Books and Documents 03 Mar 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com
Radical Islamism & Jihad 08 Mar 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com Arab wars for power were not Islamic jihad 
Husain stood for Islam and Islamic values and Yazid for power
The first casualty of transformation of khilafah into monarchy was battle of Karbala which is great tragedy of early history of Islam. It was greed for power on the part of Yazid, son of first Umayyad ruler Mu'awiyah that led to martyrdom of Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet (PBUH). Husain stood for Islam and Islamic values and Yazid for power. It was Umayyad greed for power which resulted in killing of members of Prophet's family.
It is unfortunate that these wars for power were often called 'jihad' and not only meaning of jihad which originally means struggle for truth was corrupted to mean war in the way of Allah. These wars were anything but war in the way of Allah. Qur'anic doctrine nowhere requires war with sword to spread Islam. So all conquests that took place had nothing to do with religion and were anything but jihad.
In fact the series of conquests begin with the 2nd Caliph Umar and Sassanid and parts of Roman Empire were conquered. Unfortunately we do not find much on reasons for these conquests in early sources. It was certainly not for spread of Islam or spread of truth. The text of treaties mentioned by Baladhuri, the author of Futuh al-Buldan clearly indicate that conquered people were not asked to convert to Islam but negotiated with them the terms of jizya, supply of military provisions, slaves etc. Nowhere are they invited to convert to Islam. If some people convert it was purely a voluntary act. -- Asghar Ali Engineer
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1232
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CENTRALITY OF JIHAD IN THE POST-QUR'ANIC PERIOD
Asghar Ali Engineer
(Islam and Modern Age, March 09)
Jihad in Islam has acquired centrality in history of Islam. In Qur'an it is not jihad but values like justice, compassion and forgiveness are more prominent. While these values are permanent and transcendent, war (for which Qur'an uses the word qital, not jihad) is contextual and defensive only when such situation arises. Rahmah (compassion) is quite central to Islam as it is one of the most prominent names of Allah. Compassion, in fact, is as central to Islamic value-system as in Buddhism. But then question arises why jihad, that too, in the sense of war, became so central to Islam? It is an important question and we must seek answer to this question in the history of Islam.
I think, the whole problem begins with the doctrine though not Qur'anic and which developed over a period of time, that in Islam religion and politics cannot be separated. This doctrine assumed great importance in Muslim countries and all sorts of rulers, monarchs, sultans and sheikhs exploited it to hilt to establish authoritarian regimes which violated all Qur'anic values.
This doctrine that religion and politics cannot be separated was result of religion becoming instrument of seeking power rather than seeking the truth (Haq). The most fundamental purpose of religion is seeking truth, not power. Though ideally power must be based on truth but it is not. Power often results in serious compromises with truth and hence truth is compromised in search of power.
Now the question is how religion in Islamic history came to be associated with power? When the Prophet (PBUH) died there was no state structure. All services were performed by the people purely voluntarily including war services and services for maintaining order in the society. It was purely people's state, if at all we can call it a state. But after the death of the Holy Prophet the character of the state began to be transformed and by the time of 2nd caliph it acquired all the feature of a formal state structure.
Before we proceed any further we must note that when the Prophet of Islam began to preach in Mecca, Mecca was a stateless tribal society governed by tribal customs and traditions and through consensus of tribal chiefs in policy matters. There was no ruler or ruling class. It was tribal chiefs and traders who had formed their own inter-tribal trade corporations who wielded tremendous clout.
Thus it would be seen that Islam appeared in a society which had no state structure, no army, no policing services and no bureaucracy. Prophet's mission was to cleanse the society of all moral corruption, obsession with material wealth, neglect of weaker sections of society and promoting belief in one God (tawhid) as belief in multiple gods in Arab society in general and in Mecca in particular, had resulted in mutual tribal conflicts and superstitious practices, some of which has been mentioned in the Qur'an.
Thus it was difficult to build unity among all the people who worshipped different gods and associated different practices and superstitions with different gods. It was also resulting in moral corruption. Accumulation of wealth also came under strong denunciation as it had divided society into rich and powerful and poor, weak and orphans and widows and slaves. These weaker sections of society had no human worth and dignity. They simply provided cheap source of labor.
Islam's main concern was to promote belief in one God, build unity among all people irrespective of tribal and other affiliations and restore human dignity to all. Piety and moral rectitude, guaranteed nearness to Allah, not riches or tribal affiliations. The Prophet's whole struggle was to set up such a society of good human beings and hence emphasized equality of all human beings, including of men and women, Arab and non-Arab, rich and poor. This was the main mission of Allah's Messenger.
And it is for this precise reason that Qur'an made it obligatory for all men and women to enforce evil and contain evil. It is not state's duty but an individual moral obligation in the Qur'an. This also shows there is no concept of state but concept of society. Also, it would be individual who would be responsible for his/her good or bad deeds before Allah. State's function is to maintain law and order.
But after death of the Prophet (PBUH) there was no great moral authority to influence people and since there was no formal state structure, it became necessary to evolve a formal state structure. Since there was no available model among Arabs, much had to be copied from Persian and Roman state structures. As there was no fixed model of deciding as to who will head the new fledging state Muslim opinion got divided, some accepting Prophet's son-in-law as head of the state appointed by the Prophet and some said the Prophet Abu Bakr to succeed him. Shi'ahs accepted Ali as successor and Sunnis Abu Bakr as successor to the Prophet to tackle the affairs of the new community.
Pursuit of power or building up a state was not and cannot be the purpose of any religion. In case of Islam it was mere historical circumstances that brought newly emerging religion and fledgling state together. Thus it cannot be treated as doctrine but historical coincidence. And it was struggle for power which sharply divided Muslims into two major sects and also it was power struggle which resulted in civil war after assassination of third caliph and more than 70 thousand Muslims died in the civil war.
This is the most tragic phase of early history of Islam. Though state had become historical necessity for Muslims in Madina which emerged as centre of power after the death of the Prophet (PBUH) its association with Islam was neither inevitable nor desirable. Pursuit for power, became the main preoccupation of many Muslims Rather than pursuit for truth and moral obligations.
Thus despite the doctrine of fusing religion with politics, urge for power remained strong rather than urge for moral rectitude and truth. Religion and religiosity did not dominate but urge for power did. Ultimately the institution of khilafah which was more democratic and was based on religious values to a great extent was soon replaced by feudal monarchy on the Roman and Sassanid pattern and monarchy was based only on power and religious element totally disappeared. It became dynastic rule first of Umayyads and then of Abbasids.
The first casualty of transformation of khilafah into monarchy was battle of Karbala which is great tragedy of early history of Islam. It was greed for power on the part of Yazid, son of first Umayyad ruler Mu'awiyah that led to martyrdom of Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet (PBUH). Husain stood for Islam and Islamic values and Yazid for power. It was Umayyad greed for power which resulted in killing of members of Prophet's family.
It is unfortunate that these wars for power were often called 'jihad' and not only meaning of jihad which originally means struggle for truth was corrupted to mean war in the way of Allah. These wars were anything but war in the way of Allah. Qur'anic doctrine nowhere requires war with sword to spread Islam. So all conquests that took place had nothing to do with religion and were anything but jihad.
In fact the series of conquests begin with the 2nd Caliph Umar and Sassanid and parts of Roman Empire were conquered. Unfortunately we do not find much on reasons for these conquests in early sources. It was certainly not for spread of Islam or spread of truth. The text of treaties mentioned by Baladhuri, the author of Futuh al-Buldan clearly indicate that conquered people were not asked to convert to Islam but negotiated with them the terms of jizya, supply of military provisions, slaves etc. Nowhere are they invited to convert to Islam. If some people convert it was purely a voluntary act.
Yet for all these wars Tabari (the eminent historian) and others have used the term 'jihad' which no where comes near the sense in which Qur'an uses the term. The act of conquest was thus a political, not a religious act. The Prophet's whole struggle (jihad) was for creating a new human being who would be morally upright imbibing values of Qur'an like justice, equality, compassion, wisdom, knowledge truth etc.
It is important to note that for this new human being Qur'an uses the word mu'min often translated as 'believer'. But the Qur'anic term mu'min is far more comprehensive and refers to qualitative transformation of person's inner being than simple belief. The Qur'anic term m'umin refers to a new human being fully transformed qualitatively who would be engaged with his society to fight all that is evil which leads to conflict, oppression and exploitation.
However this project of creating new human beings with inner qualities of heart and mind was seriously compromised with the pursuit of power. The word jihad which was originally meant for this inner struggle for moral transformation and creation of new human being, came to be used for wars of conquests and desire for more and more power. The Qur'an was basically addressing these issues of moral and ethical values and permitting war only in defense. This permission was also granted as rich and powerful of the Quraysh were against qualitative transformation of society as it seriously affected their powerful vested interests.
Their whole preoccupation was accumulation of wealth and this was not possible without exploitation and oppression and insensitivity to sufferings of weaker sections of society. The new human being, a mu'min would have been a great danger to their interests and hence they intensified their opposition to emergence of such a movement based on justice, equality and compassion which were central values of this newly emerging movement in Mecca.
