Religion, Religion and Secularism,

The post of Dr. Abrar Hussan, a Visiting Fellow of the University of Toronto, Canada has expressed his views on religion, reason and secularism. His views are quite interesting and need to be reviewed. In my opinion the Muslim clerics have totally failed in introducing Islam to the rational and scientific generation. On the other hand are the intellectuals who in the wake of shear modernity and novelty are distorting the real message of Islam. These are some Westernized thinkers having no back ground of the Quranic teachings. Dr. Abrar Hassan is one of them. I take pity on him for being detracted from the right path. Such creative minds should have been positive assets of Islam but unfortunately they have been swayed and driven to the dales of doubts and destruction.

Briefly I would like to comment on his thesis in turn:

1-- He writes: " Religion is something where reason fails to guide me. Religion is based on blind faith."

To this I humbly submit that by religion I mean Islam as the final religion revealed by God and I am its' follower. Islam is not a blind faith. The Quran in the first verses of The Heifer says that there is no doubt in being it the Book of God. It is the guide to the people who believe in the Un- seen. Here it must be noticed that unseen does not mean blind faith. Blind faith is prohibited in Islam. The Quran says about the infidels that they do not follow the reason and have blind faith in the religion of their ancestors. Unseen is different from blind faith. Suppose we can not see bacteria with our naked eyes. They can be seen by microscope. It does not mean they do not exist as we can not see them with our naked eyes. We believe in unseen as there are other methods to know about them than the physical and material methods. We can not see soul with our naked or material sources, it does not mean soul does not exist. Islam is based on spiritual and material needs and principles. It is based on Rational Faith. T.S. Eliot, a great American poet and thinker in his poetic message preaches Rational Faith. The Quran time and again stresses on the need of reason. It says:" My verses are for the thinkers". What does it mean? Is the Quran a book for fools or for the men of wisdom?  For the sake of brevity I am not quoting the Quranic verses stressing on the need of rationality. My book titled The Rational Study of Islam sheds much light on this subject.

2-- Dr. Abrar Hassan writes:" Religion is based on Intuition , not on reason."

Humbly I would like to correct the learned professor that poetry is based on inspiration and intuition. The prophecy is based on revelation. "Wahy"is not intuition. It is rather revelation. Intuition is an inner experience. It is subjective and personal creation while revelation is objective and outer creation. Eminent philosopher Henry Bergson writes that intuition is a higher reasoning. If intuition is higher than reason then what about the revelation? Revelation is the word of God. Can it be with out reason?  The Muslim philosophers have always justified the Islamic tenets in the light of reason. let me quote the names of a few prominent Muslim thinkers who have written much on Islam in the light of rationality. They are; Abu Ishaq Al- Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Hazm, Al- Ghazali, Shahrastani, ibn Rushd, Fakhrudin

Razi, Mohayudeen Ibn Arabi, Ibn Tamayya, Ibn khuldun and Mulla Sadra. Amongst the modern Muslim thinkers we can present the names of Shah Wali Ullah Delhavi, Moulana Shibli, Sir Syed, Dr. Iqbal, Ustad Mortaza Motehri and Dr. Ali Shariatti. They have proved Islam as a natural and rational religion.

3--  Dr. Abrar Hassan writes:" Secularism is based on blind faith. It has its' God and its' prophets and its' priests. It believes in the God of all non- religious knowledge. Its' prophets are a vast range of writers."

Humbly it is submitted that secularism is neither religion nor atheism. Secularism means liberal and humane approach towards matters tolerating all faiths. It is appreciative. It has democratic and rational spirit. Islam is it self a secular religion as it is inclusive and pluralistic. Secularism  is a tolerant philosophy. Islam is also a tolerant philosophy.  Hence no basic difference. Secularism is not a blind faith. It is a modern and moderate ideology. The Quran says:" For you your religion and for us our." It is a universal and secular notion.

4--  Dr. Abrar Hassan writes:" All knowledge is imperfect and reason itself is in imperfect."

Dr. Abrar admits that reason is imperfect, hence the need of revelation is imperative. In my opinion, reason is the base of knowledge and scientific advancement but it can not guide in some matters. Suppose a scientist makes a scientific device but its' right or wrong usage is not the duty of a scientist but of a reformer , thinker or a prophet.

5--  Dr. Abrar opines:" Revelations have contributed to the march of knowledge just as much along the way. Revelations are based on historical experience as any other exercise of reason."

Dr. Iqbal in his book "The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam" writes that the divine scriptures have been guiding in the dark ages to show the light of civility. The Quran is the last revealed book based on reason. The door of prophecy has been closed and the door of reason opened. This is the reason Dr. Iqbal stressed on the need of Ijtehad (rational analysis). In my opinion the revealed books are not the outcome of the historical experience. The historical determinism propounded by Karl Marx  and Bertrand Russell is not supported by Islamic philosophy. Islam is not the product of sociology or the exercise of reasoning as professed by Dr. Abrar Hassan. Islam is the continuity of the message of the Torah and the Bible in pure and final shape.

6-  Dr. Abrar writes:" You should spare my life because you should be tolerant to all faiths."

Indeed, tolerance is the spirit of secularism and democracy. It must be appreciated. In the name of religion the hard liners have shed much blood. The human history is drenched in the blood of humans in the name of religion which is an accursed aspect of history. To date the suicide attackers are brain washed by the hard liners which is un-Islamic.  We need peace and harmony in all faiths.

7--  Dr. Abrar comments:" You should spare my life because your God is also imperfect as mine is and you should see my God as episode of history not as a monster to slay."

Dr. Abrar talks of different gods of different religions. They are self created gods. Such gods are imperfect. They are the creation of history. But I must humbly profess that when prophet Abraham  rejected the Sun and the Moon as his Gods, it was the rejection of the self created gods, the product of rites, rituals, whims superstitions and customs. After rejecting their gods he proclaimed my God is one who created all these objects. The quranic god is the god of Abraham.

So let us follow the God of Abraham if we are believers. The Quran says:" Salutations on Abraham." The Quran regards him the sincere friend and follower of God who preached monotheism.

I wonder How Dr. Abrar believes in a God who is imperfect. What is the sense and use in believing in an imperfect God? The God of the Quran is not a slayer. He is all love, mercy and just. There are so many verse in the Quran signifying the benediction and beneficence of God.

Sincerely ,

Dr. Maqsood Jafri

New York

August 8, 2009