Role of Ibadat in Developing the Islamic Personality

Role of Ibadat in

Developing the Islamic Personality

Prof. Ismail Faruqi

In all the religions of the world, ibadah or worship means a ritual consisting of legomena (i.e., things thought or recited) and dromena (things done or acted) performed by man, more often regularly rather than at random, by which man adores, thanks or petitions God or ultimate reality. According to this definition, ibadah in Islam refers to the “five pillars”, viz., al-Shahadah, al-Salat a/-Zakat, al-Siyam and al-Hajj.

There is yet another meaning to ibadah in Islam. This meaning, however, is unique, and it is found only in Islam. lbadah means any and all actions entered into for the sake of God, and fulfillment of the general imperative of Islam regarding human life on earth. This general imperative flows from the essence of religious experience in Islam. Briefly expressed, this essence is Tawhid the affirmation that “No God is Gold but God" or La ilaha illa Allah. In both, its metaphysical sense - which regards Allah ta’aIa as the ultimate cause of all events, the ultimate source of all beings, the eternal Creator, and in its axiological sense - which regard Allah ta'ala as the ultimate end of all ends, that which makes all good, the Master and Judge, the affirmation of tawhid implies that God is indeed the determinant of man's whole life. Man and purpose of his existence is to serve God; i.e., to fulfill His will. The divine will, immutable and ubiquitous in space and time, consists of patterns, or sunnah, which are imbedded in the world of nature (which are, hence, always, fulfilled with the necessity of' natural laws), and of laws or commandments, awamir or shariah which are revealed for man to fulfill deliberately and in freedom. The human situation is indeed exactly as Allah ta'ala has described it is His Holy Book "I have not created jinn and mankind but to serve Me”.

The content of this service, Islam teaches, is to affirm life, to live it to the full, to procreate, to learn, to gorw, to have and to enjoy, as well as to do so in loyalty to God, in justice in charity, in concern and responsibility, in individual personal life as well as in family and society. That is why the Hadith has told us that “a day of learning is better than the ibadah (in the first sense) of 50 years“; that pursuit of livelihood for oneself and one's family is ibadah, that jihad bllmal (spending of one's substance) and bil Nafs (laying down of one's life) is lbadah; that every act of self-exertion in the cause of God is fbaolah.

Obviously, in this sense, ibadah is the very business and substance of life, its sustenance and promotion, as well as the building of society, of social institutions, of culture and civilization. What role does such lbadah play in the development of the Islamic personality?

This ibadah (in the second, more general sense of fulfilling one's reason for existing) makes of its seeker “a man of Tawhid”, a man with a distinct personality. The Tawhidi man is a man possessed, enchanted. Every movement of his wakefulness is filled with the presence of God, the ultimate cause and purpose-. He sees God's work in everything that is or happens around him. In his mind, Subhana Allah, Ma sha’a Allah, Al Hamdu Llllah, La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, lnna lillahi wa Inna ilalhi raji’un reverberate through his mind constantly. His heart is always moved by the desire for the good,” but the good, is itself the desire or command of God. So that in his desiring, emoting and feeling, judging and expressing Allah again is the only determinant. The difference that this fixation or possession by God makes is that the person affected by it is the person with a cause, a cause greater than himself and all others, greater than his own world and indeed the whole world. This makes him necessarily an idealist in the best sense of the term, a man of gravity of seriousness, of commitment, a man for whom no act is haphazard and every action and inaction counts.

The Shahadah

The social dimension of the Shahadah is therefore da’wah to self and to others in its highest and most intense meaning.

As a ritual, and hence a ibadah, the shahadah is the solemn affirmation that Allah above is indeed Allah; that worship is due to Him alone; and that Muhammad (ﷺ) is His Prophet and Messenger, sent by Allah Ta'ala to teach the divine message the Qur’an — whose essence is tawhid. The shahadah is an official confessor's of the cause of Islam, an expression of the shahid’s or confession's adoption of, or belonging to, that cause. It is a modality of existence raised to the level of consciousness; the moment in which commitments to the cause of Islam has become conscious of itself.

Its role in the development of the human personality lies in moulding the Muslim's personality into constant awareness of his Islamic commitment, the promulgation and proclamation of Islam. The summum bonum (or absolute supreme good) which the Muslim appropriates a new through the shahadah, is wished by the shahadah itself to be known, shared and appropriated by other humans. The social dimension of the shahadah is therefore da'wah to self and to others in its highest and most intense meaning.

The Salat

Salat teaches the Muslim the martial quality of pressing forward toward the front of filling the gap in the forward line.

Besides repeating and reaffirming all the foregoing, the salat, as ibadah in the technical sense which Islam shares with most other religions, is an act of obedience to God." It is the supreme act to worship in Islam. It is incorrectly called "prayer" which is a bad practice, unbecoming of Muslims. Muslims should insist on calling it by its Qur'anic name — al salat. Unlike salat "prayer" is an invocation addressed to God in any form, at any time place or in any position, whose purpose may be adorational, proclamational, thanks giving or petitional, singly or collectively, in any combination of these. Unlike "prayer" salat is an act of worship in a specific form, at specific times, in specific position whose purpose and content can be only that which the Prophet (ﷺ) has assigned to it.

Its role in the development of the Islamic personality distinguishes it further from prayer. Whereas prayer is a purely subjective affair concerned with the worshipper and his relation to God, salat fulfils a number of other functions. The niyyat sets up the framework of consciousness required for communication with the divine. The ablutions cleanse the exposed organs of the body of dirt and refreshes the whole self in consequence. A regular observance of the salat makes one clean and keeps him clean, imposing upon him three to five ablutions everyday of the year and one whole body bath at least once a week. The salat is equally a physical exercise of the body, emerging to it refreshment in one action and position, through five breaks every day. These contribute strongly towards the health as well being of the body.

So much for the physical consequences of salat. Its moral aspects are more complex and richer. First, salat teaches awareness of the movement of time, and punctuates the day. Since it must be observed at its specific time, it disciplines a man into punctuality and an ordering of his time. It cultivates in the Muslim a feeling of equality with his peers, as it must be performed in straight process in which man stands on par with all other peers. it breeds in him, in addition, a feeling of solidarity and unity, as it demands all Muslims to press together shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot. Salat teaches the Muslim the martial quality of pressing forward toward the front, of filling the gap in the forward line.

Above all, salat imparts self-confidence as it eliminates all middlemen in man's contact with God, frankness and candidness since it presumes man can communicate directly with God, the Omniscient; and responsible, since it reminds man constantly of the recknoning he has to do with God by enacting this accountability every time it is performed.

The Qur'an declared salat capable or prohibiting al fahsha wa almunkar (debauchery and evil). For by its direct communion with God, salat teaches both the fear and love of God, endearing His commandments and condemning His prohibitions. It is thus the source of virtue and piety, the preventive shield against corruption. Finally and most importantly, salat's open communication with God uplifts man's morale, deepens universalities his ethical vocation, lures him to the life of piety and virtue.

The Zakat

The zakat is neither charity nor alms. Nor is it the “poor due”. These are formless acts of altruism, devoid of specification or modality other than that of being given freely. Unlike them, zakat is a yearly levy at a specific rate of the nisab 2 ½ % of the total wealth appropriated to date, above a certain minimum) for distribution among categories specified in the Qur‘an. This is why it should be called by its Qur'anic name whatever the language of discourse, like shahadah, salat and the whole set of Qur'anic religious vocabulary.

Zakat functions as a “sweetening” a making innocent, legitimate and good for consumption of the wealth earned by any lawful activity or means. It is indeed a sharing of one's wealth with the unfortunates who have no wealth. To man, Allah ta’ala made the whole universe an inheritance to master and to possess, to usufruct and to enjoy. He called the universe His bounty granted to man and He enjoined them to seek and enjoy every material and aesthetic value in it. Sharing it with the destitute, however, Allah ta’ala declared tantamount to the whole of religion, not merely to the observance of the command of zakat. In His wisdom, He instituted the zakat as a means of forcing wealth to circulate, prevent economical scelerosis. And He equated spending of one’s substance with spending one's life; both being forms of the supreme sacrifice called jihad.

How does observance of zakat as ’ibadah' affect the development of personality?

First, it is an act of obedience to Allah, requiring man to give up for Allah's sake that which he cherishes and values most, the fruit of his labour. Therefore it relates man to Allah, his Creator, or Master, and establishes between them a bond of loyalty, of love and esteem.

