GUIDANCE FOR LIFE IN ISLAM

to fail.” (91: 8-10). According to the creation plan, God has bestowed full freedom to man. Every human being has been given the opportunity to think as one chooses and to act accordingly. This divine scheme of things necessarily demands that every person enjoys full freedom. Thus following a particular religion—whether it provides a complete or an incomplete code of life—is a choice that rests solely with the individual and cannot be compulsorily imposed on the individual from outside by anyone else. Making a person conform to particular set of commandments or regulations by force is tantamount to interfering with the scheme of things God has chosen for human beings. Anything which goes against the law of nature set by God for the present world is doomed to fail. The concept of Islam being a complete code of life which has to be imposed on people will always yield counter-productive results. Those who believe in this notion and try to forcibly implement it in society will turn Islam, a religion of well-wishing for others, into a religion of enmity and hatred. Counter-productive Results of the Political Interpretation of Islam When Islam is portrayed as a complete system of life, it immediately brings to mind the point that some or the other group has already put in place a certain system in society. The group that possesses political power in a society has adopted the law or rule of conduct which it considers proper. Now those who regard Islam as a complete system of life would wish to have full control over all the systems and structures of a society. These people would then realize that in order to have such control, they would need to take political authority and power in their hands. They would thus turn their attention to grabbing political power from the hands of those who are currently in possession of it. Working towards this would hold the foremost importance for them. This is the main cause for why reform of the self initially acquires a secondary place in the minds of such persons and gradually they cease to accord it even minimal importance. They become obsessed with the concept of changing the external system instead of bringing about a change within their own individual selves. Viewed The concept of Islam being a complete code of life which has to be imposed on people will always yield counterproductive results. Those who believe in this notion and try to forcibly implement it in society will turn Islam, a religion of well-wishing for others, into a religion of enmity and hatred.