By March 10, 2018 Read More →

Arguments for Messengership – Part 17

The Reasonings (page 125-126)

“A POSSIBLE OBJECTION: We see that those who do not follow the Divine Religion may enjoy a healthy order.

THE ANSWER: If there is any order in their way, this is due to the affirmed or non-affirmed guidance and the effect of the Divine Religion and religious leaders.  There has never been a community left completely devoid of the guidance of a Prophet, so even though many people reject Divine guidance and Religion, they are not able to remain unaffected by the Religion.  Any approvable lasting order observed in any community has its basic source or roots in Divine guidance.  With respect to other aspects that are incompatible with Divine guidance, the order of irreligious people or of those who do not follow the Divine Religion is bound to collapse, even though such an order may appear to have brought some sort of worldly happiness to certain people.  In addition, a good order must be one which brings true, lasting happiness to an overwhelming majority of humanity.  An order which brings only an apparent, transient, superficial happiness to a small minority in the world, while hurling others into subjection and humiliating misery, cannot be regarded as a good, approvable order.”

Do you need guidance as far as your life conditions are concerned here?

Those people who do not identify themselves with the guidance of the Prophetic message seem to be doing well.  This is a very puzzling problem.  Not a problem in the sense that they should be miserable but an understanding that why bother needing Prophetic guidance?  Just carry on living in this world as far as the life conditions require us to do something, do it and then you are comfortable living in this world.

We must understand one thing.  Some things are misinterpreted.  One of the misunderstood subject is Prophethood.  Public does not completely reject the message of Prophethood which are the foundations of the message but what they do is that mostly they are not happy with the established religious institutions.  As a result, they oppose religion and therefore the Prophetic message under the title as “corrupt or misuse religious institutions.”  They may have good intentions (we are not judging about intentions) but the way religious traditions which base their claims from the Messenger of God, they misrepresent it regardless of any religion.

Those people see exploitation of human emotions and weaknesses in the well-established religious institutions.  Example: their shortcomings and failures in practicing what they should do.  No one is perfect, and everyone has some sort of deficiencies in their life.  If someone comes to me and tells me that you are not doing well, I would say that I am aware of my deficiencies.  They exploit this sense a lot in every societies (Muslims, Christians, Jews…) “because we are not perfect, and we need to educate ourselves”.  This exploitation turns into the benefits of the institutions themselves.  They channelize it.  Example: Among the Muslim communities (it’s not that much as compared to others), the Quran constantly repeats that Prophets never asked you for any benefit.  They just deliver the truth to you and wants to help you educate yourself according to the message they bring.  They do not expect any reward for their service to the community or anything.  They are always disinterested in their own benefits.  That is the principle, openly declared in the Quran in many occasions. 

Quran repeats individually for each Prophetic narration and names the Prophet: “Follow the Prophet who never asks of you any benefit or reward”.  The Quran does not generalize it saying that all of them asked for a reward from the community they served to.  It means individually, all of us must be careful about not getting any benefit from any means or reward for ourselves because we served God’s religion, not only material but respect and honor.

It is difficult not to accept any kind of status in the society if you are a religious leader.  Most religious leaders behave in a special attitude that they can be pinpointed but the Prophets were not like that.  Status is the most important than being financially secure.  If you do not have a proper job, then you do not want to speak about it with your family, you get annoyed because you do not want to say that I am useless (I do nothing) and you do not want people to see you as a useless person.  Although, when you work, you make income for yourself, not for them but it is the matter of securing a status among your relatives or friends.

Money or income is not as important as having a status in the society.  If someone has a good job, they want to talk about it by saying I have lots of work.  Like a person who has just gotten a new car, mentions that the traffic was rough because they want to talk about it.  In the life of Prophet Muhammad and Jesus as historically narrated, they were not getting any benefit from the communities.  The followers of the Prophets who assumed or took over the flag of the message to continue distribute it to the community, not all followed this principle and they behave in a certain way and got the attention of the people.  Some people get impressed by it, “O the imam is a well-respected man”Free-thinking people get annoyed with religious institutions because of this.

