Haidar Bagir
Harvard University, Universitas Indonesia
A. Introduction
In both academic circles and general perception, Islam had always garnered a reputation as an exoterically law-oriented religion demanding human obedience, even fear, to a dictatorial god instead of a traditional religion catering to the psychological and spiritual needs of human being based on a love relationship between god and his subjects. Even worse, Islam has been portrayed and represented as a religion of war and conquests as well as, especially in the last decade, a religion of terror, using violence to coerce political and military power over people. Indeed, there is a prevalent belief that Islam is a religion that equates success not in winning the hearts of people through fostering love and compassion between humans and between human beings and god but instead by enforcing law through authoritarian measures supposedly sanctioned by a monolithic and unquestionable sacred law (shari’ah). This has caused not only misunderstandings of this religion among experts and laymen alike but also shaped an attitude of suspicion and anger among many Muslims toward life and fellow humans. In other words, committed Muslims of this kind have the tendency to see the world as full of evils and evil people who need to be punished for their evil-doings and must be given hard-lessons to change for the better. Hence, an Islam with an iron fistfull of wrath and vengeance, an Islam that excludes a majority of human beings from its territory.
This religious outlook can be traced to a particular paradigm involving a way of understanding and experiencing the most fundamentals concepts such as the concept of God, His nature and His creative motif, the essence of prophethood, ‘the way’ and what constitutes the good life. That is the concept of god as full of wrath and vengeance, a god that creates hell and takes joy in throwing humans to it, an understanding of the prophet as a man of war and conquests against the infidels who constitutes most of the inhabitable world, an adoption of a totally exoteric (legal-formal) way to salvation devoid of spirituality as well as putting orthodoxy (correct dogma) over orthopraxy (correct practice or behavior, i.e. practicing noble character-traits and doing good deeds). Is this the true Islamic paradigm? Or, shall the followers of this religion take a paradigm shift and therefore promote an understanding of Islam as a religion that puts love, peace, forgiveness, and noble character-traits over everything else?
B. Religion of Mercy
The late Prof. Annemerie Schimmel in one of her lectures at Harvard University in 2002 made this remark : “Islam is usually treated rather badly or briefly because most historians of religion and most people in general think it’s a rather primitive religion with very little interest, but I think if you approach it from a different angle, it can yield highly interesting results. And the fact that put me on this track many, many years ago was when I was teaching in Ankara, at the Faculty of Islamic Theology. I was at great pain to explain to my students the theories of Rudolph Otto about the Numinous as the Mysterium Tremendum and the Mysterium Fascinans, when one of my students got up and said, “But this is very simple, we have had that in Islam for centuries and centuries. We have always spoken about God’s Jalal, his tremendous Majesty, and his Jamal, his fascinating Beauty.”
Indeed, in the Islamic tradition, Divine Qualities are divided into two groups: Jalal (tremendum, majesty) and Jamal (fascinans, beauty). These two unite in Him as Kamal or perfection. Majesty is rigorous and severe, conjoining the qualities of wrath, pride, harshness, and the like. Beauty on the other hand is the synthesis of mercy, generosity, compassion, and other such kind qualities. Jalal is the “masculine aspect” of God, the Overpowering – that makes humans obey and abide by “His” law — while Jamal is the feminine aspect, the Attractive – that makes humans fascinated and fall in love with “Her”. These Jalal and Jamal (Majesty and Beauty) qualities are also called the names of ‘Adl and Fadhl (Justice and Bounty) or Ghadab and Rahmah (Wrath and Mercy) or Qahr and Lutf (Severity and Gentleness).
Quoting a famous phenomenologist of religions, van der Leeuw, Schimmel further reveals the prevalent mistake made by the scholars and laymen alike in grouping Islam into the nomos / law-oriented religion almost naturally –together with Judaism, instead of grouping it into the eros / love-oriented religion together with Christianity as well as Indian (Hinduism/Buddhism) and Chinese (Taoism, etc.) religion. Ideally, all religions– Judaism included — would be understood as love oriented as long as one’s understanding is not limited to their exoteric aspects only.
In the aforementioned context, Islam – still according to Schimmel — is in its essence a religion of Mercy, of love – a single encompassing Love that manifests in God’s love for man, man’s love for God and man’s love for man and the entirety of creation. Love is indeed the universal basis, in omnibus, as well as the goal of Islam, like in all genuinely spiritual religions. This understanding of Islam has been mainly echoed by the mystics of Islam – the Sufis — from generation to generation. According to Ibn ‘Arabi: “No divine saying related through transmitters from Allah Most High contains anything indicative of Majesty without its being accompanied by something of Beauty to counter it. It is the same way in all revealed scriptures, and in everything.”
