Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

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Man and Religion

Author: AlBalagh Foundation

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Table of Contents

Introduction 5

MAN'S NEED FOR RELIGION 7

First: The Natural Proof 9

Second: The Scientific Proof 11

Third: The Historical Proof 12

Fourth: The Objective Proof 13

Mind's Need For Religion 16

The Spitrtual Mission Of Religion 20

The Role of Religion in The Psychological and Moral Perfection 23

Society's Need For Religion 27

First: Individual Education: 30

Second: Organizing the Society: 31

Third: Building the State: 32

Religion and Physical Care 33

Can Religion Be Substitled? 34

The Testimony Of Figures 41

Endnotes 44

Introduction

“O followers of the Book! Indeed Our apostle has come to you making clear to you muck of what you concealed of the Book and forgiving muck; indeed, there has come to you light and a clear Book from Allah. With it Allah guides him who seeks His good pleasure into the ways of peace wad brings diem out of utter darkness into light by His will wad guides them to the right path. Holy' Qur'an (5:15-18)

Religion represents the work of deliverance, the message of salvation, and the torch of light,guidance and peace. It is evidence of Allah's kindness,Exalted be He, and the result of His mercy to man, as He willed that man be His viceroy on earth.

Allah has bestowed on him powers and capabilities and has thus made him superior to all His creation.So , man, indeed is in need of the message of religion, and the guidance of Allah, Who paved for mankind the path to light and peace, and prepared for him the means of living in happiness, prosperity and brotherhood.

Man, this tormented and unhappy creature, who suffers at the hands of modern forms of ignorance, injustice and oppression, and who endures the pains of hunger and of deprivation in its hell, and who wallows in the shadow of its darkness, in the filth of vice and squalor lives in doubt and in loss.

Man has descended to the pits ofmeanness which has deprived him of his freedom and will, taken away from him his security and dignity, and robbed him of the very means of living and the comforts of life. All this because he has revolted againstAllah's will, and refused to respond to the message of Heaven.Instead he has thrown himself into the labyrinth of straying, wrong-doing and unhappiness.As a consequence of rejecting the leadership of faith, he has lost the right path and extinguished the torch of light by pursuing dark and unknown ways of life. Allah has truthfully said:

“And Allah sets forth a parable: a town safe and secure to which its means of subsistence come in abundance from every quarter; but it became ungrateful for Allah's favors, therefore, Allah made it to taste the utmost degree of hunger and fear because of what they wrought. Holy Qur'an (16:112)

But , does contemporary man comprehend this parable? Is he going to tear off the shrouds of hunger,disbelief and fear? Is he returning to the path of the Most High, Allah, so that his heart may be filled with the light of true guidance, (Allah's guidance) and be infused with piety, to flood the earth with peace, happiness and love, so that the word of Allah may come true in respect to man.

“...eat of the sustenance of your lord and give thanks to Hun; a good land and a Forgiving Lord”. Holy Qur'an (34:15)

Al-Balagh Foundation beseeches Allah, the Exalted to extend His assistance toman so that he can live under the shade of His mercy, and sincerely worship Him alone. We implore Him with the prayer of Christ (a.s .)1 , recorded in the Qur'an:“If You punish them, surely they are Your slaves; and if You forgive them (surely they are Your slaves) You are the Mighty, the Wise. HolyOur'an (5:118)

Al-Balagh Foundation

MAN'S NEED FOR RELIGION

1. The Natural Proof

2. The Scientific Proof

3. The Historical Proof

4. The Objective Proof

Ever since the historyof mankind began, man has been practicing different forms of worship and piety.

There was no nation on the earth unattached to a religion and performing its rites in one way or another. This is because piety is an instinct, a natural feeling deeply rooted in man's being. It can neither be hushed, nor muted in an individual's conscience, norcan the human conscience be prevented from sensing it, or going towards it.

