Al-Risala (English), February 1989
Al-Risala (English), February 1989, p. 2
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
A New Religion
1989 2 February 2 A New Religion (303) An Exercise in Futility At a meeting of the UNESCO Club of New Delhi in August 1988, Mr. Khushwant Singh stressed the need for a new religion. In the course of his speech, he said, inter alia, that “there is a need to form a new religion in the country which will propagate the work ethic, non violence and preservation of the environment. This has become imperative because there is something wrong with the attitudes and values imbibed by people from existing religions.”
Mr. Khushwant Singh’s complaint about the so-called religious people of today is no exaggeration, for their behaviour is nothing but an obstacle to human progress; they make no contribution whatsoever to furthering the cause of human advancement. And thus applies to the adherents of all religions.
But, so far as the reform of religion is concerned, the need of the hour is not a new religion, but a new religious revolution. Why have a new religion when the truth of religious teachings is immutable and, therefore, as valid in modern times as it was in ancient times? It is unfortunate that today’s representatives of religion are the products of imitation and stagnation rather than of any real religious revolution; as such, they themselves are incapable of launching a revolution on the basis of religion.
Nowadays, those who use religious slogans are only exploiting religion for their own ends. They do not make any effort to cast modern thinking in a religious world. It is this inattention to the correct conditioning of people’s minds which is at the basis of all moral backsliding.
Those who are truly concerned with reformation must strive to change and develop the human mentality in the light of religious teachings, rather than squander precious time and effort in producing a new religion. This would only be an exercise in futility.
