Introduction

The topic under discussion is Philosophy of Religion, a matter which is highly important but is not often talked about or written. That is why people may ask what is the purpose of discussing the Philosophy of Religion?

Philosophy of Religion does not mean religious philosophy, because philosophy itself is a branch of knowledge, and, like other streams of knowledge it is essential that we know about our religion as well.

My purpose is not to discuss in particular religious philosophy but to have a very basic discussion about religion. Usually, the present educated young generation ask why they should follow the path of religion. What need does religion satisfy? They need an answer to this and what problems does it solve? If there was no religion, would it affect mankind in any way?

Today’s youth lives in a world, surrounded by the followers of Islam, the non followers atheist, many around him are Muslims but in just name and there are others who staunchly believe in Islam and follow it as well. Looking around him, he sees that, practically, there is very little difference between the lives of the believer and the non-believer, both are human beings, both take food and drinks.

On the contrary, he sees that the non-believers and the enemies of Islam seem happier and more prosperous than the believers. What than is the purpose of religion, he wonders. What is the need, he asks. Usually, the orators and preachers just talk about the fundamentals of Islam. Truly, there is little knowledge to be gained about the religion from the Traditional Islamic schools (Madrassah’s), gatherings and mourning session speeches (Majalis).

Here the word Madrassah refers to our traditional method of teaching children, which emphasizes on teaching Quran recitiation and basic fundamentals without using logic and reasoning.

What Should Be Our Relationship With Religion?

Why do I need this religion? Of what use will it be to me? Till the time these questions are answered, the mind and intellect of mankind cannot be fully satisfied.

There are many different faces of followers of Islam we see today like:

1. There are some whose only act of religion is praying once a year on the occasion of Eid.
2. There are others whose only contact with religion is for the ten days during Mohurrum.
3. There are some who take time out to attend the Friday prayers
4. There are others who perform their daily obligatory prayers without fail.
5. There are others who, in addition to the obligatory prayers, try and implement Islam in their daily lives.
6. Than there are those who have dedicated themselves to the cause of Islam and are busy day and night in the cause of Islam.

Sometimes by teaching people the fundamentals of Islam, we believe that he has gained enough knowledge about the religion and will continue on the right path. But it doesn’t happen that way. By just studying about religion, he doesn’t really know the religion as well as he should.

For example, there are many people who study about Islam in Traditional Islamic Schools (Madrassah’s) but don’t actually practice it in their daily lives. They know everything about the religion, but there is no sign of Islam in their daily life. There are many people who have studied Islam and understand it, but even then we don’t see any signs of religion in their daily lives. Who should tell us about religion and its practical application? It is possible that even after knowing about the religion, a person might go astray; he might think of religion as an unimportant or dispensable thing in his life.

The question that arises then is what should be our relationship with religion? It is a long list. Every person has a special relationship with religion; he sees religion from his own individual point of view. Who will tell him what his relationship with religion should be?

The answer to all these questions is what should be our relationship with the religion. Why is religion important for mankind? What problems does religion solve? Will the life of mankind be any different without religion? Is there a difference in the lives of an atheist and a believer?

The discussion that answers all these questions is Philosophy of Religion which means talking about Religion. This means in this context (Philosophy of Religion) we will not talk about the practical tenets of religion like how many Units (Rakat) to perform in prayers (Salaat), or how to fast or perform hajj.

We will not discuss the fundamentals of Islam. These are matters related to religion itself and become relevant only when a person decides that he needs religion. A common belief that exists for ages; one that has been propagated by our parents and peers, and disseminated by Traditional Islamic Schools (Madrassah), Mosques and Hussainiyah’s (place of mourning gatherings) as well is that religion is a business of credit. Meaning, you perform here and you will get the rewards after your death.

There is much benefit in this type of business. But that might not be always the case. The person giving credit will be worried about getting paid back. He will be worried about what will happen to his credit if the person dies. If you want to buy in large quantity on credit, any businessman will hesitate to give you. But if you offer to pay half the amount in cash, then he can consider to deal. But if another person is ready to pay the full amount in cash, he will not entertain you.

If you have two buyers and one of them offers you the maximum amount for some product but on credit, and the other person offers you the half amount in cash for the same thing, then certainly you will not consider the first person’s proposal. It means you will prefer the cash business because you don.t know whether that person will pay afterwards or not. The way in which we preach the religion, it seems religion is a wealth but in the form of credit only. Men are promised that if they work hard, pray day and night, keep fast and face every hardship in this world, they will get the reward after their death when Qayamah (the day of judgement) occurs. Nobody knows when Qayamah will occur and many doubt whether Qayamah  will occur at all.

Sometimes some persons, for their selfish interests, divert people’s attention to unimportant issues. As it happens in some countries with instable government, when these governments become fragile in order to distract the citizens they organize some big popular sports events (like Cricket in some Asian countries). As the people are busy watching the matches on television, the politicians play their own games. Religious preachers also play the same game. They keep people busy and enjoy a luxurious and comfortable life. They tell the people to carry on their hard work with promises and assurances that they will be rewarded for it after their death. You will be rewarded in the next world. When questioned how we will be rewarded, they reply that you will go to paradise and there you will have beautiful gardens abundant with fruits trees and streams, and, for your entertainment, there will be Houries (female angels)

It is possible that some persons might get satisfied with these promises but some might not. How long will we stay there, they might ask. How many Houries will we get, one or four? What if we get bored with that life after a while? And if men have been promised Houries, what about the women? What will they get? They too have performed their religious duties and suffered in this world.

See how many questions come to mind regarding Paradise and Hell, the idea and preconception of reward and paradise only? This is the philosophy of religion? Those who accept religion for the benefits promised in the hereafter and paradise, their problem is solved and they succeed.

Whatever reward they get is good enough for them. And to succeed in the life hereafter, they study many different books; they search the Mafateeh-ul-Jinan (Key to Paradise a book of supplications) and recite from therein supplications that give them Thawaab (rewards). But that might not be sufficient for them. So they carry a calculator as well, because on the other hand they also ensure that sins are not avoided by them; they are too particular about eating interest money (Reba) and enjoying forbidden food. So they need to calculate their good deeds and bad deeds; that’s why they need a calculator. They believe that every sin will be counted as just one and the rewards for every good deed will be manifold. So they calculate rewards for their good deeds and the punishments for their sins, and are happy and satisfied with the result. After every day’s calculation the result is in his favour, because for every sin there is just one punishment (Azaab) but for every good work, the reward (Thawaab) is ten times. It means if a person does ten good deeds in a day and commits 100 sins, then it equalizes no profit-no loss. And if he does just one more good deed, he has succeeded.

Only such types of religious people take multiplied rewards (Thawaab) as philosophy of religion and Paradise as the aim of religion, they are not worried about sinning as they have their calculations ready. They are not afraid of telling lies, backbiting (Geebah) and just completely unconcerned about minor or major sins and they trample the rights of others.

It’s such type of religious people who change the concept of religion. If you offer Islam to anybody in this form, what will be the response? This means if non-religious person looks at a person who is religious (offers prayers etc), but is openly doing unworthy acts, then what will be the image of this religion on a non-religious person. Will he be ever attracted towards religion?

Difference Between Purpose And Benefit

The purpose of religion is other than what we consider it to be and offer it to others as well. There are two things in religion. One is Purpose (in Urdu “Maqsad”) and the second is Benefit (in Urdu “Fayda”) and both are different things. Behind every action there is a purpose and after every action there is a result which you can call benefit.

When we attend a religious gathering for a purpose but when the program ends there will be some benefits also like knowledge, meeting each other, refreshment and others. This is the benefit of the program, not the aim. Just like when you go the Majalis (mourning lectures), you get food at the end. This food (known as Niyaz in the Indian subcontinent) is not the purpose of Azadari; this is only a small benefit of joining Azadari. So, there is a lot of difference between purpose and benefit.

There are certain types of people with whom all of us are unhappy and we condemn them. But probably, some of us are like them only when it comes to religion. These people are called Selfish beings (a person who sees just his own benefit). We have been told to keep distance from such persons.

When one wants to defame other person, he will call him a Selfish person which implies he is saying that you a person who only thinks about yourself and acts for your own personal gains and benefits only. When we seek help from such a person, he will never be obliged to help us unless he finds some personal benefits in helping us.

But this is an incorrect or we can say an incomplete definition of being Selfish. A person is not just selfish because he cannot help us. Take for example a man, who is very religious and serves Islam and mankind as a servant, but is unable to help us. Since he could not do our work, some people might call him Selfish. That is not correct. Selfish beings are not those who cannot help us (because they are not capable enough to help us) instead they are ones who never think about Purpose but are only concerned about benefits.

Benefit is something acquired automatically at the completion of any work. Every action we perform has some benefit in some or other form; and there is a purpose too behind every action. There is a very simple example of this principle: we eat food daily and there is a purpose behind it. We take food because it is necessary for our body to perform its function properly. The benefit of this food is that we get the taste of food and pleasure.

