Adventures in Islam

WORDS mean different things to different people. In my mind, "Islam" is always associated with adventure, possibly because I first encountered it (I think) in stories about Robin Hood. Anyone who reads these romantic tales from the Middle Ages becomes familiar with "bad"    Prince John, "good" King Richard, and those inscrutable enemies of the crusaders -- the "Saracens".    (The word "Saracen", by the way, comes from the Greek "Sarakenos", perhaps from the Arabic    "sharq", meaning sunrise.)

But by the time I entered my teens, I knew that these people were, in    reality, called Muslims, and that they followed a religion called Islam. I did not learn, until much later,    that Islam is NOT a religion, in the Western sense, but a complete way of life that suffuses all human    activities.

These romantic ideas about Islam acquired an aesthetic dimension when, at the age of 19, I travelled through Turkey and Iran while en route to India, and marvelled at the mosques I saw. Islamic architecture, in my opinion, is unsurpassed. I also see it as powerful testimony to    the refinement of Islam, to its unique sensibility.

Look up into the dome of an Istanbul mosque, and  you will see a microcosm of the universe -- a sort of organised chaos in which every tiny, vital component is held delicately in place. Here, in intricate art, is the grand "theory of everything" that  scientists are so assiduously seeking. In a sense, Islam is life itself, lived in accordance with the   ineffable order of the cosmos -- insofar as this can be discerned, with the help of the Qur'an and the  sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Of course, none of this will convince those who see only the travesty of Islam presented by its detractors. The cogency  of the "case for Islam" is compelling, but  ultimately a person cannot be compelled to accept  it. Islam is not being magnanimous when it says  "there is no compulsion in religion"; it is simply  making a statement of fact.

Philosophies cannot  be spread by the sword. Coercion can secure    outward compliance with a set of rules, but    cannot secure inner conviction. And without inner  conviction, there can only be an empty shell --    not enough to withstand the stresses and strains  of centuries, let alone to produce superlative art  and architecture.

Actually, if you look at what might be described as the methodology of Islam, you find that it tends to be spread    discreetly on a one-to-one basis, through personal    advice or example. In Islam, there are no Billy  Graham crusades, with all their attendant hype and hoopla, and hysterical, orchestrated  "decisions for Christ". Indeed, that kind of  excessive emotionalism is counter to the spirit of Islam, which demands moderation and sober judgment in all matters.

Muslim associations, and especially those for "new Muslims", are always keen to have one's "conversion story" -- or "reversion story", to use the more fashionable term. The assumption, I think, is that something pretty dramatic must have happened to make someone turn from  one faith to another. One imagines dark days in which the individual wrestles with doubt, before    succumbing to despair as the doubts refuse to be dispelled.

Then, when life seems utterly meaningless,  there is a flash of light...and the miserable wretch is miraculously transformed, becoming in an instant  the irrepressible apostle of the new creed. Is that what a conversion is, or should be like? I don't think  so. In fact, I would doubt the psychological stability of anyone who reported such an abrupt about face.

(to be continued)

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