The Faith of Islam | Page 8

is the cause of nearness to God. The Prophet himself is reported to
have {13} said, "Obey me that God may regard you as friends." From
this statement the conclusion is drawn that "the love of God (to man) is

conditional on obedience to the Prophet." Belief in and obedience to the
Prophet are essential elements of the true faith, and he who possesses
not both of these is in error.[19]
In order to show the necessity of this obedience, God is said to have
appointed Muhammad as the Mediator between Himself and man. In a
lower sense, believers are to follow the "Sunnat" of the four Khalífs,
Abu Bakr, Omar, Osmán, and 'Alí, who are true guides to men.
To the Muslim all that the Prophet did was perfectly in accord with the
will of God. Moral laws have a different application when applied to
him. His jealousy, his cruelty to the Jewish tribes, his indulgence in
licentiousness, his bold assertion of equality with God as regards his
commands, his every act and word, are sinless, and a guide to men as
long as the world shall last. It is easy for an apologist for Muhammad
to say that this is an accretion, something which engrafted itself on to a
simpler system. It is no such thing. It is rather one of the essential parts
of the system. Let Muhammad be his own witness:--"He who loves not
my Sunnat is not my follower." "He who revives my Sunnat revives me,
and will be with me in Paradise." "He who in distress holds fast to the
Sunnat will receive the reward of a hundred martyrs." As might be
expected, the setting up of his own acts and words as an infallible and
unvarying rule of faith accounts more than anything else for the
immobility of the Muhammadan world, for it must be always
remembered that in Islám Church and State are one. The Arab proverb,
"Al mulk wa dín tawáminí"--country and religion are twins--is the
popular form of expressing the unity of Church and State. {14} To the
mind of the Musalmán the rule of the one is the rule of the other,--a
truth sometimes forgotten by politicians who look hopefully on the
reform of Turkey or the regeneration of the House of Osmán. The
Sunnat as much as the Qurán covers all law, whether political, social,
moral, or religious. A modern writer who has an intimate acquaintance
with Islám says:--"If Islám is to be a power for good in the future, it is
imperatively necessary to cut off the social system from the religion.
The difficulty lies in the close connection between the religious and
social ordinances in the Kurán, the two are so intermingled that it is
hard to see how they can be disentangled without destroying both." I

believe this to be impossible, and the case becomes still more hopeless
when we remember that the same remark would apply to the Sunnat.
To forget this is to go astray, for Ibn Khaldoun distinctly speaks of "the
Law derived from the Qurán and the Sunnat," of the "maxims of
Musalmán Law based on the text of the Qurán and the teaching of the
Traditions."[20]
The Prophet had a great dread of all innovation. The technical term for
anything new is "bida't," and of it, it is said: "Bida't is the changer of
Sunnat." In other words, if men seek after things new, if fresh forms of
thought arise, and the changing condition of society demands new
modes of expression for the Faith, or new laws to regulate the
community, if in internals or externals, any new thing (bida't) is
introduced, it is to be shunned. The law as revealed in the Qurán and
the Sunnat is perfect. Everything not in accordance with the precepts
therein contained is innovation, and all innovation is heresy.
Meanwhile some {15} "bida't" is allowable, such as the teaching of
etymology and syntax, the establishment of schools, guest-houses, &c.,
which things did not exist in the time of the Prophet; but it is distinctly
and clearly laid down that compliance with the least Sunnat (i.e. the
obeying the least of the orders of the Prophet, however trivial) is far
better than doing some new thing, however advantageous and desirable
it may be.
There are many stories which illustrate the importance the Companions
of the Prophet attached to Sunnat. "The Khalíf Omar looked towards
the black stone at Mecca, and said, 'By God, I know that thou art only a
stone, and canst grant no benefit, canst do no harm. If I had not known
that the Prophet kissed thee, I would not have done so, but on account
of that I do it.'" Abdullah-Ibn-'Umr was seen riding his camel round
and round a certain place. In