Laws Without Morality by Rayhan Al-Safawi

What stands out the most for new converts to Islam are its rituals and purity laws. Muslims must pray five times a day, abstain from forbidden foods and drinks. Most religious activities require Muslims to follow purity laws. One must perform an ablution before prayer, one must not have blood or urine on clothes for they are ritually impure and may invalidate one’s prayer. Especially in Shia law, ritual purity laws are quite strict and complex.

Ritual practices and laws are part and parcel of Islam and they serve an important purpose. They not only provide us with activities that continuously remind us to be conscious of God, but they also serve as a means to test our obedience to Him.

Like any human activity, however, ritual practices can also be detrimental if they are not put under the right perspective. These practices are meant to connect us with God and are not meant to be worshipped in and of themselves. A common problem in our community is that we think that by strictly following purity/najasah laws we’ve somehow completed our obligations towards God and are good and moral people.

This is a very dangerous way of thinking. Within the Qur’anic narrative and the Prophetic (s) model of guidance, the law is always subsumed within the context of the religion’s moral order. I have often seen people observe ritual practices to the letter of the law yet at the same time they have had the most horrid of personalities and frankly the worst akhlaq.

Ritual activities and purity laws, although important in themselves, must be thought of in conjunction with Islam’s moral principles. Washing ourselves with water in the bathroom is good in so far as the activity is paralleled with a good and compassionate moral conduct from our behalf such as the way we speak to our parents, or the oaths that we fulfill.

Islam is does not advocate for laws without morality. Without Islam’s moral precepts, ritual laws hold little value and can, unfortunately, have the opposite effect on us as they become a source of pride and arrogance. More often than not, contempt for others is usually the immediate effect of this holier-than-thou attitude.

Yours Faithfully,