Yet, the instincts of piety and worship have not always been guided y soundness and purity; rather they, in most instances, have been deviated expressions and abnormal practices of worship; religion, in its pure state, is that which is represented by monotheism, the path announced by the prophets and heralded by the apostles, for maintaining the correct mode of worship and to lead the caravan of mankind towards the shores of goodness and peace.

So , the observer of the history of religious myth, and of devious worship in man's life, finds a variety of religious expressions. He finds heliolatry,asrolatry , idolatry, zoolatry,pyrolatry , worship of monarchs, etc.

Analyzing the rise of these deviated religions, and studying theelements which conspired in developing them, one finds them all connected to a superstitious interpretation of the universe and the afterlife. This in turn discloses the lowness of those peoples' knowledge and their ability to fabricate fancy fables that stemmed from their own ignorance and superstition. These rites also illustrate the social customs and the imaginative traditions of those peoples, and their stifled mental and moral capabilities.

History is full of such religions,rituals and superstitious rites. Taken as a whole they reveal man's ignorance and the lowness of his conscience and feelings in such a way as to cause both astonishment and disgust. Some used to slay their sons in sacrifice to their imagined gods, presenting them as offerings atthealter of a false sacredness. They supplicated and requested the idols' grace and the blessings of those stony, silent structures.

History tells us of many ignorant nations, peoples and civilizations such as the Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Chaldeans, the Pharaohs,the Greeks. the Assyrians, the Persians, the Romans, and the Arabs (ofJahiliyah ), History also stresses that all those exterminated nations had some sort of worship, religion, and rites which they used to practice, but they were unnatural, superstitious and deviated forms.

The Glorious Qur'an notes abundantly the dark and tragic side of the lives of the perished primitive ignorant groups. It draws our attention to the missions of the messengers and prophets, the inviters to true worship and the saviors and reformers of humanity as a whole.

Considering these facts and other historical evidences, we realize that the existence of religion and worship in the course of man's history is clear proof that religion is not a passing social phenomenon, nor is it an imaginary compensation for his sufferings from the hardships of his painful life. Neither is it an expression of his failure in understanding the universe and life and in logically and scientifically explaining them; nor is it an opiate for the downtrodden and subjecting them to the injustice of oppressors and exploiters as Marx, the founder of collapsed Communism, asserted by saying that “Religion is the opium of the people.

All these assumptions and biased interpretations, which are being presented by the propagators of materialism andinfidalism , with the purpose of falsifying the objectives of religion and destroying the mental and spiritual fundamentals on which it is based, are but futile and refutableallegations which are disproved by objective historical evidence.

Herein, we reiterate someof the numerous and most important realities that the mind has but to accept :

First: The Natural Proof

Bythis we mean man's instinctive inclination towards religion. This is an inborn proclivity (tendency) found in man since his existence on earth. It explains the genuine driving force and the inner compulsion present in man's constitution, pushing him towards worshipping a being greater thanhimself .

He feels the mighty superintendence dominant over the whole of existence. He feels the need tobe patronized , to appeal to something grand and holy, to whom man may expose his desire for worship. This exercise grows and changesman's internal being in an attempt to understand the existence of a truth that is the greatest truth.

This practice is accompanied by an anxious quest for this truth, which fills man's soul and attracts him to it, as he feels its richness and the possibility of its filling up all the dimensions of the vacancy, contrasted with his own feelings of deficiency, He feels its superiority over the whole world, whose boundaries he is inclined to cross and beyond which he wants to eternalize his being.

This world is unable to respond to the absolute expansion in his soul, norcant be a substitute for that truth whichis sought by him. Thus, he always tends to proceed ahead to thetruth which is much more eminent than this tangible world, comprehending that this truth has all the ability to satisfy his innate longing which presses upon both his conscience and sub-conscience.

This innate feeling is a true objective one, because it is a natural instinctive tendency. Its existence in manis supported by three objective facts. They are:

a. Thinking of the abstract absolute of time and place, as well as of the attributes of the tangible world.

b. The inclination to sanctify the Perfect Absolute, seeking to come under His greatness and to feel small in His presence.

c. Feeling imperfect while imagining the idea of perfection, searching for it and wanting to march in its direction.

