Mr. Ameer Ali explains Islam as “striving after righteousness,” but
Prof. Hirschfeld, in his luminous _Researches into the Composition
and Exegesis of the Qur´an_, very correctly points out that Mr. Ameer
Ali’s definition only reflects the theoretical and moral side of the
question--limited to the initial stage of Islam.[14]
The term Islam, as time went by, included the whole of the theoretical
and practical constitution of the faith and as such it is interpreted
by Al-Ghazzali in his Ihya-ul-ulum (p. 104, vol. I.) Islam, says he, is
an expression for submission and unquestioning obedience, abandonment
of insubordination, defiance and opposition. And it is in this light,
indeed, that the prophet himself regarded Islam. “The Bedwins say: ‘we
believe,’ Speak! you shall not ‘believe’ (only) but say we practice
Islam (Aslamna).” (XLIX. 14) In Surah III. 17 (Cf. V. 79) Islam is
identified with _din_ (Cf. LXI. 7-9) and the relation between the two
synonyms, says Prof. Hirschfeld, is broadly discussed by Al-Shahrastani
(Milal, pp. 25 to 27) and is stated to embrace the five duties,
_viz._:--Of testifying to the unity of God and the Divine inspiration
of Mohamed, the duties of reciting prayers, giving alms, fasting in the
_Ramadhan_, and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. The fundamental
basis of Islam is the unity of God; stern, unbending monotheism and
this doctrine of the unity of God is proclaimed in the Qur´an, in
season and out of season and ever and anon with augmented emphasis. To
associate gods with God is the most unpardonable sin and the prophet’s
extensive vocabulary of vituperation is never exhausted in attacking
those who associate gods with God. In Surah VI (verses 74-79) we have
one of the most charming passages testifying to the unity of God:--
And remember when Abraham said to his father, Azar, thou takest those
images as God? verily I see that thou and thy people are in manifest
error.
And so did we show Abraham the domain of the heavens and of the earth
that he might be one of those who are established in knowledge. And
when the night overshadowed him he beheld a star “This, said he, is
My Lord” but when it set, he cried, “I love not gods which set.” And
when he beheld the moon uprising “This,” said he, “is my Lord” but
when it set, he said, “surely, if My Lord guide me not I shall be of
those who go astray.”
And when he beheld the Sun uprise, he said, “This is my Lord,” “this
is the greatest” but when it set, he said “O my people I share not
with you the guilt of joining gods with God.”
_I verily turn my face to him who hath created the Heavens and the
earth following the right religion and I am not one of those who add
gods to God._
Not a whit has Gibbon[15] exaggerated the truth when he wrote “the
creed of Mohamed is free from suspicion or ambiguity and the Qur´an is
a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The prophet of Mecca rejected
the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets, on the rational
principle that whatever is born must die, that whatever is corruptible
must decay and perish.” And, again, says the historian of the Roman
Empire, “these sublime truths, thus announced in the language of the
prophet, are firmly held by his disciples and defined with metaphysical
precision by the interpreters of the Qur´an. A philosophic atheist
might subscribe the popular creed of Mohamedans: a creed too sublime
perhaps for our present faculties.”
The unity of God, therefore, is the central faith of Islam and
connected with it, by natural process as it were, is the belief that
man is responsible to the creator for his actions and deeds. This
belief, the Pre-Islamic Arab never knew or conceived, and the prophet
Mohamed, by inculcating this belief, not only laid the foundation of
a spiritual life among his countrymen, but laid the foundation of
a well-organized society; soon destined to grow into a magnificent
empire. The sphere of duty and obligation, charity and sympathy,
confined hitherto merely to tribesmen, was widened and extended and
the narrow tribal tie was lost in the larger brotherhood of faith. At
this distance of time, it is perhaps difficult for us to fully realize
the influence of this teaching, but to it alone must we ascribe the
dethronement of those ideals of Arabian Paganism which the author of
the _Muhammedanische Studien_ has so graphically described, comparing
and contrasting them with the higher ideals substituted by Islam.[16]
The religion of the prophet, like the wand of a magician, completely
and utterly changed the life of the Arabs. It hushed their tribal
disputes into silence, it destroyed their insularity, it set up a purer
and a more refined standard of domestic life, it opened before them
fresh vistas of spiritual happiness and temporal success.
Next to the unity of God, Islam enjoins five daily prayers upon its
followers. It is curious that the Qur´an lays down no rule as to the
manner in which the prayer should be offered. Apparently, as Mr.
Ameer Ali[17] points out, the practice of the prophet has associated
certain rights and ceremonies to the due observance of prayers. In the
Mohamedan prayer we observe the Jewish practice of standing erect, the
Christian of prostration and a third of inclination.[18] Originally the
prophet instituted three daily prayers.[19] Their extension to five
was an innovation of the late Meccan period; the details of the purity
legislation appear to have still later. “Yet the theory,” says Prof.
Margoliouth, “that God should be approached only by persons in a state
of purity was known in South Arabia before Mohamed’s time, whence it is
probable that his earliest converts were instructed therein.”