Now you can decide who is Selfish and who is Purpose oriented. When we eat food, do we see the purpose or the benefit? Do we eat food for pleasure or to live? Those who eat rich, spicy food at their home or go to hotels regularly for spicy food, do they eat for pleasure or for survival? Just pulses and grains are sufficient for survival. But despite of this you will see many different varieties of food on one table. So many varieties of food at one time is not for survival, it is for pleasure only, and pleasure is not the aim of eating food, it is just a benefit only. This does not mean that anyone eating food for pleasures is selfish, this is an analogy given to explain the concept of Selfishness and Purposeful approach towards religion. Pleasures and varieties in food are all bounties of Allah (s) abstaining from these itself is denial of bounties. The point mentioned over here is about our perception or inclination which is towards benefits (i.e. taste) and not towards Purpose. This is the reason that we end up eating tasty foods which at times are harmful for our health but for the sake of benefits we even compromise on our health.

Now you can decide easily who are Selfish and who is Purposeful. Those who eat to get some benefit like pleasures only are Selfish and those who take food for the purpose are Purposeful beings. Maulana Room has said that strength of Imam Ali (a.s.) was not from the kitchen and good food. Imam Ali (a.s) used to eat dry breads of barley and the strength in his arms was because of that dry bread of barley; he took his food was because of the necessity of purpose and not for any benefit or pleasure.

The hotel owner knows very well that people are Selfish. They take food only for benefit that’s why they serve them different varieties of spicy food like chicken, burger etc without considering the harmful effects of junk food. Similarly there is also a purpose to wear clothes and the aim is to cover the naked body and protection from heat, cold and dust, but the benefit of clothing is to show social status because as per common norms the condition of the clothes reflects status.

There is no action without both of these factors; Purpose and Benefit. A Selfish person is one who always thinks about benefits which is not a good thing. For example, there is a purpose and a benefit in marriage also. Take the case of a wealthy man who has a daughter and another man who has a son. The latter might think that if he gets his son married to the rich man’s daughter then all the wealth and property will come to his house. On the other side, there is a man who has a daughter and he thinks that if he can get his daughter married to a man having a good job and a prosperous background, his daughter will be happy and prosperous and her future will be secured. Such thinking is not the purpose of marriage. This is the benefit of the marriage. A Selfish thinks if he marries his daughter or son to some political leader’s family, they can get more benefits. There are two purposes of marriage, one is satisfaction of desires and the other is reproduction of family. Now you can decide how many marriages are performed for purpose and how many for benefit; how Selfish beings perform their marriages.

The same situation exists in religion too. Those who accept religion can be categorized into two type people who accept religion only for its benefit and others who accept for its purpose also. One who is Selfish in his every step of life will be Selfish with religion also. There is lot of benefit in religion and he accepts religion only for its benefits, though there is a purpose behind religion. Those who pray for benefit are the biggest selfish. They are just interested in the benefits. See how the politics of our country is totally based on Selfishness; the politicians in power don’t bother about right or wrong, or whether they are beneficent for the country or not. They just see their own benefit. In the politics of selfishness, they totally ignore country and religion; the politicians are just interested in the profit only, wherever they can get it. The politics of selfishness has spoiled many Islamic countries; one day they will spoil religion also, because they accept the religion only for their benefit.

Purpose And Benefits Of Religion

Now let us see what is the purpose of religion and what are the benefits of religion? Let us try to learn the philosophy of religion and let us understand why do people accept religion? Is there any difference between religious and non-religious person? See the benefits of religion. People can get more benefits without religion as well, people accept religion for respect, honour, fame, dignity, cash and wealth.

When you send somebody to get religious education, after completing his studies he comes back. Now what does he do? He will take up the job of either Mosque Prayer leader (PeshNamaz) or Religious Speaker wherever he can get good remuneration. People are not striving for religious education as a purpose; they are interested with the benefits of it. They know that this is more profitable. Now you can see that religious education is completely in the hands of selfish persons; in fact both Religion (Deen)  and World (Dunya) are in the hands of  Selfish persons.

Those who have spoiled Islamic countries and religion are selfish persons. What is the difference between religious purpose and religious benefits? Actually for most of us, the purpose of religion is just limited to Rewards (Thawaab); follow the path of religion and get Rewards (Thawaab); offer prayers (Salaat) and get the Rewards (Thawaab);, keep fast and get Rewards (Thawaab); perform the customs of religion and earn Rewards (Thawaab); recite supplication and get Rewards (Thawaab);, serve fellow humans for Rewards (Thawaab);, everything for the benefit of Rewards (Thawaab) only.

If a young man asks them why he should accept the principles of religion and why he should offer Prayers (Salaat), they reply; You will get Rewards (Thawaab). If the young men asks, What we will do with the Rewards (Thawaab)? They talk about the Houries; this is the practical manifestation of Rewards (Thawaab). Then they ask .if a man will get hooreis, what about  women?  What will she get as Rewards (Thawaab)? Because whenever we imagine about Paradise, we only visualize about it from a man’s perspective. Nobody has talked about Behisht-e-Zanan (Women’s Paradise). How these ladies will be hereafter and what will be their future?

Why is there hardship for them? During the recitation Talqeen (final funeral rites recitation at burial) we move the shoulder of the dead body and say to him listen and understand that Paradise (heaven) is truth (Haqq), Hell is truth (Haqq), Rewards (Thawaab) for good deeds is also truth (Haqq). There is no doubt about the truth of these things; Rewards (Thawaab) are the promises from Allah that can’t be a lie. He can pardon your sins but will never forget your good deeds. He is not a miser, helpless, incompetent or a tyrant; he is only generous. If he gives Rewards (Thawaab) abundantly and gifts Paradise and Houries but it does not mean the purpose of religion has been achieved.

You must have seen that some people come late for Majalis (mourning session gatherings) and some come towards the end and get food (Niyaz) which is the last program of the function; they claim they have also participated in the Majalis. But they have participated only in the benefit of the Azadari and not in the purpose. This is not the purpose of religion. This is just a benefit, the purpose is something else. The purpose of religion is not the Rewards (Thawaab) or the Paradise. Heaven and Hell are not the purpose of religion, neither is the creation of the human being the purpose of religion.

What Is The Purpose Of Religion?

It should be kept in the mind that Allah, amongst all his identifiable creations, has gifted religion to humans only. We cannot say anything about creatures that cannot be identified, except Jinns. Certainly religion exists amongst Jinns. There are so many of his other creations like Angels, Archangels, animals, plants and stones, creations under the ground, above it and in the sky; there are crores of creations but there is no religion for them.

God has gifted religion only for humans. Why not for others? Is religion not necessary for other creatures? If it is not necessary, than why is it a necessity for human beings? There is no custom of Nikah or marriage for animals. There are no religious customs for animals, they are only for humans. Mankind has been specifically instructed to perform all his religious duties and customs. Why? Because religion is a way of life, rule of practice and a royal mandate. So, to know about this religion and the philosophy of religion we must know about human beings first. Religion is meaningless without human beings, because it exists only for human beings.

What should be our relationship with religion? To know about that, we must first know about human beings; without knowing about human beings the topic is incomplete, we cannot describe the philosophy of religion. Why is religion necessary for human beings? What is the difference between a religious and a non-religious person? It is very difficult to describe that within such a short time. Not just one sea, but seven seas have to be closed in a cup. And a short discussion does not solve the purpose because it creates more questions and confusion in the mind. These topics should be described very clearly. Allah has given us this life to serve Him and His religion, but we have no time for this type of work; we have more time for other unnecessary work. This means we don’t spend time on religious studies, we spent a lot of time on doing unnecessary things, the most important aspect of our lives is religion, about which we know very little and neither are we interested to learn more. In this time constraint, I will try to explain that there is just one difference between Human beings and His other creations, the difference is that the other creations have been sent to this world after they have been completed. It means that these other creations have been sent from Allah in the form they should be here on Earth, they have been completed by the angels before being sent to the world. But it’s different with human beings they have been sent to this world to complete themselves (move towards perfection). For example, you send your children to school to learn. There are so many things in school; chairs, table and blackboards; the school building is there and there are so many things in the building; everything is ready. The teacher has not been hired to make the tables, chairs or blackboards, but you send your child to mould his character and career. So, in the same place; the school; there are so many things, which are complete, and there are other things that need to be completed. Likewise, you take the flour to the bakery to make bread.

Allah (s) through his creation has created the universe himself. Allah (s) through his infinite power has created every part of the universe himself.  Human being is one part of this universe. One half of creating human being Allah (s) did himself and other half was left on man himself. The creation of Universe was done in completion by Allah (s) but when it came to man it was done in two stages. One stage was the one accomplished by Allah (s) himself and second is the one left on man himself to undergo this stage. Thus there are two part of man; one is Khalq and second is Khulq. Khalq is that portion which has to accomplished by Allah whereas Khulq  is that portion which has to be worked upon by man himself.  He has been shown the path, the method has been ordained and also the substance for creating the khulq has also been provided; and then man has been told to create his khulq in a same way his Khalq has been created by Allah (s).

