Every time you will want to affront a modern man with the legacy of religious teachings, he will laugh at you and say that religions have brought but only conflicts and wars. Indeed in the history of mankind religion has been instrumented in various conflicts. But when you look at the core message in all world’s religion, when you consider the ethical values which are even the basics of some of the laws that enable peaceful together-living of various people, you understand the positive impact of religion on society.
If you doubt if religion is effective or not. You can read the article about Sufism to understand how Islamic teachings can be experimented empirically. All righteous men must be respected notwithstanding their religion however as some of the principles of self purification and enlightenment are common to all religions. Practitioner of these principle can convince people somehow unless they are just hypocrites or are being blackmailed. Whereas the legacy of Islam is without doubt for those who sincerely practiced it, Christianity has not always convinced even their most advanced practitioners. For instance, Pope Gregory, the head of the catholic church in the time of the prophet of Islam is reported to have said:
“ What is there now, I ask, of delight in this world? Everywhere we observe strife; fields are depopulated, the land has returned to solitude… And yet the blows of the Divine justice have no end, because among the blows those guilty of evil acts are not corrected.”.
Whereas only a single Islamic scholar such as Imam Ghazali could keep his faith and find convincing argument in any situation through the explanation of the fact that the consequences of wrong doing cannot be escaped when apprehended with spiritual wisdom. But religion existed even in primitive societies and Islam seems to be just one of , that is to say the last of the Abrahamic revealed religions.
The evolution of religion
Verily, religion can create conflicts in argumentation. The main reason is that religion is basically based on faith and not reason. The understanding and apprehension of religion transcends scientific reasoning but paradoxically religion has survived the evolution of science even to its perfection. Probably because some existential question could not be explained successfully with science, or because religion itself is a completion of science.
There is a common argument that religion evolved from shaman-ism to polytheism then monotheism. In every modern society religion still plays an important role even-though less that in the past decades. Thus the tallest buildings of major cities are no more temples or churches or mosques as it used to be but Banks and warehouses. Still religion remains a very important part of the life of citizens. If as in the case of the evolution of societies we agree that the development of studies and technology enable people to do things better, the we can agree that things evolve through observation and improvement of already existing things then from the chronology Islam is the last world ‘s religion to have been revealed and sealed and must be more complete that the others.
When you read the Old testament and the Gospels there is no direct mention of Islam as a religion eventhough through interpretation it is agreed that Muhammad(pbuh), the prophet of Islam is mentioned in the gospels as the comforter to come. But if you read the glorious koran you will find a of passages about Christianity, Judaism and other religions of the time of the prophet. There are some stories that are exactly the same as the stories in the Bible. The story of Abraham , Joseph. There are also many stories about Moses and Jesus and many other prophets mentioned in the Bible. The psalms are being referred to as the Zabur. In this sense the Koran is more complete that the bible. There are major differences between the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus of the glorious koran.. ne oof the references about Jesus is in the third Chapter from verse 42 where it is written:
(3:42) Then came the time when the angels said: ‘O Mary! Behold, Allah has chosen you, and made you pure, and exalted you above all the women in the world.
(3:43) O Mary! Remain devout to your Lord, and prostrate yourself in worship, and bow with those who bow (before Him).’
(3:44) (O Muhammad!) We reveal to you this account from a realm which lies beyond the reach of your perception for you were not with them when they drew lots with their pens about who should be Mary’s guardian,43 and you were not with them when they disputed about it.
(3:43) They drew lots to decide who should be the guardian of Mary, whose mother had consecrated her to the service of God in the Temple. Since she was a girl, it was a delicate matter as to who from among the priests of the Temple would be the appropriate person to take care of her.
(3:45) And when the angels said: ‘O Mary! Allah gives you the glad tidings of a command from Him: his name shall be Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary. He shall be highly honoured in this world and in the Next, and shall be one of those near stationed to Allah.
(3:46) And he shall speak to men in the cradle and also later when he grows to maturity and shall indeed be among the righteous.’
As far as the chronology is concerned, even-though archaeologists have had some difficulties in dated the time some of the most important prophets lived, many scholars have agreed that Abraham lived around 1800 BCE and Moses around 1300 BCE. Jesus is said to have lived from 4 BCE to 30 CE and Muhammad from 570 CE to 632. Those who reject religion because thy cannot grasp the understanding the the logic in the unseen argue that there is no proof of development and improvement of society through religions.
Correlation between religion and development(of society)
Broadly speaking there is no direct correlation between religiosity (in the sense of monotheism) and development. Indeed the most religious society are not necessarily the most advanced. This is but only because the impact of religious actions are sometimes delayed. In the scriptures there are a lot of stories where people and cities were destroyed for disobeying God on the one hand and there are stories where generations of people and individuals were blessed because of righteous deeds. Nowadays even-though
the Muslim (and Christian) countries are not necessarily the most developed. The reason does not necessarily lie in the fact that religion is not effective but in the fact that the teachings are no longer applied. Japan for instance was neither Islamic, nor Christian in majority but has been a leading industrial nation for a long time. When the teachings of pure monotheism were put in practice in various societies, a tremendous change was observable.
One of the clear observable impact of religion on society was the transformation of the Arabic pagan society of idols worshipers, drunkers and doers of many kind of abominations in a society of well organized and learned traders and craftsmen just within 23 years of koranic revelations .
Consider 3 decades of political and economical reforms in a society. In many countries there is no major change even after 20 years . This is the case in many sub-Saharan African countries where a new leader will inspire hope at the beginning but will let to no major improvement of the society later. When we consider that the glorious Koran was revealed only within a period of 23 years and completely changed the Arabian society positively, then there is a reason to acknowledge the power of the teachings of the prophet(pbuh)
Human taken measures to reform society such as the prohibition always have but only a shorterm effect and will most of the time backfire.
The main impact of good religion on society starts by the improvement of men. Religion cures ailments of the heart. He who believes in God alone , who worship God and avoid what is prohibited will see the light of divine truth. He who uses religion as a mean of achieving worldly goals will go astray. But he who uses the teachings to improve of his soul and the society will see the real value of religion.
Religiosity and humanity go together
One of the core principles of religious teaching is mutual assistance and care taking of the weak. Giving alms and assisting the weak is encouraged in almost every world religion. Without religion all major societies will be a jungle where the strong devour the weak,. Moreover crime and bloodshed will prevail and alcoholism and prostitution , to mention just a few abominations will increase.
Without the ethical values promoted by religious teachings the world is in a state of oppression and injustice.