All these feelings are accepted scientific facts proved by psychological studies, in the same way as the intuitive truths and the verbal utterances coined by man to refer to these essential, innate feelings are.

If we comprehend that being religious is a native force deeply rooted in man's self, we will also comprehend that man's devotional tendency is a fact, not legend or superstition. This is because man's natural genesis knows nothing of superstition,nor of legends.

It is in this respect, as it is in respect of his other instincts and tendencies born in him, such as the instincts driving him to knowledge,sex and food.

The mythical and legendary aspect of human life, expressed through different forms and peculiar rituals, appears only when man suffers from a state of loss and of deviation from the true Allah. In this condition man'simagination plays havoc and he draws a picture of religion and of god as was typical during the era ofJahiliyah (pre-Islamic Ignorance).

The Qur'an, confirming this fact, says: “They areHanifs (tend) to Allah, not polytheists , which Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s .) explained, saying that.“ This tendency' is part of the nature of which man has been created. Allah's creation never changes. He has made themto instinctively know Him.

Imam Ali (a.s .), in a speech explaining piety and the inborn inclination to worship Allah, explicitly says:

“Allah sent prophets - after Adam - with revelations to guide mankind, when many people broke their given promises to Allah and went against their word, forgot their duties and divine rights and began accepting others as their goods and worshipping them.

Satan had instigated them to give up the ways of Allah and forsake His worship. Allah sent His apostles successively one after another, so that they may remind the human beings of the duties which nature has cast upon them as part of the plan of their existence and in redemption of the pledges made by their souls in the spiritual world on the day of creation.

These prophets were to draw the attention of humanity towards the blessings and bounties bestowed by Him, to convey His message to them, to teach them to intelligently and wisely use the treasures hidden in theirintellect . He furtheradds: “The best thing that the beseechers plead with Allah the Exalted as faith in Him and His Messenger and fighting (the Polytheists) for His sake, as this is the highest degree of Islam, and the word of unity which is in the innate nature.

Second: The Scientific Proof

Bythis we mean the testimony of the sciences and knowledge, presented through their programs, ways of thinking, conclusions, and the results of their researches, which have discovered the composition of matter and the nature of life, and which interpreted the genesis of the universe and existence. All of these are reason enough to believe in a Creator, Innovator, Organizer, and Manager of this universe, and to reject the idea of things happening at random,haphazardly and by mechanical evolution. These concepts of things happening at random are the results of thepreachings of the apostates and materialists, in the adolescent period of science, as a theory explaining existence and life.

This is not, however, the topic of our case for inference and argument. We leave that to our coming studies concerning belief and faith.

Third: The Historical Proof

This can be discerned in the long history of religion and messages; in the numerous prophets and messengers, ever since the dawn of humanitytill this day.Mankind , even during the darkest periods of ignorance and blindness, and with every era and generation, has beheld some guiding prophet, a preaching messenger, and a changing message, as an expression of Allah's grace, and Hisbeneficency to His servants.

This successive coming of the prophets, spread over a long time, generation after generation, alongside man's progress, and parallel to his historical existence, is an explicit proof of the truthfulness of the prophets' mission and the soundness of theirpreachings . Otherwise, there would not have been such an enormous number of prophets during different historical stages, all of them proclaiming a similar truth and forwarding the same principles. It is incredible that so great a number of men, in diverse ages, nations and places, should falsely claim to be prophets, and yet they should all be identical in their message. Were thepreachings of those prophets false and groundless, contradictions and differences would have beenquite obvious in them. Every message would have borne its special specifications, contradicting those of the other, and the objectives of those prophets and their concepts of Allah, religion and the hereafter wouldhave also been contradictory. Actually, it is thecontrary which we see. We discern a unity of call in the messages of all those prophets; the call to believe in the Oneness of Allah, to have faith, to believe in the other world, to be interested in reforming mankind and in correcting its conduct and the order of its life. This confirms the unity of the source, Allah, and the unity of the call and goal.

