CONCLUSION by Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez, Books and Documents, NewAgeIslam.com

Books and Documents

CONCLUSION by Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez

Chapter 20: Islam A Challenge to Religion

CONCLUSION

By Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez

Before concluding our dissertation, it would not be out of place, we hope, if we recapitulate in brief, what we have been discussing somewhat in detail concerning religion, its source, its various aspects and its implications in relation to mankind, the individual as well as the human society at large, in contradistinction to Islam as a din.

I. Religion and Din

A perusal of the foregoing chapters must have brought to light the basic fallacy and the fundamental misconception in taking Islam as one among the various religions prevailing in the world from time to time; and the unfairness of making an assessment of din on that basis. Furthermore, it is equally fallacious if we were to try to understand and grasp its meaning and its impact on human society from the standpoint of religion as commonly understood.

Religion, as such, is nothing more than a kind of private relationship between man and his Creator. We are not, at the moment, concerned with the nature of this relationship which has been amply described in books like William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. Anyhow, whatever the nature and characteristics of such experience, it is admittedly the experience of an individual of a purely subjective character having no relation whatsoever with worldly affairs, nor could it be communicated from one to another. This private relationship between man and his Creator is essentially founded on the idea of salvation. Salvation is common to all religions, even to Buddhism which does not acknowledge the existence of God.

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Humanistic Approaches in Gita and Quran, Spiritual Meditations, NewAgeISlam.com

Spiritual Meditations

Humanistic Approaches in Gita and Quran

The fundamental principles of religion and ethics are quite the same in both Holy Books

By Dr. Debabrata Das

Humanism is any philosophy which recognizes the value or dignity of man and makes him the measures of all things or somehow takes human nature, its limits, or its interests as its theme.

Humanism is the most characteristic philosophy of modern times. After centuries of philosophic thinking and meditation, we have learnt that the end of all human activity is the improvement and development of man and that man is not to be sacrificed to any eternal power, be it God or a political and social institution. There is another reason for our concern with the man. The life today has become so complex and involved that no philosopher considers it a wisdom to shut his eyes to the besetting socio-politico-economico-cultural life of the man. For this reason, philosophers and thinkers should have concentrated their attention on social, political, educational, economical and cultural problems.

Even in the realm of religion and its philosophic implications contemporary philosophers adopt a humanist attitude, that is, religion is for man; not man for religion. Philosophers perceived basic humanism in every religion and they wanted to integrate and harmonize Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc., into one religion, the religion of man.

The foundation of every constitution of each country, I wish, should be based on this ideal of the Gita, "Duty be thy right." Hence our watchword – "Karmanyevadhikaraste…." (Gita II.47). "Your right is to work only…."

Now, we are to discuss the individual in the universal society of Homo Sapiens. The Greek idea of Aristotle that man is by nature social, or the assertion of John Stuart Mill that "over himself, over his body and mind, the individual is sovereign" (Aristotle’s Politics 1/2 Mill’s Liberty, Ch.1, Para 9) is raised in the Bhagavadgita (XV.7) to the finest possible limit of comprehension when Krishna emphatically asserts – "A fraction of my own self having become a living soul, eternal, in the world of life, draws to itself the senses, of which the mind is the sixth, that rest in nature." The limited categories of families or castes or classes, suggested by Arjuna for his refusal to fight the war already declared in the interest of human rights, cannot be accepted as the final ideas for the determination of duties in a life of Yoga preached by Krishna and all his predecessors and successors of similar status in respect of wisdom.

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