The Philosophy of Islamic Teachings (4)
The Gradual Progress of Man
Close study of God's Holy Word reveals that it lays down certain precepts whose purpose is the reformation of man's natural condition and his gradual elevation to the highest spiritual state. In the first place, God desires to teach man the rules of social behaviour, and the social acts of sitting, standing, eating, drinking, speaking, etc., so as to free him from his barbarism and to distinguish him from the animals, raising him to a first moral state which may be described as social culture. He then wishes to perfect these habits into high moral qualities. These two methods are part of the same process; the reformation of man's natural condition. The difference between them is only a difference of degree. The Omniscient has so arranged the moral system that man can only advance from a lower to a higher state.
The third stage of human progression is that in which a person is to devote himself exclusively to the love of the Creator, and to the attainment of His favour. His entire being is to be offered to God. As a constant reminder of this state to Muslims, their religion has been called "Islam", which means to devote oneself fully to God, keeping nothing for oneself. As God the Glorious has declared:
"No! Whoever submits himself completely to Al'lah, being excellent in conduct, will have his reward with his Lord. No fear shall overtake him, nor shall he suffer affliction." (2:113)
"Say: "My prayer, my sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Al'lah, the Lord of all the worlds. He has no sharer. Thus have I been ordained, and I am the first of those who submit." (6:163-164)
"And say, 'This is my way which leads uprightly. Follow it therefore, and follow no other way, lest you stray from His way" (6:154).
"Say to them: If you love Al'lah, follow me. Al'lah will love you and forgive you your sins, for Al'lah is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful." (3:32)
The Distinction between the Natural and Moral States, and the Refutation of the Doctrine of the Preservation of Life
I am now going to deal with the three states of man. But before I begin, I must repeat the warning that, according to the Holy Word of God Most High, the natural state of man, the source of which is the spirit that incites to evil, is not something separate from his moral state. The Holy Word of God has qualified natural desires and natural impulses as natural conditions. These conditions, regulated and controlled, and used in the right places and on the right occasions, become moral qualities. Likewise, the moral conditions are not entirely separate from the spiritual conditions. By attaining total dedication to God and complete purification of the soul, by isolating oneself from the world and surrendering to God, by attaining perfect love and full dedication, serenity, contentment and total submission to the divine will, then the moral conditions become spiritual conditions.
Until natural conditions are converted into moral qualities, man is not worthy of praise, for the same conditions are found in other animate beings and even in solid matter. Likewise, the mere acquisition of moral qualities does not imply a spiritual life.
A person who denies the existence of God can nevertheless exhibit high moral qualities. Humility and meekness of heart, seeking peace, avoiding revenge, are all natural qualities, which even an unworthy person, who ignores the source of salvation and does not enjoy it, may possess. Many animals are harmless in character, and can be trained to act peacefully without resisting punishment, and yet no one could call them human, much less worthy men.
Similarly, a person of mistaken beliefs, and even with a tendency to vice, may possess such qualities. It is possible for a person to become so compassionate that he will not allow the germs of his own wounds to be killed, or so conscious of the necessity of preserving life that he will not wish to kill the lice in his hair or the insects that breed in his stomach, in his arteries, or in his brain. I admit that the tenderness of the heart may induce a person to renounce the use of honey, since it presupposes the dispersion and killing of the poor bees. I also consent that a person may refuse to use musk because it is the blood of a poor deer, obtained after killing it and separating it from its young. Nor do I deny that there are people who refuse pearls and silk, both of which are obtained by sacrificing the lives of worms. I even accept that a sick person refuses the use of leeches, preferring to endure the pain rather than cause the death of the leeches. Moreover, I am even willing to admit that a merciful man will go to the extreme of not drinking water in order to preserve the life of the bacteria contained in it. I accept all this, but I refuse to admit that these natural qualities are to be considered as moral qualities, nor that they serve to remove the inner impurity which obstructs the way to God.
I cannot believe that the attainment of a degree of harmlessness surpassed even by animals and birds can be a means of acquiring a high degree of humanity. Moreover, I consider such an attitude to be tantamount to an opposition to natural laws, and therefore incompatible with the high moral quality inherent in submission to divine pleasure. Such an attitude is a rejection of the goodness that nature has bestowed upon us. Spirituality is only attained by practising all moral qualities in the right place and on the right occasion, always following the path to God, and surrendering oneself fully to Him. He who is totally surrendered to God cannot exist without Him. He who truly seeks the Lord is like a fish sacrificed for God, whose love is the water in which he lives.
Three methods of reformation and the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad [lpbD] at the time of greatest need
We have established that there are three sources from which the three human states emanate, which are the soul that incites evil, the self-accusing soul, and the soul at peace. There are also three methods of reformation. The first is to inculcate in the ignorant savages the elementary rules of social intercourse, as to drinking, eating, marrying, and so on. They must not go about naked, nor feed on carrion, as dogs do, nor engage in other barbarous acts. This is a first step in the reform of the natural condition, and it is the one to be adopted in wishing, for example, to teach a Port Blair savage the elementary rules of human behaviour.
The second method of reform, having learned elementary human behaviour, is to inculcate the higher moral qualities, and the proper use of their faculties in the right places and on the right occasions.
The third reform consists in enabling those who have acquired high moral qualities to taste love and union with God. These are the three reforms mentioned by The Holy Quran.
Our Lord and Master, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), arose at a time when the world was in a state of corruption. As God Most High tells us:
"Corruption has spread over the land and over the sea" (30:42).
This means that the people of the Book, as well as those who had never known revelation, had become corrupt. The Holy Quran was intended to give life to the dead, saying:
"Know that Al'lah will restore life to the dead land." (57:18).
At that time, barbarism prevailed among the peoples of Arabia. In the absence of any social law, all kinds of sins were proudly committed. Men married an unlimited number of women, and freely practised everything unlawful. They considered it lawful to marry their mothers, and for this reason God Most High established:
"Now your mothers are forbidden to you" (4:24).
Those men fed on carrion, and some were even cannibals. There was no sin they did not commit. Most of them did not believe in the afterlife, and many denied the existence of God. They killed their newborns with their bare hands. They killed orphans to take their property. Despite their outwardly human appearance, they lacked sanity, modesty, shame and dignity. They drank alcohol as if it were water. Whoever fornicated indiscriminately was recognised as the chief of his tribe. Ignorance prevailed so widely among them that the neighbouring peoples called them "the illiterate".
At this time, and for the reformation of such peoples, our lord and master the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) appeared in Mecca. This was the time that most needed the three types of reformation described above. For this reason, The Quran is considered to be more complete and more perfect than any other book of teaching, for the other books did not have the opportunity to implement the three reforms that constitute the true purpose of the Holy Quran. The purpose of the Holy Quran was to convert the savages into men, and then to bestow upon them the necessary moral qualities, and finally to raise them to the level of divine persons. Thus, The Holy Quran comprises within itself these three projects.
(lpbD) - peace and blessings of God be upon him.
[We will continue with installment 5, where we will discuss the true purpose of the Holy Quran's teachings on the three methods of reformation.]