ISLAM: THE CONCEPT OF RELIGION AND THE FOUNDATION OF ETHICS AND MORALITY

The concept couched in the term din, which is generally understood to mean religion, is not the same as the concept religion as interpreted and understood throughout Western religious history. When we speak of Islam and refer to it in English as a ‘religion’, we mean and understand by it the din, in which all the basic connotations inherent in the term din¹ are conceived as gathered into a single unity of coherent meaning as reflected in the Holy Qur’an and in the Arabic language to which it belongs.

The word din derived from the Arabic root DYN has many primary significations which although seemingly contrary to one another are yet all conceptually interconnected, so that the ultimate meaning derived from them all presents itself as a clarified unity of the whole. By ‘the whole’ I mean that which is described as the Religion of Islam, which contains within itself all the relevant possibilities of meaning inherent in the concept of din.

52 Since we are dealing with an Islamic concept which is translated into reality intimately and profoundly in human lived experience, the apparent contrariness in its basic meanings is indeed not due to vagueness; it is, rather, due to the contrariness inherent in human nature itself, which they faithfully reflect. And their power to reflect human nature faithfully is itself clear demonstration of their lucidity and veracity and authenticity in conveying truth.

The primary significations of the term din can be reduced to four: (1) indebtedness; (2) submissiveness; (3) judicious power; (4) natural inclination or tendency. In what presently follows, I shall attempt to explain them briefly and place them in their relevant contexts, drawing forth the coherent ultimate meaning intended, which denotes the faith, beliefs and practices and teachings adhered to by the Muslims individually and collectively as a Community and manifesting itself altogether as an objective whole as the Religion called Islam.

The verb dana which derives from din conveys the meaning of being indebted, including various other meanings connected with debts, some of them contraries. In the state in which one finds oneself being in debt - that is to say, a da’in - it follows that one subjects oneself, in the sense of yielding and obeying, to law and ordinances governing debts, its dayyan; there the realization of the debt to God took definite form, and the approved manner and method of its repayment began to unfold. The City of the Prophet signified the Place where true din was enacted under his authority and jurisdiction. We may further see that the City became, for the Community, the epitome of the socio-political order of Islam; and for the individual Believer it became, by analogy, the symbol of the Believer’s body and physical being in which the rational soul, in emulation of him who may God bless and give him Peace!, exercises authority and just government. For further relevant interpretations, see below, pp. 54-63; 64-70; 71-79; 82-83.²

³ 55 primary significations, while maintaining their basic build or to found cities, to civilize, to refine and to humanize; meanings, nevertheless undergo profound synthesis and from which is derived another term: tarnaddun, meaning intensification at once true to the experience described civilization and refinement in social culture. Thus we derive from the primary signification of being in a state of debt other correlated significations, such as: to abase oneself, to serve (a master), to become enslaved; and from another such signification of judge, ruler and governor is derived meanings which denote the becoming mighty, powerful and strong, a master, one elevated in rank, and glorious, and yet further, the meanings: judgement, requital or reckoning (at some appointed time). Now the very notion of law and order and justice and authority and social cultural refinement inherent in all these significations derived from the concept din must surely presuppose the existence of a mode or manner of acting consistent with what is reflected in the law, the order, the justice, the authority and social cultural refinement - a mode or manner of acting, or a state of being considered as normal in relation to them; so that this state of being is a state that is customary or habitual. From here, then, we can see the logic behind the derivation of the other primary signification of the concept din as custom, habit, disposition or natural tendency. At this juncture it becomes increasingly clear that the concept din in its most basic form indeed reflects in true testimony the natural tendency of man to form societies and obey laws and seek just government. The idea of a kingdom, a cosmopolis, inherent in the concept din that rises before our vision is most important in helping us attain a more profound understanding of it, and needs be reiterated here, for we shall have recourse to it again when we deal with the religious and spiritual aspects of man’s existential experience.

I have thus far explained only in cursory manner the few basic concept of din, reducing the various connotations to their four primary significations and showing their mutual and primary conceptual connections, in the context of human ‘secular’ relations. In the religious context, that of the relationship between man and God, and what God approves of man’s relations with his fellow-men, the

How can the concept of being indebted be explained in the religious and spiritual context? - one may ask; what is the nature of the debt?, and to whom is the debt owed? We answer that man is indebted to God, his Creator and Provider, for bringing him into existence and maintaining him in his existence. Man was once nothing and did not exist, and now he is:

Man We did create from a quintessence of clay; > Then We placed him as a drop of sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; > Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be God, the Best to create! ^1

The man who ponders seriously his origin will realize that a few decades ago he did not exist, and the whole of mankind now existing neither existed nor knew of their actual possible present existence. The same truth applies to all ages of man from the beginnings of his existence in time.⁴ 56 So naturally he who ponders thus sincerely knows intuitively that his sense of being indebted for his creation and existence cannot really be directed to his parents, for he knows equally well that his parents too are subject to the same process by the same Creator and Provider. Man does not himself cause his own growth and development from the state of a clot of congealed blood to the one that now stands mature and perfect. He knows that even in his mature and perfect state he is not able to create for himself or his sense of sight or hearing or other — and let alone move himself in conscious growth and development in his helpless embryonic stage. Then again:

Verily man is in loss (khusrin).

