Universalism and the Essence of Islam

Ruby Amatulla

Islam proclaims that there is one God and there is one true religion for humanity which is broadly defined as follows:

“God has ordained that you should serve nothing but Him: this is the one ever-true faith; but most people know it not.” [Quran 12:40] 3:19

‘Serving’ God is a nebulous concept in Islam encompassing anything and everything a believer does in this life to do good to others, to oneself and to do the right thing to uphold justice, peace and harmony all falling under the umbrella concept of ‘compliance with God’s moral Law’.

How one knows what is right and what is wrong and what are God’s will and His moral Laws? The Quran says God has given ability to human beings– an enormous endowment – to sense truth and to make the right choice. Because of this ability a human remains accountable before the Creator. This faculty or empowerment is termed in the Quran as the ‘fitratulAllah’ in Arabic meaning God’s nature or God given higher nature. The compliance with this ‘nature’ is the universal religion for humankind. This is clearly laid down in the Quran:

“And so, set your face steadfastly towards the one ever-true faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition [“fitratulAllah”] which God has instilled into human: not to allow any change to corrupt what God has thus created – this is the purpose of the one ever true faith; but most people know it not.”

[30:30]

According to the Quran the essence of faith is to submit to the Will and moral Law of God. That is the meaning of the term ‘islam’ [in Arabic] and that is the state of success in life. The other meaning of ‘islam’ is ‘peace’ within oneself and with respect to other human beings. Peace, the Quran proclaims, is not possible without the submission or self-surrender to God. These two meanings are synonymous in Islam: peace is the measure of the degree of submission to God.

There are several key concepts that revolve around the ultimate objective of ‘submission’ in life: these ideas are highly correlated, intertwined and often lead to the same truth. All these ideas are universal and timeless.

First of all there is no passivity in the concept of ‘submission’ to God: This necessitates the most active and intense engagement with oneself to make the right choices in life. Therefore one must remain constantly vigilant against one’s own wrong propensities to remain steadfast in complying with God’s moral Laws.

Going back to the concept of the “higher nature” of a human being, one needs God’s guidance to make the ‘higher nature’ activated and functioning. This faculty is like an unseen ‘umbilical cord’ with the Creator to sense truth and to be on the right path. The ‘umbilical cord’ becomes stronger with the spiritual growth of a person as he/she, with increasing degrees, submits to God’s Laws. It ultimately takes one to the state of ‘complete success’ or salvation. To elucidate on the idea of ‘islam’ the Quran says that the entire universe is in the state of “islam” or “submission” because it is in compliance with God’s laws. The goal of a life, therefore, is to return to the original state of ‘submission’ in which it was created. Only humans and possibly some other aliens [‘Jinn’] are given the power of free choices and therefore they are accountable before God now and on the Day of Judgment.

A human being, however, is not capable of reaching this state of “submission” on his/her own. Two things are necessary: 1. human will and endeavor to submit and 2. God’s Will, Guidance and Mercy. The former is the prerequisite to avail the later, not vice versa. It is repeatedly indicated in the Quran that God is not going to enforce His Will of Guidance on one who disregards or rejects God or His Help. On the other hand human will and endeavor alone cannot reach the state of success. God’s Will/Mercy/Guidance is absolutely necessary. Only God knows the composition of these factors – human will and God’s Will -- in an outcome, Therefore only God and not a human can judge a human including oneself. ‘Human will’ is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition of salvation. However, God has decreed Mercy and Benevolence upon Himself [Quran, 6:12, 54] and if a person wills to be righteous God’s Guidance/Mercy is assured to be provided.

The negative side of this process is that one can become spiritually dead as one increasingly become unwilling to receive God’s Guidance and increasingly disregard moral choices. One can reach a threshold beyond which one is soul-dead and not salvageable.

The Quran lays down in 49:13 that God consciousness helps one attain this divine Guidance and that leads one to success. However the criterion of success remains the same: that is peace.

“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and

made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of

you in the sight of God is the one who is most consciousness of God. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware. “

Therefore, the righteousness of a person does not depend on the brand of a faith or allegiance to any sects or institutional religion but it depends on how one is aware of the presence of God and how this state leads one to do the right things. This idea is further clarified by the Quran in unequivocal term.

“Verily, those who have attained to faith [in this divine writ], as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, and the Christians, and the Sabians – all who believe in God and the Last Day and do righteous deeds – shall have their reward with their Sustainer; and no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve. [Quran 2:62].

