Mr. Asghar wrote: Why Muslims should also worship other gods? My Response: The answer to the above question is NO. I will explain why ummah, and muslims as well as all mankind should NOT worship gods/goddess( Religion implies Revelation. By "Revelation" is meant a set of sublime (and therefore, divine) truths revealed, i.e. communicated from time to time to chosen men (i.e. Prophets) who had the necessary spirituality to comprehend them and to convey them, as Allah's messages, to their fellow-men in the human language of themselves. As we all know Islam means peace, religion implies revelation and dharma means quality. When we say water has a dharma does not mean water has Islam or a religion. Islam can not be learned, or imported, or emulated. Islam is not only a theoretical construct. It is not only a body of knowledge. It is a philosophy, an ideology, a way of life, a mentality and a personality. Islam is a self-serving ever-evolving hypothesis designed to find peace of mind by being resigned, submissive to Allah, and by self-perfection means self-help, due exercise of one's faculties with patience and perseverance, therefore, peaceful. In short, Islam means peace. No sane man thinks that he is perfect as he is. There is always a feeling of some sort in our mind that somehow, and in some respect or other, we are not as perfect as we should be. It is to remove this feeling of imperfection inherent in us that we have to worship Allah and supplicate His help and guidance. If you ask: "Why should I worship Allah?" Islam answers your question by asking another: "Why should you admire beauty in Nature and Art?" I can answer only: "Because it is beautiful. I am so constituted that I cannot do otherwise than admire a beautiful object when I see it". I am unable to give any other reason satisfactorily accounting for my admiration of the beautiful. Islam returns a similar answer to your question: "You should worship Allah because He is Allah". We, as one of His creatures, cannot help worshipping or reverently adoring Him when you see, at every instant of your life, manifold manifestations of His divine Goodness and Beauty. I even go to the extent of identifying Allah with "Infinite Beauty" which is the object of my love and ecstacy. Do you know the verse which every devout Muslim recites when he hears the news of the death of any one: "Verily we are God's and to Him we shall return". This as well as some other verses support the Islamic belief in the re-union of a man's soul with Allah. Islam conceives that there is but one Universal Soul. Small parts—infinitesimal fractions—of the Universal Soul are confined in men's bodies and break free at death to re-join the Whole. Mankind is a symbol of Eternity imprisoned into Time. It is the communion of the fractional soul, which is somehow confined in a man's living body, with the Whole Soul, the Soul of the Universe, to which it—the fractional soul—shall return some day freed from the trammels of the flesh. This communion includes Adoration and Prayer. The admirable description of the meaning and object of Prayer: In prayer we come into close communion with a Higher than we know, and seek to contemplate Divine perfection. Its climax and consummation is attained when we realize the universal Permeance, the entire Goodness and Love of the Divine Being. [1:2 Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, compassionate and merciful, King of the day of Reckoning.] [1:3 Most Gracious, Most Merciful] [1:4 Master of the Day of Judgment] Through prayer we admit our dependance on a Higher Power, for existence and health and everything we possess; we are encouraged to ask for whatever we need as children ask parents; [Call upon me—I will hearken unto you] and we inevitably cry for mercy and comfort in times of tribulation and anguish. The spirit of simple supplication may desire chiefly:— Insight and receptiveness to truth and knowledge. [1:5We worship Thee alone.] Help and guidance in the practical management of life. [1:5 And We seek help from Thee alone.] Ability and willingness to follow the light withersoever it leads. [1:6 Guide us into the right path] [1:7 The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.] Mr. Asghar Wrote: (33:72) We offered this trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it, the but man undertook to bear it. Indeed, he is unjust and ignorant. My Response: Before I delve into the above verse of the sura Al-Ahzad(means the coalition, the combinded forces, The allies, or confederation) As obvious, accepting "the trust" by human being must have made the difference between" them" and the rest of the universe. So what is unique with human being,Which distinguishes him or her from the rest. Isnt it the "intellect" " reason"and "the faculty of volition" - i.e., the ability to choose between two or more possible courses of action or modes of behaviour, and thus between good and evil. And what man has done is enough to know that he has failed to carry on this task. In the end, Allah wants man to realize his real position in the world; if in that position he regarded the life of the world as mere fun and sport and adopted a wrong attitude carelessly, he would only be working for his own doom. Here, the word 'amanat" (trust) implies khilafat (caliphate) which, according to the Qur'an, tnan has been granted in the earth. The inevitable result of the freedom given to man to choose between obedience and disobedience, and the powers and authority granted him over countless creations for using that freedom, is that he himself be held responsible for his voluntary acts and should deserve rewards for his righteous conduct and suffer punishment for his evil conduct. Since man has not attained these powers by his own efforts but has been granted these by Allah, and he is answerable before Allah for their right or wrong use, these have been described by the word khilafat at other places in the Qur'an, and by amanat here. In order to give an idea of how important and heavy this "trust" (amanat) is, Allah says that the heavens and the earth, in spite of their glory and greatness, and the mountains, in spite of their size and