The Potential Contribution of Islam To World Peace

8/10/2019 The Potential Contribution of Islam To World Peace

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The Potential Contribution of Islam To

World Peace

Before one can determine the potential contribution of Islam to world peaceone must answer three questions:

(1) What is it basically that is dividing man from man, causing friction betweennation and nation and disturbing again and again the peace of manind at

present!

(") Is It possible for the human race, in view of the potentialities of theirnature, to be gifted with a real and permanent peace at some stage oftheir evolution!

(#) If the answer to the second questions may be in the affirmative, what isthe actual manner in which the human race can possibly achieve its unityof the future!

$nly when these three questions have been answered can we now what isthe potential contribution of Islam to World %eace or whether Islam has at allmade any such contribution& I shall, therefore, endeavor to answer these

questions first&

If we loo at the map of the world we find the whole of the habitable globedivided into countries each of which is a sovereign political unit or a statebased on an ideology& 'or eample, the ideologies of Britain, ussia, 'rance,

*merica and India are British +ationalism respectively& here are as manypolitical section of manind as there are ideologies& -et us now study brieflythe nature of an ideology&

*n ideology is a system of ideas developing around an ideal in the courseof its application to the various aspects of practical human life& he ideal ofan individual is the idea of the highest Beauty, .oodness and ruth nown

and eperience by him as such, irrespective of the fact whether it hasreally any qualities of Beauty, .oodness and ruth in it or not& It is an ideaof which the Beauty, .oodness and ruth he feels sufficiently to beinduced, to accept it as the sole determining force of his practical life andnot merely as a concept of theoretical or academic importance& It is hiseffective view of the purpose and destination of human life and of thenature of man and the universe which be thin any real significance for himand, therefore any significance in the world at all& It is a view of man andthe universe in which he can actually believe and according to which hecan actually act& %eople love and follow different ideologies because theirideas of Beauty .oodness and ruth differ& hus /hrist, *llah, 0conomic

0quality, %olitical 0quality, the .erman race, the 'rench language andculture, the indu religion and culture are eamples of ideals that, in theirapplication to the various aspects of practical human life, have developedInto the ideologies of /hristianity, Islam, /ommunism, 2emocracy,.erman +ationalism, 'rench +ationalism and Indian +ationalismrespectively&

he urge for an ideal in the human being controls and dominates all hisother impulses and desires even those which have their immediate source in theinstincts& hat is why, men become ready to deny themselves the proper


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satisfaction of their instincts and even to lay down their lives for the sae of tideals whenever necessary& 0very ideology is distinct from all other ideologies&$therwise it would not have a separate eistence& It has its own ideal, its owninternal psychological core or essence and its own eternal social form& 0veryhuman being must have an ideal and no ideology& *n ideological individual, i&e&, ahuman being, considered as the lover of an ideology, lives only for the sae of hisideology and is similar to a biological Individual or an organism which lives onlyfor the sae of living and growing& We now that individuals of the same species

have an affinity for each other and tend to come together and live an organi3edlife& 4ocially advanced species, e&g&, bees and ants, are capable of achieving anorgani3ation as perfect as that of a single organism& 4imilarly Individuals wholove the same ideology love each other and have a tendency to5 come togetherand form an organi3ed ideological community which in its present developedform is nown as a state& he more the members of an ideological communitylove their ideology the more they love each other and the greater is the unity, thesolidarity, the efficiency and the power of their state or organi3ation&

-ie a socially advanced species, a socially advanced ideologicalcommunity is capable of achieving an organi3ation almost as perfect as that of asingle organism& * highly organi3ed ideological community is in fact a psycho6social organism which behaves lie a biological organism the behaviour of whichis representative of the behaviour of a whole species7 and is sub8ect to lawswhich are similar to the laws of Biology& -ie an organism it has an internal urgewhich is the love of the ideal and an eternal form which consists of its laws,institutions and traditions, -ie an organism it has the will to live and to growindefinitely, needs food which consists of all psychological or educativeinfluences which can nourish the love of the ideal, has a purpose which is thereali3ation of the ideal, meets with resistance in its efforts to achieve thatpurpose, eerts itself to overcome resistance& Increases and enlarges its powerthrough eertion and becomes wea when it fails to eert itself or gives up effort&

*s biological environment influenced the direction of the development of anorganism, in the past, so ideological, i&e& psychological or educationalenvironment influences the direction of the growth of an ideological community atpresent& he people of 0ngland, for eample, are an ideological communitybecause they love the same ideology& But their ideology has come to be what it isbecause they lived in the same country, belonged to the same race, spoe thesame language and had similar habits and customs& he influence of psycho6social environment has given a particular direction66in this case a wrongdirection, since theology could not become perfect, its growth having stopped atthe stage of a territorial nationalism7to the process which has shaped theirideology&

*s an organism was sub8ect to a sudden improvement of its form duringthe biological ages as a result of what is nown by the biologists today as a9mutation, so an ideological community is sub8ect to a sudden improvement ofits form during this ideological age as a result of an ideological 9mutation whichwe call a 9revolution& hus the 'rench evolution, ussian evolution, +a3ievolution and 'ascist evolution changed the ideologies of 'rance, ussia,.ermany and Italy, from 'rench ;onarchy to 2emocracy, from ussian;onarchy to /ommunism, from .erman +ationalism to .erman +ational4ocialism and from Italian +ationalism to 'ascism respectively&


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*gain, lie an organism, an ideological group can die owing to internaldisease which in Its case is caused by the elements of imperfection in the ideal&

