Apr 17, 2002, 03.54am IST
Murad Ali Baig.
It is paradoxical that while prophets and sages of all religions preached love, priests have often preached hatred of those who did not subscribe to their brand of god. unfortunately, disrespect for another’s faith whips up communal passions. founders of various religions were simple and humble people. buddha, mahavir, jesus, prophet mohammed, guru nanak and krishna all promoted peace and harmony. none exhorted their followers to build temples, churches or mosques — these were created many centuries after the death of the founders. how did religions that were born of peaceful thoughts turn militant? the tradition of tolerance in christianity and hinduism is well known. however, few are aware of what islam has to say about tolerance. the qur’an repeatedly affirmed the truth of all religions — but not the mullahs. the qur’an says, “let there be no compulsion in religion”. most religious scriptures took shape long after the founders were gone, when their philosophies assumed the proportions of mass movements. it was ashoka, 200 years after buddha, who expanded the reach of buddhism and from a local faith it became an international belief. it was st peter and st paul who, after christ’s crucifixion, gave shape to christianity. but for the efforts of the first four khalifs, the message of prophet mohammed may have remained a desert philosophy. but for the work put in by later gurus, nanak might have been just another kabir. as religions took shape, the original messages of the founders to promote peace and harmony somehow got contorted by vested interests including the priestly class, to serve material concerns more than spiritual ones. it was only in 185 ad that the four gospels of christianity were declared authoritative even though mark and luke had never even met jesus. it suited them to delete the beautiful gospel of thomas, a close companion of jesus, only because this ‘doubting’ thomas did not believe in christ’s divinity. similarly, the writing of the qur’an only began 12 years after the prophet’s death by zaid ibn thabit. islamic law evolved over the next several hundred years with extensive elaboration from the hadith traditions. many practices like the burkha and other prohibitions were not required by the prophet — these were foisted on followers by the mullahs in much later times. the scriptures of hinduism were constantly rewritten as the tradition evolved from its vedic roots. the rigveda does not mention the concepts and deities central to practised hinduism today. there had been no mention of the deities shiva, lakshmi or ganesh nor even the concepts of reincarnation, dharma and karma until after the buddhist period. rama and krishna were only raised from heroes of legend to deities after a resurgence of hindu thought at the end of the mughal period. thus all scriptures have gone far beyond the teaching of their founders as the priests raised them to ‘the will of god’ and used them as powerful instruments to intimidate the people. the close support of the ruling class made priests powerful instruments of the state. in all religions priests underwent a metamorphosis from pious monks to activists, using religion as a means to achieve territorial, commercial and material gain. as material conflict led to religious conflict, more blood was shed in the name of religion than from any other cause. as the faiths grew stronger, their priests even guaranteed places in heaven or a better reincarnation in return for offerings and sacrifices. these excesses resulted in the emergence of enlightened reformers who had a following of their own, like buddha, mahavira, guru nanak and dayananda saraswati. the easiest targets for the corrupt priests were the poor and the uneducated — they resisted knowledge and science that could expose the hollowness of some of these ‘sacred’ claims. minorities were easy targets. it was easy to blame them for misfortunes and as ‘aliens’, they inspired little pity. south indians in mumbai, sikhs in delhi, muslims and christians elsewhere have all been targeted at some time or other. the lumpen elements were quick to respond because a riot was just one more opportunity for loot and rape as well as an exciting change from the boring business of daily life. and when the priests gave moral sanction for such mayhem it was all the easier to do. no true muslim should heed the exhortations of bigoted mullahs who have, in the past, goaded uneducated muslims towards the senseless violence of taliban. no good hindu should listen to bigoted hindu priests, who, at the behest of their patrons, seem determined to make a violent mockery of gentle hinduism.
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