Seeing that he owns absolutely nothing to ‘repay’ his debt, except his own consciousness of the fact that he himself is the very substance of the debt, so must he repay with himself, so must he ‘return’ himself to Him who owns him absolutely.

He is himself the debt to be returned to the Owner, and ‘returning the debt’ means to give himself up in service, khidmah, to his Lord and Master; to abase himself before Him and so the rightly guided man sincerely and consciously enslaves himself for the sake of God in order to fulfill His Commands and Prohibitions and Ordinances, and thus to live out the dictates of His Law. The concept of ‘return’ alluded to above is also evident in the conceptual structure of din, for it can and does indeed mean, as I will elaborate in due course, a ‘return to man’s inherent nature’, the concept ‘nature’ referring to the spiritual and not altogether the physical aspect of man’s being.^[47] It must also be pointed out that in the words of the Holy Qur’an:

‘When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam from their loins — their descendents, and made them testify concerning themselves (saying): “Am I not your Lord?” — they said: “Yea! we do testify!”‘^[48]

The rightly guided man realizes that his very self, his soul, has already acknowledged God as his Lord, even before his existence as a man, so that such a man recognizes his Creator and Cherisher and Sustainer. The nature of the debt of creation and existence is so tremendously total that man, the moment he is created and given existence, is already in a state of utter loss, for he possesses really nothing himself, seeing that everything about him and in him and from him is what the Creator owns Who owns everything. And this is the purport of the words in the Holy Qur’an:

‘By the time! (Asr)⁵

⁶ 58 ‘By the heaven that hath rain’!

In the rain which God sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead, is expressed in the words of the Holy Prophet, may God bless and give him Peace!: the word interpreted as ‘rain’ is raj, which means literally ‘return’,[^49] It is interpreted as rain because God returns it time and again, and it refers to good return in the sense of benefit, profit, and gain. Raj is therefore used synonymously in this sense with rabat meaning gain,[^50] which is the opposite or contrary of khusr, loss, to which reference has already been made above. Now it is appropriate to mention here that one of the basic meanings of din which has not been explained above is recurrent rain, rain that returns again and again; and hence we perceive that din here, like such a rain, alludes to benefit and gain (rabat). When we say that in order to ‘repay’ his debt man must ‘return’ himself to God, his Owner, his ‘returning himself’ is, like the beneficial returning rain,[^51] a gain unto him. And this is the meaning of the saying:

the intelligent one is he who enslaves himself (dana nafsahu) and works for that which shall be after death.[^54]

‘That which shall be after death’ is that which shall be reckoned good, the requital, the good return. This good return is like the returning rain which brings benefit to the earth by bringing life to it and by causing goodly growth to life to grow from it. In like manner that rain gives life to the earth which would otherwise be dead, so does din give life to man, without which man would be as one who is, as it were, also ‘dead’. This is aptly symbolized by God’s Words in the Holy Qur’an, where He says: ‘He who enslaves himself gains (rabi’a whose infinitive noun is: rabat).[^52]

The expression ‘enslaves himself’ (dana nafsahu) means ‘gives himself up’ (in service), and hence also ‘returns himself’ (to his Owner) as explained.[^53]

By returning himself to his Lord and Master, by loyally and truly following and obeying God’s Commands and Prohibitions and Ordinances and Law, the man thus acting will be requited and will receive his good return multiplied many times over, as God says in the Holy Qur’an:

[^48] Al-Tariq(86):11; LA, vol. 8:120, col. 2. [^49] There is a close connection between the concept here described and the application of the verb raja’a in its various forms in the Holy Qur’an with reference to man’s return to God. [^50] LA, vol. 2:442, col. 2–445, col. 1. [^51] True din brings life to a body otherwise dead just as ‘the rain which God sends down from the skies, and the life which he gives therewith to an earth that is dead.’ See Al-Baqarah(2):164. [^52] LA, vol. 13:166, col. 1. [^53] It clearly refers to the man who, having consciously realized that he is himself the subject of his own debt to His Creator and Sustainer and Cherisher, enslaves himself to his self and hence ‘returns’ himself to his true Lord. [^54] LA, vol. 13:169, col. 2. [^55] Al-Baqarah(2):164 60 who gives such service is ‘free’, is not a bondman, but is ‘his own master’ in respect of himself. The concept milk, however, conveys the implicit fact of ownership by the one who takes his service. The milk is possessed by the malik. Notice here that the verb used to signify ‘loan’ (yuqriḍu), from qaraḍa, qarḍan, has not the same connotation as that meaning servant, but that he is God’s ‘ibad, and he is in truth God’s ‘abd, meaning also servant or slave, which term has the connotation of ‘being owned’ by Him Whom he serves. In the religious context, therefore, ‘abd is the correct term of reference to one who, in the realization that he is indebted absolutely to God, abases himself in service to Him; and hence the act of service appropriate for him is called ‘ibadah and the service is ‘ibadat, which refers to all conscious and willing acts of service for the sake of God alone and approved by Him, including such as are prescribed worship. By worshipping God in such manner of service the man is fulfilling the purpose for his creation and existence, as God says in the Holy Qur’an:

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ

[^56] Al-Baqarah (2): 245.