*s an organism can produce another organism through the operation of the urgefor procreation in which the male and the female play their part, so the follower ofan ideology can produce another follower of the same ideology through theoperation of the urge for propagation in which the leader and the follower playtheir part& *s every biological individual is a descendant as well as a progenitor,so every ideological individual is a follower as well as a leader, live as an

organism, that of an ideological group by its urge to love (and serve) its ideology&*s an organism has an organ7the heart7which is the cause of its life andapplies the fluid of life to feed and nourish all its parts, so an ideologicalcommunity has an organi3ation7the educational system of the community 7which is the /entre of its love and supplies the ideas that feed and nourish thelove of the ideology in the hearts of all its members& *s an organism canoverpower and annihilate another organism by capturing its life6centre anddestroying its functions, so an ideological community can overpower andannihilate another ideological community by capturing its educational system anddestroying its functions& hus when the conquerors of World War II occupied.ermany,


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states& It may be said that the weaer states have no aggressive designs againstother states and that all that they desire is to be allowed to continue theireistence& But let us not forget that these states are never satisfied with whatthey can tae from other states in order to continue their eistence and that therewas a time when the bigger states too were very wea and wanted only to be leftalone& ome that became a big empire began as a single city&

* modern state employs a number of methods to fight out its ideologicalwar against all other states& It sets up, first of all, a system of eternal educationcarried on through +ews *gencies, %ublicity -iterature, adios %ress and/inema with the ob8ect of winning over to its side as many lovers of otherideologies as possible& But whenever it feels that its efforts to epand are beingthwarted or may be thwarted by another state directly or indirectly, immediately orultimately, it resorts to other tactics lie treaties, pacts, peace conferences,disarmament proposals, direct persuasions propaganda& /riticisms of policy andaction, diplomatic, economic or political pressure and as a last resort to violencein order to remove the direct or indirect, immediate ultimate opposition of thatstate, 4ince every state tends to epand and gain in power more and more at theepense of all other states, as time goes on, every state is, by the potentialities ofits nature, heading towards an ultimate violent conflict with every other state&

* state may enter into a fast friendship with an another state in order todefend itself against a hostile state or a group of hostile states, but the allies areall the time the secret enemies of each other and as soon as their commonenemies are defeated their latent animosities rise to the surface again& hiseplains why it happens so frequently that the same states are sometimesintimate friends and at other times sworn enemies of each other& he war ofstates may be sometimes open and violent, at other times concealed andpeaceful5 it may tae the form of a battle field or a peace6conference, but it isgoing on all the time without a truce or a brea&

ence I can answer the first question by saying that the real force

disturbing the peace of manind again and again can be epressed by a singleword of eight letters7I20$-$.=&

hat the human race will be ultimately gifted with a real and permanentpeace can be safely concluded from the fact that what man really desires ispeace and not war& e resorts to war only when he feels that his purposes7allderived from his own ideology7are meeting with a resistance7proceedingentirely from the ideologies of others7that cannot be overcome without violence&here is no trace of any such resistance within a real ideological group devotedto a single, definitely nown ideology however large the group may be& hat iswhy an ideological group of this ind en8oys, as long as it eists, a real and

permanent peace within its own boundaries& here is no reason why the state ofmutual love, peace and amity which can be achieved and successfullymaintained by a section of humanity, i&e& an ideological community, should not beachieved and successfully maintained by the whole of it& *s the unity of the familydeveloped into the unity of the tribe developed into the unity of the state, so theunity of the state must develop into the unity of the whole of the human race oneday& 4uch facts indeed point to the conclusion that the unity of the human race isnot only possible but also necessary in the long run&

hat eoncludes my answer to the second question&


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When we endeavour to find an answer to the third question we notice thatthere are only two possible ways in which the human race can achieve its unity ofthe future&

0ither

1& he various states will arrange to live in harmony with each other,ignoring their differences or settling them peacefully by mutualnegotiations or under political, economic or military pressure from a world

organi3ation of states lie the defunct -eague of +ations or the present>&+&$&

$r

II& 4ome single ideology will prove to be so scientific and so sound andattractive intellectually, that it will be accepted willingly, though gradually, by thewhole of manind, thus turning the entire human race into a single ideologicalcommunity&

he possibility mentioned under +o& 1 above is precluded by the very lawsof human nature which are ineorable and by the characteristics of ideologiesand ideological communities which no one can alter& *s I have submitted above,

ideology is the only force that rules the life of the individual, the community andthe state& +one of them can, therefore, do anything that is contrary to therequirements of their ideology wherever they may be represented& *norgani3ation lie the >&+&$ Intended to unify conflicting ideologies cannot worsmoothly and successfully even for a single day& It may, no doubt, assume a falseappearance of woring smoothly and successfully for some time but its real,impracticability cannot remain hidden from the eyes of the world for long& hereason is that a real co6operation with such an organi3ation is not possible forany state on account of its very nature as an ideological community& +o state canagree to become its member ecept to use it as an instrument to safeguard andfurther its two6fold ideological interests of growing at the epense of other states

and defending itself against their growth at its own epense& 0very decision ofsuch a body which may appear to the world to be agreed to by all its members iseither a secret deal in which some nations batter away the ideological interests ofsome other nations for the sae of some advantages which further their ownideological interests or a decision which is really accepted by each state withsecret reservations which, it believes, will reduce it practically to a decision whichis favourable to itself and unfavourable to all the other states in the long run& hatis why we had a World War in spite of the -eague of +ations and we areepecting another World War every moment in spite of the >&+&$&

0ven when a state has a very sincere and honest desire to serve the causeof peace, 8ustice and freedom, as a member of such a body it is forced, by itsirresistible ideological urge, to qualify, unconsciously and in spite of itself, themeaning of these terms in such a way that the reali3ation of values representedby them does not involve the least danger to us own ideological interests whetheroffensive or defensive& *ctually, therefore, such an organi3ation as a battlefield inwhich every state enters to fight the incessant and relentless war of ideologiesand calmly and peacefully, consciously or unconsciously and with the help andco6operation of other states, secured in the name of peace, 8ustice and freedom,till it has the need, the power and the opportunity to fight it out openly dad


