26.
Diversity
Most text books
on Islam present it in a systematised manner. The advantage of this is that it
facilitates understanding by emphasizing certain relationships. Systematization
is merely a way of clarifying ideas so that the mind can grasp it more easily.
But one system always excludes others. It is rigid and formal. The same wood
can be used to make tables, chairs, cupboards and so on, but having made a
chair it cannot be a table. Even further, the same elements can make a great
number of other things besides wood. A distinction between the system, the
materials and the underlying principles must be kept in mind.
Using the same
principles it is possible to construct something which those who do not know
them will fail to recognize. When attention is confined to the system then
fluidity and adaptability are lost. Observation shows that Nature is certainly
not systematised in the same way as the scientific description of it is. Can
you, for instance experience the laws of gravity or the theory of relativity or
quantum mechanics? When looking around you do you see forests and towns, rivers
and mountains or do you see the periodic tables and the gas laws or the
biologists classifications? There obviously is a distinction between
intellectual description and experience.
We ought,
therefore, to recognize that there are at least four levels of description:-
(a) The ordinary level where we describe things in isolation though the terms
we use obviously refer to general concepts which are being used in specific
ways. (b) The systematised way as in science. (c) In a naturalistic manner
where each item has multiple connections with other items forming a unifying
network like knots in a web. (c) The symbolic way where a concrete known entity
or story is used to refer to general characteristics or processes at a
different level.
Readers of the
Quran will notice that the Quran is not systematised. It is more like nature
where all things have multiple relationships. The advantage of this is that
each item can be understood more deeply when it is presented in several
different contexts and the rigidity associated with a system is avoided. The
Quran is also constantly telling us that it is full of similitudes. The
advantage of this is that it is compact so that multiple particular cases are
included in a terse verse. But owing to these characteristics those who are
used to systematised and literal language find it difficult or impossible to
understand. It is also constructed to be a recitation designed to evoke and
deepen experience, to form resonance within one's being.
It is possible
to create from the Quran numerous systems for different purposes. Though these
may seem to be mutually exclusive, this is so only at the superficial level and
each is a partial view. The system should be used only as a means to reach the
underlying living Unity. Unfortunately, Muslims have tended, like people of
past religions, to adhere to the partial and superficial view and have fallen
into sects thus making the Quran to no effect.
"And the Messenger saith: O my Lord! Lo!
Mine own folk make this Quran of no account." 25:30
Yet Islam
recognizes differences and even approves of variation and diversity.
"And of His sign is the creation of the
heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Lo!
Herein indeed are portents for men of knowledge." 30:22
"And each one has a goal towards which he
turns; so vie with one another in good works. Wheresoever ye may be Allah will
bring you together. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things." 2:148
" And unto thee (Muhammad) have We
revealed the Book in truth, verifying what was before it, and preserving it.
Judge then between them by what Allah has revealed, and follow not their lusts
(prejudices, fantasies), turning away from what is given to thee of the truth.
For each We have appointed a divine law and a traced out way. Had Allah willed
He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He
has given you, (He has made you as you are). So vie with one another in good
works. Unto Allah ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that
wherein ye differ." 5:48
"Lo! Your effort is dispersed (towards
divers ends)." 92:4
" And We have created above you seven
paths; and We are never heedless of creation." Quran 23:17
"Verily, your efforts are diverse! But as
for him who gives alms and fears Allah, and believes in goodness.." 92:4-6
"What ails us that we should not put our
trust in Allah when He has guided us in our paths? We will be surely endure the
hurt ye do us. In Allah let the trusting put their trust." 14:12
"Surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord,
therefore serve Him; this is the right path." 43:64
"'And Allah has made you out of the earth
as a gradual growth: then He returns you to it, and then will He bring you
forth a new bringing forth: And Allah has made for you the earth a wide
expanse, that you may go about in it in spacious paths.'" 71:17-20
(Other verses
which mention diversity are 16:31, 19:37, 36:73, 39:21, 59:14)
There is,
however, a difference between good and evil paths. We may all start from
different positions but we should have a single goal and make a Straight Path
to it.
