I. Din and Man
We have stated that a careful study of Islam is likely to give us an
insight into the nature and function of din. Before embarking on this study,
however, it would be advisable to consider its role in human life. The primary function of
din is the development of human personality. It determines man's outlook on life
and makes life meaningful to him. It aims at the transformation of man's character by
organizing his desires into a harmonious system of living. To the extent that it succeeds
in this aim, it eliminates the sources of internal conflict and enables man to live at
peace with himself and at peace with his environment. Success and happiness are basically
the fruits of a genuine personal conviction. But din has its social side as well.
It is concerned with man as he exists in a network of social relationship. It
does not
isolate man from his social setting ; rather, it brings him closer to his fellow-beings.
It has a meaning for man as an individual; but it has a far richer meaning for him as a
member of a social group. Din leads man to the realization that he can develop his
potentialities only by co-operating with his fellow men in the attainment of common ends.
In this way, it plays a vital part in the development of customs, laws and institutions.
It is, therefore, the proper subject of study not only for the psychologist but also for
the historian and the sociologist. All are equally bound to take it seriously and are not
justified in explaining it away (as in the case of religion), as an illusion or a matter
of mere personal concern. The philosopher, too, has the right to examine the validity of din's
view of Reality and to assess its value as a cohesive force in society. Din has
nothing to fear from an impartial inquiry. It has survived the fiercest onslaughts of
science and philosophy so far directed against it.
Iqbal has rightly observed : "Higher religion1.....
recognized the necessity of [concrete]* experience as its foundation long before science
learnt to do so."2 He has also drawn attention to the central position of din,
in a synthesis of all the data of human experience. 3 In this connection it
should be noted that the response of din to Reality is not a partial one. It is not
merely cognitive as it is in the case of science and philosophy, nor is it merely
emotional as it is in aesthetics. It is a total response involving all the elements in the
personality of the individual. Further, it is the response of a coherent harmonious
personality, a personality organized on the basis of a synthetic principle. In the words
of Iqbal, "Religion . . . is neither mere thought, nor mere feeling, nor mere action;
it is an expression of the whole man."4 We must not lose sight of this
fact if we want to understand the real nature of din.
Let us pause to consider the implications of this view. If din is
the expression of the whole man, then his achievements whether in the sphere of action or
of thought, must somehow be related to his din or, in other words, to his basic
beliefs about his relation to the Ultimate Reality. These beliefs essentially relate to din.
We see then that din, has given the impetus to the noblest enterprises of man.
It is generally claimed that a scientific ideology can very well achieve this object. But
this is not true, for the simple reason that a scientific or materialistic ideology, by
its very nature, cannot satisfy the whole man. It may appeal to his reason or interest but
will, certainly, remain unrelated to other elements in his personality, and will in effect
lead to the fragmentation of personality itself. Science and art bring satisfaction to the
rational and the emotional (aesthetic) sides of human nature respectively. But din sets
out to build up a view of the world which will satisfy all the deepest longings of
man. Can din really accomplish this stupendous task ? Some great thinkers of the
modern age who confuse din with religion have posed this question, and
stoutly maintain that it cannot do so. They point out that in the past the fruits
of religion have been not peace and harmony but strife and discord. Cassirer's criticism
of religion deserves to be quoted in full:
Religion remains a riddle not only in a theoretical but also in an ethical sense. It is
fraught with theoretical antinomies and with ethical contradictions. It promises us a
communion with nature, with men, with supernatural powers and the gods themselves.
Yet its effect is the very opposite. In its concrete appearance, it becomes the source of
the most profound dissension and fanatic struggles among men. Religion claims to be in
possession of an absolute truth, but its history is a history of errors and heresies. It
gives us the promise and prospect of a transcendent world, far beyond the limit of our
human experience—and it remains human, all too human.5
It is certainly a devastating criticism, and as it has been made by a
leading thinker of the present age it deserves our serious consideration. To examine it,
point by point, will take us far afield. We can only indicate the general line our defense
of din, as distinguished from religion, should take. The difficulty with Professor
Cassirer is, as is the case with most of the critics of religion, that he has not studied din
as such but some particular religions, and those too which were either man-made or the
revealed ones, though true in their origin, were subsequently vitiated by human
interpolations. He would but have reached a different conclusion if he had studied din.
A true religion, if at all din is styled so, is not a riddle; it rather solves
so many riddles of man and the universe. There are no antinomies in a true religion. On
the other hand, it reconciles contradictions in life and harmonizes the opposites in human
behaviour. It is true that religion has bred strife in the past in human society and that
the religious communities have been torn by dissension. But that is the result of the
imperfect vision of truth entertained by each contending group. Din, on the other
hand, breeds humility and modesty, not arrogance and presumption. Men have certainly
fought among themselves in the name of religion. Their motives were political or economic,
masquerading as religious. But the man believing in din is unwilling to impose his
views on others. Finally, din involves the belief in a transcendent world but it is
wrong to say that this transcendent world is separate and remote from and unconnected with
the world of human experience. The transcendent world of din only an aspect of the
same Reality of which the world of the senses is another aspect. In fact, they
interpenetrate each other and belong to the same Supreme Reality. Din teaches us
that the sensible world is an abstraction from Reality and that we should adjust
ourselves to the whole concrete Reality and not to one of its aspects. We agree with
Professor Cassirer that "religion" (din, as we call it) is "human,
all too human." Its function is to regulate human life in such a way that the
individual develops his personality and becomes a useful member of society. In order to
attain this objective, it gives what may be termed permanent values, which no other
source of knowledge can provide. It exhorts man to conquer the forces of nature, since the
position it assigns to him in the universe is next to God, and to utilize the power so
acquired for the development of the whole of humanity. It shows him the way to rise above
animal level and to live the life of Man. It is possible only if he leads his life
in conformity with permanent values. There would be no permanent values if there were no din
and if there were no permanent values mankind will be no better than a herd of beasts.
