SUNDAY, 13 JULY 2003 12:22 CASHIF ANSARI HITS: 1266
Regarding the need for messengers, it can be established through examination of some basic aspects of human life, they being the instinctual drive to worship, the humans need to establish societal relationship and mankind’s natural right to be free from the slavery to other humans.
The instinct to worship exists in every human being and it is exist in every society. Even atheistic peoples such as the Communists, though they didn’t believe in creator, attempted to satisfy the need of creator by sanctifying individuals such as Lenin or groups such as communists’ party. Other nations developed mythical tales to explain their origins and invented rituals to please imaginary deities. Still others, such as the Capitalists found themselves worshiping money. In order to have relationship with Allah we need a source thru which our relationship is defined either by each individual for himself, the consensus of all individuals, or By the Creator, Allah. Establishing the worship relationship with Allah requires one to have some knowledge regarding all parties in the relationship. With regards to Allah, the human being can obtain only very limited knowledge about Him through the use of the intellect. Thus, he is able to ascertain His existence, His Oneness, His Sovereignty, and other attributes. However, the human being can in no way ascertain how the Creator should be worshipped. It is not possible to use the intellect to know what Allah likes or dislikes or to even talk about the concept of like or dislike regarding Allah. This is because Allah is Unlimited and beyond our perception and comprehension, and presupposing how Allah ought to be worshipped is pure speculation that has no basis in reality. Thus, the human being by himself cannot determine how to Worship Allah. In addition, if each individual worships Allah according to his own thinking, this will eventually lead to conflict in the society. One individual’s ideas of worship may be to make idols to worship Allah, and someone else’s idea of worshiping is to destroy idols. Some others would consider scarifying the blood of humans as rituals in their worship, while others would consider scarifying a virgin to the ocean or cliff as an act of Ibadah. Since the worship is an instinct that needs to be satisfied, both individuals would strive to perform their worship, and the inevitable result would be a fierce struggle between the people.
In addition, the criterion for each one’s worship is purely subjective, so there is no way that this conflict can be solved except by one dominating the other. The result of allowing humans to establish the relationship of worship for themselves with creator is not only that have false concepts regarding worship, but they would also fight against each other for the sake of those false concepts. Thus, it is incorrect to satisfy the instinct of worship according to the individual’s own thinking.
The second possibility is that the means of worship would be set through the consensus of all individuals. However, it has already been established that the human being does not have enough knowledge regarding Allah to establish this relationship. Therefore, the worship of Allah cannot be determined by the consensus of individuals either.
The final possibility is that the Creator would determine for humanity how He should be worshipped. Since Allah is the Creator of mankind, and the one who instilled the attribute of worship in the human being, He is the only one knows how this instinct is best satisfied. In addition, Allah is the only One who has the knowledge of what the duty of the human being towards Him is. Therefore the only way for the human being to satisfy his instinct of worship correctly is to do so based on revelation from the Creator. The revelation, however, is not something sent to each and every individual. This is obvious since not every human being claims to have revelation. In fact, very few people in the history of humanity have ever claimed to receive revelation. In addition, the very fact that human beings have developed so many different forms of worship indicates that the revelation, which one would expect to be consistent in its basic ideas, does not come on an individual basis. Thus, the revelation must come to humanity through specific individuals commissioned by the Creator as Messengers. Messengers are needed not only to convey the message, but also to demonstrate the practical method of worshipping Allah. This is due to the fact that the instinct of worship is satisfied through practical actions, whether it is reciting some words or performing certain actions. Therefore, humanity is in need of Messengers to instruct the people regarding how Allah should be worshipped as well as to demonstrate the proper implementation of this worship.
Wa-salaam
Cashif