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The Islamic System
Islam is the deen revealed by Allah (swt) to Muhammad (saw) to
organise the relationship of man with his Creator, with himself, and
man with other human beings. Man’s relationship with his Creator
includes the ‘aqaid itself and the acts of worship. Man’s
relationship with himself includes the moral code, diet, and
clothing. Man’s relationship with other humans involves societal
transactions and the penal code hence, Islam is an ideology
addressing all life affairs. It is not a theology that simply
prescribes a priesthood or is only bound to it. It does away with
authocracy (the dichotomy of clergy) for there is not a group called
the clergy and another group called cilular. All those who embrace
Islam are considered Muslims and are equal in obligation and rights
from the viewpoint of Islam. Hence there is no clergy and laical
men, for its spiritual side means that all things are created by a
Creator and organised by His order.
Such a profound view of the universe, man and life, and what
surrounds them and what is related to them, necessarily shows that
man is limited, dependent, and needy. This is evident in the
universe, man, and life. This confirms that all these are created by
a Creator, directed by His commands and that man, when he proceeds
in this life, needs a system to organise the satisfaction and
fulfilment of his instincts and organic needs. This system cannot
emanate from man as he is limited and lacks comprehensive knowledge.
Furthermore, mans ability to set such a system is subject to
differences, inconsistency, and contradiction. This will produce a
system full of contradiction and will lead to mans misery. The
system must, therefore, come from Allah (swt) and thus it is
obligatory that man conducts his actions according to a system from
Allah (swt). However, if man complied with the Islamic system based
on the pursuit of the material benefit of this system and not
because the system was from Allah (swt), it will be devoid of a
spiritual side or aspect.
Therefore, man must organise his actions in life by the commands of
Allah (swt) based upon his comprehension of the relationship with
Allah (swt) so that the spirit would exist in mans action. Spirit is
mans observation of his relationship with Allah (swt) and the mixing
of matter with spirit is the comprehension of the relationship with
Allah (swt) the moment that the action is performed. An action is
‘matter’, and the comprehension of the relationship with Allah when
performing this action is ‘spirit’ (ruh) and directing one’s action
according to the commands of Allah (swt) - due to the comprehension
of this relationship - is mixing matter with ruh.
Accordingly, when a non-Muslim acts according to the ahkam Shari‘ah
which are derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah, his actions are not
directed by spirit, and the mixing of matter and spirit does not
exists in his actions. This due to the fact that he did not believe
in Islam and did not comprehend the relationship with Allah (swt).
He simply appreciated the system and thus organised his actions
accordingly.
This is in contrast to a Muslim who undertakes his actions according
to Allah’s (swt) commands based upon his belief in Allah (swt) and
comprehension of the relationship with Allah (swt) and whose goal in
complying with the commands of Allah (swt) is attaining Allah’s (swt)
pleasure and not just the benefit the system provides. Therefore, it
is necessary that the spiritual aspects exists in things and the ruh
is apparent when undertaking actions. It must be clear for all that
the spiritual aspect constitutes the thing being created by a
Creator i.e. the relationship of the created with the Creator, while
the spirit is the observation of this relationship, i.e. the
comprehension of this relationship by man. This is the correct
concept (about the spiritual aspect and spirit) in this regard and
all other concepts are false. It is the profound and illuminated
view of the universe, man, and life which has led to the correct
results and to this correct concept.
Some religions have maintained that the universe has two aspects,
the material and transcendental and man embodies both spiritual
ascension and physical yearning, matter and soul and that by
extension, life includes both the materialistic and spiritual
aspects. They assume that the material contradicts the
transcendental, and the spiritual ascension contradicts the physical
yearning and matter is separate from the spirit. They contend that
these two sides are separated from one another due to their
fundamental contradiction in nature. Thus, they cannot be mixed and
the increase in one leads to a deficit in the other.
Consequently, those who desire the ‘Hereafter’ have to excel in the
spiritual dimension. Based on this understanding, two authorities
have arisen in Christianity, the spiritual and the temporal: ‘Render
unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.’ The people
yielding spiritual authority into their hands, the clergy and
priests, endeavoured to acquire temporal authority. As a result, a
severe conflict arose between the temporal and the spiritual
authorities culminating with the church being confined to the
spiritual authority and was prevented from interfering in temporal
matters. Religion, which was regarded as clerical was then separated
from life.
This separation between religion and life is the doctrine of the
Capitalist ideology. It is the basis of Western hadharah and the
intellectual leadership which the Western colonialism calls for and
subsequently conveys to the world. It is the fundamental layer of
its culture which is used to shake the Muslims’ belief in Islam. It
puts Christianity as a standard for Islam through analogy. Thus,
anyone who carries this notion, ‘the separation of religion from
life’ is an indirect or direct agent directed by the Western
intellectual leadership. He works intentionally or ignorantly as an
agent of Western colonialism. He is either ignorant of the Islamic
ideology or its enemy.
