Anwar Hussain

Many paths, one destination‏
From: Venugopal Kaikulath (venu1005@hotmail.com)
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 11:01:38 PM
To: anwarhussainmomin@yahoo.co.in
Dear Shri Anwar Hussain, Thank you for your reply. Please take your time to reply and I would too, as it gives us time to reflect on what the other has said and write thoughtfully. But correspond we must. 1. When you say that Islam is as old as mankind, you must be taking the meaning of Islam as a generic word meaning, say, religion. Of course, religion is as old as mankind. However, to claim such antiquity for the religion that came to be after Mohammad is erroneous because it is well known that Mohammad was born in the 7th century AD and what we know today as Islam is the religion that flowed out of Mohammad. (Out of Allah, yes – everything flowed and flows out of Allah. Hindus have no dispute on that. Some of us call Allah as Krishna, others Shiva and yet others as Ishwar. The discussion really is about the Islamic culture that has come to be after the teachings of Mohammad.) The Muslim, in saying that Islam has been there since the beginning is only trying to give Islam the hallowedness of age it does not have. Hinduism came before Islam and so have Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity. 2. Since you believe that the Quran is the only word of God that is extant in the world today, when you say God never sanctioned idol worship, you of course refer to what he said in the Quran. But the Hindus believe in innumerable scriptures, ideas, thoughts etc. Among the well-known scriptures of the Hindus are the scriptures of Tantra, which is the basis of idol worship. 3. I agree that Muslims do not worship any idol of Mohammad, but this is because they have been strictly prohibited from doing so. But Islam has the biggest idol of them all – the Kaaba. It serves as an idol for the Muslims because to say that Muslims need a direction to offer prayers to God is illogical as Islam believes, I think, that God is all pervading. 4. You say an idol is a mere stone. I say an idol is a mere stone as much as the Quran is a mere book. 5. You ask if it is right to worship an idol, which is made by our own hands. This is like asking if it is right to listen to the Quran as the voice of God since it was first heard though the voice of Mohammad, a mere mortal. 6. You point out the irony of man creating gods through idols. In creating idols, man is only bringing to his mind the gods, who would be existent even if the idols are not there, just as electricity is existent everywhere, but we require special technology to experience its presence through the electrical circuit etc. 7. In worshiping the creation, you are worshiping the creator because for the ordinary man the creation is the closest he can get to the creator. In fact, only Hinduism believes you can get to the Creator and meagre in him; Islam believes man, the created, is forever separated from his Creator. 8. Incidentally, may I ask, why do Muslims say ‘peace be upon him?’ every time they mention Mohammad and other selected individuals? They omit to say that about others they might refer to (Krishna, for instance); does this not mean that Muslims hold Mohammad in a special position? Is this not a form of idol worship? Otherwise, why would you want to hold the messenger in a special position? Is not the message itself enough? 9. Remember the saying, ‘one man’s meat is another’s poison’ and you would be able to place in perspective your statement ‘Prophet Mohammad and Prophet Ibrahim only showed their intolerance towards something which was false’. False for some, but not for others. 10. It appears that anything that doesn’t agree with what is said in the Quran is for the Muslim a falsehood. But for many others, the Quran itself is a falsehood. (If you are interested, I can quote the comments on the Quran by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the famous founder of Arya Samaj.) 11. You also say in your letter that everyone must think before accepting a religion. Unfortunately this is contradicted by the culture of Islam. A person born a Muslim is not permitted to renounce his religion. If he attempts to do so, he is punished by death. Islam teaches that it is the only true religion. Muslims accept that only the words of Quran are true and anything contradicting it is untrue. If Mohammad and Muslims believe that idol worship is wrong then they should by all means stick to the practice of this belief. But do they have the right to destroy or question others beliefs? Taking recourse to the justification that Allah said so in the Quran is to first accept that what is said there is the absolute truth. Such acceptance can only be an act of faith or blind belief, because if everything said in the Quran were the absolute truth, then there would have been no need for the Muslims or anyone to interpret the Quran, as absolute truth is absolutely obvious. 12. Could it not be truer that the Quran is only the expression of an individual’s spiritual experience interpolated with the culture of the Arabs (and Jews)? Such spiritual experiences, as Mohammad had, was not unique. Down through the ages innumerable people have had spiritual experiences and they have expressed it in various ways and have shown the path to other seekers. 13. Going by the actions of Prophet Mohammed, it is obvious that he had lapses from his exalted state, which he achieved after meditating in the Herat caves. For even I, a non-Muslim, consider the Quran (having read it in its English translation) an exquisite product. But within its body are verses that reek intolerance. Why, the very first verse quoted in the site you recommend for me to learn about Islam says: “THERE IS NO DEITY WORTHY OF WORSHIP EXCEPT ALLAH, AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS MESSENGER!” Does this verse not indicate an intolerance? 14. You say that idol worship is considered wrong even by the revered books of Hindus. Remember, there are innumerable religious books of the Hindus. The branch of Hinduism following the religious books of Tantra not just believe in idol worship, but have prescribed elaborate rules and regulations regarding idol worship. 15. You ask why do Hindus tolerate what their own revered books do not tolerate? Because, I suppose, the Hindus are not stuck with just one scripture! I hope I have taken your arguments in the right spirit. Hinduism is not merely a single monolithic religion. Hinduism is actually a spiritual culture that has been expressing itself and continues to express itself in a variety of religions (teachings). I am not attempting to teach you any religion. But I hope to convince you that unless we have a culture of acceptance of many ways to reach Allah, the clash of civilisations is not going to end. In this spirit, I invite you to be a Hindu! Islam your religion and Hinduism your culture. P.S. I have begun to visit the sight you recommended. I shall comment on what I read there in due course of time. Love,Venu
Re: Your letter in Asian Age‏
From: anwar hussain (anwarhussainmomin@yahoo.co.in)
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Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 7:41:39 PM
To: Venugopal Kaikulath (venu1005@hotmail.com)
Dear Venugopal Kaikulath Sahab

