Benefits of prayer

By Muhammad Younus
Friday, July 01, 2011

THE daily prayers are the easiest way to achieving happiness and fitness. There are abundant benefits of Salat narrated in the Quran. There is a Hadith, ‘Inna fissalati shifa’, verily there is cure in Salat.

Prior to offering prayers, a Muslim has to perform ablution. If Wudu is accomplished as per the instructions, optimum vigour could be acquired; this means brushing the teeth, washing the oral and nasal cavities, the face, the hands up to the elbows and feet up to the ankles.
The August 2008 issue of the Journal of Periodontology carried a study conducted by Swedish researchers on the use of miswak. It found that suspended miswak pieces in petri-dish (a medium for culturing bacteria) were able to kill bacteria that cause periodontal ailments.

The research suggested that miswak might be emitting antibiotics as gases, trying to elucidate this phenomenon.

Another study available with the US National Library for Medicine Service concluded that miswak was more effective than tooth brushing in reducing plague and gingivitis. Miswak releases a stuff that soothes toothaches. It also thwarts smoking in adults. It may also perk up appetite and regulate peristaltic movements of the gastro-intestinal tract. The WHO recommends the use of miswak in its global consensus reports on oral hygiene, published in 1980 and in 2000.

Wudu done five times a day not only cleans vital parts of the body but also refreshes them. The Prophet (PBUH) recommended ablution before going to bed. Yoga experts also encourage washing of hands, arms, eyes, legs, mouth and genitals before sleep with cool water for a deep sleep.

Ablution stimulates biological rhythms of the body and specifically Biological Active Sports (BASes) which are akin to the idea behind Chinese reflexo-therapy. It is a treatment which includes hydro massage of the BAS, their thermal and corporal stimulation. Ablution also prevents skin cancer, respiratory and eye infections, body imbalances, athlete’s foot, etc.

It has an exercising effect on every muscle, which is stimulated five times a day or more. After a microscopic investigation, it is confirmed that the noses of those who do not perform ablution were exposed to a huge amount of harmful microbes which can cause many diseases.

It is also established that blood circulation at the limbs is weaker because they are far from the centre of the blood pumping heart.

Therefore, their washing activates blood circulation at these remote areas of the body, making the person more vigourous. Then worshipers stand up and concentrate their minds on praying during Qaiyam. The determination to pray also has a remedial action on depression and the standing helps develop balance. Muscles of the tongue and the face are exercised during the recitation of the Quran in the prayers and blood flow is increased to the brain which can be measured by MRI, PET and the like tests.

Salat also has a psychological, musculo-skeletal and cerebral effects on improving the muscular functions of the geriatric, disabled and dementic patients in a rehabilitation programme. Salat is a short-duration, mild to moderate psychological, physical and brain activity. Such an activity, when performed daily, can have long-term health benefits, according to the American Heart Association.

In prostrating position, the entire body is in active motion and serves as exercise. This position can be considered as a mini-dive. In prostration due to increased blood supply, the brain receives more nourishment and it has a good effect on memory, vision, hearing, concentration, psychic and cognitive abilities. People who offer their prayers regularly have more will power and can cope with the difficulties of life in a much better way. They have fewer headaches, psychological problems and defects in cognitive functions. Prostration helps improve cerebral circulation and avoid ischemic brain disease.

In prostration during Ruku and Sajda, the neck muscles get the best exercise; stronger cervical muscles mean that cervical vertebra is better protected. It is uncommon that a person who offers his prayers regularly will get the usual neck myalgies or cervical spondylosis. Sajda is an excellent exercise for men too, as getting up from the Sajda to the sitting position and standing up from the Sajda, perennial muscles are mobilised giving strength to the muscles. Tasleem or sitting after a Sajda is similar to the relaxation position of Yoga and has a calming effect.

Repetition of a prayer, a verse of the Quran or remembrance of Allah with muscular activity leads to a passive disregard for intensive thought process and thus relaxes. One who offers Salat regularly thus has little probability of getting arthritis, as one exercises the bones and joints while offering Salat. A remarkable tissue in the body is cartilage. It has no direct blood supply and receives nutrients and oxygen through the movement of the joints. Those who sit are in greater danger of amassing dead tissues which lead to arthritis, painful joints and possibly paralysis. Salat, therefore, has many orthopaedic benefits as well.

A prayer is not meant to be an exercise per se; however, there are a lot of medical advantages associated with it. Muslims desire therapeutic and spiritual benefits starting from Wudu to the physical movements in Salat, Takbir, Qaiyam, Ruku, Sajda and Tasleem.

The writer is a civil servant.
Benefits of prayer | Opinion | DAWN.COM

Of socialism and Islam

By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, July 08, 2011

IS Islam compatible with socialism? The question is asked because to many ‘socialism’ means an atheistic philosophy, and at the very core of Islamic teachings is the belief in one God. How can then Islam and socialism go together?

However, this is not the correct view. Many noted ulema had accepted socialism as an essential part of Islamic teachings. In India, Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi enthusiastically supported the communist movement. Maulana Mohani was one of the founders of the Communist Party of India.

Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, who had migrated to Afghanistan during the Khilafat movement and had formed a transition government there along with Mahendra Pratap Singh, left for Russia when the king of Afghanistan came under pressure from the British to expel the members of this government. In Moscow they met Lenin and discussed with him the strategies to fight British colonialism. Maulana Sindhi returned to India only in the early 1940s.

Allama Iqbal also paid rich tribute to socialism in his Khizar-i-Rah which he wrote after the decline of Usmani power in Turkey and on the eve of the Russian revolution. He also paid rich tribute to Marx and called him ‘a man with a book’ without being a prophet (peghambar neest wali dar baghal darad kitab).

He also wrote an interesting poem, Lenin Khuda Ke Huzur Mein (Lenin in the presence of God). W.C. Smith, a noted scholar of Islam and a left-leaning Christian priest who taught in Government College, Lahore in the 1930s, writes in his book, Islam in the Modern World, that Islam was the first organised socialist movement in the world.

Islam showed not only deep sympathy for the poor and downtrodden but also condemned strongly the concentration of wealth in a number of Makkan surahs. Makkah, as an important centre of international trade, was home to the very rich (tribal chiefs) and the extremely poor. Thus, in surahs 104 and 107, we find such condemnations. In one of the Madinese verses, 9:34, we find condemnation for concentration of wealth: “…And those who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in Allah’s way — announce to them a painful chastisement.”

Abu Dharr Ghaffari, one of the eminent companions of the Prophet (PBUH), used to recite this verse before those who would accumulate wealth; he would refuse to shake hands with such people. Thus, those whom Abu Dharr shook hands with would consider themselves proud and even boast about it. Abu Dharr was an uncompromising man when it came to principles, and because of that he died a lonely death in the desert of Rabza where he was exiled. His wife did not even have the money to buy a shroud for him and he was buried in his clothes.

The Quran even goes to the extent of advising the believers to spend all that which is more than one needs in Allah’s way. The word used by the Quran is ‘afw’, i.e. whatever is left after meeting one’s basic needs. Thus, this verse, 2:219, says, “They ask you as to what they should spend. Say what is surplus with you”.

The instruction comes very close to the socialist formulation ‘To each according to his need’. The Quran’s basic emphasis is on justice (adl), and in fact one of Allah’s name is Aadil, i.e. Just. Thus an unjust society cannot be an Islamic society.

Unfortunately, none of the Islamic countries today fulfill these Quranic criteria.

In the Quran, justice is so important that it says “Do justice, it is closest to being pious” (5:8). It also says that justice must be done even if it goes against you and in favour of your enemy. Thus the Quran says, “O you who believe, be maintainers of justice, bearers of witness for Allah, even though it be against your own selves or (your) parents or near relatives — whether he be rich or poor (4:135). And what is socialism but justice in a very comprehensive sense, including distributive justice. If these verses are read in conjunction with chapters 104 and 107 of the Quran, distributive justice cannot be excluded.The Quran also uses other terms to make its intention clear: ‘mustakbirun’ and ‘mustadifun’, i.e. the powerful and exploiters and the weak and exploited. These are really key terms in this respect. All of Allah’s prophets belonged to weaker sections of society, including Abraham, Moses and others, who fought against the powerful exploiters like Nimrod and the pharaoh.

According to the Quran, the struggle between mustakbirun and mustadifun will go on, and in the end it is the mustadifun who will triumph and will inherit this earth (28:5).

Thus the Quran is unmistakably in favour of the weaker section of society and predicts leadership (not dictatorship) of the proletariat. It is interesting to note that it was Imam Khomeini who drew our attention to this verse (28:5), and he also established Bonyaad-i-Mustazefeen (Foundation for the Weak) from the wealth of the rich, which he ordered to be confiscated.

But unfortunately, like other revolutions, the Iranian revolution was also hijacked by those with vested interests.

As soon as a political establishment comes into existence, vested interests develop around it and hijack it more often than not. Thus, a revolution needs constant vigilance by the weaker sections of society. The revolution that Islam had brought met the same fate within years of the death of the Prophet of Islam.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.

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Human rights in Islam

By Nilofar Ahmed
Friday, July 15, 2011

IN their greed for unlimited power, ancient rulers came up with the concept of the divine right of kings so that the king was a ‘god’ or a shahinshah or raja were either the shadow of God on earth (zille ilahi) or his incarnation (avatar), thus exercising material as well as spiritual power. This concept took away all power and dignity from ordinary citizens.

In his book, Quran aur Insani Huquq (‘The Quran and Human Rights’), Muhammad Akhtar Muslim writes that in the western narration of history, the concept of basic human rights is traced to 500BC Greece, then to the falling in 500CE of the Roman Empire, and suddenly to 1100CE, thus ignoring the intervening 600 years comprising the rise of Islam.

It can safely be said that the modern western movement for recognising human rights started from 1100 CE in Britain and reached its fruition with the 1948 UN Charter of Human Rights. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Quran revealed to him introduced a new concept of human rights in the sixth century CE. He is reported to have said the ‘the whole of creation is the family of God. The better a person treats this family, the higher he is held in God’s esteem’. (Mishkat)

The Prophet’s landmark sermons and agreements uphold human rights. He was part of the agreement called Hilf al-Fudhul at a very young age. Made in 586 CE, 26 years before the announcement of his prophethood, its purpose was to establish peace and to support the rights of the downtrodden. The activists of this group would, against all tribal traditions, protect the persecuted, including strangers to the place, and strive for peace and economic equality. These qualities made people recognise him as a prophet later. The clauses of the oath taken by the knights of Europe centuries later were somewhat similar to the clauses of the Hilf al-Fudhul, which is said to be the first document in written history concerned with human rights.

The Mesaq-i-Madina of 623 CE, (1 AH), comprising 52 clauses, was drawn up to do away with the chaos of tribal society and introduce the concept of a state. An effort was made to establish peace, remove biases and create justice, freedom, freedom of religion, a classless society, rules for coexistence with non-believers and to uphold the dignity of human beings. Dr Hamidullah calls it, ‘The first written constitution of the world’. The Prophet introduced moral and ethical elements to politics and declared that real sovereignty belonged to God alone. The ruler under the system would have to be a democratically elected representative responsible for benefiting all in a welfare state.

