Deviation in Religion

Deviation in Religion

1991 5-6 May-June 18-19 Deviation in Religion (645) The age of antiquity was also the age of mythology. One of its natural corollaries was the belief in incarnation which became prevalent in polytheistic nations. For instance, the Greek and Romans believed the sun to be a god, and worshipped it by calling it god’s son.

In their days of decline, the Jews and the Christians included this concept in their set of beliefs. However, categorizing Uzair (Ezra) and Christ as mere messengers of God seemed to accord them a status inferior to that of the divine progeny of the Greek and Roman gods. For this reason, they came to call their Prophet ‘Son of God’.

“The Jews call Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (In this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth.” (Qur’an 9:3)

Such deviation through imitation, although in a different form, has come to be practised by present-day Muslims. That is, they have felt it necessary to explain Islam in terms of a system. By its nature, it is the same kind of deviation into which the communities of old had strayed under the influence of unbelieving nations.

In modern times, such social and political concepts as Socialism and democracy appeared. Under their influence modern .man began to think in terms of system. He began to envisage the salvation of man in the revolutionary changes in the social set-up. Muslims thus came to think that their traditional concept of Islam was inferior to modern secular systems. In order to bring Islam into line with the times, they began to project Islam as a political system, and to say that it was the standard-bearer of social revolution, and so on.

What is called revolutionary thinking in modern times is system-based thinking, while the obverse may be termed individual based thinking. But the target of Islamic da’wah is not system. Its target is the individual. From the Islamic standpoint, launching a movement, the target of which is a system, is like putting the cart before the horse. Because a system by itself does not amount to anything. In this world, it is individuals who form a system. The system does not form individuals.

In modern times, the so-called Islamic movements, which are run on the pattern of systems, have done tremendous harm to the cause of lslam, its worst aspect being that all those verses of the Qur’an which provide spiritual food and aim at raising awareness, in the sense of producing an inner revolution of heart and mind, were all, by means of willful misinterpretation, linked with the notions of system and external revolution. Politics, no doubt, is a part of Islam. But those verses which have, with impunity, been associated with politics, are unconnected in any way with it. For instance, the Qur’an enjoined the faithful to ‘magnify’ their Lord (74:3). This means to acknowledge the greatness of God from the depths of one’s heart and mind. But those who were interested in system-based thinking gave a political turn to it by saying that ‘magnify your Lord’ meant establish the political greatness of God in this world, and hoist the flag of divine power over parliament. This is only one example. There were actually many other verses which were given a political interpretation by deliberately distorting their meaning.

All such commentaries of the Quranic verses fall into the category of imitation (9:30). Moreover, such interpretations have made Islam – a religion of humility – into a religion of arrogance. The politicisers of Islam have developed a negative, destructive mentality among the community. The religion which was sent to cause man to fear God has, as a result of these movements, had the contrary effect of making people unfearing of God.