It's Time to Think Universally and Rationally

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 9 March 2023 “When a person converted to other religion and faith, he's going away from god's presence to the darkness of evil. Every human being should understand the truth before going away from Christianity." Bosco Pereira, comments section, March 8, 2023 Muslims as well as the followers of all religions, reading this preposterous comment (please read the full comment on the site) of Bosco will call him a zealot but are they anyway different from this moron? Here on this very site, there're educated Muslims suggesting that Islam is the only faith and are euphoric that an erstwhile Christian Master of Divinity Jerald Dirks embraced Islam because he didn't like excessive polytheism in Christianity. A Russian Christian priest accepting Islam has also made Muslims very happy. Likewise, recently a Bulgarian Muslim cleric left Islam and embraced Christianity. That has made all Christians very happy. This utter nonsense will go on because everyone thinks that his or her religion is the only way and others are on the wrong path. S S Rajamouli stated in a recent interview that the main reason for the worldwide unrest and bad-blood is because there're diametrically opposite religious views held by the followers of all bogus and man-made religions. He's a complete atheist and has no faith in any damn god and religion. British poet Philip Larkins aptly said, “Humanity was a big family and humans lived together/ Until god and religion came and threw it poles asunder. " Instead of using our brains and reason, we're getting more and more entangled in our stupid beliefs and creating unnecessary rifts. Recently, former Pakistani cricketer Saeed Anwar called Modi, a Satan-possessed Hindu. My Pakistani Muslim friend, who's on the verge of leaving Islam, said that Saeed indeed said this. You all may have seen Saeed Anwar in his new role as a preacher shaving his moustache and sporting a beard just like yet another deeply religious Pakistani cricketer Inzamam-ul-Haq. I remember, years ago when Pakistani Christian cricketer Yusuf Yohanna embraced Islam to survive in the team and became Muhammad Yusuf, he amassed runs in test cricket. The great Hanif Muhammad said that because Muhammad Yusuf left Christianity and came into the fold of Islam, Allah bestowed his divine grace upon him and he scored runs and centuries at will. Disgusting, to say the least. It means, Yusuf's Christian god and Jesus failed to do what Allah was capable of doing? We're so damn primitive. This is indeed sad and that's why, many sensible people are leaving not just Islam but all these useless religions. I must mention that a few years ago, TOI carried an article in its Sunday supplement featuring nearly 10 parents of Poona who chose to bring up their children without religion and god. I know a few of them. They're all educated and morally sound but have no faith in religion and god. They inculcated universal values in their offspring and never whispered Kalma or mantras into the ears of impressionable infants. My dear friend Zuber in Poona always wrote NA (not applicable) in the religion and god columns of school and college admission forms. By the way, why do schools and colleges still want to know a student's faith? This is criminal. It's, therefore, time to think universally and rationally and follow humanity, the essence of all religions. But the unevolved and irrational humans will hardly understand this. They'll continue to wallow in the muck of obscurantism and remain stupefied by their religiosity. ------- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/think-universally-rationally/d/129279 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism