The
Forces of History - 3
The Psychology of the people as already
mentioned can be divided into the physiological aspect (sensation, instinct and
reaction), the mental aspect (thought, feeling and action) and the spiritual
aspects (consciousness, conscience and will). We do not see the Real world but
its effects on our minds and this depends on the nature of the mind. Minds vary
in quality inherently or through experience or personal effort. We can also
distinguish between three levels of functioning :- (a) Illusions Level 1 - At
any one time our experiences are limited and we have only partial knowledge to
varying degrees about the external world we live in, about ourselves and the
processes within us and about other people. Attempts are made to fill in gaps
and to interpret, organise and explain the data of experience and this is done
in various ways. (b) Illusions Level 2 - Human beings form habits of thought,
feeling and action, addictions, prejudices, fantasies based on desire for
pleasure or personal advantages and rationalisations based on these. (c)
Illusions Level 3 - There are deliberate attempts at lying, deception,
self-deception, distortion, manipulation, corruption based on sub-conscious
negative forces such as greed, lust, fear, hate, pride, vanity, envy, laziness
etc.
Social conditions can vary according to the
balance between the above factors. People affect each other and the overall
conditions are a result of how some features are reinforced or neutralised or
channelled by organisation, training and education The Ideological factor, as
the other factors, can also be divided into three corresponding parts:- (i)
Religion (ii) Philosophies, including political ones such as Communism and
(iii) The Sciences. These three interact and also create different
combinations. How science has transformed life and the world is fairly well
known. Much has also been written about the History and social effects of
various Philosophies. This article deals with the influence of some religious
ideas.
Human being change their environment in three
ways:- they can (a) migrate (b) re-arrange (c) invent new things.
World affairs and history is run by hidden
power groups between which there are conflicts and temporary alliances
depending on assessments of their various causes or self-interest which can be
wrong. There are Fascists, Communists, Zionists, various organised Churches
such as the Vatican that has had a hand in the collapse of Communism,
Capitalist organisations that run the Corporations, various Governments and
their Agencies such as the CIA, Political Organisations such as the
Neo-conservatives and Green Peace and Secret quasi religious organisations such
as the Freemasons and Illuminati; groups supporting such causes as Animal
Rights; and Esoteric groups such as Sufis that have a background guiding hand.
Members of one group can also belong to others for various purposes or length
of time. The attempt at "Globalisation" by Industrialists and
Politicians who have shares in the Industries is also a plot for world
domination by the few. These groups can be classified as those having
beneficial effects on human development, those that have harmful effects and
those that are neutral but may be used by either of the other two. The ordinary
visible government officials and politicians tend to be puppets, front men that
can be appointed if useful by the real powers behind them or discarded when no
longer useful or even severely punished, even assassinated, if they become a
liability. In the face of such organisations and the few who control them the
rest of the population as individuals are made impotent.
The reason why groups form and try to acquire
power over others is the fact that human beings are inter-dependent and
becoming more so. It is, therefore, necessary in order to fulfil one's desires
to enlist the help of others by any means one can. This can involve persuading arguments,
metal conditioning, bribery, threats, taking advantages of weaknesses or
circumstantial disadvantages, purchase of services, organisation, and force of
arms. In so far as resources are limited this means taking them away from other
people and groups that are weaker or at a circumstantial disadvantage.
Unfortunately, this creates a conflict not only to prevent others from
exploiting one, but also because fear of deprivation increases the desire to
acquire. The tension caused by the conflict or danger of conflict is a third
factor that produces even further needs. Fear produces greed and hate and each
of these feeds on the others. Desires multiply and grow far beyond needs.
Groups attack, control, subdue or oppress other groups for their own advantages
and when they retaliate they are condemned as terrorists to justify their
attack, and oppression, not withstanding the fact that they are themselves the
terrorists that have promoted the terrorism of others. But of course they too
are the victims of the victims in a vicious circle. This conflict is only
modified by treaties and laws which arise as compromises in a struggle between
power groups that allow co-existence. They exist because they provide
advantages in that the overall constructive activity is greater than the
destructiveness of the conflict. But as they give various amounts of advantages
to each group, these differences create an unstable order and peace.
