RELIGIOSITY IS THE DEATH OF RELIGION

 

If lakhs of Naxalites were to block all the roads between Hardwar, Delhi and surrounding areas for nearly a month, virtually shut down Meerut and other nearby towns, torch a few dozen trucks, buses, tractors and petrol pumps and block the bridges in retaliation for the deaths of a few of their colleagues in road accidents, the Government would have responded with alacrity and the army would have acted with an iron hand. But if these vandals were on a mission of religious piety no political party would dare to interfere.

The season of the `Kanwarias’ is upon us again. An estimated 7 Lakh devotees will block most of the roads from Hardwar to their home towns and villages in a 300 KM radius during the lunar month of Shravan. They are called Kanwarias because these saffron clad devotees carry small pots of holy Ganga water on their shoulders on a bamboo pole called a Kanwar. For the most part the short pilgrimages are pious and peaceful but for the advent of a new custom of `Dak Kanwars’ with groups of running Kanwarias who run in relays to quickly get to their destinations. While one devotee runs with the pots on his shoulder, the rest of his team follows on motorcycles, buses, cars or other vehicles and are violently angry if their passage is delayed or stopped. 

So for four weeks from late July, it will be nearly impossible for children to get to school in this area or for mourners to take the ashes of their departed for immersion to Rishikesh or Hardwar. Ambulances will become virtually immobile, fire brigades, police and other emergency vehicles will find it difficult to operate.        

This custom was almost unknown a decade ago and was transplanted here during the period of BJP rule from a similar custom that began many years earlier in Sultanganj near Bhagalpur in Bihar. This annual migration with its raucous religiosity is a very far cry from quiet spirituality of true religion. The custom has no place in any of the Hindu scriptures but has become a popular act of piety in which both the devotees as well as the numerous supporters providing them with food, refreshments and shelter believe that they will gain `punya’ or good Karma for a better next life. Professional priests also encourage many sit-at-home donors to hire Kanwarias to earn punya by proxy for them.

Priests of all religions have for many centuries exploited gullible devotees by persuading them that they would earn many otherworldly rewards in exchange for donations, pilgrimages, fasts, sacrifices or austerities. With surprising speed new religious customs explode. Soon even the less credulous succumb to the comfort of going with the flow rather than face the possible wrath of the heavens, the anger of priests or the public by challenging the authenticity of such customs or by defying the demands of devotees.

Paradoxically such customs were not the command of the sages, prophets or founders of any religion. None of them had asked for temples, mosques or churches let alone the colourful trappings or demonstrations of religion with sacred robes, triumphant flags, loud religious music or colourful processions. But power corrupts and the priests of all faiths are intoxicated by the power that religiosity gives them. Politicians happily support religiosity that can serve their political agendas. With amazing speed, the social and moral ideas of the founders become lost in an ocean of meaningless rituals and superstitions. Outward form becomes more important then inner substance and religiosity masquerades as religion.

But curiously, it is at this stage of the most feverish religiosity that religions have collapsed. History shows that new reformers disgusted with empty rituals, superstitions and the arrogance of the priests have always appeared to break away to become the founders of new faiths. Zoroaster and Buddha, disgusted with the sacrifices of the old Avestan and Vedic priests, founded simple new faiths. Jesus, horrified by the excesses of Jewish priests who had made their house of prayer into a `den of thieves’ founded Christianity. Muhammad, appalled by the sacrifices to 365 idols at Mecca founded Islam. Martin Luther appalled by the ridiculous `indulgences’ of Catholic priests, who offered places in heaven in exchange for donations founded Protestantism. Guru Nanak contemptuous of the empty rituals of Brahmanism founded Sikhism. Dayanand Saraswati disturbed by more recent Brahmin excesses, founded the Arya Samaj to try to bring Hinduism back to the purity of simple Vedic concepts.

But the insidious influence of ritual and superstition is difficult to eradicate. Many millions of insecure or gullible people are easy prey. Rituals, penances, processions and offerings packaged as joyous distractions cost much less than the effort of understanding and practicing the deeper moral, social and philosophical tenets of religion. So populist priests and charlatans thrive and ritual and superstition have crept into all the practiced forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other faiths.

