Human Development in Islam and Sufism

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN ISLAM AND SUFISM:
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim
By Cameron Campbell

1

INTRODUCTION

Any attempt to understand the complexity of Islam benefits from an explanation

of its central and most important principle. At the core of Islam is the principle of tawhid,

the oneness of God. This principle asserts God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, and

omniscience. “There is no God but God”. This over arching theological principle of

tawhid extends into society and the individual. Therefore, Islam is a socio-religious

complex in which both society and the individual are understood in relationship to the

oneness of God and are simultaneous manifestations of a unified spiritual reality.1

As a result of the principle of tawhid, Islam exists simultaneously in different

realities. On one level Islam is an internal experience of the reality of God’s existence.

On another level Islam exists in the external reality of history, society and culture. As

such Islam can be viewed from a historical and sociological perspective as a socio-

religious complex that grew out of various cultural transformations and circumstances in

the Hijaz region of Arabia, and through an exploration of the theory, meaning and

message of its holy book, the Qur’an. Simply put, Islam was and Islam is. This paper’s

aim is to view Islam from a historical and sociological perspective while attempting to

keep true to meaning and messages displayed in the Qur’an. However, since, in my

opinion there is no conceivable absolute truth, I offer only my humble interpretation of

this grand and multifarious paradigm of human development.

1
Islam is given new terminology in this paper and will be referred to as the socio-
religious complex of Islam. I use the term socio-religious complex because with a little
explanation it clarifies the holism and multidimensionality of Islam. Firstly I use the word
socio-religious because Muhammad’s revelations were concerned with not only the
institution of a new religion but also a new society to practice it in. I use the term
complex to clarify that Islam is a whole composed of various interrelated parts.

2

I ground my exploration of Islam in various explanations of the concept of human

development on both individual and societal levels. Human development in this context

refers not only to the development of the individual, but the development of society, as it

is human beings that create and animate society with their various beliefs, laws, and

rituals. The socio-religious complex of Islam is based on creating a better life for the

human being by attempting to impose a harmonic order to the complexity and imbalance

of human existence.

In our contemporary historical moment Islam has been stigmatized by various

violent and intolerant manifestations in the form of radical fundamentalisms. This paper

attempts to provide a vision of human development in Islam that is rooted in the qualities

of love, mercy, compassion and generosity and gentleness, and is fortified by a deep

sense of egalitarianism, unity, dependence, and harmony on individual and societal levels

and even universal levels.

The conception of human development in Islam is based on role of the human

being as a servant and representative of God, or kalifa. According to an important Hadith,

man was made in the form and image of God, and therefore it in his nature to represent

Him. As a social-religious complex of Islam nurtures a moral purity in individuals

through iman, faith and islam, submission, as well as ihsan, doing what is good and

beautiful.2 This moral purity opens their hearts to the Will of God in order that they may

truly express the role of the human being as God’s servant and representative.

Being God’s servant and representative implies the active manifestation of God’s

Will within the self and within society. Moral purity is attained through a deep and

2
William C. Chittick, Sufism: A Short Introduction, (England: Oneworld
Publications, 2001), 4.

3

sincere realization of God’s Will in space, time, society and history and is developed by

following God’s warnings, demands and laws dictated by Muhammad, the Qur’an, the

Hadiths (sayings of Muhammad), the Sunnah (Muhammad’s code of behavior) and the

Sharia. These warnings, demands, and laws, if known, followed and experienced at a

level of pure sincerity and certitude, manifest God’s attributes in their proper places and

at the proper times, creating an individual, social and universal harmony. This harmony

cultivates a deep sense of unity and dependence both in relationship to God, and to fellow

human beings.

Ultimately a deep sincerity and certitude in realizing God’s Will, and being God’s

servant and vicegerent, creates a perfect harmony between the two poles of tawhid, God’s

distance, incomparability, wrath, severity, and majesty, or tanzih, and God’s nearness,

similarity, mercy, compassion, generosity and gentleness, or tashbih. 3 This harmony also

returns the human being to the goodness, beauty, and knowledge of his original

disposition (fitr), belonging to the prototypical human (Adam), who the Qur’an depicts as

having been taught all the names of everything in existence, and their proper place in the

hierarchy of creation. And, as God’s mercy outshines His wrath, the human being

assumes God’s most predominant qualities of mercy, generosity and compassion that

shine forth from him in infinite splendor. The end of the path of human development in

Islam is human perfection.

On a historical and sociological level, Islam grew out of complex cultural milleu.

Muhammad, the final prophet of Islam received revelations from God creating a new

paradigm of human development that responded to a period of social, economic and

3
William C. Chittick, Sufism A Short Introduction, 25.

4

religious transition in Arabia referred to by scholars and Muslims as the Jahiliyya or “The

Time of Ignorance.”

The Qu’ran indicates that historical mission of Islam is to create a just and

equitable society that is united by a common faith in One God. The Qu’ran says, “We

have created the best community ever raised up to mankind enjoining the right and

forbidding the wrong, and having faith in God.” (A.J. 3, 110)4 Fazlur Rahman states,

“For Muhammad’s monotheism was, from the very beginning, linked up with a

humanism and a sense of social and economic justice whose intensity is no less than the

intensity of the monotheistic idea, so that whoever reads the early Revelations of the

Prophet Muhammad cannot escape the conclusion that the two must be regarded as

expressions of the same experience.”5

The emergence of the socio-religious complex of Islam provided a path of human

development that rejected the arrogance, self-sufficiency, individualism, and the

overwhelming idolatry that pervaded the Jahiliya, and attempted to create a harmonious

spiritual society supported and bound by a common faith and submission to God, and a

sincerity in carrying out his Will through good, and beautiful actions. The creation of the

community of the faithful, the ummah, and the social and economic justice and

egalitarianism required within it were, and are actualized and implemented by the

individual’s commitment to fulfilling God’s Will and the role as a servant and

representative of God. From a historical and sociological perspective, Islam, dispelled,

4
The Koran Interpreted, trans, Arthur John Arberry, 1st Touchstone edition: (New
York: Simon and Shuster, 1955). All Qu’ranic references are from this translation and
will contain A.J.
5
Fazlur Rahman, Islam, Second Edition: (1966: Chicago: University of Chicago
Press: 1979), 12.

5

reformed and appropriated various social and religious values that existed in pre-Islamic

Arabia, and reoriented them into a new paradigm of human development, the socio-

religious complex of Islam, which valued the importance of mercy, compassion,

generosity as well as social and economic justice and egalitarianism over all other values.

Therefore the intrinsic mercy, compassion and generosity intrinsic to Islam can be

supported, and validated through a sociological and historical perspective, as well as

through a theological one.

Section 1 of this paper takes a historical and sociological perspective of the

particular social, economic and religious transformations in the Jahiliyya or “Time of

Ignorance, in 6th century Arabia, (Mecca in particular) that led to the emergence of the

socio-religious complex of Islam. The Jahiliyya represents the social, economic and

religious imbalances and problems that God and Muhammad restore through the socio-

religious complex of Islam. It provides a description of the dissolution and division of

tribal society, and the disintegration values of social and economic egalitarianism, and

generosity, as a result of increased commericialization and capitalization of Mecca, the

Ka’bah, and Muhammad’s tribe of Quraysh, and the resulting attitude of self-sufficiency,

and individualism. It also discusses the various religious conditions that influenced the

social and economic transformations, and increasing inequality and self-sufficiency, as

well as the influence of various monotheistic faiths, such as hanifism, that influenced the

emergence of the monotheistic religion of Islam.

Section 2 is an explanation of the socio-religious complex of Islam. The second

section shows how Muhammad radically re-oriented human development on individual

and social levels through the introduction of the socio-religious complex of Islam based

6

on belief in One God and the creation of a society based on social and economic justice

and egalitarianism. New values appear in the form of warnings and demands stressing a

personal devotion to sincerity in fulfilling God’s Will, through faith and submission, as

God’s servant and representative. This section places particular attention on the

importance of tawhid, the oneness of God, and the creation of the ummah, the community

of the faithful, within the socio-religious complex of Islam. In the ummah, the

problematic divisions within tribal society are replaced by a society based on social and

economic justice and egalitarianism, and religious solidarity. This section discusses

aspects of social and economic egalitarianism, within the ummah, such as zakat as well as

individual and collective rituals such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage that are central to

being God’s servant and representative. and that support the cultivation of moral purity

and social harmony in the ummah. This section also highlights the importance of

cosmological pressures and conceptions, such as the emphasis on Paradise, Gehenna and

the Day of Judgment, in enforcing faith and submission to God on individual and

collective levels.

Section 3 uses Sufism an example of the most complete expression of human

development in Islam, as it seeks to realize the very nature of man’s existence. In this

section Islam is understood from a theological perspective that illuminates its existence as

an inner experience of the divine reality. Sufism is defined as the path to human

perfection. Sufism provides an example of the extent to which the human being can

become God’s servant and representatives through a balance of tanzih and tashbih.6

Human perfection is achieved by realizing God’s Will though a manifestation of His

6

7

attributes such that the characteristics of Muhammad and eventually God Himself shine

through the heart. Sufism reveals that the ultimate aim of human development in Islam is

to “manifest the fullness of God’s generosity and mercy.”7 It explains the struggles that

man experiences between tanzih and tashbih. It stresses the importance of different

human faculties in the path towards human perfection in order to attain a perfect

knowledge, and experience of God. Sufism stresses the importance of iman, faith, islam,

submission, ihsan, doing what is good and beautiful, and sincerity ikhlas in cultivating an

awareness of God.8 This section discusses how Sufis have extended regular Muslim

practices aimed at cultivating a complete awareness of God through techniques of Dhikr

or remembrance so that they may remember and be with God at all times. It highlights a

deeper aim of human development in Islam, beyond the creation of a society of economic

justice, the attainment of human perfection and unity with the Divine mercy, compassion,

generosity and love from which all things came and therefore a complete harmony with,

God, society, and the universe.

SECTION 1

SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND RELIGIOUS TRANSITIONS IN THE JAHILIYYA

The Prophet Muhammad’s revelations, while universal, certainly addressed and

responded to the social, economic and religious conditions of the time. Since the birth of

Islam both Muslims and Islamicist historians have often referred to pre-Islamic Arabia as

7
William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path Of Knowledge: Ibn al Arabi’s Metaphysics of
Imagination (New York: SUNY Press, 1989), 21.
8
William C. Chittick, Sufism: A Short Introduction, 4.

8

Jahiliyya meaning “Time of Ignorance.” Technically the Jahiliyya refers to the time just

before the emergence of the religion and community of Islam. The Jahiliyya was by no

means a static or ignorant period of time. It was in fact defined by change. According to

the Islamic perspective Jahiliyya was defined by social and cultural collapse (a gradual

dissolution of tribal values); moral depravity and religious idolatry in the form of

paganism; a divergence from the true monotheistic religion of Abraham. Although this

description of Pre-Islamic Arabia is very simplistic and ignores the complexity and

diversity of Pre-Islamic Arabian religions and society, it provides the description of what

Muhammad was called by God to rectify through the socio-religious complex that

became known as Islam. It also clarifies the multidimensional nature of Islam as socio-

religious complex that sought to change the course of human development on social,

economic and religious levels.

The existing social, economic and religious conditions in 6th century Arabia

during the genesis of Islam were all in a state of progressive transition. The social and

individual developments were changing drastically. The tribal society in which

dedication to ones tribe and clan was the backbone of its ethical framework was being

eroded by a society and culture based on the advancement of individual material

accumulation and wealth, or what Karen Armstrong calls “a rampant and ruthless

capitalism.”9

9
Karen Armstrong, A History of God: The 4, 000 Year Old Quest of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam (United States: Alfred A. Knopf: 1993), 220.

9

During the 6th century in Arabia there existed two general categories of tribal

people, the nomadic Bedouin and the sedentary people. 10 The Bedouins were nomadic

tribal people who lived in the harsh, bleak and barren desert steppes. They herded sheep

and camels and depended mostly on their animals’ milk and meat for sustenance with

occasional trading at agricultural oases for grains and dates.11 Bedouins would also

conduct raids if needs were dire. The sedentary towns people were wealthier than the

Bedouin and had houses built of mud-brick and stone. Some of them were agricultural

cultivators who settled near oases, others were traders or craftspeople in trading towns, or

practiced a combination of these occupations. 12 Sedentary towns were typically near the

coasts and borders where specific trade relationships had continually developed since

antiquity.

Both the Bedouin and the sedentary townspeople of the Arabian Peninsula had

been, for several centuries, surrounded by and either directly or indirectly connected to

several Empires who competed for wealth, power and religious dominance. Towards the

end of the 6th century various sedentary tribes had become increasingly dependent on the

commercial competition and trade of the surrounding Sasanian, Abyssinian and Roman

Empires. Earlier stages of this progressive change had contributed to the diversification

of Arab society and the growth in the numbers of sedentary Arabs as nomadic Bedouins

10
Some scholars have reserved the words Bedouin for the nomads, but others do
not. For the sake of clarity I will use the distinction.
11
Johnathan Bloom, Sheila Blair, Islam: A Thousand Years of Power and Faith
(United States: Yale University Press: 2002), 10.
12
Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples ( New York: Warner Books,
1992), 11.

10

began to settle in trading towns.13 The Empires supported different tribes for trade

purposes and to exert their control over Arabian territories. As a result many tribes began

to accumulate an amount of material wealth and power that generations earlier had been

unforeseen for the people of the area. Many of the tribes near the borders of the large

empires became trade centers and tribes that existed on or in between trade routes also

benefited. The increased commercialism had a profound impact on the society, culture

and religion of these tribal groups because it replaced tribal values, rituals and ethics with

new ones that held individual wealth to be more important than tribal unity.

The gradual changes in the economic demographics of the region characterized

by increased trade were made most manifest in town called (Makkah) Mecca that

belonged to the tribe of Quraysh situated in the Hijaz, a western coastal area. Mecca not

only provided a perfect example of the progressive transition occurring in Arabian

society, but was Muhammad’s birth place and the source of the emergence of the religion

Islam.

Mecca became the most import religious pilgrimage and most important financial

center in Arabia because of its possession of a very important shrine called the Ka’bah

that hosted a huge variety of statues and representations pagan deities such as Hubal, Al-

Uzza (the mighty) Al-Lat (the goddess) and Manat (the goddess of fate, or dahr. as well
14

as important representatives of Christianity such as Jesus and Mary. It not only drew

pagans but also drew monotheists such as Christians and Hanifs (an early Arab from of

monotheism, practiced by many including Muhammad based on the rejection of

13
Marshal G. S. Hodgson. The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of
Islam (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1974), 107.

11

polytheism.) Before the emergence and spread of Islam, Arabia was a religiously diverse

place teeming with many different kinds of monotheism, Christianity, Judaism, Hanifism,

Zoroastrianism (questionable), and many different kinds of paganism. The Quraysh had

acquired this highly respected shrine under the leader Qussay five generations before

Muhammad.

All trading caravans, merchants and dealers wishing to enter the city of Mecca

were required to have all their goods tallied and their trading missions surveyed. Meccan

officials surveyed the values of the textiles, oils, grains and dates that the traders had

accumulated. For their services, officials collected the fee for entering Mecca, a tax on

the commerce that took place in and around the city. All business ventures had to be

conducted before entering the Ka’bah.15

The intense and bustling trade that existed on the outskirts of Mecca and the

Ka’bah was a result of specific rules and regulations that kept the sanctity of the shrine

intact. As Reza Aslan puts it:

“Like all Semitic sanctuaries the Ka’bah transformed the entire
surrounding area into a sacred ground, making the city of Mecca a neutral
zone where fighting among tribes was prohibited and weapons were not
allowed. The pilgrims who traveled to Mecca during the pilgrimage
season were encouraged to take advantage of the peace and prosperity of
the city by bringing with them merchandise to trade. To facilitate this the
great commercial fairs of the Hijaz coincided with the pilgrimage season,
and the rules for one complemented those for the other.”16

The location of Mecca between two major trade routes made it one of the most

important trading centers of Western and Central Arabia. Trade routes coming from the

15
Reza Aslan, No God, but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam
(New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006), 24.
16
Ibid, 26.

12

East and the South crossed through the town of Mecca bringing it increased commercial

and material interaction.

As the tribe of Quraysh, and the city of Mecca grew economically it changed

socially and culturally, the important communal values once upheld by tribal society

were replaced by a greedy and materialistic ethic of self-sufficiency and private fortune.

These values stood in contrast to the more traditional tribal lifestyle that emphasized the

ideas of communalism, material obligation and relative egalitarianism, a vengeful system

of justice and an overall dependence on others for survival. The pagan religious systems

of the traditional Bedouin Arabs did not have an overtly ethical character. Religious

beliefs were secondary to tribal beliefs. There was no “absolute morality dictated by a

divine code of ethics” as Reza Aslan puts it.17 The most important concept in tribal

society was maintaining communal solidarity and unity. In a world that was based not on

material accumulation and trade, but constant movement through the harsh and barren

desert steppes of Arabia, survival required a constant dedication to tribal solidarity and

unity on behalf of all the tribal members. “Economics” as a system of profit making was

an impractical conception in the tribal world of pre-Islamic Arabia.

The closest thing to a religious code of ethics was called belief in muruwah on

which tribal values were based. The traditional Bedouin concept of muruwah or

“generous manliness” or chivalry promoted the virtues of bravery, patience and

endurance in suffering, honor, hospitality, strength in battle, concern for justice, complete

dedication to the tribe over the individual and a generous and relatively egalitarian

distribution of wealth and possessions among the members of the tribe by the chief

17
Ibid, 42.

13

(Sayyid or Shaykh).18 The Sayyid or Shaykh either inherited his position or was elected as

“the greatest of equals” for embodying the ideals of murruwah. The main job of the

Shaykh or Sayyid was to protect the life of everyone in the tribe, as best he could against

death, especially those people who could not easily protect themselves, such as the very

young, the elderly, the orphans and the widows. 19

The Bedouins used the word karim to refer to someone who was noble. The

designation karim not only praised the individual link to his illustrious ancestors but

represented the most important virtue of Bedouin, extravagant and unlimited generosity

as it was the most blatant and concrete example of nobility. A karim would always be

ready to fight to preserve his community and his ancestral honor. 20 This conception of

honor and kinship was the cohesive force of Bedouin society.

The concept of nobility and honor in the Jahiliyya however was also closely

linked to a sense of personal dignity that was defined by a refusal “to accept anything

whatsoever that might degrade his personal dignity, a fierce passionate nature to hurl

back with scorn anything that might make him feel humbled and humiliated even in the

slightest way.” 21 This characteristic seemed to be more prominent after increased

commercialism altered the Bedouin lifestyle.

18
Christianity and Islam, 24.
19
Reza Aslan, No God, but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam, 29.
20
Michel Sells, Approaching The Qur’an: The Early Revelations. (United States:
White Cloud Press, 1999), 36.
21
Toshihiko Izutsu, God and Man in the Qur’an: Semantics of the Qu’ranic
Weltanschauung (Malaysia: Islamic Book Trust, 2002), 220.

14

Despite the emphasis on personal dignity, in Bedouin tribal society everyone was

valuable and had to contain a large element of humility, especially toward the Shaykh..

To play their part in the survival of the tribe each member was required to follow every

command of the chief and to hold steadfast to muruwah, but important decisions were

made on a communal basis. However, other tribal members also held specific and

important positions within Bedouin societies. The Qa’id was the military leader, the

Kahin, who played the role of poet and soothsayer, and the Hakam who settled domestic

and intertribal disputes.

The Bedouin system of justice was based on “The Law of Retribution”.22 “The

Law of Retribution” was based firmly on the communal ethic. It dictated that for every

committed crime an equal retaliation was taken. For example “the theft of a camel

required payment of exactly one camel” or the death of one tribal member was avenged

by the Shaykh or Sayyid by killing a member of the murderer’s tribe.23 To facilitate this

law, “blood money” was established for all goods and assets, as well as for every member

of society and even every body part.24 As Karen Armstrong points out, “The vendetta or

blood feud was the only way of ensuring a modicum of social security in a region where

there was no central authority, where every tribal group was a law unto itself and where

there was nothing comparable to a modern police force.”25 This system of justice often

drove the tribes into continual warfare and may have been a problematic result of the

22
Reza Aslan, No God, but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam, 30.
23
Ibid, 30.
24
Ibid, 30.
25

15

communal ethic, but the concern for justice was still strong and the virtues of generosity,

patience, hospitality, and endurance in suffering became central to Muhammad’s socio-

religious complex.

Unfortunately, the commercialism of Meccan society was creating new

hierarchies that were destroying the positive virtues of tribal society leading a transition

from a communal lifestyle to “a rampant and ruthless capitalism.”26 To be fair, many

people in the tribe of Quraysh saw their new wealth as a salvation from the harshness of

nomadic life, “cushioning them from the malnutrition and tribal violence that were

endemic to the steppes of Arabia.”27 However, this could only be said by the emerging

nouveau riche. The new social and economic stratification of society eroded the social

egalitarianism of tribal society.

However, despite whatever cushioning the people of Quraysh and Mecca

experienced there was an over all decline in moral standards. And in reality tribal

violence continued to persist and was being exacerbated and complicated by new social

and economic divisions due to unequal levels of material accumulation and the

disintegration of communal values. Hodgson explains that the attitude of the majority of

Meccans during Muhammad’s time was based on “ individual and group pride and point

of honor- pride in birth, pride in one’s wealth and prowess, pride which lead when

crossed, to an unremitting pitiless vengeance; to a passionate and heedless (if sometimes

magnificent) pursuit of self centered, inherently trivial ends.”28 The extravagant and

26
Ibid, 132.
27
Ibid, 133.

16

unlimited generosity of the Shaykh became an extravagant and magnificent hoarding of

individual wealth. The Shaykhs of Quraysh and other people of growing wealth and

power had kept honor as a most important principle. However nobility and honor lost

their cohesive force and became more reflective of the individual dignity based on the

refusal to be humiliated or to maintain a level of humbleness in the face of any perceived

threat.

Increasing individual wealth began to dissolve the tribal values of social

egalitarianism. Shaykhs were too busy in matters of trade to care any longer for

protecting the poor, weak and disenfranchised. Wealthier members of the tribes, those

who were part of the ruling tribes, began to build capital without the interests of the

weaker and poorer members of the community in mind, creating large gaps between the

rich and powerful and the poor and weak. Within the tribes, each clan (families within the

tribes) began to fight each other for their piece of Meccan wealth and individuals within

each clan became greedy and did not share their revenue.

Even the Law of Retribution was ineffective when no one could stand up to the

authority of the wealthiest members of society. Primitive feuds of vengeance began to

take on a vicious and unpredictable ferocity. In this context intertribal relations were hard

to keep balanced and the survival of less wealthy clans such as Muhammad’s Banu

Hashim were severely threatened.

The pursuit of self-centered ends was promoting, among the men an increased

indulgence in pleasures of the flesh, gambling, and usury (money-lending with interest

rates). Extra-marital sex was contributing to the increasingly dissolution of family and

28
Marshal G. S. Hodgson. The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of
Islam, 173, 174.

17

communal ties that were once the key to a good life. There was also a growing lack of

patience and growing impulsivity as people struggled for worldly significance and

pleasure, placing value on material accumulation and individual judgment.

The ruling families had not only an economic monopoly over Mecca, but as

owners of the Ka’bah they had a religious monopoly. As Reza Aslan tells us, “Consider

that the Hanifs, who the traditions present as severely critical of the insatiable greed of

their fellow Meccans, nevertheless maintained an unshakable loyality to the Quraysh,

whom they regarded as the legitimate agents of the Abrahamic sacredness of Mecca and

the Ka’bah.”29

In a place like Mecca where religion and economics were part of the same system,

the progressive transition was not only defined by social and economic changes, but

religious and spiritual changes as well. In a broader historical context the surrounding

Empires had introduced monotheistic beliefs such as Judaism, Christianity and

Zoroastrianism into Arabia and propagated them. Even the polytheistic paganism of the

sedentary Bedouins had become henotheistic, that is, held a high god, (in most cases

Allah the Creator) above all others. Furthermore, the practice of hanifism, an attempt at

renouncing polytheism in favor of a return to the pure religion of Abraham had developed

in the area of the Hijaz. However, a majority of Meccan and of Arabians for that matter

were still pagans until Muhammad spread the religion of Islam and many submitted to

become the servant of One God, Allah.

Bedouin tribal paganism, even in its henotheistic sedentary formulation, remained

as bleak as their traditional existence as desert nomads when they had to fight each day

29
Reza Aslan, No God, but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam, 32

18

for survival. As Izutsu explains it, “The pagan view of life is conceived as a series of

calamitous events, governed not by the natural law of growth and decay, but by the

inscrutable will of a dark, blind, semi personal Being, from who’s strong grip there can

be no escape.”30 Because of frequent death due to blood-feuds and tribal turbulence, they

had a firm belief in Dahr, Time, which translates as Death, or Fate.

The pagan belief system had no explicit conception of human development, such

as the one that exists in Islam. There was no teleological significance to the continuance

of man’s existence, beyond the various cultural elements of self-sufficiency and

capitalism. Generally, there was no meaning or goal to a human’s life beyond what he or

she had as a member of the tribe. As tribal values of social egalitarianism and generosity,

were being replaced by material greed, unpredictable barbarism, and the trivial pursuit of

self centered aims, the meaning of life was increasingly measured by individual wealth

and power.

The emphasis on Dahr, the pagan belief system, gave the poor and the

unfortunate people little hope in, or faith about the potential possibilities of this life and

denied all pagans any hope or faith of a better life after death. Karen Armstrong notes

that the “pagan pantheon of deities…had not developed a mythology that explained the

relevance of these gods and holy places to the life of the spirit.”31 Many people like

traders or chiefs who accumulated wealth, did not care for the life of spirit, and

considered their prayer to the pantheon of pagan deities central to the subsistence and

30
Toshihiko Izutsu, God and Man in the Qu’ran: Semantics of the Qu’ranic
Weltangschauung, 132.
31

19

creation of their fortune. For those who had the blessings of wealth this semi personal

Being was sufficient, but for the poor and disenfranchised this semi personal Being did

nothing for their dim futures other than end them forever.

In this context some people began to search elsewhere for spiritual fulfillment that

gave them significance beyond Death through the presence of monotheism. Others, who

were not so fortunate, just longed for it. One can only imagine that there was a lack of

faith, especially for poorer and more unfortunate people whose prayers to the various

deities proved effortless in light of growing social and economic inequality and injustice.

A lack of faith also stemmed from a general feeling of inferiority. As is common

the pagan polytheistic Arabs, especially the desert Bedouins, were mistreated by alien

monotheists and constantly threatened. There was also a feeling of inferiority among the

Meccan monotheists (hanifs) such as Muhammad. Many of them asked themselves why

they had been blessed by the presence of the Ka’bah and this great wealth but not by a

Prophet.

SECTION 2

THE SOCIO-RELIGIOUS COMPLEX OF ISLAM

From the laissez-faire culture of pre-Islamic Arabia, in which one could choose

from a variety of religions and gods, a menu of evolving cultural systems and an

underlying emphasis of individual self-sufficiency in a city dominated by trade and

commercialization, Islam emerged as holistic alternative paradigm of human

development, a comprehensive socio-religious complex. It was at once a new religion, it

20

created the framework for a new society, and provided the guidelines for systematic

human development.

The socio-religious complex of Islam through a fundamental rejection of self-

sufficiency and idolatry set about restoring and purifying Abrahamic monotheism,

extending the central concept of tawhid, the Oneness of God into every realm of social,

economic and political interaction. The concept of a community of believers, the ummah,

proposed a vision of society in order to counter act the problems of Jahiliyya. The socio-

religious complex introduced an explicit conception of human development on individual

and societal levels. The central tenets of Islam, iman, faith and trust in God, and islam,

submission to God, actualized the moral qualities allowing man to fulfill the ultimate goal

of human development and realize his role as a servant and representative, or khalifa of

God. A new system of values evolved in which prosperity was the sum of man’s positive

virtues, and good deeds towards God and others. These values on a cultural level were

part of a restoration and revitalization of tribal values and virtues that had been dissolving

in the Jahiliyya and was part of arevitalization of the true religion of Abrahamic

monotheism.

Man was urged to strive (jihad) to bring this prosperity about within society at

large and within the individual. The concepts of Paradise and Gehenna (hell) served as an

incentive and a warning. Ultimately this world-view permeated aspects of economics

and governance so that the socio-religious complex of Islam absorbed both church and

state and created a whole new identity above and beyond tribe and nation.

It all began with one man, and one experience. Muhammad (ibn al-Ahmed), a

man from the tribe of Quraysh, the clan of Banu Hashim, had an experience that called

21

him to prophecy. Muhammad was a merchant and participated in the growing economy

of Mecca. He himself had experienced the changing worldview and lifestyles of the

Meccans. Muhammad had been born an orphan, and had a deep empathy for the

disenfranchised. Muhammad was a man of moral stature and was deeply concerned with

the social and economic inequality of Meccan society, the dissolution of tribal values and

virtues and the idolatry of the polytheists. It was a ritual for Muhammad, a practicing

monotheistic hanif, to take spiritual retreats and meditate on God, moral responsibility,

social and economic inequality or on whatever may be ailing or awing him. During one

of these retreats while Muhammad was meditating in a cave on Mt. Hira he had a

religious experience in which God came to Him through the angel Gabriel. God spoke

these words through the angel:

Recite: In the Name of Thy Lord who created,
created Man out of a blood clot,
Recite: And Thy Lord is the Most Generous,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught Man what he knew not.

No indeed; surely man waxes insolent,
For he thinks himself self-sufficient,
Surely unto thy Lord is the returning. (96, 1-8 A.J.)

This experience began a series of revelations (called the Qur’an, meaning

recitation) that validated the Reality of his monotheistic God, Allah. These revelations

also validated Muhammad’s role as a prophet and a messenger of God, as well as the

leader of a radical social and religious movement.

As a result of its holism and multidimensionality the socio-religious complex of

Islam was able to bring about changes on various different levels, notably on the

individual level and on the societal level. At their very core all of these changes are

22

developmental changes because at its very heart Islam is concerned with the ultimate

conditions and aims of humanity, in other words human development. The socio-

religious complex of Islam, was able to create an explicit conception of human

development through a dramatic reorientation of the beliefs, values and practices that

existed in the Jahiliyya. Using a term derived from the discipline of Development

Studies, the socio-religious complex of Islam is based on a structural adjustment of the

value systems of society and the individual as a means of reorienting its developmental

trajectory.

Tawhid

The emergence of the socio-religious complex of Islam arose as a result of divine

revelations that dictated to Muhammad the religious and social demands that reoriented

the course of human development. The introduction and reorientation of human

development on social and individual levels rested on the restructuring of value systems.

At the top of the new orientation of values, Muhammad placed the transcendental value

of One God. Muhammad’s God was not a new God. Part of Muhammad’s divinely

inspired mission was to restore the pure monotheism of Abraham that had existed in the

Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Christianity. The polytheistic pagans, and the hanifs

were, due to the henotheistic currents of the time, already familiar with a High God,

Allah, who was the Creator of the World. Muhammad’s revelations dictated that Allah

was the God of Abraham and the One and only true God in existence. In the new socio-

religious complex of Islam self-sufficiency and idolatry were replaced by faith and

23

submission the Will of a single God, Allah, and a commitment to a society based on

social and economic justice and egalitarianism.

In the new system nothing was of value unless it was oriented towards the One

God, Allah. In this new value system nothing is of value unless it is oriented towards the

One and only God, Allah. Simply put: Allah sits on His Throne at the top (or the center)

of the hierarchy of values because he is the source of all existent, and non-existence

things. Muhammad’s revelations continually reminded him and the listener of the

omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence of God. One aya, or verse from the Sura

of the Cow emphasizes this reality clearly. It says:

“God, there is no God but He the, Living, the Everlasting. Slumber seizes
Him not, neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heaven and the
earth. Who is there that shall intercede by Him save by His leave? He
knows what lies before them and what is after them, and they comprehend
not anything of His knowledge save such as He wills. His Throne
comprises the heavens and earth; the preserving of them oppresses Him
not. He is the All-high, All-glorious.” (2:259-274).

The principle of tawhid implies that there is a greater unity that exists above and

beyond the individual reality of each seemingly independent entity, and person, and the

point of existence is to realize this larger unity on an individual, societal and universal

level. As a result the socio-religious complex of Islam, is at base an other-oriented system

of human development that shifted the focus away from over indulgence with one’s self

towards the unifying reality of God, as well as toward the unity of the community. As

such the other-oriented system necessarily focused on the values of compassion, mercy

and generosity among other important virtues such as patience, sincerity and humility,

through faith and submission to the Will of God.

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The unity of the ummah is a reflection of God’s unity. On a purely theological

level, the ummah is community in which all things were oriented toward God, while on a

sociological level, this re-orientation also placed a pressure upon the individual to realize

God’s Will through a commitment to individual and community well-being. Human

development in the socio-religious complex occurrs on both the individual and societal

level as both are part of the divine reality of God. Fazlur Rahman makes clear the

importance of human development on both individual and societal levels in Islam when

he says:

There is no doubt that a central aim of the Qur’an is to establish a viable
social order on earth that will be just and ethically based. Whether
ultimately it is the individual that is significant and society merely the
necessary instrument for his creation or vice versa, is academic, for
individual and society appear to be correlates. There is no such thing as a
societiless individual.32

Faith

In the socio-religious complex of Islam, a large emphasis is placed on individual

moral responsibility, defined by faith, iman and submission, islam to the Will of God.

Faith and submission replaced the heedlessness, idolatry and self-sufficiency that defined

the Jahiliyya, and provided the basis for servant-hood and represenation.

In the early Muslim community Muhammad revitalized the communal tribal

values of, sincerity, patience and mercy and re-interpreted them into the socio-religious

complex of Islam. As part of this new system they were no longer values derived from a

godless sense of community commitment and forced allegience to the tribal Shaykh, but

32
Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of The Qur’an, (Chicago: Bibliotheca Islamica,
1980), 37.

25

values that came from the demands of a divine authority, Muhammad, and through the

voice of God Himself.

In the socio-religious complex of Islam, faith in God, demands the values of

patience and sincerity and mercy. The individual has to be sincere in his beliefs and

merciful in his actions towards God and other people, as God and Muhammad Wills. He

also has to exhibit patience both as an act of self-restraint, as well as part of his faith and

trust in God, the acknowledgment that God’s Will dictated the past, present and the

future.33

The Qur’an indicates that, iman , faith or trust in God, includes belief in the

principles tawhid, prophecy, and eschatology. Faith in tawhid means an

acknowledgement that God is One. Faith in prophecy entails a belief in the lineage of the

Abrahamic prophets or messengers, the final and most purified being Muhammad, and

His Books (the scriptures of the Abrahamic faiths). Faith in eschatology means a belief in

the Last Days, when each individual is judged by God and sent to Paradise or Gehenna.

Submission

In the socio-religious complex of Islam, iman, faith, was accompanied by islam,

which means, submission, surrender or servitude, and comes from the same root as the

word peace. As Karen Armstrong points out about the early Muslim community, “In

practical terms, islam meant that Muslims had a duty to create a just and equitable society

33
Marshal G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of
Islam, 174.

26

where the poor and vulnerable are treated decently.”34 Quite literally then, Islam is the

religion of submission, peace and equality. Submission, as the word implies, meant

acknowledging that the individual was dependent on God, and obedient to Him. It was an

existential surrender to God’s omnipotence, omniscience. Therefore submission, not only

defined the relationship between God and the individual, but also the relationship

between one Muslim and his fellow Muslims. Submission, in Islam entails an active

duality, based on the rejection of self-sufficiency and idolatry, and commitment to the

community of the faithful.

When submitting to God Muslims have a commitment to the community of the

faithful, the ummah as well. As John L. Esposito says, “…the submission incumbent on

the Muslim is not that of mere passivity or acceptance of a set of dogmas or rituals, rather

it is a submission to the divine command, to strive (jihad) to actively realize God’s Will

in space-time, and history.”35 The active realization of God’s Will in space, time and

history was the defining characteristic of being God’s servant and representative.

Like the values of patience, sincerity and mercy that followed from a sense of

faith in God, the values of humility and generosity that followed from submission to God

were appropriated from the tribal Bedouin context and given new significance in the

socio-religious complex of Islam. Submission to God and the ummah bestowed the

values of humility and generosity to the believer. The individual had to be humble in the

face of God, but also generous toward Him. On societal level these qualities had to be

34
Karen, Armstrong, A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest for Judaism
35
Voices of Resurgent Islam, ed. By John L. Esposito, (United States: Oxford
University Press, 1983), 4.

27

expressed towards other individuals as well.36 The values of humility and generosity

replaced the egotism, greed and arrogance that were blatant in the Jahiliyya.

Iman and islam function as a symbiotic system within the ummah. That is, they

depend on each other for strength and continuity. True submission can only be attained if

one has true faith and trust in God. True faith and trust in God requires submission to

God’s Will. The unification of iman and islam led to ihsan, doing the beautiful.37 As a

team iman, and islam helped the individual develop taqwa, God-wariness or God-

consciousness which sharpened his awareness of the omnipresent, omniscient, and

omnipotent Allah.

Paradise And Gehenna

Muhammad, following his revelations presented to the people of Mecca and the

surrounding areas a choice between two different relationships. In the Islamic context the

menu of religions and lifestyles had been simplified to a right religion and lifestyle,

Islam, on the one hand, and a large pool of wrong ones on the other. Islam accepted

Christians and Jews as people of the Book, and therefore gave them a certain amount of

respect, but the various types of pagans and polytheists, often called “unbelievers” in the

Quran were considered to be ignorant, heedless and wrong.

Ambiguous conceptions of human development that differed from the Islamic

conception failed to understand the very nature and purpose of humanity, the very

36
Marshal G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of
Islam, 174.
37

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teleology of human existence. It can be said that Islam introduced a definitive conception

of human development and a beneficial teleological philosophy, in a culture that may

have lacked a cohesive one, based on the idea of the human being as a servant and

representative of God.

In the socio-religious complex of Islam, on one hand, an individual can submit

and have faith in God and accept his moral and social demands, in which case God will

accept him out of his mercy and guide him in the straight path of moral purity and ensure

social harmony. In the Quranic context the realization of these moral and social demands

is described as “doing good deeds.”

Doing good deeds if followed properly is what makes someone a good servant

and representative and allows the individual to live eternally in Paradise after the Day of

Judgment. This is the only right choice in the Islamic context. It allows the human being

to develop to his fullest capacity.

On the other hand, in contrast to the idea of Paradise, people can turn away from

God, and become absorbed in their own personal wishes and fortunes, in which case God

would turn away from them, and they would by punished by burning in the hell fires of

Gehenna as heedless “evil doers.” Muslims can also be heedless and ignorant and

hypocritical, if they claim to be Muslims but fail to do good deeds and therefore fail to be

good servants and representatives. However, the Qur’an also emphasizes that God is

forgiving to those who repent, as a result of His ultimate mercy and compassion.

Unbelievers are considered to have ingratitude (kufr), but if they repent, remember God,

and the path they were created for, they are forgiven.

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The conception of Paradise was central to the reorientation of human

development particularly on an individual level because it changed the fate and destiny of

man. Firstly, it replaced the pagan notions of Dahr, that emphasized the tragedy of life

and the imminence of final and total death, with the more rewarding conception Paradise.

As Izutsu puts it so beautifully, “In fact the Qur’ an offers an entirely different picture of

the human condition. All of a sudden the sky clears up, the darkness is dissipated and in

place of the tragic sense of life there appears a bright new vista of the eternal life.”38

Secondly, the concepts of Paradise and Gehenna places a pressure of ultimate

consequence on the actions, thoughts and intentions of the individual. The beautiful

descriptions of Paradise and the horrible descriptions of Gehenna make individuals fear

God, and places greater emphasis on the importance of dependence and obedience, and

faith and submission.

Prosperity

One of the defining characteristics of the Jahiliyya was the increased

commercialism and capitalism that gave rise to a culture that emphasized individual self-

sufficiency and wealth accumulation. Therefore, prosperity was measured by the

accumulation of material goods. In the socio-religious complex of Islam the idea of

prosperity is completely reoriented. Ideas of material prosperity are replaced with

prosperity that implies giving as opposed to gaining. Prosperity in the Islamic context

does not entail making as much money, or accumulating as many material possessions as

possible, but entails a strict adherence to God’s moral and social demands, and an

38
Toshihiko Izutsu, God and Man in the Qu’ran: Semantics of the Qu’ranic
Weltangschauung, 136.

30

understanding of tawhid. The greatest type of prosperity, eternal prosperity is

experienced in the afterlife if the individual lived a good enough life. The Qur’an says

quite explicitly:

Prosperous are the believers
who in their prayers are humble
and from idle talk turn away
and at alms giving are active
and guard their private parts
save from their wives and what their rights own
then being not blameworthy
(but who-ever seeks more than that
those are the transgressors)
and who preserve their trusts
and their covenant
and who observe prayers.
those are the inheritors,
who shall inherit Paradise
therein dwelling forever.
(23 1- 12 A.J.)

In A.J Arberry’s interpretation of the Quran, the source of these ayas, also

provides us within another example of a similar re-orientation in his use of the word

“wage”. In many places the word “wage” is used in reference to the good judgment an

individual will receive on the Day of Judgment as opposed to a material wage or a

paycheck. The Quran says:

Those who believe and do deeds of righteousness,
And perform the prayer and pay the alms-
their wage awaits them with their Lord,
and no fear shall be on them, neither shall theysorrow.
(2: 275-280 A.J.)

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The Ummah

In the socio-religious complex of Islam the ummah, the community of the faithful,

is a defining element because it brings together the social and religious dimensions of the

complex, bridging the illusive gap between individual and societal development.

The ummah is the time and space where God’s Will is realized, and where the

jihad, or striving, takes place.39 The ummah provides a community where Muslims

experience and fulfill their representation and servitude to God. As John L. Esposito says,

“the ummah serves as a dynamic vehicle for the realization of the divine mandate in

society.”40 The personal devotion to moral responsibility, through submission and faith in

God is asserted and experienced by individual and communal acts within the ummah.

Complete sincerity in faith and submission implies a purification of the body, the mind,

and the heart of each of the individual. Every single thing an individual acts, thinks and

intends within the ummah had moral and spiritual significance.

The Quran says, “We have created the best society known to man, enjoining the

right and forbidding the wrong”(3, 10). God demands that society and the individual had

to be put into a social harmony so that the environment was ideal for the realization of

God’s Will, for fulfilling the role of servant and representative of God and for the proper

`39 The word ummah, has been used to refer to several different things. It is always
a reference to the unified body of Muslims, or the ummah al muminin, the community of
the faithful. However it is also used to refer specifically to the first Islamic polity,
Medinat-al-nabi, the City of the Prophet, or more simply Medina, the city. This is
because Medina was separated from Meccan and Qurayshy society, and was able to
become subject to its own rules, regulations, practices and rituals. It was in Medina that
the ummah was solidified into a coherent social complex, and Islam into a cohesive
socio-religious complex. In fact the Jahilliya ends with the migration of Muhammad and
his followers to the area of Yathrib where he founded Medina.
40
Voices of Resurgent Islam, ed. By John L. Esposito, (United States: Oxford
University Press, 1983), 4.

32

development of a perfect society. In reality the ummah has never been the utopia that

Muslims and scholars wish it could be. The ummah is increasingly divided and has been

that way since shortly after Muhammad’s death. As Islam expanded the ummah began to

become more institutional, political and more hierarchical becoming guilty of its own

initial critiques of greed, self-sufficiency and idolatry. But its basic foundations of the

first Islamic polity, Medina, were based on ideas of social and economic justice and

egalitarianism that emphasized mercy and compassion. These were values that were held

by tribes before the transition to commericialization, therefore the first ummah was in

many ways much more like a traditional Bedouin tribe, but with a reformed

understanding of social and economic justice and egalitarianism within a new socio-

religious framework. Although this discussion looks at the ummah, in a theoretical and

idealized manner, it does so in order to reveal the intrinsic love, mercy, compassion and

generosity within it.

The ummah as a community serves as the collective embodiment of the rejection

of self-sufficiency and idolatry. These individual and collective rituals is based on the

rejection of shirk. Shirk is the worst sin as it implies putting others in the place of God.

The Meccan predicament was one where people not only placed pagan deities above

God, but also themselves. This predicament tended to make the individual interested only

in his personal issues at the moment. Shirk divorces one from realizing tawhid, and the

humility of individual significance. In the ummah, shirk is destroyed by a social and

religious piety. Piety is not an act of pride or caprice, but an act of humility towards God

and others. Individual piety without a service to the community led to greed, egotism and

33

a false sense of independence and self-sufficiency that corresponded to evil. A Qur’anic

passage indicates that:

It is not piety, that turn your faces to the East and to the West. True
piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angles, the
Book, and the Prophets, to give of one’s substance, however
cherished, to kinsmen, and orphans, the needy the traveler, beggars
and to ransom slaves, to perform the prayer to pay the alms. And
they who fulfill their covenant and endure with fortitude,
misfortune, hardship and peril, these are they who are true in their
faith, these are the truly god-fearing. (2:177 A.J.)

In the ummah Muslims are not only dependent on God, but they are dependent on

other Muslims. Within the ummah the intrinsic mercy and compassion of Islam become

manifest in a society based on justice and social and economic egalitarianism. The early

ummah acted as an alternative to the social and economic problems of the Jahiliyya. In

this way it reoriented the course of human development on a societal level.

Unlike the tribal societies of the Jahiliyya and pre-Jahiliyya, the ummah is not

based on tribal ties, but religious solidarity. Society is no longer governed by tribal law,

but by God’s Law, the Sharia, revealed through Muhammad. Justice was no longer

administered by man-made judgment, but by the judgment of God. The ummah functions

with the idea the earth belonged to God, and people were its stewards and caretakers, and

God’s servants and representatives. In the early ummah tribal vengeance and retaliation

were subordinated to a belief in an all merciful and all compassionate God.41

Muhammad, as the most perfect representative of God, became the chief (Skaykh), the

military commander (Qaid), the lawgiver (Hakam), and the settler of all disputes in the

first Islamic polity in Medina.

34

In the Jahiliyya society became increasingly divided between the haves and the

have-nots as tribal values of social and economic egalitarianism were replaced by

capitalism and individualism. The poor, weak and disenfranchised had little hope to lead

a good life as they were pushed to the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy and

for many, their religious beliefs did not provide them with the spiritual sustenance they

needed to transcend their poverty.

Theoretically, in the community of the faithful, all people, as Muslims, are equal,

belong to the same identity group, are subject to the same laws and rules and share the

same individual and communal rituals. According to the Qu’ran people are the same

under God and differ only in terms of virtue and goodness. So, perhaps in this situation

equity is a better word than equality. Specific social and economic rituals such as prayer,

alms tax and fasting and pilgrimage are demanded in the ummah for the specific purpose

of placing all humans on the same level before God, as a way of unifying them in their

roles as servants and representatives of God. These rituals are used to turn humans away

from their individual selves in order to realize that they were not self-sufficient entities,

but are dependent on both each other and on a greater unifying reality, God. In this way,

the ummah has a high level of conformity to build social and spiritual cohesion and to

enhance a feeling of unity and dependence.

The early Muslim community provided socio-economic reforms that benefited the

poor, the weak, orphans, slaves, widows and women. One of the most characteristic

elements of the Jahiliyya was the social and economic inequality. This inequality was

rectified in the early ummah through various social and economic reforms in the form of

prohibitions and community obligations. These reforms become defining elements of the

35

ummah. Usury, or money lending with interest is outlawed along with gambling,

intoxication, bribery, the abuse of women, false contracts, and individual hording of

wealth. The creation of individual wealth is not forbidden, hard work is seen as God’s

pleasure and is good, but it is limited by other demands that had more importance.

Reflecting the important tribal values of social and economic egalitarianism the Qur’an

forbids individual hoarding of wealth. It says:

Consume not your goods between you
in vanity; neither proffer it,
to the judges, that you may sinfully
consume a portion of other men’s goods,
and that unwittingly. (A.J. 2:184)

The true reward for hard work is not material prosperity but social responsibility

toward the community as an expression of mercy, compassion and generosity. The most

important socio-economic reform in the creation of the first Islamic society was the

institution of zakat, an alms tax distributed to the poor and disenfranchised, and the act of

voluntary charity (sadaqa). The Qur’an says, “The free will offerings are for the poor and

needy. Those who work to collect them, those whose hearts are brought together, the

ransoming of slaves, debtors, in God’s Way and the travelers; So God ordains; God is

All-knowing All-wise” (A.J. 9:60.)

The importance of zakat is revealed in the Qur’an. But, as a cultural practice,

zakat was adopted from earlier practices conducted by tribal Shaykhs involving the equal

distribution of resources among tribes and clans. Zakat is one of the characteristic

elements of social and economic egalitarianism within the ummah. However, in Islamic

society zakat, which means purity, was not only an socially and economically egalitarian

action, but one that prevents man from evil and forced him to re-evaluate his ultimate

36

becoming and significance. This action purifies the will of individual and gave them

sincerity by parting with something that they held dear. It is an assertion of compassion,

generosity and mercy toward other people, as well as humility and sincerity. In the act of

giving up something, individuals learn the importance of self-sacrifice for the greater

good of humanity, while at the same time ensuring a place in Paradise for themselves by

following God’s demands. Zakat, provides the perfect example of the social and

economically egalitarian foundation of the ummah. It maintains the intrinsic compassion

and mercy of the socio-religious complex of Islam. It also shows the extent to which the

reorientation of human development occurred.

Within the ummah prayer is among the most emphasized acts. Prayer is a method

of integrating the faculties of body, mind and heart into a single gesture towards God and

Muhammad. Prayer is conducted by prostrations followed by various praises to God.

Prayer is done both individually and communally. The unified prostrations of communal

prayer provide a great example of the equality of the human being under God. During the

act of prayer man is prevented from evil. Prayer clarified man’s dependence on God and

goodness. It provides the human being with a way to worship something of greater

significance than themselves, while others were doing the same.

Among the other most emphasized acts are the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca, and

fasting during the month of Ramadan and. During these rituals Muslims experience

individual sacrifice, and individual spiritual growth in, as well as collective harmony. The

Hajj provides an excellent example of the ritual equality of the ummah. During the Hajj

people adorn traditional Muslims dress to create a visible uniformity. Looking at pictures

of millions of Muslims prostrating before the Ka’ba all at once, creates an image of

37

universal humility, as people of all races, colors, ethnicities, and financial status’ are

blended into a sacred ocean of prayer.

The practice Fasting forces one to experience what it is like to not have food and

sustenance, placing one in a state of both physical and metaphorical poverty. The act of

fasting forces all Muslims to empathize with the disenfranchised, the weak, and the poor.

As well, a full stomach gives people a sense of self-satisfaction and indifference, and

hunger is an acute reminder of one’s dependency on God. 42

The socio-religious complex of Islam brought forth a new system of values based

on faith and submission to One God, and a commitment to social and economic justice

and egalitarianism within the ummah. In the ummah, the intrinsic love, mercy,

compassion and generosity of Islam is understood as central to the development of the

human being and the development of society.

SECTION 3

SUFISM

Sufism As A Critique And A Road Map Of Human Development In Islam

William Chittick in Sufism: A Short Introduction, explains, “The early Sufi

masters held that they spoke for the animating spirit of the Islamic tradition. From their

point of view, where this spirit flourishes, Islam is alive to its own spiritual and moral

ideals, but to the extent that it languishes, Islam becomes desiccated and sterile, if it

42
Carl Ernst. The Shambala Guide To Sufism, (Boston: Shambala,
1997), 99.

38

survives as all,”43 According to Chittick, Sufism refers to a reality that stems from the

heart of the Islamic tradition, so there are those who may not call themselves Sufis, but

are alive to the spiritual and moral ideals of Islam. Although Sufism refers to an esoteric

reality at the heart of Islam, that transcends history, Sufism is a cultural phenomenon

linked to a cumulative tradition that came to prominence in the 8th century, and became

institutionalized in the 12th century. As Chittick points out, “On the first level – which is

the primary concern of the Sufis – Sufism has no history, because it is an animating

presence within the community of the faithful. On the second level – which concerns

both Muslim observers and modern historians – Sufism’s presence makes itself known

through certain characteristics of people and society or certain specific norms.”44

Sufism, both as an inner reality and a cumulative tradition are grounded in

important critiques of the ways humans develop within Islamic society, and the world at

large. After Muhammad’s death, the ummah soon became increasingly divided, as did the

socio-religious complex of Islam itself. The unification of politics and religion in the

ummah ultimately proved to be one of its most problematic elements. People consistently

used God’s Will as an excuse for self-centered and egotistical aims. The personal and

sectarian motivations within Islamic society fragmented the initial religious solidarity and

social and economic justice and egalitarianism of the ummah. Throughout history, Sufis

have claimed that Islamic ideals have not been upheld with enough sincerity, as they

observed the ethical bankruptcy of Islamic society.

43
44
Ibid, 4.

39

If we accept Chittick’s explanation that Sufism lives up to the spiritual and moral

ideals of Islam, than the Sufi critique of human development within Islamic society and

the world at large, is that human beings have failed to live up to their potential as servants

and representatives of God, failed to reflect the ultimate knowledge, goodness and beauty

of their original disposition, failed to allow God’s attributes of mercy, compassion,

gentleness, generosity and love to shine through their hearts, and that the ummah has

failed in its mission to create a perfect and harmonic society. The evolution of Sufism,

both as an inner reality of Islam, and a multifaceted cumulative tradition, has through

various means tried to revitalize and re-establish the reality of God’s mercy, compassion,

generosity, and love in Islam, and the importance of gaining nearness to God through an

assumption of these attributes. Sufis have consistently been accused by other Muslims as

being, unorthodox, blasphemous, and even heretical, because they practiced various

forms of worship that were not dictated in the mandatory Shariite laws and practices of

the ummah. The great theoretical Sufis were grounded in the sciences of Islam such as

jurisprudence (the study of law) and dogmatic theology, or kalam, as they held rationality

and intellect to be a God given gift, however Sufis were critical of a purely rational

approach to understanding and obeying God, because it tended to stress tanzih, God’s

transcendence, distance, incomparability, wrath, and majesty.45 For the Sufis, God had to

be experienced through other forms of knowledge such as the faculty of imagination, and

through methods of creative expression, that stressed God’s imminence, nearness,

similarity, mercy and beauty, tashbih.46

45
46
Ibid, 25.

40

In trying to transform human development on individual and societal levels, the

tradition of Sufism is somewhat analogous to the rise of Islam as a means to endow the

human being and society with a higher moral tone and a deeper sense of faith and

submission to God. Sufism attempts to live up to the moral and spiritual ideas of the

Islamic tradition, as well as to dispel, reject and unveil the evil, oppressive and limiting

forms of its external manifestations within society and the world at large. Sufism attempts

to return and deliver Islamic society, and the Muslim from the clutches of God’s wrath, to

the embrace of His mercy.

Sufism As The Path To Human Perfection

Introduction

The tradition of Sufism is vast and diverse, and can be explained, understood and

experienced in various ways. However at the heart of every description of Sufism, and

every Sufi teaching, is a deep concern with the proper development of the human being,

and the betterment of humanity as a whole. Within the context of the Islamic tradition,

Sufism provides the most complete example of human development, as it concerns itself

with the attainment of human perfection. In order to explain Sufism as the path to human

development I explore various themes. I begin with the most important principle of

Islam, tawhid. Tawhid suggests that God is one, but he manifests himself in various

ways. The human being defines his relationship to God based on his struggle between

tanzih, God’s incomparability, mercy, wrath, severity, and majesty and tashbih, God’s

mercy, beauty and generosity and gentleness.47 The Sufis tend to stress tashbih.48

47
Ibid, 25.

41

This struggle is clarified in the next section by an explanation of man’s original

disposition, his innate duality between incomparability and similarity to God, and his

unique role as the servant and representative of man. This section also emphasizes the

sincerity with which the Sufis take the role of servant-hood and representation. For the

Sufis servant-hood and representation is not only a way of fulfilling the will of God, but

actualizing His divine image and form through an assumption of His attributes.

The next section emphasizes the fulfillment of man’s dual role as a servant and

representative on the Sufi path. Servant-hood is associated requires the acknowledgment

of man’s imperfection and associated with tanzih.49 This section also discusses the

poverty, humility and fear that commonly appear at the beginning of the path.

Representation is associated with tashbih and is a way to explain man’s nearness,

similarity and love of God.50 Together servant-hood and representation provide the basis

for manifesting God’s mercy and generosity, as they are the forces of creation and reality.

A brief explanation of the system of masters and disciples follows to give a sense of how

this relationship is reflected in Sufi orders.

Following the discussion of the fulfilment of servant-hood and representation, I

discuss the important of iman, faith, islam, submission and ihsan.51 These three

dimensions help clarify the importance of the perfections of action, thoughts and

intentions. This section plays particular attention to ihsan as a reflection of Sufism

48
Ibid, 25
49
Ibid, 25
50
Ibid, 25
51

42

because it cultivates awareness of God through the heart. After this I discuss the

importance of perfecting the human faculties of reason or rationality, imagination, and

sensuality, or creative expression. I speak to the importance of all these faculties, but

emphasize the superiority of imagination in gaining a direct knowledge of God’s names

and the benefits of the faculty imagination in experiencing God’s self disclosure.

A discussion of sincerity, ikhlas and bewilderment follows in order to

demonstrate the various states, stages and stations on the Sufi path, as the heart opens up

to God’s self-disclosure.52 It also clarifies the Sufi’s struggle between nearness and

distance, fear and love. To emphasize the tension of the paradox between tanzih and

tashbih, I remind the reader of the misleading linearity that occurs as a result various

explanations of the Sufi path and of human development in the Islamic context. The Sufi

path is really a pendulum that swings back and forth to and from God.53

Then, I discuss the various ways Sufis remember and invocate God through Dhikr

in order to emphasize the importance of remembering God in order to attain total

awareness of God’s love, mercy, compassion towards God and others.

I end with an explanation of assuming the character traits of God in order to paint

a picture of perfect man as manifesting the mercy, compassion, love and generosity of

God above all other attributes. Through manifesting God’s names in their proper order

man experiences a state of complete unity and harmony with God, society and the

universe. I provide quotes from different Sufis, classical and contemporary, in order to

suggest the diversity of the expression of these attributes within Sufism. I clarify that

52
Ibid, 6.
53
Ibid, 6.

43

unifying message of human development in Islam, that mercy, compassion, love and

generosity are the most important characteristics of God, of man, in society and in the

universe.

Important Themes on the Sufi Path to Human Perfection

Tawhid And The Path To Human Perfection

The path to human perfection in Islam is rooted in the principle of tawhid, the

oneness of God. Tawhid asserts that God is one, but He manifests Himself in many

different ways. Although all things in the cosmos are other than God, they all derive their

reality from Him. The human being’s relationship to God is defined by the way he

experiences God’s attributes in the self, and in the world. The Qur’an describes God as

distant and incomparable and therefore wrathful, severe and majestic, tanzih, as well as

near and similar and therefore merciful, and, beautiful and generous, tashbih.54 On the

Sufi path, human development is defined by a struggle to create a balance between the

various ways in which God reveals his attributes in the soul and in the world. This is

rooted in the importance of developing an awareness of God that is so central to the

religion of Islam. The Sufis tend to stress God’s nearness and similarity, and his mercy

and generosity, as these are the more personal and positive characteristics - the ones that

live up to the intrinsic mercy and compassion of the socio-religious complex of Islam.

The Sufi’s adhere to a saying that clarifies this: “God’s mercy predominates His wrath”

and believe that all things are a result of God’s ultimate mercy, even His wrath.

54
Ibid, 25

44

Within the Islamic tradition there are various different paths of human

development and of attaining human perfection. Each path, as a result of its particular

methodology and approach, tends to focus on specific attributes of God. For example, the

kalam experts who study dogmatic theology use rationality to understand the relationship

between the human and God, and as a result of the differentiating and discernment

involved in rationality, they inevitably stress God’s distance and incomparability, and his

wrath, majesty and severity. Sufism, although equally as diverse in methodology and

approach provides a more holistic approach to the path towards human perfection that

requires using each human faculty to both understand and experience the totality of

God’s attributes. However, Sufis believe that the heart is the center of consciousness, and

that knowing and experiencing God’s attributes through the heart is the ultimate human

experience, as it is through the heart that the human will is purified and replaced with the

Will of God. With a purified heart, the human being becomes a true servant and

representative of God. Various Sufis disagree as to the final outcome of living with

God’s Will. Some theories seek more of a balance than others, but as a whole Sufism

presents the predominance of mercy and generosity that shines forth in infinite splendor

through perfect man.55

The Original Disposition Of Man And His Innate Duality

Sufi’s take the role of servant-hood and representation with the utmost sincerity.

In Sufi theory, it is made explicit that man was the most important of creations, and the

most unique. The fundamentals of human development in Sufism are based in the Islamic

55
William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al Arabi’s Metaphysics
of Imagination. (New York: State University of New York Press, 1989), 28.

45

description of man’s important and unique position in relation to God and the world. In

the Qu’ranic understanding of the origins of humankind, (insan) man (Adam) was created

out of clay, like the other animals that appeared on earth. However, God also blew into

him of His Spirit, the angelic quality, thereby giving them a unique potential that no other

creature had been endowed with.56 The spirit, since it came from God, gave man an

inherent nearness and similarity to Him, however at the same time the quality of clay

denoted a distance, and incomparability to God. This composition gave man the capacity

to sink lower than the level of animals, characterized by self-serving instinct and

primitive sensuality, or higher than the angels, characterized by pure goodness, beauty

and intellect.57 According to Ibn al Arabi,, this composition also defined the struggle

between God’s simultaneous incomparability, and similarity. He said, “So it was these

two relationships- the relationship of incomparability and that of similarity-which turned

their attentiveness toward the creation of man.”58

The Qur’an also explains that, “He taught Adam the names, all of them.” (AJ.2,

31). Sufis interpret this to mean that Adam was given the knowledge of everything in

created existence. God made the angels bow to Adam as a result of his unique position of

spiritual exaltation and his knowledge of the names. All of the angels bowed to Adam,

except Iblis who thought he was better, and had too much pride. Iblis was sent to earth as

56
William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi,
(New York: State University of New York Press, 1983), 61-73.
57
Ibid, 61-73.
58
of Imagination, 277.

46

a result of this sin and became Shaytan, (the devil) the evil force that influenced pride,

egotism and envy.59

The Adamic story clarifies the self-centered desires and heedlessness of man.

Adam fell to earth, because Iblis tempted him and he became forgetful and unaware of

God as well as the angelic spirit within him. He lost his originally good and beautiful

disposition and his initial knowledge of all the names. Man’s angelic intellect had fallen

victim to his self-serving animal instincts, and he became egotistical in his desires and

prone to the impulses of sensuality, and evil and devilish deeds. However beneath the

ugly coat of man’s egotistical disposition, still lay an inner spiritual garment with the

potential to transcend his very predicament. It is this inner spiritual garment that the Sufis

wish to actualize by a purification of the will through the opening of the heart.

Although Adam and Eve did disobey God, God made them do it because he

wanted to place a servant and representative on earth. The Qur’an says, “ I am setting in

the earth a viceroy.”(A.J. 2:28) According to a Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad,

commonly quoted by Sufis, originally, man (Adam) was also created in the form or

image of God. In the Sufi context servant-hood and representation is more than a mere

stewardship, or a dominion over the various creatures, and the earth itself, but a

realization of God Himself in the soul and the world, and actualization of the divine

image and form.

For Sufis, true servant-hood and representation means becoming, “his hearing, his

sight, and his hand.”60 Thus, true servant-hood and representation occurs by embodying

59
82-95.

47

the Will of God, through manifesting His attributes in the soul and the world. Man’s

position of servant-hood and representation is known as the Trust. Man accepted the

Trust at a meeting between man and God called the Covenant of Alast. However, man’s

heedless nature often leads him to forget this primordial agreement with God. The

famous Sufi, Jallaludin Rumi reminds us of the importance of remembering our role and

position on earth, as a servant and representative of God and as the basis for human

development, and the basis of the Sufi path to human perfection:

There is one thing in this world which must never be forgotten. If you
forget everything else but not that one thing, than have no fear. But if you
perform, remember and do not forget all things, but you forget that, you
have done nothing…We have offered the Trust to the heavens and the
earth and the mountains, but they refused to carry it and were afraid of it;
and man carried. Surely he is sinful, very foolish… (XXXIII 72).61

Fulfilling the Roles of Servant and Representative of God

Fulfilling the roles of servant and representative of God requires

cultivating an awareness of God’s various attributes. The roles of man as both a

servant and representative of God embody an inherent duality that provides a

preliminary example of what is required on the path to human perfection in the

Sufi context. The relationship between servant-hood and representation is laid out

clearly in this passage by William Chittick.

60
of Imagination, 176.
61
63.

48

Human beings in function of their dual relationship with God have
two main roles: to be God’s servant and to be his vicegerent. In
order to become a vicegerent, which implies nearness to God, they
must first accept their servant-hood - their distance from God - and
act in accordance with it. God in his mercy desires that human
beings not remain distant but rather gain nearness, but they have to
choose nearness of their own accord. The Sharia is the straight path
that leads to the waters of life.62

The acknowledgement of servant-hood in Sufi theory is rooted in the conception

that the human being is imperfect in relation to God’s Absolute perfection. In a similar

fashion, human reality and existence, is in fact un-real and non-existent in relation to

God’s Absolute existence and His absolute reality. With the realization of the

imperfection of the human being comes a feeling of humility, poverty and fear on behalf

of the Sufi. A Sufi on the path is often given a name that denotes poverty and humility

such as the Persian darvish, or Turkish dervish, and the Arabic, faqir, or as adapted into

English, fakir, both of which mean “poor man.”63 A position of fear is commonly an

initial stage on the Sufi path usually defined or followed by an escape from society, or a

denunciation of various outward norms, and intense ascetic practices. The role of man as

God’s servant asserts and reflects God’s, distance, incomparability and His wrath,

severity and majesty.

The role of man as God’s representative presents a closer relationship with God,

and reflects His more personal characteristics. As a representative of God man has to

choose to gain nearness to God on his own. Through a systematic process of embodying

62
William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata, The Vision of Islam, (New York:
Paragon, 1994), 128.
63
Carl Ernst, The Shambhala Guide to Sufism (United States: Shambhala, 1997),
3

49

the attributes of God, man reflects these attributes, and represents them in their proper

times and places. Representation asserts God’s nearness, similarity, and His mercy,

compassion and gentleness, beauty and generosity. Sufis towards the end of the path are

often given the title of lover, or lover of God, to denote a position of representation, and

emphasize their nearness and similarity to God. In all Sufi paths to human perfection total

love for God is the ultimate aim.

As servants and representatives of God, and as the vessel for the manifestation of

his attributes, the aim of the individual on the Sufi path is, as Ibn al Arabi states, “To

manifest the fullness of His generosity and mercy,” within the soul and the world.64 Sufis

often quote the hadiths that say, “I loved to be known so I created the world,” and “I was

a Hidden Treasure and I longed to be known.”65 From the perspective of the human being

creation itself was an act of His ultimate love, mercy, compassion and generosity. The

Qur’an states many times the God’s Mercy dominates His wrath, and every chapter but

one beings with Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim, which means “In the Name of God, the

All Merciful and Compassionate.

Ultimately, in the Islamic context the end of a human being’s life, is defined by a

return to God. Based on how well he has fulfilled his role as servant and representative,

and how sincere he was in faith and submission, he goes either to Paradise or Gehenna.

However the Sufis seek to “die before they die”, and be near to God at all times. For

Sufis a return to God is not the end of life, but the beginning of human perfection.

64
of Imagination. (New York: SUNY Press, 1989), 21.

50

Masters and Disciples

Sufism, despite its claim to creating a direct relationship with the divine, have

fostered a master and disciple relationship. Dervishes were and still are, distinguished

from, Prophets, Shaykhs and saints (wali ’Allah, or friends of God) and placed on a

cosmological hierarchy that transcends space and time, traced back by Sufi genealogies

to the Prophet Muhammad. Masters act as mediators between Sufis and their goal. The

master and disciple relationship within Sufism perpetuates the importance of servant-

hood, and the qualities of humility, poverty, imperfection and fear that create a

foundation for a long and difficult path to human perfection and love of God. It also

perpetuates the importance of servant-hood and representation, as the dervish is under

pressure to be obedient and to reflect the qualities of his master, and gain nearness to him,

through love and devotion, and to Him through love and devotion. Worship however, is

reserved solely for God. The master and disciple relationship creates a simulacrum of the

relationship between God and man, as well as between Muhammad and his disciples as a

reflection of the hierarchy of perfection.

Islam, Iman, And Ihsan

The great theoretical Sufis stressed the importance of a systematic approach to

human development and a path to human perfection that was grounded in an adherence to

the Islamic laws and practices and modes of understanding. This systematic path was

needed in order for the human being to recognize his position in relationship to God as a

servant and representative and to create a deepened sense of awareness of Him.

51

William Chittick, a scholar of Islam and Sufism, using as a model the Hadith of

Gabriel, provides a clear and insightful explanation of Sufism within the Islamic context

through a discussion of islam or submission, iman or faith and ihsan or doing what is

good and beautiful. 66 These dimensions also correspond to the various faculties that

require perfecting. These three faculties were perfected by the prophet Muhammad, thus

the perfection of these faculties are strengthened by following his model of behavior, the

Sunnah, as he is the ultimate guide and messenger.

The first dimension Islam, or submission corresponds to the perfection of right

action and the realm of the body.67 Islam, which means submission, teaches people what

to do and what not to do as a Muslim. 68Islam requires fulfilling the laws of the Sharia,

and the Five Pillars and acting in accordance with God’s moral and social demands

within the ummah. According the classical Sufi theoreticians, the acceptance of the

Sharia and the Five Pillars: the recitation of the shahadah (the witnessing of God’s

oneness), zakat (paying of alms tax), the five daily prayers, fasting during Ramadan, and

making the pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj) emphasize right actions and are essential to

the attainment of human perfection. The dimension of islam stresses the importance of

servant-hood and obedience to God. It also reaffirms man’s imperfection in relation to

God and creates the necessary conditions for humility, and servant-hood and

representation.

66
67
Ibid, 4.
68
Ibid, 5.

52

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