Humans Aren't Slaves To 'Almighty'
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
2 May 2024
"God Dislikes Slavish Devotion Because A
Slave Obeys His Master Out Of Fear And Punishment. He Doesn't Love His Master. Love
For God Has No Room For Compulsions, Conditions And Coercion."
Rabindranath Tagore (From Dr Ketaki Kushari
Dyson's 'New Tagore')
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Regardless of their affiliation or religion, we
must raise awareness among all students to know that God has commanded them to
work hard in their studies and succeed. Only then does God assist His slaves.
By Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi 29/04/2024 19:25:45
While I
greatly admire Mr Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi's knowledge and usually balanced
viewpoints, I don't approve of his 'slavish' statement that humans are slaves
to god or Allah.
This very
statement sounds so outright grovelling and unctuous, not because I'm a
complete atheist. Even believers in other religions will find it to be cringe worthy
and avoidable.
Agreed, all
three Semitic faiths have a 'Master and his subjects' relationship with the
so-called almighty, Islam is a tad too much slavish in this regard. So are its
followers.
In other
words, Islam has a rather 'sacred' connotation of the word 'slave' (Ghulam).
That's why, Muslims have this name. But there's no gainsaying the fact that a
slave is someone who is the property of another person and has to work for that
person.
Well, you
may argue that it's a 'worldly' connotation and the word 'slave' is a
respectable term. I'm afraid it's not. A slave has no will or volition. Even if
there's some imaginary god or Allah up there, those who deny ITS existence,
cannot and shouldn't be called ' slaves.' A 'slave' is a factotum. He's at the
beck and call of his master. He's forever at the disposal of the person who has
bought him.
Do atheists
and even believers in other faiths act in such a servile manner? Not just from
the perspective of semantics, the word ' slave' has a streak of pejorative
connotation. In other words, it's a disparaging metaphor. Just like in the
worldly context, a 'slave' remains a doormat throughout his life, a 'slave' in
the spiritual realm is Allah's factotum sans any free will and even a modicum
of self-respect that an individual ought to have. This disgusts even believers
who don't belong to the fold of Islam.
Don't make
your Allah so condescending who looks down upon ITS creations as chattels. Look
at comparatively benign oriental faiths that say god and its children. Doesn't
it sound good? To quote Yaas Yagana Changezi, "Bandagi Mein Bhi Thodi
Ana Rahne De/ Itna Na Gir Ke Allah Ko Pashemaan Hona Pade" (Let a
semblance of amour-propre remain even in worship/ Don't stoop so much that even
Allah may feel embarrassed) or the great Ghalib, "Bandagi Mein Bhi Woh
Aazaad-O-Khudbeen Hain Ke Hum/ Ulte Phir Aaye Dar-e-Kaaba Agar Waa Na Hua"
(Even in worship, I did retain my freedom and self respect so much so that I
returned home when the doors of Kaaba didn't open for me).
Be like
these stalwarts and don't call all people in the world as slaves to Allah. This
is an insult to them. Muslims can be slaves. Sorry, others ain't. By the way,
all premier lexicons in the world categorically state that the words such as
'black', 'negro' and 'slave' must be avoided. Even the word 'sir' has begun to
appear with a note that it smacks of feudalism because it's an acronym for
Slave I Remain.
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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 the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/humans-slaves-almighty/d/132244