The second branch of the Islamic precepts relates to man’s duties towards man, but it should be borne in mind that both kinds of precepts are very closely inter-related. The moral elevation of man is the grand theme of the Holy Quran and the chief object which Islam has in view throughout, and all its precepts are only meant to raise humanity step by step to the highest moral elevation to which man can attain. “The person who violates his brother’s right is not a believer in the Unity of God”[9] is a teaching which deserves to be written in letters of gold.
The Brotherhood of Islam
In the first place, Islam abolishes all invidious distinctions. “Surely the noblest among you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous of you” sounds the death-knell of all superiority or inferiority based on rigid caste and social distinctions. Mankind is but one family according to the Holy Quran which says:
“O mankind! Surely We have created you from a male and a female and made you tribes and families that you may know each other. Surely the noblest among you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous of you” (49:13).
Islam thus lays down the basis of a vast brotherhood in which all men and women, to whatever tribe or nation or caste they may belong, and whatever be their profession or rank in society, the wealthy and the poor, have equal rights, and in which no one can trample upon the rights of his brother. In this brotherhood all members should treat each other as members of the same family. No one is to be deprived of any right on the score of his race or profession or sex. Besides being the only religion which enjoined the duty of freeing slaves, and the only religion whose Founder set a personal example of obtaining freedom for slaves, Islam also required a slave to be clothed with the clothing and fed with the food of his master, and not to be treated as a low or vile person. And this great brotherhood did not remain a brotherhood in theory, but became an actual living force by the noble example of the Holy Prophet and his worthy successors and companions. The strict rule of brotherhood is laid down in the following words of the Holy Prophet: “No one of you is a believer in God until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself”.
Rights of women
No other religious book and no other reformer, religious or secular, has done one-tenth of what the Holy Quran or the Holy Prophet Muhammad has done to raise the position of women. From a material as well as a spiritual point of view, Islam recognizes the position of woman to be the same as that of man. The highest favour which God has bestowed upon mankind is the gift of Divine revelation, and we find women, as well as men, spoken of in the Quran as receiving revelation (see, for example, 3:42 and 28:7). The Quran makes no difference between man and woman in the bestowal of Divine reward for good deeds:
“Whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall enter the Garden (of heaven)” (40:40; see also 3:195, 4:124, 16:97 and 33:35).
Thus, according to the clearest teachings of Islam, men and women can rise to the same eminence in the moral and spiritual spheres.
On the material side too, woman is recognized as on a par with man. She can earn money and own property just as a man can do:
“For men is the benefit of what they earn, and for women is the benefit of what they earn” (4:32).
She has full control over her property and can dispose of it as she likes. In Arabia, at the time of the advent of the Holy Prophet, a woman had no rights of property; in fact, she herself was part of the inheritance, and was taken possession of along with other property. The Quran took her from this low position and raised her to a position of perfect freedom as regards her property rights and her right to inheritance, a position which, even in modern western nations, she has attained only very recently after a long struggle.
To raise the moral status of society, Islam requires both sexes to behave modestly and to develop the habit of keeping their looks cast down in the presence of each other. When going out, or on other occasions when there is intermingling of the sexes, women are required to be properly dressed,[10] and not to make a display of beauty so as to excite the passions of the other sex. With these precautions, women have every liberty to go anywhere and to do any work.
As a wife, a woman does not lose any of the rights she possesses as an individual member of society; nor is her individuality merged in that of her husband. Her position as wife, according to a Saying of the Holy Prophet, is that of “a ruler over the house of her husband”. In the matter of divorce too, which may become necessary if all means to effect reconciliation between husband and wife are exhausted, the Quran places the two parties on a level of perfect equality.
The State
The Holy Prophet Muhammad was not only the Founder of a religion but also the Founder of a state. Like the religion he founded, his ideal for a state was democratic, but it was a democracy based upon responsibility to God in the first place. The following description of believers shows how these two ideas of democratizing and spiritualizing the state were blended:
“And those who respond to their Lord and keep up prayer, and whose affairs are (decided) by counsel among themselves, and who spend charitably out of what We have given them” (42:38).
