(The
Ass in the Lion's Skin)
The fundamental mistake
which our so-called Islamic reformers are committing today consists in
their servile acceptance of the Western outlook as a norm to measure right and wrong.
They endeavour to 'prove', with the help of the most ridiculous mental
juggleries and a distortion of
historical facts, that the aims and ideals of Islam in reality do correspond to
what Western people regard as desirable and respectable. They are trying to smoothen the
differences between Islamic and Western ideologies by gradually forcing
Muslim lifestyle into the channels in
which Western life flows.
These so-called reformers see the material advance and political
power of Europe and America and compare it with the deplorable state of the
Muslim World. They see the present day
Muslim communities entirely lacking creative strength and vigour. Hence, they naively believe that the
strength and vigour must always be 'right' and must therefore succeed in the
spiritual field as well. As a result
of this childish belief, coupled
with their ignorance of the true
causes of Muslim degeneration, they conclude
that the Muslim
World could overcome
its stagnation if it adopted the Western principles and hence become
vigorous.
What was the outcome? The
far-reaching dependence on Western Ideologies of these so-called reformers
gradually produced in them
the habit of
regarding Western civilization
as a model of all positive developments. This finally led them to subconsciously
believe that the aims of Islam must be identical with the aims of the Western
civilization. They produce a spate of
literature bent on proving
that Islam was
'fundamentally' in agreement
with Christianity. Whenever they find
anything in the teachings of
Islam that does not agree with Western concepts, they try to explain
it away either as a 'corruption' of the original teachings or as a 'outbound' injunction meant to uplift the uncultured Arabs of
Rasoolullah's time (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) and therefore
irrelevant to our 'enlightened' society
today. In particular, they
grew accustomed to reject the entire structure of the SUNNAH on the unfounded
plea that the AHADITH (plural of HADITH) are unreliable: and so their slogan became
BACK TO THE QURAN.
To them, this meant an
arbitrary twisting of the Qur’anic teachings in the light of Western
notions. A glaring example of such a
so-called 'reformer' is the notorious GHULAM AHMAD PARWEZ whose teachings are
being blindly propagated by the Western orientated journal AL-BALAAGH published
from Lenasia, Transvaal.
Nevertheless, anybody who has the slightest acquaintance with the
principles of Islam
knows that the
above reasoning implies an absolute negation of
everything Islam stands for.
Firstly, to consider Rasoolullah (peace be upon him) just as a mere wise man cuts at the very root of the Islamic
conception of Prophethood. A Muslim who
believes that the Qur’an is the revealed Word of Allah will not have the least
hesitation in saying that the Blessed Personality through whom it was revealed
was truly the wisest of all men. But
this alone does not constitute the whole of his greatness. The ultimate reason of his being the
greatest man lies in his
function as a LAST of all Prophets, as the bearer of Allah's last Revelation to
man and therefore 'he does not speak out of his own desire.'
(AI-Qur’an 53:3). It is Allah Who
speaks through him, in whatever he utters by way of spiritual guidance or
practical legislation. It is Allah Who
made it clear to us in countless verses of
the Qur’an that to follow Rasoolullah (peace be upon him) in
whatever he ordains is to follow the Creator Himself. Though Rasoolullah (peace be upon him) was undoubtedly human, his
leadership of men was Divinely Inspired. None can be called a Muslim who does not accept this basic doctrine of
the Qur’an.
Secondly, none can be called a Muslim who does not accept the Law
of Islam as a time-less expression of Allah's Will, for He said: 'Today I
have perfected for you your religion (deen) and fulfilled my favour unto you
...'. (AI-Ouran 5:3). What
perfection could there be in a time-bound law, a law suitable for a particular
period but unsuitable for later stages of human development? Could such a transitory legislation be
rightly described as a fulfillment of
Allah's favour to mankind? Let it be
known that the denial of the Eternal validity of the Shari’ah ( Qur’an and
Ahadeeth ) is synonymous with the denial of Rasoolullah's claim that the Qur’an is truly the revealed Word of Allah.
Nevertheless, it is not my business to argue with these so-called
'reformers' such as Ghulam Ahmad Parwez and his ‘blind’ followers, who
take such a
denial upon themselves. These very sincere advice are addressed to
Muslims who believe in the Qur’an and its Messenger, who regard Islam as a fulfillment of Allah's
favour to man - a perfect, self-contained ideology,
a program of life, a spiritual guidance and a socio-economic code. If Islam is all these, then most certainly
it cannot leave the shaping of its society and civilization to Western non-Islamic
factors. Only thoughtless people can imagine that it is possible to imitate Western social design without such an
implied rejection of the true spirit of Islam.
Abdul Haq Abdul Kadir,
Umhlanga Rocks, KZN.