ISLAMIC LITERATURE: AN ANALYSIS

was equally Dar ul-Insan (Abode of Humankind). The definitions of Dar ul-Islam and Dar ul-Kufr constitute an innovation devised in later times. This attitude led Islam to be looked upon as only a collection of commandments and statutes. Study of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) gained the pride of place among Muslim scholars, and the study of Quran and Sunnah (model set by the Prophet) was done in the light of fiqh. In the age of decline and degeneration, the importance of the religious spirit is forgotten, and emphasis is laid on the externals or the form of religion. The result of this difference is that all academic discussions and debates on religion centre on technical and legal aspects. It paves the way for greater evil— emergence of many religious sects. As a result, a unified community is broken into a community of various different sects. Events show that the Muslim community was beset by all these evils in the later period. The underlying cause of these evils is muthannath as mentioned in the above Hadith, which is the literature that was produced when the community was in its age of decline. The ideological problems facing present Muslims emanate directly from this situation. Now there is only one solution to this problem: the books that Muslims themselves have produced in Arabic language after the period which is unanimously agreed upon as the best in Muslim history should be accorded the status of classical literature. This is the time to study the Quran and Sunnah with an open mind, and then such literature should be prepared which would address the modern mind. The literature produced in later times would always enjoy its historical status, but so far as the source of religion is concerned, it will always be the Quran and Sunnah. An educated Muslim once said: ‘The Quran should be re-revealed today.’ This is a wrong statement. What is really required is an explanation of the Quran in contemporary idiom. The teachings of the Quran have to be reapplied in the present circumstances. In order to address the modern mind, new explanatory literature is required that would take into account the modern conditions. All the teachings of the Quran are eternal, but the style and idiom of its various passages take into account the people to whom it was When Muslims established a political empire, a general political mindset developed among them. The idea of fighting (war) in the name of jihad became predominant among Muslims as a result of this political mindset.