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THE
MANIFESTO OF ISLAM
AN EXPOSITION OF ISLAM AS
THE INEVITABLE WORLD IDEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE

BY

DR.

MOHAMMAD

RAFI-UD-DIN,
M.A., Ph.D..

DIRECTOR, IQBAL ACADEMY.

KARACHI PAKISTAN.

Publishers
Dili

Muhammadi

Press.

McLeod Road,

Karachi, Pakistan.

32, 33

of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will allow nothing save the perfection of His light, though the followers of wrong ideologies be averse. He it is who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Ideology of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all other ideologies though the followers of wrong ideologies be averse.
desire to put out the light

They

(Al-Quran)

Introduction

The

present

crisis

in

world

affairs,

threatening the total

collapse of civilization and even the total extinction of the

human
ligion,

rice,

is

forcing

mankind

to search for a

remedy.
Is

Of
re-

late their interest in religion

has suddenly revived.

properly understood, the only refuge of mankind

from

these

impending calamities!

They

arc searching for

an answer to this question.

On the other hand the Muslims arc claiming openly and repeatedly before the whole world that Islam is the
only ideology that can permanently unite the human race, on earth and carry man to that highest stage of his mental, moral, material and spiritual evolution of which there is a promise in the potentialities of
establish a lasting peace
his nature.

This devolves upon the Muslims the responsibility to world what Islam is, how it differs from other religions, what are the intellectual foundations of its claims, what arc its aims and objects and how it intends to realize
tell

the

them.

"The Manifesto
a brief

of

Islam

is

an endeavour to provide

answer to these questions.

'"manifesto" has been generally used for a
a sovereign, a state or a

The word
declaration,

body of individuals, making known past actions and motives o{ actions announced as forthcoming. But since the appearance, a century ago, of the 'Communists Manifesto' as an instrument
by
of world-wide propagation of Communism leading ultimately to the emergence ot that ideology as a great political power in the world this word has acquired a new signifi-

cance, as a statement setting forth the historical bases, the

fundamental principles and the expected achievements of an ideology demanding a world-wide recognition. I am using the word only in this latter sense.

The

readers

of

tins

booklet will find that, as an exits

planation of the fundamental principles of Islam,

subject-

matter takes the shape of a theory of History based on a theory of human nature, according to which Islam is the The central idea inevitable world-ideology of the future. of this theory of human nature is that man's urge for an ideal is the sole, the real and the ultimate motivating force

of

even those which proceed immediately animal instincts, and that this urge can be satisfied only by an ideal of the highest Beauty and Perfection. This idea comes into conflict, not only with the atheistic philosophy of Marx but also with the psychological theories of Freud, Adler and McDougall which are generally considered to be the standard and the correct
all his activities,

from

his

theories

of human nature
of Islam
all

in

modern

times.

Readers of
in greater

the Manifesto

who may

desire to

know

detail the facts

which force one

to accept the validity

of

this

idea vis-a-vis
'Ideology
Press,

these theories and of other philosophical

points raised in this

Manifesto are

referred

to

of

the Future' (published by

Din

my book Muhammad
M.R.D.

McLcod Road,

Karachi, Pakistan).

What
Briefly defined, Islam
been
taught

is

Islam

is

the

name
from

of

an

ideology
earliest

that

known has Innumerable prophets have appeared from time times. to time in all parts of the world to teach this ideology to all sections of the human race, consistently with the conditions of their times, the circumstances of their existence and the stage of their mental and moral evolution.
by
the

prophets

the

j&Slfei3a3fl3$<kc#
And
there
is

not a people but

warner has gone among them.

40

7>

We

of them are those We have mensent messengers before thee tioned to thee and of them are those We have not mentioned to thee.
these prophets
is

The number of more than a hundred

these

estimated

to be
all

thousands.

Since the message of

fundamentally the same, every prophet has testified to the truth of his predecessors and prophesied the advent of his successor. However, since the message of the prophets acquired its theoretical completeness and
prophets
is

practical application to all the

important aspects (includ-

ing the social, economic, political and military aspects) of human life in the precept and the life-example of the

Prophet

Mohammad

(peace be

upon him) he
embodied

has

become
to be

the last of the prophets and the term Islam has

come

applied exclusively to his teachings

in the Qurai:

and Summit.

It

is

on account of

the fundamental

unit)

and
that

the

uniform
all

teachings of

the

no one who

the divine source of the prophets that the Quran declares disbelieves in any of the prophets of

source

the past can be a true

Muslim.

And who
time.

believe in the Revelation sent to thee and sent before thy

136

Say ye

We

believe in
Isaac,

God and

the revelation given to us,

and to

Jacob and the Tribes and that given to all Prophets from their Lord We make no difference between one and another of them and we bow to Him (God)

Abraham, Moses and

Ismail,

Jesus and that given to

The
If the essence

essence of Islam

of the prophets' teachings were required one word, then that word is love. Islam calls upon all human beings to love and to see to it that their love is as pure, sincere and wholehearted as possible and that it goes on developing towards an ever greater and greater perfection, purity and sincerity without dwindling or suffering frustration for a single moment.
to be stated in

The need of Islam

The question arises: Does the phenomenon of prophcthood really fulfil a purpose in nature? Does man really need to be taught the art of a perfect and permanent love such as the prophets have been preaching to him?

is that a perfect and perform of m\ urge for an ideal is the most powerful and the most dominant desire of all the inborn desires of man, nay, it is virtually the sole desire of his nature and prophethood is the only agency

The answer

to this question

manent

hue which

takes the

that

provides

for

its

proper

satisfaction.

Prophethood,
is

therefore, has not only a purpose in nature but pensable to the order of things in nature.

also indis-

' y

<..

30

30

So set thy face steadily and truly to the Faith. This is God's handiwork, the pattern on which he has made mankind. No change that is the standard can there be in the work wrought by God religion but most among mankind understand not.
:

The

analysis

levels

of human nature. Two of the natural human desires. The lower desires of man

A
two

study of the nature of

man

reveals

that

there are

levels

oi the natural human

desires.

Firstly, those desires

(known
as

as instincts)

which

result

from man's nature

etc.
(a)

as

an animal

e.g.

feeding, sex, pugnacity,

:

Their characteristics arc

follows

(b)

They arc common to man and the animals below him in the scale of evolution. They have an internal biological compulsion of their own on account of which the animal is compelled to seek their satisfaction.

(c)

(d)

Their satisfaction is accompanied by a special kind of pleasure or relief. Their satisfaction enables the animal to maintain
the health
its life

and growth of
race.

its

body and

to preserve

and

The higher
as a

desires

of man

Secondly, those desires which result from man's nature

human being. These arc as follows (a) The desire tor an ideal. (b) The desire for moral action.
(c)

(d)

The The

desire for

knowledge.
as

desire for artistic creation or art.

Their characteristics arc

(i)

follows

They

arc the special privilege

of man which

is

not

shared by other animals.

A fundamental difference between an animal and a human being is that, while an animal only knows, feels and thinks, a man not only knows, feels and thinks but, while he docs so, he also knows that lie knows, feels and thinks. In other words, while an animal is only conscious, man is selfconscious.
It is

this fact that creates a difference

between the natures of the animal and the human

being.
desires

The

desires that arc peculiar to

man

are the

(2)

(3)

of his self-consciousness or self. There is no biological compulsion attached to them. They are tree desires belonging exclusively to the psychological plane, as the course of their satisfaction is not biologically or instinctively fixed. The satisfaction of each of them yields a special kind of pleasure which at its best and highest is far superior in quality and intensity to the pleasure derived from the satisfaction of any of the instinctive desires.

(4)

They

arc pursued

and

satisfied

at

their best

and

highest for their

own

sake and not for any ulterior

(5)

motive. Their object is the search for beauty. For what is an ideal but an idea to which a person ascribes the highest beauty or perfection known to him? And what is moral action or goodness but the expression of beauty in one's deeds and what is the for truth a desire desire for knoit'lcdgc if not

which we love and admire

.m aspect of beauty;
expression of beauty

.ind

which

is,

therefore,

And what is art through a medium:

but the

A common
Art
is

variety of Art

generally supposed to be confined to the ex-

pression or beauty in brick, stone, voice, sound, colour,

or movement and therefore to be the activity of a persons specially gifted or trained to indulge in it. few But there is a variety ot art in which all people indulge and

word

that
e.g.

is

the expression of beauty in

the

manner of
one's
acting,

living,

in

beautifying

and

decorating
playing,

possessions,
talking,

and

surroundings,

in dressing,

eating, walking,

reading,

writing, travelling,

and behav-

ing generally.

The
Man's

desire for an ideal desire

is

the ruling

of man
dominates all his desires on For whenever the pursuit sake docs not serve the ideal
ideal
is wrong make it serve

desire tor an ideal

the purely psychological level.

of these desires for their own and this happens always when the

it is

twisted, consciously or unconsciously, to

the ideal.

The

reason

is

that

man

attributes to his ideal all

This explains why there is a the beauty that he desires. different moral law, a different philosophy, a different view and use of science and a different art for every ideal. That is not all. Man's desire for an ideal dominates

and controls

all his

desires

on the biological

level as well.
its

The animal cannot check the biological compulsion of But in the human being no instinct can have instincts.
satisfaction
its

its

without die sanction ot the ideal and it can have only upto the extent to which this sanction When the ideal of an individual is given and no more. demands the continuation of Ins life, he exerts himself to the utmost for the proper satisfaction of his instincts; but, when the demands of the ideal arc otherwise, he ignores his instincts and even becomes ready to sacrifice his life. This explains the innumerable instances that come to our notice
satisfaction

of men willingly ignoring or suppressing their animal instincts, undergoing extreme hardships and privations, endangering their lives, dying on the scaffold or bleeding to death on the battle-field for the sake of their ideals.
Thus
desire for

virtually tnaii has only

ideal.
It
is

one desire

and

that

is

the

an

the real, the ultimate and the sole

motivating force of all his activities: It is that all-powerful urge of the human mind which Freud misinterprets as an urge for sex, Adlcr misunderstands as an urge for power,
mysterious outcome of the comman and Karl Marx misrepresents as an unconscious distortion of the economic urge in the human being.
as a

McDougall mistakes

bination of all the animal instincts of

The urge

for an ideal and the mental and moral health of humanity

or frustration of this desire causes a

personality, unhappiness, grief and nervous disorders and its complete and constant satisfaction causes joy and elation. The greater the love of a man for
his ideal, the

The obstruction weak and cramped

more

unified,

more highly evolved, more

powerful and loftier and nobler is his personality and the greater and fuller is his joy, happiness or satisfaction.

The meaning of History

he

become conscious or himself, which he may be able to love, admire constantly and wholeheartedly serve, adore and and the love of which may never dwindle, deteriorate or
Hence ever
since

man

has

is

searching for an ideal

suffer frustration i.e., an ideal of the highest and the most permanent beauty and perfection. Very often the search for such an ideal involves him in serious troubles, brings him face to face with huge calamities and takes from him a toll of heavy sacrifices including the sacrifice of his life itself. Yet he does not give it up because the relentless urge of his

nature impels
history

him

to continue

it

at all costs.

The

entire

and phases, political, moral, legal, intellectual or economic, from the earliest times till the present day, interspersed so often with bloody
in all its aspects

of our race

scenes and tortures and miseries of large masses of

nity,
is

huma-

nothing but

record of man's difficult and arduous

quest for his ideal.

The general
The
question arises:

qualities

of an

ideal

What

arc the actual qualities that

man
tion

expects his ideal to possess?

is

The answer

to this ques-

contained

the very nature of his urge for an ideal

only by an ideal of the highest beauty an ideal (a) which is free from every defect or blemish that we can possibly think of and (b) which possesses upto the highest perfection all the qualities and attributes that we can by our nature look upon as lovable, admirable and beautiful. Defect is the enemy of love. Hence the awareness of the presence of the slightest defect or of the absence of the smallest element of beauty in a man's ideal turns A man can love the whole of his love for it into hatred. a low, ugly or imperfect ideal too but only as long as he can attribute to it all the imaginable qualities of beauty and perfection and can deceive himself that it docs possess all
satisfied

which can be

and perfection, that

is,

these qualities in actual fact.

The
From
qualities

particular qualities of an ideal

We
must

we can deduce the specific of a human being very easily. can know, for example, that the beauty of his ideal
these general premises
ideal

of the

be unlimited and eternal. For, if he knows that its beauty has a limit beyond which it cannot go, he must believe that a part or an aspect of it is ugly. If again he knows that its beauty will come to an end after sometime, he must consider it to be ugly even now. His ideal must be alive. He cannot take for his ideal, consciously and deliberately, the idea of anything that he believes to be dead or lifeless. He is himself alive and cannot therefore love, admire, adore or serve, with selfsacrifice, the idea of anything that appears to him to be
lifeless

and therefore

inferior to himself.

Moreover,

the

life

of

his

ideal,

like
it

its

beauty,

tiwst

he eternal, for,

it

he

is

convinced that
feel that it is

sometime in potentially dead even today.

die
all.

must

future, he

must

That
degree,
his
all

is

not
the

His

ideal
life

attributes

it must hear, sec, underand respond, must have a purpose to be achieved in the human world and have the power to act In other for and succeed in the realization of that purpose. words, it must have certain likes and dislikes and possess the power to encourage and support what it likes and discourage and destroy what it dislikes, to reward its lovers and helpers and to punish its enemies and opponents. In brief, it must have all the qualities of love and hatred and must exercise them for the achievement of its purpose. It a man's ideal lacks any of these qualities and he becomes aware of it, it becomes impossible for him to love and serve his ideal any more. Love always demands action in the service of the beloved and the object of such action is to please the beloved and to have the satisfaction of winning the favour or the nearness of the beloved. Having an ideal or loving an idea! has no other meaning except striving after it, serving it and thereby approaching it more and more. But if the ideal that a man loves has no likes and dislikes, no criterion of discrimination between right and wrong, i.e., no purpose to be achieved in the human world, no purpose in which its lover can co-operate with it, how can the lover know what he should do and what he should not do, in order to serve it? Man wants to act and to know how to act, in the service of his ideal. He cannot be satisfied with a lowIt he that is incapable of being translated into action.

own

case.

of This means that

must possess, upto the highest with which he is familiar in

stand, feel, love

thinks that his ideal cannot hear, see,

feel,

know, understand
no incentive

or respond to what
satisfaction

lie

docs in

its

service, he will derive Q<

from

his

actions and will have

to

continue them.
its

speaking, never

What a man regards as virtue is, strictly own reward. It is always rewarded In
that
it

the pleasing conviction

is

approved by

his

idea

which he always imagines

to be a person or a personality.

For if he thinks that ideal must he powerful. not powerful enough to reward its supporters and punish its enemies, he will feel that loving and serving it is a useless task. The reason is that, while he will do his utmost to change the world in accordance with the demand of his ideal, its opponents will undo his endeavours and unmake with case and impunity what he has
his ideal
is

mans

made. In such a case he will feel that his ideal is weak and helpless and unworthy of his love and devotion.
Again, his ideal must possess all the moral qualities or the of Goodness upto the highest degree of perfection. For, we look upon these qualities as lovable, admirable and beautiful. Should he think that his ideal lacks any of these qualities or lacks any of them upto the highest degree, he must consider it to be a defect and must cease to love
qualities
it.

moreover, must be unique and without a peer its qualities. For if he thinks that there is another idea which shares its qualities, he will be called upon to love two ideals at the same time and this is something
His
ideal,

or a partner in

On makes it impossible for him to do. hand the nature of beauty or perfection is such that it can belong only to one ideal. Finally, the whole creation of the world must be subservient to the purpose of his ideal. This is not possible
which
his nature

the other

unless

his

ideal

is

itself the Creator as well as the Controller

of the Universe and possesses all the qualities implied in these two attributes. If this is not so, the laws operating in the Universe on the physical, biological and psychological planes laws which will not be the creation of his ideal in such a case will come into conflict with the common purpose of his ideal and his own and neither he himself nor his

be able to achieve this purpose. Moreover, if he believes that the Universe, including his own person, has come into being of itself and is out of the control of his ideal, he will feel that his ideal is inferior to him or at the most equal to him and will not, therefore, feel the urge to love, admire, adore or serve it. These outstanding qualities of beauty and perfection
ideal will

10

imply innumerable other out in the same way.

to

qualities

which can be worked

Since these are the qualities that man likes his ideal no matter what his ideal may be (it possess,

may

be a stone, an
it,

idol, a nation, a race, a

country, an
all

ideology, a religion or an ism), he always attributes

these qualities to
sciously.
a creed,

some consciously and others unconis

Whether
its

the ideal

a concrete object, an idea or

it

lover behaves towards

all

always
is

as if it

is

person,

endowed with
and

the qualities of

life,

power,

beautv, goodness
possible for

truth.

This

him

to love, admire, adore

what makes it and serve it with

the

whole of

his being.

The human urge

for an ideal

and the
love

Reality of the Universe

Now on the one hand man has a powerful urge to

the idea of an all-powerful, moral personality which may be the Creator of the world and on the other hand there is

no explanation of the Universe more convincing and more

known facts than this that the an All-powerful Creative Selfconsciousness winch possesses all the qualities of beauty and This means that the ideal which the human perfection. through the process of History i.e. race is seeking the Right Ideal of man, is no other than the Reality
in accordance

with

all

the
is

Reality of the Universe

prophet began and ended his mission by addressing mankind with the following words:

of the Universe Every emphasise.

itself.

It

is

this

fact

that

the

prophets

There

is

no

ideal (to

be loved, served, adored and worshipped)

except God.

The

last

of the prophets proclaimed

ai

II

people, adore and serve your Lord

who

created

you and

those

who came

before you.

Islam and the attributes of Reality

According to the Quran
use the
it

docs not matter whether \vc

name God
All that
all

or Allah or any other

name
that

for the
it
is

Creator.

we have

to

remember

is

He

who

possesses

the qualities and attributes of beauty and

else besides

excellence and

no one

Him
*

possesses them.
.

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17

no

Call
call

on Allah or call on the on Him, He has the best

Beneficient.
attributes.

By whatever name you

180

And

Allah's are the best

names

so call

on

Him

thereby and leave

alone those

who

violate the sanctity

of His

attributes.

They

will

be recompensed for what they do.

The Holy Prophet Mohammad

(peace be

upon him)

has enumerated about a hundred outstanding attributes of the Creator which I reproduce below.

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The

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Beneficent, the Compassionate, the King, the Holy-one,

Peace, the Peace-giving, the Helper, the Powerful, the All-compelling, the Majestic, the Creator, the

Moulder, the

Fashioner, the

Forgiver, the Dominant, the Bestower, the Provider, the Opener, the All-Knower, the Closer, the Extender, the Exalter, the Honourer, the Disgracer, the Hearer, the Seer, the Judge, the Just, the Favourer, the All-informed, the Clement, the Mighty-one, the
Grateful, the

Pardoner,

the

Most High,

the

Very Great, the

Preserver, the Feeder,

3
the Reckoner, the Benign, the Bountiful, the Watchful One, the Hearer of Prayers, the All Comprehending, the Wise, die Loving,

Resurrector, the Witness, the Truth, the GuardStrong, the Firm, the Friend, the Ever-Praiseworthy, the Accountant, the Great Beginner, the Restorer, the Quickcner, the
ian, the

the Glorious, the

Slayer,

the

Ever-Living,

the

Self-subsisting,

the

Watcher,

the

Dignified, the
tive, the

One, the

Single, the Independent one, the AuthoritaFulfiller, the First, the

Almighty, the Forcwarner, the

the

Last,

the Manifest, the Hidden, the Gracious, the Exalted, the

Good, the

Reconciler,

Avenger, the Excuser, the Ever-Indulgent, the

King of all Kings, the Lord of Awfulness and Honour, the Nourisher,
the Equitable, the Gatherer, the Self-sufficing, the Enricher, the

With-holder, the Harmful, the Propitious, the Light, the Guide, the Initiator, the Enduring, the Inheritor, the Unerring, the Patient.

The nature of prophethood

A prophet is a person who is gifted with a knowledge of the True and the Ultimate Ideal of mankind by a direct apprehension of truth through an exceptional Divine revelation and passes on his knowledge to others. There is no innate desire of man but nature has its own arrangements to provide for its satisfaction and these arrangements are always indispensable to the proper satisfaction of that desire.
effort to satisfy his needs

Just as nature offers external assistance to man in his on the biological level, resulting
his urge to live, so
it

from

offers external assistance to

him

in

needs on the psychological level, As nature puts at the disresulting from his urge to love.
his effort to satisfy his

posal

of man some of
hunger, so
it

its

own

agencies like the sun, the

clouds, the air and the

satisfy his

soil, so

that he

may produce food and

him the agency of prophethood which supplies him with the knowledge of the Right Ideal so that he may satisfy his desire for beauty.
available to

makes

Man
own

can

no

more

satisfy properly

his desire

ideal than he can

satisfy his

desire for food,

for an by means of his

unaided

efforts

and without

the external help

of nature.

Prophethood, a dire necessity of

mankind
The
absolute importance of the prophets

teachings to

man-

14
kind
sible

arises from the fact that

mans
a

urge for an ideal

is

irrepres-

and

irresistible.

When
avail

man

cannot,

owing

to his

himself of the guidance of prophethood and cannot love the Right Ideal, he is bound to love a wrong ideal instead of it and, when he loves a wrong ideal, he has to suffer from all the dire consequences of his wrong love later on, as a man who
folly or

indifference,

cannot find healthy and nourishing food is bound to satisfy his hunger by taking unhealthy and injurious food and to suffer from the evil consequences of his wrong food later on.

The change from one wrong

another
Mere
its

ideal to

information
its

about an

ideal's

cient to induce

love.

An

ideal can

beauty is not suffibe loved only when

beauty

is

actually felt
its

and

realized.

As an obstructed

river

must divert
its

course and flow to the next level that

flowing waters, regardless of consequences, cannot feel the beauty of the Right Ideal, the powerful current of his urge for beauty is misdirected towards, and finds an outlet in, an idea the beauty of which he is able to feel and which appears to him to be the most attractive of all the ideas known to him (though of course its beauty will be only imaginary and he will be only the victim of an illusion).
can receive
so

when

man

of beauty appear to him to be clearly Hence attracted by these qualities and in order to have a full satisfaction of his urge for beauty, he begins to love the idea as a whole imagining wrongly that it has all the qualities of beauty that he desires. Thus he attributes to the idea, unconsciously, the remaining qualities of beauty i.e., those qualities of beauty which do not appear to him to be clearly visible in it and which he cannot attribute to it consciously. In other words, he mistakes it for the Right Ideal. He, therefore, loves, admires, adores and serves it with the whole of his being i.e., with all the love, admiration, adoration and service which he would give only to the Right Ideal.
qualities
this

Some

visible in

idea.

15

165

Yet there
besides

are

some men who take

for themselves objects

of worship

AUah

those

who

they should love Allah. believe are stronger in their love for Allah.
as

whom

they love

And

In due course of time, however,

his

intimacy with

the
self

ideal as well as the

(i.e.,

growth of his knowledge of himdesires) reveal to

of the

ideal

that he really

him

These defects come into a contradiction with the qualities of beauty which he had
the hidden defects of his ideal.
attributed

consciously

to

the

ideal.

cludes that his ideal has no qualities

He therefore conof beauty whatsoever.

of his disillusionment is that he abandons and immediately adopts another one which appears to him to possess those qualities of beauty which, as a result of his bitter experience, were discovered by him to be missing in his previous ideal. But if he has not acquired a realization of the beauty of the Right Ideal in the meantime, his choice of the ideal is bound to be wrong again. The result is that while the new ideal is free from those defects or elements of ugliness of which he had become aware, it contains some other defects of which he is not aware and which lead to his disappointment and disillusionment later on. This process of trial and error, of
result

The

that ideal

choosing an ideal, loving it, suffering disappointment over it and rejecting it, continues as long as he does not choose the Right Ideal. The rising of one ideal and the lowering of another in a person's estimate of beauty is
simultaneous, like the rising and falling of the two ends of a see-saw, so that when a man has spurned one ideal he is

Whenever there is a gap in the and the adoption of another on the part of an individual, the powerful pressure of his love
already loving another.
rejection

of one

ideal

16

is

unable to find an outlet and the nervous disorder.

result

is

shock or

The
ideals

characteristics

of

ideals

Before judging the evil consequences of loving wrong and the blessings of loving the Right Ideal it is
effects

necessary to mention a few

urge for an ideal and the

has

more characteristics of the which the love of an ideal

it.

on the

individuals

who

adopt

The

basis

of Ethics

(i) Since a man knows what he should do and what he should not do in order to realize his ideal, he derives a moral law or a moral code of dos and don'ts from his ideal. He follows this moral code willingly and easily-

urged by his love for the ideal. To him no moral law except the moral law of his own ideal has any worth or value of its own. This moral law controls all the activities

of his
tical,

life

whether they are

ethical,

economic,

social, poli-

educational, legal, artistic or intellectual.

The
(2)

basis

of an ideology
ideal in the

The system of ideas emerging from an

its

course of

practical application to the various aspects

of
is

human known

life

along with

its

theoretical

background

an ideology. An ideology based on an ideal is perfect only to the extent to which it embraces the various essential aspects of natural human activity. But to the
as

extent to which it leaves out such aspects of human life without describing and demonstrating how the ideal will influence each of them in practice, it remains imperfect. Thus there can be many imperfect ideologies based on the Perfect Ideal and there can be many perfect ideologies

based on imperfect ideals. Evidently the most satisfactory ideology is only that which is (a) perfect and (b) is based on the Perfect Ideal.

The
(3)

basis

of Philosophy

Every

ideal

answers for the

man who

loves

it

all

17
possible questions about
therefore,

man and

universe.

Every

ideal
It

is

potentially, a philosophy

of

existence.

is

a different matter that this

philosophy

may

not have been

by an expert philosopher or no expert philosopher may have found it possible to systematise it on account of the defects, inner contradictions and inconsistencies of the ideal on which it is based and which
systematiscd
it

seeks to interpret and apply.

To the extent to which an ideal is wrong the philosophy emerging from it or latent in it, is also wrong, incoherent and inconsistent. Thus the correct, complete and coherent philosophy of existence can be only that which is a on the rational interpretation of the Perfect Ideology based Perfect Ideal. Hence as knowledge advances, a philosophy
from a wrong ideal loses its strength more and more till all admit that it is wrong and a philosophy based on the Right Ideal gains in rational support more and more till all believe that it is true. An imperfect ideology even if it is based on the Right Ideal cannot develop into a true philosophy for the same reason. A true philosophy is always a complete philosophy embracing and explaining all the aspects of natural
resulting

human

activity.

The
(4)

singleness of the ideal

cannot love more than one ideal under the influence of several conHis activity is governed flicting ideas at the same time. sometimes by one idea and at others by another. But gradually, as he advances in age and experience, these ideas come into comparison with each other and he
Ultimately a
at a time.

man

child

is

know better and better what idea is to him the most satisfactory of all. The result is that ultimately he discards all ideas except one and that idea becomes his ideal and unifies his personality.
begins to
If there
ideals at
is

a person

who
e.g.,

thinks that he can love

will be

two

the same time

the ideals of Christianity and

Nationalism, his misunderstanding

moment

he

is

faced with a situation in

which

removed the the demands

18

of the two

ideals

come

into a conflict with

each

other.

He

will

discover that he

has to ignore the

demands o(

one of them for the sake of those of the other and that, although he thought he was loving both the ideals simultaneously and equally, yet the fact was that with him one of them was subservient to the other. When a person is actually loving two or three ideals at the same time, it only means that his knowledge of himself is so poor that the practical requirements of none of these ideals is clear to him. The personality of such a person is divided and undeveloped. Such a person is on the cultural level of a child or a savage.

