2. INTRODUCTION

A great number of books have been written about the various Religions, including Islam. The addition of yet another book to this list needs to be justified. In order to do this three interlinked aspects should be considered:- The situation to be dealt with, the purposes of the book, and the people to whom the work is addressed.

This work has three purposes connected with the following considerations:-

1. Observation of the world around us shows that life is disintegrated and departmentalised into various conflicting ideologies, practices, institutions, nations, races, societies and so on. There are numerous independent sections - politics, economics, science, art, social morality etc, each of which is further divided. Though all these affect each other, there is no comprehensive unified system which co-ordinates them all. There are, therefore, many contradictions and human beings are unable to control their affairs. In particular, there is a contradiction between the psychological needs of people, the social systems they have created and the new physical environment also created by them. The reason for this is that minds and effort has been directed mostly towards economic matters. Increasingly it has been forced onto social matters, but psychological matters have been ignored in all policies. It used to be the task of religion to provide a unified frame work. But the influence of religion has declined. The problems so caused, seems to be leading to a renewed interest in religion worldwide.

2. Religion is a world wide phenomenon and appears to be deep-seated in the human psyche. There is no evidence that any of the founders of the religions intended to produce separate sects. Their intention was to solve the problems of their time by reviving, reforming and re-adapting religion to the new conditions of life in which they found themselves. Religion, or the interpretation, practices and institutions of religion, tend to degenerate and corrupt owing to habit, the infiltration of extraneous matters and commentaries, the self-interest of a priest class and the changing conditions of life. Yet each religion is treated as if it was different and exclusive without considering either the underlying unity, the common elements, the distinction between the original intentions, the particular adaptations, and the additions, subtractions or perversions which have taken place with time, nor is the affect of different conditions of life in different places and the evolution of religion kept in mind.

3. The conditions of life have changed since the Foundations of the major religions were laid down. Religion must, therefore, be adapted to these new conditions. Humanity may also be said to have left behind its childhood when it required direct guidance from the Teachers. Having received the foundations, it now has to take control of its own affairs. This involves (a) building on the foundations, (b) using and adapting the guidance, (c) making mistakes and learning from them. Further growth is impossible without these three ingredients.

The purpose of the book is not to be dogmatic nor to convert, but to study the common underlying foundations of religion, to interpret these in a more contemporary language, to inform, explain and suggest, and to apply Religion to the identification and solution of contemporary problems. It takes its guidance from Islam because it is the last, evolutionarily the highest form of religion (though many may disagree), nearest to the contemporary world, the most comprehensive, and it is also written down as originally taught and is, therefore, available in the purest uncorrupted form. It is addressed to Muslims and non- Muslims alike. It is not meant to be a sectarian work.

In the past, before the technological age, the life of all human beings was dominated partly by the natural environment, partly by their inherent nature, and partly, being human, by their systems of thought. All aspects of life, their thinking, feeling and actions, were coordinated by Religion in a self-consistent manner. Its function was to enable man to progressively adjust to Reality - to the environment, the society as well as the world process in general. The accumulation of experience, thought and activity caused the evolution of religion in the comprehensiveness and synthesis of ideas, value systems and techniques. Islam was the last of the great religions.

Continuous social evolution, however, brought an increase in amount, diversity and complexity of data, leading to the need for specialisation. This created a problem of co-ordination, comprehensiveness and control. Lack of equivalent development in these fields led to the disintegration of life, loss of control, and the arising of increasing contradictions, confusion and conflict. The changes in the material and social environment brought about by man out-stripped their psychological development - in their capacity for awareness, their motivations and their abilities. Human problems, therefore, multiply while the capacity for solving them and controlling affairs diminishes.

The main problems facing mankind are:-

(a) Environmental ones of pollution of land, sea and air, wastage of resources, adulterations, ecological imbalances, climatic and geo-physical changes, the increase in dangers due to hazards, accidents and congestion.

(b) Social ones of political, racial, ethnic and cultural conflict, oppression, intrigue, corruption, bribery, rising crime, violence, dishonesty, immorality, vandalism, the concentration of power in the hands of fewer people, increasing injustice; economic ones of poverty, dispossession, increasing differences in wealth, wastage of opportunities and talents because of depression, inflation and unemployment; cultural ones of the control and manipulation of information, suppression and distortion, morally corrupting influence of literature, art and the media, conditioning, regimentation, propaganda, rebelliousness, conformity.

(c) Spiritual and psychological problems - psychosis, neurosis, psychopathy, psychoo-somatic diseases due to stresses, perversions, sensuality, purposelessness, mixed and devious motives, rationalisation, prejudice, low sense of values, apathy, egotism, cruelty, selfishness, greed, vanity, lack of conscience, consciousness, will, ability, a sense of responsibility, or self-control, automatism of thought, motives and actions.

It is true that there are people and organisations working to solve each of these problems separately. There is often conflict between them. But since the problems are all interconnected and inter-dependant, such un-coordinated effort is a thoroughly inadequate way of dealing with them. Man has lost control over his affairs because of the absence of a unified view of life. It seems unlikely that human beings can regain control without restoring the unified view. To do this requires a re-examination of this last Religion, Islam, which has a Unified view, having been directly recorded, have not been corrupted and falsified by a process of selection, additions, subtractions, reduction, rationalisation, obscuration, mistranslations, misinterpretations and distortion according to the prejudice, self-interest, or fantasy of those who held the power, or the erosion of time. It is by now well known that this has happened to all religions. It is only in Islam that the possibility still exists of reaching the original teachings.

The Muslim people in the not too distant past had a high civilisation, great political and economic power and spiritual excellence. They now find themselves backward, degenerate, inferior, and dominated, manipulated and persecuted by other more powerful nations, and even by oppressors and tyrants of their own. There is a controversy about the cause of this situation. According to some people the cause is the abandonment, adulteration, or corruption of Islam, the source of their inspiration, which brought them to the heights in the first place, particularly by their leadership. According to others it is adherence to an outmoded Islam created for conditions existing in the past, which exist no longer. According to still others, nations, like individuals, become exhausted and go to sleep, or even decay and die. There is some truth in all these assertions.