firmness, could not have the power and courage to bear it. But man, the weak and frail man, has borne this heavy burden on his tiny self. The presentation of the trust before the eanh and the heavens and their refusal to bear it and their being afraid of it may be taste literally, or it may have been said so metaphorically. We can neither know nor can comprehend Allah's relationship with His creations. The eanh and the sun and the moon and the mountains are dumb, deaf and lifeless for us but they may not be so also for Allah. Allah can speak to each of His creations and it can respond to Him, though its nature is incomprehensible for us. Therefore, it is just possible that Allah, in fact, might have presented this heavy trust before them, and they might have shuddered to see it, and they might have made this submission before their Master and Creator. "Lord, we find our good and our convenience only in remaining as Your powerless servants: we do not find courage to ask for the freedom to disobey and do justice to it, and then suffer Your punishment in case we cannot do justice to it." Likewise, it is also quite possible that before this present life Allah might have given another kind of existence to mankind and summoned it before Himself, and it migln have willingly undertaken to accept the delegated powers and authority. We have no rational argument to regard this as impossible. Only such a person, who might have made a wrong estimate of his mental and intellectual powers and capabilities, can think of regarding it as impossible. However, this also is equally possible that Allah may have said so allegorically. In order to give an idea of the extraordinary importance of the matter, He may have depicted the scene as if the earth and the heavens and the mountains like the Himalayas were present before Him on one side and a 5 foot man, on the other. Then Allah might have asked: "I want to invest someone of My creation with the power that being a subject of My Kingdom, it may acknowledge My Supremacy and obey My Commands of its own free will; otherwise it will also have the power to deny Me, even rebel against Me. After giving him this freedom I shall so conceal Myself from him as if I did not exist at aII. And to exercise this freedom I shall invest him with vast powers, great capabilities, and shall give him dominion over countless of My creations so that he may raise any storm that he may in the universe. Then I shall call him to account at an appointed time. The one who will have misused the freedom granted by Me, will be made to suffer a most terrible punishment; and the one who will have adopted My obedience in spite of aII chances and opportunities for disobedience, will be raised to such high ranks as no creation of Mine has ever been able to attain. Now tell, which of you is ready to undergo this test?" Hearing this discourse a hush might have prevailed for a while all through the universe. Then one huge creation after the other might have bowed down and submitted that it should be excused from the severe test. Then, at last, this frail creation might have risen and submitted: "O my Lord, I am ready to undergo this test. I shall brave aII the dangers inherent in the freedom and independence only in the hope that I shall be blessed with the highest office in Your Kingdom if I pass the test. " By imagining this scene through his mind's eye only can man judge exactly what delicate position he holds in the universe. Allah in this verse has called the person °unjust and ignorant", who lives a carefree life in the place of test, and has no feeling at all of how great a responsibility he is shouldering, and what consequences he will encounter of the right or wrong decisions that he makes in choosing and adopting an attitude for himself in the life of the world. He is ignorant because the fool holds himself as responsible to no one; he is unjust because he is himself preparing for his doom and is also preparing the doom of many others along with him. Asghar Wrote: Yusuf Ali: [Will ye call upon Baal and forsake the Best of Creators,-] My Response: Who or What is Baal? and What is Baal worship? Why is the Most High so incensed when His people worship Baal? Are we, perhaps, wrong in supposing that Baal was some ancient god that has nothing to do with modern man? Or could it be that Baal worship is something of which our society is guilty? Let us find out. The word Baalim is the Hebrew plural for BAAL, the pagan god of nature and fertility. Baal worship apparently had its origin in the believe that every tract of ground owed its productivity to a supernatural being, or baal, that dwelt there. The farmers probably thought that from the Baalim, or fertility gods, of various regions came the increase of crops, fruit and cattle. The worship of Baal was accompanied with lascivious rites, the sacrifice of children in the fire by parents, and kissing the image . Baal was often associated with the goddess Astoreth and in the vicinity of his altar there was often an Asherah. Asghar Wrote: 95:4:Yusuf Ali: [We have indeed created man in the best of moulds, ] 95:5: Yusuf Ali: [Then do We abase him (to be) the lowest of the low,-] How does Allah change the [best make of man] into the lowest of the low? My Response: Religion places the human soul in the presence of its highest ideal (=Allah), it lifts it above the level of ordinary goodness, and produces at least a yearning after a higher and better life in the light of Allah. No society is possible without religion, because of the dual nature of Man. As all modern men of science admit, there is a higher and a lower in every man's nature, the one lifts him up and the other pulls him down in the scale of animal and social existence. Religion is necessary in order that every man's higher nature may conquer his lower nature in order that he may become a social being who is virtuous and does good of his own accord, and may not remain a mere beast whom the whip alone prevents from doing mischief. It is religion that fosters high-thinking and holy-living, so necessary for the advancement of the human race. |
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