Ikhlaas as Basis of Behaviour

    Ikhlaas is the pre-requisite of purity of faith in Oneness of God. If there is no Ikhlaas, there is no faith in the pure Unity of God, which amounts to shirk. If there is no Ikhlaas in Tauhiid, then there can't be Ikhlaas in Ibaadah, which has two basic ingredients: obedience to the Ordinance of Allah and His worship. If there is no Ikhlaas in obedience and worship, it means there is no Ikhlaas in Diin, which encompasses all and every aspect of life of the believer (Mu'min). In such a situation, whole system fails. Recently during his visit to Islamabad in June 2005, Shaikh Saleh ben Abdullah Kamel, President, Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who is pioneer and owner of a net work of Islamic banking, said that initiatives like interest free financial products, trusts and partnerships have become difficult to launch and operate because of lack of ikhlaas in our daily dealings and way of life (Diin). Submission to One God demands worship to Him alone, which entails obedience to His Will (Law) only, in all spheres of life (Diin - Way of life), including social and economic. The Quran has quoted an example of economic corruption in violation of ikhlaas (honesty) in economic dealings, as the cause of downfall and doom of people of Prophet Shuaib (Peace be upon him).

"Behold! The only true religion in the sight of God is self-surrender unto Him, and those who were given the Book before, took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views, only after knowledge had come to them. As for him, who denied the Signs of Allah (the truth of God's Message), behold! God is swift in calling to account." 3-19 'Whoever wishes anything else but Islam, it will not be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter, he will be in the ranks of those who have lost ." 3-85 "He (Allah) is the One Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance, and the Religion (Diin) of truth, so that it prevails over all religion, even though the disbelievers detest it." 61-9

"The example of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), provided a powerful, emphatic and conspicuous model of a way of life, called a paradigm-tracing model of piety by Hodgson: 'when ultimacy is sought in enduring cosmic patterns, in recurrent nature (including social nature). for instance, as the worshipper faces Mecca (Ka'baa) in the mosque and bows, he sets himself symbolically in the right relation to God' (Hodgson 1974: 1, 363)." (Abdulkader Tayob, Islam, A Short Introduction, 41.)

Some people have distorted the very example of the Prophet (Peace be upon). In many cases, its focus has been lost and it has been hardened in its reinforcement. It has been reduced to mere repetition as ritual. In many other cases high status of Sunnah and its distinction from all other Hadiith also has been obscured. This is quite obvious in case of purity ritual also. Religious focus of purity ritual is not only because of relationship as between ritual and purity itself, but also its overwhelming emphasis lies in the religious value of following the literal example of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). In fact, from a jurisprudential as well as spiritual point of view, significance of purification lies in its Divine and Prophetic location.

"Reinhart found Islamic purity ritual system unique, and more than a cleansing mechanism.. A prominent anthropologist, Mary Douglas, regards notions of purity and impurity as underscoring the cosmological systems of a people: 'ideas about separating, purifying, demarcating and punishing transgressions have as their main function to impose system on an inherently untidy experience' (Douglas 1970: 4). Symbolic structures in religion provide an opportunity for philosophizing: 'reflection on dirt involves reflection on the relation of order to disorder, being to non-being, form to formlessness, life to death' (Douglas 1970: 5). For Douglas, dirt is 'matter out of place' and has to be studied from the point of view of order in the cosmological system. Dirt and pollution provided insights on purity and order in the system."

"Reinhart took this notion of symbolic purity and applied it to the Islamic norms. .. Reinhart suggests that the rituals of purity in Islam exemplify moral control and discipline: 'Islamic ritual in many respects echoes the Quranic summons to self-mastery' (Reinhart 1990: 19). Things or acts that 'exhibit loss of control,.needed to be restored through a purification ritual, and the body 'rededicated.to obedience of the will.' (Reinhart 1990: 16). Thus rituals of purity are more than the process of identifying dirt and removing it. They are part of the significance of being and becoming human in relation to ultimate reality. When defilement occurs, the legal and social system demands a restoration."

Abdulkader Tayob (Islam, A Short Introduction, p.44), continues to elaborate that "Quranic sense of purity, if I may so call it, can be contrasted with the legalistic sense of purity rituals as outlined in the formulaic system of Shari'ah. The Quran refers to purity, purification and impurities in a non-ritualistic sense and thus in a non-formal manner: 2-222, 74-4, 5-6. There is a deeper spiritual resonance in these verses. but they do not only refer to the purification process as a symbolically repeated event. Rather, their focus lies on cleansing and purification as moral acts that apply to actual physical properties. The justification for tayammum in the Quran, for example, is not as Reinhart suggests, an indication that purification in Islam is non-ontological. The reference (5-6), therefore, is to purification as a moral and ethical imperative in spite of the absence of water. However, by itself, it does not mean that physical aspect of purification is unimportant. This may be true of Islamic legal texts as they elaborate the rules of purification on the basis of founding documents like the Quran and the Sunnah. It is not true of these founding documents themselves. In these, there is an engagement between the physical, moral and religious which is lost in the legal structure. Perhaps, as we move away in time from the origin of a foundation text, the symbols keep us engaged. But they do so at the expense of our engagement with the world." He goes on to say: "Purification rituals play an important role in identifying borders and they expose the fundamental orientation of a culture's worldview."

Islamic 'orientation of a culture's worldview' is embodied in the concept of Shari'ah, which implies that believers are called by God to act in the prescribed manner. Believer has to seek what God desires of him in each and every situation. Each human act is attached a value. Prescriptions for purity underscore individual and social obligation in relation to self, society and God. The word Shari'ah literally means 'a path leading to water'. It signifies a code of conduct leading to salvation and felicity

'To each among you, We (Allah)have prescribed a path (Shari'ah: law), and a method (Minhaaj: open way)." 5-48 A specific way of life has been prescribed for each community of creatures, with wide scope for individual trends, and particular permutations

"There is not an animal on the earth, not a being that flies, on its wings, but communities like you. Nothing have We (Allah) omitted from the Book, and they shall be gathered to their Lord in the end." 6-38 "Glorify the Name of your Guardian-Lord Most High" (1) "Who has created and further given order and proportion." (2) "Who has ordained laws and granted guidance." (3) 87-1 to 3 For sustaining and developing any community, it is essential that it faithfully follows the harmonized code of life, specific to its existence and structure.