The resulting suffering has had three consequences:-

1. On the one hand there are those who wish to return to their past glory and take a fundamentalist attitude without taking into consideration the changes in the world and their relative weakness. Some of this takes an ill considered militant and even an extremist or fanatical form which arouses fear and antagonism in others and has a self-defeating effect. Their thoughts, motives and actions are often the very reverse of what Islam teaches. They are opposed even by those who rule and hold the power in Muslim countries, since they, in the absence of a modern Islamic educational system, are necessarily educated and, therefore, culturally conditioned in the Western style, and their interests are often linked with the West. Western powers owing to a Christian antagonism and fear of Islam, which dates back to the Crusades, conspire against them in all kinds of overt and subtle ways. There also appears to be a fundamental mistake here. A civilisation is a side effect of spiritual excellence. The reverse is not true. The desire for political power or greatness is not a spiritual aim.

“Allah changes not the condition of a folk unless they first change what is in their hearts. And if Allah wills misfortune for a folk there is none that can repel it, nor have they defenders besides Him.” Quran 13:11

2. Some people want to abandon religion altogether and imitate the Western emphasis on material progress, with all the environmental, economic, social and psychological problems this creates. They are likely to create exactly the same situation. Indeed, imitators, having suspended their intelligence, create even worse conditions. It is impossible that people can abandon their roots or can achieve anything without inspiration. When there is no consciousness there is no intelligent control, only imitation, habit and drifting.

3. There is, among Muslims, a new awakening, a reassessment of their situation, a re-examination and reinterpretation of Islam in the light of modern developments, and a re-formulation of doctrines, goals and methods. Not only is there a revival, but new converts are being made and it is thought to be the fastest growing religion. The reason for this is often political, sociological or even economic in nature. Sometimes it is also psychological or spiritual. The inadequacy of present secular systems is being felt by more and more people and this is also leading to the revival of other religions. An examination of other religions, however, shows that though they may possess spiritual excellence they are not comprehensive enough to include all aspects of life. Most tend to be wholly other-worldly. Islam requires renewal, re-adaptation, purification and reformation just as has occurred in other religions if it is to be relevant to the present and coming age. This work is a contribution towards this endeavour.

But the revival of Religion raises several interlinked problems.

The world has certainly changed enormously since the time the Prophets, Muhammad, first taught Islam, and continues to do so at an accelerating pace. These can be divided into 7 categories:- environmental, economic, social, political, cultural, ideological and psychological. These changes have been for good as well as bad. They are due to five main factors :- the increase in population and the developments in Science, technology, organisation and education. This has created a number of new environmental, social and psychological problems which must be dealt with.

Some of the main problems are as follows:-

1. The increase in population has increased the pressure on resources thereby intensifying competition and aggression. This is offset within a community by advances in technology, organisation and education. But these bring changes in the social and material environment as well as in the minds of people. The main interest and occupation of people are, therefore, in these fields.

2. The population increase has brought congestion and greater inter-action. People affect each other much more and there is less room for privacy and independence. There is no room left for expansion or migration. The congestion, artificiality, pressures and temptations of large cities bring psychological, social as well as economic problems. The greater the size of a community the more anonymous do people become and the less do they know each other. Community life is destroyed and the individual is controlled remotely through rules and regulations as well as by the profusion of literature. Congestion breeds familiarity and breaks down certain barriers, but in compensations causes the erection of other barriers. People live as individuals or as small nuclear families isolated from one another.

3. The development of Transport, Communications and Trade have shrunk the world and made people economically, politically and culturally inter-dependant. Isolation has become impossible. Differences in ideology, culture, values and religion intensify conflicts. It is much more necessary that people should understand and tolerate each other.

4. Despite this inter-dependence, the world is divided into centralised, powerful self-regulating nations and commercial companies, which ply their own self-interest. This has produced nationalism. Political power now depends on technology. The rich nations are also militarily the strongest. They can dominate and dictate to the other nations. They dominate not only politically and economically but also culturally. The sophistication and power of arms makes conflicts into major disasters. The realities of power reduce the influence of ideals. Right cannot be maintained without might and this requires technology. But technology does not exist in isolation. It requires the Science, the industry, the education appropriate to them, and all the other economic, social and psychological factors associated with them. A civilisation is a unity in which all things are inter-dependant. Changes in one thing bring about changes in another.

5. There is a tendency towards increasing organisation in the amount of control (intensity), the size (extensity) and in the amount of centralisation and the number of aspects of life involved (cotensity). The number of laws, rules and regulations are constantly increasing. The individual has relatively less independence and power. The relationship between people and with their leaders is not the same as used to be the case. Life has become much more formal and machine like rather than organic, and systems based on community life have become rarer.

6. The environment in which people live is increasingly not a natural one, but one constructed by man, his ideas, creations, organisations and ideas. There are great cities and houses with central heating, running hot and cold water and automatic waste disposal; parks, gardens, factories and farms designed by man containing plants and animals produced by man; cinema, television and computers creating virtual reality; Human political and industrial organisations and laws have a greater impact on modern man than nature. Man is bombarded by ideas and images from advertisers, propagandists, novelists, newspapers, magazines which depend on human interests, selectivity, interpretations and fantasies. People are linked over large distances with all kinds of people whom they do not know, by telephone and fax-machines Though their environment has been extended by the ability to travel by car and plane, it has reduced the intimacy and depth of experience, creating superficial knowledge The increasing power of machinery and weaponry has increased human power for both good and evil and accelerated the pace of life, reducing the ability to assimilate and process experience.

Scientific progress has given man unprecedented control over nature. E.g. genetic engineering in crops, animals and man; the development of artificial materials such as plastics; the processing of and invention of new foods; the automation of machinery; enormously increased powers of calculation through computers; the capacity to travel much greater distances even into space; new sources of energy such as nuclear fission and fusion; transplantation of organs and artificial organs; television and other methods of transmitting and manipulating information; new sophisticated psychological techniques of training, conditioning and manipulating people; the power to change the weather and climate and the whole ecological system. The power to alter nature has increased man’s responsibilities and produced new moral problems.

7. Life has become much more diversified and complex. There are a great many more pressures and interests for human beings to deal with. There are so many more trades and departments and so much more knowledge that no individual can comprehend them all. A great many different specialists are required, and there is a growing diversity of opinions and points of view. Communication and understanding has become more difficult. There are many more alternative religions and ideologies competing with each other than in the past. Education and Literacy has made man more independent on the one hand, and made him much more subject to conditioning by commercial and political propaganda and by the media. A profusion of books, newspapers, magazines, cinema and above all television affects people. Human beings are formed by culture, rather than by their inherent biological nature to a larger extent than in the past.

8. The Success of Science and technology has made man more arrogant, self-sufficient and materialistic. While the population increases, the material desires and expectations per person are also rising. As this produces enormous pressure on the resources of the world the discontent, competition and conflicts are also rising. The complexity of modern economic and political systems is probably beyond present human capacities for understanding and control as the increasing diversity of opinion shows. Yet the problems they create demand human solutions.

