Islam for Non-Muslims
- RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
- ISLAM AS A RELIGION
- ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
Islam as a Practicable Religion
23: ISLAM AS THE PRACTICABLE RELIGION
Introduction: Islam is often misunderstood as a hard-to-practice and duty-laden religion.
This idea will prove unreal if you compare Islam with other religions in original form. If you look back at the history of religions, you will see all other divine religions started with the burden of various compulsory “rites and ceremonies” (22:67). Despite being a part of that history, Islam, however, did not introduce any tougher provisions as you will see from the following discussion.
(A) Practicability Compared with Other Religions: As the founder of all religions, God made it clear that in Islam, He did not introduce any “change” from earlier religions toward hardship by adding up “difficulties on you in religion” (33:62; 22:78). He also promised “not to impose any burden” beyond what you can bear (6:152). Instead, He intends “every facility for you” in order to avoid “difficulties” for you, viewing that “man was created weak” (2:185; 4:28). He thereby made it “easy for you” to follow the path that is already made “simple” and “smooth” (87:8; 80:20). The true intention of God for making your life easier is reflected in His advice for “not asking (too many detailed) questions (through the Prophet)” beyond Quranic revelations that are already in place (5:101). In that case, God’s answers might add up some prohibitive rules in details that could be a “cause of trouble for you” (5:101). For example, one associate asked the Prophet if it was necessary to perform Hajj every year; if God answered yes, then it could be a permanent liability for all eligible Muslims.
(i) Food: Islam opened up for consumption many food items “part of what forbidden” to earlier generations (3:50). Accordingly, many “good and wholesome (food) were made illegal” for the Jews (4:160). For example, they were banned from eating every (animals) “with undivided hoof” and “the fat of the ox and the sheep” (6:146). For the Muslims, by contrast, legality extends to “all four-footed animals” with narrow exceptions like pork, animals slaughtered without God’s name etc.
Some religions like Jainism in India embraced vegetarian culture that takes protein rich, delicious animal food off their dining table, citing cruelty to the animals. Islam rejects such self-inflicted prohibition of lawful food which is “made lawful for you” (5:87). Instead, it thinks better of eating most animals by way of thanksgiving to the Creator. It gives second place to the cruelty issue given the reality that all animals will eventually die one day and anyway.
(ii) Celibacy: Jesus lived a short life of about 33 years and he never married under divine plan. His celibacy was, however, exceptional as God did “not prescribe monasticism for his followers” (57:27). Now widespread practices of celibacy prove very hard for his devoted priests who often slip into sins of homosexuality and child abuse. Islam therefore made your life easier by replacing the culture of celibacy with that of marriage of “chaste women” and happy conjugal life (5:5).
(iii) Rituals: Fasting: The cultures of rituals like prayer, fasting, charity etc. are not unique for Islam. For example, former monotheisms received some form of “fasting obligations” (2:183). For examples, Mary, the mom of Jesus “vowed (some form of) fasting to Most Gracious” (19:26) and some Christians and Jews still practice fasting in one form or other.
Prayer & Charity: These two cultures are central pillars for all 3 monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For example, Jesus was assigned with “lifelong prayer and charity” and Moses “established regular prayers” (19:31; 10:87). Prayers in Islam are, however, different for being highly organized and sticking to the original format. For example, 5 times daily prayers are never cut shorter to attract potential converts. What’s more, you can also notice an evolution of prayer format toward perfection under Islam. To be specific, usual prayer position is standing for the Jews, kneeling for the Christians and for the Muslims it is prostration which is apparently the humblest submission ever to God. In Muslim prostration, highest part of your body (head) comes down to the lowest part of the earth surface (ground) and then God is praised as the ‘Highest’, featuring your choice of the largest gap between your lowness and His Highness. Catholic Pope John Paul II (in ‘95) sincerely admitted “it is impossible not to admire” “their (Muslim’s) fidelity to prayer” which is a “model” “for those Christians who…pray only a little or not at all” (pg.93).
Prohibitions Under Ten Commandments: The body of Ten Commandments is the crown jewel of both Jewish and Christian holy Books which matches with Quranic rulings for all items except #4 suggesting Sabbath (Saturday) as sacred for the Jews, while it is Friday for the Muslims. As another example, item #7 identifies adultery as a punishable grave sin even though the ruling is deprived of deserving publicity, much less of implementation. Similarly, dishonoring parents in violation of the 5th of Ten Commandments met with severe penalty in Judaic tradition. Thus all these prohibitions are common across monotheisms but the Muslims only practice them with devotion.
Others: Likewise, in line with all previous holy Books, Islam maintains sinful status for homosexuality which existed during the Prophet of Lot. The principle of equal punishment like “life for life, eye for eye” was “ordained” for the Jews which are now retained for Islam as well (5:45).
It therefore seems evident that all divine religions started with some burden of Do’s and Don’ts and this burden has been lightened in many cases for Islam. If you see something different in overall comparison, then that will largely mean unauthorized simplification of the rituals by the followers of other religions. The following discussion will make the point clear that Islam is more easily practicable than what you might think otherwise.
