Abul A‘la Al-Mawdudi
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The chief characteristic of the Islamic Concept of Life is that it does
not admit a conflict, nay, not even a significant separation between
life-spiritual and life-mundane. It does not confine itself merely in
purifying the spiritual and the moral life of man in the limited sense
of the word. Its domain extends to the entire gamut of life. It wants to
mould individual life as well as the social order in healthy patterns,
so that the Kingdom of God may really be established on the earth and so
that peace, contentment and well-being may fill the world as waters
fill the oceans. The Islamic Way of Life is based on this unique
approach to life and a peculiar concept of man’s place in the Universe.
That is why it is necessary that before we proceed to discuss the moral,
social, political and economic systems of Islam, we should have a clear
idea of the Islamic Concept of Life. There are certain basic postulates
which should be understood and appreciated at the very outset. These
postulates are as follows.
BASIC POSTULATE
Allah Who is the Creator, the Ruler and
the Lord of the entire Universe has created man and provided him with
temporary station in that part of His vast kingdom (cosmos) which is
known as the earth. He has endowed man with the faculties of thinking
and understanding, and has given him the power to distinguish right from
wrong. Man has also been invested with freedom of will and choice and
the power to use the resources of the world in any manner he likes. In
short, man has been given a sort of autonomy while being appointed by
God on earth as a successor to the beings that had previously populated
it.
Before assigning to man the inheritance
of the earth, God made it explicitly clear to him that He alone is the
Lord, the Ruler and the Deity. As such, the entire Universe and all the
creatures in it (including man) must submit to Him alone. Man must not
think himself totally free and should know that this earth is not his
permanent abode. He has been made to live upon it only during the period
of his probation, and in due course, he will return to his Lord, to be
judged according to the way he has utilized the period of probation. The
only right course for man is to acknowledge Allah as the only Lord, the
Sustainer and the Deity and to follow His Guidance and His Commands in
all walks of life. Man must live this life with the realization that he
is to be judged and his sole objective should be to merit the pleasure
of Allah so as to emerge successful in the final test. Conduct which is
contrary to this would lead man astray. If man follows the course of
piety and Godliness (which he is free to choose and follow) he will
succeed in this world and in the next, in this world he will live a life
of peace and contentment, and in the Hereafter he will qualify himself
for the heaven of eternal bliss, al-Jannah. And if he chooses to follow
the other course, i.e., that of Godlessness and evil (which he is
equally free to choose and follow) his life will be one of corruption,
disruption and frustration in this world and he will meet colossal
misfortune in the life to come – that abode of pain and misery which is
called Jahannam (Hell).
After administering the warning, God set
man upon the earth and provided the very first human beings (Adam and
Eve) with Ms Guidance in accordance with which men were to live on the
earth. Thus, man’s life on this earth did not begin in utter darkness.
The very first man was provided with a burning torch of light and
guidance so that humanity might attain its glorious destiny. The very
first man received revealed knowledge from God Himself. He had knowledge
of the reality and was given the code of life by following which he
could live a life of bliss and success. This code of life was Islam, the
attitude of complete submission to Allah, the Creator of man and of the
whole universe. It was this religion which Adam, the first man, passed
down to posterity. But later generations gradually drifted away from the
right path and adopted different erroneous paths. Because of
negligence, they lost the original teachings, or due to folly or
mischief they adulterated and perverted them. They associated with God
innumerable human beings, non-human objects and imaginary entities as
deities and indulged in Shirk (polytheism) of the worst type. They mixed
up the pure teachings of God with strange myths, ideas and philosophies
and thus produced a jungle of religions and cults. They discarded the
God-given principles of social ethics and collective morality, the
Shari’ah, and deprived the human life of peace and tranquility.
Although men departed from the path of
truth, disregarded and distorted the Shari’ah and some of them even
revolted against the code of Divine Guidance, yet God did not destroy
them or force them to the right course. Forced conversion to the right
path was not in keeping with the autonomy He had given to man. Instead,
God appointed certain virtuous persons from amongst the people
themselves, to discharge the responsibility of recalling and guiding men
to the right path during their sojourn on the earth. These men believed
in God, and lived a life of obedience to Him. He honored them by His
revelations and gave them the knowledge of reality. These men, known as
prophets (peace be upon all of them), were assigned the task of
presenting the message of truth to humanity and of asking the people to
come to the path of the Lord.
