Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem

Chapter 1 - The path to Iman

Man achieves revival with what he carries in terms of thought about life, the universe and man and about their relationship, as a whole, with what preceded life and what comes after it. Hence, in order for man to revive, it is imperative to radically and comprehensively change his current thought and generate another thought for him, because it is the thought that generates the concepts about things and concentrates them. Man shapes his behaviour in life according to his concepts about it. Hence, man’s concepts about a person he likes shapes his behaviour towards that person in contrast with his behaviour towards a person he hates and towards whom he holds concepts of hate, and also in contrast with his behaviour towards a person he does not know nor does he hold any concepts about him. Hence, human behaviour is linked to man’s concepts and when we wish to change the behaviour of the declined man and turn it into elevated behaviour, it is imperative to change his concept first. Allah (swt) says: "Truly Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is within them." T.M.Q. [13-11]

The only way towards changing one’s concepts is to generate the thought about life so that the sound concepts about it are generated. The thoughts about life will not be concentrated in a productive manner unless the thought about the universe, man and life, and about what is before and after life, and about life's relationship with what is before and after it is generated. This can be achieved by giving the comprehensive thought about the universe, man and life, because this is the intellectual basis upon which all the ideas about life are built. Giving this comprehensive thought about these matters is solving man’s greatest problem. Once this problem is solved, all other problems will be solved, because compared to the main problem, they are either partial or ramifications of it. However, this solution will not lead to the sound revival, unless it is a sound solution that is compatible with man’s nature and that convinces reason, thus filling the heart with tranquility.

This sound solution cannot be reached except through the enlightened thought about the universe, man and life. Therefore, those who seek to achieve revival and to tread the path of progress should initially solve this problem soundly through the enlightened thought. This solution is the Aqeedah, which is the intellectual basis upon which every peripheral thought about behaviour in life and about the systems of life is built.

Islam attended to this greatest problem and solved it for man in a manner that agrees with his nature, convinces him, and fills his heart with tranquillity, and made the accession to it dependent on an acknowledgement of this solution that stems from reason. Therefore, Islam is built upon one basis, which is the Aqeedah. This Aqeedah stipulates that there is a Creator beyond the universe, man, and life, who created them all and created everything, who is Allah. Also, that this Creator created everything out of nothing and that His existence is inevitable. Hence, He is not created; otherwise, He wouldn’t be a Creator. To bear the quality of being a Creator necessitates that He is not created and that His existence is inevitable, because all things depend for their existence on Him and He does not depend on anything.

As for the fact that things must have a Creator, this is because the things that can be perceived by reason are man, life, and the universe. These are limited, weak, imperfect, and in need of other than themselves. Man is limited, because he grows in every aspect to a certain limit that he cannot surpass. Life is also limited, because it manifests itself only in individuals and ends with the individual, thus it is limited. The universe is also limited, because it is the sum of celestial bodies, and each body is limited, and the sum of limited things is evidently limited. Therefore, man, life, and the universe are definitely limited. When we ponder on the limited thing, we see that it is not eternal, otherwise it would not be limited; hence, the limited thing must be created by other than itself, and this other is the Creator of man, life and the universe. This Creator, is either created by someone else, created himself, or eternal and whose existence is inevitable. It is false that he is created by someone else, because if so he would be limited. As for him being self-created, the ramification of which would be simultaneously being created by himself and creating himself, and this is also false. Hence, the Creator must be eternal and His existence is inevitable.  He is Allah, the Supreme.

Anyone who has the rational faculty can perceive from the mere existence of things that fall under his sensation that these have a Creator, because what is manifest is that they are all imperfect, weak and dependent; thus they are definitely created. Therefore, it is sufficient to draw one's attention to anything in the universe, life and man to prove the existence of the Creator and Maker. Hence, looking at any celestial body of the universe, contemplating upon any fact of life and perceiving any aspect of man, gives decisive evidence about the existence of Allah, the Supreme. Therefore, we find that the Qur'an draws attention to these things and invites man to ponder upon them, their surroundings, and what is related to them, and to conclude from his pondering the existence of Allah, the Supreme; for man looks at how things are in need of other things, and perceives conclusively that the Creator, the Maker does exist. There are hundreds of Qur'anicayat that express this meaning. In SuratAal-Imran, Allah says:

"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alteration of night and day, these are indeed signs for men of understanding." [3:190]

and in SuratAr-Roum:

"And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Lo! herein indeed are signs for men of knowledge." [30:22]; and in Surat Al-Ghashiya: "Will they not look at the Camels, how they are created! And the heaven, how it is raised! And the mountains, how they are set up! And the earth, how it is spread!" [88:17-20] and in Surat Al-Tariq: "So let man reflect from what he is created. He is created from a gushing fluid, that is issued from between the loins and ribs." [86:5-7] and in Surat Al-Baqara: "Lo in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which Allah sends down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and in the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth are signs (of Allah's sovereignty) for people who have sense." [2:164]

In addition, there are so many Ayat that call upon man to ponder deeply upon things and their surroundings and that which is related to them, so that his Iman in Allah is firmly established through reason and clear evidence. Indeed, Iman in the Creator, the Maker, is innate in every man. However, this innate Iman comes through the Wijdan, i.e. the emotions, a path whose outcome is unreliable and that does not lead to a firm establishment if left alone. The Wijdan often casts on Iman unfounded things; however, the Wijdan has imagined them to be proper attributes to what one believed in, thus falling into Kufr and misguidance. Idolatry, superstitions, and mythology are but the outcome of mistakes of the Wijdan. Therefore, Islam has not left the Wijdan as the only way to Iman, so as not to ascribe to Allah attributes that contradict Divinity, or to consider Allah incarnated in material substances, or to envisage the possibility of approaching Him through worshipping material substances, thus, leading to Kufr or Shirk, or to fantasies and superstitions which are renounced by the true Iman. That is why Islam compels the use of reason with the Wijdan and obliges the Muslim to use his reason to believe in Allah and forbids imitation in Aqeedah. Therefore, Islam has made reason as the arbitrator when it comes to believing in Allah and has forbidden imitation in Aqeedah. Allah (swt) says: "Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alteration of night and day, these are indeed signs for men of understanding." [3:190]. Hence, every Muslim must have his Iman based on reflection, study and contemplation, and to make his reason the absolute arbitrator when believing in Allah (swt). The call to ponder over the universe to deduce its law and to be guided to the Iman in its Creator is repeated in the Qur'an hundreds of times in many Surahs, all of which are directed to man’s rational faculty, inviting him to contemplate and to ponder so as to base his Iman upon reason and clear evidence, and warning him against adopting what his forefathers followed without investigation and scrutiny, and personal confidence in its correctness. This is the Iman which Islam called for and not the so called Iman of the elders, but rather the Iman of the enlightened and absolutely assured person who contemplated and thought time and time again until he reached through contemplation and thinking to the certitude in the existence of Allah the Almighty.

Despite the mandatory use of reason to arrive at the correct Iman in Allah (swt), man is unable to perceive that which is beyond the boundaries of his senses and his reasoning, because man’s reason is limited and his powers are also limited -regardless of how much it develops and grows- to certain boundaries that he cannot surpass. Hence, his perception is limited, and consequently it is inevitable for reason to fall short of perceiving the being of Allah and to fail in perceiving His essence, because Allah is beyond the universe, man and life, and the human reason cannot perceive what is beyond man. Thus, the human reason is unable to perceive the being of Allah. One does not ask here:“How does man believe in Allah rationally while his rationale is unable to perceive the being of Allah?” Because the Iman is in fact in the existence of Allah, Whose existence is perceived through the existence of His creations,i.e, the universe, man and life. These creations are within the boundaries of what reason can conceive and thus, man perceives them, and from this he can perceive the existence of a Creator who is Allah (swt). Therefore, Iman in the existence of Allah is rational and within the limits of reason. Contrary to the perception of Allah’s being, which is impossible since He is beyond the universe, man and life, and hence His being is beyond the universe, man and life, thus He is beyond the reach of reason. Reason is unable to perceive the essence of what is beyond its bounds because of its inherent limitation to do so. This limitation itself should be one of the factors which strengthen Iman and not a source of suspicion and doubt. Moreover, since our Iman in Allah is reached through reason, our perception of His existence is complete. And since our sensing of His existence is linked with reason this sensing is absolutely certain. Thus, this initiates in us a complete perception and assured feeling of all the divine attributes. This should convince us that we will be unable to perceive the essence of Allah’s being, despite our firm Iman in Him, and that we have to submit to all that He has informed us about, which reason is powerless to conceive or to arrive at its perception due to the natural inability of the human reason by its relative and limited standards to perceive what is beyond it; for this perception would need absolute and unlimited standards which man neither possesses nor can he ever possess.

