Is Man Faith An Opium?

My learned friend continued his argument with a significant look in his eyes.

What do you say to counter those who describe religion as opium which drugs the poor and oppressed and makes them acquiesce in the injustice and deprivation they suffer under, leaving them to dream of Paradise and the Houris. At the same time, the rich hold tight to their wealth as a right incumbent from God’s creation of men in various ‘degrees’?

What, further, can you say in reply to those who believe that religion did not descend from God but, instead, originated from the ‘earth’ springing from social causes and conditions to be employed as a weapon by one class against another?

My friend was, of course, referring in his last sentence to the materialists and their ideas. I pointed to him that nothing can be more erroneous than describing religion as opium. In its essence, religion implies burdens, injunctions, and responsibilities; it surely does not mean disencumbered or disavowal of anything and is, thus, no shirking of responsibility and no opium. Our religion stresses work and not laziness:

“Say: ‘Act’ God will behold your works, and so will His Prophet and the faithful;” Repentance, 105

We believe in actual reliance upon God (Tawakkul), not in helpless inaction (Tawakul). Dependence upon God necessitates resolving, expenditure of every possible effort, exhaustion of every energy and means, and, then, submission to God's will and fate: 'When you are resolved, put your trust in God', (The Imran's, 159). Resolve comes first. The Prophet's advice to the man who wanted to leave his she-camel untied, relying upon God's preserving of it, was: "Tie it and rely on God"; that is, he should do his best to secure the animal and then put his trust in God.

Religion means watchfulness, attentiveness, alertness, self-questioning, and the heeding of conscience in every deed, word, or prompting- this is not the way of opium-eaters. The true opium-eater is the materialist who rejects religion because he wants to escape its consequences and responsibilities and thinks that the moments he lives belong to him so that he does as he likes, believing that there is no watcher questioner or resurrection after death. How can a man like this compare with the true Muslim who considers himself responsible even for his 'seventh neighbor and who blames himself if any individual in his nation starves or if any animal is mistreated, feeling that he has not fulfilled a duty made incumbent on him by his religion.

It is also not true that our religion originated from 'the earth,' from social conditions and causes, to be employed as a weapon in the hand of one class against another and to perpetuate the wealth of the rich and the poverty of the poor. Quite the opposite is true. Islam came as a revolt against the rich, the money-hoarders, the exploiters, and the oppressors. It expressly enjoined that wealth should not be monopolized and exchanged among the rich alone, but it should be open for all as a right:

“Proclaim a woeful punishment to those that hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in God’s service.” Repentance, 34

Spending starts with the compulsory Zakat (payable on various income and assets) of 2.5%. It can go up, voluntarily, to include all you have in your pocket or at hand, leaving yourself only with your daily sustenance:

“They ask you what they should give in alms. Say: ‘What you can spare.” The Cow, 219

That which can spare is anything more than is required for sustenance and the satisfaction of needs.

This way, Islam combined the compulsory, legal injunction with an appeal to conscience and free will. This is more honorable for the man than forceful confiscation and expropriation. Islam graded the ceiling for spending in charity up to 90% of income, but at the same time, it did not lay down any compulsion. Islam was not revealed to confirm injustice but to declare an unconditional revolt against all the unjust. It came as a sword waging war on tyrants and dictators.

The materialists, however, quote verses from the Quran such as the following to charge that religion is reactionary and class-oriented :

“To some of you, God has given more than to others.” The Bee, 71

“We have exalted some in rank above others.” Ornament, 32

In reply to such a charge, we can say that these verses apply to modern London, Paris, Berlin, or Moscow just as much as they apply to Cairo, Damascus, or Jeddah. If we survey the streets of Moscow, for example, we shall find some people walking on their feet, some riding bicycles, some driving a car, and yet others being driven in luxurious vehicles. What else can this be but an expression of variance in livelihood itself, in ranks, and economic levels?