In 630 CE, the Prophet conquered Makkah, along with his Companions, without any resistance. The Makkans were afraid of revenge but the Prophet declared a general amnesty and gave a short sermon declaring all human beings equal. He said, “Today God has … forbidden the concept of superiority on the basis of family heritage. All human beings were created from Adam and Adam was created from dust.” He also recited from Surah Al Hujrat: “O people, indeed, We have created you from a male and a female and made you nations and tribes so that you would recognise each other. Indeed, the most honourable of you, in the sight of God, is the most God-conscious” (49: 13). This verse also establishes the basis for the full human rights of
women.

In 632 CE, the Prophet performed the only Haj of his lifetime. In his sermon known as the Khutba Hajjatul Vidah, he said, “No Arab is superior to a non-Arab and neither is a non-Arab superior to an Arab. No black is superior to a white and neither is a white superior to a black. If there is any measure for superiority it is piety.…”

He asked his followers to take good care of their slaves. The Quran and the Prophet’s example would gradually eliminate slavery. In future no one would be allowed to make a biased will in favour of an heir, because God has given everyone his due share. He made it clear that the criminal alone will be responsible for his deeds and asked men to be kind to women.

In ancient China, India, Greece, Rome, Persia and Europe women had no religious, moral or legal rights or identity. There was even discussion whether women possessed a soul. The suffragist movement for women’s right to vote started in Europe in 1848 CE. It was granted in some countries as late as 1971.

The Quran gave women the right to vote in the seventh century. The bai’ah or the oath of allegiance to a leader was the vote of that time. In Surah Al-Mumtahenah the Prophet is asked to take the oath from women when he was satisfied with their faith (60:12). This oath was taken, or the vote was cast by women, independently of their men.

It is for Muslims to revert to the egalitarian model set up by the Prophet; all the agreements he ever made were based on the concept of human rights that form the basis of the social rights of citizens. All prejudices of colour, caste and tribe were done away with. The Prophet emphasised the values of peace, liberty, equality and fraternity like none before him.

The writer is a scholar of the Quran.

nilofar.ahmed58@gmail.com

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Business ethics in Islam

By Syed Imad-ud-Din Asad
Friday, July 22, 2011


THE term ‘business ethics’ refers to the behaviour that a business organisation is supposed to adhere to in its interaction with society, transactions with customers and in its internal affairs. The concept of business ethics is as old as business itself.

Initially, different cultures and regions had different ethics of business. With increasing globalisation, the various sets of business ethics are continuously acquiring common values and forms. Islam has given guiding principles for all human activities and also prescribes and explains the ethics of business.

However, the Quran is not the only divine text that lays down such instructions and Muslim thinkers were not the first to conceive this idea. The Bible, for instance, also has many notions that can be and have been applied to commercial activities.

Hammurabi, in his famous code, addressed various commercial issues. Plato discussed justice in The Republic, and Aristotle explicitly discussed economic relations, trade and commerce in his Politics. Many Muslims are unaware that Aristotle too condemned usury. Also, he gave the classic definition of justice as giving each his due, treating equals equally and trading equals for equals.

These issues were also analysed by Christian scholars. For instance, Thomas Aquinas discussed business in the context of justice and honesty, and condemned usury. Luther, Calvin and John Wesley, among other personalities of the Reformation, discussed trade and commerce, and led the development of the Protestant work ethic. However, in the modern West, economic activity has been divorced from religion just as politics has been separated from the church.

Still, if we compare Islamic business ethics with present-day western business ethics, we find numerous similarities. For instance, workplace harassment, discrimination in hiring and promotion, employment benefits, layoffs, conflict of interest, quality control, misuse of business assets, environmental pollution, etc., are matters on which Islamic and western approaches are more or less similar.

In fact, regarding such matters of common approach, Islam often lays down more benevolent provisions and puts more stress on their observance. For example, about employee-employer relationship, Islam very clearly declares that both enjoy the same dignity socially and legally. As a general rule, Muslims are instructed to choose for their fellow men what they choose for themselves. The Prophet (PBUH), in his farewell sermon, instructed Muslims not only to feed and clothe their slaves just like themselves, but also not to treat them harshly even if they committed a fault. Applying this to employees, one can imagine the standard of the working environment and employment benefits that Islam entails.

Just as there are differences between other aspects of Islamic and western practices, Islamic and western business ethics too have certain differences. The most important discerning features are their sources and nature. While western business ethics are secular, Islamic business ethics originate from revelation and the traditions of the Prophet (PBUH), the Quran and Sunnah.

A breach of western business ethics never results in the violator incurring a sin. In the case of Islamic business ethics, a breach always causes divine displeasure. Consequently, Muslims must abide by these instructions not only for the betterment of society, but also to secure their afterlife.

This also means that even if there is no supervisory authority, a Muslim is still bound to comply with the norms of fair business practices. For instance, Islam does not allow an entity to deal in alcohol, drugs, gambling, gharar, pork, pornography, prostitution and riba. In jurisdictions where all or some of these are allowed, Muslims there must avoid them because Islam has prohibited these trades.

In other words, Islamic business ethics must be observed by the believers in Muslim and non-Muslim jurisdictions alike.

Thus, a true Muslim must never neglect the welfare of employees, performance of business covenants, quality standards, the environment, social responsibilities of the enterprise, etc., whether he is running a venture in Pakistan or in the US.

Unfortunately, present-day Muslims mostly just talk about the Islamic way of life without actually practising it. Ask a Muslim entrepreneur about Islamic business ethics and he will gladly give a lengthy sermon on the instructions given in the Quran and Sunnah on the topic and will accurately narrate numerous examples set by early Muslim businessmen regarding honesty in trade and employee welfare. However, his real conduct will be the opposite. Unfortunately, this is the general rule.

No wonder, in a report recently published in Financial Times, some Islamic financial experts openly criticised Islamic financial institutions for resorting to “juristic engineering” to bypass Islamic restrictions in order to maximise profits. Thus, Islamic financial products and services, in most of the cases, are Islamic only in form, not substance.

Does this mean that Islam makes hypocrites or that the provisions given in the Quran and Sunnah are no more practical? Not at all. Can we say that Christianity makes thieves just because there are thieves who happen to be Christian? Does the Quran not say that revelation is valid for all times?

The fault lies with corrupt and selfish Muslim businessmen who disregard Islamic injunctions for worldly enrichment. By growing a beard, praying five times a day and fasting in Ramazan, they believe it is enough to fulfil their obligations to God.

Can the beard, prayers and fasting really absolve them from ignoring their duties to their employees, clients, competitors, consumers and society as a whole? Is it possible to deceive God?

The writer is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the director of the Centre for Law and Policy, University of Management and Technology, Lahore.

syed.asad@umt.edu.pk

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In quest of the lost soul

By Ahmad Raza
Friday, July 29, 2011

MAULANA Rumi tells the story of an old man holding a lantern in his hand and walking around the city square in broad daylight. Another man, thus seeing the old man, thought he had gone mad and lost his way home.

The man asked the old man, “Can’t you see its daylight and you are holding a lantern? What is the purpose of this insane behaviour?” The old man replied, “Can’t you see it’s really dark outside and I am holding this lantern in my hand so that I can find a man?” The lantern of the old man is a metaphor for the human soul (or morality). This soul has lost its light in the glare of purposeless materialism and aimless consumerism. There is hardly a humane society left which can sail through the litmus test of decay and decadence. The desire to dominate springs from the misleading glitter of brute materialism and naïve
techno-consumerism. The unstoppable cries of ‘we want more’ emanate from all corners of the globe.

There is no end to the possession, control and domination of human beings by material objects today. Everything good has been engulfed by the market philosophy. The driving principle of the market is simple. Make money, seek power, dominate others or else you perish under the ‘burden of conscience’. You have the Darwinian test of the ‘survival of the fittest’ and if you fail, you perish. As long as you dominate, you need no logic to justify your domination.

Everything is labelled and sold in the market, be it religion or politics, culture or the arts, science or civilisation. You have no value as a person if you lack a marketable label. You have no relevance if you are not saleable. Wisdom is ridiculed. Your knowledge is useless if it is not marketable. Socrates is banned in this kingdom of markets. Only Dale Carnegie is sought after here. Ideas are copyrighted and are sold till these are replaced by new brands of ideas. Those who thought and preached that ideas must be sought for the cultivation of the human soul are no more needed in this age of shamelessness.

Awesome stories of human resistance and personal courage have become trash stories. They are no more told and retold in our classrooms. The evil spells of silence, domination and fear have taken hold of our lives. We revel in the orgy of meaness.

We promote symbols of markets in our classrooms, in our political discourse, our cultural ethos and in our religious judgments. One-minute managers and ‘how to win friends and influence people’ drive our worldviews. The success stories of college dropouts who became business tycoons are praised and emulated.

Courage and resistance to materialism are not talked about anymore. No one speaks about the Garibaldi, Gramsci, Iqbal, Hallaj and Rumi. Even the politics of change and revolution are carefully marketed by political pundits. Our discourse lacks truth and hence suffers from impotence. Our poets, intellectuals, politicians and professors run from one media channel to another to grab space to market their quick fixes.

We can hardly expect another Jalib or Faiz to emerge. Everyday we come across dark realities. We witness brute displays of force. We experience praise for fascism. We wear a face of abject materialism. We come across eulogies of techno-consumerism. We have lost our purpose, our souls in the marketplace. We are told by our intellectuals and politicians that we are slaves of the market economy. We must learn to live under the domination of markets or perish. Forget about the lantern of Rumi, and seek the daylight glitter of pirates of naked materialism and technological imperialism, says the new mantra.

Jean Paul Sartre once wrote that man is condemned to be free. He must choose and decide about his existence. His epigram is reversed in the kingdom of markets. Man no more enjoys an existence. He has become a mere object of domination by the lethal one-minute market managers. Choice, decision and freedom are also labelled and sold by the neo-liberals.

There are organisations that sell freedom, promote political choices and tell us how to exercise our decision power through free elections. History is weird. Those who once detested hegemony and domination have now become new symbols of hegemony and domination. Obviously, the Athenians must suffer the rule of tyrants if they kill one Socrates.

We need to reflect on our current states of affairs. Why do we revel in a shameless orgy of silence, domination and fear? Why have we become so self-seeking, a lost herd oblivious of our purpose and destiny? Why are we charmed by the market kingdom? Wherein lies the cause of this social sickness? The answer is simple. We have lost our lanterns, our souls.

We are enamoured by what Iqbal has termed the ‘dazzling exterior ‘of objectified materialism and technological imperialism.

Every one of us is after the accumulation of objects and power. In order to satisfy our self-seeking ego, we harm ourselves; we inflict injury on our friends; we deceive our boss; we lie to our children. Rumi has the panacea, as he reveals through his spiritual disciple, Iqbal:

Suiy-i-maadar aa keh teemarat konad (Come to your mother [soul], so she cures you of your sickness).

