Islam RP1

At times animistic aspects of Islam are often overlooked by Muslims who believe that any sort of ‘coincidences’ were developed only long after Mohammad’s death. Animism is the religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist in both animate and inanimate entities of the natural environment such as plants, rocks or rivers. So, how can a religion that emphasizes on God’s oneness and strictly forbids any hint of shirq have animism in its roots? This misconception is most likely due to the emphasis given to Islam as a monotheistic belief and flaws in the Islamic education system.

If placed on a religious spectrum, theologically Islam is often portrayed as a religion that would be on the far end of the monotheistic side. From the very verse that if recited can make you a Muslim to the adhaan that is repeated five times a day before every prayer, “Lā ilāha illallāh” (There is no deity except God) is continuously repeated. With such repetition of God’s oneness, the idea of the Kaaba being close to a well named Zamzam is almost never viewed as animistic by Muslims. It is clear, however, why a place close to a well in a desert can be viewed as sacred.

Why that is overlooked might also be due to the Islamic education system or a lack thereof. Although most Muslim children are taught to read the Qur’an, not many of them understand all of it. Informal classes and stories read to Muslim children mostly deal with prophets and their companions. Even the one place where in depth Islamic education might be offered in the Muslim world—the madrassa—has now a bad reputation.

Hence, Islam is only rarely taught objectively in the Muslim world which contributes to the misconception that its roots have nothing to do with animism.
Yet Muslims circumnambulate the Kaaba in hajj and umrah, believe in jinhs and how the hajr-e-aswad will free them of their sins. Regardless of being animistic, Islam, like any other religion, needs to be taught and studied objectively by both Muslims and Non-Muslims.