What is Islam really?

A Simplified Breakdown of Islam:         Its Tranquility of the Spirit

It's been nearly 12 years since the September 11 attacks that shook America's image as indestructible superpower, an event that would go on to shape Western foreign policy towards the Middle East. 

It has been nearly 10 years since America stepped into the Syrian civil War to fight ISIS, a terror group the West themselves paved the way for by their actions in Iraq, some 7 years prior. 

This all lead to sudden focus on Islam as an enemy to civilisation itself. Orientalists were voicing criticism of the religion as a threat to Western security, and called for its abolishment, whilst major media outlets were painting Muslims in an abhorrent manner, clearly ostracising them as inherent evils society must deal with.

Muslim scholars fired back, highlighting Western hypocrisy, political failures, and their baseless thinking. As a result of this, some fruitful theological discussion did emerge. However, in the fog of all this philosophical turmoil, people have forgotten the very essence of Islam itself. 

Western discourse is, primarily, based on either Marxist-grounded Socialist critique of Capitalism; Post-Modernism (feminism, Queer theory etc) backed with Deconstructionist methodology; or a right-wing Capitalist worldview, with enlightenment liberal philosophy as its cover ('freedom' as a cover for Neo-colonialism etc). 

All of these ideologies only encompass socio-political or economical realities of our lives, and others, like maybe stoicism, only focus on our spiritual well-being. 

Islam, however, is a holistic religion spanning every aspect of our life, from politics to private conduct, all for one quintessential purpose: tranquility of the soul.  

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 

"Religion (deen) is Good advice" 

(Sahih Muslim 55) 

Firstly, What is Deen? 

The answer, put shortly, is that it is the holistic system of life which is understood by the name ‘Islam’. Thus, generally, when the word ‘Islam’ is mentioned in reference to the religion, the individual really means ‘deen’, as opposed to the genuine meaning understood from ‘Islam’. Deen, therefore, is the tree from where all of the Islamic sciences branch off.

An example of the Islamic sciences can be found in the example of a kingdom. Within it, can be found the Sovereign, the Royal advisor, the Judge and his court, the Doctor, along with the Guards and Soldiers.

The king is ‘Quranic tafsir’, for the main purpose of the Islamic sciences is to understand the words of our Lord the most High. 

The royal advisor is given to the science of Hadith, the greatest tafsir of the Quran.

The Judge and his court are concerned with jurisdiction and legal rulings, and thus refers to Fiqh, the Islamic science of jurisprudence.

A doctor’s job is to diagnose illnesses and treat them, so the doctor represents the mystics (Sufis) and their spiritual science of Tasawuf. 

Finally, the guard’s role is to maintain law and order and to safeguard the kingdom, whilst the soldiers defend the kingdom from external forces and invade foreign lands. These are the Mutakillimun (theologians), whose job is to destroy doubts and allow certainty to flourish, whilst also repelling the objections of the unbelievers and establishing Islamic intellectual domination by attacking back with their own arguments. 

The Kingdom as a whole, therefore, is what we call “deen”, and without each individual role, the kingdom would crumble, so the sciences and their scholars are to be called the ‘Vanguards of religion’. 

Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad summarises the core of monotheistic religion in 4 principles*:

1. Belief in one God
2. Belief in the Afterlife and judgement
3. Prayer and remembrance of God
4. Purification of the soul from the ego and its vices

Secondly, what is meant by 'good advice'? 

Then, the hadith describes ‘deen’ as being ‘good advice’. From this, we can understand that this hadith is not an exhaustive investigation or definition, but rather, as Imam an-Nawawi stated, it is a summary of our religion. That is, good advice is a way of summarising the principles which make up Islam as a whole. This encompasses everything from inner purification to our outer actions. 

However, do not think that this is limited to only giving good advice, for that would encompass morality towards others around you, as opposed to the actual purpose of Islam, your own inner purification. 

Although commanding the good and forbidding the evil is a part of religion, it is not the summary of it.

So you may asking: What is it then? 

Know, Seeker, that religion is based on the revelatory sciences, that is, sciences that are grounded in revelation. These are Quran and hadith, but the other epistemological methods were developed later by the pious scholars (may Allah have mercy on them). 

There are two sciences which the scholars of Islam discussed. Revelatory sciences, such as Tafsir and Hadith, and Speculative sciences, which are based off of the mind alone, such as philosophy, maths, logic and rarely hold any theological value, (that is, one is not required to believe in it to achieve salvation in the hereafter). The Speculative sciences were thus used as a tool to support, strengthen, and elaborate arguments and ideas used in the Revelatory sciences.

Revelation, then, is the foundational pillar of Islam, and without it, Islam neither would have survived nor would it have begun in the first place. Further, revelation came down through many ways, which you can find in the works of creed, yet the people were exposed to it by only one medium: The prophets.

 Certain Philosophers, such as Ibn Tufayl, and some Hindu Philosophers objected to the notion of Prophethood, going to the extent of claiming it to be pointless, arguing that speculative reasoning and mystical enlightenment is sufficient for salvation. 

This is only pure ignorance and dangerous heresy. How can the All-Wise commit a mistake in sending the Mercy of the Worlds to us? If Prophethood was truly pointless, then, from a theological perspective, why would Allah send thousands upon thousands?

From a philosophical perspective, the reaching of salvation through pure speculation is near impossible. Yes, reaching certain islamic doctrines, such as the existence or unity of God, is possible, but to reach all the necessary principles of Aqaa’id (islamic creed) is unlikely. 

Such assertions eventually lead to either Deism, or Omnism/Perennialism.

 Deism is the belief that there is creator God, a higher Being. However, any sort of recognition of this Perfection is either unattainable by us feeble humans, or it has 'walked off'. That is, it has abandoned humanity.
This view was popularised by Voltaire, and it is, essentially, the belief in God without a set religion or Dogma.
On the other thorn, is Perennial philosophy. Sounding more complicated than it really is, it merely the assertion that all traditional religions hold the same inner metaphysical truth.This truth is the path unto the Supreme Being. 
This view was developed out of Platonism, and its doctrine of the One, from whom all existence is derived.
Omnism, then, is the absurd proposition that 'all religions are correct, and they bring humanity unto the same Ultimate Deity'.

From amongst the Ancient Greek Philosophers, three were the closest to Islamic Dogma, with Aristotle being the closest of the three. Still, he, in his misguidance, held opposing views to Islam, and it was over some of these that Imam al-Ghazali held a charge of infidelity against the Aristotelian and NeoPlatonic philosophers, such as Ibn Sina. 

May Allah protect us!

Then, the way the prophets exposed the masses to their teaching was by way of advice, by both verbal and practical transmission.

 

Without the prophets and the revelations they were sent with, it is not as if worshipping Allah would have been devoid of virtue. Of course not! Rather, the only difference would have been our ignorance and lack of knowledge regarding how to approach our merciful creator. In other words, Deen itself would be existent, but our knowledge would not be. 

Therefore, since we were exposed to it by way of the prophets, it, ‘deen’, is thus to be considered good advice; a holistic way of living life.

Hence, dear reader, look upon the life of our beloved Messenger (peace be upon him)! Therein you will find the perfect roadmap of life, that will guide you unto the highest levels of virtue and felicity. With the power of Allah, you will attain Inner Tranquility.

*Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad: A thinking person's guide to Islam, (pg.19,)

There is no Help except from Allah