Zakat makes the observant a “party” to divine providence, a soldier — servant of Allah bearing His brand and raising His banner. Second, zakat establishes a bond of mutual affection and concern, indeed of genuine brotherhood, between man and man. Thus it contributes the cohesive cement out of which society is made, marshalling the economic, cultural, moral and religious factors and combining them together in the service of the ummah (i.e. of societal being). There can be no firmer foundation for society, for social justice, for social welfare and solidarity. A group “of humans sharing together their physical, psychic, linguistic characteristics is a cemeinsckaft (community). One that shares together their history and culture and a will to a common future is a gesellschaft (society). But that society which observes the ibadat of Islam is an ummah, a new being, a modality of existence higher than all the rest. The personality which is a full member of the ummah in these senses is an ummatic personality.

 

 

SIYAM

That is precisely what self mastery requires: to deny and to satisfy, to deny again and to satisfy again and so on for every day of Ramadan.

Lest it be misunderstood as an act of self-denial, and act of ascetiscism and therefore a renunciation of the world and of life, as an act of self-mortification, let us not call siyam by the word fasting. Fasting in the religions which practice it most, viz., Christianity and Theravada Buddhism, rests on a condemnation of this life and this world. In those religions, one fasts because life in the world is fallen”, “evil”, tanha. Fasting is real renunciation, an existential “NO!” addressed to life and the process of space and time. For, it is assumed they are a change-for-the-worse which had occurred to the absolute, to the ideal.

Siyam, per contra, is none of that. This life and this world are God's creation, is therefore good. He established them as man's destiny enjoined upon him to seek and promote them. His Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) defined the good, the noble, the felicitous man as one whose career adds a real plus to the total value of the universe who leaves the world a better place than that which he was born. But Siyam is definitely an abstinence from food, drink and sex. What then is its meaning?

Besides constituting another act of obedience to Allah ta’ala, hence realizing all the values appertaining to obedience to and a communion with the divine. (already mentioned), siyam is an exercise in self-mastery. The instincts for food and sex are the basic ingredients of which life is made. They are the strongest and ultimate urges man possesses. For their sake as ultimate goals, normal human life and energy are spent. Siyam addresses them. It does not deny them continuously, perpetually, but during Ramadan, one-twelfth of the year, and does so only between dawn to sunset. That is precisely what self-mastery requires: to deny and to satisfy, to deny again and to satisfy again, and so on for every day of Ramadan. Had denial been the consequence of condemnation, it would have been commanded for continuous, observance as in Christianity and Buddhism, not for continual observance during one month only. That is why the Muslim rejoices and celebrates every sunset in Ramadan. For the sunset signifies his victory over himself during the day! This is why Ramadan is the happiest month of the year.

Siyam is furthermore an act of "retreat" and self-stock-taking; an occasion for hisab with oneself as to one’s whence and whither; a remembrance of and commiseration with the poor, and hungry, the destitute and deprived. It is the prime occasion for every noble act of sadaqah or charity, of altruistic concern which is the opposite of egotism, and ultimately for all ummatic values. Its effect upon the development of the human personality is capital and decisive. First, it disciplines man and enables him to master the strongest urges raging within him. It trains him to subdue them to the nobler ends of the ethics of religion. It orientates him — in his physical and psychic being toward the ummah, and thus makes him an effective executor and actualizer of the divine cause in history.

Indeed, it prepares him par excellence to enter the arena of history, and there to fulfill the pattern of God. The true observer of Siyam is a person ready to be the subject of history, not its object.

THE HAJJ

The Hajj is not a memorial pilgrimage to a place declared holy by its association with a divine act, a Prophet, a saintly person or simply an historical event of great significance. Its purpose is not merely to remember. Hence, it should not be called "pilgrimage". Rather, it must be known by its Qur'anic name alone, al-Hajj. Certainly, it is an act by an individual worshipper; but it is not an individual act, affecting its subject-doer alone or primarily alone, on the religious level. Moreover, it may not be entered into in private, at random or at any time the subject chooses. It is a collective, rather ummatic, act which must be done at its proper time, and must include a specific set of acts of devotion in a specific sequence. There is no Hajj without the Ummah’s participation. Indeed, there in no Islam when there is only one Muslim at rest as it were with space and time.

