Answer
Salam Dear Cristina,
Thank you very much for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
Evolution of humankind is not only possible but is the main purpose and outcome of believing and practicing Islam. This was essentially the same for all messages predating Islam though, alas, their original teachings and doctrines were partly lost and partly corrupted or re-invented. The approach of Islam to elevate the human self and get it closer to God is realistic, comprehensive, rational, and direct.
A. Realistic Approach
Mankind is a complex—though marvelous—creation of the Almighty All-Wise God. Needless to say, it is only the Creator Who could know precisely the intricacies of the human soul, and how to elevate it far and beyond. Divine messages (of which only the Qur’an remains undistorted) are like “users’ manuals” of this creation. Such “manuals” are essential to understand and proceed on the path of human elevation.
Evolution, however, is limited by the very nature of human creation—a blend of sublime intellectual spirituality together with the material essence and earthly desires and weaknesses. Human life and history have always been a continuous struggle between these lifting and declining motives. Also, both the individual and society mutually and reciprocally interact. Man cannot undergo inner transformation independent of his social environment, which in turn is the result of the individual’s strife towards spiritual evolution.
The strength and effectiveness of Islam stems from its coping with these basic facts. Only divine guidance can strike the proper balance between the body and the soul, and between the individual and his society. Its moderate approach saves humanity from the pitfalls of over-emphasizing the soul as in, for example, Buddhism, Yoga, Christian monasticism, or—on the other hand—magnifying the bodily desires as in materialistic ideologies in general, Existentialism, Freudianism, etc.
Similarly, Islam avoids over-emphasizing the role of individual reform at the expense of social and world reform as in Christianity, and rejects as well the opposite totalitarian models such as Marxism.
B. Comprehensive Approach
Islam is a comprehensive “manual” of life that combines basic aspects (faith and worship, moral teachings and law) to offer the most intensive and effective means to:
- Know God and love Him
- Purify the soul and refine its human qualities
- Establish a communal feeling of love, devotion and solidarity
1. Worship
a. Quran. Reading, reciting, and contemplating the Quran provides the Muslim with a clear vision and love of God and His universe and creatures, as well as keys to supreme morality. The text of the Quran is inimitable in its meanings, structures, rhetoric, and rhyme that motivate both the intellectual and the uninitiated. Reciting the Quran or praying to God using its wonderful phraseology, as well as other supplications taught by the Prophet of Islam, is a permanent wealth of direct communication with God.
b. Prayers. Muslim ritual prayers are preceded by physical purification through washing the face, arms, and feet, and wiping the head. That physically refreshes the body and mind to concentrate on the direct communication with God that follows. Obligatory prayers are performed five times around the clock, and there are also highly recommended prayers, especially late night prayers. During prayers—standing facing toward a common point (the Ka`bah in Makkah), then bowing and prostrating—all human faculties—including tongue, ears, intellect, and limbs—are concentrated and devoted in glory of the Creator. Muslims around the globe stand closely in prayers in straight rows facing toward a common center, which is Makkah, geographically located at the center of the combined continental land masses. This builds in the souls a unique sense of equality, solidarity, and love of each other, irrespective of social status, race, color, or tongue. Hence, Muslim prayers offer a matchless formula of intellectual meditation, spiritual devotion, moral elevation, and physical exercises all combined.
c. Zakah (obligatory charity). In Arabic it literally means purification of the money of the owner as well as purification of his heart of both greed and selfishness, replacing them with content, thankfulness, love, and willingness to sacrifice for the others. Similarly, the needy recipients’ hearts are filled with satisfaction and warm wishes to the rich instead of class hatred and malicious envy.
d. Fasting. Muslims abstain from food, drink, and sexual activities from dawn to sunset during the whole lunar month of Ramadan. There are also recommended fasts on certain days and occasions (or any other day) around the year. Fasting is a major exercise of patience, devotion to God, control of physical desires, moderation, physical and moral endurance, creating a feeling of unselfishness, brotherhood, and communal unity.
e. Pilgrimage to Makkah. Assembling there together with millions of Muslims, all in the simplest of garments, is a living unforgettable glorification of God by mankind and a reminder of the ultimate grand assembly of all generations in the Hereafter.
