When Islam Becomes A Source of Pride

When Islam Becomes A Source of Pride

1988 4 April 26-28 When Islam Becomes A Source of Pride (1118) What the Muslims of this age have inherited is not religion, but pride in religion. They are conscious of their history but are not conscious of their Maker. Islam, as they see it, is something which bolsters pride but does not teach humility.

“I am a Muslim, and I am proud to be a Muslim.” This assertion, made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in a discourse, aptly sums up the mentality of the present-day Muslims. It conveys the sorry, distorted picture of what the Islamic follower has become, and certainly ought not to be.

Let us take a closer look at the Maulana’s statement. In it, the word “Muslim” could be taken to mean an individual whose life is ruled by the Quran. Now, in the Quran, a Muslim is defined as one who fears God. Suppose we were to substitute this definition for the word “Muslim” in the Maulana’s sentence it would then read: “I am one who fears God, and I am proud to be one who fears God.” The incompatibility between the notions of pride and the fear of God immediately becomes obvious, for no one who truly feared God could ever associate his fear with pride. He would instinctively associate it with humility. It is clear then that Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was not using the world “Muslim” in its Quranic sense, but in the nationalistic and historical sense. Used in this way, it conjures up a picture of the forefathers of this ‘Muslim’ conquering vast territories, constructing formidable pieces of architecture, creating a splendid civilization and, in political and material terms, making their mark on the world. When the word ‘Muslim’ is used in this way, the above-quoted sentence loses the incongruity of the Quranic interpretation, and merely projects the image of the latter-day Muslim as he actually is.

With this analysis, the reality of modern Muslims stands exposed: they are not a product of the Quran, but of their own history. The mainspring of their existence is not the inspiration of the Quran, but their sense of nationhood, for Muslims – unaware of the nature of their error – regard themselves as a nation, like any other nation in the world. They have forgotten that they were once a community which had sprung from the spiritual and intellectual revolution which God and His Prophet had brought about in the world. It is regrettable that this ‘Muslim’ mentality is now a world-wide phenomenon. Whether of the educated elite or of the uneducated masses, they all share this selfsame attitude.

It is not a matter to be made light of, for herein lies the root-cause of all the woes of present-day Muslims: what the Muslims of this age have inherited is not religion, but pride in religion. They are conscious of their history but are not conscious of their Maker. Islam, as they see it, is something which bolsters pride but does not teach humility. It is for this reason that they have been unable to cultivate those sterling qualities which only grow in one who is so close to God that he lives with Him in his thoughts night and day.

As a result of this mentality, the Muslims adopt a nationalistic attitude in all matters. Instead of seeing their Prophet as a leader to be followed and obeyed, they view him as a source of pride and self-esteem. Their ‘Islam’, instead of teaching them patience and avoidance, teaches them to clash and fight with others. They are quick to learn the lesson of ‘an eye for an eye’ from the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet, but they ignore the lessons of forgiveness and avoidance on which so much proper emphasis is laid. To them, Jihad means setting themselves up as the enemy of other nations, and then waging interminable wars against them. They fail to appreciate that the principal objective of Jihad is not to wage an all-out war to bring an enemy to his knees, but to win that ‘enemy’ over to one’s side in order to set his feet on the path of truth, thus making him eligible for the everlasting grace of God. Jihad is not meant to be a means of battering their foes out of existence, it is simply the first step taken to ensure the ultimate conversion of their opponents.

There are certain qualities which are essential for success in life. Of these, perhaps the most important are a readiness to acknowledge the truth, the adoption of a conciliatory attitude, patience with others’ faults and the willingness to avoid those who are bent on being obstructive or aggressive. In order to develop and give full rein to these qualities, one has, of necessity, to be imbued with the spirit of humility. But the Muslims of today have pride so ingrained in them, that they scoff at the very idea that there could be any value in such virtues.

This is partly due to the fact that in the recent decades of their decline, Muslims had it thoroughly impressed upon them by orators such as Iqbal and Azad that Islam was something in which to take pride. This dose of pride administered to the ailing Islamic body was lapped up with such relish by the masses that nowadays a form of Islam has been adopted which actually teaches Muslims to take a pride in their religion. Far from bringing about their uplift, this mentality has been the cause of their further degeneration.

The destructive effect of this Muslim pride became apparent when the slogan: “Proclaim with pride that you are a Muslim” was put up in bold lettering on the walls of Hyderabad. Indignant at this display of self-assertion by the Muslims, the Hindus countered with “Proclaim with pride that you are a Hindu” – in even bolder lettering. As a result of these slogans and counter-slogans, tension built up between the Hindus and Muslims, and the situation so deteriorated that, finally, rioting broke out. Could the Muslims simply have written, “Go in fear of God,” there would have been no call for a counter-slogan, no tension, no clash, no rioting. This makes it quite clear that it is this self-made brand of Islam which has caused Muslims everywhere to become disgraced and downtrodden. Had they held fast to the Islam of the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet, they would not have found themselves in their present dilemma.

It is noteworthy that the Prophet said (as recorded in the Hadith): “God raises one who is humble.” Here we have the secret of progress and prosperity: humility. But obviously, a community which has been reared on a diet of ill-conceived pride will be pathologically incapable of humility.