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INNER AND MORAL DIMENSIONS
One image of the Shari'ah which has been assiduously cultivated, is
that of a collection of laws enforceable only through political authority. This is not the
case; all its laws are religious, but religion is not all law. Laws are therefore an
important and integral part of the Shari'ah and, as we have already noted, it admits of no
distinction between its parts: 'to pray' is as valid, enforceable, obligatory and sacred
as 'to consult in collective affairs' or to 'prohibit interest' or 'to stone an
adulterer'. Yet the Shari'ah overwhelmingly consists of morals, norms, manners and rules,
from worship to statecraft, which depend for compliance entirely upon man's conscience.
'Law' in modern usage is only that regulation which is enforced by political authority,
whereas Muslim scholars use this word to cover every act of human behaviour, even acts of
the human heart; for the Shari'ah deals extensively with the intention, just as it does
with the duties of prayer, fasting and alms-giving as well as with civil and criminal law.
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The entire sanction behind the Shari'ah is man's inner relationship
with his Lord, his love and fear of Him, and his sense of responsibility and
accountability to Him, here and after death. Much has been made of the punishments
prescribed by the Shari'ah, but it is far less widely appreciated that the Qur'an and the
Prophet have in fact laid down very few such punishments- and, where they have, they
concern serious crimes against a fellow human being's life, property or honour. Because of
this, perhaps, the Shari'ah has been able to command a powerful and unparalleled following
and obedience from Muslims down the ages, and, despite being often deprived of legal and
political sanctions, has been accorded a remarkable adherence from one end of the world to
the other.
Inner motivation is the main reason why the institutions created by the
Shari'ah - like family life, abstinence from alcohol, and chastity-have tenaciously
survived for fourteen centuries. The punishment for drinking is rarely enforced, yet the
Muslim world has no problem of alcoholism. Stoning for adultery is also rare-except in one
or two areas-yet the amount of extra-marital sex is negligible. Divorce is easy to
pronounce, but the divorce rate is extremely low.
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The Shari'ah experiences no tension between 'love' and 'law' or between
'faith' and 'deeds'. Both are integrated into a harmonious whole.
Guiding man to Din, the Way, through the Shari'ah is an act of God's
greatest mercy, kindness and love. Wherever the 'sending down of the Book' is mentioned in
the Qur'an, the attributes of mercy, wisdom and omnipotence are also mentioned. 'A sending
down from the Most Merciful, the Mercy-giving (Fussilat 41: 2). 'We sent it down in the
blessed night... a mercy from your Lord' (al-Dukhan 44: 3-4).
And following God's guidance is what man's love for his Lord and
Creator must lead to. 'Those who believe love God most' (al-Baqarah 2: 165). But: 'Say: If
you love God, follow me [the Prophet]' (Ale-'Imran 3: 31). And only when one follows the
Prophet out of love for God, his love is reciprocated by Him: 'God will love you and will
forgive your sins' (Ale-'Imran 3: 31).
The very distinction between love and law is alien to the temper of
Islam and incomprehensible in its vision. Love is all- embracing; how can it even conceive
of displeasing the Beloved and ignoring the guidance given by Him? How can One who loves
His creatures leave them wandering and groping in darkness to find answers to the complex
problems of life?
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In Islam, faith is not an abstract theological dogma, nor an
intellectual creed, nor a philosophical proposition. It must spring forth into action in
day-to-day life, extending from inner to outer, from individual to social, from moral to
legal. It is the Shari'ah which translates faith and moral ideals into clear, definable,
viable and concrete goals, forms and codes and brings them within the grasp of every
ordinary man and woman; this is why it is one of the greatest blessings of God and one of
the greatest vehicles for human progress.
