The Way to Belief

Man revives according to what he carries in terms of thought about life, the universe and man, and about their relationship, as a whole, with what preceded life and what comes after it. Hence, in order for man to progress, it is necessary to radically and comprehensively change his current thought and generate another thought for him, because it is the thought that generates the concepts about things and concentrates them. Man shapes his behaviour in life according to his concepts about it. Hence, mans concepts about a person he likes shapes his behaviour towards that person in contrast with his behaviour towards a person he hates and towards whom he holds the concepts of hate, and also in contrast with his behaviour towards a person he does not know nor holds any concepts about. So, human behaviour is linked to mans concepts and when we wish to change the behaviour of the declined man and make it a refined behaviour, it is imperative to change his concepts first. Allah (swt) says:

"Allah does not change the circumstances of any people until they have changed what is within themselves." [ 13:11]

The only way to change man’s concepts is by establishing the thought about life on earth in order to set up the correct concepts about it. The thoughts about life on earth will not be established in a productive manner in one’s mind unless the thought about the universe, man, life, and about the reality before and after life, and the current life’s relationship with what is before and after it is set up. This can be achieved by giving a comprehensive thought about the universe, man and life, because this is the intellectual basis upon which all ideas about life are built. Giving this comprehensive thought about these matters is the solution to man’s greatest problem. Once this problem is solved all other problems are solved, because all other problems are either partial compared to the main problem or ramifications of it. This solution wouldn’t lead to the correct progress, unless it is a sound solution which is compatible with man’s innate nature and which convinces the mind and thus fills the heart with tranquillity.

The true solution cannot be reached except through an illuminated thinking process about the universe, man and life. Consequently, those who yearn for progress and ways of intellectual ascension must first solve this problem in a correct manner by means of illuminated thought. This solution is none other than the ‘aqeedah which serves as the intellectual basis upon which every thought generated about behaviour in life and about its systems is built.

Islam turned to the greatest problem of man and solved it in a manner that agrees with his nature, convinces his mind, and fills his heart with tranquillity. Islam made the intellectual acceptance of this solution a condition for embracing it. Therefore, Islam is built upon one basis, i.e., the ‘aqeedah, which states there is a Creator behind the universe, man, and life on earth, there is a creator who created them all and created everything: He is Allah. And that this Creator created everything out of nothing. His existence is compulsory and He is not created - otherwise, He wouldn’t be a Creator. His being a Creator makes it necessary that He is not created and that His existence is imperative because all things depend for their existence on Him and He does not depend on anything.

The things which are comprehensible to the mind, man, life, and the universe, are limited, weak, imperfect, it is imperative for them to have a Creator. Man is limited, because he grows in every aspect (intellectually and physically) to a certain limit that he cannot surpass. Life is limited, because it manifests itself only in individuals and ends with the individual. The universe is limited, because it is the sum of celestial bodies, and each body is limited, and the sum of limited things is irrefutably limited. Thus, man, life, and the universe are definitely limited. When we ponder on the limited things, we see that they are not azaly (eternal - having no beginning or end), otherwise they could not be limited, and therefore, they must be created by something else, which is the Creator of man, life and the universe? This Creator, is either created by someone else, created himself, or eternal and self-subsistent. It is absolutely false that he is created by someone else, because if so this entity would be limited and could not be rationally considered as the Creator. As for being self created, the ramification of which would be simultaneously being created by himself and creating himself. This is simply absurd. Hence, the creator whose existence is imperative must be eternal and self-subsistent. He is Allah.

Anyone who has the mental faculty can comprehend from things that can be sensed that they have a creator. Since they are perceived to be imperfect, weak and dependent, they are definitely created. Therefore, it is sufficient to draw one’s attention to anything in the universe, life and man to conclude that there is a creator and an organiser. Hence, looking at any celestial body of the universe, contemplating upon any facet of life, or considering any aspect of man, gives definite evidence to the existence of Allah. Therefore, we see that the Qur’an draws attention to these things and instructs man to ponder upon them, their surroundings, and what is related to them, and to conclude from his pondering the existence of Allah. If man studies and concludes how things are in need of other things, he will definitely comprehend that the Creator exists. There are hundreds of Qur’anic ayat expressing this meaning. In surah Aal-Imran, Allah says:

"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alteration of night and day, these are indeed signs for men of understanding." [ 3:190]

and in surah ar-Rum,

"And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Lo! herein indeed are signs for men of knowledge." [ 30:22]

and in surah al-Ghashiya,

"Will they not look at the camels, how they are created! And the heaven, how it is raised! And the mountains, how they are set up! And the earth, how it is spread!" [ 88:17-20]

and in surah al-Tariq,

"So let man reflect from what he is created. He is created from a gushing fluid, that is issued from between the loins and ribs." [ 86:5-7]

and in surah al-Baqarah,

"Lo in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which Allah sends down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and in the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth are signs (of Allah’s sovereignty) for people who have sense." [TMQ 2:164]

In addition, there are so many ayat that call upon man to ponder deeply upon things and their surroundings and that which is related to them, so that his belief in Allah is firmly established through reason and clear evidence.

Indeed, belief in the Creator, is innate in every man, but such innate belief comes through his emotions, a path which neither leads to trustworthy results nor to accuracy if left alone. The emotions often add mythical and unfounded ideas to the original belief. These unwarranted elements of belief causes one to further stray from the correct belief and catapults one into Kufr and infidelity. Idolatry, superstitions, and mythology are the outcome of mistakes of the emotional faith. Therefore, Islam does not leave the emotions as the only way to belief, so as not to ascribe certain attributes contradictory to divinity, or to consider Allah incarnated in material substances, or to perceive the possibility of approaching him through worshipping material substances whether they are icons or idols, thus, leading to Kufr or shirk, or to fantasies and superstitions all of which are renounced by true faith. That is why Islam compels the use of a conscious mind with the emotions and obliges the Muslim to use his mind to believe in Allah and forbids imitation in ‘aqeedah. Therefore, Islam assigned the mind as the arbitrator in belief in Allah and forbids imitation in ‘aqeedah. Allah, says:

"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alteration of night and day, these are indeed signs for men of understanding." [ 3:190]

Every Muslim must have his conviction and belief based on reasoning, thinking, and pondering, and to assign his and her intellect the role of absolute arbitration in the conviction in Allah (swt). The call to look deeply in the universe to understand its law and to be guided to the belief in the Creator is repeated in the Qur’an hundreds of times in many surahs, all of which are directed to man’s faculty, inviting him to think deeply and to ponder so as to base his belief upon reason and clear evidence, and warning him not to imitate his forefathers without investigating, scrutinising, and being ensured in its correctness. This is the belief which Islam called for and not the so called faith of the elders and ancestors. It is the faith of the illuminated and absolutely assured person who searched and contemplated until he came through contemplation and thinking to the assured existence of Allah.

Despite the mandatory use of the mind to arrive at the correct belief in Allah (swt), man is unable to comprehend things beyond the boundaries of his senses and mental faculty because man’s mind is limited regardless of how much it develops and grows. Hence, its ability to comprehend is limited, and consequently falls short of comprehending the essence of Allah (swt), because He is beyond the universe, man and life, and the human mind cannot comprehend what is beyond man. Thus, the human mind is unable to comprehend what Allah is. It shouldn’t be said how does man believe in Allah with his mind while his mind cannot comprehend what Allah (swt) is? Because belief entails possessing a conviction in the existence of Allah, Who is comprehensible through the existence of His creation, i.e., universe, man and life. These are within the limits of what the mind can conceive and thus, man comprehends them, and from this he can comprehend the existence of a creator who is Allah (swt). Therefore, the belief in the existence of Allah is rational and within the limits of man’s fixed mental capacity. Comprehending Allah’s essence is impossible since He is beyond the universe, man and life, and hence He is beyond the capability of any mind. The mind is unable to comprehend what is beyond its bounds because of its inherent limitation to do so. This limitation itself should be one of the factors which strengthens the belief and not a source of suspicion and doubt. Moreover, since our belief in Allah is reached through our mind, our comprehension of His existence is complete. And since our sensing of His existence is linked with the mind this sensing is absolutely sure. Thus, this initiates in us a complete comprehension and assured feeling of all the divine attributes associated with the Creator. All of this convinces us that we will be unable to comprehend the essence of Allah, despite our firm belief in Him. Therefore, we have to submit to all that He has informed us about, which the mind is powerless to conceive or to arrive at its comprehension due to the natural inability of the human mind by its relative and limited standards to comprehend what is beyond it for this comprehension would need absolute and unlimited standards which man neither possesses nor can afford to possess.

