The simple and profound truth of Islam is that it not only explains the meaning and purpose of our lives, as human beings, but it is also a guide to living in a human and thus a civilized way. It is also and most importantly a guide to how we can create not only a civilization, but a world civilization where justice, tolerance and reason are valued as ideals and upheld in practice and where we as human beings can strive for and attain perfection and peace.
 

This makes Islam much more than just a "religion" just as it makes Islam very different from other religions. To understand why this is so - and thus to understand Islam itself - we must first understand what our true nature is, as human beings.
 

As human beings, we are different from all other life on this planet of ours. We are different because we possess two qualifies which this other life does not possess: we possess the ability to reason, to think - to learn, understand and acquire knowledge - and the ability of free will.

Free will gives us the ability to consciously change ourselves. That is, as human beings, we possess the ability to decide whether or not to do something . Or, expressed another way, we have the ability, the potential, to use our will to control or restrain ourselves: to act in a civilized way.

To be civilized is to allow our reason and our will to triumph over the animal nature - the animal desires, feelings and instincts - which we still possess.

What really makes us human and civilized is when we use reason and the rational knowledge we have acquired as a guide to changing ourselves. When we do not do this - when we allow our feelings or instincts to control us - we are simply expressing our lower animal nature, and behaving like animals behave. To act - or worse, live - in this animal way is a complete waste of, and a complete rejection of, our special gifts as human beings.

By allowing our human nature to triumph over our animal nature we have created societies where what is good is valued and where what is bad is rejected, disapproved of or outlawed. When we have consciously understood this triumph, we have created ordered societies where reason and the pursuit of knowledge are valued and encouraged. In brief, we have created civilizations.

When we, as individuals, do use our reason - that is, when we think about our life and human existence itself, and when we embark upon a quest for rational knowledge - we discover and thus learn a very fundamental truth. This discovered truth is perhaps the most fundamental and important truth of all.

This truth which we discover through thinking about life and by pursuing knowledge concerns the nature of reality, of Existence, itself. What we discover is that existence - all being and all life - is ordered in a very wonderful way and that we ourselves, as human beings, are but part of this wonderful cosmic order. And when we discover and understand this we have, in truth, discovered God:  the Creator, the origin, of all this cosmic order. For the fundamental truth is that God is Existence itself, and all life, all being and all beings, derive from this fundamental Being which we name as God, Who we can discover and know through reason.

This rational way to God is the beginning of Islam.
 
 

Islam is based upon reason and the rational pursuit of knowledge. For Islam values and upholds those particular qualities which make us human and civilized - qualities such as fairness, justice, tolerance and reason itself.

The fundamental Islamic beliefs are:

(1) A belief that there is no deity except Allah and that therefore only Allah should be acknowledged and revered as the Creator.

This belief in the uniqueness and Oneness of Allah - and thus an acknowledgement that there is a Creator, a God who is One, Eternal and Infinite and who neither begets nor who was begotten, and who is the only being worthy of worship - arises from a rational pursuit of knowledge and from coming to know the Signs of Allah. That is, the proof - the only proof - that Islam accepts for a belief in Allah and His Oneness is the proof of reason and knowledge: the discovery of His Signs in this world (in 'nature'), and in the heavens themselves.
 

(2) An affirmation of the truth that Muhammad is the Messenger and Prophet of Allah.
 

The proof from reason and knowledge that applies to a belief in Allah applies also to the affirmation about the Prophet Muhammad. He is accepted as the Messenger and Prophet of Allah on the basis of knowledge of his life, knowledge of his achievements, what is revealed in the Holy Quran and by the fact that he it was who received the revelation of the Holy Quran.

Muhammad was a civilized human being who lived a simple life and who did not perform 'miracles' to show or 'prove' that he was favoured by Allah. By any standard, his achievement in changing the Arabs of his time, and then the whole world, after his death, through Islam, is remarkable. In particular, the achievement of this illiterate but very humane and human man in laying the foundation for the most civilized civilization there has ever been is a natural 'miracle' in itself.
 

(3) An affirmation of the truth that the Holy Quran is the very word of Allah and thus expresses His Will.

A reasoned examination of the Holy Quran leads to this particular conclusion. (a) Muhammad was illiterate and it seems rather unreasonable (albeit it is possible) to assume or believe that such a person could create or 'write' such a work which purely on its beauty of language and conciseness of expression is most certainly the greatest work in Arabic. (b) The work was revealed over a period of some twenty years, which involved the Prophet in migration and war, and yet it is consistent - it is reasonable to assume or believe that under these circumstances an ordinary man, writing or 'creating' such a work, would make a mistake and contradict himself. (c) Muhammad himself said it was a revelation from Allah, and throughout his life he was known for his honesty and truthfulness - it is reasonable to assume or believe therefore that he himself sincerely believed this work to be a revelation from Allah. (d) This avowedly religious work is unlike any other avowedly religious book in that it exhorts us to seek out knowledge for ourselves and use our powers of reason to understand things, for by doing so - this work says - we will come to know our Creator through his Signs, His creations and His will; that is, it exhorts us to be human and civilized, and elevates our human gift of reason and tolerance above blind religious faith, religious zeal and 'miracles'. (e) The work itself is unique in the literature of the world - for there is the evidence of not only its unique literary style but the evidence from history, and the present day, as to how the very reading of this work - and particularly the hearing of a recitation from this work - has affected individuals and led them to discover and then embrace Islam.

