Man's Need For Religion

Religion and Physical Care

As religion has its moral, spiritual and mental programme and plans, it similarly has its exact and complete program for taking care of the body and meeting its physical and instinctive needs. This bodily care is in harmony with that of the mental, psychological and spiritual programmes, since man is regarded as one complete unit of inseparable soul and body. The religious laws and values have been formulated to satisfy, coordinate and guide all the human inclinations and activities. So, Islam legislated laws for economy, matrimony, food, drink, worship, cleanliness, etc.., in order to meet these needs within the limits of the law.

Islam has founded its special plan for taking care of the body and the instinctive activities, on the following basic principles: 1. Accepting the physical needs of the body and man's inborn instincts, and the necessity to satisfy them in a natural way so as to keep the body balanced. This admission has been met by the laws and teachings which provide for man all his needs of food, drink, shelter, clothes, marriage, medical treatment, etc ... Allah the Exalted says:

"And seek by means of what Allah has given you the abode of the hereafter, and do not neglect your portion of the world and be kind as Allah has been kind to you, and do not seek corruption in the earth. Sure& Allah does not love mischief-makers." Holy Qur'an (28:77)

2. Islam has offered a complete programme for the protection of the body and its energy against diseases, vanity and waste. It prohibits whatever is harmful and immoral, such as wine, adultery, sodomy, extravagance, lust, etc. It also purifies and protects the body against sickness, filth and impurity which attack the body and destroy health and cleanliness. Allah the Exalted Says:

"Say: My Lord forbids only indecencies, those apparent of them and those concealed, and sin and rebellion without justice and that you associate with Allah that for which He has sent down no a authority, and that you say concerning Allah that which you do know not." Holy Our'an (7:33)

3. Islam has a plan for utilizing man's energy and bodily effort in the fields of construction, production and innovation. Allah the Exalted says: "... he brought you into being from the earth, and has made you dwell in it ..." Holy Qur'an (11:81)

"And do not make mischief in the earth after its reformation ..." Holy Qur'an (7:58)

4. Islam has given man the right to enjoy the beauties and the adornments of life, and to make use of its good things. "Say: Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants, and the good provisions?" Holy Qur'an (7:32)

By these practical and scientific measures, Islam protects the health of the body, provides man with physical happiness, keeps his natural right to live, and saves his sanity and energy from uselessness, from being completely lost and from the destruction imposed upon him by the ignorant programmes, the man- made laws and dogmatic theological calls.

Can Religion be Substituted?

Can man reject religion and replace it by the discoveries and the knowledge to which he could attain in the fields of social organization, in morals and behaviour, and in ideological explanations?

Would man be happy, dignified and comfortable if he took that as a substitute for religion?

This must be studied carefully so as to find an objective and correct answer, since the advocates of ignorance have one answer, and the believers in Allah have another. All the ignorants, notwithstanding their different materialistic and infidel philosophies, sects and secular trends, reject religion and advocate its replacement by man's scientific and theoretical achievements, with an argument based on a deformed idea and a disordered concept about the origin of religion, its message and aims - the concept which takes religion to be nothing but a mythical legend or an imagery created by a superstitious mind during the backward and primitive ages. According to them in those ages man tried to interpret the appearance of the universe and life. Having failed to discover the scientific laws of nature and life, he attributed. that to an unknown creator. He saw the rain, observed the sunrise and the sunset, and discerned the growth of plants and animals, their multiplication, their birth and death; yet he did not know how those events happened, because he was ignorant of their scientific explanation. He, therefore, invented an imaginary theory, fabricated by his illusions, telling of the existence of a god behind this physical existence, and of an unseen divine power that was behind the movement and direction of all these things.

Then, as man gradually started discovering the laws of nature, he came to obtain a materialistic answer to eveiy event; so, now he has no need of religion and he would not like it.

Prophets, from the viewpoint of this ignorant concept, are men representing the thought of their communities, backward in their beliefs and knowledge. They are distinguished because of the class - struggle and an inclination to reform. So, they are movedby economic and social factors to enact social reforms according to their thinking and the conditions of their communities. As for Allah, revelation and prophethood, they say they do not exist except in the minds of those who believe in them.