Cooperation is another method of achieving survival,
order and peace. Though a certain amount of sacrifice is involved, the total
advantages are greater than the advantages. However, the advantages may still
be unequally distributed as between employers and employees. It is necessary
that the advantages should be co-operatively and fairly distributed and this
means that there should be similar proportions between the effort and the
recompense, between the sacrifice made and the gains. This is prevented by a
culture of selfishness that promotes the suppression or destruction of the
Principles of Justice, Compassion and Truth. A system that puts emphasis on
these Principles would be quite different. It would require that all affairs
are controlled through mutual consultation and not by imposition. That would be
true Democracy where all have the right of self-determination and groups are
dissolved. This happens when individuals merge into groups and identify with
them and gradually when smaller groups merge to form larger ones or dissolve
into them and become more fluid. This higher state can be called Unison where
the interest of the individual is supported and promoted by the group and vice
versa.
"Hold fast, all together, to the
cable of Allah, and do not separate; but remember the favours of Allah towards
you, when you were enemies and He made friendship between your heart, and on
the morrow you became brothers, by His grace. You were on the edge of an abyss
of fire, but He rescued you there from. Thus does Allah show to you His
revelations; perchance you may be guided; and that there may spring from you a
nation who invite to goodness, and bid right conduct, and forbid what is wrong
(or indecent); these are the successful." Quran 3:103-104
These groups compete for power over each
other striving for monopoly and succeed to various degrees. There is,
therefore, no real difference between the Totalitarian Regimes or Dictatorships
and the so called "Democracies. There are only differences of degree.
These groups wield their power through:- (a)
Control of organisations (b) Manipulation of information (c) Political policies
(d) Financial power. (e) Covert actions. (f) Military operations. (g) Creation
of conditions that make various things possible, likely, difficult or
impossible. Though intense propaganda would make us believe in their existence,
there is, in fact, no real Democracy or Freedom or Civilisation. They are
mostly empty slogans unless they refer to certain relative qualities or aspects
that may characterise affairs to various degrees.
Throughout human history there have been
rivalries, conflicts, wars, persecutions, exploitation, mass deaths,
mutilations, and destruction which has also resulted in poverty, disease,
ignorance and much suffering. One of the great hopes of mankind has been the
unity of Mankind that some future date as it was in the far past. This hope
exists in all religions, but is opposed by human self-centredness, ambitions,
ignorance and prejudices that demands domination and brings about exploitation
and persecution. It is these limitations that have caused the division and
barriers that also bring the suffering that should be educational, creating the
attractive positive goal and repelling from the negative. There is a conflict
between the forces of unification and those of disintegration, between
evolution and involution. Between these two a third tendency also arises that
of balance, compromise and alliances. These can work either for or against the
other two. We can, therefore, speak of three Major Historical Goals. Some people
work for one goal and others work for the other, consciously or unconsciously.
And there is a conflict between them. Human history can, therefore, be seen as
a motion by stages from unity to disintegration to reunification. In this
respect it is an image of the Universe itself. Recent attempts at the political
unification of mankind are embodied in the setting up of the United Nations
Organisation. But unfortunately because it has limited objectives while human
beings are a unity in which all aspects affect each other, it is dominated by
the short-sighted narrow self-centred ambitions of nations, particularly of the
powerful ones.
"Mankind were one nation once, and
Allah sent them prophets with good tidings and with warnings, and sent down
with them the Book in truth, to judge between men in that wherein they
disagreed; but only those unto whom the scripture was given disagreed therein
after manifest signs had come to them, through selfishness and stubborn pride
(or hatred) amongst themselves; and Allah guided by His Will the believers to
the truth concerning that wherein they disagreed, for Allah guides whom He will
unto the straight path." 2:213
"And thus have We placed great ones
(leaders) in every town, its wicked ones, that they may plot therein. But they
do but plot against themselves, though they perceive not." 6:124
"And, verily, this your religion (or
brotherhood or way of life) is one religion, and I am your Lord; so keep your
duty unto Me. But they (mankind) have broken their religion between them into
sects, each sect rejoicing in its own tenets." 23:52-53
"Then set your purpose for religion
as a man upright by nature - the nature made by Allah in which He has made men;
there is no altering (the laws of) Allah's creation; that is the right religion,
but most people do not know - turning to Him only, and be careful of your duty
to Him and keep up prayer and be not of those who ascribe partners to Him
(polytheists), of those who split their religion and became schismatic, every
sect rejoicing in its own tenets." 30:30-32
"Every sect has a goal to which Allah
turns him; but do you strive onwards together to do good works; wherever you
are Allah will bring you all together; verily, Allah has power over all
things." 2:148
Human History as recorded is or should be
about human development. However, it tends to be cyclic, alternating between
high points and low points, though on the whole gradually expanding and moving
upwards like a spiral. Human communities and individuals within them can be
judged at three levels:- The spiritual, the mental and the physical. The
spiritual concerns the degree of consciousness, conscience and will and this is
generally attributable to Religion. Accordingly, we see that the world is
divisible into the Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, and the Western cultures
according to the kind of religions that were dominant there, though these have
also influenced each other. There was also an American Religion that has
disappeared but its influences are still seen in South and Central America. The Mental aspect concerns the philosophies,
sciences, arts, and technologies. The Physical aspect concerns the kind of
physical environment and life style that has been created, the industries,
institutions, organisations, governments, laws, social and family life, cities,
farms, houses, modes of transport and communication and so on.
Within any society there are always a range
of people from the most highly developed to the lowest in any of these
respects. The greatest number of people is around the average and there is a
diminishing number towards the two extremes. But as all affect each other, the
society is under two opposite influences and it tends to move between them. However,
experience accumulates and modifies, and though new problems constantly arise
so do solutions and this ensures that there is an over all progress.
The history of humanity shows that there is a
constant conflict and alternation between the forces of light and darkness,
vitalisation and inertia, construction and destruction, evolution and
involution, order and chaos, negentropy and entropy, consciousness and
unconscious conditioning. We learn through consciousness but then habit takes
over. A spiritual impulse is introduced into a Society that energises it and
gives it direction and purpose. But then like the waves caused by the impulse
of a pebble in a pond, the influence spreads in space and time and weakens and
fades away. There is degeneration. Another Spiritual impulse is then introduced
that brings about regeneration. And so on. There are spiritual cycles. But in
so far as there is an accumulation of experiences, the cycles are not the same
but form a spiral. There is a gradual spiritual development of mankind in
consciousness, conscience and self-control and in their knowledge, motives and
techniques.
All creatures live according to their
inherent nature. But when human beings became conscious and began to wonder
about the world and themselves and the relationship between the two, then
religion must also have arisen. It became evident that human beings are part of
the world, interact with it and are dependent on it. There was a need to
consciously understand the world and oneself in order to adjust to it. Apart
from representing the conscious entity in heaven, Adam also represents the
first conscious man on earth - his spirit having been placed in the earthly
physical structure (Quran 32:7-9). There has been an interaction between the
two aspects of man ever since that has led to the arising of a third factor,
namely the mind. And there has been tension, some co-operation and often
conflicts between these aspects. Human history is the result of these. It shows
that it consists of an interaction between three corresponding integral aspects
of mankind, namely Religion, Culture and what is called Worldly or Physical
life.
Most people, owing to the need to make a
living have their minds occupied with physical matters on earth. Though there
is originally a general sensitivity it tends to differentiate into the various
special senses that are concerned with the physical body and its interactions
with the physical world. The original instinct or motivation force which we can
call "The Life Force" differentiates into three basic drives - the
Self-preservative, the Reproductive and the Self-expansive. The first is
responsible for the survival of individual, the second for the race and the
third for development. It is evident that each successive one depends on the
previous and that, though this is the order of urgency, the order of value is
the reverse. That is, it is only if a person can preserve himself that he can
reproduce. But as the individual dies, the purpose of life could only be served
by the race and that also would be purposeless unless it had a goal. It is only
when there is relative prosperity and some leisure that attention and energy
can be devoted to family life. A Society of Community is an extension of the
family and the mental and cultural activities are generally concerned with
this. Spiritual concerns tend to develop when Social need have been satisfied.
