The Quran and community

Virtually every human language has a word for 'community.' Howcould it
be otherwise when community is of the core essenceof the human
experience? We arecreatures of community. To live as part of one
fulfills the most natural inclination to society thatthrives in every
one of us. This is the reason that the notion of community—simple,
innate, intuitively understood—never didcall for much discussion. It
was that fundamental.
Not so since the cesarean birth ofthe modern, when man was untimely
ripped from his natural social womb and delivered disoriented into
moral distortion,unmanageable materialism, greed, injustice and
arrogance. This has steadily led us to a grossreverence of
individualism and a near total disregard for the common weal of man.
The result has been much more than the mere loss of an abstract
communal sense among us (and its attendant avalanche of ugly ills). We
have been forced to endure the degradation and, in some cases, the
complete destruction, of the most essentialhumanizing component in
life: The family.
Still, 'community' remains in wide use among all people. We invoke it
at every turn because it is deep in our Fitrah (the natural
predisposition upon which AllaahAlmighty created mankind), our
inherent tendency toward virtue. For community alone holds all earthly
hope for our shared happiness and brotherhood.
It is a strange thing that something as ancient as community—a given
for the pre-moderns, despite their technological and
informational"deficiencies"—has become a cause of primary challenge in
our time and at what price?
This points up another importantnote on community: The lack of proper
understanding of what community means. This is the chief reason it is
so hard today toestablish and maintain one.
In this, there is, indeed, a sign forour confused times. It exposes a
certain unawareness among our Muslim leadership, which has shown
itself at a loss for identifying the wellsprings of community, though
the Quran is utterly unambiguous about this.
The first thing about community in the Quran that rivets you is its
massive emphasis. Aside from the topics of faith and Tawheed, Ummah
(in its various forms) is the most widely mentioned concept in it. It
establishes community as the standard by which we are to understand
and reflect upon man. Allaah Almighty Says (what means): "O mankind,
indeed We have createdyou from a male and a female and made you
peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most
noble of you in the sight of Allaah is the most righteous of you.
Indeed, Allaah is Knowing and Acquainted." [Quran 49:13]
This is the most essential form ofcommunity intended by God Almighty
for man—a single fellowship commanded to come together for the common
good on the basis of monotheism. The Quran grants that material means
may allow man gain in worldly matters. Yet only one criterion (God's
reverence and worship—which the Quran refers to as Taqwa ) forms the
basis upon which man is to be judged. This makes Taqwa , reverencing
only One God, the sole guidance worth living by. This is no mere
abstraction. So let there be no ambiguity about it. Taqwa is entirely
concrete.
If people find it difficult to grasp the rope of God Almighty by which
Taqwa is represented, let's be frank, it is wholly due to one failing:
The fact that establishing a community based on exclusive reverence
for God Almighty alone means that some men cannot be lords over
others. All are equal and must, therefore, render unto others what
they expect from them in return. That is the reasonwhy Taqwa is the
only logical criterion of a just community. It is a direct measure of
our willingness to believe in Allaah The Most High and obey His
commands.
Strikingly, the Quran tells us that the most important ingredient
inestablishing a community depends not on space, time, matter, or any
other "chance" trait or relationship in the world. It is a bond of the
human heart. The naked truth is no amount of human will or earthly
means can bring it about. It is purely and explicitly an act of Divine
Grace. Allaah Says (what means): "…And remember the favor of Allaah
upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together
and you became, by His favor, brothers…" [Quran 3:103] Thus, it is
Allah, and Allah alone, who brings the hearts of a community together
and binds them.
We need to appreciate that this isnot an act of pure destiny but also
a function of whether a people consciously chooses to internalize and
live by the sterlingstandard of Taqwa , namely this: God is God. Man
is Man. The First is to be worshiped. The latter is His servant,
serving all others at His divine pleasure.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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