The Islamic Vision in Religion and in Civilization

Muslims are assured in the Qur'an, 'You have become the best community ever raised up for
mankind, enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong, and having faith in God”. Some have taken
this seriously and try to mould whole of world according to this statement. Muslims succeeded in
building a new form of society, that spread rapidly, which was very close to uniting all mankind on
one platform.

Yet there is some confusion as to what the “best community” should be like. There are many and
multiple interpretations of this community amongst Muslims. Due to these multiple interpretations,
Muslims have not been able to unite under one ideology. Moreover, their efforts, such as they were,
to build a good society often produced actual results strikingly different from what anyone had
anticipated. Islam has seen many successes but also some great failures.

Muslims are yet to implement the Quranic Prophecy and now they have renewed their hopes and
efforts to live a pious life not only as individuals but also as a community. At every instance, pious
Muslims put faith first despite failures and successes. The vision of a global Islamic community has
never vanished and these efforts and hopes, remain very alive in the modern world. It is the history
of Islam as a faith and the cultures which has given unity for the vision of a community based on
Quranic prophecy.

The relevance of ideals can be questioned. Can a global society be effectively built according to the
vision of God/the divine? Or should society evolve, leaving behind these ideals and concerns of any
individual? We shall see that the role of idealists has had not direct impact on the evolution on the
minds of the Muslim people. Yet, the existence od ideals has made a crucial difference between the
existence of society that can be called Islamic and one such that existed without the principles of
Islam.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE ACT OF ISLAM

Islam, as a religion, refers to the inner spirituality of a person. Islam, in Arabic, means to submit to
God. (the word Muslim means a submitter). This means accepting a personal responsibility for
standards of actions held to have a transdecent authority. Many people who had no part in the
historical community of Prophet Muhammad (including all Hebrew prophets and Jesus and his
companions) have been regarded by Muslims as having accepted Islam. In any religion, the inner
stance (at heart)/intention of heart is for the belief of all rituals and myths. Similarly, in Islam, a
personal acceptance of godly ideals, remains the heart of Islam; from which it gets its name.

However, Islam as a way of life/culture, refers generally to whole social pattern of cult and creed for
the pious Muslim, therefore the social Islam grew out from personal Islam. Some Muslims follow
Islam by logical necessity whilst others feel an arbitrary association; meaning without the
association, they would feel lost. For example, the historical Islamic beliefs about the status/place of
human beings in universe/solar system serves as basis for all that is to be derived from it.

Islamic belief is known to be easily understood, generally. However, when studied carefully, it is very
complex, but it is important that these complex issues are explained simply. The central Islamic
theme is the supremacy of one single God, who is the God of Abraham and Moses and Jesus and
whose name in Arabic is Allah. To make this idea important and meaningful, faith must specify-
which has been done by Islam. God is the creator of the world and the mankind within, he holds the
power to bring the world to an end and will judge man and woman, if they obeyed God, from which
they will either be punished in Hell or rewarded with Paradise. To give further importance and
concentration to Gods Supremacy, Faith much specific further. Islam does this by saying, God sent
Prophets such as Moses and Jesus to summon people to obedience of One God, to worship one God
alone and be just in worldly dealings. The last and greatest of these Prophets, whose message is
greater than all previous Prophets, was Prophet Muhammad of Arabia (d. 632 CE), whose path and
way of life all men and women are to follow, individually and collectively.

To full moral extent, the most decisive human activity is group activity and Muslims must work
together as a body. But, to work together, the faithful Muslims must recognise one another
therefore meaning, whoever declares that “there is no divinity but God, and Muhammad is the
messenger of God' (the Shahadah)” is recognised to be a Muslim and a member of the Islamic
Ummah (the community of faithful). Therefore, personal attitude of the soul and precise formula of
belief is used to define membership to the Islamic Ummah.

