Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Necessity of Religion

Religion is a very sensitive issue. We have to be very careful when we are discussing religion. Even though religion is based upon intellect, in its practice people do not use their intellect, but instead they put forth their own desires over what the religion truly says. To make one’s desires become obedient to one’s intellect is an extremely difficult task. You will see examples of this while reading my book. You will see how many difficulties I have had to face, but I want the people to understand it is necessary to not only search for the truth but to also accept it. Kufr (Disbelief) is not such a thing which can be seen with one’s eyes. If you consider a person a kafir (disbeliever), then he also considers you a kafir (disbeliever). Real kufr (disbelief) is ignorance and rejecting of truth when it is presented to you. This is such a state in which the human thinks that only whatever knowledge he possesses is true haqq (truth). There is nothing beyond his knowledge. Whatever is beyond his knowledge, he considers as outside of his religion. The other state in which a human gets trapped in is where he gives his intellect to others. He simply follows the scholars blindly without using

any thought of his own. Whatever they say is a part of religion, he simply accepts without any research or thought into the truth of what they are saying.

This is ignorance and absolute kufr (disbelief). This is the root from which the tree of kufr (disbelief) grows. When this tree grows, it can reach to such a level that a person is prepared to become an enemy of Moula (as). According to a German researcher, 99% of people adopt religion because of social pressure. They spend their whole lives defending their new religion without any thought as to whether it is true or not. The percentage given in the research is the researcher’s own findings, but according to me, if you find one person in a million who is researching in his religion, then it is equivalent if not greater than those who are doing absolutely nothing. Apart from the percentages given, the researcher is absolutely correct. If you see in Pakistan, every year hundreds of Muslims become Christian. Is it because they know the religion of Nabi Isa (as) very well and are impressed with the teachings of Nabi Isa (as)? No, it is not because of this reason. In reality, they change their religion because of social pressure. After they change their religion, their financial situation and other aspects of their lives become greatly improved. They spend their whole life defending this religion without truly knowing its real meanings or history. I have discussed religious matters with so many different peoples. When they became unable to reply to my questions, then they will admit that my religion (Shia Islam) is the true religion. When I ask them, why then do you not become Shia? They always reply if we do so our whole family will turn against us. They will throw us out into the streets and boycott us.

This is what is considered as social pressure. In reality, every human being is suffering from a state of confusion. It does not matter what religion they belong to. They always change their religion because of social pressure. If the person is always in this state of confusion, why should he then follow a religion? Why should he put restriction upon himself? Do this,

do not do this, eat this, and don’t eat this. Why? Why should I not live a free life? What does religion give to the people? We do not know if there is truly a judgment day or if it is only an illusion. Why should I make my life a hell because of some imaginary fear? Why should I not follow the saying of Emperor Babar “Why should Babar not enjoy his life? Who knows if we will get this life again or not? Who knows if you will come again in this world or not?” This is why you must understand the psychological state of a person before you try to teach religion to him. If he is not satisfied with the answers to his basic questions, then he will never accept religion from his heart. Before answering these basic questions, we must understand the difference between the life of a human and an animal. Life and the necessities of life are common in both animals and humans.

Animals and humans both have five senses. Both go in search of rizq (sustenance). Both animals and human reproduce by having children. Both do whatever is necessary for survival. When so many things are similar, then what is the difference between the two of them? The difference is animals live their lives by instinct. The animal has no idea about how to reason. If a scorpion is sitting on a rock, he will instinctively sting the rock. Even though his poison will have no effect on the rock, he will still do this because of his instinctive nature. A human’s life is not ruled by instinct. It is ruled by intellect and reason. Before performing any action, every human will search for the reason or purpose of the act. Then they will use their intellect to decide whether or not to perform the action. Even the people who commit the most horrible crimes, they also have a reason for doing these things. Just think about this for a moment and decide for yourself if life is this way or not? If you agree with my ideology, now we will look at the social aspect of human life. Aristotle says humans are social animals. Even if Aristotle did not say this, it would not have affected the social aspect of human life. This is a truth whether or not anyone states it.

