Chapter Five
Partners or Guardians?
Actually partners! Yes, we are partners rather than guardians of the other, dictating to people what we believe, forcing on them what we have faith in, and choosing for them what we choose for ourselves, or rather what our Lord, the Most Glorious, has chosen for us (Praise and gratitude are due to Him):
Thus have you been in days gone by. But God has bestowed on you His grace (Al-Nisaa IV: 94).
Actually we are our own guardians, with the task of instituting Islam in our lives. so that we can reflect the character of being-best, which characterizes the message and immortal divine values of Islam. Thus we will truly be worthy of the favor and being-best quality which our Lord has honored us with and commissioned us for in His statement:
You are the best nation that has been known by Mankind. You enjoin justice and censure evil, and you believe in God (Aal 'Imraan III: 110).
That means the best nation in its justice and fairness, security and stability, ethics, conducts and dealings, social and political performance, economic performance, realization of human dignity, mercy and mutual compassion by its members towards each other and towards other people, the progress of its civilization, maintenance of ecological safety, competition for good deeds, warding off all evils, and pursuit of gains.
It was with this and for this that God, the Most Sublime, sent the guiding messenger, our Master, Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, with good tidings as well as warnings, with guidance and mercy, and with the task of perfecting moral standards and good manners and of complementing the messages of former prophets, blessings and peace be upon all of them.
We have certainly sent you to all people, carrying good tidings and warning them (Sabaa XXXIV: 28).
Say, “O people, I am God’s messenger to you all, who is the Master of Heavens and Earth; there is no deity but He; He gives life and death. So believe in God and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, who believes in God and His Word, and follow him that you may be well-guided” (Al-A'raaf VII: 158).
I am sent on my mission in order to complement high ethical standards.[1]
An analogy for me and the prophets before me is that of a man who built a building, which was well done and beautifully ornamented, except for the location of one brick at one of its corners. People would come, walk around it, admire it, and say, “Why do you not put that brick in?” Well, I am the brick, and I am the last of the prophets.[2]
Thus, the mission of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, represents a historical turning point in the lives of all people and a distinctive civilized transformation in their life style and culture. With this mission, cultural discourse replaced the nationalist terminology of religion and its limitation of purpose with the terminology of Islam’s universality and the inclusiveness and integration of its purposes. The isolation, antagonism, and conflict of human communities were replaced with the unity of the human race and the cooperation of its communities. For the first time in human history, people listened to an expression of the concept of human brotherhood:
People, your Lord is one.
People, your father is one.
Also for the first time, they heard of the principle of getting acquainted in order to coexist with no discrimination other than the distinction gained by straightforwardness and good deeds:
People, We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes in order to know each other. The noblest among you in God’s consideration are those who fear Him the most (Al-Hujuraat XLIX: 13).
For the first time, they find themselves in front of a divine message that makes the question of justice its top priority and orders that justice should be for all with no discrimination, even when antagonism and enmity are involved.
Never allow your hatred of any people to lead you away from justice. Be just, this is closer to righteousness (Al-Maidah V: 8).
The just, well-guided caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him and please him, gave a most wonderful example of fairness and the administration of justice, when he supported a Coptic boy against a “member of the nobility,” the son of Egypt’s ruler, 'Amr Ibn Al-'Aas, may God be pleased with him. On that occasion, Omar addressed the “member of the nobility,” asking his well known question: “Since when have you enslaved people whose mothers gave them birth as free persons?” In the annals of the French Revolution, as Mr. Lafayette, a speaker of the revolution, was reading its first communiqué and came to the first article which said, “A person is born free and may not be enslaved,” he lifted his head up and said, “Great Arab king, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, it was you who established justice as it should be.” (Quoted by Dr. Ma'roof Al-Dawalibi, may God have mercy upon him).
In his book Arab Civilization, historian Gustave Le Bon says:
Force was definitely not a factor in spreading the Qur'an. The Arab gave the defeated the freedom of holding to their religion. If Christian nations did embrace the religion of their vanquishers, it is because these new conquerors seemed more just in dealing with them than their earlier masters.
Through this and other evidence, which need not be cited here in detail, we can set the good example with which we can present Islam and its values and principles. With the good example and the actual model set by Islamic civilization, we can tell people, with confidence, what Islam’s tolerant and equitable message is. With the live model, we can effectively and skillfully present God’s immortal religion. Then, and on the basis of all this, we will deservedly be the carriers of the message of the best nation known to mankind:
You are the best nation that mankind has known (Aal 'Imraan III: 110).
We will deserve the middle position among all nations that God has bestowed on us:
We have thus made you a middle nation (Al-Baqarah II: 143).
We will truly be up to the task of cultural testimony for and against people:
… and you will be witness for Mankind (Al-Haj XXII: 78).
We will be qualified to carry the message of mutual acquaintance between cultures and civilizations:
People, We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes in order to know each other… (Al-Hujuraat XLIX: 13).
We will be worthy to enter the fields of competition for good deeds:
Vie, then, with one another in doing good deeds (Al-Maidah V: 48).
We will also be qualified to shoulder the responsibilities of cultural check by people to ward corruption off the earth and achieve rational development:
And had it not been for God using people to check each other, the Earth would have been corrupted. God is limitless in His bounty to all the worlds (Al-Baqarah II: 251).
It seems that some Muslims – who believe in Islam in a way opposite to, and conflicting with, the aforementioned tolerant values and ideals – confuse to a great extent between jurisprudence (Fiqh) rulings that concern how to deal with Muslim and non-Muslim wrongdoers and aggressors against the Islamic nation and its religion and values, on the one hand, and, on the other, with assailants of its inviolability and sovereignty, usurpers of its land and residence, opponents of and fighters against the principle of mutual acquaintance, and enemies of the methodology of presenting God’s religion and its values and principles through dialogue, wise action, and pleasant speech. Yes, indeed, some Muslims have confused the jurisprudence (Fiqh) rulings that concern how to deal with the unjust types listed above and jurisprudence rulings on how to deal with peaceful and fair non-Muslims, who are willing to live with Muslims in safety and security, not to fight them over their religion, have not driven them out of their homeland, have not been accomplices to such an action, and do not fight the principle of dialogue between, and mutual acquaintance of, people from various religions, cultures, and civilizations. Those Muslims have also confused those rulings with the jurisprudence rulings that concern how to deal with those who allow a Muslim full freedom to present his religion, values, culture, and mission in life, and also freedom to report, without any condition or restriction, what he believes in to all people, as long as his actions are within standards and ethics that do not conflict with the principles and laws of the country in which that Muslim lives or which he visits. Such a situation is in harmony with the divine wisdom and gentleness towards creatures, as described by the Lord of Majesty and Sublime Station to His messenger Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and to Muslims after him:
Call [people] to the path of your Lord through wisdom and benign preaching, and reason with them in a graceful manner. Your Lord knows best who strays from His path, and He knows best who are rightly guided (Al-Nahl XVI: 125).
Reason with the People of the Book only in a graceful manner, except the unjust among them, and say, “We believe in what is revealed to us and revealed to you. Our God and yours is one, and we submit to Him” (Al-'Ankaboot XXIX: 46).
Say, “People of the Book, come to a word that equally applies to us and you; that we will only worship God, and worship nothing other than Him. We would not take each other to be lords, rather than God.” If they decline, say, “Be witnesses that we are Muslims” (Aal ‘Imran III: 64).
Say, “Who provides for you from the heavens and from the Earth?” Say, “It is God, and we and you are either well-guided or clearly astray.” Say, “You are not accountable for the crimes we have committed, or we for your actions.” ◘ Say, “Our Lord will bring us together, then He will justly judge between us, and He is the Opener of All Gates, the All-Knowing One.” ◘ Say, “Show me what partners you have attached to Him. No, He is God, the Mighty and Wise One” (Sabaa XXXIV: 25-27).
Contend with what is best, and then the one you have been at enmity with behaves as a close supporter (Fussilat XLI: 34).
“Speak kindly to people” (Al-Baqarah II: 83).
We have sent you only as an act of mercy for all creatures (Al-Anbiya XXI: 107).
Say, “People, the truth has come to you from your Lord. Whoever chooses to follow the true guidance does so for his own good; and whoever chooses to go astray, does so at his own peril. I am not responsible for your conduct” (Yunus X: 108).
