One of the most common tropes we hear in public da’wah is that we must all balance our dīn and our dunya. It is usually explained as: we must tend to our practical and/or public affairs while simultaneously maintaining our faith and worship. I myself used to hear this so often that I passively accepted it and used it while teaching as well. Only recently, with a much deeper & extensive reading of tasawwuf over the past year and subsequent reflection, I have realized that it is false and misleading. Note: for those wondering, I have not read Talal Asad yet. He’s on my reading list for the upcoming year inshaAllah. This is not meant to be an academic treatise, it’s a blog article.
Understanding Din & Dunya
Firstly what do these words mean in the Arabic language? Dunya is the feminine form of the comparative/superlative ‘Adna’ i.e the closer, or closest. Translated into the Qur’anic usage, the word means ‘this life that is close to us’ i.e. the life we currently live, not the life ‘further’ away which is after death. Dīn in the Arabic language can refer to customs, direction of life, condition or state of being. In its Qur’anic usage, din comprises our beliefs, statements and actions altogether, oriented towards Allah.
Secondly, let us consider how Allah uses & contextualizes these word in Qur’anic phrases. ‘Dunya’ in the Qur’an is used as a term to denote this transient life, and contrasted with the eternal life of Heaven & Hell after death. It is not used to mean practical/public affairs and contrasted with acts of worship. I cannot quote verses here because there are simply too many which show this.
The word dīn is used by Allah calls us to adopt His din in a wholesome and complete way and to turn away from any din that is not his in a similar way. There is no secondary consideration or qualification or addendum given on these exhortations and warnings. There is no instance of – for example – ‘follow this dīn…’ followed by a but or except (in Arabic of course) etc. Rather these commands are mutlaq i.e. unrestricted. Once again you will see this in every instance the word din is used.
Thirdly consider how scholars understood ‘dīn’. Scholars of fiqh understood it as the Shariah: they did not just consider ritual acts of worship to be ‘worship’, but also seemingly mundane acts like conducting transactions lawfully, marriage, warfare, political advocacy, social reform etc. The fact that many of these acts were considered to have fiqh rulings of wujub (i.e. sin is incurred if they are not done) or hurmah (i.e. sin is incurred if they are done) is similar to other acts of worship like prayer, fasting, hajj and zakat. The same goes for scholars of tasawwuf, who described the entire purpose of existence to be ‘oriented towards Allah’ – while still maintaining one’s income and regular daily responsibilities.
The Dīn/Dunya Dichotomy & Secularism
The way this dichotomy is used today is an artifact of secularism. Secularism is an idea borne of the European Renaissance, starting in the 17th century CE. The idea came about as efforts were made to isolate societies from the politics and social dynamics of religious belief in response to the overbearing, violent and oppressive role of the Catholic Church in clamping down on new interpretations of the Christian Bible, proliferating due to the printing press. The result were some of the most violent wars to date in Europe, like the Thirty Years War.
To truly understand this, we must note how Catholicism works. The church in Catholic Christianity is not just a dynamic and open community of scholars like in Islam, rather the clergy in Catholicism are Christianity itself – what they say is what Christianity is. Protestantism, which was opposed to this ideological authoritarianism of the Catholic Church, was not just an intellectual threat, but a political one.
Secularism was the effort by European intellectuals and governments to shake off the role of God, interpretations of the Bible & the church in public life due to perceived injustices, conflicts and chaos that had resulted from the Protestant reformation in Europe.
Secularism became popular in the Muslim world in the modern era, as the continued humiliation and failure of Muslims to defend themselves against European political, cultural and scientific domination was perceived by some – in its most extreme form – to be a failure of Islam or belief in God itself. In its less extreme form, European politics and culture became a model which was either willingly implemented by those desperate to revive Muslim civilization, or forcibly by colonial powers & their puppets. The Qur’anic contrast between dīn and dunya (which originally meant this life and the next) fit neatly – in misinterpreted form – into this separation between God and public life. Dīn became ‘religious life’, dunya became ‘public life’.
When we look at sacred text and pre-colonial scholarly tradition however (i.e. our times of civilizational greatness) – considering our religious and practical lives separate is a concept foreign to Islam. There is no concept of ‘religion’ in pre-colonial Islamic thought as a category distinct from the rest of our lives. Islam is a seamless integration of our beliefs, rituals, private and public activities into one worldview, way of life, culture and civilization. Note: this has actually spurred conversations about an Islamic secularism in some academic circles. This sounds like a contradiction, but is actually an interesting adaptation of critiquing secularism itself.
In very basic terms: all of our lives should be dīn. ‘Religion is an incorrect translation for dīn. Whenever I have mentioned this, there are two notable reactions I encounter:
- The first is people who think that I’m saying all of our lives should be about prayer, fasting, reading Qur’an etc.
- The second are people who think that I am diminishing the importance of ‘practical’ concerns in life like one’s career, business, craft etc.
Both of these reactions are due to the influence of secularism. It is either that we have become so accustomed to secularism & this incorrect dīn/dunya dichotomy that we cannot think past it and are subconsciously stuck in it, or we have been acculturated by secular education, secularized workplaces, the post-colonial malaise, modern economics and cultural materialism & consumerism that we refuse to look past it.
