Why atheism is the Way!
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:13 pm
Religion.
Religion itself is derived from the word 'religio' which means to bind. It is that which binds man to the truth. As such every religion possesses ultimately two essential elements which are its basis and foundation: a doctrine and a method.
These two elements, the doctrine and the method, the means of distinguishing between what is Real and what appears to be real, exist in every orthodox and integral religion and are in fact the essence of every religion. No religion, whether it be Islam or Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, can be without a doctrine as to what is absolute and what is relative. Only the doctrinal language differs from one tradition to another. Nor can any religion be without a method of concentrating on the Real and living according to It although the means again differ in different traditional climates.
Every religion believes in a transcendent Reality that stands above the world of change and becoming. The doctrine is thus a discrimination between the Absolute and the relative, between grades of reality, degrees of universal existence. And the method is precisely the means of attaching the relatively real to the absolutely real once one realizes that the reality of the soul and the world that surrounds it is not absolute but relative, that both the soul and the world derive their sustenance from a Reality that transcends both the soul and the world.
This relation between man and God, or the relative and the Absolute is central in every religion.
The Islamic perspective is based upon the consideration of the Divine Being as He is in Himself not as He is incarnated in history.
There are certain religions which emphasize a particular incarnation of the Divinity or various manifestations of the Absolute.
Islam is a religion based not on the personality of the founder but on Allah Himself.
THE NATURE OF MAN
Islam legislates for man according to his real nature as he is with all the possibilities inherent in the human state as such. But what does 'man as he is' mean? Seen in his ordinary condition man is a weak and negligent being. He is usually subservient to his surroundings and a prisoner of his own lust and animal passions. He does not know what it really means to be man and does not live to the full potentialities of his human condition.
INTELLIGENCE, WILL and SPEECH
The Islamic revelation conceives of man as this theomorphic being and addresses itself to that something in man which is in the form of the 'Divine'. That something is
INTELLIGENCE
An intelligence that can discern between the true and the false or the real and illusory and is naturally led to Unity or tawhid. Islam asks what is intelligence and what is its real nature. The real nature of intelligence is ultimately to come to realize that La ilaha ill'Allah, that is to come to know that in the end there is only one Absolute Reality. It is to realize the absolute nature of Allah and the relativity of all else that is other than He. The Qur'an calls those who have gone astray from religion as those who cannot intellect, 'la ya'quilun', those who cannot use their intelligence correctly. It is very significant that the loss of faith is equated in Qur'anic language not with the corruption of the will but with the improper functioning of intelligence.
WILL
A will to choose freely between the true and the false. What is the nature of the will? It is to be able to choose, to choose freely between two alternatives, between the real and the unreal, between the true and the false, between the Absolute and the relative. Were man not to be free religion would have no real meaning. Free will is necessary to the religious conception of man and this is as much true of Islam as of any other religion.
SPEECH
The power of speech, of the word to be able to express the relationship between the Divinity and man. Speech is the most direct manifestation of what we are, of our innermost being. We cannot express our being in any way more directly than speech. Speech is in a sense the external form of what we are inwardly.
http://www.islamia.com/the_last_religion.htm
Religion itself is derived from the word 'religio' which means to bind. It is that which binds man to the truth. As such every religion possesses ultimately two essential elements which are its basis and foundation: a doctrine and a method.
These two elements, the doctrine and the method, the means of distinguishing between what is Real and what appears to be real, exist in every orthodox and integral religion and are in fact the essence of every religion. No religion, whether it be Islam or Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, can be without a doctrine as to what is absolute and what is relative. Only the doctrinal language differs from one tradition to another. Nor can any religion be without a method of concentrating on the Real and living according to It although the means again differ in different traditional climates.
Every religion believes in a transcendent Reality that stands above the world of change and becoming. The doctrine is thus a discrimination between the Absolute and the relative, between grades of reality, degrees of universal existence. And the method is precisely the means of attaching the relatively real to the absolutely real once one realizes that the reality of the soul and the world that surrounds it is not absolute but relative, that both the soul and the world derive their sustenance from a Reality that transcends both the soul and the world.
This relation between man and God, or the relative and the Absolute is central in every religion.
The Islamic perspective is based upon the consideration of the Divine Being as He is in Himself not as He is incarnated in history.
There are certain religions which emphasize a particular incarnation of the Divinity or various manifestations of the Absolute.
Islam is a religion based not on the personality of the founder but on Allah Himself.
THE NATURE OF MAN
Islam legislates for man according to his real nature as he is with all the possibilities inherent in the human state as such. But what does 'man as he is' mean? Seen in his ordinary condition man is a weak and negligent being. He is usually subservient to his surroundings and a prisoner of his own lust and animal passions. He does not know what it really means to be man and does not live to the full potentialities of his human condition.
INTELLIGENCE, WILL and SPEECH
The Islamic revelation conceives of man as this theomorphic being and addresses itself to that something in man which is in the form of the 'Divine'. That something is
INTELLIGENCE
An intelligence that can discern between the true and the false or the real and illusory and is naturally led to Unity or tawhid. Islam asks what is intelligence and what is its real nature. The real nature of intelligence is ultimately to come to realize that La ilaha ill'Allah, that is to come to know that in the end there is only one Absolute Reality. It is to realize the absolute nature of Allah and the relativity of all else that is other than He. The Qur'an calls those who have gone astray from religion as those who cannot intellect, 'la ya'quilun', those who cannot use their intelligence correctly. It is very significant that the loss of faith is equated in Qur'anic language not with the corruption of the will but with the improper functioning of intelligence.
WILL
A will to choose freely between the true and the false. What is the nature of the will? It is to be able to choose, to choose freely between two alternatives, between the real and the unreal, between the true and the false, between the Absolute and the relative. Were man not to be free religion would have no real meaning. Free will is necessary to the religious conception of man and this is as much true of Islam as of any other religion.
SPEECH
The power of speech, of the word to be able to express the relationship between the Divinity and man. Speech is the most direct manifestation of what we are, of our innermost being. We cannot express our being in any way more directly than speech. Speech is in a sense the external form of what we are inwardly.
http://www.islamia.com/the_last_religion.htm