This is the real value and place of din in human life and activity which has
unfortunately escaped the notice of Professor Cassirer.
II. The Self
So far we have been concerned with the Ultimate Reality with its
infinity of aspects. One of these aspects is the spatio-temporal world of our experience.
Now, we can turn our attention to the human self which seeks a meaningful
relationship with Reality. The Real, in relation to the human self, is God, and the self's
attitude to the Real is din. The self is strengthened and enriched through
permanent values which are the various attributes of the Real Self called God.
What is the nature of the human self and what is its place in the scheme
of the universe? We will, first, state and critically examine the answers which modern
science and philosophy have supplied to these questions. In ancient and mediaeval
philosophy the self was synonymous with the soul, and the soul was believed to be an
indestructible substance which existed before its temporary conjunction with the material
body and which survives the dissolution of the body. The notion of the soul was taken over
from primitive thought and was refined and elaborated by philosophers. Aristotle was the
only great philosopher who rejected this view and propounded a theory more in consonance
with natural science. He regarded the soul as the entelechy of the body, and as it was the
form of the body, it was also inseparable from it. The soul was thus placed squarely in
the system of natural phenomena. However, for centuries after Aristotle, the older view of
an independent and supernatural soul was unquestionably accepted by both scientists and
philosophers. It was challenged only when modern science was well under way.
In the eighteenth century, the term "self" came into vogue. It
had the advantage of being closer to nature than the term "soul" which had a
supernatural flavour. The self was regarded as the subject of experience. The unity of
consciousness, unique in the world, became intelligible only in the light of a self which
owned and held together the various sensations, feelings and ideas which compose
consciousness. It was regarded as free and not subject to natural laws. Moreover, it was
believed that the self remained unchanged and identical with itself throughout the
life-span of the individual. However, the line of thought which began with Locke and
culminated in the philosophy of Hume rendered this conception of the self wholly
unacceptable to English thinkers. Locke conceived the human mind as a blank tablet which
passively received impressions from the outside world. The contents of the mind were
wholly derived from the external world; it did not itself produce or create anything. It
merely received and stored impressions from external objects and forces. This view totally
denies any activity to the mind. Locke held that any idea in the mind which could not be
traced to its source in an impression was merely spurious. Berkeley applied this test to
the idea of self and reached the conclusion that it was not a valid idea. Nevertheless, he
believed that the flow of ideas was orderly and lawful as these existed in the mind of God
and were owned by Him.
Hume delivered the coup de grace to the popular belief in an
independent self. He carried out a penetrating analysis of the mind and found not a shred
of evidence for its existence. He affirmed that whenever he looked into his mind he came
across a sensation, an image or a feeling, but not the self to which they are, supposed to
belong. The mind, according to him, is merely a succession of ideas which are related to
each other externally by virtue of existing in the same or successive states of
consciousness. Being a thorough going empiricist, he could not accept an idea which did
not correspond to an actual fact of consciousness. He believed that orderliness and
coherence in the contents of the mind could be fully explained in terms of the principles
of association. Thereafter, the English empirical thinkers dispensed with the concept of
self altogether.
Kant agreed that the self or ego was not a fact of experience.
Nevertheless, he believed in a transcendental ego which was the ground of experience. The
idealistic philosophers, therefore, continued to speculate about the transcendental self
and its relation to experience.
The psychologists, with their naturalistic outlook, found the concept of
a transcendental self as of no use to them. The confined themselves to the study of the
facts of experience. However, as they found that the contents of the mind were not
disconnected but centered round an "I" or ego, they developed the concept of the
empirical self. They set themselves to solve the problems of the emergence of the
empirical self and the changes it undergoes in the course of mental development. However,
as psychology attained the status of a full-fledged science, even the concept of an
empirical self was discarded as being associated with ideas of permanent and stability.
In modern psychology the concept of personality has supplanted the older
concept of self. The psychologist now studies the origin of personality and the
process of its development as well as the process of its disintegration in abnormal cases.
Personality is conceived not as an entity but as the form or pattern which the raw
material of the mind assumes when it is organized. The organization of the instinctive
urges, tendencies and capacities which constitute the biological equipment of the
individual proceeds apace during the formative years of life. According to the view which
is most widely held, the ground-plan of personality is laid during the first five years of
life. Two factors, the physiological and the social, determine the farther course of
personality development. The physiologists hold that the hormones secreted by the
endocrine glands play a decisive role in the growth and normal functioning of personality.