"Surely this is an admonition; whoever
will, let him take a straight path to his Lord. But you will not, except as
Allah wills, surely Allah is Knower, Wise;" 76:29-30
"Then eat from every fruit, and walk in
the beaten paths of thy Lord. There comes forth from her body (the bee) a
draught varying in hue, in which is a healing for mankind. Verily, herein are,
indeed, signs unto a people who reflect. " 16:69
"Say: Each one has to wait, so wait ye
also! But in the end ye shall know who it is that is on the straight and level
path, and who it is that is guided right." 20:135
"He said: Your prayer is answered; be
upright then, ye two, and follow not the path of those who have no
knowledge." 10:90
“Said He (Allah): This is a
“Verily, this Quran does guide to the
“Guide us in the Straight Path, the path of
those whom Thou hast favored; not of those who earn Thy wrath; nor of those who
go astray.” 1:5-7
“Allah calls unto the abode of peace, and
guides whom He will into the
"So stand thou firm in the Straight Path,
as thou art commanded - thou and those who turn unto Allah with thee, and
transgress ye not. Verily, He is Seer of what you do." 11:112
“Say: O people of the Book! Why do ye turn from
the way of Allah him who believes, craving to make it crooked, when ye are
yourselves witnesses (of Allah's covenant)? But Allah is not unmindful of what
ye do." 3:99 Also 7:45, 86, 11:19, 14:3
The Quran also
emphasises Unity. (Quran 2:213,285, 3:103, 4:1,150, 6:19, 17:42 21:22, )
How is diversity
to be reconciled with Unity? And competition with co-operation? The answer is:-
order and organization. Diversity implies that things are different from one
another. Therefore each item is limited in so far as it does not have the
characteristics possessed by other things. There is multiplicity instead of
unity. But the limitations themselves imply greater interdependence, so that an
overall, underlying unity is retained. Order arises out of this fact. Order
exists in a hierarchical form - a system contains smaller systems and itself
belongs to greater systems, from the greatest to the smallest, which itself
probably dissolves entirely. Obviously, the greater the diversity the greater
the versatility, adaptability and selectivity, the greater the area of
potentialities which is actualised. It may, therefore, be seen that the process
of creation refers to the expanding actualisations of potentialities already
existing. The Diversity ought not to be the cause for conflict but cooperation.
It should be noted that though competition is approved of in the verses above
as a stimulus to development, it is not indiscriminate. Not destructive
competition, but only the constructive type which leads to good is approved of
and unity is also taught in 3:103.
An organization
or organism certainly contains diverse organs - it could not function if they
were all the same or if they were not cooperatively united. But the part is
always less than the whole, and the whole is more than the sum of the parts
owing to its organization. It would indeed be a disaster if the part assumed
itself to be whole and sought its independence, and this is the nature of
arrogance. It is also the nature of disorder and disease.
"Those who wrangle concerning the
revelations of Allah without any warrant that has come unto them, it is greatly
hateful in the sight of Allah and in the sight of those who believe. Thus does
Allah print on every arrogant, disdainful heart." 40:35
"Nay, but verily man is rebellious that he
thinks himself independent." 96:6-7
Apart from order
there are also what might be called logical or conceptual hierarchies. We
recognize chairs as distinct from other things like tables etc. But there are a
variety of chairs, all different from one another. Chairs, tables, cupboards
etc. form another concept, furniture. There are many kinds of cats, dogs etc.,
but they form another class, mammals. These together with other classes form a
still higher class. And so on to many levels. The characteristics that define
each level, called the connotation of the concept, are different from those at
the lower or higher level. It could be that the higher level concepts are not
formed by synthesis of the lower level ones, but that the lower level ones
arise by analysis of the higher level ones existing within the unconscious
mind, which is part of the Universal Consciousness. We get a Universal Pyramid,
containing all things, with unity at the Apex and increasing diversity as we
down until we get maximum diversity at the bottom. The pyramid could be
regarded as being produced by the angle of vision of an eye at the Apex.
The number of
things a concept refers to is called its denotation. It is not difficult to see
that when the connotation increases the denotation decreases as we go upwards,
and vice versa downwards. Those who use concepts belonging to a lower level may
well be in conflict with one another. These conflicts would disappear if they
began to think in concepts at a higher level. But there would still be
conflicts between those at the higher level and those at the lower. Those at
the higher level would contain the knowledge of many of those at the lower, but
the latter would contain only part of that of the former. At the Apex only no
conflicts would remain. Here only do we have Absolute Unity.
How is it, some
people have wondered, that the Quran accepts the validity of the mission of all
the different Prophets which were sent throughout the world when they produced
different religions. Obviously each was brought to a different people in
different places and times. The religion had to be formulated in a lingual
system to be understood by those people. Each forms a well integrated system in
its own right. But times and conditions change and things cease to be
understood. The second law of thermodynamics ensures that the things in the
world degenerate (information and dynamism is lost and inertia and rigidity
increase) unless new impulses come down from above and cause regeneration.(8:11,
10:24). We must suppose that the common truth lies at a level higher than the
one in which we see differences.