The Khalq or creation of man has been discussed in the Quran by Allah (s) in a very precise and elegant fashion. The discussion starts right from where we initiated the creation. We started the creation from clay, got the extract from it, then this extract was turned into sperm, the sperm was placed in the womb, then it changed into clot of blood in the womb, after which it turned into flesh and then we made the body out of it. Then we placed flesh and bones on this body and then after covering with skin we inserted soul inside it and then said:

فتبارک اﷲ احسن الخالقین

These are the stages of creation from clay to soul which has been explicitly mentioned in Surah Teen. After mentioning these stages Allah (s) is telling man that he should be careful because we have made his creation very beautiful, exemplary and firm. This means it has been created with the best possible beauty, grandeur and magnificence. But your creation is not your humanity instead your creation is the skeleton or frame for your humanity. Your creation has the substance of humanity inside it and now you have to carve your humanity with this substance yourself. You have to turn this frame into humanity and human yourself. How? This task has been handed over by Allah (s) to man himself. The name of those teachings, that substance, the Khulq  which man inserts inside this beautiful creation (Khalq) is Religion. Religion has come only for one sole objective, purpose and firm mission that is to make us true human. Man should become the architecture of his own self and construct his existence. What Allah (s) has made is just an imagination of reality of man, the actual human has to be made by man himself.

In other words we have been placed hidden behind this skin and behind this curtain of skin we have to paint a unique picture. And it is a common principle that unique pictures are not made or painted in public places or in open public areas; ordinary pictures can be made at any place because it does not matter even if someone looks at it while it being made. But where are unique pictures made by the painter? He makes it in an enclosed place, closed room, secret studio, When this picture is ready he announces and invites everyone to come on a particular day for curtain raising ceremony. He calls everyone to see what kind of masterpiece he has made which would be seen once the curtain from above the picture is raised. Allah (s) has granted an enclosed environment to human being and on this closed environment a cloth, a curtain has been placed whose name is skin and also said that I am “Sattar” (one who covers). We remember Allah by this name “Ya Sattar” (O! the one who covers). We call Allah as “Sattarul Uyoob” (One who covers mistakes and deficiencies) and the biggest deficiency which Allah has covered is the picture which we are painting below this skin. Allah (s) made the frame and handed it over to us with the painting material that from here onwards you have to make yourself and then said one day the curtain will be lifted from this painting, and that day is Qayamah (day of judgment). One of the names of the day of judgment given by the Quran is یوم طبل شرائر which means the day of lifting curtains. Qayamah means the day of unveiling curtains and lifting the cover placed on us. But the curtains will lifted from over which things? It is from these paintings and soul. Today everyone is seen as similar humans behind skins but on the day of judgment the curtain of skin will be lifted and whatever comes out from inside will not be similar in everyone. For this also Holy Quran has used specific words, certain verses are present for this and different faces which are hidden behind the skins are also mentioned.

Everyone of us is created to make ourselves. Religion is the guidance manifesto for construction of man. Everything in religion and every portion of religion is meant for construction of human being; but the part of religion which we have heard is not even one tenth of the expanse of religion. What has been told is the little and ordinary portion of religion with which we are associated and practise it throughout the year. The major portion of religion has been kept concealed from us; it has not been taught to us; these secrets are not exposed. At times people ask also that all the major worldly developments have been done by non religious persons. All the developments and technological advancements seen in the world today, all these unique and astonishing, machinery gadgets that are produced daily are all developed by non religious persons. The religious persons have not done these it was done by those who either had no religion or a secular region with loose faith or in other words these developments were not done under the teachings of religion. Though today we have speakers and orators who say that all these developments were inspired by religious teachings only but apart from oratory words there is no evidence present for this. There is no doubt that religion would have such secrets inside it but for sure those who did these developments had no concerns with religion. If you look at this great bounty of electricity; the one who invented this was not a religious person at all and neither was he inspired or influenced by religious teachings for this development; it was something else which was the basis for this invention. Similarly today we benefit from computer; the person who developed and invented this bounty was not inspired by religion. He might have taken inspiration from somewhere else like physics, scientific teachings, etc and it is also true that certain persons are given such intelligence by Allah (s) that they have on their own done such discoveries and inventions.

A question that rises is when all these developments, inventions and all the things which we use in our day to day life, the material which we use to construct our homes and the city in which we are living with all the means of life in it, everything has been made with guidance from outside religion; then what is the use of religion? Why has religion come for man? When everything is coming from outside religion then religion is  the cure for which pain? This is where we are told that religion is for hereafter. This means the world will create factories and world is in the hands of scientists and intellectuals. The system of world will be run by scientists, intellectuals, doctors, farmers and engineers but they have no role to play in the hereafter. The hereafter is handed over to religion and it is religion that will make hereafter. The hereafter over here implies to the world after death; and in that world the activity of religion starts. This is a question which is present in the minds of ordinary persons. This is an incorrect opinion and imagination about religion that religion has come to us only for the life after death.

Religion is the manifesto of life and it has come to make life prior to death. Whatever has to be made prior to death would be made by religion only and whatever we make before death will go with us in hereafter. It is not that we make something else in this world and we get something else in hereafter. Whatever we construct here will go with us in hereafter; all what is made here will get transferred in hereafter.  Thus religion has come for life before death and after the death the results of religion will be achieved and not that religion will become active then.

If religion has come for this world than all these worldly things should also be made by religion; like Mobile phones, computers, software and hardware all should be made by religion. So should we keep these expectations from religion? Religion is not meant to make all these things because Allah (s) has gifted man with abilities, intelligence and various capabilities to do all these things. He has given man abilities, intelligence, capacity, capabilities and that too in abundance. Man has been given by Allah (s) the power and ability to think, understand, acquire knowledge, assess things, to do things; all these abilities are kept inside man by Allah (s). Why are all these abilities kept inside man? This is because certain things man has to do with the help of these abilities. All these capabilities and talents kept inside man are not false, evil or waste; they have been kept inside man for some purpose and objective. Like if you have the ability of understanding mathematics present inside you than be ascertained that this ability has been kept inside you for some purpose. Everyone has the abilities present inside them with varying strength and intensity. Like some are very sharp in accounting, some are very good in Algebra, then there are some who are very good in the field of mechanics or some other science and then some have seriousness and depth in certain other fields. Everyone has been gifted with some specific specialities. It is present in narration that:

کلّ میسّر لما خُلق

For everyone that thing is easy to do for which he has been created

This implies that everyone has been created by Allah (s) for some specific work and if he ends up taking that task he will be successful. We are created for something and we end up into some other field. And this tragedy has taken place till now; many were supposed to become engineers but have become doctors and also vice versa. Many religious scholars should have been farmers and many farmers should have been scholar. There are many businessman whose field is not business they should have been in some other field and many others who are in other field should have been businessman. There are many who desired to become something else but their parents made them something else. We end up in different fields and are also successful there but if we would have taken up those fields of our interests and more than that  based on our capabilities we would have been much more successful. Hence we should recognize and identify the capabilities present inside us.

One of the elements of upbringing of children upon parents is that they should identify and recognize the capabilities present inside their children. The function of education institutes is not to make students memorize books and subjects instead the function of institutes, schools and religious seminaries is to identify the capabilities present inside students. The function of primary education is to identify the capabilities and then after this the role of secondary and higher education is to nurture and raise these capabilities. In our system the primary, secondary and higher education are all focussed on making student memorize subjects; from the age of 3 yrs to 24 yrs they are all busy in making students memorize subjects. This is not the education system in fact it is a break in the education system. You don’t have to make the child study for a certain period but instead you need to understand the child, scratch the child to see what Allah has kept inside him? The function of primary education is to identify the capabilities present inside child. When identified hand him over to another teacher with a report that I have studied this child and he has so and so abilities present inside him. Then the specialized teacher should nurture these abilities making it shine. Hence using these abilities if nurtured and raised properly man can do a lot of things but there are certain tasks for which Allah (s) has given the abilities but man cannot use these abilities on his own. There are certain tasks for which Allah (s) has made other special arrangements. Man can do farming; if not today than tomorrow. He can construct industries by his own experience and with the help of his teachings and teachers. Though man has reached this stage of developments quite later but finally he has reached. He has made industries, he has done farming, he has found ways to travel in air and skies, he has entered inside the atom, On one side he has entered into the smallest particle whereas on the other hand he has reached the galaxies. These abilities were kept inside human being by Allah (s) and hence whatever is happening outside religion is also happening with the abilities and power given by Allah (s) to man and hence these things are also within the precincts of religion only. We should not consider that whatever is taught in Arabic schools is religion and whatever is taught in universities is infidelity. You should not do such divisions even by mistake. But instead what is taught in religious schools (Madrassah’s) is the interpretation of the words of Allah whereas whatever is taught in universities is the picture of the affairs of Allah. What is he learning there? He is learning Physics and Chemistry; what is the function of physics and chemistry? Its function is to study and expose this world of nature. So who has created this nature? This has been created by Allah (s). This implies that the same Allah (s) who revealed Quran also made this universe; so one is busy in understanding the universe whereas other is busy in understanding Quran.

