Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr - A General Look at Rites

8/14/2019 Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr - A General Look at Rites

1/75

By

Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr

Translated by:

Yasin T. al-Jibouri

Published by:

World Organization For Islamic Services,P.O. Box No. 11365-1545,

Tehran - IRAN.


2/75

First edition 1399/1979


3/75

Dear Reader,

The book you now have in hand is oneof the many Islamic publications distributedby this Organization throughout the world in

different languages with the aim of conveyingthe message of Islam to the people of theworld.

You may read this book carefully andshould you be interested to have further studyon such publications you can contact us througha letter. Naturally, if we find you to be a keenand energetic reader we shall give you a de-serving response in sending you some otherpublications of this Organization.


4/75

You may express your views on this publi-cation and the subject matter discussed in it,and how far you have benefited from it orwhich part of the subject has proved usefulto you and your environment. You will beable, in this manner, to introduce yourself as one of our good and active reader.

Meanwhile you can keep our address atthe disposal of your friends and those individ-uals interested in Islamic Studies.

Publication Secretary,

World Organization for Islamic Services,( WOFIS).


5/75

In the Name of Allah,the Most Compassionate, the Merciful

Praise belongs to A llah, the Lord of all beings;the Most Compassionate, the Merciful;

the Master of the Dray of Judgement;Thee only we serve, and to Thee alone we pray

for succour;Guide us in the straight path;

the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,who are immune from Thy wrath

and have never gone astray.

O' Allah! send you blessings to the head of your messengers and the last of

your prophets, Muhammad and his pure and cleansed progeny.

A lso send your blessings to all your prophets and envoys.


6/75


7/75

CONTENTS

P age

LIST OF TRANSLITERATION.......... 11

FOREWORD:In Arabic ......................... 13

English translation ................. 15WORSHIP IS A PERMANENT HUMAN

NEED ......................... .. .. 171. THE NEED TO BE LINKED TO

THE ABSOLUTE ............... ... . 23The link Between the Absolute isA Two-Edged Problem............ 25Belief in God is the Remedy ....... 30

Rites are Practical Expression ...... 38


8/75

2. SUBJECTIVITY OF PURPOSE

AND SELF-DENIAL ............. 43

3. THE INNER FEELING OFRESPONSIBILITY ................ 51

GENERAL OUTLOOKS OF RITES ...... 56

The Unseen in Explaining Rites 56

Inclusion in Worship .............. 61

Worship and Senses ............... 67

The Social Aspect of Worship ....... 72


9/75

13


10/75

14


11/75

FOREWORD

Rites are considered among the matters of worship whose depths cannot be fathomed byhumans, nor their philosophy be completelycomprehended nor the purpose behind theirlegislation understood. . . ! Rather, the believermust perform them as means of submitting andseeking nearness to Allah, to Whom belongMight and Majesty.

Man has achieved tremendous scientificadvancement. This has caused the new genera-tion to be inquisitive about the logic and aimsfrom such parrot worship.

1 5


12/75

The renowned Muslim scholar as-SayyidMuhammad Baqir as-Sadr has answered thisquestion in this invaluable booklet A General

Look at Rites. We have already given a brief introduction of the author in the foreword of his other book namely The Revealer, the Mess-enger and the Message in its English translation.

We praise the Almighty Allah Who be-stowed on us the success of translating andpublishing this book. We pray to Him to help uscontinuously in accomplishing our aims in theservice of His cause. He is the Supreme Master,the Supreme Helper.

World Organization For Islamic Services(Board of Writing, Translation and Publication)

2/4/13991/3/1979

Tehran - IRAN.

16


13/75

WORSHIP IS A PERMANENTHUMAN NEED

Rites enjoy an important role in Islam.Their injunctions represent an important part of

jurisprudence and worshipping conduct whichformulates a noticeable phenomenon in thedaily life of the religious person.

The system of rites in Islamic jurisprudence

represents one of its static facets which cannotbe affected by the general trend of life or thecircumstances of civil progress in man's lifeexcept by a small portion, contrary to other

judicial aspects which are flexible and dynamic;

1 7


14/75

the method of their application and utilizationis affected by the circumstances pertaining tocivil progress in man's life, such as the systemof deals and contracts.

For example, in the sphere of worship, theman of the age of electricity and space prays,

fasts and performs the pilgrimage just as hisancestor from the age of stone mill used to pray,fast and perform the pilgrimage.

It is true, however, that in the civil aspectof getting prepared for a rite may differ fromthis and that; for this travels to his pilgrimagein a plane, while that used to travel withina camel caravan; when this covers his body -while praying - with clothes manufactured bythe machine, that covers his body with clothes

he hand-sewed them. But the general formulaof worship, as well as its method and legislation,is the same. The necessity of its application hasnever suffered any change, nor has its legislatingvalue been affected or shaken up by the con-

1 8


15/75

tinuous growth of man's control over natureand his means of living.

This means that Islamic shad `ah (Jurispru-dence) has not prescribed prayer, fast, pilgrimageand other Islamic rites temporarily, or as a

juridical formula limited to conditions it lived

in its early epochs of history; rather, it enjoinedthese rites on man while he uses the atomicenergy to mobilize the engine just as it hasenjoined them on man while ploughing his fieldwith a hand plough.

Thus do we derive the conclusion that thesystem of rites treats a permanent need in the lifeof man, with whom it is created, remaining thesame in his own entity in spite of the continu-ous progress in his life-style. This is so becausethe application of a fixed prescription requiresa fixed need. Hence, this question comes up:

Is really there a fixed need in the life of man ever since jurisprudence started its

19


16/75

cultivating role, remaining as such untiltoday, so that we may interpret - in thelight of its stability - the stability of theformulas whereby jurisprudence has treatedand satisfied this same need, so that in theend we can explain the stability of worshipin its positive role in man's life?!

