Chapter One: Islam proclaims reason
It is not difficult for researchers to see the major dividing line between pre-Islamic era and post-Islamic era. This line in the realm of religions resembles the dividing lines in the history of the human civilizations. Such as the line with which the ancient Egyptian civilization emerged, then that of the Greek civilization, then that of Rome and the Roman civilization, and then lastly that of the 15th century European Renaissance that sow the seeds which were reaped in the next five centuries. In each case, we find errors that herald thecivilizational
movement that presents its contribution to humanity. The whole world differed before and after the ancient Egyptians who presented to humanity the ABC of civilization, like the alphabet, papyrus, architecture, religion…etc. when the ancient Egyptian civilization degenerated, the Greeks emerged and presented their creative contributions in the fields of science and philosophy. When their civilization degenerated, the Romans emerged and at their time, 'all ways lead to Rome', but their centuries of dominance ended in degeneration that led to the medieval Dark Ages until the first rays of the renaissance in the Italian states that sowed the early seeds of the contemporary European civilization.
***
It is the same dividing line in the realm of religions.
There is a dividing line between pre-Islamic and pos-Islamic eras.
Before the advent of Islam, there were local, tangible gods, and the image of the gods was linked to local characteristics and creatures typical of the place or country. For instance, in ancient Egypt, the gods were the oxen, the cats, and the sun disc. In ancient Greece, the gods were like human beings with human desires and abilities of deities, and it was familiar that gods used to copulate with human beings and beget progeny ofdemi
-gods, and hence the ancient image of the holy trinity in Greek mythology and ancient Egyptian history.
Even Judaism was influenced by local elements, and the Jewish people made the God of the Israelites exclusive to them apart from other nations. Christianity in its flourishing period went beyond the local limits as it discarded the influence of state systems and moved from its birthplace of revelation, and because its central ideas of love, compassion, and delivering the soul with glad tidings and faith, are human universal feelings. Yet, when Constantine the Roman Emperor hoisted the cross on the spearheads, Christianity took a European quality and Rome became its center. The simple image of God as preached by Christ himself was replaced by the divine image set by Saint Paul the Greco-Roman man. This image was some kind of a Hellenistic projection on Christianity, which had turned Christ into another Prometheus figure who had presented the secret of the fire to humanity and who was severely punished by the arch god Zeus. This Hellenistic idea was developed in the ancient Egyptian religion in the Ptolemaic era until the theory of the holy trinity was established.
***
Other religions relied on material miracles to gain believers. Moses performed miracles that we read in the Old Testament, Christ performed miracles that we read in the New Testament, and more miracles were performed by his disciples. Other prophets of the Israelites performed miracles as well. Hence, material miracles, like raising the dead or curing the ill, and other supernatural phenomena became an essential part of religion and a way to convince people to believe in it.
***
Other religions were linked to the concept of religious institutions: like thePharaonic
temple and its priests, the Jewish temple and its Rabbis, and the Christian church and its clergy. It was not conceivable that religion may discard institutions and clergy, as religious matters were so ritualistic and complex that they entailed priests as mediators between the common people and religions with its secrets and rituals…etc. This system was comfortable for all parties concerned, as priests had interests in this mediation status and began to have authority on people to hoard money…etc. and common people saw in the priests' processions and rituals what coped with their idea of the status of religion and their inability to imagine the absolute, abstract idea of God. Rulers and monarchs made deals with clergy to dominate and control the masses, by giving clergy money or wealth to make use of their influence on people.
This image was fixed in the minds of intellectuals and scholars who studies world religions, and it made them deliver their severe judgments on religion, and distance it from the sphere of reason and mind. This was due to the complex theological image of God, the faith based on miracles, and the fact that the religious institution monopolized the interpretation of religion and prevented critical thinking of it.
These three components, i.e. the image of divinity, reliance of religions on material miracles and supernatural phenomena to gain followers, and the existence of the religious institutions as temples and priests, became fixed in the mind of intellectuals when they thought about religion in general as they are considered major and necessary components of any religion. This conception was the reason behind the severe judgment on religions by intellectuals, philosophers, and rationalists.
***
This image has changed totally with the advent of Islam.
Islam radically revolutionized the realm of religions that ended the three components of previous religions:
1-
The embodying, limited, or ambiguous theological concept of God.
2-
The faith based on miracles.
3-
The religious institution monopolizing religious interpretation and holding the authority to rule, legalize, ban, and punish opposition and the emergence of acquired interests.
The first new concept in Islam was that its prophet who had called people to believe in it with the power of a sacred book whose verses were recited to them and they would be reborn spiritually and turn into new human beings with high resolve and rational minds.
