By Dr. Waseem A. Sayed, Chino Hills, CA
Does religion oppress women? Does faith terrorize people? If religion has to do with God and if God is the Being Who created everything, including men and women, it would make sense to say, 'no, religion could not possibly teach oppression of women or terrorizing of God's creation.'.
The problem is that just like fission and fusion, atomic energy, another creation of God; God puts it to great use, but us humans, well there are those who, like God, do good with it and then there are others who have sinister things in mind.
I think a more important question for everyone to consider is: Does denying the existence of God somehow make one a lover of all things good and hater of all evil and so meek and gentle as to know naught but good?
I think not! In the recent past we have had a grand display of what horrible things atheists are capable of. Well, just study the history of Communism and all the wonderful non-oppressive things these atheists were responsible for!
To better understand things we need to know what religion truly is. I think these quotes will help:
"Religion does not mean disputes, abuse and harsh words which are indulged in, in the name of religion. In this context, no one pays attention to the suppression of inner vices or the establishment of true relationship with the Beloved. One party attacks another party like dogs and every kind of ill conduct is exhibited in support of religion. Such people do not realize why they came into this world and what is the main purpose of their lives. They continue blind and ill-natured and give their bigoted sentiments the name of religion. They exhibit their bad manners and employ their loose tongues in support of a fictitious god of whose existence they have no proof. Of what use is a religion which does not teach the worship of a Living God? The God that they present is no better than a corpse. He walks with the support of others. When that support is withdrawn, he falls to the ground. The only thing they gain from such a religion is bigotry. They lack altogether true mindfulness of God and true sympathy with mankind which is the best of characteristics."
"The true purpose of adopting a faith is that one should acquire such certainty concerning God, Who is the fountainhead of salvation, as if one can see Him with one's eyes. The wicked spirit of sin seeks to destroy a man and a person cannot escape the fatal poison of sin till he believes with full certainty in the Perfect and Living God and till he knows for certain that God exists, Who punishes the offender and bestows upon a righteous one every lasting joy. It is a common experience that when one believes in the fatal effects of anything one does not have recourse to it. For instance, no one swallows poison consciously. No one deliberately stands in front of a wild tiger. No one deliberately thrusts his hand into the hole of a serpent. Then why does a person commit sin deliberately? The reason is that he has not that certainty in this matter as he has in other matters of the kind that we have mentioned. The first duty of a person, therefore, is to acquire certainty with regard to the existence of God, and to adopt a religion through which this certainty can be acquired so that he should fear God and shun sin. How can such certainty be acquired? It cannot be acquired through mere stories. It cannot be acquired through mere arguments. The only way of acquiring certainty is to experience God repeatedly through converse with Him or through witnessing his extraordinary signs, or by keeping company with someone who has that experience."
These are quotes from the writings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, Founder of the the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and can be found at www.alislam.org.
Download introductory brochure: Intoduction to Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
View introductory video: Islam Ahmadiyyat - Revival of Faith
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