Systematization of "the Thought"

How can We Use the “Original Language”?

“Original language” was used competently in the Era of Bliss by the Prophet and His Companions. One of the best examples of how they used it was given by Rib’i ibn Amir who was among the lesser-known companions of the Prophet and the envoy of the Muslim troops sent to conquer the lands of Persia. His reply to the question asked by Rustam, the Persian army commander, who wanted to understand why Muslim troops came to his lands is a perfect example in terms of both representing a good summary of the Message of Islam and also showing how Muslims can use the “original language.” When Rustam asked: “why did you come here?” he said: “God sent us to rescue the humanity from the worship of the people to the worship of Lord of the people, and from the injustice of other religions to the justice of Islam.” If we look closely at the terms used in these sentences we can see that one of them, i.e. “the worship”, draws attention. It is really remarkable that the envoy who chose his words carefully did not use an “apologetical” discourse, but used merely the term “worship”, which is among the key concepts of the original language in order to convey the message quintessentially to the addressee. He did not say something like: “we came here to overturn your oligarchical, despotic regime and to establish an order in which the ‘fundamental rights’ and ‘freedoms’ are observed.” This usage typically belongs to the “apologetical” discourse which is widely used today even by Muslim intellectuals and scholars. The language of the Ibni Amir, on the other hand, originates definitely from the Qoran itself. Surah al-Kafiroon is one of the best example of it in that almost all sentences of the surah are made out of the concept of “worship.”  So, this surah can be regarded as an illustrative example for those who want to see how we can use “the original language.”

There is no doubt that the Message of Islam today can be conveyed to whole humanity with the same clearness by using the same language. But we need to do our “home work” well in order to achieve this goal, i.e. we should first have a good knowledge of Islam, and then have a good grasp of modernity.

In this regard, we, as Muslims, should understand well the formula of “worship versus freedom.” We should be aware of the fact that the idea of “freedom” which can easily be seen as the most central concept of modernity in terms of defining and appreciating the human deeds is the exact opposite of the idea of “worship” which is again the most central concept of Islam in terms of defining and appreciating the human deeds. Knowledge deficiency can not be tolerated here. If we do this, we would deserve to be called “the most ignorant and base of all classes” as Abu Hanifah described in his time because we would then be among those ones who are described as just but do not recognise the injustice of those who oppose them. Muslims must know well not only Islamic concepts but also their opposites, and the contradictions and conflicts between them must be shown clearly. This is another requirement for systematizing the thought.