The Evolution of a Universal Religion
The other pertinent question concerns the methods and techniques of deriving this new conception of Islam from the original sources and its relationship to the prevailing traditional conception of Islam. This raises a number of related questions, such as where is this conception derived from, and why was it not applied before? How do the same basic sources contain so different and mutually inconsistent conceptions of Islam? Assuming that there are two levels or conceptions of Islam, how do we know that the time for applying the second level has arrived?
These and many other questions may arise in the mind of the reader upon considering the main features of the new conception of Islam outlined above. It may not be possible to answer all of these questions to the satisfaction of the reader in this short booklet. We shall attempt, however, to answer some of them, and hope that by so doing, we would have stimulated sufficient interest in the mind of the reader to follow up these matters in oral discussions with the Republican Brothers, or by consulting our other publications.
Islam is not just the holy message revealed to the Prophet Mohamed Salla Allaho Alaihi Wa Salam, as is generally believed. It is, in fact, the totality of holy revelations, since the time of the Prophet Adam, Alaihi al-Salam, and up to the Prophet Mohamed, including Saydna Musa (Moses) and Saydna Esau (Jesus), ….. They have all come to guide man to his total and ultimate salvation through submission to Allah. The word Islam itself, means submission. It is not, however, blind and unknowing submission, because that has always been the case. It is rather intelligent and voluntary submission out of trust and reassurance, arrived at through rational thinking guided by purposeful and effective worship.
The final three heavenly monotheistic messages, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are the culmination of religion. In fact, they are the same religion expressed in three dimensions. While Judaism reflects the most materialistic aspect of religion, Christianity reflects the most spiritual, and Islam combines the two in a single religious experience which any person can achieve. This does not reflect poorly on either of these other two religions; they are all Allah’s purpose and revelation. It is just that man has always evolved with both material and spiritual qualities. His development reflected one type of qualities or the other at any given time. It goes without saying, however, that the best thing is to combine both types of qualities in the same human being at the same time.
This conception of the two extremes of the material and spiritual aspects of religion as combined in one intermediate state is what we call the Islamic Trinity. In the same way that humanity has been to one extreme with Judaism, and then to the other extreme with Christianity, before balancing off in the middle with Islam, the human individual may now experience both extremes before achieving his maturity and fulfilling his potential by combining both types of qualities through a single religious experience.
This ultimate religious experience, the coronation of all human endeavors in religion is Islam according to the conception outlined in this booklet. This is, in fact, Islam. Some aspects of the traditional conception reflect merely a necessary preparatory and transitional stage through which man had to pass in order to qualify for undergoing the following stage, which represents the ultimate in religion.
So far from being the whole of Islam, what is currently known as Sharia Islamiah is only a transitional stage. It is a level of Islamic law, based upon certain specific texts or Iyat, and intended to serve the needs of certain stage in the development of the Moslem society.
To say that some aspects of what is popularly known as Sharia Islamiah reflect a merely traditional, now outdated, stage is not in any way derogatory of that conception of Islam. In fact, it was so perfectly appropriate to the time and place to which it applied, that there was no alternative to it. The detailed rules were determined by the needs and abilities of the people addressed in the seventh century, and these were indeed simple needs and limited abilities. Moreover, and in the best tradition of sound, educational theory, traditional Sharia drew its bottom line of legal obligation in accordance with the needs and abilities of the relevant society, while opening the way to unlimited development in the realm of moral aspiration.
Even in taking into account the needs and abilities of the relevant society, Sharia did not completely accept the status quo. It recognized some aspects of the prevailing customs and uplifted and guided them towards higher human values. Islamic laws as set by Sharia in the seven century was thus much superior to the prevailing customs, while the moral aspiration of Moslems were by far more superior to their legal obligations.
To take the example of the position of women, the society which traditional Sharia purported to govern, used to bury infant girls alive either out of fear of disgrace, should they be kidnapped and enslaved by the enemy, or out of the fear of starvation since they were consuming but unproductive members of a poor and primitive society which had to survive in a harsh and hostile environment. Thus, far from enjoying equal rights with men, women lacked the most basic and elementary of all rights, namely the right to live. For those women who survived, they were treated as mere cattle, with no objective in life except to serve and please men. A man was entitled to marry and enslave an unlimited number of women.
Addressing itself to this appalling state of affairs, Sharia could not have uplifted women to the degree of equating them with men. That would have been extremely unwise because not only were the men unprepared to accept it, but the women were also unworthy of the promotion. That is not to say that women are inherently inferior, for we maintain that they are now the equals of men, but it is certainly true that women of that age were inferior to their men because they lacked the intelligence and strength of character gained from the experiences of life.
What Sharia did was to improve the lot of women to a great extent and thereby set in motion the process of education and social development so that the time would come when women would be equals of men. Thus, their legal status was drastically changed and they were treated as human beings for the first time, with their life and property secured on the same basis as men, while other aspects of their status were also improved. Most importantly, the educational and psychological process culminating into social equality was initiated.
Similar analysis can easily be applied in other fields such as politics and economics. Democracy and socialism were both impossible, and would have been unwise to implement. Thus the legal order of Sharia introduced an advanced and refined autocratic and principled regime. It also laid democratic goal which were immediately practiced by the Prophet Mohamed Salla Allaho Alaihi Wa Salam, as a matter of individual obligation, while attempted by only a few other Moslems of the day, as a matter of moral aspiration.
The difference between the holy Prophet and his followers, the Umma is due to the vastly superior mental and spiritual qualities of the Prophet acquired through divine selection and promotion as well as rigorous self discipline and worship. Nevertheless, the Prophet Salla Allaho Alaihi Wa Salam, is our example. We are supposed to live up to the standards set by him as much as possible.
Now here comes the question of the two levels of Islam. These are the level attained by the Prophet personally as opposed to that lived by his Umma or followers. The latter is that traditional Sharia Islamiah, while the former is that of the new conception prepared by the Republican Brothers. In other words, we propose to establish the Prophet’s personal standard, which was previously only in the realm of moral aspiration, to establish it as our legal framework. Thus, the level of legal obligation will increase, without exhausting the full potential of the Prophet’s example. The ultimate in following the example of the Prophet shall still remain in the realm of moral aspiration. But more of that example shall constitute legal obligation than it did previously.
Without going into much detail, the process of derivation may be explained as follows: The Koran contains two distinct levels of percepts and commands, one level being superior to the other. Both levels were included for a number of reasons. One was that the Koran is the final revelation and it should, therefore, contain the totality of the Heavenly message to man. Secondly, it was intended to demonstrate, by actual example, that although man was not then ready for the ultimate religious experience, he shall one day be worthy of that experience. It was also proposed to educate man and promote him gradually in order to prepare him for the more advanced level of Islam. Thus, although this legal obligation was raised, his moral aspiration was raised even higher.
Through this process of legal and moral promotion and development, the scene was set for implementation of the higher conception of Islam. This higher conception was there all the time, though in a dormant status. Sharia rules were based on the lower level of texts or Iyat, while the higher level texts or Iyat were postponed or suspended as a matter of legal obligation, though they acted as educational and moral guide lines.
We maintained that man has now reached such a degree of development that he is now ready to receive the higher or more advanced conception of Islam. The present degree of human development is a result of all previous human and religions endeavor, including the Sharia Islamiah. So, the preparatory stage has fulfilled its purpose. Now we shall legislate in accordance with the higher level, because we are now capable of implementing it. Democracy, socialism and social equality are now possible to achieve.
