Chapter XII

ISLAM, THE TRUE RELIGION

 

The last prophet of the Islamic Religion is the Prophet Muhammad [Peace Be Upon Him]. He was a prophet, administrator, legislator, moralist, reformer, political scientist and economist, all these traits gathered in one personality. There was hardly any aspect of manifest or disguised human slavery to which he did not turn his attention in order to diagnose the disease and suggest the cure.  

Let us start with the fundamental doctrine that Muhammad [PBUH] preached the basis of all true religion. He emphasized the Unity of God whose creation was a visible sign of His presence but Who in His essence was invisible. The Holy Qur’an says:

“Say, He is Allah, the One! Allah, the Independent and Besought of all. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.”    [Qur’an 112:2-5]

 “Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the eyes. And He is the inscrutable, the All-Aware.”    [Qur’an 6:104]

Besides the Unity of God, the only other requirement is a virtuous life describing virtue as the essential nature of the real self of man and a common heritage of all noble souls.

In order to vitalize the Muslims the Holy Qur’an prescribes belief in One God, Salat (Prayer), Saum (Fasting), Zakat (Poor-rate) and Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca). The Holy Qur’an says:

“It is not righteousness that you turn your faces to the East or the West, but truly righteous is he who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Books and the Prophets, and spends his money out of love for Him, on the kindred and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask for charity, and for ransoming the captives; and observes Prayer and pays the Zakat; and those who fulfil their promise when they have made one, and the patient in poverty and afflictions and the steadfast in time of war, it is these who have proved truthful and it is these who are truly God-fearing.”    [Qur’an 2:178]  

The creed of Islam is so simple and rational that its fundamentals cannot be easily attacked. The philosopher appreciates and interprets vanities as a religious experience. Islamic religion denounces formalism and hardened orthodoxy which worships the letter more than the spirit. Therefore, the Holy Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] emancipated man from priesthood.

In many historical religions, the priests form a class that becomes the guardian of the souls of men. Religion is practiced by this class as a profession venerated as superior to every other occupation. In the Christian Church in Nigeria (the Anglican Church for instance), the priests are organized in a hierarchical order as follows: Archbishop, Bishop, Provost, Archdeacon, Canons, Reverend, Curates, Catechists and Lay readers. The Nigerian Roman Catholics follow similar examples with their hierarchy culminating at the top in the person of an infallible Pope. Islam was the first religion which realized the danger of religion not making men free but enslaving their spirit.

Islam therefore makes every man his own priest. No intermediaries are needed between man and God. When a call emerges from the human soul, God responds. He demands no animal or human sacrifice to be propitiated. Every soul is directly responsible to Him and in matters of moral law, all are equal before Him. The institutions of Mullams, Alfas and Alhajis as we have here in Nigeria, is unknown to Islam. Many people take advice from these self-styled Muslim Priests because of fear. It has been established by modern psychological research that fear is at the bottom of most complexes from which a large number of men suffer. Countless phobias paralyze the life activities of human beings and make them unable to face life.

A person sincerely believing in an All-Powerful Beneficent God is cured of all fears. Such a person goes about the business of life facing pleasant and unpleasant situations with an equanimity that is enviable. He has no feeling that he is at loggerheads with a blind or a hostile universe and does his best and leaves the results to God.

Islam did away with the necessity of having special temples or special places of worship where God alone could be worshipped. No doubt, mosques were built. But it was the Holy Prophet [PBUH] himself who said: “One of the special features of Islam is that every place on the wide earth of God is our place of worship. Masjid or Mosque is the place of public religious services. The same word is used in the Qur’an for the place of worship belonging to the Christians and Jews.

For Muslims, prayers have no aesthetic paraphernalia or abracadabra as this is not required. The man who leads the prayers is not an ordained priest. He wears no formal or professional robes and carries no aura of mystical sanctity about him. Any Muslim selected on account of his knowledge and character is asked to conduct the service.