For men have groped endlessly to translate faith and moral ideals into
viable actions and deeds. Some have been tempted to separate the two, others have been led
into a never-ending philosophical quest. They have not been able even to define what is
ethical, moral or good. But can ordinary men and women wait for such definitions and
answers? If man has to live a morally good life, if he has been created with a purpose, if
he has to meet his Maker-the moment he opens his eyes and becomes aware and conscious, he
must know what to do and what not to do. And he must act in the certain knowledge that
what he is following is universally and absolutely true and will please his Creator. Who
else, then, other than his Creator should he look to for those answers? Herein lies the
beauty of the Shari'ah. Every man knows what his outward conduct ought to be to conform
with his faith, his moral ideals. He has an answer to the eternal question: what is
'good'? It matters not whether he is illiterate or a scholar, he can confidently act.
Not that all ethical and moral problems have been solved and buried for
ever. So long as man is alive, he will continue to face difficult choices and dilemmas,
old and new. This is a natural corollary of a worldview where man has to battle
incessantly for 'good' against evil. But, in the Shari'ah, he has the means to find the
best way to ease and facilitate his task.
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To think that Islam emphasises submission to God merely in the outward
conduct of man's life would be a gross misunderstanding. As the name used for the totality
of the man- God relationship, Islam grips man's inner self in equal, or even more
emphatic, terms. Significantly, the Qur'an prefers to address Muslims more as 'those who
believe', and treats Iman, faith, and 'amal salih, good conduct, as an integrated whole.
Indeed, the Qur'an and the Prophet, at almost every step, stress the
importance of the inner relationship to God as compared to mere outward conformity. The
true heart of the Shari'ah is not at all formalistic. For example: although prayers cannot
be performed without turning to Makka, the Qur'an says, 'it is no virtue merely to turn
your face to the East or the West' (al-Baqarah 2: 187); charity is ardently desired, but
an act of charity done for the benefit of the doer will bring no reward (al-Baqarah 2:
264); it is not the 'flesh and blood' of a sacrificial animal that God desires, but 'the
taqwa (God-consiousness) inside you' (al-Hajj 22: 37), says another verse of the Qur'an;
and, declared the Prophet, 'there are many who fast during the day and pray all night but
gain nothing except hunger and a sleepless night' (Darimi); and, finally, only those who
return to God with a pure and wholesome heart, Qalb Salim, will deserve to be saved
(al-Shu'ura' 25: 89).
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Some in Islam, naturally enough, have concentrated more on developing
ways and means of purifying the inner self and of strengthening the relationship between
man and God. Leading exponents of this approach-known as Tariqah-have been the Sufis. Much
has been said about the conflict between the Shari'ah and the Tariqah. But what we have
said above gives the lie to the often propagated idea of any inherent or continuing
dichotomy and tension between the two terms-both of which interestingly enough, are of
latter-day origin. (Early Islam used only Islam or Din which encompassed every aspect of
man's self.) Special circumstances may have led this or that person to lay more emphasis
on a certain aspect: a few may have even been sufficiently misled to try to generate
tension and conflict between the two or extol one at the expense of the other. But there
were never two different paths or two different expressions of man's relationship to God.
Interestingly, both Shari'ah and Tariqah have exactly the same meaning-the way. According
to Ibn Tamiya, a person observing only the law, without its inner truth, cannot be called
truly a believer; and, similarly, a person claiming to possess 'truth' which is at odds
with the Shari'ah cannot even be a Muslim.
Even, historically speaking, in early Islam, the two streams, of Sufis
and the jurists never flowed separately. Hasan Basri, the doyen of Sufis, is a major
pillar of fiqh and tafsir (jurisprudence and exegesis); whereas Ja'fer Sadiq, Abu Hanifa,
Malik, Shafi'i and Ahmad - the founders of the main schools of Muslim jurisprudence - find
pride of place in Fariduddin 'Attar's classical Tadhkira-al-Awliya (The Book of Saints).
In the Qur'an and the ahadith both inward and outward are inseparably
intertwined. For example, when the Qur'an says, 'who in their prayers are humble'
(al-Muminun 23: 1), then prayer is what one is likely to categorise as the Shari'ah,
humility as the Tariqah. Or, when it says, 'those who believe, love God most' (al-Baqarah
2: 165), love is likely to be taken to belong to Tariqah; but, at the same time, the
Qur'an emphasises: 'Say: If you love God, follow me'. Thus prayer and humility, love and
obedience are inseparable, two sides of the same coin.
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