If we expect God to subscribe to one religion at the exclusion of the others, then we should expect damnation as a matter of chance.
SAM HARRIS
Sacred Space, The Times of India, July 16, 2013, p. 14
The statement of Sam Harris given above set me thinking. I can feel the pain and the grief in his observation that damnation, and eternal damnation at that, is a matter of chance. This is to say, birth in a particular religious community is a matter of chance and an overwhelming majority of people tend naturally to follow in the footsteps of the parents in particular and follow the ancestral tradition in general. They turn a blind eye to the presence of other religions contending for their attention, cooperation and compliance. They have no time to spare for a comparison with and an evaluation of other religions and, consequently, either they trust the wisdom of the ancestors and follow the line of least resistance and prefer to be conformists as a measure of safety or they take refuge in a buzz concept like spirituality, which it is claimed, is beyond and superior to religion on the ostensible ground that spirituality seeks understanding whereas religion seeks reward.
This distinction is questionable but the fact remains that adherence to spirituality in practice does not seem to disturb conformity to religion. If they are born in a religious tradition not patronised by God, it follows that they will be doomed and damned on account of the odd circumstance of their being born by chance in a particular religious community.
The reason for such a massive catastrophe is not a human error of judgment but a wanton and deliberate partiality shown by God towards a particular religion for no rhyme or reason, ignoring the claims of a plethora of religions. This line of thinking echoes somewhat the following lines:
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; / They kill us for their sport.
Is it possible for God to be unaware of the tragic consequences that will unavoidably result when He subscribes to one religion? Is His personal indulgence of greater consequence than the indescribable sufferings of the millions of human beings? Is God so full of fads and fancies that He overlooks their tremendous impact upon the unsuspecting human creation of His? The answer to each question is in the negative. Then, doesn’t God prefer one religion to another? If He does, why does He do so?
It is an undeniable fact that each religious group claims to follow God’s own religion. The Qur’ān quotes the claims of the Jews and the Christians, “The Jews say: The Christians have no basis for their beliefs; and the Christians say: The Jews have no basis for their beliefs.” (2:113) “They say: None shall enter the Garden unless he be a Jew or (according to the Christians), a Christian. These are their vain desires.” (2:111) Prophet Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, will he be denied admission to the Garden?
Even the great Gautama Buddha claimed monopoly of truth for his teachings. “A wanderer asked whether other Samana leaders had attained true knowledge. Rather than say that their religious systems were wrong and his right, the Buddha simply indicated that the crucial ingredient of any such system was the Noble Eight- factored Path: only then it could lead to full Arahatship. He saw such a Path as absent from other teachings that he knew of.” (Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism, II edition, p.27)
The religion of Islam is no exception to this rule. It claims to be Deen- e- Haq, The True Religion. The difference in claim is that it is advanced by God also along with the followers of Islam. The Qur’ān records this claim. “The true Religion with Allah is Al- Islam.” (3:19) The conditional clause in the statement of Sam Harris echoes this Qur’ānic verse: And whoever seeks a way other than this way of submission – Islam – will find that it will not be accepted from him and he will be among the losers in the Life to come. (3:85)
The reasons for Islam to be so exclusive are stated in the Qur’ān. “Do they now seek a religion other than that prescribed by Allah and this despite all that is in the heavens and the earth is in submission to Him – willingly or unwillingly – and to Him all shall return?” (3:83) Islam is a religion which preaches total surrender to Allah and is prescribed and founded by Allah Himself. The whole universe, willingly or unwillingly, is submissive to Allah and discretion demands that mankind should not be an island of alienation. Moreover, all have to return to Him to be answerable to Him.
Allah has created us and He alone can tell us why He has created us and how we can fulfil the purpose of our life. And that is guidance. Allah looks upon the task of guidance as His responsibility and has been guiding mankind down the ages. And that guidance is described as Islam. Total surrender to one Creator – God – is Islam.
Allah created us with the sole purpose that we should glorify Him and He should be the pivot around which our lives should revolve. Therefore, He revealed the religion of Islam most suited for the purpose to every Prophet that He sent as models to the communities concerned. In due course, changes occurred and the focus which should be on God shifted to either the Prophet or the innovation in the Message. So, Allah decided to reveal once and for all Islam and ensure that it should be the final religion with no prospect of either the Prophet usurping His status or of the Message losing its textual purity.
Consequently, Allah renewed the religion given to the Prophets earlier, enunciated it through the Qur’ān and Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him), christened it as Al-Islam, i.e., peace secured through total surrender to God, evolved the religion and nursed it to perfection during the 23-year long ministry of the Prophet, stamped on it His official approval and recognition, christened the followers of Islam as Muslims, chose it as a standard way of life for the Muslim community, impressed upon the Muslim community that Islam is a divine favour and gift to them, promised them that He would firmly establish the religion on earth and enable it to prevail in the long run against all odds, completed His favour and only then recalled the Prophet and assured the Muslims that the pristine purity of the text of the Qur’ān would be preserved at all costs as a deciding factor for the predominance of Islam for which it is predestined and lent help in preserving the sayings and activities of the Prophet (May Allah bless and greet him) so that Islam in its entirety is available to mankind to secure His everlasting pleasure, blessings, rewards and bounties.
It is but natural that Allah should approve of the religion of Islam in whose formation and promotion He played a sterling role.
Though birth in a particular religious family may be an accident, it need not be a permanent handicap. Search for the Truth took Hazrat Salman of Persia from Zoroastrianism through Christianity to Islam. May Allah be pleased with him. For this purpose, he travelled far and wide and endured hardships. The doors for conversion are always open.
In Islam, damnation will be a matter neither of chance nor of caprice. Persons who die before attaining the age of maturity to discriminate between two religions will not be subjected to damnation. If at all there is damnation, it will be the result of a thorough and impeccable judicial process. Damnation will be the outcome of what our own hands have wrought. “Allah never wrongs His creatures.”(22:10) “Allah would not wrong them but it is they who wronged themselves.”(29:40) “Allah does not wish to subject His servants to injustice.”(40:31) “Chastisement shall be yours on this Day for you waxed arrogant in the world without justification and acted iniquitously.”(46:20) “Will any, then, suffer perdition except those who disobey?”(46:35) “Never do I inflict the least wrong upon My servants.” (50:29) Some of the pseudo-followers of our beloved Prophet (May Allah bless and greet him) will be separated from him near the pond of Kauthar even though they would have been born in a religion approved of by Allah.