Islam for Non-Muslims

• RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
• 1 The Present State of the World Religions
• 2 Religious System as a Historical Reality
• 3 The Evidences of God across the Universe
• 4 The Absolute Oneness of God
• 5 The Reality of the Afterlife
• 6 The Growth of Irreligious Ideas
• 7 Worshipping Natural Elements
• 8 Worshipping Imaginary Idols
• 9 Worshipping Human Beings
• 10 Inventing Relationship to God
• 11 Inventing the Idea of Reincarnation
• 12 Inventing the Theory of Evolution (Darwinism)
• 13 Inventing ‘Nature’ as the Creator of the Universe
• 14 Importance of Religion in this Secular World
• ISLAM AS A RELIGION
• 15 Addressing the Criticisms of Islam
• 16 Islam as a Magnet for the Non-Muslims
• 17 The Quran as the Original Divine Book
• 18 The Quranic Reality in Archeological Findings
• 19 Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
• 20 Islam as the True Religion
• 21 Islam as the Universal Religion
• 22 Islam as the Eternal Religion
• 23 Islam as a Practicable Religion
• 24 Islam as an Enjoyable Religion
• 25 Islam as the Peaceful & Savior Religion
• 26 Islam as the Progressive & Rational Religion
• 27 Islam in Health & Hygiene
• 28 Islam in Promotion of Science
• 29 Muslims in Practices of Science
• 30 Islam & Other Monotheisms: Similarities & Differences
• 31 Islamic Tolerance for Other Religions
• 32 Islamic Rights for Non-Muslim Citizens
• ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• 33 Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
• 34 Moral & Social Impacts of Islamic Rituals
• 35 Moral Discipline in Islam
• 36 Sinning of 3 W’s: Women, Wine and Wealth
• 37 Dignity & Equality of Man in Islam
• 38 Human Rights in Islam
• 39 Social Duties in Islam
• 40 Dignity & Rights of Labor in Islam
• 41 Dignity of Women in Islam
• 42 Rights of Women in Islam
• 43 Marriage & Family Life in Islam
• 44 Political Philosophy in Islam
• 45 Economic Principles in Islam
• 46 Islamic Economy vs. Capitalism & Communism
• 47 Patriotism & Internationalism in Islam
• 48 Understanding Controversial Issues in Islam
• 49 Conversion to Islam: Problems & Prospects
• 50 Conclusive Message to the Non-Muslims

34: MORAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF ISLAMIC RITUALS

Introduction: Islam harmonizes with many other religions by legislating some rituals (including popularly known Five Pillars) for observance by the Muslims.  This is a continuation of tradition from God Who appointed “rites and rituals for every people which they must follow” (22:67).  For example, God enjoined on Jesus “prayer and charity as long as (he) lived’ (19:31). However, Islamic rituals, unlike those of other religions, not only means worship to God, but are also specially fashioned to serve a variety of moral, social and other purposes. The following will make the point clear.

(1) Prayer: The Muslims maintain a routine for praying 5 times a day, preferably at mosque congregation. This is potentially powerful to bring you “(spiritual) joy” (20:130), in addition to having the following moral and social impacts.

(i) Promoting Social Skills: Prayer provides the Muslims an opportunity to get together for prayer with intimate arm to arm contact, practice at the mosque compound social cultures like greeting, hand shaking, embracing, exchanging views, inquiring about others’ wellness and engaging in mutual help and so on.  All these help develop interpersonal skills and cement their social bond.

(ii) Cultivating Leadership and Civic Qualities:  The culture of selecting the prayer leader (Imam) based on the criteria of his piety and proficiency underscores the ideal qualifications for Muslim leadership. Honorable status given to the Imam (with all the worshippers lining up behind him during prayer) and the following he commands from them (who follow his sequential prayer actions with such deep respect that they would never overstep him) imprint on them a habit of maintaining social discipline under the stewardship of a leader. Again, the right of the followers to correct any procedural mistakes of Imam is a reminder of a democratic norm that no leader is above public criticism. The ‘dua’ of Imam for the goodness of the Muslim community is virtually a mini lesson on how a leader should be a true well-wisher of his people.

(iii) Spiritual Inspiration to Virtues:  Morality has direct link with the prayer that tends to “restrain (people) from shameful and unjust deeds” (29:45). If performed properly, prayer has the power to bring piety to your mind and inspire you spiritually to activate virtues and avoid vices. Adding force to that, recitation of the Quranic verses with a sense of their meaning during prayer equips your mind with ethical rules and with that comes the liability to practice them as well.

This, however, does not mean that the prayer makes an overnight transformation of a habitual and hardened sinner into a saint. In fact, every person has a certain level of natural or inborn tendency to do good or bad and the prayer just makes some improvement upon that standard depending largely on the quality of prayer. In other words, the frequency of your wrongdoing is likely to go down after prayers enter into your daily routine. Such moral impacts of the prayer may appear plain to your eyes if you look at the probable downward crime rate in a locality after creation of a mosque comparing with similar statistics taken before its founding. If you ever still see an on-going coexistence of prayer and sinful actions in a person, then the explanation may be found in the quality of prayer diminished from its hasty and mindless performance as well as disregard for its rules.

(iv) Helping with Other Positive Habits: Modesty, simplicity and mentality to live on equal footing with others are some natural outgrowths from communal praying at mosque. Timely attendance at prayers fosters the habit of punctuality and regularity as necessary conditions for success in life. Gratitude to God as expressed in prayer reinforces this virtue for using toward your human benefactor. Effort to concentrate on prayer acts as a therapy for attention deficit problem.  Cleanliness of body and clothes as a requirement for prayer may develop into a regular habit with positive health impacts that may last beyond prayer times. In particular, the culture of taking daily showers and the mandate of 3 times washing of hands, feet, face and nostrils before 5 times prayers will keep away harmful viruses and bacteria that otherwise could cause you coronavirus, flu or other deadly infections.  Rigor of prayer is like a practice in patience, tolerance and unintended physical exercise as well. Thus, prayer becomes the mother of many virtues.