People at the early time of Islam used to wait for material miracles to make them believe in this or that religion, and they demanded that the prophet would perform miracles to them, ''And they say, 'Why has no miraculous sign been bestowed on him from on high by his Sustainer?'. Say, 'Behold, God has the power to bestow any sign from on high yet most human beings are unaware of this',''(37:6)
According to the Holy Quran, people had said:
"And so they say: 'O Muhammad, we shall not believe thee till thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth. Or thou have a garden of date palms and vines, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst in a sudden rush. Or thou cause the skies to fall down upon us in smithereens, as thouhas
threatened. Or till thou bring God and the angels face to face before us. Or thou have a house made of gold, or thou ascend to heaven – but nay, we would not even believe in thy ascension unless thou bring down to us from heaven a writing which we could read!' Say thou O prophet: ' Limitless in His glory is my sustainer! Am I, then, aught but a mortal man, an apostle?' "(90-93:17)
"Now those who are bent on denying the truth of the prophet's message say, 'Why has no miraculous sign ever been bestowed upon him from on high by his Sustainer?' Say, 'Behold, God lets go astray him who wills to go astray, just as he guides unto Himself all who turn unto Him"(27:13)
"Yet they say: ' What sort of apostle is this man who eats food like all other mortals and goes about in the market-places? Why has not an angel visibly been sent down unto him to act as awarner
together with him? Or 'why has not a treasure been granted to him by God?' Or 'He should at least have a bountiful garden, so that he could eat thereof without effort!' And so these evildoers say unto one another, ' 'if you were to follow Muhammad you would follow but a man bewitched!' "(7-8:25)
This differs from the episode when Jesus Christ invoked God to descend upon him and his people a table of food from heaven:
''…Send down upon us a repast from heaven: it shall be an ever-recurring feast for us - for the first and the last of us - and a sign from Thee. And provide us our sustenance, for thou art the best of providers '' (114:5)
Of course, many people who wrote the history of the life of Prophet Muhammad told us many of his miracles, but no one of them ever told us that these miracles caused people to believe in Islam. The recurrent image is that the prophet Muhammad would recite the Holy Quran and people would believe in Islam. In this respect, the Holy Quran says, "And yet they say, 'Why have no miraculous signs ever been bestowed upon him from on high by His Sustainer?' Say, 'Miracles are in the power of God alone, and as for me – I am but a plainwarner
. Why – is it not enough for them thatWe
have bestowed this divine writ on thee from on high, to be conveyed by thee to them? For, verily, in it is manifestedOur
grace and a reminder to people who will believe
."(50-51:29)
Aisha, the wife of Prophet Muhammad once said a simple yet profound phrase: ''Medina was conquered solely by the Holy Quran'' and this was the greatest conquest ever done by mere recitation to make Islam set its roots in Medina. Hence, the battle of the word preceded that of the sword, and if Medina had not been conquered by the Holy Quran, the battle ofBadr
and other battles would not have occurred.
Islam has the advantage that it has bestowed on humanity, that it removed miracles as prerequisites of faith, when its miracle has become a book, the Holy Quran. Instead of performing miracles that produce faith, faith in Islam performed miracles. Before Islam, the mind had submitted to the sacred texts, but with the advent of Islam, the sacred texts have submitted to the mind. In this unique historical moment when Gabriel revealed the very first word of the Holy Quran 'Read', Islam has been linked to thought and the life in Islam began as a call based on thought. As its miracle a book recited by all believers, then Islam is closely linked to the world of thought.
Miracles are no longer the path leading for faith; it is a book leading to the path of faith. This was the huge leap and the major step on the route toward mind and reason.
***
Islamic vision of divinity rid humanity of the pagan embodiment, theological complications, and philosophical hypotheses (as done by Aristotle and Plato). This does not mean that matters became simple and understood effortlessly like the formula 1+1=2. Islam has made it like a higher ideal imagined by the philosophers after adding life, will, and perfection to it. This image is acceptable to the mind even if it cannot be proven by physical proofs. This image cannot be refused by the mind, as it is elementary that God Who created life is Himself Alive, and He leads us to perfection, as He is Perfection itself. The difference in this Islamic conception in comparison to the Christian one is that the latter was influenced by the ancient Egyptian religious idea of the holy trinity promoted more by the Ptolemaic rulers who were of Greek origin, carrying the Hellenistic culture of Mount Olympus that turned gods into human beings and deified human beings. With the spread of Christianity by the Greco-Roman Paul, the former adversary of Christianity and later its saint and founder, a holy trinity was established based on Egyptian and Hellenistic origins. It is difficult for the human mind to accept the concept of trinity as it mixes the elements of the divine nature and the elements of the human nature, and when the church tried to explain this concept, it added to the complexity of the matter.
In Islam, it is not a matter of non-acceptance but the shortcomings of the human mind make it difficult to reach the essence and nature of divinity, as it is the source and end of everything and it is the absolute high ideal that cannot be described by our human limited qualities.
This image, even if the mind cannot reach all its aspects and depth, is acceptable to the mind and reason. In fact, this image is acknowledged by the mind and reason, even if full details cannot be reached, but the mind can feel the side of truth in it and its necessity of perfection and existence. Yet, the mind cannot reach the knowledge of the nature of divinity. TheQuranic
verses demonstrate the image of divinity without arbitrariness or compulsion to make people feel comfort toward it and deduce from it meanings of liberty, compassion, truth, justice, and beauty. This is manifested if we compare this Islamic image of divinity to the complex Greek philosophical concept of divinity and proving the existence of God.