In so far as all
human beings are limited they will have different experiences, different
personalities according to which they interpret them, and they will make
different amounts of effort to think and integrate their experiences. We all
have to learn from birth onwards, and our knowledge and being progressively
expand and develop. We are all at different points in the pyramid both
vertically and horizontally. Conflicts would disappear if people remembered the
Pyramid and its Apex, kept their focus on the Apex only and strove to reach it.
But all points below the Apex contain a multiplicity. Attachment to these is
called Shirk, ascribing partners to God or Idolatry. It produces disintegration
and conflict both within the individual (psychological), and within the society
and these reflect themselves in conflict and disharmony with the environment.
These three are inter-dependent.
With these ideas
in mind, consider the meaning of the following verses:-
"O you who believe! Be mindful of your
duty to Allah, and seek a way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way that
you may be succeed." 5:35
"Thy Lord, He is the goal." 53:42
"Allah bids you beware only of Himself.
Unto Allah is the journeying." 3:28
"Is one who follows the pleasure of Allah
as one who has earned condemnation from Allah, whose habitation is the Fire, a
hapless journeys end." 3:162
"And whoso opposes the Messenger after the
guidance has been manifested unto him, and follows other than the believer‘s
way, We appoint for him that unto which he himself has turned, and expose him
unto hell - a hapless journeys end. Lo, Allah pardons not that partners should
be ascribed unto him. He pardons all save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribes
partners unto Allah has wandered far astray." 4:115-116
"Glorified is He and High Exalted above
what they say! The seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein praise
Him, and there is not a thing but hymns his praise; but you understand not
their praise. Lo! he is ever Clement, Forgiving." 17:43-44
"Allah‘s is the sovereignty of the heavens
and the earth and all that is between them, and unto Him is the
journeying." 5:18
Sectarianism and
conflict, we must presume, is the characteristic of idolaters, those who are
trapped at lower parts of the Pyramid..
Human attention
is usually drawn to things that have been systematised and sloganised. The
slogan is a simple title or formula that is easy to remember. That, which is
not sloganised, therefore comes to be neglected. This causes an imbalance or
distortion of the message as a whole. Most religions have a set of dogmas that
are constantly repeated until they loose all meaning, and yet become a deeply
ingrained mental habit, a fixation, groove, straight jacket or mental prison
from which escape is difficult. For instance, "The Buddhist Eightfold
Path" is well known and so is the phrase "The Pillars of Islam"
which turns attention to some of the teachings. There are, however, a great
number of verses in the Quran which contain other equally important teachings.
Some of these are presented in a very concentrated form. Here only some
examples will be given. For the complete teachings the reader is referred to
the Quran. Attention should not be
placed on the system but on the items that go to make them up, and on the
wholeness to which they belong.
A number of
different systems of religion could be based on the following verses:-
"Now whatever ye have been given (in this
world) is but a passing comfort for the life of the world, and that which is
with Allah is better and more lasting for those who believe and put their trust
in their Lord. And those who shun the worst of crimes and indecencies and when
they are angry, forgive, and those who answer to the call of their Lord and
establish worship, and whose affairs are by mutual consultation, and who spend
out of what We bestow on them; and those who when great wrong is done them
defend themselves. The recompense for an injury is an injury equal to it, but
if a person forgives and makes reconciliation his reward is due from Allah, for
Allah loves not wrongdoers. And whoso defends himself after he has suffered
wrong - for such there is no blame. The blame is only against those who oppress
mankind, and wrongfully rebel in the earth. For such there is a painful doom.
And verily whoso is patient and forgives - lo! that verily is the steadfast
heart of things." 42:36- 43
These verses may
be said to establish The Tenfold Code. The message tells us:-
1. That this
life should be considered a passing comfort. That real life is much more
extensive. The present life may be compared to that of baby in the womb yet to
be born, or the child which must learn and prepare for adulthood. The Prophet
is reported to have said that he regarded himself as a traveller who was
resting a while in an oasis.
2. The worst
crimes and indecencies should be avoided.
3. Sensitivity
to the call of Allah should be cultivated, and prayer and service to Allah
should be established.
4. All affairs
should be settled by mutual consultation.
5. Wealth should
not be hoarded but spent usefully.
6. Retaliation
and self-defence should be practiced.
7. Tyranny and
oppression are forbidden.
8. Ecological
disorder and chaos are condemned.
9. Justice
should be practiced in Retaliation.
10. Forgiveness
should be practiced even during anger.
Note that we
have here psychological, political, social, economic, legal and ecological
principles.
