ISLAM’S COMMITMENT TO NATION-BUILDING
Islam As It Is
OUR country India has been the land of opportunities in every way. Opportunities for education, businesses, ownership of properties, employment and every other facility has been available to all to make use of and to progress in life. Places of worship, religious organizations, schools and colleges run exclusively by particular communities for their own communities are thriving all over the country. One cannot ignore this reality by citing few stray negative incidents.
Islam’s teaching with regard to unpleasant incidents should be seen in the backdrop of the entire creation plan of God. According to the creation plan of God, the present world is only a small part of our eternal life. It is meant as a ground for our personality development, so that we can make ourselves deserving inhabitants for the eternal world of Paradise. It is a personality development workshop for those who freely and willingly want to develop themselves to be worthy of God’s Paradise.
Negative experiences or problems in life are actually challenges and opportunities for development. If every situation were to be smooth and easy, and every experience positive, one’s personality would not flourish. For instance, unless one undergoes suffering, one will not be able to cultivate the virtue of patience. Similarly, if there were no rivers to cross, people would not have to build any bridges.
This world is a personality development workshop for those who freely and willingly want to develop themselves to be worthy of God’s Paradise.
God has given man freedom of action as part of His creation plan. God does not desire us to live as mechanical beings; He wants us to be thinking and conscientious beings. Freedom has been bestowed on man so that he can utilize his talents towards developing creativity and achieving progress. God wants us to turn towards Him of our own free will.
However, where there is freedom, there is also the chance of misuse of freedom. Each time a person misuses his freedom it results in a negative situation for others who may be associated with him. Many challenges thus arise due to the misuse of freedom.
Negative incidents should not be looked at as a personal attack on oneself. The true believer is expected to give a positive response to negative situations by way of wise management. Here, managing a situation means avoiding reaction and taking the right actions after due consideration. It refers to looking at the situation objectively without prejudice. This is possible only for a person who is free of all complexes.
We can easily understand this point if we observe that people of the same community also have problems with each other. It is not that problems exist only between people of two different communities. Two brothers can also become enemies to each other. Problems and challenges can thus arise from anywhere and anyone, and are a part of our life in this world.
Taking life with a positive mindset, we can find guidance in Islam for nation-building. According to the Quran, every prophet of God addressed people of the entire nation, not only members of his own community. The Quran specifically mentions several prophets, all of whom addressed their respective nations as, ‘O my people’, and not specifically as, ‘O my community’. The religion of these prophets’ was based on monotheism, while the religious beliefs of the people they addressed were different. Despite this fact, the prophet’s vision of their addressees was not determined by their religion. It was based on their common homeland. All prophets addressed them as, ‘My people’.
Negative experiences or problems in life are actually challenges and opportunities for our development. If every situation were to be smooth and easy, and every experience positive, one’s personality would not flourish.
The Quran says, Lakum deenukum waliyadeen which means, ‘to each, his own religion’. (109: 6). This is the fundamental principle of secularism of our nation. The Prophet Muhammad too had set an example of this principle in Madinah when he issued a charter called Sahifatul Madinah (Madinah Declaration). According to this charter every citizen of Madinah had the freedom to follow his own religion.
Love of one’s nation comes naturally to a human being. No one needs any instruction in this. What we must avoid is conditioning ourselves with wrong ideas, which may lead to negativity for our nation. We need to keep our natural feelings alive for the development of a national character.
What is national character? It is the capacity and the will to hold the interests of the nation supreme in every sphere. Whenever a nation has made any progress, it has been due to this spirit of nationalism. Without such a spirit, no nation can progress internally or externally. No personal gain of any kind and magnitude will ever make such a person disloyal to his country. Activities like spying, giving away secrets of the country, helping the enemies of the country to perpetrate violent acts against the country are the most heinous crimes according to Islam. A true believer will know and strongly believe that such acts are going to make him deserving of God’s punishment and deprive him of Paradise.
The true believer is expected to give a positive response to negative situations by way of wise management. Managing a situation means avoiding reaction and taking the right actions after due consideration.
In his teachings, the Prophet of Islam laid the foundation of a duty conscious society, not a rights conscious society. The Prophet said, “A believer should be duty conscious and as far as his rights are concerned, he should ask of them from God.” The best society is a duty conscious society. The duty of one person is the right of another. If each one of us took care of our duties, the rights of all would be taken care of. But if each one of us were to be only demanding and protesting for the fulfillment of our rights, nothing would be accomplished. Performing one’s duties instead of demanding rights, is the strongest foundation for building a prosperous nation.
Islam gives guidance even for situations where a country might have unjust rulers. In such circumstances the citizens are required not to rebel against the rulers. They must continue to obey their rulers and peacefully try to bring about a change in the mindset of the people, in the hope that once the term of the present ruler is over, capable people will come into power and rule in a just manner. Rebellion of any kind only leads to anarchy in society.
Unity is the greatest strength of a nation. Islam gives utmost importance to unity. It believes that unity must prevail in spite of differences and diversity. Differences are a part of nature. Nature abhors uniformity. We must remain united and live harmoniously while tolerating differences. We must agree to disagree and irrespective of individual beliefs, work together in harmony for the greater good.
According to Islam, every citizen must abide by the law of the land. For example, a particular institution might have regulations on uniform which might go against the religious dress code of a particular community. Here the person does not have any right to fight against the regulation. He has to choose between two options. Follow the rules if one is keen on being a part of the institution or give up the desire to be a part of it. This is the teaching of Islam. Life is a package deal of both pleasant and the unpleasant; one cannot create one's own package. We cannot pick and choose everything we desire in life.
