|
Many people on religious paths are lousy advertisements for God.
I’m sure that if there were some divine psychometric or
behavioural screening mechanism in place, many wouldn’t be
permitted to be card-carrying representatives of their
particular faith. A cautionary adage urges: “Don’t judge the
path by the people on it.” In the case of Islam, it’s
particularly important to avoid doing so. The fact that there
are, I understand, more than a billion Muslims around the world,
means the chances of bad press for Islam, are pretty good.
Example: The deeply ignorant evangelist, Franklin Graham,
writing that Islam “is a very evil and wicked religion.”
Huge damage has been done and much suffering caused over the
centuries in the name of both protestant and Roman Catholic
Christianity. Just as it is presently being done, with biblical
justification, in the name of ‘preserving Judaism,’ in the
occupied territories of the former Palestine. Please don’t even
waste your breath on an ‘anti-Semitic’ side-swipe. I have Jewish
ancestry. Also, this is not an attack on any group or path, but
rather some observations on the self-proclaimed practitioners of
all paths. I believe that perpetuating injustice in the name of
religious ideology is truly wicked.
Indigenous peoples around the world have suffered grave
disrespect at the hands of social and religious missionaries,
bringing ‘higher’ teachings or values to them. In the process,
traditions and cultural activities which closely bonded people,
or communities, have been destroyed. Conveniently tailored
Christianity was used by the fathers of Apartheid as (yet again)
biblical justification for the appalling treatment of black
South Africans. Apartheid was, in retrospect, a huge success.
The destruction of the extended family system by migratory work
patterns, and the now rampant materialism of the new
economically empowered black middle class, have put a final nail
in the coffin of black South African cultural heritage.
But back to Islam. The tenets of the religion have as much merit
as any of the other dualistic religions with a ‘book.’ Practiced
with sincerity and purity of mind, there is no doubt that it can
lead to the highest levels of what might be referred to, as
God-realisation. The problem is that the crusader-like behaviour
of the Western world has succeeded in dangerously politicising
the name, if not the spirit, of Islam. Many of its adherents are
now bonded together by the notion of, “The enemy of my enemy, is
my friend.” As a simple example, a couple of hundred, or even
thousands, of hand-waving Iraqis, do not a ‘conversion’ to
Americanism make. They’ve survived for more than a third of a
century by adapting to the volatile whims and fancies of Saddam
Hussein. They’ll do likewise with any other occupying force,
however temporary.
Religion is the mechanistic framework of an ideology.
Spirituality is its practice. If one clings to the former and
isn’t a practitioner of the latter, then any religion is little
different from a political movement. It can quite legitimately
become a survival mechanism for people under duress. To quote
the oft-distorted Marxist idiom, “Religion is the opiate of the
masses.” Not, as one Robben Island tour guide says, the “opium”
of the masses. Although, in Afghanistan, that’s a distinct
possibility.
I believe that the biggest threat today is the lack of mental
purity and ethics on the part of many Islamic clerics and their
peers in other religions. I was left aghast at some of the video
footage from Friday night prayers in Baghdad, Basra and other
centres in Iraq, following the American invasion. The
hate-speak, from supposedly spiritual leaders, inside ‘houses of
God’ was literally breath-taking. But Christian and Jewish
religious leaders have done precisely the same thing over the
centuries.
What we need to understand is this: The passive resistance
campaigns of Gandhi were based on ‘ahimsa,’ the principle of
non-injury. The work of Martin Luther King Jr. was based on
similar principles of non-violence. It’s vital for both teachers
and followers of Islam around the world, to remind themselves of
the true meaning of their religion, which is “Peace.”
Nothing of consequence is going to be accomplished by being
sucked into using religion as a cloak for politics, power
mongering, or even the murder of ‘unpopular’ clerics, as
happened recently in Iraq. Islam deserves better.
It’s becoming a tragic stereotype in the West, that the most
recognised words from the Islamic vocabulary are Sharia (Law)
and Jihad (‘Holy’ War). As a student and lover of all religions,
I’d like to see that change, before it’s too late. Only
spirituality, as opposed to religiosity, can facilitate this. We
all need to remember that anger and hatred are venoms that
poison the lives of both dispenser and recipient.
About the author:
Clive is a marketing and communications strategist. He
specialises in helping people and organizations make sustainable
change. http://www.imbizo.com
|