In the Name of Allah, the
Compassionate, the Merciful
INTRODUCING THE ESSENCE OF ISLAM AS
AL-DEEN
[Shamim A Siddiqi,
Islam is “Al-Deen as declared by Allah in
Verse # 19 of Surah Al-Imran. Today, in fact, it has now become the basic need
of modern man, especially in the context of the space age and when all the
man-made Systems and Isms have bitterly failed altogether in solving any basic
problem, need or urgency of man. They couldn’t deliver any Khair [good] to
human society at all. Rather, have multiplied the human problems manifold.
Hence, Islam must be put before the common
man in a very precise, concise and in a nut shell form as the inherent reality
of this cosmos. Islam, both in belief and practice, is very simple and covers
the entire fundamental prevailing truths of this cosmos. If the human specie
understands the undernoted postulates, it will be quite easy for him to
envision and follow it as a panacea for all of his centuries old evils and the lingering
unsolved problems. It will be crystal
clear if we proceed to explain Islam as the System of life to the
modern man in the form of short capsules.
1. All the physical laws of nature were in
operation as made or designed by the Creator and Sustainer for every
animate and inanimate object to create, perfect and and run this cosmos to
the service of man as Qur’an elaborates in Verse # 30 of Luqman, Verse # 13 of
Surah Al-Jathia and Verse # 29 of Surah A-Baqarah. Allah created and harnessed
them to the service of humans on earth, above in the sky, deep in the oceans and
down beneath the earth.
2. Scientists are only discovering and
explaining them as how these laws are governing each and every object
of nature so meticulously that they are not colliding with each other and
not failing at all in their respective assignment. The Scientist do
not invent those laws at all but discover and apply them as the "Master
Key" to unlock the overall prevailing mysteries of nature and
help in creating its similitude for the benefit of mankind.
3. Equally and simultaneously, God is controlling
the human life too but through a different set up Moral laws where man has been
given a freewill to use this world and His bounties for his benefit
and for that He has set a Day when all men and women will be held
accountable to Him as whether he/she used these resources and bounties for
the benefit of man or misused them for destructive purposes?
4.
It must be carefully noted by all about the inherent nature of man on
earth that he always or very often forgets his position on earth as earmarked
below and behaves recklessly like an irresponsible creature and fills
the earth with imbalances, disorder, greed, lust, chaos, exploitations and
bloodshed:
i. That man is the Vicegerent of God and
he is to live, act and behave on this earth the way He commanded him to do
through His appointed Messengers in a chain from Adam to Muhammad (pbut]. Man,
as such, is to live, act and behave on this earth only as per His command which
he forgets willfully out of his arrogance and ignorance.
ii. That man is the trustee of what he is
endowed, what he possesses and what he sees around him and not the master of
these trusts and, as such, he is accountable to God the way he uses this
trust on earth – the way he likes or the way He commands him to live.
5. It appears to be the logical
conclusion of the above facts that God has designed an eternal
world of bliss called " Heaven" to be awarded to those who
will come out successful in the test of Accountability on the Day of Judgment when
the procedure is completed and the right of the future Citizenship
of Heaven is conferred upon the successful on account of their good deeds
alone on the lines demonstrated by the appointed MESSENGERS of God. The
rest will be treated as the pieces of garbage and thrown into the eternal
world of torment called "Hellfire" for good.
6. As such, God is the eternal need of
man to acquire the Citizenship Rights of the New Universal Order of
Heaven and that He will create after completing the Accountability process
on the last Day of Judgment. So, man must succeed in that test while living
on this earth by constantly seeking His pleasure being always obedient to Him
in every walk of life, failing which he will be doomed and be thrown into eternal
Hellfire.
7. This is the sum and substance of the
entire Divine Workshop that we can call as the New Universal Order. It
will continue to run in its new face or phase with new dawn and evening,
new sky and earth [Ref: Verse # 48 of Surah Ibrahim] for its would-be
Citizens with indescribable pleasure and comforts for the good deeds and
sacrifices that they rendered on earth for the attainment of the pleasure of
God, the Creator and the Sustainer of this cosmos.
8. In fact, God is eternal and
ever-lasting. He has no past, no present and no future. His existence
cannot be measured in terms of human terminologies. His Eternity is beyond
any sense of measurement. God is the self-sustained identity and the rest of
this entire cosmos depends on Him alone for its survival.
9. God has pinpointed His position of
eternity through Verse # 3 of Surah Al-Hadeed. In terms of the
above clarification, this Verse can now be understood more explicitly:
”He is the First and the Last, and
the Outward and the Inward; He is the Knower of all things"
10. Truly speaking, this is the essence
of Islam in nut shell for the modern men and women of the
scientific age to understand and come into its fold for their eternal
benefit. It makes easy for us to explain Islam scientifically in our
laboratories.
11. Keeping the above final and ultimate destiny
of man in view, our Creator and Sustainer has always been sending Islam to
humans as the System of life through His appointed Messengers as Al-Deen to
practice it in every walk of life from birth to death and from cradle to grave
both at individual and collective levels in order to face Him with flying
colors on the Day of Judgment and earn
His pleasure and the “Certificate of Citizenship” of Jannah.
12. Prophet Mohammad (S), the last
Messenger brought the Guidance in the shape of the Qur’an in its most perfect
and updated form as no messenger was to come after him (S). It is to remain
effective till the Doomsday and man will get his salvation only by following it
in its totality.
13. In fact, the commencement of Akhirah
is a continuous process of this worldly life to reward the human beings for
their good deeds and leading a just life on earth obedient alone to Lord of this
cosmos. His Justice demands it and the Qur’an confirms it as under:
“God [Himself] proffers evidence – and [so
do] the angels and all who are endowed with knowledge – that there is no deity
save Him, the Upholder of Equity – (Justice): there is no deity save Him, the
Almighty, the Truly Wise.” [Ref: Verse #18 of Surah
Al-Imran]
14. To deliver His justice to humans,
God graciously sent Islam as Al-Deen to human society. The next Verse
# 19 of Surah Al-Imran, thus, eloquently declares subsequently: Behold,
the only [true] Deen in the sight of God is Islam [self-surrendering to Him]
* Islam, as such, is a complete and the most
comprehensive system of life that covers and governs each and every aspect of
human life – social, cultural, religious, economic, political, national, international,
war and peace and all human relations to create and promote justice and
equilibrium in human society at its every strata. Muslims are to serve as its
torch bearers and stand as its model in the human society and be witness to
mankind.
* Allah (SWT] in His final and the last
Wahi about the Qur’an confirms: “Have chosen for you Islam as (your) Deen” [Ref:
Verse # 3 of Surah Al-Maida] and commanded all His Messengers: “To
Establish the Deen” [Ref: Verse #13 of Surah Al-Shurah]
* Allah had sent His Messengers with Guidance
and Deen-e-Haq to make it dominant over all other ways of life”: [Ref: Verse
9 of Surah Al-Saf; Verse # 28 of Surah Al-Fathey and Verse # 33 of Surah
Al-Tawba]
* Thus, establishing the Deen of Allah in
the body politic of a Muslim society in incumbent upon each Muslim and Muslimah
with no exception. By observing and practicing Islam as “religion”, Muslims
are denying its very objective in the bud. What a great disaster Muslims are
committing!
15. Allah (SWT) commands: “If we give them
(Muslims) power in the land, they establish Salah, and pay Zakah, and enjoin
the doing of what is right (Ma’roof) and forbid the doing of what is wrong
(Munkar): but with God rests the final outcome of all events.” [Ref: Verse #
41 of Surah Al-Hajj]
This is the obligation of the Muslim Ummah
to fulfill while living on this earth but Muslims are completely oblivion of
this onerous responsibility by observing and practicing Islam as a “religion”
not as Al-Deen.
There are 57 Muslim countries in the world but nowhere Islam
is found dominant as a political entity. Muslims, unfortunately, have brought
Islam to the status of a “religion” as Judaism and Christianity have
become – restricting it to some rituals of Ebadah, commemorating some Days, observing
some traditions of marriage, divorce, burial procedures when a person dies and
in keeping names and nomenclature, leaving the rest of our social, economic and
political spheres in the hands of liberal leadership which unfortunately stands
compromised with secular forces of the time.
16. Let us prepare a scientific workshop
on these lines in every mosque and Muslim locality for the understanding of
the common man, the Arab Bedouins of our age, to learn that “Islam is a
Deen and not a religion.” It is indispensability for leading a perfect
balanced and harmonious life in this world and in the Hereafter after death as
witness to mankind and delivering justice [al-Qist] to human abode, the onerous
responsibility entrusted to Muslim Ummah in terms of Verse # 25 of Surah
Al-Hadeed.
This huge responsibility we can fulfill only
by living, acting and practicing Islam only as a Deen in all the four corners
of modern state and be its model in all its forms and shapes. It will be
possible only when we live like “Ummatun Wasatan” and work hard to earn
the entitlement of the Citizenship of Jannah while living on this earth.
May Allah give Tawfeeq to all of us to live
like that. Ameen!
Shamim Siddiqi
WWW.dawahinamericas.com December 5, 2012