THE CONCEPT OF MAN IN
WAH... ĪD AL-DĪN KHAN’S WORKS
By
Muhammad Amin Abdul Samad
*
Dr. W.
Haddad
God and Man in
Contemporary Muslim Thought
(397-702D)
Nov. 28, 1978
INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES
INTRODUCTION
This paper is an attempt to outline the concept of man
as presented by Wah.īd al-Dīn Khān in
the following texts: a. al-Islām wa ’l-‘As.r al-H...adīth, 1st ed. (Cairo:
al-Mukhtār al-Islāmī, 1976), b. H...ikmat al-Dīn,
1st ed. (Cairo: al-Mukhtār al-Islāmī, 1973), and c. al-Islām Yatah.addā, 4th ed. (Cairo: al-Mukhtār
al-Islāmī, 1973). The writer presents
man as God’s vicegerent on this earth, who is created to worship Him and to obey
Him by applying the Sharī ‘ah
(Islamic law)
This paper is
divided into four chapters: 1. The objective study of man, 2. The purpose of
man’s creation, 3. Man’s responsibility for his words and deeds, and 4. The law
of God. Polemically by nature, Khān used
to cite Qur’ānic verses as well as Prophetic traditions to support his view.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ………………………. 2
I. The Objective Study Of Man ……… 4
II. The Purpose Of Man’s Creation ……… 5
III.
Man’s Responsibility For His
…….Words and Deeds …………… 8
IV. The Law of God ……………. 10
EVALUATION AND
CONCLUSION … …12
I. THE OBJECTIVE STUDY OF MAN
Khān has
referred to a number of studies on man in which scholars reached what they
called “objective answers,” for example:
a. Man is a political
animal. Politics is a dominant
motive. Man’s private life, family or
social existence is based on, directly or indirectly, political aspirations;
b.
Man is an economic
animal. His attitude is molded by
economic conditions;
c.
Man is a spiritual animal, and
his existence can be completely refreshed by reviving and stimulating his
spirit. For example, listening to music,
or looking at a beautiful scene, etc., may enable one to perceive another world,
the spiritual reality in which there is love and purity of soul, instead of
envy and hatred.
The
advocates of this school of philosophy which Khān allows to remain nameless
asserted that spiritualism directs one’s feeling away from the material world
to a spiritual realm inside oneself as broad as the material one.
Basically, Khān
agreed with the advocates of this view that man consists of rūh (soul,
spirit) and ‘aql (reason). Because soul delights feeling, Khān contends
that the response of the call of soul should be exclusively based on
feeling. The charm of the fine arts can
create feeling. That experience,
however, cannot grasp the whole of human existence, and as a result, this
feeling will disappear.
Man is in need of a
clearly known and fixed point as the centre of his hopes and aspirations. Such a fixed point would become the goal of
human journey. Lacking an inspiration of
this kind his soul will be lifeless, and will wander without any refuge. Khān called it al-h.arakah
al-īmānīyah (the believing movement).
Its centre is God and His Revealed Book.[1]
a. ‘Ibādah (Worship)
Khān cited the Qur’ānic verse in which Allah
stated the purpose of man’s creation, namely, وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ
إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ (الذاريات:
٥٦) “I created the jinn
and human kind only that they might worship Me.” (Q. 51:56). Worship is total submission to God. This submission, according to Khān, has two levels: 1) the submission of man’s limbs
and external works to Allah, and 2) the submission of man’s heart to Allah, and
the participation of his internal world in His kingdom (malakūt Allāh).
These two levels of worship embody themselves in the
Qur’ānic verse: ... إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ
وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَر ... (العنكبوت : ٤٥)“…Lo!
Worship preserveth from lewdness and iniquity, but verily remembrance of Allah
is more important…” (Q. 29:45). The
writer asserted that the above verse also explains the two levels of benefit
obtained from the prayer: 1) man becomes
obedient to his Lord in his remembrance of Allah (dhikr Allāh). The latter is the highest level of
achievement, because prayer does not merely manifest itself through external
submission, but also penetrates into man’s heart. In this way, prayer becomes a spiritual link
between man and his Lord.
In Khān’s view, these two levels of worship are also
indicated into the following h.adīth: أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ
تَرَاهُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ (رواه البخاري و مسلم) “Worship Allah as if you see Him, for if
you are not able to [worship Him as you] see Him, then verily He sees
you.” The higher level of worship is
worshiping Allah as we see Him, while the lower level is worshiping and obeying
Him with the strong belief that He sees us.
