When the average person thinks of the term "religion" their minds go directly to spirituality and the rituals, which is not wrong. However, there's more to it than just that.
When Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) received his first revelation he was instructed to "Read". Was Allah telling him to pick up the Qur'an and read it? No, the Qur'an wasn't in that form yet. Was Allah telling him to go read the works of any religious leader during that time? No. Allah says in Surah Al-Alaq, "Read in the Name your Lord Who created". He was directing Prophet Mohammed's mind to creation as a whole. Meaning that the Prophet was to understand the essence or the nature of what Allah had created including his own self. But what purpose does this serve? In the second verse of Surah Al-Alaq Allah says, "Created man from blood adhering". Allah is telling us that the purpose of creation is to be of benefit to man as a social body. When Prophet Mohammed passed away almost immediately we have the Golden Age of Islam come about. Muslims began to study the Qur'an and bring out keys that opened up the sciences for them. During this time Muslims were making great advancements in different fields furthering the growth of civilization.
This understanding of using the intellect to engage in G-d's creation is not just true for Muslims this is also compatible with what the other Abrahamic faiths believe. In Judaism and Christianity there is prayer that says, "...Give us our daily bread". Bread is made by man and made for man to consume, but all of the ingredients come from the earth, G-d's original creation. So they're asking G-d to bless them with the insight into creation so that they may use it for the benefit of mankind.
We looked at those verses from a material aspect but let's look at it from a moral perspective. We understand that Allah created the intellect free to engage creation and advance humanity. But Allah also created the human nature of man. From our perspective man was created upright and innocent (Qur'an 95:4). This means that man's progress in science and civilization has to respect the original purity that he was created in. If he does not have this in mind then he will lose his place in civilization and fall into corruption. A clear example is music in the African American community (I'm aware that there are differences of opinion concerning the listening of music in the Muslim world, I'm using this to convey a point). In our history as slaves in America we used to sing songs that talked about loving G-d, Him saving us and delivering us to freedom. When we were freed we immediately began building churches, families, and community. Fast forward to the present day the music focuses on extreme violence, disrespect to deceased persons, extreme lust, drug use and the use of vulgar language. This is reflected in the culture of African Americans where we have more single parent households than ever before, high murder rates in our neighborhoods, poverty, amongst other things. This extends into the rest of American culture as well. This is what happens when want for material gains overrides the moral life.
Allah's communication to man is the most important aspect of man's life. Our communication from G-d comes in the form of The Qur'an. If that communication becomes interrupted or perverted by shaytan (the enemy of man) then we run the risk of causing major issues in the world. This means we have to get back to religion in the way that respects the moral life/sensitivities while not neglecting the progress of our life materially which respects the growth of the pure intellect of man. Then we will have a beautiful life that embodies Allah's will for man right here on earth.
Comments