How Those Other Human Beings Will Be Dealt With In The Hereafter!
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
11 February
2023
Islam
Particularly Disparaged Not Only The Followers Of Other Religions, But Also The
Followers Of Ahle-Kitab And Believed That Non-Muslims Would Be Consigned
To Hell.
------
Some reader
has put this condescending question before a supremacist 'polymath': “How those
other human beings will be dealt with in the Hereafter.”
This very
question smacks of ' otherness.' Almost all Muslims have this pontificating
attitude towards the followers of other faiths.
Dr Muhammad
Iqbal's Professor of Philosophy at Lahore University, Thomas Arnold, told him
that all Semitic faiths, esp. Islam, had this supercilious attitude towards
other faiths. Islam particularly disparaged not only the followers of other
religions, but also the followers of Ahle-Kitab and believed that non-Muslims
would be consigned to hell.
Muslims
believe that their Allah belongs to them only. Quran calls Allah, Rabbul-Alameen
(Lord of the Universe), not just Rabbul-Muslameen (God of the Muslims).
So, when Allah lords over all; sees and treats everyone equally, why should he
distinguish between a Muslim or a non-Muslim while allotting (yes, allotting!)
Hell/Heaven to them?
Didn't
Alexander Pope say, “He sees with equal eyes as god of all/ a hero perish or a
sparrow fall?”
An
'educated' Muslim needs to come out of the quagmire of Islam and instead of
wasting his/her time on useless and ever-inconclusive debates like what will
happen in the Hereafter, who'll go to hell or heaven, who was Adam and what did
he do, it's advisable to focus on becoming a good human.
I remember
Dr Edward W Said's words which he uttered in a private conversation with
Professor Bernard Lewis of Princeton University, “Sub-continental Muslims will
have to tone down their overenthusiasm regarding Quranic interpretations and
Islam's perceived supremacy.”
The
world-renowned scholar, a Christian born in Palestine and an Arab-sympathizer
conceded towards the fag-end of his life that Islam was at the receiving end
across the world because of its own faults and delusion of religio-scriptural
infallibility. He too believed like Crone and Cook that Quranic revelations
were delusional, but was hardly vocal on this sensitive issue.
He believed
that Quran, like Bible, Torah and Talmud, was flawed and many of its passages
were from the pre-Islamic era and of Aramaic and Syriac origins.
So, think
of improving your current status and learn a lesson from your neighbouring
Pakistan which has gone to dogs because of pathological fanaticism.
----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/human-beings-hereafter/d/129076
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