Islam Rediscovered
7. Discovery of Islam
~ 94 ~
themselves attributed their activities to Islam, it
becomes a case of
proper understanding
and not that of
misunderstanding.
Furthermore, the educated class of modern times is
obsessed with the concept of anthropology, which
treats religion as a social phenomenon instead of as
a vehicle for revealed truth. Therefore, according to
their way of thinking, they naturally come to regard
the activities of Muslims to be Islam itself. And their
thinking is further confirmed when they find that
Muslims engage themselves in these activities in the
very name of Islam.
Given this state of affairs, the real task to be
performed is to differentiate between Islam as such
and Muslims. It should be made clear that Islam
and Muslims are not necessarily one and the same
thing, so that one must differentiate between Islam
and Muslims. Islam is an ideology. One who adopts
this ideology in full is a Muslim; otherwise he is not
a Muslim. It is essential that Muslims be judged in
the light of Islamic ideals: Islam should not be
judged in the light of what Muslims do in the name
of Islam.
