Friday Articles
A System that has attained Perfection
By Sayyid Qutb.
Of parents and promises
By S.G. Jilanee
Fatwas can be changed
By Asghar Ali Engineer
A System that has attained Perfection
By Sayyid Qutb.
In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent
Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine; and that on which the name of any other than Allah has been invoked; the animals that have been strangled, beaten to death, killed by a fall, gored to death or savaged by a beast of prey, save that which you may have slaughtered when alive. (Also forbidden to you are) animals that have been slaughtered on idolatrous altars.
And (you are also forbidden) to resort to the divining arrows; for all is sinful. The disbelievers have this day despaired of vanquishing your religion. Have no fear of them, then, but fear Me alone.
This day I have perfected your religion for you and bestowed on you the full measure of My blessing and chosen Islam as a religion for you.
He who is constrained by extreme hunger (to eat what is forbidden), not intending to commit sin, will find Allah much forgiving, merciful.
The divine law is a single and complete whole which cannot be split into separate parts. Its provision which concerns the concept of faith, or acts of worship, or permissions and prohibitions, or social regulations and international relations are all of equal value. In their total sum they constitute the religion which Allah describes in the Qur’an as having been perfected. To reject any part of this code is to reject it all, and to reject religion or faith altogether.
(The Repast, “Al-Maidah”:5:3)
We commented earlier on the detailed account of the types of meat which are forbidden to eat, given in this verse. We have not spoken on the statement which comes in the middle of this detailed account which may be rendered in translation as follows: “The disbelievers have this day despaired of vanquishing your religion. Have no fear of them, then, but fear Me alone. This day I have perfected your religion for you and bestowed on you the full measure of My blessings and chosen Islam as a religion for you.”
This was the last statement of the Qur’an to be revealed. It declares the completion of the message of Islam and that its blessings have been brought to their full. Umar, the Prophet’s companion endowed with the keenest insight, felt that the Prophet’s remaining days on earth were numbered. He had discharged his duty and conveyed his message. He was certain to be called to his appointment with Allah. Umar’s eyes were tearful as he felt the approach of the departure.
These great words come within a verse which has as its subject matter the prohibition of certain types of animal food, and within a surah which has the detailed purposes we have already mentioned. What we understand from this is that the divine law is a single and complete whole which cannot be split up into separate parts. Its provisions which concern the concept of faith, or acts of worship, or permissions and prohibitions, or social regulations and international relations are all of equal value. In their total sum they constitute the religion which Allah describes in this verse as having been perfected, Moreover, it is the blessing of which He has bestowed a full measure on the believers. They represent the code of living which Allah has chosen to be implemented by His servants. To reject any part of this code is to reject it all, and to reject religion or faith altogether.
We have previously stated that to reject any part of this code which Allah has been pleased to vouchsafe to the community of believers and to substitute for it something made by man has only one clear meaning, namely, that godhead is denied to Allah and its attributes are given to human beings. This is a rebellion against Allah’s authority on earth and a claim of godhead, since its main quality, i.e. the authority to legislate, is given to someone other than Allah. That means a rejection of Islam altogether.
“The disbelievers have this day despaired of vanquishing your religion.” They have reached a point of despair and realised that they cannot distort or detract from this religion or invalidate it when Allah had made it perfect and guaranteed to preserve it for all timem, but they can never vanquish this religion. It is the only religion that has been preserved against all factors of corruption and distortion. Its enemies have tried hard to distort and to scheme against it, and its people were at times totally ignorant of its truth. But Allah never allows the earth its advocacy. Islam remains with them fully understood and preserved until they hand it over to the next generation of true believers. Allah’s promise that the disbelievers despair of vanquishing this religion will always come true. Therefore, the believers are addressed, “have no fear of them, then, but fear Me alone.” The disbelievers can never detract from the essence of this religion. Nor can they gain the upper hand against its advocates, unless they deviate from it and no longer give through their action and behaviour a practical translation of its method of living. They abandon the duties it assigns to them and neglect to fulfill its provisions in their way of life.
This divine directive to the Muslim community in Madinah does not apply to their generation. It is a directive to the believers who willingly accept the religion Allah has chosen for them, in its totality, and implemented as a constitution which applies to all aspects of life. It is these who are the true believers.
“This day I have perfected your religion for you and bestowed on you the measure of My blessings and chosen Islam as a religion for you.” The day on which Allah revealed this verse during the Prophet’s pilgrimage of farewell was the day when this religion attained its perfection and no room was left for any improvement. The greatest divine blessings were bestowed on the believers in full measure by giving them this, all comprehensive code. Islam as a faith and religion was chosen for them by Allah. Therefore, anyone who finds it unacceptable as a way of life actually rejects what Allah has determined to be the proper faith.
