Adjustment or Abrogation?
The second point worth mentioning here is that some people have solved the difficult problem of ‘Islam and the requirements of time’ in a very simple and easy way. They say that Islam is an everlasting religion, and it can be adjusted to every age and every time. But when asked how this adjustment takes place and what its formula is, they at once say that when the circumstances change, the existing laws are repealed and replaced by other laws. They argue that the temporal laws of religion must be flexible and in harmony with the progress of knowledge and science and the expansion of culture and civilization. According to them, such flexibility and adjustability to the requirements of time conform to the spirit of Islam and are not against its teachings.
They hold that, as the requirements of time are always changing, every age demands a new set of laws. They further hold that the civil and social laws of Islam are in conformity with the simple life of the pre-Islamic Arabs, and are mostly based on their customs and usages. As they are not compatible with the present age, they should be replaced by modern laws.
Such people should be asked: If adjustability means capability of being repealed, then, which law does not have this type of flexibility? Is there any law that is not compatible with time in this sense? This interpretation of flexibility and applicability to all times is exactly like saying that books and libraries are the best means of enjoying life, because whenever one wants enjoyment, one can sell them and spend the money obtained on the gratification of one’s desires.
An Iranian writer says that the teachings of Islam are divided into three parts. The first part consists of basic doctrines, such as Divine Unity, Prophethood, and Resurrection etc. The second part is related to the acts of worship such as prayer, fasting, ablution, ritual cleaning, pilgrimage etc. The third part consists of the laws concerning the life of the people.
According to him, only the first two parts are an integral part of religion, and something to be preserved for ever. As far as the third part is concerned, it is not an integral part of religion, for religion is not concerned with the daily way of life of the people. The Holy Prophet himself did not prescribe these laws as a part of religion, for they were not related to his mission as a Messenger. It was only a chance that, as the Head of the State, he had to give some laws also. Otherwise, religion has nothing to do with the worldly life of the people.
Meanwhile, it is hard to believe that a person living in a Muslim country should be so ignorant of the precepts of Islam. Has not the Qur’an described the aim of the Prophets and the Apostles? Does not the Qur’an expressly say: “We have sent Our Messengers with clear proof and We have sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so that people may rise with justice” (1).
The Qur’an describes social justice as the main aim of all the Prophets. If you like, you may not act on the teachings of the Qur’an, but why do you commit a bigger sin by bringing a calumny against Islam and the Qur’an? Most of our misfortunes are due to the fact that our morals and laws have lost their only source of strength, viz. religion. It is only during the past half a century that we have come to hear the cry that Islam is good, provided it remains confined to the places of worship, and has nothing to do with the society. This cry has burst forth from across the frontiers of the Muslim countries, and has been propagated throughout the Muslim world. To make the purpose of this cry clearer, it may be said that the idea behind it is that Islam should stay as a force to withstand the spread of communism, but when it clashes with the interests of the West, it must go. From the viewpoint of the West, the devotional rites of Islam must continue so that the Muslims, whenever need be, could be stirred up against the atheistic and godless system of communism, but the social rules of Islam which provide a philosophy of life to the Muslims must go, for these rules give the Muslims a sense of independence and separate identity, and prevent their being swallowed up by the greedy West.
Unfortunately, the exponents of the thesis that Islam is not concerned with the daily practical life, have ignored certain basic facts. Firstly, Islam, 1,400 years ago, depreciated the principle of, “We believe in certain things (some of the teachings of Islam) and reject the others”, and proclaimed that the rules of Islam are irreversible.
Secondly, we believe that the time has come, when the Muslims should not be misled by such deceptive slogans. The critical sense of the people has now, more or less, been awakened, and gradually they are beginning to differentiate between the manifestations of progress and advancement, which are the outcome of the blooming of the scientific and intellectual forces, and the manifestations of corruption and perversion, though their source is in the West.
