Superficial religious thought: Time for introspection مصنوعی مذہبی فکر ایک لمحۂ فکریہ

By Waris Mazhari (Translated from Urdu by New Age Islam Edit Desk)

One important topic of discussion with regard to the social issues is the religious attitude of the Muslims. It is to be seen what positive or negative role the religious attitude of the Muslims plays towards social issues.  How this is affecting the Muslim society with all its virtues and vices and what harmful or useful results it is yielding; what aspect of it needs to be suppressed and promoted etc? There is no doubt that at present the influence of religion is more on the Muslim society than on any other society. Muslims are more attached with religion in comparison to other religious societies. This worries people who believe in maintaining a distance between religion and society and consider the interference of religion in social affairs a threat to the society.  Their age old notion is that Islam itself is the biggest hindrance in the development of the Muslims. Now they have been joined by some Muslim scholars who do not hesitate to echo this view. However, a big section emphasizes the need to reject the structure of its rituals by recognizing the basic reality of religion. One end or rather the basic end of this atheistic attitude meets the atheistic thought called the progressive thought of the West. But with due apologies, it can also be said that the other end of this attitude meets our religious attitude that is in fact not religious at all, only has the label of religion on it. We call it religious and others also interpret it in that sense. I would like to present some examples to explain my point.

We put emphasis on the cultural phenomenon with reference to Islam. In other words, culture has been considered a part of religion, though culture is the product of local social and economic conditions, is governed by them and undergoes changes due to changes in the social and economic conditions. For example, the people of Makkah as compared to the people of Ansar, considered it wrong to involve their wives in any affair or do consultation with them. After migrating to Medina, when Hadhrat Umar’s wife wanted to give some suggestion on a particular issue, he took offence. His wife reminded Hadhrat Umar that his daughter used to give advice to the Prophet (PBUH). Hadhrat Umar went to ask the Prophet (PBUH) and was convinced. Some muhajireen (migrants) felt that after coming to Medina their wives had sort of gone out of their control. All the Islamic regions were under their own cultures. It is difficult to tie them to one thread. Many jurisprudential advices became a part of the religion due to ignoring the difference between religion and culture though they were correlated with space and time. Therefore, the correct interpretation of the hadith “If someone adopts resemblance with a particular community, he will be considered to be among them).” (Abu Dawood, Masnad Ahmad) is difficult to make without examining it in the correct context.

The social distinction of castes is in contrast with the basic spirit of Islam. Islam had arrived in order to demolish the walls of inequality on the basis of colour, caste, occupation, poverty and riches but the walls that had been founded on the feudal system of the middle ages have divided the Muslim society into so many sections that the social existence of the Muslims has gone astray.

Lavish expenses on the unnecessary decoration and beautification of mosques have become a trend. Mosques should be simple and spacious. They should also be strong to stand the test of time but the grand mosques that are being built these days manifest only the religious zeal. Therefore the people who donate a big amount of money for the construction of these mosques practically are way behind when it comes to offer namaz and participate in other religious activities. Some hide their sins and misdeeds behind these noble deeds. Many examples can be presented to explain this. But it is not appropriate to mention those here. It appears that the concentration of attention to the mosques has diverted the attention of the people from other social issues. That is why there is a lack of good educational, medical and welfare organizations in our society. In a multicultural society like India, Muslims and Hindus have many common problems. For instance, dowry among the Muslims and Tilak in the Hindu society is in vogue. Superstitions in the name of religion are more or less existent in both the societies. Like the Muslims, the non-Muslim communities also perceive the threat from materialism and the liberal ideologies of the West. In fact it has become difficult to demarcate the borderlines of the Muslim society vis a vis the Hindu society. In this situation, mutual community based cooperation is necessary in the social reform process. But our superficial religious mentality considers keeping a distance from others in such issues quite a religious compulsion. Although for us it is a good way of introducing Islam to others as ambassadors of Islam. Albeit the price we will have to pay for it is that our vices will be exposed to others.

Many values that form the basis of a collective life and of the same importance in Islam are the basis of the development of the non-Muslim society. The deprivation of those values has contributed to this downfall of the Muslim society. In this regard read the views of a renowned Deobandi scholar of Pakistan Maulana Zahidur Rashidi. Replying to a question asked by a Pakistani magazine what the causes of the downfall of the Muslims were he said, “ We could not establish a strong political system after the Abbasid Caliphate… The Prophet (PBUH) left the caliphate to the wisdom of the common Muslims and relied on the public opinion but we could not continue the tradition though Europe adopted it. The concept of welfare state that was emerging in the Caliphate of the rightly guided four caliphs could not be continued and this concept was also hijacked by Europe. After showing Europe the way of science and technology, we ourselves deviated from it and gave a walk over to Europe.”(Al Sharia, Gojranwala, Feb 2005, with reference Abe Hayat, Lahore, Jan 2005).

Our superficial religious thinking is only an admirer of its outer phenomenon and symbols in the name of following the religion and many things have entered into it that have hardly anything to do with religion. But we are wasting our capabilities on them. There is not as much emphasis on spiritual condition or character building as on Islamic appearance. Therefore, religion and religiosity have become an important and profitable business in today’s world.

It is our superficial religious thinking that has imposed restrictions, for instance, on the freedom of expression as it will expose our intellectual bankruptcy though the Muslims of the modern world present the best sample of the freedom of expression. Anything that is different from the general religious thinking cannot be said because then one will be accused of ‘liberalism and modernism’ which is synonymous with revolting against the deen in the eyes of the critics. In countries like Egypt a few such liberals had to pay with their lives though replying pen with the sword gives the impression that you are not able to reply to an intellectual issue.  Our pseudo religiousness is intensifying extremism in Muslim society instead of controlling it because people having these extremist ideas refer to Islam. The extremist elements of Islam have in fact taken advantage of this very soulless and fake religious attitude of the people in Pakistan. This superficial and soulless religious attitude should be analyzed and examined in the light of the thought provoking views of Maulana Mahmood Hasan (Sheikhul Hind). When his pupil Maulana Manazir Ahsan Geelani said that Muslims love the Prophet (PBUH) so much that they can tolerate an insult to their parents but not to him (PBUH), he replied:

“In fact Muslims unconsciously feel insulted when the Prophet (PBUH) is insulted. It hurts the dignity and ego of the Muslims as no one can insult whom they call their prophet. In fact the very ego is hurt but it gives the impression that the love of the Prophet (PBUH) has spurred them to take revenge.” (Tarjuman, Darul Uloom Delhi, January 2005).

However, the superficial religious attitude of the Muslims with regards to the birth and growth of social problems is an important factor. We should realise that as not every sparkling substance is gold, in the same way not every attitude identified with religion is a religious attitude. It is a cause for destructive activities in society in the name of religion and the biggest hindrance in its progress and development.

Source: Hamara Samaj, New Delhi

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/superficial-religious-thought--time-for-introspection/d/4106