As for the proof of the need for messengers, it has been proven that man is created by Allah (swt) and that religiousness is innate in man, since it is one of his instincts. Thus, man, by his nature, sanctifies his Creator, and this sanctification means worship, which constitutes the relationship between man and the Creator. Leaving this relationship without organisation will lead to turmoil and to worshipping other than the Creator. Therefore, it is necessary to organise this relationship with a correct system which cannot emanate from man himself, because he cannot perceive the essence of the Creator in order to set up a system with Him. Hence, this system must come from the Creator. Since the Creator has to convey this system to man, there should be messengers to convey to people the Deen of Allah (swt).

Further evidence of people’s need for messengers is that the satisfaction of man’s instincts and organic needs is a necessity. If this satisfaction were left without a system it would lead to an erroneous and abnormal satisfaction and thus result in man’s misery. Therefore, it is necessary to have a system to organise man’s instincts and organic needs and this system does not come from man, because his perception of the system that regulates man's instincts and organic needs is susceptible to disparity, discrepancy and contradiction and also to the influence of the environment in which he lives. Hence, if this systemising were left to man, it would be prone to the aforementioned disparity, discrepancy and contradiction, and thus lead to misery. It is therefore imperative for the system to come from Allah (swt).

As for the proof that the Qur'an is from Allah, it is reflected in the fact that the Qur'an is an Arabic book brought by Muhammad (saw). Thus, it is either from the Arabs, or from Muhammad, or from Allah, and it is not possible that it be from any other except these three since it is Arabic in language and style.

It is false to say that the Qur’an comes from the Arabs because it challenged them to bring forth any similar to it.

"Say, bring ten Surahs like unto it." [11:13]

"Say, bring one Surah like unto it." [10:38]

They tried to bring the like of what they were challenged with but they failed to do so. Hence, this book is not their speech because they were unable to bring the like, though it challenged them, and they tried to do so. It is also false to say that it is from Muhammad, since Muhammad is one of the Arabs, and whatever the height of his genius, he was still a human being and a part of his society and nation. Since the Arabs themselves had failed to bring the like, this also applies to Muhammad, the Arab, that he could not bring the like of it. Thus, it is not from him. Moreover, Muhammad (saw) has left Hadith Sahih and Hadith Mutawatir, whose authenticity is beyond refute. If any of these Ahadith were to be compared with any verse of the Qur'an, there would be no similarity between them in style, even though he (saw) used to utter the revealed ayah and say the Hadith at the same time. No matter how hard any man attempted to vary his speech, it would remain similar in style, because his speech is part of him. Since there is no similarity between the Hadith and the ayah in style, the Qur'an is absolutely not Muhammad's speech, due to the flagrant and clear difference between the Qur'an and Mohammed’s speech. Besides this, none of the Arabs, who were the most acquainted with the styles of the Arabic speech, alleged that the Qur’an is Muhammad’s speech, or that it is similar to his speech. The only thing that they claimed was that Muhammad had brought it from a Christian youth called Jabber. Allah (swt) refuted what they’d said and responded:” We know indeed that they say it is a man that taught him. The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear." [16:103]

Since it is proved that the Qur'an is neither the speech of the Arabs nor the speech of Muhammad, it is definitely the speech of Allah, and consequently it is a miracle for the one who brought it. And because Muhammad brought the Qur'an, and the Qur'an is the speech of Allah and His divine law, and because no one brings Allah's Shari'ah (law) except the Prophets and the Messengers, then accordingly Muhammad must definitely be a Prophet and Messenger, by rational evidence.

