A common concept upheld by a broad section of the advocates of Islamic revival is that “To seek an Islamic viewpoint on a problem which does not arise through the implementation of the Islamic system of government at a time when Islam is totally driven out of people’s life is to make fun of Islam. To reply to such questions is indeed to take part in such ridicule.” People who hold this view supplement it by saying: “Islam is not responsible for the ills people suffer today in all facets of life. When Islam is back in power, conducting people’s life, all unfair and erroneous situations will, at a stroke, come to an end.”
The only part of these statements that is correct is that Islam is not responsible for all the weakness, humiliation and endless crises we are suffering today in all fields. Indeed, it is correct to say that the blame for all that we suffer from today, in whole and in part, lies with our turning away from Islam and our omission of the implementation of God’s book and the teachings of His Messenger.
But the concepts of refusing to reply to people asking how Islam views certain aspects of life, and believing that when Islam regains power, it will end all unjust conditions at a stroke, need careful consideration.
I hasten to say that, for a certain period of my life, I used to subscribe to these concepts and similar ones. I felt that the advocates of Islam need not concern themselves with anything other than putting Islam back in control of our life. Once the foundation is set right, all that is built on it will be right.
However, many years of study and involvement in public life, advocating Islam, have brought me to the conclusion that we cannot confine ourselves to saying that Islam provides all the right solutions to all our social ills. We cannot expect people to agree with us when all that we say to them is that we only have to implement Islam in order to achieve such desirable results. People inevitably demand that we support our claims with a clear statement of what Islamic life means in practice. My long interaction with believers and rejecters alike has convinced me that we cannot expect people to make a positive response to our call unless we provide them with clear indications outlining the areas of permissibility and prohibition in their practical life. As a minimum, we have to clarify to them the general principles and the broad lines if we cannot give them a clear outline marking out every detail.
There is a marked difference between a slogan expressed in a few words and a program outlining the main issues in a practical strategy to achieve the ultimate objectives of reform.
In our case, such reform will bring about a new renaissance embodied in an independent civilization based on and defined by Islam. A slogan simply points out a way and direction, but when you start going along the way, you need to see clearly any pitfalls that lie ahead of you. You need to be sure of your footsteps and your direction. Furthermore, those who travel along the way with you need to know the end to which you are leading them. Thus, they will be able to help you when you need help, and to alert you if you slacken and to put you back on course, should you be diverted from it by any thing that attracts your attention.
I have studied the method followed in God’s revelations, as He bestowed these on His Messenger. On no occasion was a clarification delayed beyond the time it was needed. Islamic scholars have been aware of this and they have laid down on its basis a complement of the legal rule that says: “To delay a clarification beyond the time when it is needed is unlawful.” The complement scholars have formulated states: “To remain silent when there is need for a clarification is a kind of clarification.”
At the same time I realized that divine revelations did not abrogate all the systems and traditions that had prevailed in Arabian society. Indeed what God has bestowed from on high adopted a reformist approach to people’s practices, retaining such traditions, values, and systems that were sound, and amending or changing completely what was corrupt or unfair. Islam recognized that there are some good aspects in the practices of every community, including the people of Arabian pre-Islamic ignorance. When it annulled a practice or a tradition, Islam put in its place a new legislation to ensure the welfare of the community.
Hence I concluded that although the corruption that prevails almost everywhere in our world is in no way of Islam’s making and responsibility for it cannot be laid at the doorstep of the advocates of Islam, changing it must be an overriding concern of those who call for an Islamic revival. In fact, it is even more so in the case of those who make the building of a new Islamic civilization a goal for Muslim nations.
Islamic scholars and advocates of Islam will not be able to fulfil these duties unless they make clear the Islamic view on various issues of practical life.
Some people try to divert us from our course of explaining our need for a new Fiqh. These want Islam to remain confined to a set of rigid, lifeless forms, or to reduce it to a mere collection of vague spiritualism that has no role in people’s life, or a host of rituals that bring no benefit when practised and cause no harm when neglected. But Islam is a profound faith that embodies all the elements needed for effecting a complete change. It embodies a law that gives a ruling on all affairs, serious and not so serious. Hence, its implementation today requires a new Fiqh, which we will continue to discuss over the next few weeks.