These prophets were raised in all epochs,
in all lands and in all nations. Out of numerous prophets sent by God,
the Qur’an explicitly mentions twenty-five. All of them brought the same
message, all of them advocated the same way of life (Deen) i.e., the
way which was revealed to man on the first day of his existence. All of
them followed the same guidance: the guidance which was prescribed by
the Lord for man at the outset of his career on the earth. All of them
stood for the same mission: they called men to the religion if Islam,
asked those who accepted the Divine Guidance to live in accordance with
it: and organized them into a movement for the establishment of the
Divine Law, and for putting an end to all deviations from the Right
Path. Every prophet tried to fulfill this mission in the best possible
way. But quite a number of people never accepted this guidance and many
of those who accepted it gradually drifted astray and, al lapse of time,
lost the guidance or distorted it through innovations and perversions.
At last, God raised Prophet Mohammed
(peace be upon him) in the land of Arabia and assigned to him the
completion of the mission for which earlier prophets were ordained. The
message of Mohammed (peace be upon him) was for the whole of mankind. He
presented anew the teachings of Islam in their pristine form and
provided mankind once again, with the Divine Guidance which they had
lost in its original form. He organized all those who accepted his
message into one Ummah (Nation) which was charged with reconstructing
its own life in accordance with the teachings of Islam, by calling
mankind to the path of righteousness and with establishing the supremacy
of the word of God on the earth. This guidance is enshrined in the Holy
Qur’an which constitutes the only right code of conduct for mankind.
IMAN (FAITH): ITS NATURE AND CHARACTER
We have discussed above those basic
postulates of Islam which, on the one hand, revealed God’s plan for
providing guidance to man in this world and, on the other, defined the
nature, position and status of man in it. Now, let us study the
foundations on which the Qur’an wants to develop man’s relationship with
Allah and the concept of life which naturally follows from that
relationship.
The Qur’an deals with this problem on
many occasion but the entire concept of life envisaged as epitomized in
the following verse:
” God hath purchased of the
Believers. Their persons and their goods; For their (in return) Is the
Garden (of Paradise) They fight in His Cause, And slay and are slain: A
promise binding on Him In Truth, through the Law, The Gospel, and the
Qur’an: And who is more faithful To his Covenant than God? Then rejoice
in bargain Which ye have concluded: That is the achievement supreme. “(Al-Qur’an, IX:II1)
In the above verse the nature of the
relationship which comes into existence between man and God because of
Imam (the act of reposing faith in Allah) has been called a “bargain”.
This means that Iman in Allah is not a mere metaphysical concept; it is
in the nature of a contract by which man barters his life and his
belongings with Allah in exchange for Paradise in the life Hereafter.
God so to say, purchases a believer’s life and property and promises, by
way of price, the award of Paradise in the life after death. The
concept of bargain has important implications and we should, therefore,
first of all clearly understand its nature and meanings.
