|
|
 |
|
The World is in Danger: Pseudo-religiosity
is leading human civilization toward suicide
Irfan Ahmad Khan
World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations
and Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21)
In the following few pages, an effort is made to workout
an agenda for true religiosity. True religiosity, is
seriously concerned with human destiny and it invites all
conscientious people – even those who have, apparently,
rejected all religion – to work together to save humankind.
True religiosity is both progressive and authentic.
Religion and Science are good friends.
Part I
What is the real issue?
I do not think there is war between the East and the West or
between the "Muslim" World and the Non-Muslim World. Nor
does there exist, in the real world, such an issue as "Clash
between Two Civilizations" i.e. between Islam and the West
as is some time very ignorantly proclaimed. Rather, the
ideals and the higher values in Islam and the ideals and the
higher values in the West are very much the same. It
is so because Islam stands for the Divine Guidance revealed
to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and other messengers of
God; while "the West" expresses the yearning, in modern
times, of the human mind and spirit toward very similar
higher concerns. The West as such is a movement which was
initiated as an awakening in the geographical west, at a
time when the followers of these messengers were failing in
their duty to liberate humans from their mutual slaveries
and to lead the world toward peace, prosperity and progress.
Perhaps, there is a war between two groups: one of
these in spite of huge opposition of conscientious people
of the West claims to be a custodian and representative of
the "Western Civilization" without practicing the higher
values for which the West stands. The other group, some of
whose members are not ashamed of committing a most heinous
crime i.e. creating terror through murder of innocent
civilians, which according to the Qur’an (25: 68-70), would
bring to its doers (unless they repent and correct
themselves) eternal punishment of Hell, still considers
itself a defender of Islam and Muslims. However, the rest of
humankind agrees that they have done the greatest disservice
to Islam.
The emergence of such a group within the community which,
believes that the Qur’an is its most basic source of
guidance, became possible because the present generation of
believers has lost its direct and fresh touch with their
book. The contemporary believers, instead of deriving in
their own situation and with their own minds any fresh
inspiration from the Divine Words, have,
in-authentically, inherited an understanding of
the Book, from their various "pious" forefathers. One
wonders that it is the case in spite of serious Qur'anic
criticism of those who blindly follow their leaders, just
as a herd of sheep would follow their shepherd. The Qur'an
calls these blind followers, "disbelievers" or "kafirs"
(2: 170-171). The believers, on the other hand, reflect
upon signs of God or ayat- Allah. They ponder over the
signs/verses of the Divine Book. So they continue
discovering meanings in the phenomena of nature and human
history. Everywhere they see Hands of God, The Wise and The
All-Knowing, working all the time. They believe that
they have to answer to God for the use of their own
intellectual faculties. Only hypocrites do not reflect;
their hearts/minds are locked (46: 24).*
Part II
What is pseudo-religiosity?
Thus, in-authenticity is the mother of pseudo-religiosity.
But what is pseudo-religiosity?
While true religiosity is concerned with human life,
pseudo-religiosity makes people forgetful of their social
obligations and their duty to the Earth and its inhabitants.
These pseudo-believers would display great irresponsibility
during their manipulation of Earth’s physical, botanical and
zoological resources. False religiosity is showy.
See the Quranic Surah Al Ma’un (107) which explains
that pseudo-religiosity is the real enemy of Religion.
Pseudo-worship is merely a social function. It acts like a
cover to hide people’s greed for power, wealth and lust.
Pseudo-religiosity, sometimes pretends to be other-worldly.
The purpose is to make the worshippers neglectful of their
duties, assigned from God, for which they are accountable to
God as well as to their fellow humans! They even do not see
that Divine promises of reward in the Hereafter are only for
those believers who are seriously engaged, here on earth,
in creating a better future for humankind. The love of the
Hereafter helps the virtuous in their striving for peace and
justice, in the presence of all kind of hardship and in
spite of persecution by the unjust powers. They continue
their struggle even when there is no hope for success.
The Qur’an reports the presence of a group of activists who
falsely claim to be believers. They are further aggravating
the situation for the remedy of which the Quranic Movement
was initiated. Due to their inability to see the corruption
which these pseudo-believers have been creating, they say
‘we are only setting things right’ (2:11-12). In spite of
all the injustice they commit, they say they are fighting
for justice. Today’s pseudo-believers also manifest similar
traits.
The other cover under which these pseudo-believers hide
themselves is that of tradition. They are unable to
look forward toward a bright future; so they always look
backward and feel proud of a past which they see as their
Golden Age. Pseudo-religiosity fails to be progressive.
Part III
True religiosity is both authentic and progressive
(14:24-25).
It is firmly rooted in the
Revealed Guidance and it meets the challenges of the
existing human situation with wisdom, courage and patience.
