The following is from a discussion i had with a Muslim freind of mine who got distracted from his religion. If u have the patience to go thru’ the whole, it might be of help. It started with my meeting with a Sufi.
Aslam
Dear Ajit…
Being born a muslim I do not really practice the faith in the strict
sense. I dont pray 5 times, dont fast and cant read the Koran. I dont
eat meat and avoid fish and eggs. I dont want to follow some faith
blindly - I shall beat my own path to God 
Since in school I have
been reading books on different relegions and also different people like
Buddha, Osho, Krishnamurthi, Ramana Maharishi , Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ,
Swami Yogananda… I found that they all say the same thing - only
they have their own special style of saying… Recently I have
developed a interest in reading the Koran… because I feel - since I
have already read so much about other relegions - let me be fair and
read the Koran also. From what little I have read - I have also come to
the same conclusion as u have… All relegions are the same. They
differ a bit due to the fact that those relegions came onto earth at
different times and in different social circumstances. For eg. the
reason Islam permits 7 wives is that - when Prophet Mohammed was
battling the dis-believers a number of women got widowed when his
soliders died. Now if u dont help these widows - what will the do ? Some
could get into prostituiton. So Prophet said that as long asa man can
guarantee that he can keep his first wife and his subsequent wife happy
- he was welcome to marry. It was not a license for multiple sex
partners. But then the followers of Islam used the same thing for their
own selfish means and it gets a bad name. And thats the problem all
relegions face - the so called “followers” are really not true
“bhakts”… That gives relegion a bad name… Its predicted that in
the years to come a new wave will go across the world - people will
become more spiritual and less “relegious” - I hope to stay alive to see
such a world..
aslam
Ajit:
Wow, it seems like my alter ego speaking to me. In fact my
interpretition of multi-wives, breaking of idols by the Prophet also is
the same.
Btw, not only did the followers of Islam but of all the faiths -
deteroriated their faiths. Since you are reading Quran, i will mail you
my interpretition of some of the verses. You have done the correct thing
by starting to read Quran. If properly followed it it preaches the best
way of living.
Ajit
Aslam:
Dear Ajit,
The Prophet broke down idols - because things had come to a stage where
the “essence” of relegion (which one might call spirituality was lost)
and people were only following rituals. This is happenning today also.
Today the so-called “relegious” people go to their respective places of
worship - and follow - to the most minute detail - all rituals - and
think they are God’s favoured ones … But that does not make them good
human beings. I find it so funny when people fight over mandir-masjid
!!! I have felt God more closer when watching the sun set, when seeing a
child play… when watching the stars twinkle , or a flower flutterring
in the wind… Thats why I dont go to a mosque - I dont have to go to
some place to be close to Him !!!
The wise ones say that the “idol” was given so that for a moment man
could put the Divine in a form - and feel close to him. That was all.
Infact I am told that at the start of any hindu prayer - some verses are
said which mean “Oh Divine - please for a moment come into this stone
idol so that I can pray to you”. So the stone idol is only a medium -
and not the Divine. But this truth is lost. And so have elobrate
rituals…
Interesting part is - so called “relegion” is totally a human product
(unlike spirituality). I shall explain this… In my native town in
Maharashtra - hindus and muslims have stayed together for many years. So what has happenned is that they have picked each other customs… Just like Hindus immerse the idol of Lord Ganapati - muslims make some sort of wooden frame on the occassion of Mohurram and immerse it in water.
Now - nowhere in the Koran does it say that u should do this - but they
do it !! In Bombay - there is one place where muslims and hindus stay on
either side of the road. When a hindu festival comes - the hindus
decorate the road on their side and blare music in loudspeakers… and
feel relegious. What do the muslims do ? Next time their festival comes
- they decorate their side of the road , blare music and take out a
procession. Not to be outdone - next time the Hindus have a massive
fire-works display… Then next time muslims will erect a pandal on the
side of the road and hold relegious talks… IT IS SO FUNNY !!! I MEAN
I JUST FEEL LIKE LAUGHING… AND THESE VERY PEOPLE CALL THEMSELVES THE
DEFENDERS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE RELEGION !!!
Take care, ~aslam
Ajit:
Hi Aslam,
Please go thru’ the whole else u will get it wrong.