Achievement (al-fawz) in the Hereafter is also on two levels,
depending on the level of worship one has performed on this earth. The higher level is what the Qur’ān called
al-sābiqūn al-awwalūn (the first to lead the way), while the lower level
was called as.h.āb
al-yamīn (those on the right hand).
The former will receive a special blessing from God, while the latter
will receive an ordinary one.[2]
b.
Muqtad.ayāt
al-‘Ibādah (Requirements of Worship)
Worship is the
basic devotion. But it has requirements
to be fulfilled by man as compliments of his devotion. However, both the worship and its
requirements are necessary for Muslims. Khān mentioned four requirements of
worship:
1) Obedience (al-t.ā‘ah)
Obedience
is a kind of worship dealing with the external affairs of man, namely, his
daily life. There are two kinds of
obedience: individual obedience (al-t.ā‘ah
al-fardīyah) and social obedience (al-t.ā‘ah
al-jamā‘īyah).
Individual
obedience requires that every Muslim should obey Allah in matters dealing with
his life as a whole. This includes
precepts dealing with ethics and social life.
For example, obeying Allah in his eating and drinking. Muslims should obey Allah in their private
lives. Khān cited the following Qur’ānic verse to support his view:
وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا
مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ
مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ
اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا مُبِينًا
(الأحزاب : ٣٦)
“And
it becomes not a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His
messenger have decided an affair (for them), that they should (after that)
claim any say in their affair; and whoso is rebellious to Allah and His
messenger, he verily goeth astray
in error manifest.” (Q. 33:36)
With regard to eating and drinking, Allah
said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ
مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
(البقرة : ١٧٢)
“
O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you, and
render thanks to Allah if it is (indeed) He
whom ye worship.” (Q. 2:172)
Social obedience deals with the application
of the Sharī ‘ah (Islamic law) to the Muslim ummah
(community). Khān asserted that the Sharī ‘ah was revealed at Madīnah after the
establishment of Muslim community in that city. Similarly, the laws to the
children of Israel were
revealed to them when they had established their community in Egypt
2)
Testimony (al-Shahādah)
What Khān meant by the shahādah here is the
call to Islam to worship Allah alone.
The Islamic call should reach every person so that there would be nobody
who would claim in the Hereafter that no call to Islam had ever reached him. As evidence, Khān cited the following
Qur’ānic verse:
رُسُلًا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ
لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى اللَّهِ حُجَّةٌ بَعْدَ الرُّسُلِ
وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا
(النساء : ١٦٥).
“Messengers
of good cheer and of warning, in order that
mankind
might have no argument against Allah after the
messengers. Allah was every Mighty, Wise.” (Q. 4:165).
In Khān’s view, calling non-Muslims to
Islam does not necessarily mean to explain Islam to them in detail, but rather
starting with the fundamentals of the faith, for example: believing in Allah,
the revelation, the Hereafter, etc.
3)
Enjoining What is Good and Prohibiting What is
Reprehensible (al- Amr bi ’l-Ma‘rūf wa ’l-Nahy ‘an al-Munkar)
A Muslim should not live for his own good alone, but
also for the good of his community.
Therefore, Khān divided the concept into two sections: individual and
social. In the individual section, it is
the work of an individual Muslim to give his advice to his Muslim brothers
according to his ability. This is what
the Prophet meant by “Religion is advice” (الدِّينُ النَّصِيحَةُ).
As for the social aspect, Khān asserted that if the
Muslim community enjoys freedom and free choice, there should be leaders
representing this community in carrying out laws imposed on their
community. This had been done by Prophet
Moses when he divided his people into twelve tribes with twelve leaders. But if the community does not enjoy full freedom
of action, then teachers and propagators should be appointed. This had been done by the Prophet before the hijrah,
when 75 people (among whom two women) attended the Second Pledge of
‘Aqabah. In this pledge 12 leaders (3
among the Aws tribe and 9 among the Khazraj) were appointed, to whom the
Prophet said: “You are responsible for your own people.” This is also the case when Ja‘far was
appointed as the leader of the Muslim refugees to Ethiopia
4) Defending Religion (Nas.rat al-Dīn)
Defending religion is also called “raising the Word of
Allah” (i‘lā’ kalimat Allāh). It
has many aspects depending on the situation and the kind of danger. Khān
mentioned some leading personalities in Islam in defending religion, among
which were: ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, Ah.mad ibn H...anbal, al-Ghazālī, and S.alāh. al-Dīn.
