A Study in the Philosophy of Islamic Rites

General Outlook At Rites

If we cast a general look at the rites we have observed in this book, comparing them with each other, we can then derive some general outlooks at these rites. Here are some of these general outlooks. The Unseen In Explaining Rites We came to know previously the important role worship plays in man's life and that it expresses a fixed need in his civilized march.

From another aspect: if we scrutinize and analyze the particulars, in the light of advanced science, to be acquainted with the pieces of wisdom and secrets which Islamic jurisprudence expresses in this regard and which modern science has been able to discover.

This wonderful agreement between the outcomes of modern science and many particulars of Islamic jurisprudence, and whatever rules and regulations it decided, expresses a dazzling support for the position of this jurisprudence, deeply emphasizing its being God-inspired. In spite of all this, however, we quite often face unseen points in worship, i.e., a group of details whose secret cannot be comprehended by the person practicing worship, nor can he interpret them materialistically; for why must sunset prayer be three prostrations while the noon-time prayer more than that? And why should each rekaa include bowing down once instead of twice, two prostrations instead of one? Other questions of this sort can also be put forth.

We call such as aspect of worship which cannot be interpreted, "unseen." We find this aspect, in one manner or another, in most rites brought forth by the Islamic jurisprudence. From here, we can consider obscurity in the meaning we have already mentioned as a general phenomenon in rites and one of their common characteristics .

This obscurity is linked to the rites and to their imposed role jointly, for the role of rites, as we have already come to know, is to emphasize the attachment to the Absolute and deepen that practically. The bigger the element of submission and yielding in a worship is, the stronger its effect in deepening the link between the worshipper and his Lord.

If the deed practiced by the worshipper is understood at all its dimensions, clear in its wisdom and benefit in all details, the element of submission and yielding gets minimized, and it will be dominated by motives of interest and benefit, no more a worship of God as much as it is a deed of benefit practiced by the worshipper so that he might derive advantage out of it, benefiting of its results.

Just as the spirit of obedience and attachment in the soldier grows, getting deepened through military training, by giving him orders and requiring him to perform them with obedience and without discussion, so does the feeling of the worshipping person grow and get deepened in its attachment to his Lord through requiring him to practice these rites in their unseen aspects with submission and yielding.

For submission and yielding require the assumption of the existence of an unseen aspect and the attempt not to question this unseen aspect of worship. Demanding its interpretation and limitation of interest means stripping worship of its reality-as a practical expression of submission and obedience- and measuring it by measurements of benefit and interest like any other deed.

We notice that this obscurity is almost ineffective in rites representing a great general interest, one that conflicts with the personal interest of the worshipper, as is the case with Jihad which represents a great general interest which contrasts the desire of the person performing it to preserve his life and blood, and also in the case of Zakat which represents a great interest which contrasts the strong desire of the person paying it to preserve his wealth and property. The issue of Jihad is very well understood by the person performing it, and the issue of Zakat is generally understood by the person who pays it; neither Jihad nor Zakat thus loses any element of submission and obedience (to God), for the difficulty of sacrificing life and property is what makes man's acceptance of a worship-for which he sacrifices both life and property-is indeed a great deal of submission and obedience. Add to this the fact that Jihad and Zakat and similar rites are not meant to be merely aspects of upbringing just for the individual, but also for the achievement of social benefits secured thereby. Accordingly, we observe that obscurity is highlighted more and more in rites dominated by the educating aspect of the individual, such as prayer and fasting.

Thus do we derive the conclusion that the unseen in worship is strongly linked to its educating role in attaching the individual to his Lord, deepening his relationship with his Lord.

When we observe the different Islamic rites, we find in them an element of inclusion of all different aspects of life. Rites have never been limited to specific norms of rituals, nor have they been restricted to only needs which embody the manner of glorifying God, the Praised, the High, like bowing, prostrating, praying and invoking; rather, they have been extended to include all sectors of human activity. Jihad, for example, is a rite. It is a social activity. Zakat is a rite. It, too, is a social activity, a financial one. Fasting is a rite. It is a nutritious system.

Both ablution and Ghusu1 (ceremonial washing) are norms of worship. They are two ways of cleaning the body. This inclusion of worship expresses a general trend of Islamic upbringing aiming at linking man, in all his deeds and activities, with Almighty God, converting each useful deed to worship, no matter what field or type. In order to find a fixed basis for this trend, fixed rites were distributed to the different fields of human activity, preparing man to train himself on pouring the spirit of worship over all his good activities, and the spirit of the mosque over all places of his works:

in the field, the factory, the shop or the office, as long as his deed is a good one, for the sake of God, the Glorified, the High. In this respect, Islamic jurisprudence differs from two other religious trends, one: a trend to separate worship from life; and the other: a trend to limit life to a narrow frame of worship as do monks and mystics.

As for the first trend, it separates worship from life, leaving worship to be conducted at places made especially for it. It requires man to be present in these places in order to pay God His dues and worship Him, so much so that when he gets out of them to different fields of life, he bids worship farewell, giving himself up to the affairs of his life until he goes back again to those holy places. From here came Islamic jurisprudence to distribute the rites on the different fields of life, urging the practice of ritual rites in each good deed. It explains to man that the difference between the mosque, which is God's house, and man's home is not in the quality of building or slogan; rather, the mosque has deserved to be God's house because it is the yard whereupon man practices a deed that goes beyond his ego and wherefrom he aims at a bigger goal than that dictated by the logic of limited materialistic interests, and that this yard ought to extend to include all life's stages. Each yard, whereupon man does a deed that goes beyond his self, aiming thereby to achieve the pleasure of God and all people, does, indeed, carry the mosque's spirit.

As for the second trend, which restricts life in a narrow frame of worship, it tried to confine man to the mosque instead of extending the meaning of the mosque to include all the yards which witness a good deed of man.

This trend believes that man lives an inner conflict between his soul and body, and that he cannot accomplish one of these two duality of worship and different activities of life paralyze worship and obstruct its constructive upbringing role to develop man's motives and make the objective, enabling him to go beyond his ego and narrow personal interests in various scopes of his deeds.

God, the Glorified and Praised, never insisted on being worshipped for the sake of His own Person, since He is independent of His worshippers, so that He would be satisfied with a worship of this sort, nor did He ever put Himself as the goal and objective of the human march, so that man may bow his head down to Him within the scope of his worship, and that is it! Rather, He meant such worship to build the good person who is capable of going beyond his ego, participating in a bigger role in the march.

The exemplary achievement of this cannot be reached except when the spirit of worship gradually extends to other activities of life, for its extension-as we have already seen-means an extension of objectivity of purpose and the inner feeling of responsible behaviour, ability to go beyond the self to be in harmony with man within this inclusive cosmic frame, with eternity, immortality that both encompass him.