Got it right. In fact to put it very precisely. There were 321 clans in
Arabia and each one had different form of God associated. The custom
started as having a clan God so that they feel personal with God - it
deteroriated to an extent when people started fighting over the idols -
e.g. even within a clan fights ensued if the physical features of the
idols and similar for inter-clan tussles. The time Prophet was born, all
the customs had severely deteroriated. And the best he cud envisage was
completely banishing idol-worship. In fact it is said that Kuraish were
one of the most influential clan and Prophet cudn’t win them over thru’
battle. He called their cheif and after negotiations - whence he
explained the chief the deteroriation of the practice of idol-worship
and the benefits from the new social set-up → the clan chief asked him
some form of gurantee that their coming generations will benefit from
the new social set-up; also he refused to break the idol of his clan-god
and hence they agreed to make it a holy stone. And thus ensued the
practice of going for Haz(This practice is major money-earner for Saudi)
and the holy stone et al(i don’t remeber its name). In India, Khwaja
Nizammudin Aulia understood that it will be difficult for poor people to
got for Haz, hence the practice that rounding Azmer’s dargah 7 times is
equivalent to a Haz. Yeah, the Prophet destroyed 320 idols himself and
the symbol for Kuraish’ God was accomodated in Islam. One thing about
Islam, Christianity and Jewism is that they started as a movement for a
limited cause - e.g. the chaos in Arabia, the chaos by Jews, the slavery
of Jews etc. U can find this in the customs etc. they preach - e.g.
Islam has – bathing once in 5 days, taking food together in a single
utensil.(Arab had water scarcity), breaking Roza with dates etc. Hence
the initial literature(e.g. Hadith) is very limited in scope. But as and
when these religions interacted with the ones outside their initial
scope - new (both good - sufism and bad - terrorism) practices sprang.
What differentiated Hinduism is the purpose etc. Hinduism wasn’t born
out of a necessity but it evolved in a long, peaceful span of time.
Hence u wud find some intriguing questions, anxiousness, and philosophy
in hindu scriptures. Hinduism too have deteroriated though out of
different reasons. Till now i discussed the history of religions, not on
to the spiritual aspect of Islam. Islam - according to me - is the
easiest way to have two ends mmeet - worldly and spiritual. And it is a
fact the more easy it is to acheive high goal thru’ a method, the easier
it is to fall with a mis-interpretion of that method. To give an
example, sharper the knife, better it is for Doctor to operate with it,
and still easier it is for murderer to kill someone with it. Moreover,
the doctor too has to be very careful with a sharp knife.
On to the mystical Islam, a verse in Quran means - Be a muslim- help the muslims,
kill ne Qafir(among them kill the youth but do spare the women, children
and old folk). Now this has two interpretitions - mystic and literal.
Literal one we all know(this is called Jihad-e-qital or the lower
Jihad). The mystic one is :-
Muslim is one who surrenders to God, Qafir is one who takes God
literally, doesn’t surrender to Him etc. A woman stands for qualities of
caring, devotion, acceptance etc. A child stands for innocence,
anxiousness and questioning attitude. Old stands for acceptance(an old
person will accept anything whatsoever in his life). Youth stand for
very hasty decisions, egoistic attitude, diregard for others etc. Hence
the meaning is - Nurture that aspect within you which urges u to
surrender to a god/self-realization; kill that part which urges u to be
egoistic, urges u to be non-muslim. But .. there is a caveat - even if u
feel that the qualities of devotion, anxiousness, acceptance etc. seem
to u to be obstacle to surrender to God, don’t kill them. But kill the
aspect within u which leads u to make hasty decisions, selfish etc.(This
Jihad is called Jihad-e-akbar or the higher Jihad.) In fact Islam shares
this with Hinduism - seemingly opposite interpretition of same verse. To
give an example - In one of verses to Holy Mother, the devotee says -
Rupan dehi, Jayam dehi (Give me beauty, victory). Mystically it means -
show me my inner beauty, give me victory over myself. Hope i have been articulate till now. One thing - my knowledge of Sanskrit and Arabic is equally bad. Lastly, u said a very nice thing - . Keep urself calm and work on urself to make urself more receptive to the Divine.
Do write me about u’r interpretitions of Quran as and when u move
forward.
Ajit