Arguments for Messengership – Part 37
The Reasonings, page 136-
“The Shari‘a has preserved its genuineness and validity through so many centuries and revolutions, developments, and clashes in human history. This shows that the way of God’s noble Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, is based on eternal truths. Considering all the points mentioned, listen with an attentive, reasoning mind: Despite being unlettered, having no material force, and never aiming at rulership or dominion, Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, acted in an unwavering manner even on the most perilous occasions; he conquered minds; he made himself deeply loved by hearts; he established dominion over consciences and natures; he uprooted numerous established bad habits and characteristics and ingrained in their place the most laudable virtues, moral excellence, and praiseworthy characteristics; he removed hardness from hearts and aroused the most exalted feelings; he developed the core of true humanity in his followers, and made them the greatest, most renowned exemplary community in human history; he founded a formidable state in as short a time as twenty years, which was later to become the greatest power in the world within another twenty years, and which was to remain so for almost twelve centuries. All these show to those who are not blind the truth of his claim, his Prophethood, and his devotion to the truth.”
Sharia is really the understanding of the meaning of existence. This main understanding of Sharia has never been worn out during time as it is based on principles of creation of this world. The principles of this world and its interpretation never changes.
The organization of the physical life and social life of a person, the rules (that which consists of requirements or prohibitions), anyone can find it confirmable with the creation of human feelings and capacities and the principles created in this world. Example: Taking care of right of orphans and equality of human beings and prohibition of interests, to follow justice in the world, not to gamble, steal, honesty…
Do acts without any expectations in return as a compensation of what I do. Compensation is in the feeling that you get after helping someone needy. Capitalist system suggests that I should get some compensation, is that help? No.
It is easy to see everyone equally. Just as in the prohibition of slavery, which is introduced in the Quran and is confirmed by our feelings. Human feelings and order of the universe never change.
Misleading: Reducing Sharia to irrelevant and minor things.
Introduction of charity: We all feel happy by helping others.
- Not everyone follows their feelings freely, that is why Sharia is mandated.
Humble yourself: you are giving out of what you are given by your Creator. That is, I cannot take pride on what I have done. People give to charity and become proud of it. Islam makes you understand that you cannot be proud of what you give.
Where does Sharia come from?
- Your Creator.
“Charity” is different from “Zakaat”.
When you are giving to charity, you are obeying the will of the Creator Who asks you to give to charity in order to practice that the wealth you are holding now does not belong to you, you have not created it. It is created by the Creator of the universe and is given to your ownership to be utilized in the best way. If you are given more than you need, then, it means that you are expected to distribute the excess to other needy ones. Come on now, practice this reality in your life.
When God orders the charity, He is saying: “The excess parts are given to you in order to be distributed as charity because they are nothing but what We have provided.” It is not what you have earned. Tax is contributing to the society from what you have earned. Zakat is giving back to the needy from what you are given by your Creator.
Apply the rule of Sharia in the Name of the Creator. If someone practices Sharia not in the name of the Creator in order to acknowledge His Creatorship, the True Owner, then it is not Sharia. Any rules introduced in the Quran must be practiced in the name of the Creator.
Example: you paid money and I am providing service to you. Man, and administration relationship.
If you give some property to a poor person, you have no right to ask what did s/he do with the money? If you think that he does not deserve, then do not give out. In secular law, it is a mutual relationship, giving away with expectation in return as a service to the giver. Whereas, in Sharia, the person who gives to charity is not in expectation of anything from the receiver, s/he does it only to acknowledge the Real Owner of the property.
You do yoga to be healthy, you return something for your benefit. When you perform prayer, what do you expect? I am performing what my Creator asked me to do for my own realization of the reality. Are you expecting anything in return? Misconception arises here: We pray so that we go to Paradise. I must pray because I have to pray in order to be rewarded. If I do not express myself before God then, I will be responsible for my human feelings.
“Fasjud wa’qtarib.” Verse: “Prostrate and get close to your Creator.” How do you get close to the Creator when you prostrate? This is one of the fundamental principles of Sharia, an explanation of why I am asked to perform prayers. It is for me to get close to my Creator which secures my existence. If I do not express myself to my Creator, how do I feel? Not good.
What does prostration mean?
