Friends,
Accepting that God is ONE for humans is it possible for such a God to say such words: quoted from a post which again is quoted from a holy books of humans which ill be known by those who have read the book.
What is the religion God is talking about here?
what does God mean by religion in this context?
Does this mean that God has *A* religion that he too follows?
[God the *SEEKER*?]
Whom & what are we disbelieving, here?
BEGIN........
Love & rgds
I presume you are quoting from the Quran (Chapter 109). Two points need to be made.
Firstly your translation is incorrect, the correct translation should not contain the term religion; a better translation would be
to you be your way and to me be mine. In fact Arabic does not have any word which might be substituted fully for religion. The word
din being translated as religion here differs from the modern understanding of the word religion in a significant number of respects. (which are complicated and too long to explain; hence I refer you to the book given below) To translate religion as
din is a late reification of something which earlier ages saw differently.
Secondly your translation is wrong if you interpret it as saying that some kind of religious excluvisim is being propogated here. You should always keep in mind that no idea, philosophy etc is ever intelligible save the context of its time. This verse directs people not to indulge in useless efforts for reformation when it was evident that they were having no effect. One of the main messages of the Quran (if you read it with the meanings of the terms as in the 7th century) is to preach against the chosen one concept. (Source: Tarjuman-ul-Quran by Moulana Abul Kalam Azad).
You might be interested in this classic book on religion :
The Meaning and End of Religion by the famous Canadian scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith. In this book, the author argues that the Prophet would have been, above all others perhaps, deeply alarmed at any suggestion that he was starting a new religion. His argument is based mostly on historical and linguistic evidence.
The answers to your questions might lie in this direction: what is important is not religion but religiousness. That is what all the men of God have always talked about.