Main principle in Islam is that there is no clergy or status.  Have you seen any religious community without a clergy status?  Ideology may be there carrying the same “ideology” or message, but the institution may be corrupt.

Comment: How can you have one without the other?

It is easy to teach what you know but it is not easy to practice it.  Human ego wants to relate it to himself and gain a status.  Check with yourself.  If you are fired from your job and do not have any income, would you like to speak with your mom about the job?  It is very difficult because status is very important.

Because of the confusion between religious institutions and the Divine Messages that the Prophets brought to us, people may get disappointed with the religion itself. Another handicap is mostly valid in most of the religious traditions. That is, “codification of practical rules of religion” became so rigid and complicated that not everyone can learn it.  What they need is consultations, some people who are expert on it.  These people are always consulted about the rules.  As they teach them, the get higher authority.  Details are so much emphasized in Judaic traditions, full of “if statements”.  It is somehow common in Muslim tradition as well, they are many “ifs”.  However, the Prophet was so comfortable about the practice that he did not make rules about them such as if you make this mistake, you can repair it this way…  Example: Narration concerning Hajj rules was the latest ones in the last two years of his life where he was talking about what to do.  Someone says I did it this way, he said it is alright (laba’s).  If you have the intention of practicing your duty of worship in a certain way within the conditions of this world physically, then that is alright, because we are living in a physical world and we must express our conclusions in a physical form as well as emotionally and consciously.  Without eating and appreciating the taste of the food physically, you are not really appreciating the Creator of that nourishment.

Following instruction is important but to go into details and making rules about them is a serious matter.  If you are not a faqeeh, you must go and consult the authority.  No one questions about it.  Just make things straightforward, just as the Prophet instructed in the Hajj narration, without many ifs.  The way you understand it, do it but fundamentally follow the physical forms as far as the rules are concerned.  It may sound licentious i.e. I can do whatever I want but the fundamentals are there without many ifs.

Comment: How can you just be neglectful of the “if scenarios”.

As far as the Quran is concerned, people cannot question its authenticity. When you look at the Quran, are there any details in it?  No, they say that the details are left to the Prophet.  But, when you look at the hadith collections in the life of the Prophet you do not see many details. 

If there were no ifs, there would be no institutions.  Institutions owe their existence to ifs.

Comment:  Why is that?

When you get into the “ifs”, you start getting into the details.  Since you are not an expert on it, you need to consult.  The one who gives you advise on this, he has a higher status or is the teacher now for you and she/he becomes a kind of authority in your eyes. He may exploit this situation.

Comment:  As oppose to evaluating for yourself based on your observation.

Because you cannot go beyond your skin.  You can perform your prayer as much as your capacity in performing the prayer is concerned.  If you keep following the outward form of the prayer, then you need something extra if you concentrate on the outward form.  If you concentrate on prayer according to the capacity of your own conception and awareness of the content of prayers, then you do not pay much attention to it, however you do it.  The Prophet was flexible about it.  He did not interfere into the practical life of people much.  Theoretically, if they do something which contradicts the fundamental teachings of the Prophetic message, which are belief system, during the Medinan period, the Prophet interfered, not on the details but the fundamentals.  Specially, when the fundamentals are misunderstood, and the people have not cleared their inherited values from pre-Islamic culture, the Prophet would interfere to make sure that their physical/worldly life is established on the right understanding of the meaning of being here on Earth.

Prophet rarely corrected people physically.  To correct someone as far as belief system is concerned, he addressed the whole community but never personally.  Spoke to people generally, not establishing the behavior but foundational understanding of the behavior.  Not the behavior itself such as “I see someone praying without putting hands on the navels”.

Comment:  How can we draw the line between something that is mechanical versus something which is foundational?  There are some things that are less obvious whether it is semantic or mechanical.

Problem starts from here.  If someone now becomes interested in the meaning of life after experiencing some calamities, then they say this life is transient.  What should I do?  I just came here, and I cannot really control my own existence.  They then become interested in religion. The first pitfall they may fall into is action, what am I supposed to do?  If a person has not prepared himself for an exam, they come and say is there any prayer to be successful in my exam.  They forget the fundamentals.  You must study and do it in the name of the Creator.  While you are studying, your relationship with the Creator will be the prayer.  Admit that you need guidance and help from the Creator to arrange your time management.

