By Dr Wasim Ahmad,
Whether individual is the focus of Islam or the community is a question that often springs to mind. Reviewing the Qur’anic emphasis one realizes that it addresses the individual, first and foremost. Some of the verses clearly imply this. Even where Qur’an addresses collectively the ultimate addressee is an individual. For instance, five times daily obligatory prayers and pilgrimage are collective obligations. But the individual is in no way absolved of duty no matter what a big number of people have performed the said acts unless he himself performs them. There is a considerable gap between the Qur’anic vision of the individual man and its transmission in social institutions across the ages. The Qur’anic vision of man is a free and morally responsible being (33:72).
This individualistic approach has not been understood quite well in its cultural, civilizational and societal aspects as clearly as it deserves. Creativity and thinking as well as initiative taking is what takes place with an individual first. However, in an environment where the individual is not the focus the expectation is from the entire community and not from the individuals. This is where there develops a culture of buck-passing or shifting of responsibilities.
I often recollect what Iqbal writes in the context of Ijtihaad – tracing the reasons for the closure of its doors to the sack of Baghdad (1258 CE) – and the focus of ‘Ulama of the past and the present times on preserving the social order. “Their leading idea was social order, and there is no doubt that they were partly right, because organization does to a certain extent counteract the forces of decay. But they did not see, and our modern ‘Ulama do not see, that the ultimate fate of a people does not depend so much on organization as on the worth and power of individual men. In an over-organized society the individual is altogether crushed out of existence. He gains the whole wealth of social thought around him but loses his own soul.” He further writes, “The only effective power, therefore, that counteracts the forces of decay in a people is the rearing of self-concentrated individuals. Such individuals alone reveal the depth of life. They disclose new standards (of thought and action) in the light of which we begin to see that our environment is not wholly inviolable and requires revision.” (The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Sh. Muhammad Ashraf Publishers, Lahore, 1999, p. 151) When, however, the individual is “dethroned from his sovereign seat in the scheme of things, the possibility of social progress in the direction of building a lasting and durable civilization is gravely compromised.” (Islam in the Modern World, A K Brohi, Ed. Khursheed Ahmad, Publishers United Ltd, 176, Anarkali, Lahore, 1975, p. 84)
The creation of an idea begins and the truth appears in the minority of one. Only after that it gathers momentum and gains general acceptance in the life of the society. A K Brohi, a distinguished lawyer, wrote; “If individuality is not accepted, the emergence of truth and its development as well as sustainability may not be possible.” (Islam in the Modern World, Ed. Khursheed Ahmad, Publishers United Ltd, 176, Anarkali, Lahore, Pakistan 1975 pp. 43-44) In his view, the wider social groups like the family, the tribe, the community, and the nation and mankind itself merely exist to preserve and promote the cause of individual development.
Too much emphasis on community and groups in Muslim societies is in stark contrast with the West where man is an individual first and last. Unbridled individualism is, however, foreign to Islam and it does not suit the responsibility which it endows the individual with in his various capacities.
(The writer is Department Head of Islamic Studies, Preston University Ajman, Ajman, United Arab Emirates. Email: E-mail: [email protected])