Al-Hajj is making-present-again, a re-enactment, a living or going-through once more of the experience of lbrahim (علیہ السلام) and of the Hijrah from Makkah of Sayyidina Muhammad (ﷺ) and of his triumphant re-entry eight years later. It is at once the re-destruction of the idols of the Ka'bah, the re-establishment of Islam as A! Din, or religion, or the primordial religion the ultimate norm of man's relation with Allah ta'ala the Absolute as its motto indicates (Labbayka Allahumma Labbayka) al-Hajj is the affirmative response of man to His Creator's call, a re-defication and re-consecration of one’s life to the divine cause. It is a reenactment on the deepest personal level, of the minah of lbrahim (علیہ السلام) being called upon to give up his sole son Ismail; of the minah of Muhammad (ﷺ) when oppression forced him to abandon the city of Ibrahim (AS) and seek refuge in Yathrib as well as a base for launching the world movement of Islam, and of the Path of Makkah and its reconsecration as Bayt, city, and Ummah fused together to represent and effectuate the cause of God in history. To undertake the Hajj is really to be and feel oneself the companionship of lbrahim, lsmail and Muhammad (ﷺ) as they lived out their ministry and mission; indeed to re-live their experience.

On the collective level, the Ummah level, al-Hajj is the coming together of all parties, all races, and peoples, all nations and states, all schools and classes, all groups of all colours – to the God of all parties. All subdue and suppress their differences in order to affirm their unity and communion. As bearers of the banner of Allah in space and time, they -assemble in order to redefine and reconfirm their mission as callers to God as actualizers of His patterns in Space-time. Al Hajj ls, equally, occasion for the ummah as a whole to take and give account of itself before Allah ta'ala; for its leaders, its teachers, thinkers and guardians to render account of themselves and their roles. It is the occasion for the Ummah as a whole to rededicate itself to Islam as the cause of Allah in history, to proclaim and to call the nations of the world to join ranks with them as would-be transformers of space-time, the would-be fulfillers of the divine will in the world. It is, in short, for the universalism of Islam to reaffirm itself, to proclaim its plans for history, and to launch the actualization of those plans.

As such, al-Hajj is a unique religious, political, cultural and human event. It is spectacular, indeed the greatest of spectacles ever put by man. No religion and no civilization ever witnessed or sustained similar event, now in its 1407th annual year.

The effect of al-Hajj, on the participant is always radical. It shatters his personality by convincing him of its futility or vanity; and it reconstructs that personality and orients it towards Allah and His cause. It destroys every vestige of individualism, egotism, every trace of subjectivism and isolationism, every tendency to particularize and nationalism and finally, every touch of inferiority-complex and or superiority-complex. It restores and instills in the participant's mental health, emotional equilibrium, concern for humans across every boundary of race or colour, of culture, language, of social classification. It makes or reinforces his consciousness of himself as an ummatic being endowed with a universal mission. With all this, al-Hajj lifts the participant above the flow of space and time, and confirms him as the guide and leader of that flow.

No system of ibadah in any religion has ever come anywhere close to the ibadah of Islam. None has succeeded as did the ibadah of Islam. None has fitted the purposes of its religion and ideology as did the Ibadah of Islam. That is why no system has ever lasted as long, and none has been as universally and consistently and indentically observed as the ibadah of Islam. Why? Because it is from Allah ta'ala, the Perfect, whose every work is perfect.

This magnificent system of ibadah is yours; yours to have free, to possess and appropriate and teach to your sons and daughters, to your neighbours and strangers, to the whole of humankind. Why? Because it is from God, the system which truly and certainly leads to Him, the Supreme God. Having given it to you as an act of mercy, a rahmatull lil’alamin, having made creation — the whole of — sub-servant to you; wisdom and sagacity, having raised you above the angels whom He commanded to prostrate themselves before you; and having made you His Khula Fa’ on earth, His vicegerents; and having invited you to act as to be the vortices, or real aqtab, around which the world and history may or should be made what is left for you to do but to acquiesce and to say with me: I believe in Allah, in His Angels, in His Books, in His Prophets, in the Day of Judgement, in Power of doing all actions (whether good or bad) proceeds from Allah (but that I am responsible for my own actions) and the Day of Resurrection; and I say : La ilaha ll-lal-lah Muhammad-ur-Rasu-lul-lah (ﷺ).