THE
ELEMENTS
OF ISLAM
(Excerpts Only)
By:
Shaykh
Fadhlalla Haeri
Chapter
1
The Rise
of Islam
It is said that there
are as many ways to God as there are human beings. From the rise of
human consciousness in the creation of Adam there have been people
who have transcended the normal levels of consciousness.
...
It
is a natural part of human life to seek the answers to the questions
of existence, the meaning behind all change and experience in this
life, the meaning of death and what lies beyond.
...
Whenever
we accept a situation, we are submitting and connecting our system
of knowledge to the knowledge of that particular situation. When we
come to understand a reality of physical nature, that very
understanding contains a submission to that reality. ... The rise of Islam
is therefore equated with the rise of Adam, for all the Prophets and
Messengers arrived at their knowledge through submission to Reality,
which is Islam – submission to the will of God. All Prophets and
Messengers therefore, were transformed through Islam.
Islam
as realized in time relates to the completion of this awakening. The
path of transacting in order to maintain and experience the totality
of the knowledge that is Islam was crystallized with the Seal of the
Prophets and Messengers some fourteen hundred years ago, through the
agency of the last great Prophet, Muhammad. ... While Adam and
all the Prophets were Prophets of Islam, from Muhammad's time
onwards anyone could have access to that complete system for
awakening to the highest spiritual state without superstition or
cultural veils of habit.
Although
the final historical Islamic phenomenon occurred some fourteen
hundred years ago, Islam actually arose with the awakening of the
Adamic consciousness to the meaning of life, death, the return
journey and other facets of the unseen. While Adam and all the
Prophets were Prophets of Islam, the collective prophetic
consciousness reached its completion with Muhammad (whose name means
'most praiseworthy' or 'admirable').
The
Qur`an says: 'We make no distinction between any of the
Messengers and Prophets (i.e. in the eyes of God)' (3:84). All
the Prophets of Islam shared between them the knowledge of God but
advocated different outer rules and regulations for the well-being
of human transaction in society. ...
The
rise of Islam in the revelation of the Qur`an and the prophetic
conduct (called Sunnah) superseded all previously revealed
laws for they are appropriate to every age and society. ...
...
The
World in the Seventh Century
The
historical landscape in which the last message of Islam arose was
made up of four major empires. Around the middle of the seventh
century CE the civilized or 'ruled' world consisted of the Byzantine
Empire with its center in Constantinople, the Sassanian with its
center in Ctesiphon (present-day Baghdad), the Hindu Empire in north
India, and the Chinese Empire. Movement, change and dynamism seemed
to be centered around the eastern shores of the Mediterranean where
decades of warfare, commerce and other interaction took place
between the worlds of Roman Christianity, the Sassanians and other
Christian and Jewish communities in East Africa and other parts of
the Arabian peninsula.
...
Arabs
and Arabia
The
Arabian Peninsula was inhabited by Arabic-speaking Bedouin tribes
living a nomadic life. They criss-crossed various settlements in
valleys and oases, concentrating on areas near the western coast of
the Red Sea and along the trade routes between Yemen and Damascus.
The word 'Arab' originally meant nomadic Bedouin and only later came
to include all those who spoke the language or absorbed Arab
culture.
...
Many Arabian tribes
were involved in commerce between the Mediterranean and the
southern seas, carrying goods and safeguarding them between the
commercial centers of Damascus and the southern port of Mocha
(Aden). ...
...
The
language of these Arabs who dominated the Arabian Peninsula was, of
course, Arabic, the Semitic cousin of Aramaic. ... Their powers of memory
were therefore well exercised and developed, an important point to
note given the nature of the later revelation of the Qur`an.
The
system of belief in most of the Arabian peoples was in one form or
another pagan, with varying degrees of influence from the Christian
and Jewish communities that lived both within Arabia and in the
lands to the north and south.
...
The
small town of Mecca was the most important trading center in the
west of the peninsula because it sat at the junction of the two
major routes: one north-south connecting Syria and the Mediterranean
to Yemen and the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, the other east-west
from Iraq and Iran to Africa and the Mediterranean. It had been a
prominent and prestigious town since ancient times.
Arab
paganism focused on worship at the cubic structure of the Ka'bah,
known as the House of God, and originally built by the Prophet
Abraham.
...
Muhammad
in Mecca
...
Muhammad
was born in AD 570 into the clan of Hashim (Banu Hashim) of the
tribe of Quraysh, who at that time was the most powerful and
prestigious tribe in Mecca. ...
...
His
final spiritual awakening and call to prophethood occurred when he
was about forty. The event of the full revelation was as dramatic
and sudden as it was transformative. The human frame is too frail to
absorb the shock of the infinite unveiled Light of Reality, so for
the next twenty-three years of his life the revealed message of the
Qur`an descended upon the Prophet through the angelic medium of
Gabriel. There is no doubt that neither the occasion nor the content
of the revealed message was under Muhammad's conscious control. The
sequence of the revelation followed an organic pattern dictated by
the occasion, but Muhammad already knew the form of the whole
Qur`an, which he clarified after it was fully revealed before his
death.
The
particular night that the Qur`an descended upon the Prophet's heart
is described as the 'Night of Power' (Laylat al-qadr;
97:1-5), symbolizing the full descent of the Book of Knowledge in
contrast to the years it took for it to be outwardly manifested.
...
Muhammad's
mission and the message of the Qur`an presented a great challenge to
the Meccans. This challenge remains as forceful to this day. ...
...
