Introduction

Religion comes from either relegere (“to read” or “to pursue together,” as well as “legible” and “intelligent”) or, much more likely and generally accepted, from relegare (“to tie back” or “to bind fast”). Hence a religious person used to mean a monk tied by his vows. Ligament and ligature also come from this root. For Romans, it meant being tied back, staying connected with ancestral customs and beliefs, or a kind of loyalty. For Christians, the word originally meant being tied back or connected to God.

The corresponding Arabic word is din, which literally means restoring one’s rights, obedience, adopting as a way of life, being in debt, calling to account, managing, rewarding or punishing, serving, and lending. Muslim theologians describe din as the set of principles revealed by God through His Prophets and Messengers, and the set that humanity should follow, of its own free will, to acquire happiness in both worlds.

The concept of religion may be viewed from two perspectives: the human or the Divine. Monotheists take religion to be God-revealed principles, values, and commandments, and so do not refer to humanity when explaining religion’s origin. In contrast, modern Western and Westernized people under the influence of scientific materialism say that humanity created religion and then used anthropology, sociology, and psychology to explain it away.

The common denominator in the Western “scientific” analysis of religion is that it is a human invention designed either to project repressed desires or weaknesses or the result of individual or collective efforts to systematize a community’s beliefs and rites.

Religion in the Qur’an

The Qur’an uses din, usually translated as “religion,” in different contexts with various meanings. The most important and common of these are the collection of moral, spiritual, and worldly principles, system, and way of conduct (33:5, 40:26); judging, rewarding, punishing (1:4, 51:6, 82:18-19); way, law, constitution (12:76); servanthood and obedience (16:52); and peace and order (8:39).

With Islam, God completed the religion He revealed and chose for humanity: This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion (5:3). Literally, Islam means “submission, peace, and salvation.” In its most fundamental aspect, Islam is epitomized in the most frequently recited of all Qur’anic phrases, the Basmala – In the name of God, the Merciful (al-Rahman), the Compassionate (al-Rahim). Both words are related to rahma (mercy and compassion). God manifests Himself via His absolute, all-inclusive Mercy and Compassion, and Islam is founded upon that affirmation. The Qur’an calls Prophet Muhammad’s mission a mercy for all the worlds (21:107).

Islam is distinguished from other religions by several characteristics, among them the following:

Monotheism. Islam is uncompromisingly monotheistic, for its theology begins and ends with God’s Unity (tawhid). Given this, the universe is seen as an integral whole of interrelated and cooperative parts in which a splendid coordination, harmony, and order are displayed throughout the universe and within each living organism. This harmony and order come from the Unity of the One Who created them and Who is absolute, without partner, peer, or like. It is God Who has created the universe with whatever is in it and administers it. What we deduce from the operation of the universe and call “natural laws” are, in fact, God’s regular ways of creating things and events and administering the universe. From this perspective, the universe, which is governed by God and obeys Him, is literally muslim – submitted to God. Thus its operations are orderly and harmonious.

Humanity. The quality of being human comes from our immaterial and spiritual aspects, not from our natural and material aspects. The spirit and intellect do not originate in the physical body; rather, the spirit uses the body, and only life gives the body any meaning.

A fruit tree’s future life is encapsulated in its seed, and a tree is worth only as much as the value of the fruit it yields. In the same way, each person’s life-history is recorded and is of value only in proportion to the number of good deeds done and the level of virtue attained. Again, just as a tree increases by means of the seeds in its fruit, we prosper by our good deeds, the weight and consequence of which one day will be revealed to us.

We have three principal drives: desire, anger, and intellect. We desire or lust after the opposite sex, and love our children and worldly possessions. We direct our anger at what stands in our way, and by using it can defend ourselves. Our intellect enables us to make the right decisions. The Creator does not restrain these drives, but rather requires us to seek perfection through self-discipline so that we do not misuse them. If they remain undisciplined, immorality, illicit sexual relationships, and prohibited livelihoods, tyranny, injustice, deception, falsehood, and other vices will appear in individuals and throughout society. In addition, humanity could not help but ask these vital questions since its appearance on Earth: Who am I? Where do I come from? What is my final destination? What does death demand from me? Who is my guide on this journey, beginning from clay and passing through the stages of a sperm-drop, a blood-clot, and a lump of flesh, another creation where the spirit is breathed into my body, and finally reaching the grave and through there to the Hereafter?

It is in all of these questions that the essential problem of human life lies, and our individual and collective happiness requires being able to give the correct answer to the vital questions mentioned, as well as in disciplining our faculties so that we may produce a harmonious peaceful individual and social life. Since it is not possible for the human intellect to totally comprehend where true human happiness lies in both this world and the next, humanity needs a universal intellect, a guidance from beyond human reason and experience, to whose authority all may assent freely. That guidance is the religion revealed and perfected by God through His Prophets.

