Straying from True Religion

Straying from True Religion

1987 9 September 12-13 Straying from True Religion (455) “For ye are like unto whited sepulchers.”

The traditions of the Prophet and the revelations of God make it clear that there is but one way for a Muslim to attain salvation, and that is to follow the path laid down by the Prophet and his companions. The Prophet left to posterity a Sunnah, a pattern of life, which was faithfully adhered to by his Companions, and which provides to this day an example to Muslims – one which, by their Islamic faith, they should have no choice but to follow. Any man-made addition to this Sunnah, being in the nature of an innovation, would be abhorrent to the Almighty.

Yet the Sunnah is flouted in a number of ways, the most common being the neglect of its fundamental aspects in favour of its more easily followed injunctions. If this happens with great frequency, it, is because people are unable to contemplate the drastic alterations in the established pattern of their lives which would become unavoidable if they were really serious about following the more vital of Islamic tenets. Hence their concern with mere externals instead of getting at the heart of the matter. Hence their evasion of those truths which should eradicate the selfishness of their ways. Another circumvention of the Sunnah is the” adoption of its precepts in a partial or imperfect way, so that self-interest is never encroached upon; the fact needs to be faced, fairly and squarely, however, that this is little better than an outright rejection of the principles set forth therein.

The Jewish people, to their great discredit, had fallen into this very error. It was in order to correct this grievous tendency on their part to be self-centredly selective in following religious principle that Jesus the Messiah was sent to them.

His reprimand to them was of the most excoriating nature. “Woe, unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have ommitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanliness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”