide man through the
complicated course of life and instruct him regarding good and evil. Since God
alone is the Creator and the Master He has exclusive authority over the universe
and man. It is an act of blasphemy for man to become independent or claim
authority over other men. For man to become his own lawgiver to accept the
authority of any other individual or institution as such is equally blasphemous.
The ultimate Lawgiver and Master of His creation on this earth is no other than
God, and His law has the status of the supreme law. Man can legislate
subject to his Supreme law. Beyond that he has no legislative authority.
XII. We
now come to our second most important belief---belief in Mohammad's prophet
hood. God conveyed His message to man through Mohammad. This took two forms:
(a)
God revealed the Qur’an to the Prophet in his own
language.
(b) The
Sunnah of the Prophet, which is an unerring guide to man in respect of all that,
is permissible and all that is prohibited in the eyes of God. Without this
belief in the Prophet, belief in God would become a mere theoretical
proposition. It is the example of practical leadership, and the ideological
guidance provided by the Prophet, which transforms belief in God into a culture
and a civilization, and enables man to evolve a way of life. We get
through the Prophet not only rules of guidance, but a complete scheme of values
and a practical code of conduct. No one can be a practicing Muslim unless he
believes in the Prophet as he believes in God.
XIII. The
position of the Prophet has been so clearly defined in Islam that we can know
what he was and what he was not. The Prophet is no more than a servant of God.
He was to make people servants of God and not servants of himself. At least
seventeen times a day Muslims recite in their prayers: “1 bear witness that
Mohammad is a servant of God and is His prophet.” The Qur’an leaves no doubt
that the Prophet is but a human being and has no share whatever in Divinity. The
Prophet is neither superhuman nor is he free of human weaknesses. He owns no
treasure of God, nor does he possess knowledge of the unknown that he should
become all knowing like God Almighty. Leave alone being able to benefit others
or cause them harm, the Prophet cannot do so even in respect of himself. The
precise task of the Prophet is to communicate the message of God. He has no
powers to make people righteous and faithful. Nor can he call to account those
who refuse to believe, and he certainly has no power to punish them for their
disbelief. Should the Prophet himself choose to defy God or fabricate things on
behalf of God or make any change in the message revealed to him, he will incur
divine displeasure and punishment. Mohammad is one of the Prophets of God, and
above that he has no status. He cannot by himself prohibit or permit anything.
Without a mandate from God he cannot legislate for the people. He has to
strictly conform to Divine commandments. Islam ensured that the believers
should not turn the Prophet into a demi-god. Some of the earlier prophets
suffered this fate at the hands of their followers. They attributed all kinds of
supernatural powers to their leaders and made them into God's equals or progeny
or incarnation. By discouraging such exaggeration Islam has established the true
position of the Prophet as follows:
No one can claim to be a believer without
believing in the Prophet. He who obeys the Prophet, in fact, obeys God. God has
not designated any Prophet except to be obeyed according to His will. The path
of the Prophet is the path of Divine guidance. Whatever the Prophet ordains must
be accepted, and whatever he instructs to avoid, must be avoided. The Prophet
clarified this when he said: I am a mortal like you. In matters revealed to me
by God, you must obey my instructions. But you know more about your own worldly
affairs than I do so my advice in these matters is not binding. The Sunnah of
Mohammad is, in fact an exposition of the purpose of the Qur’an, and this
exposition too was conveyed lo the Prophet by God Himself, as the author of the
Qur’an. The Prophet’s explanation of the Qur’an enjoys divine sanction, and no
one else can interpret Qur’an which may be in conflict with or repugnant to the
explanation given by the Prophet. God declared the life of Mohammad as a model
life. No one can be a true believer unless he accepts the decision of the
Prophet. Muslims have not an independent position in a matter determined by the
Prophet. Before deciding any matter Muslims must first ascertain whether God and
His Prophet decided any analogous matter earlier, and if a precedent exists they
must follow it.
I hope I have clarified that God conveyed, through
the Prophet, to mankind not only a supreme law but also a permanent scheme of
values. That which is good, according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah, is good for
all times, and that which is evil, shall remain evil forever. That which is
enjoined as duty, in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, shall always be a duty. What is
declared permissible is permissible forever, and what is prohibited is
prohibited for all times. In this law no amendment, deletion, addition, or
abrogation, is possible unless some person or community decides to renounce
Islam. So long as Muslims remain Muslims, it is impossible in their social and
legal system that something, which was evil yesterday, turns into good today,
and reverts to evil tomorrow
XIV. The
third fundamental creed of Islam is belief in the hereafter (Akhirah). Denial of
the hereafter is the denial of Islam even though one may have belief in God, in
the Prophet, and in the Qur’an. In its detailed form, this belief is composed of
the following essential elements:
(i)
Man has not been unleashed on the earth as an
irresponsible savage. He is accountable to God for his actions. Today's life is
only a test and an examination At the end we will all be called upon to render a
complete account of our acts of commission and omission to God.
