Questions and Answers on Islam













Interrogating Islam:


Questions and Answers on Islam












Abha Communities Centre
Abha-Saudia Arabia

















A
Introduction

Praise be to Allah, God of the people, Lord of them all. Creator of
all creatures, the Luminous Truth, who created man of mud, the angels
from lustrous light, and the ginn from blazing fire, who sent
prophets, and made of paradise a home for the faithful, and fire the
end for the blasphemous. The prayers and the peace of God be on the
last of His prophets, who was dispatched as an envoy of mercy to all
creation, heralding the rightful religion, and pointing out the
straight path. He called on people to follow God, dilegently toiled
for this aim, established minarets and centres for knowledge,
salvation, profusion and justice. He solidified the verdicts of Islam
among the best nation ever created, and formed the most righteous
society that ever appeared on earth.

I proceed
To guide people to worship the One God in the manner He advocates and
condones is one of the most sublime pursuits, the loftiest objectives
and the noblest activities. Such is the occupation of peophets, and
messengers, peace be upon them, for the sake of which they were
dispatched, and in the pursuit of which they faced injury, affliction,
armed conflict, hostility, comabt and false charges. Such were
natural consequences of the clash between truth and falsehood, virtue
and vice, and righeteousness and waywardness. Promulgators and
religious scholars are the prophets' heirs. Each enjoys a share of
the burden of prophecy in proportion to his knowledge and
achievement. They suffer as much as did their predecessors-injury,
accusation and skepticism. At present we note that each one devotes
himself to one or another of the aspects of the da'wa (the call to
Islam), and undertakes to propagate it among people. Each adopts the
method that suits his mission. Some are occupied in writing and
authorship; others undertake preaching and oratory; a third party
follows up instruction and pedagogy; while some are preoccupied in
matters connected with charity and alms.

A number of promulgators channel the da'wa to non-Muslims with a view
to guiding them to salvation and deliverance, both here and
hereafter. For this purpose they adopt whichever ways and means
conducive to the realization of these and similar objectives, and
consequently make use of appropriate procedures and measures. This
category of promulgators stood up to such an ardous task, faced what
others had to face, and what once had been the lot of the prophets,
that is falsification of the creed, acustion, neglect, repulse and
indifference to the faith they preach. Examples of such devoid ways
are posing questions implying skepticism, protest suggesting
disrespect, and queries promoting unequivocal answers, requests
masking objections aimed at rejecting, defying and denying truth.
Such are qualities in our times where diseases of skepticism, hedonism
and sensual urges have become deeprooted, and are being taught and
propounded, sanctified by centres of learning and mass media, and
backed by forces buttressing and protecting them. In this tumultuous
vortex, and unfavourable atmosphere, a group of highly revered Muslims
took up the task of inviting some newcomers to the Arab peninsula, who
belonged to other faiths and ideologies. With the grace and guidance
of God, some converted; others, however, on the brink of conversion
and about to witness the light, drew back on account of doubt and
hesitation, residua of their sombre past, and remains of doubts and
misgivings. Instead, they resisted those who sought to clear up such
clouds with satisfactory replies and sufficient data.

Like other proponents of virtue, these promulgators, too, need backing
of knowledge and sagacity to repel doubt, unmask falsehood, reveal
truth and illustrate proof. With all these and other objectives in
mind, this book has been formulated, through the efforts of a number
of revered religious leaders and distinguished men of learning and
virtue, having applied themselves to strenuous studies, research and
dialogue.

Before delving into the depths of this book and tackling queries and
responses, it is pertinent to introduce a number of issues which might
raise certain ambiguities responsible for protests among whoever has
not been vouchsafed the comfort of faith in his heart. Some of these
issues are as follows:

1. CULTURAL BACKGROUND:
Man is likely to be influenced by such a background which takes years
to consolidate and crystallize prejudicing his judgements and
decisions which are likely to run counter to the judicious criteria
conducive to sound vision. Consequently, such a man may have his path
refracted and aim wide of the mark or at best be undecided as to which
is true and which is false. Take for instance someone who is living
in a jungle or on a distant mountain among people who believe in pagan
fables and lead a retarded life as to patterns of behaviours, ethical
premises and the rest of the living activities. Suppose, further,
that suhc a man moved into an intellectually developed community
offering sophisticated ideas, systems and ways of living. As soon as
such set of ideas and modes of behaviours clash with the symbols of
underdevlopment prevalent in the jungle, we expect such a man to
undergo a serious reassessment of the earlier hocus-pocus culture
which once governed his earlier primitive life, and a close scrutiny
of the unprecedented patterns he never knew under the law of
animalism, anarchy and licentiousness.