9. Industrialization has created new urgent problems due to depletion of resources, wastage and mismanagement, pollution and the threat of ecological disaster. It has caused adulteration and poisoning of food, water and air, the life support systems and the stability of the entire planet. The invention of nuclear, electronic, chemical and bacteriological weapons, too, threatens life on this planet. People are, therefore, much more concerned with their physical survival than with their spiritual welfare.

10. The Economic system, based on Capitalism dominates the world and remains expansionist in nature despite the depletion of resources and the threat to the environment. It continues to emphasise the materialistic values, consumerism, greed and selfishness. But it creates inflation which wipes out savings and periods of slump which throws out millions onto the unemployment heap and into a purposeless and miserable existence. It creates extremes of wealth and poverty between individuals and nations. It is a thoroughly unethical and inefficient system. Yet Economic competition has become so fierce that unless attention is concentrated on science, technology and commerce to the exclusion of other values, nations which do not adopt this philosophy find themselves dominated, swamped and impoverished by those who do.

11. The population increase, accelerated by medical advances, has put pressure on resources and space, creating great poverty in some places. The major problem occupying the minds of people is the business of staying alive rather than of any higher values. A vicious circle exists in that the poor cannot raise the capital by means of which they can improve their condition. Connected with poverty is low health and education and both these also militate against any improvement. Borrowing from the richer countries has not helped since they have to pay back more than they receive. The desperate needs of the poor nations, many of them Muslim ones, puts them in a disadvantageous bargaining position and this allows the richer nations both to exploit them and dictate terms. This effects not only their economic and political systems but also their ideologies.

12. The relationship between men and women has changed. The population pressure has led to the need for birth-control. The reduction in the size of families, the transfer of work from the home to the factory, the education of children by experts in institutions, the simplification of work through mechanisation, routinisation, standardisation and organisation, the enhancement of abilities through training and education, and the increased desire for material prosperity, have led to the emancipation and economic independence of women and the erosion of differences in the function of the sexes. This has caused the collapse of the family and disrupted the conventional social fabric.

13. As the educational system takes the children away from the parents, there is a generation gap which inhibits the transfer of moral values. The weakening of the influence of the family on the development of children has increased the influence of their own immature peers, of the mass media such as television and video films, comics and other magazines which are orientated towards crude entertainment in music, sex and violence, and the educational system which emphasises facts and skills rather than moral values.

14. Religions, as taught and believed in the past, have largely become irrelevant to most people in the developed countries, and are likely to become so for people also in countries which are now developing along the same lines because of the dominance of the West and the spread of culture through the means of communication and trade. The reasons for this are as follows:-

(a) Religions are usually based on ideas for which there is no physical or sensory evidence. Intellectual changes are brought about by the advances in science and in education. People are no longer satisfied with mere beliefs since beliefs can be placed in anything no matter how false. Nor do they want mere dogma, ritual or institutions. They require proof, understanding or above all experiences. Evidence, however, depends also on the capacity of the individual to see and understand it. Since the purpose of Religions is to develop such higher capacities, to take people to a state which they have not yet reached, then inevitably no such evidence can be supplied by religion.

(b) People were more willing in the past to accept the authority of those whom they considered to have superior capacities for perception. The scientist is the modern authority because, though his ideas are also not understood by the general population, he has demonstrated their truth by the technology based on them.

(c) The Democratic ideals also make authority less acceptable. As the opinions of anyone are regarded as good as that of anyone else, speculation is encouraged, and there are a great number of alternate points of view.

(d) As a result of the changes in the conditions of life, the experiences of people have changed. Their motives and the way they think, feel and behave have changed accordingly. Even the language has changed. Industrial and commercial developments create the desire and interest in material rather than spiritual things. There is an outward rather than an inner psychological orientation. What was understood at one time is no longer understood in the same way.

(e) Advances in political organisation. The State is divorced from religion and has a greater and more immediate influence on the lives of people. Interest has shifted to political, social and economic policies and ideologies, instead of religious ideas. The State has taken over many of the functions performed originally by religion. This includes Law and order, education and some welfare work. This, however, has changed their nature. The responsibility has been taken away from individuals. Law is not the same thing as morality, and personal charity is not the same thing as the rules and regulations of a Welfare Department.

(f) Life and education used to be comprehensive and integrated centred on religious values. It is now specialised, factual and fragmented. The unitary view of life with which the concept of God is integrated, has been lost.

(g) The development of various aspects of civic life, culture and industry has widened interest, particularly due to the development of literature and the media of communication. At one time the only material available was religious literature and art, but now it has diversified enormously. Religious material has been swamped and its influence has proportionally declined.

(h) Spiritual achievements are no longer admired, but social and materials ones are. The persons admired and emulated are no longer the saints, but scientists, philosophers, statesmen, generals, inventors and industrialists. In the general population the heroes consist mainly of stars in films, sports or popular music.

(i) The irksomeness, discipline and monotony of most work which has been made subject to mechanisation, routines and division of labour, has increased the need for compensatory pleasures. Greater diversification, material prosperity and ease has brought more distractions and leisure. Self-indulgence has replaced self-discipline. The main topics of interest and conversation are popular music, sport, fashions, sex, cinema, television and gambling.

(j) The pace of life and the amount and diversity of material demanding attention has increased. The mind is unable to dwell sufficiently long and profoundly to chew, digest and assimilate experience. This has created superficiality.

(k) Psychiatrists, psycho-analysts, Agony Aunts in popular Newspapers, Counsellors, various cults and all kinds of other advisers and pontiffs, professional or amateur, perform the function which was once the domain of priest or religious leaders.

(l) Religions are identified in the minds of many people with a great number of malpractices, superstitions, atrocities, bigotry and sectarian wars. People do not want to return to such conditions. Progress could, therefore, only be made by suppressing religions.

(m) Religions have been used, and are still used by merchants, rulers and priests to gain personal power, wealth or prestige and to exploit or control other people. Some of these have been thoroughly corrupt tyrants. Many were adept at self-deception.

(n) Religion is seen to be strong in undeveloped and backward communities and among uneducated peoples where it is associated with superstition.

(o) People have been brought into contact with other religions. The existence of so many different religions all teaching different things and claiming exclusive truth causes bewilderment and cynicism and the weakening of adherence to each. It has also allowed the construction of many alternative ideologies.

(p) The modern world, because of the domination of science, technology and education, places its emphasis on the intellect. To compensate for this, Religions have become much more emotional and sentimental. Thus the balance between intellect, feeling and action has been lost, and religion has become distorted.

