ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE
Chapter I
ISLAMIC CONCEPT OF LIFE
The chief characteristic of the Islamic Concept of Life is that it does not
admit a conflict, nay, not even a significant separation between life-spiritual
and life-mundane. It does not confine itself merely in purifying the spiritual
and the moral life of man in the limited sense of the word. Its domain extends
to the entire gamut of life. It wants to mould individual life as well as the
social order in healthy patterns, so that the Kingdom of God may really be
established on the earth and so that peace, contentment and well-being may fill
the world as waters fill the oceans. The Islamic Way of Life is based on this
unique approach to life and a peculiar concept of man's place in the Universe.
That is why it is necessary that before we proceed to discuss the moral, social,
political and economic systems of Islam, we should have a clear idea of the
Islamic Concept of Life.
There are certain basic postulates which should be understood and appreciated at
the very outset. These postulates are as follows:
BASIC POSTULATE
1. Allah Who is the Creator, the Ruler and the Lord of the entire Universe has
created man and provided him with temporary station in that part of His vast
kingdom (cosmos) which is known as the earth. He has endowed man with the
faculties of thinking and understanding, and has given him the power to
distinguish right from wrong. Man has also been invested with freedom of will
and choice and the power to use the resources of the world in any manner he
likes. In short, man has been given a sort of autonomy while being appointed by
God on earth as a successor to the beings that had previously populated it.
2. Before assigning to man the inheritance of the earth, God made it explicitly
clear to him that He alone is the Lord, the Ruler and the Deity. As such, the
entire Universe and
all the creatures in it ( including man )must submit to Him alone. Man must not
think himself totally free and should know that this earth is not his permanent
abode. He has been made to live upon it only during the period of his probation,
and in due course, he will return to his Lord, to be judged according to the way
he has utilized the period of probation. The only right course for man is to
acknowledge Allah as the only Lord, the Sustainer and the Deity and to follow
His Guidance and His Commands in all walks of life. Man must live this life with
the realization that he is to be judged and his sole objective should be to
merit the pleasure of Allah so as to emerge successful in the final test.
Conduct which is contrary to this would lead man astray. If, man follows the
course of piety and Godliness (which he is free to choose and follow) he will
succeed in this world and in the next, in this world he will live a life of
peace and contentment, and in the Hereafter he will qualify himself for the
heaven of eternal bliss, al-Jannah. And if, he chooses to follow the other
course, i.e., that of Godlessness
and evil (which he is equally free to choose and follow) his life will be one of
corruption, disruption and frustration in this world and he will meet colossal
misfortune in the life to come - that abode of pain and misery which is called
Jahannam (Hell) .
3. After administering the warning, God set man upon the earth and provided the
very first human beings (Adam and Eve) with His Guidance in accordance with
which men were to live on the earth. Thus, man's life on this earth did not
begin in utter darkness. The very first man was provided with a burning torch of
light and guidance so that humanity might attain its glorious destiny. The very
first man received revealed knowledge from God Himself. He had knowledge of the
reality and was given the code of life by following which he could live a life
of bliss and success. This code of life was Islam, the attitude of complete
submission to Allah, the Creator of man and of the whole universe. It was this
religion which Adam, the first man, passed down to posterity. But later
generations gradually drifted away from the right path and
adopted different erroneous paths. Because of negligence, they lost the original
teachings, or due to folly or mischief they adulterated and perverted them. They
associated with God innumerable human beings, non-human objects and imaginary
entities as deities and indulged in Shirk (polytheism) of the worst type. They
mixed up the pure teachings of God with strange myths, ideas and philosophies
and thus produced a jungle of religions and cults. They discarded the God-given
principles of social ethics and collective morality, the Shari'ah, and deprived
the human life of peace and tranquillity.
4. Although men departed from the path of truth, disregarded and distorted the
Shari'ah and some of them even revolted against the code of Divine Guidance, yet
God did not destroy them or force them to the right course. Forced conversion to
the right path was not in keeping with the autonomy He had given to man.
Instead, God appointed certain virtuous persons from amongst the people
themselves, to discharge the responsibility of recalling and
guiding men to the right path during their sojourn on the earth. These men
believed in God, and lived a life of obedience to Him. He honored them by His
revelations and gave them the knowledge of reality. These men, known as prophets
(peace be upon all of them), were assigned the task of presenting the message of
truth to humanity and of asking the people to come to the path of the Lord.
5. These prophets were raised in all epochs, in all lands and in all nations.
Out of numerous prophets sent by God, the Qur'an explicitly mentions twenty
five. All of them brought the same message, all of them advocated the same way
of life (Deen) i.e., the way which was revealed to man on the first day of his
existence. All of them followed the same guidance: the guidance which was
prescribed by the Lord for man at the outset of his career on the earth. All of
them stood for the same mission: they called men to the religion if Islam, asked
those who accepted the Divine Guidance to live in accordance with it: and
organized them into a movement for the establishment of the
Divine Law, and for putting an end to all deviations from the Right Path. Every
prophet tried to fulfill this mission in the best possible way. But quite a
number of people never accepted this guidance and many of those who accepted it
gradually drifted astray and, after al lapse of time, lost the guidance or
distorted it through innovations and perversions.
6. At last, God raised Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) in the land of
Arabia and assigned to him the completion of the mission for which earlier
prophets were ordained. The message of Mohammed (peace be upon him) was for the
whole of mankind. He presented anew the teachings of Islam in their pristine
form and provided mankind once again, with the Divine Guidance which they had
lost in its original form. He organized all those who accepted his message into
one Ummah (Nation) which was charged with reconstructing its own life in
accordance with the teachings of Islam, by calling mankind to the path of
righteousness and with establishing the supremacy of the word of God on the
earth. This guidance is enshrined in the Holy Qur'an which constitutes the only
right code of conduct for mankind.