It may seem, at the first look, that tosuggest such a fixed need of this sort is notacceptable, that it does not coincide with thereality of man's life when we compare today'sman with distant tomorrow's, for we certainlyfind man continuously getting further - in themethod, nature of problems and factors of progress of his life - from the circumstances of the tribal society wherein appeared the conclud-ing jurisprudence, his pagan problems, worriesand limited asnir' ations. Such continuous dist-ance forces a basic change in all of his needs,worries and requirements, and in the end in themethod of treating and organizing these needs.Therefore, how can rites - in their own par-

2 0


17/75

ticular juristic system - perform a real role onthis field which is contemporary to man's life-span, in spite of the vast progress in means andmethods of living? If rites such as prayers,ablution, ceremonial washing and fasting hadbeen useful during some stage in the life of theBedouin man, taking part in cultivating his

behaviour, his practical commitment to cleanhis body and keep it from excessive eating anddrinking, . . . well, these same goals are achievedby modern man through the very nature of hiscivilized life and the norm of social living. So,these rites are no more a necessary need as theyused to be once upon a time, nor have theyretained a role in building man's civilization orsolving his sophisticated problems . . . !

But this theory is wrong, for the social

progress in means and tools, in the ploughchanging in man's hand to a steam or electricalmachine; rather, all this imposes a change in therelationship between man and nature and inany material form it takes ... Anything repre-

2 1


18/75

senting the relationship between man and naturesuch as agriculture which represents the relation-ship between the land farmer, progresses ma-terialistically in form and function accordingly.

As for rites, these really do not form arelationship between man and nature so that

they might be affected by such a progress.They form, instead, a relationship between manand his Lord. Such a relationship possesses aspiritual role controlling the relationship bet-ween man and his brother man. In both cases,however, we find that humanity, historically,lives a certain number of fixed needs facedequally by the man of the age of oil as well asthat of the age of electricity. The system of rites in Islam is the fixed solution for the fixedneeds of this sort, and for problems whosenature is not sequential: instead, they areproblems which face man during his individual,social and cultural build-up. Such solution, call-ed "rites", is still alive in its objectives untiltoday, becoming an essential condition for man

2 2


19/75

to overcome his problems and succeed in pract-

ising his civilized vocations.

In order to clearly know all this, we haveto point out some fixed lines of needs andproblems in man's life, and the role rites playin satisfying such needs and overcoming suchproblems.

These lines are as follows:-

1) The need to be linked to the Absolute;2) The need for subjectivity in purpose

and self-denial;3) The need for inner feeling of respon-

sibility to guarantee execution.

These are the details of such outlines:

1 . THE NEED TO BE LINKED

TO THE ABSOLUTE

The system of rites is a way to organize the

practical aspect of the relationship between man2 3


20/75

and his Lord; therefore, it cannot separate hisevaluation from that of this very relationshipand of its role in man's life! From here, both of these questions are inter-related:-

First: What is the value achieved by therelationship between man and his Lord for this

man in his civilized march? And is it a fixedvalue treating a fixed need in this march, or isit a sequential one linked to timely needs orli mited problems, losing its significance at theend of the stage limiting such needs and prob-lems?

Second: What is the role practised by ritesas regarding that relationship and the extent of its significance as a practical dedication to therelation between man and God?

What follows is a summary of the necessaryexplanation concerning both questions:-

2 4


21/75

The Link Between the Absoluteis A Two-Edged Problem

The observer, scrutinizing the different actsof the stage-story of man in history, may findout that the problems 'are different and theworries diversified in their given daily formulas.

But if we went beyond these formulas, infiltrat-ing into the depth and essence of the problem,we would find, through many of such differentdaily formulas, one mainly essential and fixedproblem with two edges or contrasting poleswherefrom mankind suffers during his civilizedadvancement along history. It is from one angleexpressing this problem: the problem of lossand non-entity, thus expressing the negative sideof the problem. And from another angle, itexpresses the problem of extreme in entity and

belonging by c:olinecting the relative facts towhich man belongs to an Absolute; thus express-ing the positive side of the same problem. TheConcluding Jurisprudence (of Islam) has giventhe name "atheism' to the first problem, which

2 5


22/75

it expresses very obviously, and the name"idolatory" and shirk (believing in one or many

partners with God), as also an obvious expres-sion of it. The continuous struggle of Islamagainst atheism and shirk is, in its civilizedreality, a struggle against both problems intheir historical dimensions.

Both problems meet into one essentialpoint, and that is: deterring man's movement toadvance from a continuously good imaginativecreativity, for the problem of loss means to manthat he is a being in continuous loss, not belong-

ing to an Absolute, to Whom he can supporthimself in his hard march of a long range,deriving from His Absolutism and Encompass-ment help, sustenance and clear vision of thegoal, joining through that Absolute his ownmovement to the universe, to the whole exist-ence, to eternity and perpetuity, defining hisown relationship to Him and his position in theinclusive cosmic framework, for the movementat loss without the aid of an Absolute is but a

2 6


23/75

random movement like that of a feather in thewind, the phenomena around it affect it withoutbeing able to affect them. There is no accom-plishment or productivity in the great march of man along history without a connection to andpromulgation with an Absolute in an objectivemarch.