When the Prophet (PBUH) migrated to Madina this movement still posed danger to kuffar (unbelievers, rejecters or opponents) of Mecca. They knew Muhammad (PBUH) would be safe and at ease in Madina and will consolidate this position. Hence they entered into an understanding with Jews of Madina who were also unhappy with the new community of believers which was becoming dominant posing threat to their interests (though much closer to them religion-wise but it is conflict of interests which mattered, not similarities of religion).
The kuffars of Mecca began attacking Madina to harass the Prophet and his followers and thus make success of the new movement most difficult, if not impossible. Thus Qur'an permitted Muslims to fight in the way of Allah those who fought against them (Muslims) but cautioned them not to be aggressors as Allah does not love aggressors. Thus no war could not be waged by Muslims unless attacked.
But most of the wars fought by Muslims after the death of the Prophet (PBUH) were not defensive wars as permitted by the Qur'an but aggressive or acquisitive. Moreover, Qur'an never used the word 'jihad' for war but it uses the word 'qital' for such wars. The word jihad had religious appeal and was used in the Qur'an and hadith for striving for good, for justice, for ushering in non-discriminatory, non-hierarchical society.
Since jihad had great religious appeal the word jihad began to be used for all such wars and that is how jihad began to be used very loosely by Muslim rulers and even wars of aggression and territorial aggrendisement began to be described as jihad by Umayyads and Abbasids and subsequently other rulers which multiplied with weakening of centralized Abbasid state from later part of 10th century onwards. Even when ambitious ruling dynasties of Muslims fought against each other it was called jihad.
Since these rulers were highly influential even among theological circles and subsequent generations were highly ignorant of original meanings of the Qur'anic words and terminologies, jihad ultimately came to be accepted as religious war and any war became religious war in subsequent history of Islam.
Islam had originally emerged among the community of traders and it had adopted a middle path and Qur'an had described Muslims as ummatan wasatat (community of middle path). We also find in hadith literature that middle path is the best path morally and ethically and Muslims were urged to avoid either extremes. Middle path always leads to stability and extremism leads to turmoil and upheavals. Middle path, moreover is the most desirable path for a trading society which prefers stability and seeks to avoid extremes.
But with wars of conquests and expansions of empire, trading society was transformed into a community of warriors. Arabs did indulge into inter-tribal ghazwa (raids) but had no trained armies and the Quraysh of Mecca, who initially became principal opponents of Islam, were mostly traders and were not much interested in warfare. But when their interests were threatened, as pointed out above, they assembled some loosely fighting force and attacked Madina. But they had neither a trained army nor they intended one as they thought Muslims could be finished off with ease.
When parts of Roman Empire and Iran were conquered during Hazrat Umar's time then also Muslims had no trained and disciplined army. Bedouins and Urban Arabs constituted loose fighting force and it was mere zeal and determination and also support of common oppressed people of these countries that they could win against powerful and well-trained armies. It was nothing short of miracle.
However, such miracles do not recur nor such enthusiasm and determination lasts for ever, and once Arabs tested political power they were tempted to acquire more and more power and gradually that became their preoccupation. Thus the nation of traders was transformed into nation of conquerors. Soon people of conquered countries began to embrace Islam for variety of reasons and they joined Muslims with their martial traditions.
Now Muslim ruling classes acquired all the traits of martial races with hierarchical feudal values and Islamic values began to be sidelined. Islam had laid great emphasis on equality and new martial cum feudal society replaced original Islamic society with its own weltanschauung. The new society was hierarchical with emphasis on superiority of ruling class rather than of pious.
Compassion, mercy, benevolence wisdom were less important that war like virtues and ruthlessness of rulers. Exploitation and oppression are characteristics of those with lust for power and wealth. Centrality of compassion and mercy which are divine virtues was lost and centrality of war in the garb of jihad occupied its place. Islam became now religion of rulers rather than of the oppressed as in the Qur'an.
It was not something unique with Islam. Other religions like Christianity had met the same fate earlier. Christianity too was religion of love, compassion and peace during the time of the Christ and it again it was the poor and the oppressed who had adopted Christianity. Like in the Qur'an Bible also talked about the meek inheriting the earth. The Christians remained most oppressed for about two to three centuries.
However, when Roman emperor embraced Christianity its character was transformed and from religion of the oppressed it became religion of oppressors and subsequent history of Christianity is history of bloodshed and warfare. Its central values were also sidelined. Those who were sincerely religious among Christians began to live life of renunciation and retreats and isolation.
Likewise among Muslims there emerged a group of Sufis who equally resented warfare and bloodshed for political power among Muslims, especially among Umayyads and Abbasids initially and among other non-Arab Muslims subsequently and they too adopted simpler and what they considered as Islamic way of life. For Sufis therefore, real jihad was fighting against ones own desire and lust for power and they termed this jihad as jihad-e-akbar (the greatest jihad). They battled their own desire so that they could imbibe Islamic values and create a society based on compassion, justice and equality.
Their religion, unlike religion of rulers, was not religion of mere rituals but of values. For a ruling class religion is mere bundle of rituals but for those who resist lust for power and battle their own desire, religion is religion of values. For them all human beings are worthy of respect irrespective of their station in life and irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious persuasion. It is for this reason that people of different faiths and social status visit their hospices or graves.
Today in our own times jihad is being grossly misused by power seekers and modern highly destructive weapons like bombs are used to kill innocent people for their political struggle. This is what Qur'an calls fasad (when something goes beyond moderation and causes disorder and mischief), not jihad. Thousands of innocent people are being killed and many youth are made to lay down their lives in the hope of getting paradise in the life hereafter.
In fact these brainwashed youth, falsely enticed by powerful vested interests, waste their life and kill innocent people and cause so much mischief and destruction of life and properties (fasad). It is all because of the misuse of the Qur'anic term jihad which Qur'an uses for creating a just, peaceful and compassionate society sensitive to others suffering. In fact compassion in this sense is as central to Islam as in Buddhism or Christianity.
Now it is for those youth who are properly educated in Islamic values to dedicate themselves to promote compassion and respect for human life and stop monstrosities being committed in the name of Islam. It would be real jihad and it is this jihad which will earn the whole humanity paradise. A truly Islamic society will be one where all are free, free from fear, free from oppression and exploitation.
To pursue such a goal one has to use religion for pursuit of truth, not pursuit for power. When religion is used for pursuit for power, it results in bloodshed and war and when religion is used for pursuit of truth it results in peaceful and compassionate society. Unfortunately ruling classes use religion for pursuit of power by projecting themselves as champions and protectors of religion.
Those who use religion in pursuit of truth carry on their struggle and dedicate themselves for removing sufferings from society and make society humane and worthy of peaceful coexistence for all. Let us bring values of justice, equality, compassion and peace at the centre as it was intended by Islam.
Asghar Ali Engineer is a renowned Islamic scholar and author of several books on Islamic law and politics. He is with the Institute of Islamic Studies, Mumbai. E-mail: <csss@mtnl.net.in
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1232
The War Within Islam: Niyaz Fatehpuri's Struggle Against The Fundamentalists
IS RELIGION FROM GOD OR MAN-MADE?
Fateh{puri@ believed in God, and there are various instances in his writings to prove that. However, he was not sure if God had anything to do with religion. As seen in the earlier instance, he tried to rationalize even the divine revelation, and showed that it was possible to see the Qur'an as the personal contribution of the Prophet. This was because, for Fateh{puri@, religion had a more utilitarian purpose, than spiritual. Religion, for him, was to serve as a guide for humanity, to remind them of doing good deeds, being kind to one another, and remembering God, while taking part in worldly pursuits and aiming for progress and success.
In reality, all religions of the world were made by humans and were not related to God, revelation or providence. The books that are said to be revealed, are the work of human brain only, and therefore, they have different thoughts and teachings according to different time and place. Neither does God need worship and submission, nor does He need anyone's prayers.[ix]
Fateh{puri@'s thesis was that the reasons why some matters have either been forbidden or recommended by religion can be understood by human intellect. Therefore, it is quite possible to say that religious instructions might have been created by human intellect to serve a functional purpose.
IS THE QUR'AN REALLY GOD'S SPEECH?
As mentioned above, Fateh{puri@ believed that the only thing that could be proven was that the Qur'an came from Muh{ammad's mouth; whether it was really God's speech is debatable. The only justification of its divine origin generally given, according to him, was that the grammar, literary quality and style of the h{adi@th and the Qur'an differ markedly and therefore, they are speeches of different entities, the Prophet and God. Fateh{puri@ never found this rationale satisfactory enough to prove such a broad assumption. He agreed that, undoubtedly the Qur'an was truly an extraordinary book in all its aspects and that during that age, nothing like it in either length or quality was produced. However, he argued, it would be going too far to assume that nothing like it could have been produced. Arabic literature and poetry at the time was quite developed, and oral tradition was flourishing. And since Prophet Muh{ammad was related to the Quraish tribe, which was famous for its oral literature and fluency of expression, it should not be surprising that his language was extraordinarily refined.
