Religion is man-made

By reading the Qur’an with care it becomes obvious that God did not intend that there be any ‘religion’ at all. The Reading promotes a way of life which is acceptable with God and which promotes the wellbeing of people. There is no need to define it as a religion. It is clearly stated in the Reading that no prophets or messengers brought ‘religion’ from God. God revealed a deen to them so that the people around them would serve the unseen God by observing righteous deeds amongst themselves for their own benefit in this world and the Hereafter. And, thus informed, people would also know and avoid the unholy and the hypocritical behaviour of ‘religion’ by the deeds of those who profess and practice it. The surah of the Reading attributed to Noah states that he worked day and night calling the people to abandon religion. Noah told them they should not serve anyone or anything except God. They should observe a way of life for God. His neighbours and friends did not heed his call.

Noah said, “O my people, I come to you as a Warner. You shall serve God and work righteousness and obey me.” (71:2-3)

The response from his community was:

They said. “Do not abandon your idols, do not abandon Wadd, or Suwa, or Yaghoot, or Ya’ooq and Nasar.” (71:23)

The idols Wadd, Suwa, Yaghoot, Ya’ooq, and Nasar are names after the religious sages who were the gods of those who follow their teachings. Similarly, names like Bukhari, Shafie, Wahab, Gulam Ahmad, or Aga Khan are gods of their respective cults, Ezzra for Judaism, and Paul in Christianity.

The people of Noah were probably rich, prosperous and comfortable with their way of life. They did not suffer any poverty in their ‘religion’ of worshipping idols. Noah did not fit into the popular pattern of the day. The Reading teaches us that following the masses ends badly:

If you follow the majority of the people on earth they will divert you from the path of God. They follow only conjecture and they only guess. (6:116)

Muhammad espoused the same message as Noah. He was simply the messenger of God, he was not a worshipper. He worked to spread the word of God and hope it prevails over other deens. One would logically assume that Muslims the world over would want to emulate the Last Prophet and embody the teaching he brought. It is illuminating in that regard to read what the message he received was:

We have decreed for you the same deen as was enjoined upon Noah and what is revealed to you herein, and also what was enjoined upon Abraham, Moses and Jesus. You shall uphold the one deen and not be divided. It is simply too difficult for the idol-worshippers to accept what you advocate. God is the one who will bring towards Him whomever He wills, and He will guide towards Himself those who would return. (42:13)

Read that again: ‘It is simply too difficult for the idol-worshippers to accept what you advocate’.

That statement is self-explanatory: people who profess religion are regarded as idol-worshippers, they will simply not be able to fathom God’s true deen (as advocated in the Reading alone and discussed in this work).

In addition, their almost certain adverse reaction to this book will bear testament to veracity of this statement.