Fourth: The Objective Proof

This proofcan be inducted by scrutinizing the message of religion and monotheism, and the final code of divine laws (the Islamic laws). By induction and studying the Islamic laws individually, in detail and aims, one can recognize the truth of the divine message, and discover its humanistic and reformative side, its keen interests in the welfare of man and in delivering him, regardless ofcolour , social position,time and place.

Then, one would realize the falsity of the accusations attributed to religion,as a consequence of explaining itvis.a.vis the ignorance of the materialist interpretation, some aspects of which we related earlier. We know religion to be a message of deliverance, a call to salvation and luminous sign on the dark road. Its purpose is to savemankind, to break the bonds of slavery and open the channels of light and a happy life before a straying humanity.

“Those who follow the Apostle-Prophet theUmmi , (one who neither reads not writes), whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel (who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure things, and removes from them their burden and the shackles which were upon them; so (as for) those who believe in him wad honor him and help him, and follow the light which has been sent down with him, these it is that are the successful”. Holy Qur'an (1:157)

“But the chiefs of those who disbelieved from among his people said:

We do not consider you but a mortal like ourselves, and we do not see any have followed you but Ike most abject among us, at first thought; wad we do not see in you any excellence over us; nay, we deem you liars. Hesaid: O my people! tell me if I have with me clear proof from my Lord, and He has granted me mercy from Himself and it has been made obscure to you; shall we compel you to (accept) it while you are averse from it?And ; O my people!I ask you not for wealth in return for it; my reward is only with Allah and I am not going to drive away those who believe; surely they shall meet their Lord, but!consider you a people who are ignorant: And, O my people! Who will helpme against Allah if I drive them away? Will you not then mind?And l do not say to you that I have the treasures of Allah; and I do not know the unseen, nor do I say I am an angel; nor do I say about those whom your eyes scorn (that) Allah will never grant them (any) good - Allah knows best what is in their souls - forthen mod surely I should be of the unjust. “ Holy Our'an (11:27-al)

“And do not drive away those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, they desire only Hisfavour ; neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours, so that you should drive them away and thus be of the unjust. “ Holy Qur'an (8:52)

Thus, the Glorious Qur'an presents verses speaking of the aims of religion, of its role in man's life, of its attitude towards the poor and the deprived who are the followers of the prophets, and the first to respond to the call of Faith, the call of rescue,liberation and delivery. It also clarifies the attitude of the proud,arrogant and influential against the weak, and the calls of the prophets and their objectives.

It likewise registers the prophets' reactions towards the proud whose thoughtsare filled with conceit and haughtiness.In this way the Qur'an proves to us that religion supports the weak and the deprived, and is the power that strikes justly and sincerely at the greed and :he pride of the criminal despots, so that we may realize that religion is not a means of persecuting the poor, nor is it the peoples' opium, a passing phenomenon in man's life, or a social activity, like other costumes and traditions which appear for a short span or specific period, then disappear altogether without a trace. Nor is it an illusion used by man to convincehimself or another world that compensates for his failure in this present one.

Religion is a law inseparable from man's nature just as the laws of physics and life are inseparable from matter and living beings. This is because the Creator of the world has given man the longing for his Creator and directed man towards Him. “Then set your face upright for religion in the right state - the natural disposition…” Holy Qur'an (30:30)

Yet, this natural or inborn disposition, as such, is subject - through ignorance and obstinacy - to deviation, impurity, and diversion from the path of true religion, as is the case with many of man's instincts and inclinations which deviate from their natural orbit, causing man, to follow diverse types of harmful and perverted customs.Hence the coming of apostles and religions to set right such deviations, restore man's natural inclination to Allah, the Exalted, and satisfy the natural instinct in man for truthful worship upon which rests mankind's happiness. This natural inclination is, actually, the starting point for receiving the principles of religion and adhering to them.

Onceagain we repeat here that this natural disposition in man cannot be looked upon as a legendary or mythical idea, since legends and myths are the offspring of an invalid imagination and illusion that subvert man's thinking. Man's native inclinations are a true case, met in the world of reality by an actual existence to which they turn, and which is the source of its satisfaction. Thus, the existence of Allah and worshipping Him becomes an outstanding fact, a counterpart of which, inside man, is the deep tendency to worship and the natural direction towards this Great Originator.

Superstition and myth originate when man is ignorant of his actual destination, and his mind is void of any clear vision. The GloriousOur'an calls such deviation of beliefs as.

“...they are gone away from us,nay, we used not to call uponwtytizing before…” Holy Qur'an (40:74)

“Have you then considered him who takes his low desire for hisAllah, and Allah has made him err having knowledge...“ Holy Qur'an (45:23)

“And when Abraham said: My Load!make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshiping idols: My Lord! Surely they have led many of mankind astray; then whoever follows me, he is surely of me; and whoever disobeys me, You surely are Forgiving, Merciful“ Holy Our'an (14:35-36)

Thus, the Glorious Qur'an considers the abnormal and superstitious expression of man's ignorant inclination as erroneous and straying, since it is imaginary, and unreal, and a wandering expression that would not realize man's objective. Hence the saying of theOur'an : “...nay, we used not to call upon anything before... “

Mind's NeedFor Religion

It is not possible to separate man's way of thinking from his way of living and his dealing in life. Man is a wise and understanding being who thinks for himself, wants to comprehend hissurroundings and tries to know the beginning and the end of everything, in order to be able to understand the mysteries of the world and the beings around him. He tries todiscover: How did this world begin?

Where is itgoing to?

Why is he here in this life?

What is the goal of his existence?

Where willhe end to?

What does life itself mean?

How should he conduct his life?

Man has always been looking for convincing answers to these questions. The answer to them either leads him to happiness and welfare, or wretchedness and misfortune.

The answers, though short in their form and brief in their expression, are yet great in their meanings, important in their reality and deep in their effects.

It is theseanswers which define how man should live, behave, understand life and estimate the importance of his own existence. By providing correctanswers one may resolve an important crisis of thought- the crisis from which man has long been suffering, unable to find correct answers he has been tormented by anxiety and uncertainty and forced to wander through as abyss of erring.

Therefore, the right answers form the basic principles of the philosophy of life, and soundly evaluate life and man's existence. The correct answers to these questionshave always been confined to two contradictory theories, both in their truth and in the resulting constructions that are based upon them.

The two answers are: The first given through religion, lighting the path of righteousness and faith with rational proof; the second given by error and denial, aiming atenvoking mist to obliterate clear visibility, to envelope man's conscience and prevent is from directing itself towards Allah, theBeginning and the End of existence.

Religion's answer offers, through its call and message, and interpretation of the universe and life, and an explanation of man's existence, and of his links with them; while the other answer bases its explanation in retort to the idea of faith, denying its reasoning and explanation. Religion bases its interpretation and viewpoint on believing that this universe, life and man have a Creator, a Lord, a God head; and that man's existence on this earth is neither a meaningless and aimless one, nor is it random happening. Life and man have their goals and values exceeding the time span of man's existence on the earth's surface.

He has a supreme objective to pursue, embodying it through his attitudes, hisdeeds and his general activities in a world that goes beyond perception and the time spent in this would. It is the other eternal world and the eternal extension of the absolute:

“Whoever disbelieves, he shall be responsible for his disbelief, and whoever does good, they prepare (good) for their own souls.” HolyOur'an (30:44)

“And all have ranks according to what they do...“ Holy Qur'an (6:132)

In this way, religion presents toman a correct explanation of his existence, and gives him a lasting vision that plucks out the roots of his doubt, mental anxiety and fear of perishing, losing, and uselessness in this life.