As for the proof of the need for messengers, it has been proven that man is created by Allah (swt) and that religiousness is innate in man, since it is one of his instincts. Thus, man, by his nature, sanctifies his Creator, and this sanctification means worship, which constitutes the relationship between man and his Creator. Leaving this relationship without organisation will lead to turmoil and to worshipping other than the Creator. Therefore, it is necessary to organise this relationship with a correct system which cannot emanate from man himself, because he cannot comprehend what the Creator is in order to set up this relationship with Him. Hence, this system must come from the Creator. Since the Creator has to convey this system to man, there should be messengers to convey to the people the religion of Allah (swt).

Further evidence of the people’s need for messengers is that the fulfilment of man’s instincts and organic needs is a necessity. If this satisfaction were left without a system it would lead to an erroneous and abnormal fulfilment and thus result in man’s misery. Therefore, it is necessary to have a system to organise man’s instincts and organic needs and this system does not come from man, because his understanding of the organisation of man’s instincts and organic needs is liable to disparity, differences, contradiction and being influenced by the environment in which he lives. If this organisation was left to man, the system would be liable to disparity, differences and contradiction which would lead to man’s misery. Therefore, this system must come from Allah (swt).

As for proving that the Qur’an is revealed by Allah, it is well known that the Qur’an is an Arabic book conveyed by Muhammad (saw). Thus, it is either from the Arabs, from Muhammad, or from Allah, and it is not possible that it be from any other except these three since it is Arabic in language and style.

It is false to say that the Qur’an comes from the Arabs because it challenged them to bring forth any similar to it.

"Say, bring ten surahs like unto it." [ 11:13]

"Say, bring one surah like unto it." [ 10:38]

And they tried to bring the like of what they were challenged with but they failed to do so. Hence, this book is not their speech because they were unable to bring the like, though it challenged them, and they tried to do so. It is also false to say that it is from Muhammad, since Muhammad is one of the Arabs, and whatever the height of his genius, he was still a human being and a part of his community and nation. Since the Arabs themselves had failed to bring the like, this also applies to Muhammad, the Arab, that he could not bring the like of it. Thus, it is not from him. Moreover, Muhammad (saw) has left hadith sahih and hadith mutawatir, whose authenticity is beyond refute that speaks to this issue. If any of these ahadeeth were to be compared with any verse of the Qur’an, there would be no similarity between them in style, even though he (peace be upon him) used to utter the revealed verse and say the hadith at the same time. Whenever any man attempts to disguise his words, he will remain similar in style, because his words are a part of him. Since there is no similarity between the hadith and the verse in style, the Qur’an is absolutely not Muhammad’s words. Besides this, none of the Arabs, who were the most acquainted with the styles of the Arabic speech, alleged that the Qur’an is Muhammad’s words, or that it is similar to his words. The only thing that they claimed was that Muhammad had brought it from a Christian youth called Jabber. Allah (swt) refuted what they’d said and responded:

"We know indeed that they say it is a man that taught him. The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear." [TMQ 16:103]

Since it is proved that the Qur’an is neither the words of the Arabs nor the words of Muhammad, it is definitely the words of Allah, and consequently it is a miracle for the one who brought it. And because Muhammad brought the Qur’an, and the Qur’an is the words of Allah and His divine law, and because no one brings Allah’s Shari‘ah (law) except the prophets and the messengers, then accordingly Muhammad must definitely be a prophet and messenger, by intellectual proof.

