Islam and Bigotry: Two Different and Opposite Religions

While Islam and bigotry are two completely different and opposite religions, they are considered equal to Islam by people who do not have enough knowledge or have not done any research on the issue.

While the religion the majority of the Muslim community follows today is known as Islam, the truth is that what rules the region is a religion of bigotry that is mostly based on superstitions; it is far removed from the Qur’an and what our Prophet told us.

There is a huge difference between bigotry and real Islam.

The only true and valid source of Islam is the Qur’an – the Holy Book sent by God. Prophet Muhammed also followed the Qur’an, preached what the Qur’an preached, ordered that the Qur’an should be followed and said that “the Qur’an is his Sunnah.”

The religion of bigotry, on the other hand, has many different sources. Some of these invalid sources would be thousands of made-up hadiths attributed to the Prophet, fabricated rules and prohibitions, wrongful interpretations of the Qur’an made up by the people who are presented as Islamic scholars in addition to incorrect beliefs, judgments and practices that are, in many instances, based on pre-Islamic superstitions, customs and traditions.

In fact, God clearly states that people will only be held accountable from the Qur’an on the issue of religion:

It the [Qur’an] is certainly a reminder to you and to your people and you will be questioned. (The Qur’an, 43:44)

The bigots frequently maintain that the Qur’an is incomprehensible, cryptic, deficient and inadequate; they would claim that the aforementioned, invalid sources, are needed in order to clarify and understand it. However, God is the one who declares the fact that the Qur’an is clear, sufficient and comprehensible. In many of his verses, God informs us that the Qur’an is very clear and complete and that there is no need for other sources. Some of these verses are as follows:

Am I to desire someone other than God as a judge when it is He who has sent down the Book [the Qur’an] to you clarifying everything. (The Qur’an, 6:114)

We have not omitted anything from the Book. (The Qur’an, 6:38)

Islam based on the Qur’an is the only and true religion, whereas bigotry is divided into hundreds of different groups that are in conflict with each other on practically every single issue. Each of them thinks that their path is correct, and the paths of others are deviant. The disunity of bigots is told in the Qur’an as follows:

As for those who divide up their religion and form into sects, you have nothing whatsoever to do with them. Their affair will go back to God and then He will inform them about what they did. (The Qur’an, 6:159)

Despite all these evidential verses, the bigots have violently rejected following the Qur’an sent by God, and insist on following their own made-up religion which has been handed down to them from their grandfathers and ancestors for hundreds of years. At the time of our Prophet, there were also idolaters, that is to say, bigots, who opposed the Messenger of God and rejected the religion revealed by God. This fact is told by God as follows:

When they are told, ‘Follow what God has sent down to you,’ They say, ‘We are following what we found our fathers doing.’ What, even though their fathers did not understand a thing and were not guided. (The Qur’an, 2:170)

While it is very easy to live by the real religion in the Qur’an, bigotry makes the religion harder and impossible to live by, in every way. Islam is the religion of convenience, but the bigots assume that the more difficult a religion is, the better it gets; properly speaking, this is a form of obscurantism. This twisted point-of-view originates from an inability to understand the Supreme mercifulness of God. It has also been one of the main issues on which many people resisted all the Prophets throughout the history. When Prophet Moses said to his tribe, “God demands you to sacrifice a cow,” his tribe made a very simple order impossible to follow by asking him a lot of questions. Ironically, they claimed that they were simply being meticulous in following the orders of God by doing so. However, being genuinely meticulous would mean following the orders of God as they have been sent – plain, simple, easy and pure. It is told in many verses in the Qur’an that the religion is easy:

Strive in the Way of God with a service worthy of Him. He has selected you and not placed any constraint upon you in the religion – the religion of your forefather Ibrahim. (The Qur’an, 22:78)

In the same way, as only carcasses, blood, pork meat and animals that are not sacrificed in the Name of God are forbidden to eat in the Qur’an (The Qur’an, 16:115, 2:173), there are hundreds of forbidden food lists in the bigots’ sources of religion. God explains this wrongdoing of the bigots in the Qur’an as follows:

Do not say about what your lying tongues describe: ‘This is halal and this is haram,’ inventing lies against God. Those who invent lies against God are not successful (The Qur’an, 16:116)

Who has forbidden the fine clothing God has produced for His slaves and the good kinds of provision? On the Day of Rising such things will be exclusively for those who had faith during their life in the world.’ In this way, we make the signs clear for people who know. (The Qur’an, 7:32)

In short, bigotry is an evil system that produces hundreds of prohibitions and restraints on every issue, without taking any evidence or verse in the Qur’an as basis, and drives people away from the blessings and beauties God created.

Those who suffer the most under this system are women. The bigoted mindset that isolates women from the social world and blessings of Earth, imprisons, oppresses and exposes them to every ill-treatment and discrimination fosters a deeply-rooted subconscious hatred against women. The envious and ignominious characteristics of the bigots have caused them to fabricate numerous made-up religious rules, prohibitions and restraints against women.

The bigoted mindset has a special hostility and hatred against any grace, elegance and fine arts, just as against women. It is told in the Qur’an that Prophet Solomon had many sculptures, fountains and castles made in his palace (The Qur’an, 34:13). The magnificence, beauty and grace of heaven,  which God uniquely and perfectly created, is also depicted in detail in the Qur’an.

Bigots, on the other hand, are dead set against fine arts, elegance and beauty. They consider sculptures, paintings and music to be amongst the biggest of sins. They suppose that it is a so-called sacred duty to damage and destroy them at every opportunity.

Consequently, the bigoted understanding of religion raises introverted, loveless, stone-hearted and unhealthy masses that are unable to enjoy any of the beauties of life.

It should be known that it is impossible to say that a mindset following the principles of the Qur’an is prevalent in a country where women are not considered humans and are not free, where the streets are dreary, where there are no scientific or technological breakthroughs, where people cannot state their opinions and practice their religion freely, where people are coerced into living by Islam in any way, where people in different sects are declared “unbelievers,” where atheists and non-believers are under oppression, where churches and synagogues are attacked, where people from every religion, language or race are not treated as first-class citizens, where painters, sculptors,  opera singers and singers in general, men and women of literature are not held in high esteem, and the quality of life has fallen due to the lack of good manners.

However,  bigotry cannot be eliminated by oppressing people who are under this illusion. These people are made to believe in this system through indoctrination. Through counter-education, it is possible to rescue them from this dark world by showing them that what they’re doing is wrong by means of the verses of the Qur’an.

Once the principles of the Qur’an are preached and followed, peace, decency, rationality, democracy, freedom, fine arts, quality, good manners, scientific breakthroughs, joy and in short, the best of all the beautiful things, will prevail and humanity will finally be freed of the burden of superstitions.