This verse teaches Muslims the principle of democracy (“counsel among themselves”) for conducting state affairs, and at the same time urges them to acquire the qualities that spiritualize man and draw him closer to God. Islam thus requires temporal authority to be exercised with the fullest sense of responsibility towards the Higher Divine Authority, making the physical force of the state subject to moral considerations. Hence it is that, according to Islamic teachings, the government is to be entrusted to persons who stand on a very high moral and spiritual plane, the head of state being called both an amir (lit. one who commands) and an imam (a person whose high moral example is followed).
The principles of Islamic government were illustrated in practice by the Holy Prophet Muhammad himself as founder-head of the Muslim state; and after him, his first four successors are recognized as following in his footsteps to exemplify true Islamic rule, combining democracy with a display of high moral character. This model Islamic state was democratic in the truest sense of the word. Each of these successors (“Caliphs”) was elected head of state by the agreement of all parties. The head was a servant of the state who was paid a fixed salary out of the public treasury, like all other public servants. He had no special privileges. Even the Holy Prophet himself did not claim any rights beyond those which other Muslims had. It was a democracy free from all differences of heredity, rank or privilege. All people, including the ruler, had equal rights and obligations and were subject to the same law.
Those entrusted with the work of government were required to work for the good of the people, to lead simple lives and to be easily accessible to the public, to provide for those who could not earn, and to have as much regard for the rights of non-Muslims as for those of the Muslims. The people’s responsibility to the state is to respect and obey its laws as long as they do not involve disobedience to God and His Messenger. Abu Bakr, the first successor to the Holy Prophet, said in his very first address:
“Help me if I am in the right, and correct me if I am in the wrong. Obey me as long as I obey God and His Messenger. In case I disobey them, I have no right to obedience from you.”
People were thus also required to “correct” the authorities when necessary. “One of the most meritorious deeds,” observed the Holy Prophet, “is to address a word of remonstrance to an unjust ruler”.
Some illustrations of true Islamic rule
The Caliphate of Umar (d. 644 C.E.), during whose rule the Muslim dominion covered the vast territory of Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Palestine and Egypt, provides a great many examples of true Islamic democracy and rule in action. During his time, there were two consultative bodies: a general assembly in which affairs of special national importance were discussed, and a smaller committee for the conduct of daily business. Non-Muslims were also invited to take part in these consultations. As a rule, provincial governors were appointed after consulting the local population. In case of a complaint against a governor by the public, the governor was dismissed if found guilty. Pledges were taken from high state officials that they would not wear fine clothes, that they would ever keep their doors open to the needy, and that they would never keep guards at their doors.
Every individual citizen of the state of Islam, Muslim or non-Muslim, enjoyed the right to give his (or her) opinion and was perfectly free to do so. Once when Umar was delivering a sermon, it was a woman who stood up and objected to it. Far from resenting this, Umar accepted her criticism and acknowledged his error in the words: “The women of this city have more understanding than Umar”. The position of the head of state was exactly that of a common subject. Once, when sued, Umar appeared to defend himself in court just as any other defendant. Thus under Umar the principle of democracy was carried to a point to which even the modern world has not yet attained.[11]
Jihad
There exists a great misconception regarding jihad (lit. striving or struggle), one of the religious obligations of a Muslim. In the terminology of Islam, jihad is applied both to the purely missionary activities of a Muslim and to his defence of the faith in a physical sense. The first duty, the duty to invite people to Islam, is a permanent duty laid upon all Muslims of all times, while the second is a duty which arises upon certain contingencies. According to the Quran, a jihad which it calls jihad-an kabir-an, or the great jihad, must be carried on against the unbelievers by means of the Holy Book itself (see 25:52). Islam’s greatest jihad is, therefore, not by means of the sword but by means of the Quran, i.e., a missionary effort to carry the message of Islam to all nations. Compulsion in religion is forbidden in clear words:
“There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256).
And there is not a single instance in the Holy Prophet’s life in which an individual was ever required to confess the faith of Islam at the point of the sword.
As regards war and fighting, it is allowed only as a defensive measure against those who take up the sword to annihilate Islam:
“Permission to fight is granted to those upon whom war is made, because they are oppressed” (22:39).
“Fight in the way of God with those who fight with you, and do not exceed this limit” (2:190).
This does not leave the slightest doubt that Islam does not allow aggressive war, nor war for expansion or prestige. It only allows war when a state has been attacked. And even then, if the enemy offers peace, peace must be concluded:
“If they incline to peace, you should also incline to it, and trust in God” (8:39).