This is an intellectual proof for the belief in Allah and in the message of Muhammad, and that the Qur’an is the speech of Allah.

Consequently, the belief in Allah comes through the rational way and this Iman must be by rational way. And because of it being so it becomes the basis for the belief in all matters beyond our senses and of all that Allah informed us. Because we believe in Allah, Who has divine attributes, we must definitely believe in everything that He (swt) has informed us of, whether it is mentally comprehended or beyond the minds capability. Henceforth, we must believe in the Day of Judgement, in paradise and hell, in reward and punishment, in angels, in jinn, in Shaytan and all others that the Qur’an or the hadith mutawatir has mentioned. This belief, though it is through narration and hearing it is originally rational, since its origin is confirmed in an intellectual manner. Therefore, the Muslim’s ‘aqeedah must depend on reason or on that whose origin is confirmed through the reason. Thus, Muslims must believe only in what is proven intellectually through the rational way or the definite narration, that is, what is confirmed by the Qur’an and the hadith mutawatir. Belief in anything not deduced through these two methods (i.e. the mind and the text of the book and of the definite hadith) is prohibited, because ‘aqeedah should be based on certainty and assurance.

Therefore, there must be Iman in what is before this life, Allah (swt), and in what is after it, the Day of Resurrection. Since the commands of Allah constitute the relationship of this life with what is before it, besides the relationship of creation, and the reckoning of one’s deeds in the life of this world is the relationship of the Hereafter with the life of this world, in addition to the relationship of Day of Judgement, there should be a relationship between the life of this world with that which is before it and what will be after it. Man’s situation in this life must be constrained by this relationship. In other words, man must proceed in his life in accordance with Allah’s system, and must believe that all his deeds herein will be reckoned with on the Day of Judgement.

By this discussion, the illuminated thought has been established concerning what is beyond the universe, man and life, and about what is before the life on earth and what is after it, and that there is a relationship with what is before and after it. Hence, the greatest problem has been completely solved by the Islamic ‘aqeedah.

Once man has achieved this solution, he can move to the thought about life on earth and to establish sound and productive concepts about it. This solution itself becomes the basis upon which the ideology is built, which serves as the method of intellectual progress (nahda) as well as the basis upon which the civilisation of this ideology rests, the basis from which its systems emanate, and the basis upon which the state is established. Thus, the basis upon which Islam is established, both in thought and method, is the Islamic belief or ‘aqeedah.

"O you who believe! Believe in Allah and His messenger, and the Book which He sent to His Messenger and the Book which He sent to those before (him). Any who denies Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgement, has gone far, far astray." [ 4:136]

After this has been confirmed and the Iman in it is an inevitable matter, every Muslim is obliged to believe in the Islamic Shari‘ah as a whole, because it is included in the glorious Qur’an and the Messenger (prayer and peace be upon him) conveyed it. Otherwise, he would be a Kafir. Therefore, it is Kufr to deny any of the Ahkam Shari‘ah, whether these ahkam (judgements) are connected with ibadat, transactions, punishments, food, etc. Like rejection of the verse

"So establish regular prayer" [ 2:43]

is the same as rejecting the verse

"But Allah has permitted trade and forbidden usury," [ 2:275]

and is the same as rejecting the following verses:

"As to the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands," [ 5:38]

"Forbidden to you (for food) are dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which has been invoked the name of any other than Allah." [ 5:3]

The adherence to the Shari‘ah is not only based on the mind. Instead, one must surrender completely to all that was revealed from Allah, whether it seems reasonable or not.

"But no, by your Lord, they can have no (real) faith, until they make you judge in all the disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against your decisions, but accept them with the fullest submission."    [ 4:65]