Page 26 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger
P. 26
Bigotry:
The Dark Danger
Islam: The Religion of Ease
One of the biggest mistakes of the fanatical mindset is their
belief that religion must be difficult. As a matter of fact, some peo-
ple believe the more complicated and difficult their religion is, the
more merit they would earn. This is a warped viewpoint stem-
ming from the failure to understand God's infinite mercy. This has
also been a fundamental issue causing people to oppose the
prophets throughout history. When the Prophet Moses told his
people, "God commands you to sacrifice a cow," his people asked
dozens of questions, rendering a very plain order almost imprac-
ticable. Furthermore, as they worked to make a simple order diffi-
cult, they claimed they were being extremely pious. However,
being pious is simply living by the essence of religion; that is, it
should be lived in its plain, pure state as revealed by God. In many
verses of the Qur'an it is specifically stated that religion is easy:
Strive for God with the striving due to Him. He has selected
you and not placed any constraint upon you in the religion –
the religion of your forefather Abraham. (Qur'an, 22:78)
... They invented monasticism – We did not prescribe it for
them – purely out of desire to gain the pleasure of God, but
even so they did not observe it as it should have been
observed. To those of them who had faith We gave their
reward but many of them are deviators. (Qur'an, 57:27)
We have made the Qur'an easy to remember. But is there any
rememberer there? (Qur'an, 54:17)
24