Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

1. UNREVEALED: PRIMITIVE (SHINTO-ISM, ETC.) :

1. Concept of God: Fetish-worship and Nature-worship, representing the quest for the metaphysical Reality at a superstitious level.

2. Outlook: Superstitious, rather than rational.

3. Standpoint: Magical, rather than ethical.

4. Ideal: Satisfaction of immediate wants.

5. Standard of Behaviour: Acquisition of immediate gains.

6. Mission: None.

7. Programme: Performance of rituals.

Japanese Scholars’ Verdicts:

The eminent Japanese scholar, Dr. Genchi Kate, who taught the Shinto religion for many years at the Imperial University of Tokyo, evaluates Shintoism in the historical perspective thus:

“Considered in the broadest historical sweep there are three main cultural stages in the evolution of Shinto. There is, in the first place, the stage of primitive nature-worship or polydemonism; secondly, the stage of higher nature worship or sheer polytheism; and thirdly, Shinto as an advanced cultural religion wherein beliefs and practices relating to Kami-objects have come under the influence of ethical and intellectual influences of a high order. It is at this last named stage that Shinto shows its most definite political pattern.”^{^[1]}

As regards Kami, the key-term of Shintoism, Motoori, another eminent Japanese scholar, expounds its implications as follows:

“Speaking in general, Kami signifies, in the first place, the deities of heaven and earth that appear in the ancient records and also the spirits worshipped in the shrines.

“It seems hardly necessary to add that it also includes human beings. It also includes such objects as birds, beasts, trees, plants, seas, mountains, and so forth. In ancient usage, anything whatsoever, which was outside the ordinary, which possessed superior power, or which was awe-inspiring, was called Kami. Eminence here does not refer to the superiority of nobility, goodness or meritorious deeds. Evil and meritorious things, if they are extra-ordinary and dreadful, are called Kami.

“It is also evident that among human beings who are called Kami the successive generations of sacred emperors are all included. The fact that emperors are called ‘distant Kami’ is because from the point of view of common people they are far separated, majestic and worthy of reverence. In a lesser degree we also find, in the present as well as in ancient times, human beings who are Kami… Furthermore, among things which are not human, the thunder is always called ‘sounding-Kami’. Such things as dragons, the echo, and foxes, in as much as they attract attention and are wonderful and awe-inspiring, are also Kami …”^{^[2]}

[1] Cited in John Clark Archer’s: The Great Religions of the Modern World, p. 153.

[2] Ibid., pp. 147, 148.

Source

to be continued . . . . .