Do not revile what they invoke instead of God, lest they should revile God spitefully out of ignorance. Thus have We made the actions of every community seem goodly to them. Then to their Lord shall they all return, and He will explain to them all that they have been doing (Al-An, am VI: 108).
God does not forbid you, in regards to those who did not fight you over your religion nor driven you out of your homes, to be kind and just to them. God loves the just. ◘ What God forbids you is for those who have driven you out of your homeland and those who were accomplices in driving you out to have them as allies. Those who have them as allies are the unjust ones” (Al-Mumtahinah LX: 7-8).
Yes, we are partners rather than guardians of the other, nor do we accept the other to be a guardian for us. We do not accept the whole principle of somebody being a guardian of somebody else. Absolute guardianship, wardship, sponsorship, and godhood in this life and the Hereafter are attributes of God, the One and Only, with no partner, the Lord of all human beings, creatures, and the universe. Guardianship and wardship are attributes of God’s authority. He, the Most Glorious, is the King of the Kingdom and has the highest wardship over all creatures. There is no wardship on earth but for God, the Most Sublime, and for any of His creatures whom He empowers on earth.
Believers, obey God and obey the Messenger and those with authority among you (Al-Nisaa IV: 59).
He, the Most glorious, is the Lord of all human beings and the manager of their affairs; the Lord of all creatures, whether jinn or human; and the Lord of all living things and all objects. All are at His disposal and subject to His will. All are partners in servitude to Him, the Most Glorious, and to no other being.
Say, “People of the Book, come to a word that equally applies to us and you; that we will only worship God, and worship nothing other than Him. We would not take each other to be lords, rather than God.” If they decline, say, “Be witnesses that we are Muslims” (Aal ‘Imran III: 64).
Yes, we are partners in utter servitude to God, partners in achieving God’s purpose in life on earth, partners in the task of vicegerency on earth by the command of our Lord, the Most Glorious and Sublime, for
1. The settlement of the earth:
I am appointing a vicegerent on earth (Al-Baqarah II: 30).
He it is Who brought you into being out of the earth and settled you therein (Hood XI: 61).
2. The administration of justice:
God enjoins justice and kindness (Al-Nahl XVI: 90).
3. Realizing human dignity:
We have honored the children of Adam (Al-Israa XVII: 70).
4. Maintaining environmental safety:
Do not spread corruption on earth after it has been so well ordered (Al-A'raaf VII: 56).
Let contestants compete in these things.
Vie, then, with one another in doing good deeds (Al-Maidah V: 48).
The enjoyment of life on this earth and its embellishment, pomp, and material things is available to all, with no exception, by order from our Lord, the Most Glorious.
… Those who care for earthly life and its embellishment .… (Hood XI: 15).
It is God’s grace and wisdom that has placed everything in the heavens and on earth at the disposal of human beings to allow them to carry out the task of vicegerency on earth, and it is His abundant wisdom that has made all these things neutral in their functions in the hands of the human race. They do not side with a believer against a disbeliever, nor with a Muslim against a non-Muslim. They do not respond to one group of people at the expense of another group. They respond to everybody, with no exception, and decline to respond only to the lazy and idle, the inattentive, and the ignorant. Thus, the settlement of earth is achieved by the efforts of all people and the task of vicegerency, as ordered by God, continues. If a group of people fails to meet the trust, another rises up to meet it, and if a nation neglects this divine obligation, God, the Most Glorious and Sublime, destines another to undertake it. In this manner, God’s purpose is continuously realized in having the earth settled and its contents exploited for the benefit of human life and the mission of the human race in this life.
Our mission as Muslims falls within this great divine obligation; it is to make ourselves the pioneering model (the best nation) in the areas of settlement of the earth on rational foundations and to be the good example in our cultural performance in fields of competition, production, and consumption.
Muslims should realize that the mission of vicegerency on earth is an essential matter in real servitude to God, the Sublime. It is actually the practical and applied aspect of the obedience and submission to the command of God, the Most Sublime, that they feel in their hearts, as asserted by our Master and Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, the guide and herald of good omens:
Belief is what abides in the heart and is verified by action (A tradition of the Prophet’s).