Humans want to live amongst others because this is his nature. In order to live in such a social climate, every society must have limits and laws in order to maintain and protect itself. As I said before, humans search for a reason before they do any thing, and the implementation of this reasoning is a law. It is very necessary for every society to have laws. Otherwise the whole society will collapse into disarray and disorder. The law demands that whosoever goes against it must be punished. Now I will explain the religion using this ideology as an example to make it easier to understand. “When a person follows the laws and rules of religion, he will be rewarded. When a person disobeys the laws and does not follow them, then he will be punished. It is the same in religion as in society.” Now that it has been proved that every society has a punishment for the breaking of its laws, so no nation or any human can deny religion doing the same. This is the reason why a human must follow some religion. Humans have certain needs instilled in their nature. One of those needs is rules and laws. Without them he cannot function properly. When it has been proved no human society can survive without law, and then comes the question as to who will make those laws? From this question, two ideologies have been established. One group decided they will make the laws themselves. While the other group decided,

a human who is created cannot make the laws. The laws are only in the hands of the Creator.

The people who decided they will make the laws themselves, they based their laws upon their own ideologies instead of upon a religious or a higher being’s laws. The people who believed only the Creator can make the laws; they adopted the word deen (religion). This is the way the word “deen (religion)” became associated with the Creator’s laws.

Beginning of Religion

Just as a human is one day born and then one day will die. The ideology of religion is similar. It begins with the Creator and ends with the Creator. The human must know he has a Creator. He must believe there is an afterlife. Whatever he has done during his life, he must answer for it to his Creator. When a human forgets his death, this is when he rebels against the laws of the Creator. Now I will give an example for death which no one can deny. Maybe you will even be amazed, but this is an ultimate truth. In this world, no one believes he will die one day. People are afraid of death, but they do not truly believe in death. If they did believe they would die one day, then its effect could be seen on their faces and in their actions. You must remember a few years ago the metrology department announced a hurricane was advancing towards Karachi very rapidly. They told it would destroy the whole city of Karachi.

When the people heard this, the whole city was stunned. Fear spread throughout the city, and every person was extremely worried. This was only news which could have been true or not. This is what happened to the people, but the storm did not come. The death is not news. It is a test for the humans. We see thousands of people dying. We bury hundreds of people ourselves. Have you ever seen one person whose face and actions could tell that he really believes in death? Ameerul Momineen (as) described this reality in these words“The people think the death is not for them. They think that it is only for others. The people who we see dying are travelers who soon will come back to us. The moment we bury them we start eating whatever he left behind as if we will always live in this world . (Najul Balagha saying 133 )”  InUsool e Kafi book Iman o Kufr page no. 158 hadith no. 9 Imam Riza (as) said,“I am amazed at the person who knows of death and is still happy.”

Who will make the laws?

As I have said before and will say again, no human or human society on this earth, even the most uncivilized of nations, can deny that there is always a punishment for crime.

So we have got to know that this principle is in human nature. Now we have to ponder upon how many criminals cannot be caught. So if the criminals cannot be caught, then does this suspend the principle of the need for laws in a human society? Is the punishment only for those who get caught? This is against the human nature as well as human intellect. Every person will agree that neither the nature of a human nor that of nature can be suspended. Every criminal has to be punished. When this has been decided, then we have to admit that if someone does not get punishment in this

world, he will get punished in the next world. So now we come to the point as to who has the right to make the laws? Does the Creator have this right or does the human himself have this right? If we give this right to the humans, then so many problems will arise. The purpose of making laws will die itself. Whatever law the human will make, it will be weak in nature. Firstly humans do not have full knowledge of the true necessities of humans.

If he does not have knowledge, then he cannot make the laws. This is why in today’s societies throughout the whole world we see that one day a law will be bringing peace to the people of that nation then the next it will bring about its destruction. Only the one who knows every big and small thing of this world and has full knowledge of the nature of every thing in it has the right to make the laws.

Who created humans? Every creator knows what his creation needs and what is best for them. Secondly, when the whole of humanity is participating in the very acts which bring about the necessity of laws, then how is it possible to give the right to make the laws to humans when he himself is filled with greed, lustful desires etc and would then need to be punished by the very laws he has created? It is the same as allowing a scavenger to be the caretaker of meat.

