Islam and God-Centricity

The following lectures entitled Islam and God-Centricity: A Theological Basis for Human Liberation presents the first in a multi-volume series of talks in which the essential message of Islam is presented in a fresh reevaluation of religion and human purpose. The lectures transcribed and edited in this book lay out the philosophical foundations of the Quranic outlook for humanity, one which, envisions religion and prophetic teachings as a purposive process of continuous spiritual growth rooted in the Quranic principle of God-centricity. By identifying the core tenets of purposive religion, the author embraces a philosophically rigorous concept of human progress that is informed by the teachings of the sages and mystics of Islam, and provides an interpretation of religion that regards human beings as being in a state of continual existential motion at both the individual and communal levels so as to achieve greater degrees of human perfection. This process, because it has no finality, allows religion and religious teachings to be forever relevant, albeit themselves in a state of flux as their facilitative nature also progresses in accordance with the progress of human liberation. In this way, religion as a process is both the cause and effect of human success.

In this volume, an essential feature of Prophet Muḥammad's message of God-centricity is propounded, namely, the spirit of sincere inquiry and continual learning. This feature is quintessentially the definition of what it is to be human. The history of humanity has been punctuated by waves of progression and regression, both of which are the effects of either the presence or absence of the spirit of sincere inquiry and continual learning within individuals, communities and societies. Today, there is no facet of life in which this spirit is lacking more than in the realm of religion. Paradoxically, Prophet Muḥammad taught that genuine inquiry in every aspect of life is intrinsic to the Godly life, it is inherent in the process of becoming God-conscious (muttaqī). Fundamental to this process is the questioning of theological assumptions of religion that prevail in the culture that one is born into. This book endeavors to convey the necessity for every Muslim today to initiate sincere religious inquiry and to take the reader through an analysis of current prevailing Muslim theological assumptions.

Islam and God-Centricity: Examining the Articles of Faith is the third volume in a multi-volume series. In this volume, prevalent understandings of the articles of faith are analysed in light of the Quranic dictum that human being have been created as stewards of God upon this earth, and that their collective purpose is to display the stewardship of God by actualising their intellectual, moral and spiritual potentialities. Thus, the articles of faith are instrumental, that is, they are a means to an end. Their function is to aid humanity in realising its potential. It is imperative, therefore, to appreciate the articles in light of their purpose as this ensures our understanding of them is accurate. By utilising this approach, the author demonstrates that the articles of faith are much more, than merely dry dogmatic beliefs that a person must attest to in order to belong to the Muslim faith, rather, they are values one ought to genuinely commit to and live by. As lived values, they have the potential to act as a catalyst for inner transformation and God-consciousness. This book shifts the paradigm of the discourse from an understanding of the articles of faith through the lens of formal Muslim interpretations of Islam to an appreciation of them on-the-basis-of the "existential principle of growth."

Islam and God-Centricity: Plurality and Mutability of Religion is the fourth volume in a multi-volume series. In this volume, the notions of 'form' and 'essence' are introduced and defined: they are existential realities, namely they form part of the very structure of existence. As such, the Quran presupposes these notions throughout all its verses generally, and in its discourse on different religions and sharias in particular: the essence of things is one, whereas the forms of their essences are multiple and subject to change. A conundrum throughout Muslim history has been how two of the novel, unique, and central messages of the last of the divinely revealed texts of God - the Quran - have been overlooked by the majority of scholars, namely the plurality of the one dīn of Allah and the possibility for every human to attain salvation irrespective of their faith or spiritual persuasion. Ironically, the very opposite ideas prevail in Muslim consciousness: today, most scholars and Muslims believe in the exclusivity of the Truth and salvation as understood and defined by their sects alone, and attempt to justify their religious exclusivism and damnation of the 'other' by appealing to certain verses of the Quran. The current volume attempts to correct this and to revive these and other fundamental teachings of the Quran, which are among its unique contributions to humankind hitherto not expressed as explicitly in the previous revelations of God.