THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT AND CIVILIZATION (ISTAC) AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF ISLAM AS "TRUE SUBMISSION" ON THE BASIS OF AL-ATTAS' APPROACH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT AND CIVILIZATION (ISTAC) IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY FATIMAH BT. ABDULLAH KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA 1419/1998ACKNOWLEDGMENT True Islamic submission, the research topic of this thesis, is a difficult field which few researchers would wish to study for a higher degree. It is beset with confusion created by distorted religions and misinterpretations deliberately spread by some Western scholars and inappropriately accepted by their renowned Muslim disciples. Accordingly, an in-depth Islamic analysis of true submission is a challenge that can only be confronted by a distinguished and sincere academic warrior. This arduous mission was shouldered by Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Founder Director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, a scholar and thinker whose works and activities have impressed me since my undergraduate days at the National University of Malaysia. The author wishes to record her deep respect and appreciation to Professor al-Attas whom she also regards as her mentor by whose thoughts on true submission this study is inspired and conducted. His discerning and refined methodology and his profound insight into Islam and Westem philosophical and religious thought have rightly elected him for this scholarly mission. As his vast readership know, Professor al-Attas writes in a highly summarized form with a meticulous choice of words and refined abstract thought. To comprehend his abstract ideas I had to read his works again and again finding new insights in every repetition and have benefitted from his illuminating discourses in the Saturday Night Lectures at the Institute since 1991. If the author succeeds in simplifying and illustrating some of these works in this dissertation then indeed she would have achieved one of her main objectives As for my supervisor, Professor Alparslan Acikgenc, I cannot fully express my gratitude and indebtedness to him, He has shown admirable patience and dedication as my major academic supervisor, inspite of his burdensome scholarly responsibilities to a number of other postgraduate students and his research commitments, after an earliersupervisor abruptly left the country. I firmly believe that it is the Merciful Hand of God that led me to this learned preceptor . To Professor Wan Mohd. Nor, the Acting Deputy Director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization and the Academic Advisor to all students, 1 wish to record my thankfulness and acknowledgment for his valuable corrections as the second reader of this thesis and his encouragement for the entire duration of my study. 1am also indebted to Professor Dr. Bilal Kuspinar and Professor Dr. Ali Safak for their critical reading of my study. In conclusion, the author wishes to document her sincere thanks to all the learned professors and lecturers who taught her and supervised her papers in this blessed Institute.TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I THE CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION OF TRUE SUBMISSION: AL-ATTAS’S EXPOSITION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL METAPHYSICS OF ISLAM 19 A. The Concept of the Worldview of Isl .ssussssusessssesssseessseeeene 21 1) Fundamental Elements of the Islamic Worldview 7) 2) Elucidation of the Fundamental Elements . 23 3) The Route to Reassert the Fundamental Elements . 26 B, Ontological Basis of the Islamic Worldview . 30 1) The Experience of Reality . 31 2) Existence and Quiddity . 36 3) The Degrees of Existence a) C. Epistemological Basis of the Islamic Worldview ..-...--ceeseseeessees 43 D. Isidm as the Concept of Religion in General . 51 CHAPTER II THE CONCEPT OF SUBMISSION .....essccesssseesssesssseeseves 55 A. Linguistic Analysis of the Concept . 56 1) Dictionaries 2) Main Sources a) The Qur'an b) The Hadith B. Historical Exposition of the Concept iii1) The Prophetic Period (610-700 A.D.) 2) The Classical Period (700-1200 A.D.) 3) Succeeding Centuries and Contemporary Scholars CHAPTER III SUBMISSION AS AN EXPERIENTIAL PHENOMENON A. The Foundational Analysis 1) Iman and Islam Leading to the Experience of Submission 2) The Reality of God as the Foundation of True Submission B. The Experiential Basis of True Submission 1) Submission as Fitrah 2) Submission as Amanah 3) Islam as a Means of Freeing the Self CHAPTER IV SUBMISSION AS CONSIDERED WITH ITS CONSEQUENCES A. The Psychology of Submission 1) The Nature of Man 133 Q)TRAG YET oc cccsessesessssteseessisessrineessisesssesssnveseereeseeneecsees 135 B, Experiential States of the Psychology of Submission 143 1) Tawakkul 2) Happiness 3) States of Submission ve a) al-Khauf wa al-Raja’ (fear and hope) b) al-Sabr wa al-Shukr (patience and gratitude) c) Mahabat al-Allah (love of God)CHAPTER V SUBMISSION AS A SOCIAL EXPRESSION A. The Qur’anic Term Din 1) Din as Accountability 2) Din as Total Submission B. The Term ummah (Community) 176 1) Ummat Wahidah - 178 2) Ummah of the past - 179 3) Ummat Muslimah - 182 C. The Term Millah 189 1) Millah as ummah and religious tradition 189 2) Millat Torahim and Islam 190 CONCLUSION... . BIBLIOGRAPHYINTRODUCTION There is much confusion in the writings of Wester scholars as well as some Muslim scholars who have been influenced by them with regard to the term islam. Some of them may be genuinely confused about the true meanings of the term, limiting it to the vague act of submission.! One of the most glaring examples of this kind of confusion can be seen in the translation of Muhammad Asad who invariably translates al-isldm as a vague act of submission. 