BEWARE OF
THE EMERGENCE OF A EUROPEAN OR AMERICAN ISLAM
This speech was delivered at the
Islamic Centre of New Jersey on June 4, 1977.
Introducing the speaker, the Egyptian scholar, Dr.
Sulaiman Duniya eulogised the services of Indian
Muslims to the Arabic language and Islamic sciences
and said that non-Arab Muslims had taken an equal
part in the propagation and presentation of Islam
with the Arabs, if not greater. He also stressed the
universal character of Islam, claiming that it
transcended geographical and political boundaries.
Friends and Brothers, It is my
good fortune to meet you at this great Islamic
Centre, This is my first visit to North America.
Before it, I used to read and hear about this land
and the progress Islam was making in it. I had,
also, some knowledge of the religious inclination
and solicitude of the Muslims who had taken up
residence here. But I did not imagine that I would
be meeting so many of my religious brethren in this
far-off country or witnessing such a keen interest
and enthusiasm for Islam.
On coming here I realised that
Islam was trying to obtain a foothold in the United
States which enjoyed the position of leadership in
the contemporary world owing, largely, to its
phenomenal advances in the fields of science and
industry. By the grace of God, Islam has made its
debut in. this part of the world and is making a
steady headway, and, God willing, the day is not far
when an Islamic society will be established here.
It is, of course, a good augury
for Islam and a matter of joy for the Muslims, but
I, also, have some misgivings by reason of what
little knowledge I possess of history. The
establishment of an Islamic society so far away from
the centres of Islamic faith and civilisation is
open to grave risks and can lead to catastrophic
consequences. Dr. Sulaiman Duniya, from whose
writings 1, too, have profited, has very aptly
remarked that Islam is not exclusive to any country.
I wholly agree that Islam is not a territorial
faith, yet, it also needs a distinctive environment,
a congenial climate, and a prcdisposition that may
transcend personal, cultural and intellectual
standards and give forth, as one would say, the
aroma of Islam. It requires an Islamic homeland for
it is neither a mystical doctrine nor a philosophy
nor a collection of soulless beliefs and rituals,
but a real, living and all-embracing faith.
Islam, at once, is comprehensive
of Idea and Action, Morality and Monetary Dealings,
and Emotion and Intellect. In the same way, it,
also, is a special kind of natural inclination and a
peculiar state of mind. It embraces all the manifold
aspects of human personality-spiritual and material,
moral and physical, emotional and intellectual, and
personal and social. It casts a man into a new
mould. Whoever embraces Islam with an open heart
believing it to be the chosen faith of the Lord and
the Last of the Divine Messages will get cast into
the mould of Islam. He will be transformed so
radically as if be had been born anew because Islam
is a complete and eternal plan of life which
comprehends all the aspects of change and revolution
and perfection and beauty. Islam is not a wooden
dogma or a traditional religion, but a faith that
permeates through the inmost recesses of the heart
and soul.
If the true image of Islam is
present before the mind's eye, it would be evident
that it is not something that can, simply, be
transmitted through the written or spoken word or
seen in the books, but a typical way of thought and
a distinctive state of feeling. Hence it passes
judgement about the goodness and badness
desirability and undesirability of things. as is
related about the holy Prophet that he liked or
disliked many things. He, for example, liked to
begin every good act with the right hand so much so
that be started combing his hair from the right side
or when he wore the shoes, he began with the right
foot. Similarly, there were many things that gave
him pleasure or made him annoyed and uncomfortable.
Islam, in fact, is an Apostolic of empyreal way of
life that has come down from the heaven of heavens
and the Divine Messengers have been its bearers and
custodians, and they have left it behind as their
legacy.
This is why, God had described
Islam as Sibghatuilah (Colour of Allah). Were it
only a body of doctrines or a code of conduct it
would not have been called Sibghat which denotes a
mark', 'a colouring', and a distinguishing feature'.
This can be possible only when Islam draws a clear
line of demarcation between one man and another,
between one life, character and temperament, and
another life, character and temperament, and brings
out clearly the difference among the standards of
things and values of life. The criterion of Islam is
quite different from the criterion of Infidelity.
Hence, you will find warnings in the compilations of
the Traditions and Sunnah of the Prophet against the
Age of Ignorance and its practices. For instance,
sometimes, it is said about a thing that it is a
practice of the Age of Ignorance, and, sometimes,
that is very much like the zealotry and arrogance of
those days. It is set forth in the Quran;
(O ye women); Bedizen not
yourselves with the bedizenment of the Time of
Ignorance. (XXXIII : 33)
But why ? The Age of Ignorance
having ended long ago, for what purpose did the
Quran call upon men to shun it? It was because
Ignorance was a definite way of life and had its own
values and standards for judging the goodness and
badness, lawfulness and unlawfullness of things, and
it was a way of life which the Lord viewed with
disfavour. It is mentioned in the Traditions that
God looked at the earth and was displeased with the
Arabs and non-Arabs who dwelt on it except for a few
People of the Scripture".