To the first I say: in the same way that prayer, fasting and reading Qur’an are dīn, so are enjoining the good & forbidding the evil. Under enjoining the good and forbidding evil a vast number of issues come into play, such as implementing Shariah, political advocacy, advancing Muslim economies and society, correcting morals & values, justice in government, public projects etc. Dīn is not just the fardh ayn (individual obligations) in fiqh, it is also the fardh kifayah (i.e. communal obligations). The latter category varies across time and space as needs of the community change. To think Islam is only ritual acts of worship is exactly what secularism preaches ‘religion’ to be. Fiqh & Tasawwuf say otherwise.
To the second I say, those very same ‘practical’ concerns in life are also dīn – and thinking of them and your ritual worship as one seamless whole are critical in ensuring that your ‘career’ is not just for petty material gain, rather it is oriented towards spiritual goals like khidmah i.e. serving your fellow Muslims. The Muslim world needs top-ranking doctors, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, social scientists, artists, technology innovators, AI experts etc – and fulfilling this need can be an act of worship (i.e. dīn) like any other.
The Solution is a Paradigm Shift in How You Think about Allah, Islam, the World & Your Role in It
How should we act then?
The first step is to deeply carve into our very souls that our entire existence is about Allah. Allah created us for nothing but worship. He creates every quantum slice of time and space at any given moment or place. He is Al-Qahhar, The Overpowering. It is not He who is veiled from us, it us who are veiled from Him. It is only about Allah, nothing else. We are but contingent souls, whose existence is secondary to His. All of the universe, all of existence would end in a whisper if He willed it. In the infinite beginning, there was nothing except Allah. In the infinite end, there will be nothing but Allah. Regardless of whether we are engaged in ritual worship, the mundane or even the vile, Allah is always there. It us who forget His presence, not He whose presence wanes. Allah was there when we emerged from a sack of blood and flesh. He will be there when our maggots eat away at our flesh and we turn to soil.
Our individualistic selves, and societies that emanated from our selfish nafs and in turn continue to feed it tear us away from the dominating truth of Allah. The inner self of the Muslim must always be fighting negligence of Allah through ilm & dhikr, must always be fighting against itself and its doubts and desires, and must always maintain observance of Allah’s commands and prohibitions. To be otherwise is to be blind, deaf and mute. Learn Islamic theology and illuminate your mind.
The second step is to live Islam, not practice it. Islam is not a religion. Islam is the truth. It is a description that permeates all of reality. Islam is our entire life, our path, our guidance, our past and our future. It is not possible to turn away from Islam. Even if we turn away from the truth, we will suffer its consequences in this life and the next. Islam is to be followed in the presence of family, friends & the comfort of our homes, in the company of strangers and acquaintances online, on the streets, at work, at school, and in the market. Islam does not end when you leave for work, it does not end when you go vote or protest, it does not end when you shop on Amazon and it does not end when you go out to eat with friends. The Shariah encompasses all aspects of our lives. Learn fiqh and illuminate your actions.
The third step is to recognize this world for what it is: a brief and contingent material existence. This world is a playground, a test, a transition, a stopover on the way to eternity, and a three-dimensional mirage that veils us from reality. It is a journey towards death, towards eternity, towards truth itself, towards Allah. Anything that happens in it – if not associated with Allah – is meaningless and the mere shifting and movement of contingent atoms and waves of energy. The world is a mere manifestation of Allah’s will. At any moment if He were to will it, it would collapse and decay or disappear. Learn about the world and you will recognize its pettiness & fragility.
Fourthly, if this is all the case, what is our role in it? Our journey, whether we want to accept it or not, is to Allah. Our reality, whether we want to admit it or not, is all about Allah. So if have been chosen to exist in this reality, our main concern should be to walk the path of Allah.
Our journey starts with the fulfillment of the Shariah. We should perform all that Allah has commanded our individual selves to do, and avoid all that Allah has commanded our individual selves to avoid. We cannot do this without learning the Shariah and Islam. If we do not do this for ourselves, we cannot help others with it. Once we do this, the very same taqwa we put into action for our individual selves needs to be implemented for the community – because if the whole community does not fulfill a communal obligation – then we are all sinful.
The Prophet SAW said, “Act, for whatever you have been created for, will be easy for you.” Look to your strengths and skills. Look to ways that bring you fulfillment and self actualization. Utilize all that to serve your fellow Muslims. Try different things and find out what you are good at. Research and ask Muslims active in serving the Muslims what they think the Muslims need in terms of fardh kifayah and embark on fulfilling those to attain Allah’s love and pleasure. If you cannot find a way to attach a fiqh ruling to it and orient it towards Allah, then it is not worth your time.
Allah says in the Qur’an, “Have taqwa of Allah as much as you are able.” Do your best and leave the rest to Allah. Even if it is just earning money, raise a righteous family and use that money to spend on important projects in the ummah. Even if it is just a career, use your expertise in your field to go above and beyond and use your skills to raise the ummah up in strength and demonstrate the strength of Islam. Be better than average. Serve Allah and the Muslims with your knowledge and skills in the best way you possibly can. As the Prophet SAW said, even if the Last Day is around the corner and the sun is about rise from the West, plant that seed in your hand. Even if you are just a farmer or a gardener, that seed could save your afterlife. Learn tasawwuf & spend time with the righteous to truly understand all this.
The Usūlī 