Continuing our discussion on the 5 essential commandments of Islam as listed by the Holy Quran, let us now see the second part of the first commandment. Quran says that one should worship Allah and only Allah. It quotes several past incidents when people had worshiped others as God and they were severely punished.
It is said
" Wa minan naasi mai yattakhizu min doonil laahi andaadai yuhibboonahum kahubbil laahi wallazeena aamanooo ashaddu hubbal lillah; wa law yaral lazeena zalamoo iz yarawnal 'azaaba annal quwwata lillaahi jamee'anw wa annallaaha shadeedul 'azaab "(Quran 2.165)
(There are men who take (for worship) others besides Allah, as equal (with Allah) They love them as they should love Allah. But those of Faith are overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see, behold, they would see the penalty: that to Allah belongs all power, and Allah will strongly enforce the Punishment.)Why does Quran insist on this?
If we look at the history of Arabia prior to Islam, Arabs were generally worshippers of many Gods. The sacred place of worship in Mecca – Masjid ul Haram - once housed several hundreds of idols of Gods and Goddesses whom Arabs used to worship. These idols were removed during the early days of Islam.
Why is this restriction on worship of many Gods?
First of all, as I said in the previous episode, there are not many Gods. There is one and only one God, you may call him by any name. All the creation is by God. So, the Quran considers it as a grave sin to equate any of the creatures with the creator who is one and only one.
Even though the Vedas define God in the same way as the Quran, we see Hindus worshipping many Gods. Are they doing something against their religion?
It is difficult to give a simple explanation to the current Hindu practices. There seems to be two main reasons.
1. The way Hindu views God and the forms taken by God.
2. Worship is seen as a procedure or Tantra aimed at attaining certain benefits and not just as a part of devotion.
It may be a bit out of place to go into the details of why Hindus worship ‘Many Gods’. I have covered some of these details in several of my past posts.
Bhagavad-Gita gives two reasons why people worship several Gods. One is because of their inherent nature that motivates them to see God in a specific ‘form’. The other is their desire to attain worldly benefits which these ‘forms’ can bestow.
Bhagavad-Gita also gives two reasons why one should shun worshipping anyone other than God. These reasons are
1. Those who worship lower level beings can never attain God.
2. The benefits that they may get by such worship are short lived and don’t help them in the long run.
So, Bhagavad-Gita advises one to always worship God and none else.
What Prophet Muhammad did in Arabia in the early 7th century had its counter part in India almost at the same time. The great Advaita philosopher Sankara tried to wean away Hindus from ritualistic mode of religion to a more devotional and philosophically driven set of practices. Sankara tried to revive the Upanishads and downplay ritualistic parts of Vedas and Tantra prevalent at his time.
While Muhammad had to face armed fights, Sankara waged an intellectual war to win over his opponents through philosophic debates. Both these great men tried, albeit in their own way, to reform the society which they felt was going off the track.
But did they completely succeed in that? That is a million-dollar question! <![endif]-->
Quranic verses episode 6
Based on verses from Holy
Quran. The interpretation is by Dr.King. The
Quran recitations are from various sites such as Quran.net,
Quran411.com and so on.
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