MUSLIM WORLD-VIEW — An Islamic Perspective

Another one of these dangerous concepts is that Muslims are God’s vicegerents on earth, and that it is their binding duty to impose upon the world the laws of the Shariah on behalf of God. This concept has come to dominate Muslim thought. Many other things are explained and interpreted in the light of this concept. For instance, there is a Hadith of the Prophet which says that the word of God would enter every home in the world. This was interpreted as a concept of Caliphate in the sense that the rule of Islam would be established all over the world. This is illogical and baseless. The Hadith refers to the 'word of Islam’, not the ‘rule of Islam’. It is obvious that, according to this Hadith, the word of Islam, or its message, will reach all homes, but this is far from Muslim rule being established all over the world! This (mis)interpretation is not an explanation, but, rather, a politicization of this Hadith report. Muslims have begun to take great pride in saying that Islam is a complete system. This may seem like a beautiful definition of Islam, but it is a later addition (bid‘a), and has nothing to do with the original Islam. Nowhere in the Quran and Hadith do we find anything to suggest that Islam is a total system. This concept of ‘total Islam’, if perpetuated, will leave present-day Muslims with two dangerous, futile and evil choices. In order to adhere to their version of ‘total Islam’, they must declare war against the entire world, because until they conquer all of it, they cannot uphold their supposed version of Islam. Or, they can continue to regard Islam as a ‘total system’ but compromise with the world, because they are too hypocritically enamoured with material benefits to commit themselves sincerely to their own professed ideals. o Isolated Living Individual or isolated living deprives one of interactive learning, greater experience and the opportunity to learn lessons. It is like living in a cocoon.