Fateh{puri@ answered the question of the differences in style and quality of the two works by saying that one's language and actions are determined by the emotion one is feeling, and its intensity. He gave the example of poetry. There can be quite a lot of variety in the different verses written by the same poet, some of them perhaps being of a higher literary quality than others. The reason, he thought, was that the poet reached a certain state of mind when he wrote those particular high-quality verses. Those verses that suddenly come into a poet's mind, without any effort on his part, are even in literary circles called ilha@mi@ or revelatory.[vi]
Coming back to the Prophet and the Qur'an, his basic hypothesis was that the Prophet must have reached a certain state of mind, resulting in the revelation (wahy). He explained that, unlike his contemporaries, the Prophet was born with an acute discernment of good from evil. A person like him would naturally be upset with the situation in which he found himself. This, according to Fateh{puri@, prompted him to get out of his world, hide in caves and think. His deep thinking would lead him into such a state where he would start producing this message. Words burst forth like a spring. The words in that message were obviously his, and in the same language that was widespread during the time and in that area. The only noticeable change was in the style of presentation, which according to Fateh{puri@ was the result of his state of mind. That is what truly constitutes a revelation, according to Fateh{puri@. And this was what made the language of the Qur'an so different from that of h{adi@th.[vii]
W.C. Smith was clearly not an admirer of Fateh{puri@'s extreme logic; he did not like the fact that Fateh{puri@ attacked the very idea of divine revelation. "Accordingly, the Qur'a@n was seen as a piece of literature, the personal contribution of Muh{ammad to the thought of the world; all of authority, as well as the ritual and formalism, of the religion was rejected."[viii]
STATUS OF THE PROPHET
Prophet Muh{ammad, according to him, was basically a reformer who was very concerned about the state of his society: its illiteracy, ignorance, social evils like polygamy, infanticide, drinking (etc.), its material culture and idol worship. After all, he sat meditating in a cave for weeks even before the advent of the revelation. Fateh{puri@ mused that he must have been thinking about ways to cleanse his society of its ills and it seems, Islam turned out to be a good way of doing so.
Although other modernists also made an effort to humanise the Prophet, not many would have agreed with him that the Prophet had a personal agenda in bringing about Islam. The Prophet might have been concerned about his society, and there must have been a reason why he used to go to that cave, but there is no reason why these two things should be related. Apparently Fateh{puri@ was venturing here into the realm of pure speculation.
Fateh{puri@ asked, "What is the position of the Prophet in Islam? Was he just a messenger, could anybody have become a messenger?" For him the choice of Muh{ammad as the Prophet was crucial. How Muh{ammad acted, how he lived his life, was a topic of primary importance for Fateh{puri. He considered it debatable whether the Qur'an is the speech of God or not, but it was historically proven, according to him, that it did come out of Muh{ammad's mouth.[x] His earlier point that the Prophet might have had a reformist agenda of his own in bringing about Islam, and then his insistence that our only certain knowledge is that Qur'an came out of the Prophet's mouth, amounted to placing a question mark on any involvement of God at all. This was one of the instances where he may have taken his logic too far, expressing views that clearly would not be acceptable to any ordinary believer. He appears an agnostic from these views, but seemingly this was not the case. He simply went wherever his logic took him and was not afraid of expressing radically different views.
--- JUHI SHAHIN
Excerpts from a newly published book in Pakistan: The War Within Islam: Niyaz Fateh{puri@'s Struggle Against The Fundamentalists
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1221
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The War Within Islam:
Niyaz Fatehpuri's Struggle Against The Fundamentalists
Juhi Shahin
CHAPTER 2
Religious Issues
The characteristic of Islam which is not shared by any other religion, and which every thinker has praised, is simply that it is not just a philosophical idea, but an action: Being a Muslim simply means being a good human being.[xi]
Fateh{puri's attempt to write on Islam and to rationalize it had nothing to do with the usual suspects – missionaries' debates, colonial discourse on the topic, or even the views of his contemporaries and predecessors. It was simply because he was interested in both reason and religion. In his own words: "Whenever I used to think (and I used to think often), it was mostly related to reason and religion. Reason because ever since I was a student I had never accepted anything, without satisfying my head and soul. And religion because I was educated in a religious atmosphere and I got the opportunity to study the religious 'ulama@'."[xii]
If there was one thread running through all of Fateh{puri@'s writing, it was his argument with the 'ulama@'. They were the ones who inspired him to write on religious issues. And it was to them that he posed his questions, and gave his own answers to what he found questionable in their views. He hardly ever took up a new Western idea and discussed it with regard to Islam, or tried to answer an Islamic question only in the light of Western ideas. However, the whole colonial discourse of Islam being backward and medieval, was familiar to him and he kept trying to dispel this notion by saying that what the 'ulama@' were saying and doing was not the only way to look at Islam.
WHAT IS ISLAM?
What is meant by Islam and being a Muslim, can have several interpretations in his opinion. He questioned whether what was practiced in his time was really Islam. Can its believers truly be called Muslims? Fateh{puri@'s "real" Islam was rational, in consonance with the times and progressive. Fateh{puri@ stated plainly, "If there is one characteristic of Islam then it is that it moves with the times. You cannot define it in one shape or assign it one meaning. It will keep changing with the time and the progress of man's understanding and reason."[xiii]
Islam took the highest place in Fateh{puri@'s hierarchy of world religions. He explained how the advent of religions could be seen in phases and how, although one religion came after another, it had always happened that the existing religion was not completely extinguished before the next came, so that, many religions came to exist side-by-side. Islam came in a similar situation. However, what made Islam superior, according to him, was that its vision was much wider. It did not come for a specific time or place but wanted to remain with humanity forever and in the future, to be known as the "complete religion." That, one might think, gave an added responsibility to Islam, or rather Muslims, to explain themselves in every time and place. Islam, if it claimed to be the final and complete religion, should never allow itself to be stagnant since there is no new religion coming to rectify its mistakes. [xiv]
The purpose of Islam was to produce what Fateh{puri@ called a "spirit of action." This religious spirit of action did not mean just performing ostensibly religious actions like saying one's prayer (nama@z), but also meant using the resources available on earth for betterment of one's life here, i.e., in this world, in this life and right now. He said that the logic of the 'ulama@' – say your nama@z here (on earth) get houris there (in the hereafter) – did not work for him.[xv] As quoted in the beginning of the chapter, trying to be a good human being, being helpful and kind towards others, and trying to live in harmony with them, is what Islam ultimately desires, according to him; prayer and fasting should lead one on this path.
ISLAM IN HISTORY
Fateh{puri@ reasoned that the meaning and purpose of Islam had changed over time and that many fallacies had crept into it because the religion of Islam was replaced by the reign of Islam very early in its history. The characteristics of Islam, like its simplicity, its emphasis on right actions and its akhla@q, soon disappeared. The ills of the political regime or government in power filtered into it. He used the analogy of the separation of church and state to explain this – since this never happened in the case of Islam, rulers therefore enjoyed the full opportunity of exploiting religion to suit their personal or political interests.
In spite of this exploitation, though, Fateh{puri@ believed that, while the Islamic governments persisted, whether they were right or wrong, there was at least an Islamic structure. Once that was gone, Muslims developed an inferiority complex, and completely stopped experimenting with new ideas. It is then, he insists that the right vision of God was destroyed, the meaning of prophethood changed, the belief in right action was sidelined, and Islam became full of traditional mischief and superstition.[xvi]
There had always been changes in the religious thinking and intellectual pursuits of humankind in each new age, according to Fateh{puri@. Before Islam, new religions themselves used to appear to rejuvenate the way people thought. If it is to be believed that prophets were sent in all historical periods, then when a particular prophet came, he would have been of that time and would have addressed the issues confronting the society in which he found himself. Fateh{puri@ believed that even the teachings of the prophets evolved; the prophets must have told people to use idols at an earlier stage, but with the development of human intellect, they began to ask human beings to pray in their hearts. It follows, he maintained, from this reasoning that Muslim thinking should have reached new heights in this new age of progress; instead, it seemed to him, to have gone back to beliefs that Islam originally came to suppress. Instead of worshipping God, Muslims worship tombs and pirs (Sufi masters) and are superstitious.[xvii]
Fateh{puri@ was very clear about who was responsible for a state of affairs in which asking questions is tantamount to unbelief; it was the 'ulama@' . The latter, according to him, had abandoned the Qur'an and embraced only the h{adi@th, believing in them so fervently that if anyone wanted to present an alternative vision of Islam, he was labelled as an unbeliever (mulhid, ka@fir) and excommunicated from the community of Islam. Almost all the modernists in South Asia at the time were campaigning for a return to the original sources, more specifically to the Qur'an, and for less stress on the h{adi@th, to understand how to live in this new age.
