Religion
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Let us now come to
religion. The Scholars have generally believed that
in the matter of the
search for truth, the most reliable source is that
of religion. That is why
in every age the majority of human beings, has
been associated with one
religion or the other. And it still continues
till today.
Why is it that people take
religion to be a reliable source of truth?
The reason being that the
teachings of religion is based on such a
special source as no other
discipline enjoys it. This special source is
that of divine revelation.
God has created the universe. He knows best
the creation plan of the
universe. He knows fully as to which path in
this world leads to
success and which path leads to failure. Therefore,
the God-given guidance is
certainly trustworthy.
After the creation of the
universe, when man was inhabited on the
earth, this systems was
simultaneously, established by God that in
every age and among every
nation some individuals would be raised as
prophets to guide to the
path of God. God revealed His message to
these Prophets through the
angels. God, Who has absolute knowledge,
sent guidance to man by
means of revelations. The angels brought
divine books to these
Prophet. The religions are based on these sacred
books.
These religious books have
guided man in all ages. In every age a large
number of people have
found light for their minds and solace for their
hearts in these books. The
goal of religions has always been to give
man proper knowledge of
His Creator. So that, he may properly explain
the universe and the
purpose of human life in it.
A religion informs man of
his beginning and his ultimate end. It is to
enable man to lead his
life in this world according to the creation
plan of God, so that he
may be entitled to the divine rewards as a
result.
About two dozen Prophets
have been mentioned in the Quran by name. The
number of these Prophets
and messengers has been put at 1,24000 in a
hadith. However,
with the exception of the Prophet of Islam, no
authentic historical
record is available about any other prophet. But,
in principle, we have to
believe that God's Prophets came to every
nation and in every age
whether or not we have any record of them.
A religious system
generally consists of-beliefs, worship, Ethics,
social behavior, etc. One
of the important contributions of a religious
system is that, it
provides man with a life-long center of his
intellectual and emotional
being to revolve around.
Religion offers man an
ideology in which he may believe with all his
heart and all his soul. He
gives man conviction that he is in communion
with the Almighty God.
On finding a religion man feels that he has
become a co-traveler with
the rest of the universe. He has become a
member of the universal
brotherhood.
Religion gives man a
practicable system of life. He finds a course of
life to guide him day and
height. Having found a religion, man feels as
if he has got the purpose
of his life. After finding a religion man
undergoes the same
experience, with greater intensity, as when a
traveler experiences on
reaching his destination.
Religion is a science of
life in addition to that it enhances man's
spiritual as well as
intellectual growth. It is a guide for his
physical life and
nourishment for his spiritual and intellectual
existence. In fact, the
religion is an eternal guide for man. The
elimination of this guide
from human life, means to deprive man of the
only course of living that
leads him towards total and meaningful
development of his
personality.
RELIGIONS OTHER THAN
ISLAM
The Quran and the Bible
both tell us that since the advent of man on
earth God began to send
His Prophets to convey His message to mankind.
According to a hadith,
from Adam to Jesus Christ more than One hundred
thousand Prophets came to
the world. Every Prophet brought God's
religion and handed it
over to his people. This divine scheme continued
in every age and at every
place.
All these religions
brought by God's messengers were one and the same.
Originally there was no
basic difference between one religion and the
other. But it happened
that none of these peoples were able to preserve
the teachings of their
Prophets. Either these religions survived in
distorted form or they
vanished without leaving any trace. Moreover,
contemporary historians
failed to attach any importance to these
Prophet's or their
teachings. It is due to this that none of these
Prophets found a place in
the annals of history. The only exception
is that of the final
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
This blackout of history
was so complete that even the Prophets of
later periods of history
failed to find any mention in their
contemporary historical
records. For instance, Jesus Christ came to
the world only two
thousand years ago. Even then, he is so little
known in history that a
western scholar was constrained to remark about
Jesus Christ.
"Historically, it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever
existed at all."