However, three tendencies affect the relationship between these drives:- (1)
The drives vary in strength and coexist such that the priority shifts gradually
- it is when a the satisfaction of a need increases, then its strength
diminishes and the second need increases. (2) This development can be arrested
through mental addiction, for instance to sense objects and sense pleasures (3)
The reverse is also possible - some people sacrifice physical welfare or
ambitions for social and cultural pursuits and some devote themselves to
spiritual matters sacrificing social and family desires also. In fact, were it
not for such people there may not have been any human progress at all because
they would have remained in a self-perpetuating rut owing to habit formation,
addiction and social conditioning. This restricts and narrows down
consciousness. It divides ordinary consciousness from higher consciousness of
which they are unconscious.
Religions arise through revelation into
consciousness of persons who have become more sensitive and have greater
contact with Reality. Some of these feel obliged to undertake the guidance the
rest of the Society. They are known in Islam as Messengers.
The spiritual impulse so introduced into
human affairs spreads through the world like ripples in time and space but gets
weaker as it does so. Its force tends to be used up first to transformed the
cultural and then the physical life and environment. The religion degenerates
though it has transforming effects. Another spiritual impulse then enters into
human affairs that lead to further transformation. Each dispensation of
Religion is adapted to the times, place and people among whom it comes, but
also has reforming effects on the other religions and peoples. This continues
to happen until humanity has reached a degree of maturity where they must
assume responsibility for their own development and learn from their own
experiences, trial and error. There is continuity and progression in religion
though different regions of the world developed at different times and in
different ways. We see that in the West Hebraism put an emphasis on Action -
Law, Ritual and hope, Christianity put it on motive underlying action, on love,
compassion and charity, and Islam added the emphasis on truth, knowledge and
awareness. Obviously, civilisations require all three.
In the beginning because all human beings are
basically alike and they all derive from a single pair and a single centre
(probably in Africa), there must have been one original religion. As
humanity expanded and diversified, this religion must have elaborated and
differentiated into the many others that existed throughout the ancient world,
each differing from the others according to the different circumstances, nature
and state of development of the people. While man was relatively primitive and
unsophisticated, these more primitive ones degenerated into what now are
regarded as primitive nature and pagan religions. Later, though the differences
are now being eroded rapidly owing to the domination of Western culture, the
world was divided according culture produced by the various advanced religions
into regions where roughly Hinduism, Buddhism. Christianity and Islam dominate.
Apart from the fact that the physical environment, the culture and religion
affect each other, and the religions have a common source and are identical at
the most fundamental level, the religions also affect each other. Ancient
Egyptian religion affected Hebraism, which certainly affected Christianity and
Islam. Zoroasterism was not independent of the Aryan Hindu religion and it
affected Islam and Hebraism. Both affected Greek Philosophy and civilisation.
Christianity was affected by the Roman Religion of Mithraism. Hinduism affected
Buddhism which affected Christianity. Islam affected Hinduism, Buddhism and
Christianity and brought forth such hybrids as Sikhism. It also brought the
Renaissance, the Reformation, and Enlightenment which is responsible for the
Modern Western Civilisation that, though now degenerating, is spreading
throughout the world and transforming it. From the Western point of view the
Enlightenment is a European phenomenon of the 18th century as if it arose
spontaneously and causelessly. It is said to have the following
characteristics:- emphasis on individual autonomy, human rights, pluralism and
diversity, democracy, the rule of law, humanism, reason and objective thinking,
science, and education. But it is not difficult to see that these ideas are
integral to Islam and that they arrived in Europe
through Spain and as a result of the collision with Islam during
the Crusades. Some other features of Islam such as the concepts of Unity,
Order, human responsibility and the objectivity of motives and action were
ignored.
