The Quran teaches us not to be extremist in our religion. Its exact words are: ‘People of the Book! Do not go to extremes in your religion.’ (4: 171)
We also learn from a saying of Prophet Muhammad that extremist tendencies have always been the chief reason for religious groups going astray. That is why the Prophet once observed:
‘’Sedulously refrain from extremism, for previous communities were destroyed only because of their extremist tendencies in religious matters”.
Although there are many actions which in form appear to be morally acceptable, it is to the spirit of these acts rather than their external form that Islam attaches real importance.
Ghulu, meaning extremism, is engendered in a religious community when it goes into a state of decline, and this, in fact, is a sign of its degeneration. There is a tradition of Prophet Muhammad which forewarns his followers of the rot that has set in. He said that all those evils which had arisen in previous communities would also arise in his own community on a greater scale. To make his meaning clear, he said:
“Where previous communities were divided into 72 sects Muslims will be divided into 73 sects.”
There are innumerable cases of ideological extremism in Islamic history. But we also find among Muslims another kind of extremism which probably never existed in previous communities. When the Prophet said that while the previous communities were divided into seventy-two sects and the Muslims would be divided into seventy-three sects, he was giving an example of this other kind of ghulu (extremism) which can be described as political extremism. No previous community had ever been crowned by such political glory as was enjoyed by the Muslims for almost a thousand years after the emergence of Islam. Political glory was not, however, a part of the Islamic creed, but a part of history. But Muslims stressed this fact of political glory to such an extent that, for all intents and purposes, it became incorporated in their religious creed. The result of this political extremism is the violent jihad we experience in the Muslim world of today.
Ultimately, extremist concepts such as ‘Muslims are God’s vicegerents on earth and, as such, they have their right to rule over other communities’, were developed. Religion came to be regarded as synonymous with a complete state and a religion of this nature could not be fully observed unless it was established as the basis and framework of the state. Those promoting these ideologies and politicising Islam believed that Muslims were a superior community with the right to treat other communities as inferior. As a result to this day, Muslims find it difficult to tolerate any sort of dominance. They believe that their religious obligations can never be fully discharged just by performing prayers and observing fasting. They imagine that it is incumbent upon them to strive to establish divine rule on earth.
People will remain ignorant of the true spirit of Islam so long as they are conversant only with its forms and attach importance only to the externals.
A set of beliefs such as these has nothing to do with the religion as revealed by God. It is nothing but a case of political extremism. But present day Muslims are largely under the influence of this extremist way of thinking— some consciously and others unconsciously.
Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, achieved considerable political success while he was still alive, and this was built on rapidly by his successors, the Caliphs. Unfortunately along with success comes the opportunity to abuse it. That is why, according to the Hadith, the Muslims were divided in terms of ideological extremism, into seventytwo sects, while the seventy-third sect was concerned with political extremism. Of course, the evil of ideological extremism is found as much in Muslim as in other communities, but it is the former’s bent of political extremism that has aggravated the issue further.
Congregations led by earlier prophets did not achieve political success during their prophets’ lifetimes. Their prophets only left them an ideological legacy. That is why we find political extremism absent in them. At the most, they can indulge only in ideological extremism.
According to the Quran (22: 78) and the Hadith, the greatest duty of the Muslim community is to spread the divine message of Islam peacefully among other nations. But because of their extremist political approach, present-day Muslims have abandoned this missionary duty. The most dangerous aspect of their forsaking this duty is their labelling of nonmissionary activities as missionary work. For instance, debates, political protests, Muslim-reform activities, community work, are all termed missionary work by today’s Muslims.
The most urgent task today is to inculcate this consciousness of the divine mission and to set up an educational system on the principles of this mission. Muslims should be raised as a missionary group or witnesses (22: 78)—as it is called in the Quran—and should be prevented from indulging in non-missionary activities. Without taking such a step, missionary work cannot be effectively performed.
The Quran (5: 67) tells us that the secret of protection from others’ plots lies in the performance of dawah (communication of the message of God). That is, if Muslims engage in dawah work, their lives, properties and wealth will be protected by God. In short, the communication of the religious message is the responsibility of Muslims, while the protection of their worldly interests rests with God.
Ghulu, or extremism, is invariably relevant to externals and not to internal realities.
