You spoke about Islam so I will be referring to that only here.
I completely agree with you about the core values one must make nucleus of his relationship with God.
But I would say that utilization of these terms (fundamentalism / wahabi, etc.) are the political tacts of governments and to misrepresent the original concept of religion. I have given the origin of the definition "fundamentalism" that how and where it was generated. However, these days it is used for Muslims only for political reason. Same is for the term wahabi…it was introduced by British government in India in 18th century and that resulted in first clash between West and Islam. Otherwise, when you will study the Wahabi doctrine, you will say….Oh, this is what I am or this is what I believe in because as a principle Wahabis believe in only those core values which you mentioned earlier.
And regarding religion, as a student of religion for last 36 years, I believe that if we have ownership to the core values (as you mentioned... Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm and Hujj), we are better than those who are hardliner for other issues which are secondary. However, we can't ignore the importance of those small things also as ISLAM is a complete way of life..and true..ISLAM also teaches that which foot you should put first while entering to the toilet....if you believe and practice, you will be benefited...and if you don't believe or believe but don't practice...there is no punishment........actually, it all depends on knowledge and learning...as much as you study the religion and you start practicing..your ownership will develop more and more towards religion as “a complete way of life”.
One must not be surprised to know that ISLAM covers your life 100%. Social life, economics, husband-wife relations, child-parents relations, government, education, health, neighbors relations, elections, transport…and many million aspects of human life. All is covered in QURAN….as long as you learn that.
However, there is no HARDLINING in ISLAM except for the core ideology, it teaches everything but doesn’t like to enforce….and indeed, religions can’t be enforced. So, anyone who is biased towards the secondary things and is not practicing the core values of ISLAM in its true spirit is neither a fundamental nor a true Muslim.
You spoke about Islam so I will be referring to that only here.
I completely agree with you about the core values one must make nucleus of his relationship with God.
But I would say that utilization of these terms (fundamentalism / wahabi, etc.) are the political tacts of governments and to misrepresent the original concept of religion. I have given the origin of the definition "fundamentalism" that how and where it was generated. However, these days it is used for Muslims only for political reason. Same is for the term wahabi…it was introduced by British government in India in 18th century and that resulted in first clash between West and Islam. Otherwise, when you will study the Wahabi doctrine, you will say….Oh, this is what I am or this is what I believe in because as a principle Wahabis believe in only those core values which you mentioned earlier.
And regarding religion, as a student of religion for last 36 years, I believe that if we have ownership to the core values (as you mentioned... Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm and Hujj), we are better than those who are hardliner for other issues which are secondary. However, we can't ignore the importance of those small things also as ISLAM is a complete way of life..and true..ISLAM also teaches that which foot you should put first while entering to the toilet....if you believe and practice, you will be benefited...and if you don't believe or believe but don't practice...there is no punishment........actually, it all depends on knowledge and learning...as much as you study the religion and you start practicing..your ownership will develop more and more towards religion as “a complete way of life”.
One must not be surprised to know that ISLAM covers your life 100%. Social life, economics, husband-wife relations, child-parents relations, government, education, health, neighbors relations, elections, transport…and many million aspects of human life. All is covered in QURAN….as long as you learn that.
However, there is no HARDLINING in ISLAM except for the core ideology, it teaches everything but doesn’t like to enforce….and indeed, religions can’t be enforced. So, anyone who is biased towards the secondary things and is not practicing the core values of ISLAM in its true spirit is neither a fundamental nor a true Muslim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi
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