[^57] Din also means correct reckoning: ‘iṣāb al-ḥisāb. It is the apportioning of the precisely correct measure to a number or thing so that it fits into its proper place: ‘adad al-mustawī. This somewhat mathematical meaning conveys the sense of there being a system or law governing all and maintaining all in perfect equilibrium. See LA, vol. 13: 169, col. 1.

[^58] LA, vol. 13: 170, col. 1.

[^59] Al-Dhāriyāt (51): 56.

[^60] LA, vol. 5: 58, cols. 1 & 2; see also al-Rūm (30): 30.

The concept of qarḍan ḥasanan which God will double to his credit and multiply many times?[^56] However, the verb used to signify ‘loan’ (yuqriḍu), from qaraḍa, qarḍan, has not the same connotation as that meaning servant, but that he is God’s ‘ibad, and he is in truth God’s ‘abd, meaning also servant or slave, which term has the connotation of ‘being owned’ by Him Whom he serves. In the religious context, therefore, ‘abd is the correct term of reference to one who, in the realization that he is indebted absolutely to God, abases himself in service to Him; and hence the act of service appropriate for him is called ‘ibadah and the service is ‘ibadat, which refers to all conscious and willing acts of service for the sake of God alone and approved by Him, including such as are prescribed worship. By worshipping God in such manner of service the man is fulfilling the purpose for his creation and existence, as God says in the Holy Qur’an:

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ

[^56] Al-Baqarah (2): 245.

[^57] Din also means correct reckoning: ‘iṣāb al-ḥisāb. It is the apportioning of the precisely correct measure to a number or thing so that it fits into its proper place: ‘adad al-mustawī. This somewhat mathematical meaning conveys the sense of there being a system or law governing all and maintaining all in perfect equilibrium. See LA, vol. 13: 169, col. 1.

[^58] LA, vol. 13: 170, col. 1.

[^59] Al-Dhāriyāt (51): 56.

[^60] LA, vol. 5: 58, cols. 1 & 2; see also al-Rūm (30): 30.

The fact that God is referred to as King, and everything else as the Kingdom over which He exercises Absolute Power and Authority, mulk, shows again that man is His mamlūk, His slave. So ‘abd in the religious context also refers to the state of being a slave.[^57] We referred a while ago to man’s ‘returning himself’ as meaning ‘giving himself up in service’ (khidmah) to God. We now say that in effect what is truly meant is not ‘service’ in the sense of any service, or the kind offered to another man or human institution. The concept of khidmah implies that the one who gives such service is ‘free’, is not a bondman, but is ‘his own master’ in respect of himself. The concept milk, however, conveys the implicit fact of ownership by the one who takes his service. The milk is possessed by the malik. Notice here that the verb used to signify ‘loan’ (yuqriḍu), from qaraḍa, qarḍan, has not the same connotation as that meaning servant, but that he is God’s ‘ibad, and he is in truth God’s ‘abd, meaning also servant or slave, which term has the connotation of ‘being owned’ by Him Whom he serves. In the religious context, therefore, ‘abd is the correct term of reference to one who, in the realization that he is indebted absolutely to God, abases himself in service to Him; and hence the act of service appropriate for him is called ‘ibadah and the service is ‘ibadat, which refers to all conscious and willing acts of service for the sake of God alone and approved by Him, including such as are prescribed worship. By worshipping God in such manner of service the man is fulfilling the purpose for his creation and existence, as God says in the Holy Qur’an:

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ

[^56] Al-Baqarah (2): 245.

[^57] Din also means correct reckoning: ‘iṣāb al-ḥisāb. It is the apportioning of the precisely correct measure to a number or thing so that it fits into its proper place: ‘adad al-mustawī. This somewhat mathematical meaning conveys the sense of there being a system or law governing all and maintaining all in perfect equilibrium. See LA, vol. 13: 169, col. 1.

[^58] LA, vol. 13: 170, col. 1.

[^59] Al-Dhāriyāt (51): 56.

[^60] LA, vol. 5: 58, cols. 1 & 2; see also al-Rūm (30): 30.

The ‘loan’ here meant is ‘the return of that which is owned ‘originally’ by the One Who now asks for it, and which is to be returned to Him.’ Man is God’s property and his existence is only ‘lent’ him for a time. On the other hand the expression ‘goodly loan’ (qarḍan ḥasanan) as applied to man has a metaphorical significance, in that it is his ‘service to God’, his ‘good works’ that is meant, for these can indeed be said to belong to him, and for the offering of which he will be requited in abundance. God is the Requiter, the Supreme Judge: al-Dayyīn. He is the King, malik, of the Day of Judgement and Requital, yawm al-ḥisāb, also called the Day of Reckoning, yawm al-ḥisāb.

[^56] Al-Baqarah (2): 245.

[^57] Din also means correct reckoning: ‘iṣāb al-ḥisāb. It is the apportioning of the precisely correct measure to a number or thing so that it fits into its proper place: ‘adad al-mustawī. This somewhat mathematical meaning conveys the sense of there being a system or law governing all and maintaining all in perfect equilibrium. See LA, vol. 13: 169, col. 1.

[^58] LA, vol. 13: 170, col. 1.

[^59] Al-Dhāriyāt (51): 56.

[^60] LA, vol. 5: 58, cols. 1 & 2; see also al-Rūm (30): 30.