According to a famous tradition, ‘our actions are judged by our intentions’. Intention here is the equivalent of what is generally called spirit. This means that although there are many actions which in form appear to be morally acceptable, it is to the spirit of these acts rather than their external form that Islam attaches real importance.
From a Hadith we learn that Prophet Muhammad, speaking of the Muslims of the future predicted that only the external form of Islamic actions would survive. That is to say, the actions of the Muslims of the future would be lacking in internal spirit and only the outer form of their religious observances would persist. People will remain ignorant of the true spirit of Islam so long as they are conversant only with its forms and attach importance only to the externals.
It is easy to understand how extremism or ghulu, stems from this flawed perception. In the early days of Islam, the spirit was alive, and was accorded full attention. But when degeneration set in amongst the later generations, external rituals began to be given more importance. This is a frequent occurrence.
This can be explained better with an example from the world of business. The phrase ‘customer friendly behaviour’ is often used in business jargon. It means if a businessman is to be successful, he must appear to be friendly to his customers. Now let us compare this with behaviour in the family. You will not hear any parents say that their behaviour towards their children is ‘child friendly’. The reason for this difference is that the spirit of love for their children wells up naturally in parents, and so they do not need to talk about it nor make a display of it.
The case of a businessman is totally different. A businessman has no love or compassion for his customers. It is solely the desire for commercial gain that inspires him to make a display of these qualities. It is human nature that wherever the internal spirit is alive, no importance will be attached to the externals, while in the absence of spirit, maximum attention will be paid to formal etiquette.
The greatest duty of the Muslim community is to spread the divine message of Islam peacefully among other nations.
When we look at the Muslims of today we find that the prediction of the Prophet has come true. One kind of ghulu that has developed among Muslims is the one pertaining to ideology, for instance, the concept of spiritual leaders being intermediaries between God and man, and the concept of sacredness of graves.
Today violent activities are going on in the name of jihad all over the world. There are some who are directly involved, while others justify these acts in their speeches and writings. A third group consists of those who are silent. But according to the Shariah principle, they too are involved, for silence is not enough; it is their duty to publicly condemn such un-Islamic acts.
This political ghulu is the greatest weakness of Muslims; it has overridden all the human qualities that qualify a community for a position of honour and glory—qualities such as benevolence, universality of approach (that is looking at all human beings as God’s family), positive thinking, keeping abreast of changing times, realistic thinking, acknowledgement of others, fostering the dawah spirit, giving importance to the value of peace and objective thinking.
The greatest harm done by political extremism is that it deters Muslims from emerging from the shell of the past. This is the cause of their failure to understand the present. In the past, war was something which decided the fate of communities. But in modern times, peaceful resources have become much more powerful. Yet, Muslims seem to be unaware of these resources. In the past, economy was based on agriculture. Now it is based on industry. Electronic communications just did not exist in the past, whereas today, communications have become one of the greatest strengths of mankind. But Muslims are blissfully unaware of all these developments. That is why they have not been able to take advantage of the blessings of the modern age. Moreover in the past, all resources were in the hands of the king, but today is the age of institutions. It has become possible in modern times for any community which so desires to build up a parallel empire by establishing institutions.
The communication of the religious message is the responsibility of Muslims, while the protection of their worldly interests rests with God.
The violent jihad, prevalent in modern times, dates back to 1799. There has been a 200-year-long jihad without any positive result, and with no real movement directed as yet at reassessment of values, aims or objectives. The reason lies in the Muslims’ lack of awareness. Today, the greatest task is to remedy this shortcoming, without which there is no possibility of any positive change.
About seventy years ago, a book was published titled Our Decline: Its Causes and Remedies. The author concluded that the reason for Muslim backwardness lay in abandoning jihad. He quoted an Arabic couplet in support:
“I refrained from taking part in war, so that I might live. But I did not find in it life. Life was for those who went ahead and waged the war.”
This point has been made repeatedly by Muslim leaders over the last two centuries. The result has been that this militant ideology has spread among Muslims all over the world. The Jihadi model has become the sole inspiration for action. But when we take stock of the outcome, we find that this has proved to be counter-productive. In such a situation, it would be more appropriate to modify the couplet and say:
“I adopted the path of war for life and survival, but finally I learnt that life and survival are only for those who abandon the militant course of action.”
