When I was student of English literature at university, one of my teacher used to say "Religion is just a creation of fear". I asked her to explain this, she said k "agar aapko dozakh ka khauf na ho to I assure you all k koi insan bhi ibadat na karay. Ye khauf he hai jiski wajah se insan ibadat karta hy. Sab mazhab asal main insan ko khauf main rakhtay hain, or mazhab khauf he ka naam hy "

I want views of members of this forum, how far do you agree with my teacher's views??????? Or you also disagree like me?

Religion is not a creation of fear. Your teacher just mentioned one dimension which led to fear of Hell, but where the love for Heavens and Allah's proximity, mercy and blessings stand? Is it the only belief that a Muslim must keep in his/her mind as fundamental? Your teacher might have taken a singular view of picture, but so far as religion is concerned, it is for all walks of life. Many people do not believe Day of Resurrection unknowingly yet they believe Allah's existence for which they remain within prescribed limits.

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"The calmer I appear, the more dangerous I am."

i m agree with u mr fortune,,it is multidimensional,no one can know about its all aspects.
and i think we must keep our mind as fundamentalist toward our religion islam.
and one thing that is most important that is all the muslims belive on the day of judgement(midan e hashr).and ALLAH ki existance pr belive hony ka matlb hy us ki btai hoi baton or haqaiq pr b iman ho,religion me fear bht important hy or hamary religion islam me is pr bht focus hy,kyun k ye insani naafs me bht important hy.agr ye kaha jae k fear insan ki base hy to ye kuch galt na ho ga.

@miss khoso.

Your teacher has fell prey to prejudice and narrow mindedness.May Allah grant him the wisdom to seek the righteous path.amen
@paknation
@fortune
sir, i agree with you in toto.

Religion has never been a creation of fear.Allah is the most forgiving and munificent.Religion gives its followers hope,will power and spiritual power.It enhances mental,social and individual capacities of its followers.To create a dedicated and sincere follower-ship a religion relies on reward and punishment.Reward is for good deeds and punishment creates a fear.We worship Allah because we love Allah and not vice versa.Allah doesn't need our poor prayers based on the notion of fear.It should be understood that Allah is not in a perpetual mood of inflicting punishments.irregularity in prayers is due to the attitude of illiterate mullas.i have this permanent problem of rhinitis and ARIA(acute rhinitis induced asthma).i used to go to a Brelvi mosque.My cough irritated many people and i was told that i should not come to the mosque.Guess what i did,i changed the mosque.Allhamdullilah.

i remember that when i developed early signs of asthma many members of my extended family said that it was due to my sins.they said that it was due to wickedness and a sign of Allah's punishment and manifestation of wrath.
We even witness normal social events through religion.

We need to open religion to re-interpretation.

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If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. ~ John Stuart Mill

Though, the statement is not ture, majority of ppl worships GOD for the fear of hell/punishment. It is so because our preachers/molvies while giving religious speeches, accentuate on this side rather than revealing to them the rewards of worshiping GOD. However, I repeat the statement "Religion is just a creation of fear" is not true.

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There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

Though I'm busy with my exams but I could not help myself answering this post .. Sister, first of all your teacher is wrong .. And its not the first time I have come to hear such a thing .. A famous Indian Muslim poet named Qateel Shafaii has also depicted such a thinking in one of his ghazals .. He wrote:

Ik Khauf Ka Logon Ne
Khudaa Naam Rakha Diya .. (NaoozuBillah)

Now the problem is that people who tend to be more philosophical in their lives often find themselves having contrasting views with the religious theories .. The problem with them is that they don't want to follow, they want to be followed .. This might be justified in some aspects, but this approach is totally wrong if applied to religious beliefs and the person can even astray ..

Religion is to tame people .. Such as worldly laws .. If you break them you are reprimanded or fined .. If you are not reprimanded then people won't have any fear and they will break laws more often at will .. Those who follow religion know that they will be reprimanded if they lived their lives against the rules prescribed by the religion .. Hence they take extra care to follow what is told to them .. They submit themselves and their wills to God .. And the first step towards this is to accept that there is actually a God ..

And lastly, you can say without any hesitation that the people who say the words which you mentioned, are themselves in fear actually .. Because they don't want to follow what is told to them by way of religion and the excuse they give to themselves is that its just a fear, and they think if they overcome this fear they will be O.K .. Hence, they are actually those who are in fear ..

May Allah guide us all to the right path ..

Regards ..

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You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

No!!! religion isnt fear, I think you was student of UoS like me... well religion is a relation of GOD and MAN... hell and all other horable things are result of not obying the rules of ALLAH. however just take one example we respect our parents not beacuse of any fear but beacuse of their love and care. same is the case with MAN and his GOD.. so that we obay his orders nothing more........

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It's Not Over 'til I Win

Those who feared from fire became sun or fire worshippers/zorastrians.
Those who feared from Day of Judgement became Atheists or agnostics.
Those who feared from rocks,animals & other things became idols worshippers/ polytheists. etc...
Similarly some people worship in greed of wealth. cow worshippers etc..

HUSSAIN, the grandson of Prophet(SAWW) sacrificed his family, friends & everything not because of fear but because of devotion & love of Allah Almighty.So Islam is a religion of hope & courage.Islam discourages greed & fear as HUSSAIN did.

Hazrat Ali said,

Jo loog Dozakh kay khoof say Allah ki ebadat kertay hain tu yeah ghulaamo ki ebadaat hai.
Jo loog Jannat ki Lalach main Allah ki Ebadat kertay hain tu yeah Tajiroon ki Ebadat hai.
Jo loog Allah ki ebadat sirf is liay kertay hain kay Allah kay siwa koi Ebadat kay laiq naheen tu yeah Allah kay Azaad bundoon ki Ebadat hai.

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Unity + Faith + Discipline = True Pakistani

Religion is not just a name of "worship"or Ibadat"..its a complete code of life...Islam,Hinduism,Jews,christianity-these religions have their own norms,values and teachings..if anyone asks me why im Muslim,I would simply reply"due to its concept of Equality"...islamic concept of Equality is supreme and we dont find it in other religions..Similarly,atleast Islam doesnot emphasis upon only "Worship",,,"According to a report"aik 70 years old Muslim agr 5 times namaz regularly parhta rha hai to uski sari life mein ye duration 6 months and a few hours ka bunta hai"...2ndly,i dont think so k her koi sirf dozakh k khouf se ibadat kerta hai..buht se log hain jo "Naiki ko naiki k lie kerte hain"...May be aap ki teacher ne different context mein kha ho..may be lecture mein kisi topic se relevant ho ye baat...
Regards

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Fight for your dreams & your dreams will fight for you.

Mai Basri R.A. ne Kaha keh ay Allah agr main jannat ki khawaish main teri ibadat krun to mujay kbi jannat aata na karna aur agr main Jhannum ke khof se teri ibadat krun to mujay zarur jahanum ki aag main jhulsana aur agr main teri raza ke liye teri ibadat kern to Aey Parwardgar meri ibadat kabool ker laina.
that is religion

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Success is never achieved by the size of our brain but it is always achieved by the quality of our thoughts.