Would this reassessment, this scrutiny, be valid? Would such a person
reach any set of truths or gain any benefits? Many are those who
protest to Islam on vindicative grounds, or through devious and
indirect ways. They resemble the underdeveloped man of the jungle
when assessing the values of a highly advanced academic centre against
his native cultural background. Such people project their prefigured
vision of Islam without committing themselves to an academic
methodology or a true dialectic which should distinguish right from
wrong, true from false.

A Christain for example brings in defective a priori arguments
concerning God Almighty and His prophets, then begins to pose
questions which accord with these fallacious presuppositions. He
says, for instance, that Muslims assume that they worship One God
while they actually commit themselves, in the manner the Christians do
invoke the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) in as
much as they say "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate".

Similar assumptions are also propounded, which are built on erroneous
assumptions and faulty cultural backgrounds. It is incumbent on man
to look for truth through authenticated evidences and proofs, and not
be dominated by prior cultural precepts. He has to examine such a
culture under the microscope of truth, and reality, on grounds of
proof and evidence.

Because of the domination of prior cultural backgrounds-whether old or
contemporary-we meet with wrong questions based upon equally defective
data. All talk about freedom and equality is but one more clear
example of such a category of vitiated questions. It is possible even
to argue that most questions promoted by ostensible openmindedness or
masked skepticism belong to this category. Therefore, we have found
it imperative that we should illustrate this issue and rectify the
thought of those who tackle Islam as if it was a refractory religion
or a number of erroneous theories, the product of human minds and
unpropped by a true scientific methodology.

2. FREEDOM:
Here we are up against one of the most recurrent quibblings motivated
by skepticism or the wish to destabilize Islamic faith. It is only
one among many samples induced by wrong cultural backgrounds resulting
in equally erroneous judgements.

The modern world is infatuated by the so called "freedom" which is
considered the cornerstone of civilization, justice, distinction,
progress and promotion. This is so because Europe had long emerged
from despostism and injustice which prevailed before the French
Revolution. It came in the wake of an extended period of confiscation
of the rights and the freedom of the small man and the individuals who
were unable to werest their rights. The church and its advocates were
the mightiest and most tyrannical agents who solidified the
foundations of domination among the classes of the society and its
individuals. They were foremost in justifying the corrective measures
adopted by the ruling classes.

People in Europe staged more than one revolt, basically the French
Revolution which propounded the slogans of Liberty, Fraternity and
Equality. Organizations and directives, motivated by egocentric
ambitions, exploited the slogan of liberty, expanded its implications,
magnified its range, making use of people's ignorance and regression,
and rendering them victims to the heonistic sensualism, voluptuousness
and mental degenerecy.

The conspiracy of unconditioned, unbridled, and uncontrolled
liberation proved a volcano ejecting its lava and submerging logic,
ethics, as well as people's interests on both the individual and the
collective planes. The giants of corruption among the Jews and their
stooges exploited exploited this uncontrollable morbidity among
peole. They enkindled the fire, extended its periphery further and
further. Soonl it comprehended all creeds, ethical values and
behavioural control, through descrating all sanctities, disfiguring
all religions and moral precepts. It stamped out all religious and
deterrents in individuals and societies alike under the banner of the
novel religion and the worshipped god in flagrant challenge of the One
Supreme God. They called this new deity "Liberty and Liberalism".

The aim behind these seditious manoeuvrings was the obliteration of
the dignity and the humanity of man and the transformation of such a
being into a terrible monster, a ranging beast. Man would corrupt,
destroy and trample down all principles, values, morals and virtues,
and all under the maligned liberty.

Men ranged as far afield as their instincts took them, infatuated by
these placards, each wading in corruption and self-demoralization with
utmost energy and drive. The wayward in thought and creed used the
slogan of liberty to crush the sound beliefs, raise doublts in their
validity, and circulate atheism, nihilism, and deviant capricious
creeds.

So did the rebels against settled systems-social, administrative,
political, etc. They used the slogan of liberty to destabilize
societies, sidetrack institutions through fraudulent schemes,
monopolies, ususry, speculations, intriguing parties and by rigging
elections.

As the slogan of liberty widened in scope and surreptitiously
dominated the minds and hearts of the majority of people, every
control examplified in profound creed, sound religion, and every
judicious restriction of behaviour, values, conventions, or
authorities, were deemed, among the worshippers of such unbridled
liberty, enemies to man, detrimental to self-esteem, despots that
impede his rights.

