In an age where religion has become increasingly irrelevant, why is Islam the exception? Mainstream thought now equates all religious beliefs as originating from ancient myths and superstition. This is not surprising as the supremacy of reason in the last couple of centuries has a way of discrediting belief in all the matters of the unseen. It is understandable that this is the case with Western religious traditions and scriptures, as they have been liberally corrupted and used for selfish motives for millennia.
When the global thought leaders declare something from the experience of their own religious experience, it is expected that the whole world will follow, especially when the world’s religious beliefs are clearly based on myths as well. Who in their right mind can rationally justify the superstition in traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, etc. that have no clear messengers or intact authorized divine scripture.
Thus, the whole world feels little inhibition about jumping onto the secularism bandwagon. They believe in the rationality of science to explain the observable while being agnostic about the unseen. With regards to their ancestral religion, they now use it for just fossilized cultural traditions of their heritage, like the celebration of festivals, marriages, deaths, etc. With the death of their god(s), their religion has also died.
In an increasingly secularized world this might be true for everyone except the Muslims. In contrast, Islam is the only real challenge to a godless world. Never before since its initial expansion, has the destiny of Islam been brighter than today when it is the world’s fastest growing religion. It is growing in all societies of the world.
The causes of this exception are many. Perhaps the simplest reason is that it is the Truth which is once again emerging to expose the falsehoods of the New World Order. It is the first and only religion of mankind. As a natural way of life for all humanity, other religious traditions were offshoots of this original which were later corrupted.
The presence of a divine scripture verbatim in God’s own words, a living miracle, preserved 100%, in a language which is still spoken and understood today, with centuries of scholarship makes the Quran's guidance accessible to each seeker of guidance today.
The last teacher of Islam, Prophet Muhammad’s (SWAS) private and public life is extensively documented in a system of historical record taking that is so foolproof that the reference system of modern research was built based on it. Prophet Muhammad (SWAS) was sent as a teacher and example to the whole humanity so that they may learn from him by emulating his experience with the Truth of Islam.
In contrast to other religions, Islam is based on scholarship using the senses and critical thinking to arrive at conclusions like modern scientific inquiry. Nevertheless, it is not “blind” like it, in that if revelation from God says something it is believed even in the face of seeming “irrational” based on the human senses and experience. Indeed, reason is not infallible, and the believer is humble to recognize that God knows more that they do. The fact that the sources of Islam, the Quran and the Sunnah are intact means that this methodology can successfully applied even today.
If the West was quick to throw the baby of true belief with the bathwater of corrupted ideologies in its search for a modern methodology of global progress and learning based on reason, Muslims do not need to follow them. Instead, they need to re-educate the world about a balanced methodology of learning and development based on faith and reason.
