Commemorating peace, celebrating Eid

Religion is a myriad of interpretations while the core spirituality and message of love is the common fountain from which everyone can cleanse their inner being

By Surya Vishwa

Today is a day of great joy to Muslims who follow the spiritual path of Islam as per the revelations of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). 

A literal translation of Islam means Peace. It is a religion that seeks to enhance the purity of man. This is so that he could do justice to his worldly duties and also seek eternal liberation by seeking refuge in the Almighty after death, by purifying, during life, all actions, thoughts and intentions so that they are aligned to the will of Allah.

What the definition ‘Allah’ – an Arabic word – may mean linguistically is difficult to explain. Aramic being also a Semitic a language, with many Aramic words sounding similar to Arabic, the word for Father meant Elloi in Aramic. This is the word that Jesus cried out from the cross. Elloi is used in the Hebrew Bible.

Thus, the word Allah, could be understood by non-Muslims to mean something similar to a benevolent father, an All Supreme Power and a protective, forgiving and guiding source. 

Etymologically, the name Allah is rooted in Arabic as Al-Ilāh that means “the God.”

Allah therefore may mean ‘God” or, the One God, the All Knowing Almighty, the Supreme Reality (or Omnipresent Consciousness), if one is trying to define the word for those of all faiths to decipher. 

Allah and the will of Allah is paramount to all Muslims. In Sha Allah is a term one hears often when we interact with Muslims and plan meetings or projects. What does it mean? At a secular level it means that there could be a powerful universal force that manages all human plans according to a larger and all-knowing will, as per what is best for each human being, as per his or her actions which Allah (God) or the Supreme consciousness is well aware of whatever man may hide in secret. 

To be worthy of the guidance and protection of this supreme power one needs to constantly purify oneself – both body, heart and mind. This is why prayer five times a day is prescribed, drawing on the energy points of the universe, starting from early morning to nightfall. 

Stringent purification from defilement that man could fall prey to is carried out over 30 days during the Ramadan time, as initiated and prescribed by Prophet Muhammad. 

The 30-day abstaining of food occurs in a similar timeframe to the 40-day fast of lent that Christians carry out to prepare themselves spiritually for the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion. The origin of the Lent fasting was by Jesus who fasted for 40 days and nights in isolation to prepare himself for his spiritual mission. 

Jesus and Muhammad both lived in Middle Eastern areas and the ancient customs and traditions of the two faiths are merged by the similarities of the terrain and its generic spiritual heritage. 

The commonality of Islam, Christianity and even Judaism was the emphasis on intense internal self-purification.

In none of these religions is killing glorified. None of these spiritual paths or their scriptures/holy books can be described as violent or even exclusive. For the wise man liberation of the self from vices could be obtained by living a life of charity, empathy, compassion, forgiveness, love, tolerance and duty and these are preached in Judaism. Christianity and Islam.

The sentence/meaning; ‘Whoever saves one life is akin to saving all (the entire world),’ is common to both the Quran and the Talmud. 

However, for a fool, a sociopath or psychopath, any religious text could be misinterpreted and misused to create trouble. Religion is thus a double edged sword. It could either open up and clean the poisonous cysts that may have grown in one’s heart or it may stab the fellow human being with the ignorance of hate. 

The prudent man learns from all spiritual paths, traditions, cultures whether it is Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Judaism or Christianity alongside the countless forgotten or lost ancient spiritual paths linked to animism as associated with Aborigines. 

The truly educated man will seek to identify the humanistic similarities and understand the differences wisely, recognising at all times that the earth is home to many humans from diverse geographical locations which differ in vegetation, customs, traditions. 

To have an account of all the seekers of truth and wisdom and love and faith for the four billion odd years that the earth has existed would be impossible. There were faiths that held the sun, the trees, the oceans, the skies as sacred and they aided in protecting nature. 

The religions that have lasted to date as mentioned above too spoke of protecting both man and nature. Islam describes man as the guardian of the earth and everything in it, discouraging corrupting the earth. Killing an animal for other than securing sustenance is forbidden in Islam. Killing for sports is strictly forbidden. 

The Prophet Muhammad was known to be exceptionally kind to all living beings, including animals and as per accounts from his life this includes a horse upon which he was riding and which he got down from because he felt it was exhausted. A hen and her chicks were likened to a community as humans and the person who took away the chicks were reprimanded by the Prophet who wanted them to be brought back to the mother hen. 

The concept of peace and non-violence then is not a myth in the Quran. It is a direct part of the revelations as received from Muhammad, which Lesley Hazleton, the Jewish origin author of religious history clearly points out. Author of The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad, (New York Times Editors’ Choice), Lesley Hazleton delivering a lecture in Sri Lanka in 2017 described Prophet Muhammad as a grossly misunderstood ardent messenger of peace.

“He was opposed soon after he began sharing his teachings and left Mecca to Medina and remained in exile for 12 years. When he returned to a negotiated settlement he had to face opposition, from the same kind of people who are going about acts of terror today in the name of Islam.”

It was further explained that the teachings of Muhammad were mostly in response to the questions that were put to him by those who wanted clarification on existing tribal customs of the time, such as stoning for offenses.

Prophet Muhammad as projected by Hazleton is one who attempted progressive social reform to strategically discourage taking another’s life.

“When asked if disbelievers could be killed, his response was: “Only if they attack first and only if there is no other way to solve the issue.” As pointed out by Hazleton, there were in fact so many conditions put by Prophet Muhammad that in the end it boils down to ‘don’t,’ because realistically it would be impossible to practically fulfil all the prescribed conditions.

To understand why stoning was practiced in the terrain that Jesus and Muhammad sojourned, one would have to grasp the dynamics of the tribal socio-culture of justice. Jesus too prevented the stoning of a woman, asking if the people who condemned her were devoid of sin.

Muhammad, like Jesus and Buddha and countless other sages across the world, were social reformers.  

Thereby, to dismiss any spiritual tradition or culture as ‘violent’ or use it for nefarious acts of terrorism and generalised persecution is inane and criminal. 

If one finds that a segment of a particular scripture, such as the old testament of the Bible or the Quran or the Talmud is violent, it has to be understood that each holy book may carry differently worded explanations. They may vary subtly or overtly. The salient fact remains that these scriptures were written by human beings long after the original ‘revelations,’ which were passed on orally for quite some time. 

Religion then is a myriad of interpretations while the core spirituality and message of love is the common fountain from which everyone can cleanse their inner being. 

(The author is a student of comparative spirituality and seeks to offer simple and secular explanations of complex belief systems for the purpose of promoting peace and wisdom.)