Thus, by this explanation, religion opens toman the door to the expanses of life.He, then organizes his life according to a perfect and unified ideological basis, taking him to results and objectives in life free of disorder, contradiction and objectives in life free of disorder, contradiction and disappointment. It offers him, besides other things, a sound ideological program, perfect in its order and movement, leading him to understand life and to adhere to a defined and explicit conduct.

The believer believes in the existence of a Just, All-Knowing, All-Powerful and Wise Creator. He further believes in the Day ofJudgement and in the responsibility rested upon him for all of his deeds, and he expects rewards on the Day ofjudgement for his good deeds in this world. Therefore, he behaves according to this belief, and on thisbasis he forms every detail of his life, such as his ideas, attitudes, feelings and relations, formulating them within this unified ideological frame.

What a wonderful expressionis used by the Qur'an in reference to this fact, describing the faithful elite who recognize the value of life and know the meaning of existence . The Qur'ansays: “…and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou have not created thisan vain! Glorybe to You; save us then from the chastisement of the fire.“ Holy Our'an (3:191)

As to the answer of the second group, it is the viewpoint expressed by the disbelievers.They view this world and this life only from inside, disregarding all ties and connections with the invisible world and the Creator, having built their opinion on a faithless interpretation denying the existence of the Creator, the Innovator; they have sentenced mankind to lasting annihilation and transformation into dust, mixing with the elements of the earth, (lost in every nook and cranny) without return or resurrection.

In thisway the living feelings of man are pushed down to lowest pitch of death, despair and eternal destruction.It is a disaster that befalls the optimistic and hopeful feelings, and man becomes a prey of despair, goes astray, and submits to decay and decline. Life becomes an arena for conflict and a chance to partake of transient sensual pleasures and appetites, accompanied by a complete death of any feeling of happiness or knowledge of the meaning of life.

Life, to them, is but a period of futile misery, with no hope or expectation and since there would be no other world, no divine justice, no punishment, no reward, no responsibility, no retribution, and no immortality, manis reduced to the level of the plants of the earth and the worms of the ground. Thus, this interpretation has done away with all human values.

There is no doubt that man has never been subjected during his lifetime to a more dangerous catastrophe than the deluge of this devastating one which sentences him to live and die within this terrestrial prison, returning to the terrible soil of destruction. So, what would, then, life mean? What would be its value? Why does not man do whatever he wants, even if such practices meant misery for others and ended their lives with the most horrible types of torture? They say that man's life does not go beyond this limited secularperiod which is lost in the timelessness of the universe, which swallowed millions of generations and consumed the entire ancient humanity. How wonderfully the Qur'an illustrates this tragedy of theintellect which the rejecting and ignorant mind imagined, while trying to fabricate its argument and speak its ideology:

“Far, far is that which you are promised with. There LS naught but our life in this world; we die and we shall notbe ,raised again”. Holy Qur'an (23:38-37)

And how exact is the Qur'an in drawing the tragic picture to which this miserable, straying man reached: “...( as for) those who have lost their souls, they will not believe. “ Holy Qur'an (8:12)

“Say: ShallWe inform you of the greatest losers in (their) deeds? (They are) they whose labor is lost in this world's life and they think that they arewell-versed in skill of the work of hands. These are they who disbelieve in the revelations of their Lord and the Day of Resurrection We assign no weight to then,. “ Holy Our'an (18:103-105)

So, as the Qur'an describes them, it is these folk of disbelievers who have lost themselves, and lost their lives, turning life into a hell of misery, instead of making it a blessing and full of happiness, just because they deceive themselves with their distorted understanding of life and existence, and think that it does them good, while actually it takes them away from the path of Allah and His message. They think that they have discovered the right path and have put their feet on the right track.But it is this self-deceit to which the Qur'an refers by saying:

“The life of this world is made to seem fair to those who disbelieve, and they mock those who believe...“ Holy Our'an (2: 212)

So, what other disaster to which man is subjected can be more devastating than losing oneself, leading to the loss of humanity, the loss which befalls man because of this mental wandering, ideological abnormality, and systematic deviation.

Therefore, no sane man doubts the necessity of abolishing this ideology and changing this materialistic way of comprehending life, and resorting to a realistic way of thinking, that is coordination with the cosmic reality of nature,thought and society. This way of thinking is not tobe found except in mental reasoning, through mind's innate originality and exact theoretical activity. Mind is the actual thinker, the conscious power that moves according to the general universal existence, and coordinates with it, since it is a part of it - the highest example of its movement and order. This is why the Qur'an addresses the mind and argues with it as it is the only force in harmony with the logic of the Qur'an, and is able to comprehend its course and hear its call. It says:

“...thus doWe make the signs distinct for a people who understand”. HolyOur'an (30:28)

“...Most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect”. Holy Qur'an (39:42)

When the mind is given freedom of thinking and contemplation, away from influences, deviations, and factors of misinterpretation, it will be able to discover the mentalclimate which assists its growth and to properly understand life. That climate is the way of the Qur'an and religion. Only under itslight the mind can explain life and estimate it as required. In thisway man would discover his inefficiency and his need to follow the path of religion and to be guided by it.

TheSpitrtual MissionOf Religion

Man's relations to the realm of matter and nature, placing his interests exclusively on them, confining his consciousness and feelings to their narrow field, andmoulding everydaybehaviour and tendencies according to them, gradually change his life into a mechanical one, killing in him the perception of the Grand Truth, and taking from him the secret of happiness and the source of human perfection in this life.

Sensuality and believing only in the materialworld, cannot lift man above the bestial and material level of the senses.Neither they grant man a loftier image, nor help him to understand a truth higher than that towards all his aspirations and hopes are inclined.

He is not like the believer who believes in a supreme objective and aims to be higher than the level of the materialistic and instinctive desires. A believer, therefore, follows a spiritual conduct which sublimates through into his supreme humanity, passing through successive stages of perfection, continuing higher and higher, planting in him the love of good and perfection, because the continual growth towards Allah the Perfect, stamps in the believer's heart the love of perfection and theadhersion to the attributes of the Absolute Perfect.

He thus placesworld and whatever there is in it, on a lower level, as a secondary thing, leading a life, in which his foremost anxiety is to adhere to loftier ideals, only to meet his basic needs and not to tie his existence to it. He regards the life in this world as a transient stage, a stop for one to muster and mobilize one's strength to move on to a higher and more supreme world, the afterworld.

Such a believer lives in the highest degree of spiritual happiness, and the most supreme stage of faith, feeling assured of the results of his existence. He sees nothing in the unknown to be afraidof . He has no feeling of non-being or fear ofpershing that may discomfort him in his life. He lives with a perpetual hope of progressively proceeding towards a world full of joy, under the shelter of happiness and spiritual quietness.

“And (as for) those who believe and do good work, and believe in what has been revealed to Muhammad, and it is the very truth from their Lord, He will remove their evil deeds from them and improve their condition”. Holy Qur'an (47:2)

So , the spiritual man leads, through his faith, a happy life (and feels) being true to himself. He satisfies the need of thesoul which is proceeding naturally towards eternity, and removes from it the apprehensions ofperishability - a feeling which chases the infidel and thesceptic , knowingly or unknowingly, turning his life into an unbearable hell, a misery that sees no happiness at all:

“Surely those who act in opposition to Allah wad His Apostle shall be laid dawn prostrate as those before them...“ Holy Our'an (58:5)

To have faith in Allah, and observe the valuable principles of religion, satisfy in man yet another spiritual need - the tendency in the human soul to sanctify and glorify.

