By: Dr Sani Badron
Western scholars have found it difficult to define religion.
The word religion probably refers to either one of these three Latin verbs: relegere (to observe conscientiously), religari (to bind oneself back), or reeligere (to choose again).
Due to the questionable etymology of the word ‘religion', for Western thinkers, there is no clear definition of religion. For some Western thinkers, there could even never be any clear meaning and concept of religion.
Richard McBrien, author of an encylopaedic work Catholicism states: "The very attempt to define religion is itself problematical."
He summarizes thus: "Region is very difficult to define. In fact, there is no single definition agreed upon by all, even within the religious sciences themselves. It is not even clear from which word or words the term ‘religion' is derived." (p. 390).
Therefore, on the one hand Western secular thinkers have described religion only as an element of man-made culture. On the other hand, Western theologians conceive religion at most in terms of faith which is vaguely expressed as a system of doctrines, pledges, and rites, all gradually developed in history.
Such a conception of religion merely "in terms of faith vaguely expressed" has been throughout Western history productive of exclusivism: a very narrow understanding of revelation, of the availability of divine grace, and of the universal salvific will.
That exclusivism is exemplified in Mr. Thwackum's remark in Henry Fielding's Tom Jones: "When I mention religion, I mean the Christian religion; and not only the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion; and not only the Protestant religion, but the Church of England." For another example, this time given by McBrien, is the fact that in so many earlier papal documents preceding the Church of the Second Vatican Council's Declaration in 1965, the principle of religious freedom is condemned in unequivocal manner, as formulated in the maxim "error has no right".
Hence, for example, the burning of ‘heretics' in the Medieval Inquisition (1180s-1230s), in the Spanish Inquisition (1480s-1800s), in the Portuguese Inquisition (1536-1821), and in the Roman Inquisition (1550s-1750s). All those inquisitions happened during almost a century, and have been generally approved by Western religious authorities up till present times, to mention nothing of the Crusaders who fought against the Muslim polity for almost five hundred years. This fact has also been well-documented in scholarly works such as Walter Wakefield's "Inquisition", Albert Hourani's "Western Attitude towards Islam", C. F. Beckingham's "Misconceptions of Islam: Medieval and Modern", and Karen Armstrong's Holy War: The Crusaders and Their Impact on Today's World.
Or rather, as McBrien put it, there was a double standard:
the Church demands freedom for itself when in a minority position but refuses to grant freedom to other religions when the situation was reversed. On the contrary, a Muslim's conception of religion is not merely the result of his discursive thinking. It is, rather, his understanding of Qur'anic teachings. Indeed, to have a true understanding of a Muslim's conception of religion one must first of all know how religion is defined in the Qur'an, which is the source of Muslim belief and practice.
The classical biographers of the Prophet Muhammad shared the view that the first Qur'anic revelation was sent to him in the year 13 before Hijrah, which corresponds to, as some historians have computed, 22 December, 609 CE. This was the beginning of a new, universal religion, namely Islam that was going to be revealed over a period of twenty-three years. Obviously, this new religion was very conscious of the fact that there were already so many religious traditions then in the world; of these, Christianity, Judaism, Sabeanism, and Zoroastrianism were perhaps the most important ones. The Qur'an claims to be the only divine revelation that is sempiternal that can be relied upon to set forth religious truths, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains of earlier revelations, and determining what is true therein (see al-Ma'idah, 5:28).
It is through the Qur'an that Islam claims itself to be the religion that possesses the totality of truth realized in the first Community of Believers of Madinah under the authority and jurisdiction of the Prophet.
This particular concept of the perfect religion is couched in the Qur'anic term al-Din and, more specifically, Din Allah, Din al-Haqq, al-Din al-Qayyim, and al-Din al-Khalis which means "the religion of Allah", "the religion of the Truth", "the one ever-true Religion", and "the original religious submission", respectively.
With all of its forms that occur ninety-five times, din is "an extremely important key term in the Qur'an", as remarked in Toshihiko Izutsu's God and Man in the Qur'an.
Implied in its claim to be the most perfect religion, one of the beliefs of Islam is the "unity of all messages of Allah to mankind". This principle is elucidated with precision by Abu Hafs ‘Umar Najm al-Din al-Nasafi (d. 537 /1142) as: "Allah, may He be exalted, has sent a number of messengers from among mankind to their fellow mankind announcing good tidings, cautioning against evil and making clear for all mankind what they have need for of the undertakings of the world and of religion....The first among the Prophets was Adam and the last among them is Muhammad, may Allah bless and give him peace....All of them are transmitters of commands from Allah, veracious in conveying their teachings for all creatures. The most excellent among the prophets is Muhammad, Allah's blessings and peace be upon him."
This can be easily understood even by non-Muslim Islamologists, like Montgomery Watt, who has once remarked that "belief in other prophets...is of course included in the message Muhammad received from God by revelation." (Italics mine.) In this light, all of the adherents of Islam do, in fact, unanimously uphold an inclusive belief in the "unity of divine messages". This unity was vitiated, however, if or when men falsified Divine Scripture, substituting the revealed words with false, human words and distorting the former with their dishonest tongues.
By so doing, they superimposed falsehood on the truth, repressing and concealing the latter, reflecting their envy and arrogance to religious truths. Hence the importance of being humbly guided by the revealed Scripture which is known completely in the same living language in which it was revealed by God the Guide.