Living
Islam: The Medina Model
On 24th September CE 622 the Prophet entered Yathrib, a city predominantly inhabited by two Arab tribes and a
community of Jews. This migration (Hijrah) later became the starting point for the Muslim lunar calendar.
Yathrib became the home of the first living community of Muslims. Islam is a
Din, a life-transaction, The first place this action began to unfold was subsequently called Medina, for this name is derived from the word meaning to
civilize or refine, implying that civilization takes root where the Din is
practiced.
In Medina the Prophet established and led the new community.
...
The early years were marked by numerous defensive battles to ward off the attacks of the Quraysh and other tribes. Although Muhammad taught his community to defend themselves and fight in the way of God, he also constantly reminded them of the necessity for inner purification and self-abandonment in order to reflect the attributes of Divine
Mercy.
...
Towards the end of the tenth year AH the Prophet performed the first complete Islamic pilgrimage, the rituals and formalities of which are followed to this day.
...
After the Prophet's return to Medina from Hajj he fell ill, and after a few days of fever his soul departed on the 13th of
Rabi` al-Awwal (the third month of the Muslim calendar year).
As we have already seen, the nature of the
Qur`anic message in Mecca was to do with faith, belief, trust in
and submission to Allah, selflessly, generously living this life
in preparation for the next. In the Medina phase, however, the
revealed message and prophetic actions dealt mostly with matters
of community, family and social life, trade, war, law and all the
other regulatory foundations required for a civilized society. ...
It was in Medina that the
Qur`an showed clearly that Islam is not simply a matter of individual enlightenment and obedience to God; but includes a foundation for a wholesome community in which all Muslims are bound to each other through
honorable and accountable conduct. Indeed, it is only under these circumstances that individual awakening can be enhanced and supported.
The Qur`an describes the life of the community in Medina as the most perfect that has been brought into existence:
'And the believers, men and women, are friends of one another; they enjoin the good and forbid evil ...'
(9:71). The ultimate good is worship and knowledge of Allah, and the worst evil is selfishness, ignorance and the pretension of having no need of Allah.
...
The life of Medina followed the spiritual enlightenment of Mecca. The communal aspects of our lives follow those of personal awakening. When the inner reality has been discovered then the outer law and courtesy will be established as a natural consequence. Mecca relates to perfecting inner ecology, while Medina relates to interacting with the outer environment. Mecca was the unveiling of the microcosm, Medina was the living macrocosm.
The
Way of Muhammad: The Perfect Model
This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed
my favor to you and chosen for you Islam as a religion. Qur`an 5:3
The natural development of the self-awakened is to move from the discovery of the Divine Light within oneself
– serving others with humility, selflessness and love – to the Creational Source that is behind all creational manifestation. After the retreat into the cave of awakening comes the return to society. After having been illuminated and having tamed the lower animalistic tendencies, one can only re-connect with the natural creation, the highest manifestation of which is humankind.
The life of the Prophet and his experiences encompass a rich source of teaching for those who want to follow in the prophetic footsteps, for he underwent practically every possible human experience as he fulfilled the roles of teacher, immigrant, merchant, head of the household, political and social leader, military commander, judge, ruler and, throughout, the Seal of the Prophets. His nobility, humanity, magnanimity, courage, forgiveness, steadfastness, understanding and total devotion to Allah, the Most Glorious, were expressed in such diverse situations common to the collective experience of mankind. His
behavior and conduct, the Sunnah, became the ideal standard to be followed and from it the adjective
Sunni is derived. In this sense every Muslim aspires to be a
Sunni, that is, he or she aims to follow the Prophet's way.
...
Muhammad is the culminating pinnacle of all the Prophets and Messengers. He embodies the completion of the collective prophetic consciousness that has come to mankind during the years of the final evolution and awakening of the higher consciousness within the human being. His message confirms all that went before and points out where distortion, misunderstanding and aberration have occurred. Thus his message supersedes all
those previous to it in a way that leaves no space for any doubt or misunderstanding, except
for those who actively seek it and wish to create confusion for themselves and others.
The
Living Qur`an
Although the Qur`an is a treasury of information, its real glory and miracle lie in its power to transform those who approach it with faith and the conviction that it is the revealed divine blueprint. It unveils itself and clarifies what appears to be obscure in some parts by other sections within it. The organic interrelationship of all its topics reflects reality in such a way that it defies a purely
structuralist scholastic approach. As the manifestation of the highest godly attributes in human form, the Prophet was described as the 'Living
Qur`an'. He considered all Prophets and Messengers his brothers. Indeed, he considered all mankind a single brotherhood, all men and women being equal in the eyes of the Creator, but those are most
honored by the Creator who are most pious and sincere in their submission and abandonment.
...
The Qur`an describes that the only way as far as Allah is concerned is Islam; any other path will not be accepted from man. This is to say that whoever does not enter the ultimate sanctuary through its door will be obstructed, because the ultimate sanctuary is based on the unity of the Creator, and as long as the seeker still sees himself, his method, his 'way' as important, he will not arrive at that final realization.
...
Muhammad's way was that of love for and submission to the one and only Creator, and consideration for all creation. It was the way of being a guest in this short life in order to move into the higher realm of afterlife. The Muhammadi model of existence is based on the truth that human life is born out of a fusion between the spirit, which is from beyond time and space (for it is from the Divine Command), and physical matter resulting in the individual soul. This event comes about in order to complete the journey of the soul from its Creator via creation back to Creator. It is part of the process of the final awakening to the one and only Reality in existence.
...