Both should be aware irrespective of one sitting in Religion school studying or teaching; or the one in university who is teaching or studying that if whatever he is studying is aimed to gain worldly benefits than even if he is learning Quran it will not be counted as religion. On the other hand if he is studying science with the aim of understanding the realities of Allah’s universal creations and then presenting it to humanity; then he is acting upon religion. It is not that we are doing something else and then putting up a sign board of something else. Today sign boards of Religion are placed on religious schools (Madrassah’s) but what is taught inside is terrorism. This is not religion that they sit inside religion schools delivering lessons of terrorism, sowing seeds of discords amongst humanity, This is not religion; so what is religion? Religion has not come to sow thorns it has come to plant flowers and these flowers should have been planted and farmed from these religious schools (Madrassah). Luminance (Noor) should come out from religious schools, flowers should come from religions schools, fragrance should spread in air from these schools, love and unity should come out from religious schools but on the contrary what is happening is totally different. Thus whatever is happening under the sign board of religion is not necessarily religion; it is the purpose and goals that will decide and say whether it is religion or outside of religion.

Allah (s) has given us the required abilities and wants us to reach that point where Allah (s) expected us to reach. At least man nurtured these abilities and has reached here. The Prophets did not come for setting up industries; we should not have these expectations from Prophets. If they wanted to they would have set up classic industries. If Prophets would have set up a textile industry they would have produced such clothes which would not shred till Qayamah. They could have done this but did not do instead they themselves went to the market and brought clothes. Today whatever is being done with the help of industrialization Prophets could have trained people to set up industries and would have taken big gains out of it; but they refrained from doing these things. The dates, food and bread which others were eating the Prophets were also eating the same. Then why did Allah (s) stationed Prophets and the Holy Infallible Imams (a.s)? Allah (s) made them responsible for that task which man could not accomplish with the abilities given to him. What was that task? That was to transform man into a true human. Man can make computer but those who make computers might be unsuccessful in making a true human. If you doubt my words than go and visit Japan. Japan made computers and is the leader in technology; but this same leader of technology is so lowly in ideology that he gets up from the computer and bows in front of a hand made idol. This person sitting on the pinnacle of technology is on zero point of Ideology.

Why did Prophets came? They did not come to take man on ascension of technology instead they have come to make man do a journey of ascension in ideology. This is because the ability required for technology is present inside every individual and Allah (s) has also pursued man on this path where he can himself reach these achievements. One day he will enter inside atom and other day he will get inside the galaxy. But the path on which man gets mislead far away and is not able to come towards that path which is very difficult is path of humanity where man should come but is not able to come on his own. All these individuals who have become something should become human beings. Doctors should become human, engineers should become human, scientists should become human and these scholars (Ulama) should also become human. There is a proverb in Persian ملاشدن چہ آسان آدم شدن چہ مشکل which means becoming a Scholar is very easy but becoming human is very difficult. Imam Khomeini (r.a) used to say about the same proverb that ملّا شدن چہ مشکل آدم شدن چہ محال which means become a Scholar is very difficult and becoming human is impossible. Allama Iqbal (r.a) also says the same:

فرشتوں سے بہتر ہے انسان بننا

مگر اس میں لگتی ہے محنت زیادہ

It is better to become human rather than becoming Angel

But the efforts are much more in this

It does not take much efforts to become an Angel. It is enough to become an Angel that you should find a cave or make your home itself as cave; take a praying mat, a pot for ablution water, rosary bead (Tasbeeh) and keep a person who can daily give you food through the window then you can keep yourself busy all the time in prayers, supplication recitations and you will see after five years you will turn into an Angel. But with these same means sitting inside a closed room you cannot become human. He can become an angel but to become human being he has to come inside a society and civilization. In order to become human he has to deliver his both individualistic as well as social obligations. To become human is very difficult and has lot of trouble and calamities on this path of becoming a true human.

The easy task was imposed by Allah (s) on every individual. You can yourself make aircrafts, computers, etc. because these are quite easy to make hence you should make yourself. There are some mothers who pamper their children so much that they do everything for their child themselves. It is an oppression on the child because as the child grows and starts developing the abilities, the child should be taught to do certain things himself; like eat food, drink water, put on shoes etc.

Allah (s) has not pampered human being so much instead said that you have to do all these things. Man said I need a tractor for farming , Allah (s) said you make it yourself; if you can’t do it today you will make it tomorrow. We need aircraft for travelling; Allah said try and make it yourself and it was done by man. We need computers, nuclear power, etc. Allah said I have given you the abilities and I can’t help beyond this. You use your brains and you will be able to do all this ; and this was true that man did all these things. We were asked to make all these technological achievements ourselves so that our abilities can rise and shine.

The other thing which man has to do and for which Allah (s) made special arrangements, for which a manifesto was required; for technology we don’t need a manifesto a teacher was enough. But for this big and esteemed thing a manifesto was required and with this manifesto a teacher is required, and with the teacher a trainer is also required and along with the trainer a leader and guide was also needed. It was for this Allah (s) made Quran as the manifesto, made the Messenger as the teacher and trainer; and made the Imams (a.s) as the leaders and guide so that they can get this difficult thing done from humanity. What was this? It was that they should take this skeleton, this frame towards humanity.

It is not possible to reach the status of humanity without Prophets and religion. We have kept this expectation from religion that it has only come from the sake of earning rewards. We have made the philosophy of Religion as rewards. Recite prayers there will be rewards, perform fasting for rewards, give Khums for rewards. I am talking about those who do all these things. There are some who do not offer their obligations, why? This is because they have been taught that all these performance of acts are only for gaining rewards; so fine if he misses out on some then what he looses is just some rewards. Like if someone is asked to do some labour work for a day and he will get one dollar at the end of day. He says I am not interested to do this because 1 dollar is not such a big amount, I can spend my night without this.

Laziness in religion, being unconcerned with religion, no preparedness in religion, not giving importance to religion are all because the philosophy of religion has been incorrectly and dubiously told. The entire geography and the map of religion has been messed. If I am not from Tehran and I am asked to draw the map of Tehran what will I draw? You will be astonished after looking at this map and will say that this is not Tehran. This is because you have got the map drawn by a person who is not acquainted with Tehran. We are asked to draw maps of cities which we know but we have not visited we will not be able to draw it correctly. Like we know about Haiti after this earthquake that it is near America.  This was told by media but if we would have been asked to draw the map of Haiti prior to this earthquake we would have placed Haiti somewhere in Africa because Haiti has black natives. This is what is ignorance and immaturity when maps are drawn by looking at the colour or the outward then something belonging to Africa will land in America and vice versa.

Those who were not acquainted with the soul and reality of religion when they presented religion in society they spoiled the map of religion; they made its top as bottom and bottom as top. They transformed principles to secondary practises whereas practises were changed to principles; foundations were made into walls and walls turned into foundations as a result the entire map of religion got messed up. This is a big topic by itself about how the map of religion got messed up. The religion with which we are all associated has been messed up. Why is Pakistan undergoing such crisis situation today? And that too by the hands of religious beings. This is because the religion whose map is completely messed up; the more you practise that religion the mess up will further enhance. The more you emphasize on the religion whose map is disturbed it will further deteriorate.The more the attempts are made to rectify the problems the mess up further increases. Hence first rectify the map of  religion and  make it the way it has presented by  Allah (s)                    

The Human beings have come into this world to complete themselves and not in a completed form. If you can understand this basic point, further discussion will be clear to you. Except for the Prophets and Infallibles (a.s), nobody has come in a perfect and completed form to this world. We have all come here to complete ourselves and we are completing ourselves in this world. Allah has sent human beings to this world in the form of a frame or dye; if we want to turn it into a block, we can do it using the frame. So the human being is like an empty frame and unless we fill it with something, it is of little use. If a frame lies vacant for years, it will be eaten up by ants and will turn to dust.

So, Allah has sent human beings to this world to turn ourselves into human being. He has just sent a human frame, we have to complete it; we are our own artist and maker. Our body is the frame gifted to us by Allah. But we cannot make anything with the frame unless we have the material, material which makes human beings. That material is religion. Usool-e-din, furoo-e-din, moral rights, Halal (permissible) and Haraam (prohibited), etiquette, Prophetic Customs (Sunnah), religious obligations etc. are  the matters which fills this frame and makes a real human out of man. We have a bad habit. Usually, we cheat others and get cheated by others as well. These politicians cheat us, the government cheats us, they take our votes and forget us. Religion says don’t cheat anybody and don’t get cheated by others, don’t be a tyrant or be oppressed, to be tyrant is a crime and to be oppressed is also a crime.

