PRACTICABLE FORMULA

Follow One And Respect All

AN educated practicing Hindu once said: “All religions are true in their own right. Neither is any religion more true nor is any religion less true.” He said that, “it is religious concepts that can establish peace in the world.”

This idea is quite common amongst people of different religions. However, a logical analysis will show that this concept is unnatural as well as irrational. In matters of worldly affairs man cannot hold everything to be equally right. For instance, no one says that both geocentric theory and heliocentric theory are right. Everyone holds one theory right and the other wrong. So, why should we adopt as an exception, this incomprehensible practice in the matters of religion?

The Mughal Emperor Akbar, propounded a syncretic faith ‘Deen-e-Ilahi’ that united the different religions of his subjects. He tried to use the powers of his empire to promote the religion like he did for the use of his currency, but was unsuccessful. Dr. Bhagwan Das, Indian theosophist (1869–1958), after thirty years of study and research, wrote an Encyclopaedia titled Essential Unity of All Religions to establish this theory, but it too turned out to be a failure. Mahatma Gandhi tried to use the force of his popularity to perpetrate a similar concept, but also failed in this bid. All his life he continued to utter the words ‘Ram Rahim ek hai’ (Ram and Rahim are one). But the last words on his lips at the time of his assassination were: ‘Hei Ram’ instead of ‘Hei Ram, Hei Rahim’.

The right approach to this matter is the one enshrined in the Quran. That is, “For you, your religion; for me, mine.” (THE QURAN 109: 6) There are also several traditions in this regard, in the Hadith. All these teachings can be summed up in these words: ‘Follow one and respect all.’