| Islamic Way of Living |
by Dr. Sayed Abdul Wadud
(1) WHAT IS ISLAM?
Example I --
An accident occurs on the road. Jamal driving a car proceeding north and Kamal driving a car proceeding south, strike against each other. The policeman on traffic duty rushes towards Kamal, tells him that he is at fault, and takes him to the police station for action against him. Why did the policeman at once declare that Kamal was at fault and why did the latter admit his fault so soon. The law is that a driver should keep his car to the left side of the road and Kamal was driving on the wrong side. He acted against the law and was, therefore, punished while Jamal who was driving on the left escaped prosecution.
Example II --
A boy came to a Hospital with a burn on his hand. He was crying with pain. His father said, "It is good that he got the punishment. I asked him every day not to play with the fire but he did not care for it. Now he has learnt a lesson and shall not repeat his mistake."
Why did this boy receive the punishment? Because he acted against the law. You might ask what was that law which he did not observe? Please try to understand it thoroughly.
It is the property of fire that anything placed in it must burn. This is also a law. The first law mentioned above i.e. keep to the left while driving, was man-made. The second law that fire shall burn, is God-made. God has made so many laws like this. When a man goes against these laws he gets punished.
To live a life in consonance with the God-made laws is called Islam and on who strictly obeys these laws is called a Muslim. The laws which concern human life lie safely inside the Quran.
You should also keep it in mind that the observance of Gad-made laws makes your life safe and peaceful and in so doing you also provide safety to your fellow beings. Had Kamal observed the traffic laws he could keep himself safe as well as other car. Even both the cars could have been saved. Thus Islam means peace and safety.
(2) THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
GOD-MADE LAWS AND MAN-MADE LAWS.
You might have seen, when two motor vehicles collide against each other, the driver at fault tries to run away in order to escape punishment. If he is arrested by police he tries to offer bribe and bring some "Sifarish" for the police officer in order to escape punishment. It is too bad to try to escape punishment after committing a crime, by means of bribery or "Sifarish" and to get the case decided in your favour. Why? In order to understand this point, pay attention to the case of the boy who had burnt his hand. Had he put his hand into the fire, while sitting in a closed room, with no body to watch him, even then he could not saved himself from pain and punishment. No bribery or "Sifiarish" could help him. That is the fundamental difference between the non-observance of God-made laws and the man-made laws. The man who disobeys man-made laws, sometimes gets a chance to escape after disobedience of God-made laws.
Sometimes it so happens that one who commits a crime escapes and somebody else gets punished in his place. But this can not occur when a God-made law is disobeyed. It is impossible that one man puts his finger inside the fire but another one feels pain instead of him. This is the second basic difference between a God-made law and a man-made law. It is also impossible in the case of God-made laws that one person commits a crime and another gets punished instead.
(3) WHAT IS EIMAN (BELIFE)?
Umar is hungry for the last three days and feels extremely weak. He goes to the house of friend who offers his a plateful of warm delicious pudding. He voraciously steps towards it. But as soon as he brings a spoonful of it to his mouth, somebody rushes towards him and tells him that by mistake arsenic has been put in the pudding instead of sugar. Do you think the hungry man shall eat the pudding? No, he shall never eat it. He shall bear the pangs of hunger but shall never put the poisonous food into his mouth. He shall rather throw away the plate. Why has he not taken this food inspite of being extremely hungry? Because he has got the firm belief that he shall die after taking it. How much one might induce him to eat, he shall never do so. A firm belief like this in the laws initiated by God is called "Eiman". And one who holds such a belief called "Momin". It is apparent that such a man shall always remain safe from the injurious effects which arise from disobedience of the laws of Allah. That is why a firm belief in the laws of Allah results in (امن) peace. A "Momin" not only saves himself from such injurious effects he also saves other people from it. He thus becomes an instrument of making peace in the world. As humanity remains safe and peaceful by obedience of the Divine laws, that is why one of the attributes of Allah is (المومن) (59:23), which means one who provides peace.