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violently to the end& In this peaceful war as in any violent war, some states winwhile some others Iose and as in a violent war so in this peaceful war it is themost powerful states that generally win&

4ome of us believe that the >&+&$& is a great force for the peace and unityof manind at present& But our belief is no better than that of a child who runsdragging between his legs a stic held elosely in his hands believing all the timethat he is riding a horse& ow can an organi3ation which is based on the disunityof manind, be ever epected to unite them! he eistence of the >&+&$& marsour ignorance of the laws of human nature and& human psychology& It is a toyinvented by man to while away his childhood& he grown up man of the future willsimply laugh at it&

he second possibility7that of a single ideology dominating the worldpermanently bringing a permanent peace to manind7alone is thinable& Indeedif we study the trends of ideological evolution in the light of biological evolution,we come to the conclusion that it is not a possibility but a veritable certainty&4ome of the most important features of biological evolution are as under

(1) 0volution concerned itself throughout with the creation and developmentof biological forms of life or species&

(") 0very species was distinct from every other on account of its outwardphysical form consisting of the organs and features acquired by the firstindividual or the father of the specie& hey were passed on to all succeedinggenerations without any fundamental alteration, as a fied and permanentbiological heritage of the species&

(#) $f all the species that emerged there was only one the human type of lifethat was able to dominate the earth finally and completely& It was biologically themost perfect of all species and its perfection as a species consisted in theperfection of its brain&

(?) hus the perfect biological form, man, was the real ob8ective of biologicalevolution& It was on him alone that the forces of evolution were concentratingtheir attention all along& e was in eistence from the very beginning of animallife& e continued to develop slowly and through innumerable stages of biologicalforms right from his earliest stage as a unicellular organism to the stage of hisperfection as a full6fledged human being dominating the earth& *ll other specieswere the incidental bye6products of the creation of man& hey were deviations ordefections at various points from the main path (or the right path) of evolutionleading to the final stage of man, as a result of the misdirection of some of hispotentialities as the perfect biological form, under the influence of unfavourablebiological environment& hat is why every one of these species could manifestonly a portion of the instincts and urges of the perfect biological form and not allof them&

(@) *s soon as the perfect biological form, man, had come into eistence theemergence of new biological forms on the main line of evolution wasdiscontinued as it was no longer possible for the simple reason that a perfectbiological form could not be superseded by another perfect biological form& Butnew deviations from the main line of evolution and the emergence of newspecies along the branches of the main line, representing previous deviationsfrom the main line, still continued over line periods of time during which man, as


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a wea and unprotected form of life, struggle for his eistence& But since all theother species represented a departure from the main line of evolution and afraction of t potentialities of the perfect form, they wore not destined to reach thestage of biological perfection& ence in spite of the tremendous physical power ofsome of them, they all soon ehausted their possibilities of progress with theresult that biological evolution came to a dead stop everywhere& heunprogressive and unwanted species became gradually etinct or else lingeredon without evolving, waiting for etinction&

(A) 0very species became involved from the moment of its emergence in adesperate struggle for eistence against other species& 4ome of these speciese&g& elephants, tigers, lions, bears, etc&, were far more powerful than man in spiteof biological perfection& hey were gifted with a physical power and instrumentsof attac and defence which man did not possess& *s a consequence he wasforce to tae shelter on trees and in caves in order to save his life& It was amiracle that he able to survive in his unequal struggle for eistence against thesemighty species&

() But man not only survived in the midst of such dangers, he also flourishedand prospered slowly but continuously in spite of them& $n account of his

cerebral perfection he was soon able to invent weapons of attac and defencewhich were far more powerful than any organs possessed by the most terrible ofspecies and against which, therefore, all other species were helpless& he resultwas that he multiplied rapidly and profusely in numbers till he spread to the endsof the earth vanquishing and dominating all other species finally and completelyin all parts of the 1 globe& his brought the war of species to an end&

hus the perfection of man which enabled him ultimately to win the war ofspecies and dominate the world depended upon the perfection of his brain andnot upon the abundance of his physical strength or the efficiency of his organs inwhich he was far behind other species&

he process of evolution continued even after man had reached his biologicalperfection but now its nature was different& 4ince its medium could be now onlythe human being, the highest form of organic life, and since the human being haddeveloped a new character7a psychological capacity to love ideals andideologies7all future evolution could only depend upon the unfoldment of thepotentialities of this character& ence the process of evolution shifted from thebiological to the ideological plane&

-ife must epress the same characteristics generally at the ideological stageof evolution as it did at the biological stage& 'or its fundamental qualities mustremain the same wherever it may be found to be active& he very word evolutiondenotes progress or movement towards a stage of perfection& *t the biological

stage of evolution the activity of life centred around the requirements of theorganism, at the ideological stage it centres around the requirements of theideology& he driving force of biological evolution was the perfection of theorganism& It caused, by a process, ehibiting particular characteristics, theemergence of a biological form of life that was perfect and enabled it to dominatethe world and end the war of species& he driving force of ideological evolutionmust be the perfection of the ideology& It must cause, by a process ehibitingparallel characteristics, the emergence of an ideological form of life that is perfectand must enable it to dominate the world and end the war of ideologies& We have


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already seen how close is the analogy between a species and an ideologicalcommunity and how the points of similarity between the two can be countedalmost unlimitedly& In view of all these facts we can be sure that, whenideological evolution has run its course to the end, a man who is looing bac atits past will be able to outline its broad features as follows5

(I) 0volution concerned itself with the creation and development of ideologicalforms of life or ideological communities&

(") 0very ideological community was distinct from every other by reason of itseternal ideological form consisting of the laws and institutions which were laiddown by the founder of the ideology& hey were passed on to all succeedinggenerations of the community without any fundamental change or alteration as afied and permanent ideological heritage of the community&


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unwanted and un6progressive ideologies became gradually etinct or elselingered on without evolving waiting for etinction&