Above All, the commands of God must be known in detail. The message of Muhammad is embodied
in permanent written form. The Quran is the collection of revelations, word for word, which God
made to Muhammad; which has been accepted as literally the words of God and every Muslim must
know some of it by heart. Hadiths are reports of the sayings and doings of Muhammad, which are
narrated by his companions and associated. If the hadith is authentic, they are commonly known to
have almost equal authority to the Quran itself. The collection of Hadith and Quran have formed
Muslim scriptures, on their basis Ulema have set out what it means to be obedient to God in daily
life. (The Ulema are not Priests but teachers). The Ulema get rules from the Shariah, which covers
everything from social principles to birth and death.

Central amongst the commands of God are those who provide for the Cult- which is the individuals
devotion to the religion. A socially established faith does not simply derive from private personal
advancement but from imposed social obligations and only then is the devotion to religion is
expressed largely in group activity, for example worship at a mosque. Much of the cult is also carried
outside of the mosque too, although it is up to the family or the individual. For example, a modern
Indian Muslim may change his European street clothes for a more old-fashioned costume, before
going to the mosque to feel more “Islamic” and to fit in, even though such change is not required by
Shariah.

In its narrowest sense, religion can be identified with the cult itself and the beliefs that are required
to give meaning to the cult. The cult also has a wider range of social practices that may or may not
be associated with the Islamic religion- which may be set out by the Shariah but may vary. For
example, the sense of membership to the world-wide Ummah, helps the Muslims to understand the
explicit obligation to help one another; particularly in the case of Jihad- a war against non-Muslims in
certain circumstances. This is closely tied to the religion. Almost as closely tied to the religion is
practices (Which are not universal and are now disappearing) such as keeping women in strict social
segregation from men. Less closely tied to the religion is, for example, the use of Arabic for writing
whatever local language the Muslim uses- which was universal pre-modern times and that helped
set off “Islamic” cultural language which were identical to “non-Islamic” ones. The decline in the use
of Arabic scriptwriting shows people leaving the Islamic scope and moving into the cultural scope.

Though Islam counts for only one seventh of the world population, it is unique because of the
diversity of people that have embraced it. It began in hot Arab climate but now has moved to the
coldest north and wettest climates, yet all Muslims try to adopt similar behaviour based on Islamic
standards. There has never been a central organisation of Muslims but now Muslims are noted for
their consciousness of world Muslim community, they are moved by sense of universal Muslim
solidarity and maintain, in diverse geography, not only the distinctive Islamic rites/principles (like the
Hajj) but also a sense of common cultural heritage.

Islam could not change, although some practices may be corrupted. For example, the Shariah Law is
taken as comprehensive corpus on how to live life and more. Many Muslims would now like to
modernise it. However, it is yet to be known how it will be possible for modern Muslims to modify
Shariah, without abandoning any principles (taken from Hadith), that it is based on. Yet, the hadith
has served the role of interpreting the Quran, ever since the Quran ceased, at Prophet Muhammad’s
Death, to be its own interpreter. Therefore, the question arises how far the hadith can be separated
from the Quran without abandoning the word of God and the core Islamic principles?

The same is true for cultures generally. A culture can have a distinctive style from the way in which
people fit in. if new ways are introduced from within or outside, they new ways may seem
incompatible and may even disrupt the culture all together. This is the argument made by those who
do not want reform of Shariah that Islamic is a total distinctive way of life which has cultural integrity
which will be disrupted if change is introduced. Therefore, Muslim life has an integral Islamic
character, which is not to be violated with change.

THE DIALECTIC OF A CULTURAL TRADITION

Islam, considered historically, has varied massively. The detailed vision of Islam is so comprehensive
that it is never quite the same from one place or one time to another. If a document is formulated
which sets out consequences of the act of Islam, it may face rejection from Muslims- which would be
the same reaction from any other religion.

Traditions can end and become transmission. For example, a “traditional” food recipe may be passed
down generations. However, when changed, the recipe will be abandoned as it is no longer the
tradition. A cultural tradition is always on course for development meaning as it expands, it will grow
and inhibit more of the features of the expansion. Living Societies are never static because of the
growth of cities, where tradition erodes, and culture becomes alive.

