People were promised paradise, so their hearts clung to salvation, and many turned a blind eye to some of their worldly rights in pursuit of a heavenly promise. They were told not to argue, not to ask, not to object, because the world is ephemeral and the hereafter is better and more enduring, and is a fixed reality beyond doubt. With the purity of intentions in the hearts of the general populace, directed interpretations crept in that made absolute obedience and silent compliance the hallmark of faith.
This article does not discuss religion, for it is more sublime, elevated, and sacred than criticism. Instead, it discusses a social and human phenomenon that transcends history and geography, questioning how some religious values are reinterpreted in ways that make silence a virtue, unconditional acceptance an ideal behavior, and questioning a risk to constants. This discussion is not about individuals or entities, but about patterns of thinking and models of indoctrination that may recur in various societies, necessitating reflection and review.
Faith inherently does not fear questioning but invites and encourages it. It is an awareness inseparable from consciousness, an alertness inseparable from responsibility. However, when some interpretations turn into closed behavioral molds, they can sometimes become barriers to reform, even if unintentionally.
Through different historical periods, patterns of religious and social discourse have arisen that tend to place the responsibility for everything a person experiences on the individual himself, without addressing the structural causes or general contexts. He was told that poverty is a trial, objecting to reality is ingratitude, and patience, no matter the circumstances, is the safest choice, thus turning some spiritual concepts into soothing tools rather than windows of awareness.
It is important here to distinguish between three concepts often mixed in the public consciousness: religion, religiosity, and the use of religion. Religion, in its essence, is a system of values, principles, and texts that establish the meaning of justice, mercy, responsibility, and human dignity. Religiosity is the human understanding of this system, i.e., the way people translate religion into daily behavior and social attitudes, which therefore varies from one society to another and from one time period to another. As for the use of religion, it is entirely different, turning religion from a value system into a tool, sometimes used to justify certain realities or to convince people to accept conditions that could be changed. The problem does not lie in religion itself, but in the way it is presented or the purposes for which it is invoked. Blurring these three levels makes any discussion difficult, because criticizing religiosity or the use of religion is sometimes perceived as criticizing religion itself, whereas in truth, religion remains at its core a superior ethical system. The problem arises when humans understand it as a closed system, or when it is used to justify what is debatable and subject to review and change.
The problem, therefore, does not lie in the texts but in the selection, where the door to interpretation is opened by predetermined measurements, making it easy to eliminate entire dimensions of faith in favor of truncated concepts, with some discourses focusing on obedience and discipline, while overlooking texts that call for justice, freedom, enjoining what is right, reform, and claiming both public and individual rights.
In modern societies, where traditions intersect with contemporary challenges, there emerges a need for a religious discourse that balances the constant and the changing, the spiritual and the real. It is not contradictory to believe in fate and strive to change it by taking action, nor is it misguided to ask why, but rather it is courageous to do so in search of the more correct path of truth.
But when some religious discourses turn into tools for social control, the educational function of faith becomes confined to compliance rather than motivation, and faith transitions from a call to free oneself from fear to a system that reproduces fear in another form—the fear of questioning, the fear of punishment, the fear of exceeding the usual.
Calmness does not mean surrender, and obedience does not mean disconnection from conscience. Societies do not advance when their relationship with religion turns into blind compliance without understanding its purposes, or when thinking is disabled in the name of obedience. Rather, societies advance when this relationship is based on awareness, understanding, and ethical responsibility.
What this article aims to emphasize is the importance of faith as an internal force that motivates humans towards positive change, not just a ritual repeated without reverence or awareness. It advocates for enhancing the personal spiritual relationship between the individual and their creator in a manner that opens up the space for free reflection and renewed understanding.
Today, we are in dire need of a religious and social discourse that interacts with people's questions and accommodates the variables of their reality, not merely indoctrinating them, but enabling them to face their challenges with a balanced vision that combines patience, understanding, action, love of life, and faith in the hereafter.
In addition to the necessity of having a discourse that embraces justice as it embraces contentment, and encourages participation rather than withdrawal, and calls for reflection rather than blind following—a discourse that liberates humans rather than subduing them, and restores to religion its stature as a supreme value and a living conscience rather than as a tool for social control and silent compliance!
Faith is not summarized in a fatwa, nor measured by compliance, but by its ability to touch the essence of humans and push them to be responsible, free, and sincere in their relationships with themselves, others, and their creator. Such a relationship is not built on fear but on freedom, and does not grow in darkness but in the light of thoughtful, honest, and enlightened awareness.