Thus stiffened the coils of this sinister conspiracy to such an extent
that a disinterested favour or good turn was anathema, anathema a good
turn. Analogously, the corrupter was pictured as a reformer, the
reformer a corrupter. A highly perceptive man, rationally minded, and
sagacious, one possessing moral integrity, would be thought of as a
cocooned, underdeveloped, and a reactionary, while the sensualist
imbecile is deemed shrewd, civilized and progressive. An
investigation of the sort of liberty which fascinates humanity in our
times reveals that it has become a slogan raised to justify
licentiousness, corruption and anarchy.

A close scrutiny of the true identity of "liberty" would convince us
that there can be no absolute freedom, limitless or unbound, because
man has got an innate disposition to commitment to, and control by,
specific laws which he is constrained to implement. Should man find
no outer commitment to curb his actions he would still impose upon
himself specific issues wherewith he would bind himself in response to
his inherent desire for self-commitment. His individual life can
never do away with a commitment to a definite discipline. There are
times for waking up, going to bed, partaking of food, working and
rest. These activities govern his individual life. As to social
patterns, man is not without taut relations binding him to his family
and society. It is common knowledge that the life of society is not
devoid of specific systems governing social, political and economic
relations as well as behavioural and moral patterns.

In short, it is onconceivable to visualize either an individual or a
social life devoid of regulations, control or commitment. All these
are restrictions to uncontrolled liberty. They should go to prove
that there can be no absolute liberty in the sense of being free from
all restrictions. This being so, the call for unshackled liberty
becomes none other than a call for something non-exixtent, even in the
actual life of its exponents. It is a deceptive slogan implying fraud
and confusion, for an unconditional liberty does not and cannot exist,
because it does not inhere in the nature of man whom God created with
an innate disposition to restraint. What lies behind this continuous
yelling, this clamorous call for freedom? In a word, it is a response
to a call for egotism, propounded by "...and who is more astray than one
who follows his own lusts, devoid of guidance from Allah?" (Holy
Qur'an: 28: 50). Among the so called "progressive peopl," freedom of
thought is concomitant with atheism, denial of religion, God's
inspiration, and the Call. Among the "liberals" it denotes skepticism
as to the religion of God and His prophets, as well as practising
moral degeneracy, sensous anarchy, injustice to the folks, plundering
the wealth of countries, self-deception, manipulating the minds of
poepl, practising monopoly, economic, legal and political
maneouvering, and all the atrocities that come under the mask of
"liberty." Such misdemeaners are rife under the slogan of freedom of
thought, while the real objective is self-interest, caprice,
sensuality, ad base desires. The ultimate target is to realize
private claims. The intellectual aspect is none other than a screen
to conceal their bondage to wantonness and sensualism, under the
ostensible claim of being intelletually emancipated.

3. EQUALITY:
This is one more contemeraneous slogan through which infiltrated the
stench of agnosticism in the minds of a substantial number of people
as well as the problems in their lives, owing to the clashes among the
individuals and the classes of society, motivated by their void claim
to eqaulity.

This motto brought in various misconceptions and forms of deception
among people. With the expansion of its boundaries and the
enlargement of its content, this motto has grown into a colossal
attraction for mankind, specially as it has now culminated, among
thinkers and authors, into a mainspring of human principles, a basis
of advancement, modernism and supremacy.

Under the canopy of this deceptive banner the storms of injustice,
coercion and aggresison were launched, and the unemployed and the
indolent ranged ahead, claiming equality with the diligent, assiduoud,
and persistent workers. The ignorant claimed to be treated on a par
with the connoisseurs and the learned. And the trash and subversive
stretched out and claimed equality with the prestigious in all walks
of life. Analogously, the dependent failures claimed equality with
the successful and the hardworking. Thus criteria dimmed and
tottered, and the controls of life got mixed up. A number of
countries witnessed revolts which disrupted all stability. Others saw
the rise of organizations and associations that claimed unjustly
grounded equality regarding the laws of God. These laws which
regulate the life of man and are the permanent cosmic premises
whereupon are based the principles of distinction and meritorious
priority.

A profound and a practical scrutiny of the issue of equality would
reveal that it runs counter to identicality. And existence presents
us with no two absolutely identical entities in all facets. It is,
therefore, unjust to equalize intrinsically competitive entities or
reasons. Distinction-a cosmic law-exists in all things, animate as
well as inanimate, in the floral as much as in the faunal, worlds,
including man.

