The Collective Demand

Him as their Ilah and Rabb, they must recognize God as the sole Ilah and Rabb in a supernatural sense, place all trust in Him, acknowledge His greatness, feel gratitude for His blessings, and make Him the centre of all their highest feelings. Following this, in social and political spheres, their faith will demand only as much as relates to those actual social and political circumstances. If they are alone on an isolated island, they will have no such responsibility. If they are within a community, their responsibility will only extend as far as they are legally obligated by the Shariah (Islamic Jurisprudence) in their circumstances. Meanwhile, the essential and primary meanings of divinity and lordship are always binding upon them and can never be removed. If one fails to maintain the distinction between the primary meaning and its attendant demand, and instead interprets Islam in a manner that either elevates the demand to primacy or treats the two as equivalent, both will inevitably be dislocated from their rightful place in one’s understanding. The result is that the political demand associated with divinity and lordship will assume an exaggerated importance, while the true, fundamental meaning will be diminished in stature. Indeed, if this approach is influenced—consciously or unconsciously—by a political atmosphere or mindset, it is quite possible that the latter aspect will dominate the mind rendering the former aspect merely a