December 2004: Page 1, 2, 3, 4

Submitters Perspective

Page 2

No Blind Faith

Cont’d from page 1

God brought you out of your mother’s bellies, knowing nothing, and He gave you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brains, that you may be appreciative. Do they not see the birds committed to fly in the atmosphere of the sky?
None holds them up in the air except God. This should be proof for people who believe. (16:78-79)

The innermost part of our faith resides in our mind. If we employ it rationally, it will bring us closer to God. If we forsake it then we will go astray. The reminder comes from the Quran:

Did they not roam the earth, then use their minds to understand, and use their ears to hear? Indeed, the real blindness is not the blindness of the eye, but the blindness of the hearts inside the chest. (22:46)

The religion of our parents as preached by scholars, imams and mullahs educates us not to use our intellectual faculties in religious affairs. This education is spread through some false hadiths. Purportedly, the use of the mind in religious matters would lead us astray. The majority of Muslims uphold this sort of belief even though it opposes the Quranic teaching:

When they are told, “Follow what God has revealed herein,” they say, “We follow only what we found our parents doing.” What if their parents did not understand, and were not guided? The example of such disbelievers is that of parrots who repeat what they hear of sounds and calls, without understanding. Deaf, dumb, and blind; they cannot understand. (2:170-171)

Prophet Abraham’s father Azar and his

community were idol worshipers. Abraham was a free thinker. He did not follow the religion of his father blindly and put his effort to find the truth as we learn from the Quran:

He said to his father and his people, “What are you worshiping?”

“Is it these fabricated gods, instead of God, that you want?

“What do you think of the Lord of the universe?”

He looked carefully at the stars.

Then he gave up and said, “I am tired of this!”

They turned away from him.

He then turned on their idols, saying, “Would you like to eat?

“Why do you not speak?”

He then destroyed them.
(37:85-93)

How many of us really take heed from the above example of young Abraham and verify the religions that we inherited from our parents? Sadly, most of us blindly follow what our parents, our imams or our scholars taught us and we do not bother to think logically. We learn from the Quran:

Do not have any doubt regarding what these people worship; they worship exactly as they found their parents worshiping. We will requite them their due share fully, without any reduction. (11:109)

Do we think that we will get God’s blessing the easy way without any test from God? Do we think that God cites all the examples in the Quran for entertainment purposes? What do we learn from the following

example of young Abraham from the Quran?

He said to his father and his people, “What are these statues to which you are devoting yourselves?”

They said, “We found our parents worshiping them.”

He said, “Indeed, you and your parents have gone totally astray.”

They said, “Are you telling us the truth, or are you playing?”

He said, “Your only Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created them. This is the testimony to which I bear witness.

“I swear by God, I have a plan to deal with your statues, as soon as you leave.”

He broke them into pieces, except for a big one, that they may refer to it.

They said, “Whoever did this to our gods is really a transgressor.”

They said, “We heard a youth threaten them; he is called Abraham.”

They said, “Did you do this to our gods, O Abraham?”

He said, “It is that big one who did it. Go ask them, if they can speak.” (21:52-63)

Prohibiting the use of the mind has crippled the intellect of Muslims in comparison with others. The minds of Muslims have been benumbed for centuries, neutralized by false hadith. The teaching of the Quran gives the mind a noble place. God deems human beings who do not use their minds worse than animals, as understood from this verse:

Cont’d on page 3