Such are the calumnies of the modern ignorant mind and the materialistic, infidel thought which rejects religion, revelation and prophethood, and which is founded on denial, infidelity and disbelief in the existence of a Creator of this universe, refusing to accept revelation and prophethood as being true and real.

These religious facts are regarded by this ignorant and denying interpretation as ideas expressing peoples' low understanding, and illustrating their inferior level of knowledge. This ignorant argument is the idea which is being repeated by the infidel seculars, according to which they demand the abolition of religion, replacing it with the materialistic interpretation and organization, which man reached through researches and experiments, announcing that man is in no need of religion, and thus severing his ties with Allah.

Religion, likewise, presents its own answer to the question: (Can religion be substituted?), and explains its point of view.

Religion's answer is derived as we shall see, from intellect and human experience. The answer is: There is no substitute for religion. This answer is based on numerous scientific and known facts which prove that man cannot do without religion. They confirm the scientific discoveries which pave the way for organizing social life and coining laws to govern behaviour - such as the discoveries in the science of economy, finance, statistics, psychology, sociology, health, etc. But without divine guidance these are incapable of the two cases. By scrutinizing both practices, the social and the natural, their basic differences can be detected, and then we may clearly discern the grave mistake in treating the two practices on the same level. It is a mistake committed by materialistic thought when it regards the social experience as equal to the natural one, ignorant of the differences between the two.

These differences are:

a. Concerning the natural experience

In this experience man deals with matter, which possesses no will to refuse or to resist. It responds to the law, and is forced to submit exactly to the movement of that law.

Whereas in the social experience, the dealing is with the human will which has the power to refuse or accept, and it is the will which handles the law, not the contrary.

b. As for the natural laws, man utilizes them to his interests as soon as he discovers them. He cannot forge these interests or falsify the results. But he can fabricate the social laws, motivated by his selfishness and the benefits thereof, in order to take hold of the results. Whereas in the case of the social laws, knowing them does not inevitably imply carrying them out and utilizing them. Actually, man's desires and selfish interests affect the law and misinterpret it or even cancel it.

c. In relation to the law, man can live without having to know or to discover most of the natural laws, or to continue the search for discovering them, and apply those already discovered to serve his purpose. Man, in encountering failure in his natural experiments, or being short of comprehending them, (or knowing very little about them), does not harm himself whatsoever.

Whereas in respect to the social law, to ignore it, or to neglect to comprehend it, inevitably causes disorder and chaos in the society, and man himself would be the victim of this deficiency and failure in his social experiment. What can man win if he loses himself and his happiness? True is Allah's saying:

"... say: the losers will be those who lose themselves and their house-folk on the Day of Resurrection. Ah, that will be the manifest loss!" Holy Qur'an (39:15)

So many social experiments proved disappointing! So many systems that were applied failed! And man was the victim, and suffered much torture and misery. When a human society lacks the social system that establishes 3ustice, equality and respect for peoples' rights, it loses much more than what it loses in being ignorant of the laws of the atom,or of the planets, or of the depths of the oceans.

Man can do without that kind of knowledge. There is no harm in his failing to discover these laws, or in their incorrect application; but the case is not so with the concepts of justice, truth, equality, etc.

d. There is still another difference. The natural facts can be discovered through observation and laboratory-experiments; whereas this is not the case with the concepts of truth, equity, goodness, etc., by which the social laws and values are measured.

These measures, the legislative and moral values, ate not the results of laboratory experiments, nor are they something tangible in as much as a social experiment can explicitly distinguish. They are moral and spiritual values or measures, or evaluating facts that need knowledge, understanding and estimation, outside the limits of an experiment, and an objective treatment of man. They are general facts that man tries to attain, but in reality he is always short of them, while their contraries have always been there during his bitter experience at the time of ignorance. So, how can man attain them? How can he make them?

Thus, in light of the above reasons, it is a grave mistake to equate a social experiment with a natural one and, consequently, give up religion as a social legislator. Our scientific discoveries and experiments, though satisfying us from the natural and materialistic viewpoint, miserably fall short of solving our social life and organizing.

In fact, we have but to open wide the doors of learning and the windows of the intellect, in order to accept the word of Allah, and to respond to the preachings of the Qur'an and look into them carefully:

"O you who believe! Obey Allah and the Messenger when He calls you to that which gives you life and know that Allah intervenes between the man and his heart, and to Him you will be gathered." Holy Qur'an (8:24)

At the end of our essay, we should not forget to say that the errand of the religion is not only organizing life and guiding it; but the ultimate goal is the other world, a much bigger reality in the message of religion. Preparing for the afterlife is a basic and most important task of every religion and divine message.

Man should think of that world before thinking of the transient travel of this life. The other life is a real fact, and it is the inevitable end at whose shores man will have to anchor. Science is incapable of guaranteeing safety for man in the afterlife, nor can it make him believe in it and work for it, away from the message of religion and the guidance of faith.

The Testimony of Figures

In concluding this study we cite the testimony of statistics in support of the viewpoint of religion, confirming that there is no substitute for religion, and that man cannot make a civilization that is capable of offering him prosperity and peace, away from religion and the message of Allah. These figures, as we shall see, are a witness telling the truth before the tribunal of history and judgement of intellect; the witness that will explain to us the severity of the tragedy under the reign of the substitute brought by man to take the place of the civilization of Faith, after having dismissed from his life the idea of faith, the moral values and the way of religion.

Let us hear these figures speak, and let us ask for the testimony of the institute for statistical researches. Let us put the contemporary civilization in the cage of accusation, so that we may uncover its secrets and its identity before the eyes of deceived humanity. We can figure out only snap-shots and mere samples, randomly taken, to disclose the bitter truth hidden behind these figures.

The concerned studies and statistics show horrible facts about the incidents of the individual and social decline and ruin, in the materialistic and capitalistic communities. Hereunder are excerpts from those statistics:

* A crime is committed every 30 seconds in New York. * Nine girls out of every twelve are raped or kidnapped in Great Britain. The police could arrest only 13% of the criminals. * The percentage of crimes increased by 84% during recent years; whereas the juvenile crimes increased by fivefold during the first half of 1975. Groups of youngsters - below 20 years of age -are kept every day waiting at the doors of the courts, for grave crimes such as burning vehicles, immoral transgression, rape, robbing and murder. 3

Dr. Homer, a Swede, and envoy of the United Nations who had been asked to study the status of the women in the Arab countries in 1975, announced: "It is the Swedish woman who should demand her freedom. as the woman in the Arab countries has already reached the peak of her freedom under Islam. "She also said: "The Swedish woman tries these days to have this year announced as The International Year of the Woman', and then declare another year for the man, so that he may extract his rights from the woman. She added that the tragedy of the Swedish woman is the very freedom which took her to a dangerous and tem1~'ing stage.

In her report, Dr. Homer says: "25%of Swedish women suffer from psychological and nervous sicknesses; and 40% of Sweden's income is spent on these diseases caused by the freedom which the Swedish woman attained and which she is practicing. 4 * Another report disclosing the tragedy of humanity under the materialistic culture says: "The American association for Family Services announced that the disintegration of the family, which reached an epidemic stage, tops the list of social problems. Every year more than one million persons are separated or divorced, which is sevenfold higher in percentage, compared to that of a hundred years ago.

* The juvenile crimes, which are strongly connected to divorce cases, are three times as much compared with the statistics of 1940.~ * Let us listen to Mr. Winch, who says: "Do you know that most of the murder crimes are not committed by professional criminals, and that they are not motivated by theft; and that most of them are committed by friends and relatives?

