New Literature for a New Era

Secret to Islam’s Success: Its Resilience

Contrary to what many people think, Islam’s success is due in large part to its resilience. It is due to a significant degree to Islam’s unified core of belief and behavior on the one and its flexible periphery on the other hand. That is the worldly or physical explanation of why Islam survived untouched and untrammeled by vicissitudes of fate.

The other-worldly or a more metaphysical explanation is that it is God keeping his Covenant: Innaa nahnu nazzalnaz zikra, wa innaa lahu la-hafizoon is how God put it in the Qur’an and that is precisely how it has been for the past 1400 years. Paraphrase: We sent it down and we shall protect and preserve it. And protect and preserve is precisely what God Almighty has been doing with his Deen.

Yes, true, gusts of change and cataclysms of fate buffeted and bent Islam often and frequently sought to break and banish it from the face of this earth. But Islam did not break; Islam did not disappear; but, rather, Islam lumbered along forever, impacting and changing everything it met along the way, standing taller and more robust after every challenge it faced.

These are the twin-keepers then – a unified core and a flexible periphery – of the law of permanence and change in God’s world. They are the twin-foundations that make a belief system and such behavioral edifices as may be founded on it survive and function successfully across the spectrum of space and time. And Islam has them both in abundant measure.

Hinduism to some degree can make a similar claim. So can Judaism. So also can any system of thought, belief and behavior that has persisted through time and survived in some recognizable form transmigration through space and cultures.

It is the law of God – or of nature, for those of you who have trouble believing in God or seeing his ways as conforming to your dictates of rationality and testability. Perpetuity is a product of either endless autogenesis – regeneration and self-renewal – of a system from within, or it is ensured by a continuing core surrounded by a fluid and morphing periphery.

Islam, however, combines the two to optimum.

On the one hand Islam has a core that is absolutely, positively untouchable. On the other hand, it has a periphery, parts of which are continually evolving – or at least they ought to be as they are supposed to do – through space and time. To ensure its relevance and applicability through the spatiotemporal spectrum and variability that define the human condition on earth, Islam uses a methodology of nonstop research and investigation, reasoning and analysis that is called Ijtihaad in Arabic language – and in Islamic-Muslim culture.

That is why Islam survived intact all these 1400 years – and will do so until the end of time. And that is also why not many of the other systems from that time or earlier retained their original form or true content. Under a perpetual barrage of modernity, without the tools to cope, they simply could not.

Islam has a set of basic beliefs and practices that constitute its unified universal core. At the same time, Islam also has a wide range of peripheral beliefs and practices that make up the bulk of its teachings and which offer consumers, as it were, a rich menu of products and options from which to choose.

By virtue of its unified core, Islam as a system protects its identity and ensures its continuity through time and space. It thus guarantees its permanence. At the same time, based on the resilience and flexibility of its periphery, Islam is able to accommodate and absorb the ever-present call to modernity and challenge for change.

It is part of the miraculous nature of Islam that both its periphery and core are of divine origin.

Proof that Islam Is From God

These two things are precisely the requirements of a system that is designed to fit the needs of changing times, places, cultures and circumstances. It is also, you can argue, proof that Islam is indeed from God.

For, systems of human design fail this test on every count, which causes them to lose their identity due to the lack of a strong center. Or they die of a rigor mortis-type rigidity that is incapable of coping with change.

Without a unified universal core, a belief system tends to disintegrate into any number of pieces and schisms finally losing its true nature, form and identity. And without a spectrum of flexible choices, that system will crash and die under the weight of its own rigidity and lack of responsiveness.

That has been the story of Islam and non-Islam through the ages.

Islam’s Unified Core of Belief

Here is a glimpse of some of the elements that constitute Islam’s unified core. Each one of them individually stands guard on the integrity and continuity of Islam as a system of universal human belief and behavior.

Each element plays an important role in ensuring System Maintenance for Islam. With regard to each element, therefore, it is fair to say that if it exists Islam exists, and if it does not exist, Islam does not exist. No system has a better mechanism for System Maintenance that is so firmly woven right into the core of the system.

The very first element of Islamic core is belief in the oneness of God. There are no ifs or buts. God is one. And that is the end of the story.

It was the same with Moses in the Old Testament: First Commandment – The Lord Your God Is One! It was the same with Jesus in the New Testament: You shall have no God before me. And it is also the same with Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, in the Qur’an: Laa Ilaaha Illa Allah – There Is No God but God.

A very close and almost inseparable second is the belief that Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is God’s messenger to the world – the last and final one after whom no other messenger will come from God.

A third, and a very important one indeed, is belief in resurrection from death and accountability before God in the next world for one’s actions in this world.

Islam’s Unified Core of Behavior

Now here is a set of elements that are part of Islam’s unified behavioral core. Islam means performing Salaat – what people call praying – five times a day. You may run into any number of “Muslims” who may not “pray” very regularly. But you will not find a single Muslim who would want to tamper with the number of times the Salaat is performed. Or the order in which it is performed. Or the number of units called Rak’ats in each “prayer.”

Fasting during the month of Ramadan is another important element in Islam’s behavioral core. Hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime requirement of pilgrimage to Makkah, is another one.

This is a pretty impressive list. And none of it is put together by a committee, but it is all laid down in principle by the Qur’an and demonstrated in practice by the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. And it has firmly stood the test of time and changing geography and culture for all these 1400 years.