(B) Practicable Provisions of Islam: Most provisions of Islam favor its followers with the following advantages.
(i) Moderation: Islam recommends a middle course of action that makes easier to translate advice into action. It warns you not to “exceed in your religion the bounds of (propriety)” (5:77) so you can do things without much difficulty. For example, it wants you to spend in charity but not to the extent of becoming “blameworthy and impoverished” (17:29). It wants you to be simple-hearted but not to extent of being cheated by your excessive show of simplicity and then become “full of repentant” (49:6).
(ii) Balance: Another factor that makes Islam easy to practice is its principle of balancing between various conflicting interests. For example, it spells out mutual rights and duties for balancing between various related groups like ruler-subject, employer-worker, landlord-tenant, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger and so on. In this regard, you do not have to look to 5-relations model of Confucianism in China.
(iii) Defense: Islam gives you the right to defend yourself so you can survive. Take the case of Jesus who believed in absolute patience as required in his advice to “offer the second cheek if you get a slap on the first one”. Islam finds in this a potential danger that could wipe out your very existence through unchecked offense from your enemy side. Accordingly, Islam takes a more practical stand by allowing you to “defend (yourself) after a wrong (is done)” to you (42:41) with approval for proportionate response. This right to defense was applied by the Prophet in the battlefield where he fought for defending God’s religion by using various defensive methods like digging trench, wearing body armor, shield and helmet etc.
(iv) Caution: Islam lays stress upon taking necessary precaution before harmful agents take you over and you are forced to a costly fight in defense. You are therefore advised to “be aware” of your “enemies” and “take (every) precautions” for yourselves (63:4; 4:102). Let “him behave with care and caution”, so goes the warning (18:19). If a wicked person comes to you with any news, you should “verify its accuracy” (49:6). If necessary, “carefully investigate” relevant facts before you reach a decision (4:94). Again, if you fear betrayal from a group, then “throw back (their treaty) to them, (to be) on equal terms” (8:58). All these ensure that others cannot take undue advantage of you for lack of your preparedness.
(v) Individual Responsibility: Islam relieves you from the burden of joint blames. This means you will be held “responsible only for yourself” in matters of sins and no one will bear the “least portion” of burden of others, “even though (they) may be (your) near relatives” (4:84; 35:18). Under this rule, a minor child will not be held accountable for consuming illegal income of parents. This provision not only promotes justice but also narrows down the scope of undue sufferings. God not only relieves you from the burden of others’ sins but also keeps your personal burden within limit of “what (you) can bear” (6:152).
(C) Islamic Obligations Are Overblown:
(i) Prioritize Compulsory Deeds over Optional Ones: As a complete code of life, Islam frames laws and rules (Do’s and Don’ts) for every sphere of human life. A close-up review will suggest that not too many Do’s have compulsive force. The rest of the Do’s are optional in nature which brings merit, if done and no penalty otherwise. Remarkably, some of these good deeds bring more pleasures than pains e.g. taking a short nap after lunch, eating sweets as the last item while dining etc. In view of limitation to human powers, Islam came up with a short list of obligations inclusive of the Five Pillars. However, some people, out of ignorance or zeal, do not distinguish between high-priority compulsory deeds and low-value optional ones.
‘Fard’ and ‘Nafl’ Not Belong in Same Bundle: If you wrongly imagine both obligatory and optional deeds as belonging to the same essential bundle and practice without any differentiation, then the following problems may result:
First, priority is misplaced if and when you attach more importance to the optional deeds than the compulsory ones. In such cases, it may be sinful if the quality of your compulsory deeds fall short of divinely acceptable standard.
Second, while you could avoid optional deeds particularly during your stressful time, you choose for yourself a hard life of struggling with both compulsory and optional deeds.
(ii) Greater Caution against Bigger Sins: It is advisable that you should be more cautious against big sins (e.g. homicide, theft, adultery etc.) than the mildly discouraged actions like drinking water while standing. The latter type may mean at most a minor sin but there is optimism that God may forgive such “small sins” if you “avoid major sins” (53:32). The over-enthusiasts sometimes forget about relative importance of the two and overload themselves with the both, regardless of their differential priorities. This simply runs counter to God’s intention of not imposing a “burden greater than what one can bear” (2:286). Yet more damaging is the wrong message that outside people may get about Islam as a hard-to-practice religion which may discourage them from embracing it.
(D) Pleasures Dominate Pains in Islamic Rituals: While rituals like prayer, charity, fasting etc. are not new or only for Islam, the Muslim practitioners may not experience as much difficulties to practice them as might appear to the non-practitioners. Now we explain why.
