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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Friday Sermon
Hazrat Amir’ul Momeneen Muhyi-Ud-Din Al Khalifatullah
Munir Ahmad Azim
15 May 2009
(Summary of Friday Sermon)
After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then he read the following verse of the Holy Quran:
“We have indeed created man in the best of moulds, then do we abase him (to be) the lowest of the low.” (Chapter 95 Verse 5-6)
In the light of these verses of the Holy Quran, we can understand Islam in a sense where it considers man as of good nature.
Political theories are mostly formulated on the conception that man is of evil nature. The strand of political thought, man is actuated by self interest and desires to take for himself what the other man wants and then embroils them with each other. Since all human behaviour is motivated by individual self interest, the power of state and authority of law are justified because they contribute to the peace and security of human beings. Security depends upon the existence of the government having a power to keep the peace and to apply the sanction needed to curb man’s innately unsocial inclinations!
Let you all analyse along with me this verse which I have just recited in front of you. To man God (Allah the Almighty) has given the purest and good nature but, if he follows after evil he will be abased to the lowest possible position. The purpose of Shariah (Islamic Law) is therefore, to preserve his good nature and prevent him from following after evil.
Hence the scheme of life, in Islam, is devised in such a manner that the believer, if he adheres to it, cannot fall a prey to evil.
Here, we refer to the two fundamentals of Islam: (1) Faith or the Belief in the Oneness of God and (2) Righteous Acts, since “Believe and Act righteously” is the voice that echoes and reverberates in the Quran and forms its leading theme.
How the belief in the unity of God is accomplished by a sense of fair play is evident from the fact, that the believer cannot be a tyrant, for, in that way, he would be acting contrary to an important attribute of God, God Who is Merciful. Further, he cannot be a liar, a deceiver and an evil doer because his account is with the Omnipotent and Omniscient God Who knows what you conceal, and what you reveal:
“He knoweth well the (innermost secrets) of the hearts” (11:6)
“Whether you show what is in your minds or conceal it. God calleth you to account for it.” (2:285)
Belief in Allah the Almighty and the virtues that attend it have yet another function in that they purify the very soul of man and divert his attention from sin to that of righteousness. And, in this, lies the prosperity and success of man as the Quran says:
“Truly he succeeds that purifies it (soul) and he fails that corrupts it.” (91:10-11)
Soul is the seat of emotions and desire is that emotion which is directed to the possession of some object from which pleasure is expected. Desire is often so personal that its satisfaction leads men to deviate from the right path. To control such desires has seemed more fundamental than their satisfaction and it is well said that “it is better, by far, to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.”
Islamic law with its norms of good and bad, virtue and vice, has the full capacity to control desires which otherwise end in corruption and sin.
The nature of state is determined by the class of man who is dominant in it. Democracy is the state dominated by those who, according to him, are money lovers, since money is wanted for the satisfaction of their desires. So states in which such men predominate will value money and give power to those who are skilled at money-making. To the nature of state, the best state is that which is dominated by philosophers, men of reason and intellect, who can very well control and manage the affairs of state.
This implies that reason is essential for statecraft whereas reason is admittedly subject to change and liable to err. So it is not reason but revelation that counts. The unerring law of Islam, based as it is on the revelation of the All-Knowing and All-Wise God, is the only best and most suitable apparatus for the formation of state according to its own standard of righteousness.
Herein lies the distinction between the states in general which owe their origin to the struggle and strife between man and man and the Islamic state which is the gift of God.
In political associations it is imperative to have recourse to imposed laws, accepted and followed by the masses, as is the case among us (in Mauritius) and other countries, and no state can establish itself and consolidate its control without such laws. If these laws are laid down by men of intelligence and insight, the polity is founded on reason (and sub serves the temporal well-being of the subjects).
