Religious rituals: myth or fact

Aidid Safar authored an eBook titled “The Hijacking Of Islam” in which he said Islamic rituals especially the present ‘solat’ and ‘Hajj’ rituals is a mere myth which succumbed the routines as futile. Does this man claims has basis in fact? Or maybe he is just another individual who love to make up something artificial based on unfounded truth.

Concerning religious matters, I particularly draw the line when discussion involved the rituals or traditions of any religion. This is especially, I hold to my belief that any religion has the right to its tradition, to render reverence and pay homage to God. Don’t we worship the same God? Or is there any God other than God. He is the One and Only! There is none other than Him. Ritual is just a form and each religion adopted various forms and names as a means to revere Him. But behind forms and names there is one and the same spirit and there is one and the same truth. We definitely wronged ourselves when we have this intuited object of thought that condemn a certain form of worship. One must deeply respect others belief, and in a like manner others tempted to do the same. Lets there be peace in everyone’s heart. Even Prophet Muhammad prohibited His army from destroying or any act of disrespectful for the place of worship, regardless of religious background.

Pertinent to rituals matters specifically, I would like to take note on the following basic matter of thought:

He stated that ‘salat’ means ‘commitment’ and not a prayer. Fair enough, for surely when one perform ‘salat’ ritual wholeheartedly, one is ‘committed’ to the ritual. If he is solicitously mindful in his research, all religious practices in Islam were originally decreed through Prophet Abraham and transmitted to us generation after generation. The Quran teaches us that Abraham was the original source of shahadah (testimony), salat (prayer), saum (fasting), zakat (alms), and hajj (pilgrimage) (see 2:128; 2:135; 3:67-68; 16:123; 21:73; 22:78).

Look in the Bible passages which substantiate that the Islamic teaching had been practiced by the previous Messengers of God: on shahadah“The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deutronomy 6:4), “And Jesus answered, the first of all commandments is, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Mark 12:29). the Bible says

On Salat: wudhu’ (ablution) the Bible says “And Moses and Aaron and his sons washes their hands and their feet thereat.” (Exodus 40:31), “Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered the temple.” (Acts 21:26), sujud (prostration) “And Abraham fell on his face….(Genesis 17:3), “And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship….” (Joshua 5:14), “And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, separate yourself from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces and said, O God….” (Number 16:20-22), “And Jesus went little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father….” (Matthew 26:39), “And Jesus went forward a little, and he fell on the ground and prayed….” (Mark 14:35).

The true teaching of the Bible regarding how one ought to behave inside the places of worship is similar to what Islam practices today. As a gesture to accord due respect to place of worship the Bible advise even to taking off shoes, “God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here am I, and He said, draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5), “Then said the lord to him, put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground.” (Act 7:33).

Similar exhortation has been stressed by the Bible on the necessity of head-cover to women in performing the established prayer, precisely inline with the veil (hijab) which the Quran had ordained on women, “But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonourest her head.” (I Corinthians 11:5).

On Saum (Fasting), before the revelation of the Quran, it was usually observed in times of mourning, sorrow and affliction. But the Quran changed both its form and motive into more comprehensive concept to make it cover spiritual, moral and physical discipline of the highest order. Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights in compliance with his appointment with the Lord. David had fasted for seven days during the illness of his infant son. The Bible says, “And Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water….” (Exodus 34:28), “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.” (Matthew 4:1-2), “David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.” (2 Samuel 12:16). The Bible also affirms that the disciple were prescribed by Jesus to have a more frequent fasting after his departure as he was going to be taken away from their midst, “But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” (Luke 5:35). The Quran strongly marked that fasting has been decreed not only upon the followers of Muhammad but also upon the previous people as well, “O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed upon you as it was prescribed upon those before you, that ye may self-restraint.” (Al-Baqarah :83).

On Zakat (Alms Giving) to the needy and destitute has been emphatically urged by both Bible and Quran. The Bible says “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms maybe in secret…..” (Matthew 6:3-4), the Quran says “And be steadfast in salat: Give zakat and bow down with those who bow down.” (Al Baqarah :43).

On Hajj (Pilgrimage), Jacob (Israel) set up Beth-el as pillar described by the Bible as ‘House of God’ which complied with the Ka’bah, and both are described as ‘House of God’. The Bible says “And Jacob rose up early in the morning ad took the stone that he had put for his pillows, set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.” (Genesis 28:18), “And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God’s House….”(Genesis 28:22),  The Holy Ka’bah is neither worshiped nor a place where God dwells. The Quran explicitly stressed the purpose in its setting up, “Most surely, the first sanctuary appointed for men is the one at Becca, a blessed place and a source of guidance to the nations.” (Ali Imran :96).

Contrary to the basic foundation of Islam, Aidid Safar unduly prompted all Muslims today to reconsider the basic tenet or rather leave off promptly, and accept his authority. Maybe he wins adherents soon, and forms a great force to counter the ‘Arab conspirators’. Lastly I have this to say ‘Do not disturb the beehive, let the bee be itself, a bee is always a bee’.