Get Out Of ‘My Camel Is the Best ' Syndrome

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 3 October 2022 Recently, one 'learned' contributor commented that, “Islam is the favourite and blessed religion of Allah.” The same crap ad nauseam! This is a quintessential tribal view from a religio-anthropological perspective. Eleventh-century Arab poet and apostate Al-Ma'ari said, " The human race is divided into two: One, man intelligent without religion, the second, religious without intellect.” I put this man in the second slot. Believing in the superiority, invincibility and infallibility of one's faith and god is a sign of delusion and condescension. This deluded mentality births all sorts of bad-blood and religious differences. Having travelled across the world and interacted with a huge spectrum of believers of all faiths and hues, I've observed that Christians and Muslims have a pronounced tendency to glorify their faiths and characters. Believers of other faiths also have this proclivity, albeit restrained. Almost all Muslims have a terribly wrong belief, ingrained in their system, that their religion is the best and most favoured by a prejudiced and partisan Allah who packs believers of other religions off to hell without a trial. The Quran says that Allah doesn't discriminate and it's Rabbul-Alameen (the god or Supreme Being of the universe) not just Rabbul-Muslameen (the god of only Muslims). So, how can an 'egalitarian' Allah favour a specific faith and its followers? Is he also as partial as his followers are because partiality is a typical human attribute which Muslims are endowing their Allah with? Aren't you contradicting yourself and your scriptural claims? Anthropologically speaking, Islam is a tribal faith. It's obvious that its followers still have certain tribal ethics and ethos. Noted anthropologist Franz Boas opined that the religious stubbornness of Muslims stemmed from their early tribal tendencies and practices. In olden times, when there were tribes galore in the Arab peninsula, every tribe had its own deity and tribal supremacy was determined by the strength of the respective deity and the cattle. A camel symbolised the superiority of a tribe. So, the Pre-Islamic perception that my camel is the best to assert tribal superiority, travelled through subsequent generations to emerge as my faith being the supreme. It's worthwhile to mention that a 'modern' faith or precisely, Islam, is nothing but an improvement upon an erstwhile tribe or group with additions of esoteric beliefs as time marched on. En passant, the national animal of Saudi, camels are native to the Arabian Peninsula and have accompanied Saudis as far back as recorded time. Muslims must pluck this 'My camel being the best' syndrome out of their belief system to earn respectability in these times when they're justifiably anathemas to the rest of the world. ----- 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/syndrome-muslims-religion-race/d/128088 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