A Muslim is not enjoined to go beyond his ability in
defending religion. The ruler uses his
power, while the scholars use their writings and speeches.[3]
III. MAN’S
RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS WORDS AND DEEDS
The author tried to prove scientifically that whatever
man said and did was recorded and he would be responsible for them in the
Hereafter.
With regard to the words of man, Khān asserted that
the moment man moves his tongue, it creates waves in the ether forever, and
this can be heard again. But Khān
admitted that science has not yet invented an instrument that can receive the
sound waves of the words of people from the past. However, scientists believe in the
possibility of inventing such an instrument in the future. We do not know who these scientists are, for
the author did not give us any name or reference.
The main problem is not receiving this sound wave, but
rather making distinctions among so many sounds, or in other words, selecting
one sound, so that only one sound is heard.
This is the problem of radio transmission where every radio station
transmits in different wavelengths.
Whenever man invents a receiver for the voices of people of the past,
the idea of the existence of the Last Day would be acceptable by means of
analogy. The writer gave the example of
Dr. Mus.addiq’s case. Dr Mus.addiq (Mosaddek) was the former Prime
Minister of Iran. A tiny tape-recorder
was put in his cell and recorded whatever he said. This recording was later used against him in
court.
Khān concluded that this finding was not contradictory
to the idea of the existence of the invisible angels of God who record and
print on “the pages of space” (s.afah.āt al-kawn) whatever we say. The Qur’ān said: مَا يَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيبٌ
عَتِيدٌ (ق : ١٨) “He uttereth no word
but there is with him an observer ready.” (Q. 50:18).[4]
Regarding the deeds of man, Khān contended that all of
our deeds, even in the dark, were imprinted in space as pictures. It has been proved by science that everything
emanates heat permanently everywhere in every condition. This heat forms the shapes of things from
which it comes. Man has invented an
instrument called the evapograph which can receive heat waves. Unfortunately, this instrument can only
produce a graph of something that occurred hours ago.[5]
Khān concluded that it is not far from reality to say; that our deeds are
registered on the screen of the universe.
Guilty people on the Last Day would say, as mentioned in the Qur’ān: ... يَا وَيْلَتَنَا مَالِ هَذَا
الْكِتَابِ لَا يُغَادِرُ صَغِيرَةً وَلَا كَبِيرَةً إِلَّا أَحْصَاهَا
... (الكهف : ٤٩) “…Ah! Woe to us! What
kind of a book is this that leaveth not a small thing nor a great thing but
hath counted it!…” (Q. 18:49).[6]
Dealing with the problems of civilization the author
discussed legislation and law. He
asserted that the real legislator is God, Who created mankind. He denounced laws based on the will and the
approval of people. The proscription
against alcohol, American law does not prohibit drinking wine, because it
accepts the right of man to freely choose his food and his drink, as long as he
does not disturb people in his community.
Adultery according to the law is not a crime as long as it is based on
mutual consent. Britain
The author stressed the importance of ethics. According to him law, in order to stand firm
must have an ethical basis. Some
examples are: oaths given by the accused, the accuser or the witnesses are
accepted;[7]
criminals are considered guilty in court as well as in society. Khān stressed the importance of belief in the
Hereafter, that rather than the fear of the police and the court, it can
prevent people from committing crime. It
is evident that the criminals could use experienced lawyers, or give false
testimony, and thereby escape punishment.
Defending the Divine Law as the only legal and correct
one, the author dealt with the question of equality between man and woman, a
principle that has been advocated by many people. Scientists like Alexis Carrel, he contended,
have agreed that woman is very different from man and therefore cannot be equal
in everything. Carrel said:
The differences existing between man and
woman do not come from the particular form of the sexual organs, the presence
of the uterus, from gestation, or from the mode of education. They are of a more fundamental nature. They are caused by the very structure of the
tissues and by the impregnation of the entire organism with specific chemical
substances secreted by the ovary.
Ignorance of these fundamental facts has led promoters of feminism to
believe that both sexes should have the same education, the same powers, and
the same responsibilities. In reality, woman differs profoundly from man. Every one of the cells of her body bears the
mark of her sex. The same is true of her
organs, and above all, of her nervous system.