Thus
Democrat

it is

not possible for an individual to be a good

Christian or

at the

good Muslim and a good Nationalist or same time. The political ideal of an
life.

individual dominates his entire

When
ideal

a religion or

philosophical creed
dual,
it is

is

not the

political

of an indivi-

an idea which is sub-serving his political ideal and not determining any of his activities itself.
really

The
(5)

basis

of

Politics,

Economics, Edu-

cation and

Law

men.

An ideal always becomes the ideal of a number of Men loving the same ideal are attracted towards

each other and form a group. The group becomes organized under a patriarch, a tribal chief, a king, a leader, a dicrator or a president. Every organized group of men represents an ideal and every ideal comes to have an organized group of followers sooner or later. Love for the
ideal
is

transmitted to future generations and perpetuated in

inspiration derived

by direct ment which includes

the group

from the environ-

the influence of parents, elders, teachers

and the society at large. It is in this way that an ideal-group, whether the ideal on which it is based is right or wrong,
continues to live for centuries.

Modern

ideal-groups are
state, like

known

as states.

All the activities

activities

of an ideal-group or a of an individual, whether political,

ethical,
legal,

the

military, eco-

nomic,

social,

intellectual,

educational

or

19

by the moral law of its ideal. is like an organism in which the love ot the ideal plays the role of the vital force and the leader and his government function like the brain and its various centres of activity. The greater the love of the members of a group for their ideal, the greater is the internal cohesion, efficiency, strength or solidarity of
artistic, arc

determined

strictly

An

organised group or individuals

the group.

The evolution of
(6)

ideals in the individual

The urge

for an ideal begins to operate in the life

of the individual from the very beginning of his life and his ideals keep changing and evolving slowly in the direction of the Right Ideal with the growth of his knowledge and experience. To the child, the most satisfactory objects are those that
satisfy his

instinctive desires like eating,

etc.

possessing,

self-

His urge for an ideal, therefore finds expression in the love of such objects. As the child grows in years, his parents impress him as splendid figures, on account of their superiority in all matters as well as on
asserting, playing,

account of their proximity to him. Hence they become his ideal. He seeks their approbation and in order to win it, is prepared to regulate his conduct and control his instinctive desires which once formed his ideal. Later on, he develops a love and an admiration for his teachers, and begins to look upon them as perfect models. Still later, his urge for an ideal begins to find an outlet in his love for national heroes, leaders or men who have succeeded in winning the admiration of others. Soon he begins to feel that his love and admiration for such personalities depends upon their qualities of Beauty, Goodness, Truth and Power (e.g., kindness, generosity, sympathy, knowledge, courage, honesty, justice, etc.) and that what he really loves is these qualities and not their owners. His ideal, therefore, shifts from objects and persons to ideas reflecting and embodying these qualities e.g., Christianity,

Democracy, Nationalism, Humanism, Socialism, Fascism,

Communism,

etc.

20

The sympathies of
person,
his

the

individual expand
this

with the
his

evolution of his ideal somewhat in

family,
his
relatives,

order:

own

friends, his school, his city, the

and whole nation or the whole

his

neighbours

group of men loving

dividual has
his

his

ideal,

hi the beginning an in-

many

conflicting ideals existing side

his

by

side in

mind and dividing

practical

life

into

several

unintegrated compartments conflicting with each other. Slowly, as these ideals come into comparison with each

of them to be the best and the This integrates and unifies his personality and creates a system and an order in his practical life. The development of the individual's ideals takes place from the
other, the individual takes one

worthiest of

all.

concrete to the abstract, from the

less

permanent to the

more permanent, from the less perfect to the more perfect, from the diverse to the single, from the sectional to the universal and from the less true, less moral and less beautiful to the more true, more moral and more beautiful. This is indeed what their evolution in the direction of the Right
Ideal

ought

to imply.

son's ideals

stops

at the ideal

But generally the evolution of a perof the society of which

he is a member. It is very rare that a person's ideal rises above the ideal of the society in which he is born. Such a
person, unless he
is

able to convince others,

is

often suspected
is

to be a crank, a rebel or a revolutionary

and

suppressed

by the

society accordingly.

The evolution of ideals

(7)

in the race

Man's urge for an ideal has operated in the life of from the very beginning. The ideals of mankind have evolved almost in the same sequence in which they evolve in the life of the individual so that the individual only repeats the history of the race on the psychological level just as he repeats it on the biological level. To the primitive man, nothing was more lovable and admirable than the satisfaction of his own instinctive dethe race too

such as feeding, self-asserting, possessing, sex, etc. The sympathies of every individual were confined to his own person except in so far as his animal instincts forced him to
sires

21

extend them to others. Later on, he developed a regard for the head of the family and began to modify his instinctive desires to serve the larger interests of the family represented by the wishes of its chief. Subsequently, he learnt to sacrifice some of his family interests for the general good of the tribe which, represented by the tribal chief, became his ideal common widi other members of the tribe. The tribes were many and fought with one another till they discovered the truth that tribal warfare was cruel and suicidal and it was more satisfactory to their urge for Beauty and Goodness to combine under a king, who thereby came to have a piece of land to rule. But soon the tyr.uuiy of the king drew attention to the fact that no ideal could really satisfy their urge for Beauty and Goodness which neglected the welfare of the people in the country. This shifted the ideal from the king to the country and to the people in the country. It changed from the idea of the divine right of one person to the idea of the sanctity of the nation or to Nationalism. The good of the nation required that it should rule itself. The idea, therefore, rose higher in the scale of Beauty and came to be expressed by such terms as Democracy, Liberty, Fraternity, Equality and Freedom which were, however still used in a limited sense because they were applied to and meant to benefit the members of a limited group of people, a nation or a race living within definite geographical

limits.

After

the

first

world

war the
life,

ideals

society took an important step forward.

of human They developed

Fascism

into

complete

philosophies of

e.g.,

and

Communism, each of which

plete explanation

has claimed to

be a

com-

of existence. of the individual, so in the case of the race, the ideals evolve from the concrete to the abstract, from the less permanent to the more permanent, from the less perfect to the more perfect, from the diverse to the single, from the sectional to the universal and from the less As
in the case

moral and less beautiful to the more true, more moral and more beautiful. In other words, they too advance towards the Right Ideal.
true, less

22

The

role

of leaders

(8) The realization of an ideal's beauty is generally obtained by developing an intimate psychological contact with a leader or a man who is thoroughly inspired with Such a contact is developed very the love of the ideal.

easily

when

a person has the chance to live in a social

is

atmosphere which
the ideal, that
is,

strongly charged with the love of

in a society

which

is

already loving and

serving the ideal.

This

is

how

the ideal of one generation

of men belonging to an ideal-group becomes the

its

ideal of next generation. Psychological contact with the lover of an ideal is also the method by which the existing energy of love can be reinforced by a fresh influx of its energy.

All ideals whether

wrong

or right have their leaders

and

their followers.

The
(9)

rise

and

fall

of

a culture-civilization

As

the

wrong
the

ideal

sooner or

later, so

wrong

of an individual must break up ideal of an organized group

or a state too must break up sooner or later. It may live for centuries but its ultimate obliteration is inevitable. The reason is that an ideal is not merely a mental concept. It
translates itself

every

bit into the

it.

outward

practical life

of

the society that loves

tions

It reflects itself

in the actual condi-

of the society as accurately as a mirror reflects the of it. This gives the society a chance of knowing its defects thoroughly. If it is wrong, it creates wrong social, national and international conditions which
objects in front
are disgusting to us in our urge for Beauty, Perfection,

Goodness, Truth and Power, and make us

defects

aware of the
a

of the

ideal

and force us

to give

it

up.
it

The
few

society that loves a

wrong

ideal attributes to
consciously

qualities

of Beauty and Goodness

and

all

the others unconsciously. The result is that it directs all practical outward expression of those its efforts to the
qualities

of which

it

is

conscious and ignores

it

all

the

rest.

But

the very fact

that

ignores most of the qualities

23

of

impossible Goodness makes it for outward praetical it to successfully realize and express in Its life the qualities which it does not want to ignore. of Beauty and disregard for most of the requirements Goodness interferes with and restricts its efforts to satisfy even the few requirements of Beauty that it cares for. On account of the very nature of a wrong ideal, things must go wrong more and more with the society that adopts it, till they bring about its final ruin, no matter what its lovers may say or do to set them right. The reason is that every wrong ideal demands the realization of some qualities of Beauty without the support of its other qualities and no quality or Beauty can be realized without the support of all its other qualities. Beauty, which includes Goodness and

Beauty

and

Truth,

is

a single whole.

It

can neither be divided into

the

parts nor realized in parts.

But

the

process by

which
ideal
is

disillusionment of a

is generally very on a long and extends over centuries. In the beginning of love the hopes of lovers are very high Their love is fresh an 1 ardent. they serve their ideal wholeheartedly end Hence

society based

wrong

reached

put in every possible effort to actualize and objectify the beauty that they attribute to it. This evolves their love further. The result is that the ideal expands and grows in power and glory continuously till it achieves the highest possible splendour of which it is capable. Nature allows full opportunities of growth to every ideal, wrong or right, and every ideal grows in all directions as

much

as

it

can on account of

its

nature or

its

qualities.

17

20

do we aid these as well as those out of the bounty of thy Lord, and the bounty of thy Lord is not limited.

And

all

But gradually the hidden defects of the ideal begin to tell upon their love. They still cling to it but their admiration

24
for
it

begins to

wane and

their zeal for

it

begins to cool.

expand in power and lives only on the power and glory that it had earned and amassed in the past. Day by day it becomes weaker and weaker and hence its lovers also begin to lose its love more and more. At this juncture, a crushing defeat from without or a successful revolution from within, throws it out of existence for ever and a new ideal arsies to take its place. This is how ideologies, cultures or civilizations, each of which develops around an ideal, appear, rise, reach the apex of their glory and then decline and disappear, and new ideals, cultures or civilizations take their place, repeating the same process in history and this is how the process of history is carrying man ever forward to the ideal of his nature, the Ultimate Ideal of humanity.
ceases to

Now the ideal

6 :6

how many a generation We destroyed before them, had established in the earth as We have not established you and We sent the clouds pouring abundant rain over them and We made the rivers flow beneath them? When We destroyed them for their sins and raised up after them another generation.
See they not

whom We

The war of
(10) Since

ideals

splendour

is the idea of the highest beauty and group and the group wants to actualize die full beauty and splendour of its ideal, it desires unlimited power and expansion for itself. But it can expand without limit only at the cost of all the other ideals. Hence every state is a potential enemy of all the other states

an ideal
to a

known

25

and comes into conflict with all of them from the moment of its emergence. This conflict, which may be open or
secret, violent

or non-violent,

warlike
a life

or peaceful,

may
.i

take

the

form of

a battle-field
is

or a peace-conference,

and death struggle which continues until an ideal has wiped out all the other There may be warm friendideals or is wiped out itself. ships between some states for considerable periods of time for the realization of common ends but such friendships last only as long as their ideological interests do not come into an actual clash with each other. A potential clash of ideological interests is, however, always there and becomes
treaty or a goodwill mission, actual sooner or later in their history.

Thus every wrong ideal breaks up sooner or later not only because it is being disrupted from within by the elements of its own contradiction, its internal defects, but also because it is being smashed from outside by other
ideals.

The

realization

of the inner
is

defects
its

of

its

ideal

on

the part of an ideal-group

hastened by

external defeats

and discomfitures.

The nature of

the unconscious

mind

(it) The urge for an ideal in man is the urge of his unconscious mind which, as a result of the experiments of the psycho-analysts, is now recognized as the real motivating power of all human activity. Unfortunately, the psycho-analysts have not understood its true nature and have misinterpreted it variously as an urge for sex (Freud) or as an urge for power (Adler) or an urge for both sex and power (Jung). It is really an urge for Beauty or Perfection and can be satisfied only by an ideal of the highest beauty. Since an ideal of this kind is able to utilize and attach to itself permanently the whole store of love in the unconscious mind of an individual, it results in the com-

plete unification

of

his personality as well as in his perfect

This fact has a great importance not only in the treatment and prevention of mental diseases and moral aberrations but also in our search for a permanent solution of our social and political problems.
happiness or satisfaction.

26

The progress and

(12)

regress

of love or
unless
it

self-knowledge

The

love

of an

ideal

is

never real

is

expressed in practice.
is

In so far as a person's practical

life

not determined by the ideal that he claims to love, it is being determined by another ideal and his pretensions of
love are
false.

The

real

love of an ideal

is

never stationary.

It is

al-

ways either increasing or decreasing. When it is decreasing, it is accompanied by a simultaneous revelation of the beauty (supposed or real) of another ideal and the consequent
diversion of activity in the service of that ideal in proportion to that revelation.
If there
is

no such accompaniment,
to

the person
painful

is,

for reasons already explained,

mental

experience

amounting

undergoing a worry,

a a

nervous break-down or a shock.

Since the frustration or obstruction of a man's urge for

an

ideal

is

painful and unbearable, people try to resist this

listen

all costs. That is why they generally do not arguments against their own ideals and try to adhere to them even at the cost of appearing to be definitely obstinate and unreasonable.

condition at
to

If,

on the other hand,

its

die love

it is

following

natural

of the ideal and normal course.

is

increasing,

The love of an ideal always adds to itself more and more so long as it is not crushed by another love. For love
seeks

expression and, as the lover expresses his love, he

it

allows

to achieve a further control of his faculties

of
his

thought
word or

and
deed,

action and thereby of

the

whole of
it

personality.

Every expression of love, be brings up a new portion ot

in thought,

the

energy
to

of love
ideal.

in the unconscious

mind

to be

attached

the

Factors in the development of love

(13)

The

expression and, therefore, the growth ot love

takes place in right or

two ways

in the case

of every

ideal

whether

wrong.

27
the contemplation of the ideal's beauty which form of the admiration and adoration of the ideal and the concentration of attention on as many of its attractive qualities and as much of each quality as possible. This activity proceeds from a feeling of the ideal's beauty and results in a further intensification of that feeling. Every group or nation uses devices of various kinds to enable its members to contemplate the beauty of their ideal. The sum total of these devices constitutes the educational system of the nation, in a sense large enough to include, in addition to their schools and colleges, their temples, churches, mosques and clubs, the radio, the press, the platform and the cinema and indeed all the social and political activities of the nation. In the case of most wrong ideals, which emphasise the worship of persons and
Firstly

takes the

objects representing these

statues

ideals, these

devices

include the

of national heroes, national flags and all ostentatious social, political and military demonstrations and displays organized or encouraged by the state. Secondly external action in the service of an ideal which leads to a fuller contact with the ideal, a fuller realization of its beauty and consequently a further development of its love. External action in the service of the ideal means following the moral law of the ideal.
and
pictures

The progress of love

to action in
(14) It
is

is

in proportion

its
full

service

a condition
ideal's

of the

and continued developfor action

ment of an
cover
the

love that
field

its

demands

may

of the individual's activity and embrace all aspects and departments of his life, social, political, economic, legal and even intellectual and artistic. For, if an individual's ideal does not govern any aspect of his life itself, it must leave that aspect to be governed by other ideas which are inconsistent with it and hence a portion of the love of the unconscious mind must become attached to these ideas and the love of these ideas must flourish at the expense of the ideal. Only that ideal has a chance of attaching the whole of the love of the
entire

28

unconscious mind to

itself

which makes

positive

demands

on our actions

in

every sphere of our

life.

The immortality of man

(15) Since it is consciousness and not matter that is and ultimate and since it is consciousness that has created the body and not the body that has created consciousness, the human self does not die with the disintegration of the body at death. The nature and quality of its ideal in this life must, therefore, determine the nature and quality of its
real
life, its
is

happiness or sorrow, in the next

life.

The man who

this life

rightly-guided, progressive and

rightly guided, progressive and

happy in happy in

must be
life

the next

as

well and pice versa.

89

27

soul that art at

rest,

return to thy Lord well-pleased, well pleas-

ing.

17

72

And whoever

is

blind in this world he will be blind in the Hereafter

and further away from the path

The dangers of loving wrong ideals. A wrong view of life and its values.

When
is

an individual or Kufr or denial.

nation does not heed the

a

call

of prophets and begins to love

wrong

ideal, the

condition

known
The

as

of ideals enumerated above enable of a wrong ideal or Kufr must lead to very grave consequences for the individual and the community that adopts it.
characteristics

us to sec that the love

29

22

31

And whoever

associates

aught with Allah

it

is

as

it

he had fallen

from on high, then the birds had snatched him away or the wind had carried him off to a distant place.

These consequences
(1)

may

be stated briefly as follows

Since a
in
it,

wrong

ideal has

none of the
loves
it

qualities of

Beauty
attitude

the individual

who

has a

wrong

His natural urge towards life and its values. for Beauty, Goodness and Truth cannot have a full and free expression because his wrong ideal interferes with it. The result is that his idea of moral qualities like justice,

goodequality, liberty, fraternity and becomes wrong. He is forced by his wrong love, ness, unconsciously and imperceptibly, to interpret these terms narrowly and wrongly and hence immorally and wickedly. He ignores the true demands of these qualities in practice. In spite of his best efforts and best intentions, his activities His faculties of thought are directed towards wrong ends. which are controlled by his ideal, function and action, wrongly and produce the wrong results. He hates what is really lovable and admirable and loves what is really ugly and detestable. His view of things is distorted and his judgment of men and matters is vitiated. He can neither see, nor hear, nor think, nor act rightly, and is never conscious of these disabilities of his own.
honesty, truth,

178

30
They have
hear not.
hearts

wherewith they understand not and they have

eyes wherewith they see not and they have ears wherewith they

They

are as cattle,

nay they

are

more

astray.

These are

the heedless ones.

ideal being the generator of the deed and the of its value the deed is good or bad according as the ideal from which it results is good or bad. Hence the character of a man who loves a wrong ideal is never really noble or lofty. For example, if a man's ideal is a nation of a particular country, race, colour or language, his idea of truth, justice, liberty, equality, etc. cannot extend to people outside that nation and beyond

The

creator

that race, colour, language or country.

truth,
effort

He

thinks that
is

no

justice,

no

liberty

and no equality

no worthy o(
other

and achievement which

may

serve to

make

nations great at the expense of his

own.

The love of the Creator is the only fountain-head from which our desire for moral excellence can derive the
strength to translate itself into action.
If a person loves a

moral action in accordance with absolute and universal principles of morality is overpowered by his wrong love and is therefore, misunderstood and misinterpreted by him. This is the reason why the lovers of wrong ideals cannot agree with each other as regards the meaning of terms like truth, justice, etc., and believe sincerely and honestly, while they are at each other's throats, that they are serving the cause of moral values expressed by these terms.
ideal, his desire for
?

wrong

The love of
(2)

a wrong ideal is neither perfect nor permanent

adopts a wrong ideal is It cannot grow to the fullest extent because it comes into conflict with his urge for Goodness, which demands action according to absolute and universal principles of morality and thus makes it impossible for him to express the whole of his urge for Beauty.

The

love of a

man who

neither

perfect nor

permanent.

to his ideal unconsciously

Also the missing qualities of Beauty which he attributes and wrongly, impose a check

31

on the growth of
cannot love
his

his love

beyond

a certain limit.

He

unconor conscious hatred for it (which becomes open The scious sooner or later) always lurks in his mind. result is that he leads a dissatisfied life and falls an easy prey to fear, grief, worry, hysteria, shocks, phobias and
ideal

whole-heartedly.

secret

other nervous disorders.

151

We
they
rity.

will cast fear into the hearts

set

up with Allah

that

of those who disbelieve because for which he has sent down no autho-

20

124

And whoever
in a

turns
life.

away from

My

Reminder

for

him

is

surely

straitened

34

36

And whoever
Beneficent,

turns himself

We

appoint for

away from him a devil,

the
so he

remembrance of
is

the

his associate.

(viz,

is no doubt that the two forms of loving Beauty, contemplation of the ideal's beauty and action in the service of the ideal) develop the love of a wrong ideal too for some time but soon a stage is reached in the development of its love when these methods, instead of developing the love further, serve only to reveal the

There

defects

of the

ideal

and

to induce

its

hatred.

32

wrong ideal creates wrong and intolerable conditions of life sooner

or
later

(3)
its

The ugly

qualities

of

wrong

ideal

overlooked by

become manifest in the outward conditions of their life. A wrong ideal, therefore, always creates a set of wrong national and international conditions which cause misery to large sections of humanity. A wrong ideal is in fact a total failure, since it
lovers determine their activities and

cannot
ciously.
qualities

realize in the external conditions

of existence even
it

those qualities of beauty

which

its

lovers attribute to

cons-

The

reason

is

that the successful realization

of these

outwardly

is

thwarted

by

the inherent defects of the ideal

and made impossible which come into a clash

with them.

The
(4)

real cause

of wars and bloodshed

Ideal is only one but wrong ideals are of them come to exist side by side with each other. Since each of them has its own moral law and wants unlimited power and expansion for itself as well as a universal recognition of its Ethics, the ideal-groups fight among themselves and cause bloodshed and misery to mankind on an ever larger and larger scale on account of the continuous improvements in the instruments of massdestruction of humanity.

The Right
several

many and

A
(5)

society based

doomed
lived.
is

on a wrong ideal to ultimate extinction

based on a

is

A community
It

wrong
its

ideal

is

short-

may

live for centuries

but

final disintegration

inevitable

on account of the working of the inexorable

nature.

laws of
"I
'l.l
.

human
.V &

.^1

'

<

>

* *<

34

33

And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while nor can they precede it.

14

26

And

the parable of an evil

word,

a
it

wrong
has

ideal,

is

as

an evil tree

pulled

up from the

earth's surface,

no

stability.

29: 41

The

parable of those

who

take other ideals besides Allah

is

as the

parable of the spider that

frailest

makes

for itself a house

and surely the

of the houses
all

is

the spider's house

if

they but knew.

Hence
goes waste.

the self-sacrifice that

its

lovers

make

for

it

They

are obliged to demolish

with their own hands what they build long centuries of sweat and toil.

and destroy patiently through

18

103, 104

Say, shall

we

inform you

who

are the greatest losers in respect

life,

deeds?

Those whose

effort goes astray in this world's

of and

they think that they are making good manufactures.

>&&f&j^lft2d^3$i^J^$
16:

99

34

And

be not like her

who
it

unravels her yarn, disintegrating

strongly.

it

into

pieces after she has spun

They

love their ideal faithfully and ardently but only

and abandoned by it later on and to pay own death and extinction for loving it. The Quran frequently makes a mention of the bygone communities and asserts that they had to quit the world because they loved wrong ideals.
to be deceived

the price of their

6 il^JH&j^o&SZ&i
30 142

Say, Travel in the land then see

what was

the end of those before

most of them loved

ideals other then the true Ideal.

See they

not how many

generation

we

destroyed before them,

whom we
you, and

had established
the
rivers

we

sent the clouds pouring

We
them

made

we have not established abundant rain on them and flow beneath them? Then We destroyed
in the earth as

for their sins, and raised

up

after

them another

generation.

Real freedom is impossible in a founded on a wrong ideal

real

state

(6) A state founded on a wrong ideal can never give freedom to the individual. In such a state the individual is apparently free but really he is the slave of a wrong

35

wrong

although there is no doubt that on account of his education, he is completely reconciled to his slavery. Liberty can have no meaning other than the liberty of a man to satisfy perfectly and permanently the only desire The external forces that he has i.e., his desire for Beauty. that interfere with this liberty include not only the law
ideal,

that
also

the

compels him to do what is contrary to his will but him impersocial environment that induces
to

ceptibly

will

what

is

contrary to the

requirements

of Beauty and the requirements of

his nature.

The love of a wrong

next
(7)

ideal

makes the
wrong
ideal arc

life

miserable
loves a

The

actions

of

man who

but not only of no use to him in this world and torturous they also become insurmountable, distressing
ultimately
obstacles to his progress in the hereafter.

necessary condition of the survival the human race

of
life,

Indeed, even

the dangers of loving

that, if

when we consider only our wrong ideals or Kufr

earthly

arc so great

mankind

nature had not provided for the proper guidance of in their effort to satisfy their urge for an ideal by

creating prophets, there

would have been no hope of the

available to

human
is

race surviving for long

is

that prophetic guidance

different.

on the earth. But now mankind the situation

The more the human race will be driven to on account of their mutual animosities (and they arc being driven to it more and more every day) the more will they be constrained to search for a remedy and the remedy will be found only in the teachings of the protheir

own

ruin

phets.

36

By

the time!

Surely man
the

is

in loss, except those

do good and exhort one another

patience.

to

who believe and Truth and exhort one another to

That

is

why

Quran

says addressing the Prophet.

O &^^%1&\&CA &
21
:

107

And

We

have not sent thee but

as a

mercy

to the nations

The

blessings

of loving the Right

Ideal

the an individual or a community heeds of the prophets and begins to love the Right Ideal, the condition is known as Iman (faith or belief ) in the terminology of Islam. Such an individual or such a community starts on the safe and smooth road leading towards a state of the highest possible perfection in all
call

When

respects

and ultimately becomes

as
a

perfect

and

faultless as

we

can imagine an individual or

community

to be.
its

The correct

attitude towards life

and

values

An

individual

who

loves the Right Ideal acquires a

life

correct attitude towards

right perspective

of

tilings

and its values. He has the and his thoughts, words and
loves

deeds are rightly directed.

He

what

is

really lovable

and admirable and hates what is really ugly and detestable. He alone can understand and realize the true meaning of
Liberty, Progress etc.

terms like Goodness, Truth, Justice, Equality, Fraternity, He can love his ideal perfectly and permanently since it is not possible for him to discover any
defect in
it

at

any time.

On

the other

hand he has an
turns

ever-increasing satisfaction that his ideal

out

every

and more beautiful than he imagined it to be. Since he has a sound, and smooth satisfaction of his urge of self, he is happy and contented. He is safe from worries, obsessions, hysteria and other nervous diseases. His personality is highly evolved, highly unified, powerful, fearless and magnanimous.
to be

moment

more

perfect

37

The only

state is

possible basis for a perfect the Right Ideal

When
group or

such individuals unite to form an organized

a state, as they must, their activities as a society

are also rightly directed. the

Such

a state

is

able to express
its

completely, constantly, and harmoniously, in

practical
life,

external

of Beauty, Goodness and Truth. As time goes these qualities arc reflected more and more in the political, social, economic, ethical, legal, educational, informational, intellectual and military spheres, There are no economic, in fact all spheres, of their life.
all

qualities

moral, social or political inequalities in such a

state.

Its

members enjoy
fullest

the boons of liberty and equality to the

extent themselves and are always ready to

available
to
others.

make
all

them

They

are protected

from

external forces

with the liberty of the individual. They have, for example, no laws to compel them to do what is contrary to their will and no social and educational influences to induce them indirectly and imperinterfere

winch

ceptibly

to will what is contrary to their nature. As the members admire, adore and serve their ideal and evolve
it

and for each other, the state gradually of its internal cohesion and solidarity as well as strength and efficiency. The result is that it becomes a society of perfectly noble and happy
their love for
attains to the highest possible level

individuals, an ideal state free

or defect and

from every imaginable vice endowed with every known and unknown merit or excellence. The nature of their ideology

guarantees their continued happiness and contentment.

+*&*&&&&&\ tiM&$

38

14: 24

Those

who

say our

Lord

is

Allah, then continue in the right

way,

the angels descend

We
It

and receive are your friends in this world's you have therein what you ask for.
also guarantees that

upon them, saying: Fear not, nor be grieved good news of the Garden which you were promised.
life

and in the

Hereafter

and

their

existence

they will continue to maintain prosper in the world in spite of the and

designs of their enemies to the contrary.

14:24

Allah
is

sets

forth a parable of a

good word

as a

good

tree

whose root

firm and whose branches are by the permission of its Lord.

high, yielding

its

fruit in

every season

14: 27

Allah establishes firmly those

who

believe in the firm ideal, in this

world's

life

and

in the Hereafter.

24:256

and believes in Allah he indeed lays hold on the firmest handle which shall never break.
disbelieves in
ideals

So whoever

wrong

A
Such

state

founded on the Right Ideal alone can survive the war of ideologies
must spread gradually but
irresistibly to

a state

39
the ends of the earth and
its

t.iko

the

whole

of

fold.

It

must prove

to be the final victor in the

humanity into war of

be
restricted

ideologies because
(a)
its

full-status

membership

will

not
all

to

men of any

particular country, race, language

or colour

but will be open to

human

beings
Ideal,

who
(b)
its

are prepared to love

and serve the Right

all

ideal will be free

from

defects

and therefore

immune from
must,

the destiny of wrong ideals which on account of their internal contradiction, break up and disappear one by one leaving it to dominate the world,
(c)

on account of
personalities

the
its

highly

of

members,

fighting soldiers will

and unified of its be unique and permanent

evolved
the morale

and
(d) its ideal will

from the and philosophical knowledge of mankind and turn more and more into a truly convincing, systematic and scientific ideology.
developing
scientific

derive an increasing support

Thus it will conquer not only on account of the power of its arms but also on account of the force of its
ideas.
Its

final
it

victory will be a great blessing for

mankind

because

will

end

finally the

war of

nations, unite the

human

race as a single family, establish a permanent peace

on earth and carry

man

to the stage
life.

of his highest possible

evolution in every aspect of his

How
The

does the Right Ideal bring about the perfection of the individual and the society?
question arises

Ideal transforms the individual

it happen that the Right and the society and raises them both to such a high level of perfection? It happens because the individuals who adopt the Right

how

does

Ideal are impelled by their ideal

to act

in a

way which assures

the

the

internal

growth and

consequently

external

practical expression

and objectification of

their love

of the


40
Creator and His qualities of Beauty and Perfection to the
fullest extent.

Faith,

self-knowledge, self-conlove, sciousness or knowledge of the Creator

believes

a person obeys the call of prophets and and declares his belief that the Right Ideal is the true ideal of his nature, he has a conscious and direct realization of the total beauty of the Creator and the total absence of Beauty in every other ideal. It is his first direct glimpse of the light of Beauty and the first conscious beginning of It is also his first knowledge of the Creator his love. what is He like and what is His significance to him? and his first knowledge, first awareness or consciousness of himselfwhat is it that he really wants and what is the real His belief is, therefore, significance and object of his life? synonymous with his love, with his knowledge of himself and with his knowledge of the Creator. Hence-forward his love, if properly safeguarded and allowed to have own way, embarks on a course of continuous its growth and enrichment which is natural to it and which culminates in the highest possible evolution of his self. This last stage of the individual's evolution is accompanied by the greatest amount of happiness, satisfaction, possibly self-confidence and self-control which he can The greater and purer his love the desire or command. stronger is his belief, the higher is his self-knowledge, and the knowledge of the Creator and the more perfect is his happiLove is not having ness, self-control or self-confidence.

The moment

its

and continuously and

in

not allowed to express itself thoroughly it is not properly safeguarded if its obstruction in the shape of a powerful temptation results
if
it is

own way

shall see below what are the its unnatural diversion. requirements of a free and full expression of love, what is the exact nature of a temptation and how it works to the

We

detriment of the lover.

Action in the service of the ideal

(Ihadah)

The

effort or action that

is

motivated by the love of the

41

Right

Ideal

is

internal as well as external.

The

internal or

mental effort takes the shape of the contemplation of the qualities of the Creator with the help of their symbols or reIt is always attended by a sense (deep only in presentations. proportion to the individual's love or self-knowledge) of admiration, adoration and enjoyment of the beauty of
these
qualities.

Creator's attributes

The symbols or which become

representations the

of the

medium

for their

contemplation arc (a) the manifestations of nature in which the Creator has expressed His attributes and (b) words expressing His attributes.

(A)

Study of the attributes of Beauty through the medium of Nature (Fikr)

Nature being the creation of the Divine Being, the of the Divine Being arc expressed in Nature. The heavens, the sun, the moon and the stars, the mountains, the land-scape, the vast oceans, the twilight and the dawn, the clouds, the rivers, the streams, the winds, the changes of day and night, the rotation of seasons, the animal and vegetable life in all its variety, complexity and richness, in fact all the multitudinous phenomena of nature at the malevels of creation emterial, biological and psychological bodying its creating, evolving, nourishing, protecting, decorating, designing and planning activities and processes reflect the qualities of the Creator as vividly as the masterpiece of an artist reflects his mental and moral constitution. The study of these phenomena therefore enables a believer to contemplate, admire and adore the beauty of the Creaqualities
tor's attributes.

Oc&%!&#&
51: 20

And

in the earth arc signs for diosc

who

believe.

42

3:189

In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the

night and the day, there are surely signs for men of understanding. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their Our sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Lord thou hast not created this Universe in vain. Glory be to Thee Save us from the chastisement of the Fire.
!

The study of
the terminology of

nature
Islam

which
is

is

known

as

Fikr

in

not only a means to express, feed, sustain and evolve the Love of the Right Ideal but also the very first originator of that love in the case of all human beings. Since we all, every moment of our life, are surrounded by nature, every one of us is forced to contemplate nature and to admire and enjoy its Beauty. The result is that every one of us is forced to acquire a feeling of the Creativeness, the Greatness, the Goodness, the Beauty

and the Power of a Creator, however vague may be in the case of some of us.

this

feeling

51:20

And
talk

in the earth arc signs for those

who

believe.

That is why, whatever our creeds or beliefs may be, we of Nature so often as a person who has a character and a consciousness of Ins own activities winch, therefore, are supposed to have an end or a purpose. But unfortunately

43

many of

us do not realize the importance of this feeling of Beauty which like every other feeling demands a proper understanding and expression. Hence they do not care to understand and express it properly.

12:105

And how many

yet they turn

a sign in the
it.

heaven and the earth do they pass by

away from
is

The
is

result

that in the case

of

many of us

this feeling

crushed on the conscious level of mind.

But

since

its

justification resides in

our very nature and it accords with, and provides an outlet to, the most powerful urge of our being, it is never totally eliminated but is only suppressed and pushed down into the unconscious mind where it lingers on as a repression for ever. A real atheist is not possible. A person who is generally known as an atheist denies God openly in word and deed but on account of his unavoidable contact with Nature, resulting in a deep, unconscious impression of its Beauty, he believes in Him in the heart of his hearts. That is why he resorts to prayers when he is surrounded by difficulties which appear to him to be insurmountable.

31

3^

And when

awnings covers them, tihey call upon Allah being sincere to Him in obedience. But when He brings diem safe to land, some of them follow the middle course. And none denies
a
like

wave

Our

signs but every perfidious, ungrateful one.

44

29

65

So when they

ride in the ships they call

obedient to Him, but

They
that
is

associate others

when he brings with Him.

upon them

Allah, being sincerely

safe to the land lo
!

When

a prophet to

new

comes into the world, he says nothing mankind but only revives or reawakens that

buried or suppressed feeling of Beauty in their hearts with

which they are already familiar, initiates them into its real meaning and importance and teaches them the right way of expressing it. He thus begins by inviting men to ponder over the manifestations of Nature which thrust themselves on their attention all around. Do they not abound with a clear evidence of the expression and operation of a Creator's qualities of Love, Beauty, Wisdom and Power and do they not force him to bow before Him in love, admiration and
reverence?

Creator with such qualities alone can be the

True

Ideal

of mankind.

29

61, 63

And

thou ask them Who created the heavens and the earth and Who made the Sun and the Moon subservient i They would say Allah: Whence arc they then turned away. And if thou ask them Who is it that sends down water from the
if

4j
clouds, then gives
will
life
:

to the earth

with

it

after

its

death?

They

say

Allah.

Say

Praise

be CO

Allah!

Nay, most of them

understand not.

oi

31 32

Say

Who

gives

you sustenance from

the heaven

and the earth or

the living

Who has

created hearing and sight and

Who brings forth

:

from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living and Who rules the world They will say: Allah. Say them Will you not
then guard against error.

Such then

is

Allah your true lord.

And what

is
!

there after the

truth but error.

How

then are you turned

away

The Quran draws

and
again
to the

attention of the

human
the

race again

various

manifestations of Nature and

explains
attributes

how

they speak

eloquently of

Creator's

of Beauty and Perfection.

46
2
:

164

In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day and the ship that runs in the sea with that which
profits

men and

gives

life

the water that Allah sends down from the sky, then therewith to the earth after its death and spreads in it all

kinds of animals, and the changing of the winds And the clouds

made

subservient between heaven and earth there are surely signs for

a people

who

understand.

30

20,21

And of
life

His signs

is

this that

and for hope, and sends

this for a

He shows you the lightning for fear down water from the cloud, then gives
its

therewith to the earth after

death.

Surely there arc signs in

subsist

And

people of His signs

who
is

understand.

this that the

heaven and the earth

command. Then when He come forth.

calls

you

from

the earth

lo!

by His you

47

30

48. 49. 50

ALIah

is

He

Who
it

He
that

spreads

tends forth the winds, so they raise a cloud, then forth in the sky as He pleases, and He breaks it, so

you
it

see the rain

comma;

forth

from
this,

inside

it;

then

when He
!

causes
rejoice

to

fall

upon

whom He

pleases

of His
before
at

servants, lo
it

they

though
in

they were before

sure despair.

was

sent

down
Allah's

upon them,

Look then

the signs of

mercy, how He gives life to the earth after its death. Surely He is the Quickcncr of the dead; and He is Possessor of power over all
things.

And of
you
that
are

His signs

is

this that

He
all

created

you from

dust then

lo

human

beings spread
is

And of His

signs

this that

He

over the earth. created mates for you from yourself

you might
reflect.

find quiet of

you love and

tenderness.

mind in them and He created between Surely there are signs in this for a people

who And

of His

signs

is

the creation of the heavens and the earth and

the diversity of your languages and colours.

in this for the learned.

Surely there are signs

48

And of His
His bounty.
hear.

signs

is

your sleep by night and day and your seeking of

Surely there are signs in this for a people

who would

88 :i7

And the heaven See they not the camel how it is created And the mountains how they are fixed? it is raised high? the earth how it is spread out ?
?

how And

The study of Nature as a means of developing one's realization of the Creator's Beauty includes all genuine quest for
knowledge
Fikr or the study of natural
all sciences.

phenomena

is

at the

root ot

indulged in systematically, it takes the shape of scientific research winch, if pursued regularly, enables us to understand the laws of Nature operating at all
it is

When

levels

of creation and to and more thoroughly.

utilize

them

in

our service more

(B)

Study of the attributes of Beauty through the medium of words [Zikr)

The other variety of symbols used by the lover for contemplating the Beauty of Divine qualities are words expressing these qualities. A list of such words (known as Al-Asma-ul-Husna or beautiful attributes) denoting prominent qualities of Beauty has already been given above.
Urged by his love, the believer concentrates his attention on the meaning of some of these words which attract him
most of all for the time being, with a view to admire and adore and ultimately to become as intimate as
possible with, the beauty that they represent.
effort

In this inner

which aims both at discovering and enjoying Beauty more and more, he pronounces them again and
again keeping their
full

import

in the focus

of attention

49
This process is known as Zikr. urged by his love to avail himself of every opportunity that he can get, of associating himself with the Beauty that he loves. Therefore, whenever possible, he employs both the varieties of symbols the phenomena of Nature as well as the words expressing the qualities of the Creator for his study and contemplation of Beauty.
to the best

of

his ability.
is

believer

191

Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth.

their

that
cess

The contemplation of Beauty, whatever the symbols become its instrument, results from love, yet it is a prowhich itself adds to the intensity of love. It is the
of love
in the process

result as well as the cause

of

its

emer-

gence and growth. The greater a person's love of the Creator the more sustained and concentrated is his contemplation of the Creator's attributes and the deeper is his admiration and adoration of His Beauty. Conversely, the more concentrated and sustained is a person's contemplation of the qualities of the Creator, the deeper is his admiration

and adoration of

their

Beauty and the greater

is

the

Thus the love of Beauty and the contemplation of Beauty on the part of a believer help each
progress of his love.

other to evolve his self-consciousness.

Praying
Zikr
a

is

a mental activity, not a vocal

exercise

essence of Zikr

mental activity and not a vocal exercise. The is the inner effort of contemplation resulting from a realization of Beauty. It is always accompanied by the emotions of admiration and adoration, humility and
is

submission, fear and hope, joy and exaltation alternating

with each other in the mind of the lover according to his idea of the state of his relation with the Beloved from time

50
to time.

Vocal repetition of words

it

is

meant

to help the

lover in this effort since

attention
is

enables

him

to concentrate his
express.
If
it

on the Beauty which

these

words

not accompanied by inner effort it cannot help the growth of love. If Zikr is attended by the emotions mentioned

above
lover's

it is

proof that the inner

is
it

effort exists

and

that the

self-knowledge
point

progressing.

The

Quran

stresses this

when

says

21: 90

They
before

called
us.

upon

us

hoping and fearing and they

were humble

23: 1.2

Successful indeed are the believers

who

are

humble

in their

prayers.

***** u^^=v^ L^>l

?: 55

Call

11

on vour Lord humblv and

.

in secret.

-*

'-!*

>m

&

i.

And

call

on

Him

fearing and hoping.

Surely the mercy of Allah

is

nigh to the doers of good.

sincere

lover

is

he should lose the love and incur the displeasure of his Beloved and hope that his devotion is going to win him a still greater approval of the Beloved. That is why the Prophet (may peace be upon him) said
fear
lest

[Khauj) and hope (Rijn)

always

midway between

fear

Faith subsists

between

fear

and hope.

51

The
is

greatest reward of the worshipper the full growth of his love and consequently of his personality.

When love has attained to a high degree of sincerity and purity, the lover fears the Beloved's displeasure for its own sake and not because it is likely to entail some punishment ment
to

him other than

itself.

To him

there

is

no punish-

greater than His displeasure.

Similarly he desires the

approval of the Beloved for its own sake and not because To him it is likely to bring him a reward other than itself. there is no reward greater than His approval.

The
a believer

approval of the Creator, according to the Quran,

will be the greatest

of the boons that will be conferred upon

Paradise.

on entering

9= 73

And

the greatest

of

all

boons

is

Allah's

goodly

pleasure.

That

is

the grand achievement.

It will be a joy the extent or the intensity of which not possible to assess in this world.
it

is

32

17

So no one knows what refreshment of the eyes as reward for what they did.

is

hidden for them

broken

The happy news of this expected favour to him at the gates of the Paradise.

will

be

89: 27,28

52

soul

that

arc

well-satisfied

return to thy Lord

with

Whom

you

are pleased

and

My

servants and

Who enter My

is

pleased with you.

So enter anion;:

garden.

The feelings of humility and submission self-effacement and self-negation attending the act of worship or the contemplation of Beauty are due to the self's desire to approach as near to the Creator as possible. These feelings do not conflict with the lovers feelings of self-regard and selfaffirmation; on the other hand they intensify these feelings since the lover's contact with Reality engenders in him a unique sense of power and superioritv. The more he considers himself insignificant before the Beauty and the Power or the Beloved, the greater is his realization of His Beauty and Power and the more is he able to compensate for his own insignificance by this realization which is thus really a process by which he absorbs more and more of the Beautv and Power of the Beloved.
Regular congregational prayers
(Sahu).

regular and systematic

the believers five times a

appropriate discipline
the best of those

form ol Zikr performed by day in congregation and with an under the leadership of a man who is

embodies the

who are present is known as Salat. Salaf minimum amount of Zikr which is necessary

lays the foundations

and evolution of a believer's love. It of his habits of Zikr and supplies at regular hours the nourishment that his love needs to maintain these habits for its own future growth. It is meant to
lor the expression

serve,

among other things, as the nucleus as well as the model of his entire practical life (in which Zikr also has a

place) as a member of a society of believers. It docs not. of course, provide him with all the Zikr that he needs for evolving his love quickly and continuously to the highest possible stage which is the real objective of the human self. The believer is, therefore, enjoined, in the interest of the growth of his love to resort to Zikr as frequently as possible
after his regular prayers.

53

62

But when the prayer

successful.

is

ended disperse

abroad

in

the land and seek

of Allahs* grace and remember Allah much,

that

you

may

be

200

And when you have performed your

as

devotions remember Allah

you remember your

fathers rather a better

remembering.

iyi

Those
sides.

who remember

Allah standing and sitting and lying on their

The feeling of Beauty or love is attended by a special kind of pleasure, a joy or a satisfaction which goes on inThis creasing as love evolves by means of contemplation. strengthens the believer's faith and provides him with a
personal
correctness of his ideal, gives
stabilizes

and an intimate knowledge or the him hope and confidence and and stimulates his efforts on the path he has chosen
experience

for

its

realization.

13

28

Those who believe and whose hearts find rest in the re of Allah. Now surely in Allah's remembrance do hearts

membrance
find rest.

54

The extraordinary satisfaction which a man derives from Zikr is itself a proof that Zikr satisfies an important natural desire of the human self. We know that nature has
so ordained that the satisfaction of every natural
desire,

human

whether
is

it

belongs to the biological or the psychoitself serves

logical level,
as a

accompanied by a joy which

desire.

guide for the satisfaction of that

Moral behaviour the expression of Beauty in external action

by the Right Ideal conof the qualities of Beauty in one's treatment of one's own self and of others. It is commonly known as Moral Action. The Right Ideal like every other ideal has a moral law of its own which determines strictly the nature and the quality of every action of the individual. Since this law is derived from the qualities of Beauty, the action of an individual who follows it accords with, expresses and incarnates these qualities. The man who loves an
external action impelled
sists

The

in the expression

ideal

is

urged

to express

and thereby

to satisfy

his love in all

possible ways.

Right Ideal, therefore, expresses it not only by contemplating Beauty but also by acting Beauty that is by displaying it in all his daily
loves the
actions.

The man who

163,164

Say

My

prayer and

my
And

sacrifice

and
I

my

life

and

my
I

death are
the hist

surely for Allah, and the

Lord of the worlds.

this

No

associate has

He.

am

commanded, and

am

of those

who

submit.

The love of Beauty and moral

are inseparable
If

action

he does not do

so,

it

means he has not yet acquired

55

any love or any realization of die Beauty of the Creator and For it is impossible that a person should feel His qualities. attracted to the qualities of Beauty like Justice, Truth, Goodness and Love, etc., but should resort to injustice instead of justice, cruelty and enmity instead of love and falsehood instead of truth when it comes to expressing his loves and
hates or likes

and

dislikes in actual deeds.

If

he

is

a sincere

lover, he does his utmost to act in accordance with these

qualities in spite

of

internal

and

external

obstruction*.
realization

When
of
in

he does so he gets a clearer and

fuller

their

rises

beauty and evolves his love to a higher level and For love gains to a higher stage of self-knowledge.
intensity

power and
neglect.

by expression and becomes weak

rightly once
finds
it

by

A man who
rightly again.

acts

easier

to act

If a

man who

has a habit of being cruel

makes one successful effort to be kind, the next such becomes easier for him and the next still easier, on account of the growth of his love. A wrong action has the contrary effect. A man who deviates from the right path and acts wrongly once on account of his insufficient realization of Beauty finds it still more difficult to come forward to the right path. His realization Thus the of Beauty undergoes further deterioration. evolution of our self-knowledge or love depends upon the moral quality of our actions. A man who has a realization of Beauty and expresses it by means of contemplation in the form of Zikr and Fikr but does not express it in all his daily actions, can never rise to higher and higher levels of self-knowledge. On the contrary his love is bound to degenerate because he more than unmakes by his deeds what he makes by his meditations. He is like a person who walks for two hours in the morning in the direction of his goal but walks the whole day in just the opposite direction, Such a person can never reach his destination but must continue to recede ever farther and farther from it.
effort

56

How

moral action becomes gradually easier and easier

Ideal

law of the Right

and absolute obedience to the moral is not possible in the beginning of love when love is necessarily weak. It is possible only at Before this stage the highest stage of the evolution of self. reached the lover falls a victim to slips and errors is frequently in spite of his best efforts. But when, owing to his regular habits of prayers and continuous contemplation of Beauty for sometime by means of Zikr and Fikr, he is able to add to his love a little, his added love gives him a greater control over himself and make sit easier Thus his action becomes to act morally. for him purer, safer from slips and errors and more in nobler and Such action, accordance with the qualities of Beauty. therefore, evolves and strengthens his realization of Beauty all the more and raises him to a still higher level of seltknowledge. When, equipped with this added realization of Beauty, he returns to his habits of Zikr, and Fikr, he finds that he can indulge in them with a much greater concentration of mind and can derive from them much more Such pleasure than what was possible for him before. contemplation of Beauty, therefore, evolves his love and consequently facilitates his moral action all the more. In this way moral action and contemplation go hand in hand assisting each other to raise him to higher and higher levels of self-consciousness till he attains to the highest possible stage of the evolution of his love. This will indicate that, if love is allowed to have its own way and if its demands of action and endeavour are satisfied continuously after it has once emerged, it goes on adding to itself till it has achieved the maximum of its intensity and power.
Perfect, faultless

19: 7<>

And

Allah increases

in

guidance those

who go

aright.

57

29: 69

And

those

who

strive

hard for

us,

we

shall certainly

guide them

in

our ways.

18: 13

Surely they were youths

creased

who

believed in their Lord and

we

in-

them

in guidance.

The nature of a

sin. (a) Its causes.

A
when

slip

or an error on the part of a believer occurs

tor a while his urge for beauty finds expression in a

when wrong

idea not consistent with the

a

Right

Ideal.

This happens

wrong

idea attracts

diverts his love into a

him away from his ideal and wrong channel. The result is a

wrong action calculated to serve and strengthen the love of wrong idea at the expense of that of the Right Ideal. That is why a man who commits one sin is prone to commit
this

another.

The nature of

a
a

wrong

idea.
a

A wrong

idea consists

of

belief that

particular
Ideal
will

action although not consistent with the

yield a particular relief or
pleasure.

Right

The

believer

knows

that this action is contrary to the requirements of Bcautv and that his love demands that he must hate the idea along with the pleasure attending it. Yet, if his love is not strong enough, if it has not sufficiently developed, he begins to prefer the idea and the pleasure associated with it to the demands of his love and thus for the time being the whole of his love which is really meant for his ideal is diverted entirely towards this idea. In other words for the moment he ceases to be a believer or a lover of the True Ideal. The result is a wrong action.

58

The nature of

a sin. (b) Its effects

action

on the
wrong

self
idea has

When
run
is

the

wrong
and
its

caused by a
has

its

course

pleasure
again.

ended, the believer

But now he finds that his love for the ideal has decreased and the love of the idea that had led him astray and of other connected ideas A wrong action has increased in the same proportion. strengthens the love of the wrong idea that is the cause of it and weakens the love of the Right Ideal to the same extent on account of the operation of an inexeorable law of our nature. Similarly a right action strengthens the love of the Right Ideal and weakens the love of
free to love his ideal

wrong

ideas.

Every action, however

is,

insignificant

it

may

appear to be,

therefore, important and

the disadvantage or advantage

works of the individual.

either to

The way

to avoid a sin

A wrong
individual and
action.
steal

idea grips
later

first

of

all

the imagination

of the

on

takes

control of his faculties of

From the moment it enters the mind it begins to more and more of the love of self meant for the
Ideal
till
it

becomes strong enough to create the This means that a wrong action can be stopped easily when it is at the earlier part o{ irs thought-stage. Evil doing is the result of a prolonged
Right
relevant action.
evil-thinking.

Before

every

wicked

deed

there

is

a which has been If the thought is considerable time owing to an error. not resisted and expelled from the mind immediately and Hence a true totally, the deed is bound to follow. believer is alerted as soon as his imagination begins to go

wicked thought

loved and

liked tor

astray.
is

Fearing

lest

he should stoop to an action which

contrary to the urge of his nature

and

lose

the love

of

his Creator he makes an immediate evil idea from his mind and succeeds in

effort to expel the

his effort.

59

7: 201

Those

guard against evil when a thought from the devil them, they become mindful of and they begin to see.

who

visits

As

reward for

desisting

from an

evil desire in

this

way he
life

evolves his love and consequently enjoys a

as a

blissful

here as well as in the hereafter.

As long

man

has the slightest attachment for a

wrong
acts

idea in a remote corner

of

his

heart,
is

according to that idea or not, he

all.

whether he not a true belie-

ver or a true lover at

As

a tradition

of the

Prophet
opposite
nature,
It

puts

it

"not a grain of
is

faith

remains with him."

self in a direction

Sin

the

movement of the
self
its

to that in

which the
to
that

wants to

move by
its

its

opposite

of

progress

or

evolution.

alters

the condition of the self

and becomes
it

permanent

disability

which

retards

its

progress as long as

is

not got rid of.

The way
of
a

to get rid
sin.

of the

evil effects
self-

The process of
purification

The way to get rid of the evil effects of a sin is to go back to the mental state or the emotional attitude that preceded and caused the wrong action, to study it, to analyse realize that what he loved and liked it and thereby to was really ugly and detestable and further to make sure that this present realization of his, is clear enough and deep enough to make impossible there petition of that emotional attitude and the resulting action in future. For this purpose he has to return to the contemplation of Beauty and to indulge in it long enough and with a sufficient concentration o{ mind to recover his realization of Beauty that was lost at the time he made his wrong moral judgment which preceded the wrong action. As soon as he regains this realization of Beauty, his love is free to advance

6o

on the path of evolution again. This process through which the self of the believer has to pass in order to purify
itself

of its sin is known as ttinba or returning. Returning or tauba as a mental effort has four comfits

tuents:
(i) The admission of the error i.e. the realization that what he loved was really ugly. This is accompanied by an acute sense of loss and an irresistible feeling of repentance.

*"

%&&&%*&$&&&&
9
:

102

And odiers have acknowledged deed with another that was evil.
(2)

their

faults,

they mixed a good

sincere

and confident resolve not to repeat the

error either in his thought or action.

66

you who

believe, turn to Allah with sincere repentance.

contemplation the contact (3) The effort to regain by with Reality or the love of Beauty and the consequent moral attitude that was lost.

Then whoever
shall

believes und acts aright, rhev

sh.ill

have no

fe.ir,

nor

they grieve.

(4) The revival of a full belief in the Creator's qualities of Beauty implying the realization that the real sustainer and evolver of his self is not he himself but his Creator and the evolutionary movement of his self, if he regains it, will be the result of His approval and pleasure which means, first of all. His forgiveness.

6i

And whoever
of Allah
will

docs

evil

or

wrongs

ln>

soul,

then asks forgiveness

fmd Allah

forgiving. Merciful.

All these psychological requirements

satisfied

are
his

when
till

he says from the

experiences

core

of

completely heart and

repeats

he

their

full

significance, the

words

J:

Our
and

we have wronged ourselves; and if Thou forgive have mercy on us, wc shall certainly be of the losers.
Lord,

us not,

or the words:

87
I

There

is

no Lord but Thou,

all

Beauty belongs

to

Thee!

Surclv

am of
breaks

those

who

have wronged (themselves).

of the self is not possible unless completely from all desires which arc foreign to its nature and feels the full force of the desire for Beauty which is the real urge of its being.

Complete

purification

it

away

73

:8

And

break away (from everything) and submit to

Him.

62

Nothing short of a sincere repentance and a sense of of bringing tears profusely to the eyes accompanied by a persistent effort to re-establish the lost contact with Reality and to re-acquire the abandoned belief by means of contemplation, can enable the self to shed the The best time for such desires which arc not its own. an ablution of tears is the last part of night when conditions of quiet and seclusion are particularly favourable for concentration and inner effort.
utter loss, capable

73

172

Rise to pray by night except a little, thou covering thyself up Half of it, or lessen it a little, or add to it, and recite the Quran in a leisurely manner.
!

Midnight prayers
That
prayers".
is

why

the prophet said

"The midnight

prayers of a

man

are the best of

all

his

The magnitude of a
self's

sin

Errors are great or small according as they affect the love more or less adversely. A persistent error even
is

if it is insignificant

highly injurious to the

self's

evolution.

The

stage

when

a sin

becomes impossible

As love evolves, errors become less and less in number and magnitude till at last they disappear entirely. At this stage the Right Love dominates the consciousness of the
believer

completely.

His

struggle

against
it is

wrong

ideas

ceases entirely

and he
it is

finds that wlule

difficult for

very easy for

him

to act morally,

very

him

to act otherwise.

63

Thus

the diversion of a believers love to

wrong

ideas

is

always due to an inadequate knowledge or love of Beauty.

The
The wrong
instincts.

sources of

wrong

ideas

ideas conflicting with the

Right

Ideal

have

their source cither in the

power

of habits or in the

power of

(a)

Habits

As long
practical
life

as
is

person loves a

wrong

ideal

his entire

dominated by it. Consequently he develops a set of habits of thought and action which, in due course of time, become firmly established and continue to serve that ideal and support and maintain its love by a These habits cling to him in spite of force of their own. him and continue to influence his thought and action even after he has acquired a realization of the Beauty of the Right Ideal and pledged himself to love and serve it. They can be eradicated not by counteracting them directly but by fostering new habits consistent with the Right Ideal. As these new right habits develop they take the place -of the old wrong habits which die out gradually by disuse. This explains why Islam lays stress on regularity and punctuality in prayers and devotions.

'

103

Prayer indeed has been enjoined on the believers

at

fixed times.

The Prophet Mohammad

(peace he

upon him)

said

The

best

of the moral deeds are those which are performed regularly.

When

the believer has developed a set of right habits

intersperse the

which dot and

whole of
time

his practical life,

he

finds that their automatic action not only leads to a forced

reservation of a portion of his

for devotion to the

64

Right

Ideal

but also serves

as a

continuous reminder to
his

him

to

stick to the

moral code of
and

ideal

all

the time.
love,

As wrong
actions,

habits support

maintain a

wrong

so right habits

support and
repeated,

maintain the right love.

That

become automatic, is a favour of nature on account of which a person's conscious choice and deliberately controlled attention become increasingly available for moral judgments and moral actions which he
needs for the

when

proper

direction

of

that

part of his

life

which

is

not yet controlled by his habits.

is

Until

person's

consciousness

cleared

entirely

of wrong habits and

cannot be

dominated completely by right

said to

habits, his love

have developed upto the highest extent.

(b)

Instincts
their source in the instincts
etc.) are

Wrong

ideas

which have

(like feeding, sex,

pugnacity, self-assertion,

extra-

ordinarily powerful because the instincts, which, have for

their object the preservation

of the

life

of the indiviual and

the race, have a biological compulsion and their satisfaction

is

attended by a particular kind of pleasure.

In the absence

of the love of the Right

instinctive desires that

Ideal

we

often

become

so

enamoured of
of our

the pleasure derived

from the
all

satisfaction

we

ascribe

the

beauty and excellence that

result
is

we
for

seek to this pleasure.

sole ideal

The

that these desires

become our
the

and the
begins to

whole of our love meant

flow towards them,
gerated importance and

Right
give

Ideal

bi such a case
satisfy

we

them an exagfor the

them not

sake of

and upto the

i.e.

limits prescribed by, their object

life

and nature
for the sake

for the

maintenance of

and race but

In

of the pleasure that

they give

us.

such a
life

case

living not even on the animal plane of

but very

we arc much
their

below that

plane, because an animal never seeks to satisfy

his instinctive desires

beyond the

limit prescribed

by


65
biological necessity.

That
as

is

why

such people are men-

tioned by the

Quran

fellows:

i7'J

They

arc

is

cattle;

nay they arc more

astray.

Their

ideal consists of their

own

lower

desires.

25

43

Hast thou seen him

who

takes his

low

desires tor his a.od

A
A

task

of major importance for a believer struggle with himself

of major importance which confronts a believer of the development of his self-consciousness is to fight against the compulsion and the temptation of these desires with a view to keep them within their own limits and not to permit them to encroach upon the love of the Right Ideal so that the latter has an un-obstructed course of evolution. He has not only to keep the instinctive desires within their own bounds but also to acquire the power to curb and crush them upto any extent (even upto the extent of sacrificing Ins life) for the sake of his love, whenever necessary. This latter exigency arises for a believer when he is faced with a difficulty and feels the temptation to overcome it by resorting to activities which are contrary to the requirements of his ideal or when he has to participate willingly in a righteous war in which he is required to go without food and drink and to suffer several other hardships and even to sacrifice his life.
task
in the earlier stages

The importance of
The
ation
task

fasting

(Siiutn)

of fighting against the compulsion and temptinstinctive

efforts

of the

desires
it

is

difficult

but

the

beslips

liever's untiring

make

easy for him.

rises to

He

very often but recovers each time and

march

for-

66

ward towards his goal with added vigour. Islam provides him with an opportunity to train himself for this inner struggle by enjoining upon him to fast continuously for one month during the particular month of Ramazan every He is required to fast every day during this month year.

so that he
desires

may

learn to

check and

control his instinctive

for the sake for

love.

and even to crush them The more he opposes these

totally

of his

desires
Ins

the sake of

his ideal

of the oppose Beauty of his ideal. The these desires only with the help of the power of his love which, therefore, increases in force and intensity in proportion to the success of his effort to oppose them.

by

fasting, the

greater

is

realization

reason

is

that he can

The training that he acquires in this way stands him in good stead when a conflict between himself i.e. his love, and It enables him to the compulsion of his instincts is afoot. defeat the instinctive desires and to win a victory lor his love which makes its next victory easier and the next still easier till his love, feeding itself constantly on Beauty through Ins contemplation and moral action, becomes strong enough to make all slips and errors impossible for him. At this stage it is easier for him to obey his ideal even at the risk of his At this stage his quest life than to obey his instincts. for Beauty is safe from the interference of his lower desires and he enjoys a peace of mind which is the good
fortune of only those

who

enter Paradise.

3-

17

as

So no one knows what refreshment of the eyes reward for what they did.

is

hidden tor them

1')

40

And

as

restrains

him who fears to st.md before himself from low desires, the Garden
for

his
is

Lord and

Surely the

abode.

Professor James defined moral action as action in the

of the "greatest" resistance. But there is a stage in of self when moral action becomes action in the line of the "least" resistance. It is only at the time of action that love is tested and it is bv passing the tests of action that it becomes real and actual and can rise to higher and higher levels of strength and purity. The effort to act morally, resisting one's instinctive inclinations and desires, is really an effort to acquire a still greater realization of the beauty of the Right
line

the evolution

Ideal.

believer

turns a misfortune blessing

difficulties

into a

Patience in the face of

for the sake

also

affords

the

believer a precious training to control his instinctive desires

of

his

ideal.

2 :4.s

And

seek assistance through patience and prayer, and this

is

hard

except for the humble ones.


68

^m<Mm a^xUiUiisjoriJJf
2
:

155,156

And we
and
loss

you with something of fear and hunger of property and lives and fruits. And give good news to
shall certainly try

the patient.

Who, when a misfortune befalls them and to Him we shall return." Such
to the

say: "Surely

we

arc Allah's

a patience coupled with devotions and prayers Creator enables the individual not only to pass

safely a critical period in the evolution

is

of

his self

when

he
far

most

likely to

slip

but also

to

raise

himself to a

higher stage of self-consciousncsss.

fact in the

The Quran

states this

following words:
to maintain

The way

mental health

If wrong ideas are not combated successfully it is a grave danger not only to the evolution of an individual's love but also to his mental health. The root-cause of a nervous disease (worry, hysteria, obsession, phobia, or madness)
ideal.
is

the conflict of

some

ideas or ideals

with the

patient's

When

a believer feels attracted to a

wrong

idea and

acts in accordance with the requirements of this idea rather than with those of his ideal, there is a slip or an error. As already stated the full realization of the error comes to the

individual only
the process

when

the desire has spent

its

force and

when

of

its

satisfaction has

run

its

course to the end.

When
is

this

him although

happens, the love of the Right Ideal returns to it is now wounded and violated. This situation
is

attended by a very distressing mental condition which

as a conflict

known
effects.

or a dissociation of the mind.

is the only cure for a however, a person has already succeeded in raising himself to the highest possible stage of his self-consciousness, he cannot suffer from a mental conflict.

or returning
If,

Tauba mental conflict and its

69

The evolution of love or self-knowledge has no end

Men's capacity tor love varies. When other things are Highit is always in proportion to their intelligence. ly intelligent people have a strong urge for Beauty and are A believer capable of loving very deeply and passionately. should develop his love as much as his own natural capacity So long as he is not able tor love can allow it to develop. to act perfectly in accordance with the requirements of the Right Ideal, he must be sure that there is some wrong idea lurking in his mind and misappropriating a portion of his natural capacity for love, meant really for the Right Ideal and that there is yet need for him to act and struggle for the purification of his love. But even when his love has reached the highest possible stage of its development in this life, it cannot be said that he has acquired a full realization of the Beauty of the Creator. The Beauty of the Creator that we are forced by our nature to seek and love has no limit and it is not possible lor anybody to attain to its complete realization. The prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said:
equal

We have

not

known You

as

we

should

know You.

The evolution of
That
even
the
self
is

self continues after the death of the physical body

a believer's love continues to

why

advance

after his death.

Since

it

is

the self that, has created

the body that has created the self, the does not die with the death of the body. As such it carries into the next life the fundamental characteristic of its being which is the sole urge of its nature i.e. its urge for Beauty. This urge impels it even there to seek Beauty

body and not

and to enrich

itself

more and more with

its

light.

The
tion

believers will pray in their next life for the perfeclight

of the

of

their self-consciousness

and

for

the

70

removal of those obstacles in the way of their evolution which were created by the slips and errors of their earthly shake life and the effects of which they were unable to
off before death.

66

Our

Lord,

Surely

make perfect for us our light, and grant Thou art possessor of Power over all things.

us forgiveness

The next
But a believer
it

life

of a true believer
this life

who
his

has had the chance to evolve his

and to maintain way of Since he was able to conquer all Ins love, in the next life. his obstacles and have a smooth way for his love in this life, he has nothing to combat and no battles to win or lose The standard of love or the stage of selfin the hereafter. consciousness that he was able to achieve in his earthly life enables him to advance towards Beauty automatically and continuously. Guided by the light of his self-consciousness which illumines the path in front of him, he acquires a newglimpse of Beauty every moment without effort or struggle.
love to the highest possible stage in
at that stage
till

death has no obstacles in the

* 3

fi

P ft

57

i-

Their light gleaming before them.

57

19

They have

their

reward and

their light.

66

Their light will gleam before them.

Our Lord make

perfect for us

our

light

and grant us forgiveness.

This means that neither fear nor grief torments liim any longer. A person fears when lie thinks that he may not get what he wants and he is afflicted with grief when he thinks that he has actually failed to get what he wanted. The human self, we know, has only one desire and that is the desire for Beauty. Therefore, with this desire having a smooth and continuous satisfaction, an individual who has a highly evolved self-consciousness can face neither of
these

two

situations in the next

life.

159

That they have no

It is

fear,

nor

shall

they grieve.

this fact
its

upon which depends

and
aspects.
life

the bliss

of Para-

dise in all

varieties

The next
As long
as the

of a sinner
its

ordained for

not reached the goal is, the Divine Self, it must continue to press forward in the direction of that goal, no matter how often it slips and how great are the obstacles it has to encounter. If the self is not able to atone for the errors of its earthly life (which constitute its unfortunate movements in a direction opposite to that of its destination) by means of Tauba before death, it has to atone for them in the next life. The reason is that unless it has shed the disabilities which cling to it on account of these
self has
it

human

by the urge of

nature, that

errors

i.e.

unless

slipped,
It is

it

it has returned to the point from where it cannot go forward on the path of its evolution.

by its nature to relive its wrong actions of and to carry on a dreadful struggle against the obstacles created by them in order to conquer them
thus forced
life

the earthly

72

resume the path of its own and difficult in proportion to the gravity of the errors and to the harm they have done to the self's progress in love. It is this fact on which depend the tortures of Hell in all their forms and varieties.
finally

and completely and

to

progress.

The

struggle

is

painful

The

pleasures, of Heaven and the tortures of Hell are not mere metaphors
his Hell

Every individual will make

next world by his mental
crystallized

and Heaven ot the

states

(corresponding to and

which remain preand winch he As he will carries with himself into the next world. relive these mental states in order to avail of them or to get rid of them according as they arc helpful or harmful to his progress, he will represent them by persons and objects which, in view of nis experience of this life, will be best fitted to represent them and these persons and objects will be as real and tangible as any that we sec in this
his actions

by

of

this life)

served in his unconscious

mind

in this life

physical world.
If his actions arc in

agreement with the urge ot the

Universe and the urge of his

tions are right,

own

nature, that

is,

if his ac-

he will represent them by persons and objects which are pleasant and agreeable to him in the same proportion e.g. gardens, sweet and refreshing drinks, loving and beautiful companions, delicious fruits, shades and verdure, etc. The ever-increasing joy and gratitude induced by die ever-increasing pleasantness and beauty of Ins surroundings will be in proportion to his ever-increasing realization of the Thus both his Love and Ins Beauty of the Creator. Paradise will be progressing simultaneously towards an ever greater and greater perfection. If on the other hand Ins actions arc opposed to die urge of the Universe and the urge of Ins own nature, in other words, if his actions are wrong, he will represent them by persons and objects which are unpleasant and disagreeable to him in the same proportion e.g., fire, hot and filthy drinking water, obnoxious food, cruel and ugly companions, snakes, scorpions, thorny trees, etc., from which he will

73
repel with -the

whole

of

them but

will be

of his being. He will try to get rid unable to do so and will instead enter

into a prolonged and hopeless struggle with them.

Thus
state

neither

Heaven nor Hell

is is

mere mental

state

of the individual
that

who
the

enters

it.

It

an internal

mental

takes
lives a

where he
actions.

happy or miserable

shape of an external objective place life as dispensed by his

believer's progress in Hell

is

facilitated
life
selt is

by

his

good deeds of the earthly

of love
it

However
service

the standard

that a

human
life

able

to achieve and the actions that

is

able to

perform

in the to
its

of the Right

Ideal

during
it

its

earthly

come
its

help in this struggle and enable

to

overcome
it

obstacles

and

stair

on the road of
serve
it

its

endless evolution again.

These
its

actions
in the

as a light
its

which enables

to see

wax-

darkness or

misdeeds.

VO
ii
:

114

Surely

good deeds

cake

jwjy

evil deeds.

The misfortune of a person who wrong ideal

But the
thus
self that ignores the teachings
its

loves a

of the prophets urge of love by means of wrong ideals finds itself face to face with a huge cataIf it has the misfortune to be loving and serving strophe. a wrong ideal at the time of death it has an extremely remote chance of coming back to the road of evolution again.

and

is

forced to satisfy

74

7:

40

Those
enter

who
the

reject

our messages and turn away from them haughtily,

until

the doors of heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they

Garden

the camel pass through the

eye of the

needle.

22: 31

And whosoever
from on
high.

associates

aught with Allah,

it is

as if

he had

fallen

48

Surely Allah forgives not that a partner should be

set

up with him,

and forgives
Its

all

besides that to

whom He
its

pleases.

frightful struggle

with

obstacles has
It is

no redeeming

aspect and
its

no end within

sight.

utterly unable to see

indefinitely,

its destination and remains groping for it surrounded by the utter darkness of its misdeeds. This is because it was groping in the darkness of utter ignorance and wickedness in this life too.

way towards

17

72

And whoever
after,

is

blind in this

(world) he will be blind in die Here-

and further away from the path.

75
All its actions even those which it considered to be good and virtuous, philanthropic and humanistic, inspired by kindness and generosity to others, do not avail it in the least On the other hand they become further in this struggle. impediments to it in the way of its progress, since they had all emerged in the service of a wrong ideal, had strengthened the forces opposed to the Right Ideal and to the cause of evolution and had, therefore, led him in this life farther awav from his own true destination.

<^w<l3 JOjj^j>Kj^iJL) \^s\ c

\

OtiJu
iS
:

105

Their deeds arc vain.

the day of Resurrection.

Nor

shall

We

set

up

a balance for

them on

24
:

39

And

those

who

disbelieve, their deeds arc as a

mirage

in a desert,

which

the thirsty-

man deems

to be water.

14

18

The

parable of those

who

disbelieve in their Lord:

a

Their

deeds

on which the wind blows hard on have no power over aught they have earned.
are as ashes

stormy day.

They

76

->

103

Say:

Shall

We

inform you

who

are the greatest losers in respect

this

of deeds;

Those whose

effort

goes astray in

world's

life

and

they think that they are making good manufactures.

Heaven and Hell begin

in this life

This explanation of the fundamental cause ot the joys of Paradise and the tortures of Hell implies that the Paradise of the believer and the Hell of the non-believer or the sinner begin in this world. As the believer acquires a foretaste of the joys of Paradise in this life, so a non-believer feels a shadow of the tortures of Hell in this world. But as the celestial joys of a believer never become perfect in this world on account of his constant fear of doing something which may be contrary to the urge ot his nature and on account of his constant struggle with the forces ot evil 111 himself and in others, so the excruciating tears and anxieties of a non-believer never appear in their real form in this life on account of his easy morals in which he consThat is why the tantly seeks an escape from them. Prophet Mohammad said
:

This world

is

prison for the true believer

and

leaven

tor

the

non-believer.

The evidence of the psycho-analysts to show that every human action is recorded
faithfully

and permanently
conscious mind
the

in

the

unthe

In

modern rimes

investigations
all

of
tli.it

psycho-

analysts have established

beyond

doubt

every action

77

of an
state

hk1iviJu.i1 leaves a

mark on

die
it

self

and the mental

remains preserved in his unconscious mind faithfully and permanently without In being altered with the passage of time in the least.
oi attitude corresponding to
tact

they
acts
is

.md

tell us that the unconscious mind of man lives independently of the laws of space and time and

there

nothing

in

it

which can be compared

states exist

to negation,

because contradictory mental

side

by

side in

it safely and securely "without neutralizing each other or drawing apart." This view is verified by the fact that some of the most insignificant long forgotten events of our life even those about which we did not bother m the least in our waking life are recalled by us automatically in our dreams and form the woot and warp of dream symbolism. It is also supported by the tact that the hypnotist can revive the memory ot any event in the lite of his subject while he or she is in a state of hypnotic trance by means of suitable questions. Writes Freud
:

"In the id (unconscious) there is nothing corresponding to the idea of time, no recognition of the passage of time and (a thing which awaits adequate attention in philosophic thought) no alteration of mental processes by the passage of time". "It is constantly being borne in upon me that we have made far too little use ot our theory of the indubitable tact that the reThis seems to pressed remains unaltered by the passage of time. offer us the possibility of an approach to some really profound
trudis.

But

myself have made no further progress here".

The unconscious mind

fore,

ot a

human
all

individual
actions

is,

there-

a trust-worthy record

of

his

which he

carries

with himself all the time and which is being written with perfect accuracy every moment of his life whether he may like it or not. The Quran alludes to this constantly evolving record of the human actions in the following words
:

9 ,.

(s$,

17

13

And

We

have made everv man's actions to cling to

his

neck.


78

82

io

And surely there arc know what you do.

keepers over you, Honourable recorders, thev

Some

really

profound truths guessed by Freud

is

The unconscious human mind

entirety since

the

human

self in its

what we understand as the conscious mind is only a part of the unconscious mind. The fact that the unconscious human mind functions independently of the laws
of space and time and that the record of human actions maintained by it remains unaltered by the passage of time although the atoms that constitute the brain and the entire physical form of the human being are constantly changing, could not be without a significance in nature, as Freud has
rightly guessed.

The Quran
telling us that
(a)

explains the significance of this fact

by

The human self can live independently of the physical body which alone is subject to the laws of
immortal. have a bearing on the nature and the joys and sorrows of its life hereafter. The self will relive them with their good or bad consequences for it in the process of its evolution in
It is

space and time.

(b)

The

actions

of the

self

(c)

the next

life.
:

The Quran

says

58:6

79

On
And

the day

when

Allah will raise

did.

them

all
it,

them of what they

Allah
is

Allah
all

records

together then inform while they forget it.

Witness over

things.

23:115

Do you

think that

We

have created you in vain, and that you will

not be returned to us?

18:49

And they find what they did confronting them. wrongs not any one.

And

thy Lord

"In the next life the record of an individual's actions maintained by him unconsciously in this life will be unrolled before him so that he may see them and take their consequences whatever they may be.

17:13

And

We
shall

We

have made every man's actions to cling to his neck and bring forth to him on the day of Resurrection a book
will find

which he

wide open.
his

He will

be enough to reckon

own

deeds on that day.

17:14

Read thy book.

thee this day.

Thy own

soul

is

sufficient as a

reckoner against

through this record he will be astonished to find that not a single deed of his life good or bad,

As he

will read

So
great or small,

is

omitted by

it

and he will exclaim

:"

18:49

O Woe
He

to us!
a

what

thing nor

great

book is this! It one, but numbers them

.1

leaves out neither a small

(all).

will

be

required for
it

every deed

good or bad

however

insignificant

may

be.

99:7

So he

who

does an atom's weight of good will see

it.

it.

And

he

who

does an atom's weight ot evd will sec

Our next
Our next
to the

life

has a crude resemblance to

the
life

world of dreams
in

has a crude and imperfect resemblance

of an individual who physical body which

Although the sell do with his rests calmly on a bed lor the time being, yet it has at its disposal a body which lives, acts. knows, feels, thinks and experiences all sorts of pain and pleasure in an outside world full oi all varieties ot persons and objects. The self lives without die use ot irs physical body in dreams as well as after death. That is why the Quran compares sleep to death.
world we acute
our dreams.
is

asleep has nothing to

,>:4-


8i
the time of their death, and those that die

Allah takes their souls

not, during their sleep.

at

While our dreams depict

after depicts

our future, our

life

here-

our

past.
life

The
conscious

events of our

which remain
our next
in
life

enfolded in our
as

are unfolded

in

the

events

recorded and
screen later on.

preserved

a film

are unrolled

over a

The

highest stage of the evolution of self during earthly life

As the love of a believer grows by action and contemplation, the joy attending his love grows in the same proportion. Finally, there comes a stage when at a certain

moment
has

during his hours of contemplation he

feels as if

he

no control over himself and is being pulled irresistibly to the Beauty that he was seeking as a needle draws automatically to a magnet when it is sufficiently close to it, in
of the contrary pull of gravitation. This experience accompanied by the deepest, the most ecstatic and the most exhilarating joy known to man. At this stage his self is so deeply absorbed in the realization of the Creator's Beauty that he feels as if he is having a direct vision of Him. So great is his attraction for the Divine Being at this stage that he finds it difficult to return to the ordinary level of consciousness but his passionate desire to serve and please the Creator by his actions with a view to improve the human world, which was the cardinal factor in his love all along, brings him back to it, and he comes back to it a different man. Although this experience is temporary, it has the tendency to recur frequently during periods of conspite

is

templation.
future
:

It

has the following results for

him

for the

perfectly calm and conhe has found out and acquired a personal realisation of the meaning of his own life and the meaning of the Universe.
(i)
is

tented.

He He

perfectly happy,

feels as if

82

13:28

Those who believe and whose hearts find rest in die remembrance Now surely in Allah's remembrance do hearts find of Allah.
rest.

y*$\Z$\Z&4$\
61 :40

Those who say, our Lord is Allah, they continue in the right way, the angels descend upon them, saying Fear not, nor be grieved.
:

(2)
It is

He

is

perfectly self-controlled
possible for

and

self-disciplined.

no longer

him
is

to fall a victim to slips

and

errors.

His self-knowledge

at the highest possible stage

of its development. (3) Having no fears and no doubts to fetter his activity, he becomes a dynamic personality infused with a burning desire to change the world in accordance with his own wishes and the wishes of his Creator. And he brings to this task a strong and noble character, a highly evolved and unified personality and a very superior knowledge of gifts brought the distinction between right and wrong

to

him
his
(4)

by

his

spiritual

experience at the highest stage

of

self-consciousness.

more careful to abide by the vigorous him to such a high level of selfknowledge and made available to him all the blessings that
is all

He

the

discipline that has raised

go with it in order to maintain and preserve tins level till the end of his earthly life. his (5) As the purpose of the Creator is merged in purpose, so the will of the Creator too is merged in his

8]

will.

The

result

is

with the

common

that whatever lie wills consistently purpose of the Creator and his own.

comes

to pass.

The
Is it

direct vision

of the Creator

(Ihsan)

possible to

have

a direct vision

of the Creator;

This question will be better answered if

process

we

study the

by which it becomes possible for us to sec the material objects around us. The rays of light coming from an external object fall upon the retina and converge behind it to form an image of the object. The sensation of the image is conveyed by the optical nerve to the brain from which our consciousness derives an idea of the object. The final agency that completes the act of vision is, therefore, our self and the real nature of the act of vision is no more than the formation of an idea by the self. The idea consists of a set of qualities of shade and shape, the sum total of which, supplemented by a few more qualities not actually conveyed by the rays of light but attributed to the object by
our
imagination, is taken for the object. What we see is not the material object but its idea consisting of a congeries of these qualities. The brain, the optical nerve and light are simply the instruments which provide our conscious-

ness

with

the

knowledge of the

qualities

of

this

idea.
it

When

consciousness has once acquired this knowledge,

can form die idea again without the help of these instruments and the greater and clearer the knowledge of self regarding the qualities of the object the clearer will be our unaided vision of it.

When

raised the love

continued moral action and contemplation have of a believer to a very high stage of evolu-

tion and his

qualities of the Creator has happens that in moments of contemplation he becomes deeply absorbed in the love of these qualities till they dominate his consciousness completely. In this state the believer sees his Creator exactly as he would see any object of this world. The experience is ineffable and cannot be described fully to those who have not had it.

knowledge of the
clear, it so

become very

84

The
Quran
in

vision of Reality

of evolution in which he has a as Ihsan and is alluded to by the the following words
believers' stage
is

known

195

Surely Allah loves the doers of good.

The prophet Mohammad

Ihsan as follows
:

(peace be

upon him) defined

Doing good means worshipping Allah

as if

you

see

Him.

The
clearer
is

greater

his vision

and deeper is the love of a believer the of Reality and the deeper is his joy

resulting

from

it.

demanded of Moses that they may be allowed to have a direct vision of the Creator so that they may enter his faith. This was no more than an excuse to disbelieve and disobey because belief and obedience are the first requisites for a direct vision of the Creator. Hence they were chastised for this unreasonable demand.

The

Israelities

The

principal or the central attribute of the Creator

is

The Creator The

principal
all

absolute Goodness and absolute Beauty.

the Creator is His other attributes, (even those which express revenge, opposition, repulsion or hatred e.g. anger, destruction and chastisement) are facets or aspects of love which are expressed in the service of love at appropriate

and the central attribute of

love and

Hence even these attributes are attributes of Goodness and Beauty. The Central attribute of the Clear tor is denoted by the word Rahmah in the Holy Quran.
occasions.

2^*^4-3

85

He

has ordained

mercy on

Iimself.

156

My
human

mercy compasses

all

things.

The Creator
the Creator

loves the perfect

man

i.e.,

the perfect
the ideal of

society of the future.

Such

a society

is

which He is realizing in the process of creation The and evolution that is going on in the Universe. human society is advancing towards the stage of their highest perfection gradually by a process of evolution and the process is creative and evolutionary because the Creator
is

expressing His love in tins process.

The

Creator's attributes of hatred subserve His love

activity

The main

of the Divine Self which

is

we

under-

stand as the activity of nature

creative, constructive

and

an obstacle interfering with this activity at the material, the animal or the human stage of evolution, it is removed with a view to assure its smooth progress. This removal of obstacles from the path of evolution takes place through the expression of the Divine chastisement revenge, harmfulness, qualities of anger, opposition, destruction, etc., all of which are related to
evolutionary but,
there
is

when

hatred or repulsion.

Hatred
Hatred
its is

is

an aspect of love
Wherever
there
is

only an aspect of Love.

love hatred also must be there

antithesis.
thesis,

because love always hates

its

Every quality of Beauty must have

it

anti-

because otherwise

cannot be

Nobody

ever loves virtue, justice or truth

hate wickedness, cruelty or falsehood.

Creator the love of certain qualities automatically and immediately the

known who does not By attributing to the we attribute to Him

or realized. hatred

of

qualities

86

opposed to them.
its

A
is

love without the efficient hatred of love and hence no love at

it is

opposite

is

not an

efficient

all.

But although hatred

expression of love.

sub-servient to love,

the negative

remains dormant and potential as long as love is not obstructed and comes into play only in order to remove the impediments of love. As love achieves
It

and greater expression and realization, the expresof hatred becomes less and less frequent and less and less necessary till a stage comes when its expression is not needed at all.
greater
sion

The occasion
The Divine

for the expression of Divine

hatred
of repulsion express themselves good of humanity at a time when the ideals (i.e. the beliefs and activities) of some individuals become the obstacles of evolution, in order to bring such individuals back to the path of evolution by removing their opposition to themselves and to the rest of humanity. Accordingly the Quran says
qualities

in the

human world

for the

'

32: 21

And

certainly

Wc

will

make them

taste

the nearer punishment

before the greater chastisement, that haply they

may

turn.

4: 147

Why
And

should Allah chastise you

Allah
is

if

you

are grateful

and believe?

ever Multiplier of rewards, Knowing.

87

6:43

Yet vvhv did they not,

when our punishment came

to

them,

humble themselves?

9: 126

Sec they not that they are tried once or twice in every year, yet they repent not, nor do they mind.

The
of our

divine punishment exists potentially in the nature

beliefs

and

actions, in case, they are

wrong and harm-

and act wrongly, of those forces of nature they have which oppose and remove the obstacles of evolution. They are, in other words, overtaken by Divine punishment. If they take a hint and abandon their wrong beliefs and actions, they come in for the operation of those
ful to evolution.

When

individuals think

to face the activity

forces

of nature which

assist

evolution directly.

In other

words, they earn the evolving care and love of the Creator
for their

good

deeds.

3:88

Except those

who

repent after

that and amend, for surely Allah

is

Forgiving, Merciful.
It is

only

when
its

individuals and societies prove to be

totally unable to return to the path

of evolution

i.e.

to the

Right

Ideal

and

practical requirements, that

they are

totally annihilated.

88

The

cause of the disappearance of

culture-civilizations

bygone
so glorious

Many

a culture or civilization that

was once

has been swept

away from
creators
ideal.

the face of the

earth never

to

return because

its

and builders had given themselves

up

to

some wrong

36: 31

See they not how many generations that they return not to them?

We

destroyed before them,

21: 95

And

it

is

forbidden to a town which

We

destroy

they

shall

not

return.

The
those
causes

traces

civilizations are

who
of

of the history of some of these cultures and still visible on the face of the earth, inviting are capable of deep thinking to discover the
their

disappearance.

The

Quran

declares
is

emphatically that the cause of their disappearance they were based on wrong ideals.

that

30: 42

Say

travel in the land, then sec

ideals

Most of them loved

what was the end of other than the True [deal.

those

before!

As

a wise gardener

must uproot the rank growth

in the

flower beds and under the trees in a garden so that space.

89

water and manure meant for the flower plants and trees arc not mis-appropriated and misused by unwanted plants, the Divine Creator and Evolvcr removes misguided societies and cultures from the world to make room for the final and permanent society or culture based on the Right Ideal.

14

26

And

the parable of an evil

word (wrong
it

ideal)

is

as

an evil tree

pulled up

from the

earth's surface;

has no stability.

Every culture-civilization is given the opportunity to evolve and to prove its

ability to survive

Nevertheless the Divine Self gives every culture, whether based on a right or a wrong ideal, full opportunities to grow and to actualize all its mental, moral and material potentialities. It is only when the fully actualized potentialities of a culture have proved its inability to continue the process of evolution at the human stage that it is

condemned to death. When it has exhausted its potentialities of growth and can no longer evolve, it begins to
decline and then continues to decay and deteriorate
till
it

disappears entirely from the face of the earth and

culture arises to take
its

new

place.

V
12
:

206

All

do

We

aid these

as

well as those
is

out of the bounty of thy

Lord, and the bounty of thy Lord

not limited.


90

7:

18a

We

lead

them

(to destruction) step

by

step

from whence

they

know

not.

The
if it

existent greatness

of a culture or
is,

civilization,

even

continues for centuries,

its

therefore, not an indication

that

foundations are either true or secure.

14: 30

Say: enjoy yourselves, for surely your return

is

to the Fire.

15: 88

Strain not thine eyes at

what

We have given certain classes of them.

ideal,
it

If

it

is

based on a

wrong

must decline and

disappear sooner or later.

The only

culture-civilization that has inexhaustible potentialities of growth and expansion is the one based on the Right Ideal

It is

only a culture based on the Right Ideal

of in-cxhaustiblc Beauty

and Excellence winch has inexhaustible potentialities and is capable of continuing the process of their actualization indefinitely and of enduring, growing and expanding for ever. All cultures that arise must disappear from the world one by one to make room It is for this perfect <ind permanent culture of the future. like a tree which is deeply rooted in the earth, winch lias branches growing out to the loftiest heights imaginable and which yields its fruit all the year round.
:

an

ideal

1)1

IV-l.i'ii?-,

14: 4-

good word (the True Ideal) root is firm and whose branches are high, every season by the permission of its Lord.
parable of a

is

good

tree,
its

whose
in

yielding

fruit

The qualities of the human self constitute a reflection of the qualities of the Creator and are meant to function towards the same end.
The
principal or the central attribute

of the human
in

self like that

of the Divine Self

the

is

Love and

man
Love

too

all

the subservient qualities or facets or aspects of

are tEe
self

same

as

they are in

Creator.

Since the

human

of the Creator with Love at their centre, it is a miniature image of the Divine Beins;. That is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) said
reflects all the attributes

<&>y(j**b\ <3^v&!&!
Allah created

*,>

* f

' '*

Adam

after His

own
is,

image.

That

is

also

why man

according

to

the

Holv

Quran
role
rest

of die Creator on earth and his is to cooperate with Him in evolving himself and the of humanity to the stage of their highest perfection.
the representative

2: 30

And when

thy Lord said to the angels,

am

going to

place a repre-

sentative in the earth.


92

The
his

individual

human

being

is

required to play this

i.e.,

role fundamentally in his

own

interest

for the sake

of

self-expression and he deserves and gets all the favours of the Creator that he needs to material, mental, moral and spiritual successfully. play it more and more
self-realization.
role,

own

As he plays

this

47= 7
If

you help Allah he

will help you.

These favours are in

fact already in the nature

of the
nation

evolutionary process and whatever

gets

community or
its

favours this process or becomes identified with

objectives

them

automatically.
all

The
is,

greatest
it

of these favours,
the
struggle

which implies
nation or
ideologies

the rest,
that

that

proves to be the only

in

community

survives

and dominates

the

earth

completely

of and

permanently.

63:8

And might

belongs to Allah and to his Messenger and

the believers,

3:138

And you

will

have the upper hand

if

you

are believers.

Hatred is right only when it subserves the Right Love and when its expression is unavoidable for the sake of that love

The

love of

man

is

for

the Creator.

Therefore

when

and highest i.e., when his love is rightly directed he loves what his Creator loves and hates what He

man

is

at his best

93

and thereby plays the role of an earthly collaborator with the Divine Being. His hatred like the hatred of the Creator comes into play when the process of evolution is obstructed by human beings who arc incurably and implachates

ably aggressive against the forces of Beauty, Goodness and Truth, operating in the world for the highest evolution of

humanity.

The Prophet ordered:

*>

^ *

Whoever among you

observes a sin being committed, he must oppose it with his hands and if he may not be able to do so with his tongue and if he may not be able to do so with his heart and this is the mark of the weakest of faiths and after this not a grain of
faith remains.

Indeed in such circumstances it is the hatred of the Creator which expresses itself through a highly selfconscious person and impels him to remove the obstacles

of evolution b y

all

the

means

at his disposal.

Allah will chastise them with your hands.

9: 38

you who

believe,

what

(excuse) have

you

that

when

it is

said to

you, go forth for a war in Allah's

to earth ?

Way, you

should incline heavily

94

The righteous war

The
stances
is

(Jihad)

activity that flows from,

him under such circum-

Jihad in the terminology of Islam. It may take a non-violent or a violent form according to the requirements of the occasion.
as

known

48

29

Mohammad is the messenger of Allah, and those with him are firm of heart against the disbelievers compassionate among themselves.

123

And

let

them

find firmness in you.

9 :73

And

be firm against them

411

And

strive

hard in Allah's

way

with your wealth and your

lives.

in

Surely Allah has bought from the believers their persons and their property theirs (in return) is the Garden.

95

Hate as an aspect of love is a permanent quality of self, divine as well as human. It remains dormant and expresses itself
i.e.,

only

in the service

of love

as

Inst

resort

at a

time

when

love meets with an obstruction

which

cannot be otherwise removed. But evidently as long as the world docs not \w\ch the stage of its highest perfection there will be always some ideal or another obstructing the path of evolution obstinately and hence awaiting to be opposed by the practical lovers of Beauty. The expression

of hatred will, however, become less and less necessary on the whole as the world will reach nearer and nearer the stage of its perfection.
Action, a condition of the growth of love. the scope of action
to the fullest extent.
Since the
to

The need of widening

growth of love depends upon

self's

action,
is

it

follows that restricting the

its

scope of action

harmful

evolution.

In order that a believer's self

into full beauty

and
it

its

potential splendour

may bloom may be com-

pletely actualized,
in the service
ideal

has to be given as wide a field for action

ideal as possible. This means that the must be permitted to control and dominate all aspects of the life of an individual and to determine all his actions, significant or insignificant. Any portion of the life of an individual which is not determined by the Right Ideal is being determined by a wrong ideal, the love of which is, therefore, flourishing in his heart at the expense of that of the Right Ideal.

of

its

The proper
is

satisfaction of the instincts an aid to evolution.

important sphere of a believer's activity is created that he feels to satisfy his instincts in the service of his Ideal. These instincts are meant not only to assure the continuation of life but also to serve the growth of love

An

by the need

is

and the race. But since their satisfaction accompanied by a pleasure and they have a tendency to conflict with the requirements of the Right Ideal, the
in the individual

96

and check them as, for example, in the month of fasting, with a view to acquire a training to control them and to keep them within their proper limits. But, in itself, none of the human instincts is wrong or useless and none of them can, therefore, be ignored or neglected completely or permanently. Each of them reprebeliever has to curb
sents a natural

human

activity necessary for evolution at the

and must be satisfied within its own justified limits which of course only the Right Ideal can prescribe. This explains why leading the life of a recluse, vows of celibacy, continuous fasting and other ascetic practices of this kind are prohibited by Islam.

human

stage

&&&&&
There
is

no monkery
tells

in Islam.

The Quran monks aiming

stincts, as

us that the asceticism of the Christian

at the
is

suppression and elimination of intheir

a principle,

own innovation

and that

it

was

never taught by their prophet.

57

27
it

And

(as for)

monkery, they innovated

it

We did not prescribe

to them.

The
care for

instincts are

an expression of the Creator's love and His creation, the purpose of which is to aid and

continue their evolution.

is

To

assist

the instincts, therefore,

of the Creator's love and evolutionary activity and to reject or oppose them is to non-co-operatc with Him in his task of creating and evolving the world. The object of the Prophets' teachings is not to train man
to partake

to suppress his
to satisfy
conflicts

instinctive desires but

it

is

to

enable
their

him

them

to

the fullest extent

to the

widiout

and without harm

growth

mutual of the Right

97

Love

in the

individual and

the

society.

When

they are

satisfied in this

way, they not only cease to be a hindcrancc Love in the individual and to the growth of the Right the society but also become a powerful instrument of its growth.

The

importance

believer's

of the family. The his responsibilities towards

relatives.

The
takes the

person.

satisfaction of the sex impulse which form of marriage gives various capacities to a A man is for example a son, a brother, a son-in-

rightful

law,

husband,

father,
is

Similarly a

woman

a daughter, a

an uncle, a father-in-law, etc. sister, a daughter-in-

law, a wife, a mother, an aunt, a mother-in-law, etc.

As

he or she assumes and makes an effort to satisfy the requirements of each of these capacities, he or she acquires

new

opportunities to serve the Right Ideal and to act in

as

accordance with the qualities of Beauty and make further additions to his or her love.

such

to

believer's action in accordance

with the

qualities

of

demands that his Beauty in the treatment of of humanity as a whole (which efforts to help the evolution
his relatives

of course involves providing for their physical, moral and spiritual nourishment as much as it lies in his power to do so) may begin with his relatives and may be directed to them in particular provided it docs not involve any injustice to any other individual within or without his own community. In this way these efforts receive a strong support from his natural and instinctive love for his blood relations. As they begin by flowing into a channel which is already prepared for them by nature, they are immediately successful and their success brings to the individual a training in self-sacrifice and a moral strength which enables him to extend their scope and the sphere of their benefit to the whole of humanity. That is why Islam lays special stress on the individual's obligations of love and good treatment towards his relatives.

The prophet

said

98

Begin your charity with your

relatives.

However when
believer
is

truth and justice are jeopardized, a

his near

enjoined- to rise not only- against

and

dear ones but also against himself to carry out the dictates

of truth and justice even if his own enemies and the enemies of his ideal and his community are benefited in the process.

The

state-Politics, a

very important
activity
activity
is

sphere of natural

human

Another important sphere of human

is

created

by
of a

the fact that the

human

individual
for

forced

instincts as well as

by his urge

an ideal to

live in the

by his form

As an animal, he is swayed by the gregarious which impels him to seek the company of other human beings. But as a human being he is urged by the love of his ideal to seek more particularly the company of men loving his own ideal and to obtain the satisfaction of
society.
instinct
his gregarious instinct in their association.

Individuals

who

love the same

a society
state.

form of which develops an organization and becomes a

ideal, therefore, live

together in the

The

strength and the solidarity of a state depend on the love of its members for
their ideal

The more the members of a state love their ideal the more they love each other and the deeper are their feelings
of sympathy, equality and
other.
fraternity

And

the

more diey love each

is

with regard to each other and have such

feelings for each other, the greater

the internal solidarity,

the cohesion, the efficiency and the strength of the state. All the individuals in a society of Muslims are equally
dignified and respectable provided and God-fearing. There can be no
all

are equally

pious
privi-

aristocracy,

no

leged

class,

no

priesthood,

no

caste-system and

no

superior-


99
ity

on the

basis

of colour,

birth,

race,

country, province

or language in Islam.

A state founded on the Right Ideal alone is

capable
a

of functioning
It is

individual.

Democracy

like a single a Dictatorship as well as at one and the same time

The members of every ideal-group love each other no doubt but in the case of a group winch loves the Right Ideal the members' love for each other is capable of evolv-

The reason is that such that an individual can devote to it all the love of which he is capable without any reservations or sub-conscious dissatisfactions and his love can control all Ins animal impulses so completely that they
ing upto the highest possible extent.
the nature of the Right Ideal
is

are rendered incapable

of interfering with

its

growth.

As

a consequence the unity of a group of such individuals

becomes

so perfect that the distress

of one member becomes

is

the distress of all the rest as if the group

a single individual

whose limbs and organs

are the

The Prophet Mohammad

(peace

members of the group. be upon him) remarked

:

about the group of true believers

as follows

Yon

will see the believers in the matter of their mutual sympathy, love and kindness like a single organism. When one of its limbs has a complaint the whole body protests against it by keeping awake and suffering from fever.

100

The community of
his

believers

is

like a single individual.

eye
is

is

afflicted the

head

afflicted,

whole of him is afflicted. the whole of him is afflicted.

When When his

These sayings of the Prophet provide a clue to the nature and form of a state founded on the Right Ideal as
being
(like

an organism) a perfect Democracy

as well as a

perfect Dictatorship at

one and the same time.

An individual functions as a perfectly unified ideal-group

of innumerable individuals

The
really a

biologists

tell

us that an individual

organism

is

colony or a confederation of innumerable indiviwith each other

duals functioning in perfect co-ordination

in order to maintain the life
as a

whole.

These individuals arc the

and the growth of the organism cells winch constitute

body of the organism. Every cell is in itself an independent organism which feeds itself, lives, acts and grows or,
the
in case
it is

not able to have the nourishment that

dies.

it

needs,

decays and
duties

The

cells,

each of which performs the

which fall to it in view of the overall requirements of the whole organism, are controlled by the life-force centered
in the brain or the central

nervous system.

perfectly unified ideal-group

of
as

in-

numerable individuals functions

individual
Similarly a perfectly
individual of
unified

an
a single

ideal-group

is

which the cells arc the members of the group disseminated and dissociated more visibly and to a greater
extent than in an organism, performing different duties

and yet bound together by the same passionate love

ideal.

tor the

An example of
all

such an individual

is

bee-hive

where

the bees idolize the queen but perform their

own

separate duties as nurses, house-maids,

masons, chemists,

sweepers,

wax

makers, guards, honey collectors, princesses,

etc.

professional males,

101

The
It

Islamic

Democracy-Dictatorship
to a bee-hive
in a

compared
is

not possible to say whether the government

is

bee-hive
ot the leader

Dictatorship or a Democracy. Since no

member

group can do anything contrary to the will of the and has to obey the leader implicitly and unreservedly, it is a Dictatorship and, since each of its acts is in complete accord with the will of all in the community, it is a perfect government of the people by the people for the people, that is to say, a perfect Democracy. Tins becomes possible because what the leader wills is exactly the will of each member of the hive. But this perfect discipline and perfect accord of wills in the case of the bees is unconscious, being forced by the compulsion of their irresistible and inflexible instincts. A similar discipline and a similar accord of wills is achieved by the members of an Islamic State freely, consciously and deliberately on account of the force of their highly intelligent and highly passionate love for the Right Ideal at a very advanced stage of their self-consciousness.

A true lover of the Right Ideal is endowed

with a superior intelligence and a superior knowledge to serve him in the realization of his love
not a blind passion or sentiment. a combination of all the known moral qualities which are morally high or low according as the ideal to which they belong is high or low. These qualities are helped by intelligence and knowledge in the process of their exideal
is

The love of an

It is

pression.

As the love
lity

that goes with an ideal has a particular quaor standard, so the intelligence and the knowledge that
it

have a particular quality or standard, created by on life derived from his ideal. As the standard of his ideal grows, the intelligence and the knowledge inherent in the ideal also grow. The knowledge and the intelligence that attend the love of the Right Ideal

go with

the individual's, outlook

102
alone are true knowledge and true intelligence and, as the love of the ideal grows, their quality improves in the same proportion.

The

sole

purpose of an Islamic State

and diat
is

An
ness

Islamic State has only one aim

to assure

the continued evolution of the love or the self-conscious-

love or self-knowledge

of the individual and die society. The evolution of is, of course, not merely an internal mental affair. We have already known diat the inner growth of love depends upon, and is always accompanied by, its practical expression and external, material as well

as social objectification.

The two
that

functions of an Islamic State emerge from the sole purpose of its

existence

which is indeed the two duties. (a) Firstly, to create conditions in which the individual may be able to provide himself with the means of his biological existence i.e. food, shelter and clothing (including protection from disease) as a means to the evolution of his selfIn order to realize this great aim,
itself, it

aim of creation

has to attend to

consciousness.

Unless Ins ideal

individual

calls

upon him

to lay

down

his life, an
self.

must

live in order to

The prophet Mohammad

be able to evolve his (peace be upon him) said

Poverty comes very near

(b)

disbelief.

Secondly, to

create

conditions

in

which

the

in-

dividual

may

be able to provide himself with the means of

i.e.

his ideological existence

educational
effects

facilities

(including
ideas

protection

from
to

the

harmful

of wrong

and

opinions)
action

make

possible

for

him an
Beauty

increasing

contemplation

and
in

realization

of

and

conti-

nued

accordance with

the requirements of

io 3
the

Right

Ideal, leading to

the greatest possible evolution

its

of

his self-consciousness as the cud of all

activities.

An
among
(Baittt

Islamic State achieves the

first

auxiliary objective,

other things, by helping trade, industry, and, agri-

culture to flourish properly,

by

instituting a peoples

MaJ-il-A4uslhnin) for the grant of allowances,

fund pen-

sions and subsidies to those who need and deserve and by arranging for the proper collection and distribution of the

surplus

means of subsistence
tcclinically as Zakat.

in the possession

of individuals,
and ultimate

known
It

achieves

its

second objective
full control

(its

real

objective)

by taking

of

all

the instruments of

education like the university, the school, the mosque, the press, the platform, the. radio and the cinema and by utilizing them with a view to educate the individual to know,
love, adore

and serve the Right

Ideal.

External education, no less than internal education, is essential for the protection of an Islamic State
Education, as die most important activity of an Islamic
State has (in addition to the internal) an external aspect, the

and defend the ideology of the scientific as well as the moral and ethical points of view. This aspect of education winch constitutes an important activity of all modern states and is designated by them by the various names of Publicity, Public Relations and Informational Services is described by the word Tabligh (propagation) in Islam. As in the case of other modern states, its most important instruments will be Publications, Films, Press and Radio which will be fed constantly by highly organized and efficient departments of ideological research and planning. Although it will be a purely defensive activity aiming at clearing all misunderstandings about the state and its ideology, its result will be that the ideology of the state will, on account of its inner justification and truth, become more and more popular and win a larger and larger number of adherents in all countries of the world. It will thus take the shape of an
is

object of which
State

to justify

from the

rational

and

104
ideological offensive that will set the stage for a peaceful

expansion of the
acceptable to
all.

state leading ultimately to the unification

of the human race on the

basis

of a

single scientific ideology

How
We
bombs

the Islamic State will expand and unify the human race in future.

fear that the use

in a future

tion of the do not take into account a new force of defence and conquest which is thrusting itself more and more powerfully on our attention in this age. It is a force more powerful than all the weapons of battle invented so far. It travels faster than armaments and transcends the restrictions of It is the political boundaries and geographical barriers. force of ideas. Every state is bound to realize sooner or
later, in this

of the atom and the hydrogen war may cause a wide spread destruchuman race. But in entertaining this fear we

ideological age, that in case

it

lacks access to
its

this force

or

commands

it

in a lesser degree than

it

oppothat
its

nents,

its

armaments
at all.

will not avail

it,

against

them and

if the case is

the reverse of

it

may

not have to use

armaments ments must

Hence, in due course of time, armalose their importance and the appeal and the acceptability of the ideas of: a state must come to be recognized as the deciding factor of its strength in its conflict with other states. The ideology of a state which is the fountain-head of Hence an its ideas is in essence a view of human nature. ideology that is based on an accurate and scientific view of human nature will monopolize the force of ideas in future. A modern Islamic State will gradually expand and unity the human race not with the help of armaments, although it will have to use its armaments too sometimes, but because with the growth of knowledge particularly in the domain of Psychology it will become more and more apparent that the great and wonderful force of ideas is The process of human evoluentirely on the side of Islam. tion which is the process of History has a definite course and leads to an inevitable destination prescribed by the laws

OS
stage in this pro-

of

human
is

nature.

The next important

can
true
is

cess

the acceptance of a single ideology

by the whole
view

of

mankind. Such an ideology happens to be founded on human nature. That ideology

.1

be

only that which

scientific

and

of

Islam.

Only an Islamic State can assure the freedom of the individual

Since an Islamic State assures the

perfect

growth of

the

Right
it

Love

in

the

individual
ot his

to

the

highest possible extent,

assures the

growth
is

The

reason

that

freedom also to the same extent. the growth or the Right Love which is

and the natural urge or the human being can never be forced or fettered. Everything that an Islamic State will do to assist its growth will remove the internal and external chains of the individual or it will not result in the growth The more the Right Love grows in the of his love at all. individual, die greater is the freedom enjoyed by him. On the other hand, the love of every wrong ideal is created, maintained and grown by imposing some internal and external limitations on the freedom of the individual.
the real

The

relationship

of the

cell

and

the organism
If we examine the Prophet's (peace be upon him) analogy of a community of true believers with a single individual we can have no difficulty in understanding the true and natural relationship of the individual and the state. The life-force which creates and maintains an organism flows to every part of its body through the brain or the nervous system and nourishes and sustains every cell in the body. The health and the strength of the body depend

upon

this lite force.

it

When

a cell

has

become
This

sufficiently

strong,

passes

on

its

surplus energy to the other cells ot the

is,

body through
the cells in the

the central nervous system.

cell.
It

so to say,
rest

the zakat ot the

adds to the strength of the

ot

body and consequently to the strength of the body as a whole, which fact in its turn makes each cell ot the bodv all the stronger. Thus cverv cell not onlv gives

io6

energy to the body but also takes energy from it and the body not only takes energy from each of its cells but also gives energy to each of them.

The
Such
too.
is

relationship of the individual and the state.

the case with the individual and the society

As the life-force creates and maintains an individual organism at the biological level, so it creates and maintains a social organism or an organized society or a state at the
psychological level.
the love of an ideal.
In the latter case
it

takes the

form or
is

The

state that has

succeeded in evolvpossible extent

a state

ing the love of

perfectly strong
is

its

ideal to the highest

and healthy.

The government of

nervous system or the brain of an organism. As the centre of life in an organism so the government (which consists of the leaders or the greatest lovers ot
like the

the brain

is

the ideal in a

community)

is

As the
to
all

life

force centred in

the train

the centre of love in a state. of an organism flows

organism through its blood-distributit alive and growing, so the love of the ideal centred in the leadership of a state flows to all the individuals in the state through its educational machinery to keep the state alive and progressive. When through the educational facilities provided by the government the love of the individual grows and becomes strong, the whole community benefits by it,
parts

of the

ing mechanism to keep

because as
distribute

the
to

individual

is

impelled

by
the

his

love to

government) whatever material benefits he can spare (which conshe is imtitutes his zakat on the biological level), so pelled by his love to benefit (through the government) the other members of the community by his superior loveor self-knowledge. This distribution of self-knowledge or love is the zakat of the individual on the psychological level. The government of an Islamic State provides facilities for this distribution because it helps the very purpose of its Thus in an Islamic State individuals with a existence.
the

community (through

10~

Sliperior

love and self-knowledge arc appointed to posilead others

i.e.,

tions

where they can

distribute their love

or self-knowledge to others.
offices o{~ the

They

are chosen for the highest

state where they can control and direct its and external education with all that it implies, most The community having thus gained in love efficiently. and power through the individual is able to help the individual all the more efficiently in the growth of his love.

internal

The
The
state

individual and the state depend each other.

upon
The

state
its

and the individual

exist for

each other.

owes

existence to the nature of the individual and

the individual cannot

his perfection as

come

to his

own and
as

an individual so long

cannot achieve he docs not lose

is

himself in the society.

tialities.

To

live in society

necessary for

the individual in order that he

may

actualize all his poten-

to which he protects his own expense of the community and prefers his own individual needs to the needs of the community, to that extent the growth of his love suffers and his individuality remains deficient. That is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered that a believer should

To

the
at

extent
the

individuality

co-operate with his

community

in spite ot difficulties.

Be with

the

Community. Whoever separates himself is cast

in the fire.

The

stress

of Islam on group life dition of evolution.

enjoined to oftcr
his

as a

cona dis-

believer

is

prayers

in

ciplined

and organized congregation, following a leader die best of them in love very strictly in all his movements and utterances. The object is to make him realize that he is not an isolated individual but an integral part of a community of individuals who have a single uniform aim of life and that he must think and act uniformly in company with them for the achievement

io8

of that aim.

The congregational prayer of

of the whole of

a believer

is,

in fact, a small scale picture

his

life.

The

which he tries to achieve in each of its same as the aim of his entire life in all its aspects and that aim is the search for Beauty and the perfecAnd conversely, his entire life with all its tion of Love. phases is one long congregational prayer offered under the leadership of a man who is die best of the community. Thus in Islam the man who leads the social and political It is in life of the believers leads their prayers as well. view of the importance of social life to the evolution of the individual and the society that the Quran insists on
aim of
his prayer,
is

postures,

the

congregational prayers

And bow down with

those

who bow down.

The

believer

is

enjoined to pray not for himself alone

but for the whole community.

He

uses

in Ins

prayers

mostly the plural number

013

Lord, grant us good in this world and good and save us from the chastisement of the Fire.

in

the Hereafter,

Lord, punish us not

it

we

forget or

make

a mistake.

Important

Islamic
social

institutions
life

help to

stabilize the

of the believer.
members of
larger congregations.

his

The believer is community in

required to meet the other ever larger and

109

The

wwkly
in

Friday prayers offered in the

Grand Mosques of
mohallah.

the city attract a larger gathering than the five daily prayers
offered
the
local

mosque

of

the

The

congregations for Id Day prayers in an open space outside the city twice a Near are larger than Friday congregaAnd the yearly congregation at the time of the tions. pilgrimage (//</') attracts the believers from all parts of
the world.

Apart from their direct spiritual value, all the fundamental practices of the believer, namely the Salat

(congregational prayer) the

ing in self-denial, the Zakat

Saum
(a

(fasting)

which

is

a train-

kind of social

security tax)

and the Haj (pilgrimage to the first mosque built on earth Mecca) arc means for stabilizing his social life and at nourishing his fraternal feelings towards other believers. As the individual exerts himself to co-operate with the community, he evolves his own love for the ideal and thereby adds to the unity and solidarity of the community.

The emphasis on obedience

The Prophet
(peace
to say that a believer should

to the leader

the latter conducts Ins

to bear the

be upon him) went so far as obey Ins leader even though prayers wrongly, leaving it to him

burden of his own error. Thus if he maintains group at the cost or the proper performance of a fundamental duty like the Saint, he is right and commendable. But if he shatters the unity of the group in order to correct the method of performing such a duty for himself and others, he is wrong and deserves the punishment of Hell.
the unity or his

Be with
Fire.

the

Community. Whoever

separates himself

is

cast in the

The
very
life

reason

is

that in the latter case he endangers the

injures the cause

of

his

community and thereby

of

human
of
his

evolution.

believer has to maintain the solidaritv

interest,
for,
if

group

in his

own

the

group disap-

110
pears,

he also disappears along with

it.

says the Prophet in a "even if a negro slave is appointed to rule over you". Another important tradition of the Prophet says: "When you have agreed to follow one man, then, if another man comes forward intending to break your stick (weaken your strength), or to make you disperse in disunion, kill him".

"Listen to

him and obey him"

tradition

The analogy of

the

Community and

the

organism.

The Prophet's analogy or the community and the organism helps us again to understand this point. When an individual commits a mistake, his limbs and organs co-operate with him to commit it. In this way the individual goes wrong but since he is able to maintain his unity he is able to make amends for Ins error later on. But supposing his limbs and organs were to withdraw their co-operation from him in committing tins mistake the result will be that he will cease to exist as an individual and will be rendered incapable of making any effort for Our true nature is the realization of his ends in future. to remain in the group and with the group and to obey the leader as long as there is nothing to show that the group or the leader have actually abandoned their ideal. As the individual is sometimes right and sometimes wrong but on the whole continues to progress towards the ideal of his life, so an organized community is sometimes wrong and sometimes right but continues to progress towards its ideal as long as it is able to maintain its life. i.e., as long as its unity is not shattered.
It
is

evident, however, that peaceful efforts to evolve

a better

leadership

by educating and organizing public

as

opinion by methods already approved by the community

(commonly
since they

known

constitutional

methods)

are

not

prohibited by the traditions of the Prophet

do not

shatter the unity

of the

quoted above group and arc

yet in keeping with the purpose of an Islamic State.

The ultimate emergence of

based on the Right Ideal

a world-state
is

inevitable.
of

The

tacts

mentioned above about the nature

the

individual and the society and the role of political activity

in the process of evolution, leave

no doubt

that the evolu-

tionary process
struggle and

at

the

human
to the

stage tends to the ultimate

Ideal

creation or a state based

on the Right
ends

which
All
it

will

expand

of the

earth.

the
will

wrong
to

ideologies that will

come

into a clash with

disintegrate

and disappear sooner or later leaving it dominate the world. On account of the very nature of the ideal that will be the basis of this state the love of its members will evolve and its unity will increase to such an extent that it The will soon begin to function as a single individual. fact that man can love only the Right Ideal, perfectly and permanently, guarantees the ultimate world-wide unity of the human race on the basis of this ideal.

The Holy Quran proclaims

words
:

this fact in the

following

-'..''

,9
,*
in at

32

They

desire to put our the light of Allah

Allah will allow nothing save the perfection of His light,

the followers of

with their mouths, and though

wrong

ideologies are averse.

33

He

Messenger with guidance and the Ideology of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all other ideologies thoueh the followers of wrono; ideologies are averse.
it is

who

sent His

112

The ultimate victory of the Right Ideal will be hastened by the advancements of
knowledge
The
nearer
final victory of the Right Ideal will be brought

and nearer by the progress of knowledge in the domains of Physics, Biology and Psychology since it will enable mankind to understand more and more of the laws of nature working externally in the Universe and The knowledge of diese internally in their own minds. laws will at last establish definitely the truth of the teachings of the Last Prophet.

41

S3

soon show them Our signs Wc working) in the external world and in
will

(i.e.

the

laws

of nature
it
is

their

own

minds, until

quite clear to

them

that the

Quran

is

Truth.

The

Islamic State of the future will be peace-loving and peaceful

the

The Islamic State of the future will endeavour to have most peaceful and cordial relations with other contemporary states in spite of the fact that they will be all serving and loving ideals which will be in conflict with its own ideal. The reason is that a believer is urged by his love of the Right Ideal, to love other human beings sincerely and sclflessly, irrespective of their ideals. He knows (r) That all human beings are fundamentally good. They have a uniform nature which yearns passionately for the Right Ideal. Wherever they love wrong ideals and act wrongly even it they are unreasonable, obstinate, hostile
:

or

cruel,

they are honestly

mistaken and

it

is

more

the

fault

of

their social circumstances

and

their

educational

conditions than that of their real urges on intentions.

(2)

That

all

human

beings are the creation ot his Lord

is

Who

loves and protects them and

keen to guide

them

3
and evolve them to the highest level of their evolution. That is why He has provided them with all that they need to satisfy their urge to live as well as with all that they need to satisfy their urge to love, in the form of His guidance sent through the prophets. (3) That it is a duty imposed upon him by his ideal
to co-operate with his Creator in loving
all

human

beings

and helping him) said

:

their evolution.

The Prophet

(peace be

upon

My

to be

I bear witness that You Lord arc Allah Who alone deserves worshipped and that all human beings are brothers.
!

(4)

That the very

first

requisite

help the evolution of

to treat
is

all

human

beings

of a determination to is to love them and

them kindly and well and

not

at all

that such a determination compatible with the hatred of other human

beings.

" lA '*'-%** '

w 3

17

53

And

say to

My

servants that they speak

what

is

best.

4i

Repel
thee
is

(evil) with what is best, when enmitv would be as if he were a

lo!

he between
friend.

whom

and

warm

114

16

125

Call to the

way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly

in the best

exhortation,

and argue with them

(5)

manner.
to accept a particular
is always only in an atis no love at all.

That no one can be forced

belief

or the love of a particular ideal.

Love

spontaneous and can emerge and grow mosphere of perfect freedom otherwise it
;

256

There

is

distinct

no compulsion from error.

ideas are
is

in religion

the right way

is

indeed clearly

more powerful than armaments and going to win definitely everywhere by the force of its rational and scientific ideas. Hence there is no need for him to enter into a war with any ideology for the propagation of his belief.
(6)

That

that his ideology

It

will give a perfect freedom and protection to its minorities.

These very reasons will prompt an Islamic State to love non-muslims living within its territories and to give the them a perfect freedom in the matter of their beliefs and
religious practices.

Circumstances under which war becomes

necessary.

However,
challenge

believer

does not

fail

to

answer the

of

an
reason

aggressive

wrong

ideology

forces other

men

to give
is

up

their beliefs at the point

which of the

sword.

The

that,

human

beings, he hates

the

although he docs not hate aggression of wrong ideals

H5
wherever it may be and must therefore stop it and restore the freedom of conscience with all the power he can command. It is in such circumstances that he resorts to Jihad and becomes the retribution of the Creator for those who destroy the freedom of others and block the way of human evolution. Islam forbids aggression but makes resistance to aggression obligatory.

48

29

Muhammad
of heart
themselves

is

the Messenger oi Allah and those with the

disbelievers

him

arc firm

against

and

compassionate

among

>* v

->
5
:

54

Humble towards believers, mighty hard in Allah's way and not fearing

against the disbelievers, striving

the censure of any censurer.

In these verses of the Holy Quran there is a reference only to those non-believers in whom wrong ideals of an

aggressive

nature become incarnated and who actually become an instrument of the aggression, compulsion or

violence of such ideals.

friend or help
it

believer

is

any non-believer of

this

forbidden to becategory because

amounts

to helping the aggression of falsehood against

truth.

27

n6
\
Let not the believers take the
believers.

disbelievers for friends rather than

And

help one another in righteousness and piety, and help not one

another in sin and aggression. -&&'

Similarly the non-believers living in an Islamic State

will be given
all

the protection,

require but only so long so they

and freedom that they do not rebel or become

aggressive or violent for the sake of their ideology.

Unfortunately most of the wrong ideals are aggressive and this accounts for the perpetual war of ideologies that is going on in the world interspersed by intervals of peaceful preparations.
against other ideals

In this to enter

war in winch the Right Ideology will be forced on account of the aggression or violence of wrong
is

ideologies, the only ideology that can be successful,

that

which
itself.

is

in the nature

of man, that

is,

the

Right Ideology

21

18
its

Nay

We
and

hurl the
lo!
it

Truth

against falsehood, so

it

knocks out

brains

vanishes.

17

81

And

say:

falsehood

The Truth has come and falsehood is ever bound to vanish.

vanished.

Surely


117
If ever there
is

a situation in
it

which
it

wrong ideology

begins to dominate the world,

its

will not endure

own

followers will rebel against

and soon and bring about its

ruin.

Islam and Evolution

Since
I

have mentioned the word evolution so

it is

fre-

quently above
evolution
the
is

necessary to point out that the idea of

to Islam.

not

new

The very
Allah

first

verse

in

Holy Quran announces

is

that

is"the evolvcr

of

the worlds", Rabb-ul-almnui. Again the

Quran

declares that

Allah
to the

"the Evolver of the Heavens and the Earth", RabbIt is

however, that according of evolution is neither the struggle for existence nor the agency of natural selection as Darwin has imagined but it is the desire or the will of the Creator, one of Whose prominent attributes is Rabb or One Who evolves gradually. The theory of creative evolution which is strongly advocated and supported by highly ingenious arguments by Bergson and some other biologists and which, of course, favours the Quranic view of evolution is more convincing than Darwinism or any A number of other theory of mechanical evolution. authoritative ancient and modern Muslim thinkers and commentators of the Quran like Jahiz (d. 155 A.H.), Ibni Maskawaih (d. 421 A.H. in Fauz-ul-Asghar), Rumi, Tantawi, etc., are evolutionists. Having discussed Iqbal, the Quranic legend o Adam at some length in his Six
iis-samau>at-i wal-arz.
clear,

Quran

the fundamental cause

lectures

Iqbal

comes

to the conclusion:

"Thus we sec that the Qnranic legend of the Fall has nothing to do with the first appearance of man on this planet. a primitive Its purpose is rather to indicate man's rise from state of instinctive appetite to the conscious possession of a free
self,

capable of doubt and disobedience."

(Six Lectures
:

Iqbal)

Again, while discussing the

Iqbal quotes the following verses
"It
is

re-emergence of man of the Holy Quran

:

you.

Yet

We Who are We

have decreed that death should be among not thereby hindered from replacing you

n8
with others your
ye
likes

or from

producing you
the
first

in a

know

not.

Yc have known

creation:

will

form which you not

reflect?"
56
:

60-2

He

then goes on to say:emerge: This suggestive argument emof the two passages quoted above (56: 60-2) did in fact open a new vista to Muslim philosophers. in It was Jahiz (d. 255 A.H.) who first hinted at the changes animal life caused by migrations and environment generally. The association known as the 'Brethren of Purity' further amplified the views of Jahiz. Ibn-i-Maskawaih (d. 421 A. H.) however, was the first Muslim thinker to give a clear and in many respects thoroughly modern theory of the origin of man. "It was only natural and perfectly consistent with the spirit of the Quran that Rumi regarded the question of immortality as one of biological evolution and not a problem to be decided by arguments of some philosophers of Islam a purely metaphysical nature, as had thought. The theory of evolution however has brought despair and anxiety, instead of hope and enthusiasm for life to the modern world. The reason is to be found in the unwarranted modern assumption that man's present structure, mental as well as physiological, is the last word in biological evolution and that death regarded as a biological event, has no constructive meaning. The world of to-day needs a Rumi to create an attitude of hope and to kindle the fire of enthusiasm for life. His inimitable lines may be quoted here
did
first

"How

man

bodied in the

last

verses

appeared in the class of inorganic things Next he passed therefrom into that of plants For years he lived as one of the plants Remembering naught of his inorganic state so different; And when he passed from the vegetivc to the animal state,
First

man

He had no remembrance of his state as a plant Except the inclination he felt to the world of plants, Especially at the time of spring and sweet flowers; Like the inclination of infants towards their mothers Who know not the cause of their inclination to the least. Again the great Creator as you know Drew man out of the animal into the human state. Thus man passed from one order of nature to another; Till he became wise and knowing and strong as he is now, Of his first souls he has now no remembrance. And he will be again changed from his present soul."
(Six Lectures: Iqbal, p. 114)

n9
Rumi
I
I

says elsewhere in his great masnavi:

died as a mineral and died

became

plant

died as a plant and rose to animal

as

animal and
I

Why
With
I

should

fear?
I

When

was man was

less

by dying?

Yet once more

shall die as

man

to soar

angels blest; but even

pass on:
I

from angelhood
perish

must
shall

all

except

God doth

When
I

have sacrificed

my

angel soul

become what no mind ever conceived

Oh,

let

me

not

exist.

For non-existence

Proclaims in organ tones:

"To him we

shall

return"

(Rumi

R.A. Nicholson

p. 103.)

Some questions and their answers shall now endeavour to answer a few questions
1
is

which

have probably arisen in the mind of the reader already.

Question
:

What

the cause
to

favours some men

of prophethoodi Why is it that nature become prophets and not the others.

Answer
of the
cause
is

Since

the

phenomenon of prophethood
going

is

a part
its

evolutionary process

on

in the

world

to be found in the cause

of evolution

itself.

The cause of evolution

The
cause of evolution, as already stated,
is

the desire or

the will of the Creator flowing in the Universe as a stream

or current of consciousness changing and evolving the world with a view to bringing it to the stage of its highest perfection.

This current of consciousness,

this force

of the will of

the Creator, manifests itself at the animal stage of evolution the life, the consciousness or the elan vital of Bergson and at the human stage of evolution as the libido of Freud, which, of course, is not an urge for sex but an urge for Beauty and Perfection expressing itself in the love of an ideal.
as

The urge

for perfection

Since consciousness in the Universe has an urge for

120
perfection,

evolution has proceeded at the animal stage,

in the direction

of

a perfect species

i.e.,

a species

which

is

biologically perfect
it

and that

is

man.
is

For the same reason

has proceeded at the

i.e.
,

human

stage in the direction

of a

perfect society

a society

which

based on a perfect

ideology and
perfect.

is,

therefore, psychologically

and

morally

Mutations at the psychological stage of evolution

The
stage

psychological

phenomenon of prophethood

is

continuation in a different shape appropriate to the

human

of evolution of the well-known biological phenomutations or sudden variations of species which nature manifested earlier at the animal stage of evolution. It is a characteristic of consciousness (that is to say of the force of the will of the Creator operating in the Universe)

menon of

that resistance that

its

stimulates
is

its

activity.

Whenever

it

feels

meeting with too much resistance, it makes an extraordinary push forward to overcome the Such efforts of resistance and takes a sudden leap. consciousness resulted in the animal world in the sudden if as variations of species i.e. the sudden appearance, by miracle, of a distinct type of species registering a

movement

considerable
the
ness

human world
sudden
call

improvement upon the previous type. In the extraordinary leaps of consciousresulted

on such occasions of retarded evolution have

prophets.

in the

appearance of highly self-conscious

men
and

whom we

Whenever

the

beliefs

morals of a society deteriorate flagrantly the requirements of the Right

Consciousness,

considerably

or

violate

Ideal, the situation

constitutes a resistance to consciousness at the

human

stage

makes an extraof evolution. to overcome this resistance and the result ordinary effort is the sudden emergence in that society of a man who is inspired by the love of the Right Ideal and acquires a very high stage of self-consciousness as a special gift of nature. He guides them to the Right Ideal and calls them to obey its law and thus brings them back to the path of evolution.
therefore,

121

Such man is a prophet. The sudden automatic appearance of a prophet in a deteriorating society is like the sudden automatic appearance of a storm in an area where the pressure of atmosphere lias lowered or like the sudden automatic reaction of an organism to disease which results in the
;i

restoration of

its

health.

Question 2.

Are
cause of

all

prophets equally self-conscious'

If so,

what

is

the

difference in their teachings, especially

when

the basis of

the teachings

of all of them

is

the same':

Answer

Every prophet

is

highly self-conscious.

Every prophet enjoys a very high stage of selt-conis nothing to choose between one prophet and another. It is also true that every prophet teaches the practical needs and requirements of the same ideal the Right Ideal to mankind. But a prophet's self-knowledge becomes manifest and actual only in the course of his reaction to the mental, moral and material conditions, the cultural stage and the merits and demerits of the society in wliich he appears and which he This reaction of the prophet is endeavours to reform. of course embodied not only in his precept but also, and more essentially, in the example of his own practical life.
sciousness and, in this respect, there

Difference in the teachings of the prophets is due to the difference in the application of the Right Ideal to

human
As
these conditions
societies,

life.

different

and circumstances are different with every prophet is neither in a position the to nor required to demonstrate the application of
Ideal to all the essential

Right

aspects

of human activity

Law, Education, Economics, War, Social and Personal Life, etc. His application of the Right Ideal to human life is limited by the evolutionary stage of Ins community. Every prophet docs not therefore, give a full
e.g. Politics,

122
picture
as
it

of the life of the individual and the community must take its shape when it is really on the way to complete realization of the Right Ideal. The picture
to

varies in perfection according to the opportunities that he

gets

complete
the same.

it.

This

is

what

creates a difference in

the teachings of the prophets in spite of the fact that their

basis
is

This difference

is

really a difference in

the fullness or the perfection of their ideologies.

Question

3.
is

What
phethood
is

the cause of the finality of prophethood;

If pro-

nature's help to evolution

not continue as long as the

highest stage.

why should it end at all and evolution of man has not reached its

Answer

A
level

natural ideological

community

at the

psychological

of creation corresponds to a natural species at the bioloAs the offspring of the first gical stage of creation. individual of a new biological type of life creates a distinct natural species, so the followers of the first individual of a new psychological type of life i.e. a prophet, create a distinct natural ideological community.

The end of mutations

gical stage.
In the animal

at the biolo-

world the phenomenon of the sudden came to an end with the emergence of the biological specimen that was just complete enough to continue the process of evolution for the future, that is, a specimen whose brain was sufficiently evolved to enable him to give a full expression to all the emotions and Such a desires latent in the nature of consciousness. After biological specimen was the human form of life. telt the emergence of this form, consciousness never
variation of species
its evolutionary movement animal stage, which could have necessitated another extraordinary push forward, resulting in a new species. Hence the creation of new species came to an end auto-

that constriction or constraint in

at die

matically.

123

The end of mutations

at the

ideolo-

gical stage.
Similarly, in the human world the corresponding phenomenon of prophcthood must come to an end with

the appearance of the first psychological or ideological specimen (or prophet) who is psychologically or ideologithe process of cally just complete enough to continue evolution for the future i.e. a prophet the conditions and

circumstances of whose

lire

offer

him

full

opportunities to

demonstrate the practical application of the Right Ideal to

all

the essential aspects

(e.g.

the social, economic, political,

of natural human activity. It is evident that the life-example of such a prophet will incarnate all the essentials of that process by winch life at
military, legal

and

ediical aspects)

the
to

human

stage will be able to realize

its

its

latent aspirations,

and to evolve itself to the fullest extent. A society guided by the life-example of such a prophet can have no psychological handicaps which may interfere with its all-round progress at any stage of its evolution.
actualize
potentialities

After the emergence of

this

prophet and die comcan never experience

munity of

his followers, consciousness

that restriction

of

its

evolutionary

movement which may

sudden effort on its Hence the emergence of new prophets after him comes automatically to an end and his community is left to expand and to dominate the human world completely in the long run.
part resulting in a

necessitate another exceptional drive or

new

prophet.

World-domination destined for the

natural ideology.

last

last of the species, i.e. man, was able to dominate world ultimately on account of his biological or cerebral superiority over die rest of the species, so the followers of the Last Prophet will be able to dominate the human world ultimately on account of their ideological

As die

the animal

superiority over

all

the other communities.

T24
Finality a general

law of nature.
prophcthood
the
result

The attempt of life

or a completeness
peculiar to
is

to bring

to a finality

not an extraordinary phenomenon

It
is

prophcthood.
life

of a general
its

tendency of
pleteness

to bring every creative process of

own
com-

to a finality or completeness.
is

When

one

finality or

reached the creative process changes in character

and starts on a fresh career of which this completeness becomes the foundation. Then the process advances by a series of steps for the achievement of the next higher finality or completeness and thus evolution goes on.
Finalities in the process

of the growth of

the

human individual

To take an example, the human embryo in the womb of the mother develops from state to state till it achieves a completeness or a finality when it becomes fit to be born as a baby. The baby cannot live or grow after birth, if it does not achieve this finality before birth. In other words,
nature makes this finality the foundation or the
"first step"

of the next process of growth, which starts as soon as the child is born and which takes an entirely new shape. The embryo is supplied with blood directly out of the blood of the mother through the placental cord. It is a total parasite on the mother and depends for its life entirely on the healthy functioning of her bodily system. The baby on the other hand can live independently of the mother by virtue of that completeness of its growth and development which it was able to achieve during its embryonic stage in the womb of the mother. Its respiratory and digestive organs come into action and their activity imparts a new character to the process of its future growth. This process develops again step by step till, when the child attains to the prime of his youth, his teeth his stature, his brain and other vital organs reach their perfection. The biological growth comes to a stop or continues only in minor details. This is a second finality or completeness which is built on the foundations of the first. This second completeness with

1*3
the

all

powers
is

(physical

or

mental) that

it

brings to the

individual

utilised again as the basis

of future

evolution

and foundational material for that psychological growth winch we understand as conscious and responsible action and effort for the achievement of the ideal. The process of evolution that was biological, now changes in character and becomes psychological. It now aims at a third finality or completeness of a different nature which consists of the highest evolution or the self But here again it cannot proceed on its way unless it makes use of the second biological completeness as a foundation.
essential

and becomes an

Finalities in the process

of the evolution of the Universe.

from the growth of the human
itsclr

When we
principle at

turn

indivi-

dual to the growth of the universe

we

find the

same

work.

The evolution of matter reached a finality or a completeness when matter became ripe for the production of, and therefore actually produced, the first living cell. The
evolutionary
nature so far
biological.
It

process

which was of a physico-chemical changed in character and became vital or

made

the initial physical completeness as

till it

its

foundation and kept on

completeness

achieved another fmality or

a fully developed

when

the

first

man with

brain and the capacity to love ideals made his appearance. The first completeness achieved in the form of the living

an indispensable part of this second comhuman body is nothing but a huge conglomeration of living cells. On the appearance of man the process of evolution again changed in character and shifted from the biological to the ideological or psychological plane and its result was the emergence o{ prophets or leaders of natural ideological communities. Making the second fmality its foundation it must continue its course till the next finality or completeness, in the form of a
cell figures as

pleteness, since the

leader or the creator of a perfect community, is reached. This last finality or completeness must as usual form an indispensable foundaperfect

ideological

ideological

126
tion for the next
perfect humanity.
finality,

which

will

be,

of course, a

The ideology of

the Last Prophet an foundation of all subsequent indispensable

evolution.

Thus we
there
are

see that in the creative processes

series
is

of
life

finalities

or

completenesses.
all

of nature Every

completeness

the culminating point of

the previous

and a foundation of all subsequent evolution. It is not merely their aggregate but an indivisible whole, a configuration or structure in winch alone all
achievements of
these achievements can exist in their perfection although

some of them may be no longer recognizable

in this whole.

We,

come to the conclusion not only that prophethood must come to an ultimate completeness with some one prophet but also that the practical ideology and
therefore,

life-example
race.

foundation of

of that prophet must be an indispensable all the subsequent evolution of the human

Finality

unity of the

essential for the race and the continuity of their evolution.

of prophethood

human

Continuity of prophethood
unity of the

human

race

is incompatible with the and therefore with the continuity

of evolution. Permanent unity of the human race winch is bound to come at some stage of evolution in future and is indispensable to their continued evolution, can be established and maintained only on the basis of the Right Ideal and under the leadership of a single prophet who camiot but be the Last of the Prophets.

No man-made
Some

eclectic religion can unify

the

human

race.

thinkers have proposed the creation of a new by combining all the religions as a device for the unification of mankind. But apart from the fact
religion

127
it is impossible to put such a scheme into practice, humanity can never be convinced and therefore inspired and evolved to the highest stages of love by any

that

religion. It is only a with life and vigour by the personal example of a prophet-founder and claimed and believed to be the direct revelation of the Creator which can create a genuine Both or a sincere love in their
eclectic,
artificial

or

man-made

natural

religion

infused

hearts.

An

eclectic religion

can not continue

its

existence.

Even if a consciously planned eclectic religion ever comes into existence and succeeds in creating a community of its followers, the community must lack the capacity to After some time it must begin to continue its existence. shrink in numbers till it is wiped out entirely. It is like a cross-bred animal winch, as we know, is unable to continue
its

race.

Every
religious,

unnatural
political

non-prophetic

ideology,

whether
spiritual

or

intellectual, created

by a

man,

a political

leader or a thinker, in disregard

of the prophetic ideology in force at the time, belongs to the same category. It is an unconscious eclectical fusion of the founder's own ideas with some of the ideas of
the prophets.

Continuity
versive

of prophethood is subof the unity of mankind.

Every prophet

who comes

into the

world

leaves behind

him

community of

Ins followers

who

in spite

of

then-

pretensions to an all-embracing love and cosmopolitanism,

quite naturally, believe in

him and nobody

else.

This pro-

cess

highly subversive of

human

unity cannot continue for

ever. Consciousness cannot go on dividing humanity into an increasing number of highly prejudiced, narrow-minded and dissenting communities always. Its real and ultimate intention in creating one prophet after another is not to divide mankind more and more as this will be contrary to its very nature, but it is rather to provide for its ultimate

128
unity on the basis of a single complete ideology taught by a
single prophet.

