towards life. “All living religions” says William Ernest Hocking, “are
wretched vessels. They are all wrapped in sanctimony, dusty-eyed
with self-satisfaction, stiff-jointed with the rheum-rust of their
creedal conceits, so timorous under the whips of conformity that
(4)
only a few dare the perilous task of thinking.” Russell is clearer on
the point when he says:
Religion prevents our children from having a rational education;
religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of war;
religion prevents us from teaching the ethic of scientific co-operation
in place of the old fierce doctrines of sin and punishment. It is possible
that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be
necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon
is religion. (5)
Our age thus poses an open challenge to religion.
This challenge is not entirely unprecedented. Fourteen centuries
ago religion faced a similar challenge – and a formidable one at that.
This challenge was held out by the Qur’an. It openly challenged the
religions of the day: Judaism, Christianity, Manichaeism, idol-
worship, star-worship, nature-worship and superstition. What is
more, it not merely challenged the truth and validity of the elements
of a particular form of religion, but also emphasised that “religion”
itself was based on false foundations.
This assertion is likely to cause surprise not only to non-Muslims
but even to Muslims. It may be argued that Islam itself is a religion
(and the Qur’an is a book of religion) and to say that the Qur’an is
the standard-bearer of a revolt against religion is a contradiction in
terms. In fact, however, this is not a contradiction but may merely be
termed as a paradox, which arises from a fundamental fallacy and a
widely accepted misconception about the nature of Islam. Islam is
generally regarded as a religion (madhhab) whereas in fact it is not a
madhhab but a deen. Now madhhab and deen, which are generally
treated as synonymous, are not only essentially different concepts
but are mutually contradictory. So, the fundamental difference
between the two must be clearly understood before the assertion
made above can be properly appreciated. A proper understanding
of this difference is also essential for the deliverance of mankind
from the deadly crises in which it finds itself today.
The Qur’an tells us that when man began to live in groups, a clash
Introduction 7