The Parameters of the True Religion

The Parameters of the True Religion .

Mere reflection on the history of humans demonstrates that

humans have a desire to have religion. Yet there are many religions

and each is presenting itself as the “true religion” that will bring

solace to the individual. Thus, in this section, the author would like

to present what he feels are the four parameters by which one may

distinguish the true religion.

The first parameter is that the religion must have God as its

original source. No one can know the details about God except God.

He i s above and beyond the realm of human experience. More

importantly, no one knows how He should be worshipped except

Him. Although humans are able to come to many sound conclusions

about God, no human could logically claim that he has somehow—

independent of revelation from God—discovered the way in which

God should be worshipped and the way that is pleasing to God. Thus,

if the ultimate goal in one’s heart is to truly please and worship God

as He should be worshipped, then one has no alternative but to turn to

Him for guidance and direction. (Furthermore, no one can know the

details of the human soul except for its Creator.)

Thus, based on this first premise, any m an-made religion is

not a logical alternative. No matter how hard humans may try, they

cannot authoritatively s peak about how God i s supposed to be

worshipped.

As a corollary to or further explanation of this parameter, the

beliefs and the teachings of the religion must originate with God.

This parameter does not mean that one time God played a role in the

formation of the religion. No, this parameter means that the entire

scope of the religious teachings come from God. There are some

religions that may have originated from God but, afterwards, their

adherents felt free to rely upon human reasoning to adjust, modify or

alter the religion. In the process, they have actually created a new

religion, different from that which God had revealed. This, once

again, completely defeats the purpose. What God revealed does not

need any improvement or changes from humankind.

change or alteration means a deviation away from what God revealed.

Thus, any change or alteration will only take humankind away from

the true and proper way of worshipping God. Furthermore, God is

more than capable of revealing a perfect revelation for any time or

circumstance. If there were any need to alter or change any of God’s

laws, the authority for that also rests only with God. In other words,

God is free to change some of His laws due to His wisdom and

knowledge, for example, out of mercy or as a form of punishment

upon His servants. He may do this by sending a new revelation or

even by sending a new prophet. With that, there is no logical

problem. But there is a g rave problem when humans take it upon

themselves to “fix” God’s revelation.

The violation of this first parameter has been a common

practice. It seems that humans want to relegate to themselves

ultimate authority. However, it must be understood that this

contradicts the very essence of submitting to and worshipping God.

One is no longer submitting to and obeying God alone. One is now

submitting to God, human leaders and perhaps even one’s own

opinions as well. This is the antithesis of pure and devoted worship of

God.

Thus, the first parameter states that the religion originates

with God. However, this is not sufficient. The second parameter is

that the teachings from God must be preserved in their original form.

The logic behind this point should be obvious. If the original

revelation came from God but was then later tampered and distorted

by humans, one now has a mixture of God’s religion and human

interpolation. This is no longer God’s pure religion. Although this

may seem like an obvious premise, it is amazing to see many people

who have not even considered this point, blindly following scriptures

or teachings that cannot be historically authenticated.

The third parameter is that the religion is not abrogated or

superseded by a later form of the religion. In other words, God may

reveal more than one revelation or send more than one prophet, with

the latter repealing or superseding the earlier.

circumstances, if one is truly submitting to God, one does not have

the right to choose to follow an abrogated teaching and neglect the

teaching that God is now demanding to be followed. Again, this

would violate the principle of submitting to God and would arrogate

to the individual the right to choose what he willed to follow instead

of what Allah has decreed.

The above three parameters are straightforward and obvious.

In this author’s opinion, though, there is also a fourth parameter. The

fourth parameter is that the basic beliefs of the religion have to be

something fathomable by humans and not repugnant to human

nature. It is inconceivable that the same God who created such order

and gave humans the ability to understand and derive lessons from

what is around them would then ask of them to believe in matters that

are completely unfathomable to them and inconsistent with what the

soul can accept as truth.

See you in the next blog to complete the book.

Sources :-

A book for calling people to Islam in English is the book .

"What is Islam?" by Jamaal Zarabozo .

A piece of advice and an invitation from a well-wisher for you .

I invite you, my dear brother, to Islam and to believe in God Almighty. He alone is worthy of worship. The purpose of our creation is to worship God alone, without any partners.