HAND OF RELIGION

THE GREAT HAND OF RELIGION

Murad Ali Baig

The soothing hand of religion can calm the worst fears of many anxious millions just as the flaming passions of religion can so easily destroy millions of innocent lives. Human beings may have been a creation of God but religions were all the creation of countless human prophets, sages and philosophers. We need to however understand that like the hand of mortal men the great hand of religion has five different fingers.

The smallest finger is the spiritual core of every faith. Human beings in every culture had wanted to know where they had come from and where they were destined to go to after their deaths. This quest to seek the tenuous links between their fragile lives and their conceptions of some greater cosmic source of all energy had been at the core of all faiths. This spiritual quest included concepts like salvation, karma, sin, ethical behavior and the power of love that many believed could lift their spirits or souls to a better world both in this life and after death. These are quite similar in all religions.

The second finger of religion is the finger of customs and traditions. Every religion carries a huge baggage of the customs that are part of constantly evolving societies. These were shaped by the geographic, climatic and economic conditions that were very varied in different cultures. Every society had festivals rejoicing the advent of spring and autumn that later became part of their religious mythology. Winter fests common to cold countries were elevated into the festivals of Lori, in north India or Christmas in Europe. The fasting during Ramzan had been an Arab custom necessary to survive the acute thirst and hunger of the hottest weeks of summer long before it became an Islamic tradition. Human concerns about health or killing may have influenced the habits of food and drink but there was nothing spiritual about these. Pork, beef or alcohol may be abhorrent to many people but they do no injury to the human soul. There was similarly nothing spiritual about a veil, turban or the clothes people wear. They were all social customs that priests later made into religious requirements or acts of piety.

The biggest finger of the hand of religion was political. Every religion evolved out of scattered beliefs and faiths when a ruler promoted it and patronized legions of priests to propagate their faiths. As it was much easier for a ruler to get people to die in the name of God than for a mortal man the priests made people believe that their kings were god’s delegates on earth and it was god’s work to follow his commands. Religious faith kept the masses hardworking, obedient and disciplined so kings rewarded their priests with magnificent places of worship to awe them and many other earthly rewards. People were persuaded to believe that rulers had a divine right to kill or persecute people belonging to other kingdoms or faiths. Priests disciplined the masses mainly through the instrument of fear. They were obsessed about control and their carefully crafted visions of hell’s fire or terrifying incarnations kept worshippers in line. They also understood that hatred of perceived enemies was a powerful cement to unite their followers so they fanned the flames of hate against rival people or beliefs. They also promised miraculous boons as also the power to miraculously curse or defeat their enemies.

The forth vertical of every religion were the chains by which priests bound people to their religion. These are a heady mix of prayers, penances, pilgrimages, fasts, meditation, chanting, songs and sacrifices. These were elevated through religious art and magnificent places of worship that uplifted the minds of believers and made them feel that they were closer to god and could forget their sorrows and be filled with joy. Some ecstatic experiences even stimulated human bodies to heal their own ailments in almost miraculous ways.

The last finger concerned superstition. People believed their priests because they sincerely believed that certain words or actions would result in good or bad fortune for themselves and their communities. Christians touch wood visualizing that it is a part of the sacred wooden cross of Jesus. Many Hindus begin every endeavor or prayer with a entreaty to the elephant god Ganesh begging him to make their ventures or desires successful. Muslims take the name of Allah after every pronouncement about expected events. Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others cover their heads before going into a place of worship following the old Zoroastrian custom of wearing a skull cap to stop polluting human hair from falling into the sacred fire. Many people believe that feeding the poor will earn eternal merit for the giver even if the practice can reduce healthy people into groveling beggars. Examples from the lives of prophets and sages become acts of piety. Many Muslims enter a room with the right foot first because they believe that the supposed example of Muhammad is an act of piety. People believe superstitions because they believe that they can miraculously change things for better or worse.

All the fingers of this great hand of religion are covered by a dazzling glove of mythology. The ideas of all the old prophets, sages and philosophers were spread by story tellers because written texts were too few and too difficult to make until  Gutenberg’s printing press in 1439 AD. Till then books were too rare and expensive. The art of all storytellers was to exaggerate so that the princesses became more beautiful, the kings more magnificent and beliefs more miraculous with each retelling. Space and time became playthings of bards and raconteurs so the characters of religious personages were constantly embroidered. All the early places of learning were seminaries of religion so a thick cloak of mythology hid the ugly or inconvenient while glorifying all that they wanted to show as beautiful.

The spiritual core is the element that most religions are proudest of and these are quite similar in all faiths. The other elements are essentially material issues that differ widely from religion to religion. The thick encrustations of mythology that surrounds religions makes it difficult for people to see the spiritual core. Instead of marveling at the multifaceted miracle of life itself from the smallest organism to the tallest tree, religions make people quarrel endlessly about the material details of their faiths with the result that the gentle hand of spirituality is quickly covered by a hate filled glove of religion that has caused more death and destruction than any other human endeavor.  

This article was just published in the quint.

ZAKIR NAIK – PREACHER OR PROVOCATEUR?

Murad Ali Baig

It is easy to blame anyone for inspiring terrorism but there is no evidence that Zakir Naik is guilty of doing anything but proclaiming words about Islamic law and traditions. A look at YouTube or other social media will show an ardent speaker in a prayer cap to proclaim his piety and a neat western suit and tie to declare his relevance to modern audiences. He attracts huge audiences not only on his own PeaceTV but at numerous public venues in Dubai, Dacca and in many Indian cities.

Many viewers may be offended by his remarks about women’s rights, Osama Bin Laden, Jews, etc., but it has to be said that Naik does not step outside the limits of Islamic traditions. If his comments are offensive it is because the Quran and many other sources of Islamic law, like all scriptures, were created in mediaeval times when values were very different to those of today. He greatly resembles a passionate criminal lawyer who will argue his brief and shows an impressive knowledge about Judaism, Christianity and even Hinduism.

His brief is however confined to Islamic writings and he does not admit what historians know today that the verses of Quran were only collected 33 years after the death of the prophet by Uthman the third Khalif. He, like most Muslims, also ardently believes that the events in the life of the prophet were well recorded when in fact the first biographer ibn Ishaq was born 72 years after Muhammad’s death. Al Tabari the second biographer was a Persian born another 53 years later. The second most important Islamic scripture is the Hadis (Hadith) that was composed by Al Bukhari and others still later. Islamic traditions can thus be proved to be the work of a number of mortal humans and not the immortal words of God as many want to believe.

Zakir Naik is not universally popular in Muslim circles but this is not surprising as there are approximately 72 Muslim sects and sub sects and his strongly Wahhabi orientation is especially offensive to the many million Shias, Sufi and Ahmediyas. The Wahhabi element is mainly responsible for the hate and violence that it often advocates. Abd Al Wahhab, born about 1703, popularized a very extreme Islamic philosophy that rejected not just idolatry but reverence to any mortal. The Wahhabis disallowed ceremonies for marriage or death, worship of saints, adorning of graves, tombs or other sacred objects, holding religious processions, art, music and dance and demanded the total suppression of women. They did not even spare the tomb of the prophet at Madina and stripped the Kaaba of all the treasures gifted by pilgrims to decorate it. 

Religious teachers including his own father and uncle were horrified at his excesses but he was fortunate to find a patron in Muhammad Al-Saud who used this vitriolic new creed as a powerful weapon to propel his tribe to win his descendents the kingdom of Arabia that they rule to this day. Then the discovery of oil in 1938 gave them the power to finance the spread of their fanatic creed to all Muslim countries. 

Though Naik appears knowledgeable about Judaism he does not explain how the Jewish Torah (Tawraat) became one of the sacred books of Islam roughly three hundred years after the prophet. Most of the horrible sins in the 613 (not 10) Commandments and the ghastly punishments in the book of Leviticus are not found in the Quran but are widely used by many Muslim clerics to make Islam so unpalatable in modern times.