All Religions Are Blessed With Humane Traits Of A Pluralistic Society – Why Then A Supremacist Attitude
By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
5 June 2021
Religion
Provides A Code Of Conduct For A Human Being To Live In A Humane Society That
Can Not Survive With An Individualistic Ideology
Main
Points:
1. Religious
pluralism is the basis of a lasting and ever fruitful human life.
2. Religions
have cultivated human being into a society of humanity where all live in peace
along with all the differences they inherit by birth.
3. The human
being's being distributed in nations and having different customs, rituals,
languages, food habits and lastly, the dress code is the beauty of the world.
4. Most of
mankind lives with the impression of their religion being 'the best.
5. The human
mind does not easily endorse a religious supremacist ideology unless he is
coerced into it with the greed of worldly materialistic gains.
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Religious
pluralism is the basis of a lasting and ever fruitful human life. Religion
provides a code of conduct for a human being to live in a humane society that
can not survive with an individualistic ideology. Religions have cultivated
human being into a society of humanity where all live in peace along with all
the differences they inherit by birth. The human being's being distributed in
nations, meaning thereby, having different customs, rituals, languages, food
habits and lastly the dress code are the beauty of the world. In absence of the
differences, the world would have been colourless. Allah, the All-Knower has
not distributed human being for bringing in 'Us Vs Them' but to make it
liveable. The Holy Quran says:
O mankind, We have created you from a male and
a female, and made you into races and tribes, so that you may identify one
another. (Surah
Al-Hujurat - 13) — Mufti Taqi Usmani
The
expression, 'Made you in races and tribe' is a perfect example of creating the
beauty of 'pluralism'. 'So that you may identify one another' is a command to
identify each other as brothers and sister no matter in what physical or colour
attributes we may find them.
One can not
find any example in any of the religions of disunity and divertive teaching, of
hatred and jealousy with each other. The human being of one nation can not live
hating human beings of other nations. One community can not prosper living a
life of jealousy. Human beings negative attributes damage the chances of
prosperity and development, spiritual, religious and humanly more of the person
or the community concerned than those of the others. It is, therefore, more in
our interest to have faith and believe in the ethos of a pluralistic society
than having to live in a negative world, created by ourselves.
Islam
Advocates Religious Pluralism
Most of
mankind lives with the impression of their religion being 'the best. It is not
their fault. As a kid, they are taught this lesson of 'supremacism' that
translates into negative psychology of greatness in their character and
characterism. First of all, society must take care of the kids being taught the
religious ethos of every religion. This practice should be adhered to in every
part of the world society. And there should not be any compulsion, whatsoever
in their selecting a way of life, they desire to. Their education of all
religions will provide them with a broad spectrum of social ethos based on
religion or even without it. Islam propagates and encourages people to select
their religion without any social compulsion. Consider what Allah, the Most
Gracious commands in the following Ayaat of the Holy Quran:
And We have sent down to you the Book with the
truth, confirming what is before it of the Book and a protector over it.
Therefore judge between them by what Allah has sent down, and do not follow
their vain desires diverging away from that which has come to you from the
Truth (Haq)....
(Al-Ma'idah-48) - Imam Iskender Ali Mihr
...."We believe what has been sent down to
us, and we believe what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is one,
and to Him, we submit." (Al-Ankabut-46) - Ahmed Ali
Indian
Society – A Pluralism Embedded Society
Indian
society is one of the oldest societies in the world. Societies not believing
and advocating in religious and social pluralism have a short span of life. To
live and to get accolades in the world a person or a nation has to live for the
people of the world not for himself. So is the social ethos of the country,
India, where Hinduism lives with Islam, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism and
maintains the most cordial relationship one can imagine of. Consider the
pluralistic teachings of the religions in India that advocate the theory of
‘unity in diversity.
Hinduism
Hinduism regards all other religions as nana
Panthas, as innumerable paths for spiritual realisation. It regards the choice
of a Pantha as a matter of personal preference.
Hinduism categorically asserts: “Ekam Sat,
Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” — the truth is one but is interpreted differently by the
learned.
Sikhism
Do not say that the Vedas, the Bible and the
Quran are false. Those who do not contemplate them are false. — Guru Granth
Sahib page 1350
Some call the Lord "Ram, Ram", and
some "Khuda". Some serve Him as "Gusain", others as
"Allah". He is the Cause of causes, and Generous. He showers His
Grace and Mercy upon us. Some pilgrims bathe at sacred shrines, others go on
Hajj to Mecca. Some do devotional worship, whilst others bow their heads in
prayer. Some read the Vedas, and some the Koran. Some wear blue robes, and some
wear white. Some call themselves Muslim, and some call themselves Hindu. Some
yearn for paradise, and others long for heaven. Says Nanak, one who realizes
the Hukam of God's Will, knows the secrets of his Lord Master. (Sri Guru Granth
Sahib Page:885)
One who recognizes that all spiritual paths
lead to the One shall be emancipated. One who speaks lies shall fall into hell
and burn. In all the world, the most blessed and sanctified are those who
remain absorbed in Truth. (SGGS Ang 142)[55]
The seconds, minutes, and hours, days, weeks
and months and various seasons originate from One Sun; O Nanak, in just the
same way, the many forms originate from the Creator. (Guru Granth Sahib page
12,13)
Buddhism
All religions should reside everywhere, for all
of them desire self-control and purity of heart. Rock Edict Nb7 (S. Dhammika)
Contact (between religions) is good. One should
listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others. Beloved-of-the-Gods,
King Piyadasi, desires that all should be well-learned in the good doctrines of
other religions. (Rock Edict Nb12 (S. Dhammika)
Jainism
The Jainas have adopted the doctrine of
Anekantavada — that is the doctrine of many perspectives.
(Religious
pluralism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)
Photo Courtesy/Can Islam Be French?
Pluralism and Pragmatism in a Secularist State. By John B. Bowen, 2010,
Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691152493
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Supremacist
Trait is A Personality Disorder
Nothing is
far from the realm of the human mind. The human being can strive and understand
the human psychology that has many dimension of it. It should not be a tedious
and near impossible job to understand the psychological lessons concerning our
day to day life. It is in the human being psyche not to accept the superiority
of others, especially if it affects the basics of everyday living.
Religion is
one mentally ingrained thing that mankind does not like others to interference
into. Knowing that the religion he is following teaches to live in harmony and
peace, the concerned mind does not easily endorse a religious supremacist
ideology unless he is coerced into it with the greed of worldly materialistic
gains. This wrongfully endorsed conversion to any ideology is not lasting
though temporarily it serves the purpose of the perpetrator.
The human
being does not go with the idea of discord, tension and destruction in the
society unless he is either unaware of the facts or is suffering from any form
of religious radicalism. These are the only conclusions that one reaches about
the religious anti-pluralistic ideology.
And
Allah Knows the best.
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Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/humane-trait-pluralistic-supermacist/d/124936
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