K.Venugopal
Immobile Wanderer
I contend that Islam is an idol worshiping religion. When I say this, it would be surmised that I am out to create mischief because it is universally understood that Islam is dead against idol worship. But I do not level this charge to taunt Muslims out of any spite. I love Muslims. They are as human as anyone else. My problem is with the claim of Islam that it does not believe in idol worship.
In fact all worship is idol worship. It is not possible to worship except that worship be idol worship. The condition of idol worship is that there be a worshipper and a thing worshiped. Muslims might say that there is no thing that a Muslim worships. That what they worship is only the unimaginable power called Allah who created the universe. Be it so, except that they have a need to reduce that unimaginable power to a word Allah. A sound idol, I might say and the Muslim will say I am merely quibbling to provoke.
However, my deeper reason to declare Muslims to be the idol worshipers they would rather die than admit is that Islam considers Allah, the creator, as separate from His creation. This means that when we, the creation or creature want to connect with Allah, we have perforce to turn outwards ever so symbolically seen when the common Muslim raises his vision upwards when he wishes to thank Allah in ordinary conversation. Of course in formal prayers Muslims turn towards Mecca which becomes the central point to which they direct their prayers. Add to this the fact that the central point contains a huge cube structure, which if the Muslims can get near enough they would lavishly kiss, completes the case that the Muslims are indeed idol worshippers.
The case becomes all the more apparent when we consider that there is a successful ancient teaching called Adviata which even today continues to be the undercurrent of the oldest religion in the world Hinduism. Advaita says that God is actually what we essentially are and is not a phenomenon separate from us whom we have to seek for outside and idolize concretely, as Hindu idol-worshippers do - or turn into a faith, as Muslims do.