Rational Approach To Islam

This book will help scholars as well as lay readers to capture the real spirit of Islam and its teachings. It will help dispel misconceptions about Islam. The author has also argued forcefully that Islam is far from being an antediluvian religion and is as modern as any system of thought could be .

Islam: A Rational Approach to Human Life', is an exposition of how and what man is assigned to do in his life. He is allowed to do everything that is reasonably good and just for his sustenance. What is impermissible is injustice for it breeds corruption. The ultimate goal for mankind is to explore the environment around him and make it habitable. Not only this planet but the whole Cosmos is made subservient to him. His ultimate abode is the paradise of his dream which he has to find on his own. That is the place where his command would be his wish. This is what Islam aims mankind to achieve which is possible only through knowledge and wisdom.

‘Islam: A Rational Approach to Human Life’, is an exposition of how and what man is assigned to do in his life. He is allowed to do everything that is reasonably good and just for his sustenance. What is impermissible is injustice for it breeds corruption. The ultimate goal for mankind is to explore the environment around him and make it habitable. Not only this planet but the whole Cosmos is made subservient to him. His ultimate abode is the paradise of his dream which he has to find on his own. That is the place where his command would be his wish. This is what Islam aims mankind to achieve which is possible only through knowledge and wisdom.

Most of the people in the world who grew up in Jewish, Christian or Muslim communities are forced to believe and follow the "holy books and scriptures" as well as the corresponding religious views and traditions since their early childhood. Most of them live their entire lives without ever doubting and questioning the written word or the practice of their religion. Although our souls are eternal and indestructible, once we reincarnate and enter a new vessel, a new body, we drink from the river of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness and begin our life with no former memory of our past lives or our true divine nature. As the child is born, he sees his parents as his teachers and gods. His mind is fragile and he starts to believe in what his parents and peers tell him to believe in rather than acquiring a set of tools for critical and free-thinking.Without such tools, one is unable to find his way in this world as well as the answers to the greatest questions that have riddled humanity for ages. Religion attempts to explain the nature of reality through a set of laws, beliefs, and practices which are based on a higher power and a higher reality. Although religion is necessary for the human race in order to connect ourselves back into the divine, not all religions are good. In fact, there can be only one true religion that unites all of the human race, based entirely on logic and reason. The reason why there can be only one religion is that reality can have only one answer, only one absolute Truth. Such is the beauty of reason. It would be irrational to have several correct answers as they are different in nature and contradict each other. Therefore, subjective truths can never lead one to the objective Truth. There are subjective truths as the number of people in the world, and if you accept one of them as true, there is no sufficient reason why you would not accept another one. Truth is rational and therefore can have only one answer.Yet the world we live in is far from being united under one religion and is far from being rational. There are approximately 4000 different religions with 3 major religions - the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Most of the world succumb to one of these 3 religions. These religions are based entirely on faith. This means, if you believe in Judaism, then Christianity and Islam are false and not true. If you believe in Christianity, then Judaism and Islam are not true. If you believe in Islam, then Judaism, and Christianity are not true. But these religions are based entirely on faith. How could one truly know which story is true? Obviously, he cannot. Faith can never give you the truth. It is forever to remain a faith. One can believe in something absolutely wrong, false and even harmful to his own health. As long as his faith is strong, this idea is his truth. But the fact that a person believes that an idea is true, does not make it true. Truth must be rational, reasonable, irrefutable and immutable. Truth cannot be refuted and it cannot be contradicted. Once a person acquires a set of tools for rational and critical thinking, he is able to analyze everything and pave his way through the ocean of lies. With logic, reason, and deduction, we are able to remove all the weeds and find our way to the absolute truth. People succumb to religion not by their free-will but by the randomness of being born to a family that follows this religion. If you are born to parents who are Jewish, you will be Jewish. But if you were born to parents who are Muslims, then you shall be Muslim. If you are born to parents who are Christians then you shall be Christian as well. Unless of course, you will be able to break the cycle of brainwashing and indoctrination done from generation to generation, dictate your own life and shape your own destiny. To find the strength within is a difficult task. To transform yourself into something higher is the most difficult task of them all.

Is Islam incompatible with rational thought? This is the question at theeart of this challenging study by a leading scholar. Tracing the conflictetween reason and religion right back to the disputes between medievalslamic philosophers, the author examines every part of the debate, includinguch major themes as good, evil and the nature of divine will. In addition toroviding a full survey of the debate between faith and reason, he alsoroposes an approach for taking reasoning beyond the traditional boundariesf textual interpretation, to a fully realized engagement with the divine.

This material on Scandinavian converts tells the unique story of how Europeans embrace a new religion and their tendency to adjust and modify the social message of their new religion to the social values handled by the society they live in.

Islam, Her Moral And Spiritual Value is a book by Arthur Glyn Leonard. It presents a rational and psychological study of Muslim practices and spiritual tenets.

As the world becomes increasingly globalised Islam faces some important choices. Does it seek to "modernise" in line with the cultures in which it is practised, or does it retain its traditions even if they are at odds with the surrounding society? This book utilizes a critical rationalist viewpoint to illuminate many of the hotly contended issues in modern Islam, and to offer a fresh analysis. A variety of issues within Islam are discussed in this book including, Muslims and modernity; Islam, Christianity and Judaism; approaches to the understanding of the Quran; Muslim identity and civil society; doctrinal certainty and violent radicalism. In each case, the author makes use of Karl Popper’s theory of critical rationalism to uncover new aspects of these issues and to challenge post-modern, relativist, literalist and justificationist readings of Islam. This is a unique perspective on contemporary Islam and as such will be of significant interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Islamic Studies and the Philosophy of Religion.