Iron is distinct from gold, so is myrrh in relation to the palm tree.
So is a hog dissimilar to a stag. Consequently, an ignorant person is
not to be equated with the connoisseur, nor is the quick-witted with
the daft, nor, again, the useful with the harmful.

Whether we apply intellectual or practical standards of judgment and
discrimination we cannot equalize all races, species or individuals.
In actual fact, each is distinct from the other. Therefore,
contemporary theories, systems and philosophical principles have
failed to establish equality among people. Two obvious examples are
socialism and communism. This is not to exclude democracy. It, too,
abounds in all sorts of the current injustice represented in the name
of equality, but it is sugar-coated by a colossal propaganda and the
media as well as by an embellished web of democratic intrigues.

A call for absolute equality runs counter to the principles of
justice. It is a contradiction to the reality of things, an
invalidation of the issue of distinctiveness which God has ingrained
in His creation. To adopt such a call for assumed eqaulity results in
verdicts being based on prejudice and life being steered away.

No doubt humanity lived and is living through various manifestations
of despotism, injustice and tyranny, represented by individual and
social classes. Therefore, people sought that principle of equality
which has lately been propounded. They assumed that it would be a
saviour from such injustice and oppression, but such an action
resembles escape from Scylla to Charybdis.

It would have been more pertinent to adopt the principle of justice
based on the dictates of the truth, including observation of the
practically existent and deeply rooted facets of distinctness and
priorities, qualities referred to by God in His dictum:
"It is He who has made you (His) agents, inheritors of the earth: He
hath raised you in ranks, some above others: that He may try you in
the gifts He has given you: for your Lord is quick in punishment: yet
He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful" (Holy Qur'an: 6: 165).

This is the type of distinction wherewith God Almighty examines man to
grant him that grace and that charity destined to him. He said:
"Of the bounties of thy Lord We bestow freely on all these as well as
those: the bounties of your Lord are not closed (to anyone). See how
We have bestowed more on some than on others; but verily the Hereafter
is more in rank and gradation and more in excellence" (Holy Qur'an:
17: 20-21).

Owing to such difference in God's bounty to people the Almighty
enjoined the faithful not to covet others' grace:
"And in no wise covet those things in which Allah hath bestowed His
gifts more freely on some of you than on others: to men is allotted
what they earn, and to women what they earn: but ask Allah of His
bounty. For Allah hath full knowledge of all things..." (Holy Qur'an:
4: 32).

In view of this difference God granted man the right to preside over
woman. It is a distinction based on qualities of physique, creation,
ability, disposition, as well as bodily, intellectual, and emotional
qualification. He granted each sex an appropriate function that
qulifies him/her for the social role in a proper manner:
"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has
given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support
them from their means..." (Holy Qur'an: 4: 34).

Therefore, equality between rivalries for precedence is both unjust
and impracticable. It is a transgression, a contradiction to the
intellectually evidenced, a violation of actual considerations. In
the revered Book there are proofs regarding equality of different
things. Indeed, the Holy Qur'an illustrates that such equality is
neither proper nor will it last, nor, again, can it be acceptable. We
read:
"...Say: 'Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It
is those who are endued with understanding that receive
admonition'." (Holy Qur'an: 39: 9).

"Say: 'Not equal are things that are bad and things that are good,
even though the abundance of the bad may dazzle you...'." (Holy Qur'an:
5: 100).

"The blind and the seeing are not alike. Nor are the depths of
darkness and the light. Nor are the (chilly) shade and the (genial)
heat of the sun. Nor are alike those that are living and those that
are dead..." (Holy Qur'an: 35: 19-22).

"Verily, for the righteous, are gardens of delight, in the presence of
their Lord. Shall We then treat the people of faith like the people
of sin? What is the matter with you? How judge you?..." (Holy
Qur'an: 68: 34-36).

Seeing that distinction and priorities exist, then justice does
require inequality. However, as regards things which are equal in
reality they have rightfully to be equal in assessment. For example
people are equal in creation. They all descend from Adam, a creature
from dust. They are also equal in being servants to God, as well
being under constraint to worship the One God.

Equality also extends to immunity of individual rights from being
unrighteously infringed. Such rights pertain to body, finance,
chastity, mind and soul, etc. Men are equal in recognition of their
rights and preservation of their belongings, as well as in the right
to litigation and legal proceedings in case of prosecution or defence.

