Tajdeed

To summarise the purpose of religion and Divine law (Shari’a) is the “improvement (salah) on earth, happiness (falah) in the afterlife” (Mehmet Erdogan).

Divine law establishes the needs of the fitrah (the innate disposition) of the creation of God (the human being). The Divine law (Shari’a) is considerate, coherent, detailed, dynamic and it is satisfactory due to bestowing guidance when the human being is lost in confusion and darkness.

To quote al-Shatibi, Divine religion aims to make human nature achieve glory by moving “from compulsory servitude to voluntary servitude”.

One of the biggest calamities that fell upon the Ummah was the negligence of the noble God-given blessings of reason, consciousness, morality and values. Instead we embraced a dry, dull, black and white law system that killed our humanness. If reason, consciousness and mercy are hindered, then humanity is destroyed.

If the means (rituals) are prioritised over the ends (loving God and his creation), then we have truly lost. Thus, lying, cheating, deceiving, stealing are not evil anymore, they are merely forbidden (haram) arbitrarily, so does it even matter anymore?

The aim of religion is to heighten all the noble faculties of the human being, such as intelligence, mercy, wisdom, justice, fairness, morality and consciousness. Therefore, we fulfil the Divine commandments not out of fear, nor is it to acquire the lesser temporary animalistic benefits of the world, nor are the commandments there to arbitrarily obey God for the sake of obeying, as if God requires us to obey him.

Imam Ali said: “Verily, certain people worshipped Allah being desirous (Of His reward) – and this is the worship of merchants; and some people worshipped Allah fearing (His punishment) – and this is the worship of slaves, and a group of people worshipped Allah in gratitude (to Him) so this is the worship of the free. (NahjuI-balagha).

We obey God because it is the best and most right thing to do and the best way to fulfil the objective is via the revealed Divine law. The objective is to bond with and get closer to the Ultimate Truth, the Causer of all realities, the bringer of all good.

This world is a test and this test is a war between the choices of good and evil, right and wrong, benefit and harm.

The human being is a very strange, yet a very unique creature. It is a being who possesses noble qualities such as love, mercy, altruism and honour, but due to its animalistic desire, these noble qualities are covered by hatred, envy and pride.

It is the will of God and the aim of Divine law (Shari’a) to lessen this evil (harm) and establish virtue and goodness (benefit) despite all the struggle and difficulty. In fact, it is the struggle that gives weight to the virtues.

In this world, the human being is thus obliged to know the One God and fulfil his ultimate will, decree and commandments to get better himself and thus get closer to the ultimate aim which is proximity to God Almighty. Once this is achieved, the human fulfils the aim of creation and becomes a greater and a truer version of himself. This version is a rank that openly manifests the beautiful and blessed names such as mercy, love, power, justice etc.

By obeying the Divine commandments, we as humans move further away from the harmful, animalistic side we possess and instead, we become closer to the Most-Beneficent (God). When this happens, humans prefer to benefit from the higher blessings (pleasures) of life such as love of God. Is there a better way to live in this world then displaying the great qualities? This is exactly what the Shari’a facilitates and when this is achieved successfully in this world, the individual will earn the continuous, unending higher benefits of the eternal Hereafter.

Therefore, the reminder is that the Divine legislation brings the most benefit for humanity. It is evident that the success of this world is necessary to attain the ultimate success of the Hereafter. So, do not neglect the obligations of this world and instead struggle for the sake of God until you reach him fully embracing the Divine will and law on Earth.

By Abul Hasan al-Gabikani al-Shadi al-Shaddadi al-Hadhabani -al-Kurdi