| In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful A resume of the History of Religions |
| In conduct a brief investigation on the origination of religions, the most confident approach that can be depended upon from a religious point of view is the Holy Qur'an, because it is free from errors, mistakes, prejudice, and spitefulness. The Holy Qur'an states this briefly by saying: "Surely the (true) religion with Allah is Islam.....(3:19) The divine religion, which is the very religion of Islam has accompanied man from the first day that he came into existence. As stipulated by the Holy Qur'an, the present generation of man originates from one man and one woman. In the Holy Qur'an, the man has been called Adam. He was a prophet to whom divine wahy (divine revelations) had been descended. Adam's religion was very simple and included a few general regulations such as the people should remember Allah and should be kind to each other and specifically to their parents and should keep aloof from corruption, murder, and evil acts. After Adam and his wife, their children spent their lives with extreme simplicity and without differences of opinion. As the number of people increased, they gradually gathered together and formed a community life. In this manner, they learned how to live and came closer to civilization. As the number of people proliferated little by little, they divided themselves into different tribes, in each of which there were noblemen whom the people respected. Even after the demise of these nobles, the people made their statues and paid tribute to them. It was exactly at this time that idolatry became prevalent, and as it is cited by religious leaders, idolatry originated in this way. The history of idolatry confirms this matter as well. Little by little, as a result of the unjust behaviour of the mighty towards the weak, differences of opinion sprang up. These disagreements and accidental differences of opinion resulted in various forms of conflicts in life. The generation of these conflicts that led to man's deviation from the path of prosperity towards misery and destruction was the reason that Compassionate Allah assigned prophets and sent a Divine Book that settled man's differences. As the Almighty Allah (swt) states: "(All) people are a single nation; so Allah raised prophets as bearers of good news and as warners, and He revealed with them the Book with truth, that it might judge between people in that which they differed....(2:213) Islamic teachings in Brief P37 Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i c |
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