Islam — the perfect Ideology
It is what humanity is inching towards …
It's hard to put noise to more noise out there; with so much written and produced and humans’ anticipation of consuming all of it. It’s like humans trying to be machines and machines trying to be smart as humans — let's try and hope it will not add more noise.
If getting human attention is difficult; it’s near impossible to convince that something is best or ideal, today everything is seen with a skeptical eye; judged based on the amount of good and bad it holds for an individual, and mainly with a lens of materialism.
Over time humans of today have become brokenly anxious and dumb; abusing ourselves; society and the earth at large just to extract more from this physical world while keeping ourselves sane, and it is no surprise becoming a motivational speaker or writing another self-help book is very much in demand.
Most of the big problems today namely climate, war, inequality, and food scarcity need nations to cooperate and be compassionate but since we become more individualistic in nature (due to lack of trust in anything) solving any of these major problems is a distant dream.
We have developed most of the philosophies and ideologies; after the renaissance, around the basic idea that everything that is to be cared about is “materialistic” in nature, but is it the whole truth?
Evolution — we are animals (no soul) and need to live by that animal instinct when it comes to sex, getting power, or providing for food.
Meaningless — Religion was the primary provider for this over the centuries; but as we move away, we need some antidote; individualism was mostly promoted that one-self is the most important being; one’s passion, desires, goals, and experiences are most worthy.
And on another side to annihilate this feeling of being redundant, humans have developed an unlimited supply of entertainment, social media, and sports to keep their sanity going. But If one still felt the need for meaning there are drugs, alcohol, and sex to give comfort.
Science — can provide all answers — since there is no provider (higher entity) or afterlife we can look and observe all around us and provide answers. Today for something to be accepted it must base on scientific methodology and it does not matter if it could be in future proven to be totally wrong
Political Science — Democracy: one person one vote; it does not matter if that person is a thief or has been proven guilty and any consensus reached by a majority is law though it could be morally corrupt or wrong.
Economics — Capitalism is the benchmark that looks at an only profit, it does not matter how it affects the poor living under that system or if it has any adverse effect on the society and earth at large.
Overall, these ideas have resulted in a society that has Inequality, verge of climate catastrophe, drug abused individuals, the prevalence of food scarcity, running the business of wars for profit, polarized individuals falling to fascist leaders, has the tendency of high suicidal rate, suffering with mental and anxiety issues, have refuges crises at hand and take Opium of social media for meals.
Per my understanding, the human mind cannot foresee past these issues and create a better version of philosophy and ideas that can help them out of this mess where justice, peace, compassion, truth, empathy, and trust rules the world. We can call it the end of civilization.
Islam to the rescue — a superhero story. Islam set its ground on some basic principals
Monotheism — The root of the ideology is one creator, which is all power full all knowing; hidden yet evident; the producer and sustainer of everything. Is just and most merciful and it’s a source of ultimate beauty and truth. This makes Islam very simple and Open to all; there is no difference and bias between anything; everything is always under its command and its available to anyone at all times.
Hereafter — This life is just a small duration before real and eternal life, a garden where you sow so you can ripe that up later. The only thing useful later is your deeds; so, all action performed no matter how big or small; irrespective if it's hidden or evident is being recorded and humans will judge based on it. Obviously, the circumstances one was provided will be considered one’s abilities and social environment.
Luxuries of the world — as per the above principle since this life is temporary there is no importance to the luxuries earned; in fact, what you earned is pre-determined for you and has a portion for each of the loved ones you have along with the poor. In short, ownership belongs to the creator for everything you earn.
Justice — Humans are the only creation that has free will which is the reason it has the power to do corruption in the land, i.e., not give everything its due right and making life difficult for others by getting inspired by its lower self. Islam demands its follower to stand on justice come what may (even if it’s against yourselves or loved ones) and make one’s duty to demand that same justice where it finds cruelty.
Soul — Instead of being a piece of matter human is a perfect combination of matter and soul; matter is part of earth and soul mixed; it’s the soul that makes a human differentiator from the animal; the soul can transcend space and time and it’s a guiding light hidden in a body to find and aspire for truth and beauty.
Now let’s focus on how Islam using these basic principles becomes a savior on different levels.
Individual — Islam recognizes humans to have lower animal instincts and it counters it by qualities of the soul; providing meaning and purpose by putting hereafter as the goal and creator as a symbol of truth and beauty to be aspired and compete about.
It identifies fear as the enemy of self which stops one in its track to act and decide; it liberates one by having faith that everything in this world is governed by the creator and no harm can come what may; if it's not willed by the creator.
Islam powers one with free will — go and set this world as just and upright and same time forbidding one; from illegitimate relation, gambling, and interest which will exploit its lower desires and will make one forget his own self. But if one fails and forgets, one can always redeem by acknowledging the sins and taking a just path.