Prophets. All Prophets came with the same essentials of belief: belief in God’s Existence and Unity, the world’s final destruction, Resurrection and Judgment, Prophethood and all Prophets without distinction, all Divine Scriptures, angels, and Divine Destiny and Decree (including human free will). They called people to worship the One God, preached and promoted moral virtue, and condemned vice. Differences in particular rules and injunctions were connected with the existing economic and political relationships. Thus to be a Muslim means believing in all of the Prophets and the original previous Scriptures.

A Prophet, one purified of sin and vice and having a deep relation with God, guides people to truth and sets a perfect example for them to follow. Such people have the following essential characteristics: absolute and complete truthfulness, trustworthiness, communication of the Divine Message; the highest intellectual capacity, wisdom, and profound insight; sinlessness; and no mental or physical defects. Just as the sun attracts planets by the invisible force of gravitation, Prophets attract people by the force of their profound relation with God, certain miracles, and the sheer nobility of their person, purpose, and character.

Islam honors the religious experience of those who came before its revelation, because Islam confirms and completes what is true in those religions. Given this, Muslims say that Prophet Abraham and all other Prophets were muslim. Such an outlook explains why Islamic civilization, from its very beginnings, was and remains tolerant, plural, and inclusive. It has always been this way, except for the rarest of exceptions.

Belief. Belief, the essence of religion, is far more than a simple affirmation based upon imitation. Rather, it has degrees and stages of expansion or development, just as a tree’s seed gradually is transformed into a fully grown, fruit-bearing tree. Belief contains so many truths pertaining to God and the universe’s realities that the most perfect human science, knowledge, and virtue is belief in and knowledge of God originating in belief based upon argument and investigation. Those who attain the degree of “certainty of belief coming from direct observation of the truths on which belief is based” can study the universe as a kind of Divine Scripture.

The Qur’an, the universe, and humanity are three manifestations of one truth. In principle, therefore, there can be no contradiction or incompatibility between Qur’anic truths (issuing from the Divine Attribute of Speech) and truths derived from the objective study of its counterpart, the created universe (from the Divine Attributes of Power and Will). An Islamic civilization true to its authentic, original impulse contains no contradiction between science (the objective study of the natural world) and religion (the personal and collective effort to seek God’s good pleasure). True belief is not based on blind imitation, but rather appeals to our reason and heart and combines reason’s affirmation and the heart’s inward experience and submission. As Said Nursi reminds us:

Worship. Belief engenders different kinds of worship, such as responding to explicit injunctions (e.g., the prescribed prayers, fasting, alms-giving, and pilgrimage) and obeying prohibitions (e.g., avoiding all intoxicants, gambling, usury, killing, oppression, usurpation, deception, and unlawful sexual relationships). Those seeking to strengthen their belief and attain higher ranks of perfection should be careful of their heart’s and intellect’s “acts” (e.g., contemplation, reflection, invocation, recitation of God’s Names, self-criticism, perseverance, patience, thankfulness, self-discipline, and perfect reliance upon God). Moral virtues are the fruits of religious life. As Prophet Muhammad said: “I have been sent to perfect good morals.” (Tabarani, Mu‘jam al-Awsat, 7:74.)

Universal Moral Virtues. As mentioned just above, Islam encourages such virtues as honesty, love, compassion, generosity, altruism, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness, and refraining from all vices such as lying, ostentation, and deception. These are essentially reflections of our true nature. Created by the One, Who is All-Wise, All-Generous, All-Compassionate, every person has an innate inclination toward these virtues. Therefore they are confirmed and established by Islam, which was revealed by God through His Prophets to show humanity how to resolve all of its psychological and social problems.

Collective Life. By means of belief and worship, as well as its intellectual, moral, and spiritual principles, Islam educates us in the best possible way. In addition, it uses its socioeconomic principles to establish an ideal society free of dissension, corruption, deception, oppression, anarchy, and terror, one that allows everyone to obtain happiness both in this world and the next.

The life of religion and serving God accepts right, not force, as the point of support in social life. It proclaims that the aim of individual and collective life is to attain virtue and God’s approval instead of realizing selfish interests, and mutual assistance instead of conflict. It seeks the internal and external unity of communities through ties of religion, profession, and country, not through racism and negative nationalism. It works to erect a barrier against worldly desires and encourages us to strive for perfection by urging the soul to pursue sublime goals. Right calls for unity, virtue brings solidarity, and mutual assistance means helping each other. Religion secures brotherhood, sisterhood, and attraction. Self-discipline and urging the soul to virtue brings happiness in this world and the next.

God’s Two Kinds of Laws. God has established two kinds of laws: the religious rules (issuing from His Attribute of Speech and governing our religious life) and the so-called laws of nature (issuing from His Attribute of Will and governing creation and life). The reward or punishment for following or ignoring them is given at different times. Reward and punishment for obeying or disobeying the former usually comes in the next life, while for the latter, in this life.

The Qur’an constantly draws our attention to natural phenomena, the subject matter of science, and urges us to study them. In the first 5 centuries of Islam, Muslims united science and religion, intellect and heart, and material and spiritual. Later on, however, in addition to losing the lead in science due to their negligence of the Divine laws of nature, they no longer practiced Islam’s religious rules. This is why they have fallen into a wretched state behind the powers equipped with science and technology. So their salvation requires following both kinds of laws.