Taking all such things as these together, it is reasonable to conclude that among the Signs of Allah is the Holy Quran itself.
 

(4) An affirmation of the truth that Muhammad is the last and final Prophet of Allah (Katam-al-Nabiyyin), and that the way of life he revealed and made known (Islam) is complete and perfect and so therefore does not need to be changed or altered or 'updated' in any way.

This follows logically from the truth of the Holy Quran as revealing the will of Allah, for this particular affirmation is contained in the Holy Quran itself [Sura 33: 40; and 5:3 - "This day I have perfected your Way of Life for you and completed My Favour upon you and have chosen for you as your Way of Life AI-Islam."]
 

(5) An acceptance that the only standard of judgement - the only true guide to what is good and evil and therefore to what is lawful and what is forbidden - is that revealed to human beings by Allah in the Holy Quran and through the example of the Prophet Muhammad.

This [q.v. for example Sura 6: 114f ] follows logically from the above truths and means that in all that Muslims do they must be guided by the will of Allah and not by their own feelings, their own instincts, nor even by their own judgement. This also means that Muslims are guided by Islam alone - and take Islam as the one and only standard and guide - and do not follow the judgements, standards or guidance of anyone or anything else. That is, Muslims fully submit to the will of Allah.
 
 

An Islamic State is thus a society where Muslims can live in freedom according to the will of Allah, and where devoutness to the will of Allah is the highest ideal and the criteria which governs both private and public life.

Correctly understood, the Shari'ah is the way to Allah, for the Shari'ah determines what is good and bad: what is lawful and what is forbidden; what is recommended and what is to be discouraged. To do what is lawful and recommended is to do the will of Allah and thus follow the path to Paradise and Eternal life. To do what is forbidden and discouraged is to strive to disobey the will of Allah, and to follow the path which leads to Hell.

According to Islam, our purpose as human beings is to obey the will of Allah so that we may enter Paradise and gain an eternal blissfullife. By obeying the will of Allah, we are being truly human - and thus fulfilling the promise latent within us and which Allah bestowed upon us.

Allah has placed us in a position of trust - of guardianship over this planet, and possibly over other planets in the cosmos. For we are His vicegerents, and thus have been honoured by Allah even above the Angels.

The Shari'ah explains the terms of this trust - it outlines our duties and responsibilities: to Allah, to ourselves, to our fellow Muslims, to our fellow human beings, and to all the life which exists on this planet of ours.

One of the duties and responsibilities of Muslims is to spread the truth of Islam - to be a witness to the truth of Islam through both our words and our deeds - thus giving those who do not believe in the Oneness of Allah, and who do not accept Muhammad as the Messenger and Prophet of Allah, the opportunity to follow the way of Islam. And what is a duty and responsibility for individual Muslims, becomes a duty and responsibility for an Islamic State: for the Muslim community, or Ummah. Thus, one of the duties and responsibilities of an Islamic State would be inviting others to Islam. Indeed, one of the reasons for creating such an Islamic State is the practical example it affords - for it would be a living witness to the truth of Islam.
 

Thus, it is wrong to conceive of an Islamic State in contemporary political terms. For a true Islamic State - a society based upon and adhering to pure, fundamental Islam - is an entirely a-political entity. For an Islamic State is but a means to create and maintain the Islamic way of life, and this way of life is the way of Unity, of Oneness, of awareness of and submission to God, to Allah. This way of life is thus above and beyond politics just as the economics of such an Islamic society is above and beyond ordinary economics, derived as it is from the moral and just principles of Islam, forbidding as these principles do speculation, usury, and social and economic injustice. In a sense, a true Islamic State is an entirely new type of society created and maintained to enable us to perfect ourselves, as human beings, and thus draw closer to God.

Hence, the very basis of such a State, such a new society, is not 'individual rights', 'individual freedom', 'democracy' or even what has come to called our 'human rights'. Instead, the basis of an Islamic State is our duties and responsibilities to Allah and other beings. Our own so-called 'rights' as individuals are only secondary to this. This is entirely the opposite of modern-day politics which concerns itself primarily with the so-called 'rights and freedoms' of individuals and with trying to ensure the material prosperity and happiness of the individual.

The concern of modem politics, and modem States based upon such politics, is the happiness, prosperity and 'freedom' of the individual. The concern of an Islamic State is that we willingly and joyfully accept and discharge the duty which Allah has entrusted us with. Thus, the only laws of an Islamic State are those of the Shari'ah - everything and anything else is wrong, misguided or unnecessary: that is, un-Islamic. The only duties of those who live in such a society are the duties given by Islam, and the only freedom which such a society encourages and allows is the freedom to do what is right: what is the will of Allah.
 

To create and maintain such an Islamic State it is necessary for Muslims to strive to live in an Islamic way. This means we who are Muslims striving to change ourselves for the better by living according to Islamic principles: that is, not compromising with the modem world in any way, but instead only doing what is right and Islamic, what Allah has called upon us to do. This means us always keeping to the straight path by upholding Islamic morals and manners; it means striving to invite others to Islam; it means striving against injustice and defending Islam.

This requires we who are Muslims to always judge everything and everyone by the guidelines given to us in the Holy Quran and in Ahadith. It requires us to always have before us the example of the Prophet Muhammad, to always compare ourselves to him and always strive to be more like him in our everyday lives. In brief, it means us as Muslims using our will and our reason to follow the commands of Allah and the example of his Messenger and Prophet.

Abdul Aziz