The Almighty disliked Ignorance;
He cursed it, and declared it undesirable for the
bondmen. Hence, it was said: Bedizen not yourselves
with the bedizenment of the Time of Ignorance. And,
also:
When the unbelievers got up in
their hearts heat and cant : the heat and cant of
Ignorance.
(-XLVIII : 26)
Whenever the sacred Prophet
noticed a trait of Ignorance in a Muslim, he took
exception to it, saying: 'You are still under the
influence of Ignorance'. For instance, when he saw
an illustrious Companion like Abu Zarr Ghifari
ill-treating his slave and beating him up, the
Prophet observed : "The inclination towards
Ignorance has not yet gone out of you". The worthy
Companion, on his part, was so deeply affected by
the rebuke that he, at once, started treating his
slave like an equal, and gave him to eat and wear
what he ate and wore himself.
Had Islam not been possessing a
distinctive character and temperament, the Lord
would not have used the word, Colour, in respect of
it.
The Colour of Allah : and who is
better than Allah at Colouring. (II: 138)
Exhorting, further, the bondmen
to follow the Apostles, the Lord proclaimed, giving
out a long and lustrous list of Divine Messengers:
And We bestowed upon him Issac
and Jacob; each of them We guided; and Noah did We
guide aforetime; and of his seed (We guided) David
and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron.
Thus do We reward the good.
And Zacbariah and John and Jesus
and Elias. Each one (of them) was of the righteous.
And Ishmael and Elisha and Jonah
and Lot. Each one of them did We prefer above (Our)
creatures, with some of their forefathers and their
offspring and their brethren; and We chose them and
guided them unto a Straight Path. Such is the
guidance of Allah wherewith He guideth whom He will
of His bondmen. But if they set up (for worship)
aught beside Him, all that they did would have been
in vain. (-VI : 85-89)
And. again : Those are they whom
Allah guideth, so follow their
guidance. (-VI : 91)
Afterwards, the Lord determined
that the command was exclusively with regard to the
Prophet Mohammad whose life was a perfect model for
mankind and an ideal example. The following words
were thus. addressed to the Believers through the
holy Prophet :
Say, (O Mohammad, to mankind); If
you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and
forgive you your sins. (-III: 31)
Islam is more sensitive than any
other faith. It is enough for a man to call himself
a Christian, and, after it, he can adopt whatever
social, cultural or intellectual standards he likes.
A friend of mine once said to an educated Hindu
gentleman. "My brother, if a Muslim is asked who is
a Muslim, he unhesitatingly replies that whoever
recites and believes in the holy Kalima of Laa
ilaaha Iliallaah, Mohammadur rasuluilaah (There is
no deity save One God. and Mohammad is His Apostle)
is a Muslim. This affirmation sums up the whole of
Islam. Now, what will your answer be if the same
question was put to you concerning a Hindu ? I do
not want a long and exhaustive reply because there
are enough books in my library by the help of which
one can understand the Brahmin or Vedantic
philosophy. I have only a few minutes to spare and I
want you to explain Hinduism quickly". My friend
related that the Hindu gentleman paused for a while,
and, then, said : "A Hindu can believe or refuse to
believe in anything. If a person calls himself a
Hindu, he is a Hindu, and, after it, it does not
matter what he believes in or rejects. He remains a
Hindu".
But it is not the same with
Islam. As I have said, it is a highly sensitive
faith and is more quickly affected by things that
are inimical to it than any other religion. Its
limits are marked out very clearly. It leaves no one
in doubt about itself In concrete, well-defined and
clear-cut terms it makes it known that this is Islam
and this is Infidelity; this is Islam and this is
Ignorance; this is lawful and this is forbidden; and
this is where Islam ends and Infidelity and Apostasy
begin. Such an explicit concept of Apostasy,
perhaps, does not exist in any other faith. In
Islam, to be an Apostate is a mortal sin, the very
thought of which makes the hair stand on end. It is
stated in a Tradition that ,the sign of perfection
in faith is that the idea of going back to Apostasy,
after a man has embraced Islam, is as repugnant to
him as being thrown into the fire."
When such is the disposition of
Islam, the responsibility of the Muslims who are
settled in Europe or America becomes much greater.
Had Islam, like the other faiths, been only a body
of beliefs and practices, it would have been
different, but if it is a Colour and a programme of
life, and stands, also, for a state of feeling and
awareness, and is much more sensitive than the other
religions as well, and calls for a fundamental
change in the values and ideals of things, the
matter becomes far more complex. We can, therefore,
not rest content with reading books and treatises,
however, weighty they may be. Books, of course, are
necessary but we cannot cultivate the Islamic spirit
wholly through them, nor develop the Islamic mood
and temperament. Our real need is an Islamic region,
an Islamic Colouring and an Islamic environment in
which we can see, hear and feel Islam directly.
Personal contacts; social intercourse and the
adoption of the Islamic mode of living are its
essential conditions. We should go to places where
the Islamic way of life and Islamic society are
present in any measure and we can have some
experience of Islam as a living force.
For this reason, the company of.
Muslims and truthful Believers is necessary to the
extent that God felt the need to tell the sacred
Prophet, whose life was a model of perfection, to
seek the company of pious and warmly devoted
bondman.
Restrain thyself along with those
who cry unto their Lord at morn and evening seeking
His countenance; and let not thine eyes overlook
them, desiring the pomp of the life of the world;
and obey not whose heart We have made heedless of
Our remembrance, who followeth his own Just and
whose case hath been abandoned.
(-XVIII : 28)
When such was the case with the
sacred Apostle we can imagine how important it would
be for common Muslims like us to spend some time
with the truthful and the pure in heart.
Oh ye who believe! Be careful of
your duty to Allah, and be with the truthful.
(-IX : 119)
The Islamic society here being in
the initial stages of evolution, we must not neglect
our duty towards it. I am confident that, by the
grace of God, this infant society will not only
endure but, also, flourish and attain maturity and
the means and opportunities of training and
discipline will be available to it which are nothing
but faith and belief, study and investigation,
learning and culture, and good company and exertion.
Those who make sincere efforts for the glory of the
Divine Faith, for them the Lord opens the doors of
wisdom, faith and discernment that are beyond human
imagination.
And for those who strive in Us,
We surely guide them to Our paths, and lo, Allah is
with the good.
(-XXIX : 69)
Such, in brief, are the
responsibilities you owe to the society you have
founded in this country. It would never have come
into existence had you not migrated to America and
taken up residence here. Now, with it, you should,
also, take pains to assure that it develops into an
ideal Islamic society and does not remain confined
to the ideological sphere alone because, as we know,
Islam is not merely a social, political or economic
concept, but before all this, it is an indivisible
and indissoluble creed that permeates the whole
existence. It is a state of mind and a design of
life. The Islam of the holy Companions possessed all
these attributes. They were Muslims by all
standards, spiritual, moral and practical, and
criterion for all things. Hence, it was said by
Abdullah bin Masud that what the Muslims consider
good is good, also, in the judgement of God".
According to the authorities, the word Muslims' here
denotes the Companions. It will, thus, mean that
what the Companions hold to be good is good also in
the sight of the Lord and what they, collectively,
regard bad is bad.
Islam and the Quran demand of the
Muslims to be the criterion of truth and virtue.
They should possess a genuine Islamic disposition so
that the Americans, here, can see distinctly the
difference between their own society which is being
driven mercilessly by Materialism and the Islamic
society that is pure, healthy and dignified-a
society which spends its nights in prayer and
repentance and days in seeking honest sustenance and
rendering selfless service to mankind.
The creation of such a society
will, positively, lead to the victory of Islam. On
seeing it, the American will exclaim that the real
joy of living is in the Islamic society and not in
his own, and advance towards it instinctively and
curse the stinking environment in which he has been
brought up.
I fear the day, in America as
elsewhere, when we will with- draw into our shells
and get entangled in the labyrinth of study and
research, and our connecting links with the real
fountain- head of Islam and with the Islamic centres
will be broken where, in spite of all drawbacks,
Islam is, still. alive, and the springs of Islamic
warmth and eagerness will dry up within us. It will
be, then, that the American Islam, European Islam,
and the Japanese, Iranian, Indian and Pakistani
Islams will emerge, making it impossible to
distinguish one from the other. They will be as
different from each other as an American is from an
Asian, or a Japanese from an Afghan, and Islamic
societies will appear whose mental attitudes and
natural inclinations and values will be widely
apart.
We should take up the challenge
and get ready to meet the threat now when the things
have not gone far and the Islamic leaders, are, to
some extent, active and effective. The wisdom behind
the obligatoriness of the Haj Pilgrimage and the
congregation of the Muslims, with all their
different social. cultural and linguistic
characteristics, at a particular place and at a
particular time, is that nothing about Faith
remained vague or unclear and stock was taken, at
the same time, of the Muslims of the world and their
Islamic lineaments and local innovations and un-islamic
influences they might have accepted owing to the
negligence and apathy of the Ulema or as a result of
living together, for a considerable length of time,
with other peoples and communities could be
ascertained and plans evolved for their eradication.
As Shah Waliullah has admirably put it, "Had the Haj
not been there, the Islamic faith and the Muslims of
the East and the West would have been the victims of
change and alteration, like the other religions, and
it would not have been discovered for ages."
So, brothers, beware of the
emergence of a local or territorial Islam and the
establishment of Islamic societies that are devoid
of the spirit of Islam and built upon foundations
that are not genuinely Islamic.
Believe me, it is not a figment
of my imagination. I attach the highest importance
to it, and, I am sure, when you will go home and
think over it you will appreciate the gravity and
magnitude of the danger I have indicated.
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