Ghar Waapsi... To Islam

What is Back to Nature and Islam?

African-American author, Alex Haley, in his epic 1976 biographical novel, ‘Roots’ traces down his family lineage to an African village from which one of his ancestors was abducted centuries back and sold out as a slave in America. Haley, travels back to his ancestral village in Africa and is moved to tears on his ‘homecoming’. This sense of belonging that a person has with his ‘roots’ is so ingrained in one’s nature and is so powerful an instinct that it has been cruelly exploited by some communal forces back home in the past one year under the garb of Ghar Waapsi. But if you dig deeper, this campaign of Ghar Waapsi, if implemented in true letter and spirit, should take a person somewhere else… it should take him ‘back’ to Islam.

What exactly is Islam?

Or should we ask, ‘What is Islam not’? Islam, for one, is NOT a religion invented or pioneered by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ some 1400 years back. It is not an ‘also’ religion in the long list of religious systems prevalent in the world. Islam is not a collection of certain rites and rituals particular to a certain community bearing Arabic and Persian names. Oh no, not at all! Islam is something more, much more.

‘Islam’ literally means submission of your will (to Allah). The word is also traced back to the root-word ‘Salaam’ which means ‘Peace’. This is because the moment any creation of Allah submits his will and desires to Him, he attains true inner peace. Let us see how….

By definition, everyone and everything in this universe is actually a Muslim (the one who submits his/her/its will to Allah), in the sense that they obey Allah’s commands without their free will interfering with or revolting against Allah’s commandments. Plants, animals, air, water, light, planets, stars- right from the biggest Supernova down to the smallest virus- all are ‘Muslim’ in the truest sense of the term. All are obeying Allah’s commands down to the finest detail and are governed by the physical laws Allah has ordained for them. They just cannot refuse to perform their assigned tasks and do not divert from being ‘Muslim’ even for a fraction of a second. Allah says in Surah al-Inshiqaq that the sky and the earth respond to their Lord’s commands and they are obligated to do so. Why, even the body organs of the staunchest atheists are Muslims in this holistic sense by virtue of being subservient to Allah’s commands. Their eyes see and their ears hear, their hearts beat and their kidneys purify the blood- all in perfect accordance with what they have been told to do by their Creator.

The only possible exception here is the nafs (self) of human beings which has been given the choice and free will of either obeying or revolting against the commands of its Lord and Creator.

This fact has been explicitly highlighted in Surah al-Hajj [ayat 18] which brings to our notice this inconvenient truth… “Do you not see (i.e. know) that to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth and the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the trees, the moving creatures and many of the people? But upon many the punishment has been justified….” Worth noting here is the exception to prostration (subservience) that is attached only with humans and not with any other form of creation.

If this nafs also joins the ranks of all the other creations of Allah in willfully obeying Him and abiding by His commandments instead of revolting against Him, it would become one with nature and thus attain the true peace that has variously been interpreted as salvation, bliss, moksh and nirwana.

The innate Nature:

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has told us that “Every child is born upon Fitrah (nature, as a Muslim). It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Polytheist.” [as recorded in Sahih Bukhari]. From the above discussion, it is not difficult to discern why. Since the new born baby has not as yet exercised his free will against the commands of Allah, there is no reason why he should not be entitled to be a ‘Muslim’. External influences like family, society, friends and colleagues eventually mould his thoughts. If these external influences are Muslim, then well and good- the child remains on his Fitrah or natural instincts of being submissive to his Creator. But if for some reason these external factors are not Muslim, then there is every possibility of the child deviating from his Fitrah and landing up in eternal perdition.

Islam has been the religion of all prophets:

But how will man know what Allah wants from him? To make matters easier, Allah has- out of His abundant mercy- made a provision for man to acquaint himself with His divine laws and commandments. This has been facilitated by means of certain men (Prophets or messengers) appointed by Allah- in all times and communities- to deliver His message to mankind. Allah Himself asserts that, “And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger (saying), ‘Worship Allah and avoid taghut’….” [Surah an-Nahl ayat 36]. It has also been made amply clear that all these messengers preached the same basic message revealed by Allah, i.e. Islam. Accordingly, in the 163^rd ayat of Surah an-Nisa, Allah avers that, “Indeed, We have revealed to you (O Muhammad), as we revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And We revealed to Ibraheem and Ismail and Is’haaq and Yaqoob and the descendants, and Isa and Ayyub and Yunus and Haroon and Sulaiman, and to Dawood We gave the book.”

The Family Tie:

Let us look at it from one more aspect. We are all children of Adam and Eve, as stated in the very first ayat of Surah an-Nisa: “O Mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate, and dispersed from both of them many men and women….” Again, in Surah al-Hujurat, Allah says that, “O mankind, indeed we have created you from a male and a female and made you people and tribes that you may know each other….” Who were Adam and Eve? They were Muslim.

Moreover, it is stated in a Hadees recorded by Bayhaqi that all creatures are Allah’s family.

This leads us to conclude that any person who has detached himself from Islam has actually detached himself from his own ancestral path, and indeed, detached himself from the family of Allah, his Lord and Creator.

Why be a Muslim? Why only Islam?

By pondering over the above passages, we can easily concur that it is naturally expected of men of all periods- from Adam to the last man on earth- to submit his whole self to Allah along with other fellow creations; and anyone who does this simple thing is called a Muslim in Arabic and is considered to have accepted Islam. This is precisely the ‘asSirat alMustaqeem’ or the ‘Straight Path’ pleaded for in Surah al-Fatihah and any deviation from this path is either despised upon as being ignorance or revolt. This makes it incumbent upon anyone who has deviated from asSirat alMustaqeem, from Islam, to return to it before his last breath so as to be worthy of Allah’s good pleasure and eternal rewards.

In Surah Ale-Imran, Allah says, “Die not, except as Muslims (in submission to Allah’s will)” because “Indeed, the (only acceptable) deen in the sight of Allah is Islam” and “Whoever desires other than Islam as a deen- never will it be acceptable from him, and he, in the hereafter will be among the losers.” Allah has himself chosen Islam as the desired way of life for us and in Surah Ma’idah He puts it thus: “This day I have perfected for you your deen, and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as deen.” (The Arabic word ‘deen’ includes in it’s interpretation all possible aspects of a person’s life- religious, political, social, personal, financial etc.)

It’s never too late to return:

People usually lose out hope after decades of being away from asSirat alMustaqeem. So is there a way out? Definitely! Turn to Allah, repent to Him. He is waiting for you with open arms. He says, in Surah al-Infitar, “O mankind, what has deceived you concerning your Lord, the Generous?” Is it your family who has deceived you or is it Satan, the chief deceiver? Is it your ill-informed notion and limited knowledge about Allah, or is it the glitter and luster of this world? Allah calls out to us in Surah at-Takweer: “So where are you headed to?” Come back to me… before it’s too late.

Yes, you still have time, but only till your last breath. Till then the doors of divine forgiveness and mercy are open to every such person who repents to his Lord and Creator with a sincere heart.

Allah reassures (in Surah az-Zumar, ayaat 53&54) that, “O my servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah forgives all sins (for those who repent and correct themselves). Indeed it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful. And return to your Lord and submit to him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped.”

How eager Allah is to accept our repentance is graphically explained in a beautiful Hadees recorded by Imam Muslim. This Hadees, narrated by Hazrat Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Verily, Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than a person who has his camel in a waterless desert carrying his provision of food and drink and it is lost. He, having lost all hope (to get that back), lies down in the shade of a tree, when all of a sudden he finds that camel standing before him. He takes holds of its reins and out of boundless joy blurts out: ‘O Allah, You are my slave and I am your Lord.’ He commits this mistake out of extreme joy.”

Allah’s messenger, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has also assured us that whoever accepts Islam, all his previous sins are washed off as if he were a newborn child. This is because he, by accepting the authority of Allah and submitting before his Creator and Lord, returns to the Fitrah upon which he was originally created. This is precisely the reason why the acceptance of Islam by any fortunate soul is never referred to as ‘conversion’; instead, it is always called ‘reversion’.

Evidence and Examples from Seerah:

The best and ideal Muslims, after the Prophets, are unanimously considered to be the companions (Sahaba) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Almost all the 1.25 lakh Sahaba had previously been polytheists before reverting to Islam. The list of Sahaba who had embraced Islam also includes hitherto Christians like Hazrat Abi bin Hatim and Jewish scholars like Hazrat Abdullah bin Salaam (May Allah be pleased with them).

The doors of repentance are wide open to even those people who have fought against Islam by their words and deeds. Hazrat Khalid bin Walid, Hazrat Suhail bin Amr, Hazrat Amr bin Aas, Hazrat Ikramah bin Abu Jahl, Hazrat Abu Sufiyan and his wife Hazrat Hind are examples of such people who had opposed Islam tooth and nail in the initial years of the Prophet’s mission but repented later. After coming into the loving fold of Islam, they were all forgiven and treated at par with the rest of the Muslims; their names are still taken with utmost respect- May Allah be pleased with them all.

The True Ghar Waapsi:

From the above arguments, we come to know that:

·        We are all children of Adam and Eve and they were Muslims, as were all the prophets of Allah, without exception.

·        All the other creations of Allah in this universe are also ‘Muslim’, including our own body organs.

·        Also, we have seen that our innate nature (Fitrah) is also always ‘Muslim’.

·        Any person, at any point of his life, can always repent to Allah, who is eagerly waiting for them to return to asSirat alMustaqeem.

Hence, it would be in the right scheme of things if those who have made themselves aloof from the family of Allah and revolted against their own Fitrah return to the family of their Lord and Creator, return to Islam. This, and only this, would qualify as the true Ghar Waapsi.