You must have seen some people decorate their homes with artificial fruits made by plastic or any other thing. When we look at them they look like the original. Likewise, some wealthy men decorate their homes with stuffed animals and birds, like lions. But nobody is afraid of it. If you go to such a person’s house, you will sit there and not be afraid because you know that it is just the lion’s skin, not the lion itself. So, as you are not afraid of the lion’s skin, you should not be afraid of human skin as well. Because having a human skin does not mean that everybody is a human being. You should not fool yourself.

So, the structure of a human being is a frame, the matter which fills up this frame and makes him a human is called religion; when a person follows the religion he will be a perfect human being. So, religion is not a credit business, it is all cash; give from one hand and take it from the other. Do the work today and get remuneration today itself. Our elders have said that how can a religion that cannot make his world, make a person’s hereafter? If a person cannot help others before his death, what can he do after his death?

If I ask you to sit in a train and tell you that this train will not go to Hyderabad but will go beyond Hyderabad, surely you will ask me how a train that will not go up to Hyderabad go beyond it. A religion that cannot take care of a person till death cannot benefit his death nor complete the purpose of death, then what is the use of this religion after death?

It is mentioned in traditions that “World is the field for hereafter”. It means that this world is framing of hereafter. Whatever you sow here, so shall you reap. It is not true that there is no difference between a religious person and a non-religious person. The lion in the jungle and the one in a wealthy man’s drawing room is not the same. There is a lot of difference between them. In the room, it is just the lion’s skin; in the jungle it is wild, untamed beast. A non-religious person is like the lion in the jungle while the selfish religious man is like the stuffed lion; it is human skin but there is just hay inside.

Whereas, a real religious person has a kind and pious soul inside his human skin and he performs all his religious duties and obligations; the non-religious person is impious, rude and crude; we cannot call him a human being. The Quran has talked about such men:

أُوْلَـئِكَ كَالأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ

“They are like cattle, Nay-more misguided”
7:179

Now it is clear that the purpose of religion is to make a person a true human being. Whatever we do, morning and evening, our actions are constructing and completing our existence; we are our own maker. When we are constructing a building, none of the brick is wasted, whether it is curved or straight. But, if the brick is curved, the wall will be curved too; if the bricks are straight the wall will be straight. So anything we say or do does not go waste.

فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ

وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it. And he who has done an atom’s eight of evil shall see it.

With the help of these activities we make ourselves and make our reality; both those who follow religion as well as those who do not follow religion. If you follow religion, whatever image that will be completed it will be of a human being; without religion, it will be inhuman and it will be just human skin. Rewards (Thawaab) is not the purpose of our religion but the philosophy of Rewards (Thawaab) is to follow religion. The purpose of rewards (Thawaab) is to follow the religion and be a true religious person and attain humanity.

Take the example of your mother, it is very common and you must have seen it in every family. The age between 3 to 5 years, a child becomes very assertive, he wants to take food himself, put on his clothes himself and he can at times becomes so irritating that he even refuses to take food.

He conflicts only with his mother, not with outsiders and it his mother who takes much care of him and bares hardships for him. He refuses to take milk and food but she never punishes him. If it was the father in the mother’s place, he would have slapped the child. But the mother will never react the same. She will tell the child that if he is not eating, she will eat the food. But she will never eat without him because she is kind and merciful. If the child cries in the night, the father gets annoyed and yells saying throw the child out if he disturbs us. But the mother does not get irritated; that is why mother’s status is higher than the father. In the end, the mother threatens the child that if he does not drink the milk, she will go away from the house. But the child still doesn’t drink the milk, not caring much for the threats. Finally, the mother tells the child that if he drinks the milk she will get toys for him and he agrees.

Now if you ask the child why he agreed to drink the milk, he will say for the toys; but the mother will say that she is giving him food to keep him alive. Likewise, Allah has also promised a reward if you follow the religion. Pray and you will get reward (Thawaab) and Paradise with rivers of honey and fruits like grapes etc. The purpose of reward (Thawaab) is guidance from Allah, attraction towards good deeds which helps us to become real human beings, and that is why Allah has promised us of such high rewards (Thawaab). And Allah’s promise can’t be a lie. When you pray and read the Quran, of course there will be some reward for it.

Mentally we are immature. We offer Salaat  because of Paradise, recite the Quran for Paradise and even perform Azadari because of Paradise. We believe only in Usool-e-deen and Furoo-e-deen for Paradise. But there is a purpose of religion and that is to make us true human beings. The purpose of creating human beings is to return back to Allah.

يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ

O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord- painfully toiling,- but thou shall meet Him.
Surah Al Inshiqaaq - 6

To meet Allah is the purpose of creation for human beings.Through religion,a human becomes a real human and meets Allah.All the other things, like heaven with all its rivers of honey and fruit trees, are for attraction only.

Now look at people whose beliefs were so strong and faith so redoubtable that Allah appointed them our Imams. It is not like that some person had to be appointed as Imam so Allah appointed them the Imams; they deserved that, Allah had seen something in them. Thanks to Allah for gifting us such a great religion, such source of preaching, such Imams and religious education.

Even if we thank Allah for all our life, it will not be sufficient. See, what Ameerul Momineen (a.s) said:

اِلٰہیْ مَا عَبَدْتُکَ خَوْفاً مِنْ نَارِک وَلَا طَمْعاً فِی جَنَّتِک وَلٰکِنِّی وَجَدْتُکَ اَھْلاً لِلْعِبَادَة فَعَبَدْتُک

Oh my God, I never pray because of fear of your hell, neither do I pray in the greed of paradise. I pray because you are worthy to be prayed.
Ghurar ul Hikam

If you had not created hell and paradise, or you close the doors of hell and paradise, or you say that I will not get a place in paradise, even then Ali will pray, because paradise is not my purpose, my only purpose is you. You are the purpose of my prayers, I never pray for the benefits.  Paradise is also one of the creations of God, how can a creation of God be the end purpose of another creation. The purpose of my prayer is to reach you (union). Paradise is a creation of God and man is also a creation, but amongst both man has an elevated status. Man is the most prestigious creation of Allah.

Now, suppose you build a very beautiful bungalow. This bungalow is for you or are you for this bungalow? Have you made the house for yourself or have you been made for the house? So  Paradise has been created for us, we have not been created for paradise. The purpose of  creating human beings is not for paradise, but paradise is created for  the purpose of  hosting human beings. If a human does really become a human being but does not go to paradise, it will be sad for paradise and not for you.

There is a saying in the traditions that everybody is fond of paradise but paradise is fond of Hazrat Salman Farsi (r.a.). Everyone is waiting for the day when they enter paradise, and  Paradise is waiting for the day when Hazrat Salman Farsi (r.a.) will be coming. So getting paradise is not the purpose of creating human beings; but meeting Allah is the purpose of creating human beings. For that to happen he needs to be a .complete human being. He becomes a .complete human being to meet Allah only through religion. To bring people towards the religion, there are many attractions. These are promises made by Allah and they are true and all will be fulfilled.

Allah has given us countless chances to earn rewards (Thawaab); every simple work earns rewards (Thawaab). Pleasing Allah gets rewards (Thawaab), send greetings (Salaam) to one another there are rewards (Thawaab). If just saying salutations (Salaam) on someone brings us so much rewards then does it mean that we should keep sending salutations (Salaam) all through the day. Earning rewards is so simple. There are various other examples like Help someone cross the road you will get Thawaab, give food to animals get Thawaab, give water to the thirsty and there are rewards (Thawaab). There are lots of means for earning rewards that too from small and simple actions. But earning rewards (Thawaab) to be earned from all these small and simple actions. But earning rewards (Thawaab) should not be our only intention. 

The human being has not been created for paradise; paradise has been created for human beings. The human being is great and supreme. Allah created human beings for himself only. That.s why he never said  AL INSANO LILJANNA. But always said, AL JANNAHO LIL INSANE and said:

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
We have come from Allah and to Allah we have to return

 The human being is only for god. There is no destination for human beings other than Allah.

The Philosophy

There are some people who spend their money to earn fame; there are some who utilize their fame to earn money. Such people have their own version of Paradise. For the misers, Paradise is wealth. For a selfish man, Paradise means becoming famous, his photographs are published everywhere and people address him with titles. But there is a special and particular paradise that Allah has called Paradise.

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ, ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً,

فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي, وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي

O soul that art at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him), well pleasing (Him), So enter among My servants, And enter into My garden
Surah Al Fajr- 27-30

This is not a paradise of gardens, fruits and stems; it is Paradise of Allah, meaning it is a place to meet Allah. When you go to meet some big personality, he might be present at home, but he instructs his servants to make you wait in the drawing room, and offer fruits, drinks, tea etc. There are some people who will say that though we could not meet him, because he must have been busy but at least we got our stomachs filled up. One person claims he drank ten glasses of juice, another person claims he drank twenty bottles of soft drinks, a third person says he ate so many biscuits and the fourth says he ate so many bananas. But there is a person who is sitting very upset. He says that he did not come here to eat and drink but to meet the person.

