Arif,
How you labour under received wisdom. You accept the revealed religion of Mohammed as true and perfect and then try your damnedest to justify it. Let’s try to deconstruct your ideas:
How did you came to a conclusion that there is god and we have to attain salvation???
Nobody is saying this. The conclusion that there is God (variously described as the divine, the ultimate reality, the ground of being) has to be experienced by you personally. You don’t have to accept it on anyone’s say-so. It is not an idea, concept or doctrine that can be explained and transmitted.
So the bottom line is that everybody starts with some assumptions.. Nobody reinvents the wheel all the time...
Not in the case of spirituality – that is if you are after the real thing. Each one of has to re-invent the wheel. Authentic spirituality or transformation of consciousness can only be experienced and cannot be understood intellectually. You can talk about religion till all the prophets come home but you’ll be none the more spiritual for it.
But having said that the next question that arises is which other religion came up after Islam which has proved that it is better then Islam...
This is nothing but your Muslim ego, your tribal pride speaking. If you were born a Hindu, I’m sure today you would me singing the praises of its ancient wisdom as found in the Vedas and Gita. Islam was a movement for change responding to the particular needs of that Arabian society at that particular moment in human history. Given the mood and temper of the times Islam told its story in mythical and biblical terms – but for all practical purposes it was nothing more that an attempt to reform the pagan tribes.
Countless other movements have come after Islam which told their story in more secular terms. To name a few: The Enlightenment and age of reason, the spread of positivist, scientific thought, the industrial revolution, the spread of democracy, the liberation movements against colonial rule, and today in our time the global movement against climate change. Every succeeding movement takes us to a higher, wider, deeper level of consciousness. As our consciousness evolves along with our knowledge, our circle of care and compassion expands. Today we have a better understanding of the Web of Life, and the concept of Gaia which describes the earth as a living, breathing self-regulating organism.
Imagine if Prophet Mohammed was our contemporary and were to reveal the Quran today, do you think this modern/postmodern Quran would be exactly the same as the one he revealed in the 7th century Arabia?
I don’t think so. Although the 21st century Quran would continue the unending narrative of the human condition and the imperatives of peace, justice, morality and equality but in its more prescriptive aspects it concerns would be more world-centric, more “Green”, more in keeping with the UN charter of human rights, more in tune with heightened consciousness of our time. It would denounce our self-destructive lifestyle and economy that has imperiled our planet, it would denounce the military-industrial complex and runaway corporate capitalism, the sham democracies and the oppressive and authoritarian socialist regimes and other contemporary evils.
The point is every age needs a new Quran that speaks to and emblazons the evolved truths, the ever widening circle of care, compassion and consciousness of its time, and show us humans – the ever flawed species – a path to redemption.
There was a Neuro surgeon white lady from houston who went for haj. She was a christian first and then became a muslim.
If a neurosurgeon becoming Muslim validates Islam then a Muslim leaving Islam must invalidate it. These factoids do not serve any purpose except, perhaps, to puff up the chests of parochial muslims.
But I believe that namaz is not just thanking allah.. It has lot of other ingrediants... It is like a ready made recipe provided by prophet which worked for him...<
That is exactly the point. There’s no ready-made recipe for real awakening. And how do you mean “it worked form him”? In what sense? If you’re talking about his enlightenment, his communion with God, it probably was the result of his meditation, his retreat into the caves of mount Hira where he used to spend a lot of time by himself.
If Islam is mere rituals why did it lasted for 1400 years and why there are more muslims then ever before inspite of the fact that it is more difficult to follow Islam as compared to other religions...
Again, this is not an argument but a statement of misplaced pride. Christianity has lasted longer than Islam and there are more Christians than Muslims. Given your logic, Christianity is better than Islam.
To top it up, many get trampled, severely wounded and killed each year during these pagan rituals. Such is the ferocity, silliness and savageness of this enlightened path. 