The writer is a social scientist based at the School of Business and Economics, University of Management and Technology, Lahore.

ahmadelia@gmail.com

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Religion, peace & radicalism

By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, Aug 05, 2011


WHAT happened recently in Norway has not only shocked the world, it has also raised an important question. Does religion stand for peace or murder? One thing is certain: after 9/11 only Islam is being blamed for violence, war and ‘jihad’.

Now it is obvious that such extremists who go on a killing spree are found in all religious traditions, even in highly developed nations. It is not only ‘backward Arabs’ or ‘fanatical Islamists’ who kill. Even Christians from highly developed and democratic nations can kill innocent people without remorse. Many people would readily blame religion for such killings, but the reality is more complex.

Religion is a tool which can be used for both establishing peace as well as for waging war. Much depends on the individual or a group with a certain ideology. Obviously, all religious individuals do not kill nor do all groups embrace far-right ideologies. Is then peace more integral to religion or the hatred of the ‘other’? Does one who hates the ‘other’ love his own people? The answers are not as simple as we would like to believe.

Religion can be what we want it to be. There are instances of religion being used for peace and also for spreading hate. There have been many deeply religious people who devoted their lives to the cause of peace. Foremost among them in our own times were Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi stood for non-violence and so interpreted his religious tradition as well as other traditions like Christianity and Islam to establish peace.

Similarly, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, firmly stood for peace in the face of horrible acts of violence committed by America in Vietnam. We often condemn those who use religion for killing others as fundamentalists but interestingly those who use religion for peace too make very hard use of religion and are, in that sense, no less fundamentalist.

Interestingly, Gandhi also rejected a complete public-private split, stating “I could not be leading a religious life unless I identified myself with the whole of mankind, and that I could not do unless I took part in politics. …You cannot divide social, economic and purely religious work into watertight compartments”. Islamic thinker Iqbal, by no means a narrow-minded Islamist, also said that if religion were separated from politics, only changezi (cruelty) would be left in it.

Thus religious peacemakers also want to use what we can call ‘hard-core’ religion (as against a softer version) to establish peace. Another example is of the Quakers who have a longstanding tradition of rejecting compromises with secular institutions like the government. They refused, for the sake of peace, conscription in military services. They denounced slavery and refused to own slaves or use goods produced by slave labour, and actively obstructed slave labour for building underground railways. Thus religious convictions can be actively used to mend public affairs.

Both those who use religion for peace and those who use it to perpetrate violence against the ‘other’ are convinced of the truth of their religion. They firmly believe their religion is based on ‘divine truth’. It is the firm belief in the ‘divine truth’ which motivates them to act. Then what is the truth of their ‘Truth’? What is truth, remains an important question. Those who stand for peace know that the truth of all religions is one.

Divine truth is manifest in different ways in different religious traditions. The truth of one religion cannot conflict with the truth of another. The Quran calls it ‘wahdat al-deen’ i.e. unity of religion; Maulana Abul Kalam Azad devoted one whole volume to the nature of the subject. Dara Shikoh also dealt with it in Majma’ul Bahrayn (‘Co-mingling of Two Oceans’) and points to some striking similarities.

The nature of divine truth is complex. It must be understood more in action than thought. The truth is more than empirical fact; it lies more in values. It may be a combination of fact and value or at times only value, mainly a spiritual one. It may be expressed either descriptively in language or symbolically. Those who hold strong convictions express it more through action. The truth is more a quest than a settled issue.

In a streak of Buddhism, non-attachment to ideas plays an important role. Thus one of the principles of ‘engaged’ Buddhism is not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology. All systems of thought are, according to this principle, only guiding means and not absolute truths. Also human life is more precious than an ideology or a doctrine.

Humankind has suffered much from attachment to ideas or doctrines.

Idolatry is not only worshipping idols but also worshiping ideas and doctrines. The truth should be taken as a process. A truly religious person’s life is devoted to its pure quest rather than its unalterable nature. Different cultures and different conditions can produce different forms of the truth or it may be put differently in different languages or cultures, as Dara Shikoh has argued in his book.

The Quran also says that Allah has created diversity; we must accept diversity as a divine gift. The Norway killer was angry at multiculturalism, and many Europeans are not so enthusiastic about immigration and multiculturalism. This creates narrow-mindedness and anger and can explode in a violent form through an individual or a group. The only remedy is to accept diversity and multiculturalism as part of the divine plot for creation, as the Quran argues.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.

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The blessings of Ramazan

By Muhammad Rafi
Friday, Aug 12, 2011

RAMAZAN is a special time of year, a time when Muslims take a step back from their daily routines and focus on community, charity, fasting and prayers. But at times it is felt that the true spirit of the month is lost in the rush for iftar and the daylong expression of anger, intolerance and indifference that we notice around us.

The spirit of Ramazan goes far beyond mere fasting. It is an occasion for deep introspection and building capacities for self-actualisation. It is not only a month of fasting, but abstinence from all things that have a negative influence on one’s personality.

Since character-building is a long, hard and continuous process, Ramazan comes back every year as a reminder and re-enforcer. We should not be under the false impression that our spiritual development is taking place while our life goes on as usual. The Quranic term for the Ramazan fast is ‘soum’, which means to control one’s desires and discipline life within the
limits prescribed by Allah. ‘Saim’ is the person who stops himself from treading the wrong path by controlling himself.