Likewise, there are some whom Allah has kept occupied in fruits because He does not want to meet them. It is a nice way of avoiding them; they will not be upset and will know his place at the same time. But, there are some whom Allah doesn’t give anything because they have come to just meet Him only; don’t stop them anywhere, neither in the drawing room nor in the dinning room, let them come straight to Me.

فَأَمَّا إِن كَانَ مِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ , فَرَوْحٌ وَرَيْحَانٌ وَجَنَّةُ نَعِيمٍ
Surah Waqia – 88-89

Those who are dear to Allah are not in paradise, but they themselves are paradise.

Don’t we experience this in this world itself? In some places or gatherings, you feel like you are in heaven. Suppose a father is going abroad and he is about to leave just as the food is being served. Now what will the children do? Will they go to see off their father or eat food instead? If they are real human beings, they will say that father is leaving now, and he will not be here tomorrow, but food will be there every day. But if they are food hoggers and live to eat they will say let him go, let us do this job first.

So don’t ask about the difference between religious and non-religious persons. There is a huge difference, do not be fooled. Don’t ask about the difference between the stuffed lion in the drawing room and the lion in the jungle. The difference is not in the skin; the skin is the same. But the lion is not just the skin. Likewise, humanity is not about the skin. If you look at skins of both the religious and the non-religious person, they are the same; there is no difference in appearance.

The meaning of this is very simple. The difference is as big and apparent as the earth and sky. One is a human in the true sense while the other is not. So vast is the difference between the religious person and the non-religious. It is a cash transaction, not a business of credit. Allah never said that everything would be open. Among the many qualities of Qayamat, it has also been called

يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرَائِرُ

The day when the curtain will be lifted
Surah Al Taariq- 9

At present, we are making ourselves; we have come here to complete ourselves, Allah has not sent us as complete. Today the skin is misguiding us; we are fooled by it. We even believe them to be humans, those who have stuffed hay inside their skins. The skin that has guidance inside it is the real human being. But, on the day of Qayamat, when the strings will be pulled, curtains removed and skins peeled off, we will see what lies beneath the skin. Then we will understand. Therefore, Qayamat is the Zahoor (Day of rising, visibility and manifestation). Otherwise, we would have got our reward or punishment in this world itself, before death. The effect of religion would have been visible here in the world itself. When we go from this side of the boundary to the other, everything will become clear. The Quran says:

وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ
And when all beasts are gathered together
Surah At Takwir - 5

The Day of Judgement will be for humans, not for the animals (beasts). There is no religion for animals. So who are referred to as beasts in this Ayah? Just like there will be no questioning or Judgment for animals (beasts), there will be no Judgment for the men bought from the jungles either. The beasts will not be those (real animals) who will be bought from the jungles, but those (human beings) who turned themselves into wild animals. When their skins will be peeled off, the animals from within them will come out. Then, the angels will be told to herd this flock of wild animals into hell.

Religion is therefore the first necessity of every human being. Air and water are very essential things for every human being; they cannot live without air and water. We demand the government to make roads, supply water and remove the pollution. Why do we demand these things? because it is the duty of a good government to arrange for these necessities. If the government arranges for clean water, good food and a clean environment and provides us with other secondary necessities, it is also its obligation to perform its foremost duty; give us a chance to be good human beings and for that purpose enforce the religion. In the regime of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) it was the first step. In the regime of Imam Ali (a.s) this was the first step.

If a person understands the philosophy of religion, then he also knows what he has to do first. What sort of contact he should keep with religion? It is not right to take a Praying Mat, stay in the mosque and think of oneself as the most religious person. The best person is the one who implements religion before stepping on the praying mat. This right was given to the Holy Infallibles (a.s) to implement religion, but unfortunately they could not become rulers, Why? So that people don’t become aware about the fact that religion is a basic need? Just like today when they are not. Today, the need for religion is in people’s mind but can’t be seen in their lives. They do think about religion. The need is to create a religious environment and religion be enforced on the people by law, so that mankind gets a chance to become human.

Question

Q1.  You have said that religion is not about getting to Paradise (Jannah) and it is only for reaching Allah. I request you to please explain that in detail because this matter needs be explained very clearly. Secondly, you said that our body is a frame and this frame is to be filled by some material. What is that material? How should we live in this world so that we can make ourselves perfect human beings and follow the religion properly? Another thing you said was that there are so many educated and learned persons who are without religion and get incomplete education to disturb us. What should be the role of a religious learned man so that the young generation can learn about the religion?

Ans.  I told you that the religion is not just to get Thawaab (rewards), religion should be followed for God, this is only our purpose.

يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ

O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord- painfully toiling,- but thou shall meet Him.
Surah Al Inshiqaaq - 6

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
We have come from Allah and to Allah we have to return
Surah Baqarah - 156

Your life is not the like the life of other creatures which is just like a river which starts from one point and ends at another. A river in many cases starts from a mountain then ends by meeting in the sea. But the river of humanity is not like a river which starts from a mountain and ends in a sea. It starts from God and finishes up to God. Some time we think that when we have to return to Allah why we were send in the first place, was this journey a necessity; was this journey compulsory; was there any other way, the way in which we have come we will not be returned in the same way. We were incomplete when we came here but we will not go like that we were some thing different when we came and we will be different when we will go.

Allama Iqbal has described it in his poetry katra aur darya (drop and ocean), for example, how the clouds are formed. The sun shines on the big oceans, due to its heat oceans water evaporates and becomes vapour that goes to atmosphere and mixes with the air and then goes further upwards. The upper atmosphere is cooler than the lower; in this atmosphere vapors become cold and are turned to drops. These drops gather at a place turning into clouds and becomes heavy, and they come to lower stage of atmosphere, then the wind takes it to mountains where clashes with the mountain and rains and comes from the mountain to plain rivers gutters and at the last it reaches to the ocean again. It is the same salty drops of water from the ocean which came to river from mountains to become sweet, the same salty water could become the reason of our death if we would have to drink a single drop of it. This is the same water by which we are alive today; who made this salty water sweet? It changed because of its journey. It passed from the heat and cold, from mountains and plains, rivers and gutter, [passed from the soil and then came out of this journey and changed it’s taste. Many things got mixed in it; minerals mixed in it those which are useful; the ocean water does not have all these things in it,   these got mixed in it during its journey. In the end the water has to be mixed with the ocean water but after a long journey. Same example can be taken for human beings also

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
We have come from Allah and to Allah we have to return

This ayah we recite at news of any death,this is for live person only it is for them only, not for dead, every particle of the world says we are only for the God and return to HIM, every particle comes incomplete and returns after completion. It is for the perfection of the human being that the other particles of the world carry their journey by force whereas the human being; by their choice (he           takes his own steps, which is his free will).

For e.g. you travel by a plane or train and another person completes it by walking, he is better then you, that human is better than the other creature, the appearance will be as cognizance of human being for e.g. you can give whatever shape to dough of a flour. You can make from it bread, double bread, you can make it square, round, due to softness of it you can give any shape, reality of the human being is not his body neither is the inside of the body nor the outside actually human being is the name of (soul) whom we say term as ego or me or I. That is our soul but we have lost our address. After meeting if somebody asks to another person where is his own home? You will be surprised on this question that he does not know about his own home; perhaps he has lost his memory, he forgot the address of his own house! He is the resident of this locality, he was born here, what happened to him perhaps it may be due to scorching heat he got mentally imbalanced and has forgotten his own address. We arrange for some doctor or take him to hospital. This is because it is something abnormal for someone to forget his own address.

If you ask someone after keeping his hand on your body he will say this is my self, it is like that you keep your hand on the table and say it is me, it is absolutely wrong you cannot be a table, table may be yours, but you cannot be a table. First of all people should find their address, the person who is so proud what he thinks of himself. Nobody thinks of himself less than king of kings or may be a ordinary minister of his cabinet, every body is a king of kings within his own world but he does not know, he has forgotten his “I” (ego), address, telephone number, his complete address, every thing he has forgotten; we have lost ourselves, people have lost people, egotism has been lost from his own hand. God meets when people find themselves.

مَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَہ فَقَدْ عَرَفَ رَبَّہ

If you want to know your lord, know yourself

Imam Ali(a.s) ,Gharrar Al Hikam

Whoever finds himself, he finds his Allah he who loses himself loses Allah. This is a deed contract between self and God; the nearest way to reach God is through himself. First find out your self, then you will reach your God, you will find God. Don’t be like a person who comes from outside keeping his hand on your shoulder and says this is me. Sometimes we gather   somewhere, where if we talk about politics every body wants to show that there is no politician greater than him. When we talk about religion, a person who has not studied religion even for a day and knows nothing about it or its jurisprudence, will always give an opinion, give fatwa’s (religious verdicts) and freely express his opinion about Islamic religious heads, preachers and scholars. He is like a person who has forgotten the way to his own house but is directing other people.

