Common Roots - Part Four
Imam Rauf develops a general framework for some of the problems which arose following the passing away of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from this world. These included: the generating of written manuscripts that were faithful to the recited Qur'an; the emergence of practice of tafsir which was an exegetical practice that focused on delineating the circumstances surrounding the occurrence of any given instance of revelation in an attempt to gain insight into the meaning of such revelation relative to the nature of the historical and social context in which such revelations emerged; and, the development of fiqh, or theories of jurisprudence, as ways of organizing and regulating society.
The foregoing problems are presented against the backdrop of a challenge which Imam Rauf believes faces every faith tradition – namely, how to translate original teachings into a form that not only makes sense to a different set of historical and sociological circumstances but, as well, preserves the essential truths of the original teachings. Moreover, he points out that, generally speaking, the tendency down through history has been for divisions to arise within the community out of which a given expression of Divine guidance arose.
For instance, he mentions the rift which took place following the termination of the initial Earthly mission of Jesus (peace be upon him) between the Jewish and Christian communities even though Jesus is reported to have said that he does 'not come to reject what came before (i.e., Judaism) but to confirm it and add to it.' And, Imam Rauf also alludes to divisions within the Muslim community about issues of propriety surrounding the creation of a written Qur'an, the nature of tafsir, and the rise of various schools of religious jurisprudence in relation to Islam.
Imam Rauf proceeds to cite a verse of the Qur'an that he feels reflects on the foregoing situation of divisiveness: “[God] ordained for you of religion that which He enjoined upon Noah, and We have revealed to you, and which We enjoined on Abraham and Moses and Jesus – to establish religion (deen) and to not be divided therein.” (42: 13) Imam Rauf then summarizes what he believes to be one of the teachings of the foregoing verse – namely, that “divisive attitudes and practices are signs of a non- or antimonotheistic, anti-Abrahamic ethic.” (page 29)
To state what would appear to be an obvious point, if all we have to do is look into our hearts and conscience in order to grasp the truth of the Abrahmaic ethic as Imam Rauf earlier argued, then, how is the kind of divisiveness noted above possible? Even when there is agreement that it is the deen (or spiritual method and way) of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) which should be followed, differences emerge with respect to establishing the precise nature of that deen.
Moreover, prophets were consistently charged with introducing divisiveness into their respective communities by those who were opposed to them. So, how does one differentiate the establishing of truth -- which always encroaches on someone's vested interests and, therefore, is inherently divisive – from the sort of anti-monotheistic attitude and anti-Abrahamic ethic to which Imam Rauf alludes?
On page 31 of What's Right With Islam, Imam Rauf maintains that: “What is right about any religion or societal structure is therefore the extent to which individuals and societies fully manifest the principles of the Abrahamic ethic”. Just prior to this conclusion, he lists a number of failings of the Muslim community in this respect after the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) passed away – namely, the disappearance of the rule of law applied by an independent judiciary; the judgment that apostasy is the equivalent of treason; continuation of the practice of slavery despite the many Quranic verses that sought to eliminate that institution; and, the on-going oppression of women.
Today, many of these same failings noted with respect to the Muslim community following the passing away of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) exist in America. For instance, people on both the left and right indicate that the rule of law has been lost amidst a politicizing of the judiciary which has undermined the capacity of the latter to render decisions which are truly independent of political corruption, biases, and agendas. Furthermore, in the post-9/11 environment there are many people who believe that any criticism of a government which systematically oppresses not only its own citizens, but, as well, the populations of other countries on the basis of delusional, self-serving systems of grandiosity and imperialistic greed constitute not only an act of treason but also gives expression to apostasy with respect to the state religion known as the 'war on terror' – where terror is always a function of the atrocities and injustices which others commit and, by definition, never a function of the atrocities and injustices which we commit. In addition, America is filled with people who have become thoroughly enslaved by transnational corporations, money-changers (now known as banks, financial institutions, and the Federal Reserve) whom Jesus (peace be upon him) opposed, and politicians/business people who do not believe that workers ought to be paid fairly or who do not believe that the health and bodily well-being of workers ought to be protected in the workplace, or who do not believe that there is anything wrong with continuing to degrade the environment so that the powerful, wealthy friends of politicians can become more powerful and more wealthy. Finally, America's cup runneth over when it comes to the oppression of women through rape, sexual abuse, authoritarian husbands (as well as fathers and brothers), and the denial of equal opportunity in education, government, and the workplace to women.