Some of the religious issues on which Fateh{puri@ differed from the traditional views are discussed in the following pages:
STATUS OF THE PROPHET
Fateh{puri@ explained that prophethood was defined in either of two ways in religions of the present day: one where the prophet is seen as a reflection of God on earth, or Avatar (as in Hinduism / Christianity) and the other where he is defined as the messenger of God (as in Judaism / Islam). In spite of this difference though, every religion agrees that the prophets came to earth to teach mankind, to tell them the wishes of God and show them the right path.[xviii]
Fateh{puri@ quoted Shibli@@ at length to define Prophethood:
As God has granted different qualities to humankind, so that some people do not possess them and some do in large degrees, in the same way there is a spiritual quality called prophethood, which is related to purity of soul and akhla@@q. The person who has this quality is perfect (ka@mil) in akhla@q and by his influence, other people become perfect. This person is not educated or brought up in such a way as to achieve this quality; rather, this quality is inborn.[xix]
Fateh{puri@ agreed with Shibli@@ on the definition of the concept of prophethood but differed from most Muslims over the priority given to the Prophet. Muslims normally consider God first in order of importance, followed by the Qur'an and Muh{ammad. He, on the other hand, considered Muh{ammad first, then the Qur'an, then God. According to him, Muslims know the Qur'an and God through Muh{ammad, so his actions are to be considered first in themselves.
People want to understand Muh{ammad through the Qur'an and h{adi@th, and I want to verify the Qur'an and h{adi@th through the life of Muh{ammad. People say: Muh{ammad is what the Qur'an says he is; I say that the Qur'an is what Muh{ammad showed through his right actions in his daily life. People follow the Qur'an and Muh{ammad because they fear God, and I want to understand God and the Qur'an through my love for Muh{ammad.[xx]
Prophet Muh{ammad, according to him, was basically a reformer who was very concerned about the state of his society: its illiteracy, ignorance, social evils like polygamy, infanticide, drinking (etc.), its material culture and idol worship. After all, he sat meditating in a cave for weeks even before the advent of the revelation. Fateh{puri@ mused that he must have been thinking about ways to cleanse his society of its ills and it seems, Islam turned out to be a good way of doing so.
Although other modernists also made an effort to humanise the Prophet, not many would have agreed with him that the Prophet had a personal agenda in bringing about Islam. The Prophet might have been concerned about his society, and there must have been a reason why he used to go to that cave, but there is no reason why these two things should be related. Apparently Fateh{puri@ was venturing here into the realm of pure speculation.
Fateh{puri@ asked, "What is the position of the Prophet in Islam? Was he just a messenger, could anybody have become a messenger?" For him the choice of Muh{ammad as the Prophet was crucial. How Muh{ammad acted, how he lived his life, was a topic of primary importance for Fateh{puri. He considered it debatable whether the Qur'an is the speech of God or not, but it was historically proven, according to him, that it did come out of Muh{ammad's mouth.[xxi] His earlier point that the Prophet might have had a reformist agenda of his own in bringing about Islam, and then his insistence that our only certain knowledge is that Qur'an came out of the Prophet's mouth, amounted to placing a question mark on any involvement of God at all. This was one of the instances where he may have taken his logic too far, expressing views that clearly would not be acceptable to any ordinary believer. He appears an agnostic from these views, but seemingly this was not the case. He simply went wherever his logic took him and was not afraid of expressing radically different views.
Given his views that it was of primary importance to understand the Prophet in order to understand Islam, and given his distrust of the h{adi@th, the question arises as to how he wanted to study the Prophet. He was very clear: this could only be done through the Qur'an.
A man's life can be divided into two parts: one is historical and geographical and the other is spiritual and internal. When we study the Prophet's life we realize that, although the first part is completely clear, the second has been a subject of debate and continues to be so. How was the Prophet personally, what kind of interests nature had bestowed upon him, what were his intellectual capabilities? For knowing all this you do not need to read history books or the hadi@@@@th, because the Qur'an is available. And each and every word of it lets us know how deep his faith was, and how pure his akhla@q was. None of the history books were written in the time of the Prophet so they are interpretations of other people in different places and times. Most of the h{adi@th are not trustworthy either and can only be believed after thorough investigation.[xxii]
IS THE QUR'AN REALLY GOD'S SPEECH?
As mentioned above, Fateh{puri@ believed that the only thing that could be proven was that the Qur'an came from Muh{ammad's mouth; whether it was really God's speech is debatable. The only justification of its divine origin generally given, according to him, was that the grammar, literary quality and style of the h{adi@th and the Qur'an differ markedly and therefore, they are speeches of different entities, the Prophet and God. Fateh{puri@ never found this rationale satisfactory enough to prove such a broad assumption. He agreed that, undoubtedly the Qur'an was truly an extraordinary book in all its aspects and that during that age, nothing like it in either length or quality was produced. However, he argued, it would be going too far to assume that nothing like it could have been produced. Arabic literature and poetry at the time was quite developed, and oral tradition was flourishing. And since Prophet Muh{ammad was related to the Quraish tribe, which was famous for its oral literature and fluency of expression, it should not be surprising that his language was extraordinarily refined.
Fateh{puri@ answered the question of the differences in style and quality of the two works by saying that one's language and actions are determined by the emotion one is feeling, and its intensity. He gave the example of poetry. There can be quite a lot of variety in the different verses written by the same poet, some of them perhaps being of a higher literary quality than others. The reason, he thought, was that the poet reached a certain state of mind when he wrote those particular high-quality verses. Those verses that suddenly come into a poet's mind, without any effort on his part, are even in literary circles called ilha@mi@ or revelatory.[xxiii]
Coming back to the Prophet and the Qur'an, his basic hypothesis was that the Prophet must have reached a certain state of mind, resulting in the revelation (wahy). He explained that, unlike his contemporaries, the Prophet was born with an acute discernment of good from evil. A person like him would naturally be upset with the situation in which he found himself. This, according to Fateh{puri@, prompted him to get out of his world, hide in caves and think. His deep thinking would lead him into such a state where he would start producing this message. Words burst forth like a spring. The words in that message were obviously his, and in the same language that was widespread during the time and in that area. The only noticeable change was in the style of presentation, which according to Fateh{puri@ was the result of his state of mind. That is what truly constitutes a revelation, according to Fateh{puri@. And this was what made the language of the Qur'an so different from that of h{adi@th.[xxiv]
W.C. Smith was clearly not an admirer of Fateh{puri@'s extreme logic; he did not like the fact that Fateh{puri@ attacked the very idea of divine revelation. "Accordingly, the Qur'a@n was seen as a piece of literature, the personal contribution of Muh{ammad to the thought of the world; all of authority, as well as the ritual and formalism, of the religion was rejected."[xxv]
IS RELIGION FROM GOD OR MAN-MADE?
Fateh{puri@ believed in God, and there are various instances in his writings to prove that. However, he was not sure if God had anything to do with religion. As seen in the earlier instance, he tried to rationalize even the divine revelation, and showed that it was possible to see the Qur'an as the personal contribution of the Prophet. This was because, for Fateh{puri@, religion had a more utilitarian purpose, than spiritual. Religion, for him, was to serve as a guide for humanity, to remind them of doing good deeds, being kind to one another, and remembering God, while taking part in worldly pursuits and aiming for progress and success.
In reality, all religions of the world were made by humans and were not related to God, revelation or providence. The books that are said to be revealed, are the work of human brain only, and therefore, they have different thoughts and teachings according to different time and place. Neither does God need worship and submission, nor does He need anyone's prayers.[xxvi]
Fateh{puri@'s thesis was that the reasons why some matters have either been forbidden or recommended by religion can be understood by human intellect. Therefore, it is quite possible to say that religious instructions might have been created by human intellect to serve a functional purpose.
Akhla@q of a person is related to this world, and their results are seen here, because of which some have been declared good and others bad. These are not affected by which family you come from, nor is it necessary that they be accounted for in the other world to give reward or punishment. To consider stealing bad, one does not need a revelation, men saw the problems it caused and made God say it. To keep society safe from all crimes that cause humanity, physical, economic or societal problems, is a feeling that is naturally found in every individual, and it was this feeling that told him what is good and what is evil.[xxvii]
RIGHTS OF OTHERS ON ONE
In Islam, according to general understanding, there are two kinds of duties, duty towards God (huqooq Allah) and duty towards fellow human beings (huqooq ul-iba@d). Fateh{puri@ insisted that both of them essentially mean the same thing. Since even the duties that we fulfill towards God ( i.e., fulfilling huqooq Allah), make us better human beings, leading in turn to our helping others and becoming more compassionate towards fellow human beings, hence fulfilling our duties towards other human beings better (i.e. fulfilling huqooq ul-iba@d) .