The people of the Muslim world have now, more than ever, become conscious of the value of the teachings of Islam, and have realized that they can lead an independent life only by following them. They are not going to give them up, at any cost. The vigilant Muslims know that the propaganda against Islamic laws is nothing but an imperialistic fraud.
Thirdly, the exponents of this thesis should know that Islam, when powerful, withstands any other system, whether it is atheistic or not. Islam wants to dominate the society as a philosophy of life, and does not want to be confined to the ‘Mosques’ and other places of worship. The Islam which will be restricted to the places of worship, will vacate the field, not only for the Western ideas, but it will vacate it for the anti-Western ideas and doctrines as well. The penalty which the West is paying, in certain Muslim countries, is the result of its not realizing this fact.
Man is not the only living being which leads a social life. Many animals, especially insects, are gregarious. They follow sensible but fixed rules of co-operation, division of labor, production and distribution, and giving and receiving orders. The bees, and certain kinds of ants and termites enjoy such superb systems, that it will take man, who considers himself to be the prince of creation, years, even centuries, to reach that level. Their civilization, contrary to the human civilization, has not passed through such periods as the forest age, the Stone Age and the atomic age. They, from the very beginning, have had the same civilization and the same system as they have today. It is man who started his life from a scratch: Vide “Man was created powerless”(2) and is marching forward towards infinity. For the animals, the requirements of life are always the same. For them, modernity and new fashions have no meaning. The ancient world and the modern world do not exist for them. So far as they are concerned science does not make new discoveries every day. The latest products of light and heavy industries do not come to their market; why? Because, they live by instinct, and not by reason.
But, the social life of human beings is always subject to change. Every century, the world is changed. There lies the secret of man’s being the prince of creation. Human being is the mature and worthy child of nature. He has reached a stage, where he does not require the direct guidance of that mysterious force which is called instinct. Nature recognizes that man is mature, and that is why it has left him free. What an animal accomplishes by its instinct and by following inviolable natural laws, human beings should accomplish by one’s intellect and knowledge, and by following the viable enacted laws.
Man, being the master of his own destiny, can always deviate from the path of progress, and there lies the secret of his slips, setbacks, lapses, and failures. Just as the way to progress and advancement is open to him, the way to corruption, perversion, and failure is also not closed. Human beings have reached such a stage that, in the words of the Qur’an, they can shoulder that trust which the heavens, the earth and the mountains could not carry. In other words, they can lead a free life and can accept legal, professional, and other responsibilities. That is the reason why they are not immune to mistakes, selfishness, ignorance, and injustice.
Where the Qur’an refers to this wonderful human capacity, it also immediately describes man as ‘unjust’ and ‘ignorant’. These two human capacities – the capacity of evolution and the capacity of deviation, are inseparable. Man is not like an animal which, in its social life, goes neither forward nor backward. It turns neither to the right nor to the left. On the other hand, man, in his life, sometimes goes forward and sometimes backward. In human life if there is motion and speed, there is halt and pause also. If there is progress and evolution, there is corruption and perversion, too. If there is justice and virtue, there is injustice and aggression also. If there are manifestations of knowledge and wisdom, there are manifestations of ignorance and base desires, too. It is possible that the changes that take place and the new phenomena that appear, may be of the latter category.
The Rigid and The Misinformed
It is one of the characteristics of man that he sometimes overacts and sometimes under acts. If he adopts the middle course, he endeavors to differentiate between the changes of the right type and that of the wrong type. He endeavors to push time forward with the help of his knowledge and creative power, and to identify himself with the manifestations of progress and advancement. He also tries to arrest perversion, and not to associate himself with it.