Social psychologists, on the other hand, tend to attach greater importance to the social
milieu in which the human child grows up. Personality, they believe, emerges through the
process of socialization. The child internalizes the group code and the social norms which
immediately begin to regulate his instinctive urges and motives. The group also assigns to
him a particular role, and the child develops the capacities and gives free scope to the
tendencies which he needs for playing the role successfully.
Freud has constructed a theory of the origin of personality which,
though not universally accepted, is generally regarded as a valuable contribution to this
field of investigation. He attached great importance to home influences for personality.
His theory throws light on why man clings so tenaciously to his moral code even when it is
detrimental to his interests and even when his reason does not approve of it. It is
because the moral code does not enter the child's mind by way of his intellect, which is
still immature, but is received by and takes root in the emotional part of his nature. The
child loves both his father and mother— but in different ways. His love for the
mother is of the possessive kind. He wants the mother to be always with him, to minister
to his needs as soon as they arise. This love is also libidinal or has an element of
sexuality in it. The mother is the individual's first love object. The child's love for
the father, on the other hand, is ambivalent, or has an ingredient of hostility in it. The
child feels the father to be an obstacle in the gratification of his wishes and considers
him as his rival for the mother's love. He naturally takes up a hostile attitude to the
father. However, he soon finds that this hatred of his father draws upon him strong social
disapproval. The contradictory impulses of love and hatred directed towards the same
person lead to a severe conflict in the child's mind, which he is incapable of resolving
himself rationally. He resolves it by repressing his hostility the father. The repressed
impulse and the ideas associated with it form the Oedipus complex. The father's image and
the moral code, of which the father was the chief exponent, sink into the child's
unconscious and constitute the super-ego or, in ordinary language, the conscience. As the
child, actuated by fear, unquestioningly had obeyed the father, so he now has no choice
but to obey the imperatives of the super-ego which, he feels, have their source outside
himself. His attitude to his father is transferred to the super-ego which is based on the
repressed image of the father. This, according to Freud, is the secret of the powerful
influence that the conscience exerts on the mind of the individual.
Sociologists maintain that human personality takes root in a social
environment and is shaped by social forces. According to this point of view, the
individual plays a negligible role in his own development. He remains passive while
society moulds him into the form which happens to enjoy social approval at the moment. The
inadequacy of this view is obvious, for we see it happening before our eyes that two
children, brought up in the same social environment, develop different types of
personality. If the sociologists were right, the members of a particular social group
would be indistinguishable from each other in respect of personality. As compared to the
sociologists', the psychologists' view is more in agreement with observed facts. According
to this view, personality develops as the result of the reactions of the individual
himself. The important thing for personality is not the social influence to which the
individual is exposed, but the way in which he reacts to it. Man, therefore, does not
passively receive but actively acquires personality. The biological factor operating in
man is of crucial importance for personality development. However, it will not do to
disregard the social factor altogether. Man has, perforce, to accommodate himself to the
demands of the group on which he is dependent and which provides him with security and the
necessities of life. According to the psychological theory, which does justice to both
factors, personality is the product of the interaction between the hereditary constitution
of man and his social milieu.
Science aims not merely at knowledge but at precise knowledge. Precision
is possible only when the subject-matter is susceptible of measurement and when the
technique of measurement has been perfected. For a long time it was believed that
quantitative methods could not be applied to so elusive and imponderable a phenomenon as
personality. We cannot deny the tribute of praise to the psychologists who, with
commendable patience, hard work and ingenuity, have tried to solve this difficult problem.
They first analyzed personality into traits and then discovered that each trait had a
certain dimension. The next step was to devise and perfect the technique of accurately
measuring each trait. By combination the results of measurement we get an overall
picture of personality or personality profile, as it is termed. Rohrschach, Thurstone,
Likert and Goddard have achieved remarkable success in the field. The modern
psychologist now has a repertoire of special techniques for measuring each of the
basic traits of human personality.
However, although the application of scientific methods to the study of
personality has yielded a rich harvest of results, most of these have little bearing on
the questions which loom large in religion. What it is in man which impels him to embark
on the perilous and seemingly desperate enterprise of coming to terms with the Ultimate
Reality? Why and how does he hope to fulfill himself by establishing a close and intimate
contact with God ?
Let us first see how far psychology and philosophy can help us to answer
these questions. When we question the psychologist on the point, he refers us to the
psychological definition of personality. Unfortunately, there is no definition which is
accepted by all the major psychologists of the present age. Personality has been defined
as the total quality of the individual's behaviour. This definition brings out both the
unity and complexity of personality. Personality is inclusive, so that no important
motive, tendency or capacity remains outside it, and yet it has a unity which is not
paralleled anywhere else in nature. For our present purpose it will suffice to state one
more, definition. Personality is the integration of the individual's measurable
characteristics and motivational undercurrents. This process begins in early childhood and
proceeds, at first slowly and then at an accelerated pace, during adolescence until the
emergence of the mature personality of the adult. Thereafter too, personality continues to
undergo at least some changes, though slight, throughout the life of the individual. With
senility, or through disease or traumatic experiences, a process in the reverse direction
may set in. The process of disintegration may lead to the splitting or even fragmentation
of personality. Cases of dual and multiple personality have been observed and intensively
studied by psychiatrists; therapeutic techniques have also been devised for reintegrating
the split personality.