Neither at birth, nor when a person accepts Islam, at weddings or at funerals is any priest required. On every important occasion and in every critical situation, the Muslims have nothings else to offer except prayers and in prayers, except respectful and devotional postures, there is no ritual for which a professional religious priest is needed. Some Muslims may specialize in religious learning in which they acquire the title of Imam, but religious life as a profession is discountenanced by Islam. Hence, the problem of theocracy as it troubles the Christian religion never troubles Islam because the problem of Church versus State could never arise in the Islamic polity.

Today responsible Nigerians are diligently exploring means of promoting  inter-tribal understanding and good-will among different sections of Nigeria. The most important problem confronting the world body is the so-called ideological conflict. Some atheists are advocating the application of Secular ideologies like Capitalism, Socialism, Communism and Welfare State Doctrines. But, the Muslims must oppose all application of Secular Ideology because they do not provide for the spiritual needs of man.

Religion is something that human nature demands. It is said that there are three basic human needs: food, clothing and shelter. These are physical needs. Beyond these are spiritual needs as well which science and philosophy fail to satisfy. As the human stomach requires a home to live in, so the human mind also requires certain things and one of such things is the consolation from the questions which beset the human mind. The human soul remains unsatisfied therefore restive till the satisfactory answer to the important question is received. Religion fulfils the spiritual requirements of man by providing for suitable answers to fundamental human problems.

Christianity cannot provide any solutions to the burning problems of the day as Christianity does not have any plan for man to live on this earth. In Christianity, the rich are exhorted to be kind to the poor. Spirituality is equated with poverty. It is preached that the poor can find it easier to enter the kingdom of heaven and it would  be more difficult for the rich to enter it than for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The religious man is expected to despise the good things of this world and the next world will compensate him for what he lacked in this mundane existence. The poor are asked to suffer in patience for a short while for their existence on earth after all is very transient.

The early Christians believed that the end of the world was very near; since the whole was going to blow-up very soon; why they asked, should one bother about material goods ? Christ had said that man does not live by bread alone and that the sustenance of the spirit was more necessary. As the early Christians were very poor, they begged God to give them their daily bread. These doctrines are not relevant to the world problems. If adopted, it will only expose the world to more exploitation.

The Prophet of Islam was a practical idealist. He realized that metaphysical or utopian idealism had little use for the common man. In the entire scheme of Islam, the body is indissolubly linked with the soul. The soul is not a product of the body but is so linked with the body that whatever happens to one affects the other either directly or indirectly. The world of God’s creation is a real world; everything in nature is a gift of God meant to be enjoyed by His creatures. There are, no doubt, realities higher than the physical world but the physical world too is spiritual in its own way. The body must be looked after to become fit, strong and pure in order to help the harmony of the spirit.

Muhammad [PBUH] transformed all honest work into worship. He said that the man who is seeking livelihood for his family is also worshipping God. “The wage-earner is a friend of God” He was the first great religious teacher who announced in clear terms that for the common man, poverty was a great evil. He said “Poverty brings a man to the brink of loss of faith in God”. In the revelation, God mentions as one of the blessings conferred on the Prophet [PBUH] that he was originally poor and God had granted him freedom from want. But this was only one aspect of his economic outlook. He was equally, if not more, afraid of superfluous wealth which makes the possessor luxurious, callous and unjust. “I am not much afraid of your poverty as of your wealth.” A man is as much enslaved by wrongfully hoarding wealth as he is degraded by poverty. The middle path of economic sufficiency and security is the path of all social justice and all genuine culture. Muhammad [PBUH] was determined to liberate man economically. Here are some of the chief measures that he adopted:

       1.         On account of the differences in opportunities and aptitudes, some people are bound to earn more than others. It is falsehood to say that men are born with equal capacities. Free initiative must not be curbed; only unlawful means of the acquisition and accumulation of wealth must be stopped by legal sanctions as well as moral injunctions.

       2.         Usury in all forms and speculations in trade must be legally stopped. Money must not be earned without effort. Usury must not be mixed with trade.

