Author:
Irfan Engineer
ILN India Fellow, director for the Center for Study of Society and Secularism since 1995 and editor at the Indian Journal of Secularism since 1996. He was awarded the Peace Ambassador Awardby Universal Peace Foundation and has several project reports and different publications like Surat Riots, Centre for Study of Society and secularism (1997). He is also part of many Indian and international organizations like being the Managing Trustee for the Institute of Islamic Studies.
The brutal beheading in France of Samuel Paty (47), a school teacher, who showed the cartoons caricaturing prophet Mohammad, which were published in Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine, to his students in order to explain the value of freedom of expression further reinforces this belief. Paty was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen Muslim youth Abdullakh Anzorov who was allegedly in contact with the jihadists in Syria. The brutal and inhuman beheading led to French President Emmanuel Macron defending “the French way of life” wherein freedom of expression was sacred. The inhuman beheading of Paty was condemned by most Muslims, including the ‘French Council of the Muslim Faith’. It is generally believed that Islam is an intolerant and fundamentalist in its outlook. Islam, it is further believed, is incompatible with modern values and political systems, including, secularism, freedom of religion, human rights and democracy. Samuel Huntington suggested that there would be civilizational clash between the west and Islam.
ILN India Fellow, director for the Center for Study of Society and Secularism since 1995 and editor at the Indian Journal of Secularism since 1996. He was awarded the Peace Ambassador Awardby Universal Peace Foundation and has several project reports and different publications like Surat Riots, Centre for Study of Society and secularism (1997). He is also part of many Indian and international organizations like being the Managing Trustee for the Institute of Islamic Studies.
The brutal beheading in France of Samuel Paty (47), a school teacher, who showed the cartoons caricaturing prophet Mohammad, which were published in Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine, to his students in order to explain the value of freedom of expression further reinforces this belief. Paty was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen Muslim youth Abdullakh Anzorov who was allegedly in contact with the jihadists in Syria. The brutal and inhuman beheading led to French President Emmanuel Macron defending “the French way of life” wherein freedom of expression was sacred. The inhuman beheading of Paty was condemned by most Muslims, including the ‘French Council of the Muslim Faith’. It is generally believed that Islam is an intolerant and fundamentalist in its outlook. Islam, it is further believed, is incompatible with modern values and political systems, including, secularism, freedom of religion, human rights and democracy. Samuel Huntington suggested that there would be civilizational clash between the west and Islam.
Islam and the freedom of religion
The Quran is a book for guidance of the entire humanity and gives freedom of religion or beliefs. Only the all forgiving, merciful and compassionate God can judge the conduct of human beings, not any human agency. There isn’t enough space to recall numerous verses in the Quran that are about freedom of religion and recall the rich traditions and debates. We would quote a few important verses. The central values of Islam are truth (Haq) justice (Adl), compassion (Raham), merciful (Rahim), forgiving (Ghafoor) and wisdom (Hikma) and these are also attributes of Allah. The most righteous are the ones who do justice in their dealings with everyone. Quran (5:8) states – “O believers! Stand firm for Allah and bear true testimony. Do not let the hatred of a people lead you to injustice. Be just! That is closer to righteousness…”. Hatred for anyone, irrespective of the religion s/he follows, is not being just and therefore not being righteous. Quran (5:32) lays down that if you kill any innocent, it is as if you kill entire humanity, and saving one life is like saving entire humanity – it may be the life of a person belonging to any religion or faith or even a non-believer. In several verses, Quran enjoins the believers to do good and forbids evil deeds – “Amr bil maroof wa nahi ‘anil munkar” (3:111). There is no compulsion in religion, Quran (2:256) lays down – truth stands out from error. In chapter 109, Quran addresses those who reject faith and tells them – “To you your way and to me mine”. There is no mention of blasphemy in Quran, let alone any punishment for the offence. The Prophet himself faced a lot of insults during his lifetime. A woman would throw dirt on him regularly. He would peacefully pass by without a word. When the prophet Muhammad learnt that she was sick and bed ridden, he visited her and prayed for her speedy recovery. Due to lack of space, we are just mentioning a few instances from the Islamic history to recall the rationalist thoughts in Islamic history.
During the Umayyad period (661-750), there was a rich debate between the two broad schools within Islam – the Jabariyas and the Qadariyas. The followers of Jabariya school believed that all events and activities are predestined, they are just played out here in the world. The Umayyad rulers patronised the Jabariya school which called upon the faithfuls to submit to the rulers as fate was predestined and the Ummayad Caliph was merely implementing the measures and policies already predestined, including their luxurious lifestyle and the poverty of the rest. The Qadariya school on the other hand disputed this notion and argued that God guided human beings as to what was the righteous path (sirat al mustaqeem) and left it to the individuals to be guided by God or by the satan. God then left it to the individuals to discern what was the righteous path based on the revealed scriptures and tread on that path or entirely ignore that guidance. Quran describes God as compassionate, merciful and just, argued the Qadariya followers, and it would go against the Quranic revelation if God were to pre-determine the conduct of the human beings and then punish them for their misbehaviour and misdemeanours. The Abbasid period (750-1258) was known as the Golden period of Islam when the books of knowledge from all over the world, including India and Greek philosophy were translated in Arabic and collected in Baghdad in a grand library called House of Wisdom, or Bayt al Hikmah. Greek philosophy influenced the Islamic theologians which gave rise to two schools of theology within Islam – the Asharites and the Mutazilites. The Mutazilites were rationalists. They believed in the createdness of the Quran as temporal and not eternal and uncreated. They held that good and evil are objective and that the moral values of actions are intrinsic to them and can be discerned by human reason. The Asharites on the other hand believed that the Quran was uncreated and eternal. The Mutalizilies argued that the reward and punishment which God metes out must be merited by creatures endowed with free will. With regard to our acts in this world, God creates in us the power to perform an act but we are free to choose whether or not to perform it.
In India Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898), a reformist and a rationalist philosopher, in his commentary on Quran wrote that there could be no contradiction between the word of God (Quran) and work of God (natural world). Exploring and understanding laws of nature was the domain of science and equally necessary. Maulana Shibli Nomani (1857-1914) on the other hand explained that science and religion operated in two different circles. One explored natural laws and the other moral laws. Science would measure weight of air, e.g., and the energy generated from nuclear fusion and fission. However, for what purpose to deploy that energy was the domain of religion – whether to prepare destructive bombs or to harness it for better purposes. The moral laws and life after death was the religious domain. They were not contradictory. Muhammad Iqbal, the poet philosopher gave series of lectures in Lahore arguing for ijtihad and rejuvenation of Islam. Each generation had to understand Islam with its own experiences and views. These are some of the rational heritage of Islam.
This rich heritage is product of freedoms and liberties which are part of tradition of Islam. The covenant of Medina which was the constitution of the first state established by the Prophet granted freedom to practice religion to the Christians, Jews and Muslims in accordance with their traditions. The first Caliph after the Prophet was elected by consensus and so were the other three rightly guided caliphs. It is only with the Umayyad and subsequent dynasties and empires that the illiberalism, closing the doors of ijtihad or reinterpretation and dynamism in understanding the Quran was lost. Dynamism in knowledge and Quranic interpretation was considered a threat to the dynasties. It is during this period that the term jihad was used more for the political wars between dynasties and not for striving to be guided by the righteous path of justice and taking care of the most needy in the society. As change in religious beliefs could signal revolt and rebellion against the dynasty, religion and religious doctrines were forced on the populace and blasphemy laws were promulgated to protect the regimes. Gradual colonization of the Muslim world and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the first world war led to colonization of large part of the Muslim world under the west. The Muslim world did not emerge from the colonization and went into a conservative shell to protect its beliefs. It is time to come out of the shell, embrace knowledge, continue the rich heritage and openness and work for the betterment of the humanity and moral teachings of Islam.
PARTNERS