Lets forget about principles of the issue, and get down to brass tacks, and consider what has been classified as Huqooq Allah, and why it is considered so. All religious education is based in two spheres: "Methods of Worship" and "Codes of Behaviour". Let us leave out "Behaviours" because they are related to Huqooq ul-ibad. So that means Haq Allah is related to "Worships", but worship no matter in which form is related to huqooq al-ibad... Even those people who consider nama@z, roza@ and hajj as Haq Allah, would not be able to refuse that these are for our own benefit.[xxviii]
He thus explained his concept:
If we do not follow the injunctions that shariah tells us, it will result in loss for us and our community, and if we do them religiously then we ourselves will benefit from them. That is why all our actions and worship are part of huqooq ul-ibad, and huqooq Allah does not mean anything.[xxix]
H{ADI@TH
Fateh{puri@ believed that the changes in Islam were brought about by the medium of the h{adi@th (plural – ah{adi@th, sayings of the Prophet). He claimed that many of the ah{adi@th were simply fabricated to suit the ruler of the day. The reason why he could simply state such a conclusion, taking it for granted that people would agree with him, was that almost all the modernists – Sayyid Ah{mad Kha@n, Shibli@@ Nu'ma@ni@ and even his contemporaries like Muh{ammad Iqbal, the philosopher- poet – were to a greater or lesser degree all doubtful of the ah{adi@th in their entirety and were urging Muslims to be cautious in relying on them.[xxx] Sayyid Ah{mad disapproved of classical h{adi@th criticism since it was based on the characters of the people relating the h{adi@th, and not on rational criticism of the actual text.[xxxi] Shibli@@ Nu'ma@ni@ (1857-1914), one of the most prominent intellectuals of that time, and by far the most traditional teacher at the Aligarh school, was also conscious of the need to define h{adi@th and its use. Seventy-five pages of his Si@rat al-Nu'ma@n[xxxii] are written just to demonstrate how cautious and critical Abu@ Hani@fah was in accepting a h{adi@th as true and binding.[xxxiii] Iqbal was responsible for painting the Khila@fah al-Ra@shidah (the period of the first four Caliphs) as a utopia; it was then that "Islam was 'pure', 'socialistic' and simple."[xxxiv] Later, Islam became an empire and all the trappings of power came with it.
REWARD AND PUNISHMENT
On the issue of reward and punishment, people of all religions think that when man does not listen to God's instructions, God gets angry with him, and since the world is the place for learning (da@r al-'ilm), man does not get punished here, but when on the Day of Judgment (qaya@mat) God is the judge, all matters will be presented to Him. And God will give punishment to the wrong-doers for their disobedience, and in the same way, those people who have worshipped and obeyed will be rewarded by Him.[xxxv]
Fateh{puri@ thus expressed commonly-held views on the issue of reward and punishment by quoting Shibli@.
It was the question of Hell that Fateh{puri@ said he really wanted to clarify in his mind. He felt that the way Hell has been prescribed for the wrongs done on earth did not correspond to his overall impression of a merciful and benevolent God. He said that the Bible and Talmud agree with the Qur'an on the description of Hell; all of them mention burning. In the Qur'an though, hell's fire is described in such graphic detail that no further explanation is needed. After reading this description, it seemed to him that God was like a tyrant or a vindictive being, who dealt with weaknesses harshly, as though our actions caused him some kind of personal injury. It was as if there was so much hatred and anger for us in His Heart that He could not even be satisfied when offenders were burnt to ashes but had to keep re-burning them for all eternity. Fateh{puri@ said if this description did not have an alternative meaning, then man's reason would force him to hate this God, and if that is how He is, His qualities of mercy and blessings did not mean a thing.[xxxvi]
Fateh{puri@, trying to be objective, also acknowledged the usefulness of this kind of description of hell and the complete opposite picture drawn of heaven for the masses, especially if it induces them to do good and avoid evil. However, for a man of intelligence and kindness, who does not need to be induced or scared into doing good, this description of hell is disagreeable.[xxxvii] To explain this, Fateh{puri@ made a distinction between the masses and the intelligentsia, saying that it was quite possible for two understandings of the same issue to exist side-by-side. After quoting Shibli@@ (cited above), he said that the description found in the Qur'an can be quite appropriate for common understanding and there can be no better way to prevent people from bad behaviour and make them move in the direction of goodness. However, he believed that this cannot be the only interpretation of reward and punishment.
The "real" meaning, according to Fateh{puri@, was that if actions are good or bad, they have corresponding results on the doer's psyche. Good actions make one feel satisfied and happy, while bad actions make one feel dissatisfied, alone and guilty. He pointed out that these results were not separate from the action; indeed, it was simply cause and effect. He quoted Imam Ghaza@li@ to explain: "The punishment due to bad action does not mean God will be angry, or that He will seek revenge. An example to explain what I mean is that if a man does not go near a woman, he will not have kids (cause and effect). At the time of the Day of Judgment, worship and good actions mean exactly the same thing." Fateh{puri@ explained further by using the example of a person stealing from another: even if the person who owned the thing forgave the thief, the fact that he stole, would always be a spot on his character that would never be washed away. So, reward and punishment, according to him, are the direct result of one's actions imposed instantaneously by God on this earth only.[xxxviii]
Fateh{puri@ said that Prophet Muh{ammad was addressing tribal people, whose intellectual abilities could not have been the best. Therefore, a description of heaven and hell had to be found that would satisfy them, and make them endeavour to pursue good and avoid evil.
For them, the ultimate level of luxury and happiness, had not risen above milk, honey, wine and women, and their basic imagination for affliction was to inflict on their enemies the same amount of pain as is found by throwing someone in fire. Therefore, if an attempt was made to lure them into doing good by telling them that they will get spiritual comfort in return, and if they were urged to avoid doing wrong because it will cause spiritual pain, they would not be very impressed. This line of reasoning and exhortation will not work with these people because their mental horizons had not widened enough to appreciate this high philosophy of pleasure and affliction, and Islam would not have succeeded in its mission.[xxxix]
Another reason why he believed that Hell's fire was not like real fire is:
If the fires of Hell meant the same as fire here on earth, then it would not have been called God's fire, nor would it be said that the fire is related to hearts. It is obvious that fire in the heart, could only be one which causes spiritual pain, and it is not related to fire as we know it.[xl]
Iqbal clearly was of the same belief that heaven and hell were states of mind rather than places; he denounced the static other-worldliness of religion, as being un-Islamic and inherently evil.[xli] McDonough explains his views further by saying, "The descriptions in the Quran are visual representations of an inner fact, i.e. character. Hell, in the words of the Quran, is God's kindled fire which mounts above the hearts – the painful realization of one's failure as a man. Heaven is the joy of triumph over the forces of disintegration. There is no such thing as eternal damnation in Islam."[xlii]
Shibli@@ also presented two understandings of the issue in his work, though not as blatantly, and quoted the same lines from al-Ghaza@li@'s commentary on a Qur'a@nic verse that Fateh{puri@ did: "Hell is right inside you," he said, and \\\"if you did not understand the meanings in this manner, then you did not get from the Qur'a@n anything except the crust, as the cattle get only the husk from the wheat."[xliii]
Fateh{puri@ since he was writing for a magazine audience, made an effort to explain his reasoning in the simplest terms possible and by giving examples. In illustration of this and also to further explain the point, here is a quotation:
The way that God has ordered some things and stopped man from doing some other things, is like how a physician recommends some medicines to the sick person and asks him not to eat certain things; if that person disobeys the physician and does not do as told, he increases his ailment. The increase in his ailment is the direct result of his not doing the right things, but people might say that he disobeyed the physician that is why the ailment increased. Although, even if the physician had not told him these things, and he had not done the right things, his ailment would have increased anyhow. Likewise, even if God had not told us right from wrong, wrong deeds would still cause injury to the soul.[xliv]
Fateh{puri@ believed that even though Islam had generally kept the same meaning of reward and punishment, heaven and hell, as religions before it, nevertheless the best thing about Islam is that it had also stated "reality", although not so openly, and this is what made Islam superior to all other religions. All the other big religions only talk to the masses (a@wa@m), according to Fateh{puri@, while Islam has a message for everyone: intellectuals and the ignorant, fools and the intelligent, the upper classes and the lower classes, mystics and literalists (Sufi@s and Za@hiri@s).
PRAYER AND FASTING
Prayer and fasting (nama@z aur roza) are among the most important aspects of practicing Islam. The strange thing, however, is that the Qur'an is silent on how exactly to perform them. For Fateh{puri@, this clearly meant that the Qur'an and Islam did not want to force people to do things in one particular way. Also, it meant that the Qur'an did not come simply to guide the 'Arabs, but all of humankind, and since humankind is divided into different communities, they cannot all be forced to pray in just one language and in one particular way (t{ari@qa@). And even if they could, Fateh{puri@ believed, their hearts would never be in it.[xlv]
He explained his point by giving the example of an Eskimo living in an ice house, in a place where there are six months of night. He definitely cannot adopt the Arab ways of worship. How can he do the prayer and fasting (which is dictated by the position of the sun) in the same way? That is why the Qur'an is silent on the right and best way of worship. Worship should merely be of One God and that is the pillar of Islam – it can be through any way.[xlvi]
Fateh{puri@ questioned the extent to which Islamic rulings had Arab influence and consequently, to what extent, in a different time and place, there is need for fresh thinking (ijtihad). He said Shah Wali@ Allah understood that there was such a need and quoted Hujjat Alla@h al-Baligha to the effect. Chira@gh 'Ali@, one of the stalwarts of the Aligarh movement, said unequivocally, "The only law of Muh{ammad or Islam is the Qur'a@n and only the Qur'a@n."[xlvii] Fateh{puri@ agreed and said further that if the Qur'an did not define some issues that are obviously very important, then there must definitely be a reason for this.