The aim of prophethood is to create an ideological community capable of uniting mankind and evolving indefinitely.
of prophethood is intended to mankind to the stage of their highest perfection. Every extraordinary drive of consciousness, therefore, which results in the appearance of
stimulate the evolution of

The phenomenon

new

prophet

aims
is

at

creating through
to

him

comfuture

munity
actual

which

able

exemplify,

how

the

conscious evolution

of humanity upto the stage

of their highest perfection, i.e., their future practical and conscious achievement of the Right Ideal to the hi other words, fullest extent, can and will proceed, very far from aiming at sub-dividing humanity consciousness aims at creating through one of its sudden drives, a community which enjoys, by virtue of its comprehensive ideology, a standard of life and a stage of
it not only to rise to higher of self-consciousness itself, but also to absorb gradually all the other communities and thereby to unite the whole of humanity within its body. Since the ideology of this community embraces all the essential aspects of human nature it provides for the unlimited evolution of humanity and endures for ever.

evolution which

enables

and

higher

levels

The
stage

creative

activity

of Consciousness
of
such
to
a

at

the

human
and

remains
its

in search

community
last

repeats

drive only
it

when
lias

the ideology of the

failed

com-

munity created by

hold

its

own on

account of its inherent shortcomings.

New

prophets
a

come only as long as such community does not emerge.

When consciousness repeats its sudden effort, a newprophet and a new community comes into existence. But whether or not tins new sudden effort results in the Last Prophet and Community depends the Last

129

upon the fact whether or not which the prophet comes to live
such
ness
as

the

circumstances
are,
this

in

his life

time,

of consciousprove favourable he and his immediate followers are able to exemplify completely the process of future evolution; and a prophetic ideology embracing all the essential departments of natural
to

favour

the

basic

intention

involved in the

effort.

If

they

human
in
its

activity

comes

into existence, consciousness succeeds

purpose and does not require and ceases to create

new
the
this

prophets and
other hand
to higher
it

new communities
waits

for the

future.

On
(since

for this Final

Community

community must continue

to live for ever) not only to rise

and higher levels of evolution itself but also to absorb all the other communities into itself and thereby to fulfil its purpose of uniting the whole of the human race on In this way all the prophetic the basis of the Right Ideal. ideologies of the past disappear visibly but as a matter of fact they do not disappear but continue to live, having reached their perfection and their ultimate goal in the Final
Ideology.

An imperfect natural ideology, like an imperfect natural species, is allowed to drag on its existence and to perish gradually under the impact of the forces of evolution
Like every incomplete natural species every incomthat is, the ideology of every prophet preceding the Last Prophet has only to drag
plete prophetic ideology,

on
in

its

existence

without

evolving.
is

forces

of

evolution and

effaced

It succumbs to the by them completely

the

parts

long run because nature does not care for the of a whole however good and beautiful they
in

may
in

be

themselves
are

unless

they

are

in the

whole

which they

meant

to exist.

Nature wants to create

wholes and, when it succeeds them and uses them as the

in creating
basis

them

it

preserves

of future evolution or rather they preserve themselves and persist and evolve powers, properties or because as wholes they acquire

130
potentialities

When

a product of creation
fails

which enable them to persist and evolve. which was intended by nature
to be one,
it is

to be a whole,

allowed to perish with

everything good and beautiful that

may
is

be there in

it,

not

good and beautiful but because it wants to preserve it where alone it can be best preserved, that is, in its complete setting within a comhi other words, after discarding the incomplete whole, plete product nature makes a fresh attempt to create the intended complete whole, where the discarded product comes to live again and permanently, hi this sense therefore, none of the ideologies of the old prophets will be swept away completely. Each will live in its perfectly developed condition in the form of the complete ideology
because nature wants to destroy what

of the Last Prophet.

The ideology of
include

every

the Last Prophet must prophetic ideology of

the past

The ideology of
actual practical

the Last Prophet as reflected in his

human nature and

of course, cover all aspects of complete whole, will be in favour with the forces of evolution and will have the powers and the potentialities to endure for ever. This whole may be apparently different from its constituents as they displayed themselves in the teachings of the previous prophets but it will be their creative continuaThus the teachings of the Last tion and not their denial. Prophet, the final whole of prophethood, will include the teachings of all the previous prophets whether it may be
life will,

thus, being a

possible for us to recognize

them

in his teachings or not.

The inconsistency of the continuity of prophethood with the unification of mankind

Supposing the ideology of one of the prophets is so complete that it has the potentialities of uniting the whole of the human race and actually succeeds in uniting them into a single family. Then, if the coming of prophets as

13'

the propagators of new ideologies and the founders of new communities with new names and designations, should

never

come

to

a stop,

as

a principle,

consciousness will

create another prophet

who

will again slice off a portion

of humanity

to be his followers

and then another one and

another one, upto any number, with similar consequences in each case. The result will be that humanity will be soon
divided
into
a
It

large

number of
the

water-tight

compart-

ments again.
is

of prophcthood an indispensable condition for the permanent unity and the

follows that
Finality

continued evolution of the

human

race.

Question 4

Why
institutions

should

we follow

a particular prophet (the Last Pro-

phet) sticking to the particular forms of worship and religious

founded by him.

Why

should

we

not follow the

essence, the spirit or the general principles

of the teachings of all the prophets not caring for the particular forms of worship and religious institutions prescribed by any one of them and choosing
to
to

or creating such forms and institutions by ourselves according

our convenience from time

time.

Answer

Total dependence on the prophet is indispensable to the birth and growth of love
Unless

we

submit

totally

to

the

guidance of a

particular prophet,

who

should be the prophet of the age,

we
as

cannot evolve our self-consciousness as individuals and As heat flows from one body to another that may be in contact with it or as a candle lights another candle held close to its flame, so the light of love or selfconsciousness is kindled in a person who establishes, by virtue of his beliefs and actions, a psychological contact with another person who is already at a high stage of selfconsciousness. Like water, the wave of love travels from a high level, which it attains in some one individual, down to lower levels of the human world in other individuals.
a society.

132

The

light of love concentrates itself first of all at one point and from there its rays spread far and wide over the earth. That point is always the personality of a prophet.
It is

a biological necessity
its

Life multiplies

types at the biological level

by

process of biological procreation in

which the
its

attraction

of

opposite sexes for each other plays

individuals of a species are the

part.

Thus

all

the

progeny of

a single grand-

father. That is why they resemble each other in bodily form and features. Similarly on the psychological or the ideological level, life multiplies its types by a process of psychological procreation in which the natural attraction of the leader and the follower for each other (which is really a provision of nature for the automatic propagation of an ideology) play their part. As a consequence all the individuals who believe in the same ideology derive their love for the ideology from the teachings of a single leader who is their spiritual or ideological grandfather. That is why they resemble each other in their beliefs and actions and form an ideological community. The urge of life for propagation operates on the biological as well as on the psychological plane. As one cell grows another or one organism procreates another so the ideology of one man becomes the ideology of another. The person who gives himself up completely to the unqualified and uncritical obedience of the Prophet and depends upon him totally for his ideological existence, as an embryo depends for its biological existence upon the mother in her womb, takes as if a new birth, the

birth

of

his

self-consciousness
after

or his
Ins

psychological or
has

ideological birth,
a

which

self-consciousness

As a baby, winch is fed on the milk of the mother, grows constantly in health and strength, so he gains constantly in self-consciousness, in love and in moral excellence by feeding himself on the Ultimately life-giving knowledge of the Prophet. he attains to a stage of self-consciousness at winch he h.is a personal realization of the truth of the Prophets' tcaclungs
career of continuous growth.

133

and of the
was, so
this
far,

distinction

between right and wrong which

lie

accepting only on the Prophet's authority.

At

of Ins evolution he resembles the Prophet in and action as closely as a son resembles Ins father in form and features and has, therefore, the privilege of being the ideological offspring of the prophet.
stage
belief

The forms of worship and

religious institutions which characterise a natural ideology are unalterable. Their persistence in their own original form is necessary

for evolution

features

As every natural species has a set of inherited physical which characterise it and distinguish it from other

species so every natural ideological

community

(i.e.

com-

munity following a natural or prophetic ideology) has a set of inherited ideological features which characterise it and distinguish it from other such communities. These ideological features consist of the particular forms of worship and permanent religious institutions practised by the prophet and his immediate followers. A species cannot alter its
physical features radically without
species.

changing into a
ideological
features

new
be-

In

the

same
its

way

an

community

cannot

change

ideological

without

coming a new ideological community. A species outgrows its physical features only when, by a sudden drive of consciousness, there occurs a mutation and a new species comes into existence. This process we know has ended with the emergence of man. Hence man will continue to have his present physical form and features till the end of the world and there will be no higher species to replace him. Similarly an ideological community outgrows its ideological form and features only when a sudden drive of consciousness gives rise to a new prophet and a new community. This process comes to an end with the emergence of the Last Prophet and the Last Community. Hence the ideology of the Last Prophet must continue to have its original forms of worship and religious institutions till the
end of the world.
These forms and
institutions will

not

134
hinder but will rather safeguard and guarantee the continued
evolution of mankind in view of their conformity with the creative urge of the Universe and their being in special

favour with the forces of evolution.

Evolution to the highest stages of selfknowledge is possible only for the community of the Last Prophet
Since the community of the Last Prophet can be the only community to unite the human race and carry them forward continuously towards higher and higher stages of self-consciousness, it is evident that evolution to the highest stages of self-consciousness by means of worship and moral
action will not be possible except for the followers

of the Last

Prophet.

At the animal stage evolution took place along one line alone and it was that which was leading to the emergence and earth domination of the human form of
life.

Similarly at

the

human

stage

evolution can

take

which has been leading to the emergence and world-domination of the Ideological Community of the Last Prophet.
place only along a single course, that

Since

it

alone can

favour the objectives

and aspirations of consciousness

tures

Evolution depends not only on the efforts of the creato evolve themselves but also on the response of
efforts, in

view of the general scheme of that is to say, on the This is what latent possibilities or potentialities of life. happened at the animal stage of evolution. That is why all the species, in spite of their best efforts to exist and therefore to evolve themselves into higher and more complicated forms by their struggle for existence, could not continue their evolution and could not turn into the human form of life. This is what must happen at the human sugo of evolution. People belonging to an ideological community other than that of the Last Prophet may also resort to worship and moral action. Yet Reality will never bless their efforts with good results and will not evolve them
Reality to these
things inherent
in the

Universe,

U5
towards higher stages o evolution as long so they do not community of the Last Prophet and do not otfer strict obedience to him. Nature helps and favours only those species and those ideological communities which help and favour its own objectives and aspirations. It is the ideology of the past Prophet alone which, in view of its wholeness or completeness is able to achieve the objectives and fulfil the aspirations of consciousness.
enter the ideological

natural ideology is the form in which

meant to persist it was left by

in
its

founder
These facts again point to the conclusion that no alteraof any of the institutions of a natural ideology, even with the intention of improving it, is possible, simply betions

cause the altered or

the

improved ideology, however wisely

It
is

it

may have been improved

purposes
a

or altered, will be worthless for

neither
{i.e.

of evolution.
a
natural

accidental
religion

nor

meaningless

that

ideology,

taught
in to

by
the

prophet),
in

has
it

an

unconquerable
left

tendency to

persist
is

form
life

which

was
in
its

by

its

founder.

It
life.

due

tendency

which
takes

is

the

very

nature

of

form

in

nascent
that

condition

whatever
it

Whatever
the
to

apparent
that

This is as much true of the form becomes fixed for ever. form and institutions of a newly emerging natural ideology as it is of the form and features of a newly born organism or a newly emerging natural species. As long as a religion lives, its followers resist heresy and innovation with all the power that they command. It may be totally abandoned by its followers, in case it is unable to satisfy the requirements of evolution at any stage of the life of the community, but it is never allowed by them to get mixed up or associated with any beliefs and actions which did not form a part of it in the beginning. Such a demand is in the very nature of man. It is a part of his urge for Beauty. It is the individual's response to Reality within him. That is why Reality responds to and evolves only the individual who follows a religion which is created and enforced, at the

catises

and conditions

may have

enabled

take


1 36

by Reality Itself. It is this aspect of human nature which guarantees the continued preservation of the last
time,

of the natural ideologies and thereby the creation and maintenance of a permanent unity of the human race on
its basis.

The

effort to follow the general principles

of the teachings of all the prophets cannot be successful either in the case of the individual or in the case of the society
In case

we

decide to follow the general principles of

all

the teachings of

the prophets,

we

shall

not be able to
shall leave re-

follow the teachings of any of them.

ligious principles to the

We

judgment of

the individual

may

put upon them any interpretation he likes and

his

choose any combination of them making freely

additions and subtractions.
duals,

who may own

As

these

judgments of indiviat the earliest stages

who

have necessarily to remain

of self-consciousness under such conditions, are bound to be

extremely
faulty,

they give

rise

to an infinite variety

of

wrong and

conflicting

views of the needs and require-

ments of the Right

conflicting religions.

Ideal

which means

a large

number of

Such individuals can never constitute

and can never organize themselves
Ideal,

homogeneous

society

into a state

founded on the Right

hi other

words, in
political

their case, the

Right

Ideal

is

not able to acquire a

realization

and thus

ceases to be the

Right

Ideal.

society

of such individuals can never expand to unify the whole of mankind

as

world-state based on the Right Ideal.

eclectic

Even

if

we

have an

religion planned to

be the

political

ideal

of a society by a council of wise

difficult

men
be

supposing such a
conclusion

planning

is

carried to a successful

it

will

be unable to convince and will

It

highly suspected and inwardly despised.

able to play the role for

will

not be

which

religion

is

really intended.

137

deep love of the Creator is essential for moral behaviour and such a love is impossible without a strict obedience to the prophet of the age
Obedietici
to

general
for

ethical

principles

taught

by

the

prophets
his direct

is

not

possible

any
to

human
with
inspire,

individual

without

and personal contact

enough

Reality

which

should
deter-

he deep

and intimate
only
age.

control

and
the

mine

all his activities

and

this

contact

can

become deep
to

or

intimate

by

offering
is

strict

obedience

prophet

of the

and the most fundamental of all the laws of human nature and moral principles which constitute the common factor of the teachings of the proIn the absence of it all the other principles taught phets. by them arc, in practice, reduced to nothing. Unfortunately, the Moral Rearmament Movement, which is being supported by some of the most well-meaning men and women of all nationalities of the world to-day, It ignores this most fundamental of die moral principles.
This
the greatest

cannot be expected, therefore, either to become the social or political ideal of humanity or to create a real WorldRenaissance in morals.
Question
5
:

Assuming
him) rather than

that prophethood must end sooner or later,

in the finality of

why
?

should we believe

Mohammad

(peace be upon

in the finality

of Christ or any other prophet

Answer

The complete or

the perfect ideology

is

only Islam

Mohammad

(peace

be
is

upon him)
first

is

die

Last

of

the Prophets because he

the

Prophet to give to the

world a perfect ideology based on the Right Ideal i.e., an ideology which extends to all the important aspects or human activity e.g. to the economic, political, ethical, legal, military, social, national and international activities of die human individual and socictv. The teachings of all the

38

prophets are based on the Right Ideal but none of them except Mohammad (peace be upon him) got the opportunities to

exemplify completely, by his

own

practical
its

life,

the needs and requirements ot the Right Ideal in

tion to
tions

applica-

The condiall the important phases oi human life. of the society in which every other prophet appeared and the circumstances which he had to face were such that only a small portion of Ins knowledge of self was able to have expression in his precept as well as in the personal example of his life, in which indeed his teachings were Every one of them stressed in his ultimately embodied. teachings and exemplified in his practical life the relation of those particular aspects of human life to the Right Ideal winch needed his attention in view of the cultural and moral conditions of his people and ignored those aspects of human life about which his teachings would have been unnecessary and unprofitable for them. Thus every one of them could apply the Right Ideal to only a portion pf

human

life.

All other ideologies were meant for a particular age and a particular section of

humanity
That
benefited
is

why

the

ideologies

ol

these

prophets

mostly

their

own

people and their

own

age and

did not survive for long after them. Even the revealed books on which they were based became, in due course of
time, the

mixed up with extraneous matter which was

timely

neither

word of the Creator nor the direct prophet. The sectional importance and

utterance of the
character

of these ideologies were not only indicated in their nature and constitution but were also proclaimed by their founders. The reason is that an imperfect natural ideology is not meant to be either a permanent or a universal ideology It is intended to serve the from the very beginning. needs of a particular community and for a particular Its very imperfection makes it stage of human evolution. impossible for it to continue its existence beyond a certain Such was, however, not the case with Prophet limit.

139

Mohammad (peace be upon him) who, .is divinely authorized readier of the Right Ideal, had to face a set of
.1

moral,
phical

cultural,

political, social,

conditions which enabled

as

precept

well

Right
the

Ideal

as by the was to be applied

lite

economic and geograhim to show by his example of his life how the
to

the various aspects of

and society. of none of the prophets except those of Mohammad (peace be upon him) gives us any adequate guidance about the social, political, economic and military aspects which arc indeed some of the most important aspects of human activitv.
practical

of

the

human

individual

Particularly

the teacluiigs

Life-example of Mohammad (peace be upon him) as a practical teacher of the Right Ideology is complete
Prophet married
life,

of
it

his

own

Mohammad (peace be upon him) lived a prepared his followers to resist the opposition people who were bent upon destroying his
it,

mission, created a state, ruled and administered

defended

from its enemies by military action, solved its internal and external problems and gave it a socio-political system, an cconomico-legal order and a foreign policy. Every ideal has to struggle for its growth and expansion in the process of its realization by its followers and the Right Ideal is no exception to this rule. No prophet before Mohammad (peace be upon him) had exemplified the natural struggle for existence and expansion which the future human society organised as a state based on the Right
Ideal will

have necessarily to face

as a

part of the actual

process of human evolution.

complete ideology alone has the capacity to continue

its

existence
its

hi the matter

of

its

ability to continue

existence in

the face of odds, as in

living

many

other things, an ideology reIf

sembles a living organism.

any of the
its

vital

organs of a
disease

organism organism cannot

is

injured

or impaired

by

the

live

but

if,

while

vital

organs arc intact

140

and healthy, it has the chance to get any portion of the flesh of its body torn oft, the organism docs not die. On the other hand the healthy functioning of its vital organs sustains its life and helps it to recover its lost flesh to the extent to which it is essential for its life and activity. Similarly, there arc some aspects of the life and activity of an ideology which arc, as if, its vital organs. Whenever there is an ideology based on the Perfect Ideal, winch ignores any of these vital departments of human activity, As the community which believes it cannot live for long. in such an ideology outgrows its original conditions and is pushed forward on the road of evolution, it is confronted more and more with the necessity to live a full life, expressing all the aspects of its nature as a group of human beings. But soon it discovers that it cannot do so in the case of some very important aspects of its natural activity without deviating from its ideology. The reason is that while its ideology cannot permit the expansion of its activities beyond itself, it cannot itself expand to include important An imperactivities which were ignored by its founder. perfect by growing and fect ideology never becomes evolving itself from within but on the other hand continues to compensate for its deficiency in essential right ideas by absorbing substitute wrong ideas, borrowed from wrong ideologies, till it becomes a mixture of Truth and Untruth and thus ceases to be a true ideology. The Untruth that gets mixed up with it, colours also its Truth and thus it becomes totally wrong.

The example of Christianity

an
This
is

to

show why

imperfect

ideology

cannot endure
provides

what has happened

is

in the case of Christianity.

The
no

Christian religion

silent

about

politics.

It

basic guidance derived

its

from

either the precept or the

political
life

life-example of
Christian

founder to direct the

of

community.
Christian

modern
tical

The result was that when the states came into existence, they were
a successful

unable to accomplish

integration of
a

the

polilife.

and the religious

aspects

of

truly

Christian

141

church, the Christian

bitter conflicts oi the state and the world was forced to come to the conclusion rJiat Politics had nothing to do with Religion and therefore the two were separated from each other. This was a wrong idea borrowed from wrong ideals out of a necessity arising from the limitations of the Christian Ideology and was not at all consistent with the Right Ideal some aspects o{~ which Christianity wanted to stress. By thus restricting itself and rejecting a part of natural

After

prolonged and

human
Once
life

activity openly, Christianity

its

made

itself

impractic-

able or rather demonstrated

inherent

impracticability.

Politics, it

Religion was openly separated from was gradually separated from all aspects of the of the state and the individual e.g. from Law, Econothe Christian

mics, Education, Defence, Foreign Relations, etc.

is

The result

that in the

West

Christianity

is

no longer a

force dominat-

ing the practical

real ideal

The life of the individual and the society. of a Christian community of the West, the ideal
some
ideal

which

of Christianity but

is not the God of Territorial or Racial Christianity, moreover, is not reacting Nationalism. towards tliis anti-religious trend, which is a danger to its This means that existence, with a view to check it.

actually determines their actions,

Christianity has virtually died as a

force
life

controlling,
its

or

expecting to control, the practical

Chrr>t,

of

followers.

who was

to emphasise only certain aspects

undoubtedly a true prophet, came of the Right Ideology

of
their history.

for the benefit of a small section of the

Israelites, at a certain stage

human race, the He was not to

politi-

demonstrate the application of the Right Ideal to the

cal aspect

of human life. This task was to be accomplished later, at its proper time, by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). The Rev. Martin D'Arcy is right when he
says in his

book "Communism
it

atuhChristianity"

"But

cannot be too often repeated that Christianity was not

rounded to lead any nation or super-nation to prosperity. This was the mistake ot the Jews, and when the people s, night to make Christ king, he fled awav from them into the mountain".


142

The example of Bahaism

as

an incomplete

ideology.
Bahaism. it cannot create a state of its own, cannot become socially and politically independent of other ideologies and cannot, therefore,
is

Another example of an imperfect religion

Since the Bahai Faith eschews both politics and war,

hope to preserve

its

existence for long.

Bahaism stands

for

peace and unification of mankind but unfortunately does not realize that very often war is indispensable to the restoration

of peace, that the unified humanity of the future will be

often required to defend their unity against an internal disruption by an all out effort which may not succeed withto live as an organised society or state

out violence, that they will be forced by their very nature and that they have to be trained for such a life from the very beginning. Merely

a Bahai State in future tabooing the struggle for political independence and acquiescing in political slavery as a virtue, cannot befit or train the Bahai community to create and maintain such
after

dreaming of the emergence of

a state.

No

religion

which

deliberately ignores
activity

portant aspect of natural

human

and

any im-

who

can

doubt that Politics is such an aspect of this activity in the beginning and on account of the very teachings of its founder, as embodied in the example of his life, can hope to

make amends

for

its

errors later on.

No

such religion
belief

can, therefore, endure.

Again

the

Bahai

of the

continuity of prophethood and the emergence of a new

spiritual

leader

and a

new community

every thousand

years

is

incompatible with the permanent unification of

to emphasise.

mankind which Bahaism claims

The adaptability of Islam (Ijtiluid)

When
is

an ideology developing around the Perfect Ideal

all

able to extend itself to

the essential aspects of

human
etc.,

activity, like Politics, Ethics,

as
is

Economics, Law, War,

is

the case with Islam

it

its life

never

in

danger.
it

For

although
details

may

be

felt

occasionally that
of

lacks

some

of

its

guidance concerning any

these aspects oi

'

43

human

activity,

it

nism which recreates the

continues to live and like a healthy orgalost portion of its flesh, it recreates

the required details of guidance

from within
in

itself.

Tliis

recreation of required ideas

of Islam as Ijtlhad.

is

known

the terminology

Right Ideal to of human life, it is still alive and will keep alive till the end of the world. Even if circumstances throw it out of a part of the life of the Muslims, it wants irresistibly to re-enter and regain the control ot that part of their life. As an organism brimming with life and vitality reacts against illness and recovers its health, so Islam reacts strongly and successfully, against all
Since Islam
is

the application of the

all

the essential departments

anti-Islamic

movements

that take birth within

it.

it

or with-

out

it

and try to overpower

No

anti-religious

move-

ment is able the Muslims

states

to flourish within Islam.

This explains

why

are the only people in this

desire to create

who
it.

still

world of secular an Islamic State and have

all

given evidence of their willingness to stake their

create

to

Important features of the Ideology

Islamic

The forms ot worship and ethical institutions, which have come down to the Muslims from the days of the Prophet, constitute the ideological features of their community and these features, as already explained, must continue to be with them till the end of the world. The most important of them are
:

(i)

"Kalitnah" or the declaration that there

is

no Lord

but Allah and that Mohammad (peace be upon him) is His messenger.
(2)

(3)

Salat or praying five times a day in congregation. Zakat or paying to the society the whole or
least a part

at

(according to a prescribed

minimum)

(4)

of one's surplus wealth for the benefit of the poor. Saum or fasting during the month of Ramazan
every year.

(5)

Haj or joining the aimual world congregation of

T44

Muslims who come for a pilgrimage to the house of the Lord at Mecca. These institutions do not constitute the whole of the evolving Islamic life of the individual or the society but they arc a few of its important pillars which are erected in advance as a support for the growing moral and spiritual edifice of their life which, supported by them, grows and increases in internal and external Beauty and Grandeur every day. Since these institutions are based on a full view of the eternal laws of human nature, they can never

become old or

obsolete.

They guarantee

the continuous

unfoldment of the human self and the evolution of the human individual and society to the stage of their highest mental, moral and material perfection.

Refutation of the view that the external form of Islam is not an eternal or essential part of it

The facts mentioned in my answer to question No. 4 above, will repudiate the view that because the outward
form of natural ideologies has been changing from time to time, the eternal or important part of any of them is or the universal Ethics that underlie its its moral essence teachings and that, for this reason, the external form of Islam, which consists of the instituthe last of them viz. tions founded, practised and emphasised by the Last Prophet,
can be safely ignored or subjected to endless alterations
the discretion of individuals
at

who come

after

him.

This view is the outcome of several misunderstandings one of which is that the form of natural ideologies has been only changing and not evolving towards a stage of The other is that a definite external form is not perfection. essential to the existence of a natural ideology and that in any case a natural ideology remains the same no matter how its form may be changed. These misunderstandings are, in their turn, due to an erroneous view of the qualities and characteristics of lite as they manifest themselves at the biological and psychological
planes of evolution.


145

As

matter of fact

a definite external

form
As

is

as essential

to the existence of an ideology as a definite physical

essential to the existence

form

is

of an organism.

human

be-

spirit plus the physical body so an ideology moral or spiritual essence plus its external form. A type of life whether biological or psychological can exist, act and function in this external, objective world only as a whole consisting of the form and the essence or it cannot exist, act or function at all.

ing consists of the

consists

of

its

All evolution whether

psychological level
is

it

takes place at the biological or the

essentially the evolution

of forms and the

forms are as unalterable

biological level.
cal stage

at the psychological level as they are at the

The essence of all organisms at the biologiof evolution is the same, viz., consciousness as an urge to live a life of the highest efficiency, yet the urge to live achieved its most perfect expression in a particular biological form which is man. Similarly, the essence of all ideologies at the psychological stage of evolution is the same, viz., consciousness as an urge to love an ideal of the highest beauty. Yet, as already explained, the urge to love has achieved its most perfect expression in a particular ideological form which is Islam. Aji ideology without a definite and pemanent external form is as dead and lifeless as an organism without its physical body.
All the characteristics of the Last Ideology are to be found in Islam

Other

distinctive features

of Islam which go with

:

its

nature as the Last of the Prophetic Faiths and a full-fledged natural, prophetic ideology are as follows
Islam emphasises the absolute oneness or uniqueness of the Creator in His person as well in His qualities and
(i)

attributes and points out how Judaism, Christianity and other religions have spoiled the real concept of the Creator, taught originally by all true prophets. Even Mohammad

upon him), the greatest of all human beings of all according to Muslims, is but one of the created human beings and a servant of his Lord. Purity of the
(peace be
times,

idea of the Creator,

we

should remember,

is

the very

first


H6
love (by means of worship and moral action) which constitutes the one great purpose of human existence. (2) The characteristics of the Last Ideology already mentioned above are claimed not only by the Muslims for Islam but also by Islam for itself. Islam, for example, claims openly and emphatically: (a) That Mohammad (peace be upon him) is the Last of the Prophets and that there will be no prophet after him.

condition of the evolution of true

There
(b)

will be

no prophet

after

me.
past prophets

That the teachings of die

have reached

their

culmination and perfection in his teachings.