2 We read: Behold, the only (true) religion in the sight of God is (man's) self- surrender (al-islam) unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views (on those points) only after knowledge (thereof) had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God's messages- behold, God is swift in reckoning! (Ali ‘Imran (3): 19) On the other hand, a group of them who subscribe to the belief of the transcendent unity of religions deliberately limit islém to mean only submission in its general sense and ignore all the other meanings such as it being the name as well as the definition of religion and other significations. Since all religions submit to God or to some other deity in some way or the other, then, according to them, all religions are ! D. Z. H. Baneth, “What Did Muhammad Mean When He Called His Religion “Islam?”, Israel Oriental Studies, \ (1971), 189-190. See his The Message of the Qur'an (Gibralta: Dar al-Andalus, 1980), 69:The same manner of translation of the word islam can be seen in other surah. For example, in Al ‘Imran (3): 85, al- Ma‘idah (5): 3, al-An'dm (8): 125, al-Tawbah (9): 75, al-Zumar (39): 22, al-Hujurdt (49): 17 and al-Saf (61): 9.transcendentally united.> This approach logically involves shirk,* a dangerous attitude of mind which the Qur’an vehemently rejects. Moreover, the same approach leads to the misconception that Islam, understood as submission, is the umbrella for all other religions, and as such it awakens another state of mind that represents the Medieval idea of a privilaged group. For the defenders of this approach argue that it is only the very few who can transcend the exoteric differences between religions to arrive at the esoteric unity of all religious forms in their generic essence. This statement is clearly reflected in the writings of Frithjof Schuon, as introduced by Huston Smith in which the latter affirms that : There is a unity at the heart of religions. More than moral it is theological, but more than theological it is metaphysical in the precise sense of the word earlier noted: that which transcends the manifest world. The fact that it is thus transcendent, however, means that it can be univocally described by none and concretely apprehended by few. For this few the problem of the relation between religions is, by it, solved; for the many the generic is abstract and the concrete is not generic, and only what is concrete can be loved and worshipped.5 Drawing a line between the esoteric and the exoteric Schuon maintains that there is no fundamental distinction between religions. Commenting on this view Huston Smith says: Hasan Askari for instance, mistakenly equates the spiritual experience of the Prophet, i.e., the experience of the Oneness of God with the mystical experience of Buddha. See H. Askari, Alone to Alone (UK: Seven Mirrors Publishing House Limited, 1991), 6. According to al-Birtni (d. 443 / 1051), a renown scholar of world religions, there are two catogories of religions, i.e., 1. al-Hagq (the Truth) or Islam, and 2. al-kufr (rejection of or deviation from the Truth), or al-inhiraf (alteration of the Truth). This is particularly true, for the Hadith clarifies that the disbelivers (kuffar) i. e., those who are not Muslims are in one category namely millat wahidah. See Muhammad ibn ‘Isa bin Sirah al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Tirmidhi al- Jami" al-Sahih (Madinah: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1964), 4; 135; see also Abi Rayhan Muhammad, Fi Tahgiq Md li al-Hind Magilah Magbilah fi al-‘Aql aw Madhalah (Andra Pradesh: Osmania Oriental Publications Bureau, 1958), 18. For further clarification see K. O. Kamaruzaman, “ Early Muslim Scholarship in Religionswissenschaft: A Case Study of the Works and Contributions of Abi Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Birini, ” unpublished Ph. D. thesis, ISTAC, 1996, 79-81; hereinafter cited as Religionswissenschaft. Frithjof Schuon, The Transcendent Unity of Religions (England: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1984), Introduction by Hutson Smith, xxii-xxiv. The unity is only in the sense of acknowledging God as the Lord (al-rabb), and not as the proper Object of worship (al-Ilah). See al-Attas, Prolegomena, 7-9.It is not, so to speak, a line that, reappearing, divides religion's great historical manifestations vertically, Hindus from Buddhists from Christians from Muslims, and so on. The dividing line is horizontal and occurs but once, cutting across the historical religions. Above the line lies esoterism, below it exoterism ...religions are alike at heart or in essence read (“esoterically”) while differing in form (“exoterically”).6 On the other hand, al-Attas argues that: We do not admit in the case of Islam of a horizontal dividing line separating the exoteric from the esoteric understanding of the Truth in religion. We maintain rather a vertical line of continuity from the exoteric to the esoteric; a vertical line of continuity which we identify as the Straight Path of islém-imdn-ihsan without there being any inconsistency in the three stages of the spiritual ascent such that the Reality or transcendent Truth that is recognized and acknowledged is in our case accessible to many.7 As