FROM MAULANA’S DESK

We can make a particular aspect the basis of the interpretation of the totality of a phenomenon. Here, this particular aspect is presented as representing the phenomenon as a whole or as its central point. I have used the term ‘interpretation’ in this sense. Let me now clarify this point about these three broad ways that one can describe the different parts of a phenomenon by examining the term ‘economy’. One way to talk about the economy is to say that human beings are made up of body and soul, and that the human body has certain needs that require to be satisfied through economic activity, just as the soul also needs certain things for its nourishment. This is a way of talking about an aspect of a phenomenon in terms of its relation to the whole. A second way of talking about the economy is to say that life depends on the economy, and that without the existence of appropriate economic means or resources, life is difficult, if not impossible. This is a way of talking about an aspect of a phenomenon by stressing its particular importance. A third way of talking about the economy is to claim that economic conditions are the real driving-force of, or power behind history; that it is the economy that determines every aspect of life; and that every human feeling, all forms of knowledge, and all human institutions are shaped by the prevailing economic conditions. This is a way of talking about an aspect of a phenomenon to be the sole basis of understanding the phenomenon as a whole. The first of these examples is illustrative of the legalistic sort of description. The second is an instance of a way of addressing an issue in order to stress its particular importance while at the same time not making it out to be the fundamentally determining factor. The third is an example of making a particular aspect or factor the basis of interpreting a phenomenon in its totality. What we have been discussing here applies to religion as well. Deen or religion of Islam has various parts or aspects or dimensions, and there are different ways of explaining and describing them. Talking about them in terms of fiqh or jurisprudence is akin to the first method of description referred to above. The scholars who have given the political interpretation of Islam expressed their understanding of deen of Islam based on a single central factor—politics.