We now see clearly that there is nothing substantial about personality
as it is conceived by the psychologist. It is merely a structural form which mental
elements may take on or discard.
Turning to the philosophers, we find that the Existentialists refuse to
believe in any transcendental entity. They refuse to take a single step beyond the world
of experience. For them too, the human self does not partake of Reality.
The Logical Positivists promptly reject any concept which cannot be
traced back to a fact of experience. Their vision too does not extend beyond the horizon
of experience. Whatever is not an experiential fact they dismiss as non-existent.
At this point, it is natural to ask whether din can get along
with the concept of personality or of empirical self. Obviously it cannot. It can have no
use for the ephemeral self of the psychologist or Logical Positivist. It needs something
real which can enter into a meaningful transaction with the ultimately Real. It needs self
which exists in mental phenomena and is also their underlying ground. Dini activity
is the expression of the reality in man and it is directed to the Real in the universe.
The concept of personality may be scientifically sound, but somehow it leaves us
dissatisfied. We feel that the object we pursued has eluded us and what we have grasped is
a mere shadow. We suspect that scant attention has been paid to the depth factors in human
life. The psychologist works from the surface of the mind downwards, and often fails to
plumb the depths of the human mind.
At a later point in our discussion we will examine the Qur'anic concept
of the self. Here let us pause to consider the effect of the scientific view of the self
on the life of the modern man. The modern man lives at a superficial level. He
pursues petty and selfish ends. No wonder that he is discontented and unhappy. His deepest
cravings are left unsatisfied. Thus he is in conflict both with himself and with his
fellow beings. In this connection, Iqbal's remarks deserve to be quoted in full:
Thus, wholly overshadowed by the results of his intellectual activity, the
modern man has ceased to live soulfully, i.e. from within. In the domain of thought he is
living in open conflict with himself; and in the domain of economic and political life he
is living in open conflict with others. He finds himself unable to control his ruthless
egoism and his infinite gold hunger which is gradually killing all higher strivings in him
and bringing him but life-weariness. Absorbed in the 'fact,' that is to say, the optically
present source of sensation, he is entirely cut off from the unplumbed depths of his own
being. 6
Modern man is certainly a prey to the two types of conflict which Iqbal
has mentioned. For that matter, man may always have suffered from such a conflict. Modern
civilization, however, seems to have accentuated it. Nobody can deny that conflict is an
active source of misery and unhappiness. Is mental conflict due to extraneous factors or
to those which are inherent in the mind? Iqbal, through long meditation on the problems of
life, was admirably fitted to pronounce a balanced judgment on this issue. The passage
quoted above makes it clear that he blames conflict on modern civilization which puts a
premium on the selfish side of man and provides satisfaction for only a segment of the
self instead of for the whole of it. This view deserves serious consideration. To judge
the question in all its aspects, however, we cannot disregard the views of two
psychologists who have made a solid contribution in this field.
The first psychologist who explored the depths of the human mind was
Freud. On the basis of extensive clinical work, he advanced a theory which illumined many
points which hitherto had remained obscure. He preferred the term Psyche, as it had
no metaphysical implications. The Psyche, he believed, is the seat of a number of
instinctive drives, each of which blindly strives to abolish or reduce the tension which
accompanies it. Each of these drives is invested with a fund of psychical energy. This
psychical energy, as it is expanded in activities directed to the attainment of relief or
pleasure, is termed the libido. Consciousness originates on the surface of the
Psyche, which is also the surface of the organism, as it receives the impact of the
environmental forces. As consciousness is in direct contact with the environment, it
assumes the role of mediator between the interior of the Psyche and the environment. The
conscious personality puts a curb on the instinctive drives and compels them to defer
satisfaction to a suitable time. The formation of the Oedipus complex gives rise to the
super-ego, which is the third sub-system of the Psyche. The super-ego, as it embodies the
group code and group ideals, pursues ends which have social approval. The Psyche has three
components—the Id (the instinctual drives of Psyche which are impersonal), the
ego and the super-ego.
The libido finds its typical expression in the sexual activity of
the adult. It can, therefore, be regarded as sex energy. For this reason, Freud was,
rather unfairly, accused of being a pan-sexualist.
The ego and super-ego possess no libidinal energy at the beginning. But
libido itself is highly transferable. It can be detached from the impulse which owns it
and can be transferred to another which society approves of. This process is called
sublimation. The ego suppresses the libidinal urges and diverts the energy thus released
into socially approved channels. Civilization is built up on the repression of the sex
drive. The sexual impulses, however, cannot be extinguished. In this way arises a
never-ending conflict between the demands of the libido and the demands of civilized
society. Civilization, however, rests on insecure ground. The repressed sex urge may erupt
any time and bring down its imposing structure of civilization. Internal conflict or
conflict in the mind of man is the price we have to pay for civilization.
This conflict is accentuated with every increase in the complexity of
social organization. However, this is not the whole story. Freud believes that as a living
organism man has inherited a deeper and more fundamental conflict. He defines instinct as
the primitive tendency to revert to the previous state of existence and the former level
of functioning. A living organism is constantly in an unstable condition. With the first
stirrings of life in the erstwhile inanimate mass of matter, it felt the imperative urge
to revert to the previous state of stability and lifelessness. Freud believes that the
death urge lies at the root of our being. Death promises the final release from tension
which is inseparable from life. The longing for death is the deepest longing in the
Psyche. We are reminded of Buddha's view of life and his longing for Nirvana. Freud
may have been influenced by Schopenhauer's pessimistic philosophy, as, according to him,
we are called upon to say Nay to life. Consciously we may be aiming at and striving
for self-development, but unconsciously we are moving towards the goal of
self-annihilation. Which of the three alternatives open to us should we
choose—acceptance, rejection or nom-committal attitude? It may be pointed out that
man naturally shrinks back from the prospect of extinction, that he passionately longs for
immortality and that he tenaciously clings to beliefs which are related to the
continuation of life beyond death. We may also note that eschatology forms an essential
part of every religion the world over, with the solitary exception of Buddhism. The
highest flights of poetic imagination have often been inspired by the hope that death is
not the end of life but a transition to a higher state of life.
We may briefly comment on Freud's treatment of religion. For him
religion is an illusion which man has created to obtain solace and comfort in a world
which is full of misery and affliction. Man's strongest desires are frustrated and their
energy is dammed up. It finds an outlet in imaginative activity which creates fantasies.
Those repressed desires which are denied gratification in the real world find it on the
ideal plane. The Imago, or the image of the father which lies buried deep in the
unconscious, is projected on to the cosmos as God. Dr. William Brown, himself a
psychoanalyst, has taken strong exception to this view. On the basis of his clinical work
he affirms that a complex usually disappears when the patient is psychoanalyzed. Religion,
however, does not disappear, but may even be strengthened in the mind of the patient who
has been psychoanalyzed.
We may consider the views of another major psychologist, Carl Jung. Let
us see what light he throws on the causes of inter-personal and intra-personal conflicts.
His theory of personality is, in some ways, more profound than the psychoanalytic theory.
In his view, the human personality is a complex system which comprises a number of
sub-systems. Conflict may arise between any one of these and others. Jung's theory of
personality is highly complex and intricate, but it is not necessary for us to consider it
in detail. We will confine ourselves to that part of it which is relevant to our immediate
purpose. Jung's observations on the chief source of discontent in the present age deserve
careful consideration: these are that the opposing trends in the several systems are
likely to clash with one another. The conscious desire may be, in opposition to the
unconscious.
A man may consciously desire wealth and may, devote himself to making
money. But his unconscious may harbour the wish to become an artist. Such a man, even if
he becomes a millionaire, remains unhappy because the unconscious is frustrated. The
remedy for conflict lies in personality itself. It possesses a transcendent function. This
function is endowed with the capacity to unite the opposing trends of the several systems
within and to work towards an ideal goal of perfect wholeness (selfhood).
Jung's conception of the symbol is of particular significance for
religion, as religious truths are generally expressed in symbolical language. Jung affirms
that a symbol has two aspects—retrospective and prospective. In its former aspect,
the symbol expresses the stored-up racial wisdom. In its prospective aspect it represents
a level of development that is far ahead of man’s present status. Man's destiny, the
highest evolution of the Psyche, is marked out for him by symbols. We thus see that in
religion symbols represent higher of development.
Another view, of Jung has a direct bearing on religion. He believes that
a fundamental urge in man leads him to seek unification with the universe. He passionately
desires to be at one with it. The desire to achieve unification with Reality must be
satisfied if man is to win peace and happiness. But because the conditions of life today
frustrate this desire, the modern man feels discontented and unhappy, although he does not
know the reason for this state of his mind.
III. The Qur’anic Concept of the Self
We have now the proper background for grasping, judging and appreciating
the Qur’anic concept of the self. We have deliberately chosen the older term
"self" in preference to the terms "personality," "Psyche"
and "empirical self" which are current in modern psychology and
philosophy. The reasons for this choice may be stated here briefly. The term
"self" is in closer correspondence with the Qur’anic term "nafs,"
than any of the terms which have come into vogue recently. Secondly, each of these
terms suggests an ephemeral phenomenon which appears at a certain point of time, and after
a short period vanishes into the thin air, leaving behind it no trace of its existence.
Such a phenomenon cannot enjoy the status of a moral agent or a responsible being. What it
is and what it achieves are of no significance either for itself or for the world. It is
like the flame of a candle which shines for a moment and then is quickly swallowed up by
the surrounding darkness. Finally, being unreal itself, it cannot enter into a meaningful
relationship and co-operation which we find in the Qur’an, will enable us to form an
adequate idea of the self and a just estimate of its capabilities.
1. The self partakes of Reality and consequently enjoys permanence and
stability. It retains its identify throughout its career. The trials which it
undergoes and the influences to which it is exposed change it without transforming it into
something different from itself. It starts its career in an undeveloped form but equipped
with immense potentialities. It may or may not actualize these potentialities but it never
ceases to be itself. It is not a passive material which is moulded by external forces; it
is essentially active and dynamic. Its typical activity is dini activity in the
highest sense of the term, viz., the development and actualizing of its basic
characteristics, and thereby "drawing closer" to the Most Perfect Self-God-whose
attributes serve as an objective standard for the human self, and thus tasting the joy of
proximity to Him. Death does not terminate the activity of the self; it is but an episode
in its career.