The existence of differences between people is an axiomatic fact. Communism has not been able to level such differences. Even extremist advocates of materialism and anarchy did not call for equality. Equality as such is impossible, for how can we make two initially unequal people the same? From the moment of birth, men are unequal in intelligence, strength, beauty, or talents. They are born in ranks or degrees in more ways than one. The utmost that economic philosophies have aspired to is to achieve equality in opportunities and not equality of men, to secure for everyone the same opportunity in education, healthcare, and a minimum standard of living, the same things that religion calls for.

To abolish degrees and differences would be an injustice in quintessence and a contradiction to nature. The natural order is based on variance, differentiation, and variety in everything: in fruits of the earth, in animals, and in men. In cotton, we find short and long stapled varieties and such Egyptian types with local names like 'Gizeh 7', 'Sclarides,' or 'Fully Good Fair.' We know several varieties of Egyptian dates — the yellow Samani, the red Zagloul, and the Hayyani- and of grapes such as the Banati, the Fayyoumi, and the Smyrna. The ranks, degrees, or variations are found in a far greater measure in animals and men.

Differentiation is the law of existence as a whole. The wisdom behind it is quite clear. If all men were born with the same bodies, features, and qualities, there would have been no need for them to be created in the first place. It would have been sufficient for just one prototype-man to be created instead of the rest. This would have naturally been generalized to every order of existence, leading to the impoverishment and bankruptcy of creation. The wealth and fertility of nature show only in the variety of its yields and fruits and the differences among its products.

Nevertheless, religion did not stand passively in the face of such variance between rich and poor. It instructed that this condition be rectified and described it as a temptation and trial: "We test you by means of one another. Will you not have patience?" (The Criterion, 20). We, as men, shall discover how the powerful, for instance, uses his strength: will he help the weak or employ it to strike, murder, and tyrannize? We shall see how the rich man manages his wealth: will he dominate, squander, sympathize, and be charitable? We shall also find out how the destitute behaves in his poverty: will he envy, grudge, steal, and embezzle? Will he work and toil at his best possible capacities to raise his standard of living in a manner that is lawful and just?

Religion commanded justice, the redress of wrongs, and equality of opportunities. It raised the torments of the hereafter as a threat saying that there will be more widely-spaced ranks or degrees in the next world to redress what has not been rectified in this:

“See how we have exalted some above others. Yet this life to come has greater degrees and is more exalted.” The Night Journey, 21

To those who accuse Islam of political reaction, we reply that it brought the most progressive principles of rule. Respect for the individual has reached its summit in Islam, which preceded and excelled the Human Rights Declaration in this regard. An individual, in consideration of Islam, is equal to humanity in its entirety:

“Whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or other wicked crimes, should be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind; and whoever saved a human life should be regarded as though hehad saved all mankind.” The Table, 32

All material achievements and reforms or the construction of dams and factories cannot balance the murder of just one individual at the hand of the ruler in carrying out these reforms; it would be as if the ruler, in committing this crime, has killed all humanity.

Such is a zenith in the respect for individuals which has not been attained by any political doctrine old or new. In Islam, the individual has an absolute value, whereas his worth in all other political philosophies is relative. Under Islamic injunctions, he is secure in his home, in his private affairs. There shall be no spying and back-biting'), and in his wealth, income, possessions, and freedom. Everything has a place in the Quran: the exchange of greetings, making room for those sitting in a gathering, and the utterance of kind words.

The Quran forbade oppression, tyranny', and the monopoly of power by any one individual. God told the Prophet, perfect and competent as he was, 'You are not a compeller over them.' (Qaf, 45). God also said to His Prophet:

“Therefore give warning. Your duty is only to remind them. you are not their ward.” The Overwhelming, 21

“The believers are a band of brothers.’’ The Chambers, 10

The Quran also forbade the worship of rulers and the deification of the great:

“None of us shall set up mortals as gods besides Him,” The Imrans, 64

“Your Lord has enjoined you to worship none but Him ,‘ The Night Journey, 23

God prohibited demagoguery, the flattery of the mob and the riff-raff, and compliance with the misleading majority:

“Most men do not know (that God has power over all things).” Joseph, 21

“But most of them are senseless men.” The Spider, 63

“Most men do not believe (in the Day of Doom),” The Forgiver, 59

“They (the greater part of mankind) follow nothing but idle fancies and they do but utter falsehood “ Cattle, 116

“They are like the cattle — nay, they are farther astray.” The Criterion, 44

God similarly enjoined against racialism and discrimination on its basis:

“The noblest of you in God’s sight is he who fears Him most” The Chambers, 13

“It was He who created you from a single soul.” The Heights, 189

Islam is, in a scientific sense, a dialectical synthesis of the materialistic bent of Judaism and the spirituality of Christianity; it combines that strict, dry justice which laid down the taking of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with the amiability and excessive toleration which preach the turning of the left cheek. The Quran came as a golden mean between the Torah, which has been corrupted to become a purely materialistic book with no mention of The Judgment Day, and the Bible, which is inclined to total asceticism. The Quran lays down the law of mercy, which incorporates both justice and love. It allows the legitimacy of self-defense but prefers pardon, forbearance, and forgiveness:

“And whoso is patient and forgives that, verily, is of the steadfast heart of things.” Counsel, 43

Whereas capitalism gave the individual free rein in the pursuit of profit to the extent of exploiting others. While communism completely crushed any freedom in that sphere, Islam offered the golden mean:

“Unto men a share of that which they have earned, and unto women a share of that which they have earned.” Women, 32

The individual is free to acquire gains, but he cannot keep them all to himself; he has a right only to a share of them. The poor have a share in such gains, which is to be taken in the form of the compulsory Zakat portion of 2.5% or voluntary charitable spending of up to 90% of income. This share is not given by way of alms or charity, but it represents God's right in the gains. Through such delicate balance, Islam preserved both the individual's freedom and the right of the poor.

The Quran perfectly hits the mark when it records God's call to the nation (Ummah) of Islam: 'We have made you a middle nation;' (The Cow, 143). Islam has chosen the just mean concerning everything. It is not a mathematically determined mean but rather a dialectical or synthetic structure that incorporates thesis and antithesis — the right and the left — transcending and adding to them. Therefore, it cannot be claimed that there is either a rightist or a leftist tendency in Islam; there is only the Sirat (Path) of the moderate mean, which we call 'the Straight Path. Any inclination either to the right or to the left of this path is a deviation from Islam.

The Quran did not tie us down to a definite political program or a detailed system of government, for God knew, in his Prescience, that circumstances change necessitating Ijtihad or inventive intellectual effort to formulate different programs for different ages. In this way, the Muslim would be free to exchange the branches of knowledge available at every age without being confined to a set and unchanging program. That is why the Quran found it sufficient to proclaim those mentioned above general political recommendations as to the essentials of ideal government. It did not shackle us with a dogmatic theory, and this is, in fact, one of the aspects of its miraculous nature and not a defect or shortcoming.

I this approach, we find another fact of the Quran's idea of progress which antedated all other doctrines of progress. We answer those alleging that religion means rigidity and petrification by pointing out that Islam was never a creed of that sort; it always called for and championed thinking, contemplation, development, and change. Consider, for example, such verses in their clear indications.

“Say: ‘Travel in the land and see how He originated creation,”

The Spider, 20

“Let man consider from what he is created. He is created from a gushing fluid that issued from between the loins and the ribs.” The Morning Star, 7

“Will they not reflect on the camels and how they were created; and heaven and how it was raised on high; the mountains and how they were set up, the earth and how it was levelled flat.” The Overwhelming, 17–19

All these are specific commands for investigating the creation of man, the animals, the mountains, the strata of the earth's crust, and space with its stars and orbits. Such investigations encompass all the material under geology, astronomy, anatomy, physiology, biology, and embryology.

We have, then, in the Quran, clear injunctions to travel through the earth, gathering evidence, deducing laws, and understanding how its creation was begun. This is what is called today the science of evolution.

There is no taboo against error. Islam rewards anyone who expends an intellectual effort and errs; it doubles that reward who hits on the truth.