we shall try to show, to advocate the transcendent unity of religions on the basis of Islam, these scholars misinterpreted certain Islamic literature. They have given new meanings to certain terms and ignored clear-cut verses from the Qur'an and Blessed Ahddith and confound the writings of ancient and modern writers. In short they, “Displace words from their right places and meanings” as the Qur'an (al-Nisa’ (4): 46) described the ancient Jewish scholars. For example, Cantwell Smith states that the word islam has three meanings: “submission; the empirical reality of the world of islam as it exists sociologically "; and the ideal Muslim community in a historical sense.8 He strongly rejects the meaning of the word islam as the name of the religion revealed to Prophet Muhammad. We shall attempt to prove that Smith argues unconvincingly to show that the use of the term islam as the name of a particular 6 ibid. , xii 7 Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam (Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), 1995, 11; hereinafter cited as Prolegomena. For his cogent arguments contradicting the views of the advocates of the uanscendent unity of religions, see 7-10. Wilfred Smith, On Understanding Islam (The Netherlands: Mouton Publishers,1981),174; hereinafter cited as Understanding.religion is a recent development. He claims that Muslims, like Christians and the followers of other religions, have gradually changed the meanings of religious terms as they became more conscious of themselves as a separate religious group and became more devoted to in-group feeling than to the original faith. Moreover, he arguesthat it is only recently (19th-20th centuries) that the term islam has established itself as the name of a religion.? On the contrary the religion of Islam, from the very start was already mature, not needing the process of growing up to maturity. As revealed religion Islam is conscious of itself from the very beginning; it originated from Divine Revelation not from the circumstances of history.!0 It is true, as al-Attas has explained, that in the case of other religions, their fundamental teachings or doctrines have suffered from the process of evolution. They evolved their system of beliefs or forms of submission through the historical development of their cultural traditions.!! In fact, the rise of various denominations, in the case of Christianity, is an evidence for the developmental changes in its religious fundamentals. Among others Gerhart B. Ladner also contends that: The New Testament is one great message of newness. In its various aspects, the Christian kerygma, and the theology and law that grew out of it, include redemption, resurrection, conversion, baptismal regeneration, penance, and an eschatological new world. To these foundations St. Paul added still another innovative concept, that of the reform or innovation of man according to that image-likeness between man and God, in which, as Genesis 1: 26 tells us, he was created. !2 9 pid. 10 see al-Attas, Prolegomena, 4 11 Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, /slam and Secularism, (Kuala Lumpur: Muslim Youth Movement Of Malaysia (ABIM), 1978), Chapters 1 and 2; hereinafter mentioned as Islam and Secularism. See Gerhart B. Ladner “Reform: Innovation and Tradition in Medieval Christendom” in Theology and Law in Islam: Second Giorgio Levi Della Vida Biennial Conference, ed. G. E. von Grunebaum (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1971), 53.Similar outlook is alluded to by John L. Esposito, who sees Islam in the same position as the other religions such as Christianity and Judaism as needing a substantial reformation of faith and belief under the impact of modernization: The very process of modemization, which includes the impact of reason, science, and technology, was seen as encouraging and enhancing this secularization process...As the more rationalist approach of modern biblical criticism and critical theological scholarship resulted in a substantial reformation of faith and belief in Christianity and Judaism, many predicted that if Islam did not follow suit, it could not hope to remain relevant to modem generations of Muslims. Islamic revivalism, like some forms of Christian revivalism, has countered and discredited such a uniform, evolutionary view of historical change and development.!3 Like Esposito, J. I. Smith, in order to prove this evolutionary process that has effected the so-called ‘reforms’ in the religion of Islam, suggests that in the Muslim community itself there has been a change in the understanding and interpretation of islam. By combining the historical and the semantic approaches to the study of islam, she concludes that the Muslims of the present age understand the term islam different from what it meant to the Muslims of the earlier centuries of Islam.!4 In refusing to accept the meaning of the word islém as the name of the religion revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and practically limiting it to a vague concept of submission, Cantwell Smith and such scholars as Frithjof Schoun and Jane Smith wish to bring /slém under their broad umbrella of the unity of religions. In doing so, as we have already mentioned, they go against the clear Meanings of Qur’anic verses and Ahddith and confuse obvious reality with an intellectual and pedantic smoke-screen. 13 See Islam: The Straight Path (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 194. 