In general, cultural tradition is a movement of 3 moments. A creative action, group commitment and
interaction within a group. The tradition starts with creative action where someone is
invented/revealed, which in the case of Islam was the revelation of new ideas and words from God.
In accepting the Quran, Muhammad and his followers opened themselves up to new considerations
as to what life might mean. The Quran was creative action in the sense that it spoke the language of
the people and the personal and social needs of the Arab, Makens and Madinese people. It
addressed the social and moral problems. Therefore, Quran was a revelatory experience. A
Revelatory experience only occurs where there are enough people to receive the impact of the
event and allow it with open eyes and hearts.

The second moment of cultural tradition is group commitment arising from creative action. This is
where people share common awareness. Islam can be defined as commitment to the rise of Islam
and the message of Muhammad and his Book. This commitment became to be known as Shahadah.
Performing prayer whilst facing the Qibla is also commitment as it shows that the persons are
committee to social and judicial as result of being a Muslim.

The third moment of cultural tradition is interaction within the group where, through, debate and
dialogue people address issues and misunderstandings. When early Muslims conquered the area
from the Mediterranean to Iran, a common Law and customs were required to hold together and
maintain the rule of Islam; hence some sort of Shariah Law as needed which was based upon the
Quran and the teachings of Muhammad. With dialogue, there may be unpredictability. The
companion of Muhammad, Ali was a hero and a soldier of Islam. Some within the Muslims felt
strong sentiments and hence became loyal to Ali which resulted in the rise of Shia’ism. The bulk of
Muslims were said to have been lost when they rejected the Leadership of Ali, which then created
division in the Muslim world with Sunnis and Shias. Sunnis called for unity amongst the Muslim
community unlike the Shia who created a movement loyal to Ali and his house. With this, two
traditions were born from the original advent of Islam. Each new tradition started with a point of
creativity; Shiaism with the position of Ali and Sunnism with the Ummah.

THE DIVERSITY OF ISLAM IN THE NEXUS OF GENERAL HISTORY

Islam developed on its own and it interacted with other cultural traditions, which were present
within the population. There was a difference with Islam in Arabia and Islam in non-Muslim places
like India as there was a challenge in the cultural environments. Indian Muslims will read books
written by other Indian Muslims which are written from an Indian perspective hence the reader will
respond positively or negatively as they can relate to the writer and their interactions with Islam.
Therefore, the perspective can influence the spread of Islam. Likewise, for an Arab Muslim. Whilst it
was thought that Islam was integral, it can no longer be said that Islam teaches a given thing or that
another thing is corruption of Islam as Islam has become widespread and the Islam has been
influenced by cultures and circumstances. It is thought that there is a pressure for Muslims to be
united and this pressure is due to the ongoing Islamic tradition (through the Quran and beliefs such
as the oness of God) and cultural traditions to keep some sort of Unity amongst the faithful.

There remains a question that, what then is Islam? Can it be studied as a single body? Is it more than
a name for hope and some common symbols? The answer is Yes but only in the way that any other
cultural tradition is studied as a whole. Dialogue within a group is possible if the believers start to
question aspects from which innovation will appear and tradition will be disunified.

THE UNITY OF ISLAM AS A RELIGIOUS TRADITION, AND ITS LIMITS

We can say that there are 2 levels on which there is continuing dialogue amongst the Muslims across
the globe; religion and civilisation. Religion and Civilisation must be defined clearly, and we will
explore the relations that exist within the two. Islam has retained its integrity, more than other
religions like Christianity and Buddhism, as a result of wider cultural unity and that is why the
cultural unity is of greater importance.

Religious Unity is recognised first amongst Muslims as all Muslims must read the Quran in the
scribed Arabic Language, therefore they take part in a common language.

When we refer to religious, we think about private, personal spiritual matters. However, a persons
actual religious life doesn’t just mean spirituality but also their interactions with the religion in the
sense that they carry out their religion outside as well. Islam, more than Christianity is leaned more
towards social life rather than religion alone. No other religion has paid such great attention to social
and moral issues like conduct of people. However, Islam by no means is complete as it must
recognise the contributions of other non-Muslim cultures like Christians and Jews.