ISLAM AND THE MODERN MAN - PART II

Cat Stevens was an internationally renowned pop musician. He was brought up as a Christian, but in 1976 he accepted Islam and is now known as Yusuf Islam. Speaking of his conversion to Islam, he said: “The Christian Church taught us to believe in God, but the only way to communicate with God was through Jesus—you have no direct contact.” To him, “the importance of Islam lies in the fact that it acquaints one with a God who speaks directly to the man and his soul.” (Arabia, London, July 1983) Man’s nature demands a God whom he can contact directly, but existing religions offer him a God who can be contacted only through some intermediary. Islam is the only religion in which man establishes direct contact with his Lord. This is because Islam is preserved in its original, revealed form, whereas other religions, having been altered and corrupted by man, are not to be found in their pristine form. All religions were essentially one and the same at the time of their origin. But now these differ from one another due to human interpolation. (THE QURAN 10: 19) Now, some religions have many gods to offer, but this is clearly not what man is looking for. Man is looking for a single being on whom he can focus all his feelings. There can be only one such focal point, not several. Some religions present God in the form of man. But man is looking for a God who is superior to him; he cannot worship a God who is human like himself. Some religions think of God as no more than a vague spirit. But man is seeking a God who sees and hears and speaks; abstract things cannot meet his demands. Arthur Koestler was a renowned thinker and writer, and had an estate valued at approximately £ 400,000. He married three times, but even so he was childless. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease and leukaemia. In utter despair he took his own life at his London residence in March 1983. He was 77 years old at the time of his death. Hundreds of such sad events take place everyday all over the world. They happen because people lose hope in this world. There are very few cases in history of true believers in God committing suicide. The reason is that belief in God gives a person hope for his future in the next world. In God’s scheme of things, life is not limited to this world alone; it continues after death as well. When believers are afflicted in Man is looking for a God who is superior to him; he cannot worship a God who is human like himself.