Author: Mufti Obaidullah Noorzahi
Crises of Liberalism in the Contemporary World (Part Four)
Distraction of the Heart
Like the body, the heart also has a face and eyes, and if its attention is on one side, it remains oblivious to the other. Many times, a person considers himself honest and sincere, and considers this sufficient to reach the truth, and relies on it; as a result, he becomes busy pursuing the desires of the ego and blocks any influential factor so that it does not affect its verdict. This same preoccupation prevents him from examining what he considers to be the truth and verifying it, and he thinks that he is excused, and considers opposing arguments against himself as a form of strictness, excess, and aggression, because he is sincere and honest.
Allah the Exalted says: “وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ اللهَ عَلَى مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ ﴿۲۰۴﴾ وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى سَعَى فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الفَسَادَ(۲۰۵)” Translation: “And among the people there is one whose speech in the life of this world will surprise you.” He holds and takes Allah as witness over what he has in his heart. He is the most severe of enemies, and when he returns (or gains power), he strives to spread corruption in the land and destroy crops and offspring, and Allah does not love corruption.” [1]
Being too preoccupied with the rightness of intention harms the soundness of intention in thought and action and prevents its owner from examining the correctness of what he is doing: “قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا ﴿۱۰۳﴾ الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعا(۱۰۴)” Translation: “Say: Shall I inform you of the most losers in deeds? They are those whose efforts in the life of this world and they have gone astray and think that they are doing good.” [2]
And He says: “إِنَّهُمُ اتَّخَذُوا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَاء مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُم مُّهْتَدُونَ” Translation: “Indeed, they have taken the devils as their friends instead of Allah and they think that they are the guided.” [3]
The interpretation of what is considered extremism or looseness in beliefs and actions goes back to the soundness of these three previous things, and whenever one of them is disturbed, this defect will be seen in its results.
The soundness of these three is real soundness, not an alleged one; it creates a barrier between man and error in the results.
Liberalism; Seed and Fruit
One of the certainties about liberal thought is that “liberalism” is formed from a set of instincts and stimuli. Most, if not almost all, thoughts are rooted in instinct, and thoughts that are not based on an instinctive principle often do not become established or last; as a result, action is limited to them and then disappears; but the place of error in instinctive thoughts is that the principle of a word or action is fixed in nature; but it is placed in a position other than its place; such as sexual deviations, sodomy, adultery, sexual intercourse between women and women, or exceeding the limits set in the Sharia, in a way that is in accordance with the principle of instinct; such as marrying more than four women or replacing it with something else, such as replacing the meat of halal cattle, birds and fish with pork, dogs, carrion and using gold and silver utensils instead of other utensils and eating from them, the principle of these (sexual intercourse with the opposite sex and eating animal meat) is innate, so the simple listener sees it in accordance with the principle of his instinct and in order to complete the lost instinct. The closer an idea is to nature, the more followers it has, and the easier it is for people to be convinced of it and act accordingly.
Sometimes something may be a combination of several natural instincts, in which case the influence will be based on the strength of this combination and its correctness, as well as the correctness of the person’s reason.
Liberal thought wants the individual to say and do whatever he wants without any limits or restrictions, without external factors or being influenced by anyone, and he does not care what others do, and others should not care what he does, and no religious, tribal, or racial thought or belief should affect him. It is only necessary to move from the origin of reason and analysis, which is a reflection of matter and nature; because only the human mind governs him, reason is the same God who, without any partner, lays down laws for individuals, for this reason, liberal reason does not care about the actions of others. He does not give it; because this has nothing to do with him and this defect is in the necessities of the affairs; because thoughts are not disciplined and the correct from the incorrect is not known except by the totality of the actions of their owners, because a person alone does not have the strength to do what is correct and proper, let alone what is not correct and proper for him to do. Now if he is told: Another thing has nothing to do with you, then he will not know anything about thoughts except what he does himself and this is why the intellects are confused in understanding thoughts and as a result they will not be able to judge their correctness or incorrectness. This idea is in agreement with one of the human natures, which is called “Kanood” (confused). Man is a confused, meaning he dislikes anyone watching him, let alone accounting or collaborating with him. Allah the Almighty says: “إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لِرَبِّهِ لَكَنُودُ” Translation: “Indeed, man is a confused to his Lord” “[4]
Bayhaqi narrated in “Shoab al-Iman” from Qatadah and al-Hasan that they said: “A stingy person means: one who is very ungrateful for the blessings, stingy with what he has been given, who withholds His gifts from those who deserve them, keeps his slaves hungry, eats alone, and does not help his people in their distress. A person is not a stingy person until these characteristics are combined in him.”
These characteristics are combined in animals; because animals are simply instinctive and act according to their instincts, without reason and without a goal that they want to achieve. Similarly, humans want their instincts to be realized; but with the difference that they use their reason in doing so and do it in a way that is worthy of them. Allah Almighty wants to make man noble and exalted by satisfying his instincts according to the prescription that He has set, a prescription through which the system of all humanity is perfected in all times and places, not that a group has a separate system for itself, let alone that each individual sets a special system for himself. Allah Almighty has set for the soul of every human being characteristic that are unique in the choice of words and actions, and these characteristics are not counted, and whoever knows the appearance of the Quran and the Sunnah will realize this.
Continues…
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References:
[1] – Surah Al-Baqarah, verses: 204-205.
[2] – Surah Al-Kahf, verses: 103-104.
[3] – Surah Al-A’raf, verse: 30.
[4] – Surah Al-‘Adiyat, verse: 6.