Analogously, men are equal in the right to ownership, buying and
selling, dealing in their possessions, the right to work, acquisition
and learning whatever they need to learn with a view to promoting
their living conditions here and hereafter. Such are occasions for
equality, and justice expresses itself in the pursuit of the above
fields. Similarly, where people are different, justice requires
inequality; for justice is placing a thing in its proper perspective,
affords each man his rights while inequality would be to give the
undeserving what another has a right to, or making both share the same
right, in which case it is an unjust action and a violation of rights.

4. SUBSERVIENCE TO GOD ALMIGHTY:
Man cannot afford to disengage himself from two issues: first,
submission to some power that is superior and more potent than his own
beings. Secondly, following in the footsteps of another. These are
amongst basic foundations in man; they constitute the major stimuli to
man's actions, sensations and relations. Their presence in man is a
must, like love, hate and volition.

Therefore, God directed man's actions in such a way as to secure his
guidance, righteousness and hsppiness, pursuant to these issues. God
argued that in no way can man rescue himself except by his sound
orientation in the pursuit of these targets. He indicated such an
orientation and provided such evidences, proofs and bases as to boast
and enhance this orientation. As for the first issue, God delivered
man from subservience to whatever causes misery and chargin. He
oriented man to serve His Almighty Self alone, thus securing honour,
self-esteem, prestige and happiness. Should man refuse, he will
never get rid of slavery. Rather, he will get lost in a labyrinth of
vain, evanescent and mock idols, thereby lose prestige and fall into
ignominious humility.

This is an inevitable issue from which there can be no deliverance in
any way. It exists in reality. Its imperative nature stems from the
fact that in man inheres a need and an impoverishment for some sort of
service. He is torn between two issues, either to serve God, in which
case he is monotheistic, obedient, happy here and hereafter, or
worship something other than God, some mock idol among diverse
deities, viz. caprice, voluptuousness, money, hedonism, laws,
conventions, parties, indeed any of the excesses that are today
cherished, adopted and obeyed.

Such being the reward-and it is so in reality-in no way can man reach
a state of well being except in subservience to his Creator, the All
Potent, the dominant Power over him and all things. Should he abide
by this true worship, man is promoted up the scale of human
perfection. His life acquires an exalted value other than that
whereto falls the one who worships other than God Almighty. The more
righteous man's subservience to God, the greater are his rewards.
Thus the true Muslim is keen on cherishing the quality of serving God,
an act which means complete acquiescence and resignation to God's
commands and admonitions, without protest or doubt because he has
become confident that no deliverance or success can be gained except
by practising such a service, following up its pathway which
eventually leads him to satisfying God Almighty, the penultimate
objective of each man who has faith in God.

One of the fundamental cornerstones of this subservience is that the
believer in the sole Diety of God proceeds under the canopy of
obedience, implementing all that God requires, whether or not he
realizes the aim or the moral behind this, because when he has
testified that there is no deity other than God he has thereby
committed himself to absolute acquiescence that harbours no
perplexity, hesitation or swerving. Such a composite and
complementary action illustrates the meaning, the importance, and the
urgency of an undivided allegiance to God.

No wonder that whoever fails to understand such glorious meanings as
they are would protest thereto and experience doubts for his mind
cannot emerge from the deep depth of ignorance and wayward
servilities. As regards the second issue, God has set an example in
the person of the revered prophets who are the best and most perfect
of men. To follow in their footsteps is the way to the good, to
virtues and delight. They are the lifeboats among the waves, the
terrors and the darkness of the human example since olden times. This
being inevitable, God made faith in His prophets concomitant with
faith in His Almighty Self.

An obvious proof is that the first pillar of Islam is the testimony
that there is no deity execpt God, and that Muhammad is His
messenger. One of the results incumbent upon God's commandments is
that the prophet (pbuh) is the practical example of applying absolute
service to God Almighty. Consequently, he should be the model and the
example that imperatively must be followed by every Muslim. Thus
become complete all the symbols of service and imitation without one
straightforward track that guides man to the grace of God and
paradise.

Whoever fails to understand such exhortations resembles an idiot, born
blind, unable to comprehend whatever beauty coulours possess.
Analogously, the one who fails to realize the composite meaning and
the plenteous consequences of service is bound to pose questions like:
why kiss the black stone in the Ka'ba? Why immolate on the immolation
day (during the pilgrimage)? Why pray four cycles at midday and three
times in the evening? Such and similar questions stem from the heart
of whomsoever fails to grasp the truth about worship, neither does he
taste its sweetness, fruits or man's dire need for them.

We request God's guidance and succour in what pleases and satisfies
Him. May the prayers of God and His peace be upon our prophet and his
family and companions.

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