It is like an ever-growing, evergreen tree, which is firmly
rooted in the ground and, all the time, keeps bearing fresh
fruits. In this light, Islam is the
continuing process of understanding and living the Revealed
Guidance. See the Model of Sunnah which is
itself a process _ twenty three years of understanding and
living the Text by the first generations of believers under
the guidance of the Prophet. The Global Muslim Community
keeps this Model before its eyes and continues its
striving as reader of the Book, in changing human situations
and with its growing abilities to understand, i.e. with the
progress in science, technology, philosophy, law, art and
literature. Through advancement in human knowledge, God is
preparing their minds to develop a better understanding of
Divine Words. Likewise, a religiously plural world is
another opportunity to learn through interaction with those
who carry different religious traditions.
The believing community does need good teachers. However,
after the Prophet, no scholar or imam is above
criticism neither from within nor from without the
community. And every follower of the Prophet is duty-bound
to reflect over the signs (ayat) of the Book,
building direct relationship with Divine Words,
understanding, afresh, their meanings and practical
implications from the perspective of one’s own experience,
but always welcoming all genuine criticism.
Very much akin to progress in the field of science, progress
in Islamic thought, is necessarily the outcome of Ummah’s
collective effort to authenticate its understanding of the
Divine Text. The Global Muslim Community does not alienate
itself from the rest of humankind. It fully shares all of
its intellectual endeavors.
True religiosity has a tradition of thinking with open
minds. Consider Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and
the first generation of their believers as witnesses. That
is really our Golden Age. Pseudo-believers alone are people
with closed minds.
Part IV
In our plural world of degenerated faith communities, the
West, also conducts itself like an umbrella faith community:
The above is not a picture of our real world. I am, of
course, addressing only the ideal world. The world, we want
to create. What we want to be. Now, therefore, I return my
focus to the real world. And I open this phase discussion
with the thesis I presented in 1997 in Granada, Spain in a
seminar organized by UNESCO, on "Education for the Culture
of Peace". I presented the idea that faith communities, like
those which follow Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are, in
fact, peace missions, initiated by great messengers of God.
Today these missions are in a state of degeneration. For
their regeneration, they need movements on intra-faith as
well as interfaith level. Our interfaith work and
intra-faith work will enlighten and empower each other. It
will give us both authenticity and progress and thus help in
the development of true religiosity. Together, we shall work
for a world where there is peace, justice, prosperity,
freedom and progress.
Work is already initiated on both levels so we do not have
to start from scratch.
It was due to the impact of West that so many revivalist
movements arose in various faith communities in the
twentieth century and in the same century, the present
progress of interfaith movements became possible. By the
end of the twentieth century, we developed a clear
understanding that we have to liberate ourselves from both,
pseudo-science as well as pseudo-religion. We realized
humanity is not better off after ousting Religion from human
life and limiting the role of Religion to worship places.
However, there should be no more fighting in the name of
Religion. Rather, people of various faiths should develop a
better understanding among themselves and work together for
common objectives.
God is making all this happen, the way God has been leading
the progress in science, technology, art, literature and
philosophy, and the way God sent prophets and messengers
throughout the world, according to a systematic plan.
However, if God has been doing all this, people of good
intention should also come forward to work together. This
is the call of true religiosity. If we respond to this
call, we qualify for more of Divine Help. The world is going
the wrong way because pseudo-religiosity has taken hold of
worldly affairs. But pseudo-religiosity does not have any
solid ground to stand upon.
When the Reality arrives, the Falsehood will fade away
(17:81).
I strongly hold, if truly religious people will work
together, the pseudo-religiosity will wither away.
Contemporary Interfaith Movement has to be a striving toward
true religiosity; as such it should focus on the real
problems of humanity. The most central of these is wealth’s
being accumulated in fewer and fewer hands. Hunger,
poverty, and other related issues are only byproducts of
increasing economic disparity. Those, who are well-off, have
a duty towards those who are economically broken and they
are accountable for it to the humankind as well to the Lord
of humanity. Charity and relief are not sufficient,
systematic-change is required. The next in line is social
injustice and discrimination, due to differences in sex,
race, etc.
However the other problem which has produced a state of
emergency throughout the Globe, has been created by
pseudo-religiosity itself perhaps, to divert our attention
from the above real issue. It is "The Terror-War" problem,
which calls for our first attention.
Through the First and Second Great Wars, the West changed
the meaning and concept of war. Now ‘war’ necessarily
involves killing of innocent civilians something totally
unacceptable to human conscience. The situation became
worse after the invention and use of the nuclear weapons on
August 6 and 9, 1945 also by some power of the
geographical west, in spite of the opposition of all
conscientious people of the East and West.
Those who have the ability to think in human terms, who have
a real concern with such issues and who can rise above their
own sectarian/nationalistic considerations, are, according
to my definition, truly religious people – even if
pseudo-religiosity has turned them into secularists. This
Dialogue is an invitation to all conscientious people to
share their concerns, to take a clear stand concerning these
issues and to work out a plan for future collective action.
But if you believe that my understanding of the issue is
mistaken and you think I have gone wrong somewhere, I
welcome your suggestions.
|
|