All the battles fought by the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims were purely defensive. He and his followers had been subjected to the severest persecution, as Islam began to gain ground at Makka. Even when they fled from their homes and took refuge in distant Madina, the powerful warriors of Makka attacked them in their new homes. Three times did the enemy attack Madina with strong forces to annihilate the Muslim community there. The Quran, therefore, allowed fighting only to save a persecuted community from powerful oppressors.
The Holy Prophet was peace-loving by nature, and he believed that making a generous peace was often a better remedy for aggression than annihilation of the aggressor, because it may bring about a real change of heart in the enemy. Hence it was that when, at last, the time came to punish the brutal aggressors, who were at the mercy of the Holy Prophet at the Muslim conquest of Makka, he not only awarded them a general amnesty but let them off without even a reprimand. This act of generosity towards one’s inveterate enemy stands unique in the annals of the world.
Zakat and Charity
I shall note one more peculiarity of the brotherhood of Islam. Every religion of the world has preached charity, but it is in Islam only that it has been made obligatory and binding upon all those who accept the Muslim faith. Here we have a brotherhood into which the rich man cannot enter unless and until he is willing to give a part of his possessions for the poorer members of the brotherhood. There is no doubt that the rich man is not here confronted with the insuperable difficulty of the ideal test of the camel passing through the eye of the needle, but he is subjected to a practical test which not only makes him stand on the same footing with his poorest brother, but also requires him to pay a tax, known as Zakat, a tax which is levied on the rich for the benefit of the poor.
Everyone who possesses property above a certain limit is required to set apart a stated portion thereof. The portion so set apart should be collected by the Muslim state, or the Muslim community when there is no Muslim state, and the objects to which it must be devoted are enumerated in the following verse:
“Zakat is only for the poor and the needy, and those employed to administer it, and those whose hearts are made to incline to truth, and to free the captives, and (to help) those in debt, and in the way of God, and for the wayfarer” (9:60).
The words way of God include every charitable purpose. Zakat stands unique both as charity and as tax. As charity it is obligatory, but the obligation is moral. As tax, the sanction behind it is moral, not the physical force of a state. Zakat, therefore, acts not only as a levelling influence but also as a means of developing the higher sentiments of man — the sentiments of love and sympathy towards his fellow-man. It should be noted that, according to the Quran, a charitable deed must be done as a duty which man owes to man, so that it conveys no idea of superiority of the giver or inferiority of the receiver (see 2:262-264).
Besides the contributions the payment of which has thus been made obligatory by the Holy Quran and made as compulsory as the saying of prayers, general charity is inculcated very forcibly throughout the Holy Book. It not only lays stress on such great deeds of charity as the emancipation of slaves (2:177, 90:13), the feeding of the poor (69:34, etc.), taking care of the orphans (17:34, etc.), and doing good to humanity in general, but gives equal prominence to smaller acts of benevolence the withholding of which is stated to be against the spirit of prayer (107:4-7).
In the Holy Prophet’s Sayings, charity is given the broadest possible significance. “To remove from the road anything which may cause harm”, or “to show someone the way”, or even to give food to one’s family or oneself, are charitable deeds. The doing of good to the dumb creation is also called charity: “Whoever tills a field, and birds and beasts eat of it, it is charity”. The Holy Quran also speaks of extending charity not only to all men including believers and unbelievers (2:272), but also to the dumb creation (51:19).
Charity must be given out of good things, out of things which a man loves for himself:
“O you who believe! Give in charity out of the good things that you earn … and do not aim at giving in charity that which is bad, while you would not take it for yourself” (2:267).
Love of God should be the motive in all charitable deeds:
“(The righteous) give food, out of love for Him, to the poor and the orphan and the captive, saying, We feed you for God’s pleasure only - we desire from you neither reward nor thanks” (76:8,9).
Footnotes
[9] A Saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
[10] There is no injunction in Islam requiring women to wear a veil. In the Holy Prophet’s time, women joined the prayers in the mosque without a veil, and the only separation was that they stood in separate rows behind those of the men. In the Pilgrimage, women were actually forbidden to wear a veil, as it was a mark of high rank.
[11] It may be noted that this inspiring display of the high ideals of Islam came about not due to the introduction of a set of formal laws (or the “enforcement of the Islamic system”, as runs the modern political slogan), but because of the inner, moral reform produced in his followers by the Holy Prophet Muhammad.