(i) Prayer: Quantitative Review: Prayer in Islam is mandated 5 times a day, with a total daily load of 32 rakats: 17 compulsory (‘fard’), 3 near-compulsory (‘witr’) and the rest are non-compulsory sunnah or nafl. At the rate of average one minute time needed for each rakat, an estimated half an hour time is needed for all fard prayers plus roughly same amount of time needed for ablution. In total, estimated one hour may be needed daily for making all these dedications to God out of total 24 hours that you have in a day. The schedule of 5 times prayer is also designed so as not to conflict with your bread earning schedule in most cases. To be specific, you do not have to worry about prayer during the long stretch of time from dawn (fazr) to late afternoon (juhr prayer) which is normally the peak business period.
Easy Adjustments: Prayer is also made easier in other ways. While other religions generally restrict prayer to temples, the Muslims are allowed to pray on any piece of cloth, paper etc. or even on land having no visible impurity, in addition to the mosque Furthermore, a single ablution (specific way of washing body parts) if not spoiled, will be good for multiple prayers. Symbolic purification through use of clean soil (tayammum) is allowed as an easier alternative to ablution should there be shortage of water or health risk from use of water (5:6; 4:43). You are prescribed a “shortened prayer” while on trip (4:101). As a sick or weak person, if you are unable to pray in normal standing position, then you may change position to “sitting down or even lying down on your sides” while facing Kaaba (4:103). For optional nightly prayer, you are allowed to recite from “the Quran as much as may be easy for you” in consideration of your “ill-health”, traveling hardships or due to your “daytime prolonged preoccupation with ordinary duties” etc. (73:20; 73:7). In this process, prayer has been simplified by making it adaptable to your personal conditions instead of your adaptation to prayer with hardships.
Mental Pleasure: What’s more important about prayer is the mental pleasure that flows from it. The mind feels so much of peace and spiritual “joy” (20:130) during and immediately after prayer that marks a clear difference from mental conditions at other times. It is exactly this experience that led the Prophet to comment “prayer comforts my eyes” (Hadith). Thus, taking some time out of your busy time for prayer proves useful as an escape from stress.
(ii) Fasting (Siam): Fasting as an obligation means dawn to dusk abstinence from all types of intakes (food, drink and smoke) and sexual activities during the month of Ramadan. There is, however, no restriction on the quantity or quality of food consumption or “approach to wife” (2:187) during nighttime. Instead, eating twice (after sunset and at late night) is treated as an act of piety.
Not Necessarily Unhealthy: Now the question remains if fasting may harm your health. In conformity with medical science, as long as you fulfill your daily calorie requirements (normally about 2000 to 2500 calories varying with your weight and activity level) by eating twice rather than more often, there should not be a big problem for your health. Even if you cannot eat anything during daytime fasting, it is quite possible that you can make that up by eating good quantity and quality of food during two ends of nighttime. Fasting is therefore not likely to have any negative impacts on your health. If, however, that ever happens, then that is not really for fasting itself but from your over-anxiety for health while fasting. In fact, if you fast properly and patiently, the day will pass smoothly and promptly amidst mental pleasure overpowering the feeling of hunger.
Healer of Diseases: Far from becoming a health problem, fasting promises both prevention and cure for certain ailments including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, indigestion etc. As a patient, you can follow adjusted timing for taking medication 2/3 times during the night instead of fasting daytime. If fasting is medically proven to be harmful for any specific disease, your fasting can wait during illness and the “prescribed period (should be made up) by days later” (2:185). If the disease would never heal and its coexistence with fasting really threatens your life, then you can give up fasting for good by paying some compensation (named fidya). Fasting imposes a daytime break on your smoking for a month and this may help ending your addiction, one leading cause of deaths through lung cancer and other smoke related complications.
(iii) Mandatory Charity (zakat): This implies a mandatory system of cash flowing from the rich to the poor. Unlike usual high double digit tax rate of modern economies, it requires annual giving at fixed low rate of 2.5% for selected possessions including gold, silver, cash or bank money and business merchandise. Thus Islam stays away from burdening you with “(spending) beyond your means” (65:7). In fact, zakat is more of an asset if you count its religious value and mental pleasure that comes with it.
(iv) Pilgrimage (hajj): Pilgrimage to Mecca is a once in lifetime obligation for those who can afford it. Tourism thrill combined with spiritual pleasure from ‘hajj’ often weigh heavier than the financial cost and physical challenge involved. The net result is that instead of viewing it as a liability, the Muslims often feel like doing it over and many actually do fulfill their wishes by repeating the process.
(v) Animal Sacrifice: This is a semi-compulsory ritual commemorating the historic sacrifices of Prophet Abraham during annual celebration of Eid-ul-Adha event. It cost you some money in buying animals for sacrifice. In exchange, you may gain greater mental pleasure when you bring smiles to the hungry poor by donating them at least one-third of meat in the pleasure of God. Also you may obtain big thanks from your relatives by gifting them another one-third.
Conclusion: The above makes it obvious that compared to other religions, Islamic rituals do not impose extra hardships for the Muslims who instead may find them very much practicable as well as beneficial for building a purposeful and civilized society.