Thank you for your letter. I am sorry for replying to you so late.

Islam, the religion of monotheism, is as old as mankind. God never sanctioned idol worship or polytheism i.e. the worship of more than one deities. In the past when some pious persons died, their admirers made statues of these persons to remember them. Later they started worshipping these statues leading to idol worship. An idol is a mere stone. Is it right to make an idol with your hands and worship it? God Who is just one created man and man made many gods!
You must worship the One Creator and not His Creation.

When Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and before him Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) destroyed idols, they only showed their intolerance towards something which was false. You cannot tolerate falsehood in the name of tolerance towards any faith.

You must always examine any religious belief before accepting it. Do not just blindly copy others. Do not just blindly do what your forefathers have been doing. When one buys a thing from a shop, he spends a great time examining its quality before buying it. But in matters of faith, many people are so
careless that they worship stones, sun, moon, plants and animals and yet consider themselves as educated and intellectuals!

It has been shown to us that idol worship is considered as wrong even by the revered books of Hindus. Now why do Hindus tolerate what their own revered books do not tolerate?

Hope you will take my arguments in the right spirit and not get offended.

I invite you to study Islam. You may visit the following website:

http://www.islamworld.net/

Do keep communicating with me.

With Best Wishes,

Anwar Hussain

Venugopal Kaikulath wrote:
20.01.06Dear Anwar Hussain saab,I read your letter in the Asian Age of 19th July where you said all are Muslims who want to follow Islamic teachings and calling some Islamists who want to live according to the Islamic Shariah would suppose there are Muslims who are non-Islamists. What you say is, by experience, true. All consider themselves Muslims, including Ahmediyas who are not allowed to consider themselves so by the Pakistani government. Then again there are the Sunnis and Shias, all Muslims but who still consider each other different. So probably the writer sought to call the more conservative Muslims Islamists. These are nomenclatures and could be useful to differentiate the heterogeneity that Islam has actually turned out to be.If you would be kind enough, I request you to please enlighten me on why Prophet Mohammad had to cleanse Mecca of its idols in order to begin his religion? Does this not prove that Mohammad was intolerant of other religions? (You might say that he only reclaimed the Grand Mosque, which was defiled by the idols, for Islam. This implies that Islam existed before Mohammad taught it. If it indeed existed and traces its origin to Prophet Ibrahim, all I have to say is that Prophet Ibrahim too was an iconoclast, who started off by breaking the idols his father worshipped. Anyways, intolerance!).Awaiting your comments.RegardsVenugopal