Islam for Non-Muslims
- RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
- ISLAM AS A RELIGION
- ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
SECTION THREE: ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
33: ISLAMIC SYSTEM VERSUS HUMAN IDEOLOGIES
Introduction: Historically, all monotheistic religions were at one in emphasizing faith in one God and inspiring people with humanity and morality. However, no two religions are perfectly alike as they differ in both quality and quantity of provisions for human life. Side by side, human efforts had also been under way in fashioning their lives according to various philosophies and ideologies. Now we discuss about major features of Islamic life system and see how they compare with other divine or human ideologies.
(1) Completeness: Islam: Islam is not only a religion, but also a complete code of human life. It covers all sides of human life--be it moral, spiritual, educational, social, economic, political, legal, international or any other. The aim is to offer right solutions to all aspects of human problems. For example, politically it shows how the ruler should gain power legally and rule his people fairly. Economically, it guides you how you will run your business with honesty. Internationally, it directs you to the right way of dealing with foreign nations. In this way, Islam draws from divine wisdom the right answers for your questions and thereby fairness among people as well as safety from divine anger is guaranteed. Islam formulates such quality provisions in every aspect and by practicing them completely you can “Enter into Islam whole-heartedly” with total blessings (2:208).
Other Religions: By comparison, other religions mainly focus on ritualistic, spiritual, moral and social aspects and very little, if any, on other areas like politics, economics, legal or international etc. For example, they may have some rulings on politics (e.g. David’s political role in Judaism) or on economics (like Church’s tax on farm products) but not much enough to fill the pages of a sizable book on every subject like in Islam.
When it comes to human ideologies, there is hardly any model that aims to influence human life in all completeness, much less of having any depth of influence or breadth of following. They often appear to have only one or limited areas to deal with (ex: feudalism is mainly a socio-political and capitalism an economic system) and thus they obviously lack wider diversity comparable to Islam.
2) Benevolence: Islam is not only a complete life system, but also more beneficial than any man-made ideology. Mainly two factors explain the difference.
(i) Selfishness: Human beings are generally guided by their narrow selfishness or bias for their own groups. Therefore they do not think much about common goodness as they try to influence public life through tunnel vision of their ideology or philosophy. For example, capitalism was harmful to the workers while promoting the interest of big businesses. In reaction, communism was founded with revengeful policy as it called upon the workers to be united against their exploitive business owners.
In another example, ancient Greece founded an early democracy but did limit voting rights only to the upper class males. Likewise, King Hammurabi of ancient Iraq was known for his tough legal codes but his fame suffered a setback as he favored the rich over the poor and males over females. Around late medieval period, absolute monarchs in Europe invented the theory of ‘Divine Right to Rule’ for their own political advantage. In fact, God never supports this type of harmful political systems in favor of self-appointed absolutism. Instead He only reveals the “best (of the courses)”, without any favor for any advantaged groups (39:55).
(ii) Ignorance: Sometimes, poverty of knowledge remains in the background of imposing destructive cultures on the weaker people by the stronger ones. For example, priests among the medieval Aztecs of Mexico area slaughtered countless poor/slaves for pleasing their imaginary sun gods and victims almost never included their own upper class. God was instant with rejection, saying their false gods make “alluring the slaughter of their children” (6:137). The real God is above such human weaknesses and you will enjoy unmixed blessings if you follow His fair system. Otherwise, if you “follow a system of human beings like yourselves, you will certainly be lost” (23:34).
(3) Foolproof: Since Islamic system comes from Omniscient God, it is free from any short-sighted errors typical of human beings. God does “never commands what is shameful” deeds or harmful life systems (7:28). Some examples will clarify the point.
(i) Demographic: The British economist Malthus made a pessimistic prediction in the mid-19th century by showing population only as a liability. He said if the preventive checks (like birth control) are not applied on high population growth, the shortage of food supply will force the population size down through natural calamities like famine, war, epidemic etc. We see things almost differently in today’s world particularly in the developed West (Europe or North America) where the shortage of population (labor force) is posing more of a problem than the crisis of food, thanks to scientific breakthrough in farm output often known as Green Revolution. Thus God knows well how to feed the mouths He created. He urged you “not to kill your children on pleas of want; we provide sustenance for you and for them” (6:151).