How can you believe such a person? Whether we are body, I describe it in very simple words, two words are very common; one of them is me and the other is mine. We use these words where there are two things, for example I say this handkerchief is mine, means here are two things one is handkerchief and second is myself, one is the owner of the handkerchief, here I am the owner of the handkerchief that’s why it is mine we cannot say mine to me, this shirt is mine, if I say I am this shirt, you will say its wrong. I am not the shirt, but the shirt is mine. Whether I am this Turban or this Turban is mine? Now I ask about my hand, whether I am this hand or hand is mine? The answer will be no, My hand is mine, now same thing I ask about whole body. I am not the body, body is mine. Now find him, who is the owner of these assets? When I am buried, it is not me, it is my body. I am above the earth and will never go inside. The truth of a human being is not the body, like this dress that has been stitched by the tailor, use it and when it gets old, stitch a new one.

In the same way, Allah has created this body for me and this “Me” benefits from this dress which is the body. Every time he needs the body, he should have a new dress to it. It has been said that religion is that substance which turns mankind into human being. So you just need to understand what is the reality of human being? The human is not just the body. The human is the soul and the soul is not body, it has no figure. One of the conditions of religion is that human being should believe in the unseen (Ghaib). The God fearing religious person is one who believes in the unseen. But whatever is behind the walls is not unseen (Ghaib). We see that some people talk  about Unseen but are they really talking about unseen? Whether they are talking about those things that are hidden behind the walls! This is not unseen (Ghaib)., this is hidden! Ghaibat (being unseen) is opposite of Shahadat (witness), Shahadat (witness) means physically present, Ghaibat (being unseen) is unphysical. It does not have any physique; your soul is without physique.

As your motorcycle, has a body, you have a body too, your clothes have shape with body. Even your body is also a body but you yourself are not a body. The reality of a human being is not like that, it is sold. Religion is actually that matter which makes the human shape after meeting with soul. That becomes spiritual; religion is the name of that matter. It has three parts; one belongs to knowledge and second to action, knowledge and action both becomes matter and after meeting with soul makes human soul. This soul can’t take any shape, just like doughy flour, now whatever shape you will give to this soul it will get the shape it is not only skin there is a soul also under the skin, on the day of Qayamah (judgment) when the skin will be removed the actual shape of the soul will appear. There would be various shapes of soul; some of them may be wild animals, ravenous cattle, and may be a good human being too. What ever substance gets mixed with the soul, it will take the qualities from it; there is too much difference between religious and non-religious person. God says:

فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ

وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it.
Surah – Al Zalzala – 7-8

Suppose you are drawing a picture and meanwhile your attention has been diverted by some thing, say television, but your sketching is continued, what shape will come out? The pen is in your hand hence it will write whatever you want whether it is right or wrong. If some body draws a line after holding your hand; the line will be drawn either straight or curved? If a mason throws his materials (cement, sand etc.) here and there on the wall, of course he has not wasted the material but what will be the shape of the wall?

These are the stages of your production, you are making yourself you were incomplete when you came here. You are a self-maker, you are making the building of your presence, and God has given you the knowledge. The second part of the soul is to follow the action after completion of this building process. The skin will be removed and the true human being will come out. Now don’t say what ever you have heard only that much is in our mind, you decide that you don’t know about the religion and our country as you are not Alexander, a conqueror of the world, but don’t we all think of ourselves as Alexander? No body is Alexander here, since our government is capitalist and in this type of government everybody is feudal. Even he has or not, even if he does not have money for smoking also his style or of walking and talking is just like feudal ; even a beggar who calls another beggar, he talks in style of a feudal, every member of society passes his life in feudal style, they behave with their wives in the same style, they talk with their children’s and friends in the same style. If they get some government job they behave with others just like servants, those who get jobs in police department they treat others as slaves, he never says please take a side he always says I am coming, leave the way. In our country it has become a reality, feudal never give way but common persons need to give way, we never think that the image of religion which was built in our mind is not the correct religion, we will have to demolish this toy house.

To follow the religion we will have to demolish that building. When you built a beautiful bungalow you have to demolish old and broken structures. Without demolishing it, you cannot build a new building, if you want to make a firm construction in place of temporary house unless you demolish the temporary house you can’t build a permanent one. But if someone says both houses (old and new) should remain in the same place it is not possible. Hence if you want to make a beautiful bungalow you have to demolish the old house, and throw the debris very far from the sight that you cannot see it again. Religion is also like that, what ever we have kept in our mind it will have to be removed; without removing it is like a hut and a beautiful bungalow at same place, there will be neither a bungalow nor the hut and both will be ruined.

First we have to decide that we don’t know religion. We have heard too much and for us whatever we have heard that is the religion. All our religious proofs are based on listening to Zakirs (Orators). We don’t have the capability to quote references from Quran and Hadith. Our only source of acquiring Religion has been our ears. And if the Prophets would have known this source, they would have also included this in their teachings and would have asked us to learn Religion from Quran, Hadith and your ears!

This is not the first step but one who takes this first step, next step will be easy for him. We perform foundation stone ceremony and invite some important personality in performing the ceremony in his presence. Without foundation we can’t erect such a big building. Foundation stone means first stone of religion, the toy house that has been build earlier, the house of imaginations and personal thinking should be demolished. What is intended over here is that we have been taught a religion from our childhood through our ancestors and parents. We have not studied the religion. If we want to study, then we need to first break this mind set that the religion of our forefathers is correct. We should realize our mistakes then only we can correct them.

We have only one source of learning religion which is to follow the religion of our forefathers whereas according to scholars (Ulama) there are several sources, Shariyat (fiqh), Quran , Sunnah (Prophetic customs), Ijma (intellectual consultation), Aql (intelligence). But in our Continent (India-Pakistan) there is only one source and that is hearing (means we learn religion only by listening), because of that we never give the quotation of Quran, Hadith, ijma (intellectual consultation) or Aql (intelligence). We always say that we have heard like that, we have been told like this, we have never have heard like that, etc.

Whatever we have acquired from hearing only that is not a true religion. By studying and understanding Quran and Itrat (teachings of Ahlulbayt (a.s)), whatever we get, that is the real religion, by following this religion what ever shape we make that will be humanity And that is the first step, the foundation which is very difficult to put in place.

Fist lay your religious foundation and then start building on it, invite your friends and tell them that you have demolished the old house and thrown away the debris, tell them to come with sweets because it is the foundation day of humanity and religion. Unless we take this step, we cannot reach that point of completion, the State of Perfection (Insaan e Kaamil). We will keep living in our old hutments; and if we keep living in our old hutments, it will keep exploiting itself and us, and then it will fall on us one day.

Q2. What is the impact of not being acquainted with the Philosophy of religion? Even if we are practicing religion for benefits what difference it makes?

Ans. One of the dimensions of the deficiencies created in religion which itself is a vast dimension is that the Philosophy of religion, the purpose and goal of religion has been adulterated with the attractions which are present inside religion. This adulteration of purpose with benefits and attractions has been effective on all of us. Attractions and benefits have become purpose and purpose has turned into a benefit. Purpose are those things for which Allah has created religion whereas benefits and attractions are those things which are means for turning people towards religion. For example education has a purpose and there are certain attractions towards education. Now whatever would be the purpose of education but in our country the purpose of education is to get employment. This is the purpose which we have set for religion that is to acquire a good job. This is an insult to education and is a deviation in education. As mentioned before the geography of religion and everything has been messed up.

Now let us consider for the time being that this is the purpose of education but even in this case the child does not show attraction towards education; it is the parents who are concerned about his education. In order to get the child’s attention towards education the parents and teachers make many promises of toys, cycle, holidays etc so that the child for the sake of gaining these benefits attends school and takes interest in education. When the same child grows up a little, then the scale of promises also enhance like now he is promised to be given a motorbike or a car if he completes his graduation. All these attractions are for education but what is the purpose of education? The real purpose of education is to create an esteemed qualified educated human being whereas in our country the purpose is to get job. The immature child attends school and studies for the sake of acquiring the promised goods like motorbike, car, sweets, picnics etc whereas acquisition of these things is not the purpose of education. It is the immaturity of the child that makes him consider these benefits as purpose and he strives hard in education just for the sake of gaining these. But those who have the recognition of purpose they don’t need these attractions and promises of goods.

Allah (s) created religion with a purpose and along with the purpose also created attractions and benefits so that those who are immature and do not have proper recognition of the purpose of religion can still come towards religion for the sake of benefits. But there are such human beings also who say that “O Allah! Ali does not worship you for the desire of heaven or in fear of hell, Ali worships you because you are worthy of worship.”                                                                    

The purpose of religion is to take man on the ascension and pinnacle of humanity. Today the entire world is going through various crisis;  economic crisis, political crisis, security crisis. But all these crisis are man made and temporary; they are not very highly damaging which can make entire humanity tense. The crisis that should stun and make everyone tense is the crisis ongoing in East and West, in Muslims and non Muslims both; the crisis of humanity; human being is not seen anywhere. Allama Iqbal has interpreted this parable from Maulana Room that one day a very wise and intelligent person was wandering around in a town with a lantern in his hand. People asked him what was he looking for ? He replied that I am searching human being. People asked him are you not able to find? He said I tried to find a lot but could not find even one. The one I want I cannot find.

دی شیخ با چراغ نمی گشت گردِ شہر  

از دِیو و دد ملولم و انسانم آرزوست
A Sheikh during daytime was searching something with a lantern

When asked what? He said I am tired of beasts and I am searching for man

گفتیم کی می پیدا نہ شود گشتہ این ما

گفتا کہ این پیدا نہ شود ہم آنم آرزوست

When asked, you are searching so much still you are not able to find man

He replied, yes the one I am trying to find  cannot be found

When can that be found? When it is made then only it can be found. Religion is meant for constructing and making man. It is religion that gives man the manifesto of humanity. The constructive dimension of religion is known as “Akhlaq” (Ethics); the formation of Khulq; as mentioned before Khalq has been made by Allah, but Khulq has to be made by man himself. Mulla Sadra the greatest asset of Shiite, for whom it can be said with confidence that after Infallibles (a.s) and their close companions there is no one greater than Mulla Sadra who is the leading Islamic philosopher. He says that O man! Your physical creation (Khalq) has been done by Allah and you have to now build your Khulq. The way Allah (s) has created with such beauty your Khalq so now you also should create your Khulq with this much beauty. A real human being is the name of a beautiful Khulq inside this beautiful creation (Khalq).

Hence we should not waste this beautiful creation of ours by not  developing a beautiful Khulq inside it. This was the purpose and charter of Holy Infallibles (a.s) that is to create a beautiful Khulq inside a beautiful creation else man will get annihilated. There is a difference between a man with beautiful skin and human inside the skin; difference between a beautiful dress and a beautiful man behind it. Allah has created the outward of the man beautiful and asked man himself to make his inward beautiful.  A person’s skin and exterior is beautiful but what if the humanity present inside him is not beautiful? If the Khulq is not present than this person in presence of Allah is not beautiful; he is just a beautiful animal. Beauty is an attribute of every thing. Trees, plants and animals are also beautiful as Allah (s) has said in the Quran that we have created this greenery, these trees for the beautification of earth. We plant trees inside our homes and think that we have become beautiful. It does not matter how many trees you plant, how many flower pots you put and several gardens you make inside your homes, all these will make the land beautiful but not man. The fragrance of flowers will make the air beautiful but not the man breathing this air. No matter how much perfume you apply on your body, it will just make the skin smell good but not the man inside it, no matter how many creams you apply it will make your skin beautiful but not the man inside it. So what makes man beautiful? It is the Khulq that makes man beautiful. Colours make the walls beautiful but not man; by wearing good clothes it is the beauty of clothes that is manifested but man is not still considered to be beautiful.

 An example of this argument which you would have heard is about the beauty of Yusuf. We think and we have been told also that the beauty of Yusuf was in his skin, his chin and cheeks, his forehead, his hairs and his lips. It is not that all these were not beautiful but just take a look at Quran to see which beauty of Yusuf Quran is referring towards. You should recite Quran repeatedly till the time Quran reveals the secret of Yusuf’s beauty. Quran does not reveals its secrets to unacquainted persons (Na Mahram) hence you should first get acquainted with Quran to the extent that Quran starts to speak to you and reveals it secrets to you.                                   

It is a commonly agreed fact that man is more beautiful in his teenage as compared to when beard and moustache has grown on his face. This is the reason that people shave their beards and moustaches so that they look beautiful. But again this is a misunderstanding that by shaving hairs a person will look beautiful, if this is the case then those who loose their scalp hairs why are they worried? So for sure by shaving the face you are not going to look beautiful.                          

When the Chief’s wife failed in enticing Yusuf and was caught she was accused and defamed by other women. In order to justify her evil act that she was innocent she invited Yusuf and made the women of the elite families who were taunting her stand with a knife and apple in their hand. She brought Yusuf from the door. When these women saw Yusuf instead of cutting the apple with the knife they cut their fingers. You should ponder over here that whether this was first time Yusuf was coming in front of people and in front of women? When Yusuf was brought out from the well in to the caravan and then sold in the market he was young and more beautiful than now. So why did someone not cut their hands or bite their lips at that time. When Yusuf went to the king’s court he was dressed in a beautiful and charming attire then no one cut their hands. Yusuf grew in front of the chieftain’s wife, he got into teenage then turned into a youth with beard and moustache grown on his face. This was the time when the chieftain’s wife got evil intention towards him and tried to entice him. So in order to save her face and prove herself that it was something natural for a woman she invited the women and made Yusuf pass from amongst them. The question which comes up is if the women fainted and cut their hands by looking at the face of Yusuf then they should have done this before when Yusuf was brought from the market. That time Yusuf was more beautiful than today when he had beard and moustache. They should have cut their hands at that time when he was a much more beautiful teenager. We should ponder over what Quran says over here. It says that these women who cut their hands were not by looking at the face of Yusuf this astonishment happened when they saw the character and disposition of Yusuf.         

They were looking at the face of Yusuf everyday but today they realized the character of Yusuf. When the character of Yusuf was witnessed by them they could not believe that such a beautiful youth and all opportunities of committing a pleasurable sin in front of him; the invitation for the sin was there, there was no one to see him, the door was closed , a seducing environment was created and in all these unavoidable circumstances Yusuf with the fear of Allah says that “Beware! Yusuf can never approach sin”. This is the character which shakes the hands of everything. This was the real beauty of Yusuf.        

This beauty and grandeur was not the one present in the outward creation; it was the grandeur and beauty of Khulq. This was not the grandeur which Yusuf got it by birth instead this was the beauty which he developed inside his self. This grandeur fainted the women. This story in the Quran is for us, for our youths that they should not just become memorizers of these chapters of Quran but should get acquainted with these secrets of Quran. The youths should acquire the secret of  young age, the secret of beauty and should know the real source of getting the true human beauty and grandeur. Allah (s) has made the preachers of the beauty of Khulq those who themselves are beautiful in their outward also, the Holy Imams (a.s). But at times this real beauty gets stained and it develops odour in it. There are certain things which shines the beauty of man; these are values, ethics and good traits but there are also things which stains this beauty.             

The number of people of bad character and evil traits are not those who are not good looking or their faces are not beautiful. Today who is burning the world; not they whose faces and body are black, whose faces are not beautiful but it is from those whose body is fair and white. It is because of them that humanity is burning; it is because of them that the entire Muslim world has reached the jaws of destruction. 

Today Pakistan has become insecure and every city of Pakistan has become a slaughter house for its own citizens; by whom? It is not because of those who are paid to do these things. Allah has given us sense and we should use that. It is a very good example that when a stone is hurled on a dog and if dog  is mad it will bite the stone but if it is not mad he runs after one who has hurled the  stone. If this much sense Allah (s) has given to animals than man is expected to possess and demonstrate much better sense than this. If today someone is killing us in Pakistan we should not start biting the stones we should see who is behind these killings; who has hurled these stones? Today we are happy when we listen to news that certain operations have killed some terrorists and have confined them in an area. But the question still remains as to who has created these terrorists?                 

It happens in villages where there is a feudal system. A feudal lord always has some rented rowdies so when someone comes in opposition to the feud he sends these rowdies at night to beat the opponent. When this heavy beating is going on this feud himself reaches the spot as a sympathizer and then yells and kicks off the rowdies. This way the opponent now becomes humble to him gratifying for his favours. This is where we need sense and under such situation rather than gratifying the feudal lord we should slap on his face that you are one who has sent these rowdies to beat us and now you are beating them to show us that you are doing a favour on us. Similarly those who are carrying out the operations against terrorists should not be gratified we should tell them that you are the shameless creatures who have created these terrorists and now when these terrorists are choking your throat you are carrying out operations to eliminate them. We should tell them that the blood of the innocent people of our nation, the blood  of oppressed is staining your laps and shoulders.                                                             

Now all these crimes that are committed on earth are happening through these white skins and even when others are doing their hands are definitely behind them. They are not good looking people. The white skin is not beauty, so where is the beauty? If you want to witness beauty then come and see the beauty present inside Bilal. Bilal’s colour was black but when Bilal would say Adhan it would give peace and comfort to the Messenger (s.a.w.s). There were many good reciters present at that time with very good tone, voice ,  Arabic pronounciation, those who could pronounce “Sheen” as “Sheen” but till the time Bilal would not  recite Adhan, the Messenger would not go for prayers. This is the beauty inside this black skinned person and this gets developed from Ethics but there are certain things which stain this beauty as well.                        

Hence if the philosophy of religion is not understood and we only accept religion for the sake of benefits then we might get far away from development of Khulq which means humanity. As a result both religious and non religious humans will be seen in society but without ethics and values. We would have ourselves seen that there are so many outwardly pious persons who do not even miss supperogatory prayers and try to do every act of rewards (Thawaab) but at the same time they have very bad ethics with their own family, they cheat in business and are concerned with the pains of other Muslims. Thus development Khulq inside man is necessary for the survival of society which cannot be done without understand and getting acquainted with the Philosophy of Religion.