(q) The religious person is seen as narrow minded, intolerant and bigoted. No distinction is made between the real teachings of religion and what are essentially human characteristics.

15. Despite the advances of science, technology and political organisation the environmental, economic, political and psychological problems of mankind continue to increase. This shows that thinking associated with these systems is inadequate. This same science, technology and organisation which is worshipped because of the wealth, power and progress which it has brought has created an imbalance in man because his psychological and moral development has not kept up with environmental development. Indeed, environmental development has been achieved at the expense of psychological development, and this shows itself in increasing neurosis, crime, psychosis, psychopathy, perversions, organic diseases of all kinds, discontent, escapism, cynicism, nihilism, sensuality, the feeling of purposelessness and futility. No value systems can exist under such conditions. Law and order is sustained purely through fear and coercion, mental conditioning or bribery and temptation. These disable people rather than facilitating their development. Regimes based on a purely material view of man, neglecting his spiritual nature and needs, could not be sustained for long.

But apart from the distinction between the spiritual, mental and physical aspects, the Human mind, too, has three aspects, the intellectual, emotional and motor. The present emphasis is on knowledge and intellectual development and to a certain extent on physical skills, while the feelings and motivation are neglected. Computers and other machinery can replace man in in this respect. It is like handing powerful machines and weapons to apes and children - a most dangerous self-destructive situation. The injustices and tyrannies created under Nazi, Fascist and Communist regimes, and to various degrees by all governments, show what can happen without religion. It is true, of course, that when power was concentrated in Religious organisations they, too, practised persecution, repression and tyranny. But this was because of human limitations, of worldly ambitions, not spiritual ones. They sought power, wealth and prestige. They merely used religion for their own purposes. Their behaviour could in no way be said to have been in conformity with the teachings of their religion. Religion continued, despite this, to have a civilising affect on the general population. But this influence is now rapidly running out.

People are beginning to realise that there is something much more universal, profound and important to religion. It is likely that in future religion will only survive among those with a deeper knowledge of it.

It can be asserted with some confidence that both the cause of the decline of religion and the cause of most of the problems afflicting mankind is the fact that human beings are increasingly concentrating into, or being affected by, large congested cities where man’s works, technological, organisational and ideological, dominate life and where they are cut off from Nature which formed them. This also causes alienation from their own nature and creates a formal social system governed by mechanical rules rather than community and fellow feeling.

It is also evident that science, technology and organisation have transformed this earth physically, as well as altered human relationships, and that new problems, possibilities, concerns and interests have arisen, which are creating new values, ideals, and goals and new ways of looking at the Universe and man, a new consciousness. We exist in times where a new earth and new heaven is in the process of being created as predicted by most religions. (14:48).

The need for religion arises because of the following factors:-

(a) Continuing progress requires three inter-dependant factors:- (i) knowledge, motives and skill, (ii) comprehensive awareness, self-discipline, and responsibility, (iii) unison, cooperation, mutual understanding between people. Development has been unbalanced. Much progress has occurred in the first of these factors due to the development of science and technology, though motivation still remains relatively primitive. But observation shows that human problems are increasing because of lack of equivalent progress in the other two factors. The second depends on religion, but understanding of religion has declined instead of making progress. The development of the third factor depends on the other two, and is itself unbalanced because of the discrepancy between external and internal development.

(b) Science describes a dead, self-regulating Universe in which no ultimate Purpose for life can be discerned. Human beings, however, require a purpose for living. Without it we have automatism and everything is futile and senseless. Science deals only with the facts of existence, but life also requires meaning and values. We have to interpret facts and act. Only religion provides us with a comprehensive coordinated view of the totality of life.

(c) Science and technology deal only with the external material world, but human beings also live in an inner, psychological world and an interactive social world.

It is no wonder that all over the world an increasing number of people are returning to religion, or seeking some other substitute and often inventing their own cults.

A return to religion, however, presents problems of its own. There are many religions with diverse doctrines, practices and institutions, and each has many sects. Instead of uniting, religion has divided. Having become confused with political, commercial and cultural issues it has in the past produced great conflicts, persecution and atrocities, and continues to do so today. It is not difficult, however, to discover that these evils are not, in fact, part of their original teachings, but have arisen because religions, too, have been interpreted, manipulated and used by men in their own self-interest or prejudice. The problems of the world, it seems, reduce to this: how to purify religion. Clearly, it needs to be extracted from the political, commercial and cultural issues in which it has become trapped. But a religion which keeps aloof of such issues would be reduced to futility in this world. The answer to this dilemma is that having been purified it must be the master, not the slave, of these other issues.

The question of the diversity of religions remains. The inter-dependence of man requires not only a universal economic, political and cultural system, but also a Universal Religion if conflicts are to be avoided. We cannot, however, create a universal religion by borrowing and combining parts of other religions. This, too, will merely be a man-made religion, and still another addition to the number of diverse sects. Each religion is a consistent whole, and no natural consistent whole can be produced by borrowing parts which lose their meaning by separation. Variety is said to be the spice of life. Variety is also essential for a much more fundamental reason. Evolution depends on it. It ensures mutual stimulation and the arising of what is better adapted to changing conditions. Had there been only a single system with no alternatives then its degeneration would have been a disaster for mankind as a whole. That which is suited for people of one type under certain conditions is not suited for others in other conditions. There is a different medicine for different maladies. The created world is a unity formed from diversity. What is required is tolerance. Not merely in the sense that though others are wrong they have the right to their own behaviour. This kind of tolerance is merely a political device having no objective value. It condones the proliferation of what is harmful and does not facilitate progress. In fact criminals are not tolerated anywhere.

“For each people We have appointed a divine law and a traced out way. Had Allah willed He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He hath given you He has made you diverse. So vie with one another in good works. Unto Allah you will all be returned, and He will then inform you in that wherein you differ.” 5:48

Islam recognises the validity of other religions as originally taught by their founders without necessarily admitting that all their present practices or doctrines are correct, but of this Allah, not man, shall be the judge. This, however, is ineffective if the followers of other religions do not have a similar attitude. Muslims find themselves in conflict with Hindus in one place, Buddhists in another, Christians and Jews in still other places because of the differences in values, interests and ambitions. Apart from the rights and wrongs of their cases the fact is that such conflicts creates hostility towards Islam. Since Muslims are technologically and educationally backwards they inspire no interest in others and are likely to come off worst in a conflict. Muslims in the time of Muhammad, though also persecuted were not in such a disadvantageous position. At least they had a leader of incomparable ability. Christianity, in particular, appears to be the only religion with a history of intolerance towards other religions. And this was the main reason why stable political systems could not be established without disestablishing it. Neither could there be economic or scientific advance while the Church was in control. The result of this disestablishment, however, was also that morality was excluded from economic, political and cultural endeavours, and the control, balance, comprehensiveness, integrity and unity of life were destroyed. This shows itself in both psychological and social disintegration, and the alienation of man from his environment. The same is not true about Islam. It provides a fully comprehensive and wholly integrated view of life which must, therefore, guide and control the development of the economic, political and cultural systems while recognising the need for variety. The re-integration of life is an urgent need.

