[Abu_Hind]

Shaykh Allaamah Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (RA)


(This speech was delivered at the Islamic Centre of New Jersey on June 4, 1977.)

Friends and Brothers, It is my good fortune to meet you at this great Islamic Centre, This is my first visit to North America. Before it, I used to read and hear about this land and the progress Islam was making in it. I had, also, some knowledge of the religious inclination and solicitude of the Muslims who had taken up residence here. But I did not imagine that I would be meeting so many of my religious brethren in this far-off country or witnessing such a keen interest and enthusiasm for Islam.

On coming here I realized that Islam was trying to obtain a foothold in the United States which enjoyed the position of leadership in the contemporary world owing, largely, to its phenomenal advances in the fields of science and industry. By the grace of God, Islam has made its debut in. this part of the world and is making a steady headway, and, God willing, the day is not far when an Islamic society will be established here.

It is, of course, a good augury for Islam and a matter of joy for the Muslims, but I, also, have some misgivings by reason of what little knowledge I possess of history. The establishment of an Islamic society so far away from the centers of Islamic faith and civilization is open to grave risks and can lead to catastrophic consequences. Dr. Sulaiman Duniya, from whose writings 1, too, have profited, has very aptly remarked that Islam is not exclusive to any country. I wholly agree that Islam is not a territorial faith, yet, it also needs a distinctive environment, a congenial climate, and a predisposition that may transcend personal, cultural and intellectual standards and give forth, as one would say, the aroma of Islam. It requires an Islamic homeland for it is neither a mystical doctrine nor a philosophy nor a collection of soulless beliefs and rituals, but a real, living and all-embracing faith.

Islam, at once, is comprehensive of Idea and Action, Morality and Monetary Dealings, and Emotion and Intellect. In the same way, it, also, is a special kind of natural inclination and a peculiar state of mind. It embraces all the manifold aspects of human personality-spiritual and material, moral and physical, emotional and intellectual, and personal and social. It casts a man into a new mold. Whoever embraces Islam with an open heart believing it to be the chosen faith of the Lord and the Last of the Divine Messages will get cast into the mold of Islam. He will be transformed so radically as if be had been born anew because Islam is a complete and eternal plan of life which comprehends all the aspects of change and revolution and perfection and beauty. Islam is not a wooden dogma or a traditional religion, but a faith that permeates through the inmost recesses of the heart and soul.

If the true image of Islam is present before the mind's eye, it would be evident that it is not something that can, simply, be transmitted through the written or spoken word or seen in the books, but a typical way of thought and a distinctive state of feeling. Hence it passes judgment about the goodness and badness desirability and undesirability of things. as is related about the holy Prophet that he liked or disliked many things. He, for example, liked to begin every good act with the right hand so much so that be started combing his hair from the right side or when he wore the shoes, he began with the right foot. Similarly, there were many things that gave him pleasure or made him annoyed and uncomfortable. Islam, in fact, is an Apostolic of empyreal way of life that has come down from the heaven of heavens and the Divine Messengers have been its bearers and custodians, and they have left it behind as their legacy.

This is why, God had described Islam as Sibghatullah (color of Allah). Were it only a body of doctrines or a code of conduct it would not have been called Sibghat which denotes a mark', 'a colouring', and a distinguishing feature'. This can be possible only when Islam draws a clear line of demarcation between one man and another, between one life, character and temperament, and another life, character and temperament, and brings out clearly the difference among the standards of things and values of life. The criterion of Islam is quite different from the criterion of Infidelity. Hence, you will find warnings in the compilations of the Traditions and Sunnah of the Prophet against the Age of Ignorance and its practices. For instance, sometimes, it is said about a thing that it is a practice of the Age of Ignorance, and, sometimes, that is very much like the zealotry and arrogance of those days. It is set forth in the Quran;

"(O ye women); Bedizen not yourselves with the bedizenment of the Time of Ignorance." (XXXIII : 33)

But why ? The Age of Ignorance having ended long ago, for what purpose did the Quran call upon men to shun it? It was because Ignorance was a definite way of life and had its own values and standards for judging the goodness and badness, lawfulness and unlawfulness of things, and it was a way of life which the Lord viewed with disfavor. It is mentioned in the Traditions that God looked at the earth and was displeased with the Arabs and non-Arabs who dwelt on it except for a few People of the Scripture".

The Almighty disliked Ignorance; He cursed it, and declared it undesirable for the bondmen. Hence, it was said:

"Bedizen not yourselves with the bedizenment of the Time of Ignorance." And, also: "When the unbelievers got up in their hearts heat and cant : the heat and cant of Ignorance." (-XLVIII : 26)

Whenever the sacred Prophet noticed a trait of Ignorance in a Muslim, he took exception to it, saying: 'You are still under the influence of Ignorance'. For instance, when he saw an illustrious Companion like Abu Zarr Ghifari ill-treating his slave and beating him up, the Prophet observed: "The inclination towards Ignorance has not yet gone out of you". The worthy Companion, on his part, was so deeply affected by the rebuke that he, at once, started treating his slave like an equal, and gave him to eat and wear what he ate and wore himself.

Had Islam not been possessing a distinctive character and temperament, the Lord would not have used the word, color, in respect of it.

"The Color of Allah : and who is better than Allah at coloring." (II: 138)

Exhorting, further, the bondmen to follow the Apostles, the Lord proclaimed, giving out a long and lustrous list of Divine Messengers:

"And We bestowed upon him Issac and Jacob; each of them We guided; and Noah did We guide aforetime; and of his seed (We guided) David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron. Thus do We reward the good. And Zachariah and John and Jesus and Elias. Each one (of them) was of the righteous. And Ishmael and Elisha and Jonah and Lot. Each one of them did We prefer above (Our) creatures, with some of their forefathers and their offspring and their brethren; and We chose them and guided them unto a Straight Path. Such is the guidance of Allah wherewith He guideth whom He will of His bondmen. But if they set up (for worship) aught beside Him, all that they did would have been in vain." (-VI : 85-89)