Two Religions

Wherever you find the ideology of religion present, you will always find two different types of religion. One is religion of fear. The second is free religion. The third one which people do not pay attention to is the religion of love. It is necessary to look into the religion of fear. This is the religion in which humans are always afraid. If he does this, this punishment will happen. If he does that, then he will be doomed for eternity to a horrible punishment. So he lives his life in constant fear. From this religion of fear, two horrible results have come about.

The first result is that some people thought that if they missed one prayer time or if they missed one day of fasting that they will go to jahannum (hell). Due to this fear, they do many different things which have nothing to do with the real religion. One act they do out of fear is they wear their pants high above their ankles. They also increase the size of their beards. They forget everything except the prayers in which people will see them doing. Out of this religion of fear grew up a violent and extremist type mentality in regards to how to perform religious acts of worship.

They forget everything including Allah, RasoolAllah (saw), and Ahlul Bayt (as). Even they have forgotten the greatest of ibadats (act of worship), the azadari (remembrance) of Imam Hussain (as). They believe the greatest act of worship is the killing and harming of those who criticize their religious leaders. You can see with your own eyes the violence which this type of religious extremism has brought to our society. The second group was then established. The second group, in order to rid themselves of this religion of fear, stopped following any type of religion entirely. Moula Ali (as) in only five words handed down a decision in regards to these two groups which is“Love is greater than fear .”(Najul Israr page 60)

Usool e Deen (Principles of Religion)

Allama Hilli in his bookAhsanul Aqaid page 115 explained the principles of religion in these words:

“The basis of any religion is its principles. Its principles are what it is established upon. If you deny even one of those principles, then the whole religion will collapse. If the recommended acts are denied or given up, then the religion will not collapse.” In the same book on page 14, Allama Hilli says “Usool e Deen (principles of religion) is absolutely wajib (compulsory).”

Recognition of the Principles of Religion

In the same book on page 15, Allama Hilli says “recognition of the principles of religion is compulsory through proofs not through taqleed (blind following of a scholar).” If you use your intellect in order to recognize the principles of religion, then you will find your intellect insists that you have proof that the religion you are following is greater than all other religions. If we do not recognize the religion through our intellect, then we cannot prove our religion Islam is greater than all other religions. Now we will prove this through the hadiths of Masoomeen (as).

Imam Musa al Kazim (as) said, “Momins will be asked in their graves, “Who is your Rabb (Lord)?” They will reply, “Allah”. Then they will be asked, “What is your religion?” They will reply, “Islam”. Then they will be asked, “Who is your prophet?” They will reply,” Muhammad”.

Then they will be asked,” Who is your Imam?” They will reply and call the name of the Imam of their times. Then they will be asked,” How did you recognize your Imam?” They will reply,”This was amr (absolute wajib) which Allah guided me and kept me on this”. (This is the peak of intellect)Then the angels will say, “Keep sleeping such a sleep which is free of worries, and the angels will open a door of paradise in front of him.” They will ask the same questions to others. When they ask others the question how did you recognize you’re Imam, they will reply,” They heard about who He was from other people. Because others said such and such was the Imam, I followed what they said blindly”. At that moment, the angels hit him with whip in such a way that whole of creation altogether cannot bear its pain .(Haqul Yaqeen Urdu Second Edition Page 73)

Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) said,“Allah says ignorance does not blind the eyes. Instead it blinds the hearts which are inside one’s chest. How will he be guided, if he does not understand? How will he understand if he does not ponder upon things ?” (Usool e Kafi Kitab e Hujjat chapter 7 hadith no. 7 )

In reality if the basis of your religion is only from hearing what others have said, this is not a real religion. This is why when the people claim to follow a certain religion, but upon hearing its real truth they reject it.

Allama Hilli writes in his bookAhsanul Aqaid page no. 25 , “If someone remains ignorant of the principles of religion, then he will be excluded from those who are considered as momins. He will stay in hell forever.” Moula Ali (as) says,“The people are the enemy of the things which they do not understand.” (Najul Balagha saying no. 173 ). It has been told from the sayings of Moula Ali (as) that one who is not aware of the principles of religion is an enemy of the religion despite of believing in those very principles.

So we have given you the initial information about religion. Now say bismillah (in the name of Allah) and with the help of Imam Zamana (ajf) step into the valley of marifat (recognition). They will take you to your destination.