AWARD WINNING ESSAY
By
R. Natarajan
Here we publish the first prize-winning essay by R. Natarajan. He narrates his personal experience of participating in the “Great Essay Contest ‘99” and presents a comprehensive study of Islam based on his exposure to Islamic literature.
My first exposure to the Holy Quran took place several months ago, when I read an
article on Human Rights in Islam in a prominent newsmagazine. It was a revolutionary experience: not only it laid bare the uniqueness of Islam in dealing with human affairs, but also it shook the whole edifice of my understanding of the religion. In a macroscopic perspective, an average Indian’s perception of Islam is largely shaped by the exploits of Ghazni and Ghori, Jizya adds colour and finally, the finishing touches are given by Aurangzeb. And the assumption that Buddhism, already lying in bed, was done to death by the very first Muslim invasion facilitates this process further. As is well known, jihad is the most hated word in the West. Thanks to the domination of western media, we in India are also ‘goaded’ into believing it, knowingly or unknowingly. We are a dispirited lot in the crisis of ideology and identity. Asoka’s Dharma principles called for tolerance and nonviolence; Akbar the Great’s Din-i-ilahi aimed at creating a liberal forum for faith and fraternity in the interest of suleh-e-kul (Absolute Peace); Gandhi’s Ekadasa Vratas (11 Principles) envisioned, among others, Sarva Dharma Samatva (equality of all religions). Great men, great ideas, but, alas, few takers! Communalism, sectarianism, casteism and linguistic chauvinism are feeding each other, thereby eating into the vitals not only of nationhood, but also of human hood. The relevance of religion is often realized in a negative way. The very purpose of our existence should indisputably be humanism-aided positively by religion-and this ideal is lost when faith, corroded mostly by politics of hatred, becomes fundamentalism.
Religion is of course, a set of beliefs and practices. WE have numerous religions in the world with numerous associated beliefs. The protagonists of a particular religion often pursue a result-oriented intellectual enterprise so as to make it appear ‘user-friendly”. In this process, its essentials are lost and the sanctity of its sources undermined. In these circumstances, a religion that does not require an assortment of the high-priests for its elucidation negates problematic polytheism and, above all, that makes doing good things (I call it humanism, covering a wide spectrum) a necessary element of faith is a ray of hope for the entire humanity. And this is what Islam epitomizes. Islam literally means submission. It is derived from the Arabic root “Seen Laam Meem” which means ‘to resign or surrender’. In the religious sense, the word Islam means ‘to surrender oneself to the will, service and command of God’. Islam calls for the surrender of the whole self to God. Those who profess Islam, by giving their heart, mind and soul to the Will of God, are Muslims. The Quran proclaims:
‘ Say: We believe in One God(Allah) and in what has been revealed unto us and in what was revealed unto Abraham, Ishmael, Issac, Jocob and their descendants and in what was given (Scriptures) unto Moses, Jesus and all the Prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to, Him (alone), we have submitted’ (Quran –3:84)
To Muslims, Islam is not merely a religion; it is their way of life. The Quran is not merely a religious but also the moral, cultural, social, commercial, national, military, ceremonial, legal, criminal and civil codes of conduct for Muslims, relating to every aspects of their lives. It should be noted that the Quranic virtues have universal appeal. They find echoes in many modern constitutions, conventions, resolutions of world bodies, and, above all, in the very foundation of our Constitution itself!
Unity of God (Tawhid) and it significance:
Since time immemorial, man is said to have been aware of the extremely limited scope for human endeavors in relation to the natural phenomena. Overhelmed, he began worshipping them! But a multitude of forces with diverse agenda also meant cataclysm, and he finally realized that the entire universe submitted to an all-pervasive law. And this law is the Law of God, and Islam stands for submission to the will of Allah, a single Allah. The Quranic message is unequivocal in this regard:
‘He is God the One and Only One;
God, the Eternal Absolute’ (112: 1,2)
India is no stranger to monotheism. ‘He is the One’, declares the Rig-Veda. ‘There is no other god’ follows the Mahabharata. Islamic monotheism is pure, absolute, uncompromising and completely devoid of speculative fantasies and obviates the need for associating any subsidiary deities or demigods with Him. In fact, the system of priesthood, a bane to many prominent religions of the world, has no place in Islam. The Quran dismisses them as those who ‘devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar men from the path of God’
(9:34). Even the Prophet Muhammed remained an ordinary mortal. ‘In truth, I am only a man, like you’ (18:110); ‘I am not your guardian’ (10:108); ‘I am not here to watch over you’ (6:104).
The absolute metaphysical separation of God from the other creatures and material objects of the world, apart from seeking to establish, as we would see, universal equality, emphasizes His transcendent nature. This, however, does not mean that God has His abode somewhere away from the Universe and is watching us from ‘His throne’. Perfect, knowledge of God is unattainable, because ‘no vision can grasp Him’, and ‘His grasp is over all vision’ (6:103). In fact, Islam repeatedly stresses that the purpose of our life is to know His Will and not to go on striving to witness God in His Divine Essence. To realize this end, man is not left without guidance. The twin roads of reason and revelation will lead a man to know His Will and to attain salvation by following it.