  • Be patient with the steps.
  • We become very impatient and fail.

Usually, when we fail, we accuse the system.  “I do not know why they are doing that.  This is a horrible thing. What should I do?  Why should I do this job?”  Because this person did not follow the necessary steps within the order of the universe.

Practical side takes over the theoretical side.  If someone coming from another background gets interested in the teachings of the Quran, they say, can you teach me how to pray and read the Quran.  Wait a minute!  You must first teach yourself in the fundamental teachings of the Islamic faith.  That is right, but they just jump into mechanical side of things.  They feel that they must do something but why, rather than how?  Again, it becomes institutionalized form of religion.

The answer to the question by the author of the text under study is very important.

If there is any good in the way of the people who do not follow revelation, what they do good is because of the teachings they receive from the Divine Revelation.  But when you speak to them which is puzzling, they say that I do not follow any message, however, fundamentally, they are under the influence of the Divine messageThey do not follow any form or religion or requirements of the institutionalized religion because they do not feel comfortable to follow institutionalized religion in any sense.  They are not to be blamed because that is the reality out there. When the secular law does not benefit from the Divine Message, for example not accepting the Divine Authority, but impose the fear of the punishment in this world only inflicted by the police authority and imprisonment, some people may choose to violate the law thinking that they may not be caught, and they may get away with it. Then they have to depend on police power and have many prisons.

 

What is happening now in the Muslim world is:

  • The first thing we teach to our children is the outward form of religion.
  • Any religious institution is there to teach child how to read the Quran and pray.

Comment: How can I teach the fundamental teaching foundation to a child?

You must learn and manage.  The companions of the Prophet understood how to understand the Quran and educate themselves through its teaching and teach others what the Quranic message is.  Who is doing that nowadays?  Not many.  The first thing they emphasize that you must obey God, Messengers and the parents.  Why?  Being kind to your parents became obeying your parents.  Whoever speaks to the young generation and emphasizes that they must obey their parents, thus gets more money from the parents for the institution.  Don’t you think that this is happening very frequently?

Comment: It seems out of character and an abnormal cynical attitude.

How about your feelings, what do you think?

Comment: Parents have a sense of wanting to control the child and feed the ego.  It is my agency or ability to control the universe by setting a foundation that the child must obey me.

Every parent wants to have an obedient child to fulfill their desires and expectations.  They do not speak about the foundations.  Mostly, parents stay behind the level of their children and want to keep them within their own culture.

Comment: It is a source of validation for the parent itself, it is confirming the parent’s life-style.

The parents do not face the challenge that the new generation is going through.  The parents are behind most of the time and the child sees the deficiencies in their parents.

Comment: In some so called “Muslim countries”, it is much worst.  If you do not obey your parents, then you will not be accepted in the house.

We must know the source of the problem, why people do not want to identify themselves with a religion.  Not because religion says that we are created, and we owe our existence to that Creator, rather the way it is presented.

Parents think that you will be out of the way if you do not follow religion and that you will fall into bad habits.

Question: “Non-affirmed guidance”, what does the text mean by that?

Affirmed means that I belong to the religion of Islam.  Non-Affirmed is that I do not like Muslim community, I do not identify myself with Islam, but I have the influence of the Islamic teachings that there must be a God (non-identity based).  Most of the people superficially affirm their relationship to a religion because they have no other option.  I was born into a Muslim community and my culture and parents come from Islamic background and I was bought up with this culture and this is my religion.  Most of these people are affirmed followers of the culture they are born into.

