Raja Petra Kamarudin
I do not know whether you have noticed that over the last few weeks (or last couple of months) I have been very nakal (mischievous). I have been provoking both Christians and Muslims to see how they would react. And one thing for sure is they reacted exactly how I expected them to.
I will condemn their beliefs and watch them scramble to defend these beliefs. I must say, though, that they put on a very poor defence. They would either quote verses from the Qur’an/Bible or texts from the Hadith/Gospels. And when all else fails they would lash out by saying you do not know what you are talking about, you do not know enough about Islam/Christianity, your views are wrong/distorted, you should go learn more before you talk about religion.
What they do not seem to realise is that I was not even talking about religion, or in this case theology or doctrine. I was talking about events. And these people cannot even seem to differentiate between theology or doctrine and events. Events are what happened. You cannot change these events when they are well documented. But you can change the interpretation of these events. And this is what I ‘play’ with.
Was the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945 an act of imperialism or an act of liberation? That all depends on what you love. If you love the British you would regard it as an act of imperialism. If you love the Japanese (or at least do not love the British) you would regard it as an act of liberation.
The event does not change. The event happened and you talk about that event that happened. But whether you call that event an occupation or a liberation is all up to you. It all depends on what you believe in and there is no right and no wrong here. Both are right whether you call it an occupation or a liberation.
And this is what these great ‘defenders of their faith’ do not seem to understand. They quote the Old Testament, New Testament, Qur’an, Hadith and whatnot and scream, “You are wrong.” And to prove they are right they quote long verses from what they perceive are God’s words.
Religion is for those who are lost and are still searching. Religion is just a shell that contains what you need. Once you take what you need you can discard the shell. The shell will now become empty. You do not need the shell once you have extracted what you need from that shell.
Most Christians and Muslims guard that shell will zeal. That is why we call them zealots. The followers of Jesus, at that time still called Jews, were zealots. And that is why Jesus had to be destroyed because zealots threatened the system that was already established and sanctioned by Rome.
Rome agreed to give Judea autonomy. That was why Judea was allowed a king, called Herod Antipas. Once this arrangement is upset then Judea’s autonomy would be removed and its kingship abolished and it would come under direct Roman rule. Hence these zealots must be destroyed and to destroy these zealots their symbol must first be brought down, Jesus Christ.
It was not what Jesus taught that was dangerous. It was how the zealots interpreted it that was. Give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor and give God what belongs to God.
What wise words and a very simple statement that all can understand. But how the layman understands this statement and how the zealots see it is a mile apart. Everything belongs to God. The entire Universe was created by God. Hence even Rome and its Emperor belong to God. Hence even Rome and the Emperor must be given to God.
That is a dangerous threat to those who understand the meaning of what Jesus said but so tame to the man on the street that only see literal meanings to what was meant as allegorical. It was a code that only those who have learned the code can decipher. And James, the brother of Jesus, had the codebook that could decipher the code of Jesus.
And Muhammad knew this. And he knew this because he learned from Jews, Christians, Hanifs, Zoroastrians and those monotheists who sought the sanctuary of Mekah to practice the uncorrupted doctrine of their faith. And much of the faiths of Persia, Byzantine and Rome had by then been corrupted and was beyond recognition, except for those faiths prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula at that time.
The Qur’an, some believe, just like the Gospels, is written in two languages. One is the language of zahirand the other is the language of batin. Zahir is physical and is what you can see. Batin cannot be seen. You will need a third eye to see it.
Most will see the physical book. Less than a handful will see what cannot be seen save with the third eye. And this is the true essence of the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad.
The Holy Books teach us good and bad plus dark and light. You can choose good and bask in the light. Or you can choose bad and stumble in the dark. That is how most would see it. But those who see with their third eye only see good and light. Bad and dark does not exist.
Satan is bad, the symbol of darkness. That is what you see in the Holy Books so you will swear by it. But Satan can also be good who brings us light if you know where to look for it.
How can Satan be good when he is the Prince of Darkness? That is what most, if not all, of you will say. Well, Satan is good and brought us light because Satan helped God in His grand design. If Satan did not do what he did then Adam and Eve would not have been evicted from the Garden of Eden and hence we would not exist. Hence we exist because of Satan. We owe Satan our very existence. So how can Satan be bad when if not because of Satan I would not be writing this and you would not be reading it because we all would not exist?
So good and bad plus dark and light are human values. And when we look at things using human values that will be what we will see, two sides to everything. But God is one. God is not two. Hence everything that God made is also one. Man and woman become one for us to be conceived. Woman was created from man to become one with man. That is how God’s plan works.
Judas is the villain in Christian doctrine. Judas is the betrayer. A traitor would be called a Judas. Judas is a bad word and no Christian would name his son Judas.
But Judas is good. Judas is not bad. Judas was crucial to the crucifixion and thereafter the resurrection of Christ. Without Judas, Jesus would not have died to save mankind. Is that not what Christians believe? Hence Judas helped save mankind. Judas helped save mankind by helping Jesus to die for mankind. So how can Judas be bad?
Those who see things the normal way would swear that Judas is bad. Those who see things with their third eye can see that Judas is good. Judas is not the villain all of you say he is.
When you are guided by religion what you see is just the outer shell. However, when you are guided by what is inside that shell, and when you are able to discard that shell and absorb what it contains, then you no longer have any need for religion. You do not need to follow any religion. Religion is for those who cannot see with their third eye. Those who can will know that the essence of their creation reaches far higher than doctrine, dogma and rituals.
Muslims call this Sufism. Hindus, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians have another name for it. However, by whatever name you call it, it is all the same. It is the seven paths you travel to reach the seven levels where the final level brings you within reach of the creator just like the soul leaving the body when the soul no longer has any need for the body to travel the world.
And when that happens you no longer have any need for the world or what the world can offer you. You are on top of the world looking down at the rest of humankind who are searching and searching through religion for something they will never find.
And that ends my Friday sermon for this week.