(2) Ramadan Fasting (Siam): In the Islamic lunar month of Ramadan, the Muslims have to fast during daytime ranging from pre-dawn to sundown. This requires you to abstain from consumption of any food, drink, smoke or sexual intercourse and inspires you to avoid evil deeds like stealing, lying, cheating, backbiting, boasting, jealousy etc. In this process, fasting may upgrade your spiritual, moral and social levels.

(i) Spiritual and Moral Training: Putting on hold any enjoyment of food, woman etc. during day time is intended to give you an upper hand over personal instinct or self-interest that is often central to many evils.  “Fasting is prescribed” for the Muslims, like many prior religions, so that “you may (learn) self-restraint” (2:183). For example, Jesus’s mom Mary also vowed “to fast to the Most Gracious” (19:26). Though the Muslims are required to live a clean life round the year, there is also the need for organizing this month-long drill to recharge your souls with greater stress on spirituality and morality. The purpose is that the good habit formed in this month may have some enduring influence during subsequent 11 months of the year. 

(ii) Social Impacts: An empty stomach during fasting gives you a firsthand experience of starvation.  This may foster a feeling of both empathy and sympathy for the poor. Moreover, a sense of urgency for giving to the poor and feeding people ‘iftar’ (evening meal) and ‘sahur’ (pre-dawn meal) during Ramadan will encourage you to be more generous and social.

(3) Charity (‘zakat’): Compulsory charity named ‘zakat’ is an effective mechanism for ensuring social justice, as it tends to reduce economic inequality in the society through a process of giving from the rich to the poor. In order to make life easier for the poor, God mandates the rich to contribute annually 2.5% of the value of their specific possession by asserting that “in their wealth and possessions (was) the right of the (needy)” (51:19).  
Wealth is a Grant from God: Wealth is the direct result of God’s mercy and therefore the wealthy owner must comply with God’s advice by giving to the needy. Under divine arrangement, this zakat worthy portion of your wealth (2.5%) legally belongs to the poor which is illegal for your personal consumption and its blending will make your remaining (97.5%) wealth impure or ‘haram’ as well.  Therefore God urges the poor recipients to “take alms (zakat) of their goods, so that you may purify and sanctify them (the rich)” (9:103). This mandated charity not only purifies your wealth but also cleans your soul from vices like greed, selfishness etc. Its role as the purifier of both wealth and soul is reflected in the literal meaning of ‘zakat’ as “purification”.

Charity Is Duty, Not Favor to Poor: From spending side, ‘zakat’ implies a social duty of the rich and not their favor to the poor. At the receiving end, it means a social right of the poor and not a privilege for them and by accepting ‘zakat’ they simply deliver the rich from the filth of impurity.  So the question of losing prestige does not arise in case of receiving it. Warning shot is also sounded against spoiling charity “by reminders of your generosity” or otherwise (2:264). Particularly, when the ‘zakat’ fund is collected and distributed through an Islamic state, rather than personally, there is hardly any risk of prestige for the recipients. 
   
(4) Pilgrimage (Hajj):  Pilgrimage is another divine mechanism that bears a variety of moral and social implications.

(i) Inspiring Muslim Brotherhood: Hajj is an international gathering of the pilgrims at the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. This draws several millions of Muslims from different parts of the world to assemble there every year to perform a range of services and rituals. United by the purpose of pleasing God, you not only take part in these services in a communal fashion but also pray for the goodness of Muslims in general. This reinforces your feeling like a “single Muslim brotherhood” (49:10), rising over any social, racial, national or other differences. In no small measure does this role of ‘hajj’ advance the cause of world peace.

(ii) Moral and Spiritual Training: Pilgrimage greatly contributes to your moral and spiritual health. It gives you a practical training on sacrifice, self-restraint and morality. Large amount of hard-earned money is dedicated in payment for transport, living, sacrificial animal and other related expenses. During pilgrimage, you have to spend hours in prayers at the Grand Mosque of Mecca (and also preferably at the Prophet’s Mosque of Medina) with likelihood to cleanse your heart and soul.  Besides, you also have to live up to prohibitions from sinful actions like “obscenity”, “notoriety” or “quarrel” etc. (2:197). Moreover, religious sermons of your religious leaders will add up your sense of morality and inspires you to be observant.

(iii) Enacting the Life after Death: The pilgrims, from different corners of the world, brave a long and hazardous trip to Mecca, in love for God, leaving behind their beloved family and home. This is a reminder of the life after death where everyone will enter one day all alone, cut off from dear ones and earthly belongings. Hectic performance of religious activities at the grounds of Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina symbolize the Great Ground of Judgment. Also there are some deeds that look like a drill in preparation for the Afterlife. Examples include abiding by moral restrictions, living on minimum provisions by shunning luxury in order to gain more in the Hereafter, wearing 2 pieces of modest, white and seamless clothes similar to a funeral dress etc.

(iv) Face to Face with Islamic Past: Pilgrims come in direct contact with the places and things of Muslim heritage which so long they believed without seeing. These include Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque, Makam-e-Ibrahim, Arafah, Mina, pebbles throwing at Jamarat, Safa Marwa hills, Zamzam well, Prophet’s Mosque and Tomb etc. In this process, you will “witness the benefits” (22:28) as your faith will gain in strength and you will be left with such fortified faith that tends to endure for the rest of your life.

Conclusion: The above discussion supports the fact that the rituals of Islam are instrumental in achieving a wide variety of moral, social, economic and other goals.