Muslims May Have Regressed But Here's What's Really to Blame - Atif Rashid

How extremists are more motivated by greed, power and worldly desires as opposed to true faith and Islamic values
Muslims claim their religion teaches peace, harmony, love and goodness while the actions of some so-called adherents to the faith prove contrary. How can it be that on the one hand, the religion teaches good while some Muslims commit evil? Some suggest the reason being the inherent evil of the religion itself.

So is the religion itself evil or are the adherents today evil? Or both?

Well, we can safely conclude that the majority of the 1.6 billion Muslims are not evil. Nor are they violent. Rather, they are the peaceful adherents of the religion of Islam. They constitute the large majority of the Muslim population the world over. This is a self-evident truth. There's no denying extremist elements exist yet that's no surprise since you'll find good and evil in all spheres of life regardless of faith, race, nationality, political stance, career or any other distinguishing criteria.

A cursory look at the fundamental holy book, the Qur'an would also lend support to the belief that Islam is actually a peaceful religion. After all, it exhorts to peace, justice,charity and unity. Harvard went so far as to declare one verse of the Muslim holy book as one of the best expressions of justice ever. True, there are violent verses but that's already explained by my counterparts here and here.

Why then are some Muslims today totally disregarding these peaceful teachings and acting like primitive, violent people? Well let's have a look.

For one, Muslims have forsaken the fundamental teachings of the Prophet and have given themselves over to superficiality and worldliness which pervades their religious practices. Their actions betray their self-righteous speech. It's the same with theChurch - religion becomes a business. When people forget the true teachings or distort them, misunderstand the true purport or yet are misguided and tempted by worldly motives they inevitably become superficial and religious by name only. This is a phenomenon which we see all too often in religious history.

Outward observance without regard for the spirit of the teaching leads to bigotry, prejudice and hard-heartedness. Religion is meant to invoke feelings of spirituality, love and open-heartedness. The form is meant to induce the spirit, the spirit being the main goal. However the spirit can't survive without the shell, but when religion becomes a formal, hollow exercise, we see only superficiality, intolerance and judgmental mindsets - leading to violence against opposing beliefs.

It isn't anything new. Man is negligent, vain and driven by selfish desires - which true religion seeks to curb. Over time and generations the core values and principles once instilled by elders fade away being replaced with an ideology consisting only of prejudice, intolerance and superficiality. Reminders are of paramount importance therefore. In a world filled with materialism, egotism, jealousy and manic pursuit of power, the higher values of life are often overlooked with worldliness becoming intermingled with religious values. Groups like ISIS are undoubtedly more motivated by geopolitical motives than actual Islamic values.

You can't blame the car for a drunk driver crashing though. If Islam's teachings are being misused and driven by leaders drunk with power and worldliness, then the drivers (and those who fuel the drunkenness of the drivers) are to blame, not the car.

If you want to understand what's happened to Muslims, just look at Christian history. Jesus (peace be on him) would never have approved of the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition or witch hunts up to the 18th century. Similarly, Muhammad (pbuh) warned his followers not to become disbelievers by shedding blood.

Anyhow, the religion of Islam or its Prophet Muhammad cannot be held accountable for the actions of Latter Day followers the leaders of which he himself labelled as 'the worst creatures under the heavens'. He warned his followers, that in the Latter Days, they would go to their leaders searching for guidance but instead find 'apes and swine' sitting there - he of course was referring to the degraded moral and deplorable spiritual condition of many Latter Day Muslim clerics. It goes without saying, if the leaders themselves are corrupt, their adherents will follow suit.

Muhammad (on whom be peace) foretold of a time when Islam will be beset with superficiality and so-called scholars with their own vested motives will misguide the masses. Just as we can never place blame upon Jesus (on whom be peace) for the actions of his followers who came later, we can't blame Muhammad for the actions of Muslims today. Nor can we hold the Qur'anic teachings or Islam as a religion responsible since Islam itself condemns the hypocritical and selfish, violent actions of some Muslims today. Likewise, Moses (peace be on him) can't be blamed for the Jewish violence today nor can Buddha (on whom be peace) be held accountable for the genocide of Rohingya Muslims.

Further, what we may see as violent behavior by Muslims today is only a matter of perspective. Undue emphasis is given to terror acts by Muslims whereas if we look at the world today generally, terrorism, inhumanity and infringement of human rights happens by non-Muslims just as much as it does by Muslims, if not more so. - Read More at the Huffingtonpost

Muslims May Have Regressed But Here's What's Really to Blame - Atif Rashid