Q563 :We see that all over the Islamic world two
rival groups are always in conflict: One attracts highly educated
people who believe in reason and logic, but care little for religion,
while the other consists of largely uneducated people who hold
fanatically to certain beliefs and try to impose them on others. How to
remedy such a situation.
A563 : There are definitely two groups with widely
different attitudes to religion. These have been there since the very
early days of human existence. The noble prophets and those who have
followed them on the same route try to bring the message of faith home
to people, hoping that they will respond positively to the call to
believe in the Oneness of Allah. On the other hand, they are opposed by
people who prefer to follow what they feel to be their interest, paying
no regard to the divine guidance and caring little for the teachings of
prophets. This has always been the case, and it will continue to be so,
until the end of human life. I do not agree with you at all when you
say that the camp opposed to faith attracts mostly the highly educated
who rely on reason and logic. It is true that some of those highly
educated may turn their back on religion, but that is only because they
either prefer not to study religion with the sort of seriousness they
attach to other matters; or because they prefer to satisfy immediate
pleasures; or because they feel that their position will be threatened
by religion. They simply do not respond to the challenge of the divine
message to use their reason and logic in evaluating the truth advanced
by the divine faith. There was a time when a higher proportion of
educated people seemed to move away from religion, but if you look at
the historical circumstances that led to this situation, you are bound
to conclude that this was the result of the alien system of education
that was devised by the colonial authorities in most Muslim countries.
As you are aware, the colonial powers were able to impose their will
over most of the Muslim world, after a long period of decline
throughout the Muslim areas. But when that phase was over, and
education moved toward being universal, more and more educated people
found no difficulty in making a happy match between education and
religion. Indeed, it is the divine faith that calls on people to use
their reason and logic, because when they do that, they can easily
recognize the truth of the Oneness of God and the validity of the
divine message. In the history of Islam, there was no time when a
conflict took place between enlightened education and scientific
findings on the one hand, and Islam on the other. Indeed, the two stand
always hand in hand. It is true that there are people who claim to be
religious and try to impose their ideas on others. Such people have not
learned Islam well. They do much damage to the cause of Islam. They are
rarely aware of its fundamental principle to respect individual
freedom. Islam advocates that freedom of thought, belief and expression
is a basic right of all human beings. Fanaticism is alien to Islam and
it will always remain so.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )