Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the prophet's hudaibiah treaty.
• 7 Rulers' roles in promotion of christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving god's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a shadow of god's kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone

24 : THE FAITH CRISIS AMONG SOME INTELLECTUALS

Worldwide, we come across some intellectuals (scientists, journalists, philosophers etc.) who do not seem to be well-convinced about the existence of God and potential benefits from His religious system. Many of them claim themselves to be the standard bearer of higher education, modernism, progressiveness and so on. They seem to misguide people with the idea that religion is the culture of uneducated and lower class people. In order to prove this idea to be wrong, we can refer to the following points:

(i) Insufficient Education: The said intellectuals are educated but not so much educated as is needed to have full grasp of the mysteries of the Universe and its Creator. Let us take examples of the two most intelligent scientists the world have ever produced. One is Isaac Newton (1642-1727) who was "intensely religious" despite being the best of scientists for centuries. Another is Albert Einstein who was the greatest scientist of the 20th century and we do not know anyone who can outshine him in the field of physics during this period. While thinking out his Theory of Relativity, Einstein was amazed for the vastness of this Universe and greatness of its Creator. He therefore accepted God as the "Highest Wisdom" and commented "Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind". Based on these two glorious examples, we can realistically assume that your Faith should increase rather than decrease with expansion of knowledge. If that does not happen, then we would probably be right in placing blame on your insufficient knowledge about the Universe.

(ii) Improper Education: Not only amount of knowledge/intelligence but also the type of education also works behind the faith crises of the so-called intellectuals. In the prime of their life, many of them got fact-distorting education like Darwin's theory of human evolution, Big Bang theory about the origin of the Universe etc. These lessons formed a layer on their mind that was so permanent that could not erased by any moral or fact-based education subsequently received by them.

(25) Islamic Policy toward Animals: The mainstream non-Islamic culture often shows kindness to animals to the extent of caring pets like dogs, cats etc. as dearly as or more dearly than own children. This is linked to the following problems.

(a) Health hazards: Close contact with such animals such as through kissing, hugging or fondling pets can become good reasons for many health problems like rabies, plague, bites etc. Through cleanliness and vaccination, these health hazards can be minimized but their total elimination is almost impossible. Particularly the risk of animal bites is always there as the animals fall short of rationality of human beings

(b) Humanitarian issue: If you let your pet share your soft bed and eat rich food from your dining table, then you may feel in your good conscience a lack of humanitarian matching with thousands of homeless people in the developed countries and millions of starving people in the developing nations. This is an example of denying rightful place to the dignified men while giving their honorable place to lowly animals. Of course you may argue that you yourself cannot eliminate the poverty of society at large and that animals are often more trustworthy than man. However, fairness dictates that you leave the animals in their rightful place, treating them with reasonable kindness while doing your best to better the condition of your fellow human beings.

The animal policy of Islam duly emphasizes on both kindness to the animals and protection of human interest. It honors man as the best of creations and secures its place higher above the animals. At the same time it does not forget to be kind to the animals. Now follows an analysis about this:

(i) Animals for human benefits: The Quran reveals that God created the animals for benefits of man so that they remember Him with gratitude (36:71). For example, the animals are the sources of our food (meat and milk), clothes (skin and far), guard (dog watch), transport (horse and camel etc.), pleasure (in zoo) etc. Man can lawfully obtain some of these benefits by necessarily slaughtering them. Like the vegetarians, Islam does not want you to go without protein-rich delicious animal food. It recognizes the food chain theory of biology that one animal is the food for another which is good for natural balance of animal kingdom.

(ii) Reasonable kindness to the animals: You are not allowed to inflict unnecessary cruelty upon the animals while using them to your benefits. The Prophet, for example, warned against using a blunt knife while slaughtering an animal for food. Similarly, you cannot unnecessarily kill an animal, beat up innocent pets or starve them.

(iii) Defense from animals: Kindness to the animals is second to the safety of men. Islam wants you to be kind to the animals and defensive from the cruel ones. When the animals pose immediate threat to your life such as a tiger gets loose from jungle or a snake takes shelter in your house, killing them for your safety is not only allowed but is also encouraged as a pious act. Similarly, when some animals (e.g. rats, ants and termites) create hazards for you, you can kill them without risking sin. Such an animal policy obviously makes a good compromise between kindness to the animals and wellbeing of the mankind.