A Study in the Philosophy of Islamic Rites

Subjectivity of Purpose and Self-denial

In each stage of the human civilization, and in each period of man's life, people face numerous interests whose achievement requires a quantitative action to some degree. No matter how diversified the qualities of these interests are or the manner of brining them to life from one age to another is, they can still be divided into two sorts of interests:

One: interests whose materialistic gains and outcomes go to the individual himself, on whose work and endeavour depends the achievement of that interest;

Two: interests whose gain go to those other than the direct worker or group he belongs to. In this second kind are included all sorts of labour which aim at an even bigger goal than the existence of the worker himself, for every big goal cannot be usually achieved except through the collective efforts and endeavours of a long period of time.

The first sort of interests guarantees the inner motive of the individual: its availability and effort to secure it, for as long as the worker is the one who reaps the fruits of the interest and directly enjoys it, it is natural to find in him the effort to secure it and the work for its sake.

As for the second kind of interests, here the motive to secure these interests is not sufficient, for the interests here are not only the active worker's; and often his share of labour and hardship is greater than that of his share of the huge interest. From here, man needs an upbringing of subjectivity of purpose and self-denial in motive, i.e., that he must work for the sake of others, the group.

In other words, he has to work for a purpose greater than his own existence and personal materialistic interest. Such an upbringing is necessary for the man of the electricity and atom age as it equally is for the man who used to fight with the sword and travel on camel-back. They both confront the worries of construction and of the great aims and situations which demand self-denial and working for the sake of others, sowing the seeds whose fruits may not be seen by the person who sowed them.

It is necessary, then, to raise every individual to perform a portion of this labour and effort not merely for his own self and his personal materialistic interests, so that he will be capable of contributing with self-denial, of aiming at a purely "objective" goal.

Rites perform a large role in this upbringing. These, as we have already seen, are acts of man performed for the sake of achieving the pleasure of Almighty God. Therefore, they are invalid if the worshipper performs them just for his own personal interest. They are improper if the purpose behind them is a personal glory, public applause, or a dedication for his own ego, within his circle and environment. In fact, they even become unlawful acts deserving the punishment of the worshipper himself! All this is for the sake of the worshipper who tries, through his worship, an objective purpose, with all what this implies of truthfulness, sincerity and he will totally dedicate his worship to Almighty God alone.

God's Path is purely one of the service of all humanity. Each act performed for the sake of God is but an act for the sake of God's servants, for God is totally sufficient, independent of His servants. Since the True Absolute God is above any limit, specification, not related to any group or biased to any particular direction, His Path, then, practically equates that of ALL mankind's. To work for God, and for God alone, is to work for people, for the good of all the people. It is a psychological and spiritual training that never ceases to function.

Whenever the jurisdic path of God is mentioned, it can be taken to mean exactly all mankind's path. Islam has made God's Path one of the avenues to spend Zakat, meaning thereby: to spend for all humanity's good and benefit. It also urged to fight for the Cause of God in defense of all the weak among humans, calling it Jihad, i.e., "fighting for the Path of God;"

Those who believe (in God) fight in the cause of God, and those who reject Faith fight in the cause of Evil: so fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan. (Quran, IV: 76)

Besides, if we come to know that worship demands different types of endeavour, as it sometimes imposes on man only some physical exertion, as in prayer; and sometimes psychological, as in fasting; and other times financial, as in Zakat; and yet a fourth one an exertion on the level of self-sacrifice or danger, as in Jihad. If we come to know all this, we will be able to figure the depth and capacity of the spiritual and psychological training practiced by man through different rites for the objective purpose, for giving and contributing, for working for a higher goal in all different fields of human endeavour.

On this basis can you find the vast difference between a person who grew up on making endeavours to please God, brought up to labour without waiting for a compensation on the working grounds. and that who grew up always measuring a work according to the extent he can achieve of his own personal interest, basing it on the gain he gets from it, not comprehending-out of this measuring and estimating-except the language of figures and market prices. A person like this one can be none other than a merchant in his own social practices, regardless of their field or type.

Considering upbringing on the objective purpose. Islam has always tied the value of a work to its own impulses, separating them from its results. The value of an act in Islam is not in what results and gains it brings forth to the worker or to all people; rather it is the motives behind it, their purity, objectivity and self-denial. For example, the person who reaches the discovery of a medicine for a dangerous disease, thereby saving the lives of millions of patients. God does not evaluate his discovery according to the size of its results and the number of those patients it saves from death; rather He estimates it according to the feelings and desires which formulate within the discoverer the motive to make an effort to make that discovery. If he did not make his effort except to get a privilege that enables him to sell it and gain millions of dollars.

This deed of his is not considered by God to be equal except to any other purely commercial deed, for the egoistic logic of the self-centered motives, just as they push him to discover a medicine for a chronic disease, may as well push him in the same degree to discover means of destruction if he finds a market that buys them. A deed is considered commendable and virtuous if the motives behind it go beyond the ego: if it is for the sake of God and the servants of God. According to the degrees of self denial and the participation of God's servant in its making, a deed is elevated and highly evaluated.