Islam Meaning sense and purviews
Islam: Meaning, sense and purviews
Islam is the name of totally giving oneself up and surrendering oneself
unconditionally before God and in Islam the perimeter of religion surrounds
the entire life span. This is a fundamental truth which can not be grasped
without understanding the nature of relationship between God and His
slave. Every Muslim is an obedient slave of God and his relationship with
God is everlasting, covers all aspects of his life, it is deep as also expansive,
it is limited as also comprehensive. At one place the words of the Noble
Quran are:
I seek refuge in Allah from devil the outcast
In the name of Allah the Compassionate the Merciful
“O ye who believe! Come, all of you, in to submission (unto Him); and
follow not the footsteps of the devil. Lo, he is an open enemy for you.V 208: Al-Baqrah: Chapter 2″
Here is no safeguard and nothing is earmarked on the lines of – this much is
mine and this much yours – this much for the country – this much for the
State – this much for God – this much for the family and tribe – this much
for religion and community – and this much for political interests. No.
Whatever is present is God’s. Here worship is all–pervading. Before God, a
Muslim‘s entire life is humility personified, slavery personified.
The purview of religion overwhelms every aspect of life and nobody has the
right to make any amendment in it. Even the most celebrated authority on
Islamic Law and Jurisprudence and the Imam of an age do not have the
permission to amend a word or change a dot in matters which are
categorically decided and have the status of unequivocal truths in the
Glorious Quran.
Allah the Exalted demands and Islam too requires that its practitioners enter
its fold completely. I say with clarity and consider it my duty to beunambiguous that in our way of life, ways we adopt in weddings and
marrigages, ways we adopt in matters of inheritance, and the way we
conduct our affairs and dealings, we are far from Shariah and very far from
it. While some of us, by the grace of God, practice religion to the extent of
holding correct beliefs with respect to the Oneness of Allah, apostleship,
Hereafter and other essential tenets of faith but are not punctual in
observing acts of worship; many are those who are no doubt strong in faith
and worship but please do not ask me of their conduct and ethics, for in
conduct and ethics, they are utterly unreliable. If they will deal with
somebody they will not miss any chance to undermine his interests, will
weigh less, and measure less. If they will be in business and in case that is a
partnership then they will be found to commit unjust acts and acts that will
hurt the interests of partners. If somebody will be their neighbor then he
will suffer harassment at their hands.
According to a Noble Tradition2:
Muslim is he from (the oppression of) whose tongue and hand
Muslims remain safe and secure.
None of you can become a believer until your neighbor becomes safe from
your torment and your oppression. So now what to say! Thre is a class of
people that has expelled inter-personal relations and ethics from the purview
of religion; their understanding is that tenets of faith and a variety of acts of
worship is all that is necessary; neither transparency in dealings nor keeping
of promises; neither care for anything kept in their trust nor any fairness;
nothing at all. Unconcerned with the rights of fellow human beings, totally
free from the liability of close relatives and those who have a right over
them; in their inter-personal dealings, in business matters and other
disciplines of life even, they do as they please.
Muslims who were groomed by Sayyadna Muhammad, the Apostle ofAllah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, were the most faithful.
Their lives were cast entirely in the mould of religion. Their faith, their
worship, their dealings, their manners, their rituals, their ceremonies, their
victories, their rule, their statecraft – all of these – and the way they spent
the days and nights of their life were in conformity with Shariah (Islamic
law).