But this same connection, on the otherhand, directs the other side of the problem,that of extreme entity, by changing the "relative" to "absolute", a problem which faces mancontinuously. For man weaves his loyalty to

a case so that such loyalty provides him withthe ability to move and continue marching.But such loyalty freezes gradually and getsstripped off its relative circumstances withinwhich he was accurate, and the human mindwill derive out of it an "absolute" without anend, without a limit to responding to itsdemands. In religious terminology, such an"absolute" eventually changes to a god worship-ped instead of a need that requires fulfillment.

2 7


24/75

When the "relative" changes to an "absolute,"to a "god" of this sort, it becomes a factorin encircling man's movement, freezing its capa-cities to develop and create, paralysing manfrom performing his naturally open role in themarch:

Associate not with Allah any other god,lest you sit despised, neglected. (Qur'an,17:22)

This is a true fact applicable to all "gods"mankind made along history, albeit if they weremade during the idolatory stage of worship orits succeeding stage. From the stage of tribe tothat of science, we find a series of gods which

deterred mankind who worshipped them, treat-ing them as an "absolute," from making anyaccurate progress . . .

Indeed, from the tribe to which man sub-

2 8


25/75


26/75

shackle on the mind that made it, because of itsbeing limited and relative!

Hence, man's march has to have an Abso-lute . . . !!!

And He has to be a real Absolute capable

of absorbing the -human march, directing it tothe right path no matter how much advancement it achieves or how far it extends on itslengthy line, wiping out all gods that encirclethe march and deter it . . . !

Thus can the problem be solved in both of its poles ... !

Belief in God is the Remedy

Such a remedy is shown by what DivineJurisprudence has presented man on earth: TheBelief in God as the Absolute to Whom limitedman can tie his own march without causing him

3 0


27/75

any contradiction along his long path.

Belief in God, then, treats the negativeaspect of the problem, refusing loss, atheismand non-entity, for it places man in a position of responsibility: to whose movement and manage-ment is the whole cosmos related, becoming thevicegerent of God on earth. Vicegerency impliesresponsibility, and the latter puts man betweent wo poles: one Deputy before Whom man bearsresponsibility, and a reward he receives accord-ing to his conduct, between God and resurrec-tion, infinitude and eternity, while he moves

within such a sphere a responsible and purpose-ful movement.

Belief in God treats the positive aspect of the problem - that of the extreme in entity,forcing restrictions on man and curbing hisswift march - according to this manner:

First: This aspect of the problem is createdby changing the limited and relative to an

3 1


28/75

"absolute" through intellectual exertion and bystripping the relative off its circumstances andli mitations. As for the Absolute provided bythe belief in God, this has never been thefabrication of a stage of the human intellect,so that it may become, during the new stageof intellectual maturity, limited to the mind

that made it . . . ! Nor has it ever been the off-spring of a limited need of an individual or agroup, so that its becoming absolute may placeit as a weapon in the hand of the individual orgroup in order to guarantee its illegal inter-ests . . . ! For God, the Praised, the High, isan Absolute without limits, one whose fixedAttributes absorb all the supreme ideals of man,His vicegerent on earth, of comprehension andknowledge, ability and strength, justice andwealth. This means that the path leading to Himis without a limit; hence, moving towards Himrequires the continuity and relative movementand a relative acceleration of the limited (man)towards the Absolute (God) without a stop:

3 2


29/75

O' thou man! Verily thou art ever toilingon towards thy Lord - painfully toiling, -but thou shalt meet Him! (Qur'an, 84:6)

He grants this movement His own supremeideals derived from comprehension, knowledge,ability and justice, as well as other qualities of that Absolute, towards Whom the march isdirected . . . ! The march towards the Absoluteis all knowledge, all potential, all justice and allwealth. In other words, the human march is acontinuously successive struggle against all sortsof ignorance, incapacity, oppression and pov-erty.

As long as these are the very goals of themarch related to this Absolute, they are, then,not merely a dedication to God, but also acontinuous struggle for the sake of man, for his

3 3


30/75

dignity, for achieving such supreme ideals forhim

And if any strive (with might and main),they do so for their own souls: for All ah is free of all needs from all creation. (Qur'an,

29:6)

. . . He, then, that receives guidance benefits his own soul: but he that strays injureshis own soul ... (Qur'an, 39:41)

Contrariwise, whimsical absolutes and falsegods cannot absorb the march with all its aspir-ations, for these manufactured absolutes are thechildren of an incapable man's brain, or theneed of the poor man, or the oppression of the

3 4


31/75

oppressor; therefore, they jointly are linked toignorance, incapacity and oppression; they can

never bless man's continuous struggle againstthem... !

Second: Being linked to God Almighty asthe Absolute Who absorbs all of the aspirationsof the human march means at the same timerejecting all of those whimsical absolutes whichused to cause excessive entity and waging acontinuous war and endless struggle against allsorts of idolatory and artificial worship. Thus,man will be emancipated from the mirage of

these false absolutes which stood as an obstaclein his way towards God, falsifying his goal andencircling his march:

But the Unbelievers, their deeds are like a

3 5


32/75

mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water;until when he comes up to it, he finds it to

be nothing: but he finds All ah (ever) withhim ... (Qur'an, 24:39)

. . . Are many lords differing among them-selves better, or All ah the One, Supremeand Irresistible? If not Him, ye worshipnothing but names which ye have named,

ye and your fathers, for which Allah hathsent down no authority: . . . (Qur'an,

12:39-40)

3 6


33/75

. . . Such is All ah your Lord: to Him be-longs all Dominion. And those whom ye

invoke besides Him have not the least power. (Qur'an, 35:13)

If we consider the main slogan heaven putforward in this respect: "There is no god butAllah," we will find out that it joined in it thelinking of the human march to the TrueAbsolute with the rejection of every artificialabsolute . . . The history of the march, in itsliving actuality, came across ages to emphasizethe organic link between this rejection and that

strong and aware tie to God Almighty. For asfar as he goes away from the True God, mansinks in the labyrinth of different gods andlords. Both rejection and positive link to "Thereis no god but Allah" are but two faces for one

3 7


34/75

fact, the fact which is indispensable to thehuman march along its lengthy path. It is but

the Truth which is worthy of saving the marchfrom loss, helping it explode all its creativeenergies, emancipating it from each and everyfalse and obstructing "absolute" . . .