14 ‘See Jane I. Smith. An Historical And Semantic Study Of The Term Islam As Seen In A Sequence Of Quran Commentaries (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1975); hereinafter mentioned as /slam, 1-2.As a clear example Cantwell Smith says that, “Muslims and outsiders may disagree as to what Islam really is... Yet they may come together in discussing how specific persons at certain times and places have understood it.”15 By such statement, scholars such as Cantwell Smith had created doubts about the clear meanings of the term and create semantic confusion. In this we refer again to Cantwell Smith as he proposes to perform an intensive research to ‘unearth’ the evolution of the meaning of the word islam. He states: The fundamentally rewarding task would be to make a study of the history of the word ‘Islam’; to discover the evolution of its usage and the meaning over the centuries and the variety of connotations that it has evinced in the course of its historical development. We have been recently reminded that ‘the history of Muslim religion has yet to be written’ 16 “... the history of Muslim religion has yet to be written” is not acceptable to us because it is not necessary to do so since Islam is not a historical religion that undergoes a historical process of evolution in line with changing circumstances. Indeed, as a revealed religion, Islam was already complete from the period of its inception.!7 But this completeness refers to the meaning attributed to the term islam which came to be the name of the religion as well. If, however, later generations of Muslims deviate from the complete Qur’anic understanding, this will be similar to what the adherents of other distorted religions did to their religions, and as such the distorted understanding of Islam cannot be taken as a development over and above the original complete meaning with which Islam was endowed by the Qur'an. However, it must be obvious that such an invented confusion cannot cloud the striking clarity of Qur’anic verses denouncing the shirk of Christianity, Judaism and other pagan religions; nor can this confusion cloud the Qur’anic verses unequivocally saying that “those who seek a religion other than Islam will not be accepted by God” 15 Smith, Understanding, 49. 16 tid., 46 17 See al-Attas, Prolegomena, 4.(Ali ‘Imran (3): 85) or that \¢ true din accepted by God is Islam” (Ali ‘Imran (3): 19). To get around these problems, scholars who uphold the belief in a transcendent unity of religions avoid speaking about some verses and misinterpret the others. Of interest in this respect is the way Cantwell Smith changes the meaning of Qur’anic verse of Ali ‘Imran 3: 19 so that it will enhance his position. He boldly writes: I myself do not necessarily find a systematic, institutionalized sense even in the classic verses were it is customary nowadays to see the religion as being named. Inna al-dina 'inda Allahi al-islam (3: 19) may be read as stating the essential religious truth that ‘the proper way to worship God is to obey Him’. I will not however, repeat here my reason supporting this and similar interpretations. One may assert, however, that there is no instance in the Qur’an where ... the dynamic sense of the term as personal faith is patently absurd or grammatically intolerable. 18 What Cantwell Smith is really saying is that since /s/am is nothing more than submission, and since all religions profess some form of submission, then no religion can be properly called a religion without being a form of islam or submission. We maintain that the word al-din in this context means ‘the religion’, and not ‘the proper way to worship’; and the word al-isldm here does not mean simply ‘to obey’, which is merely one aspect of submission. The expression ‘the proper way to worship God’ necessarily implies improper ways of worshipping Him; and such improper ways of worshipping Him amount to disobeying Him. This means that there are other ways (read: religions) of worshipping God that are not proper, and that there is only one way that is proper which is given the name of al-isldm because the form of, submission (al- islam) is true to the command of God and approved by Him.!9 As al-Attas points out, there are two forms of submission the willing and true kind (taw‘an) which follows the 18 Smith, Understanding, 47. 19 Prolegomena, 11way of the Prophets; and the unwilling and false kind (karhan) which follows the inventions of the various religious traditions not emulating the way of the Prophets.20 To further support his stand, Cantwell Smith indicates that it is only recently (19th-20th centuries) that Islam has incontestably become the chosen term to signify both a religion and a type of politico-social involvement. He suggests that the usage and meaning of the word islam has undergone the process of evolution over the centuries. Accordingly, he concludes that the religion of Islam is no longer in its true, original form but, rather has taken a ‘reified’ sense.2! This statement is strongly supported by Toshihiko Izutsu: But by far the most important of all the concepts belonging in this class is the concept of islam itself, not, of course, in the sense of the historical, objective religious culture known as Islam- Islam as a result of the process of ‘reification’...but islam in the original sense of the determined self-submission, self-surrendering to the Divine Will, i.c., a decisive step taken by each individual person and existential problem, towards resigning his soul to God.22 In order to prove his view, Cantwell Smith has produced a number of arguments, such as islam gets much less attention than imdn in the Qur'an, with the ratio one to five and the title /slam in the works of very early Muslim scholars are considerably less common than today.23 His thesis eventually leads the reader to accept his conviction that Islam as the name of a particular religion is a comparatively new development and that the term really means religious submission in its general sense. To develop his arguments, Cantwell Smith found it necessary to prove to the readers that the Qur'an and the works of the very early Muslims scholars use imdn for referring to the religion revealed to the Prophet (pbuh), whereas the term islam was 20 See his Islam and Secularism, 61. 