Personal Identity From an Islamic Perspective

From an Islamic perspective, personal identity is an important issue because it involves a Muslim’s strength and profoundness towards his religious beliefs. However, the current scenario shows that Muslims are increasingly distancing themselves from religious beliefs due to the influence of temptations and challenges offered by the world today. This study intended to examine personal identity in more detail by focusing on discussions pertaining to its definition, criteria as well as challenges in efforts to consolidate the Islamic identity. This was a qualitative study that used the content analysis method on various reference materials. Findings show that the personal identity issue should be a priority for Muslims, especially for rulers and religious scholars. Suitable strategies and approaches should be designed as soon as possible so that Muslims stop being mesmerized by worldly developments and stop distancing themselves from the sacred teachings delivered by the Prophet SAW. Introduction The Prophet SAW had hinted about Islam’s loss of identity among Muslims. The Prophet SAW exhorted, “You will follow the road of those before you, step by step, a forearm’s length by a forearm’s length and if one of them falls into a monitor lizard’s hole surely you will follow suit and if one of them is joined by his wife on the pathway, surely you will follow suit” (al-Hakim, 1983). In one narration, we asked, “Are they the Jews and the Christians? HE answered, “who else if not the Jews and Christians” (al-Tabarani, t.th.). Hence, a keen intellect will be able to assert that the Islamic identity is an important fundamental element that helps build strength and profoundness in the Islamic community when confronted with the challenges and tests of contemporary life. This is the reason why the Prophet SAW had touched on this matter from the beginning. Definition of The Islamic Identity The word ‘identity’ according to the Cambridge Dictionary means, “who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others”. The word huwiyyah (identity) from the International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 10, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 201 linguistic aspect means, “a deep sense of fundamentals”. Some believe that it is the “tasghir" from the word huwah (ةوه) (Jamil, 1994). Identity, from a philosophical perspective, refers to the reality or actuality of a thing and the difference in values compared to others. It is also known as having a holistic personality (wihdat aldhat). This means that it is equal to the term “philosophy”, which means “he is he”, referring to the stability and sustainability of original characteristics although there are external changes. The essence of the matter is similar although there are changes to the surroundings (Ibn Manzur, 1414H). Ibn Hazm was of the view that identity refers to “only the facts of something and not anything else”. Moreover, between identity (huwiyyah) and the others (ghayriyyah), there is no intermediary medium that can be accepted by the human mind. Thus, what exits from one part enters into the other part, which is between huwayyah and ghayriyyah (Ibn Hazm, t.th). Briefly, Islamic identity means a Muslim’s faith and his pride in believing in Islam as well as respecting the values of the Islamic civilisation and culture, accentuate Islamic teachings, possess the freedom to practice either as an individual or in a community, implementing religious responsibilities and the obligation to preach to the human community (al-Nuri, 2009). Regrettably, some writers and academicians have only briefly or superficially discussed identity. They only marginally discussed identity without touching on its contents from the aspects of Islam and faith. Sometimes they have even gone out of context. They have also narrowed down the meaning of identity by centring on Arabic values and several Arabic-related characteristics of civilization, culture and the arts. Discussions were later narrowed down to Arabic racial ideologies. Thinking patterns such as these are indeed dangerous for the profoundness and unity of Muslims. Arab racism is a political movement that is based on ideologies such as bigotry and the asabiyyah spirit, which calls for the glorying of the Arab race as well as forming a rule based on blood relations, language and history, while totally ignoring religious affiliations (al-Jahni, 1420H). The emergence of this movement was partly pioneered by parties who were hostile towards Islam and wanted to create a barrier to the thought of unifying the Muslims. Indirectly making the racist ideology a second weapon to stab the Muslims after the collapse of the Caliphate in the hands of Ataturk in 1924. The most evident characteristic of Arab racist ideology is that it existed at the same time when there was an emergence of idiosyncratic calls that strayed away from seeking a practical solution to rebuild the unity of the ummah. The “Arab sentiment” was the main factor that had expedited this thinking in the minds of Muslims. However, in reality, those who advocated this thinking did not build a system or a government that controlled the Muslims based on racism. Conversely, what we hear is monarchy, socialism, democracy and others. This shows that sovereign racist values cannot possibly build Muslims and their civilization (Jabir, 2011). The next problem related to racism and identity concerns the Arabs who formed a racial group that has its own geographical space but is not united under the same historical and cultural patronage. Each remote area, which has its own history and cultural system, is frequently bound by its own situations, customs and legacies, hence, even though they share a similar language, it cannot bridge the gap between one group and another due to different dialects and pronunciations (Jabir, 2011). This situation not only affects the Arabs but can happen to most ethnic groups, including the Malays in the Malay Archipelago. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 10, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 202 Characteristics of An Islamic Identity The identity of a certain group of humans should have certain characteristics to enable it to be permanent and competitive. These characteristics are summarised according to three elements, namely trust, history and culture, which include the mother tongue, knowledge and art, literature, customs (uruf) and culture. An examination of Islamic identity reveals three elements, as mentioned above. 1. Trust Trust here means religion according to the aspects of thinking, syariah, faith and morality. Hence, the first thing that should be of priority in an Islamic identity is the merging of oneself with faith, which is translated as the show of loyalty towards faith as well as abiding by its demands. Islamic faith is the main component in a Muslim’s identity and personality. It is the highest and most noble component in a person’s identity. It mergers oneself to a perfect religion, the most noble scripture bestowed to the most noble Messenger in the most noble language through the most noble angel in the most noble world during the most noble month on the most noble night, which was the night of al-Qadr, with the most noble syariat and the most accurate indicator. Hence, if a Muslim attests to the monotheism of Allah SWT, that the Prophet is the Messenger, practice the religion with knowledge, awareness and faith and take the exhortations of Allah SWT (“verily my prayers, my worship, my life and my death is only for Allah SWT”) as the constitution and law of life, then one is a Muslim who possess a strong and profound identity. Islam has placed religion as the first characteristic of a person’s identity, the fundamentals in the issue of al-wala’ and al-bara’ (loyalty and betrayal). It clothes Islamic identity and acts as its main teachings. Islamic identity forbids its subjects from behaving according to an unIslamic identity because it is a form of lie and betrayal. Moreover, lies and betrayals are major transgressions in Islam (Nordin et a.l, 2015). The al-Quran has made this element a form of defence for its subjects due to what had happened to other subjects who were united by religion that helped form their identity. Religion is something that is comprehensive and inseparable because everything is because of Allah SWT, either prayers, worship, life or death. Whoever seeks a religion besides Islam will not be accepted. Islam is the physical and spiritual forms of religious teachings, the core and subsidiary elements that form the basis of Islamic identity as well as the privilege enjoyed by individuals and the Islam community. It is the characteristics of the privilege, either from the aspects of resources, time, place or layout. It differs from other celestial religions that have been corrupted as well as other creations by various schools of thought. Based on these features, Muslims are those who pray as how we pray, face the kiblat that we face, eat what we slaughtered, accept Allah SWT as their God, Islam as their religion and the Prophet Muhammad SAW as their Prophet (al-Masiri, 2009). 2. History Verily subjects without a history are subjects without a future, or in short, subjects without an identity. In reality, there are no subjects that exist without a history. Each subject has a history, either individually or as a community. Hence, the issue is not about the history but how the history is preserved, its glory days and decline recorded as well as the benefits, wisdom (ibrah) and lessons learned from what had happened. There is a group of humans International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 10, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 203 who do not have a noble history; they endeavour to glorify their history, write books to showoff the splendour of their hi