The Great Divide

“So how many Quranic Chapters do you people have?” asked my friend.

“Huh? They were thirty last time I checked”.

But they are now! You lot had forty previously did’t you?

Ah what???

Exactly! The last ten chapters of your Quran have been eaten by the goat right?

Oh yea? Well… Thank you goat! You made me a Muslim!

Accusations of such genius sorts are more hilarious than offending you know. But most of us lack the competency to think above, to think rationally. It is one of the pivotal aspects of our society that has never made us the ‘brothers’ we ought to be.

The great divide between the two major sects of our religion has always hindered our thoughts and customs. Slogans of Shia Kafir! And the Ridicule of the Caliphs has been a bone of contention and thorn in our florescent Islamic society.

Why cant we opt to keep religion has a personal choice? Why is that we fail to understand the difference between ‘being judged’ and ‘be the judge’?

Religion is freedom. Freedom to think, to act, to live through a code of conduct that you should opt to choose and once you have done that you should ought to respect what others believe in. To agree to disagree with harmony and peace should be cardinal to the essence of our society.

It’s easier said then done. We host a religion that is molded and shaped by our culture. We value our ancestral customs and norms more than our religion.

I can easily recall the tantrums my mum had to face when she disapproved of a ritual that is commonly followed in Shia Islam. Accusations and thoughts like “it’s been there since ages” almost made her strongly contemplate her zealous endeavors.

A culture-dominated religion tends to mingle the logical and the absurd in such a profound way that you find it difficult to discriminate between the ‘sublime and the ridiculous’.

The religion is simple which makes it an efficient catalyst to harbor illogical, absurd extreme practices which creates animosity, hatred and a feeling of “they and them” as oppose to “we and us”.

These times are tough, we have clashing civilizations, we need to progress, we need to be together. It’s high time now that we practice patients and rationale.

Let us brand ‘peace’ for once.