Home 
Contact 
Profile 
Videos 
Presented at the MSA workshop HongKong on October 7-8, 2016 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)
FUNDAMENTALS OF THE DIIN (usul al ddiin): ISLAM and IMAN
- The three fundamentals of ddiin, usul al ddiin, are: Islam, Iman, and Ihsan. These three concepts taken together constitute the creed of Islam, al aqidat al Islamiyyat. There is a gradation. Islam is the beginning. Iman is a higher level. Ihsan is the highest level.
- Islam is outward manifestation, dhaahir. Iman is in the heart, baatin. Every mu umin is a Muslim. Not every mu umin is a muhsin. Not every Muslim is a mu umin. Iman is a higher level of spiritual progress than Islam. Islam is a pre-requisite for iman. You cannot have iman without having Islam. It is however possible to be a Muslim who has not yet attained the level of a mu’umin.
- Intellectual question: Is Islam inclusive or exclusive?
FUNDAMENTALS OF THE DIIN (usul al ddiin): IHSAN
- Ihsan applies to both Islam and iman. Every muhsin is a mu umin.
- Ihsan was defined in the sunnat as perfection of action. It represents perfection in both Islam and Iman. It is excellence in worship, work, and in any social action. The concept of excellence extends from prescribed acts of ibadat to all human endeavors and activities.
- Islam requires quality work and excellent performance. Allah accepts and rewards the best of work. He loves quality everything so Muslims must perfect their work. Humans in their earthly life are tested to see who performs the best. The Qur’an and sunnat have emphasized quality, ihsan, and quality performers, muhsinuun.
- Intellectual question: If ihsan is quality why do we not see it in Muslim societies’ daily life?
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAM
- Islam is comprehensive, unitary, indivisible, action-orientation, easy to practice, universal, and is final message.
- Islam is rational and understandable. It establishes freedom of belief and freedom of thought.
- Islam is societal, reformist, and revivalistic.
- It is a ddiin of equilibrium, balance, and moderation between divinity & humanity, spirituality & materialism, revelation & intellect, the afterlife & the earthly, individualism & communalism, ideal & reality, past & future, responsibility & freedom, following & innovation, duties & rights, stability & change, knowledge & belief, right & might, ‘aqiidat & action, ddiin & state, control by faith & control by authority, material innovations & moral ascendancy, military power & morale.
- Intellectual question: why do we not see the tolerance and moderation of Islam in Muslim societies?
THE SOCIAL CULTURE OF ISLAM
- Imaam al Nawawi listed 23 hadiths that he called madaar al Islam because they define the social culture of Islam. They can be considered under groups: aqidat, personal conduct, and social intercourse.
- The fundamentals of the ddiin, usul al ddiin, are Islam, iman, and ihsan. A Muslim rejects Innovation in religion, upholds certainty, rejects doubt, believes in qadar, relies on Allah, and repents from sins.
- Muslim personal conduct is characterized by purity of intention, good conduct, modesty, following the right path, observing rules of halaal and haram, renouncing materialism, consulting his conscience, quality work performance, starting with the most important work, and fulfilling the 5 pillars of Islam.
- In dealing with others the Muslim leaves alone what does not concern him, loves good for the others, hurts nobody, sincere advice for others, calling to Islam, honoring the neighbor and the guest, suppressing anger, and respecting the sanctity of human life.
- Intellectual question: is misunderstanding of Islam due to deliberate distortion by enemies of Muslims or by misbehavior by Muslims ignorant of their religion?
ISLAM ANSWERS THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS 1: start and end of the universe
- Human attempts to answer the questions without the aid of revelation have not given satisfactory answers: metaphysics (understanding ultimate reality by reason), various religious beliefs, folklore, and empirical science.
- Question #1: start of the universe: How did the universe start? Did it start out of nothing? Could it have started by chance?
- Question #2: end of the universe: What has a beginning and an end. The end is destruction with or without replacement. The laws of entropy = every system must eventually self-destruct. Allah who is eternal and everlasting. Human physical life will come to end but humans will have an extra-corporeal.
ISLAM ANSWERS THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS 2: purpose and destiny of the universe
- Question #3: purpose of creation of the universe: Allah willed the creation of the universe. The universe was created to worship Allah and obey His rules.
- Question #4: the expanding/contracting universe: is the universe an open system (expand until all matter os converted into energy) or a closed system (stop expanding and contract into a new big bang)?
- Question #5: human destiny: When the physical universe is destroyed only humans will curvive in a a new physical life that may be in jannat or jahannam.
PRE-DETERMINATION (qadar), WILL (iraadat), KNOWLEDGE(‘ilm), AND POWER (qudrat) 1
- Everything is fixed and is under Allah's pre-determination, qadar. Qadar is part of belief in the unseen abd is beyond human intellect.
