Letters
on Islam:
Written by a Father on Death Row to his Son
[Editor’s Notes: Mohammad Fadhel
Jamali was born in the town
of Kadhimain
(near Baghdad) in 1903. After graduating
at Beirut and Columbia, he taught for some time before entering public life. In 1943 he became Director General of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was a
member of both houses of the Iraqi Parliament, and he was eight times
Foreign Minister and twice Prime Minister.
In
1945 Dr. Jamali
signed the Charter of the United Nations on behalf of Iraq, and subsequently
led his country’s delegations at most of its sessions until 1958. He was also the leader of the Iraqi
delegation to the Afro-Asian Conference at Bandung in 1955. After the overthrow of the Hashemite Monarchy
in 1958, the Revolutionary Military Tribunal sentenced him to death, but
this was later commuted to ten years’ imprisonment; he was released in 1961
after serving three years of this sentence.
In 1962 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University
of Tunis. He is the author of numerous
monographs, articles and books in English and Arabic.
Presented
herein are two letters, (selected from 24), written by Dr. Jamali
to his son, while on death row in 1961. He died in May 1997.]
“…
There is no doubt that the awe of death dominates every living man when he is
exposed to peril, for man, like any living organism, strives by nature to
survive. But, in my case, besides the
feeling of awe for death, I had another feeling, that of comfort and inner peace
resulting from: a deep faith in Allah the Sublime; peace of conscience; and
sympathy, kindness and loyalty of friends . . . .” [Introduction to: Letters on Islam, by Mohammad
F. Jamali]
Baghdad,
March 3, 1961
Dear
Abbas,
After
presenting you my good greetings, I pray for your safety, success and guidance
…. Your letter of February 11 raised
some points, which I will continue to answer in several letters, Allah willing. Here are some of my observations now:
What
is a Religious Experience?
A
religious experience is a human feeling of awe and holiness and attachment to
what is worshipped. There goes with this
feeling a collection of beliefs and acts, individual and social. This religious experience dominates the self,
internally and externally. That is why
inner peace of the soul for many human beings demands that they should be
religious.
A
Religious Tendency is Inborn:
Several studies in psychology show that readiness to be religious in
found innately in individuals and that the need for religion is a natural
requirement for guaranteeing happiness, stability and direction in life. No doubt the degree of readiness for religion
differs from one individual to another, for one individual has more readiness
than another.
The Evolution of Religions: Nearly every individual worships. Human beings used to worship natural
phenomena like the sun, moon, stars, animals, trees, rivers, stones, idols, then
gods who had unusual shapes and qualities as recorded in the myths. Then they worshipped individuals, or power,
and some worshipped the state, the party, or technology, etc. Man continued to change his worship until he
rose above the worship of anything sensuous or limited. He freed himself from all bondages,
intellectual or material, in his worship, and started to worship Allah, Who
existence is a necessity, and Who is infinite, and “nothing is like Him”;
“vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends all vision;” (see letter of April 14, 1961). He is Allah of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and
Mohammad. (Peace be on them all.)
The
concept of evolution in religion is actually well recognized. The worship of Allah, the One and Sole One,
means the liberation of humanity from any bondage, material or individual; for
man will not worship any of the creatures created by Allah, nor will he worship
a human being, nor what human being has produced, but he will worship Allah
alone. This, in my view, is the highest
stage in the evolution of worship.
The
Acquisition of Faith:
Man
acquires his faith either through social heritage by learning the religion
prevailing in the environment, or through the path of observation,
contemplation and thinking. You may know
from your reading of the Qur’an that Abraham (Peace be on him), when he looked
at the stars, then at the moon, then at the sun, used mind and rejected the
worship of them just as he rejected the worship of idols which do not speak,
and he reached faith in Allah the High.
Or, man acquires his faith through the path of sentiment: fear, and
love, and hope; or by the way of intuition and revelation; or by a combination
of more than one of these ways.
I
do not agree with those who say that faith is contrary to reason. This is nonsense; for faith involves the
whole of self, completely with all the thought, sentiment, and will that it
contains.
Religious
Beliefs and Acts:
He
who lives in a society is supposed to move with the group, and he who deviates
may become ostracized, and here arises the problem of blind imitation and evil
fanaticism. This usually exists in less developed societies—societies where
freethinking and good education do not prevail.
As for societies, which bring up their children properly, they act in
accordance with Allah’s saying:
“There
is no compulsion in religion, truth; truly the right way has become clearly
distinct from error.” (The Cow, 2:256)
These
are some of my observations on some of the points you raised in your
letter. They are observations derived
from my personal experiences and reading, and they are liable to be corrected
or modified, for I am still a seeker for truth, and a student of learning.
I
transcribe for you the holy verse 108 from the Chapter of Jonah:
“’Say: O people! Indeed there has
come to you the truth from your Lord, therefore whoever goes aright, he goes
aright only for the good of his own soul, and whoever goes astray, he goes
astray only to the detriment of it, and I am not a custodian over you.” (Jonah,
10:108)
Salaams
to whoever asks about me from among the friends and professors.
Fadhel
[]
Baghdad,
23rd Holy Ramadhan,
1380, March 10, 1961
Dear
Abbas,
After
presenting you my good greetings, I pray for your safety, success and guidance.