So first it identifies what a human is, where he comes from and where its transitioning, its purpose and meaning, defines a path, set of dos and don’ts, provides hope, and nurtures its desire for power by providing a goal and playing field and put at the center of it, the beauty of the creator itself.
Family Level — Islam inspires humans to value family lives and to respect relations to keep a sustainable society; since family is a unit of a society and a strong family will ensure that the next generation of humans get a healthy environment to grow. It provides very detailed instructions and principles in matters of husband and wife providing rights and duties to each of them. Also, it put a lot of emphasis and responsibilities on dealing with parents, respecting and taking care of them; in addition, encouraged one to keep and maintain blood bonds.
Nation Level — In Islam, there is no concept of geographical boundaries since the message is for the whole of humanity. But when Muslims are in power in a certain area of land; Islam provides the guiding principle of how to govern it. First, it kills any difference between the society in terms of race, color, and creed by declaring every human is a son of Adam and that Adam was born with clay. It focuses on Justice in society and take steps where the government is responsible for taking care of each of its members and providing basic need, health and education. In Islam ruler though has authority given by the people but he is not a lawmaker; one has been vested this authority to lead people under the umbrella given by the lawgiver. It curbs inequality by making sure whoever earns enough provides Zakat to the needy. It encourages everyone to be responsible, so they keep an eye on how they are being governed and demand people to stand for their rights.
Now as we are moving to conclude this, back to the question Why Islam is a perfect Ideology? Because it’s given by the creator and it’s on merits of what Human is, what this life is, and what purpose we are here to serve. If we identify ourselves wrong, do not consider life on earth as a continuation of life hereafter, and get blinded by all evident creator then we will come up with solutions, ideals, theories, and philosophies that are short-sighted, and we will keep falling as a whole in its pitfalls making mistake after mistake. We would take two steps forward and one step back because we are only making judgments based on half-truths.
We do need to acknowledge the fact that with the passage of time we are making progress in finding the truth, but it's really slow and painful and at the expense and suffering of lots of lives. It's due to our inability or ego to see past that science is the only way of acquiring knowledge; maybe it’s a topic for some other day.
Islam breaks down idols and chains humans are unable to break by providing simple solutions.
Identifying Life luxuries; that all the matter can provide is not worth more than the wings of a mosquito, it's just a distraction from the real self.
Always present and available God watching us make us live a conscious life; and provide a way to redeem ourselves of any guilt that one has committed, by declaring itself as being most merciful.
Equipped humans with purpose by presenting this life as a ground to sow seed that can bear fruit hereafter.
Provide intellect and soul as a guide and send down prophets and book for humans to help them identify wrong vs truth and teach them about things that are outside of the physical realm.
Making humans as vicegerent on earth and giving them the freedom to choose, and ability compared to other creations while making them also responsible to use those resources to best of abilities, which they will be accounted for the hereafter.
Removing any fear by proclaiming that only God controls everything and no harm and good can come to someone without his will, in turn, sets humans free from all worries and failures.
Asking one to be active and be conscious of the creator and his surroundings and do the best of one’s abilities to play one’s part in setting this world and society at large on justice.
Define Evil and how it exploits human lower instincts of greed, lust for power, and ego to drive itself away from identifying one true self and pushing it toward a downward path.
On the social front, provide a comprehensive set of guidelines on how to handle and sustain relationships, which ensure elders and parents are looked after; younger ones get a healthy environment to grow, and there is not a widening gap between the haves and have not.
It’s a bearer of hard work and inspires human action, and it’s evident as it proclaims any dealing of interest and gambling are forbidden actions in Islam. Interest allows a person to take a reward without a single ounce of effort and gambling rewards a person on basis of luck and chance.
It set everyone equal and kills any racial difference based on cast, color, and creed: by declaring every human as a creation of one God and progeny of Adam.
It inspires critical thinking by discouraging humans from not basing their idea on assumptions and pseudo-knowledge. It opens itself to ijtihad (qiyas and Ijma) by encouraging one to reason to find a solution to ever-changing human needs.
It provides an emotional impetus to unite people and create a sense of closeness and oneness which will help us in our need or calamity or against a common enemy and to achieve greater good together.
Love and mercy are at the core of this ideology as the creator declares itself to be most merciful and loving, listening to the call of people and it loves those who love their fellow beings and show mercy toward its creations.
Would like to conclude by stating that Islam is another renaissance in the making, it has all the perfect qualities required by us now; to help humans rise and break from the chains of slavery they have put on themselves, It’s a message that has been sent down generation after generation with the central idea of monotheism at its core and aspires for human dignity and freedom, from all the forces that are present to deviate humans from their self. It is a gem waiting to be discovered, but it is just hidden from my fellow beings and even from those who claim to be its followers.
