By Munir Varraich

The month of Ramadan ended last week. It had put the entire Muslim world in the “go slow” mode. The normal routine of life was altered with the sighting of the Ramadan moon. Of course that particular event is very special for the religious scholars who enjoy a “power kick”. They become engrossed in futile debates whether the moon had been sighted or not. That in spite of the “almanacs” readily available to check the exact time and position of the new moon, in this technologically advanced world. The reliance on the word of a “religious scholar” and not on science and technology reflects the mindset of over a billion people in the Muslim world.

By sunset time one and all gets glued to their TV sets waiting for the announcement about the “official” sighting of the moon and the start of the month of Ramadan the next day. That would mean abstaining from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset, becoming more regular in the five times prayers and spiritual cleansing of the body and soul. The month was also a “party time”. The breaking of fast at sunset became a month long feast and an excuse for socializing.

Those Muslims who live in the north – Scandinavia, were faced with a peculiar problem especially when the month of Ramadan falls in the summer season. The time between sunrise to sunset can be as long as twenty to twenty two hours. In regions above the Arctic Circle the night and day merge into each other. That is where the religious scholars, the Muslim Ullema, are challenged and are required   to interpret these articles of faith – five times prayer and fasting – where there is no concept of “night and day”.

I shall not indulge in the usual commentary on the benefits of “praying” regularly and “fasting”, whether in tropical regions or in Scandinavia, but shall try to reflect on how this becomes instrumental, first to connect the human body materially to the evolution process; consequently, a new life, the soul, gets created on the same principles of evolution which created life on this planet Earth; and which has the capability of getting connected to another world of existence called the “angelic world”.

The earlier Muslim scholars had reflected on the subject of “evolution”; how the material body evolves into spiritual body. Unlike Darwin, who was able to connect all species in a single chain, but stopped short after reaching the “human being”, Ibne Khuldun in his “Muqadama”, Chapter 1, Sixth Prefatory Discussion, (The real meaning of prophecy), para 2 and 3, takes the evolutionary process a step further and “connects” the body via “soul” to the “angelic world”:

“One should then look at the world of creation. It started out from minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants , such as vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word “connection” with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the next group.

The animal world then widens, its species becoming numerous, and in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to “man”, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual “reflection” and “thinking”. At this point we come to the “first stage” of “man” (after the world of monkeys). This is as far as our physical observation extends.”

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution stops there. Beyond that Darwinism gets lost. And, the Darwinian world gets crowded by philosophers, scientists, and others trying to find their way through the lybrinth of “material” explanations about “life” and Man’s role in the Universe. Interestingly, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution provided the anti-thesis to the Religious concept of Evolution. Thesis and anti-thesis being essential parts for the Evolutionary Process.

Ibne Khuldun however, continues his “Evolutionary theory” and takes us on a journey of “man’s sensual perception getting influenced by the “motions” of spheres (planets and other heavenly bodies) and Elements. Also, in the world of “creation” there are motions of “growth and perception”. Both motions are influenced by something which is different from the bodily substances, and can be termed as “spiritual”. It is connected with the created things, because various things and worlds must be connected in their existence. This is the “soul”. Above the soul there must exist something which gives the soul the power of perception and motion, and that is also connected with the soul. Its essence should be pure “perception” and “intellection”. This is the world of angels. The soul, consequently, must be prepared to exchange humanity for angelicality, at certain times for a flash of a moment.”

A similar concept of “evolution” was put forward by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, in his famous scholarly work, “The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam”, prepared as a paper and read out at the Conference of Great Religions in 1896. He describes the three “states” of existence of Man. The “Physical state”, the “Moral state” and the “Spiritual state”. It is a journey of Man in the evolutionary process from the material body through the soul to the angelic world.

The object of referring to these writings, one of a renowned Muslim scholar of the earlier times (b.1200 d. 1270 ) and the other who is recent (b. 1835 d. 1908), and who is also a claimant of being a prophet and the Reformer of this Age, is to find the logic and rationality behind the Five Pillars of Faith of Islam – The Kalima, the five times prayers, fasting, zakat and the Hajj. How these so called “pillars of Faith” of a religion, Islam, had also formed the basic teachings of every revealed religion. Over time, those very “pillars of faith” were somehow adopted by non-religious section of human society in everyday life, as it evolved from the Cave Man to the present Space Man. Perhaps there was some connection with these “pillars of faith” and the progress of Mankind.
What is that which connects these rituals, “prayers” at particular times of the day (Time calculations with reference to the Sun which is caused by the Earth’s rotation) and “fasting” for thirty days in a particular “Lunar” month during a solar year?

For evolution to begin, a spherical body (the planets, stars, galaxies and so on) must undertake a “motion” – a rotation and a revolution – in a set environment over a long period; as it happened in case of planet Earth. It is after repeating that “motion” for a period of time that life sprouted and evolved into the “human being” with an ability to “think” and “reflect”.

The materialist philosophers like Karl Marx, have termed this stage of evolution – of human thought -as the “the highest form of Matter”. The religious prophets have termed Man, as the “Apex of Creation”, in the “Image of God”.

