Thursday, May 29, 2008

Concrete and not-so-concrete idols

Muslims insist they are not idol worshippers. However, unless the mind has a focal point, it would not be able to conceive anything. God, accepted by Islam and all religions as being, per se, beyond the conception of man, has to be brought down to the level of a concept if He is to be worshipped. That “bringing down to the level of a concept” inevitably results in idolatry. In Hinduism, idolatry is obvious because idol worship is celebrated. In Islam idolatry is not obvious because their definition of idols is restricted to that which is made of concrete material. However, even the word “Allah” is an idol because “Allah” is a word and words, though not concrete things, represent that which is concrete. And all representations are idols.

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