The state in which one does not have fear or grief is the state of complete “submission” or peace. Feeling lack of fear or grief is another measure of the height of righteousness. As one progresses towards “submission” the trust and awareness of God would replace the feelings of fear and grief.

A contemporary famous scholar, Mohammad Asad, who translated the Quran says in his note to this and similar verses [2:62, 5:69, etc.]: “The above passage – which recurs in the Quran several times – lays down a fundamental doctrine of Islam. With a breadth of vision unparalleled in any other religious faith, the idea of “salvation” is here make conditional upon three elements only: belief in God, belief in the Day of Judgment, and righteous action in life. ……..”

Therefore “salvation” is available to each and every person whether one brands himself/herself as Muslims, Jews, etc…….who complies with these fundamental truths.

Asad also emphasizes the universal meaning of the terms ‘muslim’ and ‘islam’ the Quran uses which

are different from the meanings that are in currency in the Muslim world. He writes in his

note to verse [68:35] “Throughout this work, I have translated the terms ‘muslim’ and ‘islam’

in accordance with their original connotations, namely “ one who surrenders [ or “has

surrendered”] himself to God” and “man’s self-surrender to God”: the same holds good of all

forms of the verb ‘aslama’ occurring in the Quran. It should be borne in mind that the

“institutionalized” use of these terms – that is, their exclusive application to the followers of the

Prophet Muhammad – represents a definitely post-Quranic development and, hence, must be

avoided in a translation of the Quran.”

The entire Quran elaborates these fundamental ideas through specific examples, past events, allegorical stories, the pattern of the causes and consequences, injunctions and promulgations. The gist of which is that each and every human being, irrespective of one’s birth, culture, brand of faith, etc., is given the capacity to sense truth and differentiate right from wrong. This inherent faculty that becomes either functioning and dominating or diminishing and finally dead by one’s active choices in life. One of the active choice is to remain “conscious” [“muttakin”] of God which entails believing in God, relying on God, asking Guidance from God and complying with His moral Laws. The faculty of “higher nature” remains functioning as long as one remains conscious of God.

A key idea is that peace is not possible without justice. Wherever there is unfairness or injustice, peace is disturbed, either within oneself or in the affairs of humanity. Therefore Islam places paramount importance in upholding justice. In turn justice is upheld by truth. Therefore prejudices, arrogance, hatred, ignorance, greed, etc. that distorts truth also obstructs justice and hinders peace. The essence of falsehood is that it violates truth and justice. This is one of the core Messages of the Quran.

The concept of piety, therefore, is integral with the idea of one remaining just, fair and objective in disposing one’s affairs of life. This is possible only when one remains sincere, devoted and humble. The concept of humility is paramount in Islam: humility is the manifestation of faith. One’s humility increases as his/her understanding of truth increases leading to higher state of faith and success.

Arrogance on the other hand is the cardinal vice leading one to failure. Through the very first story of the creation of the first human being - Adam - the Quran demonstrates the impact of this vice: it brought a servant [‘Iblis’] of God of a high order to the lowest level of downfall or evilness [the state of ‘saytan’] due to his arrogance. This is to allude to humanity the destructive power and danger of this vice. Human beings are repeatedly warned in the Quran against this evil propensity as it creeps into human soul the most insidious but powerful ways to render it failure.

One of the insidious ways is to make one feel too sure or confident about oneself even in matters of faith. When one feels there is no margin of error one can become arrogant dictating others that violate the tenets of Islam. Often doing excesses and extremism in a religion comes from arrogance and/or ignorance.

The Quran repeatedly asserts that the worst transgressors are those who distort or change God’s Messages. And these changes often originate in human arrogance or greed to maintain the power structures of the clergy or religious institutions. Any distortion or deviation from God’s Messages and truths is heinous and blasphemous even if done with the intention of making a religion popular or attractive for the people.

Doing excesses in a religion is one such distortion of God’s Messages: The Quran and the Prophet [in the last sermon] commanded the followers not to commit excesses in the matters of the religion. The Quran warns that many religions in the past were destroyed due to excesses committed.

The Quran commands followers to exercise moderation and reason in matters of faith as in all other aspects of life.

