WHICH ISLAM?

This is the Book about which there is no doubt,
 a guidance for those conscious of Allah.

~ Quran 2:2 ~

Dear Ones,

Social order has ever been the living heart of divine religion. As Christ once confronted the den of vipers coiled within the heart of Judaism, so the theology of Islam rose first against those who move in the shadows to undo just order and human dignity—the unbelievers, polytheists and idol-worshipers, and those same “hypocrites” of today who claim to be of the star and the crescent while undermining their faithful communities from within.

The striking anachronism we face now is that with ever-growing intensity, multitude of believers and atheists now heaps upon Muhammad, the very practices He so courageously sought to denounce, limit or reduce by the light of His law.

He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus – to establish the religion and not be divided therein.

~ Quran 42:13

This reversal springs mainly from the almost complete ignorance, in the West, of the Quran’s true dictates,  as well as from certain radical currents that have turned the Sharia—originally “the just path”—into an instrument of global domination. It thus appears imperative at this exact time, to recover Islam’s historical trajectory and civilizational gifts. Let us humbly try, for without this understanding, the actual demonstrations against Islam could well blaze a conflagration nobody called for, yet which rebellious radicals within its ranks may kindle.

We entertain no prejudice against Muhammad. […] Why then should we deny Muhammad? If we deny Him, we awaken enmity and hatred.

~ Abdu'l-Baha

While recognizing that certain social practices of Islam belonged to an earlier age of scarce resources and knowledge, Muhammad's directives to redress the mistreatment of women and slaves are bright examples of His enduring influence, relative to the harsh norms of His time. The then cruel practice of the burial alive of newborn girls, constant conflict requiring mostly battle-ready soldiers, is a potent testimony.

And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked for what sin she was killed.

~ Quran 81:8-9

Indeed, Allah commands justice and good conduct.

~ Quran 16:90

As we understand it, the first aim of His legal system was to weave lasting peace among these savage tribes locked in ancestral war—at this very time, an imperative prelude to the reunification of humanity intended by God for our age. Thus the fledgling community carrying this banner high and far required absolute and boundless protection, while every person and community refraining from violence against it was to be duly safeguarded. Defensive war was permitted only as a last resort to protect the community, in response to the breach of treaties and the treasury of treachery by the “hypocrites” within, lest the sacred ground so hard-won be lost for the advent of the global peace they were to initiate and then protect.

Specific verses of the Quran, often perceived as tyrannical and outrageous when read outside the knowledge of this historical context, become sound and intelligible once restored to it. In our reading, this is a neuralgic point: radical Islamism is the very offshoot of a subverted interpretation of such passages, treating as permanent and universal authorizations what the text itself presents as conditional responses to aggression, broken treaties, and the protection of a nascent community. That permanent and universal application remains a contested interpretation, even within the Muslim tradition, where many classical and contemporary voices have insisted on the limiting conditions (those who fight you, those who break treaties, the cessation of hostilities once the threat ends) rather than an open-ended mandate.

Yet beyond the battlefield of treaties and the restraint of ancient tribal violence, lay a quieter revolution: the opening of hearts and minds. 

In a land where literacy was rare and vengeance a daily law, the Islamic Revelation kindled a thirst for knowledge that carried the names of Aristotle, Galen and the stars across continents. Libraries rose where swords had once ruled, and the very tribes once locked in perpetual feud became the keepers of a shared inheritance of science and poetry. This luminous thread, too often forgotten amid the clamor of later distortions, remains one of the purest testimonies that the original divine call was never for domination, but for the elevation of the human spirit from the dust of ignorance toward the light of understanding. Thus the same hands that once raised the sword later opened the Book.

Muhammad appeared among such a people. He educated and unified these barbarous tribes, put an end to their shedding of blood. Through His education they reached such a degree of civilization that they subdued and governed continents and nations. […] How much Islam served and furthered the cause of science! Why then should we deny Muhammad?

~ Abdu’l-Baha

In truth, Muhammad strove to free humanity from ancient, deep-rooted control and corruption by calling the People of the Book—until the arrival of the Hidden Imam—to contain it by their complete surrender of will to the Will of the God of Moses, Abraham and Jacob, named Allah in the Quran.

Say, “O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you – that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him…”

~ Quran 3:64

In a humanity now so richly diverse, both Christianity and Islam have reached the limits of their glorious Dispensations. Further collective means have been placed in our hands by the advent of the RETURN, as understood in the Baha'i Faith. 

From our standpoint, to praise or resort to radicalism at this juncture, instead of harmony and peace, would thus share the same blind prejudice as the wicked of Judea and Mecca. From our perspective, the actual immoderate fanatical fraction claiming to be Peoples of the Book is the sorry counterpart of the hypocrites of the Prophet’s time. To hurl insults and imprecations against all of Islam on their account, while keeping a blind eye to its noble intents, is tantamount to a denial of faith, whatever it is: God is One and His religion is one. Every thinking soul is a member of His family. When this is denied, civilizations clash. The call today remains the same as yesterday: to move from mutual rejection toward genuine coexistence.

The religion of God is one religion, but it must ever be renewed.

~ Abdu'l-Baha

Along the winding path toward global harmony, this ARTICLE traces one memorable twist in Muslim history—the very advent for which its native community endured innumerable calamities, only to suffer much later further injury. Discover this luminous segment of our collective ascent toward unity, and apply, if you will, its graciously offered salve. 

In the end, the question is not which Islam we fear, but which Islam we choose to remember.

Be wonderfully blessed ! 


Loesha

SHARE THIS PAGE...