AL-HUDA
Foundation, NJ U. S. A
the Message Continues ... 7/74
Newsletter for October 2007
Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12
Islam: The Middle and Moderate Path
By
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi
Thus
have We made of you a Middle
Ummah, that you might be
Say:
"O People of the Book! Make no
excess in your religion,
trespassing beyond the truth,
nor follow the vain desires of
people who went wrong in times
gone by, who misled many, and
strayed (themselves) from the
even Way.
( al-Ma'idah 5:77)
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
made this Ummah a moderate Ummah.
It is a path that brings
together in a harmonious
balance:
Revelation and Reason ( Wahy and
‘Aql )
Individual and Community ( Fard
and Mujtama ')
Religion and World ( Din and
Dunya )
This World and the Other World (
Dunya and ‘Akhirah )
Islam teaches gentleness and
softness ( rifq ) in
everything. Harshness and
hardness ( ghilzah ) is not
accepted in Islam. Islam is the
religion of peace and mercy (
salam and rahmah ).
(The Qur'an tells the believers
to show “ ghilzah ” only in the
battlefield (see al-Tawbah 9:73;
123; al-Tahrim 66:9). Also it
says that do not ignore or avoid
Allah's Hudud out of compassion
to the criminals. ( al-Nur 24:2)
Otherwise it always speaks about
gentleness and kindness.)
Islam has middle position in:
Let us look briefly on these
four areas in Islamic teachings:
I. Beliefs:
1. Belief about Allah's being (
dhat)
:
a) Neither atheism nor
polytheism – meaning that God
does not exist or there are many
gods
b) Neither monism nor pantheism
– meaning that only God exists
and nothing else exists or that
everything is God.
c) Neither anthropomorphism or
incarnationism nor nihilism
–meaning that God is like human
beings or God becomes a human
being or to say that God is
abstract as an energy and power.
d) Islam teaches Tawhid – There
is only one God with beautiful
names and attributes. He exists
and He has given existence to
everything. There is nothing
like Him, but He hears and sees
everything.
2. Belief about Allah's nature (
sifat)
:
a) He is neither so loving that
He does not care about the right
and wrong, nor is He so harsh
that he cannot forgive and He
must punish for every sin and
mistake. He is both loving ,
kind and compassionate but He is
also a judge. His justice is so
much that he would not do wrong
to any one, but his love is so
much that when there is sincere
faith and repentance He is ready
to forgive.
b) He is neither too
transcendent that He become
remote and unapproachable not He
is so accessible that humans can
manipulate Him, make Him to
suffer and even kill him. He is
very close to us. He loves us
and hears our prayers, but He is
above and beyond. The eyes
cannot catch Him, but He catches
the eyes.
c) He is neither so powerful
that we have no freedom. Nor is
He so helpless that He does not
even know what we are doing and
cannot stop us from wrong or
help us when we need Him. We
believe that He has power over
everything. Nothing moves
without His permission. He
knows the past, present and
future, but He out of His grace
has given freedom to human being
to think, move and work. He
will judge them in the things in
which He has given freedom to
them.
3. Belief about Human Beings:
a) Neither animals nor angels.
We believe that they are a
special and honored creation of
Allah. They have the possibility
to go higher and higher and they
can become the lowest of the
low.
b) Neither born in sin nor
perfect. They can succumb to
temptations, but they are not
helpless before the powers of
evil.
c) Neither absolutely helpless
and powerless and not free to do
anything, nor absolutely free to
do whatever they wish or become
fully autonomous. They have a
lot of freedom, but they must
follow the basic rules of God
and must live in obedience to
Him.
4. Belief about the Prophets of
Allah:
a) They were great human beings,
but they were not God, the
incarnation of God or the sons
of God. We must respect them,
honor them and follow their way
but we must not deify them or
worship them.
b) Prophets were chosen by God.
They did not become prophets by
their own achievements. They did
perform miracles occasionally by
the permission of God, but most
of the time they had to go
through the same pains, trials
as other human beings go
through.
c) God sent the prophets in the
past, but He made Prophet
Muhammad as His last Prophet.