However, there is a difference between (i)
the effects of the original teachings of a religion and (ii) the behaviour and
influence of people who might profess an adherence to those religions and (iii)
Filtration which is the result of the interaction between the other two -
people change the teaching through selection, interpretation, organisation and
changes in emphasis and priorities. They are different things though connected.
Books such as "The Controversy of Zion" by Douglas Reed, traces the
influence of Jews through recent history and in contemporary world affairs.
In the beginning the Mental or Cultural life
of the people is unified in the form of Religion. As experience, activity and
thought progresses and life becomes increasingly complex so that individuals
can no longer deal mentally with all aspects of life, differentiation occurs
within the Religion. A distinction arises between Ideology, Organisation and
Industry. However these are not wholly distinct because organisation and
industry also require thought which becomes organised, and industries connected
with ideologies and organisation also arise. Later by further activity and
elaboration these differentiate into further specialities. The awareness of the
underlying unity diminishes. Ideology differentiates into Theology, Philosophy
and Law. Philosophy differentiates into Abstract systems such as Metaphysics,
Epistemology and Logic, Social systems such as Ethics and politics and Natural
Philosophy later called Science which also differentiated into several
branches.
There seem to be two sides to Hebraism in its
doctrines as also to Islam and other religions - a peaceful, compassionate,
co-operative and constructive side and an aggressive, militaristic, elitist and
destructive one. People can take one or the other attitude and this can and
usually does invert the nature and purpose of Religion. It is, of course also
possible to take a middle balanced, intelligent, appropriate course as required
by Islam (Quran 2:143). The fact is that in this world there is both conflict
and co-operation. In order to establish an ideal condition it is not only
necessary to be constructive but also to resist and destroy that which opposes
it. To reconstruct requires destruction in order the release the resources that
are needed for construction.
According to the Old Testament:-
"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee
into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations
before thee, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the
Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations
greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them up
before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them;
thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt
thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son,
nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son" Deuteronomy 7:1-3. See also
Deuteronomy 2:31-36, 3:1-8, 7:1-8, 12:1-3, 14:2, 21, 20:10-18. Numbers 16:1-33, 21:3, 25:1-18, 26:9-10,
31:2-12-18, Nehemiah 13:23-31, 8:1-9, Esther 8:10-17
This appears to promulgate an Elitist
Political Ideology designed for world domination. We find in it extreme
Nationalism together with racial, religious and cultural intolerance. This kind
of attitude, having accepted the Old Testament as genuine and incorporated in
the Christian Bible, is later found in the Western nations when they conquered,
enslaved and exploited the peoples of Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas.
It exists in the idea of European racial supremacy, Hitler's theory of the
"Master race" and the persistence of the desire for "national
greatness" and so on. Today it is incorporated the Western attitude
towards Islam and Muslim nations. Christians think that it is only they that
will go to heaven.
Every nation demands the exclusive loyalty of
its citizens. Exclusiveness and double standards are inherent in Patriotism and
Nationalism such that whatever is regarded as good or evil when done to ones
own family or compatriots is the reverse when done to others. Only those who
support one side are the "good guys" and those who oppose them are
the "bad guys". Many Christians, and people brought up under a
Christian culture, including those who run the government and other
institutions today also expect that the return of Jesus and the establishment
of the Kingdom of God
on earth requires the return of Israelites to the Promised Land centred on Jerusalem. This cannot of course be done without the expulsion
of the Arabs living there, massive support and migration from the USA and without the serious possibility of war and
massive death and destruction. In fact the War of Armageddon is expected and
even planned. Migration from the USA could be forced by planning a persecution of Jews
just as previously from the USSR.
Complete intolerance towards deviation from
the Law among the Jews themselves is illustrated by the story of the worship of
the Golden Calf for which sin three thousand of their fellows were slaughtered.
