Religiosity and Morality Are Poles Asunder

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 21 September 2022 “Informal Moral Policing, As In Certain Countries, Has The Benefit Of Plausible Deniability." From TOI, Sept. 21 Iran's moral policing (Gasht-e-Ershad) is being criticised across the world for its high-handed approach and attitude. This moral policing is nothing but religious policing as all faiths, not just Islam, decide moral code and conduct of their people and followers. In short, religion has hijacked morality. To be religious is to be moral is a seriously flawed perception, so much so that old Sanskrit lexicons define a Nastik (atheist) as someone who is: Dharmnindak, Iishwarnindak, Vednindak and also NEETICHYUT (divorced from morality; Akhlaaq Se Khaarij). Morality has nothing to do with religiosity. It (morality) is an individual's conscientious behaviour. Morality is his or her understanding of what's good and what's bad. In short, your precise discernment determines your rectitude and moral uprightness. A Tilakdhari, devout priest in a temple worshipping his deity can rape and kill a helpless woman, an ostensibly very 'spiritual' Christian priest masturbates while listening to an unsuspecting woman's forbidden fantasy during the most stupid practice of Confession (The Sacrament of Penance of Catholic Church) or a venerable Maulvi gropes a boy's genitals and sodomises him, all in the name of religion that has bestowed upon these 'holy' people the right to preach and spread morality and chastity. One's moral behaviour cannot and shouldn't be judged by his appearance and ostensible totems of sacred religious behaviour. When I was studying in a relatively tolerant Iran, my atheism was never an issue and no Muslim ever called me an immoral person. I still remember my History teacher Tariq Howeda's words, “Nobility of character is the religion of the highest order. One needs nothing else”. Unlike today's Iran or any Muslim country, an individual's faith and his morality were never mixed up. My Persian lady Professor always wore Sarees (she never wore any other apparel in her whole life), never wore a veil, flaunted her cascading Rapunzel-type hair, smoked in public, had a string of affairs and never believed in Islam or any damn religion. But she was one of the best and nicest humans I've ever come across in life. She sponsored higher studies of her brilliant but poor students at Oxford, Cambridge and Ivy League Universities. She herself studied and taught there. Even when she was dying of Cervix cancer at a hospital in London, her only concern was that all her body parts must be utilized and donated to the needy patients. She could be an 'immoral' woman from an extremely restricted religious perspective and even a 'fallen' one according to the devout, Quran and Hadees-quoting, nay parroting, Muslims. But in a broader canvas, she was light years ahead of all the affected and hypocritical Muslims. This is morality; life governed by conscience and not by any imaginary god, scripture or prophet. Moreover, why should state, society or any bogus faith define an individual's ethics? This is happening in today's ' Hindu ' India. Absolutely useless and indolent lotus-eaters are defining a person's morality and his or her actions. This is uncalled-for. Yours truly has no religion and god. But he's forever conscious of the pangs of his conscience and feels bad when he hurts someone even unwittingly. That's his morality. He feels bad that he once called Mr Naseer Ahmed as Na-sar and didn't use Mr before his name. This is morality that keeps you abreast of your minutest transgressions and this needs no religion or god. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/religiosity-morality/d/127994 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism