Religion comprises basic tenets of life. It is always revealed to uplift humans from their mundane aspects of life. It is a constitution that is framed for the growth and development of human beings. Further, it holds a transcendental position as well. It unfolds the mysterious trajectories that man treads on to fulfill his spiritual aspirations. Regardless of religion, no transcendental experience is possible. The religious doctrines are always veiled and entangled. They are syntactically and semantically encrypted. They require a key and a code to unravel them as they are. If the wrong key and code are tried to unlock the message, its semantics are badly distorted. It serves the inverse aim then fetching aberration instead of guidance and leading.
The principle of religion in addition target to structure a society in which it materializes and actualizes its theoretical principles in the pragmatism of people who dwell in that society. If it does not find the practical field, its mission is aborted before accomplishment. This religion does not fall from heaven, it needs a teacher and the book that contains the encrypted message and a teacher is obliged to decode the message and transport it to the common masses that espouse the message and set their lives on the teachings of the message. The teacher should not be God or an angel but a human being with whom the general public can feel themselves. If there are barriers particularly linguistic ones between the teacher and the masses, the possibility exists that the message will not be well understood and the implications can be harrowing.
Islam is a revealed religion. It descended on Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Its tenets similarly aim to uplift man from his mundane spheres and aid him to fly in the celestial realms of the universe. It is more fortunate than other revealed and non-revealed religions as it found the perfect teacher who taught his book in the most intelligible way. The message unfolded itself in his eloquence and it carved its impressions on world history. The new society with a new history and new civilization began that baffled the world by its rapid growth changing every aspect of life by bringing new wonderful changes into the world. There is no better society than Islamic society in which human potential can be actualized and can manifest itself into marvellous achievements both material and transcendental. Islam has left its imprint on every religion, culture and civilization.
Every history finds the mention of Islam in revered words. Its apostle is considered a prototype of every life-changing-movement. It hones stern initiatives against cruelty and tyranny. It is a religion of action and revolution. Ali Shariati denounces Karl Marx regarding the tall claim that religion is opium to the masses. Shariati points out the Marxian fallacy of drawing a line between religion and no religion while the claim is true only in comparing religion to religion. He hinted towards Islam as a religion of activism that harbours strength and resistance to bring milestone revolutions in the world. It has toppled the greatest despotic empires throughout history. It evolved as a dominant religion through innumerable hurdles and challenges. It tactfully coped with economic, social, spiritual, psychological, emotional and existential constraints. It promotes every aspect of life, unlike other religions which are either completely monastic or completely materialistic. Shaheed Mutahhari says, “Had Marx read Islam and the great men it produced, he would have changed his materialistic philosophy.”
All the great revolutions of the world were fostered by Islam either directly or indirectly. What people sought to obtain by revolution are the rights that only Islam had introduced to humans and which are inseparable from life because a tranquil and meaningful life is possible only by aligning one’s life in accordance with these principles taught by this religion. The Islamic values diffused far and wide and impressed people throughout history. George Jordoc writes in his book “The Voice of Human Justice” that the values – liberty, fraternity and equality- of the French Revolution sprouted from Islam. It is not true for other religions because they could not halt interpolations of their scriptures and the right message got contorted and distorted and lost its impact and hold on people. The secret of Islam’s success is that its message was transferred without any ambiguity or distortion. It has been fortunate as it got the best prophet to convey its message to people. Not only Islam surpasses other religions in perfection but its prophet exceeds other prophets as well in perfection. It is the only religion in the world which succeeded in keeping itself and its message intact throughout the course of history.
Education is a cornerstone of Islam. Its journey began with the reading and writing system. The pen and book find the first mention in it. It is a rational religion in which fabricated myths are never considered. Shaheed Muthari says that with the advent of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), reason and logic were born. Till then people buried their own daughters due to the insularity and disbelief but ignorance was eliminated by the arrival of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). As the biggest manifestation of God, he (PBUH) introduced God to the people as a transcendental being who governs the matters of the whole universe. Shaheed Mutahhari considers the advent of Muhammad (PBUH) as a day of God when his existence got manifested in the marvelous character of Prophet Mohammed. He read the word of God to people and rationalised His existence as the creator of the universe. He (PBUH) was a perfect human being who embodied the highest qualities of knowledge, logic, morals, ethics, piety, infallibility, etc. The universe can never produce his like till eternity.
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Fida Hussain Bhat