Every year, in this month, the Quran is recited at a rapid pace to acquire the reward of a virtuous act. It is obvious that the way the words of the Quran are repeated and heard without being understood, cannot make the exposition of the Holy Book understandable. Ramazan is a continuation of the long history of fasting in the Abrahamic faiths. Jews, Christians and Muslims all enjoin fasting. Moses observed a fast of 40 days at Mount Sinai at the time of the revelation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:18). Ramazan sets up a momentary abolition of man’s dependence on his link with the world of matter, and thereby strengthens the connection with God.

By breaking the routine of daily life, it provides an opportunity to control one’s instincts. The fast is not without social impact since it submits both rich and poor to the same limitations and opportunities to be closer to Allah. Muslims habitually bear the intense pangs of hunger and thirst all day so that they are accustomed to pass smilingly and steadfastly through the extremely difficult stages of life.

Ramazan is an annual training period in which provisions are made to revitalise new inspirations in life. It is a refresher course to reinvigorate the memorandum — one in which the direct link between Allah and man is renewed to consolidate the law of requital and, of course, the development of personality. This month provides us an opportunity to evaluate the sum total of our deeds and consequences spread over the whole year.

This should help us in assessing as to what extent we have marched ahead in the preceding year and to renew our pledge for improvement in our attitude, behaviour and deeds in the coming year. The Quran tells us that if humanity follows divine guidance in letter and spirit, it will rediscover the paradise that was lost by man as a result of disobedience to God’s instructions.

Today, Muslims, directed by the Quran to work towards solving the problems of humanity, are unable to solve even their own problems. In the 21st century, we see that a very large number of Muslims pray, fast, give zakat, perform Haj; yet they do not receive the same benefits and success as Muslims in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did. Nations where there is rampant social injustice and exploitation can never expect help from God.

As a deen, or system of life, Islam cannot be confined to a personal affair of seeking salvation, an affair between the individual and God. Such compartmentalisation of Islam has resulted in a people who are satisfied after performing only the ritualistic aspects of Islam. That is why positive results are rarely seen in Muslim societies today.

A close study of the Quran makes it clear that a people who are satisfied with their state of indignity, dependence, hopelessness and insecurity are one nation experiencing Allah’s wrath (‘maghdoob-i-alaihim’ 1:6). Such people cannot declare themselves as being the recipients of Allah’s blessings by simply going through soulless prayers and customary fasts.

Allah promises that He will give power in this world in return for iman and good deeds. In other words, if Muslims are not practically applying the injunctions of the Quran in their lives, they cannot expect to receive Allah’s blessings. According to the Quran, if one’s supposed iman and good deeds do not result in dignity, self-respect, power, authority and independence, then that iman cannot be true and those good deeds cannot be truly good.

During the days of the Prophet, was it not the same fasting and prayers that transformed Arabian society in a very short period of time? Those people, whose subsistence mainly depended on dates and simple food, completely overpowered the Persian and Byzantine empires and became the inheritors of their power on earth.

It is said that Satan and all evil forces are chained during this month; but it is also sadly true for our society that crime, thefts, robberies, murders, hoarding and profiteering assume very high proportions. Perhaps our good deeds and intentions are not righteous enough to defeat the forces of evil and vice.

During this month and at all times, Muslims should strive to protect themselves from evil and adopt the divine laws as a habit.

If Muslims can fast during Ramazan because it is an injunction of the Quran, then they should also submit to all the other injunctions of the Holy Book all year round.

The writer is a retired professor.

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The Prophet as a social activist

By Nilofar Ahmed
Friday, Aug 19, 2011

SOCIAL activism by citizens is often looked upon as a modern-day phenomenon. What is not commonly known is that the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) started his social activism in his youth, much before his declaration of prophethood.

The deeds of the Prophet, even before that time, were in accordance with his noble character and the teachings which he later received. One of the major aims of his career was social reform. Even before Islam, the rite of Haj was observed at the Kaaba, and war was forbidden in that sacred month.

Once when this ban was violated and a visiting tribe’s members were looted and their local protector killed, a war broke out.

The war ended according to an agreement known as the Hilf-al-Fudul. According to M. Akhtar Muslim, in Quran aur Insani Huquq (‘The Quran and human rights’), around the year 586 CE, another trader visiting Makkah was deprived of his goods without being paid. He cried out for help. With regard to this, Dr M. Hamidullah writes in Muhammad Rasulullah (‘Muhammad the Prophet of Allah’) that Al-Zubair, the head of the Prophet’s family, convened a meeting. In this meeting, in which the Prophet took part as a young man, it was decided to bring a group into action under the revived Hilf-al-Fudul.

According to some scholars ‘fadal’ also means ‘right’, the plural of which is ‘fudul’. Therefore, one of the meanings of this could be, ‘the agreement for the protection of rights’. The group’s activists pledged to come to the help of anyone who had been wronged in Makkah, without discrimination, to favour the weak and downtrodden against their powerful persecutors. The tribes of Taim, Zuhra, Muttalib and Hashim took the oath for this agreement.

The important objectives and clauses of the Hilf-al-Fudul were as follows: lawlessness would be done away with; security of the travellers and newcomers would be ensured; victims of cruelty would be helped regardless of whether they were residents of Makkah or visitors; and the powerful persecutors would be stopped from being unjust to the weak. Dr M. Hamidullah in Rasul-i-Akram ki Siyasi Zindagi (‘The political life of the Prophet’) describes the oath as: “We swear by God that we will together become one (strong) hand. This hand will remain by the side of the weak and will continue to be raised against the strong and the unjust until the persecutor returns to the persecuted his right. This will remain so until the sea keeps the seashells wet and the hills of Hira and Thabir remain in their place. There will be equity in our society.”