(ii) Social: Greek philosopher Plato became special for his impracticable ‘utopian’ ideas. He opined: “marriage was not permitted” for the ruling/military class and recommended their “men and women live together in a dormitory-style arrangement” (Sniderman). For them he introduced the concept known as “Platonic Love”, a concept of unselfish love without any “romantic attraction”. Even if he reluctantly approved marriage for other groups, he maintained “children would be separated from their parents” for communal upbringing at state facilities. Thus he emerged as a forerunner of communism by opposing personal possessions for people. Islam, by contrast, counts tangible benefits of marriage for everyone, parenting of children in family setting and ownership of wealth.
(iii) Political: Italian scholar Machiavelli came up with a political theory that ‘the end (goal) justifies the means (method)’. This gives the rulers around the world a sense of justification for ruthless governance as they can now freely apply (if needed) undesirable means/method (like crushing their opponents) for achieving their chosen end (goal) of easier rule of people. Islam takes a different position by requiring you to seek quality in both the end and means, with no moral immunity for the rulers.
(iv) Economic: Karl Marx, the founding philosopher of communism, dreamed of establishing a classless society but an almost opposite trend of social, economic and political inequalities (with huge power and purse of the upper class rulers) is noticeable in communist countries. Islam, however, considers perfect equality as neither possible nor desirable. Marx also predicted when communism will fill every place, international borders of the countries will “wither away” and the whole world will turn into a single global communist state. Differently, Islam views multi-nationalism as a necessity for identification purpose “so you may know each other” (49:13) and it will never go away.
Similar examples may be multiplied to highlight the point that the best known scholars are not in a position to conquer time and space due to their propensity to mistake while Islamic system remains foolproof and flawless forever.
(4) Moderation: Other Systems: Various competitive human systems are struggling to survive through constant shifts and changes needed for adjustments in the wake of trial and error processes. Let us take the example of rival economic systems of pure capitalism (Laissez Faire) propounded by Adam Smith and pure communism by Karl Marx. The first one theorized about 100% ownership of nation’s wealth to be in private hands (mainly the business group) with government ‘hands off’ policy while communism envisioned 100% ownership for government with almost nothing left for private people.
Their Weaknesses: Obviously, the above two theories are so extreme in their approach and so remote from reality that they needed to retreat from their original positions for making necessary adjustments in order to be timely and realistic. On the one hand, in the capitalist nations like USA, pure capitalism moves back from 100% private ownership theory through transferring some economic activities (e.g. utility services) to the government sector in the names of socialism, mixed economy, welfare policy or nationalization etc. Likewise, in communist Russia or China, we see a rolling back from 100% government ownership policy with increasingly widening doors for private investment and foreign trade, leading to numerous billionaires in their private sectors (e.g. China has several hundreds of billionaires as of 2022).
Islam: Islamic economic system has always been moderate in nature and holds a centrist position since day one. As shown above, both of the extreme systems were moving from extremism toward the center location. This is the location where Islamic economy has been holding ground as a model for many centuries. This economy does not need any major changes for adjustment, thanks to its middle course or moderate policy.
(5) Permanent: Islamic system has enduring life across time. It was framed by Omniscient God who can foresee any future changes and incorporate them into His system. You will therefore “find no change in the (approved) practices of God” (48:23). Short-sighted humans do not have this advantage and whatever ideologies they frame are only short-lived. In this way, numerous human systems or ideologies did come and did go through revolving door of time. Some of them (ex: Nazism, Fascism, Feudalism, Manorialism, Mercantilism among others) are well on record while others are among the less attended historical topics. One classical example of mortal nature of human system was the artificial religion ‘Din-e-Ilahi’ (means God’s religion) founded by the Indian emperor Akbar the Great through combining the basic teachings of diverse religions. This unique system was a political device to attract public support and it therefore met natural death along with its founder.
Conclusion: The above analysis shows how the Islamic way of life compares favorably with man-made systems, both qualitatively and quantitatively.