What is Religion?
To answer this question, we would need to look back at how the story of humanity began.
Firstly, it is important to understand that the history of mankind and the history of religion starts at the same time. There is no humanity without God and there is no religion without a link between God and humanity.
If we go back to the Bible and the Quran, we find that once God had created Adam (PBUH), HE appointed him as an authority over the earth (bible and Quran verse) as His Khalifa, His Vicegerent, His Representative.
“ I am going to place a successive ˹human˺ authority on earth.” Quran 2:30
“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” -Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 26
So, Religion started with a Man - Adam (PBUH), placed on earth by God as an Authority, as an appointed Vicegerent and Representative. And obedience to him was obligatory and constituted the link, the Covenant between believers and God, the way of salvation… in one word: Religion.
Now, obviously, Religion did not stop when Adam (PBUH) died. After Adam (PBUH) passed away, obedience had to be given to someone else through whom God would speak and lead, someone else who represents God, someone appointed by God. It was the son of Adam (PBUH) : Seth (PBUH).
From then on, religion continued in a long line of Successors and Vicegerent that God appointed and inspired with his Spirit utill this very day.
So at the center core of Religion and what keeps the Religion of God alive is this link between God and humanity through a man appointed by God.
With that information and truth we can but admit and come to the realization that there is actually only One religion that keeps being updated and revived. And that sects and diversity of interpretations and understanding of the True Message and Religion of God are but proof of misguidance and perdition. The different religions existing today are just misconceptions of misguided and misguiding scholars. Man-made conceived belief systems and the ensemble of ways of worship twisted and changed that don't come from God.
Religion doesn’t belong to monks, scholars, or clergy who studied in religious schools. Religion started with God appointing a man and Religion remains alive and true by the man that God appoints in every day and age. Religion belongs to God alone. And the only person who has the authority to speak in the Name of God is someone appointed by God.
“...ever since God blew his spirit into Adam, he never left us. His Spirit always remained amongst us on Earth. Adam dies but God lives for his spirit moves on to Seth. Noah dies but God lives for the Spirit of God that was in Noah moved onto Shem. Abraham dies but God lives for the Spirit of God that was in Abraham moved onto Isaac. Moses dies but God lives for the Spirit of God that was in Moses moved onto Joshua. Jesus dies but God lives for the Spirit of God that was in Jesus moved onto Peter. Mohammed dies but God lives for the Spirit of God that was in Mohammed moved onto Ali.”
- Aba Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace), Sermon of The Invitation to The Seventh Covenant
The Jews for example went out of the religion of God and created what we could say “Judaism” the moment they rebuked Jesus Christ (PBUH), their own Messiah.
Similarly for the Christians, did you know that the first Christians didn't call their religion Christianity but “the way”? “Christianity” was created as an isolated religion the moment that they refused the Comforter, Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and was not anymore the live Religion of the time.
Each time that a community of believers does not recognize the man sent by God after the prophet they believe in, they then isolate their religion from the one eternal everlasting Religion of God and basically become disbelievers.
They stop on the way, they separate themselves and take another direction, they create their own ways of worship, and invent a way to relate to God that pleases them but not God.
And that's the reason why, for example, Jews haven't seen a prophet in their midst since Jesus was put on the cross. Because Religion continued without them, or more exactly they stopped following the true Religion of God by not accepting the true successor appointed by God.
Religious men, priests, rabbis, monks, and scholars are used to clinging to the Book and religious practices, limiting religion to it. But no holy scripture has ever come alone, dropped from heaven, or appeared magically in the hands of the believers. The man sent by God brought the book, brought the laws, brought the rituals and practices, brought the morals and manners. And therefore once the prophet that brought it dies, his teaching and his book somehow die with him unless there is another man, with the spirit of God, his successor, that can interpret it, explain it, continue it, and extract from it the divine wisdom and knowledge.
Religion has always been one and what makes it one is not the books, not the laws, not the way of praying, not the belief system but one and only one thing: the succession of men that are appointed by God or the passing of the Spirit of God from one vicegerent to another without discontinuity.
