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In Chapter 25, I mentioned the Self/self as the interface between the unknowable subject (GOD or the individual spirit) and that same being ‘re-presented’ as an object. The Self/self is a barzakh, a connecting barrier, simultaneously uniting and dividing its two poles. It both posits and overcomes an illusory duality – illusory at the highest level, but nonetheless necessary if we are to speak of GOD or act in any way in this ‘lower’ phenomenal realm which the Qur’an refers to as ad-dunya.
In Chapter 12, I characterized faith as creative affirmation of that interface and the objects that sustain its imaginal world. Our imaginal world is held in place by frames (Chapter 21), conceptual membranes that consciously or unconsciously include various narratives (ours) and exclude others (‘theirs’).
Religion has always been like another interface, that between our sense of self and our chosen frames. One such frame is what we call ‘reality’. All religions claim to deal with reality in some form or another, and anyone who is concerned with reality is, knowingly or not, adopting a religious perspective. That, of course, goes against the narrow definition most commentators nowadays associate with religion. But people of the past, I would argue, understood religion in the wider sense represented by the word din in Arabic, and so naturally and correctly believed that everyone has a religion.*
* 109:1-6 of the Qur’an makes this abundantly clear. Not only do the kafirun (commonly translated as unbelievers or infidels) belong to one or another religion, but they also have objects of worship:
Say, “O you who disbelieve! / I do not worship what you worship. / Neither are you worshippers of what I worship. / Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship. / Neither are you worshippers of what I worship. / Unto you is your religion; my religion is for me.”
قُلْ يَاأَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ
لاَ أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
وَلاَ أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ
وَلاَ أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَا عَبَدتُّمْ
وَلاَ أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ
By religion, therefore, I do not only mean one’s particular cult or sect, to be found in a church or temple. Rather it is the din of the Qur’an – any system that offers comprehensive or absolute principles for ordering the lives and beliefs of individuals and their societies. By this account, Buddhism is a religion, but so is the set of norms and expectations you find when you walk into your office at 9:00 in the morning. According to the early Buddhist texts, the Buddha did not advocate a belief in God or any supernatural entity, nor do you when you take off your coat and sit down at your computer with your first coffee of the day. Nonetheless, a din is operating in both contexts, determining how the early Buddhists lived and how you will behave for the rest of your day until you return to your Buddhist, Jewish, or atheist home life, where another din is waiting for you.
When the Qur’an simply refers to the faithful or those who believe, it almost always means those who are faithful to GOD or who believe in GOD. Continuing the analogy from Chapter 33, we could consider them to be those who are ‘fit’ for life with GOD (one of Whose Names is The Living). In the wider background, however, it is understood that every living being has some sort of belief or general ‘fitness’, even if the object of belief is but a shadow of the truth.
Have you not seen the ones who got a portion of the Book? They believe in idols and false deities and say of those who disbelieve, “They are better guided in their way than the believers.” (Q4:51)
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِنْ الْكِتَابِ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْجِبْتِ وَالطَّاغُوتِ وَيَقُولُونَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا هَؤُلاَءِ أَهْدَى مِنْ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا سَبِيلاً
In the same way, the Qur’an recognizes religions other than the true or upright religion it espouses. And so we read, in Q12:76, how Yusuf (peace be upon him) avoided relying on the religion of the king in whose lands he had a vital role:
It was not fitting for him to detain his brother by the king’s religious law unless GOD willed it so.
مَا كَانَ لِيَأْخُذَ أَخَاهُ فِي دِينِ الْمَلِكِ إِلاَّ أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ
(In ancient times, religion and law were one system, i.e., a din .)
He it is Who sent His Messenger with Guidance and the True Religion that it might prevail over all religions, though the polytheists hate it. (Q9:33)
هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ
Nonetheless, when we read in Surah 1 of the Qur’an, or The Opening, Owner of the Day of Judgement [or Religion] (maliki yaumid-din) (Q1:4), we are being warned of a Day when we encounter not just any religion, nor all religions, but The Religion, which will constitute the basis of Judgement for all creation and the gateway to Divine Reality.
Until then, our practical reality is that of dealing with religions that appear limited, flawed, unrealistic, or outdated. Truly the religion with AL-LAH is Al-Islam [Submission] (Q3:19), but in the meantime we feel as if we are on our own, faced with a set of institutions, attitudes, and practices that constitute a problem for rational believers, to put it mildly. Given how feebly today’s religious milieux reflect the Qur’an’s religion with AL-LAH , what value is there in participating in religion at all? Does the advocacy of True Religion have any relevance for us in this age?
The GOD You Already Know 