Rethinking on Islam

So what we need is to re-appraise and re-emphasise the fundamental purpose of Islam (and any other traditional religion for devotees if they are non-Muslim). Before learning to read the scriptures or its practices, the question, which everyone must ask, is 'What is it all for'? Like soldiers going into a battle the 'objective' needs to be understood first and foremost and later 'how' this objective is to be attained by religious learning and practices.

In Islam there is no doubt about this objective. It is to follow a righteous path (siratul mustaqueem) in this world, as we are compulsorily made to recite in Sura Fateha in every rakat of every prayer. This sura is the mother of the Holy Quran, and its verses after praising Allah directs us to want from Him only a single gift, a guidance for remaining on this righteous path. Heaven, hell, etc in the hereafter or any other reward or punishment in this world are mere subsidiary consequences of whether one remains on this path or not. This path is also the path of Justice, Fair Play, Ethics and Morality etc of the Greek philosophers and all other sages in history. The state of Arab society before the time of the Prophet (SM) was abjectly unjust and clannish (each with its own icon of God, like tribal totem poles). There were infighting for supremacy by physical force, infanticide, blood-feuds and other perennial vices that the young prophet-to- be was profoundly disturbed and unhappy with, and he often retired in the caves of Hira for meditation on how to overcome these Herculean worldly problems around him. Allah bestowed on him the prophethood of Islam by which he united the disparate Arab tribes and clans under one society, one God and one rule of justice.