It is also asserted by God, the Most Sublime:
Say, “Work! for God will witness your work, and so will His messenger and the believers” (Al-Tawbah IX: 105).
He it is Who brought you into being out of the earth and settled you therein (Hood XI: 61).
It is what we should emphasize in our religious and educational curricula, and through a reconsideration of the concept of the comprehensive worship of God, the Most Sublime, so that it may be embedded in the education of new generations and in their religious and effective belief that settlement of the earth and maintenance of life are an integral part of the pure worship of God, the Most Sublime.
Believers respond to the call of God and the Messenger when he calls you to that which will give you life (Al-Anfaal VIII: 24).
Thus a Muslim grows up with the notion that worship is of two kinds:
· spiritual worship, and
· constructional worship,
and that the complementarity's and inseparability of these two worships are required for the fullness of belief and of submission to God.
Someone may ask at this point, “Spiritual worship and its position in religion is something that we know. Constructional worship is something new, unknown before now. What then do you mean by constructional worship? Is it not a heresy with which you are adding to religion something alien to it? What is the relationship between spiritual worship and what you call constructional worship?
Undoubtedly, such questions can be seen as objective within the framework of traditional, simplified understanding of the meaning of worship, which is the common thing among ordinary Muslims, and even, regrettably, some of their elite. If, however, the questioner contemplates the words of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him:
Belief is seventy-odd departments; the highest is “There is no deity other than God,” and the lowest is removing a harmful object from a road,
then their vision will clear up towards finding out the encyclopedic meaning of worship, and the screens will be torn that have been hiding the horizons of the inclusiveness of what worship means in Islam. If this questioner meditates over what God’s Book says in this regards, he will apprehend with certainty the value and importance of establishing life and settling the universe in the scale of actual worship of God:
Walk around its regions, eat of His provision, and to Him is the resurrection (Al-Mulk LXVII: 15).
Say, “Work! for God will witness your work, and so will His messenger and the believers” (Al-Tawbah IX: 105).
Say, “Look to see what the heavens and earth contain” (Yunus X: 101).
From among God’s servants, the ones who fear him are knowledgeable people (Faatir XXXV: 28).
“Are they equal, those who know and those who do not? It is only those with understanding that remember” (Al-Zumar XXXIX, 9).
Vie, then, with one another in doing good deeds (Al-Maidah V: 48).
He it is Who brought you into being out of the earth and settled you therein (Hood XI: 61).
He said, “It may well be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and leave you to inherit the earth. He will then see how you conduct yourselves” (Al-A'raaf VII: 129).
And We taught him how to make garments for you, so that they may fortify you against what may cause you fear. Are you, then, thankful? (Al-Anbiya XXI: 80).
We sent down iron, which has great power and benefits to people (Al-Hamid LVII: 25).
We have made all that is on earth as an adornment in order to test people as to which of them are best in conduct (Al-Kahf XVIII: 7).
If the person who entertain some doubt reflects upon the meaning of constructional worship as explained by relevant sayings of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, which are almost too many to count, the meanings of the term will become clear to him, and he will find, in his heart and soul, how great the denotations of this excellent and magnificent worship are.
One hour of learning is better than one thousand prayers (a tradition of the Prophet’s).
Whenever a man gets out of his house in quest for learning, God paves for him a road to paradise.[3]
When a person pursues learning, it is atonement for the past.[4]
Angels lower down their wings for a scholar seeking to learn in approval of what he is doing.[5]
Today, the non-fasting ones get all the reward.[6]
It is better for any of you to go about doing something for his brother than red camels (a tradition of the Prophet’s).
God has some servant whom He has entrusted with meeting the needs of people. He made them favored for doing good deeds and loving to do them. Those are the ones exempted from the torment of Hell on the Day of Resurrection (a tradition of the Prophet’s).
If Doomsday arrives while one of you is holding a sapling in his hand and he is able to plant it before he is resurrected, he should do so.[7]
The best people are those who benefit people.[8]
No person eats any food that is better than what he earns through his manual work. God’s prophet David used to earn his food by his manual work.[9]
When any of you does something, God would like him to do it efficiently.[10]
Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, says:
Let none of you fail to try to earn his living and say, “Please, God, provide for me” when he knows that the sky rains neither gold nor silver.
