Mirza Shahnawaz Agha
Religions are a social science with a status no more than any ‘standard operating procedure’. It is ‘belief’ that is above religion and the acquisition of belief warrants proof! It warrants absolution at any given point in time. Like a cup of water when hot is to be wary of, yet the same cup of water when cool is fine to hold. Science is a major vanguard to providing researched proofs and often enables us to witness the proof found. The realm of science predominantly revolves around matter and when it comes to delving in the ‘belief of the unseen’, however evidenced, it is consigned to the ‘X’ files of nature! Although that belief in the unseen is fundamental to social equity and harmony it is taboo. God is a taboo because science has yet to experiment with, fathom or comprehend that phenomena of existence. The common assertion is that since we have not found God yet He needs to be kept at bay and His religion too! It is my understanding that material technology is subservient to social technology so acknowledging the existence of God scientifically is in order. Whilst proof and credible witnesses are both in place the factor lacking this acknowledgement is the rebellion within us! We fear missing out on the pleasures of our indulgences of sorts and more on losing our profit centres. This in effect means that wherever human civilisation has scientifically evolved to be, material imbalance notwithstanding, must reign supreme!
With the advent of Islam, that arrived after having evolved with human civilisation and corresponding religions the proof had become clear and the witnesses made their statements in words, deeds and wherever necessary by life and blood. The message was not based on races or nationalities it was universal and represented a level of Civilisation above all others. The Message was and is revolutionary. Whilst societies need to be governed by a just and uniform order material hi-tech has to be made subservient to social hi-tech. In one’s study of the comparative history of religions one can observe that the optimum freedom to human civilisation is only available in Islam. It is truth based, with a principal obligation being: the ‘just’ service of creation itself! If one serves one is compliant! Let us turn to the proof of the narration that there is a God, He is one and there are no partners or His like. He has given us His best creation as a witness from amongst us in the personage of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and He has given us a book of all knowledge the Quran that is without comparison. He has given us witnesses from the family and followers of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) who have and continue to testify His presence and all that He has stated. This is proof enough because all that science is discovering has already been narrated in the Quran and or by the believers of the Message. By words, deeds and blood the seal of righteousness has firmly been placed on this truth.
The Message has been denied constantly in time by those who profit from the denial, the clerics who profit from peddling religion, and those who have usurped the equitable right of societies by oppression. These are they who can safely be singled out as the culprits of all disorder in the world. The heroes of the Islamic civilisation are universal for having given society the ethos of truth and knowledge based on social justice. They do not belong to any cast, creed, race or political territory. They belong as heroes of human civilisation. I have visited Mekkah, Madina, Karbala, Kazmain, Samarah, Najaf, Koofa, Meshad and a host of other places to see the trail of what the Islamic civilisation and its heroes left for us. Ironically I saw that in the history of the last fourteen hundred years the Muslims have only strived to eliminate the proof and the prime witnesses, to uphold, for their own detriment, a status of slavery to material supremacy. The leaders of material hi-tech have their own civilisation of material worship that enslaves the egalitarian, just and equitable values of Islam. We are guilty of having shot ourselves in the foot.
The judicious balance for human societies will now stem from material justice being established where civilisations will have to become openly polarised to amend how this planet has to be governed. The economic game based on the rules of piracy will have to end. Unity within the Ummah first has to be achieved by material and social justice being concurred upon across the board. It is only then will we see a World Order free of wars based on love and service as the hallmark for sharing natural and human resources equitably. The ritualised worship of the religion, like in cults, instead of invoking the Message of Allah has fragmented the Ummah and we all know who is responsible for giving Islam different brands.
The Prophet (PBUH) in human form, despite all his miracles, has remained vulnerable to his enemies or more so the enemies of the Message delivered by him. Since Allah, the deity of our worship, does not make mistakes, sending the Prophet (PBUH) in any other form would have resulted in us worshipping him in denial of Monotheism. A hadees (saying) of the Prophet (PBUH) declares: ‘Every truth has proof, every right has light’ (guidance)! This is both an invitation and a testification of the Message he delivered. It is incumbent for us to probe into the life of the Prophet (PBUH) and more the Message he brought to us to follow as Monotheist. Even without a belief in God Monotheism is the best order to adopt for harmony in society and the little existence we have, by comparison, in the multitude of galaxies. Let us unify to serve creation and engineer the restoration of the order of Allah for human societies. Surely there is betterment for all in the Devine prescription based on belief, so let us be the vanguards of belief!
— The writer is an entrepreneur and author based in Karachi.
