Bismillah. Wasalatu wasalaam, ala Rasulill kareem, wa Allah Alihi, wa
sahbihi, minastanabi Sunnahti eela yamideen. (May the peace and blessing of
Allah be upon the Prophet, his household and his companions, and whoever
follows his Sunnah until the day of judgement)
In parts I and II, we have examined the concept of faith in Islam, the
pupose for which man was created and his relationship to God.
To pick up from where we left off the last time, we will again continue with
Mawdudi's book, compiled from a talk he gave on Radio Pakistan in January
of 1948, entitled, Islamic Way of Life.
In this segment, we will take a look at a subject of which there is much
speculation and little in depth knowledge by those who are often the critics
of it. Mainly, some aspects of The Shariah are isolated, picked out and
criticized, but it is important to take the Shariah as a whole concept
formulated by Allah (SWT) as a code of conduct for Mankind whom He created
and as such, He has a much better understanding of our nature and the code
of conduct that will enable us to live in harmony and with justice for all.
The Shariah is the law as laid down for Mankind by Allah (SWT) in the holy
Qur'an, and as relayed to his final Prophet, Muhammed Bin Abdullah, the
unlettered Prophet.
"And he does not speak from his own desires; it is a revelation which has
been revealed to him." (Soorah An-Najm. 53:3)
Islamic Way of Life by Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi cont..........
On the Shariah, he states:
Its sources are the Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon
him).
The Final Book of God and the Final Messenger stands today as the
repositories of this truth, and they invite the whole of humanity to accept
the truth. God Almighty has endowed men with free will in the moral domain,
and it is to this free will that this acceptance bears reference.
Consequently, it is always a voluntary act and not of compulsion. Whosever
agrees that the concept of Reality stated by the Holy Prophet and the Holy
Book is true, it is for him to step forward and surrender his will to the
Will of God. It is this submission which is called "Islam", the
fructification of faith(Iman) in actual life, and those who do so, i.e.,
those who of their own free will, accept God as their Sovereign, and
surrender to His Divine Will and undertake to regulate their lives, are
called "Muslims."
All those persons who thus surrender themselves to the Will of God are
welded into a community and this is how the "Muslim society" comes into
being. Thus, this is a principled society-a society radically different from
those which are founded on the basis of race, color or territory. This
society is the result of a deliberate choice and effort; it is the outcome of
a "contract" which takes place between human beings and the Creator. Those
who enter into this contract, undertake to recognize God as their Sovereign,
His Guidance as Supreme, and His injunctions as absolute Law.
They also undertake to accept, without question or doubt His classifications
of Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Permissible and Prohibited. In short, the
Islamic society agrees to limit its volition to the extent prescribed by the
All-Knowing God. In other words, it is God and not man whose will is the
primary Source of Law in a Muslim society.
When such a society comes into existence, the book and the Messenger
prescribed for it a code of life called the Shari’ah, and this Society is
bound to conform to it by virtue of the contract it has entered into. It is,
therefore, inconceivable that any Muslim society worth the name can
deliberately adopt a system of life other than the Shari’ah. If it does so,
its contract is ipso facto broken and the whole society becomes "un-Islamic".
But we must clearly distinguish between the everyday sins or
violations of the individuals and a deliberate revolt against the Shari’ah.
The former may not imply breaking up of the contract, while the latter would
mean nothing short of that. The point that should be clearly understood here
is that if an Islamic society consciously resolves not to accept the Shari’
ah, and decides to enact its own constitution and laws or borrows them from
any other source in utter disregard of the Shari’ah, such as a society breaks
its contract with God and forfeits its right to be called "Islamic"
1.The Objectives and Characteristics of the Plan
Let us now proceed to understand the plan of life envisaged by the Shari’
ah. To understand that, it is essential that we start with a clear conception
of the objectives and the fundamentals of Shari’ah.
The main objective of the Shari’ah is to construct human life on the
basis of Ma’rufat (virtues) and to cleanse it of the Munkarat (vices). The
term Ma’rufat proclaims as good and right everything declared by Allah and by
His messenger to be so.
Taking this definition as the norm, the term Ma’rufat should denote all the
virtues and good qualities that have always been accepted as "good" by the
pure and unadulterated human conscience. Conversely, the word Munkarat refers
to everything that Allah and His Apostle have denounced as evil.