The Muslim world will have to concentrate its efforts in three inter-dependant directions:-

1. To undergo a spiritual regeneration and a psychological transformation.

2, To reconstruct and develop their own civilisation along Islamic principles but adapted to not only modern conditions but to the future. It must be able to solve the new problems of the present.

3, To fight an ideological battle. To at least make Islam understood to people of other religions and make other religions understood to Muslims. Hopefully, to unite religions in basic principles and purposes, but not necessarily in techniques and formulations. The real battle is not between religions, but between the spiritual, moral, intelligent, objective and purposive life and that which is devoid of these qualities.

The third purpose of this work is to contribute towards the purification, mutual understanding and reunification of Religion.

The problem is that people need religion but cannot understand the traditional formulations. Little or nothing has been done to re-interpret religion for the new age. There appears to be a choice only between four alternatives.

(a) To abandon religion and exist in a spiritual vacuum.

(b) To adhere to it and remain mal-adapted to the new conditions of life.

(c) To isolate oneself by joining some mystical society, and abandon the rest of the world. Unfortunately, since all things are inter-related, the rest of world has a habit of intruding.

(d) To adapt religion to the new conditions of life. But this is precisely the reason why religions have degenerated. People choose only those features which suit them and distort others in order to confirm their prejudices. They adapt religion to themselves instead of adapting to the religion. Since the purpose of religion is to transform a person, to bring him to a state higher than he is, then this kind of subjective reconstruction is worse than useless. There is also the increasing likelihood that diverse constructions will increase conflicts and disrupt the whole society.

The purpose of this book is to facilitate a reinterpretation, a reconstruction, and a revival, to present Islam in a more contemporary language understandable to Muslims and non- Muslims educated in the Western style, the style which dominates modern thinking, and to try to break the obsolete habits of thought, motivation and behaviour which still trap and hold back Muslims. It is not Islam which is obsolete, but Muslim attitudes conditioned by a culture whose day has gone. Apart from what applied to the specific conditions of the times when it was introduced, it also has something much more Universal to say and this can be applied to the contemporary situation. By attempting to deal with the modern problems Islam will, inevitably, be presented in an unfamiliar light which may be quite unacceptable to those who are highly conditioned by the traditional forms. But this risk must be taken.

Religion is a universal, and therefore, a single phenomena, though it manifested in different forms in different times and places. A distinction must, however, be made between the essence and intentions of the original teaching, the particular formulations and manner of presentation, the alterations and corruptions that enter it from extraneous sources, and the opinions, motives and practices of the people who profess to follow it. Islam, because its scriptures remain as originally recorded, offers the best insight into these teachings, though we must beware of the changes in connotation which words have undergone over the centuries. This book is not concerned with particular peoples, nations, organisations, sects, institutions, cultures, practices, habits, histories or dogmas, but only with the meaning of ‘Islam’ (Surrender).

The present age, because of the increasing emphasis on education, has a more rational climate rather than a devotional one. Though it began in the West, it is now spreading rapidly to the rest of the world. Intellectual understanding has become more important. This requires a systematised approach. This work is, therefore, presented in a systematised text book style. The advantage of this is that it facilitates understanding by emphasising certain relationships, But one system always excludes others. The same wood can be used to make tables, chairs, cupboards and so on, but having made a chair it cannot be a table. Even further, the same elements can make a great number of other things besides wood. A distinction between the system, the materials and the underlying principles must be kept in mind. Using the same principles it is possible to construct something which those who do not know them will fail to recognise. The Quran, however, is not systematised. It is more like nature where all things have multiple relationships. The advantage of this is that it is possible to create numerous systems for different purposes. In order to conform to this aspect of Islam, the book is constructed to contain several systems. A book, however, can only be written in a particular order. To discover the various systems the reader is requested to read the book several times in different sequences since each part has relevance to others. It not meant for light reading, but for study. Nevertheless, these systems should not be regarded as excluding other systems.

Many of the books about Islam tend to be either sectarian in nature, for or against Islam. When neutral external observers write about Islam they are generally incapable of distinguishing between what is essential to Islam and what is accidental. They also interpret what they see from the standpoint of their own assumptions and prejudices. No distinction is made between what the Prophet Muhammad taught and the additions made by lesser men, nor between the purposes which motivated the teachings and the particular forms they took in accordance with prevailing circumstances. Nor is religion something which could be understood from the outside. Only the participant can obtain the necessary experiences to understand it. There are also many books by writers who are both specialists in some modern discipline and have a sufficiently deep knowledge of Islam. They have attempted to reconcile the two or adapted one to the other. Though these attempts are laudable they tend to be rather technical and are understood only by the few other specialists in the same discipline. Muslim writers may be accused of having been conditioned by their culture, and that their faculties are, thereby, dulled. They have often, though not always, become so habituated to all the aspects of their faith that they are not aware of all its facets, of what they are doing and why. Though all attempts have been made, in this book, to approximate to the truth through objectivity, comprehensiveness and consistency, no guarantee can be given that this has, in fact, been achieved.

Many of the books on Islam are also merely descriptive in a rather superficial manner. Yet it is the foundations which are being questioned. Explanations and justifications need to be provided. As the population becomes more educated it becomes necessary to treat Islam in a more sophisticated manner and bring out its profounder aspects. The Quran has many levels of meaning to cater for all degrees of understanding. The purpose of this book is to bring out meanings at a level higher than normally found. But still higher interpretations of the Quran than those contained here can also be found by those who look for these. This work will serve as an intermediate rung for those who wish to climb the ladder of understanding.