Man, through his innate feelings and psychological construction, senses the existence of a Greater-Being, a complete perfection, before which he feels humble and tiny; so he starts to glorify it, yet he cannot understand it clearly.Hut as he inevitably has to express these innate feelings, he may either proceed in the right direction - that is, in the direction of worshipping the Creator, through the guidance of the prophets and the sound teachings of religion, or in the wrong direction through worshipping man-made creatures and idols, or adoring the detested ego' which is the source of danger, inequity, aggression and greed, causing man to turn into a slave, worshipping and glorifying, not Allah, but tyrants, aspirations, desires, wealth, authority, pride, etc. Thus, humanity's tragedy is actualized in the ugliest forms of deviation,tyranny and abnormal practices. Allah has truthfully said: “YouOnly worship idols besides Allah and you create a lie...“ Holy Ouran (29:17)

Anything worshipped other than Allah, is but a fictitious and illusive image.And any inclination not to Him is a twisting of the instinct of worship and sanctification.

Religion guides man to worship Allah, the Exalted Truth, over everything else in this world, such as desire, pleasure, riches,dignity and power. Man is, thus, directed to worship tie One to Whom are attributed all the qualities of perfection, such as justice, mercy, truthfulness, kindness, gentleness, knowledge, wisdom, power, etc.. The whole life, by this continual journeying towards Allah, coincides with the values of truthfulness,righteousness and perfection which are the attributes of Allah the Glorious, worshipped by man. .

There is still another spiritual fact which religion cultivates in man's conscience, implanting it deep inside him. It is the sense of responsibility and willingly undertaking it, affected by his conscious connection with Allah, the Exalted. The person who believes in Allah feels heis being watched by Him and fears Him.So , he acts knowing that Allah is with him, watches him, and nothing is concealed from Him, whether in the heavens or in the earth:

“And those who disbelieve say: The hour shall not come upon us.Say: Yea! My Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you; not the wig/it of an atom becomes absent from Him, in the heavens or at the earth, and neither less than that nor greater, but (all) is at a clear book“ Holy Qur'an (34:3)

“He knows the stealthy looks and that which the breasts conceal.” Holy Qur'an (40:19)

This awareness and the true faithis sufficient to urge man to perform his duty and to undertake his human responsibility in every phase of life, legal; devotional or ethical. The Qur'an rears up this spirit of responsibility in its followers and believers, and stresses its cultivation and development through many texts and concepts:

“...these are the limits of Allah, (imposed by Allah) so do not exceed them, and whoever exceeds the limits of Allah these it is that are thewdust “ Holy Qur'an (2:229)

So, a believer is keen on respecting the limits imposed by Allah and observing His instructions, and adheres to the law which organizes his life and directs his activities, contrary to the unbeliever who, having no faith in Allah and no fear of His observation, seizes every opportunity to transgress the limits of law and order, to cast away all responsibilities, and tread upon them whenever he finds a chance for disobedience and rebellion. This is because neither he accepts the sanctity of thelaw which organizes his life, nor does he believe in Divine punishment as long asbe thinks he can slip away from the grasp of the authority andits just punishment.

This phenomenon - that of defying the will of truth and justice - constitutes one of the most grave problems from which the contemporary ignorant society is suffering, owing to the fact that the concepts of belief have disappeared from its horizon, and dutifulness has faded away from its conscience, and that its moral criteria is confused, it is natural that this collapsed inner constitution of the lost and materialistic man should affect his civil position and social relations; and it is natural, too, that the human rights and man's dignity should be lost under this state of ignorance.

Before ending this study, it is necessary to summarize the positive results thatcan be brought about by a Muslim individual or society believing in Allah. Thesemay be arranged as below:

1. Faith in Allah, His justice and Wisdom makes man realize his own value and the meaning of life. It helps man to understand that there is no injustice, uselessness and ruin in this life.

2. Faith in Allah frees man from the anxieties of being lost andperished , due to man's believing in the eternal existence in the other world.

3. Faith in Allah makes man's soul conscious, fells he respects life, and cares for society's laws and just values.

4. Faith in Allah frees man from the inclination of being submissive and yielding to other forms than Allah; and thus, grants him freedom and self-consciousness.

5. Faith in Allah raises in the believer the idea of Divine perfection and directs him towards it.