Ever since the history of mankind began, man has been practicing different forms of worship and piety.
There was no nation on the earth unattached to a religion and performing its rites in one-way or another. This is because piety is an instinct, a natural feeling deeply rooted in man's being. It can neither be hushed, nor muted in an individual's conscience, nor can the human conscience be prevented from sensing it, or going towards it.
Yet, the instincts of piety and worship have not always been guided by soundness and purity; rather they, in most instances, have been deviated expressions and abnormal practices of worship; religion, in its pure state, is that which is represented by monotheism, the path announced by the prophets and heralded by the apostles, for maintaining the correct mode of worship and to lead the caravan of mankind towards the shores of goodness and peace.
So, the observer of the history of religious myth, and of devious worship in man's life, finds a variety of religious expressions. He finds heliolatry, astrolatry, idolatry, zoolatry, pyrolatry, worship of monarchs, etc.
Analyzing the rise of these deviated religions, and studying the elements, which conspired in developing them, one finds them all connected to a superstitious interpretation of the universe and the afterlife. This in turn discloses the lowness of those peoples knowledge and their ability to fabricate fancy fables that stemmed from their own ignorance and superstition. These rites also illustrate the social customs and the imaginative traditions of those peoples, and their stifled mental and moral capabilities.
History is full of such religions, rituals and superstitious rites. Taken as a whole they reveal man's ignorance and the lowness of his conscience and feelings in such a way as to cause both astonishment and disgust. Some used to slay their sons in sacrifice to their imagined gods, presenting them as offerings at the alter of a false sacredness. They supplicated and requested the idols grace and the blessings of those stony, silent structures.
History tells us of many ignorant nations, peoples and civilizations such as the Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Chaldeans, the Pharaohs, the Greeks, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Romans, the Arabs (of Jahiliya). History also stresses that all those exterminated nations had some sort of worship, religion, and rites which they used to practice, but they were unnatural, superstitious and deviated forms.
Ever since the history of mankind began, man has been practicing different forms of worship and piety.
There was no nation on the earth unattached to a religion and performing its rites in one-way or another. This is because piety is an instinct, a natural feeling deeply rooted in man's being. It can neither be hushed, nor muted in an individual's conscience, nor can the human conscience be prevented from sensing it, or going towards it.
Yet, the instincts of piety and worship have not always been guided by soundness and purity; rather they, in most instances, have been deviated expressions and abnormal practices of worship; religion, in its pure state, is that which is represented by monotheism, the path announced by the prophets and heralded by the apostles, for maintaining the correct mode of worship and to lead the caravan of mankind towards the shores of goodness and peace.
So, the observer of the history of religious myth, and of devious worship in man's life, finds a variety of religious expressions. He finds heliolatry, astrolatry, idolatry, zoolatry, pyrolatry, worship of monarchs, etc.
Analyzing the rise of these deviated religions, and studying the elements, which conspired in developing them, one finds them all connected to a superstitious interpretation of the universe and the afterlife. This in turn discloses the lowness of those peoples knowledge and their ability to fabricate fancy fables that stemmed from their own ignorance and superstition. These rites also illustrate the social customs and the imaginative traditions of those peoples, and their stifled mental and moral capabilities.
History is full of such religions, rituals and superstitious rites. Taken as a whole they reveal man's ignorance and the lowness of his conscience and feelings in such a way as to cause both astonishment and disgust. Some used to slay their sons in sacrifice to their imagined gods, presenting them as offerings at the alter of a false sacredness. They supplicated and requested the idols grace and the blessings of those stony, silent structures.
History tells us of many ignorant nations, peoples and civilizations such as the Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Chaldeans, the Pharaohs, the Greeks, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Romans, the Arabs (of Jahiliya). History also stresses that all those exterminated nations had some sort of worship, religion, and rites which they used to practice, but they were unnatural, superstitious and deviated forms.
The Glorious Qur'an notes abundantly the dark and tragic side of the lives of the perished primitive ignorant groups. It draws our attention to the missions of the messengers and prophets, the inviters to true worship and the saviors and reformers of humanity as a whole.
Considering these facts and other historical evidences, we realize that the existence of religion and worship in the course of man's history is clear proof that religion is not a passing phenomenon, nor is it an imaginary compensation for his sufferings from the hardships of his painful life. Neither is it an expression of his failure in understanding the universe and life and in logically and scientifically explaining them; nor is it an opiate for the downtrodden and subjecting them to the injustice of oppressors and exploiters as Marx, the founder of Collapsed Communism, asserted by saying that "Religion is the opium of the people".
All these assumptions and biased interpretations, which are being presented by the propagators of materialism and infidelism, with the purpose of falsifying the objectives of religion and destroying the mental and spiritual fundamentals on which it is based, are but futile and refutable allegations which are disproved by objective historical evidence.The Glorious Qur'an notes abundantly the dark and tragic side of the lives of the perished primitive ignorant groups. It draws our attention to the missions of the messengers and prophets, the inviters to true worship and the saviors and reformers of humanity as a whole.
Considering these facts and other historical evidences, we realize that the existence of religion and worship in the course of man's history is clear proof that religion is not a passing phenomenon, nor is it an imaginary compensation for his sufferings from the hardships of his painful life. Neither is it an expression of his failure in understanding the universe and life and in logically and scientifically explaining them; nor is it an opiate for the downtrodden and subjecting them to the injustice of oppressors and exploiters as Marx, the founder of Collapsed Communism, asserted by saying that "Religion is the opium of the people".
All these assumptions and biased interpretations, which are being presented by the propagators of materialism and infidelism, with the purpose of falsifying the objectives of religion and destroying the mental and spiritual fundamentals on which it is based, are but futile and refutable allegations which are disproved by objective historical evidence.