But unfortunately, man does not always adopt this course. He is liable to be afflicted by two dangerous diseases, the disease of rigidity, and the disease of ignorance. The first disease results in stagnation and abstention from progress, and the second in perversion and ruin. The rigid is averse to everything new and cannot reconcile himself with anything, except the old. On the other hand, the misinformed regards everything new to be modern and progressive and considers it to be the requirement of time. To the rigid, every new development means corruption and perversion, whereas to the misinformed, all new developments indiscriminately mean the expansion of culture and knowledge. The rigid does not distinguish between husk and kernel and between the means and the end. In his opinion, the duty of religion is to preserve all that is obsolete and antiquated. He thinks that the Qur’an has come down to arrest the motion of time and to nail down the world conditions as they were.
According to this view, old and outdated customs, such as to begin reading, from the last part of the Qur’an, writing with a reed-pen, using a cardboard inkstand, washing in the tank of the Turkish bath, eating with the hands, burning an oil lamp, and remaining illiterate, are religious rites which must be preserved. In contrast, the misinformed keeps his eyes fixed on the Western world to be able to imitate every new fashion and every new custom. He calls this modernity and the compulsion of time. Both the rigid and the misinformed suppose that all old customs and usages are a part of religious rites, with the difference that the rigid wants to preserve them, whereas the misinformed may conclude that religion is tantamount to stagnation and inertia.
During the past few centuries, the question of contradiction between religion and science has been much debated among the people of the West. The idea of contradiction arose from two developments. Firstly, the Church had accepted some ancient, philosophical, and scientific notions as religious beliefs, but the progress of science has proved their falsity. Secondly, science has changed the form and the conditions of life. The rigid, who are apparently religious, want to make the external form of the material life a part of religion, just as they have unnecessarily given religious color to some philosophical questions. The uninformed and the misinformed people are also under the impression that religion has prescribed a particular form of material life, and as science has decreed a change in this form, religion should be abolished. The rigidity of one group, and the ignorance of the other, have brought into existence the fictitious idea of contradiction between science and religion.
A Parable of the Qur’an
Islam is a progressive religion and wants its followers to be progressive. The Qur’an has employed a parable to persuade the Muslims to keep marching forward, under the light of Islam. It says that the followers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUHH) are like a seed which is sown in the soil. First, it shoots out in the form of a tender seed leaf, then it grows stronger and stronger till it stands on its own stalk. It grows so rapidly that it causes great surprise to the farmers. It is an analogy of the society which the Qur’an aims at. What the Qur’an desires is growth. The Qur’an wants to lay the foundation of a society, which should always be growing, developing and expanding. Will Durant says that no religion has called upon its followers to gain strength as Islam has done. The history of early Islam shows how powerful a force Islam is to rebuild a society and to push it forward.
Islam is opposed to both rigidity and ignorance, and regards both of them as dangerous. The intellectual sterility of the rigid and their clinging to the old customs having no connection with Islam, have provided a pretext to the misinformed to consider Islam to be really opposed to modernity. On the other hand, the following and patronizing of the latest fashions and modes of the West by the misinformed, their belief that the prosperity of the people of the East depends on their complete westernization, both physically and spiritually, their acceptance of the habits, manners and traditions of the West, and the blind adaptation of their own civil and social laws to those of the Western nations, have provided a pretext to the rigid to look at everything new with suspicion and to regard it as a threat to their religion, to their independence and to the social personality of their community.
In the meantime, Islam has to pay the penalty for the mistake of both the parties. The rigidity of the rigid has left the field open to the misinformed to play havoc, and the ignorance of the misinformed has made the rigid more stubborn in their beliefs. It is surprising that these so-called cultured, but really ignorant people, think that time is infallible. The fact is that all changes are brought about by man, and man is not infallible at all. Then, how can it be presumed that the changes of time must necessarily be free from error.
