Aspirations and Antagonisms
Contents Next
 

Barnes& Noble.com


Click to subscribe to witness-pioneer mailing list

 

ASPIRATIONS AND ANTAGONISMS

There can be little doubt that today, as Islam steadily surges forward, powerful and decisive in directing and shaping the flow of events in the Muslim countries, the world is witnessing a phenomenon of far-reaching importance to its future. In this whole movement of Islamic resurgence, nothing stands out as more symbolic of Muslim aspirations than the commitment to re- establish the Shari'ah, the code of conduct for total life laid down by Islam. Every country of the Muslim world is pulsating with an intense longing to shape life in accordance with its precepts. The Shari'ah, in short, in the eyes of friend and foe alike, has come to epitomise the goal towards which Muslims are restlessly trying to advance in quest of their destiny.

But, paradoxically, it is the Shari'ah which, more than any other element in Islam, seems to arouse the greatest misgivings and most intense feelings of fear, hostility and ridicule both among those who are not within the fold of Islam and those Muslims who are either unaware of or have become intellectually alienated from their own traditions. For many of them, the Shari'ah is something barbaric and cruel, inhuman and uncivilised, which is trying to turn the clock back on progress and modernisation and plunge the world back into the Dark Ages (as if it was 'dark' in the world of Islam at the time it was 'dark' in Europe!): women will be no better than slaves and non-Muslims treated as second-class citizens. Cut off the hand of a thief; stone the adulterer; veil the woman; this, according to its opponents, is the sum substance of that Shari'ah which is so deeply inspiring Muslims everywhere today.

On a more sophisticated, though no less vociferous, level is the chorus of objectors who attempt to question the very basis, nature and role of the Shari'ah. The objective seems to be to cast doubt upon its relevance and applicability to modern life; and thus it to lead Muslims either to abandon it or to change it beyond recognition by severing its unique continuity with the past. Man has grown up; why should he look to an extra-human source for guidance on how to conduct his affairs? Why should God condescend to interfere in man's day-to-day life? Why should He be concerned with such mundane and trivial matters? The Shari'ah is all formalism which consigns the sublime man-God relationship to the straitjacket of law and obedience at the expense of the joys of love and spiritual devotion and religiosity. A law laid down fourteen centuries ago in a nomadic desert setting can hardly meet the complex demands and pressures of modern technological civilisation. The essential message of the Qur'an is moral; its laws could not have been meant to be eternal. The concept of the Prophet as the perfect model and of his Sunnah as the binding source of the Shari'ah are much later inventions of the Muslim mind. These and similar arguments are heard quite often.

 

UNDERSTANDING THE SHARI'AH

Such prejudices and opinions do not augur well for the future of mankind. They can only exacerbate the deep antagonisms and animosities between the West and Muslims which have persisted throughout history and which, if renewed and aggravated, may ultimately tear apart a world already dangerously divided. The need to understand the Shari'ah is therefore no less urgent and compelling than the Muslim desire to implement it.

The Shari'ah is not merely a collection of do's and don'ts, nor just a code of criminal laws prescribing punishments for certain crimes. Though it does contain both, its sweep is much broader and deeper, encompassing the totality of man's life. Shari'ah literally means a 'clear path'. It is the path that man, in Islam, must walk as he toils and strives to reach his Creator. It is the yearning deep within to seek the Lord and the Master that the Shari'ah translates into steps, concrete and specific, on the pathways of life. The Shari'ah is the fulfilment of the total man- inner and outer, individual and corporate-as he seeks to live by the will of his one and only God.

 

 
 

Contents Next

Library ] [ Al-Qur'an ] [ Hadeeth ] Books ] Articles ]  

Send mail to webmaster@wponline.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2002 WPONLINE.ORG
Last modified: September 16, 2002