When we say that such a man is fulfilling the purpose for his creation and existence, it is obvious that that man’s obligation to serve God is felt by him as normal because it comes as a natural inclination on the man’s part to do so. This natural tendency in the man to serve and worship God is also referred to as ‘abd, as we have observed in the beginning in connection with its connotation as ‘ibādah, habit, and disposition. However, here in the religious context it has a more specific signification of the natural state of being called fitrah. In fact din does also mean fitrah.[^58] Fitrah is the pattern according to which God has created all things. There is a system or law governing all and maintaining all in perfect equilibrium. See LA, vol. 13: 169, col. 1.

[^56] Al-Baqarah (2): 245.

[^57] Din also means correct reckoning: ‘iṣāb al-ḥisāb. It is the apportioning of the precisely correct measure to a number or thing so that it fits into its proper place: ‘adad al-mustawī. This somewhat mathematical meaning conveys the sense of there being a system or law governing all and maintaining all in perfect equilibrium. See LA, vol. 13: 169, col. 1.

[^58] LA, vol. 13: 170, col. 1.

[^59] Al-Dhāriyāt (51): 56.

[^60] LA, vol. 5: 58, cols. 1 & 2; see also al-Rūm (30): 30.

41 the Holy Qur’an where God says: It is God’s manner of creating, sunnat Allah, and everything fits each into its pattern created for it and set in its proper place. It is the Law of God. Submission to it brings harmony, for it means realization of what is inherent in one’s true nature; opposition to it brings discord, for it means realization of what is extraneous to one’s true nature. It is cosmos as opposed to chaos; justice as opposed to injustice. When God said: “Am I not your Lord?”, and man’s true self, testifying for itself, answered: “Yea!” in acknowledgement of the truth of God’s Lordship, it has sealed a Covenant with God. Thus when man is manifested as man in this wordly life he will, if rightly guided, remember his Covenant and act accordingly as outlined above, so that his worship, his acts of piety, his life and death is lived out for the sake of God alone. One of the meanings of fitrah as din refers to the realization of this Covenant by man.[^60]

Submission in the sense described above means conscious, willing submission, and this submission does not entail loss of ‘freedom’ for him, since freedom in fact means to act as his true nature demands. The man who submits to God in this way is living out the din.

Submission, we say again, refers to conscious and willing submission, for were it neither conscious nor willing it cannot then mean real submission. The concept of submission is perhaps common to all religions, just as belief or faith is the core of all religions, but we maintain that not all religions enact real submission. Neither is the submission meant the kind that is momentary or erratic, for real submission is a continuous act lived throughout the entire span of one’s ethical life; nor is it the kind that operates only within the realm of the heart without manifesting itself outwardly in the action of the body as works performed in obedience to God’s Law. Submission to God’s Will means also obedience to His Law. The word denoting this sense of submission is aslama, as is evident in

Who can be better in religion (din) than one who submits (aslama) his face (i.e., his whole self) to God … [^62]

The din referred to is none other than Islam. There are, no doubt, other forms of din, but the one in which is enacted total submission (istislam) to God alone is the best, and this one is the only din acceptable to God, as He says in the Holy Qur’an:

If anyone desires a religion (din) other than Islam (al-Islam), never will it be accepted of him … [^63]

and again:

Verily the Religion (al-din) in the sight of God is Islam (al-Islam). [^64]

According to the Holy Qur’an, man cannot escape being in the state of living a din since all submit (aslama) to God’s will. Hence the term din is also used to denote religions other than Islam. However, what makes Islam different from the other religions is that the submission according to Islam is sincere and total submission to God’s Will, and this is enacted willingly as absolute obedience to the Law revealed by Him. This idea is implicitly expressed in the Holy Qur’an, for example, in the following passage:

[^61]

[^62] Al-Nisā’ (4):125.

[^63] Āli ‘Imrān (3):85.

[^61] LA, vol. 5: 56, col. 2, 57, col. 1.

[^64] Āli ‘Imrān (3):19.

65

Jin of the Prophet Ibrahim (upon whom be Peace!) and yet some others, such as the ain of the Ahlu’l-Kitāb — People of the Book — have evolved a mixture of their own cultural traditions with traditions based upon Revelation. It is to these various systems or forms of submission that, to return to the passage just quoted, the “unwilling” type of submission refers. ⁷