(Exodus 32:19-28). One could argue that things in the past were primitive and
barbaric and some thing drastic had to be done to uproot certain tendencies and
change the direction of human development and history. But for this, the
Israelites and the teachings and influences that came through them, humanity
would have remained primitive. But Judaism should have come to an end when, as
Jesus predicted, the Romans in 70 AD destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem and scattered the Jews. Instead it was incorporated
in Christianity.
The Old Testament gives a history of the
Israelites as prospering as long as they were obedient to God, as a reward and
being punished by losing everything when they disobeyed. There were no inherent
rights to dominate other people and their lands as now being claimed and
causing conflict with the Arabs who now occupy the lands they claim. The books
of Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah also appear to contradict that elitist idea.
See Isaiah 56:1-8 and Jeremiah 7:3-24. However, the consciousness of ordinary
people was still narrow and they were not yet able to understand greater universality
or sustain an expanded consciousness. Hebraism degenerated and a modern version
of it called Zionism appeared. Christianity and Islam also degenerated and gave
rise to similar corrupt but militant movements.
We have to distinguish between the Original
and Alternative Hebraism which has bred Zionism, an extreme form of
Nationalism, mainly among the Eastern Jews. This is sustained by a feeling of
being persecuted which is itself the result and cause of segregation and
conflicts.
These four factors - (i) Zionism or any
elitist nationalism, (ii) persecution feelings, (iii) segregation and (in)
conflict are therefore connected and each is strengthened by means of the
others and used deliberately to do so.
Certainly Jesus who later came to reform
Judaism did not agree but condemned the Jewish religious authorities, the
Pharisees. He said:
"Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah
prophecy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and
honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do
they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew
15:7-9
There has been ever since two faces to
Religion which might be called the Divine and the Satanic, one being the
reaction to the other - The desire for spiritual development is a threat to
Satan, as it were, who fights back for his survival.
Jesus taught: "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40 Also Mark 12:29-31.
The first part can be found in the Old
Testament in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 11:1 and 30:16. As for the second part,
Leviticus 19:18 says:- "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any
grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself: I am the LORD."
This appears to confine compassion and
benevolence to within the Israelite community. According to Jesus:-
"Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you,
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be
the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust." Matthew 5:43-45
The teachings of Jesus, though they can also
be found in parts of the Old Testament, constitute a higher stage of Religion
in that they transfer attention from actions and ritual to motives and from the
form and letter to the spirit and meaning, and from Justice to Compassion. But
Jesus did not found a nation as Moses did - his kingdom was in heaven. Though
Christians certainly conducted wars of both self-defence and aggression, the
emphasis on compassion gradually led to the Geneva Convention which required a
more humane treatment of prisoners and defeated people. However, more recent
wars show the return of savage vengeance, barbarous atrocities and torture.
Jesus said he had come only for the Jews (15:24 and sent his disciples to the Jews (Matthew 10:5-6).
However, Christianity added another dimension to exclusiveness in that it was
required that everyone should be converted to Christianity. (Matthew 10:7, Mark
16:15, Luke 24:47) This is interpreted as loyalty to one
particular person, Jesus, rather than to the truth of his teachings. This
justified such actions as the Spanish conquest and destruction of the American
civilisations, the colonisation of the Americas and Africa at the expense of the natives, their societies and
their culture and Western domination and exploitation of Asia,
and the religious wars in Europe. This attitude was later taken up by the Neo-cons in
the USA, that American values should be imposed on the rest
of the world even by force of Arms. And this required huge expenditure on the
invention and production of weapons of mass destruction and the maintenance of
large armies, navies and air forces. It did not occur to them that a complete
self-contradiction is involved in the idea that Democracy and Freedom can be
forced on people. But then they do not perceive that what they call Democracy,
Freedom and Civilisation are in fact terms with which they delude themselves.
In fact, Freedom for them means license for self-indulgence, exploitation and
manipulation of others without considering that these others are then not free.
There are more laws controlling a greater section of life in the developed
nations than elsewhere and these are imposed on people not created by them.