Western scholars have found it difficult to define religion.
The word religion probably refers to either one of these three Latin verbs: relegere (to observe conscientiously), religari (to bind oneself back), or reeligere (to choose again).
Due to the questionable etymology of the word ‘religion', for Western thinkers, there is no clear definition of religion. For some Western thinkers, there could even never be any clear meaning and concept of religion.
Richard McBrien, author of an encylopaedic work Catholicism states: "The very attempt to define religion is itself problematical."
He summarizes thus: "Region is very difficult to define. In fact, there is no single definition agreed upon by all, even within the religious sciences themselves. It is not even clear from which word or words the term ‘religion' is derived." (p. 390).
Therefore, on the one hand Western secular thinkers have described religion only as an element of man-made culture. On the other hand, Western theologians conceive religion at most in terms of faith which is vaguely expressed as a system of doctrines, pledges, and rites, all gradually developed in history.
Such a conception of religion merely "in terms of faith vaguely expressed" has been throughout Western history productive of exclusivism: a very narrow understanding of revelation, of the availability of divine grace, and of the universal salvific will.
That exclusivism is exemplified in Mr. Thwackum's remark in Henry Fielding's Tom Jones: "When I mention religion, I mean the Christian religion; and not only the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion; and not only the Protestant religion, but the Church of England." For another example, this time given by McBrien, is the fact that in so many earlier papal documents preceding the Church of the Second Vatican Council's Declaration in 1965, the principle of religious freedom is condemned in unequivocal manner, as formulated in the maxim "error has no right".
Hence, for example, the burning of ‘heretics' in the Medieval Inquisition (1180s-1230s), in the Spanish Inquisition (1480s-1800s), in the Portuguese Inquisition (1536-1821), and in the Roman Inquisition (1550s-1750s). All those inquisitions happened during almost a century, and have been generally approved by Western religious authorities up till present times, to mention nothing of the Crusaders who fought against the Muslim polity for almost five hundred years. This fact has also been well-documented in scholarly works such as Walter Wakefield's "Inquisition", Albert Hourani's "Western Attitude towards Islam", C. F. Beckingham's "Misconceptions of Islam: Medieval and Modern", and Karen Armstrong's Holy War: The Crusaders and Their Impact on Today's World.
Or rather, as McBrien put it, there was a double standard:
the Church demands freedom for itself when in a minority position but refuses to grant freedom to other religions when the situation was reversed. On the contrary, a Muslim's conception of religion is not merely the result of his discursive thinking. It is, rather, his understanding of Qur'anic teachings. Indeed, to have a true understanding of a Muslim's conception of religion one must first of all know how religion is defined in the Qur'an, which is the source of Muslim belief and practice.
The classical biographers of the Prophet Muhammad shared the view that the first Qur'anic revelation was sent to him in the year 13 before Hijrah, which corresponds to, as some historians have computed, 22 December, 609 CE. This was the beginning of a new, universal religion, namely Islam that was going to be revealed over a period of twenty-three years. Obviously, this new religion was very conscious of the fact that there were already so many religious traditions then in the world; of these, Christianity, Judaism, Sabeanism, and Zoroastrianism were perhaps the most important ones. The Qur'an claims to be the only divine revelation that is sempiternal that can be relied upon to set forth religious truths, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains of earlier revelations, and determining what is true therein (see al-Ma'idah, 5:28).
It is through the Qur'an that Islam claims itself to be the religion that possesses the totality of truth realized in the first Community of Believers of Madinah under the authority and jurisdiction of the Prophet.
This particular concept of the perfect religion is couched in the Qur'anic term al-Din and, more specifically, Din Allah, Din al-Haqq, al-Din al-Qayyim, and al-Din al-Khalis which means "the religion of Allah", "the religion of the Truth", "the one ever-true Religion", and "the original religious submission", respectively.
With all of its forms that occur ninety-five times, din is "an extremely important key term in the Qur'an", as remarked in Toshihiko Izutsu's God and Man in the Qur'an.
Implied in its claim to be the most perfect religion, one of the beliefs of Islam is the "unity of all messages of Allah to mankind". This principle is elucidated with precision by Abu Hafs ‘Umar Najm al-Din al-Nasafi (d. 537 /1142) as: "Allah, may He be exalted, has sent a number of messengers from among mankind to their fellow mankind announcing good tidings, cautioning against evil and making clear for all mankind what they have need for of the undertakings of the world and of religion....The first among the Prophets was Adam and the last among them is Muhammad, may Allah bless and give him peace....All of them are transmitters of commands from Allah, veracious in conveying their teachings for all creatures. The most excellent among the prophets is Muhammad, Allah's blessings and peace be upon him."
This can be easily understood even by non-Muslim Islamologists, like Montgomery Watt, who has once remarked that "belief in other prophets...is of course included in the message Muhammad received from God by revelation." (Italics mine.) In this light, all of the adherents of Islam do, in fact, unanimously uphold an inclusive belief in the "unity of divine messages". This unity was vitiated, however, if or when men falsified Divine Scripture, substituting the revealed words with false, human words and distorting the former with their dishonest tongues.
By so doing, they superimposed falsehood on the truth, repressing and concealing the latter, reflecting their envy and arrogance to religious truths. Hence the importance of being humbly guided by the revealed Scripture which is known completely in the same living language in which it was revealed by God the Guide.
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