Nature of Eman and its Implications

I think we should understand properly what is Eman and what is Eman bil ghaib. Eman is such belief which a person develops in himself after getting knowledge that the belief he believes in is a reality. If this knowledge is based on the person’s reasoning as well as observations/ experiences, it may lead to common ‘Eman’; if this knowledge is based on the person’s reasoning ONLY, it may lead to ‘Eman bil ghaib’. It may be appreciated knowledge does not essentially lead to Eman/ ‘Eman bil ghaib’; however Eman/Eman bil ghaib  is always based on knowledge- whether this knowledge is based on both reasoning and observations/ experiences OR based on reasoning only.  For instance if a gunshot is fired at me by an expert sniper, I still may not believe that the bullet would hit me though my knowledge may dictate me otherwise. But if I develop Eman that the bullet would hit me, such Eman would be based on my knowledge about the expertise of the shooter. A prisoner convicted with death sentence and having exhausted and failed in all appeals still may have belief that he will not be hanged though his knowledge may  dictate him otherwise. But if he develops belief/ Eman that he would be hanged, such belief would be based on his knowledge.  

It may be appreciated there is no such thing as blind Faith/Eman. For instance, if we ask a person (declared as having so called blind faith) to believe in Geeta as Quran, he will not believe that Geeta is Quran. Why? Because his ‘Eman’ in Quran is not without his knowledge that Quran is such a Book which has been revealed to our Rasool ﷺ  and its contents are true.  A born Muslim’s Eman, in his childhood or adulthood, is usually based on his knowledge that his parents are Muslims and that knowledge of his parents is right. It may be appreciated ‘knowledge’-whether based on both observation/experience and reasoning or based on reasoning only- is a quality which can be exercised by a well -educated as well as an illiterate person.  As for rightness  or wrongness of knowledge, knowledge of both well -educated and illiterate person may be turned to be wrong or right.

It may also be appreciated that ‘Eman bil ghaib’ is relating to things which cannot be perceived through physical faculties; for instance belief in paradise, Hell, Angels etc. cannot be perceived through common human physical faculties; as such these things are subject of ‘Eman bil ghaib’. As against Eman bil ghaib, common ‘Eman’ is related to things which can be perceived through common human physical faculties. As already mentioned above, ‘Eman bil ghaib’ is always based on reasoning, and common Eman is based on reasoning as well as observation/ experience. In other words, the things which cannot be perceived through common senses may be believed through reasoning ONLY, and this process of believing is called ‘Eman bil ghaib’; and the things which can be perceived through common senses may be believed through reasoning as well as observation/experience, and such process is called common ‘Eman’.

 Quran, Hadith and person of Muhammad ﷺ are not subject of ‘Eman bil ghaib’; because Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ were perceived through human senses. We know Muhammad ﷺ  spent more than 60 years among the people, and he ﷺ  interacted with the people and people got training, education, self-purgation and purification by his ﷺ person. His person cannot be a subject of ‘Eman bil ghaib’.  Almost all important events of his ﷺ life are recorded; it is through contents of Quran and Hadith that we can see what was his ﷺ conduct, life and preaching. In this way, he ﷺ did not remain, for the next generations, a person who cannot be perceived through common senses.  

In short, Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ are not subject of ‘Eman bil ghaib’; rather they are subject of common ‘Eman’. As mentioned earlier, common Eman is always based on   reasoning as well as observation/ experience. Thus our knowledge based on reasoning and observation/ experiences may be basis of our Eman/ Faith on contents of Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ.  But as mentioned earlier, knowledge cannot essentially lead us to Eman; but Eman is always based on knowledge. In other words, if we have developed Eman in Muhammad ﷺ, in Quran and Hadith, it means we have exercised our reasoning and have made use of our observations/ experiences.

It may be appreciated ‘common Eman’ is subject of things which can be perceived through common human physical senses. Therefore it is not essential for reposing common ‘Eman’ in Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ that a person should have personal observation/ experience regarding reality of Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ ; it would be enough to have common ‘Eman’ in Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ if other people have observations/ experiences regarding reality of Quran, Hadith and Muhammad ﷺ.  That is why we believe in Muhammad ﷺ  though we were not born in the age of Muhammad ﷺ; we believe in Quran though we were not born when Quran was being revealed to our Nabi ﷺ ; we believe in Hadith though we were not born when ahadith were being listened by the narrators. In short, in order to have ‘common Eman’  in Muhammad ﷺ, in Quran and Hadith, we have to believe in what has been narrated  by companions of our Nabi ﷺ  regarding our Nabi ﷺ and his ﷺ sayings and actions on the basis of their knowledge based on their observations and experiences. In other words, we have to believe in observations and experiences of narrators; otherwise we cannot have knowledge required for having Eman in Muhammad s.a.w.ww., in Quran and Hadith. However such narration is subject to ascertainment that it has been rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ.  