In the light of this understanding, it denotes all the sins and evils that
have always been condemned by pure human nature as "evil". In short, the Ma’
rufat are in harmony with human nature and its requirements in general,
whilst the Munkarat are just the opposite. The Shari’ah gives a clear view of
these Ma’rufat and Munkarat and states them as the norms to which the
individual and social behavior should conform.
The Shari’ah does not, however, limit its function to providing us
with an inventory of virtues and vices only; it lays down the entire plan of
life in such a manner that virtues may flourish and vices may not pollute and
destroy human life.
To achieve this end, the Shari’ah has embraced in its plan all the
factors that encourage the growth of good and has recommended steps for the
removal of impediments that might prevent its growth and development. The
process gives rise to subsidiary series of Ma’rufat consisting of the causes
and means initiating and nurturing the good, and yet another set of Ma’rufat
consisting of prohibitory commands in relation to those things which act as
preventives or impediments to good. Similarly, there is a subsidiary list of
Munkarat which might initiate or allow growth of evil.
The Shari’ah shapes the Islamic society in a way conducive to the
unfettered growth of good, virtue and truth in every sphere of human
activity, and gives full play to the forces of good in all directions. And at
the same time it removes all impediments in the path of virtue. Along with
this, it attempts to eradicate evils from its social plan by prohibiting
vice, by obviating the causes of its appearance and growth, by closing the
inlets through which it creeps into a society and by adopting deterrent
measures to check its occurrence.
2.Ma’rufat(Ma’roof)
The Shari’ah classifies Ma’rufat into three categories:
the Mandatory(Fardh and Wajib),
the Recommendatory(Matlub) and
the Permissible(Mubah).
The observance of the mandatory(Ma’rufat) is obligatory on a Muslim
society and the Shari’ah has given clear and binding directions about them.
The recommendatory Ma’rufat are those which the Shari’ah wants a Muslim
society to observe and practice.
Some of them have been very clearly demanded of us while others have been
recommended by implication and inference from the sayings of the Holy
Prophet(peace be upon him). Besides this, special arrangements have been
made for the growth and encouragement of some of them in the plan of life
enunciated by the Shari’ah. Others still have simply been recommended by the
Shari’ah leaving it to the society or to its more virtuous elements to look
to their promotion.
This leaves is with the permissible Ma’rufat. Strictly speaking,
according to the Shari’ah everything which has not been expressly prohibited
by it is a Permissible Ma’ruf (i.e., Mubah).
It is not at all necessary that an express permission should exist about it
or that it should have been expressly left to our choice. Consequently, the
sphere of permissible Ma’rufat is very wide so much so that except for the
things specifically prohibited by the Shari’ah, everything permissible for a
Muslim. And this is exactly the sphere where we have been given freedom and
where we can legislate according to our own discretion to suit the
requirements of our age and conditions, of course in keeping with the general
spirit of the Shari’ah.
3.Munkarat(Munkar)
The Munkarat(or the things prohibited in Islam) have been grouped into two
categories: Haram, i.e., those things which have been prohibited absolutely
and Makruh, i.e., those things which have been disliked and discouraged. It
has been enjoined on Muslims by clear mandatory injunctions to refrain
totally from everything that has been declared Haram. As for the Makruhat the
Shari’ah signifies its dislike in some way or another , i.e., either
expressly or by implication, giving an indication also as to the degree of
such dislike. For example, there are some Makruhat bordering on Haram, while
others bear affinity with the acts which are permissible. Of course, their
number is very large ranging between the two extremes of prohibitory and
permissible actions. More-over, in some cases, explicit measures have been
prescribed by the Shari’ah for the prevention of Makruhat, while in others
such arrangements have been left to the discretion of the society or of the
individual.
4.Some other Characteristics
The Shari’ah, thus, prescribes directives for the regulation of our
individual as well as collective life. These directives touch such varied
subjects as religious rituals, personal character, morals, habits, family
relationships, social and economic affairs, administration, rights and duties
of citizens, judicial system, laws of war and peace and international
relations. In short, it embraces all the various departments of human life.
These directives reveal what is good and bad; what is beneficial and
useful and what is injurious and harmful; what are the virtues which we have
to cultivate and encourage and what are the evils which we have to suppress
and guard against; what is the sphere of our voluntary, untrammeled, personal
and social action and what are its limits; and finally, what ways and means
we can adopt in establishing such a dynamic order of society and what methods
we should avoid. The Shari’ah is a complete plan of life and an all embracing
social order- nothing superfluous, nothing lacking.