Comment: show your vulnerability.
Comment: surrender.
Yes, the result is surrender, but what do you surrender?
Why do you surrender? What is the process?
Comment: acknowledgment of your reality, who you are and tying to your Source.
Comment: aligning your freewill with the will of your Creator.
How does this process take place?
Comment: Gesture to show that I have no control.
The teachings of the Quran are based on acknowledgment of your status through reverse relationship. That is, I can only acknowledge by acknowledging my createdness. There is no other way to acknowledge the Creator. By prostrating, I am saying that I am made, needy and happy with what I am given…these are all negations i.e. I am needy to be able to think, speak, be satisfied…; and someone must provide, by expressing this, automatically infers that I have a Creator. (this is not a learned thing, although some scholars argue). To acknowledge that I am created, this automatically infers to that I have a Creator. Prostrate and get to know who your Creator is. We do not really know who our Creator is in His Essence. I get to know who my Creator is through negation and by knowing my reality, which is 100% dependent. Do I have any part in my creation which denotes that I am not dependent?
When I need anything, I should question who can provide it? Particles? Stones? Electrons?
When I pray, I acknowledge my reality and what the Source of Existence of my reality is. That is the purpose of creation. Am I expecting anything in return? If you are, then do not bother praying. Otherwise, you are like a tax payer.
We are created with the need to express our reality. This is automatically our need. If I do not practice my reality, I feel orphan, hopeless, looser and meaningless.
I know that I am harming myself when I treat someone unjustly. When I choose not to harm someone I should be aware that I am not harming others just not go against my own senses but more than this, I should avoid harming others in order to acknowledge that I am given this sense by my Creator and I am acknowledging His Real Ownership of this sense of not harming anyone. Obeying Sharia is for my own sake not to contradict my reality which acknowledges my Maker.
Favor: God says in His Speech: “I am going to reward you with Paradise with no end.” What I give you is bonus. I will give you Paradise not because you prayed, this is for yourself and you admitted your reality and you felt satisfied with your existence, that is for you, but I am going to give you extra, no payment is needed.
Doing something not in your own name but in the name of your Creator, hence we cannot claim anything in practice of our rules. In secular society, we need to have something in compensation.
Not stealing= acknowledging the authority of God’s distribution of the property of the people which now in this world belongs to the owner of the property. If I steal the property of others, I am going against the will of the Creator.
Secularistic understanding of Sharia= Sharia is for a wisdom or to keep the financial balance in the society.
Spirit of Sharia says…
If I was not created with the ability to make the distinction between what is right and wrong, then how can I know my reality? I am not performing what my own judgement requires for me. I am just performing what my reality requires me to do, not expecting something in the future. When you pray, you do not expect to be healthy or people to respect you more because you are continuously coming to the mosque and praying i.e. you do not expect any change of status in the society. We have no right to be rewarded with Paradise. Yes, I expect and if someone graciously offers me Paradise not as a result of my action, then will I be angry? No. Paradise is not given as an obedience to the rules practiced in the creation.
Sharia is already in my creation. I am practicing my creation, that is what Sharia is. I am just using what I am given. Why are titles prohibited? If you are a knowledgeable person, you must teach others, that is my existential responsibility. Being a teacher is not a privileged position for you.
Special clergy state is not what the Prophet taught us. If I do not realize the foundations of Sharia requirements, then I may imitate other traditions. Prophet never made the differentiation between him and other people as far as his attire or seating or financial benefit is concerned.
Giving Friday Sermons is different, that is you do not express your idea. Now, sermons are presented as the idea of the person who gives the sermon. Sermon is only to announce the requirements of Sharia, what the Quran teaches. It is just a loud speaker, not a source of knowledge. Now, we transfer our knowledge and it misses the point and we do not notice the difference between application of Sharia and secular laws because we do not practice our reality. When we do not practice our reality, we do not notice the essential Quranic teachings and vice versa.
Sharia is appropriate to human nature, and the nature of creation of everything never clashes with the reality. All criticism of Islam is the mis-practice of the teachings of Quran.
“He was not a successful man, rather a Prophet.” i.e. National hero vs Messenger.
What is wrong with this: “Let us learn our religion.” Or “Let us strengthen our belief.”