Another group of people, the ones talked about early on do not want to identify themselves with an institutionalized form of religion and they reject religion in the form of as institutions.  They think that they do not belong to the religion.  It does not mean that they are not affected with the fundamental message of the religion.  Example: letting you know that there is a life after death.  Even when an Atheist hear this claim, they think about it and may come to the conclusion that this universe is the result of a Conscious Choice, God.  Material world does not present to you anything.  This is a wonderful world, but a minor thing is not good like tornadoes…what happened, everything was good?  When they do not get what they expect from the world, they become disappointed and say that God created me and now He is leaving me without nourishment.  Which kind of God is this?  Still, the concept of God exists.  They do not know the solution because fundamentally they are not properly educated.  God willing, if I see a person who comes and asks that s/he is interested in Islam, please provide me with guidance. The first thing I will say is not to lose yourself in forms and theory.

Taken for granted religion is not the religion of Islam. We have to establish our foundations individually: Why am I following a certain understanding of existence, which fits where, and which source is providing with the best interpretation of my existence which sounds meaningful for me?  Investigating and concluding.  Followers of religion because it is their family tradition do not investigate.  The non-identified people with religion also do not investigate.  Everyone should investigate the following questions: What is their teaching?  Let me learn the teaching, is it human or not?  Can I accept it or not?  There is rarely such education available for people which teaches the foundations of religion, for instance, teaching about the meaning of existence in their religion.

Everyone likes status, I want to be honored by my family and close friends.  If I go on the train, thousands of people are there and my concern is that if someone you know comes next to you, s/he knows you.  Our main concern is mostly what my family will say, how can I explain what am I doing?  This is very simple-mindedness.  Living for your family members and establishing your status according to the expectations of the family is so simple mindedness.  Your existence is more valuable.

They are not left completely devoid of a guidance of a Prophet which is the main teaching.

Comment: Some people do good moral acts but do not follow any religion.  Also, they question: Does helping others emerge from religion?

I do not need any guidance from priest or imam because they think that they know about life better than them. These are intelligent people.  Human nature includes in its ingredients the sense of what is right and what is wrong.  The problem here is that people may act in their own name if they are not conscious of why they are doing what they are doing.  Example: I am going to be a good man, for what?  You are going to die as a good man, for what?  As far as you are concerned, you are finished after death.

We do not need guidance from the Creator that I should not kill.  It is engrained in me that I should not even kill an ant. The believers will say we should not kill any living creature for no right reason “fisabeelillah” which means, in the path of Allah.  I can do everything within myself in recognition of their Creator, they have the right to exist.

If you kill an unbeliever, you kill one person. On the other hand, if you gain an unbeliever, you will get rid of an unbeliever and get a believer. That means you helped a man find the truth and this man is not an unbeliever any more. It means you have done two jobs in one action.

Imam Ali said to his combatant enemy, “I was going to kill you not on the path to God but to sooth myself, my anger.

Why did you not kill me?  You have two swords, yours and mine. If you did not kill me, I would kill you.  He said that I was going to kill you for your own good but now that I am angry with you because you spit on my face, I am going to act according to my selfish choice.  This hands only work in the path to God.  When I throw something, it is not me but God.  When I got angry, it tuned into my own will, it then was not acting as God’s hand but Ali’s hand.  Man said, you are a man of truth not like me because I was going to kill you to satisfy my own anger.  That is magic and the calculation that the Quran teaches us.  Interpreting the word “fisabeelillah” in English is “follow the path which takes you to God”, that is the mentality.  We do everything in acknowledgement of God.  We must kill people’s idea of denial, misunderstanding and make them understand right one without damaging anyone, i.e. not killing the body of the unbeliever.

Why are these kinds of misunderstandings are happening?  We do not see the fundamental teachings, we are lost in forms.  We should not do it just because God ordered us to do it.  To be more aware of God, we have to utilize these practices in order to become closer to the presence of God in our own existence.

For each and every group of people, there is a guide.  Not necessarily that it should be a Prophet or Messenger.  The Quran says that there should be a guide.  We should look for a guide according to the conditions of our lifestyles.  I do not have to wait for a Prophet for each century.  Message is there.  The people who get something out of this message spread it to those who are looking for it, guide.  No one should say that I have no guide.  The level of guide may defer.  If you are a primary school teacher, the level of guide you need will be a primary school teacher.  If you are a doctoral student, you need another teacher.  If you gradually develop, we feel the need for guidance from someone who teaches at a higher level.  You do not have to say that this is the guide of this age, so I must follow this person.  Can a primary student teach a doctoral student?  We must look for a guide according to our needs and level.

