"I Don't Believe in God, But I'm Afraid of Him"
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
8 February
2024
“I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of
Him.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of
Cholera
Whenever I
read Marquez's famous quote, it makes me think. This also reminds me of the
great Egyptian scholar Taha Hussain's famous quote, "Even those who call
God as all love and claim to love Him are fearful of Him." Marquez's quote
has a ring of oxymoron to it. In fact, many people don't believe in god. Yet,
they're afraid of it (I don't use any specific gender for god). How's it
possible?
This enigma
gives birth to Leibnitz's classic Dilemma of Denial. Can humans absolutely deny
the existence of god or because of an inherited sense of fear, we all accept
its existence? Does our belief in god stem from a deep-down fear?
Even
Sankhya Darshan, one of the six schools of Indian Philosophy which doesn't
believe in a creator, believes that since humans perpetually live in a penumbra
of fear; fear of unseen, fear of tomorrow, fear of accidents and catastrophes
and the most potent being the fear of death, human mind resorts to a Being out
of fear to eliminate all the existential fears. It's like a stone cutting a
stone and fire extinguishing fire.
Now when
many individuals across the world are urging a large section of people to leave
all religions and believe in an all-encompassing god, it's imperative to get
rid of all fears. I'm dead-against all faiths but I'm not against those who
believe in a supernatural power. If that helps them navigate through life's
myriad issues with a sense of equipoise and equanimity, why should I criticize?
Placebos are required for human survival. Your god is also a placebo. But that
power, if at all it does exist, must be approached sans a scintilla of fear.
Even if all
humans relinquish all man-made religions in the next 500 years and start
believing only in god and nothing else, there'll remain a lurking sense of fear
and apprehension.
Maulana
Rumi started having this realization of an all-loving god sans any religion or
sect. I agree with the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk that had Rumi lived longer
(he died at the age of 66), he would have left Islam and become a believer San
any faith. He believed that all that controlled and regulated, could also
instil fear and that would block our vision; vision of love. He coined a word
for it: Intifayez (unnecessary regimentation). Like his contemporary
Greek mystic Alkonin, Rumi wanted that humans must approach that supreme power
in an unregimented, unregulated and fearless manner. He said this 800 years
ago.
Now people
are questioning the validity of all bogus faiths. But are they evolved enough
to believe in a god without fear and favour?
The month
of Ramzan (this year, March 10 to April 9) is approaching. Muslims across the
world will fast for a month as a draconian religious regimentation and fear.
Cannot a Muslim love his/her Allah without the burden of fasting? And please
don't tell me, you do it out of love for Allah and it gives you immense
soul-satisfaction. You observe it out of fear, compulsion and as an outcome of
a forced and inculcated habit, existed in the psyche of the earliest Muslims
down to today's Muslims.
----
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/spiritual-meditations/god-afraid-muslims-ramazan/d/131677
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