That Spirit that God blew into Adam (PBUH) and that never dies and has never left the earth and dwelled in all the prophets and messengers, inspired them, spoke through them, and called humanity towards the supremacy of God.
That man that in every day and age, is inhabited by the spirit of God is the RELIGION. He is that link between mankind and God as the very etymology of the word religion says it: from the latin ‘religare’ - to link. That man is the link, but also the door, the rope of God.
“Jesus in the Bible says, "I am the light of this world." Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) in the Bible says, "I am the way and I am the truth, and I am life. Nobody gets to the Father except through me."
So Jesus peace be upon them is saying that he's the light. And at the same time, he's saying that nobody will die upon the truth and get into heaven, except if they believe in him, this light. Christians tend to understand that for all times. If you don't believe in Jesus, then and you don't accept Jesus, then you're going to go to hellfire. And certainly that is true. But Jesus says in another place in the Bible, he says something very important. He says, "While I am in this world, I am the light of this world."
So Jesus is effectively saying, while I am alive, I am the light of this world. When I die, I am no longer the light of this world. Because he makes it a condition. He says, "While I am in this world, I'm the light of the world." He didn't say for all time, I'm the light of the world, only while he's in the world, only while he is alive.
So that means one of two things, when he goes out of the world when he passes either there's no light in the world, or somebody else is the light of the world. And so effectively, Jesus is saying, while I am in this world, I am the Imam of this world. And whoever dies and doesn't have a pledge of allegiance to me has died the death of ignorance. But when I am gone out of this world, there will be a new light, a new Imam, and it is obligatory upon whoever it is that is a believer and God to find that light of the world and to believe in him.”
- Aba Al-Sadiq (From Him Is Peace)
There are two important points here that Jesus (PBUH) highlights: the vicegerent of God of the time, who keeps the religion alive and represents Religion and God.
And secondly, it is through him and only through him that the believer can find salvation, and go to the Father.
Even if often twisted and understood slightly differently, you will find also in every mystic and esoteric circle, be it the Gnostics from Christians, Pythagoreans, Manicheans, Mithraic or Hermetic backgrounds, Sufis, Hindus mystics, or Zen Buddhists, they all know that reaching God has no other way except through a master, an enlightened one.
The issue that all these schools of thoughts and esoteric groups have today is that their master is either dead or their current master is not appointed by God.
In the main holy book of Hinduism, the Baghavad Gita chapter 12, verse 6 and 7, Krishna says:
‘Those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.’
If we know Buddha (PBUH) to be the very teacher that showed to his students God has to be found inside, obedience was still due to him and he has, as very well known for every buddhist, appointed a successor: Ananda (PBUH), the Guardian of the Dharma.
No one can argue that Plato (PBUH) who dictated the words of Socrates (PBUH) was his direct successor. And the book the Republic is one of the most precise and explicit manifestation of what religion should be. The man appointed by God, the Philosopher King, is the one that leads to God and organizes the society for humanity to live in a state of justice and peace.
Lao Tzu (PBUH) in his book Tao Te Ching is very clear about that fact too. Only a true person or the one aligned with the Tao, meaning a person who is one with God, manifests the will of God should lead. Even so the Tao is everywhere, formless and eternal, it needs a man to embody it and lead humanity according to it in order that everybody lives in harmony, in the way God wants humanity to live.
And Lao Tzu (PBUH) as most of the prophets could not rule and was relegated to an adviser and a hermit. Nevertheless he left his message and left a successor: Zhuangzi.
Jesus (PBUH) himself named someone for the moment he would be no more in the world, so the community of God would have a divine leader and this was Simon Peter (PBUH). And Jesus (PBUH) himself was appointed by John the Baptist (PBUH). And Moses (PBUH) appointed Joshua bin Nun (PBUH). And Abraham (PBUH) appointed Isaac (PBUH). And David (PBUH) appointed Solomon (PBUH).