C. Allah The Merciful
When we open the Holy Qur’an, we find that each and every chapter in this Book begins – except in one chapter in which the same verse is presented within the body of the chapter – by a verse calling God Rahman and Rahim (generally translated in English as The Most Beneficent and The Most Merciful). But, the word Rahmah in Arabic, from which both these words are derived, has a very comprehensive connotation comprising love, mercy, blessing and many other cognate meanings. It is in this principle of Love the entire faith of Islam and its way of life are summed up, and it is not without a profound significance that a Muslim is taught to recite the same verse – “in the name of God, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful” – every time they begin a task. In the original Arabic, the expression uses the word “Allah” instead of just any word denoting God, which is actually His all-encompassing names (al-Ism al-Jami’) or His Greatest name (al-Ism al-A’zham) containing as well as the source of all of his Names. In other words, the fact that His Names consist groups of His Majestic and Beautiful Aspects notwithstanding, as a whole the concept of God in Islam represents Mercy, Beneficence and no others.
(A side note : the words Rahman and Rahim are formed from the same root r-h-m. Both signify compassion, but, while Rahim signifies a specific form of compassion i.e. (His compassion to the believers, Rahman signifies a general compassion, i.e. towards all creations, believers and unbelievers alike
Love is in fact the quintessential principle of God. He emphasizes in the Qur’an that:
“Surely my Lord is The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.” (11 :80).
In another place in the Qur’an, Allah is attributed with Wudd (love) and Ghufran (forgiveness) at the same time:
“And He is the Forgiving and the Loving” (Al-Quran 85:14).
While His Attribute as Rahim (merciful) and Wadud (loving) are mentioned together in this ayat :
“Ask pardon of your Lord and then turn unto Him (repentant). Lo! My Lord is Merciful, Loving.” (11:90)
Furthermore, in a Sacred Tradition (al-hadith al-qudsiy), God reveals unequivocally that “My Mercy dominates My Wrath”.
Of utmost importance is that all through the Qur’an Allah reveals Himself through the names that belong to the group of His Fascinating Beautiful Qualities (Jamal) in verses numbering five times as much as the number of verses in which He reveals Himself through His Tremendous Majestic Qualities (Jalal). In the same line, His Vengeful Quality appears only once in the Book, while the opposite quality – The Forgiving – recurs about one hundred times. Indeed, nothing in His creation escapes His mercy :
“My Mercy encompasses everything” (7:156)
The last verse categorically states that everything, including things that appears to be evils and sufferings, are actually manifestations of His mercy
It is true that, as stated by Ibn ‘Arabi quoted above, that the Divine principle of love and mercy does not nullify the fact that He is not devoid of wrath and justice. He is a coincidentia oppositorum, a coincidence of the opposites. Wrath and strict application of justice are undeniably part of His actions. However, based on the sacred tradition, the Qur’anic verse, and the dominance of the beautiful names over the majestic ones, we can safely conclude that these attributes of majesty are actually the manifestations of the same principles of love and mercy. It is His love and mercy towards human beings that compels Him to exert justice and enforce the law; as part of His Nurturing (Rububiyah) Quality. In the final analysis, even Hell is created as a manifestation of His Love: in reality, it is Heaven as experienced by those whose souls are sick; a twisted and painful version of a normally pleasurable and enjoyable place. In this context, chastisement in Hell should again be seen as a manifestation of His Love, ie. as a kind of means of repentance, a shiksa (lesson) to purify its inhabitants from the sickness in their soul. After all, the Arabic word “nar” (hell-fire) shares the same root-words with the word “nur” that means light (guidance)
D. Love as the Creative Motif
God created the universe in the first place out of His Love. According to a famous Sacred Tradition: “I was a Hidden Treasure. I loved to be known so that I created creations in order that I become known.”
In a parallel tradition, He said;
“I loved to be known as the Forgiving, The Concealer of Scandals, the most Beautiful. The Most Beneficent and The Most Merciful so that I created creations in order that I become known.”
This is how God describes the reason of creation of the universe. Love is the principle of creation, ab initio. And it is this love that drives every creature on earth to strive to (re)-unite with God by living a good life that would please Him.
Indeed, one of Allah’s names, one of His attributes, is Al Wajid. This word has several meanings. Apart from having the meaning of intense, existential love, the word also means to bring into existence. Reflecting upon this divine name, we can see that there is a very close relationship between love and creation, in parallel to the Sacred Tradition quoted before. Humans – and indeed the whole universe – are here because of His love.
E. Human-God Love Relationship
One of the words that the Qur’an uses to denote love is Wudd, which, in Arabic means highest form of love, and is mentioned in the Quran:
“Lo! Those who believe and do good works, the Beneficent will appoint for them love” (19:96).
Al-Wadud – the giver of Wudd (Love) – is one of the Beautiful Names of Allah, meaning a source of Love. He has endowed the human beings with an unlimited capacity to love. Hubb is another word used in the Qur’an that also means love, as stated in:
“… God will bring people whom He loves and who Love Him” (5: 54).
In His book Allah says:
“I have only created jinns and men, that they may worship me.” (51:50)
The word “to worship” is a translation from the Arabic “ya’budun”. According to one of the most authoritative interpreters of the Book among the Prophet’s companions, Ibn ‘Abbas, the word should be understood as “to know”. Now, when we juxtapose the verse, understood as such, with the sacred tradition quoted before, we can conclude that the word “to worship” in the verse should be understood as “to love”. After all, the word “to worship” in Arabic (ya’budu) can also mean “to adore”.
F. The Prophet of Love
In the Prophetic Tradition, love is frequently mentioned as the foundation of Prophet’s Muhammad’s personality and teachings. “Love is my foundation,” said the Prophet. In another Prophetic tradition it is said that “Religion is Love and Love is Religion”. Even more so, a tradition has emphasized this quintessential nature of Islam through putting a rhetorical question: “What is religion except Love?” In a verse in the Quran, God attributes love and compassion as the main character traits of Muhammad, his messenger. God says of him as someone “soft hearted”, “not rude and hard-hearted” (3:159), “very concerned towards people and would always hope for he their best, and to the believers he is giving and merciful” (9:138). This is certainly has everything to do with the role and mission that God had assigned to him as a prophet, that is to spread mercy to the entire universe. This is only parallel with what God ordained to Moses and Harun to speak a gentle speech to the tyrant Pharaoh (20:24). If there is anything at all that can give the impression of harshness in the personality of the Prophet, it must be understood exactly as we are supposed to understand God’s Wrath as described above. The harshness which is attributed to the Prophet has to be put in the context of his intrinsic God-like love, i.e. a measure of educating people so that they are purified from evils as to live a good life for the sake of attaining the ultimate happiness in this world and the one after.
G. To be Religious is to be Compassionate
Unfortunately, as stated in the introduction of this short article, the understanding of some of the masses within and without the Islamic faith, would be fixated towards the exoteric or legal-formal aspect of religion, to the Majestic aspect of God as well as the legal-formalistic role of the Prophet.
What we need to do is to refresh our understanding of this religion as not just legal matters, but principally a matter of nurturing love within ourselves: love towards everything, toward all members of this universe without exception. Indeed, Muslims are taught to “inculcate within yourselves the traits of God” (takhallaqu bi akhlaq Allah)”. God, above everything, is the Most Loving, The Most Merciful and The Most Beneficent towards His creations. Therefore, we have to be loving and compassionate towards our fellow creations. Moreover, Muslims are taught to follow the example of the loving and compassionate Prophet, about whom God says is “the best example” (33:21) owing to the fact that he “indeed possesses a lofty character”. And this Prophet, in turn, has taught his followers that the love of God can only be achieved through the love towards fellow humans:
“If you love what is on earth, you will be loved by Who Is in Heaven.”
This is the true meaning of Islam as a mercy to the universe (rahmatan lil ‘alamin) that the followers of this religion have to understand and embrace.
Postscript
Another thing that would immediately cross the mind of anyone who reads this piece would be the question as to why Islam, i.e. the Qur’an, justifies war and the use of violence. Is it not in itself a violation of the supposedly love-orientation of Islam? This question implies that war and the use of violence are things that are bad in themselves. In reality, humanity accepts war and violence – certainly the legitimate ones — as measures necessary taken in a pressing situation. They are justified only as a defense against oppression and transgression of human rights and as a force to halt any wrongdoing that could not be resolved through peaceful means. This exactly is the reason why Islam sanctions war and the use of violence. Moreover, in Islam, war and violence is legitimate only as long as the transgression and the wrongdoing remain. As soon as a peaceful venue is made available, the justification immediately ceases to exist. War and violence, however legitimate, are a last resort. That is, when all peaceful means have been explored and exhausted. And as soon as the oppressive or the transgressor, forcefully or voluntarily, agrees to resolve the conflict through peaceful means, one has to return to the principle of Love, Mercy, and Peace. This is what the Qur’an teaches:
“ … if two groups fall into fighting, make peace between them; but then, if one of the two goes on acting wrongfully towards the other, fight against the one that acts wrongfully until it reverts to God’s commandment( i.e. to maintain peace between people); and if they revert, make peace between them with justice, and deal equitably between them; for verily, God loves those who act equitably.” (49 :9)