Fossilized Beliefs, Ossified Practices: Religious Irrationalities Are Somewhere Tied To the Hoary-Old Practices in The Past
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
26 October
2022
We
Foolishly Follow A Dictum And Never Bother How And In Which Circumstances It
Originated In The Hoary Past. It Becomes All The More Ludicrous, When We Try To
Justify Our Idiocy By Advancing Recondite Theories And ' Profound Commentaries
' Just Like One Straightforwardly Pejorative Word Kafir For Infidels And
Polytheists In The Quran Is Glossed Over By Some Congenital Fools By Resorting
To All Types Of Mental Gymnastics.
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“Insaan
Ki Tamaam Mazhabi Bewqoofiyon Ke Taar Kahin Na Khain Daur-E-Qadeem Ki
Bhooli-Bisri Aadaton Se Waabasta Hote Hain."
-Syed Ameer Ali (1848-1928), A Muslim Modernist
(All our
religious irrationalities are somewhere tied to the hoary-old practices in the
past)
Each time
the guru sat for worship with his students, the ashram cat would come in to
distract them, so he ordered them to tie it when the ashram was at prayer.
After the
guru died, the cat continued to be tied at worship time. And when the cat
expired, another cat was brought into the ashram to make sure that the guru's
orders were faithfully observed at worship time.
Centuries
passed and 'learned' treatises were written by guru's 'scholarly' disciples on
the liturgical significance of tying up a cat while worship is performed.
Most of the
humans are like that only. 'Guru's cat' is a metaphor for our obstinate as well
as irrational allegiance to customs and practices that have no significance for
us any longer, yet we strive to perpetuate them. We foolishly follow a dictum
and never bother how and in which circumstances it originated in the hoary
past. It becomes all the more ludicrous, when we try to justify our idiocy by
advancing recondite theories and ' profound commentaries ' just like one
straightforwardly pejorative word Kafir for infidels and polytheists in the
Quran is glossed over by some congenital fools by resorting to all types of
mental gymnastics.
Remember,
naked is always naked even if you say and use euphemisms like ' in the buff '
'sky-clad' or au naturel. Not only that, we try to immortalise our stupidity by
giving a religious twist to a practice with a view to lending credence to our
archaic and arcane thinking. In his monumental tome, “Man and his
superstitions," Sir Carveth Reid states,” If we study the origin of the
religious practices, we'll come to know that all of them originated in a
particular era with a specific need and purpose. Whether it was a 'thread
investiture' or a 'tonsure ceremony' among the Hindu 'vipras' (Brahmans)
or the circumcision among the Jewish and Muslims, the socio-geographical
reasons were much more overwhelming than any religious requirements.
Since
religion has a tendency to usurp a purely anthropological act and turn it into
rigidity as time glides by, we've a mass, rather moss, of mindless
customs." We dare not question why a particular custom is still prevalent
lest it should jolt the collective sensibilities of the larger group we're a
part of. “You’re not allowed to be the fulcrum of it," Reid further
writes. Why should the door of a mosque open towards the 'Qiblah' (the
west, the direction Mecca's situated) only? Where's it written that the 'west'
is the holiest? When the first mosque was erected in Arabia, while Muhammad was
alive, it was a jerry-built construction and the west was found to be the only
direction from where the tempestuous sandy storms were relatively less intense.
But who cares to get to the roots? Who has the time as well as inclination to
get past the facade of ostensible representation of truth and spirituality?
A practice
gets fossilised when it's not resisted or questioned. Humankind is actually a
complacent lot. Frightened it is, but more than a persistent sense of fear,
it's a human proclivity never to bother about the traditional perpetuation of a
number of things. Most of us are just blind followers. Very few of us are
awakened seekers, seekers of truth and even beyond that as the Cambridge-based
late physicist Stephen Hawking so aptly said, “Go beyond the stars, galaxies,
milky ways and the universe itself, many more truths are awaiting you."
Pick up the
gauntlet and reassess your established truths, premises, practices and customs.
"Bashar Ke Zehan Pe Qarnon Se Jo Musallat Hain / Badal Raha Hoon
Gumanon Mein Un Yaqeenon Ko" (I'm out to turn the long-held 'truths',
the minds of men are saddled with for ages, into potential doubts).
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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
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic
Website, African
Muslim News, Arab World
News, South Asia
News, Indian Muslim
News, World Muslim
News, Women in
Islam, Islamic
Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia
in America, Muslim Women
in West, Islam Women
and Feminism