The fact of the matter is that each and
every thing in this world belongs to Allah. He is the real owner of them
all. As such, man’s life and riches, which are part of this world, also
belong to Him, because it is He Who created them and it is He Who has
assigned them to each man for his use. Looking at the problem from this
angle; the question of His purchasing what is already His: Man is not
their real owner; he has no title to sell them. But there is one thing
which has been conferred on man, and which now belongs fully to him, and
that is his free will, the freedom of choice of following or not
following the path of Allah. As man has been endowed with free will in
this respect, he is free to acknowledge or not to acknowledge the
reality of things. Although this freedom of will and choice that man
possesses does not automatically make him the real owner of all the
energies and resources on which he has command. Nor does he acquire the
title to utilize them in any way he likes. Nor does his acknowledgment
of reality or refusal to do so in any way affects reality as such. Yet
it does mean that he is free to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and
His over lordship on his own life and belongings or refuse to
acknowledge it and to arrogate to himself the position of total
independence. He may, if he so likes, regard himself free from all
obligations to the Lord and may think that he enjoys full rights and
powers over all that he has, and thus, may use them according to his own
wishes unfettered by any higher command. It is here that the question
of bargain comes in. This bargain does not mean that God is purchasing
something which belongs to man. Its real nature is this: All creation
belongs to God but He has bestowed certain things on man to be used by
him as a trust from God. And man has been given freedom to honestly
fulfill the trust or if he so likes, to betray it or misuse it. Now, God
demands that man should willingly and voluntarily (and not under duress
or compulsion) acknowledge those things as His which really belongs to
Him and man should use them as a trust from God and not as something his
own to be used as he pleases. Thus, a man who voluntarily renounces the
freedom even to refuse God’s supremacy and instead acknowledges His
sovereignty. So to say, “sells” his “autonomy” (which too is a gift from
God and not something which man has acquired of his own) to God, and
gets in return God’s promise of eternal bliss that is Paradise. A man
who makes such a bargain is a “Mu’min” (Believer). And Iman (Belief) is
the Islamic name for this contract; while the one who chooses not to
enter into this contract, or after making such a contract amounting to
its gross breach, is one who has followed the course of the devil. Thus
Allah says:
“Say if it be that your fathers,
Your sons, your brothers, Your mates, or your kindred; The wealth that
you have gained; The commerce in which you fear a decline: or the
dwellings in which you delight Are dearer to you than God, Or His
apostle, of the striving In His cause; then wait until Allah brings
about His Decision. And God Guides not the rebellious.” (Al-Qur’an, IX:24)
The attempt to avoid or abrogate this
contract can lead to Kufr (total disbelief). Such is the nature and the
contract. Now let us briefly study its various aspects and stipulations.
God has put us to serious trail on two counts:
He has left man free. But even after
giving him that freedom He wishes to see whether or not man realizes his
true position. Whether he remains honest and steadfast and maintains
loyalty and allegiance to the Lord, or loses his head and revolts
against his own Creator; whether he behaves like a noble soul, or
tramples under foot all values of decency and starts playing fantastic
tricks.
He wants to see whether man is prepared
to have such confidence in God as to offer his life and wealth in return
for what is a promise. That is to materialize in the next world and
whether he is prepared to surrender his autonomy and all the charms that
go with it, in exchange for a promise about the future.
It is an accepted principle of Islamic
law that Iman consists of adherence to a certain set of doctrines and
whosoever reposes faith in those doctrines becomes a Mu’min. No one has a
right to denounce such a man as non-believer or drive him out of the
fold of the Ummah (Islamic Community), save when there is explicit proof
of falsity or of renunciation of the belief. This is the legal aspect
of the problem. But in the eyes of the Lord, only that Iman is valuable
which consists in complete surrender of one’s will and choice to the
Will of Allah. It is a state of thought and action wherein man submits
himself fully to Allah, renouncing all claim to his own supremacy. It is
something that comes from the heart. It is an attitude of the mind and
prepares man for a certain course of action. If a man recites the
Kalima, enters into the contract, and even offers his prayers and
performs other acts of worship, but in his heart he regards himself as
the owner and the sovereign dispenser of his physical and mental powers
and of his moral and material resources, uses them to his own liking and
upholds his freedom of will, then, however much of the people may look
upon him as Mu’min (believer), in the eyes of God he will be a
non-believer, for he has, in fact, not really entered into the bargain
which according to the Qur’an is the essence of Iman (belief). If a man
does not use his powers and resources in the way God has prescribed for
him, and instead uses them in pursuits which God has prohibited, it
clearly shows that either he has not pledged his life and property to
Allah, or even after pledging them to Him, he falsifies the pledge by
his conduct.
