A SOCIOLOGICAL AND OBJECTIVE LOOK AT RELIGION
In order to make a statement meaningful and valid we need to be able to support it with logical, certifiable concepts that have foundations.
Without this the statement it will just turn into a baseless conglomeration of sentences with lack of objective.
Radical Muslims often claim that scriptures previous to the Quran have been modified by Jews and Christians; now, this is a statement, but where are the bases to support this?
It’s a very generical statement and without the appropriate theoretical support it can be compared to any other statement such as “cows are green” or “Napoleon was Chinese”.
Firstly we need to clear the term “modified”, what do we mean with it? Some parts of the Scriptures have been eliminated? Someone re-wrote the Torah, the Gospel and the Psalms of David? If yes, can we prove this?
Secondly, what do we mean with the the terms “the Jews”, the “Christians”? The religious institutions? The single worshippers? Of which era?
Thirdly, the Quran is tollerant and clearly says that Muslims must accept the previous revelations that preced the Quran:
“Those who believe (in the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians-any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteosness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve”(2:62)
“Say ye:’We beliebe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Pophets from their Lord: we makeno difference between one and another of them: and we bow to God in submission”(2:136).
“It is He Who sent down the thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the Criterion (of judgement between right and wrong)”(3,3).
“We have sent thee inspiration, as We sen it to Noah and the Messengers after him: We sent inspiration to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms”(4,163).
“Those who believe (in the Quran), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians-any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness-on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” (5,68).
Instead there is not one single verse in the Quran that claims how previous scriptures were modified and it’s obvious, otherwise we would have a contraddiction inside the Quran.
If we read all the Scriptures (Torah, Gospel, Psalms and Quran) we will clarly see how the spiritual message is the same in all of them. What changes is the “form” and this change is due to the evolution and transformations of civilizations and societies. Laws and limits are strictly related to the local circumstances, the historical period, and the social conditions; ignoring these elements will bring to a distorted reading of the Scriptures.
The rules and laws that regulated society at the time of Abraham or Moses in the land of Canaan were different from the ones that ruled in the Arabia of Muhammad’s time.
It would be like comparing laws and uses of Spain in the 800 with the ones of Russia in the 1700.
Claiming that the spiritual message of the previous Scriptures is different from the one of the Quran shows a clear ignorance of knowledge towards Torah, Gospel and Psalms.
Another thing is the “interpretation” of the Scriptures by religious institutions. Prof. Gabriele Mandel wrote that “religion” is the burocratization of faith. If we analyse this sociologically we can see how this statement is true since in Sociology we can divide the institutionalization of religion in three phases:
“Spiritual Message”: a Prophet or a Messenger comes and reveals his divine message to the believers. Many people gather around him and follow him.
“Form”: rituals and laws are established in order to regulate the social, economical and religious life of believers.
“Organization”: when the number of worshippers increases and the message spreads geographycally, the “form” is istitutionalized in order to avoid fragmentations and alterations of the message. Authorities are enstablished in order to manage the religious system. Some of them will concentrate on the interpretation of the scriptures, other will lead cerimonies, others will take care of spreading the message.
What are the dangers of this process? First of all if point number 3, “Organization”, becomes the aim of the process, instead of the mean to spread the message in the correct way then the whole concept of religion, with its objective, is subverted. The life of the religious institution becomes the main objective of itself, no matter if the religious message is distorted.
Secondly we must not forget that institutions are made by humans and corruption is easily brought in. If institutions become powerful they will be a temptation because of its privileges.
Thirdly, interpretations of religious authorities often go out of the true message and are modified in order to carry on social, political and economical interests of the institution or of a particular authority.
Fourthly, the “spiritual” message often gets lost in time and people tend to become obsessive with the form (how to properly pray, maniacal rituals, laws that are followed to the letters but without any inner feeling). The form often becmes more important than the message making religion totally sterile to wisdom and spirituality.
As Prof. Javed Ghamidi explains, both “hikmah” (wisdom, spiritual message) and kitab (book, form, law) are important and they must be in balance. Quran then says:”And God has revealed to you al-Kitab and al-Hikmah and in this manner taught you what you did not know before, and great is God’s favour upon you” (4:113).
If we take the three monotheistic messages (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) we will see that often they don’t correspond to what their respective institutions say.
I will give a few example: where does it say in the Torah that only children who are born from a Jewish mother can be considered Jewish? If the Torah says that the year starts in Nisan, why does Judaism celebrate RoshHashana in september? Where does it say in the Gospel that Christians must do the cross sign when they pray? Where does it Say in the Quran that Judaism and Christianism are not accepted? Where does it force women to be submitted to men and to wear niqab?
Many different theories are carried on inside each creed and that is the cause of the various divisions inside each religion.
In Judaism we can find Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox, modern-Orthodox Kabbalists, Refor, Progressive, Reconstructionists, Karaite.
In Christianism we can find Catholics, Protestants, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Copts, Maronites and many others.
In Islam we can find Sunnis (with their various juridical schools such as Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafi, Maliki), Shia, Sufis. In addition to this we must remember that Sunni Islam does not have an istitutionalized authority, so every imam of sheikh can have a different opinion.
Shias on the other hand do have an organized clergy and they pray with a stone of kerbala on the acrpet and they touch it with their forehead when they bow.
The original message is often soaked with local cultural elements that make it distinctive, for example the differences in uses between Sefardic and Ashkenazi Jews, between Pakistani Sufis and Moroccan Sufis, between the chants of Copt Christians and Anglicans.
Religion is a very complex subject and if we don’t approach it in the proper way through an accurate analysis we run the risk of falling into generalization and misunderstanding, with all the relative consequences: intollerance, arrogance of holding the only truth in the hand, violence.
Ignorance is the main cause of all this mess.
Giovanni Giacalone (Sociologist)