21 Ibid., 48. 22 Toshihiko Izutsu, God And Man In The Qur'én (Tokyo: The Keio Institute of Culture and Linguistic Studies, 1964),199 23° Smith, Understanding, 50used to refer to submission in general term (individual submission) only. To anyone who reads and understands the Qur’an, this is an obvious falsification of the Qur’anic text. He even goes on to use statistics to support his thesis, as he states that the ratio of the term imdn to islém in the Qur'an and in the works of very early Muslim scholars was statistically very significant in comparison to modern Islamic literature. According to this statistic, the ratio of the term iman to islam in the Qur'an is as much as five to one. Therefore, he concludes : ... during these centuries, islam slightly outnumbers imadn in titles, in ratio of three to two, We have already seen that in the Qur'an the ratio was one to five, in favour of imdn. In modem times, this ratio changes to over thirteen to one. That is, islam gets much less attention than iman in the Qur'an, gradually comes to get slightly more attention as Islamic history proceeds, and today is vastly more considered.24 As we shall try to show with supportive examples, the use of the term islam and imdn in the Qur'an, Hadith of the Prophet and the works of the early Muslim scholars was synonymous and interchangeable and that the term islam was clearly mentioned as the name of the religion revealed to the Prophet. Furthermore, the statistical technique as applied by Cantwell Smith can be extremely misleading in reaching such conclusions. For it is clear that for the purpose of the Qur’an iman is more important than the name of the religion, and as such it must lay more stress on this vital concept. In the verses repeated so many times (Fussilat (41): 8) and al-Riim (30): 35), imdn is put prior to ‘amal (deed) (inna al-ladhina dmanu wa ‘amilu al- salihat). Finally, one must stress that the use of statistical technique in discussing such conceptual issues is out of place and can lead to absurd conclusion.25 For example, one can say that the Qur’an mentions the name of Prophet Misa (a.s) one hundred and 24 hid. 25° This argument can be supported by Wan Mohd. Nor Wan Daud’s approach against Rosenthal on the issue of the statistical occurence of key terms in the Qur'an. See his book The Concept of Knowledge in Islam: and its Implications for Education in a Developing Country (London: Mansell Publishing Limited, 1989), chapter three, 52-54.thirty-six times, whereas the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was mentioned only four times as Muhammad and once as Ahmad. From this, and using the statistical technique, one may wrongly conclude that the Holy Qur’An gives more importance to Prophet Miisa than to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and that modern Muslim scholars have not followed their Holy Book in giving Prophet Misa the respect he deserves. In the same vain, though with different line of argument we find other scholars as well, such as Haddad who has even confused the term islam with the word al- Salam. Erroneously concluding that Islam is not the name of a religion (din) but it is one of the names of God, she argues that : Islam is not the name of a religion. It is God's name to what He has established as His din and is totally concerned with every action, every detail of all relevant and irrelevant aspects of life.26 Islam is as Jane I. Smith believes “... the individual submission of the servant with acceptance of the heart and obedience of the limbs, or as the community open to all people united in love and peace."27 She mainly relies on the works of a few famous orientalists, such as, Tor Andrae, Goldziher, Ringgren and others. Tor Andrae emphasizes that Islamic submission by a Muslim is a voluntary one, a decision one takes out of one's free choice. He states that: “...religion is primarily a voluntary surrender in trust and faith. It was as designation of this voluntary act that Muhammad used the term islam.” 28 Goldziher also reduces that is/4m to mere submission of the believers to God and he says the word islam is better than any other word to denote submission, in expressing the situation in which Muhammad places the believers in relation to God. Above all, he says, islam is an indication of the feeling of dependence before the 26 Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, “The Conception of The Term Din in The Qur'an”, The Muslim World, 64 (1974), 22; henceforth cited as Din in The Qur'an. She probably refers to Ibn Manzi for the interpretation of the term isldm. Smith, Islam, 234. She may also refer to Ibn Manzar for the interpretation of the term islam Tor Andrae, Muhammad, the Man and His Faith, Theophil Menzel, trans. (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1946), 67. He seems to have cited from Ibn Manzir. 