This is a rational evidence for the Iman in Allah and in the message of Muhammad, and that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah.

Consequently, the Iman in Allah comes through rationale and this Iman must be by way of rationale. Hence, it becomes the basis for the Iman in all matters beyond our senses and of all that Allah informed us. This is so because since we have believed in Him, the Supreme, and He has the divine attributes, we must definitely believe in everything that He (swt) has informed us of, whether it is rationally perceived or beyond reason’s capability. Henceforth, we must believe in the Day of Judgement, in Paradise and Hell, in reward and punishment, in the Angels, in Jinn, in al-Shayateen and all others that the Qur'an or the Hadith Mutawatir has mentioned. This Iman, though it is through narration and hearing, it is however rational in origin, since its origin is confirmed through rationale. Therefore, the Muslim’s Aqeedah must depend onreason or on that whose origin is confirmed through reason. Thus, Muslims must believe only in what is proven through rationale or through the decisive aural texts, that is, what is confirmed by the Qur’an and the Hadith Mutawatir. Iman in anything not deduced through these two methods (i.e. reason and the text of the book and of the definite Sunnah, is prohibited, because Aqeedah can only be adopted by way of certitude.

Therefore, there must be Iman in what is before this life, i.e Allah (swt), and in what is after it, i.e the Day of Resurrection. Since the commands of Allah constitute the relationship of this life with what is before it, besides the relationship of creation and the reckoning of one's deeds in life, is the relationship of the Hereafter with life.In addition to the relationship of the Day of Judgement, there should be a relationship between this life with what is before it and what will come after it. Man’s situation in this life must be constrained by this relationship. In other words, man must proceed in his life in accordance with Allah’s systems, and he must believe that all his deeds herein will be reckoned with on the Day of Judgement.

Therefore, the enlightened thought has been established concerning what is beyond the universe, man and life, and about what is before the life on earth and what is after it, and that there is a relationship with what is before and after it. Hence, the greatest problem has been completely solved by the Islamic Aqeedah.

Once man has achieved this solution, he can move to the thought about life on earth and establish sound and productive concepts about it. This solution itself becomes the basis upon which the ideology is built, which serves as the method of intellectual progress (Nahda) as well as the basis upon which the Hadharah (civilisation) of this ideology rests, the basis from which its systems emanate, and the basis upon which the state is established. Thus, the basis upon which Islam is established, both in thought and method, is the Islamic Aqeedah.

"O you who believe! Believe in Allah and His messenger, and the Book which He sent to His Messenger and the Book which He sent to those before (him). Any who denies Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgement, has gone far, far astray." [4:136]

Once this has been established and once Iman in it becomes an inevitable matter, every Muslim is obliged to believe in the Islamic Shari'ah as a whole, because it is included in the Glorious Qur'an and the Messenger of Allah (saw) conveyed it; otherwise, he would be a Kafir. Therefore, it is Kufr to deny any of the Shari'ah rules, whether these are related to Ibadat, i.e. acts of worship, or transactions, or the penal code or foodstuffs. Therefore, the rejection of the ayah “So establish regular prayer" [2:43] is the same as rejecting the ayah “And Allah has permitted trade and forbidden usury," [2:275] and is the same as rejecting the following ayat: "As to the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands," [5:38]

"Forbidden to you (for food) are dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which has been invoked the name of any other than Allah." [5:3]

The adherence to the Shari'ah is not only based on reason. Instead, one must surrender completely to all that was revealed from Allah, the Supreme.

"But no, by your Lord, they can have no (real) faith, until they make you judge in all the disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against your decisions, but accept them with the fullest submission." [4:65]