There is no blind following in Islam. Human beings are given the power of ‘higher nature” from where the ability of reason is derived with which one can differentiate between right and wrong. One cannot absolve responsibility of wrong doing to imams, leaders or scholars on the Day of Judgment. One’s conscience is given to detect these discrepancies if one remains true to ‘fitratulAllah’ or the “higher nature” God has instituted in a human being. This is not to discourage learning from others but one must exercise the faculty of reason and conscience before accepting the particular interpretation or stand and incorporating it into lifestyles. Receiving information from others and other sources – scholars, scriptures, books, natures, etc. are not knowledge or wisdom, these are mere information. Only when one applies one’s ‘higher nature’ to frame those information in the right way these become knowledge and wisdom which in turn help receive God’s guidance towards truth.

Truth helps one to be just and peaceful within oneself and in his/her conduct just as truth upholds justice and justice sustains peace in a society. Therefore without complying with God’s moral law neither an individual can achieve peace within oneself nor a society can establish justice, peace and stability. One comes to the higher state of peace just as a society comes to stability and peace when individually and collectively God’s moral law is complied. Therefore the true success or service to God hinges on the clear conception of God’s moral laws. And the Quran is proclaiming that the understanding of that is within oneself. The Quran is laying again for humanity the essence of that “Law”.

Establishing fairness and justice and establishing a just society are part of this law. The paramount idea of serving God is to serve humanity irrespective of the diversity and differences. One cannot serve God without serving his/her fellow human beings. Critically important dimension of this ‘service’ is charity that is to give away something to others in need that one considers valuable to himself/herself: wealth, time, life etc. The Quran exhorts that no one can reach piety without giving away to others in need things - - that he/she loves [3:92]. In sharing one’s wealth and endowment the Quran does not discriminate on the basis of one’s faith but exercises a circle of priorities that starts with people closest to oneself in need: family members, relatives, neighbors, friends, countrymen, etc. and ultimately the entire humanity.

How Muslims look at non-Muslims and how the former deal with the later is another extremely important sphere that touches the core values of truth, justice, peace and service to God. Often ignorance and/or arrogance play a role in the wrong mindsets of followers of one sect/faith towards another. This leads to prejudices and hatred. The vested interests exploit these areas of weaknesses to their advantage and to maintain their status quo to further push people apart and dissension that causes conflicts and conflagration. The Quran is warning in the severest terms against the mischief mongers in a society and humanity of defeat and humiliation in this life as well as eternal damnation in the Hereafter.

On the other hand right mindsets can help bring about an environment of openness, cooperation and brotherly interactions most conducive to promote truth in serving God.

Truth is powerful. Truth does not require one’s wrong action to uphold it. In fact one’s falsehood works against truth and hinders peace. If one is righteous in the way of truth and remains patient and steadfast then truth reveals itself in an unstoppable way. Even an eager believer of God must carry this in heart. That is the reason God has not make anyone including His messengers and prophets to be a warden over others. One’s true responsibility is to one’s self in doing good and to be a servant.

When Muslims harbors wrong ideas against non-Muslims they violate the fundamental teachings of Islam by committing injustice towards others. And they help destroy the chance of dialogue and peaceful coexistence Islam advocates for the welfare in humanity.

Spirituality and righteousness help bring humility and compassion. The Quran says the most gracious servants of God are those who facing the challenges of rejection, ridicule and even persecution in a society retains goodness and goodwill in their heart and offers peace [‘salaam’] to others [25:63]. This offer of peace is not symbolic ritual but it comes from the core of the righteous person towards fellow human beings. Faith and piety help bring humility and wisdom to know that we do not know everything and God alone knows, and only He can judge. Therefore as God’s servant our duty is to increase the domain of goodwill and good work in this life among others.

The Quran commands the believers to pledge their highest allegiance to God in complying His moral Laws. This allegiance supercedes all other allegiances in life: ethnic, national even brand of faith one holds. One should fight against wrong even that means going against one’s near and dear ones including his/her family members and the fellow bondman in a brand or sect of a faith. One, on the other hand, should support anyone who is doing right irrespective of the different camps one belongs to.

The standard of right and wrong is universal, Islam proclaims, and one must be loyal to his/her conscience -- a part of the “higher nature”-- through which one serves God.

The Quran proclaims that the Quran is a confirmation to the Messages or Scriptures sent before, and it is the last Book of revelation to mankind and Muhammad is the ‘seal’ of the prophets.

If we see differences in religions it is not because God has changed His word but because people have changed the word of God.