(A) 0very ideological community became involved from the movement of itsemergence in a desperate struggle for eistence against all other ideoIogicalcommunities& 4ome of these communities were far more powerful than thecommunity of the %erfect Ideology in spite of the latter ideological perfection&hey were gifted with material and economic resources and armamentsconsisting of atomic weapons of attac and defence which the community of the%erfect ideology did not possess and which, therefore, obliged it to avoid theirdispleasure& It is a miracle that it was able to survive in its unequal struggle foreistence against these mighty ideologies&

() But the %erfect Ideological 'orm not only survived in the midst of suchdangers, it also flourished and prospered slowly but continuously in spite of them&$n account of its ideological perfection it was soon able to invent weapons ofideological attac and defence in the form of convincing intellectual and scientificideas about the nature of man and the universe which as instruments ofideological conquest were far more powerful than any armaments possessed bythe most terrible of ideological communities and before which, therefore, all other

ideologies were helpless& he result was that the %erfect Ideology got such alarge number of converts and its followers multiplied so rapidly and profusely innumbers that it spread to the ends of the earth vanquishing and dominating allother ideologies finally and completely in all parts of the habitable globe& hisbrought the war of ideologies to an end&

hus the %erfection of the 'inal Ideological form which enabled it to win thewar of ideologies and dominate the world depended upon the perfection of itsideology and not upon the abundance of its material and economic resources orthe power of its armaments in which it was far behind other ideological forms&

his completes my answer to the three question propounded above& I can

now turn to my real sub8ect5 the potential contribution of Islam to World %eace& he question arises& as the perfect ideological form already emerged! If ithas not, then neither Islam nor any other ideology in eistence at present can doanything to bring about world6peace& If it has, then world6peace depends uponthe epansion and world6domination of that ideology and the retirement,whenever it may be possible, of all other ideologies which by their eistence andself6assertion stand in the way of that ideologyCs inevitable destiny of world6domination and mission of world6peace& What is the place occupied by Islam inthis picture! Is it the ideology that will bring about: world6peace or is it one of allthe other ideologies that are thwarting the arrival of world peace by their veryeistence!

o now the answer to these questions we have to find out first of all what is a%erfect Ideology&

*n ideology eon be perfect only if its essence and form are both perfect& heessence of an ideology is its psychological core or the ideal or the idea on whichit is based& he form of an ideology is the application of its ideal to the variousaspects of practical human life& ence an ideology will be perfect only if it is anapplication of the perfect ideal to alI the important aspects (vi3& the religious,social, economic, educational& ethical, legal, political and military aspects) of


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natural human activity& *n ideal is perfect if its perfection is unassailable from thepositive as well as the negative points of view, in other words, if it only possessesup to the highest degree all the qualities and attributes which we by our natureloo upon as lovable, admirable and beautiful and which we describe briefly asthe qualities of Beauty, .oodness and ruth, but is also free from every short6coming, defect or blemish that we can possibly thin of& 4uch an idea can be onlyone and that is the idea of .od by the very definition of the term .od& 'or if theidea of .od has any defect or lacs any of the qualities of Beauty, .oodness and

ruth, to the highest degree, it is not the idea of .od at all& 4ince the %erfectIdea, the Idea of .od is the Idea of a -iving, *ll6powerful, *ll6nowing, *ll6nourishing and *ll6evolving %ersonality, the application of this idea to human lifein a manner which may have any real meaning for the evolution of man canimagined to have been made by .od imself i&e& by someone who speas onbehalf of .od& his accounts for the phenomenon of prophet hood which isalready so well6nown&

his means that the main line of ideological evolution is the line of the%rophets which begins with a prophetic ideology and ends with one, there beinginnumerable prophets in between the beginning and the end, applying the idea of.od to ever larger and larger areas of human life according as it develops andcomplicates in the process of evolution the last of them applying the idea to thewhole of human life& he earliest application of the idea of .od was to thereligious life of man, that is, to his life as a worshipper and a propitiator of theob8ect of worship and later on also to his social, ethical and legal life and last ofall also to his economic and political life& *s the earliest form of the human beingwas the first perfect organism of a single cell, so the earliest form of the %erfectIdeological /ommunity was the first single human family, the family of the firstperfect human being (who was also he first %rophet), worshipping, rue .od asthe .od of the family& Its net form was a tribe combining a number of families(lie that of the Israelites) worshipping rue .od as the .od of the tribe and stillnet a ingdom combining a number of tribes ruled by a ing (lie that Ding4olomon) worshipping rue .od as the .od of the ingdom and its last formmust be an ideological statement epanding in all directions to embrace thewhole of humanity and loving, worshipping and serving rue .od as the .od ofthe entire human race (abb6ul6E*lamin7*l6FurCan)& We can epect the firstperfect specimen of humanity to be also a %rophet because nature which giveshim a perfect biological form and along with it the urge to love an ideal must givehim also the nowledge of the ideal that can satisfy this urge perfectly i&e& thenowledge of the %erfect Ideal to be of use to him and to his offspring& +aturecreates no need without creating simultaneously the means of its satisfaction, sothat those who starve their natural needs of their proper satisfaction have alwaysto blame themselves and not nature for their misfortune&

It follows that the %erfect Ideology of the future must have the followingcharacteristics:

(1) It must be a prophetic ideology having the idea of .od as its essence&

(") Its Idea of .od must be absolutely pure and perfect and it must lay all stresson the maintenance of its purity and perfection&

(#) Its eternal ideological form, as bequeathed by its founder to the succeedinggenerations of its followers on the authority and eample of his own practical life,


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must be an application of this idea to all the important aspects, namely, theethical, religious, social, political, economic, legal, educational and militaryaspects of natural human activity& he reason is that no prophetic ideology whichignores any of these aspects at the time of its birth in the life eample of itsfounder can have anything to do with it later on& +o ideology that is bornimperfect can become perfect by subsequent development unless it 9mutatesCCinto a new ideology having a new founder and new laws and institutions&