The last sentence can mean that even the most humble of citizens would be able to challenge and demand redress from the most powerful. Only a handful of tribes participated in the Hilf-al-Fudul, yet it was a revolutionary agreement, the fundamental principle being non-alliance. Previously, all help had been given on the basis of tribes and the pacts made with them.

In this pact, it had been agreed that anyone and everyone who had been wronged, could ask for help. They went so far as to say that even those strangers and travellers who belonged neither to Makkah nor to any of its tribes would be eligible for help.

Previously, travellers were an open target for persecution. Not only were they robbed, but often their wives and daughters were taken away from them forcibly.

Another reason for its being a revolutionary agreement was that the Hilf-al-Fudul was not based on social class. Anyone who had been wronged, whether he was a free person or a slave, rich or poor, was eligible for help. Through this agreement, to a large extent Makkah became safe for the weak, the persecuted and strangers. The activists, acting with great speed, saw to it that the person who had been wronged was given back all that had been taken away from him forcibly.

Very soon, powerful thugs, including Abu Jahal, started to fear reprisal from the activists. The Makkans can be truly proud of the fact that at the time when the whole world was steeped in darkness and injustice, these conscientious activists were able to provide free protection and justice to the weak and the helpless through their humanistic ideals. In trying to create some kind of law and order in Makkah, the activists of the Hilf-al-Fudul were really helping to formulate some laws based on the concept of modern-day human rights. Dr M. Hamidullah says that the law of Islam in its early phase was the customary law of Makkah until such time as parts of it were specifically amended or abrogated. The principles of the Hilf-al-Fudul can safely be said to be a part of the law of Islam.

Even though many of the participants of the agreement remained non-Muslim, the Prophet kept acting on it after his declaration of Islam. He is reported to have said later: “Even if red camels were given to me in exchange for the Hilf-al-Fudul, I would not accept them.” This agreement can also be looked upon as the beginning of the attempt to codify laws and enforce a policing system with the objective of establishing peace and equity through practical social activism.

The pact also gives Muslims a precedent for the moral responsibility of all citizens to protect the weak and to speak for them, to critique the rulers and the powerful and the concept of establishing citizens’ groups that advocate and lobby for social rights.

The writer is a scholar of the Quran and writes on its relevance to contemporary issues.
nilofar.ahmed58@gmail.com

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The need to reflect

The Quran says that intellect is to be used in the service of faith and fellow human beings in sifting right from wrong.

By Amin Valliani
Friday, Aug 26, 2011

RIGHT from the time of its revelation, the Holy Quran has provided us with an all-inclusive value system to lead a successful life in this world and also to reap benefits in the Hereafter.
Among its many unique characteristics, the Quran places immense importance on the capacity of the human mind to reflect on the signs of Allah that are spread all round in nature.

The Quran requires humans to think over matters of fundamental importance seriously, objectively, competently and purposefully. This is aimed at learning and discovering the natural truth. Some ulema and Sufis, too, have emphasised the use of the human intellect to the extent that they have included it in the essentials of the faith as they practised it.

They argue that the human being has been declared by Allah as the crown of creation on the basis of this intellect. It is the only distinctive feature that differentiates humans from other creations. Now, as to where and how to use this intellect, the Quran very emphatically says that it is to be used in the service of faith (and fellow human beings), in sifting right from wrong, in discovering the secrets of the universe, in promoting the ethics preached by Islam, in shunning evil practices in society, in solving social problems, in meeting challenges and in fixing the future direction of the community.

The Quran likens people who do not think to cattle. They have been termed ‘deaf’, ‘dumb’, ‘blind’ and ‘dead-hearted’ as their hearts have been sealed off. In verse 25:44, Allah says, “…or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like cattle — nay, they are even farther astray from the Path.” Though many Quranic chapters constantly call for reflection, chapter 45 (Surah al-Jathiya) particularly invites believers to reflect over the phenomena that are the heavens, the earth, the birth of human beings and of creations, the difference between day and night, and so on. These are called ayat, i.e. signs or hints from Allah, whereby a believer can upgrade himself/herself spiritually by discovering and reflecting on the secrets of nature and the laws governing it.

Almost all the prophets mentioned in the Quran have left examples for us to follow of their reflection on the universe in their respective times. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used to reflect in the cave Hira just outside Makkah before his declaration of Prophethood. Hazrat Ibrahim, too, had an inquiring mind. The Quranic verses 6:75-79 narrate his reflections. For instance, he saw a star on a dark night and said “this is my Lord”, but when it set, he said, “I like not those that set”. Then subsequently he saw the moon rising, then the sun rising. He said the same thing about those heavenly bodies, and ultimately was led to the Truth.

In the early period of Islamic history, Muslims pondered over the prevailing situations. That is why they conquered the world within the shortest possible time. They ruled over the hearts and minds of the people and won converts wherever they went. They expanded their vision of creation by constant reflection. However, after the 16th century they gave up reflection and became static.

Europeans, on the other hand, learnt to reflect and thus expand their rule over other nations. Today, they have wellestablished universities and research institutes where the process of reflection is carried out in a very scientific manner. Besides, they have established think tanks which think and reflect strategically, suggest planning prerogatives and forecast possible outcomes for national and human development. By this they influence the world and enjoy superiority.

At the individual level, it is also fundamental that a person should think positively. Sometimes negative thinking besets an entire people, causing them immense harm. In order to be positive, faith, sincerity and prayers seeking divine help are a must. One must guard one’s thinking as to where it leads; it is tough but with practice one can master the thinking process.