There is no new Prophet who will
come after him. Thus we believe
in the continuation of prophecy
but after him there is no
prophecy, only inspiration and
illumination. Prophets were
infallible teachers, but there
is no one after them who has
this protection. People are
allowed to make interpretation
but no one other than prophets
can claim absolute authority for
his/her
interpretation.
5. Belief about the world:
a) Not a bad place, the place of
suffering and pain but also not
a heaven or a permanent place.
Allah has created this world and
it is a good place, but
Hereafter is better.
b) Take your share of this world
but do not forget the Hereafter.
Do not neglect this world,
rather you should try to build,
improve, cultivate and plan in
this world. Whatever good you do
here you shall receive the
reward in the hereafter. This is
a place of your test.
c) You are not the master of
this world or its slave, but you
are Allah's Khalifah in this
world. Everything is a trust
and your are given this trust (amanah).
Use the resources of this world
carefully. Take care of the
environment. Do not waste or be
extravagant.
II. Acts of Worship:
1. Concept of Worship:
a) Islam gives us some special
acts of worship: Salat, Siyam ,
Zakat and Hajj. These are the
main acts of worship.
b) But worship is not some
rituals only, it is the whole
life. Whatever a person does in
obedience to Allah is worship.
Even the most worldly and
mundane activities are worship.
c) Acts of worship (‘Ibadat) are
specified and not left to
people's own experiments. This
brings unity and harmony.
2. Methods of Worship:
a) Islam emphasizes both the
individual Ibadah as well as
collective ‘Ibadah.
b) Acts of worship include time,
space and money. There are
Ibadat Zamaniya (related to
time), ‘ Ibadat Makaniyah
(related to space) and Ibadat
Maliyah (related to wealth).
Salat and Siyam are ‘Ibadat
Zamaniyah . Hajj is ‘Ibadah
Zamaniyah and Makaniyah both,
while ‘Umrah is ‘Ibadah
Makaniyah. Zakat and Sadaqat are
‘ Ibadat Maliyah.
c) In all ‘Ibadat there is a
balance between the obligatory
and the voluntary aspects.
Minimum is made obligatory and
Nawafil are left to the
individual's choice.
d) In prayer especially, there
is a harmony and balance between
the physical, verbal, mental and
spiritual aspects.
e) In fasting there are
timings. One is not asked to
fast for too long, but it is
also not left to one's choice to
choose whenever and whatever one
wants to fast from.
III. Laws (Shari'ah)
The Law in Islam is Universal
and comprehensive. It Promotes
human dignity, equality and
honor. Its basic principles are
permanent and it has flexibility
according to the conditions of
the people and their needs. The
basic philosophy of Law in
Islam:
1. No obligation beyond capacity
(taklif ma la yutaq ).
2. All good things are
permissible and all bad things
are forbidden.
3. The basic purpose in
obligations is honor and
purification, not putting burden
or humiliation. ( al-isr and
al-aghlal).
4. Recognition of extreme
necessity ( idtirar )
IV. Morals and Manners
(Akhlaq)
Islam gives very high place to
ethics and morality. It says
that a person who has no
character has no religion. The
basic nature of Islamic
teachings on ethics and morality
are:
1. Universal Values – not
promoting any specific culture,
race or country.
2. Positive and life affirming – it
teaches that you can enjoy the good
things of this life.
3. Not ascetic, monastic, morbid or
moribund in nature. Islam wants
people to be happy, healthy,
optimistic and forward looking.
4. Practical – take into account
human needs, emotions, desires, and
aspirations and provides
opportunities for their growth.
5. Egalitarian – There are no double
standards – one for religious class
and other for laity.
Conclusion:
There are some
“
The religion is easy and whosoever
will deal with religion harshly, it
will defeat him. So be straight,
follow the middle course, give good
news and seek help by moving in the
morning or the evening or part of
the night
.” (Al-Bukhari 38)
In order to follow Islam you
must make an effort and be
serious. Learn your faith and
pay some attention to it. Do
not take your religion casually.
Islam is not just a social and
cultural thing. Islam is the
religion of Allah and it is the
most moderate, balanced,
beautiful and perfect religion |
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