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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
To be a Muslim today—or any day—is to live in accordance with the will and pleasure of Allah. Muslims often say, with joy and pride, that it is easy to be a Muslim since Islam is ‘the straight path’ leading to paradise. What this means, in other words, is that the principles of Islam are simple and straightforward, free of ambiguities, confusions, inconsistencies or mysteries, and that comprehending them or living in accordance with them is not difficult. The assumption here is that if one somehow comes to ‘the straight path’ by accepting Islam, which is Allah’s last and final revelation to humanity, one will fairly effortlessly arrive at the destination which is a state of eternal blessedness in the presence of Allah. I must confess that I am totally amazed, and overwhelmed, by this assumption. To me, being a Muslim today—or any day—seems to be exceedingly hard, for to be a Muslim one has constantly to face the challenge, first of knowing what Allah wills or desires not only for humanity in general but also for oneself in particular, and then of doing what one believes to be Allah’s will and pleasure each moment of one’s life.
In view of the stereotyping of Islam and Muslims which has gone on in the West for many centuries, and especially since the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979, it is necessary to state at the outset of this article that ‘the world of Islam’ is not a monolith and that Muslims differ as sharply within their “ummah” of one billion persons as do adherents of other major religious traditions within their own respective communities.
1 “Ummah”: community.
2 The Qur'an, Surah 15: Al‐Hijr:85.
3 The Qur'an, Surah 21: Al‐Anbiya':16.
4 The Qur'an, Surah 95: At‐Tin:4.
5 The Qur'an, Surah 51: Adh‐Dhariyat:56.
6 Translation of The Holy Qur'an by Yusuf, A. McGregor, AH. and Werner, , Inc., USA, 1946, pp. 69–70Google Scholar.
7 Bang—e—Dara, Shaikh Ghulman All and Sons, Lahore, 1962, p. 151Google Scholar.
8 “Jihad fi sabil Allah”: to strive in the cause of Allah.
9 The Ideals and Realities of Islam, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1975, pp. 93–96Google Scholar.
10 Arabic‐English Lexicon, William and Norgate, London 1863Google Scholar, Book I. Part 4, p.1535.
11 Parwez, G.A., Lughat ul Qur'an, Idara Tulu' e Islam, Lahore, 1960Google Scholar, Volume II, pp.941–944.
12 Islam in Modern History, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1957, p. 146Google Scholar.
13 The Ideals and Realities of Islam, p.99.
14 Hodgson, Marshall G.S., The Venture of Islam (Conscience and History in a World Civilization), The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1974CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Volume One (The Classical Age of Islam), p.332.
15 “Ahadith”: plural of “hadith”: a saying ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad.
16 Islam, Doubleday and Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1968, p.64Google Scholar.
17 Reported by Al‐Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah on the authority of Abd Allah ibn 'Umar, cited by K.A. Faruki in Islamic Jurisprudence, Pakistan Publishing House, Karachi, 1962, p.27Google Scholar.
18 “Ulema”: scholars.
19 The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, 1971, p.168Google Scholar.
20 Ibid., p.151.
21 Ibid., p.178.
22 Ibid., p.168.
23 Reference here is to The Qur'an, Surah 2:Al‐Baqarah:30–34.
24 Reference here is to The Qur'an, Surah 33:Al‐Ahzab:12.
25 The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p.85.
26 Reference here is to Surah 53: An‐Najm:42; translation is by Iqbal (The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p.57).
27 Reference here is to The Qur'an, Surah 3: Al‐'Imran; 79.
28 In this context, the ‘double movement’ outlined by Fazlur Rahman in his book Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1982), pp.5–8Google Scholar is important.
29 Iqbal's remarks about “Ijma”' in modern times, stated in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, pp.173–174, are thought‐provoking.
30 Those interested in the issue of woman‐man equality in the Islamic tradition may refer to my articles ‘Made from Adam's Rib?’ in Al‐Mushir, Christian Study Centre, Rawalpindi, Volume XXVII, No.3, Autumn 1985, pp. 124–155Google Scholar, and ‘Equal Before Allah?’ in Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Volume XVII, no.2, January–May 1987, pp.2–4Google Scholar.
31 See The Qur'an, Surah 29: Al‐'Ankabut:46.
32 This passage (Surah 49: AI‐Hujurat:13) is taken from The Meaning of the Qur'an, translated by Asad, Muhammad (Dar Al‐Andalus, Gibraltar, 1980) p.793Google Scholar.
33 The Qur'an (Surah 2:Al‐Baqarah:256).
34 The Qur'an (Surah 18:AI‐Kahf:29).
35 The Holy Qur'an, pp.33–34 (Surah 2: AI‐Bagarah:62) and The Holy Qur'an p.265 (Surah 5:AI‐Ma'idah:69).
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