PURPOSE OF ZAKA@T
The real purpose of zaka@t (charity), according to Fateh{puri@, was quite clearly to give rightful help to one's relatives and the needy in the community. All Muslims are aware of this, he said; hence, the issue is not in the least debatable. He asked then why it was that many Muslims, despite being aware of this purpose, simply ignored it, and tried to get out of the responsibility of giving zaka@t by proving themselves incapable of it. Regarding the reluctance of the 'ulama@' in particular, he stated: "There are many ways of avoiding zaka@t in the books of fiqh, and many of our 'ulama@'-i kara@m, use them."[xlviii]
Fateh{puri@ described one loophole that people used to avoid zaka@t. When the year is nearing its end, the husband declares all his assets under his wife's name and when the next year-end approaches, the wife transfers them back to her husband, so that neither of them has enjoyed the assets for the year before the taxation date and are not, thus, liable for zaka@t. If the purpose of zaka@t is so clear and obvious, these frauds should not happen, but they do, and the reason for it was very clear in Fateh{puri@'s mind: it was only because Muslims did not understand the spirit behind the Islamic rulings. It is one thing to follow rules and another to understand their purpose and act on it. As he saw it, every religious act that Muslims performed in his day was carried out merely for the sake of ritual. The real purpose was not at the forefront of anyone's mind. And this was why the religion of Islam had become spiritless; this was what was destroying the community.
A reader asked Fateh{puri@ in the Istifsar (question and answer) column of his magazine whether, in view of the fact that he was giving more taxes to the British government than he would have given zaka@t, did he need to give zaka@t as well. Fateh{puri@ replied that even if the taxes were more than zaka@t, the real purpose of zaka@t was not served by that money, which is to help one's relatives and community; therefore, it was not possible to say that one had given it.[xlix]
The point he was trying to make was that the purpose of zaka@t was helping people in need and that one had to do discharge this duty, regardless of what else one had to do to lead a fulfilling life. It was not like a government ruling with which one felt little connection and which could be avoided. Helping people in need should come from within a person; it was part of being a Muslim, not merely a ritual that one is forced to do and that one avoided wherever possible.
FREE WILL OR PREDESTINATION?
This is one debate that has been going on since Muslim scholars first started pondering Islam. What is interesting in Fateh{puri@'s analysis was that he took the middle path. He believed that there is free will but that God is aware of each and every action of man. This might seem like a paradox but he explained that, by saying that God having knowledge of what one is going to do is not binding inasmuch as it does not force man to do exactly that. Man has free will to do what he wants; God only has knowledge of how he will employ his free will. Like every element, such as iron, whose heaviness is a predestined quality, human will (ira@da@-i insa@ni@) is a predestined quality of each man. This quality is what makes a particular person choose a certain option in a given situation, and avoid another.[l]
Fateh{puri@ quoted a saying of Caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khatta@b (581-644 A.D. c. 634-644 A.D.), in which an evil-doer was presented to him pleading innocence on the ground that God had knowledge of his actions, since they were predestined for him. Caliph 'Umar replied that God certainly had knowledge of the acts but had not forced the man to commit them; they were his choices. Caliph 'Umar quoted a saying of the Prophet to buttress this point, which was that God's knowledge of one's actions is like that of the sky that covers one and the earth on which one walks. Just as one cannot walk away from the earth or run out of sky, one cannot escape from the knowledge of God. And just as the earth and sky do not force you to do evil, the knowledge of God does not force one to do anything.[li]
Imam Hasan al-Basri@[lii] had said something similar, according to Fateh{puri@, that if God wants to keep a man away from some action, He will not predestine one to do so; it has to be one's free will to go against God's indictment. Fateh{puri@ then stated the basic Mu'tazilite[liii] doctrine, that if God had predestined one to worship Him and do good deeds, there would be no reward (sawa@b) for prayer and right actions. If God has predestined one for evil, one should not be punished. [liv]
Fateh}puri@ thought that most people in his day believed in predestination, as a way of avoiding responsibility for their actions. Predestination is just an excuse for their laziness, their inability to do anything worthwhile. After all, humankind was created to help develop the natural system and was given 'aql so that he could do so. God bestowed His teachings through revelation, as well as the 'aql to discern right from wrong, so that, people can act for the greater good out of their free will. Of course, this confers the responsibility to do what one thinks is right. People cannot blame predestination for their incapacities.[lv]
'AKHLA@Q
In what I have studied of Islam, nowhere have I found the narrow-mindedness that is seen in the Muslims of today….It has only taught akhla@q and has told us that, in actuality, Muslims are those, whose akhla@q is pure.[lvi]
Akhla@q was the most important characteristic of the religious spirit of action that Fateh{puri@ wanted to see revived. Being religious was not about saying prayers; it was about being a better person. "Actions speak louder than words," would describe Fateh{puri@'s basic belief.
"The greatest characteristics of Islam are its simplicity and its teaching of right action, both of which are related to akhla@q (ethical thinking)."[lvii]
W. C. Smith has translated the term akhla@q as the "ethical spirit,"[lviii] while Sheila McDonough calls it "ethical thinking."[lix] It is one of those words that are very difficult to translate since they take on many connotations in different places and times. However, Smith and McDonough have it right when they choose not to translate it simply as ethics, since it is more of a "spirit or thinking" that drives a man to do what is morally correct, and not just a set of moral values.
McDonough uses the word akhla@q to mean a concern with ideal human virtues as well as the development of good social, economic, political and religious structures.[lx] She also notes that Sayyid Ah{mad Kha@n used akhla@q to mean constructive training given to an individual on how to relate to other individuals, and how to live in society harmoniously. Since the opposite of that would be lawlessness and chaos, for Sayyid Ah{mad then, akhla@q was an obligation to live in peace, with the feeling of brotherhood and sharing.[lxi]
Shibli@@ also assigned considerable importance to the refinement of morals (tadhi@b al-akhla@q) and, like Fateh{puri@, believed that the Prophets' main concern was to reform the society and instil in it moral values.[lxii]
Although many reformers then and even earlier recognized the importance of akhla@q, Fateh{puri@ went so far as to say that it is the purpose of religion.
After an in-depth study of religions, I have come to the conclusion that no other religion has emphasized the purity of akhla@q as much as Islam. In fact, it has said that the purpose of worship for humans is to attain purity and good qualities. Therefore, you will notice that in the Qur'an, wherever nama@z or another form of worship is mentioned, with it "'amilu al sa@liha@t" (good deeds) is also mentioned. So that, if a person's actions are not good, all his worship is useless and he cannot call himself a Muslim in the real sense of the word. Therefore, good deeds are the soul of worship.[lxiii]
Akhlaq meant a number of things to him, most importantly, as in Sayyid Ah{mad's view, it meant social behaviour. A person with akhla@q would act for the greater good of everyone, respect people and their opinions, and preserve the feeling of brotherhood and sharing.
Another very important characteristic of akhla@q for him was humility. For a Muslim, having akhla@q meant to be humble about what one possesses whether of intellectual or material nature. Arrogance is the antithesis of having akhla@q – an attitude he observed in the 'ulama@', since they believed they knew best about the religion and its practices, and aggressively condemned any re-thinking. They lacked akhla@q, according to him. Incidentally, even the Qur'an encourages humility, and warns against arrogance. "Perform the prayer, and bid unto honour, and forbid dishonour. And bear patiently whatever may befell thee; surely that is true constancy. Turn not thy cheek away from men in scorn, and walk not the earth exultantly; God loves not any man proud and boastful. Be modest in thy walk, and lower thy voice; The most hideous of voice is the ass's." (31:16)
According to Fateh{puri@'s beliefs, religion and akhla@q are synonymous; one should not exist without the other. He ridiculed the artificial division that had been created between them by the 'ulama@', if one is religious, it should automatically mean that one is a good person, lives in harmony with others, and helps those in need.
From what I understand, the respected 'ulama@ have declared good akhla@q and Islam to be two different entities; and such a relationship has been formed between them that it is possible to have both as well as either.[lxiv]
Having akhla@q should mean doing good deeds for their own sake, according to Fateh{puri@, and because one decides to, not out of fear of hell or greed for heaven. God has provided us with His guidelines, and has also given us reason to discern right from wrong. It is for us to employ it to decide actively to do what is right.
This akhla@q is not the domain of Muslims only, but can be possessed by anyone. Fateh{puri@ debates whether a Muslim with bad akhla@q will go to heaven compared to a non-Muslim with good akhla@q. He concludes that having akhla@q is more important than being a Muslim, if a person is a Muslim in name only and if Islam does not inspire him/her to do good deeds, to be humble and to treat everyone equally.[lxv] He blamed the current religious scholars for making it appear as if memorizing a few verses was more important than having good akhla@q and striving for perfection.