It is not possible for Muslims to establish a high civilisation in future without education. It is the educated who become the leaders. Unfortunately, the leaders in Muslim countries have usually abandoned Islam in favour of Western culture. They are likely to create even worse problems than those created in the West. It is easier to adopt what is bad rather than the good. It is difficult to be selective, especially when all things in a system are inter-connected. The West created its institutions according to the conditions existing in the west and through a mentality inherent in them. The mentalities as well as the conditions are different in other places. It is not possible to transfer something adapted to one place into another without creating tensions and malfunctions. Having abandoned their roots such leaders have very little in common with the rest of the population, whom they see as primitives to be exploited for their own ends, thereby creating frustration and conflict. They have the power, but do not fulfil the role of leaders. And yet the power of an individual cannot be independent of the quality of the people they control. This book is, therefore, addressed to the educated. The welfare and development of the people depends on the quality of the civilisation. The quality of a civilisation depends on the quality of its leadership. The quality of the leadership depends on the quality of the educational system. And the quality of the educational system depends on how comprehensive, integrated and unified it is, and on the sophistication of its psychological transforming powers.

This book contains three sizes of type. The medium type contains quotations from the Quran and other Scriptures. This can be regarded either as the foundation or the evidence and reference for the main thesis of the book. The main thesis is contained in the large type, which can also be regarded as a commentary on the quotations. The small type contains further elaborations and arguments. In the first reading the parts in medium print may be omitted.

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There is little doubt that Islamic nations have degenerated and that Islam is badly misunderstood even by most Muslims. This has been recognized by many people, and attempts have been made to revive it. But despite the modern attempts at revival, deterioration continues. The symptoms of the disease may be listed as follows:-

1. The majority of the people, particularly the educated, the leaders and those who hold the power, are Muslim only in name. They neither know their religion, nor practice it. And yet, having identified themselves with the name, many react in a most passionate and unreasoning manner with respect to it. Many extraneous practices, ideas and institutions have entered into Islam corrupting it directly or indirectly by affecting the way it is interpreted.

2. The majority of those who appear to practice it do so as a habit, a ritual, or through fear or superstition. They do not understand what they are doing or why. Many even recite the Quran without knowing one word of Arabic, or without translation.. And even if they know it or read a translation they do not study, digest and assimilate the teaching. It is unlikely that this kind of Islam can survive for long, nor does it deserve to.

3. Others form attachment to dogmas and formulae whose significance they do not know. Religion is about Spirituality. But the word, spirit, is misunderstood. It does not refer to academic or intellectual interest and activity, or to emotionalism or sentimentality, or to habits of action, feeling and thought. They refer to consciousness, conscience and will.

4. Others have formed sentimental attachments to the book, the Quran, or to slogans, flags, emblems, buildings, persons, institutions or some other appendage to Islam. Some have taken to carrying about the pictures of their leaders in a form of Idolatry. These things have become gods. It is not realized that the Prophet, the Quran and the Muslim community are not to be respected for themselves, but because of the Teaching, and the Teaching is not respected for itself but because of its developmental results. Only Allah is to be worshipped. But many forms of idolatry have crept into Islam.

5. In many so called Islamic countries the Political leaders are worshippers of alien cultures, specially the Western, and have set up a secular state. The temptation is overwhelming to compromise Islam in order to gain ideological, political or commercial advantages and approval under pressure of Western criticism, power and wealth. Some Muslim countries are run by the most oppressive regimes, often supported by Western powers.

6. In countries where it is claimed that an Islamic government exists it is not difficult to see that the religion is merely being used as a means to govern and subdue the people in order to expand and maintain the power of some ruler or group. Indeed, this has happened in Islam since not long after the Prophets death.

7. In many Muslim countries the people are dominated by a self-appointed, uneducated priest class who are steeped in rigid habits of thought, prejudices, ignorance, misinterpretation, literalism, superficiality, naivety, plagiarisms and fantasies. Their minds are stuck in a rut and they have not kept up with developments in knowledge or changes in society. They have learnt the rudiments of Islam and the commentaries of scholars of a bygone age by rote, without understanding. They are quite unable to explain Islam in the light of modern knowledge and know so little about it as to feel justified in rabble rousing and even incitement to murder. It has not occurred to them that faith is not induced by coercion or mental conditioning, and that nowhere in the Quran is murder of dissidents justified. It is obviously not Allah’s work that they are doing but rather they are trying to establish their own ascendancy. So often in their mistaken enthusiasm they contradict in their behaviour the very doctrines they claim to support.

Islam certainly requires that the community should be ruled by able men who are learned in the Islamic scriptures. But they must also be wise and righteous, having applied it to themselves. Islam does not recognize professional priests, and certainly not ones who organize themselves into a party, class or church.

History shows that when a priest class, or a single party or organization dominates a people, it tends to be extremely intolerant of even slight opposition or criticism. It stifles enterprise, initiative and creativity. It creates the very opposition which it must now fight. This justifies its extremist measures but wastes its efforts and energies. It defends its power and privileges vigorously using oppression, persecution, torture, murder, suppression and extremism of all kinds. It whips up emotions and passions and uses mass hysteria, bigotry and methods of hypnosis and mental conditioning. All of these are the very reverse of the aims of Islam which is to get people to behave more intelligently and consciously.

The priests are after all only human with human failings. They, too, are affected by selfishness, prejudices, fantasy, greed, conceit, fears and superstitions, the capacity for self-deception and rationalization, proneness to anger when frustrated or opposed, to errors and illusions, narrow mindedness and hypocrisy. The greater the power over others the more dangerous they become. Only those individuals who have become aware of, and eradicated these sources of error can be trusted and have a right to lead or rule. Organizations and institutions usually loose all purpose but self-preservation.

Many people have seen these dangers and, therefore, have opposed the setting up of an Islamic State. But this opposition is usually based on self-interest and prejudice. They have usually been conditioned by Western education and their interests are connected with Western ones.

8. Many of those who are trying to revive Islam have ulterior motives. What motivates reformers and revivalists is not Islam as a goal, but to regain some past worldly glory, politically, economically or culturally. They want to regain the self-respect which was lost when the West dominated and exploited the Muslim countries. They do not understand that the purpose of Islam is spiritual in nature and not primarily political or economic. It is true that when Muslims adhered most closely to their religion they developed the highest Civilization and the Greatest Empire of the time. But this greatness was a result of a spiritual discipline which channeled psychological energies in certain directions. It was a by-product of spiritual excellence. It was lost through their own fault when this excellence was lost. The opposite is not true and is not likely to succeed. When the motive and goal is political or economic aggrandizement no beneficial spiritual results can be expected. Without channeling, psychic energy is merely squandered. If they want to return to the fundamentals of religion in order to achieve a high civilization or political power and wealth then they have the cart before the horse. They have confused cause with effect. To use religion for non-religious purposes is not religion. Nor is power, wealth or prestige necessarily a good thing or an indication of spiritual excellence and human welfare and happiness. The reverse is normally the case.