How does one compare the extent to which America does not fully manifest the Abrahamic ethic with the extent to which Muslim countries do not fully manifest the Abrahamic ethic, when, in truth, both are failing in major ways? The fact that one country might have a hypothetical score of 30 relative to the hypothetical score of 20 for another country (with a perfect score being 100) is not something about which either country ought to take satisfaction.
Imam Rauf believes that “the challenge still facing human society today is how to worship God without dividing ourselves and how to institutionalize such a unified understanding. (page 32)” Imam Rauf feels that the way to meet this challenge is through a radical monotheism that entails both loving God with all one's being, as well as, establishing a love for others that is equal to the love we have for ourselves and through this love ensure that all human beings enjoy liberty, equality, social justice, and fraternity.
I know of a couple in which the man continuously abused his wife for decades in all manner of ways. Yet, this man was convinced that he loved his wife and that no one would or could love that woman like he did in his own inimitable style.
The woman was not free. She had no semblance of equality of treatment. There was an almost complete absence of justice in the relationship, and there was little, real fraternity of togetherness which bonded the two.
However, despite the many abusive dimensions of the relationship, the man believed that everything which was done revolved around his supposed love for his wife, and the wife was pushed into such a deep dissociative condition through the presence of the husband's abuse that she came to believe that deep down, beneath all the abuse, was a loving, caring man who had genuine regard for her well-being. Such is the nature of many abusive relationships.
There are many politicians and government officials who act abusively and oppressively toward the citizens of a given country or state, and the politicians and government officials have deluded themselves into believing they are acting out of intentions such as love, compassion, justice, and fairness that supposedly promote the 'greater good' when, in truth, only the good of the relative few are being advanced and served by the agendas of the politicians and governments. There are many citizens who have been pushed so far into a dissociative condition by the presence of such abuse that they can be induced into believing that everything is being done for their good.
For example, if you make people sufficiently afraid, and if you lie to them about the reasons why they should be afraid, and if you provide them with an identifiable source toward which to direct that fear, then, in the eye of this category 5 hurricane of fear, almost anything the government does to further oppress the citizens can be couched in terms of actions taken to save the citizens from being hurt by the alleged source of fear – a fear which in many, if not most, ways has been manufactured via fabrications and a distorted re-framing of historical and social circumstances. Abusive political relationships exhibit many of the characteristics, themes, and techniques of abusive personal relationships like the husband and wife couple I used to know.
Similarly, just as we often delude ourselves into believing that we love others as we love ourselves, so, too, we often delude ourselves into believing that we love God with our whole being. All too many of us profess a love for God that is really rooted in a desire to have a comfortable material life on Earth, or rooted in a desire for Paradise, or rooted in a fear of Hell, or rooted in a sense of self-glorification related to the presumptuous belief that we are God's elite or chosen emissaries.
There is a story which arises out of the Sufi mystical tradition that runs along the following lines. God says: I created men and they were bound to Me, and they were coming to me when I showed them the world, 9/10ths of them became world-bound, and 1/10th remained with Me. When I told them about Paradise, 9/10ths of those who had remained with Me desired Paradise and only 1/10th remained with Me. When I poured My troubles and My pains upon those who stayed with Me, they cried for help and 9/10ths left and 1/10th remained with Me. And when I threatened those who remained with Me that I would heap upon them such troubles as would make the mountains crumble, they said: “As long as it comes from You it is alright with us”.
This latter 1/10th of 1/10th of 1/10th of the original set of human beings are those who love God with their whole being. The Qur'an describes these kind of individuals in the following way: “Those who spend their wealth for increase in self-purification and have in their minds no favor from anyone for which a reward is expected in return, but only the desire to seek for the Countenance of their Lord Most High.” (92: 18-20) And, again: “Say: Surely, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds.” (6: 162)
Elsewhere the Qur'an states: “They ask thee (O Muhammad) what they ought to spend in the way of God. Say: that which is left after meeting your needs.” (2: 219) Many people fulfill this Divine directive by expanding the nature of needs exponentially and reducing what is left over to be spent in the way of Allah proportionately. Their love for God is modulated and limited by the desires of the self and what is meant by loving God with one's whole being is re-framed to refer only to that portion of being which, on occasion, we might loan out in a temporary manner – and assuming, of course, that such a loan is largely free of difficulties and complications.