Due to this, all the
previous religious scriptures, except that of
Islam, have lost their
historical credibility. According to rational
standard all other
religions have assumed the status of a dogma rather
than of a historically
accepted event. One can believe in them as a
matter of faith and not as
a fact of history. However, the position of
Islam in this regard is
totally different. Muhammad, the Messenger of
Islam, as acknowledged by
all well-known historians of the world, was
born within the full light
of history; whatever he said or did in his
lifetime has been minutely
recorded.
The Quran, the last word
of God, is preserved just as it was first
revealed to the Messenger
of Islam. The textual originality and purity
of the Quran is
incomparable and unquestionable. Islam, as a whole,
passes the strictest
criteria of higher criticism and historical
verification. So, when one
opts for Islam, one does opt it as a matter
of history, not simply as
a matter of faith.
In this state of affairs
one can safely say that for a seeker of the
truth, there is no variety
of options. He has only one choice to make.
And that is the choice of
Islam; the only religion having true
historical credibility to
believe in.
For instance, according to
our belief Abraham and Moses were Prophets
of God. Abraham was born
in Iraq and Moses in Egypt. Yet the annals of
the respective countries
are devoid of any mention of these great
Prophets. We find no
reference in the ancient history of Iraq of
Abraham. Similarly
Egyptian history does not mention Moses in its
annals.
In a similar way,
according to the witness of the Quran, Jesus was a
Prophet. Even Gautam Budh
is considered a Prophet by his followers. But
both Jesus Christ and
Gautam Budh do not come up to the strict Standard
of history. For instance
we do not know about either of them about what
language was spoken by
them and in which language they used to teach
their devotees.
During the times of Christ
three languages were prevalent, Syriac,
Greek and Hebrew. Yet it
still remains to be proved as to what was the
mother tongue of Christ
and what was the language of his teachings.
Similarly in the times of
Gautam Buddha Pali and Sanskrit was in vogue.
But there is no historical
evidence as to which was the language
spoken by Gautam Buddha.
The actual words spoken by Gautam Budha do not
exist. There are
some who present some proofs that Gautams Buddha
spoke in Pali but it has
not been established by the scholars of
Buddhism.
The reason being that in
ancient times before the age of the press the
concept of historiography
was very limited. History in ancient times
was only a record of kings
and generals, events relating to victory and
defeat, were alone
considered worth recording. All other incidents
remained unrepresentative
since the Prophets or the reformers were not
associated with events of
political nature so the historians could not
consider them worthy of
being recorded.
The case of the Prophet of
Islam was exceptionally different from the
other Prophets. His
circumstances were such that he got involved in all
kinds of political events.
He and his companions were able to make
great political
achievements. Naturally the events of his life came to
be recorded in the
contemporary history. He became an essential part
of history. In this
way according to the historical Standard the
Prophet became a
historical personality in the full sense of the word.
He became a known person
in history just like any other person.
Due to the other religions
and their founders not being historical, all
the other religions have
been rendered unreliable. One who examines
these religions
objectively feels that he is studying beliefs rather
than history. For the
personalities associated with these religions,
their religious scripture,
their teachings have been rendered
scientifically and
historically unreliable.
An Encyclopedia of Hindu
religion has been published titled
Encyclopedia of Hinduism.
A scholar commenting on this work remarked
that it should be more
aptly titled. Encyclopedia of Hindu Mythology.
This is the case with all
religions. All the religions save Islam may
be classified as
mythologies rather than a religion in the scientific
and historical sense.
The subject matter of
ancient alchemy and modern Chemistry is one and
the same. Yet we all know
that there is a basic difference between the
two. Alchemy was based on
unproved speculations, while the modern
chemistry is based on
facts proved by strict scientific method. This
same difference is found
between Islam and other religions. Other
religions are like ancient
alchemy whereas Islam is like modern
Chemistry.
This difference is so evident that no one can escape from noticing it.
One who sincerely makes a
comparative study between the religions of
both kinds will discover
this difference without any doubt. Hence Islam
is the only choice for
those who seek a religion having a historical
base to believe in.