The Star now has a column by Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia (IKIM). This one takes a shot at reason, and claims the superiority of divine guidance.
THE secularist believes that the quest for moral truths is the pride of reason: it is the judging of all — whether good or evil, right or wrong — in terms of deduction alone.
On the contrary, the Muslim believes in guidance (hidayah) as the foundation stone of all good, which one must be willing to accept in humility to God.
When Pharaoh asked parochially “Who is your Lord, Moses?” prophet Moses gave a rather universal answer, “Our Lord is He who gives to each created thing its form and nature, and further, gives it guidance” (Ta Ha, 20:50).
When the Prophet Muhammad states that “no one will enter Paradise without God’s mercy”, he refers to mercy there as guidance.
Through guidance, God enables man to distinguish between good and evil. It is also through divine guidance that man is given the ability to rise by degrees to the acquisition of the highest knowledge, or to increase his stock of good work, or both.
Guidance serves as the light which emanates from the world of prophecy and spiritual pre-eminence (wilayah), whereby man has access to realities which reason alone cannot discover by itself.
The Prophet and his believers thus pray to be permanently guided: “Our Lord, perfect for us our light” (al-Tahrim, 66: 8).
The second fundamental divine virtue next to guidance is perseverance (rushd).
Al-Ghazzali’s Mizan al-‘Amal likens perseverance to “that divine providence which assists man in turning towards his chosen goals, by strengthening his resolve to do what conduces to his righteousness, and deters him from what conduces to his destruction”.
Perseverance in the right way or the way of truth is the continuance in that state of grace.
It must be accompanied by that self-restraining firmness of attitude toward disbelief, transgression and disobedience, as pointed out in Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’s A Commentary on the Hujjat al-Siddiq.
Contraries of perseverance are called al-kufr, al-fusuq and al-‘isyan, respectively (al-Hujurat, 49:7).
Thirdly, one is also in need of right direction (tasdid), which consists of God’s directing of one’s will and movement towards the desired goal, so as to attain it in the shortest time possible.
One’s need of God, hence, is not limited to His exhortation and advice (rushd) towards the right way, but also involves His active assistance and reinforcement (tasdid).
Last but not least, man needs God’s support (ta’yid), which is His act of empowering man, by granting him inner insight and outer physical capacity, to carry out the designs of his will.
Man is incapable of any good without keen understanding, close attention, a sagacious heart, a concerned teacher, adequate wealth and devoted family guarding him from aggression – all of which are gifts conferred on him by Allah.
As regards the religious virtues, they are classified into two kinds: the external and the internal, called zahir and batin, respectively.
The external religious virtues pertain not only to the fulfilment of the divine commandments but also to one meeting the requirements of Islamic custom or habit.
Examples of the fulfilment of the divine commandments are acts of worship directed solely towards Allah as well as practices directed toward fellow men for the continued well-being of socio-political order.
It inevitably refers to the performance of the five essentials of Islam, including ritual purity, recitation of the Quran, remembrance of God and invocation.
Fulfilment of the requirements of Islamic custom or habit, on the other hand, comprises religious etiquette regarding food, clothing, personal cleanliness, marriage, business transactions, and things allowed and things forbidden.
Likewise are rules of neighbourliness, companionship, travel, observance of the model actions and sayings of the Prophet, and obligations of brotherhood in Islam.
The internal virtues, in turn, refer to the activities of the heart. Such activities are grounded in one’s knowledge of Allah and of the self – knowledge which is derived from both reason and revelation.
Such activities also require a positive disposition in the self which induces good intention (niyyah), followed then by action (‘amal) that is performed with sincerity of purpose (ikhlas) and truthfulness to oneself (sidq).
Knowledge of the self leads to knowledge of its good and bad qualities, leading then to the assigning of duties to oneself to overcome the bad qualities such that the soul becomes purified of impurities.
Knowledge of the self also implies self-examination. Called muhasabah, it is one observing whether the carrying out of the stated duties has been executed in the proper way, and one correcting any deviation from what is proper.
The knowledge of God means the knowledge of who He is – of His nature and oneness as He has described Himself in the Quran – leading to one’s comprehension of the proper relationship between one’s self and God.
In fact, God’s creation and man’s self are both signs indicating His reality and truth.
Therefore, contemplation and reflection of His works and of the nature of man and the psychology of his soul are prerequisites to the attainment of such knowledge.
All this involves meditation (tafakkur), and brings about the gradual realisation in the self of other virtues of a higher order, examples of which are repentance (tawbah), patience (sabr), gratitude (shukr), hope (raja’), fear (khawf), unification of God (tawhid), trust (tawakkul) and love of God (mahabbah).
Love of Allah is indeed the highest virtue in the context of the attainment of a good life or happiness in the worldly life.
Both the external and internal virtues, however, overlap one another.
It is therefore impossible that there be virtuous activities which involve only one kind of religious virtue to the exclusion of the other kinds.
In fact, their being so categorised is only to distinguish the inward activities that characterise the internal virtues from the outward virtues of the body – the internal ones emphasising the inner meaning and dimensions, and the external ones, the outward practice.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Unscientific Malaysia.