Say, “Work! for God will witness your work, and so will His messenger and the believers” (Al-Tawbah IX: 105).
This is just a handful from a great and abundant bulk of what is included in the Qur'an and in the pure Sunna, stressing the practical aspect of worshipping God and of achieving his objective in the creation of the human race and of the universe surrounding it.
The creation of the heavens and earth is greater than the creation of human beings.
As for the claim that the term “constructional worship” is a heresy, I say the greatest heresy is suspending God’s Book and the Sunna of His chosen Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, and isolating them from the task of establishing life.
… when he calls you to that which will give you life (Al-Anfaal VIII: 24).
The sedition and heresy lie in abandoning God’s objective in having the universe settled and exploiting its contents which the Lord of creatures has placed at the disposal of His creatures.
And He has subjected to you what is in the heavens and what is on earth; all is from Him (Al-Jaathiyah XLV: 13).
The heresy and the utmost deviation is in failing to realize the immortal, international message of the Glorious Qur'an and in keeping it captive to whims and to customs and traditions inherited from ancestors.
They even say, “This was the faith our fathers practiced, and we are guided by their footprints” (Al-Zukhruf XLIII: 22).
The heresy and sedition that surpass all heresies and seditions is in downscaling Islam and its immortal, international, divine message; turning it into rites and clergy groups; draining out its dignified divine objectives that aim at establishing decent living for people, at the predominance of justice and security and peace among creatures, and at the realization of the message of mercy on earth.
We have sent you only as an act of mercy for all creatures” (Al-Anbiya XXI: 107).
As for the relationship between spiritual worship and constructional, or everyday, worship, it is a firm, complementary, and inseparable one. Spiritual worship polishes and refines souls and prepares them to follow a straight course and be honest, truthful, and faithful in the various fields of life.
The noblest among you in God’s consideration are those who fear Him the most (Al-Hujuraat XLIX: 13).
While constructional worship is that which gives human beings practical training and equips them with knowledge, skill, and experience, as well as the means of creation and exploration, and all the means of building and construction in the niches of constructional worship throughout the universe.
Are they equal, those who know and those who do not? (Al-Zumar XXXIX, 9)
… and we gave him means to achieve anything. So he followed a certain way (Al-Kahf XVIII: 84-85).
With the complemetarity, inseparability, and interaction between spiritual worship and constructional, or everyday, worship, the factors of belief and full obedience and servitude to God, the Most Sublime, get integrated, the same way that the duties of dealing with the full and perfect approach of God’s religion and its immortal, international message are integrated.
With the complementarity, inseparability, and interaction between spiritual worship and constructional worship, the unity of the educational and cultural make-up of human beings is accomplished, qualifying them to deal objectively and faithfully with their duties and their aims in the unknown world and the world of this life, or the visible world. Mankind will then have full awareness of the complementarity of the responsibilities of his vicegerency on earth, which is in accordance with the objective of God, the Most Sublime. It is also in accordance with the immortal, divine vicegerency approach which has two major bases, namely:
1. The basis of belief, values, principles and ethics:
Know then that there is no deity but God (Muhammad XLVII: 19).
2. The basis of material things, instruments, and skills:
So, walk around its regions (Al-Mulk LXVII: 15).
The complementarity between “know” and “walk” is the basis of the complementarity and inseparability of spiritual worship and constructional worship. It is the proper basis to establish an equitable and rational civilized system for the human procession through life. I believe that to have the relationship lopsided and the balance standards disrupted between the basis of “KNOW” and that of “WALK” is to have one of the most dangerous sources of the imbalance of civilization and security in the contemporary procession of humanity. In this context, I remind the reader of the words of former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it.”
Endorsing his predecessor, U.S. leader Richard Nixon says:
In the twentieth century, our technological progress took a few steps ahead of our political progress, and that is something we should not allow to happen in the next century, in order to reduce the chances of war and enhance the participation in the benefits of peace.
From His Book (Partners ... not Guardians) Part Four / Chapter Five
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To the Nation’s leaders - To the Nation’s scholars and intellectuals - To leaders of the world |
All Rights Reserved For The Author Prof. Dr. Hamid Al-Rifaie