9. Many Muslims long to return to the past when they had the dominant civilization and political power. But it is not possible to return to the conditions which existed in ancient Arabia to which Islam was adapted by the original interpreters of Islam. One of the reasons for the decline of Islam was, no doubt, the fact that, though it was accepted as perfectly legitimate for able men to make such adaptations in the past, they did not continue to do so with changing times. The works of the masters of the past became sacrosanct. Stagnation set in. Other nations which had been stimulated to a large degree due to their contact with the Muslim world outstripped them and managed to dominate and, what is worse, even enslaved them culturally and mentally. Unfortunately, the new would-be reformers do not possess sufficient knowledge about the modern world to achieve a sensible reformation. The idea that it can be done through political means rather than educational is perhaps the worse aspect of this ignorance.

10. There is a dearth of high quality leadership in Muslim countries. The few who have this capacity tend to have been educated and conditioned in Western culture. They cease to understand either the people whom they wish to rule or the more sublime elements of their own culture. In fact they tend to look down on both their own people and their own culture. They compensate for the sense of inferiority which this creates in them by being harsher, more intolerant and behaving superciliously towards their own people.

11. Sectarianism, though expressly forbidden, started soon after the death of the Prophet. But it is getting worse as new sects continue to appear. These sects not merely argue about doctrines among themselves, but also fight bloody battles or persecute one another. Needless to say though they base their differences on religion, nothing of religion remains in their conduct.

People differ in their capacities and the kinds of experiences and knowledge they have. Opinions based on these will necessarily differ. It is essential that opinions be suspended. Progressive approximation to a common belief depends on the increasing comprehensiveness of knowledge and experience. In the meantime there are as many beliefs as there are people. Groupings are quite artificial.

A second source of difference is language. People can call anything by any name they like. The same thing can have many different names, giving the impression that they are all different things. On the other hand, the same name can be used for totally different things. It happens, therefore, that what is called Islam by some people is not at all the same thing which is known by the same word among other people, and may have little or no resemblance to what it originally meant. Indeed, people may disagree violently about words whereas in reality they are in agreement. Others agree about words but because they understand them differently, they are, in reality, in disagreement. Disagreement may also exist because each has a partial view and sees the same thing from a different angle. This is often true about sects and even different religions.

A Muslim may well have beliefs differing from another Muslim while resembling that of someone who professes another religion. The distinction between sects becomes absurd.

The third cause of sectarianism is ignorance about the nature of religion. Its purpose is not dogmas, rituals or institutions but the development of character. If the goal was to be the same then differences in method would not have caused conflict and argument.

12. Only a small part of the teaching is applied while other parts are neglected. The rituals are often kept without the morality or the knowledge. Variation is caused by different selection of elements. In so far as Islam is a single comprehensive whole, selection of a few elements make it useless. Some of the major sources of error, the Quran points out, are bias, the tendency to concentrate attention on some aspects of a subject while forgetting others, to change the context or even the wording, thereby making wrong associations, to add extraneous matters, and to speculate.

“But those who did wrong changed the word which had been given them for another saying..” 2:59

“Therefore woe be unto those who write the Scripture with their hands and then say: This is from Allah; that they may purchase a small gain therewith. Woe unto them for that their hands have written, and woe unto them for that which they earn thereby.” 2:79

“Those unto whom We have given the Scripture recognize it as they recognize their own sons. But lo! a party of them knowingly conceal the truth.” 2:146

“Lo! those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers, and seek to make distinctions between Allah and His messengers, and say: We believe in some and disbelieve in others and seek to choose a way between, such are disbelievers in truth; and for disbelievers We prepare a shameful doom.” 4:150-151

“And because of their breaking of their covenants We have cursed them and made hard their hearts. They change words from their context and forget part of that whereof they were admonished. Thou wilt not cease to discover treachery from all but a few of them...” 5:13

“Say: O People of the Scripture! Stress not in your religion other than the truth and follow not the vain desires of folk who erred in the past and led many astray, and erred from a plain road.” 5:77

“And when you see those who meddle with Our revelations, withdraw from them until they meddle with another topic. And if the devil cause you to forget, sit not, after the remembrance, with the congregation of wrong doers.” 6:68

“Would ye wrangle with me over names which you have named, you and your fathers, for which no warrant from Allah has been revealed?..”7:71

“Most of them follow nothing but conjecture. Assuredly, conjecture can by no means take the place of truth.” 10:37

It is probably correct to say that Islam has, to a large extent for many people, ceased to be a religious or spiritual movement. It is now a culture, or a social, political or even an economic movement, if it is more than merely a habit, an automatism or even a local idiosyncrasy.

A distinction should be made between the Islamic State, Muslim communities and individual Muslims. An Islamic State ceased to exist soon after the death of the Prophet and the first four, known as the Righteous Caliphs. The later rulers were more concerned with secular power and there were many conflicts between Muslims and their Rulers which exist to this day. It led to disputation, sectarianism and civil wars, and the gradual degeneration of the Islamic community. Nevertheless, there are still a great number of individual Muslims who study and adhere to the faith and strive to live by its ideals.

The Prophet Muhammad himself predicted the degeneration of Islam:-

”The best of my people are in my generation, then their immediate followers, then their immediate followers. After them will be people who give testimony without being asked, who will be treacherous and not to be trusted, who will make vows which they do not fulfil; among whom fatness will appear.”

”A time is soon coming to mankind when nothing of Islam but its name will remain and only the written form of the Quran will remain. Their mosques will be in fine condition but will be devoid of guidance; their learned men will be the worst of people under heaven; corruption coming forth from them and returning among them.”

Ziyad asked the Prophet, “How can knowledge depart when we recite the Quran and teach it to our children and they will teach it to their children up till the day of resurrection?”. The Prophet replied, “I am astonished at you Ziyad. I thought you were the most learned man in Medina. Do not these Jews and Christians read the Torah and the Bible without knowing a thing about their contents?”

”This religion began with a few in number and will return to the state in which it began. Blessed are the few, for they will set right the corruptions caused in my Sunna by the people after my death.”

”The Bani Israel divided into 72 sects, but my people will divide into 73 sects, all of which but one will go to hell....And folk will come forth from among my people in whom passions will run as does hydrophobia in one who suffers from it, permeating every vein and joint.”

”No people have gone astray after following right guidance unless they have been led into disputation.”

