Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 4
4 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION A number of religions exist in the world today, each claiming its teachings to be the correct and last message from God. The followers of each religion tend to consider themselves as the chosen and blessed people; they generally regard the followers of other religions as misguided and cursed. A large majority of religious preachers have preached, and still continue to preach intolerance and hatred of the differing viewpoint. They discourage, and at times prohibit, an objective analysis of the universal view of religious teachings. This multitude of religions and their "conflicting" teachings have confused the common human mind, in their attempt to seek the true God. In addition to distancing the creation (humans) from the creator (God), such perverted concepts give rise to and help sustain religious intolerance and bigotry. Thus is the condition of the world around us. The same God can not send conflicting messages to mankind whom He created out of compassion. Yet human suffering in the name of God and religious beliefs continue to flourish around the world. Today, religion has been reduced to a mere tool for gaining political control and is exploited by opportunists to achieve personal goal. As stated earlier these conflicting and, at times, contradictory religious beliefs have created a highly confused state in the human mind; it can only be resolved by an objective and unbiased analysis of the history, goal and the teachings of the various religions. In an attempt to resolve this extremely complex situation, one of the following assumptions will have to be accepted. 1. Either we must believe there are several Gods in the world, each guiding their chosen group of people in different directions. or 2. There is one God * Almighty who has revealed Himself to all people at different times, but His message has been misinterpreted. The first assumption is absurd and is unanimously rejected by the scriptures of all major religions. If however it is to be believed, then all humans are involved in a "War of Gods", the resolution of which is beyond human control. It is simply inconceivable to visualize a multitude of Gods controlling mankind. The second assumption appears reasonable and logical and needs further investigation. To test this assumption, it is imperative that the overall religious picture around the world be analyzed using the following basic conditions: * “God is used in the most general sense to refer to the ultimate supreme power to which followers of every major religion associate with.