Religious Duties - 2
Human being do not exist in isolation but are part of communities with which they interact and in which they are inter-dependent. Islam does not only provide us with a system of spiritual development, but also a social system. These two are required to work in co-operation and reinforce each other. This gives Muslims another set of duties and obligations.
"O ye who believe! Observe your duty to (or fear or respect) Allah with the right observance (or with the fear or respect that He deserves), and die not save as those who have surrendered (in a state of Islam). Hold fast, all together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate (divide or part in sects); but remember the favours of Allah towards you, when ye were enemies and He made friendship between your hearts, and on the morrow ye became brothers, by His grace. Ye were on the edge of an abyss of fire, but He rescued you therefrom. Thus does Allah show to you His revelations, perchance ye may be guided; and that there may spring from you a nation who invite to goodness, and bid right conduct, and forbid what is wrong (or indecent); these are the successful." 3:102-104
How is this to be maintained, seeing that Muslim communities have divided into sects and degenerated?
"O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and those in authority amongst you; and if you dispute (quarrel or argue) about anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you (in truth) believe in Allah and the Last Day; that is better and fairer in the end. Do ye not see those who pretend that they believe in what has been revealed to them, and what was revealed before thee; they wish to refer their judgement to Taghut (the Evil One, or False Deities and authorities), but they were bidden to reject him. But Satan wishes to lead them into a remote error. And when it is said to them: Come round to what Allah has sent down and unto the Messenger, you see the hypocrites turning from you in aversion. How then when there befalls them a misfortune through their own actions? Then will they come to you, and swear by Allah,: We meant naught but good and concord (harmony, reconciliation). These people - Allah knows the secrets of their hearts. Turn thou away from them and admonish them, and speak to them words to reach their souls (or about their souls). We have never sent a messenger save that he should be obeyed by the permission of Allah; and if they, when they have wronged themselves, come to thee and ask pardon of Allah, and the Messenger asks pardon for them, then they will find Allah easily Forgiving, Compassionate." 4:59-64
"Whoso obeys Allah and the Messenger, these are in the company of those unto whom Allah has shown favour, of the prophets and saints and martyrs and the righteous;- the fairest company are they." 4:69
"He it is who made for you stars that ye might be guided thereby in the darkness of the land and of the sea. Now have We detailed the signs unto a people who have knowledge." 6:98
"We detail Our revelations unto a people that have knowledge." 9:11
We see that there are three kinds of people - the sincere believers, the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Among the believers there are those called the Foremost, who devote themselves to obtaining knowledge.
Certainly we must not follow anything of which we have no knowledge (17:37) nor follow people who have no knowledge (10:90 etc.) This knowledge is obtained not only from personal experience and efforts at reasoning, meditation and prayer, but also from others - friends, parents, teachers and specially from those who have who have devoted themselves to the spiritual life. Following one's own speculations, guesswork, prejudices, fantasies etc. is not allowed.
"Hast you considered him who takes for his god his own lusts? Would you then be guardian over him? Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are but like the cattle, nay, they are further astray in the path. " 25:43-44
"And yet amongst men are those who wrangles about Allah without knowledge, without guidance, and without a Book of Enlightenment;" 22:8
"But most of them follow naught but conjecture; verily, conjecture can by no means take the place of (or avail against) truth. Verily, Allah is Aware of what they do." 10:37
Not everyone has the capacity or the appropriate circumstances in which he can become an expert in religion. So human beings rely on leaders and authorities. But Muslims, for their own spiritual and social welfare, must exercise discrimination. They must seek men of genuine knowledge, ability and virtue to lead or advise them and not allow the disbelievers and hypocrites to take control of their affairs. Of these the hypocrites, those who profess Islam but do not really believe or practice it are the most dangerous because they are trusted. The great ones in the community are usually Psychopaths.
"Is he who was dead and We have quickened (given him life) him, and made for him a light, wherein walks amongst men, like him whose likeness is one walking in utter darkness whence he cannot emerge? Thus is their conduct made seemly to the disbelievers. And thus have We placed great ones (leaders) in every town, its wicked ones, that they may plot therein. But they do but plot against themselves, though they perceive not. And when there comes to them a Sign, they say: We will not believe until we receive something like the Messenger received. Allah knows best where to put His Message. There shall befall these wicked ones, humiliation in Allah's eyes, and grievous torment for their scheming. Whomsoever Allah wishes to guide, He expands His breast unto the Surrender (Islam); but whomsoever He wishes to lead astray, He tightens and constricts his breast as though he were climbing steeply into heaven. Thus does Allah set dishonor on those who do not believe." 6:123-126
Question:-
You have used the word "Psychopath", sometimes to describe some political leaders, the heads and officials of various large Corporations and government agencies, particularly in connection with the USA. What exactly do you mean by that term? Is it a subject way of expressing disapproval?