Rites are Practical Expression

Just as man was born carrying in him allpotentials of the experience on life's stage, plusall seeds its success, such as awareness, activity

and conditioning, so was he born tied by natureto the Absolute . . . . ! This is so because hisrelationship with the Absolute is one of therequirements of his own success whereby heovercomes the problems facing his civilizedmarch, as we have already seen, and there is noexperience more sustaining and inclusive, moremeaningful, than this of Faith in man's life.It has been a phenomenon attached to mansince time immemorial. During all stages of

38


35/75

history, such a social and continuous attach-ment proves - through experience - that escap-ing towards the Absolute, aspiring towards Himfrom beyond borders lived by man, is a genuineinclination of man no matter how diversifiedthe shapes of such inclination are, how differentits methods and degrees of awareness . . .

But Faith, as an instinct, is not enough toguarantee bringing to reality an attachment tothe Absolute in its correct form, for that islinked to the Truth through the method of satisfying such an instinct and the manner of utilizing it, just like the case of any otherinstinct. The correct behaviour in satisfying itin a manner parallel to all other instincts andinclinations, being in harmony with it, is theonly guarantee of the ultimate benefit of man!

Also, the behaviour according to or against aninstinct is the one that fosters the instinct,deepens, eliminates or suffocates it . . . ! So dothe seeds of mercy and compassion die withinman's self through the continuous and practical

3 9


36/75

sympathizing with the miserable, the wronged,and the poor. . . !

From this point, Faith in God, the deepfeeling of aspiring towards the unknown andthe attachment to the Absolute, have all to havesome direction which determines the mannerof satisfying such feeling and the way to deepenit, fixing it in a way compatible with all othergenuine feelings of man.

Without a direction, such feeling may havea setback and may be afflicted with various

sorts of deviation, just like what happened tothe strayed religious feeling during most epochsof history.

Without a deepened conduct, such feelingmay become minimized, and the attachment tothe Absolute ceases to be an active reality inman's life capable of exploding good energies.

The religion which laid the slogan of

4 0


37/75

"There is no god but Allah," promulgating withit both rejection and affirmation, is the Director.

Rites are factors which perform the roleof deepening such feeling, for they are but apractical expression and an expression of thereligious instinct; through it does this instinctgrow and get deepened in man's life.

We notice, too, that in accurate rites -being a practical expression of the link to theAbsolute - both affirmation and rejection promulgate- They are, thus, a continuous confirma-

tion from man to his link with God Almighty,and the rejection of any other "absolute" of those false ones. When one starts his prayersby declaring that "God is Great, i.e., Allahuakbar ," he confirms this rejection. And when hedeclares that His Prophet is also His Servant-slave and Messenger, he confirms this rejection.And when he abstains from enjoying the plea-sures of life, abstaining from enjoying even thenecessities of life for the sake of God, defying the

4 1


38/75

temptations and their effects, he, too, confirmsthis rejection ... !

These rituals have succeeded in the practicalsphere of bringing up generations of believers,at the hands of the Holy Prophet and hissucceeding pious leaders, those whose prayers

embodied within their own selves the rejectionof all evil powers and their subjection, and the"absolutes" of Kisra and Caesar got minimizedbefore their march as did all "absolutes" of li mited man's whims. . .

In this light do we come to know thatworship is a fixed necessity in man's life andcivilized march, for there can be no marchwithout an "absolute" to whom it is linked,deriving from him its ideals, and there is no

"absolute" that can absorb the march along itslengthy path except the True Absolute (God),the Glorified One. Besides Him, artificial abso-lutes definitely form, in this way or that, anabsolute curbing the march's growth. Attach-

4 2


39/75

ment to the True Absolute, then, is a fixed

need; and rejecting artificial absolutes is alsoa fixed need; and there can be no attachment tothe True Absolute without a practical expressionof this attachment, confirming it and continu-ously fixing it; and such a practical expressionis none but worship! Therefore, worship is afixed need ... !

2. SUBJECTIVITY OF PURPOSEAND SELF-DENIAL

In each stage of the human civilization,and in each period of man's life, people facenumerous interests whose achievement requiresa quantitative action in this degree or the other.No matter how diversified the qualities of theseinterests or the manner of bringing them to lifefrom an age to another are, they can still bedivided into two sorts of interests:-

4 3


40/75

One: interests whose materialistic gains and

outcomes go to the individual himself, onwhose work and endeavour depends theachievement of that interest.

The Other: interests whose gains go tothose other than the direct worker or grouphe belongs to. In this second kind areincluded all sorts of labour which aim atan even bigger goal than the existence of the worker himself, for every big goalcannot be usually achieved except throughthe collective efforts and endeavours of along period of time.

The first sort of interests guarantees theinner motif of the individual: its availabilityand effort to secure it, for as long as the workeris the one who reaps the fruits of the interestand directly enjoys it, it is natural to find inhim the effort to secure it and work for itssake.