Eating pork is forbidden in Islam – the same as it was in the Old and the New Testaments for Jews and Christians respectively. So is drinking alcohol forbidden in Islam. Individuals may deviate in practice, but those who question the validity of these beliefs and behaviors are completely disowned and thrown overboard by the system of Islam.

Islam’s Flexible Periphery

Islam’s periphery is periphery only in comparison to Islam’s own core of belief and behavior. Otherwise, Islam’s periphery is more rich, vital and solid than the core of most other systems in the world. Here are some examples.

Muslims may have a difference of opinion with regard to the number of Sunnat you should pray before or after Jum’ah. And with regard to whether or not the Jum’ah speech is part of the Salaah. And with regard to whether you should wipe all or a part of your head when washing up – doing Wudu – for your Salaat.

Examples of debates and differences in views on any number of issues of this kind fill volumes of Islamic scholarship. The range of available options is so tantalizingly rich and diverse that everyone can have their pick and no one can possibly miss out

Islam in a Nutshell?

Here then is Islam in a nutshell – the miraculous formulation of La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammad Rasulullah. Nothing else does or can possibly capture the full range of Islamic theory and practice as these divine words do: La Ilaha Illallah for the theory part of it and Muhammad Rasulullah for the practice side of it.

So what you have below now are simply some statements that highlight and summarize some of the more salient aspects of Islam. If you want, you can consider them a quick drive-by introduction of our own to Islam. And to what Muslims are, have been or at least ought to be.

It is worth asking how many Muslims would really and truly recognize some of the things that are being said about Islam below. That is how much of a gulf seems to have developed between what Islam really is and what many Muslims, mostly due to their ignorance and quite significantly due to the wrong leadership in their midst, have reduced Islam to.

So here goes.

1. Islam Is Moderation

Not that there is a moderate Islam and an extremist Islam. The fact is that there is only one Islam and that Islam is moderation.

How many foundation documents and major sources of a culture and civilization do you know that issue an unequivocal command like this: “Do not be extremists in the practice of your Deen“? Wa laa taghloo fee deenikum?

Well, the Qur’an does. When you find a parallel to that in world literature, we will talk more. I am not saying it is not there. All I am saying is, go find it and then let us talk. That will give us something to talk about.

In the same way:

• Islam is living in peace and amity with your neighbors. And with everyone else.
• Islam is building bridges among faiths, races, nationalities, cultures and colors.
• Islam is bringing all sorts of people together and saying something nice.
• Islam is concern for the old and kindness for the young.
• Islam is absolute and unconditional respect for women.
• Islam is a smile.
• Islam is a good, nice, kind word.
• Islam is cleaning up the neighborhood.
• Islam is due regard for the rule of law and for public order and for public morality and accountability.
• Islam is truth telling.
• Islam is fulfilling contracts.
• Islam is keeping promises.
• Islam is speaking truth to power.
• Islam is cleanliness.
• Islam is caring for others.
• Islam is kindness to animals.
• Islam is forgiving and choosing not to retaliate.
• Islam is anger management.
• Islam is walking away from trouble.
• Islam is being best to your family.
• And to your neighbor …
• And so on, and so on, and so on and so forth.

2. Islam Is Liberty and Equality

At the same time, Islam is also striving for liberty, justice, fairness and equality. And it is speaking the truth, even when it may not be popular or convenient.

And Islam is encouraging good things and discouraging bad things. And it is working to stop people from hurting or abusing other people.

And Islam is bringing hope and comfort to the hearts of those in despair. And it is working to make life better for everyone in this world, friend and foe. And it is about being the best that you can be to your family.

And, more than anything else, Islam is loving and fearing God in heaven and loving and serving God’s creation right here on earth.

How Can It Be Otherwise?

Ask yourself this: If Islam were truly from Almighty God, how could it be otherwise? How could it not be any and all of these things?

And how could it not be inclusive of all the other wonderful and great things that are truly good and useful for humanity and for the rest of God’s creation on earth?

And how could it not subsume and encompass all the wonderful and amazing and life-giving teachings and sayings and doctrines that lie scattered in all other cultures and civilizations throughout the world?

Tell me, if Islam were truly from God, how could it be otherwise?

Have you ever heard of a book – any book other than the Qur’an – that declares repeatedly that its job is to confirm and validate all the good and wonderful things that all the wonderful people everywhere taught in earlier times?

But that is precisely what the Qur’an says, over and over again: that it came to confirm and validate all the good and wonderful things from all other previous and divinely inspired teachings and cultures anywhere, at any time – and to modify, update and modernize them.

That alone is “proof positive,” as they say, of this system of Islam – and its home the Qur’an – being from Almighty God.

What We Really Need Is Integrity and Humility

The statements above are some of the things that strike me as key to a proper understanding of Islam. The ever-mushrooming Islamic Drive-by Experts of today need to go back to their drawing boards and relearn their Islam – properly this time.

But for people to develop a proper understanding of Islam, what they need is not merely intellect but also integrity. They must have not only intelligence and curiosity but also humility and honesty.

And they must have not only a clear mind but also a clear conscience, free from the morbid grip of a plethora of personal, political and economic agendas and motivations.

END

(Revised, June 2010)

© 2010 Syed Husain Pasha

Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at]
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.

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