       3.         Trade and partnership in trade even between capital and labor are allowed where the benefits as well as the risks are shared. There should be cooperation without exploitation.

       4.         The hoarding of essential commodities for profit is prohibited.

       5.         Beyond a certain minimum determined by legislation the rest of wealth shall be considered as a surplus and must be taxed to be spent on the less fortunate individuals.

       6.         Private charity is good but the essential needs of the poor must be looked after by the state which must work as a welfare state.

       7.         There must be promulgated an equitable law of inheritance; men as well as women shall inherit in accordance with a prescribed system.

       8.         Although in his lifetime, a man is an absolute owner of his property, he cannot will it away entirely to the benefit of some and to the detriment of others. He can will away his property only to the extent of one-third. Lawful heirs must not be deprived.

       9.         All ostentations and luxurious living shall be prohibited by law. Gold should not be used except as currency or in a limited measure for women’s ornaments. The wearing of silk was also prohibited for men.

     10.        Living on unearned income is a disgrace for the wealthy as well as the poor. Begging is a disgrace for man. Instead of offering charity it is much better to help the beggar to earn his living. The Prophet [PBUH] said: “On the Day of Judgment, the beggars shall be seen without any flesh on their face; begging makes a man ‘lose face’.”

     11.        As all estates must be divided on the death of the owner, according to the law of inheritance, the law of primogeniture shall not be valid for upholding the feudal system.

One should easily see from the main items of this Islamic program of economic reconstruction that it is a via media between extremes. To give away your coat also to whosoever asks you for your shirt may be the ideal of love and goodwill. Similarly is non-resistance to evil, but it is not a practicable precept for common humanity nor could any state be organized on that basis. While looking up to heaven, the Prophet of Islam had always his feet on earth. Islam is not earth-rooted but it never ignores the fact that man’s physical frame was fashioned out of clay and he cannot ascend to heaven without first planting his feet firmly on earth.  

Muhammad [PBUH] was the father of Welfare State. Without agreeing with Marx that man’s economic life is coextensive with his entire existence and all other values are derived from it, the Prophet was fully conscious of the fact that economic life reacts very intimately on the advancement or retardation of spiritual or non-economic values. He realized that the dignity of human life cannot be preserved without economic security, and social justice is, to a very large extent, based on economic justice. He devised a system that could prevent society from splitting up into classes of haves and have nots. All the measures that could prevent the concentration of wealth in individual hands were adopted.

The Prophet was dealing with the economic system of his own times but the broad principles on which his measures were based are basic for all future applications. The spirit of the whole system is so manifest that anyone who cares can appreciate it. There are numerous sayings of the Prophet [PBUH] that throw further light on his fundamental outlook about economic justice. Fixed Zakat is not the only tax on surplus income and capital; he is reported to have said that, if the need arises, much more could be taken from the wealthy and spent on the relief of the distressed.

All other religions also preached the virtue of private charity without any conception of remolding the economic order in such a manner that exploitation should become difficult if not impossible. Belief in Islamic value can form the basis of the ideology which all Muslims must be anxious to promote and foster in the New Nigeria. We are convinced that these values furnish the most beneficent standards for healthy, prosperous and progressive life in all spheres of life.

Furthermore, one of the unique features of Islam is that it establishes a balance between individualism and collectivism. Islam believes in the individual personality of man and holds everyone personally responsible and accountable to God. It guarantees anyone to tamper with them. It makes the proper development of the personality of a man one of the prime objectives of its educational policy. It does not subscribe to the view that man must lose his individuality in the collective social life or in the state.

It also awaken a sense of social responsibility in man, organizes human beings in a society and a state and enjoins the individual and the entire social organism to subscribe to the social good of all. Prayer, in Islam, is offered in congregation which inculcates social discipline among its followers. In short, Islam neither neglects the individual nor the society; it established harmony and balance between the two and assigns to each its proper role.