There is no foundation to the charge that belief in religion is the cause of our backwardness, while atheism is the secret behind the progress of the west. What is true is that we lagged when we turned our backs to the teachings of our religion. When the Muslims did adhere to the injunctions of their creed there was real progress, a nation that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf, and scholars like Ibn Sina in medicine, Ibn Rushd in philosophy, Ibn el-Haytham in mathematics, Ibn el-Nafis in anatomy, and Gaber Ibn Hayyan in chemistry.

Nations at that time received knowledge from us. European dictionaries still keep the Arabic names of many stars and constellations. The French word for the distilling device, imbique, and the verb for that process, imbiquer, still retain theirs. Arabic original: Ambeeq.

The west did not advance by atheism but through science. The roots of the entire mistaken notion go back to the clerical tyranny of the Middle Ages, to the Inquisition's restrictions against science and scientists exemplified by Galilee's imprisonment and Giordano Bruno's burning at stake.

When the Church ruled supreme and was diverted by the Popes from its noble mission, it became a force for backwardness. Superficial critics imagined that such a situation applies to Islam as well. This is a mistake; Islam does not institute any clergy or papacy. God did not set up any mediators or warders between Him and the believers. When Islam ruled, it was a factor of progress, as we indicated, and history testifies to belying such shallow allegations.

Unequivocal Quranic verses incite to knowledge and enjoin its acquisition; they do not set up an opposition between religion and science:

“Say: ‘Lord increase my knowledge.” Taha, 114

“Are those who know equal with those who know not?” The Troops, 9

“God bears witness that there is no god but Him, and so do the angels and the men of learning.” The Imrans, 18

In the last verse, God even couples the men of learning with the angels relating both to the honor of His name and His act of witnessing.

The very first word revealed of the Quran was "Read"; the knowledgeable are promised the highest ranks:

“God will raise to high ranks those that have faith and knowledge among you.” She That Disputeth, 11

The word 'knowledge' and its various derivatives recur in the Quran about eight hundred and fifty times. In light of the previous remarks, how can anyone speak about a contradiction between religion and science or restrictions imposed by the former on the latter?

Studying religion and deepening its understanding is a desirable attitude. The entire history of Islam is nothing but continuous movements of revival and development. The Quran is undoubtedly innocent of imposing any rigidity on men. Everything in our religion accepts development except, of course, the essence of its creed and the core of its Shari'a (Law). God is one and He will not 'develop' to become two or three; His status is absolute. Similarly, evil will remain evil while good remains so. Murder will never become a virtue, nor will theft change into a blessing or lying metamorphose into an ornament for good. Apart from these elements, religion is open before thinking, intellectual assays, additions, and development.

Islam, in its quintessence, is rationalistic. It accepts dialogue and argument and encourages the use of mind and reasoning. In more places than one, we find the Quran asking rhetorically: 'Don't they reason?', 'Don't they understand?'. The believers are described as the 'people of reason,' and the Quran tells us:

“The meanest beasts in God’s sight are those that are deaf, dumb, and devoid of sense.” The Spoils, 22

“Have they never journeyed in the land? Have they no hearts to reason with, or ears to hear with?” The Pilgrimage, 46

Respect for the mind is the heart and essence of religion, positive attitudes its core, and revolution its spirit. Islam has never been a hostile creed of submission:

“Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you,” The Cow, 190

“God loves those who fight in His cause in ranks as if they were a solid structure.’’ The Ranks, 4

At every center of our religion, we encounter values such as sacrificing the self, wealth, and sons in the struggle for God's cause. Steadfastness in fighting and the express injunction against turning tail are Islamic values; and so are endurance, constant readiness, and the defeating of despair·

How can a religion with such high regard for flexibility, rationalism, the scientific approach, and positive and revolutionary attitudes be libeled by charges of rigidity and petrification except from the tongues of such men as my dear, learned friend who, although just back from France with his doctor's degree, is ignorant of the rudimentary of his religion and has not even read one letter of its Book: the Holy Quran?