2. Further, the self, as conceived in the Qur'an, is free. Freedom is an
inalienable property of the self. Although it operates in the sphere of nature, its
activity flows from its own nature and is not determined by natural causes. As Dr. Rhine,
in his book, New World of the Mind, aptly remarks: "There is something
operative in man that transcends the laws of matter."
It is because the, self is free that it functions as a moral agent.
Duties and obligations have no meaning for a being which is completely
determined. If the self were not free, it would be insensitive to the demands of
"ought" and would respond only to the demands of "must." Its sense of
responsibility, springs from its sense of freedom; it is capable of leading a moral life
only because it is free. This view implies that the self has a real choice of
action. It can choose any one of the alternative courses of action open to it, and
responsibility for its choice rests squarely on it.
Of course, the self does not enjoy absolute and unlimited freedom. Its
freedom is circumscribed by the conditions under which it lives. The world of fact checks
and restrains its activities in various ways and in various degrees. The self chafes under
these restraints. It flourishes only in an atmosphere of regimented society its sphere of
action may be subjected to increasing shrinkage. Such a society discourages all kinds of
self-expression and curbs liberty of action. Under these conditions, the self begins to
languish. It can regain its vitality only by regaining its freedom. The self burgeons,
blossoms and fructifies in lofty thoughts and noble actions only in an atmosphere of
freedom. Freedom is in the essence of the self and cannot be extinguished under external
compulsion. The self, however, feels cramped and frustrated in a regimented and
totalitarian society, or an "other-directed conformism," or system of religion.
The State, whose power has increased enormously in recent times, poses a serious threat to
the integrity of the self. It has been steadily and relentlessly encroaching on the domain
of the self. The individual's freedom has been seriously curtailed by the modern State,
armed as it is with scientific techniques of suggestion, propaganda and brain washing. The
government can now influence the individual's mind to a degree which was undreamt of in
the past. It can control not only man's overt actions but his inner thoughts as well. In
these circumstances, the only citadel in which freedom can take refuge is din. It
ensures complete freedom for self within the framework of permanent values. Din
should, therefore, be defended at any cost, as the region where man can still enjoy
freedom and function as a self and not merely as a cog in a machine.
3. Again, the self as viewed by the Qur'an is not static. It possesses
infinite capacity for development. With its own efforts (of course on the lines demarcated
by permanent values), it rises to higher and higher planes of existence. The Qur'an says,
"Verily We will raise you to higher and higher levels"
(84: 19). The self fulfills itself by developing and actualizing its potentialities. With
death, man does not cease to exist but passes on to a higher plane of existence. The
Qur'an has prescribed din, or the way of life, which fits man for the higher level.
When man is elevated to the higher level, he feels as if the gate of Heaven had been
thrown open to him. On the other hand, when he falls to a lower level he feels that he has
been flung into Hell.
The Qur'an opens out a vast vista of development to man. No term has
been set to his progress. Man's destiny is marked out for him in symbols. To understand
the symbols, however, we need true insight. When we can catch a glimpse of the higher
level, then only does the symbol which represents it becomes intelligible. It is
futile to discuss a symbol when we have no inkling of the stage to which it refers. The
Qur'an, when studied intelligently, provides us with the insight to understand the true
meanings of these symbols.
4. The self has the capacity for value-experience. It is sensitive to
the higher qualities of its experience and appreciates their value. Value-experience is
nonexistent at the sub-human level. It becomes possible only when the self has emerged.
Value-experience may be of a low or high order. The, higher in the scale an experience is,
the more satisfying it is found to be. When the self is fit to rise to a higher plane, it
craves for a value-experience higher than that with which it had been content hitherto. An
experience of high value enriches and elevates the self.
5. The self develops mainly through its own efforts. It rises or falls
through its moral or immoral actions. Says the Qur'an: "The self (nafs) owns
only that which it earns" (74: 38) and it changes through what it assimilates, good
or bad. The self is subject to the law of requital. Its a'mal-ul-hasanah enhance
its worth and a`mal-us-sayyi’ah degrade it. God never does wrong to the self.
The Qur’an is explicit on this point. If the self is degraded, it is its own doing.
External forces cannot touch the self and God never deals with it un-justly. So the self
is affected by nothing except the results of its own actions. Suffering is the fruit of a'mal-us-sayyi’ah.
6. Finally, the self partakes of Reality and mirrors the Divine
attributes. "I breathed My Ruh—Divine Energy—into him (man),"
says the Qur'an (15: 29). The Nabi said, "Cultivate in yourselves those
qualities which reflect the Divine attributes." By cultivating those qualities, the
self develops and draws, so to say, closer to God. Through a'mal-us-sayyi'ah,, it
gets further away from God and Reality. A'mal-ul-hasanah, as has already been
observed, strengthen the self and weaken it. The distance between God and the human self
is increased by the latter and is decreased by the former which cultivate Divine
qualities. This is the teaching of the Qur'an. Moreover, the self becomes more and more
real as it develops into itself the attributes of God, and more and more unreal as it
recedes from Him. The Divine attributes serve as an objective model after which man can
strive to fashion himself.
