Religion of Peace and Humanity
Islam is one of the world’s greatest religions, which has brought dignity and meaning to millions of men and women. It has taught people of different creeds to live in brotherhood and people of different beliefs to live side by side. It inspired a great civilization in which people lived creative and useful lives and which, by its achievement, enriched the whole world. However, like many religions it has gone through challenging times where many schools of thoughts have molded the basic teachings of religion to suit one’s selfish needs.
The real challenge that confronts intellectuals today is that political interests have come to dominate public discoursed to the point that moral investigations and thinking have become marginalized in today’s world. The normal imperatives and subtleties of religion were not treated with analytical and critical rigor that it rightly deserves but are rendered submissive to political prudence and symbolic display of power. It is this theology that is a contributor to emergence of highly radicalized groups across the globe.
There is a profound vacuum in religious authority, where it is not clear who speaks for the religion and how Colonialism formally dismantled the traditional institutions of civil society and people witness the emergence of highly centralized, dictatorial and often corrupt governments that nationalize the institutions of religious learning and brought it under state control. The disintegration of traditional institutions paved a path for descent into a condition of virtual anarchy about mechanisms of defining religious authenticity. Although the religious ethics have been manipulated by a few people responsible to preach the true values, hopes lie in the future. If the political agendas can be separated from the religious values, the true underlying morals of peace and solidarity will prevail.