(?) his further implies that the %rophet who is the founder of the %erfectIdeology must be a historical figure and the important details of his own practicallife as the leader of a community which accepted that ideology must be availablein the records of history& Without such historical record the original ideologicalcommunity of the prophet will be taen to have ceased to eist lie one of thoseunwanted species which disappeared from the animal world in the past&

(@) he fact of its perfection or finality and all that it implies must form a part of itsteachings, otherwise it will be lacing in one of its most important ideologicalconstituents which will enable it to maintain its wholeness as well as finality andperfection to the end& In other words the teachings of the founder of this Ideologymust eplicitly mention the following points:

(a) hat be brings to a perfection the teachings of all earlier prophets&

(b) hat he is the last of the prophets and there will be no prophet after him&

(c) hat he comes for the guidance of the whole of the human race&

(d) hat his ideology will dominate the world whether the followers of otherideologies may lie it or not&

(e) hat his teachings will remain intact, in theory as well as in practice, in thehands of his followers till the end of the world&

(f) hat his followers will be the leaders of manind&

(g) hat in due course of time the discovery of scientific facts relating on the onehand to the eternal universe (i the facts of %hysics and Biology) and on theother to the human mind (i&e& the facts of %sychology) will 8ustify his ideology tosuch an etent that all the non6believers will be convinced of its truth&

*ll these characteristics belong eminently to Islam& If this is true, it means,that no ideology, other than Islam, whether in eistence at present or coming intoeistence in future, can be a %erfect Ideology and that Islam alone is the 'inalIdeology of manind destined to unite them into a single ideological community,en8oying permanent peace and prosperity& he reason as I have said above, isthat a %erfect ideology cannot come into eistence twice over& It also means thatwe shall be able to understand more clearly the broad features of the ideological

evolution of the past and future, an outline of which is given above, if wesubstitute the world Islam for the term %erfect Ideology, and the epression;uslim /ommunity for the term %erfect Ideological 'orm, in this outline& 4ince itis the analogy between animal species and human communities studied andunderstood in the light of the facts of evolution which has led us to thisconclusion here, it is significant to note that the oly FurCan not only affirms thisanalogy but also alludes to it as an important fact which .od *lmighty has thepower to reveal as a sign of the truth of the FurCan which the non6believersdemand from the %rophet&


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*nd they say, why has not a sign been sent down to him from his -ord! 4ay,surely *llah has the power to send down a sign but most of them now not& *ndthere is no animal in the earth, nor a bird that flies on its two wings but arecommunities lie you& We have not left out anything important from this boo:then (at the end of their earthly life, human communities) will be gatheredtogether before their -ord (along with their leaders)&(A: #, #G)

I now tae up the characteristics of a %erfect Ideology one by one in the orderin which they have been put forth above to show how they belong to Islam andtherefore to Islam alone for ever&

(1) Islam is the ideology of %rophet ;uhammad (peace be upon him) and its coreor essence is the idea of .od& * person who desires to enter the fold of Islam isrequired to pronounce the following:

I bear witness that there is no .od but *llah and I bear witness that;uhammad is the apostle of *llah&

(") Islam lays a great stress on the oneness of .od and the absolute purity anduniqueness of all is attributes& In fact it is one of the fundamentals of its mission

to correct people who have distorted or altered the true idea of .od originallytaught by all prophets& *ttributing any of the qualities of .od to anything else inthe least is the only unpardonable sin according to the oly FurCan&

4urely *llah forgives not that a partner should be set up with im and eforgives all besides that to whom e pleases& *nd whoever sets up a partner with

*llah, he devises indeed a great sin& (?: ?G)

(#) In the life6eample of ;uhammad (peace be upon him) as the creator andleader of an ideological community we find all aspecis of the natural activity ofsuch a community (e&g&, eligion, 0thics, 0conomics, 0ducation, -aw, 4ocialelations, %olitics and ;ilitary activity) being controlled and dominated by t single

idea of .od& ;uhammad (peace be upon him) was ordered to say: 4ay: Herily my prayer, my sacrifice, my life and my death are all for *llah, the-ord of the worlds& e has no associate: and this is what I have ordered toobserve and I am the first of those who submit&

(A: 1A#, 1A?)

;uhammad (peace be upon him) not only worshipped one .od and did hisutmost to teach others to worship im but he also lived a married life, preparedhis followers to resist the opposition of his own people who were bent upondestroying his mission, created a state, ruled and administered it, defended itfrom its enemies by military action, solved its internal and e problems and gave it

the rudiments of a plan of informational services, a scheme of research andeducation, a socio6political system, an economic6legal order and a foreign policy&he eample of his life can, therefore, satisfy the evolutionary requirements of hiscommunity till the end of the world&

It does not mean that the ;uslim community will never need any laws otherthan those ordained by their %rophet& It means only that these original laws willform the foundation and the nucleus of other laws that may be required in futurefrom time to time as the community evolves from stage to stage& Because theoriginal laws will be ept intact as a sacred heritage, they will enable the devoted


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followers of the %rophet who happen to have entered deeply into the spirit of histeachings to derive from them other laws consistent with their Ideal as theramifications and amplifications of the original laws, to satisfy the requirements ofthe evolving community and to meet new situations arising from time to time notdirectly covered by these laws& Where laws enforced by the %rophet (peace beupon him) already eist, no change has any evolutional value and no change ispossible& But where there are no such laws we are free to enact in the light of theoriginal laws without pre8udice to the evolution of the community&

