In today’s society, this question is often raised as many people feel that religion is the cause of the wars, that it is too restrictive that it creates hate and division, therefore is there really a need for religion? But what is religion?
We would define religion as:-
Religion is a divine system of beliefs, acts of worship, and rules of conduct to enable human beings to achieve nearness to Allah and to lead a peaceful life.
Therefore the real purpose of any religion should be to help you achieve nearness to God and thereby help attain a peaceful life. This is what we are taught in Islam.
So this is the first thing why we need a religion, as it is through religion that we find out our purpose in life. Why were we created? Why are we here?
I often ask people these questions, and the most common reply is ‘to be a good person’, ‘live a good life’. But what is a good person, how can we define it? What is a good life?
If there is a creator, then He must have created us for a purpose. Islam teaches us that purpose as it explains that Allah, the One God, is the Creator and the Master of all of us. Therefore, He alone can appoint a purpose for us. The Holy Qur’an, which is the word of God, makes reference to this objective as follows:
‘I have created jinn and men so that they (may know Me) and worship Me.’ (Holy Qur’an Chapter 51, verse 57)
In Islam we understand that it is through the worship of the One God, that we can become a good person and lead a good life. ‘Islam’ is an Arabic word which means: ‘Obedience and Peace’. Islam thus means:
complete submission to the will of God and to be at peace with all the creatures of God.
In other words, the fundamental purpose of Islam is to bring back mankind to its Creator and to improve the quality of human relationships. Islam provides a complete code of life, which is found in the Holy Qur’an – Word of Allah and the Ahadith – Traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, (s.a.w).
The religion of Islam guides us to not only worship our Creator, but also to serve all His creation. For instance, the Holy Qur’an relates:
“Show kindness to parents and to kindred and orphans and the needy and to the neighbour that is a kinsman and the neighbour that is a stranger and to the companion by your side and the wayfarer” Chapter 4, verse 37
But it is very important that we follow those teachings correctly. This has been the main problem with religion and why people get disillusioned with it, as the followers of a religion, do not follow what the One God has taught, instead, they often follow their own desires and try to portray it as a teaching from God.
But the One God has always taught us to ‘Love thy Neighbour’, ‘to help and serve mankind’, that is the real message of any true religion from the One God. As a Muslim, which means ‘one who has submitted to the One God’, we are taught that all true religions have stemmed from the One God, therefore we respect all of God’s prophets and Holy Books, no matter which religion they followed. These are all paths leading to the same goal – to worship the One God and lead a good life.
We believe that Islam has come as a fulfilment of all the previous messages from the One God, and that is why you can find similar messages from previous prophets, as it has all come from the same One God. Therefore, we look at Islam as the final message for all mankind, to help mankind worship the One God and lead that good life. But it is vital that we follow that message.
To help bring mankind together in this day and age, we believe that the One God has sent His servant Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, the awaited one of all religions, to help unite mankind and bring peace.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (a.s.) has said:
“The mission for which I have been appointed is to remove that growing gap in the relationship between God and His creation and replace it once again with the relationship of love and sincerity; and by allowing the truth to manifest itself, cause religious wars and discord to end and thus lay the foundation for peace.”
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, said:
“When the Promised Messiah outlined the objectives of his coming, it clearly means that his followers too should demonstrate these qualities in themselves and thus reveal Islam’s beauty and its status as a living religion. Thus, our foremost responsibility is to strengthen our relationship with God, foster our ties of love and sincerity with the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
To this end, our own deeds should be such as are worthy of being followed. We will have to set high examples in terms of spirituality and do away with our carnal desires and show the world that God listens and responds to His servants today just as He did in the past. We have to tell the world that God is One, He has no peer, and that our survival depends on being attached to Him.”
He has stressed on the importance of following the true teachings of religion. Therefore, we need a religion as it explains that:
Religion is a divine system of beliefs, acts of worship, and rules of conduct.
We can all try to live a good life but based on what? The moral values that we had in this country not so long ago, we are slowing losing, but those moral values were based on religion. The 10 commandments and other teachings of religion were given to us to help us to be good and strive for our betterment. But the main ingredient has always been to strive to please God. That is the motivation to do good. If you remove God from the equation, then what is your foundation to know what is good? Your foundation would then become your own desires. What you feel is right and wrong. But what you may feel is right, someone else may feel is wrong. If you run after winning your own pleasure, then to achieve that, may make you do things which you know is not right, but it will help you to achieve your goal. Therefore, we may abuse the rights of others, lie, cheat etc. but justify it by saying to ourselves we are ‘doing the greater good’.
This is the great danger, when you strive to please yourself, then your wealth or position may make you arrogant and you may abuse the rights of others. But religion teaches us that we are all answerable for every action we do, answerable to our Maker, therefore we should strive to please our God, as this world is only a beginning of a very long journey. So, religion guides us on how to behave and stresses on justice for all. For instance, the Holy Qur’an teaches us about the three roots of evil which can eat away and destroy a person’s spirituality. They are pride, greed and jealousy.
This has also been beautifully explained by the Holy Prophet who said:
“Three things are the roots of every sin. One should avoid them. Refrain from arrogance because it was due to arrogance that Satan was instigated not to prostrate to Adam. Second, stay away from greed because it was greed that made Adam eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Third, avoid jealousy because it was out of jealousy that one of Adam’s sons killed his brother.”
Islam teaches us to strive to be humble and obedient to the One God. If we do that, then we can not only find peace in this life, but also the next. This is something that surely we all desire, peace, real inner peace. But how to achieve it? Islam teaches that it all stems from first developing your relationship with the One God. That is as I have already said, our real purpose in life, to develop that strong relationship with God. Islam teaches that we must put God first before everyone and everything. But what that in fact does is change your whole direction in life. Instead of putting your own needs and desires first, you instead do things to win the pleasure of God. You submit to His will and strive to follow His commandments, seeking His pleasure. So that now instead of saying ‘I want this, give me that’, now you think, if I do or say such a thing, will God be pleased?
Once you have started such a path, then you continuously strive for the reward of God, by that we mean that you follow His teachings and strive to please Him, just as you would strive to please your parents, hoping they will be pleased with you.
Once you have put God first and developed a close relationship with your Maker, then you find real inner peace as you become content with whatever you have. The more bounties from God you receive, the happier you are. Once you have real inner peace, then you will have peace with your family and friends, with your neighbours and in turn that will create a good society, a God-fearing society. It is only then that you can have international peace as you strive to help others, purely for the sake of God.
This is all summed up in a beautiful saying of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who said:
“None of you is a true believer unless he likes for others that which he likes for himself.”
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, has explained the need of religion, he said:
“Islam teaches us to always be mindful towards God Who is our Creator and to always keep His memory fresh in our hearts and to deal with His creation with love, affection, harmony and tolerance.”
If we follow religion properly, then mankind will find the peace and love it desires, but if we continue to misuse the religion and blame religion for our own weaknesses, then the result will be that we will lose are connection with our Maker, lose our purpose in life and destroy ourselves, mankind and all God’s creation.