Indian and contemporary Islam
- Simla Indian Institute of Advanced study 1971
- 496
The religious beliefs as traditionally accepted and understood have lost much of their intrinsic significance and import for the vast majorities of members of the modern society. Not very long ago, myths, superstitions and hallucinations formed an inextricable parts of beliefs: and religious experiences. Whatever was affirmed as truth b~ the received traditions of religion was once difficult to dislodge; but in the face of inexorable and compelling facts of scientific knowledge, much of those portions of religion which perpetuated the traditions of primeval thought have either disappeared or undergone prudent and sensible transformations. Even matters moral, legal, political and social, which belonged once exclusively to the divine and ecclesiastical domains, have gradually and sometimes in parts, ceased to be religious and the process is still persisting.