Contrary to what Imam Rauf asserts, many of us have not just forgotten to apply what we know, we have forgotten what it means to love God with our whole being. We have forgotten what it means to truly love another human being. We have forgotten the real meaning of liberty, freedom, social justice, and fraternity. We live in a state of spiritual amnesia from which we desperately need to recover.
On pages 35 and 36 of What's Right With Islam Imam Rauf outlines five principles which he believes are at the heart of all “globalized' religions – that is, those traditions which were brought to humankind worldwide through the locus of manifestation of authentic prophets and messengers of Divinity. The very first principle concerns the transcendent, singular, unique, unknowable nature of God.
However, God is not only transcendent, God is also imminent. By definition, we cannot know those dimensions of Divinity which are transcendent and unknowable except in a general, referential manner that does nothing more than acknowledge the existence of such realms in relation to the nature of Divinity. Nevertheless, there are facets of Divine Presence which are not unknowable and are capable of, to a degree, being understood according to one's God-given capacity to gain insight into such dimensions of Divinity together with a need for the Divine Grace that renders such realms accessible to our capacities for knowing them.
In addition, I'm not quite certain in what way saying that God is unknowable and transcendent – however true this may be – can be considered a primary, essential principle of 'globalized' religion. What does one do with such a statement? What practical ramifications does it have?
Once one says that God is unknowable and transcendent, then, that is the end of the matter. Everything else is merely ignorance.
Transcendence and unknowability, without a countervailing immanence, is a virtually useless piece of understanding. In fact, one can't even call the former knowledge since to contend that something is unknowable and transcendent means that the statement is entirely unverifiable … this is the essential nature of being unknowable and transcendent.
The second 'globalized' principle cited by Imam Rauf alludes, somewhat elliptically, to the foregoing issue of imminence. More specifically, he states that “God as All-Being is relevant to His Creation.” Through Creation, God provides us with our raison d'etre for being by means of the purpose, norms, and ethics toward which human beings are to aspire in the living of life. According to Imam Rauf, God is “the one through whom we learn to know right from wrong.”
In concert with a point made previously in the current essay, if God is the One “through whom we learn right from wrong” then, distinguishing between right and wrong is not merely a matter of looking into one's heart or conscience and reading off the message of fitra as Imam Rauf seemed to suggest earlier in the first chapter of his book. One has to be taught discernment by Divinity.
Moreover, even if one agrees that God is the One Who provides us with purpose, norms, and ethics, there is a great deal of disagreement about precisely what such purpose, norms and ethics entail. If, as Imam Rauf asserts – and I do not disagree with him on this point – that “God is the most important thing in our lives”, questions still hover about the issue of what this all means. People can agree, in principle, that Divinity is relevant to our lives and still disagree about the nature of this relevancy or how one goes about realizing and integrating such relevancy into lived life.
Is the purpose of life to achieve Paradise and avoid Hell? Is the purpose of life to realize the full potential of fitra (our primordial spiritual capacity) quite independently of considerations of Heaven and Hell? Is the purpose of life to realize fitra so that we can come to know and observe, for the very first time in our lives, what worshiping Divinity is really all about in its essence? Is the purpose of life to satisfy the Hadith Qudsi which stated that 'God was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known, so God brought forth Creation'? Is the purpose of life some combination of the foregoing, and, if so, what is the nature of the appropriate sort of combinatorial balance?
How does one go about accomplishing any of the foregoing purposes? What methods are to be used? What criteria are to be applied in evaluating how well, or poorly, one is doing with respect to the realization of any given purpose? How does one interact with others along the way who may be seeking quite different purposes and, yet, still believe that such purposes are Divinely ordained? What does it mean to love one's neighbor in such a context?
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