Imagine a beautiful picture complete in all its ma8or and essential details& Itmay be possible to amplify it a little more by introducing into it some more linesand colours representing some of its minor and insignificant details& But the artistwho undertaes to do so will have to control his activity by two considerations&'irstly, that he does not interfere in the least with the details of the picture thathave already emerged& 4econdIy, that his additions are perfectly consistent andin complete harmony with these eisting detail& 0vidently this can be done onlyby a man who is thoroughly inspired by the beauty of the picture and who loves itpassionately on account of his perfect appreciation of the idea of its originalcreator& If, however, the picture is allowed to be handled for this purpose by aman who is unable to be inspired by it and to catch the thought at the bac of it,he will act lie a and senseless artist rubbing off certain portions of it and addingnew irrelevant portions to it in their place& 'ar from amplifying the picture he willruin its beauty and splendour permanently&

%rophet ;uhammad (peace be upon him) has given us a picture of the%erfect Ideology which is complete in all its ma8or and essential details& It is nowthe minor details of it that may call forth the spiritual effort (I8tihad) of his followerson occasions when they may be really needed& 'urther laws to 4upply theseminor details of the ideology of the %rophet can now be framed with the help ofthe original and fundamental laws and institutions which the community hasinherited from him *s often as required, by pious and .od6fearing men who are

inspired by the beauty of the ideology, have entered into its 4pirit and graspedthe idea behind it, without altering or disturbing any of these original laws andinstitutions in the least& hus the community will evolve in the right direction onaccount of these laws and institutions and not in spite of them& *nybody who willmae an attempt to alter them will be lie a bad and senseless artist who will marrather than mae the picture of the %erfect Ideology& But in spite of what some ofour short sighted, self6styled 9saviours of Islam may wish to do, these laws andinstitutions will never be altered& $nly those who will attempt to change them willenter into a deviation from the main line of evolution to disappear into the worldof non6eistence forever&

It is neither accidental nor meaningless that a prophetic ideology has an

unconquerable tendency to persist in the form in which it was left by its founder& Itis due to a fundamental characteristic of life& Whatever form life taes in itsnascent condition7whatever the apparent causes and conditions that may haveenabled it to tae that form7because fied forever& his is as much true of theform and institutions of a newly emerging natural ideology as it is of the form andfeatures of a newly born organism or a newly emerging natural species& hat iswhy as long as a religion lives, its followers resist heresy and innovation with allthe power that they command& *s there is a law of biological heredity whichprotects the original form and features of a species by an arrangement within the


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organic form itself, so there is a law of ideological heredity which protects theoriginal laws and institutions of an ideology by an arrangement within theideological form itself& he failure of the ;arriage -aws /ommission set uprecently by the .overnment of %aistan indicates how the law of ideologicalheredity is woring to preserve the essential ideological features of Islam even inthis age&

eredity whether biological or ideological has not only a meaning forevolution& It is one of the essentials of evolution& It preserves the pastachievements of life and thus prepares the ground on which furtherachievements can be built up& It assures that change taes place only in the rightdirection, i&e& in the direction of the net higher stage of evolution, and withoutevolving the loss of any of the achievements of life secured in the past& In thecase of the ;uslim community the net higher stage of evolution that we canepect, is an etraordinary development of their love for Islam (for it prophet asthe greatest personality of all time, for its laws and institutions, ordained by theprophet, as the most appropriate for a progressive society in view of the nature ofman and for the spirit behind them as the spirit of all future progress) as a resultof their intellectual reali3ation of it as the -ast of the 2ivinely evealed ideologiesas well as the only rue and 4cientific Ideology in the world& he reali3ation willraise them gradually to a very high stage of moral and spiritual developmentwhere alone it will be possible for them to understand the original laws of Islamproperly and to discover their appropriate ramifications and derivations neededfrom time to time and where these laws, in so far as they are concessions orpermissions, will not be miss6used and in so far as they are correctives,punishments will not be required to be moved&

ow far the laws of a community actually assure its progress depends moreupon the mental attitude with which they are approached than on the lawsthemselves& -aws which may appear to us to be etremely good may proveworthless when approached with a morally bad attitude of mind, while laws which

may appear to us to need improvement may actually conduce to the bestprogress of the community, when approached with a really moral and spiritualattitude of mmd&

he idea of the sacred and the holy is the essence of a prophetic ideology&he moment it is deprived of this idea, it is reduced to a secular or materialisticideology utterly useless for the purposes of evolutions& he special achievementof life registered by the emergence of a prophetic ideology is an intense love ofits followers for .od as a result of their faith that now they have a direct, intimateand personal contact with im hrough is %rophet whose word is the sacredword of .od and lie all its other achievements life preserves this achievement ofit own at all costs& If we now change any of the laws of Islam enforced by the

%rophet we shall damage the wholeness and prestige of Islam as the last of theprophetic ideologies, deprive it of its quality of sacredness and thus mae itimpossible for the ;uslim community to love it wholeheartedly and to pass on tothe net higher stage of their evolution& hat is why the law of ideological hereditywill, in the Interest of evolution, prevent such a thing from happening&

Imagine a surgeon biologist who is not satisfied with the eisting organs anfeatures of the human being and wants to alter them by surgical operations witha view to improve them& e can only argue lie this: 666


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9he present organs and features of the human being have come down tous from a very distant past when the conditions of the world were far differentfrom what they are now& >nfortunately his biological environment of those dayscould not permit him to evolve better organs and features than these& In this ageof automobiles and aero planes, bombs and rocets, supersonic speeds andstratospheric flights, the ears of man should have a mechanism by which theycan be made proof against loud and shrill noise of all inds at will, and the eyesof man should be able to see much farther off into the atmosphere than they can

at present& *s an epert surgeon and biologist I have devised a method by whichthese qualities can be easily imparted to the ears and eyes of man by a series ofsurgical operations& I have, moreover, conceived of a new superior artistic designof the human face in which the relative positions of eyes, ears, nose and lips arechanged a little and this change can be brought about by the same surgicaloperations& -et the .overnment start a clinic under me so that these operationsmay be carried out on a large scale for the good of the community&

he surgeon6biologist may succeed in convening some people but he forgetsthat the poor human beings whom he wants to improve and bring up6to6date inthis way may not survive his surgical operations (they may involve such a hugeloss of blood) at all or may live the rest of their lives as invalids& e also forgetsthat the law of biological heredity will not cooperate with him and his alterationswill not be inherited by future generations whose organs and features willnevertheless continue to be as they were at the time the human race was born&

