said and compare his beliefs to yours.
If Allah wills, he will contemplate and
study further. And if he doesn’t, then
we have fulfilled our duty.
That is all there is to the shahada (testimony).
But due to our indifference,
we have not sufficiently explained the
core belief of Islam to our coworker
whom we have known for years.
Even though propagation of the
deen is necessary for the revival of
Islam, this part of enjoining good and
forbidding evil has long since been
abandoned in the Umma. A prophetic
narration states, “Propagate (whatever
you know about the Deen) on my behalf,
though it may be a single verse.”
In earlier times, Islam spread fast and
consistently. There were two major
reasons for this:
1. Every Muslim was a caller
and propagator of Islam. Now,
there might be one in a thousand.
In fact, many have taken
the kalima shahada out of the
practical sphere and confined
it to the realm of beliefs and
doctrine (as mentioned earlier).
2. There is no system of integrating
converts into our communities.
Before, new Muslims
were received warmly and with
hospitality. He/she would officially
be taken in as a member
of the tribe or family of the
person on whose hands he/
she had accepted Islam. All of
his marital affairs and monetary
issues would be entrusted
to their care. This included
finding a suitable spouse and
starting a new career. The
family would take care of it all.
The reason for Imam Bukhari’s
tribal name, Ja’fi, was that his
grandfather had embraced
Islam at the hands of Yaman
from the Ja’fi tribe.
Nevertheless, it is due to these two
factors that Islam is not spreading as
quickly as it once was. The number of
converts to Islam would have exceeded
the numbers we have today had it
not been for the two issues mentioned
above.
WHY ARE THERE TWO PHYSICAL
ACTS OF WORSHIP AND ONLY ONE
MONETARY ACT OF WORSHIP?
Of the five pillars, salat and fasting
relate to the physical body. Zakat
relates to assets and property. Hajj is
both a physical and monetary act of
worship according to the majority of
scholars. However, according to Imam
Malik, hajj is exclusively a physical
act of worship, which is why a ride
and supplies (for the journey) is not
necessary to render hajj compulsory.
He says that hajj is compulsory upon
a believer if he can reach Makka on
foot.
The question is why has Allah
assigned two acts of worship to the
physical and only one to the monetary?
This is because Allah has placed
a soul in the human body, and every
soul contains two properties:
1. Angelic properties
2. Bestial properties, i.e., the propensities
of animals. In other
words, there is an aspect of
righteousness and an aspect of
evil in every living soul.
Allah clarifies this in the Quran, “And
(by) the soul and He who proportioned
it ( i.e. balanced and refined it),
creating in it sound tendencies and
consciousness. And inspired it (with
discernment of) its wickedness and its
righteousness” (91:7-8).
This ayat alludes to the two properties
of the soul.
‘Showing him the two ways’ is referring
to the fact that Allah has imbued
the souls of human beings with the
potential to do both good and evil.
It is crucial for the deen of Allah to
comprise of such acts of worship
which can boost the angelic properties
(good) while suppressing the
bestial ones (evil). Hence, salat has
been assigned in order to boost good;
to reinforce and intensify the aspect
of righteousness, whereas fasting
has been prescribed to suppress the
inner desires, to create self-restraint,
and to subdue the aspect of evil. This
is what the Qur’an refers to when it
says: fasting has been prescribed upon
you so that you adopt abstinence (2:183).
Therefore, fasting is to suppress the
propensity toward evil and establish
the quality of self-restraint.
And salat is to illuminate the heart,
to generate good, to attain closeness
to Allah, and to inculcate the remembrance
of Allah. Allah says, “Remembrance
of Allah is the greatest benefit”
of salat. A prophetic tradition states
that a believer is closest to Allah when
he is in sajda.
Nevertheless, the objective of salat
and fasting is clear. Since there was no
physical worship that could address
these two issues, the physical acts of
worship were doubled, and the monetary
act of worship kept single as
there are no two objectives in matters
related to wealth.
8 September – October 2021 | AL-MADINAH