Religion, society, and the state, by: Abdullah Shalabi

Throughout human history, religion has been and still is an ongoing human phenomenon that rationality has not dispelled at all, nor has human scientific and economic progress dispelled it. We may regret some of its forms, and some of its claims may annoy us, and some of its demands, commands, and prohibitions may press on our souls and hearts. Some of its advocates may dominate us, and some of their claims may take us back to dark ages that humanity has surpassed through the laws of development. Some of its movements and groups may make our lives bitter and unbearable, considering their human interpretations and distortions of its texts. Some aspects of it may also involve forms of magic and superstition that mock our minds and perceptions. The second issue is necessarily related to the first, emphasizing the need to distinguish between religion as a message and religiosity, or what we might call the phenomenon of religion as a social and historical phenomenon. There is a difference between the emotional and absolute character that the religious message possesses and the relative human, practical, and earthly character that these practices and manifestations embody.