Difference Between Contents of Nabuwwah/Resalah and Contents of Quran/Hadith

Munkareen e Hadith are confusing contents of Nabuwwah with contents of Quran and Hadith which are functions of Resalah/Nabuwwah. Allah has clearly differentiated between contents of Nabuwwah/ Resalah and contents of Quran/ Hadith. Allah says:

 “O you who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book that He sent down upon His Messenger and the Scripture which He sent down before. And whoever disbelieves in Allah , His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day has certainly gone far astray” (al-nisaa-136).

This verse demands Eman/ faith not only in Allah’s Messenger/ ‘Rasool’ but also in the Book He revealed unto His ‘Rasool’; that means Eman/Faith in contents of Resalah is something different from Eman/Faith in contents of Quran. Similarly Quran says:

  " .....So believe in Allah and His Messenger/ Rasool, the unlettered Nabi, who believes in Allah and His words, and follow (wattabiuhu)) him that you may be guided (al-aaraf-158).

 This verse too describes that believing in Nabi ﷺ is something different from following the Nabi ﷺ. That means Eman/Faith in contents of Nabuwwah is different from Eman/Faith in contents of Hadith (sayings/actions of our Nabi ﷺ).  

The Contents of Nabuwwah are relating to Eman/ Faith. Any person, even out of ignorance, cannot deny Eman/ faith; if he does so he becomes 'kafir'. But if any person denies any verse of Quran or any hadith- due to the fact that he does not know about existence of such verse or hadith- he does not become kafir. This is the difference between contents of Nabuwwah/ Resalah and contents of Quran and Hadith.

The contents of Nabuwwah are to have Eman/faith that Muhammad ﷺ is Allah's last Nabi ﷺ; that he ﷺ receives wahi from Allah through angel (al-shu,ra-52); that he ﷺ interprets Quranic Words through the wahi he ﷺ recieves (al-qiyamah-19); that sayings/actions of Nabi ﷺ are interpretations of Quran (al-aa,raf-203) and as such are part of Deen. Contents of Resalah are to have faith that Muhammad ﷺ is Allah's Rasool; he ﷺ receives wahi from Allah directly (al-Jin-26;27) or through the angel; he ﷺ received Quran i.e. Allah's Words from Allah through wahi; Quran is guidance for humanity till Qiyamah.

It means contents of Nabuwwah and Resalah are relating to Faith/ Eman; denial of these contents of Nabuwwah and Resalah is kufr. It may be appreciated contents of Nabuwwah and Resalah are included in the contents of Quran and Hadith (contents of Quran and Hadith are actually functions of Resalah and Nabuwwah respectively). But there are some differences between the two; all contents of Nabuwwah/Resalah are included in the contents of Quran/Hadith but all contents of Quran/Hadith are not included in the contents of Resalah/Nabuwwah. The contents of Nabuwwah and Resalah are only relating to Eman/faith but contents of Quran and Hadith are also relating to actions. Denial of contents of Quran and Hadith- is also kufr; that means denial of contents of Quran (after knowing its existence), and Hadith (which is believed to be rightly attributed to our Nabi s.a.w.w.) is kufr though such denial may not be denial of Nabuwwah and Resalah. 

 As mentioned above, contents of Quran and Hadith are functions of Resalah and Nabuwwah; out of these contents of Quran and Hadith, some are relating to contents of Resalah/Nabuwwah. It means contents of Resalah/ Nabuwwah are such functions of Resalah/Nabuwwah which are relating to only Eman. It may be appreciated all functions of Resalah/ Nabuwwah which are related to Eman are not contents of Resalah/Nabuwwah; there are also some other functions of Resalah/Nabuwwah which are relating to Eman but are not contents of Resalah/Nabuwwa. Some of these other functions of Resalah/Nabuwwah relating to Eman have been described in verse al-nisa-136 mentioned above; these are: having Eman/Faith in Allah, in Quran, in Messengers, previous Divine Books, in Angels, in AAkhirah. The list also includes having Faith in the Messenger/ Muhammad s.a.w.w. but having faith in Messenger/Muhammad s.a.w.w. relates to contents of Resalah. 

C-Pak and USA’s Afghan Policy (2)

India has become very important tool in USA’s foreign policy. As has been stated in part (1) of this article, containment of China is no longer an objective of US’s Afghan policy. The USA knows they cannot contain China’s economic expansion and China’s political expansion which goes along-with economic expansion. The nuclear age does not allow US to contain China militarily as well.  However US can use its military power to have its share in the world’s economic development due to Chinese economic expansion. This consideration provides rationale of importance of India in US’s foreign policy in the region; US sees India’s military power, particularly naval power, as desirable addition to the US’s military capability. In return US is ready to accept India’s enhanced influence in the region, particularly in Afghanistan and South Asia. In this perspective, Pakistan should not expect any concession from India regarding Kashmir Dispute. On the contrary, it is combined strategy of US and India to destabilize Pakistan through Afghanistan; this destabilization policy aims at weakening of Pakistan’s role and central position in C-Pak project; it is where convergence of US’s and India’s interests occurs. However it may be appreciated US has accepted the reality of China’s economic rise and as such US would not hamper China’s way to economic progress, though US, like India, would like to curtail Pakistan’s central position in C-Pak project.

In other words, US’s expressed opposition to C-Pak is not US’s basic regional foreign policy consideration, though such opposition may be taken as a tool to achieve some foreign policy objectives; one such objective, as already discussed, is to curtail Pakistan’s centrality in the C-Pak project. Another such objective is to bring Pakistan into terms to settle Kashmir Dispute in India’s favor so that India should remain on US’s side in this international scenario in which India may change the side to become a part of C-Pak and abandon its role of China’s strategic competitor in the region.  It may be noted China also may not oppose US, if any move is initiated by US to settle Kashmir Dispute in India’s favor, because China’s interests, as a blossoming economy, are to have a conflict free neighboring area which is more conducive for propagation of Chinese trade and commercial interests. Pakistan would have to show greater resilience in opposing any such settlement of Kashmir Dispute, which goes against Kashmiri people’s interests.

Another objective behind US’s hostile statement regarding C-Pak may be to bring Pakistan into terms to acquiesce into US’s position and interests in Afghanistan so that US’s friendly coalition regime in Afghanistan may be established, and Pakistan’s friendly Afghan regime may be avoided. As stated earlier, if Pakistan concedes to US’s demands regarding Afghanistan, it would damage Pakistan’s central position of C-Pak and lead to enhancement of India’s political and commercial interests in the region. India is US’s strategic partner and as such India’s enhanced commercial and political influence in the region would be seen as duly sharing of C-Pak benefits between US, India, China and Pakistan; but, as mentioned earlier, this sharing would be at the cost of Pakistan’s commercial interests as well as Pakistan's and other regional Muslim countries’ long term interests regarding establishment of an Islamic block in the region. 

After accepting the fact that China has beaten US in terms of state’s economic strength and after changing its policy of containment of China through Afghanistan occupation, US has cautiously devised regarding Afghanistan such foreign policy objectives which do not run counter to interests of China and Russia. We may appreciate above discussed US’s objectives behind anti-C-Pak statements  do not run counter to interests of China and Russia; that is why China and Russia, so far, have not supported Taliban to the extent where Taliban may be enabled to flush out US’s forces from  Afghanistan, as Taliban had flushed out Russian forces from Afghanistan in the near past. A balanced Afghan regime, having no tilt to Pakistan, is in favor of China, Russia, USA and India because such Afghan regime may be used to propagate, on the one hand, trade and commercial interests between China, Russia and India by forcing Pakistan to open land routes between CAS and India, and, on the other hand, commercial interests of US in Afghanistan.

From the foregoing, we may conclude that Pakistan has to show its utmost strong resolve to protect its strategic and economic interests. The main driver of anti-Pakistan diplomacy is the US; the discussed anti-Pakistan objectives are basically US’s interests. It is US which is taking China and Russia along to implement its policy objectives; China and Russia cannot force Pakistan to acquiesce into US’s interests in Afghanistan. C-Pak project’s importance for China cannot be overemphasized; Russia also can avail the benefits of C-Pak. In this way, C-Pak limits China’s and Russia’s capability to force Pakistan to compromise its strategic and commercial interests. Pakistan does not have to be short-sighted to concede to US’s demand regarding Afghanistan and India (concluded).