Islam views that objects comprehended by our senses are ‘matter’ and
their being created by a Creator determines the spiritual side in
them. The ruh is man’s comprehension of his relationship with Allah
(swt). Thus, there does not exist a spiritual aspect separated from
the materialistic aspect, and also there is no spiritual ascension
and physical desires in man. Rather, he has organic needs and
instincts which need to be satisfied.
One of the instincts in man is the instinct of sanctification which
means the need for the Creator, the Organiser, which is an offspring
of the natural inability of man. The satisfaction of the instincts
cannot be labelled as the materialistic aspect or the spiritual
aspect. Rather, it should be viewed only as a fulfilment. If man
satisfied this organic needs and instincts in accordance with the
system revealed from Allah (swt) and in accordance with his
relationship with Allah (swt), this satisfaction would be directed
by the spirit. If the satisfaction was not based on a system or a
system not revealed by Allah (swt), then the satisfaction will be
purely materialistic and will lead to man’s misery.
If the instinct of reproduction was satisfied without a system or
with a system not from Allah it would lead to misery. Whereas, if it
were satisfied through the system of marriage, which is revealed by
Allah (swt) according to the ahkam of Islam, it would be a marriage
resulting in tranquillity.
If the instinct of religiosity was satisfied without a system or a
system not from Allah (swt), by worshipping other human beings or
idols, it would be polytheism (shirk) and disbelief (kufr). If it
were to be satisfied with the ahkam of Islam, it would be ibadah
(worship). It is therefore necessary to observe the spiritual aspect
in all things and to realise all actions by following Allah’s (swt)
command i.e. on the basis of comprehension of his relationship with
Allah (swt). In this case, the actions will be directed by the
spirit. Therefore, one cannot embody two things (spiritual or
temporal). The fact is that there is only one things which is the
action. Describing the action as purely material or directed by (ruh)
does not derive from the action as such but from either being
directed according to the rules (ahkam) of Islam or not.
For example, when a Muslim kills his enemy in the battlefield his
action is considered a Jihad for which he will be rewarded, since it
is directed by the ahkam of Islam. When the same person kills an
innocent person, Muslim or otherwise, his action is considered a
murder for which he will be punished, because it is not directed by
Allah’s (swt) command. Both actions are the same and stem from man
in that they constitute the taking of a life, but the killing would
be worship when it is directed by the spirit and murder when it is
not. A Muslim is obligated to direct his actions according to the
spirit and the mixing of matter with spirit. It is not permissible
to separate matter from spirit or separate any action from Allah (swt)’s
order on the basis of comprehending the relationship with Allah.
Accordingly, everything that implies the separation of the spiritual
aspect from the material aspect should be done away with. Thus,
there is no clergy in Islam, no spiritual authority and no temporal
authority which is separated from religion. Rather, Islam is a deen
of which the State is an integral part. The State is a group of the
ahkam Shari‘ah in the same manner that the prayer is. It is the
method to implement the rules of Islam and to carry the Islamic
da‘wah.
Therefore, anything that confines religion to the spiritual
dimension, separating it from politics and ruling should be
abolished. All institutions established to exclusively oversee the
spiritual aspect have to be shut down. Therefore, the department of
mosques has to be dissolved and should be managed by the department
of education. The Shari‘ah courts and the statutory courts must also
be dissolved making the court system one and based upon Islam. After
all, the authority of Islam is one.
Islam is an ‘aqeedah and system. The creed is the belief in Allah (swt),
His (swt) Angels, His (swt) Books, His (swt) Messengers, the Day of
Judgement, and al-Qala’a wal Qadar, the
good and the bad are from Allah (swt). Islam builds the ‘aqeedah
which the mind can comprehend on the intellect. This includes the
existence of Allah (swt), the Prophethood of Muhammad (saw) and the
Qur’an. In the aspects of the creed which are beyond the senses (ghayb)
such as the Day of Judgement, Angels, Paradise, and Hell, these are
all based upon and proved by conclusive textual evidences (daleel
naqli), which are themselves built upon rational proofs. Islam has
made the intellect the foundation for orders.
The systems are ahkam Shari‘ah. which organise man’s affairs. The
Islamic system handles all of man’s affairs and outlined a
comprehensive set of rules enabling one to derive detailed rules
from these comprehensive meanings when carrying out the
implementations. The Qur’an and Sunnah also includes general
outlines i.e. general hints to deal with man’s problems in his
capacity as a human being and enabling the mujtahideen to deduce
partial judgements from the general hints for problems that occur
throughout the ages and in different places.
Islam has one consistent approach in solving problems. It invites
the mujtahid to thoroughly study the issue till he understands it
and then to study the relevant Shari‘ah texts and finally deduce the
solution for the issue from the texts. The mujtahid deduces the hukm
Shari‘i for this question from the legal evidences of Islam and
shouldn’t use any other method. Any issue facing man should be
comprehensively studied as an integrated human problem. It should
not be studied partially as an economic, social, political or any
other type of question. It should be studied as a human question
requiring hukm Shari‘i in order to know the hukm of Allah (swt)
related to it.
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This page was last updated on
08/22/2003.
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