This nature of Iman makes the Islamic way
of life distinct from, nay, the very opposite of, the non-Islamic way
of life. A Muslim, who has real faith in Allah, makes every aspect of
his subservience to the Will of Allah. His entire life is one of
obedience and surrender and he never behaves in an arrogant or an
autonomous way, except in a moment of forgetfulness. And after such a
lapse as soon as he becomes conscious of it, he again re-addresses
himself to his Lord and repents his error. Similarly, a group of people
or a society which consist of true Muslims can never break away from the
Law of their Lord. Its political o, its social organization, its
culture, its economic policy, its legal system and its international
strategy must all be in tuned with the Code of Guidance revealed by
Allah and must, in no way, contravene it. And if ever, through error or
omission, any contravention it committed, they must, on realizing this,
correct this immediately and return forthwith to the state of
subservience to the Law of God. It is the way of the non-believers to
feel free from God’s Guidance and to behave as one’s own master. Whoever
adopts such a policy, even though he may bear a name similar to that of
a Muslim, is treading the satanic path and is following the way of the
non-believers.
The Will of God, which is obligatory upon
man to follow, is the one which God Himself has revealed for man’s
guidance. The Will of God is not to be determined by man himself. God
has Himself enunciated it clearly and there is no ambiguity about it.
There, if a person or society is honest and steadfast in its contract
with Allah, it must scrupulously fashion its entire life in accordance
with the Book of God and the Sunnah (practical example) of the Prophet
(peace be upon him).
A little reflection will show that these
aspects and stipulations are logically implicit in the bargain and it is
also clear from the above discussion why the payment of the “price” has
been postponed tot he life after death. Paradise is not the reward for
the mere profession of the bargain, it is the reward for the faithful
execution of the contract. Unless the contract is fully executed and the
actual life-behavior of the “vendor” complies with the terms of the
contract he does not become entitled to the reward. Thus, the final act
of the “sale” is concluded only at the last moment of the vendor’s life,
and as such, it is natural that the reward should be given to him in
the Life Hereafter.
There is another significant point which
emerges from the study of the verse quoted above (Al-Qur’an, IX:24) when
it is read with reference to its context. In the verses preceding it,
reference has been made to the people who professed Iman and promised a
life of obedience, but when the hour of trail came they proved unequal
to the task. Some neglected the call of the hour and betrayed the cause.
Others, played tricks of hypocrisy and, refused to sacrifice their
lives and riches in the cause of Allah. The Qur’an, after exposing these
people and criticizing their insincerity makes it clear that Iman is a
contract, a form of pledge between man and God. It does not consist of a
mere profession of belief in Allah. It is an acknowledgment of the fact
that Allah alone is our Sovereign Lord and Ruler and that everything
that man has, including his life, belongs to Him and must be used in
accordance with His directives. If a Muslim adopts a contrary course he
is insincere in his profession of faith. True believers are only those
who have really sold their lives and all that they possessed to God and
who followed His dictates in all fields of activity. They stake their
all in obedience to the Commands of the Lord, and do not deviate even an
inch from the path of loyalty to God. Such only are the true believers.
THE PLAN OF LIFE
This discussion makes it clear that Islam
begins with laying down the proper lines on which man’s relationship
with the Lord is to be reared; his entire individual and social life is
an exercise in developing and strengthening this relationship. Iman, the
starting point of our religion, consists in the acceptance of this
relationship by man’s intellect and will. Thus, Islam is actual
submission, the way of surrender to the Will of God in all aspects of
life and behavior. Now, we are in a position to cast a glance over the
plan of life which Islam envisages. This plan – the code of conduct – is
known as the Shari’ah. 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 a repository 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. Whosoever 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 in accordance with His
Commandments, are called “Muslims”.
All those persons who thus surrender
themselves to the persons who thus surrender themselves to the Will of
God are welded into a community and that is how the “Muslim society”
comes into being. Thus, ” 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 prescribe 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 a society breaks its contract
with God and forfeits its right to be called “Islamic”.
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 cleans 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 (peace be upon him) 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
going all directions. And at the same time it removes all impediments in
the path of virtue. Along 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.
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 us 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 is 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.
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. Moreover, 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.
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 are the evils for
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. 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 body of some other animal 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, the 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 part 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.
CONTENTS:
ISLAMIC CONCEPT OF LIFE
THE MORAL SYSTEM OF ISLAM
ISLAMIC POLITICAL SYSTEM
ISLAMIC SOCIAL ORDER
ECONOMICS PRINCIPLES OF ISLAM
THE SPIRITUAL SYSTEM OF ISLAM
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