Religion...
What is religion?
Religion (al-deen) has many meanings. It can signify coercion, obedience, subjugation, and dominance, this is on one level. On another level, it denotes a way of life, conduct, and interaction.
In the first sense, Allah says: “So is it other than the religion of Allah they desire, while to Him have submitted [all] those within the heavens and earth, willingly or by compulsion, and to Him they will be returned?” (3:83)
In the second sense, Allah says: “And who is better in religion than one who submits himself to Allah while being virtuous and follows the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth? And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend.” (4:125)
Religion, in these two contexts, can be categorized into two distinct types: general religion (al-deen al-‘aam) and specific religion (al-deen al-khaas). These two types differ in degree and can be visualized as concentric circles: general religion represents the encompassing outer circle, while specific religion represents the inner circle surrounded by the former.
General Religion pertains to all creation. It is referenced in Allah’s words:
“The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts [Allah] by praising Him, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving.” (17:44)
It represents the Divine Will that subjugates elements and directs all creation toward its destined end. Nothing deviates from this religion, no one disobeys it. In this realm, there is no disobedience; everything exists in submission. Even acts of disobedience, in their very occurrence, fulfill the Divine Will. Thus, in the scope of this religion, obedience and disobedience hold no significance before Allah.
Specific Religion, on the other hand, pertains to humans and jinn. It is the religion of accountable minds tasked with disciplining their desires. It is called the religion of minds because its jurisprudence allows for disobedience, which is defined as contravening the Divine legal rulings through action, speech, or both. The wisdom behind these legal rulings is grounded in the Eternal, Original, Grand Intellect (al-‘aql al-kulli al-qadeem), and the aim of specific religion is to guide the evolving intellect (al-‘aql al-muhdath) toward alignment with the Will of the Eternal, Original, Grand Intellect. For this reason, intentions (niyyah) are central to action in this religion. Intention involves consciously bringing to mind the purpose behind an action within the intellect before commencing it.
While general religion represents Allah’s Will, specific religion represents His Delight. The specific religion is distilled from the general religion, much like river water is purified from seawater by Allah’s Grace and the processes of evaporation, wind movement, and the formation of clouds between the sky and the earth. Similarly, Allah sends His messengers to extract His Delight from His Will, just as He uses the sun to extract fresh water from saline water. The purifiers of Divine Delightfulness from Divine Will are the intellects of human beings.
To strengthen these intellects for this task, Allah supports them with angelic intellects, [received] through revelation and Gabriel. This Revelation is a stage meant to bridge the gap between [the advent of] human intellects, by Allah’s Grace and the capacity instilled within the human entity to become self-sufficient.
This is why we say that the specific religion is the religion of intellects. There is no honor to be gained, neither in this world nor the Hereafter, except through the intellect.