Comment: It is external.
Comment: My belief is communal and not something personal to me.
Comment: Something that I already have established and do not need to work on.
Excuse me, if you have not learned, then how can you have religion? Religion needs to be learned. If you did not learn, then it is not your religion. If you did not made sense for you, then how can you say that it is your religion. Religion needs satisfaction, confirmation and security.
- Claim towards religion has no base. Rather, say let us learn what Islam is teaching?
“Let us strengthen our belief” That is wrong as well because if it is belief, then it must be established.
When we first identify ourselves with a certain system of belief, we have no reason for it. Without reasoning mind, we are just following cultures. Cultural identity is “secular”. Secular means any kind of relationship between two elements of the created world, rather than the created world and its Creator. Example: You are doing martial arts to get good health or feel satisfied and have a good character.
Here is the distinction between Sharia and secular practices, no matter how good an activity may seem such as helping the society for example. Helping the society belongs to the world and feeling great also belongs to the world. Sharia does not say not to help society, rather why are you helping the society and for what purpose?
We always need to have a triangular relationship with everything.
Let’s say, A= me, B= my action, C= my Creator, God
- If A (action) is connected to B (result I expect) directly, then that is circular. If the relationship between A and B is not established through C, then that is secular. If A is connected to C through B, then that is Sharia.
Difference between yoga and prayer. You do something in expectations of your calmness. You have to gain something while performing yoga. Performing yoga is not wrong but it misses the reality. If yoga is performed as the rule of Sharia, it would be equal to prayer because in the prayer you do the same concentration with actions to express your understanding of your reality.
- “I performed this action because my Creator asked me to do this and the result is by my Creator.” The reward of my performance is from my Creator and depends on His will. Then the way you do yoga turns out to be in the form of the way God instructed, which is through His Messenger; that is called “ritualistic prayer.”
If you want to check your life, you eat why, you speak why? If I speak in order to impress others, the triangle collapses and becomes secular. If I speak in order to gain status in the society, then triangle collapses. If I speak in order to be paid, then triangle collapses. However, in your official worldly transactions, perform your actions with the consciousness that this is how I am created, and the responsibility is given to me by my Creator. Example: As a dentist, have this consciousness that my Creator has given me the ability to do this job and I have to perform this duty as a result of the will of my Creator. You are qualified as a dentist by the grace of God. If you say that I studied for x number of years and I became a qualified dentist, then all this is horizontal relationship, not vertical (triangle) relationship. It means that I spent the time, I studied, and I get the qualities, rather than it is created. In this case, this person uses his abilities as a result of his work, nothing to do with the Creator. Is it true? Where did you get this potentiality? Did you create it? You asked it to be created.
Using the freewill cannot be understood as creating. Using the freewill is asking, begging, petitioning and demanding, “please give me”. If you do it with the consciousness that the Grace of God has enabled you to learn how to treat teeth problem, then it is the application of Sharia and your ordinary work becomes a form of worship. If I do it as a result of my talent that I gained by studying 10 years, then all your work remains in this world. When someone dies, they put on the grave stone: “Dentist John”, that is it.
This consciousness must be obtained through reasoning mind, we have to question and use our abilities.
You have to be humble and wait for people to appoint you, rather than taking on a position. That is why making propaganda and advertisement is prohibited in Islam. Example: my product is better than yours. You need this, advertising it. If someone needs it, you make it available and that is it. If they need it, they will find you. Just present, do not shout “the best oranges!”. These minor things derive from the secular habit of life. These points fundamentally knock the human nature down.
As an unlettered man, Messenger’s success was knowing all the details of human beings and social lives and establishing principles which are ever valid, this is what the true human success is and which cannot be achieved by itself.
Potentiality I am given the ability to learn but I cannot crate learning. Can I manipulate my mind and register something into mind? I did not gain the authority to speak. Look at the growth of child, just finds himself speaking. You cannot create result. His success was not as a result of his endeavor.
- I cannot create the results. Prophet was successful means that Will of God was successful, not that the Prophet was successful.
Finally, understand the reason why the text says certain things and how can I make sense of it?
Tags: Arguments for Messengership Series, Belief in Messengership of Muhammad, Institution of Messengership, Messengership