4 4


41/75

As for the second kind of interests, herethe motif to secure these interests is notsufficient, for the interests here are not only theactive worker's; and often his share of labourand hardship is greater than that of his shareof the huge interest. From here, man needs anupbringing of subjectivity of purpose and self-

denial in motif; i.e., that he must work for thesake of others, of the group! In other words,he has to work for a purpose greater than hisown existence and personal materialistic inter-est. Such upbringing is necessary for the manof the electricity and atom age as it equally isfor the man who used to fight with the swordand travel on camel-back! They both confrontthe worries of construction and of the greataims and situations 'which demand self-denialand working for the sake of others, sowing theseeds

whose fruits may not be seen by theperson who sowed them . . . ! It is necessary,then, to raise every individual to perform aportion of his labour and effort not merelyfor his own self and its personal materialistic

4 5


42/75


43/75

sake of God is but an act for the sake of God'sservants, for God is totally sufficient, indepen-dent of His servants. Since the True AbsoluteGod is above any limit, specification, not relat-ed to any group or biased to any direction, HisPath, then practically equates that of all man-kind's. To work for God, and for God alone, is

to work for people, for the goal of all people.It is a psychological and spiritual training thatnever ceases to function.

Whenever the jurisdic path of God is men-tioned, it can be taken to mean exactly all

mankind's path. Islam has made God's Pathone of the avenues to spend zak a t, meaningthereby: to spend for all humanity's good andinterest. It also urges to fight for the cause of God in defense of all the weak among humans,calling it jih ad, i.e., "fighting for the Path of God;"

4 7


44/75

Those who believe (in God) fight in thecause of All ah, and those who reject Faith

fight in the cause of Evil: . . . (Qur'an,

4:76)

Besides, if we come to know that worshipdemands different types of endeavour, as itsometimes imposes on man only some physicalexertion, as in prayer; and sometimes psycho-logical, as in fasting; and a third time financial,as in zakat; and a fourth one an exertion on thelevel of self-sacrifice or danger, as in jih ad . . .If we come to know all this, we will be able tofigure the depth and capacity of the spiritual

and psychological training practised by manthrough different rites for the objective purpose,for giving and contributing, for working for ahigher goal in all different fields of humanendeavour.

4 8


45/75

On this basis can you find the vast differ-ence between a person who grew up on makingendeavours to please God, brought up to labourwithout waiting for a compensation on theworking grounds, and that who grew up alwaysmeasuring a work according to the extent hecan achieve of his own personal interest, basing

it on the gain he gets from it, not comprehend-ing - out of this measuring and estimating -except the language of figures and marketprices . . . ! ! ! A person like this one can be noneother than a merchant in his social practices,regardless of their field or type.

Considering upbringing on the objectivepurpose, Islam has always tied the value of awork to its own impulses, separating themfrom its results. The value of an act in Islamis not in what results and gains it brings forthto the worker or to all people; rather, it is themotifs behind it, their cleanliness, objectivityand self-denial. The person who reaches thediscovery of a medicine for a dangerous disease,

4 9


46/75


47/75

3. THE INNER FEELING OF RESPONSIBILITY

If we observe humanity in any of itshistorical periods, we will find it following aparticular system of its life, a specific manner indistributing rights and responsibilities amongpeople, and that according to the amount it

acquires of securities for its members to clingto this system and to its implementation, itwill be closer to stability and the achievementof the general goals expected from that system.

This fact is equally true concerning the

future, as well as the past, for it is an establishedfact of man's civilized march along its lengthyrange.

Among the securities is that which isobjective, such as penalties enforced by thegroup to punish the individual who transgressesbeyond his limits. And among them is thatwhich is inner, i.e., man's inner feeling of responsibility towards his social obligations,

5 1


48/75

towards whatever obligations the group demandsof him, determining, spontaneously, his own

rights.

In order to be an actual fact in man's life,the inner feeling of responsibility needs thebelief in a supervisor from whose knowledgenot an atom's weight in earth or sky escapes,and to a practical application through whichsuch a feeling grows, and according to which thefeeling of such an inclusive supervision laysroots.

The supervision, for whose knowledge noteven an atom's weight escapes, is created inman's life as a result of his link with the TrueAbsolute, the All-knowing, the Omnipotent, theOne Whose knowledge encompasses everything,for this link with His self saves man the needfor such a supervision, thus enabling the creationof an inner feeling of responsibility.

The practical application, through which

5 2


49/75

this inner feeling of responsibility grows, ma-terializes through practising rites. For worshipis the duty imposed by the Unseen, and by thiswe mean that checking it externally is imposs-ible. Any external measures to enforce it cannever be successful, for it stands through theself's own purpose and the spiritual attachment

to work for God; this is a matter which cannotbe included in the calculation of a subjectivesupervision from the outside, nor can any legalmeasure guarantee that either. Rather, the onlycapable supervision in this respect is the oneresulting from the attachment to the Absolute,the Unseen, the One from Whose knowledgenothing escapes . . . The only possible assurityon this level is the inner feeling of responsi-bility. This means that the person who prac-tices worship is performing a duty - whichdiffers from any other social obligation or pro-

ject - when he borrows and pays back, or whenhe contracts and adheres to the conditions,when he borrows money from others andreturns it to the debtor . . . , he performs a duty

5 3


50/75

which lies within the range of social super-vision's monitoring; hence, his estimation, in

another manner, of the predictment of socialreaction - in case he backs up - dictates tothe same person the decision to do it.