Of parents and promises
By S.G. Jilanee
In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent
1 DUTY towards parents and sanctity of the given word are among the values held in high regard from time immemorial, especially in eastern traditions, philosophies and religions.
Not only do the Abrahamic faiths, i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, place due emphasis on duty towards parents and keeping to the promises made or agreements signed, faith systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, also embrace these finer human values.
Take, for instance, the emphasis placed on obeying, respecting and attending to the needs of parents as illustrated in the Ramayana, which narrates stories of devotion to parents, especially in their advanced years. Here is a particularly touching episode:
A young boy, Shravan Kumar carried his blind, old parents on his shoulders from one pilgrimage to another. Like scales of a balance, he put each in an open basket. He hung the baskets with a rope at each end of a long flat bamboo, which he carried on his shoulders.
It was during one such journey that Rama’s father, King Dasrath of Ayodhya, accidentally killed Shravan as he was filling his pitcher from a stream in the jungle. Covered by foliage he was invisible to Dasrath. The latter mistook the gurgle of water rushing into the pitcher for a deer drinking at the stream and shot an arrow.
The shaft hit Shravan. At his cry of pain, Dasrath rushed to his side. But, even as the young boy breathed his last, his thoughts were for his parents. Shravan, requested the king to take the water he had collected, to his thirsty and helpless parents, and died.
Similarly, when Abraham told his son Ishmael of having dreamt that he must sacrifice Ishmael and asked the latter’s view, the son promptly told his father to go ahead with fulfilling his dream. “Father,” said Ishmael “do that which you are commanded, God-willing you shall find me patient” (37:102). And Joseph “raised his parents high on the dais…” (12:100) as a mark of reverence when they went to Egypt.
As to the importance of the given word, though there are anecdotes galore of how people would lay down their lives to stick to their promise, here is one, again, from the Ramayana to illustrate the point.
King Dasrath once promised his third and youngest, wife, Keykeyi that he would grant her two wishes. After many years, when the time came to nominate his successor Dasrath decided to choose his eldest son Rama from his first wife Kaushilya. At this point Keykeyi decided to cash in on his promise and named the two boons; one that her son Bharat be nominated as the successor to the throne and, two, that Rama be sent for 14 years in exile.
Dasrath was devastated, because Rama was his most beloved son. But having given his word he was not one to back out. Bharat was appointed to succeed him and Rama was exiled.
When some people counselled Rama to refuse going into exile, he answered that it was the tradition of his Raghuvangshi dynasty that a life may be lost but a given word must not be retracted (Raghukul reet sada chali aayee/ Pran jaye varu vachan na jaye).
A similar example is in Abraham’s prayer to God seeking forgiveness for his father, who was an idolater. He prayed because he had told (promised) his father; “Peace be on you. I will pray to my Lord to forgive you” (19:47).
Islam takes these noble values to celestial heights by sanctifying them as divine injunctions. Believers are ‘enjoined’ to give respect to their parents and be kind to them. Time and again they are reminded of the travails their mothers suffer in bearing them and giving them birth.
“And We have enjoined upon man concerning his parents — his mother bears him in weakness upon weakness…,” says Allah (Luqman:14). In Al Ahqaf:15 the message is repeated: “We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents. His mother bears him with hardship and brings him forth with hardship….”
Sura Al Asra lays down filial duties in greater detail: “Your Lord has decreed … be kind to parents. If one or both of them attain old age with you, do not say to them a word of contempt, nor repulse them and speak to them a gracious word. And out of kindness lower to them the wing of submission and say, ‘Lord, bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in my childhood’” (17:23-24).
The message is that if parents are infirm and their voice is frail, the offspring should bow (if required) in order to hear them properly.
As to fulfilling promises, Surah Al Maeda, begins with the words, “O you, who believe, fulfil your pledges” (5:1). Next, in Sura Al Asra, there is the command “Keep the covenant”, followed by a warning about accountability. “Surely every covenant will be inquired into” (17:34).
In Al Mominoon the injunction adopts a hortatory note to induce believers to abide by their promises; “Those who faithfully observe their trusts and covenants … these will … inherit Paradise (23:8; 10-11).
But abiding by covenants and adhering to the word given is not all. Even contradiction between word and deed is strongly deplored. “O you who believe, why say you that which you do not,” says Sura Al Saff.