The form in which submission is enacted or expressed is the form of the Jin, and it is here that diversity occurs between one Jin and another. This form, which is the manner of institution of belief and faith, the manner of expression of the law, the manner of religious attitude and ethical and moral conduct — the manner in which submission to God is enacted in our life, is expressed by the concept millah. Islam follows the millah of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), which is also the millah of the other Prophets after him (Peace be upon them all!). Their millah is considered to be the form of the right religion Jinal-qayyim, because of all other milal, their millah alone inclined perfectly, Iānifan, towards the true Religion (the true Islam). They thus anticipate Islam in religious faith and belief and law and practice and hence are called also Muslims, even though the Religion of Islam as such reached its perfect crystallization only in the form externalized by the Holy Prophet (may God bless and give him Peace!). Other religions have evolved their own systems or forms of submission based upon their own cultural traditions which do not necessarily derive from the true submission, but prefers instead to submit in his own obstinate way — a way, or manner, or form neither approved nor revealed and commanded by God. Real submission is that which has been perfected by the Holy Prophet (may God bless and give him Peace!) as the model for mankind, for that is the manner of submission of all the Prophets and Messengers before him, and the form approved, revealed, and commanded by God. Thus, the fundamental core of true⁸ 68 The concept of din in the sense of true obedience and the ideal self in the Way[^68] manifested by the real submission such as is here described in brief outline is manifested in living reality in the Religion of Islam. It is in Islam that true and perfect din is realized, for in Islam alone is its self-expression fulfilled completely. Islam emulates the pattern or form according to which God governs His Kingdom; it is an imitation of the cosmic order manifested here in this worldly life as a social as well as political order. The social order of Islam encompasses all aspects of man’s physical and material and spiritual existence in a way which, here and now, does justice to the individual as well as the society; and to the individual as a physical being as well as the individual as spirit, so that a Muslim is at once himself and his Community, and his Community is also he, since every other single member strives, like him, to realize the same purpose in life and to achieve the same goal. The social order of Islam is the Kingdom of God on earth, for in that order God, and not man, is still the King, the Supreme Sovereign Whose Will and Law and Ordinances and Commands and Prohibitions hold absolute sway. Man is only His vicegerent or khalifah, who is given the trust of government, the amanah, to rule according to God’s Will and His Pleasure. When we say “rule”, we do not simply mean to refer to the socio-political sense of ‘ruling’, for we mean by it also - indeed far more fundamentally so - the ruling of one’s self by itself, since that the trust refers to responsibility and freedom of the self to do justice to itself. Of this last statement we shall have recourse to elaborate presently, since what is meant reveals the very principle of Islamic ethics and morality. Islam, we again, is a social order, but in that order every individual, each according to his latent capacity and power bestowed upon him by God to fulfill and realize his responsibility and freedom, strives to achieve and realize Revealed Law obeyed by all members of the Community. Thus then, just as every Muslim is a khalifah of God on earth, so is every Muslim also His slave, His ‘abd, striving by himself to perfect his service and devotion, his ‘ibadah, in the manner approved by God, his Absolute Master. And since every individual in this social order is answerable to God alone, so even in that social order each individual is personally directing his true and real loyalty, ta’ah, to God alone, his Real King.

We have already said that the concept din reflects the idea of a kingdom - a cosmopolis. Commerce and trade are the life blood of the cosmopolis, and such activity together with its various implications is indeed inherent in the concept din as we have thus far described. It is no wonder then that in the Holy Qur’an worldly life is depicted so persistently in the apt metaphors of commercial enterprise. In the cosmopolis or kingdom reflected in the concept din, there is depicted the bustling activities of the traffic of trade. Man is inexorably engaged in trade: al-tijarah, in which he is himself the subject as well as object of this trade. He is his own capital, and his loss and gain depend upon his own sense of responsibility and exercise of freedom. He carries out the trust of buying and selling, of bay’ah, and bartering: ishtara, and it is his self that he buys or sells or barters; and depending upon his own inclination towards the exercise of his will and deeds his trade will either prosper: rabihat al-tijarah, or suffer loss: ma rabihat ‘l-tijarah. In the situation that rises before our vision we must see that the man so engaged realizes the utter seriousness of the trading venture he has willingly undertaken. He is not simply an animal that eats and drinks and sleeps and disports after sensual pleasure[^71] - no savage nor barbarian he who thus transcends himself in the

religion, then, is not the belief, but rather, more fundamentally, the submission; for the submission confirms and affirms the belief to be true and genuine.

[^68] By ‘the Way’ I mean what refers to Islam, or perfection in virtue. [^69] The Revealed Law, or shari’ah, is the Law of God. [^70] See al-Ahzab (33):72. [^71] See infra, pp. 71-73.

68 knows that he is a kingdom in miniature, for in him, as in all mankind, is manifested the Attributes of the Creator, without the reverse being the case, since “God created man in His Own Image.” Now man is both soul and body, he is at once physical being and spirit, and his soul governs his body as God governs the Universe. Man also has two souls analogous to his dual nature: the higher, rational soul: al-nafs al-natiqah; and the lower, animal or carnal soul: al-nafs al-hayawaniyyah. Within the conceptual framework of the concept din applied here as a subjective, personal, individual affair, man’s rational soul is king and must exert its power and rule over the animal soul which is subject to it and which must be rendered submissive to it. The effective power and rule exercised by the rational soul over the animal soul and the subjugation and total submission of the latter to the former can indeed be interpreted as din, or as islam in the subjective, personal, individual sense of the relationship thus established. In this context it is the animal soul that enslaves itself in submission and service and so surrenders [^73] itself to the power and authority of the rational soul. When the Holy Prophet (may God bless and give him Peace!) said:

“Die before ye die,”

it is the same as saying: “Return before ye actually return”; and this refers to the subjugation of one’s self by one’s real self, one’s animal soul by one’s rational soul; and it is pertaining to knowledge of this Self that he means when he says:

“He who knows his Self knows his Lord.”