The 'ulama@-i kara@m who consider Muslims with bad akhla@q to be na@ji@ (free of sin) and honest idol-worshippers to be na@ri@ (sinful), prove without saying it in so many words, that just saying without understanding, God's oneness and the prophethood of the Prophet, or let us say, doing worship according to how they (the 'ulama@') would have it, like a shlok (mantra) is enough. And the reason why human beings exist in the universe is only so that they could memorise a few words, because God and His godliness, universe and its natural system's need for worship is accomplished by memorizing a few things.[lxvi]
Fateh{puri@ asked: "Does God need religion or not, and if He does, then is that need fulfilled just by a person saying that he/she is a Muslim.[lxvii] For him, it was obvious that God and his Prophet wanted more.
The Prophet had perfect akhla@q according to Fateh{puri@, worthy of being emulated by all Muslims. He very strongly believed that Prophet led an exemplary life in terms of doing good to others, even when sometimes they did not deserve it.
Let us see what kind of man the Prophet was in terms of akhla@q. Nobody can deny that the Prophet was bestowed with extra-ordinary qualities, but his biggest quality that even his enemies were forced to acknowledge was that he, throughout his life, never said anything that he considered to be not true or whose veracity he was not sure of.[lxviii]
In fact, Fateh{puri@ considered akhla@q to be obviously the most important practice: one did not even need revelation to realize it to be the purpose of one's life. The theory of heaven-hell is not required to understand the usefulness of doing good and the ill effects of evil behaviour.
Akhla@q of man is related only to this world, and their results have been seen here because of which some have been declared good and others bad. These are not affected by which family you come from, nor are they necessary to be accounted for in the other world to give reward or punishment. To consider stealing bad, one does not need a revelation: men saw the problems it caused and made God say it. All crimes cause humanity, physical, economic or societal problems. Every individual naturally seeks to avoid these problems and to keep himself safe from them and it is this desire for security that tells him what is good and what is evil.[lxix]
Fateh{puri@ believed that success in this world is purely defined by being able to cultivate pure akhla@q.
If in reality there can be a scale of measurement for the success and failure of a human life, it is surely social. That is, what service a person gave to his/her community, what sacrifices he/she made for the reform of his/her community and nation, and what benefits did he/she bestow on others from his/her intellectual or material wealth... Saying prayers and staying without food or water from dawn to dusk are in themselves activities without any meaning, if they do not result in some akhla@@@q, and akhla@q is related only to an individual's social life. Therefore, the measure of the success of a person's worship and prayer, is that the person who prays and fasts the most, should also be the person who serves his/her community the most. "[lxx]
Fateh{puri@ considered cultivating akhla@q to be religion's purpose, and the goal of every human being:
It cannot be denied that religion's real purpose, was to make a human being really human, separating him from all animalistic instincts, and bring him to such a rational stage, where it is possible to progress in the world and live in peace and harmony. Therefore, any person, no matter which community or nation s/he belongs to, due to his/her actions and character, if s/he is on that rational stage, then we can say that s/he has found religion in reality, and we cannot force him/her to accept all the other pronouncements that religion considers necessary.[lxxi]
UNIQUENESS OF FATEH{PURI@'S THOUGHT
Before Fateh{puri@ began writing on religious subjects, much of the way had already been paved by his predecessors, such as Sayyid Ah{mad and Shibli@@. Many new ideas had been introduced and the process of re-interpretation of Islam according to modernist thinking had already begun. The uniqueness of Fateh{puri@'s thinking lay in his radicalism. When modernists said Islam had in itself all the modern values of liberalism, rationalism, democracy and equality, he took it seriously. He produced an Islam shorn of all its miraculous wonders, but filled with simple ideals. His Islam was totally rational, consisting only of those things that made sense. If the idea of the Qur'an being the word of God and coming through a human being did not make sense, even that was discarded.
Phobia of the super-natural was also another hallmark of Fateh{puri@'s thinking, even though belief in the "unseen" is also part of Islam. People are attracted to God because He is beyond them; He is someone they can look up to, who is there in time of need, an entity that they must answer to. Belief in religion is ultimately, supernatural, because God is beyond human. If all religion could be reduced to induction and deduction, it loses its mystery and attraction. According to him though, "truth", "ethical thinking" and "right actions" were far more important than "faith." He believed that religion had excellent ideas, which induced man to do good, and urged man to use his reason for the benefit of himself and the world; anything other than that was beyond belief.
As noted earlier, his predecessor, Sayyid Ah{mad, was trying to raise Islam to modern Western standards. He tried to answer the criticisms of Western writers, by showing that Islam was not as backward as it appears, but was instead progressive. The major similarity between Sayyid Ah{mad and Fateh{puri@ was that both were able to see the h{adi@th, shariah (Islamic law) and even the Qur'an, dispassionately. Consequently, they were quite capable of subjecting them to rational criticism, and many new ideas emerged from this scrutiny. Following the tradition of the earlier modernists, like Sayyid Ah{mad, and Shibli@@, Fateh{puri@ tried to show that Islam itself had all the values that are needed to survive in the modern age.
In speaking about Sayyid Ah{mad Kha@n and Mawlana Maudu@di@ , Sheila McDonough argues that neither of them thought that modernity meant the end of Islam.[lxxii] They were both trying to assimilate the two, and find ways to be faithful to God in the current situation. The world around them was changing and changing fast; both of them realized that unless Islam adapted to contemporary realities, the religion itself would become extinct. They had different strategies for dealing with it and completely different agendas, but ultimately they were trying to come to terms with the same reality.
Fateh{puri@ was dealing with a similar situation. Sayyid Ah{mad was introducing new ideas among Muslims. He understood this and so he felt a greater need to justify his views. His agenda was basically social and educational; the change in thinking that he was asking for was to serve that purpose. Maudu@di@ @ and Fateh{puri@, on the other hand, were dealing with a situation in which those modern ideas, acceptable or not, had already become known in the society. Even though Maudu@di@ @ was in favour of traditionalism, his way of thinking and expression was that of a modernist. Fateh{puri@ was born in the same age and found western ideas to be similar to his own views and thus, readily acceptable. He sought and found justification for these ideas in Islam and was indeed amazed that the 'ulama@' saw things differently.
Although Fateh{puri@ saw so much sense in Islam – it was the most practical, rational and progressive of all religions for him – nevertheless, he saw no good whatsoever in how it was practised. He wanted major changes, not only in practical details of the religion, but in belief systems. For instance, people trying to avoid zaka@t was an indication of their lack of akhla@q. However, akhla@q was not something that could be dictated to human beings; it was something an individual either developed or did not. He thought all these changes were possible as long as the "right" understanding of Islam, as he would have it, was developed. However, it was quite impossible for everyone to think along the same lines. Not many people would set about finding the right understanding, and practising it and being good people, just because Fateh{puri@ thought it was rational. He was showing what was wrong in the prevailing thinking and that the way out was to adopt akhla@q, i.e., to "really" practice Islam in daily life. But he did not set out a positive agenda on how that was to be worked out.
W.C. Smith concluded about Fateh{puri@'s movement that: "Its lack of positive ideology, however, has meant that it too has soon petered out. Ethical spirit without positive guidance is either inadequate or superfluous".[lxxiii] Another of Smith's comments was also very telling, i.e., that the new individual was without authority:
The nature of his life – bourgeois society is constantly developing, changing, producing new and more complex situations – was such that he [Sayyid Ah{mad] could never develop a new authority. At least, not such a new authority as the old had been, a fixed code with ready-made solutions to his problems. Thus it is that Sir Sayyid, in rejecting the old Canon Law, did not replace it with a new one, nor has any of his successors done so; but emphasized only the general moral principles of the Qur'an.[lxxiv]
This is one of the major critiques of the modernist theories of Islam. The old is to be discarded, but to be replaced by what. Fateh{puri@'s answer was akhla@q. Akhla@q though can only be judged individually. Fateh{puri@ was convinced that if people think for themselves, if they find out what Islam really meant for them, then even prayer and fasting would lead to the development of good akhla@q. Of course, it sounds very rational and shows great faith in humanity, but it is not very practicable for the vast masses. Most people would just find it easier to follow the ready-made solutions offered by the 'ulama@', rather than think for themselves.
However, even if he is able to inspire a few right-thinking people, a change in the way of thinking is more than possible. Indeed, it is coming about, writers like Jeffrey Lang in the United States who believe in Islam as well as in questioning religion come to quite similar conclusions that Fateh{puri@ did. To quote Lang:
The key to success in this life and the hereafter is stated so frequently and formally in the Qur'an that no serious reader can miss it. However, the utter simplicity of the dictum may cause one to disregard it, because it seems to ignore the great questions and complexities of life. The Qur'an maintains that only "those who have faith and do good" (in Arabic: allathina aaminu wa 'amilu al saalihaat) will benefit from their earthly lives (Qur'an - 2:25; 2:82; 2:277; 4:57; 4:122; 5:9; 7:42; 10:9; 11:23; 13:29; 14:23; 18:2; 18:88; 18:107; 19:60; 19:96; 20:75; 20:82; 20:112; 21:94; 22:14; 22:23; 22:50; 22:56; 24:55; 25:70-71; 26:67; 28:80; 29:7; 29:9; 29:58; 30:15; 30:45; 31:8; 32:19; 34:4; 34:37; 35:7; 38:24; 41:8; 42:22; 42:23; 42:26; 45:21; 45:30; 47:2; 47:2; 47:12; 48:29; 64:9; 65:11; 84:25; 85:11; 95:6; 98:7; 103:3).[lxxv]
Believing in God and doing good deeds, in other words, akhla@q, that is what characterizes a successful and religious life on this earth, based on a rational reading of the Qur'an. The above quotation also proves the frequency with which the Qur'an asks one to be good human beings, and as Fateh{puri@ would have it that is what it means to be good Muslims.