It is clear as the sun, Religion being alive through a man and kept alive through a line of successors can be found everywhere and is the core of Religion itself.
Most of the Muslims, especially from the Sunni school of thought, would argue that it is not true that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) had successors. They believe that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) completed religion with the Quran.
Indeed, it is common to hear that the Quran is protected against corruption and is a light by itself and enough as a guidance. It is also believed that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was the last prophet and therefore no one after him was sent by god. No successor. No messenger. No man of God. The door of Revelation is shut and locked until the Day of Judgment. Islam being perfect and complete. Forever. And they back it up with verses of the Quran and narrations of the Prophet.
Most of the Muslims here would say, as their leader of thoughts did in the time of the Prophet, the Quran is enough for us! Or that the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) left us the Quran and his Sunnah.
And this needs a little reflection. Let's stop for a moment and take a dive more in-depth into that argument.
It is recorded that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
Ibn Abbas reported: When the time of the death of the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) approached while there were some men in the house, and among them was Umar bin Al-Khatttab, the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) said, "Come near let me write for you a writing after which you will never go astray." Umar said, "The Prophet (PBUH & His Family) is seriously ill, and you have the Qur'an, so Allah's Book is sufficient for us." The people in the house differed and disputed. Some of them said, "Come near so that Allah's Messenger (PBUH & His Family) may write for you a writing after which you will not go astray," while some of them said what Umar said. When they made much noise and differed greatly before the Prophet, he said to them, "Go away and leave me." Ibn Abbas used to say, "It was a great disaster (a great calamity) that their dispute and noise prevented Allah's Messenger (PBUH & His Family) from writing that writing for them.
-Sahih Muslim 1637a
And this was on his deathbed. And what does a prophet do on his deathbed?
He writes a will, he appoints his successor.
In this statement or will that he wrote, it says:
“O Father of Al-Hassan, bring me a pen and a paper’, so the Messenger of Allah (PBUH & His Family) dictated his Will until he came to this position where he said: ‘O Ali, there will be twelve Imams after me and after them there will be twelve Mahdis… So you, O Ali, are the first of the twelve Imams…”
- Ghaybat Al-Toosi, Vol. 1, p. 174; Bihar Al-Anwar, Al Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 53, p. 148
And the narration continues until he gives the name of the Mahdi.
So in this document, he mentions the list of successors that will come after him, all coming from his family. And holding onto it will prevent believers from going astray!
So here we have a first element that shows that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) did appoint a successor and not only his direct successor but all the successors after him until the promised Mahdi. And the Prophet said this will protects against misguidance. Why? Because the spirit of God passing from one man to the other and being the link between God and humanity IS the religion and IS the guidance. And knowing by name which men will be the veil behind who the spirit of God will speak and lead, is protection against misguidance.
But this document is not the only source of information that proves that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) did appoint a successor, and that it was indeed Ali (From Him is Peace).
There is a multitude of narrations that have been collected about it and the most famous of them is the narration about the event of Ghadir Khumm:
Al-Baraa’ ibn Azeb narrated:
"We were travelling with the Messenger of Allah ((PBUH & His Family) then we stopped at Ghadeer Khum, and we were called to prayer. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH & His Family) sat under two trees, he then prayed Dhuhr prayer (Noon prayer) and took Ali’s hand (From Him is Peace) and said: “Do I not have more right over the believers than what they have over themselves?” They said: “Yes”, he said: “Do I not have more right over every believer than what he has over his own self?” They said: “Yes”. He said: “Whoever I am the mawla (master) of, then Ali (From Him is Peace) is his mawla. O Allah, befriend those who befriend him and take as enemies those who take him as an enemy.” So Umar went to him after that and said to him: “Congratulations ‘O son of Abi Talib, you became the ‘Mawla’ of every believing man and woman”.
– Musnad Ahmad, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Vol. 4, p. 28 (Arabic Version)
So Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) very clearly did appoint Ali (From Hims is Peace) as his successor. And he said that following him and the imams after him is the source of Guidance, because God befriends the ones who befriend them. Confirming that religion is a man. And that successorship is at the core of Religion and that it didn't end with the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family).
What if people say that the only thing that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) commanded us to follow was the Quran and the Sunnah.
Well this myth that the Prophet said that his nation should hold tight to the Quran and the Sunnah needs to be clarified once and for all.
What is interesting about this narration is that according to their own science of hadith invented by men and not by God, this very narration is weak and contradicted by the Quran and a multitude of other authentic narrations actually stating that the Prophet said he left to his Nation was: The Quran and his family.
“…I am about to receive a messenger from my Lord (the angel of death) and I will respond to Allah’s call (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it’. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: ‘The second are the members of my household (Ahlulbayt). I remind you (of your duties) of the members of my family’ (He repeated it three times)”...
- Sahih Muslim (Abi Al-Hussein Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj ibn Muslim, 2nd ed., Book 44: Book of the Merits of the Companions, p.782, hadith 2408a)
https://sunnah.com/muslim:2408a
The Prophet (PBUH & His Family) here clearly said I leave with you two things that will never leave you astray: The Quran and my family.
So why does the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) say, “ I leave for you my family?”
Is it because they are nice people? Or because the religion of God through Islam is now destined to be a tribal and monarchic religion?
Obviously not.
He leaves his family as his guardian, as a rope to hold fast on because his successors will come through his family as the numerous hadiths reckoning the names of the 12 imams after him and as the holy Will that the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) wrote before his death confirmed: after me will be 12 imams and 12 mahdis. And those successors are indeed from his family.
So one of the two weighty thing is not enough. The Quran alone is not enough. And the second weighty thing is not the sunnah but the successors of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) who all come from his family.
So it seems now very clear that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was not the end of religion and the successorship went on. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) is indeed the last of the prophet sent by Allah, but not the last of the vicegerent of God.
In the Quran Allah indeed says:
This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion
- Surah Al Maida Verse 3
Let's read a tafsir generally accepted from the grand public and given by a renown Sunni scholar Ibn Kathir. He said:
‘… (it) was revealed, during the great day of Hajj (the Day of `Arafah, the ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah) `Umar cried. The Prophet (PBUH & His Family) said, `What makes you cry' He said, `What made me cry is that our religion is being perfected for us. Now it is perfect, nothing is perfect, but it is bound to deteriorate.' The Prophet (PBUH & His Family) said, “You have said the truth." and What supports the meaning of this Hadith is the authentic Hadith,
(Islam was strange in its beginning and will return strange once more. Therefore, blessings, Tuba for the strangers.)
So this verse was revealed after the event of Ghadir khum in Hajj that we mentioned earlier as mentioned here in this tafsir.
Ghadir Khumm is the appointment of Ali (From Him is Peace) as the successor to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). And this appointment, this announcement of the successorship made the religion perfect because it is the core and the essence of religion and what makes it and keeps it alive.
So Islam was complete when Ali (From Him is Peace) was appointed. Meaning when successorship is assured.
Today, if we look at the state of the Islamic nations as a whole: divided, suffering, associated with dunya, worldly allurements, ignorance, oppression, tyrants and terrorism, fighting with one another, and without a leader appointed by God. Their Islam indeed is not a man. And the spirit of God doesn't dwell in any of their religious leaders.
What was left of religion after the Prophet passed away could only be protected against corruption and deterioration had the Ummah held fast to the two weighty things. But the Ummah as a whole chose to obey their own elected leaders and to collect their own and make their own versions of the Quran.
The nation of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) betrayed its Prophet, and abandoned Religion altogether. And this is without speaking about the persistent oppression imposed on the Family of the Prophet after his death, the killing of all the true successors of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), of all the men appointed by God.
Indeed Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Allah's Messenger, do you mean Jews and Christians (by your words)" those before you"? He said: Who else (than those two religious groups)?
- Sahih Muslim 2669a, book 47 hadith 7
The Islamic nation indeed broke their covenant with God and went out of the religion of God as the Jews and the Christians did. The link was broken and the rope of Allah has been cut.
