"Complete Muslim":
Awareness-building
vs.
Theologization
Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
October 12, 2002
The following piece was written in response to the following messages posted
on Dahuk, an online forum.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dahuk/message/783
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dahuk/message/786
Recently, in this forum, Dahuk, some issues have been raised, such as "Muslim vs. practicing Muslims", or even "complete vs. fractional" Muslims. Some of the questions are: "[C]an we divide the Muslim into two categories, practicing and non-practicing? Is there any option to tailor the Islam?" And, answers to the above questions: "[T]here is no question of a person to be a non-practicing Muslim. ... we can conclude from the meaning of the term 'Muslim' that a Muslim must be a practicing Muslim."
While these appear to be well-intentioned, we should remind ourselves of some
rather serious undesirable ramifications.
It is important to note that some things are better kept at the common sense level. You want to be a teacher? You should fulfill your duties as a teacher; be a good teacher; or, even better, try to be the best teacher you can be. You want to be a student? you should fulfill your responsibility as a student; be a good student; or, even better, try to be the best student you can be. You want to be an athlete? You should do the necessary preparation and practice as an athlete; be a good athlete; or, even better, try to be the best athlete you can be.
It is no different for Muslims. You want to be, or regard yourself as, a Muslim? You should practice Islam, consciously and conscientiously; be a good Muslim; or, even better, try to be the best Muslim you can be.
However, taking this issue to a theological (dogmatic) and juristic level is a perilous endeavor and approach, and this has been one of biggest fault lines of this Ummah. In an exclusivist and judgmental manner, we try to define boundaries in a theological/dogmatic and juristic sense, and we have seen the devastating results throughout our history: group after group defining or describing Islam in a way that explicitly or implicitly renders others as non-Muslims, or less of a Muslim. To say that Muslims "must" be practicing Muslims is to, at least, suggest that the non-practicing ones are not Muslims. Any tendency in this direction is inappropriate at best.
In the Qur'an, believers are invited: "Ya aiyyu-hal-ladhina amanu, udkhulu fis-silmi kaaffa"; O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly" [2/al-Baqara/208] Those who believe are expected to be believers - wholeheartedly. That's only natural and common sense.
However, apart from that common sense, we have no other functional use of such distinctions between complete vs. fractional Muslims, or practicing vs. non-practicing Muslims. Those who take a fragmented view of Islam have been sternly warned by Allah. "Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in, and do ye reject the rest? but what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life?- and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do." [2/al-Baqara/85] Those who claim to believe, but not practice have also been duly warned. "O you who believe! why do you say that which you do not do?" [61/as-Saff/2]
Such verses simply should jolt us back to our consciousness and common senses that we should take seriously our Deen and whatever identity we proclaim of ourselves. Yet, there are plenty of people whose Muslim life may be fragmented or incomplete. The reality is that apart from our duty to deliver good news (bushra) and warning (nadhir), we must not sit on the seat of judgment, which belong exclusively to the domain of Allah. "We send the messengers only to give good news and to warn: so those who believe and mend (their lives),- upon them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." [6/al-Baqara/48]
Several years ago, I wrote a piece in Bangla, "Muslims: Islam-panthi ebong ...", which was published in one of the Bangladeshi Weeklies. The thrust of the article was that Muslims are Muslims, even though some people in our society claim themselves to be Muslims, while they are not "Islam-panthi" or "Islam-loving". To be a Muslim, but not Islam-panthi is a contradiction in term. There is a group of people in our society that talks as if they are Muslims, but they have hardly any interest in Islam, or worse, they either publicly attack Islam or stand publicly against Islam. The purpose of the article was to build better awareness about those contradiction among us, not to be judgmental.
Beyond building awareness, such distinction can't be a statistical or census measure, where we can ask people to identify in their drivers license, voter registration or other IDs as to whether they are practicing or non-practicing Muslims. Nor can we individually or group-wise label people as such, which would be judgmental in approach. No, there is no option to tailor Islam, but almost all fragmentation of Islam, some well-meaning and some not, have been due to some kind of tailoring.
Even acknowledging that it is a "hard-line" approach, the most unfortunate part of this discussion on Dahuk is bringing in the word "Murtad", one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted aspects of Islamic jurisprudence and theology. To say that a person who commits a sin (it does not matter, knowingly or unknowingly) becomes a Murtad is a totally unacceptable distortion of Islam. Actually, it is dangerous, and Muslims must be vigilant against such callous positions. I say it is dangerous, because this very same type of people, who might consider a person committing sin (yes, even knowingly) becomes a Murtad, most likely also believe that being a Murtad is a punishable offense and the punishment is nothing short of death, which once again is utterly erroneous.
Indeed, committing sin (knowingly or unknowingly) has nothing to do with "riddah" or being a Murtad. It is such a well-discussed issue in Islamic history that connecting commitment of sin with "riddah" should be regarded as among the most extreme of extremist views. If all those who have regarded others as non-Muslims would be tallied, then like "thog bachte gao ujar", we all will be eliminated one way or another. There are those among Muslims and Muslim scholas who think living in a "kuffar" nation is almost aiding a "kuffar" nation, and they lump us all together without any discrimination, as for example those who leveled Twin Towers did not bother that either on those attacking planes or in the Twin Towers there were Muslims as well. "Juar adday dorshok bolle maap nei" [You are not excused as an observer, if you are in a gambling place]. Of course, even if there were no Muslims on the planes or in Twin Towers, attack against civilians still would have been equally unacceptable.
Whoever that Imam is, one can't but be appalled at such extremist views, especially when there are clear, authentic and indisputable prophetic guidance about such matters. Anyone who declares "La ilala illallah" deserve sanctity from us. "Narrated Anas ibn Malik: The Prophet said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah" and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist). The tyranny of any tyrant and the justice of any just (ruler) will not invalidate it. One must have faith in Divine decree." [Sunan Abu Dawood, #2526]
While creating positive awareness about Deen and its connection with our life, we should strictly refrain from theologization/dogmatization of matters of faith. Rather, we should focus on our success (falah) in Aakhira. Do we, including that Imam, not know of this following hadith? Where does "prostitution" fit into this? Is that a sin or not?
"A prostitute (mind it, a prostitute!) was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that." [Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 4, #538]
Muslims need to avoid judgmentalism and also turning the matters of aqeedah into theological dogmas. Otherwise, a prostitute does not engage in prostitution unknowingly, and as such she would be out of Islam for her "sin", and would not have any hope. But, we know better. Quite similarly, it is only common sense and our self-interest that we should be practicing. However, let that not taint us with judgmentalism about others. Consider this: "A man NEVER did a good deed but removed a thorny branch from the road; it was either in the tree and someone cut it and threw it on the road, or it was lying on it, he removed it. Allah accepted this good deed of his and brought him into Paradise." [Sunan Abu Dawood; Vol. 3, #5225] Such hadiths are not encouragement for being non-practicing, because no sensible Muslim would count on or pin his or her hope on "not doing a good deed", but the message of such hadith is to inspire us about the mercy of Allah and also not to be judgmental about others, wrongfully putting ourselves on the seat of Judgment.
A Muslim should also be sensitive to words such as "complete", "perfect", etc., because those terms at the level of Deen are probably incompatible with Islam. Consider this: Prophet Muhammad said, "O people! Had you not sinned, Allah would have created a people that would have sinned, and asked for forgiveness from Him so that He would have forgiven them." [Sahih Muslim, Kitab at-Taubah, #6622] Once again, this is neither a license to sin, nor a proscription against our seeking Islah [improvement/reformation/betterment]. Allah does want our best effort in the direction of what is right and good, but he definitely does not expect perfection from us. Would anyone like to dispute against such Prophetic narration?
There is a great lesson in the abovementioned hadiths for all of us. Another recommended reading: "Reality: The Islamic Touch".
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