A true believer—one who follows the pristine teachings of Islam—will be involved in progressive work for the neighbourhood, city, nation and humanity. It will be an unthinkable contradiction for him to be engaged in something harmful to society, not only to human society but also to the environment. The Prophet once remarked, “By God he is not a believer, he is not a believer, he is not a believer, whose neighbour is not safe from his evil.”
Clarification of a Few MisconceptionsIt would be relevant here to discuss a few issues regarding the attitudes of the people of a community which sometimes indicate to others that wherever they are in a minority they do not consider themselves as a part of the nation. What does Islam have to say about such attitudes?
We can find guidance in Islam for nationbuilding. According to the Quran every prophet of God addressed the entire nation as, ‘O my people’, not as, ‘O my community’.
Community Superiority
Is any particular community superior in the eyes of God? The Quran clearly mentions that no community is inherently superior to any other. (2: 62). God does not have a special relationship with any particular community. He has regard solely for a person’s thoughts and deeds. In the Hereafter, people will be judged according to their deeds and character and not on the basis of the group or community to which they belong.
Numerical StrengthDoes being less in numbers mean that one can never progress in life? According to the Quran, a minority with the right attitude can contribute even more than the majority. We have examples before us where small communities have contributed positively to their nation and are also doing very well as a community. On this Indian soil of great opportunities, their selfless service in the field of education, medical care, charities and development is exemplary. The Christians are a good example of this. They have been doing this work from the time when others had hardly started and in places where others feared to venture. They have welcomed everyone, irrespective of beliefs. People from all walks of life benefit from their services.
Religious UnityShould everyone have the same religious beliefs in a country for it to progress? A few thinkers were of the opinion that religious unity had the power to bring about national progress. Religious unity implied that all religions were essentially one. It was believed that if this concept could take root in people’s minds, it would produce a sense of unity all over the country. Historically speaking, of course, this assumption was proved wrong; there is a long, sorry record of even co-religionists fighting fiercely among themselves. If the task of constructing the nation is to be successfully accomplished, we must rid ourselves of our obsession with such impracticable concepts as unity of religion and culture, and should forge ahead despite our differences.
The Quran says, ‘Lakum deenukum waliyadeen’ which means, ‘to each, his own religion’. This is the fundamental principle of secularism of our nation.
The truth is that the only practicable basis of nationhood is patriotism. Our prime target should be the fostering of the spirit of patriotism amongst the people of our country. The Quran (49: 13) says: ‘Mankind! We have created you from a male and female, and made you into peoples and tribes, so that you might come to know each other.’
The term ‘peoples’ in this verse indicates groups that share a common homeland, while the term ‘tribes’ refers to groups based on racial commonality. According to the Quran, both types of grouping of people are simply for the sake of knowing each other, not for indicating relationships of belief or religion.
According to the Islamic perspective, religious unity is not the path for a nation’s progress. At the same time, adherence to Islam does not clash with one’s love for one’s country. However, the behaviour of some Muslims gives this kind of impression to the world. The reason is that some Muslim thinkers have interpreted Islam in an extremist manner that brands all other systems as false. This notion of ‘false systems’ was the product of some extremist minds. It does not have anything to do with Islam.
Based on the above notion, some Indian Muslim leaders declared nationalism to be un-Islamic. It is this wrong understanding which has led to such erroneous beliefs. Similarly some extremist Western thinkers of the early 20th century had expanded the notion of nationalism so much that they presented it in the form of a complete religion by itself. But when this notion had to contend with practical realities, it broke into smithereens.
From the aforementioned points, it is quite clear that Islam considers nationalism to be part of human nature.
Methodology as Presented by the Prophet’s Teachings It is individual temperament which plays the most crucial role in the making of a nation. It is important for nation-building in the same manner that individual bricks are important in the construction of a building.
The growth and development of a nation is a lengthy affair. There has to be a tremendous input at both the individual and national levels before it finally blooms and finds the position of honour and glory that it merits in world affairs. The work of nation building is like nurturing an orchard. If instead of nurturing the orchard with care and skill, people come out on to the streets and launch a protest campaign in the name of trees, or gather in some open place or march through the streets shouting slogans about it, they will never possess even a single tree, far less own an orchard.
National character is the capacity and the will to hold the interests of the nation supreme in every sphere. Whenever a nation has made any progress, it has been due to this spirit of nationalism.
A nation cannot fortify itself by working miracles only in the field of politics. One can make impassioned speeches and attract great crowds. But real results can be achieved only by long-term planning and unflagging dedicated effort. Needless to say, the two great virtues which are indispensable in the struggle are patience and fortitude. These two virtues are promised the highest rewards by Islam, as can be seen in the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.
Conclusion
One might want to know our specific efforts towards the cause of nation
building. With all humility we would like to say that under the guidance
of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, our mentor who is well versed in both
classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines, we are working
towards promoting and reinforcing the culture of peace through mindbased
spirituality and inter-faith efforts.
Drawing inspiration from the Quran, and the Sunnah, the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad, the Centre for peace and spirituality International, seeks to share the spiritual principles of Islam with the world and to reveal its true face, based as it is on peace, tolerance and co-existence.
The best society is a duty-conscious society. The duty of one person is the right of another. If each one of us took care of our duties, the rights of all would be taken care of.
We believe in self-introspection and towards contributing positively to the nation. We have dedicated ourselves single-mindedly towards building a better society. Our magazine Spirit of Islam is a step in this direction. May God in His Infinite mercies grant us peace and security and help us to usher in an era of global brotherhood.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has congratulated noted Islamic scholar and peace activist Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, on being conferred the Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Ibn Ali Peace Award at a function in Abu Dhabi. “Congratulations to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, on being conferred the Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Ibn Ali Peace Award at a function in Abu Dhabi. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s knowledge and efforts towards peace make him one of the most respected scholars, admired all over”, the Prime Minister said. (30th April 2015)