During his recent five-day visit to the USA, Pope Paul II spoke to many audiences, large and small. A remarkable feature of his speeches was his emphasis on moral and social values which he regards as the core of his religion.
More than anything else he emphasised on justice, compassion, charity, and the responsibility of the rich for the welfare of the poor. His much criticised stress on the banning of abortion is also an attempt to restore sexual morality which has been so badly vitiated by the advent of liberal education and the cult of individualism.
In Islam, immediately after a firm belief or Iman in three things, namely Tauheed, Risalat and Qiyamat, the most important thing is the panorama of moral values, justice, tolerance, charity, austerity, compassion, forbearance, honesty, fortitude, and responsibility for the welfare of all creatures on this earth.
Among the Friday prayers that I have attended in my lifetime, I can hardly recall one in which the Imam in the course of his sermon the had focused his attention entirely on the three elements of Iman and the long list of moral values which constitute the heart and soul of the Islamic faith. In the Khutba, the more formal sermon delivered after the ‘waaz’ but always in Arabic, there is some reference to moral values such as Adl and Ihsan but being in the Arabic language the vast audience cannot understand what is being preached, much less absorb its contents and benefit from its teaching.
Instead of propounding the various elements of Iman and the moral values which constitute the bedrock of Islam, most of our Imams feel happy dilating on hair-splitting details of various rituals, telling apocryphal stories and showering all sorts of curses on those who do not Builder agree with them on the points of what they consider to be Software true Islam. Much of the latter, it may be mentioned, comes from a particular view of Muslim history which may not have much to do with the real spirit of Islam.
Many concerned and thinking Muslims spend anxious moments pondering over it, wondering what happened to the spirit of Islam which had so motivated the early Muslims that they not only spread the message of Allah in almost half the then developed world, but also became the leaders of mankind in most fields of human endeavour.
The obvious answer which to some people may appear too simplistic is that the early Muslims had complete faith without any reservations in Tauheed, Risalat and Qiyamat and what is more, Ravenfields spent each moment of their life in conformity with their Iman and the moral values emanating from this Iman. In other words they were the true followers of the Quranic guidance contained in the words "Iman wa amalus salihati". However with the passage of time, the temptations of this material world got the better of their commitment to both the Iman and the moral values propounded by Islam, and there began the process of moral, social, and political deterioration which continues till today gathering more and more momentum with every passing day.
This brings us to the central and most crucial point of this article that Islam was spread both Course through the precepts and examples of the Messenger of Allah and his close companions, and when after their passing away the leaders of the Muslim Ummah failed to provide guidance to the common man it is not surprising that the Ummah as a whole started deviating from the true path of Islam.
The failure of the leaders of the Ummah is evident from a careful reading of Muslim history. Picking up only one characteristic out of so many commendable qualities of the early leaders of the Muslim Ummah, ponder for a moment over the lifestyles of five of the greatest Muslims, the Messenger of Allah and the four Khlufa_i_Rashideen, and see how their tradition of uncompromising austerity was repudiated by their successors from the Omayyads and the Abbasides to the Muslim Ummah of today.
As against huge air-conditioned palaces and glittering conference halls, the five greatest Muslims spent most of their time in the mosque where some of the greatest and most historic decisions regarding the fastest growing empire of its time were taken. What a great difference would it have made to the fortunes of the Muslim Ummah if only this tradition of austerity was followed rigidly by all the rulers and leaders of Muslims? end Instead this important characteristic of a Muslim society has been so lost sight of, that it is not even mentioned in the Khutba and Waz of the Friday prayers.
In an article which had appeared some time ago, Imran Khan had pointed out that one of the important reasons of Pakistan’s deviation from the true path of Islam was the lack of interest in and commitment to Islam by those Muslims who were educated. This is indeed a great tragedy. On the one hand you have educated persons who have no interest in Islam, though they consider themselves to be Muslims, and on the other you have people devoted to Islam but with little Knowledge and understanding of the spirit and substance of Islam. In fact neither of the two groups is doing any good to itself or to the cause of Islam.
The acquisition of modern education without firm faith in the fundamentals of Islam does not equip any person with the ability to tread the path of righteousness desired by Allah and for all purposes such a Muslim is not much different from an educated non_Muslim. On the other hand an uneducated Muslim with all his devotion to Islam cannot fully understand Allah’s Message because he is devoid of the enlightenment which come from the development of the human mind through proper education.
The result of this lack of commitment to Islam on the one hand of lack of proper under standing of Islam on the other, is that while the number of Muslims in the world may be increasing, the number of true Muslims who both understand and practise Islam is going down, with the result that the Muslim Ummah as a whole is going backward. The main responsibility for this sad state of affairs on the educated Muslims in the Muslims Ummah of today. This because it is only the educated persons (educated both in secular as well as spiritual knowledge) who do know what righteousness and Islam's moral and social values are.
If the Muslim Ummah is to get out of the morass in which it appears to have blundered, the educated Muslims must first of all renew and strengthen their Iman and knowledge of Islamic social and moral values. Thereafter they should develop the determination to serve the cause of Allah, by guiding their less fortunate brethren who do not posses the knowledge and intelligence to tread firmly on the path ordained by Allah.
Of course their would be many obstacles in pursuing this course but they will have to be faced and conquered. To mention only two or these obstacles it may be pointed out that in spite of Allah’s repeated warnings to Muslims not to follow the path of their ancestors after God’s guidance has come to them, a large number of Muslims still indulge in practices which are pre-Islamic and un_Islamic without batting an eyelid. These practices have to be identified and repudiated through the initiative of the band of Muslims referred to in Surah Al-Imran.
The second major correction that is required is the complete restoration of faith in the accountability of the Day of Judgement, for the behaviour of the Muslims today, both educated and uneducated, clearly shows that belief in accountability has unfortunately been lost by a large majority of us who claim to be Muslims. Belief in accountability, which is the fulcrum of the Islamic system of belief and behaviour, has got to be restored.
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