We Need God and Religion More Than Ever Before

Although modern technology has blinded us to some fundamental human limitations so that we consider ourselves omnipotent, self-sufficient, and self-existing or possessors of unlimited power, in reality we are weak, frail, needy, and destitute. Although we cannot create a leaf or a gnat, or even a molecule of water, our entrapment by modern technology’s spell makes us loathe to admit this. We are content to ascribe all natural events, from sunrise and sunset to the movements of atoms, to nominal natural laws that function without our intervention. Even our bodies work independently of us, for we cannot prevent ourselves from sleeping, becoming hungry or thirsty, or dying at the hands of a microscopic creature.

We always are accompanied by sorrows arising from past misfortunes and by worries about the future. Fear, love, and expectations are inseparable from our existence, while such things as youth and beauty, of which we are very fond, leave without saying “good-bye.” We greatly fear and are overwhelmed unexpectedly by misfortune, old age, and death. Countless requirements must be maintained if we are to go on living, yet we have total control over none of them. We may be injured, accidents may end our hopes, and disease and unexpected events always threaten and block our way to happiness. We endure earthquakes, storms, floods, fires, and other natural catastrophes. Both the vast variety of phenomena and our awareness of our own frailty make our own weakness and helplessness quite clear.

Despite our claims of dominating nature and conquering space, we have more need of religion than our ancestors ever did. We may not be worshipping fetishes as they did, such as trees, animals, rivers, fire, rain, and heavenly bodies, but, according to Erich Fromm, millions of us have our own fetishes: national heroes, movie stars, politicians, sports figures, musicians, and many, many others.

Furthermore, millions of us practice such modern religions as transcendental meditation, necromancy, Satanism, and spirit worship in the hope of satisfying that which cannot be satisfied with scientific and technological advancements. Others seek fulfillment in stadiums, nightclubs, casinos, jobs, and trade unions. They transform such places into places of devotion because they cannot suppress their need to worship. Inevitably, those who do not believe in and worship the One God become the slaves of numerous deities.

· Since its appearance on Earth, humanity has found true peace and happiness in religion. As it is impossible to talk of morality and virtue where people do not practice the true religion, it is also difficult to imagine real happiness, for morality and virtue originate in a good, clear conscience. Religion is what makes one’s conscience good and clear, for it is a connection between humanity and God.

· Religion is the best school, a most blessed institution founded to inculcate in people good moral qualities. It is open to everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, and only those who attend it attain peace, satisfaction, and freedom. Those without religion, by contrast, cannot save themselves from losing everything, including their true identity.

· Religion is the collection of Divine principles that guide people to what is good and right, not by force but by appealing to their free will. All principles that secure our spiritual and material progress, and thereby our happiness in both worlds, are found in religion.

· Religion means recognizing God in His absolute and transcendental Oneness; acquiring spiritual purity by acting in His way; arranging relationships in His name and according to His commandments, and feeling a profound interest in and love for all creation on His account.

· Sooner or later, those who do not recognize religion will come to despise such high values as chastity, patriotism, and love of humanity.

· Immorality is a disease caused by the absence of religion, and anarchy is a product of the same lack.

· Do atheists, who devote their lives to attacking, not have some obligation to demonstrate the benefits, if any, and the good consequences, if any, of atheism?

· Religion and science are two faces of a single truth. Religion guides us to the true path leading to happiness. Science, when understood and used properly, is like a torch that provides us with a light to follow the same path.

· All the beautiful “flowers” of laudable virtues are grown in the “gardens” of religion, as are the most illustrious “fruits” of the tree of creation, such as Prophets, saints, and scholars of high achievement. Although atheists deliberately ignore them, regardless of how hard they try they will be unable to remove them from the hearts of people and the pages of books.

· Nothing in true religion is contrary to sound thinking, common sense, and knowledge. Therefore true religion cannot be criticized from any rational point of view. Those who do not accept religion either are devoid of sound thinking and reasoning or have a wrong conception of knowledge and science.

· Religion is an inexhaustible and blessed source that lays the foundation of true civilization. It is through religion that we are elevated so high in spirit and feelings that we make contact with metaphysical worlds, where we are “fed” to full satisfaction with all kinds of beauty, virtue, and goodness. Virtues are to be sought in the practice of religion. It rarely happens that an atheist has laudable virtues, or that a religious person has none.

· Men and women attain true humanity by means of religion, which distinguishes them from animals. For atheists, there is no difference between human beings and animals.

· Religion is the way established by God, while atheism is the way of Satan. This is why the struggle between religion and atheism has existed since the time of Adam and will continue until the Last Day.

[1] Said Nursi, The Letters (Turkey: Kaynak, 1998), 2:1-2. Said Nursi (1876-1960): One of the greatest contemporary Muslim scholars; credited with preserving Islam in Turkey during a time of enforced secularization.