![]() ![]() Some, though, distinguish between ‘catholic’ and ‘protestant’ conceptions of religion. The Enlightenment’s vision of spheres outside the provenance of religion led to confining religion to a tighter space than it had ever occupied. Previously, religious expression had been a total one. This privatisation of faith is now the default assumption when we moderns, at least here in Western Europe, usually speak of religion. Instead, religion was relegated to the private sphere. Given the meaning of din in classical or Quranic Arabic, and the sense that is conveyed by religion in English, religion doesn’t seem such a far-fetched way of rendering the word din into English – if it were not for the following:Īlthough long in the making, by the twentieth century religion no longer articulated the common social good as it once did. It also relates to the way people deal with ultimate concerns about their lives and fate after death. Many say that in its etymology, religion comes from the Latin word religare – ‘to bind.’ In this sense, religion is that relationship which binds us to what is regarded as holy, sacred, divine, or worthy of special reverence. 3 The upshot of this is that Islam as din requires believers to order their affairs so that this submission to God is reflected in every aspect of life from the personal to the political. In this reading, din is something we owe God by way of worship and loving submission that is due to Him from us. The origin or etymology of the word din also relates to dayn – ‘debt’. It can also mean obedience ( ta‘ah) and humility ( dhillah). Islam as a din, therefore, is to obey Allah and to submit to Him in humility. In classical Arabic, din means jaza’ – ‘recompense’ or ‘requital’ for acts done. Often translated as ‘religion’, though many Muslims feel that this is a rather inadequate rendering of the word, and that ‘way of life’ would be more in keeping with the inclusiveness the word implies. ![]() ![]() Of course, there are some words which, no matter how painstakingly a translator attempts to render them into good, appropriate English, much will still be lost in translation: ≡ġ – The first one is din. Here I’ll interrogate two more Islamic terms which, if translated inaccurately or poorly, can lead to great obfuscation or significantly alter the sense of the word. Perhaps it’s just a case of a storm in a teacup? ♦ Perhaps there’s room in the language for both words: convert and revert (even if the first is theologically correct, and the other is not and even if it’s the ‘revert posse’ that usually gets all agitated about it). In the end I said that maybe it doesn’t really matter. 1 He never asked them to ‘re-enter’ Islam to revert! Or take the words of Ibn Mas‘ud, may God be pleased with him, when he said: ‘We have not ceased to be strong since the time ‘Umar accepted Islam ( mundhu aslama ‘umar).’ 2 Again, he didn’t say: since the time ‘Umar ‘re-entered Islam’ or ‘reverted back to Islam.’ Instead, his call to people was simply: aslim – ‘enter into Islam,’ ‘submit,’ ‘become a Muslim’. ![]() This article revolves around three questions: (1) Does translating din as ‘religion’ imply that it is only a private matter, having nothing at all to do with the public sphere – which is what people usually associate with the term religion? (2) If iman is translated as ‘faith’, does that not suggest it is ‘blind faith’ – which, again, is what many people think when they hear the word ‘faith’ that it is belief without evidence? (3) And what is the type of nazr -“reasoned reflection” – that the Qur’an constantly urges us with, so that people do not have blind faith in God or in the Qur’an? ♦īack in 2013, I wrote that the theologically correct term for a non-Muslim who becomes a Muslim is a ‘convert’, not a ‘revert’! After all, the Prophet ﷺ, whilst informing us that all people are born on the fitrah (predisposing them to the message of tawhid and Islam), he never actually said to those who became Muslim that, ‘You have re-entered Islam’, or ‘You have become Muslim again’. Is Din ‘Private’ Religion & Is Iman ‘Blind’ Faith? ![]()
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