27 10Almighty, to whom, it is necessary to abandon oneself in abdicating one's own will completely. According to him, this feeling of dependence is the main element in all forms of the Islamic religion and characterizes the mentality of its adherents.29 In the same manner Helmer Ringgren's writing reveals a clear linguistic analysis of the several forms of the verb, indicating both possible and probable meanings. Considering first the form of s-i-m, he summarizes its general meanings to be that of “wholeness, entirety, or totality, an unbroken and undivided whole, peaceful and harmonious.”30 In discussing the fourth form, aslama, he admits the difficulty to verify the meaning in its Qur’anic usages because usually aslama is a technical term for professing the religion of Muhammad, which is Islam.3! Ringgren relates that Islam is an act of gratitude towards God in the light of the relationship between man and God to whom everything belongs. In expressing the meaning of Islam as submission, Ringgeren concludes that: Submission and self-surrender are well known phenomena in religious life, and also is the feeling of total dependence upon God...we meet them also in modern Christian preaching. Submission is the true religious reaction towards a God, who is highly exalted beyond that which is earthly and human. And it is certainly a very natural reaction in a religion like that of Muhammad, which stresses the distance between God and man, and in which God is conceived of as the exalted Lord, ... Fear and submission are characteristic features of that religion, but as true religion cannot exist without faith and trust in God, the relation to God in Islam has also these characteristics. In many cases submission and faith are even identified. Total surrender is total confidence.32 29° See, Ignaz Goldziher, Le Dogme et la Loi (Vorlesungen: 1910), 2, as cited in Smith, /slam, 25, 30 See, Helmer Ringgren, Islam, Aslama, and Muslim (Uppsala, 1949), 13, as cited in Smith, Islam, 25, 31 tid., 29. 32. [hid.,33. The Qur’an not only stresses that God is immanent but also transcendent, for example God describes Himself as nearer to man than (his) jagular vein (Qaf (50): (16) and also God says: But We are nearer to him than ye, and yet ye see not (al-Wagi‘ah (56): 85) uLike other orientalists, Izutsu defines islam literally as submission. Citing the Qur'anic verse (al-Bagarah (2): 128) in connection with the total submission of Abraham, he says that here we find deep religious meaning of surrendering. He comments on Islamic submission by saying that, “... far from being a lukewarm and superficial sort of belief, or the first stumbling step in the faith, (it in fact) is the very foundation on which the whole religion of Islam is to be based.” 33 Izutsu continues his emphasis on the internal aspect of Islam when he says that ~...slam, as inner personal religious experience of each individual person, means the occurrence of an important event that marks the initial point from which real obedience and humbleness begins.” 34 Without realizing that Islam, as al-Attas has observed, was conscious of itself from the very beginning, and has not been subject to historical process of evolution. 35 Izutsu outlines what he sees as the smooth transition from the pre-Islamic hilm (in which are included elements of isdn (kindness), ‘ad! (justice), the forbidding of zu/m (wrongful violence), the control of passion, the criticism of arrogance, etc.) to the concept of islam. He notes: “From the Qur’anic point of view, islam in the sense of absolute submission and self-surrender was not a simply downright negation and rejection of hilm; it was rather a continuation and development of hilm.” 36 Another pertinent discussion to this research is the misconception of tawhid. Some scholars claimed that tawhid is merely believing in the oneness of God. In other words the first element of the shahddah is sufficient for a person to be a Muslim without acknowledging the apostleship of the final Prophet, that constitutes the second element of the shahddah. Western scholars such as Wensinck finds that the second portion of the shahadah (Muhammad is the messenger of God) is a stumbling block in 33. Toshihiko Izutsu, God And Man In The Qur'an, 187. 34 thid..187. 35. See his, Prolegomena, 4 36 Izutsu, God And Man In The Qur'an, 200. 12their way to interpret the meaning of the word islam as simply an unspecified submission to God in such a way so as to include all religions. Wensinck takes the incident of the Prophet rebuking Usimah ibn Zayd for killing a man after the man had pronounced shahddah of the Oneness of God, as evidence that one need only to say [a ildha illa Allah to be a Muslim and need not believe in the prophethood of Muhammad.37 This is indeed, a very wrong conclusion since, the statement (a ildha illa Allah, and everything that it implies, was just introduced to the Arabs by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and in accepting Allah as the only God, through the interpretation and example of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), the Arabs would automatically be considered as the followers of the religion of Muhammad (pbuh), namely Islam. It is surprising that Wensinck looks for evidence to support his contention from a man who had only a few seconds before his death. One may argue that this man did not have the time to complete the second part of the shahddah before he received the fatal stroke. A view similar to that of Wensinck’s is also projected by M. J. Kistal in which he raises doubt against the