Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Religion is Veiled in Mystery

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Religion is Veiled in Mystery

As a religious ritual, Muslims keep vigil three nights, in holy month of Ramadan, which are called “Qadr.” These nights are considered sacred for the completion of Holy Qur’an which was descended to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Moreover, it is believed that at the night of Qadr, the angels still descend to the earth by the command of God and therefore this night is preferred to thousand nights – it is what mentioned in Holy Qur’an. Since one of the three nights – 19th, 21st, and 23rd of Ramadan – are conjectured to be the night of Qadr, all three nights are kept vigil and Muslims worship until dawn.

The contents of Holy Qur’an were descended from Allah to Muhammad (PBUH) by Gabriel within 23 years and were completed in holy month of Ramadan. In Ramadan, it is a religious obligation on Muslims to observe fast the whole month. Additionally, Muslims are recommended emphatically to engage in self-purification, repentance, to fulfill their religious obligations and to eschew taboos. Perhaps to encourage and support the religious people mentally, it is preached by mullahs that Satan – which is introduced the foe of humanity – is in chains in this month. Likewise, the God’s kindness and sympathy seem to be highly salient in Ramadan. Overall, this month provides a good opportunity for Muslims to shun sin and break their criminal habits.

On Sunday night, I attended a religious ceremony to keep vigil along with other fellows. A mullah sermonized people in a piercing tone. Moreover, since religions are kept in a halo of sanctity and mystery, the mullah chose a highly mysterious language. In other words, the yawning of the audience could easily reflect his boring and ambiguous speech. Rather than talking about the crying needs of the society, he talked about the seventh sky, angels, etc. His long Arabic Hadith added to the boredom of his speech. Shouldn’t he have chosen a demythologized language?

Since religion is a celestial product, it is highly mysterious for the earthly creatures especially for contemporary man. For instance, the subjects such as miracle, angel, Satan, genie, incarnation, etc remain as insolvably mathematical issues for modern man. In other words, such issues are in complete paradox with the modern rationality and knowledge. Therefore, I think it is the theologians to demythologize the religious matters.

Besides being celestial, religion has been handed down from centuries back and now it seems too traditional in modern world. With the passage of time, religion has been nurtured with many superstitions and myths. Many unnecessary frames of mind have been imposed on it to suit the traditional beliefs of the past centuries. Hence, myth and mystery have compounded the ambiguity and paradox of religion in our world. Are we doomed to grin and bear it?

On the one hand, religion is static and will not be changed with the passage of time. One will argue that religion is formed with a set of morality and human beings are in need of morality all the time. So, as two plus two forms four as it did centuries back and will remain the same for next centuries, honesty, generosity, kindness, etc, are the same and they are what religion recommends. On the other hand, no new religion or prophet will emerge with updated code of instructions to suit the needs of modern world. Now, does there remain any solution?

Unlike religion, our understandings and interpretations of religion are not static. We can interpret the religious issues in a way to suit our needs while retaining its essence. The religious epistemology and hermeneutics are there to update our understandings of religion. How long should the clergy repeat their old and traditional words? Preaching the poverty and simple life of the religious leaders will no more taste sweet in the world of economic development.

According to Rudolf Karl Bultmann, a German theologian and professor of New Testament, the mythical world-view could not be accepted in the modern world, where a scientific world-view was prevalent. The distinction between the two is best clarified by their respective view on miracles. The mythological world-view has no problem accepting the existence of supernatural violations of the natural order. But for the scientific mentality, the universe appears as a closed system of law abiding cause-effect relations, and therefore this concept of miracle is no longer credible in the modern era. In this sense, to demythologize the gospels means to strip away their outdated and unacceptable world-view so that the kerygma may be heard in the modern context.

For clarification, Bultmann cited the first-century view of the universe in which people thought that the earth was a sphere, with heaven above and hell beneath; in this sense it formed a "three-tiered" universe. He explained that people of that time used this mythical view of the universe to explain the divine in human terms.

Moreover, Bultmann cited a biblical comparison with the virgin birth and the reference to Jesus as a pre-existent being. He is quick to point out that these two myths are contradictory, for if Jesus was pre-existent then it’s scientifically illogical to say that Jesus was born as a baby of a virgin. Nevertheless, Bultmann asserted, the virgin birth can be interpreted differently to retain the idea that Jesus’ existence is a necessary element for faith; in this sense its scriptural meaning is retained and the myth of the virgin birth is demythologized.

Hence, the virgin birth did not happen as far as Bultmann was concerned; it did not happen because miracles do not happen. Furthermore, miracles do not occur because science has proven at this point that they cannot be replicated by man. Therefore, according to Bultmann it would be inane to ask a man of the twentieth century to believe in the virgin birth, for it has been proven to be scientifically illogical, and impossible.

I do agree with Bultmann and emphasize on his idea. In short, religion is supposed to talk with the language of modern men and suit their needs and it is possible if theologians interpret its instructions in a modern way.

Hujjatullah Zia is an emerging writer of Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com

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