And this shows how dangerous it is to neglect and not follow the man appointed by God.
The mercy of the Prophet was great that even knowing his nation will go astray, he still tried to save them leaving them a track, a key in addition to his holy Will and his public announcement of Ali (From Him is Peace) as his successor:
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said: “Whoever dies and doesn’t pledge allegiance to the Imam of his time has died the death of ignorance." - Al-Aql wa Al-Jahl fi Al-Kitab wa Al-Sunnah, Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, p. 275
In another narration:
The Messenger of Allah Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said,
"Whoever withdraws his hand from obedience will have no argument before Allah on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever dies without an allegiance upon his neck will die the death of jahiliyya, ignorance." Sahih Muslim Book 33, Hadith 90
“....the Prophet Muhammad made this condition that you had to know the Imam of your time, that you had to pledge allegiance to an Imam of the time. So how do we know what is the Imam of the time, who is the Imam of the time?
That's the duty that it is upon every single believer and that is what we say true religion is really about, about finding the alive Messenger of the time. We're saying that the Prophet Muhammad (sallalhu alayhi wa ale) in this hadith said that there is an imam in every time and it is a precondition of faith that a believer finds first and foremost this man because it is this man, the Imam of the time, who's going to put to rest all of the matters that the people differ upon and show the people the true religion.”
- Abdullah Hashem Aba Al Sadiq (From Him is Peace)
With these two narrations, that are in parenthesis largely recognized by Sunnis and Shias, it becomes clear that Islam as it came down was not supposed to be the end of religion, nor that successorship of men appointed by God would stop.
We see that Islam is not an exception to the rule. The religion of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) points very clearly towards this truth that Religion is a man.
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) even said:
“Allah will send for this Ummah at the beginning of every century the one who will renew its religion”.
- Selselet Al-Ahadith Al Sahiha (Mohammad Nasser El-Din Al-Albany) volume 2, page 148, hadith no. 599
How could religion be renewed or revived if it was perfect and complete and did not need any successors after Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family)?
This simple narration has great consequences. This means that if the succession of vicegerents never stops and God promised to send someone to renew and revive religion in every day and age, included after Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) , it then means that the duty of the believer IS to find this man appointed by God, that imam, that vicegerent of God and to pay allegiance to him.
And if you truly understand that this man is the only door to God, and that only by walking through this door, salvation can be attained, the question that should boil in your heart and mind now is: ‘How can we find this man?’ Where is that man, today?
We said that this man has to be appointed by God as all of the vicegerents of God before him did.
Noah (PBUH), Abraham (PBUH), Moses (PBUH), king David (PBUH), Plato (PBUH), Buddha (PBUH), Krishna (PBUH), Jesus (PBUH), Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) all of them.
They all claimed to be the one mentioned on the tongue of their predecessor from a long line of successors going back to Adam (PBUH) and God. They all spread divine knowledge and they all called to the supremacy of God, meaning that no one other than the one sent by God is able to lead towards God and nobody but him has authority in the land or has the right to rule.
The man should be a successor in the line of the successors of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). How can we find that line of successors? Where is it? Who was the previous vicegerent of God before the one of today?
Do you remember we mentioned the Will of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family)? There you will find the successor, because it is actually the only source existing today on earth that mentions the successors of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). And nobody today except the people who follow this Will know where the spirit of God is, in which man the Spirit of God dwells.
And there is only one man today that calls towards the supremacy of God, only one man that claims to be Abdullah (From Him is Peace) in the Holy Will of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), a will that protects against misguidance and cannot be claimed by a false claimant or else it is not anymore protection against misguidance.
Only one man who spreads knowledge that reconciles and clarifies the whole of religion and comes with the very knowledge that was given to Adam (PBUH): the knowledge of the soul. The rightful heir of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), the promised lamb of god spoken in the bible, the Qaim, the one who will rise and establish peace and justice on earth. That man is today’s religion.
That man who veils the Spirit of God. That ruler, Imam, King, appointed by God is the man we have to find.