The ritual duty, towards the Unknown, isone whose inner implication none knows exceptGod, the Praised One, the Omnipotent, for it isthe result of the inner feeling of responsibility.Through religious practices, such an inner feel-ing grows, and man gets used to behave accord-ing to it. Through the medium of such feeling

can we find the good citizen. It is not sufficientfor good citizenship that a person is reluctantto perform the legal rights of others for fear of the social reaction towards such reluctance.Rather, good citizenship is achieved by manwho does not relax his own inner feeling of responsibility. Had the feeling of fear of socialreaction towards reluctance been the basis of good citizenship in a good society, then theescape from such obligations is quite possible

5 4


51/75

in many cases when, say, it is possible for theindividual to hide his reluctance, or give a falseinterpretation of it, or protect himself from thesocial reaction in this manner or that. Then,there is no guarantee in all of these cases exceptthe inner feeling of responsibility.

We notice that it is often recommendedto perform optional rites secretly, rather thanpublicly. There even are rites which are secretiveby nature such as fasting, for it is an inner curbwhich cannot be checked externally. There arerites for which a secretive environment is chosen,avoiding the public stage, such as the nightly(naf l) optional prayers whose performance re-quires after mid-night time. All this is for thesake of deepening the aspect of worshippingthe Unseen, linking it more and more to theinner feeling of responsibility. Thus, this feelinggets deepened through the practice of rites,

and man gets used to behave on its basis, form-ing a strong guarantee for the good individual'sdischarge of his duties and obligations.

5 5


52/75

GENERAL OUTLOOKS OF RITES

If we cast a general look at the rites wehave observed in this book, comparing themwith each other, we can then derive somegeneral outlooks of these rites; here are some

of these general outlooks:-The Unseen in Explaining Rites

We c ame to know previously the importantrole worship performs totally in man's life and

that it expresses a fixed need in his civilizedmarch.

From another aspect: if we scrutinize andanalyse the particulars which distinguish eachworship from the other, we often are able, inthe light of advanced science, to be acquaintedwith the pieces of wisdom and secrets Islamic

jurisprudence expresses in this regard and mod-ern science has been able to discover.

5 6


53/75

This wonderful agreement between the out-comes of modern science and many particularsof Islamic jurisprudence, and whatever rulesand regulations it decided, expresses a dazzlingsupport for the position of this jurisprudence,deeply emphasizing its being God-inspired.

In spite of all this, however, we quite oftenface unseen points in worship, i.e., a group of details whose secret cannot be comprehendedby the person practising worship, nor can heinterpret them materialistically; for must sun-set prayer be three prostrations (rak`ah) while

the noon-time prayer more than that?! Andwhy should each rak ' ah include bowing downonce instead of twice, two prostrations insteadof one?! . . . beside other questions of this sortwhich can be put forth.

And we call such an aspect of worship,which cannot be interpreted, "unseen." We findthis aspect, in this manner or that, in most ritesbrought forth by the Islamic jurisprudence.

5 7


54/75

From here, we can consider obscurity in themeaning we have already mentioned as a general

phenomenon in rites one of their commoncharacteristics.

This obscurity is linked to the rites and totheir imposed role jointly, for the role of rites,as we have already come to know previously, isto emphasize the attachment to the Absoluteand deepen that practically. The bigger theelement of submission and yielding in a worshipis, the stronger its effect in deepening the link between the worshipper and his Lord. If the

deed practised by the worshipper is understoodin all its dimensions, clear in its wisdom andbenefit in all details, the element of submissionand yielding gets minimized, and it will bedominated by motifs of interest and benefit,no more a worship of God as much as it is adeed of benefit practised by the worshipper sothat he might derive advantage out of it, bene-fiting of its results.

5 8


55/75


56/75

jih ad that represents a great general interestwhich contrasts the desire of the person per-forming it to preserve his life and blood, andalso in the case of zak a t which represents agreat general interest which contrasts the strongdesire of the person paying it to preserve hiswealth and property. The issue of jih a d is very

well understood by the person performing it,and the issue of zak a t is generally understoodby the person who pays it, neither jih ad nor zak a t thus loses any element of submissionand obedience (to God), for the difficulty of sacrificing life and property is what makes man's

acceptance of a worship - for which he sacri-fices both life and property - is indeed a greatdeal of submission and obedience. Add to thisthe fact that jih ad and zak a t, and their likesof rites, are not meant to be merely aspects of

upbringing just the individual, but also theachievement of social benefits secured thereby.Accordingly, we observe that obscurity is high-lighted more and more in rites dominated bythe educating aspect of the individual, such as

60


57/75


58/75

system. Both ablution and ghusl (ceremonialbath) are norms of worship. They are two waysof cleaning the body. This inclusion of worshipexpresses a general trend of Islamic upbringingaiming at linking man, in all his deeds andactivities, with Almighty God, converting eachuseful deed to worship, no matter what field or

type! In order to find a fixed basis for thistrend, fixed rites were distributed to the differ-ent fields of human activity, preparing man totrain himself on pouring the spirit of worshipover all his good activities, and the spirit of themosque over all places of his works: in thefield, the factory, the ship or the office, as longas his deed is a good one, for the sake of God,the Glorified, the High.

In this respect, Islamic jurisprudence differs

from two other religious trends, one: a trendto separate worship from life; and another: atrend to limit life to a narrow frame of worshipas do monks and mystics.

6 2


59/75

As for the first trend, it separates worshipfrom life, leaving worship to be conducted atplaces made especially for it, requiring man tobe present in these places in order to pay GodHis dues and worship Him, so much so thatwhen he gets out of them to different fields of life, he says farewell to worship, giving himself

up to the affairs of his life until he goes back again to those holy places! This duality of worship and different activities of life paralyseworship and obstruct its constructive upbring-ing role to develop man's motifs and make theobjective, enabling him to go beyond his egoand narrow personal interests in various scopesof his deeds. God, the Glorified and Praised,never insisted on being worshipped for the sakeof His own Person, since He is independentof His worshippers, so that He would be sat-

isfied with a worship of this sort, nor did Heever put Himself as the goal and objective of the human march, so that man may bow hishead down to Him within the scope of hisworship, and that is it . . . ! Rather, He meant

6 3


60/75

such worship to build the good person who iscapable of going beyond his ego, participatingin a bigger role in the march. The exemplaryachievement of this cannot be reached exceptwhen the spirit of worship gradually extends toother activities of life, for its extension - aswe have already seen - means an extension of

objectivity of purpose and the inner feeling of responsible behaviour, and the ability to gobeyond the self to be in harmony with manwithin his inclusive cosmic frame, with eternity,immortality that both encompass him ... !