I
thank you for the book, The Purposes of the Philosophers, which reached
me today. I have had no letter from you
this week. I am comfortable in my fasting, praise to Allah. I have memorized well, the Chapter on Luqman. Herewith I am continuing my comments on your
letter dated February 11, and my comments will continue through a few more
letters, insha’Allah.
The
Importance of Religion for the Individual:
The
individual in this world, which is full of vicissitudes, difficulties and
disasters, feels a psychic security, and feels that he has strong support and fortified
refuge if he happens to be a believer with deep faith. He will feel that the universe has an
Almighty Who cares for him and includes him in His mercy and kindness, and Who
overwhelms him with His blessings and gifts, and Who exhilarates him with
greatness and beauty of His creation. The genuine believer realizes that the
universe has an Almighty who is the source of goodness and blessings and Who
is the highest authority on truth, and justice, and the highest source for
beauty and light.
The
believer is not a stranger in this universe, but a member of the family, and he
came into existence in order to take part in the fulfillment of the great will
and wisdom of Allah. The believer is
happy, courageous, and forward-looking, irrespective of what is inflected on
him in terms of disasters or difficulties; contrary to the atheist who is
overwhelmed with despair and despondency and who declares spiritual bankruptcy
vis-à-vis catastrophes, for he knows of no value for life and no meaning for it
outside his animal existence. That is
why we observe these days a prevalence of nervous conditions among those whose
religious spirit is weak, a condition, which may lead to crime and suicide.
The
Importance of Religion for Society:
Religion
is a social control. On the positive
side it leads the genuine faithful to doing good,
love, mercy and human brotherhood. On
the negative side it prevents the individual from committing crimes and doing
evil; for he who fears Allah or he who loves
Allah and believes in the Day of Judgment will do no evil. Social systems that do not rely on religion
have to have many security men and intelligence agents, for secular education
is not enough to protect man from evil.
However, neither the security police nor the teacher accompanies the
individual both in open and in hidden places.
What accompanies man and dominates his self, outward and inward, is
faith in Allah. The believer is the
police of himself and teacher of himself.
Religion
as a Source of Virtue:
Religion
is a source of virtue in its high sense.
That is, religion is a source of the motives for doing the good, and of
love, and of mercy. Here is no doubt
that doing good existed before religions, but good was done by instinct, the
instinct of self-preservation. The animal
mother is kind to her young, motivated by an instinct and not motivated by
mercy and love as in the case of the religious man; and the true religious
motive is a rich source of virtue and good deeds.
Religion
in the Age of Science:
I
assure you that civilized man today needs religion no less than ancient man in
spite of the advance of physical sciences, inventions, and penetration of
space. Man today lives in a spiritual
and social unrest, which may lead him to collective suicide unless he is imbued
with faith and what accompanies faith in terms of love of good, right, and
freedom. That is why some great scholars
and philosophers like the well-known English historian, Arnold Toynbee, and the
eminent American philosopher, William Ernest Hocking, have begun to emphasize
man’s need for religion today.
Modernity
and novelty do not require the abandonment of virtue, the abandonment of
worship, or non-submission to the laws of the Almighty, which direct the
destiny of man. Those who left religion
behind them began to idolize matter, and they depended on terror and yielded to
the Party and its Leader as if they were idols.
Isn’t this a return of humanity to the days of the Pharaohs? Countries
which are not religious or whose religion is materialistic do not recognize the
human value of the individual, and they treat the non-conformist individual
with utter harshness and barbarism.
Those
Who
fall Short in Religion:
.
Sycophant hypocrites who show that they are religious
in order to realize their own interests. “He prayed and
fasted for an affair which he demanded; when that affair was fulfilled, he
neither prayed nor fasted.” (From an Arabic poem.)
.
Cowards who appear to be religious so that
the community will not brand them as heretics and atheists.
. Opportunists who
show themselves to be atheists in order to march with the temporal power of a
non-believing group dominating the country for a span of time.
. Arrogant people who
hardly learn the ABC of modern science before starting to be impertinent to
religion, the prophets and loyal men of faith.
. I believe that the
basis of religion is truth and sincerity.
He who is a sycophant or a coward is not religious. Moreover, faith cannot be imposed on a
person. It is a gift and guidance from
Allah. There is nothing to he hoped from
driving into religion the one who is not guided by the guidance of Allah.
I
transcribe for you the holy verse 20, from Chapter of Luqman:
“Do
you not see that Allah has made what is in the heavens and what is in the earth
subservient to you, and He has generously bestowed on you His favors outwardly
and inwardly? Yet there are among men those who dispute about Allah without
knowledge and without guidance, and without a Book to enlighten them.” (Luqman,
31:20)
This
letter may reach you with the occurrence of the Feast of Al-Fitr
(Feast ending Ramadhan). I wish you a happy Feast and ask Allah to
give you many more with health, happiness and success.
Give
my greetings to whoever asks about me.
Keep
safe for your father.
[Published in the
March 2005 Issue of the Voice of Islam,
Islamic Society of the Washington Area, Silver Spring, Maryland]
Posted April
10, 2005