Niyaz Fatehpuri, (1884-1966 A.D./1302-1384 A.H) was an accomplished literary critic, poet and religious scholar. He published a very prestigious monthly magazine Nigaar, which began as a literary journal in 1922, and soon became a platform for scholars for debating many of the most controversial religious, ideological, political and sociological issues of the time.
Fatehpuri completed most of his initial education in Madrasa-i-Islamia in Fatehpur itself and later at Madrasa-i-Aliya, Rampur. Afterwards, he studied at Farngi Mahal and at the Nadwatul-Ulama, Luckhnow. He passed his matriculation examination (British school system) in Fatehpur in 1899.
Throughout his life, Fatehpuri tirelessly advocated the belief that religion needs to be reinterpreted in the light of new knowledge of the time and place that Muslims find themselves in, based on the accepted religious sources. He spoke as a religious man, which came not only from his deep knowledge and study of the religion but from his firm conviction in it. Fatehpuri carried out a crusade against the Ulama whom he considered responsible for the stagnation in Muslim religious thinking, and which in turn, was making them suffer even in social and economic spheres. He believed that the basic purpose of religion was to teach Akhlaq (ethical spirit) to people. Akhlaq for him, meant doing good deeds for their own sake (as an individual's natural duty) and for the love of God.
Fatehpuri spent most of his adult age in Lucknow and left for Karachi kin 1962. He was welcomed in Pakistan and was able to restart Nigaar there, continuing to write until his death in 1966.
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Juhi Shahin is a PhD candidate of Department of History, Tufts University, U.S.A. She holds Master's Degree in Islamic studies from McGill University, Canada. This book stems from her M.A. thesis which was on the Dean's Honour list at McGill. She is interested in Islamic History, Islamic Law in the context of women, the social role of Islam in various Muslim countries, as well as Muslim intellectual and social history in South Asia. She also has a Master's Degree in Islamic Studies from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her undergraduate degree was in Journalism from the University of Delhi.
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Excerpts published with permission from the publishers FEROZSONS Pvt. Ltd, Pakistan. Published recently the book is available in all major book stores in Pakistan. Price: Rs. 495. Pages: 206, E-Mail:
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[i] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "Si@dah Ra@stah," Niga@r, January 1959, 90.
[ii] Fateh{puri@, Man o-Yazda@n, vol. II, 413-416.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1946), 121.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Fateh{puri@, Man o-Yazda@n, vol. II, 413-416.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1946), 121.
[ix] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "Si@dah Ra@stah," Niga@r, January 1959, 90.
[x] Ibid.
[xi] Niyaz Fateh{puri@, Niga@r, September 1936, p. 3
[xii] Fateh{puri@, "Eik Ta@rikhi@ Ya@dga@r," 2.
[xiii] Fateh{puri@, Istifsa@r, vol. III, 349.
[xiv] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "Isla@m ka 'Aqli@ Jayeza," Niga@r, January 1959, 56-80. Also see: Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "Maz{a@hib-i 'A@lam mei Islam ka martaba@," Niga@r, January 1959, 14-25.
[xv] Fateh{puri@, Istifsa@r, vol. III, 349.
[xvi] Fateh{puri@, "Islam ka 'Aqli@ Jayeza," 57.
[xvii] Fateh{puri@, Istifsa@r, vol. III, 346.
[xviii] Fateh{puri@, "Islam ka 'Aqli@ Jayeza," 63.
[xix] Ibid.
[xx] Fateh{puri@, "Muh{ammad, Qur'a@n aur Khuda@," 33-43.
[xxi] Ibid.
[xxii] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, Man-o Yazda@n (Lucknow: Niga@r Book Agency, 1947), Vol. II, 372-3.
[xxiii] Fateh{puri@, Man o-Yazda@n, vol. II, 413-416.
[xxiv] Ibid.
[xxv] Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1946), 121.
[xxvi] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "Si@dah Ra@stah," Niga@r, January 1959, 90.
[xxvii] Ibid., 91.
[xxviii] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "H{aq Allah koi chi@z nahin." Niga@r, January 1959, 134.
[xxix] Ibid.
[xxx] On the other hand, the 'ulama@ were emphasizing h{adi@th. See: Zaman, Ulama in Contemporary Islam, 12.
[xxxi] Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in India and Pakista@n: 1857-1964 (London; Bombay; Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1967), 49-50.
[xxxii] Murad, Intellectual Modernism of Shibli Nu'mani, 186-245. From: Shibli@ Nu'ma@ni@@, Si@rat al-Nu'ma@n (Lahore: Kutub Kha@nah-i Azi@ziyah, 195?), 170-245.
[xxxiii] Ibid.
[xxxiv] Smith, Modern Islam in India, 117.
[xxxv] Fateh{puri@, "Islam ka 'Aqli@ Jayeza," 65-67.
[xxxvi] Ibid.
[xxxvii] Ibid.
[xxxviii] Ibid.
[xxxix] Fateh{puri@, "Muh{ammad, Qur'a@n aur Khuda@," 41.
[xl] Ibid., 42.
[xli] Smith, Modern Islam in India, 107.
[xlii] Sheila McDonough, The Authority of the Past: A Study of Three Muslim Modernists (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: American Academy of Religion, 1970), 25.
[xliii] Shibli@ Nu'ma@ni@@, 'Ilm al-Kala@m (Lahore: Shaikh Ja@n Muh{ammad Ila@h Bakhsh, 1945), 139-43.
[xliv] Fateh{puri@, "Islam ka 'Aqli@ Jayeza," 65-67.
[xlv] Ibid, 69-80.
[xlvi] Ibid.
[xlvii] John J. Donohue and John L Esposito, ed., Islam in Transition: Muslim Perspectives (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 44.
[xlviii] Fateh{puri@, Man o-Yazda@n, vol. II, 396-397
[xlix] Ibid.
[l] Fateh{puri@, Man-o Yazda@n, vol. II, 28-29.
[li] Ibid.
[lii] Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri (642-728) is one of the most important religious figures of early Islam. He was a teacher in Basra, Iraq. Among his many pupils was Wasil ibn Ata (700-748), who became the founder of the Mu'tazila.
[liii] Mu'tazila is a theological school of Islam founded in 8th century Basra, Iraq by Wasil ibn Ata. Mu'tazilites called themselves Ahl al-Tawhid wa al-'Adl (People of Divine Unity and Justice). They advocated use of reason in theology, and relied on logic and Greek philosophy.
[liv] Fateh{puri@, Man-o Yazda@n, vol. II, 30-31.
[lv] Ibid.
[lvi] Fateh{puri@, Man-o Yazda@n, Vol. 1, 23
[lvii] Fateh{puri@, "Isla@m ka 'Aqli@ Jayeza," 57.
[lviii] Smith, Modern Islam in India, 121.
[lix] Sheila McDonough, Muslim Ethics and Modernity – A Comparative Study of the Ethical Thought of Sayyid Ah{mad Kha@n and Mawlana Maudu@di@ (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1984), 4.
[lx] Ibid., 17-18.
[lxi] Ibid., 49.
[lxii] Murad, Intellectual Modernism of Shibli Nu'mani, 6-7.
[lxiii] Fateh{puri@. "'Ulama@-i Kara@m ka@ 'aji@b-o 'gari@b di@ni@ naz{ariyyah," 52.
[lxiv] Ibid., 53.
[lxv] Ibid., 52-55.
[lxvi] Ibid., 54
[lxvii] Ibid.
[lxviii] Niya@z Fateh{puri@. "Qur'an wahy Illa@hi@ hai lekin Khuda@ ka@ kala@m nahin," Niga@r, January 1959, 33.
[lxix] Fateh{puri@. "Si@dah Ra@stah," 91.
[lxx] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "T'ali@ma@t Islami@ ka S{ah{ih{ Mafhu@m aur Hamare 'Ulama@' Ki@ra@m," Niga@r, January 1959, 122-123.
[lxxi] Niya@z Fateh{puri@, "Maz{hab ka@ Afa@di@-o 'Aqli Tas{awwur," Niga@r, January 1959, 11.
[lxxii] McDonough, Muslim Ethics and Modernity, 4.
[lxxiii] Smith, Modern Islam in India, 121.
[lxxiv] Ibid., 21.
[lxxv] Jeffrey Lang, Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America (Beltsville, Maryland; Amana Publications, 1997), 35.
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1221
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