The essence of the message in the Quranic verses cited is that frivolous conduct, where pronouncements have no value, is conduct unbecoming in one who aspires for the office of Allah’s vicegerent on Earth.
Fatwas can be changed
By Asghar Ali Engineer
In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent
RECENTLY a conference of the Muslim Personal Law Board in India saw a huge crowd of 200,000 Muslims from all over Maharashtra.
The chairman of the board, Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadwi, made a highly emotional speech and said that Sharia is divine and no change in it can be made; even if the whole Islamic world changes Sharia, Indian Muslims will not allow any change and will keep traditional Sharia close to their hearts.
How appropriate is this stance? Today many women are agitating for certain necessary changes to issues such as triple talaq and unregulated polygamy which cause suffering to them. Some concerned people, including myself, have taken the initiative to codify Muslim personal law so as to minimise its misuse and give relief to Muslim women.
To what extent Sharia can be misused can be judged from the fact that a well-known Islamic university in Hyderabad Deccan allowed a man to marry two young girls simultaneously on the assumption that Islam allows polygamy.
All this is based on books written and fatwas issued hundreds of years ago. Our ulema do not want to deviate from these written texts. Whenever any question is asked they simply consult these texts and issue a fatwa and again, like court judgements, these fatwas become a precedent for subsequent edicts and are treated as universally applicable. Lay Muslims do not know that these fatwas are merely opinions expressed by a mufti and are not binding.
Should fatwas issued by eminent ulema be treated as unchangeable? Or can they be changed with time and place? Generally, Sharia is thought to be divine and immutable and no human being can make any changes in it. In fact, Sharia laws have been developed by eminent imams like Abu Hanifa and others to meet the requirements of their time and place. Thus Sharia can be described as a sincere human approach to divine intention. It is well known that when Imam Shafi’i shifted to Egypt, he changed his opinion on several fiqhi (jurisprudential) matters.
Recently I saw a book by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a well-known scholar highly respected in the Arab world. It is on the subject of fatwas and the necessity for changes in fatwas. Yusuf al-Qaradawi has invoked the principle of ijtihad in Islam to justify changes in fatwas. The sheikh even maintains that Sharia cannot be useful for the ummah unless ijtihad (he indicates several forms) is exercised from time to time.Sharia, it is important to note, must remain dynamic and relevant to the time and place where it is applied. Fundamental principles and values on which Sharia is based cannot be changed, but the laws based on these principles and values should and must change from time to time to keep them relevant and useful. That is why in most Islamic countries traditional Sharia laws have been changed or codified to make them as useful as they once were.
Al-Qaradawi has given 10 grounds on which fatwas can be changed; all these grounds are highly relevant. First, he gives four grounds on which fatwas should change i.e. change in time, change in place, change in conditions and change in what he calls ‘urf (social practices or traditions). The Quran also uses the term ma’ruf in this sense. Then he gives six more grounds for desirability of change which are: change in knowledge; change in needs of people; change in capabilities of people; spread of calamity (when some acute problem becomes common); change in collective political or economic condition and change in opinion or thought.
These 10 grounds, in fact, capture all possible changes which can take place in a given society. This makes it amply clear that Islamic jurisprudence is by no means static or immutable as commonly thought but it has enough space for change. It is altogether another matter if our ulema are rigid or incapable and try to hide behind the divinity of Sharia. In fact, if any law remains static it cannot meet the requirements of society.
Today personal laws — as developed during the mediaeval ages — need many changes. It is also well known that Sharia law during that period had incorporated many Arab customs and traditions as ma’ruf, and triple divorce was among them. The Prophet (PBUH) had denounced this particular practice as the Quran intended to empower women and give them equal status and no one practised it during his time. However, it was later on reintroduced for certain reasons.
Today, women are highly aware of their rights and such practices are against the principle of equality, which is more fundamental than any Arab custom. Still, it is practised in countries like India and even thought to be divine. Similarly, polygamy is much misused and also thought to be a man’s privilege. It has to be regulated and should not be allowed to be used as per one’s whim. No woman would accept it today as they did in the past.
Mediaeval formulations in respect to personal laws were also influenced by patriarchal values and today patriarchal values are being challenged, especially by women.
Polygamy should be allowed only in cases where it is very necessary. Similarly, other personal laws could also be reviewed if needed. It would greatly benefit the ummah if our ulema kept the abovementioned 10 grounds in mind while giving their opinion in matters of Sharia.
The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.
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