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| Read In The Name Of Your Lord Who Created, Created Man From A Clot That Clings, Read! And Your Lord Is The Most Generous, He Who Taught By The Pen, Taught Man That Which He Knew Not. |
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More than just a religion
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Can Islam be described as simply a religion?
Many in political and media circles have started to portray Islam as an ideological opponent to western liberal secular ideology, which is not wrong, although much of their accompanying critique is misrepresentative.
Islam can be described as an ‘ideology’ – meaning that it entails belief in a creed which then goes on to provide a view about personal, familial, communal and governmental matters. This means that the Islamic belief is at once both a spiritual and political creed. So, a belief in Allah (God) and that Muhammad is the final Messenger is a belief in a source of detailed solutions for a person’s life, from the cradle to the grave.
For example, it addresses personal life in regards to hygiene, eating habits, prayer and worship offered to Allah through the recitation of the Quran. It addresses family life in the way we marry and rear children , teaching them values about the meaning of life, being good, honouring parents and elders, and how to believe in and obey Allah. It addresses the communal life in the way we should look after our neighbours, protecting their rights, and how we should look after those less fortunate than us, protecting them from harm and degradation. It also addresses governmental matters in that Islam provides a model for how its rules and laws should be implemented in society, whether societal, penal , judicial or economic. Indeed, it even addresses international relations!
How can a religion that originated more than 1000 years ago have any applicability in the modern world?
Many people have concerns that a belief system that arrived over 1400 years ago is outdated and could not work in the modern age. Yet, humans themselves have not changed fundamentally over the millennia. Yes, we get from A to B faster, we communicate with other parts of the world in a matter of seconds, and have found far more devastating ways of killing each other, but ultimately we have not changed. We still love , hate, cry, feel pain, jealousy, envy, sadness, happiness, mercy, joy and honour. We still eat, sleep, procreate and humans above all, still live with other humans, hence establish relationships. Islam has come to regulate all of these relationships, whether in the home, the market, or overseas. Islam came from the Creator who created humans, whereas Western liberal secularism was founded on human philosophy, primarily as a reaction to corrupt Church practices and beliefs in European history. Western society with all its technology has not solved many fundamental issues that affect society and the relationships between people and therefore people are increasingly looking towards religion for answers.
Isn’t the point of religion that it be personal between man and God?
This depends what religion you’re talking about. Islam in essence is not a religion which solely focuses on your personal relationship with God, unlike other religions. Islam addresses your personal relationship with Allah, your relationship with yourself, and your relationship with other people. The Quran provokes people to ask potent questions: How did I get here? Why am I here? What is after life? And then answers them, not as mere philosophy, but as matters of fact from a reliable and knowledgeable source. We were created to worship our Creator (Allah), and then after this life is accountability and judgement. So Muslims must account for their relationship with Allah, how they behaved towards themselves and how they lived with others. Our accountability includes the actions of both public and private life.
Doesn’t accepting religion lead to narrow mindedness and backwardness?
Quite the opposite! It actually frees the mind to deal with other things, as Islam has provided a code of laws so we do not have to do mental gymnastics on what is good and bad. Instead, we can concentrate on trying to be good people and creating a better society by living according to Islamic values . If a people choose not to embrace Islam, then that is their choice, but Muslims assert that society can be a better place if Islamic values are its basis, and Islamic rules are implemented.
Medieval Europe from 600AD to 1500AD may well have been a place of backwardness, but that same time in the Islamic lands was a time of science , culture, learning, knowledge, and understanding which western academics are beginning to rediscover. Islamic Spain; Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran in the 9th 10th and 11th centuries are examples of this. Istanbul in the 16th century offered sanctuary to the Jews as well as Muslims who were persecuted and tortured by Christians of the Spanish Inquisition.
Isn’t it just all down to interpretation?
Muslims are in agreement upon the fundamental pillars of the Islamic way of life. Many of the details are similarly agreed upon, as their details were explained in clear texts, with little room for interpretation. However, in some issues, predominantly in the finer details, there are valid differences of opinion. As long as a text supports a particular understanding, which is not in contradiction to any more authoritive text, then that interpretation is valid. All this, of course is based upon knowledge, gained through study, and not mere whimsical desires.
What all Muslims understand from the Quran is that Islam came from Allah, for humans in this life so that we may put ourselves in good stead in the afterlife. So every action in this life has consequences on the Day of Judgement , when Allah will eventually account people for their beliefs, actions and inaction.
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| Categories: Islam Explained,
| Tags: deen,
religion,
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