- Allah’s knowledge, will, and power are unlimited. Human will, knowledge, and power are limited. The human in his limited knowledge cannot tell correctly which events are good/bad for him.
- Allah tries humans by letting them use their free will in the choice of their actions but He knows in advance what they will choose. Whatever choices the human makes Allah is forgiving and is kind.
PRE-DETERMINATION (qadar), WILL (iraadat), KNOWLEDGE(‘ilm), AND POWER (qudrat) 2
- In most human situations phenomena follow the fixed stable causal laws (‘sunan Allah fi al kawn’) ie action is followed by an effect. Each event has a cause, sabab. All causes are from Allah. Normally the cause is followed by the expected result unless there is divine intervention or one qadar is reversing another qadar.
- Qadar is misunderstood by Muslims. Correct approach is Tawakkul (relying on Allah after taking all the necessary measures to achieve an objective following the laws of causality). Wrong approach is tawaakul (giving up all effort and just wait for things to happen).
AFTER LIFE (akhirat) / ESCHATOLOGY 1
- Stages of human life: The life-span, ajal, is fixed. Humans pass through 4 linear and non-circular phases: non-existence (‘adam) that is purely spiritual, lower life on earth that is both physical and spiritual (hayat al duniyat), life in the grave spiritual and ?physical (hayat al qabr), the intermediate phase (hayat al barzakh), and higher life in the hereafter(hayat al akhirat) that is both physical and spiritual.
- Life in the grave, qabr: There is no direct between the dead in the qabr and living humans on earth. The dead cannot influence events on earth. The living cannot influence events in the qabr apart from dua. Dreams of the living about the dead are not a true form of communication between the living and the dead. Only dreams of prophets are true. Interpretation of dreams of ordinary humans is not a valid method of knowing anything about the dead.
AFTER LIFE (akhirat) / ESCHATOLOGY 2
- The last day, yawm al akhirat: knowledge of the last day is with Allah alone. The pre-events of the last day will be adverse social, physical, and special changes.
- People will be gathered (hashr), their work record will be presented, accounts of their deeds will be made, the balance will be set up, and justice will be established. Most sins will be forgiven or punished for a limited time. Only shirk will be unforgivable.
- Nature of the after-life: Life after resurrection from the graves will be physical and not metaphysical or spiritual. We do not know whether it will be exactly like that on earth or there will be some differences. The resurrected humans will experience all events of the hereafter as physical beings. There will be no more death after the last day. Those who enter paradise will stay there permanently. Hell will be permanent for certain categories of offenders. Those with minor offences will spend a time of punishment in hell and then be forgiven and enter paradise.
EVIL and SIN
- Why is there evil on earth? What is the source of evil? Why does Allah allow evil to occur on earth?
- Sins: definition and classification (kabair and saghair)
- Types of common sins: sins of ‘aqidat (kufr, shirk, and nifaaq), sins of the heart (kibr, takabbur, ‘ujb, hiqd, hasad, ghurur, shahwat, suu’u al dhann, and sukhriyyah) sins of the tongue (ghaibat, namimat, kadhb, alqaab, laghw, lamz, and hamz), and the sin of oppression, dhulm (physical, psychological or rights violation directed against others or the self)
- Sinners can be punished on earth or in the hereafter. Punishment on earth may be individual or communal. It may be direct from Allah
- Repentance, taubat: Allah is happy with the taubat of His servants. Allah will accept taubat from a human until the moment of death.
- Forgiveness, ghufran: It is Allah's mercy that there is forgiveness of sins. Allah can forgive instead of punishing.
NATURE OF THE HUMAN, tabi'at al insaan
- Allah the creator created humans in the state of fitra. This is the best state both biologically, morally, socially, and psychologically. Fitrat can be degraded or distorted by human behavior biologically, morally, and in terms of ‘aqidat.
- Human duality (nafs and jasad / spiritual and physical): The nafs permanent and is the essence and identity of the human. Human behavior is a duality of nafs and jasad.
- Humans have a one-way communication with the world of the unseen (‘aalam al ghaib) through the Qur’an. Angels and jinn intervene unilaterally in human life. Humans have no direct impact on the unseen.
- Sifaat al insaan: It is a unique duality of the human that he has both negative and positive attributes. The human is superior because of ability to do good despite the potential for evil.
HUMAN CIVILIZATION
- Human viscegerancy on earth, al istikhlaaf: definition of khilafat. Adam as the first khalifat. Models of khilafat: prophets and the righteous, salihiin, as models of khilafat. Transgressors as failure of khilafat
- Taskhiir: definition of taskhiir, the human intellect: a tool of taskhir. Examples of taskhiir: the food chain, natural resources, the ecosystem
- ‘imaarat al ardh i: the righteous and the transgressors
- Reasons for the rise and fall of civilizations
- Cycle of civilizations, dawrat al hadhaaraat