By logically thinking ahead, one may pre-empt possible bad results, avoid repercussions and help prevent harm from coming to one’s growth and development. Many of our problems are due to knee-jerk actions without thinking or reflection. A human being is programmed by Allah to think forward and arrive at the right conclusions; this ability must be developed.

Unfortunately, some Muslim youth have become ultraemotive and are drawn to militancy instead of reflecting on their attitudes, thus inflicting tremendous damage on the entire ummah. The example of 9/11 illustrates the point. If the young people who planned and carried out those terror attacks had thought of the after-effects of their action on Muslims everywhere, they would not have done it.

Our present problems need deep reflection; they cannot be solved overnight. Islamic teachings provide us the basic parameters on how to go about resolving many issues. There is a need to develop systematic thinking at the school level. The educationists are the people to design a curriculum for purposeful reflection along scientific lines. The students’ minds need positive direction at an early age to help form desirable habits and build a dignified character.

What they think leads to their subsequent actions, and their actions ultimately determine their habits, character and personality. Our education system usually stresses memorising Quranic verses. This is okay but once these verses are memorised, the very next step is to develop an understanding of them through reflection. The third step should be to encourage students to apply the message of Quranic teachings to their lives.

The writer is an educationist. amin.valiani@itrebp.org

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Of paradise and hell

By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, Sep 09, 2011

FRIENDS often ask me what I make of the concept of paradise and hell. Are these places located somewhere out there where people would enter according to their deeds, good or bad? Or are these mere symbols as those who believe in batini (concealed meaning) of the Quran?

Are these places where people would eternally abide in the physical sense? Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was often asked such questions, especially regarding the Day of Judgment. It is important to note that the Quran, like other scriptures, is more symbolic than descriptive though not altogether symbolic. No scripture could be merely descriptive in order to remain eternal. Symbolism both makes it multi-layered in meaning as well as eternal in application.

The scriptures should make sense equally for ordinary people as well as those who have attained great heights in knowledge. A scripture, if it is a means only for the highly knowledgeable, would leave ordinary people uninspired; if it is flat in description and without layers of meaning, it would not attract the highly knowledgeable. Thus what the Quran says about paradise and hell should be intelligible for both lay persons as well as the knowledgeable.

Indeed it is, provided we take the description of paradise and hell both in their literal as well as symbolic sense. There is one more aspect which one must be aware of and Sufis have often emphasised that aspect. Sufis believe that one must not do anything for greed or out of fear i.e. for reward or punishment. This is symbolised in the famous story of Rabia Basri, the noted woman Sufi saint.

One day she was carrying a burning flame in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When people asked her why she was doing that, she replied that she wanted to set fire to paradise with the burning flame and put out the fire of hell with the bucket of water so that people stopped worshiping Allah for greed of paradise or fear of hell. A true worshipper would do that for neither but for its own merit.

The Quran is wonderfully balanced in its symbolism and descriptive language. An ordinary reader benefits from it as much as one who has achieved great heights of knowledge. The rationalists found it as much useful as the blind followers but there was great difference between the two in terms of their understanding. The Mutazilites (rationalists of Islam), the Ismailis (who believe in hidden meanings along with the literal) and the Sufis understood the Quran very differently from other literalists (Zahiris).

For Zahiris, paradise and hell have been described in vivid details in a physical sense: in paradise there will be eternal gardens with canals of milk and honey flowing, and in hell the fire will cause great physical pain, with no way out. Both places would be eternal abodes of those sent there. The description of paradise is tempting while that of hell inspires great fear.

However, there are those who treat such descriptions more symbolically and look for deeper meanings. The Quran calls paradise a place of peace and security: “We will root out whatever of rancour is in their breasts — they shall be as brethren on raised couches, face to face; toil shall but not afflict them therein, nor shall they be ejected therefrom.” (15:45-48)
Firstly, paradise is a state in which a believer would be perfectly at peace and secure. There will be no fear or feeling of doubt or restlessness. Only a person who is perfect in his/her faith can achieve such a state of mind. A doubter, a sceptic, without perfection of faith cannot feel secure and peaceful at heart. The Sufis talk of insan-i-kamil, i.e. a perfect human being. Their whole effort is to achieve this state of being because only such a person is perfectly at peace with himself.

Also, there are stages to perfection, and one has always to try to achieve a higher and higher stage on the way to perfection. It is not correct to say that paradise is a place of rest and enjoyment. Far from it. It is a place of constant efforts to raise oneself to higher degrees of perfection. Thus the Quran says, “But those who keep their duty to their Lord shall have high places, above them higher places, built (for them)” (39:20). Thus paradise is not at all a place of eternal rest and enjoyment but that of spiritual efforts for further stages to perfection.

It is abiding in the sense that these are ceaseless efforts and once you achieve one stage of perfection there is no looking back; one goes on and there is great fulfilment in making these efforts. The more of such efforts, the more one feels at peace with oneself.

Similarly, hell is, for those who are people of knowledge, a state of mind in which one is far from perfection in one’s faith but in a constant state of doubt or even hypocrisy and thus remains in a state of torment; it is the fire of doubt or hypocrisy which keeps tormenting one, and as those who rise in a state of perfection in the case of paradise, one keeps on falling lower and lower in the case of hell. The greater the depth of the fall, the graver the torment.

However, the Quran provides for what it calls taubat al-nusuh (sincere repentance), which can redeem one of this torture. One always has a choice either to rise higher and higher to the state of perfection or fall to a state of the lowest of the low.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.

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