On Islamic Pragmatics (IP):

     Religious Pragmatics, whether Christian or in the present case, Islamic, is the study of how a religion (particularly, through its religious experiences of encoiunter) enables us to cope with our world by calling upon God as Divine Creator to direct, protect and comfort us.

     Tomorrow is the beginning of Ramadan.  It is fitting that this series take up Islamic Pragmatics during this holy season of the Muslim faith.

     The thesis of this study is that the Islamic religion in practice, i.e., its pragmatics, contains principles pertaining to our experiencing God.  By means of this religious experience we are enabled to lead a better, more productive and fruitful life. This is because the experience, since it becomes the focal point of our lives, encompasses the presence of God in revelation as guide and nurturer of our physical and spiritual being on a continuing basis.  In short, for our own salvation, we come to ever seek God; and the experience is the conduit that brings God to us and us in God.
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     Below I present comments, each numbered, pertaining to various topics in Islamic Pragmatics.  But I don't actually get into the theology and textual exegesis of Islamic scriptures, simply because I'm not a Muslim jurist.  Herein, I attempt to point out elements in Islamic practice that are useful in our quest to lead a satisfying and prosperous life by means of God's direction.  That is to say, I keep to those features of the Islamic faith in which God's presence is essential for our self-development and preservation.

1.  Centering Prayer.   
     5 times a day the Muslim believer is called to prayer.  I say this prayer is 'centered,' in that the Muslim, as he faces toward Mecca, prays.  It is also centered in that his prayer may be the recitation of his basic faith: there is one true God and Muhammad is His prophet.

    Prayer is said in a prostrate position to express humility, submission and adoration before God. It is an act of confessing the Muslim's own condition of weakness and need, for which divine guidance is the proper remedy.  That Muslims are implored to say a prayer so frequently during the day suggests the need to draw nigh to God frequently; constantly, to learn of His will and acknowledge that as a Muslim, he is prepared to follow it.

     In short, the mendicant will be facing toward Mecca.  It may contain the Muslim mantra that there is one God, Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet.  In this fashion, the individual is focused inward, seeking the presence of the Almighty Creator in his ken.

     Would that Christianity made prayer so central an activity in a believer's life, since it is fundamental for communion with the divine!

     When praying, Muslims are focused physically (turning to the East) and spiritually (reciting some mantra).

2.  Fitting into the nature of things.
     We are told God (the Creator) has established a harmony to created matter, such that there's an order and a rhythm to natural things.  With respect to humans, this order is in the heart beat and emotional equilibrium; and it becomes erratic whenever we become upset or sick.  Humans must maintain an equilibrium that God has commanded, e.g., 120/80 blood pressure.  Moreover, it is a human duty to preserve the balance in the world by using earth resources wisely, so that these be sustained in time and place.  Don't waste them, God warns, nor be extravagant in their use.  Don't destroy the balance in nature that God has planned and instituted.

     While this may be common sense, it is also non-scientific.  The sciences change nature in accord to achieve human desires and wants.  We know the world will come to an end sooner, if man cannot find a way to preserve the planet in its orbit longer than is predicted today.

     Specifically, while global warming is a reality today, perhaps science will obviate its effects, if not rid the phenomenon entirely over time.

     So too, there may be a cornucopia of drugs yet to be discovered, that can maintain our physical being, and stabilize our emotional equilibrium.

     Muslims are frequently proud of their allegiance with science ever since the founding of the religion, but that allegiance seems tied to science as it once was--not as dramatic a control of the earth that is currently envisioned in science today. 

3.  Predestination and Free Will

     From mankind's vantage point, man can freely choose good from evil.  There is a sort of calculus in Islam that God uses to weigh the worth of an individual--how much good he does in the world--to help his fellows, nature; and preserve his own body and mind e.g., by laying off liquor and by refraining from leading a life of a profligate.  Interestingly, his community--friends, neighbors, and moral leaders--have a pretty good idea how he is doing in this life.  Of course, paramount, an individual must declare Allah the Almighty One and submit to God's plan for his life: and do more good than evil in his lifetime.  If he's an outstanding individual in his community, he is probably doing a lot of good.  In the famous Day of Judgment his deeds will be totally evaluated  by God Himself, Muslims believe.

     Now, as to God's omniscience, He has preprogrammed the events of the world, including what man chooses to do.  Note that God knows not only the deed that each person will do beforehand, but knows the agent's intent, too.  So, God allows the agent to act as he will act; and will have through His calculus a way to determine whether each individual is worthy to enter Paradise.

     We are exhorted to study the  life of Muhammad to know how to live from day to day.  At a certain point in his life, he gave up leading a prosperous existence in favor of the simpler things.  Yet withal, he wanted not and had the means more than he needed.  He was respected, and at one time served as arbitrator among disputant tribes.  As one who emphasized bodily cleanliness and mental piety, he teaches Muslims that there are disciplined pleasures to be enjoyed in this life, even while enduring the sorrows of human existence.  This truly is a man worthy of imitating his spiritual life.  Moreover, his community was profoundly influenced by his many deeds, not the least of which was founding the Islamic faith.  "Well done, thy good and faithful servant of Allah!"

     Nevertheless, we should recognize that the Islamic religion is fatalistic--"The it is written in the Koran" is for the believer a harkening from Allah that He is in control and man must obey!

4.  The Sexes      

     While Islam claims man and woman are equal, there are distinct differences in the commands God expects them to obey.  Man is to protect woman.  Man goes out to make money.  Woman presides over the household.  In courtroom trials, man's testimony is counted twice that of a woman's.  There may be differences in how an estate is to be divided up between members of the family on the basis of one's sex.  But the really pronounced difference is in the clothing. A woman's appearance is to be modest, not capable of inciting a man sexually.  She ought not to be given to stylist trends in fashion.  If she works, I cannot conceive that she gets the same pay as her male counterpart, assuming they both can hold the same job.

     This is a conservative lifestyle bordering on prudishness..  Islamic exhortation: fit in with your community and don't be a sexual object, except for your spouse, certainly not for any other man!.

5.  The Caliphate established by Jihad

     Contemporary Islamic extremists want a return to the caliphate government, where rulers by virtue of their lineage.  However, the current proclaimed caliphate of northern Syria--western Iraq would have grave difficulty in proving rightful inheritance to the caliphate these traditionalists wish to establish.

      The so-called army of this caliphate is wreaking havoc in the Middle East, taking advantage of the political chaos caused by the break-up of the dictatorships in the Muslim world (that left a void in legitimate governance in country after country).  After a thousand years, governments have come and gone in the Middle East; and there is no place in the the Middle-East for a return to a former Islamic style of governance. Today, Islam is being reduced to a religion only, divested of its long-ago governmental dominance.  Today's countries in the region will not tolerate their being uprooted by those who claim a traditional role of Islam in politics.  Already, you can see the governments in the region are forming coalitions to root out these traditionalists and destroy their military power.

     In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church attempted to be a governmental major power, but it could not capture the Near East nations for long.  Islam must see its place reduced to a religious vehicle as an approach God and must give up its political aspirations by conquest in the region.