A Beautiful Religion

[Mumtaz]

By Imam Zaid

A Beautiful Religion: Part One

Unfortunately, many people today perceive Islam as a repugnant, morally bankrupt religion. However, their perceptions cannot alter the reality every conscious believer knows. We know that our religion is beautiful. Perhaps what they view Islam to be is a reflection of their own state. If one is himself ugly, filled with darkness and gloom, then that state will surely affect what one sees in others. The contrary is also true. As Muslims, we have to do everything in our power to make sure that we are beautiful people. An Arab poet once said:

You are complaining yet you experience no pain;
Be yourself beautiful and you will find the entire creation beautiful.

When we are beautiful, we will see that the beauty of our religion manifests itself in ways great and small. Recently, a very beautiful implication of one of the verses of the Qur’an struck me. That verse is the following: Bestow unto the relative the right of assistance, along with the poor, and the traveler; and do not engage in egregious waste. (17:26) Like most of you, I had read this verse many times. However, I was struck by what one of the exegetes mentioned concerning it.

He pointed out that spending for the relative and the poor is a feature of most religions. However, in Islam spending for the traveler has also been enjoined. The command to so appears in many Qur’anic verses and numerous prophetic traditions. Indeed, one of the categories designated as recipients of the wealth gathered through the collection of the Zakat, the Islamic poor due, is the traveler (9:60).

The greater point is that through spending on the traveler, we are able to reinforce the spirit of altruism and selflessness that should dominate our actions. This is so based on the fact that we do not know the traveler, he is a stranger. Hence, we do not know how he will react to our charity. Therefore, by giving to him we cannot expect a particular response. Similarly, the traveler is moving on, we will likely not see him again. Hence, we cannot follow up our charity with reminders of the good we have done. This helps us to give because we have been commanded to do so by out Lord, because it is the right thing to do, and not because we are anticipate some reward or compensation for our act.

This spirit, doing things for the sake of God, and because they are right, should dominate our actions. We read elsewhere in the Qur’an: And they feed people, in spite of their love [and need] for the food they are sacrificing; the poor, the orphan, and those captives they command. [They say] rather we feed you for the sake of God, we desire from you neither compensation nor thanks. (76:8-9) The common factor uniting those mentioned in this verse is their powerlessness: the poor person has lost the means to adequately provide for himself, the orphan has lost the father who is the normal source of his sustenance and provision, and the prisoner has lost his freedom. In these situations, it is even more important for the strong to disregard their self-interest and sacrifice for the interest of others.

As we move deeper into an increasingly impersonal, cold and alienating global economic reality, systemic inequalities make it incumbent that we work to keep the spirit of altruism alive. We give because it is appropriate and pleasing to our Lord, and we give because through giving we help to alleviate the suffering of those who through no fault of their own have been marginalized by an economic arrangement that exploits the weak masses for the benefit of the strong few.

Be yourself beautiful and you will find the entire creation beautiful.

[Mumtaz]

Beautiful Religion: Part Two

By Imam Zaid


The beauty of Islam is directly associated with the beauty of Allah (God). The Prophet, peace upon him, relates the following tradition, “Surely God is beautiful and He loves beauty.” The beauty of God is incomparable. Therefore, the greatest delight of Paradise will be the indescribable joy of gazing upon God. This act is fittingly described as the beatific vision.

God mentions in the Qur’an: Those who do good will have exceeding good, and a great increase. The increase mentioned in this verse will be the beatific vision as related by Imam Muslim in his Sahih. This leads us to a very important point, namely, God’s incomparable beauty should elicit from us incomparable love. As humans, one of the greatest inducements of love is beauty. Incomparable beauty should elicit incomparable love. Hence, the following Qur’anic description is apt for the believers: Among people there are those who take substitutes whom they love as they should love God. Those who believe are more intense in their love of God [than their love for anything else]. (2:165)

This leads in turn to another point: one of the criticisms of Islam is that it is a religion void of love. This is a baseless accusation arising from sheer ignorance. Our love for God is a reflection of the love we receive from Him. One of our fundamental Islamic principles is the following: “What we receive from God is categorical to what we present to Him (Al-Jaza’ min Jins al-‘Amal).” We love God and He loves us. This relationship is mentioned in the following narration: “…my servant continues to draw himself/herself close [to me] with the voluntary acts until I love him/her.” As this tradition relates, our devotion to God culminates in His love for us.

This mutual love—our love for God and His love for us—is of such importance in Islam that it is the first description of the people God will bring to replace those who have turned back on the religion. He says, O, Believers! If any of you turns back on his faith then know that God will bring another people whom He will love and they will love Him. (5:54)

This idea of deep love and devotion to God is not a new one. We read in the Bible that Jesus, peace upon him, responded when asked about the first commandment:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. Mark 12:29-30

Hence, our existence should be defined by our love for God. Our love for God not only opens up the Divine Pathways that lead to God’s love for us, it is also liberating in that it qualifies our love for everything else in a way that wards off the harm that inevitably will accrue when we wrongly prioritize our love. Our love for many things is natural. God mentions in the Qur’an: The love of the lusts for the opposite gender, children, heaped up treasures of gold and silver, branded steeds, cattle, and cultivated fields have been made alluring to people. That is the life of the mundane world, and with God is the best repose. (3:20)

However, when our love for the opposite gender is greater than our love for God, then we may be led to fornication, adultery, promiscuity, and other negative behavior that has been forbidden by our Lord. That behavior more often than not results in venereal disease, broken homes, fatherless children, and other destructive consequences.

Similarly, when our love for money is greater than our love for God, we may be led to dealing in usury, hording, monopoly, insider trading, usurpation of the resources and wealth of others, and other destructive economic practices—all of which are forbidden by God through His Prophet Muhammad, peace upon him, because of their destructiveness.

God is elevating us from the sources of our destruction, He is calling us to something higher, to a higher love, something that will lead to a higher purpose for our lives. The world wants to debase us, seducing us to misplace our love, leaving us to suffer the consequences of our heedlessness. As believers, the choice and path for us should be quite clear.

Those who believe are more intense in their love of God [than their love for anything else].