position of the Prophet (pbuh) by questioning the authenticity of the Ahadith that indicate the obligation of the Muslims to acknowledge the prophethood of Muhammad which constitutes the second element of the shahadah.38 In truth, these two parts of the shahddahs that constitute tawhid is the bedrock of the religion of Islam. No commandment in Islam would take effect without tawhid; the whole Islamic injunctions would collapse if tawhid is violated. Without tawhid the authenticity of the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) is subjected to doubt and consequently the very institution of the prophecy would be ruined. Tawhid is not sufficient by merely acknowledging the oneness of God without accepting the apostleship of Muhammad the bearer of the Shari'ah. One cannot exist without the other. The 37 A.J. Wensick, The Muslim Creed (New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1979), 28- 32 38 M. J. Kistal, Society and Religion from Jahiliyya to Islam: (Britain: Variorum, 1990), 49. 3relationship between the first and the second shahddah is just like the relationship between imdn and islam; one cannot exist without the other.39 Thus, this necessary connection between the two elements or parts of the shahddah, furnishes a priori evidence of the apostleship of the Prophet. Thus, to acknowledge the second element of the shah@dah is to accept the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) as the second fundamental source of Islam. It embodies the entire pattern of life of the Messenger of God and includes every detail concerning his utterances, his actions, his conduct and his attitude, whether explicit or implicit, namely the form or the manner of submission.40 Every aspect of his life and conduct has been reported to us in the vast collections of Ahddith as in the Sahih of al-Bukhari, the Sahih of Muslim, the Sunan of Aba Dawid, the Jami‘ of al-Tirmidhi, the Sunan of Ibn Majah, al-Nasa’i, and al-Darimi to mention only the most famous of such collections.4! Furthermore, the Qur'an imposes on all Muslims to love and obey Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Thus, it is an established fact that it is a duty of the believers to obey the Prophet (pbuh) and to respect his authority: O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from among you. (al-Nisa’ (4): 59) © you who believe, obey Allah and His Messenger and turn not away from him when you hear (him speak). (al-Anfal (8): 20) © you who believe, respond to Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. (al-Anfal (8): 24) 39. Jama‘at al-'Ulama, Sharh al-‘Agidat al-Tahawiyyah Takhrij al-hadith by Nasir al-Din al- Albani (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islimi, 8th edition., 1984), 347; hereinafter cited as al-‘Agidat al- Tahawiyyah. Similar statement attested by Shi'ite theologian; see, Muhammad ibn Muhammad, al-Mufid, al-"Agidat Sheikh al-Mufid (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyyah, 1983), 453 40 Ibn al-Salah ‘Ulam al-Hadith, ed. al-Tabbakh (Halab: n.p.1350 A.H.), 4. 41 Thid., 4.Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah. (al-Nisd’ (4): 80) And whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it and whatever he forbids you, abstain (from it). (al-Hashr (59):7) Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for him who hopes in Allah and in the Last Day and remembers Allah much, (al-Ahzdb (33): 21) In addition to the Qur'an, therefore, every Muslim believes in the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) as a model of guidance and wisdom. Several verses of the Qur'an have established clearly that this Sunnah was inspired and guided by God: Nor does he speak from his desire; it is enough but revelation that is revealed. (al-Najm (53): 3-4) And Allah has revealed to thee the Book and the Wisdom and taught thee what thou knewest not. (al-Nisd' (4): 113) Allah did confer a great favour on the Believer when he sent among them a Messenger from among themselves reciting to them His Signs and purifying them and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom. (Ali “Imran (3): 160) ‘The commentators of the Qur’an and leading jurists like al-Shafi'i (d. 205.A.H) have stated in unmistakable terms that the word hikmat in the above verses of the Qur'an refers to the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh).42 Al-Shafi‘i again states in his famous epistle: I do not know anybody from among people of scholarship who disagree on the fact that the ways of the Prophet are three: The first is what God revealed in the Qur’an and the Prophet acted likewise, the second is what God revealed in the Qur’an in general statements and 42 Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi, Kitdb al-Ikhtilaf al-Hadith, in the margin of the Kitdb al-Umm (Cairo: dar al-Fikr, 1391A.H), 8:457.the Prophet explained it in detail, and the third is what the Prophet decided on something which was not mentioned in the Qur’an.43 Al-Shafi‘i's statement is very clear in that the Prophetic Sunnah has the authority to affirm the rules of the Qur’an, to give a detailed explanation to what is stated in general terms in the Qur’an and to enunciate new legislation which are not mentioned in the Qur’n. Therefore, submission that does not spring from the model exemplified by the Prophet (pbuh) is not accepted in Islam. According to al-Attas, this kind of submission is deemed as unwilling or grudging kind of submission.