Chapter Six:
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) The Messenger Of God
Islam - A Complete Way Of Life
It is the same practical character of the teaching of Prophet Muhammad
that gave birth to the scientific spirit, that has also sanctified the daily
labours and the so-called mundane affairs. The Qur'an says that God has created
man to worship Him but the word worship has a connotation of its own. God's
worship is not confined to prayer alone, but every act that is done with the
purpose of winning the approval of God and is for the benefit of humanity comes
under its purview. Islam sanctifies life and all its pursuits provided they are
performed with honesty, justice and pure intents. It obliterates the age-long
distinction between sacred and profane. The Qur'an says if you eat clean things
and thank God for it, it is an act of worship. It is a saying of the Prophet of
Islam that morsel of food that one places in the mouth of his wife is an act of
virtue to be rewarded by God. Another tradition of the Prophet says:“ he
who is satisfying the desire of his heart will be rewarded by god provided the
methods adopted are permissible”. A person who was listening to him
exclaimed:“ o prophet of god, he is answering the calls of passions, he
is only satisfying the cravings of his heart”. Forthwith came the
reply:“ had he adopted the unlawful method for the satisfaction of this
urge, he would have been punished; then, why should he not be rewarded for
following the right course?”
Sublime Teachings
This new conception of religion that it should also devote itself to the
betterment of this life rather than concern itself exclusively with super
mundane affairs, has led to a new orientation of moral values. Its abiding
influence on the common relation of mankind in the affairs of everyday life,
its deep power over the masses, its regulation of their conceptions of rights
and duty, its suitability and adaptability to the ignorant savage and the wise
philosopher alike are characteristic features of the teachings of the Prophet
of Islam.
Based On Correct Faith And
Right Actions
But it should be most carefully borne in mind that his stress on good
actions is not at the sacrifice of correctness of faith. While there are
various schools of thought, one praising faith at the expense of deeds, another
exhorting various acts to the detriment of correct belief. Islam is based on
correct faith and actions. Means are as important as end and ends are as
important as the means. It is an organic unity. Together they live and thrive.
Separate them and they both decay and die.
In Islam, faith cannot be divorced from action. Right knowledge should be
transferred into right action to produce that right results:" those who
believe and do good, they alone shall enter paradise". How often these
words come in the Qur'an? Again and again, not less than fifty times these
words are repeated. Contemplation is encouraged, but mere contemplation is not
the goal. Those who believe and do nothing cannot exist in Islam. Those
who believe and do wrong are inconceivable. Divine law is the law of effort and
not of ideals. It chalks out for the men the path of eternal progress from
knowledge to action and from action to satisfaction.
“ God - There Is None Like
Unto Him”[6]
But what is the correct faith from which right action spontaneously
proceeds, resulting in complete satisfaction? Here the central doctrine of
Islam is the Unity of God. There is no God but one God, is the pivot from which
hangs the whole teaching and practice of Islam. He is unique not only as
regards His divine being but also as regards His divine attributes.
As regards the attributes of God, Islam adopts here as in other things
too, the law of the golden mean. It avoids, on the other hand, the view of God
which divests the divine being of every attribute and rejects on the other, the
view which likens Him to things material. The Qur'an says, on the one hand,
there is nothing which is like Him; on the other, it affirm that He is Seeing,
Hearing, Knowing. He is the King who is without a stain of fault or deficiency,
the might ship of His power floats upon the ocean of justice and equity. He is
the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is the Guardian over all. Islam does not stop
with this positive statement. It adds further which is its most special
characteristic, the negative aspect of the problem. There is alone no one else
who is guardian over anything. He is the mender of every breakage, and no one
else is the mender of any breakage. He is the restorer of any loss whatsoever.
There is no god but one God, above any need, the Maker of bodies, Creator of
souls, the Lord of the day of judgment and in short, in the words of Qur'an:“
Say: call upon allah, or call upon rahman[7]: by
whatever name ye call him, (it is well): for to him belong the most beautiful
names” (Holy Qur'an 17:110).
Position Of Human Beings In
Creation
Regarding the position of man in relation to the Universe, the Qur'an
says:“ Allah is he who has subjected you to the sea, that you may sail
your ships through it by his command, that ye may seek of his bounty and that
ye may be grateful and he has subjected to you, all that is in the heavens and
on earth as from himself: behold, in that are signs indeed for a people who
reflect” (Holy Qur'an 45:12-13).
