Idol Worship

When we discuss religion, the first perception or awareness that is evoked is that of fear. Our religious leaders have tried their best to establish the distinction of this perception in relation to religion. When perception or awareness was categorized, many groups came into being.

One group says that, "Awareness is the dependency upon an unseen power and the reliance on that power for one’s life."

Another group says that, "Awareness is brought about by fear."

A third group attaches the concept of awareness to a sensual life.

A fourth group says that [human] awareness is, in fact, inspired by the awareness of a limitless and unchanging being.

When an ordinary person looks at these contradictions it most certainly creates a doubt in his heart as to whether awareness even exists or not, and this doubt turns into such a confusing maze that man rejects religion all together.

The topic of religion is so complex and broad that it would be a meaningless and senseless thing to claim that one is able to encompass if, but if religion is defined within ones capacity and within the circle of limited awareness, two aspects come to surface. One aspect of religion is shara'aee ['under decree of divine law'] and the other aspect is individual or personal. One branch of religion claims to believe in a single being [as their God], while the other branch mentions human psychology using intellectual arguments and individual explanations and denies belief in the unseen being. The individual religion has proven to be the political religion, while the shara'aee [or 'divinely legislated'] religion wants an organization to be established on a pattern of living based on worship, sacrifice, and other religious rites, where all of humankind can be gathered on one platform.

The followers of shara'aee religion worship the transcendental being under the perception of fear, but they also say that one cannot see the transcendental being. There is one group that is known as the sufia ['plural of sufi: mystic saint']. This group claims that the transcendental being is not at all a fierce being. This transcendental being loves us 70 times more than our own mother. Nobody has ever observed a mother pushing her child into a blazing fire. This group also claims that any ordinary person can witness the transcendental being. And there are present in much larger numbers than worldly statistics can convey, such examples, such incidences, and such feelings spanning thousands of years, which support this claim.

The fact of the matter is that fear, whether it exists between two men, a man and beast, or a man and snake, creates a distance and remoteness. Contrary to that, love creates the feelings of nearness.

As distance is created, it most certainly brings about fear and doubt in one's mind. As feelings of closeness diminish, to reduce his fear, man creates many new images with his own hands, and idol worship is initiated around this point of origin) [nuqta-e-irtakaaz]. The presence of idols erases the virtue of truth from man. The deprivation from the virtue of truth is called magic. From this point onward, many innovations arise within the human psyche. These innovations lead to new ways of thinking, and it is eventually announced that religion and spirituality are an imaginary thing. The Sufis say that even if one accepts the argument that religion and spiritual perceptions are only a figment of the imagination, then it can also be said that the denunciation of religion, disbelief, and feelings infused with doubt are also imaginary. Sufi personalities present the argument that even if we accept that spirituality and religion is a product of human imagination, the fact cannot be denied that a religious spiritual person has within him peace and contentment, and he engages in works that provide comfort to his fellow beings. Within him arise unseen powers which contain hidden within them a striving for the welfare of the common people. Contrary to this, if the lives of non- religious people are studied, despite the fact that they have in their possession heaps of worldly resources, they do not possess within themselves the peace that is within a spiritual person. It is apparent to every aware adult that lowliness and imbalance enter the life of the person who commits base acts. When an object that has become impure and unclean is washed, it becomes clean and pure. Within a just person resides Allah's justice. As a result of justice, fairness, kindness, and mercy, the transcendental being enters within the person.

Hypocrisy enters within the person who deceives and defrauds others and who is selfish and unfamiliar with hardship, because such a person [in reality] deceives himself. As a result of this, the monster of doubt and uncertainty overwhelms him, which leads man, to whom angels bow in servitude, to lose awareness of his own self.

The wise and farsighted men of God say that the effects of character never remain hidden. It is an established truth that those who give to others never become poor. Even a small portion of untruthfulness in one's actions creates contradiction in one's words and deeds. Truthfulness in conduct is a quality that illuminates every particle of the earth, and each particle of the earth loudly declares that a person is a messenger of truth. Who is it that would dare to say that committing wrongful actions does not diminish one's existence?

Come, let us leave this philosophical discussion and instead reflect upon the consequences. Allah, Bhagvan, Nirvan, God, El, Ailia, the Transcendental Being— [called by any names He is the guardian and custodian of all; He is the beginning and the ultimate completion. Fear of the Guardian Being throws man into deep recesses. Love, on the other hand, leads to feelings of closeness. However much one loves this transcendental being, Allah, in the same proportion, ten times over, the transcendental being becomes attentive to His servant. The distinctive quality of friendship is closeness, nut distance. A friend neither fears nor suffers grief at the hands of his friend.

The sons and daughters of Adam and Eve should pledge that from today onward they would not fear the transcendental being, Allah. Instead, they will love Him, because the transcendental being Himself makes the announcement that,

"Allah's friends neither fear nor grieve."
[Holy Quran 610:v62]