Just as man has scientific, moral, aesthetic and religious inclinations, and constantly takes new measures for the benefit of humanity, he has certain negative tendencies also. He is selfish, power-hungry and pleasure-seeking. He loves money and exploitation. Just as he is capable of making new discoveries and finding better ways and means of doing things, he is liable to commit mistakes also. But the misguided and misinformed do not understand these things. They simply go on harping on the same tune and repeating that the modern world is like this, and like that. What is more surprising is that they compare the principles of life to such things as a shoe, a cap and a dress. As these things are sought after when they are new, and thrown away when they get old and worn out, the same, according to them, should be the case with universal truths. To them, good and bad have no sense other than that of new and old. Feudalism is bad only because it has become old and has gone out of fashion. Otherwise, it was quite good when it was first introduced into the world.
Similarly, exploitation of women is bad only because it is disliked by the modern world; otherwise, till recently, these same people had not given her a share of the inheritance. They had not recognized her right of ownership and had not respected her will or views. According to such people in the present age, being the space age, just as it is no longer possible to ride a donkey and leave aside the aircraft, light an oil lamp and not to use electricity, use a hand-spinning mill, and write with hand and leave aside gigantic printing machines, it is not possible not to attend dance parties, swimming-costume parties and barbecue dinners, not to take part in merry-making, not to play poker and not to wear mini-skirts, for all these things are the phenomena of the present century. If they do not indulge in such things, they fear that they will go back to the days of donkey riding. They assert that this is the atomic age, the age of science, the age of the artificial moons and the age of ballistic missiles. That is very good! We also thank God that we are living in this age, and wish that we might be able to enjoy the benefits of science and industry to the utmost. But, have all the springs, except that of science gone dry in this age? Are all the phenomena of this century an outcome of modern scientific progress? Does science claim that it has brought nature under its complete control?
Science makes no such claim. The tragedy of our century is that a group of scientists, with good intentions, applies itself to making new discoveries, but another group of selfish and power-hungry opportunists and money-worshippers misuses the fruit of the scientists’ labor to achieve its own questionable ends. Science complains constantly that it is misused by stubborn human nature and this is the misfortune of our age. Science moves forward in the field of physics and discovers the laws of light and reflection, and an opportunist group uses them for the preparation of blue films of a hostile and destructive nature. Chemistry makes progress and discovers the properties of various substances and their combinations. Then certain individuals exploit this discovery for the preparation of heroin, which is a curse to humanity. Science found its way into the inside of the atom and brought a wonderful source of energy under its control, but before it could be used for the benefit of humankind, the power-hungry people hastened to make the atom bomb, and to drop it on innocent people.
When reception was arranged in honor of Einstein, the great scientist of the 20th Century, he himself mounted the rostrum and said: “Do you honor the man who has been instrumental in the making of the atom bomb?” Einstein himself did not exercise his knowledge for its making. It was others, who harnessed his discoveries for this purpose. The use of heroin, the atom bomb and the blue films cannot be justified on the ground that they are among the phenomena of the present century. If the latest type of bomber is used for throwing the most perfect bombs on the people of another country, and the most highly educated people are employed to perform this job, can all this modernity reduce the inherent barbarity of the act?
The main argument of those, who say that in the matter of family rights we should follow the Western system, is that times have changed, and the requirements of the 20th century demand that we should do so. We propose to make our views on this point clear, because without doing so, the discussion of any other point will remain incomplete, though, owing to the limitation of space, it is not possible to discuss the question from all its philosophical, legal, social, and moral angles. For the present purpose, it is enough to make two points clear:
The first point is that harmony in and conformity to the changes of time is not such a simple question as some misinformed people think. The changes, brought about by time, are sometimes progressive and sometimes retrogressive. We should march forward along with the progressive changes, and should fight the retrogressive tendencies. To distinguish between these two kinds of changes and to determine their nature, we should find out the source of the new developments, and which way they are directed. We should see what human tendencies have brought them into existence, and which classes of society are behind them. We should see whether they have been motivated by high human tendencies or by low animal propensities and whether they have come into existence as a result of selfless investigations of scholars and intellectuals, or have been motivated by the base desires of self-seekers and the corrupt elements of society.
To be continued!
NOTES:
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- Qur’an 57 : 25
- Qur’an 4: 28
