It is quite perplexing when some who claim themselves as Islamic “revolutionists” said that the thrust of islam is “rational”. And they also said that “we are not questioning about zakat, hajj, solat..” As in only personal worship were built on aqidah (faith) thrust, while other structure of Islam built on “rational”. This is a very dangerous doctrine. Moreover, they have used the term “maqasid” as the main driver of Islamic rulings while the method though explain in Al Quran and hadith can be altered to suit the current situation.
If we question “Why does Muslim do not eat pork?” Are we saying that “..because there are studies shown that swine flesh has a lot of indestructible bacterium and viral.” What happen if there will be new technology coming in and can destroy all the bacterium and viral and make pork the cleanest and healthiest protein source. Will this make swine halal?
The same goes to “solat”. Al Quran has provided one of the reasons or objectives of solat, i.e. to avoid from “fahsha’ and munkar” (the evil of sexual desire and other ill-behaviours that are not according to Islam). By using “rational” hence can we say that we do not have to perform “solat” if we have other ways to refrain ourselves from “fahsha’ and munkar”? For example, going fishing, reading encyclopedia at the library, mount climbing, all these activities can somehow distract us from doing “fahsa’ and munkar”, hence can we deny the obligation to perform “solat”? If “rational” is our thrust of practicing Islam, we would say “the maqasid has been accomplished, i.e. fasha’ and munkar’ have been avoided, hence no need to perform solat”.
And no wonder also from this doctrine, some Muslims claim that “hijab” (Muslim women outfits that cover all parts of their bodies except face & hands) is not compulsory. Maybe their understanding is that Al Quran has provided one of the reasons or objectives of hijab, which is to protect the Muslim women from disturbance and also as a sign to show that they are different from women from other faiths. Hence through the “Islam is built on rational” theory, a Muslim woman who wears a name tag with her religion stated “Muslim” would already show that she is different from people from other religion without the need of her to wear hijab.
A similar rationalization has been applied freely on politics, jurisprudence, laws & regulation by applying a particular text from the Quran or a hadith just to impose certain “maqasid” to meet their objectives. Hence the method and approach can be altered to suit the same “maqasid”, and sometimes justifying them as “maslahah”. The point that I would like to make is that though rational do play a role the main thrust of Islam is aqidah (faith) and it should not be placed at a lower priority in all spheres of Islamic practices.
One does not need to be a genius to become a Muslim. One does not even to complete a PhD, read thousands of books, to list reasons for each and every verses of Quran and every passage of hadiths to become a Muslim. Most sahabah’s embrace Islam not because of merely reasoning, but the faith has been moved to believe about God. Bilal bin Rabah r.a was a slave, had his heart knocked to embrace Islam when he understood the concept of there is no slavery amongst human being except being the slave of the ultimate God (Allah), and the degree of human being is judged by God-consciousness (taqwa). In comparing to that, we can see that there are Professors in the Islamic Studies field in Oxford and other renown institutions remain non-Muslim despite all the studies, thinking & reasoning done in understanding Islam. These people who are yet to be granted with “Hidayah” (God guidance), have believed or have faith in that there are other values, ideas or ideologies are more superior than Islam. Hence it is quite wrong for us to judge that rational is the only change factor or driving factor in building qualities.
On the other hand, “Ulul albab” (those who think) as mentioned in the Al Quran in Surah Ali Imran, verse 190 has been defined in the verse after “those who remember Allah while standing, sitting an laying, and while they are thinking of the creation of the heaven and the earth , and supplicate “O Allah, you have not created all these with no meaning / wrongly, Exalted be unto you hence save us from Hellfire”. And hence, rational or reasoning itself is just one of the mediums to attain God-consciousness, and not the goal. Hence rational itself is rooted from faith and believe in Allah, and how can we say that rationalization is the thrust of Islam?
Allah has mentioned in the Quran “And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless.” Surah Al A’araf, verse 179. Allah has described the receptor of faith is “qulub” (heart) not “aqal” (mind).
We won’t however, deny the importance of rationalization and reasoning in further improving ourselves in practicing Islam, however we must not miss the root cause of the Muslims’ problems around the world which is not believing enough and hence not following what are taught in Islam. It is not because of they do not have the facts, figures and information about Islam, but, what is lacking is the confidence, especially when solution proposed by Islam would challenge certain lifestyle and preference that they are enjoying.
There are elements where science and logic cannot explain, but require pure conviction on their presence, for instance, the unseen God, the Angels, the Day of Judgment, The Heaven and The Hell. The same sense when a scientologist believes in Mother Nature as the secret power that is limitless but has got manifestations which can be perceived by the sense organs. This argument was cleverly refuted by Muhammad Qutb in his writing, Islam: The Misunderstood Religion, “I understand by this statement of yours that you prevent me from believing in an unknown power because you want me to believe in another equally unknown power. But the question is that why should I disown my God for the sake ofanother equally unknown but false god, especially when in the one I find peace, tranquility and comfort, whereas the false god of Nature neither answers my call, nor comforts me?”
Hence, let us emphasize again on correcting our perspective on the thrust of Islam. Islam is built on conviction, and rationalization is just medium to strengthen our submission towards Allah and his Muhammad the Prophet (peace is upon him). And hence, by believing the great wisdom of the Almighty Allah, embracing the values of Islam in its real form does really change our lives.
Umm Muawwiz is an activist from Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA). She is also a senior engineer in a multinational oil and gas company. She can be contacted at [email protected]