2. Moral teachings
These touch on the most intricate aspects of human psychology. In Islam these are not mere “ do and do not do” type of commandments, but are an extensive guidance of moral elevation rich in linguistic splendor (as of the Quran), linked and interwoven with facts and logic of faith, figurative examples and comparisons, and guarded with a protective framework of social legislation to block all paths to moral degradation or human pitfalls.
3. Legislation
Similarly, the legal doctrines of Islam are not a mere set of monolithic rules, but are one aspect of a comprehensive system, whose elements are:
- Faith that we all live in the kingdom of God, Who cares for us, guides us, and watches us in order to protect us from physical and moral evils.
- A closely knit society based on love, preference, solidarity, and care for all humanity and other creatures.
In such a society, there should be no excuse for crimes of any sort. Penalties are not applied to take revenge on the sinner, but are used to deter the individual and protect the whole society.
However, no penalty could be applied if there was any slight probability of innocence. The rule is: “Doubtful criteria should avert penalties.” Similarly, penalties should be suspended if there was any impelling social or human excuse; for example, theft is forgiven in cases of extreme poverty or widespread famine. Much mischief is forgiven by repenting and doing good deeds like giving charity, fasting, etc. The doors of repentance are wide open, without mediators, for there is no clergy or church-like authority in Islam. The Quran says what means:
{And when My bondmen ask you concerning Me, then, surely I am near; I answer the invocation of the invoker when he invokes Me; so let them respond [to] Me, and let them believe in Me, so that possibly they would respond right-mindedly.} (Al-Baqarah 2:186)
God forgives all sins, except denying Him or taking other partners as deity or part of a deity with Him, and He accepts repentance of anybody. This is repeatedly asserted in many verses and chapters of the Quran. The Quran says what means:
{Say, “O My bondmen who have been extravagant against themselves [in sins], do not feel despondent of the mercy of Allah! Surely Allah forgives guilty [deeds] all together; surely He, Ever He, is The Ever-Forgiving, The Ever-Merciful.} (Az-Zumar 39:53)
At-Tawwab (The Superbly-Relenting) is one of the prominent attributes of God repeatedly mentioned in the Quran.
C. Rational Direct Approach
Belief is based on intellectual grounds that prove that the Qur’an is the direct message of God. Please see suggested links at the bottom of this answer. In response, belief and practice do not need a mediator (church, clergy, saints, etc).
Hence, following the Muslim practice is the only authentic path for self-elevation and direct approach to God. In contrast to Christianity, Buddhism, and many of the mystic groups, faith and practice in Islam are not based on rhapsodic preaching, clerics’ dogmas, illusionary meditation sessions, rhythmical body movements, or repeated utterances that culminate in ecstasy or imaginary visions or sounds.
Regarding the stance of Muslim scholars towards mystic groups (Sufism), they accept those practices that abide with the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophetic teachings and traditions) without any further human inventions or additions. Yet, it is meaningless to give such a practice a unique name (Sufism) or to practice it through a special sect, as Islam readily offers a much wider, more realistic rational vision and effective means of human elevation.
History witnessed generations of rich examples of model individuals and communities several centuries before the rise of the mystic groups and the termSufism. Such sects first appeared as a response to the gradual weakness of spirituality and to the indulgence in material pleasures.
Their honorable aim was simply to reform the society by bringing the individuals back on the original pure track of Islam, through devotion, piety, love, and full submission to God. However, deviations that crept into most of these movements with time are unacceptable or even condemned by Muslim scholars. These deviations include systems of hierarchy, taking sheikhs or sect leaders as mediators, obeying them absolutely, invented verbal and physical rituals, special dress, etc.
Finally, we agree with you regarding the “looseness” of the current Christianity. It has nothing to offer except words of “Christian love” and claims of salvation through belief in the alleged crucifixion of the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), alleged to be God and the Son of God, to atone for all human sins.
This approach is not only false but also too far from positive. In its present form (deviated from the original teachings of Jesus in the lost Injeel), Christianity is too loose to offer any effective, rational, comprehensive, or realistic substitute to Islam, the only remaining authentic Message of God.
I hope this answers you satisfactorily. Thank you and please keep in touch.
Salam.