{"id":165089,"date":"2022-05-10T13:07:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T13:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=165089"},"modified":"2022-05-10T13:08:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T13:08:00","slug":"the-islamic-idea-of-a-good-and-progressive-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=165089","title":{"rendered":"The Islamic Idea of a Good and Progressive Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Spahic Omer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western civilisation stems from an array of materialist, humanist, naturalist and evolutionist tendencies. It is by definition anti-spiritual and anti-religious, perceiving those provinces as backward, archaic, restrictive, inhibiting, and as limited to the compass of private and subjective experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no wonder, then, that the West and its civilisation are the home of religiophobia, particularly islamophobia in that Islam is the \u0153last and only religion standing\u009d. To many in the West, Islam is seen as the solitary potential challenger and threat to the hegemony of Western civilisation qua<\/em> colonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u0153fault\u009d of\nIslam is that it goes from strength to strength, that it is the fastest-growing\nreligion in the world, and that as a complete way of life with an inclusive\noutlook and global aspirations it is not just alive, but also it gets\ninvigorated by the day. Islams \u0153crime\u009d is that it signifies the truth and\nopposes its antipodes, and does not go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can explain all the former and current hullabaloo concerning Islam, Muslims, and Islamic history as well as culture. This also can explain why Muslims should not wholeheartedly welcome and embrace whatever is served through the agency of Western civilisation. Instead, they must be prudent and selective. They should deal with the prevalent and questionable elements of Western civilisation as something disliked but unavoidable to contend with on a temporary basis and for achieving particular results, until better alternatives are found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Islamic revealed worldview, things are the polar opposite of what Western civilisation and its anthropogenic or man-made ideologies preach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Islam, man\nwas not created except to serve and worship God (\u02dcibadah<\/em>), i.e., to\nsubmit to the will and authority of God alone, and to live life not of his own\naccord, but according to the divine plan and guidance of the Creator and Master\nof all life, including man (al-Dhariyat, 56). Man furthermore was created as\nGods vicegerent or viceroy on earth (khalifah<\/em>) (al-Baqarah, 30), to\nwhom and for whose needs and services everything in the heavens and on the\nearth had been subjected (taskhir<\/em>) (al-Jathiyah, 13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This worldly life\nconstitutes but a single dimension of the multidimensionality of existential\nreality. As such, this world is only a prelude to the real and eternal life of\nthe Hereafter. The physical reality of this world is transient and conditional.\nIts relative meaning and significance are tied to the more consequential\nmeaning and significance of the metaphysical world. Yet, its sheer existence is\ncontingent upon the existence of the latter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On its own, this world is nothing more than a mirage and fantasy. It is a playground for befuddled mans fancies and whims (Lets just remember the endless and often boring philosophising by infinite number of philosophers in the East and West, and their inconsistent as well as contradicting concepts and theories). Just as this world should not be pursued at the expense of the Hereafter, the Hereafter, in equal measure, should not be pursued at the expense of this world. Islam does not tolerate excesses of any kind.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There could be\nno this world without the Hereafter, no physics without metaphysics, no body\nwithout the soul, and no success and happiness on earth without the same in\nHeaven. The goal of mans existence on earth is to attain the satisfaction and\napproval of Almighty God through the prescribed servitude and worship, based on\nwhich on the Day of Judgement he will be admitted into Paradise (Jannah<\/em>)\nwhere he will live happily ad infinitum.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It follows that Gods pleasure and Paradise are the ultimate objectives\nof mans cravings, determination and all work. They are the end of all ends.\nThey are the ends where all other ontological ends lead and where they all\nconverge. Arriving there connotes the rationale of mans existence and assigned\nmission, the personification of true happiness, and the validation of actual\nsuccess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is through the prism of this paradigm that this world and everything that transpires therein is to be observed and adjudicated. A good is good, a success is success, a delight is delight, a class is class, and a legitimacy is legitimacy, only if they all are part of and lead to the realisation of the ultimate heavenly good, success, delight, class and legitimacy in the Hereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A segment of mans honourable terrestrial purpose and mission is to inhabit, \u0153colonise\u009d and settle on the earth (\u02dcimarah al-ard<\/em>) (Hud, 61). He is to do so responsibly and sustainably. For his merits, man will be abundantly rewarded by his all-Merciful Creator, but for his shortcomings, he will be duly held accountable. The bigger and more detrimental shortcomings, the more serious consequences man will have to face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matter is so serious that it is correctly held that mans legacies\non earth, coupled with the overall condition of the earth, testify to the quality\nof mans stay and operation on earth. If the earth and mans footprint on it\nare wholesome, his life and performances are wholesome too, commensurately with\nthe former – and vice versa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man lives his earthly life submissively and respectably, taking from and\ngiving back to it, albeit with his eyes permanently fixed on the Hereafter and\nits ultimate prize. Besides, man is an exceptionally capable, resourceful and\ncreative being. However, whatever he creates – be it an idea, procedure,\nsystem, or a physical entity \u201c it is solely meant to promote and facilitate the\nfulfilment of mans existential purpose. Life is a test. It is a farm, or a\nmeadow, which must be painstakingly cultivated. Harvesting will take place\nsomewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man creates means, ways, services and processes that should serve the\ngiven ends. Neither ends nor legislative powers are mans business. His are\nonly executive powers within the context of his worldly status. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it is of paramount importance in Islam that a demarcation\nline be drawn between the infinite authority of the Creator and the limited\njurisdiction of creation, between the compelling pragmatism of life and the\nenticing idealism of mans mind, between the long-term objectives and\nshort-term interests and means, and between the temptations of the convenience\nand imminence of the here and now and the \u0153remoteness\u009d of the afterlife. It by\nno means should be surprising that such transgressions as anthropomorphism,\nhylotheism, deism, pantheism, atheism, agnosticism, any form of veneration of\nman or nature, scepticism, etc., are most severely repudiated by Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way, mans total being and a compendium of his talents and flairs,\nincluding his own material creations, are placed at the service of the\nspiritual realm. Everything is thus geared towards the latter, pining for it,\nand steadily progressing towards a union with it and with its profundity and\nrichness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is more, man is created as an innocent and pure being. He is born\nin the state of his (Islamic) fitrah,<\/em> or intrinsic nature. He has free\nwill and was furthermore given through holy prophets the divine guidance. This\nmeans that man is born on the right (middle and natural) path, and his task in\nlife is just to stay the course without deviating and falling into the abyss of\nany extremity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While keeping to his primordial disposition and self, mans individual and collective duty will be to amplify and diversify means, features and facilities, which will facilitate his recurring day-to-day tasks and functions, and will smooth the overall progress of his life mission. Against the background of this outlook, the ideas of development and refinement (civilisation) would mean to keep placing and nurturing more abundant, better and more efficient facilities, support and help on the road to a total ontological self-actualisation. Whereas backwardness, primitivism and savagery would be the opposite, that is, to keep placing difficulties and obstacles on the same road and so, either considerably slow down or completely hinder the intended progression of man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This applies equally to the material, ethical, spiritual, intellectual\nand psychological sides of man. The plan operates at all levels of his\nindividual and collective presence and function. It is not bound by any constraints\nrelating to time and space. Which means that all people, whenever and wherever\nthey live, have equal opportunities to be developed and refined, or backward\nand primitive. Excessive physical development is not necessarily a good thing.\nIt can be both good and bad, depending on how it is relatable to the spiritual\nkingdom and mans role in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ultimate aim is to produce upright, good, content, dynamic,\nenlightened, creative and forward-looking individuals. Owing to their holistic\ngoodness, they will be at peace with God, self, nature and other people. The\norder that they establish on earth will be a microcosm of a higher order of\nthings, meanings and experiences for which they live and whence they derive\ninspiration and direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surely, civilisation is about people, not things; about spirit, not matter; and about the permanence, rather than transience, of life. It is about the truth and certitude, not about falsehood and doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All people have virtually equal opportunities to succeed, or fail, in\nlife (to earn \u201c or not – Gods pleasure and His Paradise). Certain material\nfacilities and circumstances can be advantageous, or otherwise, but in no way\ncan alter the fundamental uniformity and nature of things. Almighty Gods\njustice, love, kindness and generosity preside over all. The Quran retells\nthat nobody can frustrate or cause failure to Gods will and plan.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the inception of his terrestrial stay, man always enjoyed the\nneeded capabilities and facilities to live a decent and responsible life, was\nalways exposed to right and wrong, knowledge and ignorance, light and darkness,\nand to guidance and misguidance, and was free to think and to freely make his\nchoices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suffice it to say that the first man on earth, Adam, was a prophet of God. Like all other prophets \u201c and such as followed in their footsteps – he and his life pattern served as the embodiments of all goodness, wisdom, honour and virtue. Inasmuch as Adam and all others succeeded in life, they were perfectly civilised. To theorise otherwise and dwell on the subjects of primitivism, backwardness, rudeness, inadequacy, prehistory, caves, etc., signify nothing but an impact of the stifling materialist, naturalist and evolutionist thought. It signifies anti-civilisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the moment it was imposed on the Muslim mind and his cultural identity, civilisation \u201c and everything that goes with it – was supposed to mean precisely this. It was expected to be promoted only in this light. Which in most instances was the case, but the systematic interferences of the physical and virtual colonisers blurred the matter to such an extent that only their viewpoints became practically discernible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we have to talk about Islamic civilisation, such must be in full accordance with the Islamic notions of good, honourable and progressive life. Concomitant with this, Islamic civilisations meeting and diverging thrusts with other civilisations ought likewise to be credibly expounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, in Islam, man is born civilised and is bidden to remain as such. In the process, he is expected to attend to the secondary and complementing aspects of his civilisational enterprise, such as art, architecture, science, technology, crafts, manners, socio-economic systems and norms, deeming them as no more than supplements to, and palpable representations of, what civilisation really is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The identity of civilisation centres upon mans intellectual, spiritual and moral foundation and core. Everything else originates therefrom. Once accomplished, the outer branches and leaves of civilisation are envisaged to return to the latters soul for validation and acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, it is high time to start working on redefining the distorted and biased notion of civilisation and to start recalibrating its benchmarks. The onus is on Muslims, more than anybody else, to smooth the path. ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer is an academic in the Department of History and Civilisation, AHAS KIRKHS. The views expressed here are those of the author\/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of IIUMToday.<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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