Further, when God proclaimed His Lordship to Adam’s progeny it is the rational soul of man that He addressed, so that every soul has heard the “Am I not your Lord?” and answered “Yea!” and testified thus unto itself. So the man of Islam who is rightly guided acts accordingly as befits the man who knows that he is a kingdom in miniature, for in him, as in drinks and sleeps and disports after sensual pleasure [^71] - no savage nor barbarian he who thus transcends himself in the realization of his weighty responsibility and consciousness of his freedom to fulfill and redeem himself of the burden of existence. It is of such as he who barters his self for his true self that God refers when He says in the Holy Qur’an:

Verily God has purchased of the Believers their > selves [^72]

The concept din with reference to the man of Islam [^73] presupposes the emergence in him of the higher type of man capable of lofty aspirations towards self-improvement - the self-improvement that is no less than the actualization of his latent power and capacity to become a perfect man. The man of Islam as a city dweller, a cosmopolitan, living a civilized life according to clearly defined foundations of social order and codes of conduct is he to whom obedience to Divine Law, endeavour towards realizing true justice and striving after right knowledge are cardinal virtues. The motive of conduct of such a man is eternal blessedness, entrance into a state of supreme peace which he might even here perchance foretaste, but which shall be vouchsafed to him when he enters the threshold of that other City and becomes a dweller, a citizen of that other Kingdom wherein his ultimate bliss shall be the beholding of the Glorious Countenance of the King.

While Islam is the epitome of the Divine cosmic order, it is the man of Islam who is conscious of his destiny realizes that he is himself, as physical being, also an epitome of the cosmos, a microcosmic representation, ‘alam saghir, of the Macrocosmos, al-’alam al-kabir. Hence in the manner that Islam is like a kingdom, a social order, so the man of Islam

[^71] See al-A’raf (7):179. [^72] al-Tawbah (9):111. [^73] The man of Islam, i.e., the Muslim.

70 This is the soul of the servant who has fulfilled in constant affirmation his Covenant with his Lord, and since none knows his Lord better than the true and loyal servant, who by reason of such service gains intimacy with his Lord and Master, so ‘ibadah means, in its final, advanced stages, knowledge: ma’rifah. [^76]

I have traced in bare outline the fundamental core of the Religion of Islam and have shown in a general way which can, albeit, be elaborated to its minutest logical details its all-encompassing nature which pervades the life of the individual as well as the society. I have said that Islam is the subjective, personal religion of the individual as well as the objective, pervading self-same religion of the Community - that it operates as the same religion in the individual as a single entity as well as the society composed collectively of such entities.

[^76] We do not in the least imply here that when ‘ibadah becomes identified with ma’rifah, the former as work or service (‘amal) including prayer (salat) - i.e. the prescribed (fard), the confirmed practice of the Prophet (sunnah), the supererogatory (nawafil) - is no longer incumbent on the one who attains to the latter, or that for such a one prayer means simply intellectual contemplation, as some philosophers thought. Ma’rifah as ‘knowledge’ is both light cognition (‘ilm) and right feeling or spiritual mood (hal); and the former, which marks the final stages of the spiritual ‘stations’ (maqamat), precedes the latter, which marks the beginning of the spiritual ‘states’ (ahwal). So ma’rifah marks the spiritual transition-point between the spiritual station and the spiritual state. As such, and since it is knowledge that comes from God to the heart (qalb) and depends entirely upon Him, it is not necessarily a permanent condition unless continually secured and fortified by ‘ibadah. He who discerns knows that it is absurd in the case of one who receives knowledge from God about God (i.e. the ‘arif) to transform thereby his ‘ibadah solely into contemplation, for the ‘arif is acutely aware of the fact that he becomes one at least partly due to his ‘ibadah, which is the means by which he approaches his Lord.

46 single entity as well as the society composed collectively of true believers nor faithful ones (mu’min) without such entities.

It is implicit in our exposition that Islam is the unity of all these, together with what they entail, in belief and in practice, in the person of the Muslim as well as in the Community as a whole. There can be no separation, nor division, nor dichotomy between the harmoniously integrated parts of the unity thus established so that there can be, for Islam, no

man

as reflecting the cosmos, as God’s government of the realm of Creation, and I have drawn a comparison in respect of

that concept of man and the concept of the macrocosm and

its analogous relationship with man as a microcosm in which his rational soul governs his animal soul and body as God governs His Kingdom. The soul’s Covenant with God and the nature of the relationship revealed in that Covenant indeed occupies a central position in the concept of

man and is the fundamental basis of Islam, as I will reveal yet

further. The Covenant was made to all souls of Adam’s progeny and God addressed them both collectively as well as individually, so that it was a covenant made at once by every individual soul as well as all of them collectively to acknowledge God as their Lord. To acknowledge God as Lord (rabb) means to acknowledge Him as Absolute King (syn. malik), Possessor and Owner (syn. sahib), Ruler, Governor, Master, Creator, Cherisher, Sustainer - since all these meanings denote the connotations inherent in the concept of Lord. All souls have the same status in relation to their Lord: that of being subject, possessed, owned, ruled, governed, enslaved, created, cherished and sustained. And since the Covenant pertained at once to the individual soul as well as to the souls collectively, so we see that here when manifested as man within the fold of Islam the same souls are united in their endeavour to fulfill the Covenant collectively as society and Community (ummah) as well as individually in such wise that Islam is, as we have said, both

⁹It is implicit in our exposition that Islam is being also submissive in service (Muslim); no real assent of both belief and faith (Iman) as well as submission in service heart and mind confirmed by tongue without deed and (Islam); it is both assent of the heart (qalb) and mind (‘aql) work; no genuine obedience and loyalty to God without confirmed by the tongue (lisan) as well as deed and work obedience and loyalty to His Messenger; nor can there be (‘amal);¹⁰ it is the harmonious relationship established between both the soul and the body; it is obedience and loyalty

true acceptance of the Testimony that there is no God but Allah without also accepting Muhammad as His Messenger, (Wah) both to God as well as to the Holy Prophet (may who in fact first made manifest the Formula of Unity God bless and give him Peace!); it is accepting whole-