Religions also gave a concept of another finer life form – soul – that is created and grows with the material body of the human being. That means the evolution of Man does not stop. It continues but in a different “life form” which is spiritual..

For that new “spiritual life form” to sprout, it is essential that the “material body” absorbs the influences of various motions; and the activity of Man is aligned to the physical motion of spheres and is repeated over a period of time.

It is for this reason that all religions, over the ages, including Islam, have made “prayers” at sunrise and sunset obligatory. This conscious activity (prayer) at sunrise and sunset by the “apex of creation” aligns the human body with the motion of planet Earth, and over a period of time is ready for “spiritual life form” to sprout.

At the micro level, the material body of all life forms, including human being, is made of life cells with “genes” and their genetic code. Dawkins, while discussing the genes in his book “The Selfish Gene”, accepts that along with the “selfish behavior” the gene also displays an “altruist behavior” as it replicates in a “gene pool”. His observation takes into consideration only the material aspect of the gene. However, the “altruist behavior” of the gene is because of the latent “morality” in the gene which the gene displays in a group. That can be called by a separate name: “MOMO”. It is a spiritual thing which comes to life and starts evolving as the gene replicates. It is “MOMO” which grows up as a “soul” in the human body. As the “GENE” replicates materially, the “MOMO” also replicates “spiritually” which has “perception” and is a part which causes “motion”.

It is that part, the “MOMO”, which gets connected to the “something spiritual” mentioned by Ibne Khuldun and which connects all “existentia”.

The human society, whether it adhered to any religion or not, organized its activity around this very “sunrise – sunset” routine for thousands of years. The material evolution of the gene moves slowly and is not noticeable. However, the evolution of the MOMO is what becomes noticeable as the human being gets organized in a group and his group “existence” evolves in every field, according to a code. Prophets of all religions give this “code” the name of “morality”.

However, religions do not explain this connection of “prayers” and “fasting” to the “evolutionary process” of Man. Instead, those have to be practiced by the followers, “blindly”; or more appropriately “not consciously”. The maximum reasoning which is put forward by the religious scholars is only the “sacred jargon” of the religious texts. That makes no sense to the human being of the 21^st century.

The “fasting” ritual in Islam, like the “prayers”, is governed by the “sunrise – sunset” routine. One has to stop all drinking and eating just before “sunrise” and breaks the fast immediately after sunset. “Fasting” for 30 days – like the 5 times obligatory prayers, is also to align and discipline the body (the gene) and the thought process (momo) of the individual, to the various “motions”.

This stage of religious rituals is similar to the “gene” when it is “replicating” – repeating an activity. The effect of that activity is on and for the individual body because body of the human being is replicating an activity on a daily basis and annual basis. It is like a “motion” towards a situation when the “gene” gets subjugated to the “momo”. Consequently training the body to follow the soul. In other words, the finer part is trained to get into the driving seat for the journey into the non-material existentia.

Similarly, the fourth pillar, “Zakat” (an annual tax on the savings by the state), is an activity which can only be undertaken in a “group of human beings” and this ritual is not “connected” directly to “sunrise and sunset” routine. However, it is based on the principle of “rotation and revolution”. All wealth created by human group activity must remain in circulation ( rotated and revolved) and the “motion” of the wealth is not permitted to be stopped in any section of the society.

However, it is presumed that an individual who has been performing the second and the third rituals, that individual’s soul would have evolved to a level where “altruist behavior” on the part of the individual directs all his activities in a “group”.

At the micro level, the “momo” directs the “gene” in a group. Thus the ordinary “selfishness” of the “gene” gets dominated by the “altruism” of the “momo”. Thus when parting with his wealth, (Zakat), the “ gene” of the individual gets disabled and that space gets filled up by the “momo”. There is no resistance. And because there is no resistance, the “motion” (circulation of wealth) is not disturbed.

The fifth and the last Pillar of Islam, The Hajj, is again “connected” to the “motion” of “spheres”- the rotation and the revolution, in the cosmic and the microscopic. The “Apex of creation” collectively undertakes an activity – of making physical circuits around one spot, in a counter clockwise direction, on planet earth – the Kaaba, in Makkah, at least once in a life time.

To understand the essence of this ritual, there are certain presumptions which need to be made:

1. All those individual human beings have performed the second (prayers) and the third (fasting) rituals regularly so that their material body and their spiritual body (soul) have reasonably aligned with the “rotation and revolution” of the Earth and have absorbed the “influences” of all other “motions” as well.
2. They have lived in a group and their “souls” and not the “body” have directed their activities in “group Living”, the society.

The next stage is for the evolved human souls, collectively as Mankind, to undertake a “motion” with their material bodies, which aligns itself to the “spiral motion of the galaxies”. An outward expanding spiral motion into Infinity.

The ritual of Hajj in fact is to give the soul a glimpse of the possibilities of this “apex of creation” to connect itself with the Universe.

Would that mean that Man would undertake space travels to planets and galaxies in a non-material or spiritual body?

Stephen Hawkins does not agree. He believes travel to distant planets and galaxies would be by thinking machines “created” by the human being.