PERMANENCE AND CHANGE

Islam meets the needs for Permanence and Change. Mr. Justice Cardoza of the United States of America has emphatically and rightly declared:

“The greater need of our time is a philosophy that will mediate between conflicting claims of stability and progress and supply a principle of growth”.    [Justice Cardoza, 37, HLR. P. 279]

Islam bestows upon mankind the ideology that satisfies the demands both of stability and change.

Islam is a simple, rational and practical religion. It is a religion without any mythology. Its teachings are simple, intelligible and appealing to human reason. It is free from superstitions and irrational beliefs and dogmas. The Unity of God, Prophethood of Muhammad [PBUH] and the concept of Life-after-Death are the basic articles of its faith. They are based on reason and sound logic. All the teachings of Islam follow from these basic beliefs and are simple to comprehend and straightforward to follow. There is in Islam no hierarchy of priests, no far-fetched abstractions, no complicated rites and rituals. Every one is to approach the Book of God directly and live his life according to its directives.

Islam awakens in man the faculty of reason, inculcates the spirit of inquisitiveness and exhorts him to use his intellect.  It enjoins him to see things in the light of reality. The Qur’an advises man to pray: 

“O my Lord! Advance me in knowledge.”     [Qur’an 20:114]

It asserts that those without knowledge are not equal to those who have it:

“Say, Are those who know equal to those who know not?”    [Qur’an 39:9]

That those who do not observe and understand are worse than cattle:

“They are like cattle; nay they are even more astray.

They are indeed altogether heedless.”    [Qur’an 7:179]

That the meaning of revelation becomes manifest to those who have knowledge and who have understanding:

“We have explained the Signs in detail for a people who possess knowledge.”    [Qur’an 6:97]

“We have explained the Signs in detail for a people who understand.”    [Qur’an 6:98]

“That whosoever has been given knowledge has indeed been given abundant good.”    [Qur’an 2:269]

“Allah is the Friend of those who believe; He brings them out of all kinds of darkness into light.”    [Qur’an 2:257]

Of all things, it is knowledge by virtue of which man is superior to angels and has been made the vicegerent to God on the earth.

“And when thy Lord said to the angels, I am about to place a vicegerent in the earth, they said, Wilt Thou place therein such as will cause disorder in it, and shed blood?- and we glorify thee with thy praise and extol thy holiness. He answered, I know what you know not.”    [Qur’an 2:30]

Islam takes man out of the world of superstition and darkness and initiates him into the world of knowledge and light. The Holy Prophet says:

“To seek knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim”.

No prophet however eminent can claim godhead. Jesus strongly disclaimed godhead or divinity when he says:

‘Why callest thou me good? There is none good but One, that is God”.    [Mark 10:18]

He spoke of God as “My Father and your Father and my God and your God”, (John 20:17) showing that he stood in the same relation to God as any other man-he was a creature of God.

In his agony on the cross, according to New Testament, Jesus cried out: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani”? translated this means “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me”? (Mark 15:34). Can anyone imagine these words coming out of the mouth of God? Here we have the cry of a helpless man to his Creator and Lord. The fact is that Jesus claimed to be only a prophet of God. He was a man to whom God had revealed His message for the guidance of other men. Many passages from the Holy Bible support this view:

“Jesus saith unto them, ‘If ye are Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard from God’.”    [John 8:39-40]

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”    [John 17:3]

Today Islam and Christianity are two great religions. These two world religions are looking for converts and the contact between these two religions increases day by day.

I believe that the adherents of each should come together with open minds and hearts and search for the inner intention of their faith.

I would like any Christian to write a critical book on Islam, basing his arguments on the Holy Qur’an because I believe that this type of study will be mutually beneficial. The only way in which harmony can be achieved is a comparative study of religion; thus appreciating the good that lies in what is professed or practiced by others. I am sure that it is not knowledge about religion itself that breeds enmity, rather it is ignorance of it.

Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity have been dearly perceived in the things that have been made. When the Yorubas speak of Olodumare, the Ibos speak of Chukwu, the Nupes speak of Soko, the Jews speak of Jehovah, the Hindus speak of Brahma and the English speak of God, they are speaking of ALLAH. The names make no difference. They all have glimpsed the one true God, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe.