But in relation to God, the Qur'an says:“ He (allah) it is who
hath created death and life [8], that he
may test as to which of you is best in deeds: and it is he who is exalted in
might, oft-forgiving” (Holy
Qur'an 67:2).
Inspite of free-will which he enjoys to some extent, every man is born
under certain circumstances and continues to live under certain circumstances
beyond his control. With regard to this, God says according to Islam, it is My
will to create any man under conditions that seem best to Me. Cosmic plans,
finite mortals cannot fully comprehend. But I will certainly test you in
prosperity as well as in adversity, in health as well as in sickness, in
heights as well as in depths. My ways of testing differ from man to man, from
hour to hour. In adversity do not despair and do not resort to unlawful means.
It is but a passing phase. In prosperity do not forget God. God's Gifts are
given only as trust. You are always on trial; every moment on test. In this
sphere of life, " their's is not to reason why, their's is but to do
and die". If you live, live in accordance with God; and if you die, in
the path of God. You may call it fatalism. But this type of fatalism is a
condition of vigorous increasing effort, keeping you ever on the alert. Do not
consider this temporal life on earth as the end of human existence. There is a
life after death and it is eternal. Life after death is only a connecting link,
a door that opens up hidden reality of life. Every action in life, however
insignificant, produces a lasting effect. It is correctly recorded somehow.
This Life Is Preparation For
Hereafter
Some of the ways of God are known to you, but many of His ways are
hidden from you. What is hidden in you and from you in this world will be
unrolled and laid open before you in the next. The virtuous will enjoy the
blessings of God which the eye has not see, nor has the ear heard, nor they
have entered into the hearts of men to conceive of them. They will march onward
reaching higher and higher stages of evolution. Those who have wasted
opportunity in this life shall under the inevitable law, which makes every man
taste of what he has done, be subjected to a course of treatment of the
spiritual disease which they have brought about with their own hands.
Beware, it is a terrible ordeal.
Bodily pain is torture, you can bear it somehow. Spiritual pain is hell, you
will find it unbearable. Fight in this life itself the tendencies of the spirit
prone to evil, tempting to lead you into iniquitous ways. Reach the next stage
when the self-accusing spirit in your conscience is awakened and the soul is
anxious to attain moral excellence and revolts against disobedience. This will
lead you to the final stage of the soul at rest, contented with God, finding
its happiness and delight in Him alone. The soul no more stumbles. The stage of
struggle passes away. Truth is victorious and falsehood lays down its arms. All
complexes will then be resolved. Your house will not be divided against itself.
Your personality will get integrated round the central core of submission to
the will of God and complete surrender to His divine purpose. All hidden
energies will then be released. The soul then will have peace. God will then
address you:“ O Thou Soul That Art At Rest, And Restest Fully Contented
With Thy Lord, Return To Thy Lord, He Is Pleased With Thee And Thou Be Pleased
With Him; So Enter Among My Servants And Enter Into My Paradise”.
Man's Destiny
That is the final goal for man; to become on the one hand the master of
the Universe and on the other to see that his soul finds rest in his Lord, that
not only his Lord will be pleased with him but that he is also pleased with his
Lord. Contentment, complete contentment, satisfaction, complete satisfaction,
peace, complete peace will result. The love of God is his food at this stage
and he drinks deep at the fountain of life. Sorrow and frustration do not
overwhelm him and success does not find him vain and exulting.
Thomas Carlyle, struck by this philosophy of life writes:"
And Then Also Islam - That We Must Submit To God; That Our Whole Strength Lies
In Resigned Submission To Him, Whatsoever He Does To Us, The Thing He Sends To
Us, Even If Death And Worse Than Death, Shall Be Good, Shall Be Best; We Resign
Ourselves To God". The same author continues:"If This Be Islam"
says Goethe, " Do We Not All Live In Islam?". Carlyle himself
answers this question of Goethe, " Yes, all of us that have any
moral life, we all live so. This is yet the highest wisdom that heaven has
revealed to earth".
Carlyle continues, " The Word Of Such A Man (Muhammad), Is
Avoice Direct From Nature's Own Heart: Men Do And Must Listen To That, As To
Nothing Else; All Else Is Wind In Comparison…." From the book - "Heroes
and Hero-Worship".
Notes
[6] Holy Qur'an 112:4.
[7] One of the 99 names (attributes) of God in the Holy Qur'an.
[8] "Created death and life". Death is here put before life, and
is created.
Death is therefore not merely a negative
state.
to be continued . . . .
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