ISLAM : What it is

By
Hassan S. Karmi

Islam  - a manifesto

This is a manifesto, a public declaration about Islam: what it is, what it is not and what its philosophy. I believe that now there is a crying need for such a manifesto on Islam. Islam has been the only ignored major faith and its prophet the only one most maligned. It is a very strange phenomenon. Prejudice against Islam has always been coupled with irrationalism, with an apriori, out of hand, conviction that Islam is irrelevant and is not worth knowing much about. The onslaught against Islam is not fair, Islam is sinned against than sinning. Ignorance about this faith, before now is really curious. Islam is not a man-made religion, as is the case with most of other religions. It is the only historical religion, with a historical prophet and a historical holy book. Islam did not arise from a myth or idolatry. It is the only truly monotheistic religion. For a religion to be monotheistic it must believe in one only God and in no other. This is what Islam urges.

The prejudice against Islam is still more virulent. It has not abated with the advance of learning and the increase of respect for rationality and for science. This kind of prejudice seems to be of the sort that dies hard and minds seem to be closed against curiosity and the desire to find out. In the West, minds seem to be more inclined in matters of religion to believe in fable, superstition, myth and heresay evidence than to believe in facts.

To change this fierce prejudice in a short time by appealing to reason is difficult. Reason in the case of an illusion or a psychosis is ineffective. Perhaps this is not the only illusion or psychosis under which the West is labouring.

Why Islam is hated:

Perhaps Islam is hated because those who hate it find it a challenge to their beliefs. The main challenge lies perhaps in the fact that Islam is unitive and not divisive. They therefore believe that Islam, if allowed full play, will cut the ground from under their feet and will restrain them from running amok to play hare and hounds with the world, inflicting in the rush, wars, devastation and miseries, as has been the case so far with human conduct. Islam calls for a halt and nobody seems to heed the call. Men in general seem to be like a lion which is told not to prey on antelopes in the jungle.

But this manifesto is not essentially polemic, and not an attack on any religion. Nor is it an apology for Islam. Its purpose is to show that facts are stronger than fiction, and it is hoped that the exposition presented in this manifesto will help correct current jaundiced views about Islam and stultify irrational hostility against it.