But if they are laid down by God and promulgated by an inspired Lawgiver, the polity is founded on religion and is beneficial both for this world and the next. For men have not been created solely for this world since it is only vanity and futility, and its end is death and annihilation. Revealed Laws have been sent to lead men to observe that conduct which will bring them to felicity in the future life, in all their affairs, whether of worship or of mutual dealings and even matters of kingship – which is a phenomenon natural to human society – so that it should be conducted on the pattern of religion, in order that the whole body may be protected by the supervision of Revealed Law.
That state, therefore, whose law is based on violence and coercion and gives full play to the irascible nature is tyranny and injustice and in the eyes of the law blame-worthy, a judgement in which political wisdom also concurs.
Furthermore, that state whose law is based on rational statecraft and its principles, but lacks the supervision of the Revealed Law, is likewise blameworthy, since it is the product of speculation without the light of Allah the Almighty. For the Lawgiver, knows best the interests of men in all that relates to the other world, which is concealed from them. The principles of rational government aim solely at apparent and worldly interests, whereas the object of the Lawgiver is men’s salvation in the hereafter. It is imperative, therefore, by the very nature of Revealed Laws, to bring the whole people, to conform themselves to their ordinances in all matters of this world and the next. And this rule is the rule of the Lawgivers, that is to say, the prophets, and of their successors, that is to say the Khalifatullah (the Caliph of Allah).
Natural kingship, then, forces the people to conform to the private ambitious and uncontrolled desires of the ruler. Political government induces the people to conform to the dictates of reason for the promotion of worldly interests and warding off of evils. The Khalifatullah (Caliph of Allah) leads the people to conform to the insight of the Revealed Law in regard to their interests both in the world to come and those in this world which relate to it, since all the affairs of this world are assessed by the Lawgiver in the light of their relation to the interests of the future life. Thus, it is truly an office of replacement (Caliph) of the promulgator of the Revealed Law in the guardianship of the faith and the Government of the world by its provision!
Every political system has certain conception behind it and the ideals of political life which it ought to attain. In order to find out such an ideal in Islam we have first to study minutely as to what Islam is and why the need for it was.
Islam means ‘Peace’, and also ‘Submission to the Will of God’; hence it is the peace that lies in submission to God. As regards submission there are many ways, but Islam is the straight path as is evident from the very words: “Show us the right path” that appears in the verse 6 of the first chapter (Al-Fatiha) of the Quran, while the verse 7 clarifies the meaning of “Right Path”, as the way of those on whom God has bestowed His Grace, but not of those who have earned the wrath of Allah and who have gone astray.
What underlies the above verses is that there were already crooked and vicious ways before the advent of Islam; sin and corruption prevailed; chaos and crisis stared the dwellers on earth in the face; the world, as a whole, was steeped in the darkness of ignorance; the glory of Hellas, and her freedom and wisdom had departed; Rome’s great system of law, organisation, and universal citizenship had sunk into the mire of ecclesiastical formalism and dogmatism; Persia played into the hands of votaries of luxury; India with its countless castes and kingdoms had fallen into a state of anarchy; China was a prey to intoxicants and Arabia a Centre of idolatry.
Many were the names of messengers recorded in the history of mankind and many were the forms in which their message was delivered, according to the needs of the time and place but their names and messages are known at one place and not in another. And still many others who are either forgotten or their message is altered.
Further, many were the faiths in the composite world of western Asia, Northern Africa, and Europe. Many were the conflicts between man and man; scattered was the humanity; broken was the brotherhood of mankind; evils had multiplied, female infanticide was rampant; selfishness, and greed were sown and reaped; Love and justice were misconstrued; might became the right.
All these pressed the need for Islam, a universal religion, and the troubled humanity prayed to God “to show the right path” and God in answer to their prayer revealed the Quran and said:
“This is the Book, in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear God.” (2:3)
Taqwa which is understood, in this verse means the fear of God which implies guarding against evils and points to righteousness as the ideal of Islamic life, while Islamic Law, is the constitution of Islamic state as it moulds and organises it according to its own ethical standards of good and bad, virtue and vice. We are therefore, required to know the nature form and features, of Islamic Law. Insha-Allah |