Physiological laws are as inexorable as those of the sidereal
world. They cannot be replaced by human
wishes. We are obliged to accept them
just as they are. Women should develop
their aptitudes in accordance with their own nature, without trying to imitate the
males. Their part in the progress of
civilization is higher than that of men.
They should not abandon their specific functions.[8]
Polygamy is another example. Khān asserted that closing the door of
polygamy opens the doors of immorality. Statistics issued by the United Nations
in 1959 stated that the illegitimate children in the world had increased 60 %.
In Panama Egypt
In the field of Islamic penal law, Khān mentioned the
two purposes of the capital punishment: 1) the elimination of the seed of
crime; 2) prohibiting retaliation when diyah (blood money) is paid. According to the author abolishing capital
punishment would increase crimes. One
example is that when Sri Lanka
(Ceylon
In the matter of livelihood (al-ma‘īshah) Islam
recognizes individual property. Khān
observed that a country like the Soviet Union
which applies collective ownership of land, has declined in land production and
cattle breeding. In 1962, 170 000 head
of cattle died in one province due to lack of grass (pasture) and negligence in
breeding. The Soviet Union was
compelled to import millions of tons of wheat from Australia ,
Canada and the United States United States
The author’s major goal in writing his
books was to defend religion, namely, Islam, from materialistic secular
influence by showing that science is in harmony with Islam. The author is a journalist, and the motto of
this profession is, “A journalist should know everything under the sun.” He seemed to have studied the subjects
related to his topic very thoroughly.
However, he lacked certain details.
He did not provide us further explanations in solving the problems he
was raising in his writings.
In dealing with man, either as a political,
economic, or spiritual animal, the author did mention any names of scholars who
upheld these views. In fact, the writer
in his work al-Islām wa ’l-‘As.r al-H...adīth gave us only two footnotes at the bottom of
pages 43 and 52. Furthermore, the book
has no bibliography, and for further study on man we must locate the author’s
bibliography ourselves.
In dealing with the purpose of creation of
man the author in his book H...ikmat al-Dīn mentioned only the Islamic point of view, namely, that
man is created to worship God, but not the views of philosophers. He elaborated his point basing his argument
on the Qur’ānic verses and the h.adīths. He referred to many books on the Qur’ānic
exegesis (tafsīr al-Qur’ān), the h.adīths and
fiqh (Islamic law).
With regard to man’s responsibility for his
words and deeds, the writer did cite many Qr’ānic verses, but he did not give
us details on the evapograph, the instrument invented to record heat
waves. We do not know who invented it
and when it was invented. The only
reference given to us in his work al-Islām Yatah.addā
is Reader’s Digest, November, 1960.
The author was propagating the application
of Islamic law (Sharī ‘ah) not
only for Muslims, but also for non-Muslims.
In his book al-Islām Yatah.addā he
gave us many references on law. He tried
to trace some shortcomings of laws which are not based on the Sharī ‘ah. Indeed, the problems of law in this book were
given in detail, but not in others.
Compared to the other two books, al-Islām Yatah.addā is the biggest one. It is also the earliest one to have been
published. The fact that it was
reprinted three times in 1973 (once in Kuwait
and twice in Cairo
Another defect of Khān’s works is that he did not
mention the names, places and dates of the publication of most of the books
referred to in his writings. This makes
it difficult for those who want to check the author’s reference. Different editions would sometimes make a
reference to different pages. For example, the author referred to Alexis
Carrel’s Man, the Unknown on page 93, while it is on pages 89-90 in the
1939 edition. He must have been using
the first edition in 1935.
In spite of these shortcomings, Khān’s books are very
valuable to Muslims. He himself is
considered one of the great contemporary Muslim thinkers on the Indian
sub-continent.
[5] One example given by the author is that on one dark
night an unidentified plane was flying over New York City
[7] A man at the court of Western Circuit (? وسترن
سركيت ) gave false testimony and said: “If I am telling a
lie, let God make me die here this moment.”
He hardly finished speaking when he fell down and died. Ibid., p. 143, quoting Sir Alfred
Denning, The Changing Law (N.p., 1953), p. 103.
[8] See Alexis Carrel, Man, the Unknown, 2nd
ed. (New York & London: Harper H& Brothers, 1939), pp. 89-90. Alexis Carrel was a French surgeon who was
awarded the Noble Prize in 1912 for his success in suturing blood vessels and
the transplanting of organs.
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