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ISLAMIC EYES
(Continued from page 6)
dinals- nor a centralized world
headquarters, such as the Vatican.
The
ulemas. mul/ahs. mujtahids
or
ayatollahs.
as lslamic scholars
and teachers are variously called,
are the closest thing Moslems have
toa religious clergy.
Way of Llfe
To see the world through Moslem
eyes, it is necessary to unders tand
that to the vast majority of Mos–
lems, Islam is a
way of lije.
Many Weste rners-to whom
religion means merely attend ing
church services for an hour or two
on Sunday-simply cannot com–
prehend the all-pervasive nature of
the lslamic faith in the lives of its
followers. Most Weslerners have
long abandoned the challenge of
act uall y
living
their professed
fai th.
Islam, however, is
central
to
every aspect of a Moslem's life.
lt
is far from a Friday-go- to-mosque
kind of religion. The average Mos–
lem takes the Koran seriously. He
st rives d iligently to obey its pre–
cepts. Islam guides thought and
action to a degree virtually without
parallel in the West. Religion and
life are
inseparable.
Western visitors to lslamic coun–
tries often make the mis take of
assuming th a t because ma ny
upper-class Moslems speak Euro–
pean languages, dress like Western–
ers and may have been educated in
the West, that they also have
adopted Western att itudes toward
religion .
Not so.
The overwhelming maJonty of
Moslems of
al/
classes and stations
diligently follow the precepts of
their faith. They pray toward the
holy city of Mecca five times each
day. On Friday, Moslems observe a
special day of public prayer in the
masque.
During the entire holy month of
Ramadan, the ninth month of the
Mos lem year, Moslems refrain
from food and drink from dawn
("as soon as you can discern a
white thread from a black one" ) to
dusk.
Moslems are a lso expected to
June
1983
make a
hajj
or pilgrimage to sacred
Mecca at least once in their life–
time, if financially and physically
able. Almsgivi ng to the poor, aged
and orphans is also an obligation to
Moslems. An annual 2.5 percent
zakat
tax is levied against one's
total assets.
In addition to these majar direc–
tives, the Koran forbids the eat ing
of pork, the drinking of alcohol and
gambling. In more libera l Moslem
c ircles, however, these particular
observances a re sometimes re–
laxed.
Church-State Unlon
But Islam is much more than a set
of prescribed ritua lis tic obser–
vances. The Koran contains de–
tailed secular as well as religious
injunctions.
lt
lays down standards
for a wide range of personal , social,
economic and political relation–
ships, and both civil and criminal
law. This makes it virtually impos–
sible to confine Islam to spiritual
matters alone.
In the lslamic world, separation
of church and state is unknown .
From its incept ion, Islam has been
a state religion . No distinction is
made between " God and Caesar,"
such as spelled out by Jesus in
Matthew 22:2 1.
Of course, the l slamic revolu–
tionary government in lran is vast ly
different from the government in
Saudi Arabia. This, in turn, is dif–
ferent from that of Egypt , or Paki–
s tan o r Libya. Moslem govern–
ments range from semifeudal mon–
archies to parliamentary demacra–
cíes.
But regardless of these d iffer–
ences, there is no question among
Moslems that religion and govern–
ment are-and s hould be- insepa–
rable.
Talk of a "secular Moslem coun–
try" is generally considered a con–
tradiction in terms. The ultimate
fail ure of the late shah's attempt to
set up a Western-style s tate in lran,
minimizing the role of the mullahs,
is att ributed in part to this deep–
seated Moslem view of the neces–
sity of church-state union.
Moslems see government as a
majar vehicle for accomplishing
good in this world. Much more
than among professing Christ ians,
whose hope often lies primar ily in a
" next life," Moslems are commit–
ted to the monumental mission of
taking his tory into their hands and
fashioni ng it to what it ought to
be.
The realization of good, Mos–
lems be lieve, is possible
in this
world.
They generally do not view
this life as an ordeal ladeo with
trials and sorrows through which
the faithful must laboriously pass
to achieve salvation in the " next
world."
1
nstead, the
K
oran lays out
a social and legal a rder aimed at
happiness, prosperity a nd well–
being here and now.
This is not to say that Moslems
do not believe in an afterlife as
well. Punishment in hell or reward
in paradise is vividly described in
the Koran.
Eye for an Eye
One of the most publ icized aspects
of Moslem life is the strict Koranic
code of justice, in force in increas–
ing numbers of Moslem countries.
The
Sharia,
or Koranic canon
law, has been condemned in the
West as cruel and barbarie. The
severity of Koranic pun ishment
shocks most Westerners. For habit–
ual thievery, the penalty may be
the loss of a hand . For premarital
sex, 100 lashes in public. For false
accusation, 80 lashes.
Most Moslems, however, are lit–
tic concerned with the objections of
the West. The Koran sanctions the
Sharia law, and that is sufficient.
Moreover, Moslems daily read of
the growing crime rate in permis–
sive Western society. " How can the
crime-ridden West criticize us?"
they ask. Moslem countries have
considerably lower crime rates than
most Western countries.
The lslamic eye-for-an-eye S har–
ia law, they also note, is not much
different from those civil and crim–
inal laws of the Old Testament giv–
en · by God to ancient Israel (see
Exodus 21-23). Moslems also point
out that in their count ries, unl ike in
the " decadent" West , the
serious–
ness of sin
is still recognized and
dealt with accordingly.
Another point must be recog–
nized . Like many Westerners,
many Moslems have themselves
been horrified by the trials and
executions that have taken place in
lran under the Khomeini regime.
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