Prayers are to be performed five times in course of every day: between
daybreak and sunrise, between noon and the “asr” (which later period
is about mid-time between noon and nightfall) between the ‘asr’ and
sunset, between sunset and the “asha” (or the period when the darkness
of night commences) and at, or after the “asha.” It is considered
more meritorious to take part in the public _salat_ of the community
conducted by a leader (Imam) than to discharge the _salat_ by
oneself.[20] Von Kremer has rightly emphasised the importance of the
Muslim prayer by recognizing the mosque as the drill ground for the
warlike believers of early Islam. In stern discipline, in unconditional
obedience, says Von Kremer, the author of the _Culturgeschichte des
orients_, lay the greatest achievement of Mohamed and the real secret
of the strength of Islam.[21] The five daily prayers where the leader
(the Imam) stood before the community, closely arrayed behind him, and
where every movement of his was imitated with military preciseness, by
the hundreds of the faithful assembled in the mosque, served, among the
Muslims, in those times, the purpose of that what is known now as the
drill ground: a school where the people learnt to assemble, to move in
a body and to follow the Commander.
In the Qur´an[22] the command to pay the poor-tax (zakat) directly
follows the command to pray: perform the prayers and pay the poor-tax.
This tax had a strong communistic complexion which is evidenced by
the following tradition: “The prophet sent Ma´dh to Yaman and told
him: summon them to accept the confession of faith namely, there is
no God but Allah and I that am his prophet; if they listen to it;
teach them further that God has ordained five daily prayers; if they
are also agreeable to this; teach them further that God has enjoined
the poor-tax (sadakah) payable by the wealthy upon their property for
distribution among the poor.”[23] This tax was annually payable upon
camels, oxen (bulls and cows) and buffalos, sheep and goats, horses and
mules and asses and gold and silver (whether in money or ornaments,
etc.,) provided the property was of a certain amount; as five camels,
thirty oxen, forty sheep, five horses, two hundred dirhams, or twenty
dinars.[24] The proportion is generally one-fortieth, which is to be
paid in kind or in money or other equivalent.
The third most important obligation enjoined by Islam is fasting in the
month of _Ramadhan_. The Muslim must abstain from eating and drinking
and from every indulgence of the senses, every day during the month of
_Ramadhan_, from the first appearance of daybreak until sunset, unless
physically incapacitated. The last but not least is the pilgrimage to
Mecca and mount Arafat, which the Muslim must perform at least once in
his life.
These then; namely, the unity of God, the belief in the Divine mission
of the prophet, five daily prayers, fasting in the month of _Ramadhan_
and the pilgrimage, are the essentials of Islam. The one supreme
mission of the prophet was to create and to maintain an absolute
brotherhood in faith. All Muslims were declared equal, irrespective of
birth, rank or profession; and the world has never seen, perhaps, a
more perfect democracy than the one called into being by the prophet.
Truly, the most worthy of honour in the sight of God, says the Qur´an,
is he who feareth Him most; for the faithful are brethren; whereupon
make peace between your brethren. A similar refrain runs through the
parting sermon of the prophet; “O men! God has taken away from you
the arrogance and pride of ancestry of heathen days. An Arab has no
excellence or superiority over a barbarian than that which is secured
to him by his God-fearing and righteousness. Ye are all the progeny of
Adam, and Adam himself is of the Earth.”
No caste and no priestcraft does Islam recognise. Every Muslim is
his own priest and every spot of land is his _mosque_ to pray and to
worship _Allah_. For no other purpose than to keep alive the sense of
corporate unity of the Muslims did the prophet declare the superiority
of the public prayer over prayer by oneself and establish the
institution of pilgrimage.
Year after year, from all parts of the Islamic world, streamed to
Mekka, Muslims in thousands and tens of thousands, to worship Allah at
the Ka´bah and to perform the _Hajj_. There, at Mekka, year after year,
Muslims of divers nationalities recognised and realised the potent
spell of their faith and felt more deeply and keenly than ever the tie
which bound them together. Moreover, as Von Kremer points out, there
did the Muslims obtain an opportunity of listening to the lectures of
far-famed professors and men of letters who attracted, year by year, an
ever-increasing audience. There indeed, did Islam shine forth in its
full lustre; attracting and alluring, enthralling and captivating its
followers, as it could do nowhere else. Every spot, associated with
some historical incident; every place, connected with some important
event or other of the life of the teacher, awakened the love and fired
the enthusiasm of Muslims for the son of Abdullah, the maker of Arabia
and the founder of Islam.
In his fascinating book, _The Life and Teachings of Mohamed_, Mr.
Ameer Ali has admirably summed up the Islamic teachings:--“Nothing can
be simpler or more in accord with the advance of the human intellect
than the teachings of the Arabian prophet. The few rules for religious
ceremonial which he prescribed were chiefly with the object of
maintaining discipline and uniformity, so necessary in certain stages
of society, but they were by no means of an inflexible character. He
allowed them to be broken in cases of illness or other causes. ‘God
wishes to make things easy for you, for’ says the Qur´an ‘man was
created weak.’ The legal principles which he enunciated were either
delivered as answers to questions put to him as the Chief Magistrate
of Medina or to remove or correct patent evils. The prophet’s Islam
recognized no ritual likely to distract the mind from the thought of
the one God, no law to keep enchained the conscience of advancing
humanity.”
Nothing was more distant from the prophet’s thought than to fetter
the mind or to lay down fixed, immutable, unchanging laws for his
followers. The Qur´an is a book of guidance to the faithful and not,
to be sure, an obstacle in the path of their social, moral, legal and
intellectual progress. The requirements of Islam are at once easy and
simple and leave scope to Muslims to take part in their duties as
subjects or citizens; to attend to their religious obligations without
sacrificing their worldly prosperity and to adopt, whatever is good, in
any community or civilisation, without any interference on the part of
their religion.