Comment:-
No. I am using the term "Psychopath" in an objective sense as meaning persons who posses a certain set of characteristics. This includes the lack of conscience, a sense of morality and responsibility, sensitivity, sympathy, shame or remorse. The Psychopaths behave in a self-centred, anti-social or asocial manner. They tend to pursue their own interests and ambitions ruthlessly without considering others whom they are willing to sacrifice without qualm to get their own ends. Though often very intelligent, they tend to be calculating, cunning, unreliable, hypocrites and liars, but they may display much disarming charm. Psychopathy, also known as sociopathy, moral or personality disorder, is a psychological disease that differs from others in not having hallucinations, delusions, obsessive-compulsive or hysterical features.
The term "Psychopath" can be regarded as a substitute for the religious notion of an "agent of Satan"
The condition ranges from very mild forms to extreme virulent forms. Perhaps 20% of a population such as the USA suffer from this defect. This is not confined to the USA, but is a world wide conditions, including of course, in Muslim countries. It so happens that in the USA they have the most power. As the USA dominates the rest of world, they have the most influence over the rest of the world, particularly as the self-interests of the power holding psychopaths are linked together. But these interests usually conflict with national interests or the welfare and values of the majority of the people.
However, things are seen as defects relative to the culture and the moral ideas of a society. The more primitive and barbaric it is the more is psychopathy tolerated or even admired and those who possess it become leaders. They are attracted to positions of power such as the police, military, secret services, and tend to rise to the top in any business or political hierarchy and even in academic and cultural organisations. Criminals tend to be psychopaths, but not all crimes can be attributed to them. Most psychopaths are not criminals either because the law does not cover all anti-social and immoral behaviour or the psychopath is too cunning to be found out or knows how to manipulate the system. Those in power are able to obtain immunity from the consequences of their deeds because they employ and control others who can also be used as stepping stones and scapegoats. The law tends to pursue and prosecute only the relatively small criminal or those who have fallen foul of those in power. Those who commit the really large scale crimes - those who embezzle very great quantities of money and resources, carry out large scale robbery, swindling, deception and fraud, do enormous amounts of environmental destruction, kill and injure thousands of people and create vast amount of suffering, turmoil, disorder and devastation - these get away with their actions.
The majority of people are not psychopaths and tend to be more morally and socially aware and co-operative, less self-assertive, ambitious and manipulative, and on the average they are probably also less intelligent. This allows the psychopaths to rise to the top positions of control in most present day societies and nations. It is their ambitions which also creates the ruthless competition and conflict between them. This increases the disadvantages of others. The conditions of life, therefore, that these people create is to place greater emphasis on the dividing vices such as greed, pride, vanity, envy, aggression, and hate and reduce the importance of the unifying virtues of unselfishness, compassion, love, faith and truth. Those who wish to pursue and cultivate the higher values are obliged to abandon the "rat race" and isolate themselves from the rest of the society and its culture as much as they can. But modern conditions of life have made people increasingly interdependent and such isolation has become increasingly more difficult.
It is, therefore, evident that no progress in human development can take place until the class of Psychopath is more widely recognised and disabled. This will also require the Law to be more sophisticated and stricter. Much of culture and political and business practice that is tolerated today will have to be seen as immoral and criminal and prosecuted as such.
The Social duties of Muslims can therefore, be stated as:-
(1) Helping Muslims to lead a better Islamic life through education and the reformation of their societies.
(2) Trying to achieve unity by getting rid of sectarianism. (a) This should not imply that different ways of doing things that might be appropriate for different people are not recognised. Differences are permitted. (b) But it is also recognised that past historical differences or differences caused by economic and political conditions have no relevance to Islam. (c) It is also recognised that if there is a learning process, then there will be inevitable differences between people who are at different stages. To learn the mind must recognise its limitations and be open to further knowledge. (d) It should be acknowledged that owing to their limitations people will have partial knowledge and this means different people will have different parts.
(3) Reformulating the Islamic teaching in a more modern form so that it can be understood by modern people with different languages, conceptual systems, conditions of life and cultures.
(4) Spreading the knowledge of Islam, its teachings as well as value system, throughout the world, by word and example, in an intelligent and sincere manner that does not involve mental conditioning, trickery and propaganda.
(5) Making efforts to cause and encourage reformation in the political, social, economic and cultural systems of other nations not only because these affect Muslims but also because it is a duty to mankind to facilitate its development.
(6) To disable the class of Psychopaths and remove them from positions of power and influence and to enable the righteous, the spiritually advanced into positions of power and influence.
(7) Tolerance for other religions is essential. All religions are originally One.They too had the same origin in Allah. And if these others have fallen into error owing to human limitations, then Islam has also been corrupted in the same way and Muslims have also. degenerated.
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