(kalimah al-tawhid). I have also pointed out the fundamental heartedly the truth of the Testimony (kalimah shahadah) nature of the Quranic revelation of the soul’s Covenant that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is the

Messenger of Allah - 75 sealed with God; for the Covenant is in reality made for each individual. Indeed, though he lives and works within a social contract, if a social contract were in force, his social contract is, nevertheless, an individual one. The man of Islam abides by the bounds of social polity and authority and contributes his share towards the social good, and though he behaves in one form or another like anyone else living in a society, neither does he suffer loss of individuality and personality, nor the society its polity and authority.

It is the Covenant that unites the individual to the society in Islam without the individual having to sacrifice his individuality and personality; for the same Covenant is the very basis of Islamic kinship and brotherhood. So here we appeared as earthly brothers, and they were true kith and kin before they were born in earthly kinship. They were brothers in old yonder in the same destiny long before they appeared in this place and here they are brethren who love one another for God’s sake. Though one be in the East and the other in the West, yet they feel joy and comfort in each other’s talk, and instructed and consoled by the words of his brother. They recognize each other as brothers, as kindred souls. They were akin to one another in yonder world and they abide by that Covenant here as in a strong fortress. The bond of brotherhood which transcends the restricting limitations of race and nation and space and time is much stronger than even the familial bond of kinship, for the kinship is none other than this Covenant, for those souls that here as well as in the spiritual realm of pre-existence are bound together by the same Covenant becomes their true tie and bond.

It is this real feeling of brotherhood among Muslims based upon the Islamic political and social organization that unites one Muslim individual to another in a wondrous and unique individual as well as the societal objective; and it is the harmonious blending of both personal and subjective as well as social and communal aspects ¹¹. Nor in his union with the society does he espouse the doctrine of the social contract reflecting the Covenant — be it in the manner of Hobbes or of Locke or of Rousseau — nor does he find himself at odds with the state and society, or find the state and society as something separate or opposed to his own individuality and personal destiny. He knows that his relationship with the Creator is direct and personal, and is not bound by the mediation of the Church or the priesthood; and his relationship with the state and society is conditioned by justice (‘adl), which is placing every thing and every being in its proper place in the realm of Creation and one’s proper place in relation to it.

Justice is achieved through right action which proceeds from right knowledge; and right knowledge is true belief; and true belief is the state of peace and security and tranquility of the heart; it is knowledge, and knowledge perceived by the spiritual organ known as the heart (al-qalb). It is peace and security and certainty; and certainty is a permanent condition referring to what is permanent in man and perceived by his spirit, not to the animal soul and body of man: nor is it a state of mind man, not to the animal soul and body of man: nor is it a state of mind in philosophy in connection with ethics. ‘Happiness’ refers to the physical entity in man, to his lower passions, and not to his ultimate selfhood and reality and responsibility. In the ultimate analysis, inami’s quest for ‘happiness’ is subordinate to his quest for truth and fulfilment of action in conformity with that certainty ¹².

It is the individual self, the personal entity that matters so much more than the collective entity in Islam. The purpose and end of life in Islam is ultimately for the individual; what the man of Islam does here he does in the way he believes to be good only because God and His Messenger say so and he trusts that his actions will find favour with God. Neither the state nor the society are for him real and true objects of his love and devotion, for to him they are not the prerogatives of the state and society to the extent that such conduct is due to obedience, for to him they are not the prerogatives of the state and society, but are due to and demanded by God. He lives and strives for the good of the state and the society, not because the state and society possess absolute claims over him, but because the society composed of individual men and Islam is only because the society composed of individual men and Islam is only because Islam and the state organized by them set the same end and aim purpose as their goal. And if he in an Islamic state and society happens to oppose the state and strive to correct the errant society and end amid purpose as their goal, it is because for it religion encompasses life in its entirety — all virtue is religious; it has to do with the certainty of the ultimate reality, with the freedom of the rational soul, which freedom means the power to do justice to itself; and this in turn refers to exercising and knowing one’s rightful, and hence responsible, place in creation. Othersise he is obliged to — as in responsible ethics they say — remind them of their true aim in life. We know that in the West, when individuals feel that the state and society do not reflect their true ideal, they often rebel against them and oppose the state and strive to correct the errant society and end by breaking away from them as something alien to them; whereas the man of Islam never does this because the state and society in Islam are organized for the sake of the individual soul, and not the individual soul for the sake of the state and society.

48 entirety - all virtue is religious; it has to do with the freedom of the rational soul, which freedom means the power to do justice to itself; and this in turn refers to exercise of its rule and supremacy and guidance and maintenance over the animal soul and body. The power to do justice to itself alludes to its constant affirmation and fulfilment of the Covenant it has sealed with God. Justice in Islam is not a concept referring to a state of affairs which can operate only within a two-person-relation or dual-party-relation situation, such as: between one man and another; or between the society and the state; or between the ruler and the ruled; or between the king and his subjects. To the question: “Can one be unjust to one’s self?” other religions or philosophies have not given a consistent clear-cut answer.