Islam provides the solution to this complex, thorny issue of divinity when it has presented an image of God acceptable to the mind, in a better way than done by philosophers in their concept of higher ideals, as Islam added to the concept of divinity life, ability, will, and perfection. At the same time, this image is not a piece of information to be accepted without reasoning. This is the belief in the unseen concerning God, His qualities and His Being. The realm of the unseen cannot be reached by the human senses, and this fact inspires people to think and consider with passion, piety and modesty to feel the rays of divinity within the inspiring lines of the Holy Quran.
Hence, we can say that the right amount of knowledge concerning divinity and the unseen was revealed in Islam, so as not to present something contradictory to the rational mind, and keep the spirit of looking forward for knowledge and considering. The unknown and the unseen could be reached by reciting and considering theQuranic
verses.
***
Islam does not need to establish a religious institution or clergy that would monopolize interpretations, as it has made the relation between people and God direct and without mediators. Islam resists the authority of clergy and monks and saw that they were nearly worshiped as partners of God, and it refuses the idea of interception and mediation, and that someone would have the authority to make people nearer to God. Islam abolishes all pagan methods like idols and shrines, and in so doing, it discards the idea of a religious institution.
That means that mosques is not like churches with its traditions and clergy of special knowledge, learning and training who know how to perform rituals and other secrets unknown to ordinary believers. This sort of knowledge in Christianity has to be taught in special schools and authorized by the lower and higher church authorities. This hierarchical pyramid of power is headed by the Pope in Rome and at its base deacons and priests. This hierarchy controls Christendom, and the Pope used to crown monarchs and issue compulsory decrees as the head of the church and holders of the keys to heaven. He used to excommunicate people as a kind of punishment by moral, spiritual death. If a decree issued to excommunicate someone, candles were lit and bells would toll until the decree was read, then candles would be put out and bells stopped, as a sign of spiritual death of the excommunicated person. This punishment of excommunication could be applied to even most powerful monarchs. It is well-known history when the emperor Henry IV stood barefooted at the doors of the Pope at the city of Canossa in 1077 for three consecutive days until the Pope condescended to forgive him. The journey to Canossa became the worst example of submission.
Mosques in Islam differ from Christian churches. The earth itself is a big, pure mosque, and there are no certain conditions to build mosques. The only structure that could be built inside mosques are pulpits of imams that might even consist of three steps, to make imams be seen by all rows of believers. Any Muslim can be an imam as long as he memorizes some verses of the Holy Quran, and being an imam does not bestow any sort of authority. Even the daily five prayers can be performed in mosques or anywhere else. Most people pray in their houses and workplaces. The scenes of the Egyptian villager praying by the bank of the River Nile, and the Arab Bedouin praying amid the desert, are unrepeated in any other religions.
***
Islam has abolished old components of previous religions that resisted reason and the rational mind. Islamha
become open for all kinds of thought, it does not refuse any thought or refused by any other thought. It has made people move away from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. This is the interpretation of the words 'light' and 'darkness' by imam AL-Ghazaly
in his book titled "The Balance of Work
".
Hence, Islam was an announcement that humanity has attained the age of reason.
***
Someone might ask why did we Islam the first doctrine to proclaim the reason and the mind? Why it is not Greek philosophy in the era of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates that hold that proclamation? No one can deny that the emergence of Greek philosophy proclaimed the age of reason but only to Athens, and not to the whole world. Islam has held its universal message of the book and the balance to all people, like the people of tyrants like Caesar and Persian Emperors, who were moved by Islam from darkness of ignorance to light of knowledge, whereas the Athenian philosophy was confined to the Greeks, and more specifically to free males while excluding women and slaves. When the Ptolemaic rulers established the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, it was an extension of the Athenian philosophy and it was purely Hellenistic culture, and they forbade local Alexandrian people to enter the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Moreover, the Greek philosophy did not deny the mythological world of mount Olympus. Even Socrates went once to the Oracle of Delphi to seek its prophecies. Thus, this is contrary to the universality of reason presented by Islam to all people on earth. Before the first century of Islam, its branches of knowledge, like Islamic jurisprudence,Hadith
, and interpretation were available to non-Arab Muslims. Even the compiler of Arab grammar in one book was a non-Arab calledSibawayh
. Some of the well-known and respected imams were non-Arabs who could not pronounce certain Arab letters. This proves the open nature of Islam as it proclaims reason and mind, and as it carried the book of the Holy Quran without limits to all people of the world, to benefit from it and present their contribution to all humanity as well.
Here lies the major difference between the Islamic rationalism and the Athenian rationalism, as the former has proclaimed reason and mind for humanity. Islamic rationalism has one source, like Islam itself, which is God; hence, it has objectivity and absoluteness, and thus it can be accepted by humanity. As for Athenian rationalism, and so was European rationalism, originated from the European man and his circumstances, and hence their limitations.
0%
Author: Gamal Al-Banna