However many truths still remaining in the older scriptures are all confirmed by the Quran. This Book also has challenged the followers of other religions, such as Jews, Christians and others, to search their own Scriptures to see the similarities of the fundamentals [2:4,3-2,3, 5:43, 5:65,66, 5:68, 10:94, 11:17, etc.]. The Quran furthermore recognizes piety of people belonging to other brands of faith: [Quran 2:112, 3:75-76, 3:199, 4:94, 6:52, etc.]

The Quran exhorts the followers to enter other places of worships such as synagogues,

churches, temples, etc. with reverence saying that those are the places where God is being worshipped [22:40, etc.]. This again is validating different ways to approach truth and serve God.

A society or an individual can judge certain behaviors or actions of a person and can punish or reward accordingly. However as to the judgment of the total worth of a human being before God that requires knowing and evaluating everything one does and thinks in this life -- belong to God alone. A human should not trespass that boundary. Therefore if one can ======handling others – Muslim or non-Muslim-- one must retain the humility that one does not know who is closer to God or not.

Finally, the Quran exhorts the believers to do good work in the diversity of humanity. It acknowledges that there are different paths [‘minhaj or ‘shirah’] via which the final goal of ‘din’ or the ultimate spiritual truth, or salvation can be reached. Only all-knowing God could make a judgment of the total worth of a human being. Therefore it is utterly blasphemous for one to make such judgment on others, Muslims or non-Muslims.

This unchangeable truth, according to the Quran, has been preached by every one of God’s apostles/Messengers down through the time. Countless Messengers or prophets were sent to convey and preach the same core values to almost every community one time of another. The Quran proclaims that only few are mentioned and the rest are not known. “Nothing is said to thee [Prophet Muhammad] that was not said to the Messengers before thee ( addressing Muhammad) [Quran 41:43]

A person with limited knowledge may become overwhelmed by or remain confused about the differences of people – as to brand of faith, rituals, ideas, etc. -- but the Quran urges the believers to remains humble servants of God in promoting goodwill and good work in the diversity of humanity –‘Muslims’ or non-Muslims -- as all are part of the greater family of Adam. This universal spirit of brotherhood is the essence of Islam.

“Unto every one of you have We appoint a [different] law and way of life. And if God has so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but [He willed it otherwise] in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works! Unto God you all must return; and then He will make you truly understand all that on which you were wont to differ.”

[Quran 5: 48 sura al-Maidah one of the last chapters]

It is God’s will to create diversity in humanity as He created diversity in the entire creation. It is a human responsibility to face up the challenge in finding the fundamental commonalities and promoting peaceful coexistence in humanity. The Quran warns in the strongest of the terms that creating unnecessary dissention among humankind leads one towards eternal damnation.

However, it is important to note that there are also some verses in the Quran against some of the disbelievers and some of the non-Muslims [Jews and Christians] during the period of the revelation that may appear to be contradicting these universal ideas of Islam. The contexts of these verses are critical for understanding the true meanings. That is why the Quran itself warns against distorting truth by disregarding the contexts [5:13]. There are verses that were revealed in a state of war. The enemies were totally committed to the annihilation of the Muslim community at that time and launched wars against the Muslims. At other times the new community faced various stressful times of treason, hypocrisy and dissention that also threatened the stability and harmony of the society. These verses often are used and abused by the extremists. The Quran claims that there is no inconsistency in the Scripture. However, if these verses are taken out of the contexts, it would render the Quran inconsistent and therefore invalid.

A Muslim offers peace “salaam” at the conclusion of each prayer in a day by facing right and facing left. This wishing peace is not to any one particular human being or a thing but the entire creation of God, living and non-living all inclusive. The spirit of this universalism is the essence of Islam. A true ‘muslim’ should not say something just for the sake of saying it or performing a ritual. The ‘salaam’ or ‘peace’ a muslim offers at the end of each and every prayer requires one to desire it from the core of his/her heart. This repeated action, if done with the true understanding, can help one to change within with the true spirit of universal brotherhood. An inner transformation conducive to peace in humanity is the goal Islam aims at by instituting such activities in its system.

Islam in essence, therefore, is a non-sectarian, non-racial, non-doctrinal, universal religion at the core. For Islam is just submission to the Will of God. Whoever does this is a muslim irrespective of whatever one calls himself/herself.

[Minneapolis, Sept. 23, 2007]