Democracy should mean that people can control
their own affairs and that is not the case anywhere in the world. If
civilisation simply means that people live in cities then the tern refers to a
fact and not a value. In fact, there is more crime and immorality in cities
then elsewhere. For it to be a value, Civilisation ought to mean a higher state
of development than exists among primitive and barbaric people - greater
knowledge, awareness, virtue, conscience, compassion, ability and self-control;
greater inner psychological, social and environmental harmony.
In contrast, Islamic military conquests
generally led to settlement among the native. It did not involve the
destruction of their culture and society. It did not impoverish the nation by
carrying off its wealth to another country.
Jesus, however, pointed to a coming of a
still higher state of Religion:-
"I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to
come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto
you." John 16:12-14
"And ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free." John 8:32
"And I say unto you, That many shall
come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast
out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
8:11-12
The Son of Man, a Prophet returned in the
form of Muhammad who brought Islam. Islam was concerned, besides Justice and
Compassion, mainly with Truth and brought another stage of Religion that
concerned itself with realities.
"He it is who sent His Messenger with
guidance and the Religion of Truth, to make it prevail over every other
religion, however averse to this the disbelievers may be!" 9:33
"And say: Truth has come, and
falsehood has vanished! Verily, falsehood is ever bound to vanish." 17:81
"And follow (or pursue) not that of which
you have no knowledge; verily, the hearing, the sight, and the heart, of all of
these it shall be asked (to give an account). And walk not on the earth proudly
(insolently); verily, you can not rend the earth asunder, nor can you stretch
to the height of the mountains." 17:36-37
Apart from moral principles Islam also
brought techniques for achieving them:-
"O mankind! There has come to you a
guidance from your Lord, and a healing for the disease in your breasts, and a
guidance and a mercy for believers." 10:58
"O you who believe! Respond unto
Allah and His Messenger when He calls you to that which quickens you; and know
that Allah comes in between a man and his own heart; and that He it is unto
Whom you shall be gathered." 8:24
"And the soul and Who fashioned it,
and enlightened it with what is wrong and right for it! He indeed is successful
who causes it to grow (or purifies it)! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts
it!" 91:7-10
There is an explanation as to how the Laws of
Moses and Jesus are related. It allows retaliation but also advocates
forgiveness - one is a social law and the other is a spiritual law:-
"We have prescribed for you therein
(in the OT) a life for a life, and an eye for an eye, and a nose for a nose, and
an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds equal retaliation;
But whoever remits it, it is an expiation for him. Whoever judges not by what
Allah has revealed, these are the wrong-doers (the unjust)." Quran 5:45
"And the recompense of evil is
punishment like it, but whoever forgives and amends, his wage is the affair of
Allah; surely He does not love the unjust." 42:40
Islam gives Muslims a function in the world:-
"You were the best of nations brought
forth unto man. You bid what is good (or reasonable), and forbid what is
inappropriate (indecent, wrong), believing in Allah. Had the people of the Book
believed, it would have been better for them. There are believers among them,
though most of them are sinners." 3:110
"And argue not with the people of the
Book, unless with better means; except with those who have done wrong amongst
them and say: We believe in what is sent down to us, and what has been sent
down to you; our God and your God is One, and unto Him we Surrender (as
Muslims)." 29:46
"Say: O you people of the Book, come
to an agreement between us and you, that we will not serve other than Allah,
nor associate aught with him, nor take others for Lords rather than Allah. But
if they turn away then say: Bear witness that we are they who have
surrendered." 3:64
"So whatever thing you are given,
that is only a provision of the life of this world, and that which is with
Allah is better and more lasting for those who believe and put their trust in
their Lord. And those who. shun the great sins and indecencies, and whenever
they are angry they forgive. And those who respond to their Lord and establish
prayer, and whose conduct their affairs by mutual consultation, and who spend
out of what We have given them. And those who, when great wrong afflicts them,
defend themselves. And the recompense of evil is punishment like it, but
whoever forgives and amends, he shall have his reward from Allah; surely He
does not love the unjust." 42:36-40
Whereas Hebrewism referred to a Tribe and
Christianity to a Community (those who cling to Jesus or Christ), Islam which
does not take its name from a founder, is a teaching and a technique and more
correctly, a State of Being. It also re-established the Divine Law as opposed to
a man made Law which Christianity had ignored and had adopted Roman Law
instead. Islam is, therefore, concerned with establishing objective principles
(regarding facts, meaning and values) in the minds of people with discussion
and arguments. And it is concerned with inner and outer peace and with communal
peace through explanation, negotiation and making treaties and agreements.