*4 In fact, some scholars are of the opinion that whoever rejects the sunnah as a source of legislation is considered an apostate and unbeliever. Ibn Hazm, says that: “If somebody says, “we accept nothing but what we find in the Qur'an " that person will be considered a disbeliever by consensus of the Muslim nation.” 45 If this the case, then we must accept the fact that the second part of the shahadah has been considered by Muslims as an integral part of iman in Islam. which is indeed what is reflected in the Qur'an. As a matter of fact this understanding spring from the Qur'an itself all the way from the beginning of Islam. It is against this background that we shall try to elucidate the proper meaning of Islam with its fundamental metaphysics as the conceptual foundation of true submission. Many volumes have been written on Islam as a religion especially on the general meaning of submission. There are also those which project Islam as a religion and which emphasize the Law and the rituals. However, very rarely do we come across a critical analysis of the concept of din which is based on the notion of submission emanating from the sense of indebtedness, as expounded by al-Attas, analyzing the notion of din as originating from the Covenant sealed between the human souls and God. In developing this new outlook, al-Attas has explained the meaning of religion in 43° Ibid. 457. 44° See his, Islam and Secularism, 61 45° Aba Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Hazm, Kitab al-Ihkdm, fi Usiil al-Ahkdm (Cairo,1947), 2: 80; see also Mustafa al-Sibai, al-Sunnah wa Makanatuha fi al-Tashri’ al-Islémi (Cairo, 1961), 151. 16Islam expressed by the term din. We shall argue that in this novel exposition al-Attas has clearly demonstrated the original meaning of the term islam as reflected in the meaning of the concept of ‘religion’, din; for islam is not merely a concept, but something which is translated into reality intimately and profoundly lived in human experience. It is derived from the Qur’anic revelation of the covenant al-mithaq.46 He emphasizes that the very name of the religion, Islam, is in reality the definition of religion: submission to God, adding that “already in the very idea of submission, feeling, belief and action are implied; but the fundamental element in man’s act of submission to God is his sense of indebtedness to God for His gift of existence."47 Thus, this thesis is also an endeavor to explore the profound ideas and approach of al-Attas in his explication of the notion of din, religion. He particularly highlights three aspects of Islam, (i) as submission, (ii) as definition of religion and, (iii) as the name of a particular religion. We maintain that Islam as a religion is not merely a set of rules of laws, and neither is it restricted only to rituals, but it covers every sphere of life in which tawhid serves as the bedrock of submission. In order to carry out the above proposed task, we shall begin by first underlying the metaphysical foundation of true submission as understood in Islam. But since we shall be adopting al-Attas’s framework, the metaphysical foundation will be as he defines it. Subsequently, in the First Chapter, we shall look into the historical foundation, by which we mean the understanding of the concept of submission by the previous generations of Muslims until our own time. In doing this, a historical and semantic method on the meaning of is/dm will be applied; also the tafsirs by prominent thinkers of every period will be studied. Above all, the Qur’an and Hadith are our primary guide in Chapter Two. As we shall show, the essence of submission is the fact that it must be lived; namely this is an inherently experiential concept, and therefore, without living this 46 Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas. Islam and the Philosophy of Science (Kuala Lumpur; ISTAC, 1989), 1. 47 Bid. 17phenomenon, one may not reach the true understanding of its significance. This is why Chapter Three is devoted to analyze the experiential content of submission. As a result fundamental existential states of man vis a vis God, the Subject of submission, are evaluated and analyzed. An explanation of /man and islam as primary routes leading to the experience of submission will also be attempted; the reality of God is defended as the foundation of true submission. This discussion then brings us to the experiential basis of true submission. Here we are concerned primarily with the analysis of three concepts: 1. submission as fitrah; 2. submission as aménah; 3. Islam as a means of freeing the self. Naturally one may raise a question in this context: why submission? We will, therefore, also try to examine submission in the light of its consequences. As this makes up the main topic of Chapter Four, we shall try to analyze the psychology of submission, in order to prove our case. Obviously this discussion first requires the examination of human psychology in general, which concentrates on the nature of man and human freedom in accepting submission. Experiential states of the psychology of submission will also be discussed here in order to explain what tawakkul and happiness mean in line with the experiential understanding of submission. Our final chapter will try to analyze the impact of this understanding on the Muslim society, which will be taken under the heading of ‘submission as a social expression’. It is primarily in this chapter that we shall try to examine how submission understood in the sense as developed in this study, based on al-Attas’s understanding, which leads to the Qur’anic term din, and the concepts of ummah and millah.