+atureCs reply to such a mad biologist will be: 666

9We have given a definite set of organs and features to the human beingas the last and the most perfect of the species& If you thin they are the outcomeof an unfortunate accident7a certain unfavourable biological environment7fromwhich we could not save man, you are grossly mistaen& 'or how could we havein that case given him the rest of his qualities7cerebral and intellectual7whichmae him the %erfect Biological 'orm capable of bearing the burden of all future

evolution, which you now him to be& hese organs of man go with the rest of hisqualities as a perfect species and mae him a single integrated whole suitedeminently to our aspirations regarding the future of the >niverse&

=ou cannot change any part of this whole without damaging its integrityand robbing it of its latent capacity to continue the process of evolution till theend& hese organs of man are the best that could be possible consideringeverything& Whether they appear to you to be good or bad we have ordained thatthey must remain as they are& *nd we tell you, we have taen upon ourselves toprotect them as they are and you cannot change them, however much you mayendeavour to do so& *s a perfect species, the human race is, however, gifted with

an amount of intelligence which will enable them to attain to such a high stage ofintellectual and scientific advancement that they will invent instruments by whichthey will be able to add the usefulness of these organs and turn them to theirbest possible advantage under all circumstances, for the sae of their continuedevolution of the future&

Hery much similar is the case of the 8urist6ideologist who is not satisfied withthe eisting laws and institutions of Islam and wants to alter them with the help oflaws to be enforced by the .overnment& e argues lie this:7


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discovered and re8ected by a consensus of learned opinion among the;uslims within a short period of the emergence of Islam and that there isstill a difference of opinion among them about a few traditions only showshow een the ;uslims are to differentiate the true from the false in thehistorical material relating to the life of the %rophet& he followers of;uhammad (peace be upon him) have evolved a science and amethodology for testing the veracity of his tradition, which have no parallelin the history of other peoples&

(@) It is a part of the teachings of Islam: 666

(a) hat ;uhammad (peace be upon him) brings to a perfection theteachings of all the earlier prophets&

he FurCan says: 666

oday I have perfected for you your ideology and completed my favourto you and chosen for you Islam as an ideology& (@:#)

(b) hat ;ohammad (peace be upon him) is the -ast of the %rophets&here will be no %rophet after him& he FurCan says

;ohammad is not the father of any of your males but the apostle of*llah and the -ast of the %rophets& (##:?)&

he %rophet (peace be upon him) announced5

here will be no prophet after me&

(c) hat ;ohammad (peace be upon him) comes for the guidance of thewhole of the human race& he FurCan says: 666

*nd we have not sent thee but as a bearer of good news and as awarner to all manind& (#?:"G)&

(d) hat his ideology will prevail all other ideologies whether the opponents

of Islam may lie it or not& he FurCan says: 7hey want to etinguish the light of *llah with their mouths and *llah will

allow nothing save the perfection of is light though the followers of otherideologies be averse&

e it is who sent is ;essenger with guidance and the ideology of ruthso that e may cause it to prevail over all other ideologies though the followers ofwrong ideologies be averse&

(J:#",##)&

(e) hat his teachings will remain intact in theory as well as in practice forthe guidance of manind till the end of the world& he FurCan says: 666

4urely we have revealed the eminder and surely, we are its .uardian&(1@:J)&

he %rophet predicted that his community will split up into a number of 4ects butout of these sects there will always be one that will continue to be on the rightpath till the end of the world and it will be the sect that will follow him and hiscompanions strictly&

hose who will follow my creed and that of my companions&


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he sect which strictly follows the %rophet and his companions happens toconstitute the ma8ority of the ;uslim /ommunity& he ma8or part of the ;uslim/ommunity has never accepted any innovations or miss6interpretations of thetrue creed of Islam traceable by history and tradition to the %rophet and hiscompanions& 4uch innovations and miss6interpretations of Islam, some of whichhave now become separate isms, are caused by the miss6direction of some ofthe potentialities of the %erfect ideology owing to the influence of unfavourableideological environment& hey have always been ignored by the ma8ority of

;uslims as defections from true Islam and have always died their natural deathafter some time, thus meeting the fate of all biological or ideological deviationsfrom the main line of evolution, while true Islam has passed on intact through thecenturies to the succeeding generations of the community&

(f) hat his followers will be the leaders of manind& he Furan says:7

=ou are the best community raised up for the guidance of manind&=ou en8oin good and forbid evil and you believe in *llah& (#:1J)&

(g) hat the discovery of scientific facts relating to the eternal world (factsof %hysics and Biology) and to the human mind (facts of %sychology) willultimately prove the truth of the FurCan to the entire satisfaction of the non6

believers& hus the FurCan says: 666

We will soon show them our signs (i&e& the laws of nature woring) inthe eternal universe and in their own minds until it is quite clear to them that theFurCan is ruth&

4cientific facts relating to the two domains of eistence666 the domain of theinternal mind of man and the domain of the eternal universe7must beconsistent with each other& If the nature of man really demands a particularideology according to the laws of %sychology, the laws of %hysics and Biologycannot be irrelevant to that ideology& If an ideology is really i&e& if it is really anapplication of the idea of ruth to all aspects of natural human activity, it must be

true and therefore perfectly relevant to all the scientific facts belonging to thespheres of %hysics, Biology and %sychology which it may be possible for man todiscover and its relevance to these facts must be established more and moredefinitely with their accumulation& In other words, the ever increasing sum6total ofscientific facts that man may come to have at his disposal from time must provemore and more consistent with the %erfect ideology and less and less consistentwith every other ideology till there is a stage when all possible rational