This day have

perfected for

favour to you and chosen for

you your religion and completed you Islam as a religion.

my

(c) That the teachings of Mohammad (peace be upon him) will remain faithfully preserved for the guidance ot mankind till the end of the world.

15

Surely

We

have revealed the Reminder, and surely,

We

are

its

Guardian.

Mohammad (peace be upon him) lived in the full view of history. His immediate followers, moreover, had a unique love of historical truth and have displayed a matchless talent for scrutinizing historical material and preserving historical facts. As a consequence not only every word of the Holy Quran but also every important utterance ot

H7
the Prophet and every important event of his
life

arc pre-

served faithfully to this day.

of traditions attributed to terested people were discovered and rejected by a consensus of Muslim opinion widiin a short period of the emergence of Islam and that there is still a difference of opinion about die authenticity of a few traditions does not lessen but rather enhances the force of the above statement. The followers of Mohammad (peace be upon him) have evolved a science and a methodology for judging the veracity of his traditions which has no parallel in the history of other peoples. (d) That he has been sent for the guidance of the whole mankind till the end of the world.

The fact that a large number him wrongly by alien or in-

And
a

Wc have not sent thee but warner to all mankind.

as a

bearer of

good news and

as

21

107

And
(e)

We have not sent thee

That
his
all

but

as a

mercy

to the nations.

ideology will

dominate' the world com-

pletely ousting

other ideologies.

33

He

it

is

Who

sent His

Messenger with guidance and the Ideology

cause
it

of Truth, that he
(J)

may

to prevail over

all

other ideologies.

That

his

followers are

ideological communities
leaders

the best of the natural and have been created to be the

of mankind.

148

'

*
3
:

109

You You
(g)

up tor the guidance of mankind enjoin good and forbid evil and you believe in Allah.
are the best nation raised

That

his followers will

be the victors in the war of

ideologies.

And you

will

have the upper hand

if

you

are believers.

*&\J^y*^ofjJ&
m

24:55

AJlah has promised to those of you

who
will

believe and

do good
for
that

that

He

will surely

make them
rulers,

rulers in

the earth as

He made
and

those

before
their

them
religion

and

that

He

surely establish
for

them

will surely

which give them

He

has

chosen

them

He

security in

exxhange

after their fear.

63

And might

belongs to Allah and His Messenger and the believers.

(49
(//) That the teachings of the Quran will become more and more convincing with the discovery of new scientific facts pertaining to the human mind and the external Universe till a time will come when the non-believers will

accept

it

as a true revelation.

*< ,^ +<>' a

'

'

..,

'

1/

i .<

>

/-

41

53

We

will

ing) in the external

soon show them Our signs (i.e. die laws of nature workworld and in tlieir own minds until it is quite
is

deal to them that the Quran

Truth.

Question 6

Does Islam

sanction slavery

Does

it

sanction

polygamy

Answer

Slavery

The
a set

teachings of a great prophet

existence, so to say, in a

of abstract rules doubt to create a perfect society but that society has to be created the community whatever its by moulding defects or shortcomings in which the prophet appears. They have, therefore, a reference to the moral standards and social conditions (laws, customs, habits and mores) or the prophet's community and take shape as he applies the law of the Right Ideal to these standards and conditions with a view to improve them and to put the community on the

do not come into vacuum. They do not consist of and regulations. Their object is no

road to perfection.
Islam,

the
is

ideology of the

Last Prophet,

being

an

ideology that
since
it

based on the laws of

human

nature, takes an

evolutionary view of the

human

takes an evolutionary
it

individual and society, view of the Universe itselt.

As such

does not ignore the important fact that the in-

150
dividual and the society can advance towards the stage of
their highest evolution

the

only by a gradual process and that most essential part of this process is an inner development of Love, a progressive realization of Beauty, seeking a spontaneous outward expression and not merely an external legislation.

Every genuine moral action corresponds to a particular of the internal development of love or self-knowledge. Till that stage has reached the moral action that really corresponds to it, even if it appears under the external force of legislation, is not a genuine moral action at all. Islam's recognition of the principles of gradualness and spontaneity in the moral evolution of the individual and the society is in evidence in the way in which it has dealt with slavery and some other deep-rooted evil practices of the community of the prophet which was the very first recipient of its blessings. Islam, for example, does not like drinking about which
stage
it

has expressly stated

Su I'iM 'LL Si!,' .?*! 0*!^icjU4^liP6ftJ**

..if
5:

90
it

Intoxicants are only an uncleanliness, the devils work, so

that

shun

you may

succeed.

Yet, there was a time

in a state

when

condition that the believers

who

drinking was tolerated on drink should avoid praying

of intoxication.

4:

43

O
till

you who believe go not near prayer when you you know what you say.

are intoxicated

15'

up by giving them to understand that it was incompatible with the Right Ideal and with Zikr the most
drinking
totally

The

object was to prepare the believers to give

important activity ot
the slaves

a believer.

Similarly, Islam does not like that

some men should be

all

of some

others, since

it

expressly states that

human

beings belong to a single family, being the descen-

dants of a single forefather and that no

man

is

superior to

by reason of his piety. Language, race and colour are only marks of the identity nf men and signs of their Creator.
another before his Creator save

mankind, surely We have created you from a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other. Surely the noblest of you with Allah is the most dutiful of you.

30

Z2

And

ot His signs

is

the creation of the heavens and the earth and

the diversity of your tongues.

All

muslims

are described as brothers to each other.

* >

J . jC

ij^lo^P^Uil
40:

10

The

believers are brothers.

brother cannot be legally the slave of another brother.


152

down

Again, setting free of slaves already in bondage is laid as one of the conditions of true belief and action and

as a sign

of those

who

will enter Paradise.

90
;

II, 18

But he attempts not die uphill road And what will make thee comprehend what the uphill road is > (It is) to free a slave or to feed in a day of hunger an orphan nearly related, or the poor man lying in the dust. Then he is of those who believe and exhort one another to patience and exhort one another to love. These are the people of the right hand. 90 11 18.
:

On

the other

hand those who

disbelieve these injunc-

tions (including the injunction regarding the setting free

slaves) will enter Hell.

of

Thus the next two

verses run as

follows

90: 19, 20

And
left

those

who

disbelieve

Our message
90
:

dicy are the people of die

19-20.

hand.

On

them

is

fire closed.

In spite

of Islam's

clear
it

ed

in these injunctions

does not expect that

antagonism to slavery embodiit will be

153

possible for

all

those believers

who

arc already in possession

of slaves, to reach that high stage ot love or self-knowledge suddenly, where alone it is possible to carry out these injunctions as a result of a tree moral judgement rather than as the outcome of an external pressure, especially in view of the economic difficulties of carrying them out. Hence, till it becomes possible for a believer to set free his
to treat them according to which put them on the same level with their masters. The object of these rules is, firstly, to minimize the harms of the sin and to disarm its evil effects on the progress of a believer's love before it betomes possible for him to reach the stage of self-consciousness mentioned above. Thus they enable the believer, who has slaves and finds it difficult to set them free, to
slaves in this
it

way

expects

him

certain rules prescribed

by

it

advance quickly towards

self-consciousness,

a
it

stage in the evolution

is

of

his

where

no

longer
is

possible

for

liim to keep slaves.

slaves

Secondly, their object

to enable the

an atmosphere of greater freedom, before they are formally set free. The most important point to be remembered in Islam's attitude towards slavery is that there is neither any verse or Quran nor any tradition of the prophet permitting the sale
to breathe in

and purchase of new slaves, a practice which was discontinued under the prophet and the Four Caliphs. On the other hand the need of freeing the existing slaves is stressed throughout. In the meantime they were to be clothed

and fed and given all facilities exactly as their masters. Cohabitation with slave-girls was not permitted without marrying them with their consent. For, according to Islam any sexual relationship with a woman without marriage
is

a sin.

34:

3*

154

age

And marry those among you who are single and among your male slaves and female slaves.

those

who

are

of

The order regarding

repeated at least thrice in the

the marrying

of

slave-girls

is
:

Holy Quran

(see

verses 4

and 4:

25).

However

since the slave-girls,

full status

when

taken as

of free wives they are mentioned by the Quran distinctly from free married
wives, did not acquire the

women,

(v.

23

5,6)

There is enough evidence to show that Islam's teachings about slavery have had the desired effect of eradicating it. For even if there may be an exception or two, it can be stated as a general principle that wherever Islam went slaveSir Joseph Thompson trade disappeared on its arrival. wrote in a letter to "Times" London (14th Nov. 1887)
as

follows

"I unhesitatingly affirm

and

speak from a wider experience of

possesses

Eastern Central Africa than any of your correspondents

that
if

die slave-trade thrives

it

is

because Islam has

all

not

been

introduced in these regions and for the strongest of

the

reasons, that

spread

of Mohammedanism would have meant the con-

comitant suppression of the slave-trade."

Polygamy
Islam permits a man to marry more than one wife, upto four wives in all at a time, provided he takes permission of his previous wife or wives every time that he contracts a new marriage, is economically fit to support all his wives

according
all

to

reasonable

standards

before taking another

his

wife that

and feels certain he will be able to treat

consistent

wives equally. This permission of Islam is quite with its character as a religion of human nature.

The anthropologists tell us that man is by his nature a polygamous animal. This means that while the natural urge of the human male is to have more than one wife at a time,
that

of the human female

is

to live with a

man who

has

more than one wife and

this

that facts

which apparently

belie

statement are really due to acquired habits of thinking

artificial

or an

conditioning of the true nature of

men and

women.

155

Polygamy

in Islam

is

however only
this

a permission

not an obligation or a duty as some

critics

and of Islam have

wrongly imagined.
instincts press

On

account of

permission, the

believer feels satisfied that, should his natural

polygamous

hard on him, it would be possible for him to satisfy them honourably, without having recourse to immoral or unsocial means and consequently without detri-

ment

to the progress

stated the object

natural instincts
satisfaction

ot his self-consciousness. As already of Islam is not to curb or suppress the of man, but it is rather to direct their

in such a

way

that

it

the moral law of the Right Ideal.

does not conflict with This law demands that

the man who wants to enter into a sexual relationship with a woman other than his wife should first take her for another wife if he can. The reason is that it is only in this way that he can publicly own and take full responsibility for the protection and maintenance of the woman and his offspring by her. Instead of strict open monogamy with its divorces and unlimited secret polygamy with its
bastards, which together constitute the sexual life of the modernized man (who thinks that he must play off his repressions for the sake of his mental health) Islam permits open polygamy for its followers whenever the

necessity

may

arise.

In actual fact, however,

tions

economic and other considerathis

of very negligible percentage of Muslims.

restricted the use

have always

permission to a

characteristic

of the teachings of a great prophet.

While considering the attitude of Islam towards polygamy we have to remember, that since a great prophet has a very superior knowledge of human nature superior because he owes it to a direct revelation from the Creator Himself his solution of human probslavery and

is

and not logical or mathematical. The though apparently easy, simple and intelligible, is yet superficial, short-sighted and self-contradictory and hence in the long run, incomplete and
lems
psychological
logical

solution,

i 56

defective.

The

psychological

solution looks at the pro-

blem from a higher point of view, is deep, comprehensive It is capable unfolding itself from within and permanent. to keep pace with the rising moral level of the growing individual and society. Hence it is eternally complete and satisfactory.

points of the underlying of the Islamic Ideology given above can be summarised as follows (i) The strongest and the most pressing desire of man the desire which dominates and controls all Ins other desires is the desire for an ideal. This desire is the direct result of that urge of the (2) unconscious mind of man which the psychoanalysts have described as libido. the Freud, Adler, Marx and McDougall have misunderstood this desire as a desire for sex, a desire for power, a desire for food and shelter and a combination of the desires for self-regard and self-assertion, respecprinciples
:

The main

Summary in my explanation

tively.
(3)
is really a desire for Beauty and Perfecand can be perfectly and permanently satisfied only by the idea of a Self-consciousness or a Personality which may be actually the Reality of the Universe and the Creator and Evolver of the world, possessing all the qualities of Beauty, Goodness, Truth, Power and Perfection. There is a preponderating evidence of facts discernible at the physical, biological and psychological levels of creation, including the evidence we gather from the phenomenon of prophethood, to show that the Reality of the Universe is actually

This desire

tion

(4)

a Self-consciousness or a Personality

which

is

the

Creator and Evolver of the world and possesses all the qualities of Beauty. Goodness, Truth, Power

and Perfection. The Right Ideal of man

is,

therefore, this Reality

157

of the Universe
(>)

itself.
is

The urge
1

for an ideal

irrepressible
is

and

irresistible.
it

lence

when

a person

unable to satisfy

in the

proper way, that is, when he is unable to feel or realize the beauty of the Right Ideal lie is forced to seek its satisfaction by taking for his ideal an idea

(6)

which has none of the qualities of Beauty in it but to which he attributes these qualities wrongly out of a necessity. An ideal whether wrong or right controls and
determines

very

strictly

all

the

activities

political, military, legal, ethical, educational, social,

(7)

economic, intellectual and artistic activities the life of the individual and the community. The Right Ideal leads to right actions which bring the self nearer to the full satisfaction of its urge for
Beauty.
Since
it it

the of

really possesses

all

the qualities

of Beauty,
satisfaction
(8)

leads

to

perfect

and permanent

of the

self.

A wrong
not
its

ideal leads to
self's

wrong

actions

which do
it

satisfy the

urge for Beauty and take

leading

instead,

on

a totally

destination

the
its

wrong path

away from

Reality of the Universe.

the state that loves
It

(9)

The community, the nation or a wrong ideal is short-lived.

centuries but

may
is

live

for

ultimate obliteration
ideal really lacks the
its
its

inevitable.
qualities

Since a

wrong

of

Beauty and reveals the community of

stage

own

defects sooner or later,

lovers ultimately reaches a

its

when

they are disillusioned about

beauty

(10)

(11)

and cease to love it and therefore cease to exist as a community of its lovers. Since wrong ideals can be many, individuals who are unable to love the Right Ideal are divided into a number of organised communities or states, which fight among themselves causing bloodshed on an ever larger and larger scale. The fundamental cause of evolution is neither the struggle for existence nor the agency of natural

58

selection
is

as

Darwin

has

rather the desire or the will of the Creator

wrongly imagined. It which

is

of consciousness
(12)

flowing in the Universe as a stream or current carrying the world forward

towards the stage of its highest perfection. Evolution at the human stage which constitutes the process of History is leading towards a universal acceptance of the Right Ideal as well as to a greater and greater internal realization and external objectification of the Beauty of this Ideal and its In other words, it is leading towards a qualities. greater and greater inner development and corresponding outer expression of the love of the Creator

and His
(13)

qualities.

The

love of the Right Ideal develops by internal

(14)

(15)

and external action undertaken in its service and for the realization of its Beauty. The internal action of the individual consists in contemplating the Beauty of the Ideal by concentrating his attention on the manifestations of nature and on the meaning of words expressing the attributes of Beauty. The external action of the individual consists in expressing the attributes of Beauty in his external
practical
life.

(16)

Such

action,

known

as

moral action, demands that

his

the individual should treat himself, his relatives, the other

members of

community and

the rest

(17)

of with remaining qualities Beauty, Goodness, Truth and the of the Creator. The effort to achieve and having once achieved, to maintain, his own political and social freedom in order to ensure the freedom of his thought and action in the service of his ideology, peaceful propagation of the ideology in order to extend its blessings to the whole of the human race and participation in war when it becomes necessary in order to stop the violence of an aggressive ideology,

of humanity

in accordance

the attributes

159
arc the

main

aspects

of the

moral

activity oi

true believer.
(18)

Moral action of the highest order i.e. action which and really and genuinely moral purely in accordance with the attributes of Beauty, can result only from accurate judgements of the distincSuch accurate tion between right and wrong. moral judgements are not possible without an intense love of the Creator, a love which is intense and passionate enough to dominate completely, and
is

to exclude

all

wrong

ideas from, the consciousness

of the individual. In such a case alone is the love of Beauty able to determine all the actions of the
individual.
(19)

The
all

psycho-analysts are right

actions, right or

when

they

say that

wrong, significant or insignificant, are recorded and preserved in the unconscious mind in the form of a series of mental states, even if we have forgotten them completely, and that the passage of time does not alter them in
the
(20)
least.

human

The human

self

is

ness that has created the

that has created
fore, carries

immortal since it is consciousbody and not the body

consciousness.
itself into

The
life

self,

there-

with

the next

the record

of
(21)

all

its

actions, right or

wrong,

significant

or

insignificant.

The

self begins, after death, a

its

new

life

in

which

the evolution of
tinues

self-knowledge or love con-

that part

and it endeavours to satisfy, in this next life, of its urge for Beauty which it was unable
life.

to satisfy in this earthly

it

Its

right actions help

(22)

and its wrong actions hinder it in the satisfaction of this part of its urge for Beauty. The self that loves the Right Ideal and acts rightly in this life has no fear and no grief in the next life because it has no hinderance in the satisfaction of its urge for Beauty and is able to satisfy that urge without struggle or effort. The happy state of its

i6o

mind
desires.

takes

the

external,
all

objective

shape

of

a
it

Paradise

containing

the

good

things

that

(23)

The
act

self that loves the

Right
their

Ideal but has

misfortune to be led

away by wrong
influence

ideas

had the and to

its

wrongly

under

during

earthly life has to

make

a very painful and torto regain the positions

It

turous effort in the next

life

from which
along
loves
its

it

had

slipped.

has to retrace

its

steps

wrong path in order to get rid of its wrong and wrong actions completely and thereafter
its

and to secure its complete mental torture takes the external objective shape of a Hell of Fire containing all
to begin

right love
Its

satisfaction.

the

disagreeable

objects

suitable

to

represent
Its

its

wrong

attachments

and

actions.
it

dreadful

struggle in Hell finally purifies

ments and actions and makes path of its evolution.

(24)

it

fit

of these attachto resume the

(25)

self that ignores the teachings of the prophets and has the misfortune to be loving and serving a wrong ideal at the time of death has an extremely remote chance of coming back to the road of evolution again. Being devoid of the light of faith absolutely, its frightful struggle with its obstacles has no redeeming aspect and no end All its actions even those which within sight were generally considered to be good and generous turn out to be impediments in the way of its progress since they had emerged in the service of a wrong ideal and in opposition to the Right Ideal. Since the misdirection of a man's desire for an ideal is extremely dangerous for him in this life as well as in the next, nature (which assists man in the proper satisfaction of all his natural desires) assists him in the proper satisfaction ot tliis desire too and it does so by creating men who are gifted with the knowledge of the Right Ideal by a special favour of its own. These men, known as prophets, teach

The

If.l

mankind what
and
(26)

is

the ideal

mat they should love

.it

how

they should love

it.

The phenomenon of prophethood

the

human

or psychological stage of evolution is similar to the phenomenon of mutations or sudden variations of

species at die animal ox biological stage of evolution. A prophet is the progenitor of a natural psychological type

of

life

as the first individual ot

every

species

is

of life.
a

the progenitor of a natural biological type As an organism owes its biological existence

to a father

on account of
beliefs

the

fact

of
his

its

birth, so

lover o( the Right

Ideal

owes

ideological

existence (his

and

actions) to a prophet

on

account
In other
to
(27)

oi~

his absolute

words
his

the

obedience to the latter. follower of a prophet owes

characterized by a particular
physical
features
species

him
of
all

psychological or ideological birth.

is

As
set

a natural species

permanent
the

(inherited

by
first

members of

the

from

their

grandfather), so a natural

ideological

com-

(28)

munity is characterized by a particular set ot permanent ideological features. These are the forms of worship and religious institutions practised by the prophet and taught by him to his immediate followers. An intense love of the Creator, essential lor moral action of the highest order (mentioned under item No. 18 above) is not possible for an individual unless he follows and obeys the Prophet of the Age perfectly and absolutely in all his beliefs and actions and adheres strictly to the forms of worship and
religious
institutions

the only

way

in

This is prescribed by him. which he can be born of the pro-

(29)

belong to the chosen followers and deserve the privileges of nature that belong to them. The emergence of new species comes to an end with the appearance of man, the first animal that is biologically just complete enough to continue
phet psychologically,

can

ideological

community of his

62

(30)

the process of evolution. Similarly the emergence of new prophets comes to an end with the appearance of the first prophet who is psychologically just complete enough to continue the process of evolution i.e., a prophet whose life-example cmbodies the first application of the Right Ideal to all the essential aspects of the natural activity of the human individual and society and who, therefore, gives to the world for the first time a complete ideology based on the Right Ideal. Such a prophet is Mohammad (peace be upon him) since he is the first prophet whose life exemplifies the application of the Right Ideal to all the im-

portant aspects

e.g.

the political,

military,
ethical
is

social,

economic, of natural
fore

legal,

educational and
activity.

aspects

human
last

His ideology

there-

the

community
(31)

of the natural ideologies and his the last of the natural ideological

communities. The most important of the ideological features or forms of worship and religious institutions practised and taught by the Prophet (peace be upon him) are as follows
:

(a)

Kalimah.

The declaration that there

is

no Lord

but Allah and that Mohammad (peace be upon him) is His Messenger.
Salat. Praying Five times a day, preferably in congregation and under die guidance of a leader. (c) Sautn Fasting the month of Ramazan every
(b)

year.
(d)

Zakat

Making over to the society the whole or

mini-

at least a part (according to a prescribed

mum)
(e)

of one's surplus wealth

for the benefit

of

the needy.

(32)

Joining at least once in life the annual world congregation of Muslims who come for a pilgrimage to the House of the Lord (the first mosque built on earth) at Mecca. The last of the natural species, i.e., man, became the
Haj.

[61

of all future evolution and was conseallowed to survive and prosper and to spread its race to the ends or the earth. Similarly

gateway
quently

the last ot the natural ideologies,

i.e.

Islam,

is

die

gateway of all future evolution and is consequent v allowed to survive and prosper and to spread its followers to the ends of the earth.
(}$)
It

follows that evolution to die highest stages of

or love, by means of worship and moral action, is possible only for the community of the Last Prophet and tor no other community. Life favours and evolves only that part of its creation which favours and supports its own aspirations and objectives both at the biological and the psychological stages of evolution.
self-consciousness

The
The

desire

for

an

ideal

compared
of

to

the desire for food.

central idea

the Manifesto

Islam

is

that the

strongest and the

most important urge of the human being is not the desire for food as the Marxists believe but die desire for an ideal. The following table which compares the two desires will enable the reader to get an idea of the relative importance of the two desires in the nature of man.

The
It

desire for

food

The
i.

desire for an ideal

represents a psychonecessity
It
is

represents an instinc-

It

tive
sity

biological necesis less

logical

of
the

of man. It powerful than

man.
powerful
desire

more

the

than

human
ideal.

desire

for

an

for

food and

other instinctive biological

necessities

of

man.
2.
It
is

the

fundamental
the

It

is

the

fundamental
the

need of body.

human

need

of

human

self-consciousness.

T64

It is

permanent and unqua-

3.

It is

permanent and un-

alterable but the

lity

alterable but the stan-

of food generally
in

dard of the ideal generally increases in

increases

richness

Beauin-

the with growing wealth of the individual.

ty

with

the

growing

knowledge of the
dividual.

4.

Like other
sires

human
it

desnb~

4.

It

rules

and

controls

on

the instinctive

the desire for food and

all

or animal level,
ideal, in as

the other animal or

desires

serves the desire for

an

instinctive

of

much

as its

satisfaction enables the

determines the limits upto which

man

and

individual to continue
his life as

they must be
desire

satisfied.

long

as

it

is

In order to satisfy this

needed by him for the realization of his ideal. Man becomes ready to
ignore
his

man
for

becomes
his

ready
desire

to sacrifice

food

and

desire

for

even

his desire for life.

food and even his desire for life,

whenever
his ideal

he thinks that

demands
5.
It

it.

exists

independently

S.

It

exists

independently

of the physical laws and is not their product.

of the biological laws and instincts and is

not their product. The biological laws and
instincts
its

Physical laws
its

however help faction by

satis-

assisting

man

in the production

satisfaction

however help by assistin the

life.

of food.

ing

man

main-

tenance of

6.

When
obtain

man

cannot
healthy

6.

When

man cannot
realize the

good,

love the or

and nourishing food,

lie
is

forced to satisfy

beauty oi^ Right Ideal, he is forced to satisfy

os

his

hunger by taking food which is interior, injuriunhealthy and

ous.

his desire

for an

ideal

by wrong and
less

worth-

ideals.

7.

Its

proper
to

satisfaction

7.

Its

proper

satisfaction

leads

the

health

leads to the health

and

growth of the human body as well as to the power for bodilv

and
action

growth

(i.e.

happiness

and spiritual evolution) of the human self

as

or

physical

well
for

as

to

the
ac-

power.

power

moral

tion or will-power.

8.

It

is

possible to resist
for

it

S.

It

is

not possible to re-

temporarily
ideal,

the

sist it

sake of the urge for an

to
for

life

without danger since the urge an ideal is the

even temporarily without danger to mental health, since

is
it.

there

no urge higher

than

higher urge.

9.

Man

has sometimes to
the
physical
satisfy

9.

oppose
it,

laws in order to
tor
toiling

Man has sometimes to oppose the biological laws and the instincts
in order to satisfy it, for example, by suffering

example, by and working

hard in opposition to the force of gravitation

tions

and
in
ideal
Ins

sacrificing his life

the

service

of the
urges

and the condiof weather.

in opposition to

biological

and

die

instincts

of

self-preservation.

10.

Man

has to take help

10.

Man

has to take help

from natural agencies

like the sun, rain, air,

from the natural agency of prophethood

in

and

soil

in the process

the

process

of

its

66
real

of

its

proper

satisfac-

satisfaction.

tion.

ii.

Its

obstruction leads to
the
biological

ii.

Its

obstruction

leads

physical weakness and

upsets

to

moral weakness and

functions
self

upsets die psychological

functions

of the hucausing

of the
causing

man
disease

system

human
teria,

and ultimately

nervous troubles, hysobsessions and

death.

ultimately madness.
arose in history with

12.

It

12.

It

arose with the ap-

die appearance of the first living cell and its

satisfaction has led to

pearance

of the
individual

first

human
its

in

history and the need of

satisfaction has

the

evolution

of

led

species culminating in

to

the

evolution of

man, the perfect animal and the last of the

species.

ideological
ties

communiin

culminating

of the Perfect Ideology or the Community of

die

community

the

Last Prophet.

BY THE SAME

AUTHOR

IDEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE

This book, for which the author got his doctorate
in

Philosophy, explains and

in

elaborates

the
It

points

touched by him

The Manifesto of Islam.

has been
as

spoken of by several scholars of international fame

an original and substantial contribution to philosophical

studies.

It

contains, according to

authoritative

opinion, the final

refutation

of

the

psychological

theories of McDougall and the psycho-analysts, Freud

and Adler.
not
fail

Its

cogent and powerful reasoning does

to convince. are

Deserves the attention of

all

those

who

keen to know the meaning

of the

present

crisis in

human

affairs

and the future of man,

society and humanity.

(Pages, 433)

Price Rs.

10/-

DIN

MUHAMMADI

PRESS,

McLEOD ROAD, KARACHI, PAKISTAN.

Printed and Published by

Din Muhammadi

Press,

McLeod Road,

Karachi

bv Kb. Ghulaiii Hussain. Manager.

RETURN TO the

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