THE PHILOSOPHY OF EID

 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EID

Dr. Burhan Ahmad Faruqi

All human groups have their respective festivals, ceremonies and rites and those evolve and take their shape on fundamental principles and prime objectives from which they derive their meaning and significance. Similar is the case with Islamic festivals, the origin, meaning and purpose of which can­not be understood without reference to Is­lam. Hence the questions: What is Islam? What is the situation in which Islam comes to the rescue and furtherance of the objec­tives of human life?

 

MANIFOLD CONFLICTS

 

The situation that confronts man and necessitates his guidance is the situation of manifold conflicts within and around him. If we cease to have instincts on the analogy of animal instincts, it becomes obvious that the position of man is basically different from that of the animal, because the in­stincts of an animal are proportionate to the goals before it, and there is harmony be­tween the various instincts as well. There is parity between the instinctive activity of an animal and the goal towards which it is di­rected. For example, the instinct of hunger is there in an animal for the nourishment of the organism. Therefore, no animal will eat when nourishment is not possible. But since man is endowed with reason and imagina­tion, the activity of the instinct of hunger is possible even when he is over satiated. Simi­larly in animals the sex instinct becomes ac­tive for the purpose of procreation otherwise it remains dormant till the cycle is completed and the season of mating comes again. With man it is different. In his case, there is disparity between instincts and objectives. This disparity is a sort of conflict. In case of animals, it is not possible that the conflicting instincts should become simulta­neously active, as is the case with man, e.g., a father would like to behave tenderly to­wards his child because of the parental in­stinct, but when he is disobeyed, his instinct of self-assertion demands that he should be obeyed; he asserts his will, and the conflict is there.

 

REALISATION OF IDEA

 

Man embarrassed in this situation of manifold conflicts in his nature raises a cry in a state of agony. The most fundamental problem of man in this situation becomes “how is it possible for me to realise my ideal and become what I ought to be." The foremost condition of his success is that he must be free, to strive for his ideal. But even if he is free, it is not conceivable that in the short span of natural life at his disposal and with the slow speed, he can manage, he can even be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. Therefore, he should be immortal, and there should be survival after death. But even if he be immortal, the constitution of the world around him may be such as not be in harmony with his success so that he can­not hope to overcome the difficulties in his way. Therefore the world around him should not only be amenable to harmony with success but also should have been cre­ated for this very purpose. Even if that is true in the appearance of incompatibility which the world presents, man cannot hope to be successful. Hence, there must be a Su­preme Being, All-Perfect and All-Powerful, Who has the will and grace to lead man to perfection, adequate to his nature. But nei­ther sense nor reason, intention nor imagi­nation can with certainty confirm His exist­ence. In this agony of soul man craves for Allah's help and guidance. In fact, Allah should Himself assure man of His help, grace and guidance. That is Revelation.

 

UNITY OF MANKIND

 

The Qur'an aims at creating a society based on the conception of the unity of mankind, constituted of individuals morally struggling and spiritually minded, directed to immunise the society and the individual from all fears and sorrows, and 'ummah' in­tegrated through its absolute and unquali­fied loyalty to the Holy Prophet (ﷺ). The conditions of the realisation of such a society are development of human personal­ity, completion of social machinery and conquest of environment.

The Holy Qur'an meets all the problems of human life. For example: How is the de­velopment of human personality possible? What are the social institutions which con­stitute the social machinery? How is integra­tion and organisation of such institutions possible? What is the role of knowledge in the development of human personality? How does knowledge stand in relation to faith? What is the place of morality in the integration of personality? How is re-inte­gration of human personality possible? What is the source of moral, social, politi­cal, economic and legal anomalies and how can they be resolved? What is religious ex­perience and how does it bear on the inte­gration of personality? How far does the guidance imparted lead towards the solution of the human problems and integrate hu­man life in its various inter-dependent rela­tionships?

 

The individuals, the institutions, the laws that govern the function of the institu­tions, the ideas, the trends, the aspirations and the facts of life emanating there from, constitute the cultural aspect.

 

The Holy Qur'an is 'Al-Kitab', the ide­ology, and whenever this, ideology is to take the shape of an order, it will be the 'Sunnah’ of the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) and nothing else. The struggle to establish this ideology in the form of a concrete order is to take place in the context of space and time. Be­cause life is dynamic in its character, and it is bound to grow inconsistent with the ideology, it would stand in need of periodical reorientation to again render it consistent with ideology, and' consequently 'Ijtihad' would be necessary. Since the struggle to make life consistent again would take place In time and space, therefore so far as it is consistent with ideology, it is the cultural aspect of Islam, and the aspect which has grown inconsistent with the ideology but re­mains in history may be termed as the his­torical aspect of Islam.

 

INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY

 

Each individual is unique in himself be­cause of one other aspect of his nature, more or less developed, and because of the condi­tions in which it is developed. This leads to conflict between individual and individual.

 

The conflict between individual and society, too, is a fact. Freud is led to maintain that society is a challenge to the individual and Adler is led to hold that the individual is a challenge to society. The last, though not the least, is the conflict between society and society, nation and nation, state and state. These conflicts are so deeply in­grained and so articulately acknowledged that a state is defined as a politically organised society which has the right to wage war and enter into alliance with other states for the sake of its preservation and ex­pansion.

 

There are two real values-in-themselves: Knowledge and guidance, and action. Perfec­tion of knowledge and guidance lies in the measure that it may be conducive to the achievement of the cherished goal. Excel­lence of action lies in sincerity, selflessness and disinterest-ed devotion. Knowledge reached its perfection in the personality of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) through the reception of Qur'anic Revelation.

 

It is the achievement of excellence and perfection in knowledge that is worthy of being celebrated as festivals. Eid-ul-Fitr is the celebration of a festival because through the revelation of the Holy Qur'an, in the month of Ramadhan, man is equipped with perfect knowledge; and Eid-ul-Azha is the celebration of the fact that man has reached the perfection and excellence of action of Hazrat Ibrahim and Hazrat Ismail  (Peace be upon them)..

 

The mode of celebration, too, far from being frivolous indulgence’ in gambling and drinking, is highly sober! It consists in cel­ebrating the Eid festival according to the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet who is a model of perfection for all time to come.

 

The celebration of the Eid Festival con­sists of:

1.      Paying as Fitra a duty towards those who have insufficient resources;

2.      Putting on as new and neat a dress as one can afford;

3.      Proceeding to the Eidgah in groups;

4.      Loudly uttering Allah-o-Akbar, Allah-o-Akbar, La-ilaha-illal'lah-o-Wallaho-Akbar Allah-o-Akbar. Wa-lillahil-hamd, so that the whole atmosphere may vibrate with the same Dhikr;

5.      Congregational prayers and Khutbah- an organised approach to consider, and meet the problems of the Muslim Ummah; and

6.      Collectively sharing happiness; and happiness on what account and what for?

 

It is the feeling and expression of happiness on account of the fact that humanity is equipped with knowledge and guidance that can ever necessarily be indispensable for man. The verse of the Holy Qur'an bearing a challenge of its success is:

 

It is He Who sent His messenger with guidance and true religion so that It may prevail over all other religions even if the polytheists dislike it.

 

This challenge holds true even today provided the holy Qur'an is not interpreted as the reactionaries do. For there can be only two attitudes, that of Islamic Revolu­tion and that of Reaction against Islam, whether the reaction be conscious or un­conscious, articulate or inarticulate, deliber­ate or non-deliberate.

 

What I have stated in my analysis of the Philosophy of Eid is in conformity with the modern sociological view. The first thing to be noted is that every national ceremony which is celebrated with maximum consen­sus of opinion should necessarily be related to the value system of ideology, and its peri­odicity should remind the nation at large of their identity vocation and ultimate objec­tive in life. From this it is easy to infer that causality and meaningfulness of the cer­emony should have a direct connection with the structure and function of the soci­ety.

 

This is not exclusively the Islamic view-point on social system. A ceremony is something which provides the individual and the entire community a chance to assess and evaluate their achievements and acqui­sitions for the forward march of society, per­sonality and culture if the achievement throughout the year has been directly in conformity with one's ideology one should feel proud. This realisation leads to an ex­pression of merriment and joy. In case, people find themselves lagging behind and deviating from the pattern of orientation of values then in the very midst of celebrations they should determine to eliminate all their deficiencies in both these respects.

 

We have almost lost consciousness of our sacred mission. We feel shy of our great heritage. We look to the West to regenerate our decadent society. Some of us go even so far as to assert without blushing that the law of Islam is out of date and unsuited to the requirements of the modern age. Thus indi­rectly we support our enemies who say that "Islam is a spent force". We are forgetting the role of Islam in giving the world a civilisation which even materially was at least as brilliant as the Western; we are un­fortunately ignoring the truth that even to­day Islam alone is capable of creating and sustaining a morally healthy, socially sound and economically just civilisation.

 

Let us, therefore, insist on moulding our lives on the Islamic pattern, because no group can survive on the strength of alien ideas, nor can it check the forces of disinte­gration.