From here came. Islamic jurisprudence todistribute the rites on the different fields of life, urging the practice of ritual rites in eachgood deed, explaining to man that the differencebetween the mosque, which is God's house, andman's home is not in the quality of buildingor slogan; rather, the mosque has deserved tobe God's house because it is the yard whereuponman practises a deed that goes beyond his egoand wherefrom he aims at a bigger goal than

6 4


61/75

that dictated by the logic of limited material-istic interests, and that this yard ought toextend to include all life's stages. Each yard,whereupon man does a deed that goes beyondhis self, aiming thereby to achieve the pleasureof God and all people, does, indeed, carry themosque's spirit.

As for the second trend, which restrictslife in a narrow frame of worship, it tried toconfine man to the mosque instead of extendingthe meaning of the mosque to include all theyard which witnesses a good deed of man ... !

This trend believes that man lives an innerconflict between his soul and body, and that hecannot accomplish one of these two except atthe cost of the other. Therefore, in order hemay spiritually grow and be elevated, he has todeprive his body from the good things, shrinkinghis presence on life's stage, battling continuouslyagainst his desires and aspirations in differentfields of life, until he finally achieves victory

6 5


62/75

over all of them through long abstention anddeprivation and the practice of certain rituals.

Islamic jurisprudence rejects this trend,too, because it wants rites for the sake of life.Life cannot be confiscated for the sake of rites.At the same time, it tries hard to ensure thata good man pours the spirit of worship over allof his behaviour and activity. This must not betaken to imply that he has to stop his differentactivities in life and confine himself between thealtar's walls; rather, it means that he convertsall his activities to rituals ... !

The mosque is but a base wherefrom agood man sets to conduct his daily behaviour,but it is not limited to that behaviour only!The Holy Prophet has said to Abu Dharral-Ghifari: "If you are able to eat and drink for the sake of none save Allah.... do it!"

Thus, worship serves life. Its upbringingand religious success is determined by its exten-

6 6


63/75

sion, in meaning and spirit, to all fields of life.

Worship and Senses

Man's perception is not merely by hissenses, nor is it merely an intellectual and non-material reasoning either! It is a mixture of reasoning plus material and non-material feeling.When worship is required to perform its func-tion in a way with which man interacts perfect-ly, and whereby it harmonizes with his charac-

ter, worship is composed of a mind and senses;worship then must contain a sensitive aspectand a non-material intellect, so that worshipwill be compatible with the worshipper's person-ality, and the worshipper, while performing hisworship, lives his attachment to the Absolutewith all his existence.

From here, the intention, as well as psy-cholological contention of worship, always rep-

6 7


64/75

resents its intellectual and non-material aspect,for it links the worshipper to the True Absolute,the Praised, the High, and there are otheraspects of worship representing its materialaspect. The qi blah, towards whose direction eachworshipper must direct his face while praying;and

al-Baytu'l-haram, visited by both those who

perform the pilgrimage and those who do theumrah, around which they both perform taw a f; and the as-saf a and al-marwah, between whichhe runs; and Jamratu' l - a q abah, at which hecasts stones; and the Mosque, which is a placeespecially made for adoration wherein the wor-shipper practises his worship . . . all these arethings related to the senses and tied to worship:there is no prayer without a qi blah, nor taw a f without al-Baytu' l -haram, . . . and so on, for thesake of satisfying the part related to the senses

in the worshipper and giving it its right andshare of worship!

This is the midway direction in organizingworship and coining it according to ma n' s in-

68


65/75

stincts as well as his particular intellectual andsensual make-up.

Two other directions face him: one of them goes to the extreme in bringing man tohis senses, if the expression is accurate at all,treating him as though he had been a non-material intellect, opposing all sensual expres-sions of his in worship's sphere, for as long asthe True Absolute, the Praised One, has noli mited place or time, nor can He be represent-ed by a statute; then His worship has to stand onsuch a premise, and in the manner which enables

the comparative thinking of man to address theAbsolute Truth.

Such a trend of thinking is not approvedby Islamic jurisprudence, for in spite of itsconcern about the intellectual aspects broughtforth by the hadith: "An hour's contemplationis better than a year's adoration," it also believesthat pious worship, no matter how deep, cannottotally fill man's self or occupy his leisure, nor

6 9


66/75

can it attach him to the Absolute Truth in allhis existence, for man has never been purelyan intellect ... !

From this realistic and objective starting-point, rites in Islam have been based on bothintellectual and sensous bases. The person per

forming his prayers is practising by his intentionan intellectual adoration, denying his Lord anyli mits, measurements, or the like. For when hestarts his prayer with "Allahu akbar (God isGreat)", while taking at the same time the holyka'bah as a divine slogan towards which hedirects his feelings and movements, so that helives worship by both intellect and feeling, logicand emotion, non-materialistically as well asintellectually.

The other trend goes to the extreme in thepart related to the senses, changing the slogan toan idenity and the hint to reality, causing theworship of the symbol to substitute what thesymbol really stands for, and the direction

7 0


67/75

towards the hint instead of the reality it pointsto; thus, the worshipping person sinks, in this

manner or that, in shirk and paganism.