Islam believes in the divine origin of all religions of the world and insists that the variety of forms and rituals of the different religions proceeded from the mercy of God who gave to each people in each particular time a form of religion suited to its needs and susceptible of development along with the progress of the human mind. Therefore, the mere fact that different people have followed different laws and customs and adopted different modes of worship at different times is not fundamental. What is fundamental is the belief in one God, The Qur’an says that religion is concerned with Universal truth and there is only one religion Al-Islam.

But as a Muslim, I must admit although it may be an error of judgement, yet I find it difficult to accept African Traditional Religion as a true religion. Some may argue that I am contradicting myself. Probably sometimes in the past, God might have raised a prophet in Africa who advocated the concept of the Unity of God. Nevertheless, as a Muslim, I cannot accept African Traditional Religion as one of the world religions for the following reasons:

(a)            The pagans or believers in African Traditional religion are polytheist. Islam criticizes and opposes polytheism. It makes it clear by stating unequivocally that in order to attain spiritual advancement, emancipation and a dignified rule over the entire creation in the name of the Creator, man shall not worship any man, creature or object however great or mysterious it may be. He must reserve his worship for the Unseen God. In advocating complete self surrender to the Unseen God, Islam is not anxious to protect God’s interest but to protect the dignity of man.

(b)           The rites of African traditional religion vary from place to place and are rich with different myths as a general rule. The adherents, seems to me, base their faith on fear, magic and superstitions; and

(c)            Finally, as far as modern Nigeria is concerned, Paganism or Traditional Religion, is rapidly losing grounds since it is merely being treated by many Nigerians as an ordinary culture and not as a religion.

In view of the findings of professor Bolaji Idowu in respect of African Traditional Religion, the Nigerian Christian should attempt to scrutinize objectively the nature of Modern Christian doctrines and not argue like Mr. Tunde Olatunji who writing recently in the Nigerian Daily Sketch, 1971 declares:

“To hold that Jesus did not die on the cross would destroy the whole infrastructure of Christian faith, that would mean that the Biblical predictions to this effect were false, that the theory of Jesus dying for our sins would be void of meaning, that the belief in the conquest of death, resurrection and therefore day of judgment would be unreasonable”.

Yet, many western scholars have admitted that the Bible cannot be called an exact true copy of the original teachings of Christ as well as representing the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.

Let the Christians study the Holy Qur’an as it has now been translated into many languages. However, the Christian must not measure Islam merely by the practice of many of the so-called Muslims. Islam is not a creed which originated with the Holy Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]. Muhammad [PBUH] held that from Adam downwards, all genuine theoristic religious teachers are commissioned by God to preach and practise the truth for which the Arabic word is “Islam”. Islam in this sense means, “surrender to the will of God”. The Holy Qur’an says that Abraham was not a Jew. Similarly Christ was not a Christian. Their religion was the same primeval and eternal Islam, which is the teaching of the Unity and Oneness of God.

Muhammad [PBUH] proclaimed that religion at all times and by the mouths of all the prophets been simply one. It has taught, in essence, the same thing always, that is to hold God alone in His Sovereignty, to submit to His Will an obey His commandments as well as practicing good and keeping away from evil. The Holy Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] had neither come to establish a novel religion nor to abolish all the teachings of the older prophets; but Muhammad [PBUH] like Jesus before him had been sent by God to restore the religion of all prophets from Adam to Moses which was already corrupted by the Pharisees. Jesus said:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you till haven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.”    [Matthew 5:17-19]

In this book, I have tried to prove beyond doubt that the modern Christian doctrines are absurdities. Viewed from the standpoint of reason, these old scriptures and doctrines present a very grotesque aspect. The Old Testament lends them no support and the sayings of Christ give lies to them. One hopes the Nigerian Christians will rethink the stand of their faith in the light of modern research and the teachings of the Holy Qur’an.