One of the most
comprehensive and far reaching teachings is found in the following very concise
verse:-
"Lo! Allah enjoins Justice and Kindness
(doing of good) and liberality to kinsfolk, and forbids Lewdness (shameful
deeds) and Abomination (bad behaviour) and Rebellion (transgression or
wickedness). He exhorts you in order that you may take heed." 16:90
Note that we
have a pair of opposites, 3 positive and 3 negative instructions. There is a
seventh instruction to take heed and obey Allah. There is relationship of
degree in each set. Justice maintains equilibrium; doing good is more than
that, but liberality goes still further. The first is done with respect to all,
even enemies; the second to the deserving; and the third to blood relations,
those with whom we have real direct connections. We are led to the idea of
three levels of virtue. Indeed, it is also possible to argue that the Universe
is constructed according to these three principles - Justice refers to Law and
order, Kindness to the way things cooperate and are maintained and Kinship to
real relationship and similarity between things. The order of seriousness
increases in the second set where rebellion refers not just to disruption in
the family, community or state, but also to ecological and psychological
disruption, to rebellion against Allah and disruption of the natural order. In
the original the terms used have a wider meaning than in the English
translation.
The following
terse chapter encapsulate the whole of religion:-
"By the passing Ages, Verily man is in a
state of loss, except such as have faith, and do righteous work, and join
together in teaching truth, and in constancy." 103:1-3
Here we have six
factors - the awareness of time, faith, good works, truth, constancy and mutual
reinforcement.
"It is not righteousness that you turn
your faces to the East and the West. But righteous is he who believes in Allah
and the Last Day, and the angels and the scriptures and the Prophets; and gives
his wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the
wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set free slaves; and observes proper
worship and pays the poor-due, and those who keep their treaty when they make
one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and times of stress. Such are
they who are sincere. Such are the God-fearing." 2:177
Even a
superficial examination of this verse reveals that it appeals to thought,
feeling and action. It can be called the 7-fold path.
1. It forbids
ritualism, formalism or mechanicalness. Righteousness does not consist of
formal actions.
2. It
establishes the articles of faith upon which behaviour should be based. This
consist of faith in Allah, the Judgement, angels, scriptures and prophets.
Faith is considered a virtue because it consists of a certain useful way of
seeing things.
3. Spending ones
resources, for the love of Allah, to benefit relatives, orphans, the needy,
travellers and those who ask for help.
4. Setting free
slaves i.e. those who are confined or restricted in some way, physically,
socially, mentally or spiritually, including oneself.
5. Worship and
charity - these are obligatory duties.
6. Keeping
treaties, promises, and oaths.
7. Patience in
times of tribulations, adversity and stress.
Quran 4:24- 38
mentions the following:-
1. The avoidance
of lust, debauchery and lewdness.
2. The
cultivation of patience and tolerance.
3. Not
squandering wealth in vanity.
4. Trade by
mutual consent.
5. Avoidance of
killing.
6. Avoidance of
covetousness and envy.
7. Rules
regulating the relation between husband and wife.
8. Kindness to
Parents, relations, neighbours, strangers.
9. Avoidance of
boastfulness, pride and arrogance.
10. The
avoidance of avarice, miserliness and hoarding.
11. The
avoidance of ostentation, publicity and showing off.
12. Serving
Allah exclusively.
This may be
called the Twelve-fold Path
Quran 70:23-35
mentions another set of virtues, namely:-
1. Constancy in
worship.
2.
Acknowledgement of one's obligations in wealth.
3. Chastity.
4. Keeping of
pledges and covenants.
5. Standing by
ones testimony, upholding the truth.
6. Attentiveness
in worship.
This may be
called the Six-fold Path.
Quran 49:9- 17
mentions the following:-
1. Making peace.
2. Brotherhood.
3. The avoidance
of defamation and insults.
4. The avoidance
of lewdness.
5. The avoidance
of suspicion, spying and backbiting.
6. The
cultivation of good conduct.
7. The
cultivation of self-discipline as a pre-requisite to faith.
8. The
banishment of doubt which leads to indecisiveness and half-heartedness.
9. Striving in
the cause of Allah not only with wealth but with ones life.
10. The
understanding that Surrender is not a favour done by the Muslim, but is a favour
bestowed by Allah on the Muslim.
The following
verse can give rise to a whole system of psychology:-
"This life of the world is but a Pastime
and a game. Lo! the home of the Hereafter - that is Life, if they but
knew." 29:64 Also 6:32, 47:36,
Many other verses can be
found on which whole systems have been based or can be based.
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27. Articles of Faith.........Contents