It has been stated above that the man who did not take poisonous food saved himself from its poisonous effect. But that did not result in appeasing his appetite. For that he needed some other harmless and nutritious food. It indicates that human beings not only need protection from injury, they need something more than that. What is this need, shall be explained under the next heading.
(4) RABUBIYYAT
You buy a parrot with the purpose of bringing him up. You carefully put the bird in a cage, so that he may not be taken away by a cat. Then you provide him food and water to promote the growth of his body. You also take pains to teach him mimicry and take care that he learns to imitate some good words. In Arabic language this whole programme is called (ربُوبيّت) "Rabubiyyat", which means to provide nourishment, physical as well as mental. The one Who does so is called (ربّ) "Rabb". We use the word "Rabb" for Allah because He has created means for the nourishment of human body and has also created the faculty of learning in man. But inspite of all that, you know that there are so many people in the world who do not get enough food to appease their appetite, nor enough clothes to cover their bodies, nor do they own houses to live in, nor have they got enough means to get themselves treated during illness and nor have they any arrangement for the education of their children. In other words, they have not got enough means either for their own nourishment or for the physical and mental development of their children. Why it so happens inspite of the fact that Allah has provided enough means for the maintenance of human beings? This is because the proper arrangement do not exist.
It is the duty of "Momins" to make adequate arrangements so that all human beings are properly fed and their children are brought up in a proper way. The society in which such arrangements exist is called (اِسلامى معاشره) " an Islamic Society"; and the way in which it get accomplished is called (اِسلامى معاشرت) "Islamic Moashrat", which means to live a life of Mutual cooperation, under Divine guidance.
(5) HOW AN ISLAMIC SOCIETY GETS ESTABLISHED?
As stated earlier, to promote peace and harmony in the human world and to provide physical and intellectual development to individuals, it is necessary to establish an Islamic Society. It is apparent that only that Society which is established on the basis of the laws initiated by Allah and which never goes against these laws, could be called Islamic. The next question arises what is the source of these laws?
These are the laws which have been given to the Rasool (PBUH) by Allah by means of (وحى) revelation and which now lie safely inside the Quran. These very laws are called the (احكام) injunctions of the Quran. About a society which leads a life in consonance with these laws, the Holy Quran says.
Waman lam yahkum bima anzala Allahu faola-ika humu alkafiroona (5/44)
" Those who do not decide their affairs according to the laws given by Allah (now lying inside the Quran) are (كاِفـر) non-believers."
Thus the difference between a (مؤمن) believer and a (كاِفـر) non-believer, is that the former believes and acts according to the Quranic injunctions and the latter do not do so. The word (كاِفـر) is not an abuse. It only means a non-member to the Islamic Society.
Dear Children! The field of Quranic injunctions is much wider. When you grow up, you shall learn much more about them. This book comprises only the injunctions which concern our everyday life. Please read them carefully and try to understand them thoroughly. Not only that, you must also act upon them. Only those things are useful, on which you act upon. On the other hand, if you do understand certain things but do not act upon them, they remain no more useful. For example, if you come to understand that physical exercise builds up your body but in practice you do not do any physical exercise, you can not expect yourself to become healthy and strong. Similarly mere understanding of the Quranic laws is not useful unless you act upon them.
(6) CERTAIN SMALL MATTERS
Here in this book, we have dealt with small matters of everyday occurrence, under the Quranic guidance. But it by no means follows that they are unimportant. Even small matters are very important in our daily life. Let us elaborate this point by means of an example -- A certain person possesses rice, meat, butter, water, spices and fuel. He knows the art of preparing a delicious " Pulao" out of them. But it so happens that he has not got with him a match box or a lighter. Shall he be able to prepare food in this situation? No. Thus you do realise that even small affairs are important in life. The Quranic injunctions may be bid or small, they are equally important. Thus it is essential that you thoroughly understand all of them.