The thin line between Religion and Spirituality

When we talk about GOD or spirituality, religion is always a subject that we need to touch on. It is a subject that I don’t like to discuss since I don’t want to offend anyone. But because I was born a Muslim and have been religious for a part of the life then I will talk about this subject by taking my own religion as an example.

There are so many religions, and almost all people who follow a religion have taken it in from their parents and relatives, and they believe that this is it, the religion that all humans should follow.

I remember that being raised as a Muslim, I used to believe that the religion was the only pure and correct religion on earth and the people who didn’t follow Islam would end up in hell. I considered myself lucky to be born into an Muslim family and didn’t have to do the work of searching for the correct belief or religion. It was people who followed other belief systems and religions who should do that.

Being surrounded by people from other religions, especially Christianity, I always said to myself, “It is not fair that these people are not born as Muslims, how come some need to search for the proper religion and some take it for granted?” The other thing is that these people (my Christian friends) are also so convinced that their religion is the only correct one for all of humanity. Later after growing up and getting to know people who were followers of other religions, I found out that the same equations applies. They were totally convinced that their belief was the one and it was others' duty to search and find the correct religion.

So, what is the truth? Which religion is the ONE? The answer is all of them. Since all of them came to humanity from the same source, the only thing that we needed to really investigate or at least be aware of was that these scripts had been modified or interpreted in a way to add to it what people in power want it to be, or what cultures want it to look like.

One of the main pillars of Islam is giving women their rights, and it does, but by manipulating and interpreting the Quran script the way the men and the society want it to be; for women to be slaves to their men. And we happily accepted because by obeying and being good daughters, sisters and wives to men meant we were obeying God. The fact is we have been fooled by the crazy interpretation.

Another product of these different interpretations was that there were so many different types of each religion. For example, within Islam there were at least five types that have their own beliefs – even though their references are still from the same Quran - and each one of them believed that they had the correct version of Islam. As far as I know, this has happened in almost every religion.

Rarely have I see a person who has changed their religion to another, or from one belief system to another. That is because very few were willing to dig and search for the truth. Even though I am sure most religion followers know deep down that there is a lot of mess happening, but they haven't dared question it. I am not saying that the people who have changed their religion have changed it to a better one, but they gave themselves the opportunity to be open minded and to educate themselves about other religions and read the scripts of their new religion with their own eyes and minds (not with the eyes and minds of others).

What we need is an open mind and heart, and the courage to go through this journey of life knowing and searching for the truth. Blessed are those who realise it.

All religions come from the same source (God or the source), with the same messages – but maybe in different formats. The messages are helping us to understand who we are and what the universe and existence is about. They also contain guidance to help us to live life fully according to the era the religion came in. The worshiping duties are all about connecting with ourselves and with the source.

When people ask me these days if I am Muslim, the answer is, “I am spiritual. I believe in all religions and I follow them all”. For me, being a Muslim or following any other religion is the same as long as I am not taking that religion as the ONE and the only ONE, and that non-followers of that religion are going to hell.

I am Muslim, Christian, Hindi, Buddhist… I am a spiritual person who believes that we are all from the source.

Zahra'a Lafal

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