Another remarkable feature of the Shari’ah is that it is an organic
whole. The entire plan of life propounded by Islam is animated by the same
spirit and hence, any arbitrary division of its plan is bound to harm the
spirit as well as the structure of the Islamic order.
In this respect, it might be compared to the human body which is an organic
whole. A leg pulled out of the body cannot be called one-eight or one-sixth
man, because after its separation from the living body, the leg can no longer
perform its human function. Nor can it be placed in the human function. Nor
can it be placed in the body of some other animals with any hope of making it
human to the extent of that limb. Likewise, we cannot form a correct opinion
about the utility, efficiency and beauty of the hand, he eyes or the nose of
a human being separately, without judging its place and function within the
living body.
The same can be said in regard to the scheme of life envisaged by the
Shari’ah Islam signifies the entire scheme of life and not any isolated part
or parts thereof. Consequently, neither can it be appropriate to view the
different parts of the Shari’ah in isolation from one another and without
regard to the whole, nor will it be of any use to take any part and bracket
it with any other "ism". The Shari’ah can function smoothly and can
demonstrate its efficacy only if the entire system of life is practiced in
accordance with it and not otherwise.
THE MORAL SYSTEM OF ISLAM
The Moral sense is inborn in man and through the ages it has served as the
common man’s standard of moral behavior, approving certain qualities and
disapproving others. While this instinctive faculty may vary from person to
person, human conscience** has given a more or less uniform verdict in favor
of certain moral qualities as being good and declared certain others as bad.
On the side of moral virtues, justice, courage, bravery and truthfulness have
always elicited praise and history does not record any period worth the name
in which falsehood, injustice, dishonesty, and breach of trust may have been
upheld; fellow-feeling, compassion, fidelity and magnanimity have always been
value while selfishness, cruelty, miserliness and bigotry have never received
the approval of the human society; men have always appreciated perseverance,
determination and courage and have never approved of impatience fickle
mindedness, cowardice and imbecility. Dignity, restraint, politeness, and
amiability have throughout the ages been counted among virtues, whereas
snobbery, misbehavior and rudeness have never found recognition as good moral
qualities.
Persons having a sense of responsibility and devotion to duty have always won
the highest regard of men; never have people who are incompetent, slothful
and lacking in sense of duty been looked upon with approval. Similarly, in
respect of the standard of good and bad in the collective behavior of society
as a whole, the verdict has always been almost unanimous. Only that society
has been looked upon as worthy of honor and respect which possesses the
virtues of organization, discipline, mutual affection and fellow feeling and
has established a social order based on justice, freedom and equality of men.
As opposed to this, disorganized, indiscipline, anarchy, disunity, injustice
and social imbalance have always been considered as manifestations of decay
and disintegration in a society. Robbery, murder, larceny, adultery, fraud
and graft have always been condemned. Slandering, scandal mongering and
blackmailing have never been considered as wholesome social activities.
Contrary to this, service and care of the aged, help of one’s kith and kin,
regard for neighbors, loyalty to friends, assistance of the weak, the
destitute and the orphans, and nursing the sick are qualities which have
always been highly valued ever since the dawn of civilization. Virtuous,
polite, mild and sincere persons have always been welcomed. Individuals who
are upright, honest, sincere, outspoken and dependable, whose needs conform
to their words, who are content with their own rightful possession, who are
prompt in the discharge of their obligations to others, who live in peace and
let others live in peace and from whom nothing but good can be expected,
having always formed the core of any healthy human society.
This shows that human moral standard are in fact universal and have been
well known to mankind throughout the ages.*Good and evil are not myths to be
hunted out. They are well known realities and are equally well-understood by
all. The sense of good and evil is inherent in the very nature of man.
Hence, in the terminology of the Qur’an virtue is called "Ma’roof"(something
to be announced) and evil is designated as "Munkar"(something to be
denounced); that is to say virtue is known to be desirable for every one and
evil is not known to commend itself in any way. This fact is mentioned by the
Qur’an when it says:
"And(Allah gave to the Soul) its
enlightenment as to its wrong and
its right;..." (Qur’an, 91:8)
To be continue....................
Jabou N.Joh,
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