IV. God and Man
The self can enter into meaningful relationship only with other selves,
and for realizing itself it has to depend upon the help, sympathy and co-operation of
other beings which have essentially the same nature as its own. The self, therefore, seeks
out other selves and prospers in their company. It yearns to be in the midst of beings
with whom it can communicate and in whose aspirations and activities it can participate.
For this reason man nowhere leads a solitary life, but is everywhere found to be a member
of a social group. Only in society can man enjoy mental health and function efficiently.
But, above all things, the self longs for co-operation, i.e., being a
co-worker, with the Supreme Self or God. Such co-operation sustains and vivifies it.
Without this, the self droops, languishes and loses the zest for life and activity. It is
happy only when it is engaged in purposive activity, and happiest when it has the feeling
of participation in the cosmic purpose. A compelling urge in the self impels it to seek
the meaning of life and the world. The physical world, on the face of it, is purposeless
and meaningless. Iman makes life and the world meaningful. For this reason the self
clings passionately and tenaciously to the belief in the Supreme Being, the most perfect
and ideal Self.
The idea of God that the Qur'an presents is both simple and sublime. God
is the creative force which is at work throughout the universe. God manifests Himself in
the visible world of nature. The Qur’an says, "Whithersoever you turn, you look
at the countenance of God" (2:115). The Qur’an calls upon us to reflect and
ponder over the grand natural phenomena—the earth and sky, wind and rain, sun, moon
and stars. All nature reflects the beauty and glory of God. Special attention is drawn to
God's attribute of Rububiyah, according to which He sustains and fosters every
being, and thus the lowliest organism develops and attains maturity and relative
perfection. Because God controls and governs the world, the world process is not
purposeless and meaningless. God guides and directs the cosmic process to a grand destiny.
In human history a Divine Plan is being worked out, slowly but surely, and a splendid
destiny awaits man. In the Qur’an, God is presented as both Immanent and
Transcendent. He works in the world as a creative urge and also exists outside it as its
ground. He manifests Himself in nature and yet transcends it. He is eternal and yet
in the changing world every day a new phase of His glory is presented to our view (55:
29).
The Qur'an sheds new light on the relation between man and God. It is
one of partnership, although one of the partners is immeasurably higher than the other.
The wide gulf that separates man from God is, however, not an insuperable obstacle to
fruitful co-operation between them. Man is endowed with a self, and we have seen that a
self can co-operate only with another self. By virtue of possessing a self, man can, in
his humble capacity, work together with God in the carrying out of the Divine Plan. Man
has a stake in the future of the world and as a free self has the capacity to determine,
however slightly, what that future is to be. It gives man a new sense of dignity to feel
that he is actively contributing to the success of the Divine Plan. The Qur'an
earnestly appeals to man to work with God in bringing about a world in which justice and
goodness are not merely ideas but realities. He can and should contribute to the sum-total
of goodness in the universe. Man's acquisitive instincts make him selfish and greedy and
bring him into conflict with his fellow beings. As such he cannot fit into the Divine
scheme. However, by encouraging and fostering his creative instincts, which enable him to
create values, he will be able to work in harmony with the moral order of the universe and
will move steadily towards the goal of full self-realization and perfection. At the same
time, he will be enriching the world with values and making it a fit abode for men, who
are both free and good. He will be taking his modest share in accomplishing the Divine
purpose. The Qur'an calls upon man to co-operate with other men in the pursuit of the
good. "Help one another in bir and taqwa", says the Qur’an
(5:2).
Evolution proceeded at extremely slow pace in the past ages, and, often,
a million years passed before a higher quality emerged in the animal world. With the
emergence of a free conscious self, the prospect is much brighter. When free men, under
the Guidance of God, are participating in the world process and are deliberately
furthering it, the pace of evolution is sure to be accelerated. By following the right
path, which the Qur'an has shown us clearly, we can develop all our latent potentialities
and march forward to the ultimate goal of perfection.
As man owns a self, he has a natural affinity with God, the Absolute
Self. This affinity confers on him the right and lays on him the duty of working in
harmony with the will and purpose of God. By working in this way man not only realizes
himself but also gives an impetus to the progress of human society.
The way in which the Absolute Self manifests its attributes in
the Universe evokes feelings of awe, reverence and admiration in man. As man naturally
imitates what he admires, he strives to develop himself and be as like God as is possible
for a finite being to be. God serves as a model and also as an objective standard with
which man can compare himself and judge his progress in self-realization. Man needs God as
a co-worker and as an ideal.
V. Religion or "Din"
As already explained in the Introduction, the Qur'anic term for religion
is "din". Din, however, is not merely a synonym for religion. Din
is a broader and deeper concept than religion as it is commonly understood. Religion
usually means a set of dogmas, an elaborate ritual and a host of trivial practices.
