This religion is easy
| Sheikh Salman al-Oadah|
Abû
Hurayrah relates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said This religion is
easy. No one becomes harsh and strict in the religion without it overwhelming
him. So fulfill your duties as best you can and rejoice. Rely upon the efforts
of the morning and the evening and a little at night and you will reach your
goal. [Sahîh al-Bukharî]
These
words of the Prophet (peace be upon him) defines for us the concept of
moderation in its proper Islamic context. When it comes to understanding the
principles of Islamic Law, our definitions must be drawn from established
sources and not purely from the discretion of the individual. Otherwise, our
definition might yield a practical model that justifies nothing but itself. Many
of our accepted and established principles have begun to take forms that
represent only one narrow vision and that are unable to cope with the many
demands of Islamic work and propagation.
The
Prophet (peace be upon him) says: This religion is easy. Ease is moderation.
So our religion is moderate and we as a nation of people are moderate.
Allah
says: Thus We have made you a moderate nation. [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 143]
The
Prophet (peace be upon him) then goes on to outline the defining qualities of
moderation:
1. He
says: So fulfill your duties
The Arabic word used is saddadû which
literally means to aim to hit something on target, like how an arrow hits its
mark. This tells us that moderation never entails going outside of Islamic Law.
The rulings of Islamic Law must be derived from the Qurân and Sunnah. The idea
of ease and moderation in no way implies a relaxation of Islamic Law, nor does
it imply that a person can follow his own inclinations in either his religion or
his general dealings. Therefore, if we lose sight of Islamic Law and its
rulings, an important quality of moderation will invariably be lost.
2. Then he
says:
as best you can
After providing the first quality of moderation, he
complements it with this quality, so that those who are ill acquainted with the
wisdom and purposes behind Islamic Law do not become insistent upon following a
limited, personal vision in applying its rulings to themselves and others.
A person
will not be able to fulfill his duties properly unless he realizes that he has
limitations of mind and character that keep him from measuring up to those
duties, no matter how clear and simple they may seem. Allah created Adam a
creature with little self control. The human being cannot do anything perfectly
without divine intervention, so this is why the Prophet (peace be upon him)
says:
as best you can, to indicate that perfection is not what is expected.
We can go
as far as to say that demanding perfection from people runs contrary to the
principle of moderation that we are discussing. The principle of moderation
requires us to recognize that perfection cannot be maintained or even achieved.
3. Then he
says:
and rejoice. He does this after defining moderation with the idea of
fulfilling ones duties to the best of ones ability, which defines moderation
in an abstract sense. Then we are told to rejoice.
Since
working for the religion is a way of fulfilling our duty to Allah and of obeying
His Messenger, we can see the importance of the glad tidings being referred to
in this hadîth. Most of the problems and difficulties that exist between people
are the result of partisanship and biases rather than on matters that are
necessitated by Islamic Law. This is why sincerity to Allah in our actions has
to be one of the principles of moderation.
4.
Finally, he says: Rely upon the efforts of the morning and the evening and a
little at night and you will reach your goal. This shows us that one of the
principles of moderation is to consider what is possible and to stay within
those limits. This goes for an individual as well as for the environment in
which he works. It also means that everyone should work within his own capacity
and avoid being obstinate when dealing with others.
The
principle of doing what is within ones capabilities has both conceptual and
practical dimensions. It means that we keep up our Islamic work while
recognizing both the need for what we are doing and the limitations of our
abilities. This gives us a good opportunity to embrace a large number of Islamic
efforts of various types. We must never distance ourselves from others and their
efforts unless they truly go against the established and indisputable principles
and teachings of Islam. We should never do so on the basis of mere opinions and
assumptions.
One of our
problems is that the understanding of moderation that many people have does not
comprise all four of these defining qualities. Some people overlook the need to
adhere to Islamic Law in formulating their concept of moderation and come up
with ideas that are ambiguous and ill-defined.
Others do
just the opposite and go overboard in demanding perfection, though Allah demands
from us only what is within our abilities, and that is with respect to the Law.
Even less is expected of us in matters of juristic discretion. Today, however,
many Muslims shun those who do not measure up to their opinions and views, and
they are even more abhorrent to those who actually disagree with them.
It is
regretful that they shun each other on the pretense of defending established
Islamic principles like the principle of moderation or the principle following
the Qurân and Sunnah, or that of adhering to the ways of the pious
predecessors. When they do this, they fail to make a distinction between the
principles themselves and their own understanding of them. Therefore, they
accuse each other of violating the principles of Islam without realizing that
their disagreement has little to do with these principles, but more to do with
their own interpretations.
The fact
that many Islamic workers fail to understand the concept of moderation correctly
is the reason why there is an inexcusable amount of confusion and contradictions
to be found within the field of Islamic work today. We must praise Allah that,
in spite of this problem, there is still a lot of good being carried out and
there is still a lot of moderation and a lot that is praiseworthy.
Adapted
from Understanding Moderation
Islahonline *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
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