You cannot teach belief system (ideology and understanding) to people and you cannot make people follow certain forms and establish institutionalized religion which mostly give information about forms of practice only.  Belief matter is your understanding and beyond having some information.  It is your intellectual development.  How can we institutionalize intellectual development?

For centuries, Islam gradually fell into institutions and now you cannot have a mosque without an appointed Imam.  Secular institutions are exploiting Imams, very corrupt system is going on.

To become a Professor at the level of doctoral program, you must get there.  Can you ask a talented biologist to come and repair my faucet?  The best teacher for primary school student is a primary school teacher because she knows the child psychology better.

Someone is acting according to his own human qualities and say that I do not need guidance.  Some people say that I am doing this because God will be pleased with me.  Some may say that I am doing this because God created me with this nature and by exercising and fulfilling the necessity of this nature pleases my Maker.  If you make something and it works as you meant to be, then you are happy.  “When you do this, God will be pleased with you.”  Excuse me, my concern is Am I pleased with my Creator?  If I am pleased with my Creator, then He is pleased with me as well because He is my Creator.  These are the signs of influence of religion on peoples’ mind.  There are not completely blank of it.  It does not mean that human nature is corrupt, or it has an original sin, not at all. I just need guidance to grow in the right way.  Human nature needs guidance to grow.  The seed needs right atmosphere and conditions to grow.  The Prophet brings the message to provide the right conditions for the seed to grow.  God’s guidance does not add anything extra to human nature.  I am a seed created by my Creator to grow and I do not know how to grow, and I need guidance to teach me how to develop my potentials into abilities within the conditions of my life environment.  So, he teaches me go into the soil and get wet, looks strange.  But I am comfortable under the sun.  Seed will start giving shoot into air and give fruits.  Humility—accept that everything is given to you by your Creator, you have to be like a soil.  Imam Ali, whose title is “father of dust,” he is proud of it.  Essentially, I am a dust and I am growing in it.  We have to understand the wisdom of what we learn through the Divine Guidance.

Some people collapse in fulfilling the need of humanity.  Dictators in many forms are ruthless.  They use and exploit people’s weak points like proud of being belonging to a certain country. They use it and expose their idea on people.  These people benefit to only a certain extent.  If I impose myself on you through my knowledge, I am plagiarizing from the truth because the knowledge is not mine essentially.  If I impress you with my knowledge, then I am a dictator, it means that I am not giving you the chance to be critical towards me.   It is like saying:” God knows, and I do not know”.

Economically the world develops. How about the human side?  Have leaders provided happiness for human side or have they made us slave of consumerism depending on the material production?  It is only material prosperity, not human prosperity!

They seem to be happy because in their material life they think that if I can eat food as much as I want at the restaurant, then I am satisfied.  Fundamentally, people who claim to be not under the influence of any Prophetic teaching can provide only worldly happiness.  Look at definition of happiness, get drunk and enjoy “happy hour.”  That is not human happiness if we utilize ourselves to material side only.    We do not have to struggle with our material side, that is a given but how do I establish happiness within myself?

We are talking about the nature of present-day civilization, not personal experiences.

Pursuing your happiness:  People look for happiness the way they define their existence or worldview.  You cannot look for a person who is satisfied with his existence. We cannot know what is going on in the heart and mind of a person who is satisfied with his/her existence. We have to look at the teachings of the Quran, what they are presenting in order to help me live a satisfactory human life.

The Messenger Muhammad (PBUH) is the best representatives of human happiness and the value of the Messenger, depends on my expectation.  That is my understanding.  We must be careful while looking at the life of a personage, not to look it as a person but the link of what he is teaching i.e. how to be happy.

When a narrator presents us with a Prophetic message, we have to look at the link between the main teachings and the physical form/practice and how he is presented to us through the eye of the narrator.  The value that the narrator emphasize is through his/her eyes and it is not the value derived by the Prophet.

 

 

 




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