”Disputation about the Quran is infidelity. It was just on this account that your predecessors perished. They set parts of God’s Book against others whereas God’s Books were sent down only to be consistent. So do not use parts to falsify others. Speak about as much of it as you know, but where you are ignorant entrust it to him who knows.”

”When the sword is used among my people it will not be withdrawn from them till the day of resurrection; and the Last Hour will not come before the tribes of my people attach themselves to the polytheists and the tribes of my people worship idols. There will be among my people thirty Great Liars each of them asserting that he is God’s Prophet, whereas I am the Seal of the Prophets after whom there will be no prophets. But a section of my people will continue to hold the truth till God’s Command comes and will prevail and will not be injured by those who oppose them.”

”Let him who interprets the Quran in the light of his opinions without knowledge come to his abode in Hell.”

In view of these statements by the Prophet we must decide whether the Prophet was mistaken, or was he lying or is there something really wrong with the Muslims of today. Some say that Islam is dead. Its spirit has departed. Only its body remains and is putrefying. Though there is some truth in this, there are still a great many Muslims who take the teaching seriously, apply it to their lives and benefit from its developmental force. It is true that they are educationally, technically and politically backwards, but there is far less crime, fraud, debauchery, violence and perversion among them than in the West. Family life has not collapsed. They are a gentler, humbler and friendlier people and they are less self-centred, selfish, materialistic and violent. Nor are wealth, power and prestige good criteria by which to judge people. Perhaps Islam has only lost its vigour due to infection, or fallen asleep. Perhaps it can be resurrected, revived or awakened. Some say it is obsolete because the times have changed. On the other hand it might be pointed out that Islam itself is intact in the Quran and the Hadith, it is the people who have degenerated. Allah knows best.

The degeneration of religion was predicted also in other religions, by Moses in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament (Matthew 24, 2 Timothy 3, Revelations). Similar predictions are to be found in Hindu and Buddhist scriptures.

“Systems have passed away before you. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of the consequences for those who did deny the messengers.” 3:137

“If He will, He can remove you, O people, and produce others in your stead.” 4:133

“For every announcement there is a term, and you will come to know.” 6:67

Thus the Quran tells us that there is only a particular term for each dispensation of religion. The period ends with the creation of a new earth and a new heaven. That is, the external environment, the physical and social conditions of life will change and this will be accompanied by a change in the spiritual, psychological, and ideological conditions.

“On the day when the earth will be changed to a different earth and so will the heavens. And men will be marshalled forth before Allah, the One, the Irresistible.” 14:48

The Prophet also predicted that there would be change, reformation and regeneration.

“In the times in which you are living anyone who abandons a tenth of what he is commanded will perish; but a time is coming when anyone who does a tenth of what he is commanded will be safe.”

“In every successive century those who are reliable authorities will preserve this knowledge, rejecting the changes made by extremists, the plagiarisms of those who make false claims for themselves, and the interpretations of the ignorant.”

“A section of my people will not cease to fight for the Truth and prevail until the day of resurrection.”

“My companions are stars; whomsoever of them you follow, you will be rightly guided.”

Though Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last of the Prophets, on the strength of the above quoted Hadith and Quran 33:40, the Prophet Muhammad also predicted the return of Jesus. This may be interpreted as a return of a Messenger. How is this apparent contradiction to be explained? The explanation lies in the difference between Nabi (Prophets) who bring a new Scripture and Law and dominate an entire age and Rasul (Messengers) who are reformers within a dispensation of religion. Some people, like the Muhammad (saw) can be both. The word messenger is also used in a more restricted sense to refer to someone who warns a city or community. The verses quoted do not tell us that there will be no further Messengers, but only that there will be no prophets.

The Quran, moreover, tells us :-

“He it is who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of Truth, that He may make it conqueror of all religion, however much idolaters may be averse.” 61:9

“There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error.” 2:256

“And say: Truth has come and falsehood has vanished. Lo! Falsehood is ever bound to vanish.” 17:81

Thus the emphasis in Islam is on Truth, in education rather than compulsion or mental conditioning.

Consider also the following:-

”Abraham was not a Jew, nor yet a Christian; but he was an upright man who had surrendered to Allah, and he was not of the Idolaters..... So follow the religion of Abraham, the upright.” 3:67,95

The message here, though referring to the Jews and Christians, is much more universal. It implies that Religion is not a question of belonging to this or that sect, but of uprightness. It, therefore, applies also to Muslims.

This is enough, I think, to show that Islam is not what people ordinarily think it is. Those who accept Muhammad as their Prophet ought to take note of these predictions, and start to question themselves whether what they are following is, indeed, Islam. They ought to go out and find themselves a true teacher. The present author, however, does not claim to be such a teacher.

It is necessary, therefore, to look a little deeper, to find the essential meaning of Islam. The distinction between what is universal in it and what is particular to a certain place and time is very important. So is the distinction between what belongs to it and what is extraneous or accidental.

However, a word of warning, though attempts have been made here at impartiality and comprehensiveness, there is no certainty that this has been achieved. The reader, too, may understand something quite differently from what the writer is trying to convey. The purpose of this book is to make suggestions; not that it should be taken as the final truth, but that it will encourage the reader to abandon preconceptions and conditioned thinking and seek the truth for himself. The shock value of something which is controversial should not be underestimated in this connection.

Some writers select particular verses to support their argument, while others select other verses to support contradictory arguments. The method used here consists of an attempt to get as many of the verses which might be relevant to a given topic as far as possible, and to draw out a conclusion from them. Selecting some verses only will lead to a partial truth. It is perfectly possible that contradictory ideas are nevertheless equally true given different circumstances. Since all things in the Quran, as in nature, are interconnected, it is almost impossible to bring to bear all relevant verses when dealing with a topic. A selection has to be made after all. Knowledge is progressive. One state of Knowledge is, therefore, higher than another, but lower than a third. No claim can be made, or is made, that this book contains the final truth.

No one can, in fact, be certain of the complete truth. It is only possible to approach it gradually by continuous study and research and self-development. The greatest enemies of this are arrogance and fanaticism. And both of these are maintained by ignorance. Where there is fanaticism, extremism, rigidity and automatism there, without doubt, we will find ulterior motives which have no connection with the search for Truth or Goodness. On the contrary many of those who talk most and are most passionate about their religion, are also those who are most mistaken and most contradict it in their behaviour. It is common knowledge by now that a great number of the followers of religions which teach love have committed the most awful atrocities and cruelties. It is hoped that the followers of the religion of truth do not emulate this by adhering to, and propagating the most foul errors and falsehoods, and that this book will help in preventing such an occurrence.

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