THE ROAD TO RELIGIOUS HARMONY

That is God, your true Lord. What is there, besides the truth, but error? How then can you turn away? (10: 32) The above verse talks about Monotheism (i.e. one Lord being the Creator, Sustainer and object of worship). Islam does not propagate the manyness of reality and does not accept it even as a hypothesis. Both of the above-mentioned points—(a) the oneness of Absolute Reality, and (b) salvation as the prerogative of the true believer in this oneness—form a major part of Islamic ideal. Just being born into a certain group or community, or associating oneself with others of similar persuasions, does not entitle one to salvation. But it is a fact that; in practice, different kinds of religious groups do exist. Given the various kinds of differences separating them, it is a pertinent question how to bring about harmony between them. Experience has shown that repeated attempts to bring about harmony on the basis of considering all religions as one have been a failure. The Mughal ruler Akbar (d. 1605) attempted to achieve religious harmony by state enforcement of his newly formed religion, ‘Din-e-Ilahi’. Dr Bhagwan Das (d. 1958) spent the best part of his life producing a one-thousand page book titled Essential Unity of All Religions; Mahatma Gandhi (d. 1948) attempted to spread this ideal at the national level by a countrywide movement whose slogan was ‘Ram Rahim ek hai,’ meaning Ram and Rahim are one and the same. But events have shown us that all failed in their attempts to achieve the goal of religious harmony. Islam’s approach to the entire problem is much more realistic in that it accepts ideological differences. Once having accepted these differences, it then advocates the policy of tolerance and respect for one another in everyday dealings. This is on a parallel with the principle expressed in the English saying: ‘Let’s agree to disagree.’ In this connection, one of the commands of the Quran is that, in principle, ‘there shall be no compulsion in religion’ (2: 256). At another place it declares that ‘you have your religion and I have mine’ (109: 6). It was as a result of this commandment that, when the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Madinah, he issued a declaration re-affirming his acceptance of the religion of Muslims for the Muslims and the Salvation will be achievable only by a person who truly believes in God and the world Hereafter, and who has given genuine proof in this life of having lived a life of right action.