(ii) The
time for accountability is fixed by God The tenure Allotted to mankind, on this
earth, shall terminate on the doomsday, when the present order will be
annihilated and replaced by another The whole human race will rise once again in
the new world.
(iii) That
will be the time when they will appear before God Almighty, and every one will
face the consequences of his personal acts in his individual capacity.
(iv)
I he Judgment will rest not on God's own knowledge alone.
The requirements of due process of justice will be fully observed. A complete
record of the actions of every individual, without the slightest alternation,
will be put in the open Court, and evidence, of different categories, will be
presented to prove what was done by man in private or in public, and the motives
which inspired his conduct.
(v) 1
here will be no undue intercession. Neither bribery, nor advocacy against the
truth will be tolerated No one will be able to shift his burden to another. Even
the closest relations, friends, leaders, religious guides, or self-styled
deities, will not be able to offer any help to anyone man will stand by
himself—helpless and alone and render his account, and await the pronouncement
of the judgment, which shall be in the power of God alone.
(vi) The
judgment will rest on one question Did man conduct himself, in submission to
God, in strict conformity with the truth revealed to the Prophets, and with the
conviction that he will be held responsible for his conduct in life on the Day
of Judgment? If the answer is in the affirmative, the reward will be Paradise,
and if in the negative, Hell will be the punishment.
XV. Belief
in the hereafter divides people into three distinct categories. First, there are
those who do not believe in the hereafter and regard life on this earth as the
only life. Naturally, they judge good and evil by the results which manifest
themselves in this world If an action produces beneficial results it is good,
and if it brings about harmful results it is evil. Quite often the same action
is regarded as good when the results are good, and bad when its results are bad.
Second, those people who do not deny the hereafter, but who depend on the
intercession or atonement of some one to absolve them of their sins. Among them
there are some, who regard themselves as God's chosen people, who will receive
only nominal punishment however grave their sins. This deprives them of the
moral advantage, which they could have derived from their belief in the
hereafter. As a result they also become very much like the people who deny the
hereafter. Third, arc those people who believe in the hereafter in the form in
which Islam presents it. They do not delude themselves that they have any
special relationship with God, or that anyone can intercede on their behalf.
They know that they alone are responsible for their actions. For them the belief
in the hereafter becomes a great moral force. A person who has the conviction
that he is fully accountable for all his actions finds a permanent guard,
stationed within himself, who cautions him and admonishes him whenever he
deviates from the right path. There may be no court to summon him, no policemen
to apprehend him, no witnesses to accuse him, and no public opinion to press
him, but the guard within him is ever on the alert, ready to seize him whenever
he transgresses. The consciousness of this inner presence makes man fear God
even when he is all by himself. He discharges his duties honestly, and refrains
from doing anything, which is prohibited. Should he succumb to temptation, and
violate the law of God, he is ever ready to offer sincere regrets, and to enter
into a firm contract with the future that he will not repeat the mistake. There
can be neither greater instrument of moral reformation nor any better method to
help man to develop a sound and stable character. It is the hereafter, which
helps men, under all circumstances, to conform to God's scheme of permanent
values. It is for this reason that Islam attaches great importance to the belief
in the hereafter, and without it even the belief in God and the Prophet is not
sufficient for man's guidance.
XVI. A
little earlier, I mentioned that Islam represents a whole civilization, a
complete culture, and a comprehensive world order. It provides moral guidance in
all walks of life. That is why Islamic values arc not for the ascetic who
renounces the world, but for him who actively participates in different spheres
of life, and works within them. The moral values which people look for in
convents, monasteries, and cloisters, arc presented by Islam right in the
current of life. Heads of governments, governors of states, judges, members of
the armed forces and police services, elected representatives of the people in
the parliaments, leaders of finance, trade and industry, college and university
teachers, and students alike receive guidance to organize their lives according
to the principles of Islam. There is no distinction in Islam between private and
public conduct. The same moral code, which one observes at home, applies to
one's conduct in public. Every institution of society and every department of
Government must conform to the laws of Islam. Politics must be based on truth
and justice. Nations should deal with one another, on the basis of mutual
recognition of rights, and due discharge of obligations. Even if there has to be
war, those engaged in it should conduct themselves not as barbarians but as
civilized human beings. When man decides to submit to the will of God, and
accepts His law as the supreme law, and organizes his life in accordance with
the revealed moral code, on the principle of accountability to God, the quality
and character of his life cannot be limited to the precincts of prayer halls. It
must extend itself to every sphere of his work as a man of God. |
