I'm not religious at all, since religion in general is about belief and belief is only a weak substitute for real experience. Regarding Islam, which I consider a huge problem for the world at the moment, I think it has been perverted, like Christianity has been too.
The main problem is though, that religions like Christianity have gone through lots of reformation since medieval times, and most of the main premises of Islam are still very fascistoid and chauvinistic and (at least to the public). Islam is on the level Christianity has been 500 years ago. If you consider yourself a Muslim, I guess, you have lots of work ahead and I hope you are not alone in this.
I love Rumi and his prose is very dear to my heart - a religion based on the premise of Love would be something new for humanity, since Love has become just a shallow word uttered in them, but forgotten of its real meaning. Religion has just become another way to play the game of power.
In my view, it would be better for all religions to end and a new era of Love to emerge - maybe this is, where all this is heading anyway...
So we don't need to identify with religious believes anymore and become the living embodiment of Love in action. Blessings and thank you for bringing up this important topic! 🙏
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I appreciate that you wear your biases on your sleeves so that some of the context of your assertions belayed by your experiences show, and I can see that you have read and educated yourself on some of the principles of Islam, which, having been born and grown up in the propaganda machine of Western cultures, I agree is critically important.
This is why it is so surprising to me to see these assertions are heavily rooted in Western perception and culture, and, while I am also someone who wouldn't claim a religion, the efforts to invalidate the progress of entire religions spanning geographies, peoples and cultures by attempting to compare them in progress against each other seems incredibly western in perspective and not rooted in any universal truths.
I agree that a religion of love must exist, why can't that be any of the religions of love that already exist such as Islam? I don't agree that the game of power disappears with religion. In fact, even as a person who doesn't claim a religion, without religion, I truly believe our world would be a less miraculous place.
Well, I didn't say that religions couldn't bring forward more Love in the world, I was just saying, that they don't at the current time.
It's a nice thought, but there is a huge gap between what is claimed and what is done in the name of religion.
Yes, taking history as a lens to view things maybe routed in western culture, but I think that religions have to proof themselves on the same level they are acting on. If it were really about universal truth, there would be no war in the name of any religion.
I guess, you have to separate the tiny parts that are universal truth from all the other rules, that are made by man to control and preserve their power.
I think you might mean there is a huge difference in what is claimed by western media and sensasionalists looking to push forward extremest examples of what is done 'in the name of religion' and the common perception of the goals and cultures that make up the majority of that religion.
but yes, I can see here that your argument is rooted in western media, culture and understanding. For me, I never forget that winners write the history books, my friend, not to say that it is in any way wrong, but that lens will always be passed from writer to reader.
Also, and this is just my opinion, to have read Yahia's writing and simultaneously say and hold that religion, which is often held between palm and pen for him, does not bring more love into the world at this current time is an insult to the wisdom and grace with which Yahia strives to bring light and joy into the world. And, again my opinion, he's not the only muslim to be doing so. nor hindu. nor bhuddist. nor taoist. nor jew. nor christian. etc.
Thank you, dear Alain, for your elegance of spirit. I'm grateful for the unfortunate post I read this morning for what it brought forth from generous souls such as yourself.
Just as extremists don't represent a faith, so the narrow-minded and narrow-hearted don't define the human experience.
Thank goodness, we have poetry to expand consciousness and possibilities...
_/|\_I can't say I'm grateful to the post, but I am certainly grateful for you and the community here on Steem who actively dedicate time to allowing people to meet and open dialog with people and cultures they otherwise may never interact with.
Allow people to learn that, behind the masks we (most often politically) paint for foreign cultures to wear, is a person; much like our friends; much like family; much like ourselves.
Being human isn't as rare an experience as we sometimes want to make it out to be.
Thank goodness at that, my friend ^_^ <3
✨♥️💫
Here, @carmalain7, is a beautiful quote by a poet friend of mine, Joe Weil, that I thought you might appreciate:
There is nothing new about a religion based on Love, my friend, that is the foundation of all faith, practiced by countless souls, for millennium.
Strange to hear you love Rumi, yet have such difficulty with religion, in general, and Islam in particular. Rumi is deeply rooted in Islam and regarded poetry as a distraction if not addressed to the Divine.
As you know, I respect Taoism, and would have thought that the peace you found there would entail extending tolerance to other spiritual traditions 🙏🏼
Well, I'm not a Taoist and I have tolerance for all spiritual traditions, but I don't think that they are leading to Love - that's why I made the remark about religions being routed in Love to be something new.
I know, that they claim that, but their actions over history have spoken another language - and with that I don't mean Islam alone.
The fact, that I resonate with Rumi, but not with the religion as it shows itself in present time, is for me a sign for the perversion over time.
I try not to throw the luminous baby out with the sordid bathwater. Similarly, I do not overlook the great good that religions continue to do, quietly, in the hearts of people of faith, worldwide. I think it would be arrogant to do so.
It's important to know history, and if we do, we know that Rumi, too, lived in a time of violence turmoil and religious persecution and, as a Muslim, spent part of his life as a refugee and a migrant. So, it does not help to glorify the past.
The problem, as I see it, is not with religion, but with us - the violence and certainty of our views which translate into bigotry and worse...