Ordinary activities of life are hedged in by a number of rules and taboos. Simple acts
such as eating and marrying are surrounded by a complex ceremonial. Man's conduct in
everyday life is regulated in the minutest detail. Din, as presented in the Qur'an,
is not a matter of ritual or ceremonial. It is concerned with the broad aim of life and
the program of action by which that aim can be attained. Din gives full scope to
man's initiative and discretion. It is meant for a free and intelligent person, a person
who has the courage to think, judge and act for himself. Din offers broad
principles which give guidance to man in the adventure of life and which enable him to
attain the goal of self-realization and social welfare. These principles, however, are not
meant to be followed blindly. They are to be applied with intelligence and forethought.
Iqbal, who has grasped the essence of din, remarks that it enunciates "basic
principles of a universal import directing the evolution of human society on a spiritual
basis."7 Hard and fast rules, therefore, have no place in din. Din has
fully served its purpose if it has delineated the ideal of life in bold lines, has
explicated the principles governing its pursuit and has inspired in man zeal and devotion
for the ideal. The din of Islam does not lay on man a heavy burden of rules
and regulations. It merely gives him guidance where he needs it and provides him with
permanent values. Man should seek the aid of din in obtaining inspiration and
vision; he should look elsewhere if he is interested only in the performance of ritual and
ceremonial. Looked at from this angle, din is not an opiate, as the Marxian
contend, but a stimulant and a spur to action. Din does not induce in us
contentment with things as they are; it spurs us on to efforts directed to the
establishment of a better order of society. On the other hand, religion inculcates a
passive resignation and complete submission to authority, however oppressive and unjust it
may be. At best, it counsels us to have recourse to passive resistance. Din calls
upon us to fight against injustice and oppression and to actively promote the cause of
justice.
Another characteristic of din distinguishes it from religion in
its general sense. Din is forward-looking: the ideal it embodies beckons to man
from the future. Like a beacon it guides his steps towards a glorious destiny. Din
does not want man to keep gazing, awe-struck, at some golden age in the remote and dim
past: man’s duty is not to retrace his steps but to advance in the direction of
futurity. Din is prospective, not retrospective. It is a vis a front not a vis
a tergo. That is why din is a source of hope and attaches supreme importance to
hope; so much so that to relinquish hope is reckoned as kufr (the Qur'an, 39:53 ;
12:87).
Finally, the Qur'an insists upon explicit conviction which it calls iman.
A number of verses in the Qur'an make it clear that compulsion has no place in the
sphere of din. Din must be accepted freely and voluntarily by man. A religion which
is forcibly imposed on an individual has no value for him or for the world at large. Man
has the right to exercise free choice in the matter of din. "There is no
compulsion in the matter of din," asserts the Qur'an (2:256). If this command is
accepted and obeyed in good faith, it will certainly put an end to all fanaticism and
religious disputes. Understood rightly, this injunction is the charter of freedom of
thought and expression even to those who do not believe in it. Din, therefore,
leaves the power to choose and act in man's hands. It is through his personal initiative,
strength of character, courage, fortitude, determination and ceaseless efforts that man
can shape his destiny and can win for himself a future which must necessarily belong to
him if he accepts and follows the Divine revelation in all sincerity.
VI. Islam
The Qur'anic concept of din has been elucidated in the foregoing
section. Obviously, Islam fulfills all the requirements of din. Islam, as Iqbal
puts it, "is neither dogma, nor priesthood, nor ritual."8 It is much
more than any of these or all of these. It is the vivid sense of God's directive force and
unflinching working of His laws. It is absolute iman in God's wisdom and His
purpose. It is hearty participation in the upward progressive trend and movement of life
and the world viewed as the expression of God's creative force. Islam stands for
life-fulfillment and rejects life-denial as unworthy of man. It commands us to face facts
and not to shrink from them and take refuge in fantasy, and requires us to control and
harness natural forces for achieving our ends. Asceticism, quietism and monasticism are
all repugnant to Islam. Islam lays stress oil social life and on its value for man, and
does not regard the body as an evil and as an impediment to "spiritual"
progress. It wants man to respect the rights of the body as well as the rights of the
self. For this reason, Islam does not approve of self-abnegation and self-mortification.
There is nothing mysterious in it and it has no place for mysticism. It aims at the
establishment of a social order based on permanent values in which all its members act
as free agents striving for a higher and noble cause of making man’s abode on this
earth more beautiful, and making him fit for further evolutionary stages of life.
Islam, as a living force, will continue to play a vital role in
the moral uplift and social, cultural and political unification of mankind. It will
continue to make valuable contributions to the knowledge and culture of mankind. Above
all, it will continue to enrich the "spiritual" 9 life of man and
thus strengthen and elevate his self or his personality.
References
1. When Iqbal uses the word "religion" with reference to Islam,
it should be understood as Din.
2. M. Iqbal, Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p. 172.
3. Ibid., P. 2.
4. Ibid.
5. Ernest Cassirer, An Essay on Man, p. 72.
6. Iqbal, op. cit., p. 177.
7. Ibid., p. 170.
8. Ibid., p. 178.
9. The word "spirit" or "spiritual" has special
significance in Christian ideology and has not been used by the Qur’an anywhere in
that sense. The Qur’an speaks of man's material and moral progress or degeneration,
and not "spiritual." Even about Muhammad (P) it says, "And surely thou hast
sublime morals" (68:4). The word "spiritual" has been used in this
book following its common usage in the English language, i.e. as against purely physical,
and should be taken in that sense only wherever it oc
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