Indeed in Western civilization, for example, though it is true that a man who commits suicide may be considered as committing an unjust act; but this is considered as such insofar only because his suicide deprives the state of the services of a useful citizen, so that his injustice is not to himself, but to the state and society. We have several times alluded to the concept that justice means a harmonious condition or state of affairs whereby every thing is in its right and proper place - such as the cosmos; or similarly, a state of equilibrium, whether it refers to things or living beings. With respect to man, we say that justice means basically a condition and situation whereby he is in his right and proper place. ‘Place’ here refers not only to his total situation in relation to others, but also to his condition in relation to his self. So the concept of justice in Islam does not only refer to relational situations of harmony and equilibrium existing between one person and another, or between the society and the state, or between the ruler and the ruled, or between the king and his subjects, but far more profoundly and fundamentally so it refers in a primary way to the harmonious and rightly-balanced relationship existing between the man and his self, and in a secondary way only to such as exists between him and another or others and between him and his fellow men and ruler and king and state and society. Thus to the question: “Can one be unjust to one’s self?” we answer in the affirmative, and add further that justice and injustice indeed begins and ends with the self. The Holy Qur’an repeatedly stresses the point that man, when he does wrong, is being unjust (zālim) to himself, and that injustice (zulm) is a condition wrought by man upon his self.¹³ To understand this we have to refer once again to the soul’s Covenant with God and to the belief that man has a dual nature in respect of his two souls and body. The real man can only in fact be his rational soul. If in his existence as a human being he allows his animal or carnal soul to get the better of him and consequently commits acts prohibited by God and displeasing to Him, or if he denies belief in God altogether, then he has thereby repudiated his own affirmation of God’s Lordship which he as rational soul has covenanted with God. He does violence to his own Covenant, his individual contract with God. So just as in the case of one who violates his own contract brings calamity upon himself, in the same way he who does wrong or evil, who disobeys or denies God, violates the contract his soul has made with God, thereby being unjust to his soul. He has also thereby ‘lied’ - kadhaba, another apt Quranic expression - against his own self (soul). It is important in the light of this brief explanation to understand why the belief in the resurrection of bodies is fundamental in Islam, for the soul reconstituted with its former body will not be able to deny what its body had done, for its very eyes, tongue, hands and feet or limbs - the organs of ethical and moral conduct - will testify.¹⁴

79 against its acts of injustice to itself. Though in Islam justice ostensibly applies between man and God, and between man and man, and between man and his self, in reality, however, injustice is ultimately applicable - even in the two former cases - to man’s self alone; in the Islamic world view and spiritual vision, whether a man disbelieves or disobeys God, or whether he does wrong to another man, it is really to his own self that he does wrong. Injustice, being the opposite of justice, is the putting a thing in a place not its own; it is to misplace a thing; it is to misuse or to wrong; it is to exceed or fall short of the mean or limit; it is to suffer loss; it is deviation from the right course; it is disbelief of what is true, or lying about what is true knowing it to be true. Thus when a man does an act of injustice, it means that he has wronged his own soul, for he has put his soul in a place not its own; he has misused it; he has made it to exceed or fall short of its real nature; he has caused it to deviate from what is right and to repudiate the truth and to suffer loss. All that he has thus done - in one way or another - entails a violation of his Covenant with God. It is clear from what we say about injustice that justice implies knowledge of the right and proper place for a thing or a relationship or a being to be; of right as against wrong; of the mean or limit; of spiritual gain as against loss; of truth as against falsehood. This is why knowledge (al-’ilm; ma’rifah; ‘ilm) occupies a most important position in Islam, where in the Holy Qur’an alone we find more than eight hundred references to knowledge. And even in the case of knowledge, man has to do justice to it, that is, to know its limit of usefulness and not to exceed or fall short of it; to know its various orders of priority in relation to its usefulness to one’s self; to know where to stop and to know what can be gained and what cannot, what is true knowledge and what is learned guess and theory - in sum, to put every datum of knowledge in its right place in relation to the knowing one in such wise that what is known produces harmony in the one who knows. To know how to put what knowledge in which place is wisdom (hikmah). Otherwise, knowledge without order and seeking it without discipline does lead to confusion and hence to injustice to one’s self.¹⁵

Knowledge, as we understand it, is of two kinds: that given by God to man; and that acquired by man by means of his own effort of rational enquiry based upon experience and observation.¹⁶ The first kind can only be received by man through his acts of worship and devotion, his acts of service to God (‘ibadat) which, depending upon God’s grace and his own latent spiritual power and capacity created by God to receive it, the man receives by direct insight or spiritual savouring (dhawq) and unveiling to his spiritual vision (kashf). This knowledge (ma’rifah) pertains to his self or soul, and such knowledge - as we have touched upon cursorily in our comparison of the analogous relationship obtained between the macrocosm and the microcosm - gives insight into knowledge of God, and for that reason is the highest knowledge. Since such knowledge ultimately depends upon God’s grace and because it entails deeds and works of service to God as prerequisites to its possible attainment, it follows that for it knowledge of the prerequisites becomes necessary, and this includes knowledge of the essentials of Islam (arkan al-islam and arkan al-iman), their meanings and purpose and correct understanding and implementation in everyday life and