8ustification is easily ascertained to lie on the side of the %erfect Ideology and tobe completely lost to every other ideology in the world& his stage can bereached by only one ideology in the world and not by two or more since there canbe only one ideology that can be true and hence perfectly relevant to all the

scientific facts& In the above verse the oly FurCan predicts that due course oftime this stage will be reached by Islam& It may be noted that this prediction ofFurCan is wonderfully consistent with the assertion quoted earlier that Islam is the%erfect and >ltimate Ideology of manind destined to dominate the world&

he question arises: When is Islam going to reach the stage predicted bythe oly Furan, when the discovery of scientific facts will establish its intellectual

8ustification sufficiently to convince the non6believers! ;y answer is that Islamhas already reached that stage and the intellectual 8ustification of Islam that will


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ultimately convince the world of its truth has already emerged and it is the%hilosophy of 4elf which was out lined by Iqbal and developed subsequently bysome of his followers& his philosophy which is on the one hand a scientificinterpretation of the nature of man and the >niverse and on the other hand ascientific interpretation of the fundamentals of Islam, is certain to be accepted bythe intellectual world sooner or later as the only philosophy of the >niverse that istrue&

I briefly eplain the reason&

he core of every philosophical system, which is really the starting point ofthe process of its formulation, is the philosopher ideal or intuition or vision of theeality of the >niverse& he philosopher attempts to show that all the nownfacts of eistence666and they can be either the facts of %hysics or Biology or%sychology7are relevant only to his view of eality of his ideal of human lifewhich may be either true and perfect or wrong and imperfect& When it is wrongand imperfect the facts of eistence cannot be relevant to it and the attempt thathe maes to show that they are so, does not succeed& is reasoning becomesfaulty and the philosophical system that he evolves becomes incoherent anddiscrepant& 4uch has been the case with every one of the philosophies of the

past because every one of them was based on an imperfect ideal or anincomplete intuition or vision of eality& he %hilosophy of 4elf is the firstsystematic modern philosophy that has come to be founded on the %erfect Ideal&Its central idea vi3&, that the urge for an ideal is the sole dynamic power of humanactivity, is perfectly relevant to all the scientific facts nown up to date& hesefacts have, therefore, found their place in it in a perfectly natural and nationalorder, thus giving it the coherence and the wholeness of a perfect philosophy,capable of inspiring its readers with the conviction that it is the only %hysico6Bio6%sychological eplanation of the universe that is possible and hence the only onethat is true& hus my conclusion that Islam is the ultimate ideology of maninddoes not depend only on the analogy between animal species and human

communities eplained above& Its validity is rationally tested and verified by the%hilosophy of 4elf&

he fact that the %hilosophy of 4elf has properly absorbed all scientific facts(real scientific facts) nown so far, is an indication that it has also capacity toabsorb all such facts that may be discovered by man in future& he reason is thata truth is always relevant to all other truths& It attracts them and they attract it& *lltruths belong to a single system, a single family& ence a %hilosophy in which afew truths have already found their proper place, is the only one in which all ofthem can find their proper place& he greater the number of scientific facts whichsuch a philosophy has absorbed, the greater will be its affinity as a whole forother scientific facts not yet discovered& It will not be possible to discover any

scientific facts which contradict such a philosophy& If it appears at any time thatsuch scientific facts have actually come to light, the scientists will have very goodreason to suspect the validity of their own conclusions and to revise theirresearch with a view to locate the error& 4uch a philosophy will be, therefore, byits nature, a guide to the scientists in their research&

his means that as scientific nowledge will accumulate the %hilosophy of4elf will gain in the clarity and force of its arguments and become more and moreconvincing till manind will be compelled by their own inner urge for Beauty and


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ruth to discard all other philosophies and to accept it as the only true philosophyof the nature of man and the >niverse&

If hitherto the philosophers of manind were not able to evolve a true orperfect philosophy, it was not their fault& It was not possible to evolve it earlier& Itcould not have come into eistence as long as the teachings of the %rophets hadnot brought our nowledge of the %erfect Ideal and the meaning it has for thevarious aspects of natural human activity to a stage of perfection& his wasachieved by man with the arrival of ;uhammad (peace be upon him), *gain itcould not have come into eistence even when manind had acquired therequisite amount of nowledge of the %erfect Ideal so long as the mass ofscientific nowledge at all levels of eistence had not accumulated sufficiently toindicate its relevance to the %erfect Ideal and to the %erfect Ideal alone& hishappened in the twentieth century when it became possible for man to maeimportant discoveries in the spheres of %hysics, Biology and %sychology whichdefinitely favored a spiritual interpretation of the >niverse& *n lqbal or aphilosophy of the 4elf would not have been possible in the nineteenth century orin the beginning of the advent of Islam& hat is why the emergence of aconvincing philosophy of Islam is mentioned in the oly FurCan as a prophesy tobe fulfilled in future&

It is now too well6nown in this age of great of intellectual advancement thatthe only sphere in which the nowledge of man has made no progresswhatsoever, so far, is that of his own nature and that the present crisis in worldaffairs is due mainly to the ignorance of man about himself& * scientificnowledge of human nature is thus the crying need of manind at present& he%hilosophy of 4elf fulfills this great need of hour&

he intellectual world will have to accept the philosophy of 94elf onaccount of its supreme intellectual 8ustification as well as on account of its direneed to manind at present& his philosophy is, therefore, an intellectual weaponin the hands of Islam before which all the other ideologies, with all their

armaments, will ultimately find themselves helpless& 'or armaments can destroynations and countries but cannot destroy the force of ideas the beauty and truthof which is able to conquer the hearts of men and women all over the world& hepotential contribution of Islam to World %eace is that it alone has the capacity tounify the human race finally and permanently by attracting them all to the Beautyand truth of its ideas&

Documents

The Potential Contribution of Islam To World Peace