Such a trend totally annihilates the spiritof worship and it stops its function as a toollinking man and his civilized march to the True

Absolute, converting it to a tool for linking himto false absolutes, to symbols which change -through false intellectual stripping of the mat-ter - to an absolute. Thus, false worshipbecomes a veil between man and his Lord,instead of a link between both of them ... !

Islam has rejected such a trend becauseIslam convicted paganism in all its norms, smash-ing its idols and putting an end to all false gods,refusing to take any limited thing as a symbolfor the True Absolute, God, the Glorified, or as apersonification of Him. But it deeply distinguish-ed between the meaning of the idol which itcrushed and that of the qiblah it brought, whichmeaning conveying nothing more than a particu-

7 1


68/75

lar geographical spot has been divinely favouredby linking it to prayer for the sake of satisfyingthe worshipper's aspect related to the senses.Paganism is really nothing but a deviated at-tempt to satisfy such an aspect, and Islamic

jurisprudence has been able to correct it, provid-ing a straight path in harmonizing between the

worship of God, as being dealing with theAbsolute Who has neither limit nor person-ification, and the need of man who is composedof feeling and intellect to worship God by bothof his feeling and intellect ... !

The Social Aspect of Worship

Essentially, worship represents the relation-ship between man and his Lord. It provides this

relationship with elements of survival and stability. But this has been formulated in the Islamic jurisprudence in a way which often made itan instrument for the relationship between manand his brother man, and this is what we call

72


69/75

the social aspect of worship.

Some rituals force, by their nature, segrega-tion and the establishment of social relationsamong those who practise that ritual. Forexample, jih ad requires those fighting worship-pers of God to establish among themselves such

relations as would naturally happen among thecorps of a fighting army.

There are other rituals which do notnecessarily enforce congregating, but in spiteof this, they are linked in this way or the otherto congregation, in order to bring forth a mix-ture between man's relation with his Lord andhis own relation with his brethren men.

Among prayers' rituals is the congrega-

tion wherein the individual's prayer becomesa group's worship, strengthening the ties amongthe group, deepening the spiritual links amongthem through their unity in practising therituals.

7 3


70/75

The tenet of pilgrimage has definite timingsand places, and each participant in it has topractise it within those timings and places;hence, such participation evolves as a greatsocial activity!

Even the tenet of fasting, which by nature

is a purely individual act, is tied to the fitr Feast,as the social facet of this tenet, uniting itsparticipants in their ecstasy of vanquishing theirdesires and inclinations!

While siding by man's relation with hisLord, the tenet of zak a t creates spontaneouslya relation between him and his patron to whomhe pays it, or to the poor man, or to thecharitable project channelled directly by zak a t.

So do we observe that the social relationis found in this way or the other side by sidewith the relation between the worshipper andhis Lord in performing one ritualistic practiceof a social role in man's life, and it cannot be

7 4


71/75

considered successful except when it becomesa dynamic force properly directing whateversocial relations it faces.

The social aspect of worship reaches itszenith through whatever slogans worship putsforth on the social stage as spiritual symbol to

the nation's unity, feeling of genuinity anddistinction. The qi blah or har a m House, is buta slogan put forth by Islamic jurisprudencethrough its legislation of worship and prayers.Such a slogan has not been taken as merely areligious dimension, but it also has its socialdimension as the symbol of this nation's unityand genuinity. Therefore, when this jurispru-dence legislated for them their new q iblah,Muslims faced a great deal of harassment fromthe mongers, as the Holy Qur'an states, for

those mongers realized the social implication of this jurisprudence, and that it was a phenom-enon which endowed the nation its personality,making it an even nation:

7 5


72/75

Thus have We made of you an ummah justly balanced, that ye might be witnessesover the nations, and the Apostle a witnessover yourselves; and We appointed theq iblah to which thou wast used, only totest those who followed the Apostle fromthose who would turn on their heels (from

7 6


73/75

the Faith). Indeed it was (a change)

And never would All a h make your faith of

mo-

mentous, except to those guided by All a h.

no effect. All a h is to all people most surely

full of kindness, most Merciful.

We see the turning of thy face (for guid-

ance) to the heavens: now shall We turn

thee to a qi blah that shall please thee.Turn then thy face in the direction of thesacred Mosque: wherever ye are, turn your

faces in that direction . . . (Qur'an, 2:143-144)

These are just few remarks on rites inIslamic jurisprudence.

In addition to all this, there are othergeneral important lines representing the role of

rites in man's life and their social characteristics as we have discussed above, the roles and

detailed particulars of each rite. For each rite

brought forth by Islamic jurisprudence there

7 7


74/75

are effects, characteristics and hues of outputfor the worshipper, and for man's civilizedmarch as a whole. There is no room here to dealwith that in detail. Therefore, we leave the roles,detailed particulars and the exposition of axiomsand benefits implied in the instructions of thelegislator concerning each of these Islamic rites

to another level of discourse. We have alreadygiven some of our students permission to coverthat. From God do we derive assistance, andHim do we implore not to deprive us of thehonour of worshipping Him, praying Him toreckon us and His pleased servants, to forgiveus through His Mercy and Bounty; verily, HisMercy has encompassed all things:

Why should I not worship Him Who hascreated me, and to Him do ye return?!(Qur'an, 36:22)

7 8


75/75

This book has been finished on Jam a d i

al-awwal 2, 1396 Hijri.

All praise is due to All a h, Lord of the worlds; prayers and salutations be upon Muhammad and all those purely-guided ones among his progeny.

Documents

Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr - A General Look at Rites