These principles have to be preserved and defended. As it allows only defence
and retaliation, Islam does not allow attacking non-combatants, prisoners or
those who submit to Truth. It also does not allow destruction of property and
the environment. The jurisdiction of Christianity should have ended with the
defeat of Rome, the re-conquest of Jerusalem and conquest of Constantinople.
In view of the above considerations we can
distinguish between three general attitudes that people or communities can have
with respect to others and the environment in general:- (1) Attitude Type-1 is
that of the Hebrews, a Racial or Nationalist one. (2) Attitude Type-2 is that
of Christianity, a Personality Cult and (3) Attitude Type-3 is that of Islam,
an Objective Universal one. These three tendencies can be seen to wax and wane
and dominate over each other down the centuries.
There is no doubt that Hebrewism,
Christianity as well as Islam look forward to a time when the whole world will
be United under God, the Creator, and be governed by spiritual, moral and
objective principles. All differences of race and nationality and all conflicts
will disappear. But there is a misunderstanding in these teachings about the
nature of the Kingdom of God
which the righteous would inherit. The Jews thought that it referred to an
earthly kingdom for the Jews to be brought in by a conquering Messiah. The
capital would be in Jerusalem and they would rule over it. They, therefore, did not
recognise Jesus as such a person as he contradicted their formal ritualism and
legalism by teaching love and forgiveness, the priority of motives than come
from the heart, the ideas expressed in the "Sermon on the Mount"
(Matthew 5:1-48) and whose "kingdom was not of this world" (John
18:36, Matthew 5:20, 23:13 etc). The Old Testament books of Exodus and
Deuteronomy offer those who are faithful to the Mosaic Law wealth and power on
earth rather than in heaven. But the Kingdom of God
was within a person (Luke 17:21).
The Lord's prayer taught by Jesus states:
"After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:8
It refers to spiritual regeneration. And this
was to be brought about, after a period of spiritual darkness dominated by
Satan, and by the return of a Prophet, the Son of Man. (Matthew 24). Islam
which recognises all religions as being originally from God speaks of a
spiritual regeneration that will reunite all peoples and Islam would triumph.
But Islam does not mean a particular religion. It means "surrender to
God" which refers to a state of being. The Kingdom of God
on earth could only be achieved through an Objective Ideology which when
applied transforms human beings. As the Quran says:
"Verily, Allah changes not the
condition of a people until they change that which is in their heart"
13:11
"Every sect has a goal (or purpose)
to which Allah turns him; but do you strive onwards together to do good works;
wherever you are Allah will bring you all together; verily, Allah has power
over all things." 2:148
Throughout the last several thousand years of
history Hindus and Buddhists have been expecting the return of an Avatar or a
Buddha and the Jews, Christians as well as Muslims having looking forward to
the return of Christ who will establish the Kingdom of God on earth. This,
according to some would follow the return of the scattered Israelites to their
Promised Land in Palestine. But there is no such pure tribe and the State of
Israel is not a spiritually righteous one. Only a minority of people actually
practice their religion, but the State certainly deals viciously and with
barbarity with neighbouring communities. It has become a source of oppression
to them.
The prophecy itself has the motivating effect
on believers of predisposing their minds to interpret events accordingly and to
efforts of bring about its fulfilment. And from time to time this expectation
becomes immediate, creating much excitement and many personages appear who
claim to be such a Messiah and receive followers. Organisations, sometimes
secret, arise at various times to facilitate such a return both by intensifying
the propagation of the spiritual message and by trying to bring destruction and
chaos to the existing order.
(Continued in Part 4)
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