* The Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) reports that in murder cases within families, the husbands are mostly the murderers; and in 15% of family murders the children are the victims of their parents. 6

* According to a referendum carried out recently by the UNESCO, 60% of the housewives in the USA and Europe feel discontented, disappointed and miserable. 7

* In the report issued by the French Physician, Dr. Lyreete: 30,000 people die every year in France of Syphlis, while in the USA the victims of inherited syphlis are between 30,000 and 40,000 children.8 This disease is spread by adultery. * A report about divorce cases on the grounds of unfaithfulness in Great Britain shows the following figures:

In 1938 9970 cases in 1950 29096 = In 1960 27870 = In 1969 60134 = In 1970 70575 = In 1971 110017= In 1972 109822= In 1973 115048=

* The grave problem in the pre-Soviet communist society was that of every two marriages one was ended in divorce, in most of the cities of west USSR. In Moscow, for example, 49 out of 100 marriages ended in divorce after the birth of the first child. In Mavadansk the percentage of divorce is 72.9%. The Physicians' Conference held in Moscow in 1975 called for urgent measures to tackle this grave social instability - that is, the high divorce percentage and low birth rate ... 9

The "Hospital Today , a magazine of London, in its editorial of the April 1975 issue, published a summary of the annual report of the British Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. It says:

"... Despite the abundance of contraceptive medicines and legalized abortion, it is noted that 8.6% of the children are born to unmarried mothers! There is a further serious problem. In 1973 the following cases were noted:

I case of an 11 - year old pregnant girl. 6 cases of 12 - year old pregnant girls. 38 cases of 13 - year old pregnant girls. 255 cases of 14 - year old pregnant girls.

There were 166,000 cases of legal abortion during the same year, 50% of which were by unmarried women. If these talking figures give us astounding facts about the social and moral state of the materialistic and communist civilizations, there are some other figures which draw the picture of their economic tragedy, giving more evidence of the failure of man-made systems and their being incapable of solving man's problems.

* International statistics show that, "there are in the world 400 million persons undergoing a slow death because of hunger , and that five million persons actually die of hunger. Several conferences have been held within the past two months in Bucharest, Rome, London and elsewhere to discuss the food problem. Before holding each of these conferences, the observers used to assert that the results of the conference would be no better than those of the previous one. They say: "It has become a common thing to see these conferences held and concluded without finding the solution for this human drainage to which the peoples of the world are subjected, especially in Africa and Asia..." 10

"... at the same time, the experts stress that the USA alone can feed all those millions of people who are being subjected to slow death ..." 11 Perhaps the best confirmation of the said statement came from the American Minister of Agriculture who announced: "If we killed half of the cats and dogs we keep, the food which we thus spare can satis1~ all the hungry stomaches in the world.' 12

"In the fields of development, food and housing, all the experts unanimously agree that the available natural sources in the world can meet the needs of all the people of the world, should there be enough good intention to exploit them, and to equally distribute them among the people of the world. But the root of the problem stems from the unjust distribution of wealth. 13

This is the picture which is drawn by the figures and statistics accumulated by the substituted civilization, a civilization devoid of any faith and spirit. A civilization devised by the deviated ignorant minds after refusing to live under the shade of the message of the religion and faith, the message which tells the truth, and invites the lost and the proud to repeat the reckoning of their accounts, and review the history of their lives, and reconsider the evaluation of their attitudes, deriving a lesson from Allah's saying:

"And how many a generation We destroyed before them who were mightier in prowess than they! so they went about in the lands! Is there a place of refuge? Surely there is a reminder in this for him who has a heart or he gives ear and is a witness." Holy Qur'an (50:38-37)

And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

________________________ 1- (a.s.) are the abbreviations of the Arabic phrase aloyhi/alayha/alayhim/ as-salam which mean May peace be upon him/her/them'. 2- (s.a.w.) are the abbreviations of the Arabic phrase sal-lallahu alayhi wa alihi' which mean May Allah's blessings be upon him and his descendants'. 3- Al-Mujtama Magazine, No. 282, pp. 4-5, Kuwait. 4- This information was extraced from a bulletin issued by Alexandria University in Egypt, under the title The Mingling of the Two Sexes in Islam,' p. 39 5- Ibid, p. 34 8- Ibid. p. 34 7- Ibid. p. 35 8- Fathi Yakon, Islam and Sex', p. 82 9- Medical Interphase', April, 1977 10- Oggi Magazine, Italian, quoted from the Kuwaiti AI-Qabas Paper, No. 1525 0115/8/1976 11- Ibid 12- Ibid 13- Ibid