Religion above everything else

Submitted by Prashant, Jul 30, 2017 at 19:16

Dear Dr Pipes, the basic question about Islamists penetrating our security establishments is whether a religion's purpose is to guide people spiritually and make them live with each other peacefully or the purpose of religion is to serve God and the religion itself. Everyone of us --Muslim or otherwise-- should be able to answer this question. If the purpose of the religion is the former, certain principles and ethics will be more important than the branding of those ethics by any religion. Otherwise the brand of the religion will be more important.

Many times we hear that for Muslms Islam is more important than relationships with their parents, neighbors, and countries. And, occasionally, it is recommended that even the common principles of ethics can be sacrificed to serve the purpose of religion.

I think Islamic scholars should debate and answer the above question for all followers of Islam. Once this question is unequivocally answered, there will be no concerns about Muslim serving in the security establishments.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".