A Summary of the Lecture

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The workshop are designed to be an interactive process between the lecturer and the listeners so that the learning process can work at its best. These will give the opportunity to the attendees to intellectually participate in what is being taught. The first workshop was titled: “What is religion?”

To conduct it was  Sheikh Mohammad Zakaria a lecturer in A' Level Sociology, Islamic Studies and Religious Education at the Islamic Collage for Advanced Studies, with many years of experience as a teacher.

The workshops are open to all brothers and sisters, Muslims and non - Muslims.

You can bring along any of your friends (no invitation needed!).

What is Religion?

by Mohammad Zakaria

The main aim of the lecture was to clarify what is meant by the term Religion in light of three factors, which are as follows:

 1.     The linguistical origin of the word Religion and its implications.

2.     Religion as understood in light of the research and writings of one of the most forceful and accomplished Sociologists the West has produced, Emile Durkhiem.

3.     How Religion is used to maintain harmony within Society.

The word religion has a Latin origin coming from the word Religio, meaning to establish an obligation which in turn is derived from the verb Religare, which has the meaning of to tie back or to tie tight.

In light of what has been mentioned above the term Religion would then mean that which establishes a tight bond or an obligation between the human and Deity

             Emile Durkhiem the Founder of Functionalist Sociology

Emile Durkheim was born in 1858, in the French town of Tpinal a short distance from Strasbourg which is situated in the North Eastern region of France. Durkheim’s family background was stepped in Rabbinical scholarship. He was educated   at one of Frances premier institutions of learning the Ecole Normale Superieure, where he studied both Philosophy and History.

At the age of 29 he became a Professor at the University of Bordeaux, which fell under the spell of his outstanding academic expertise and originality that it created a new Chair of social science and education specifically to accommodate his Sociological research.

Functionalism  

Emile Durkhiem founded the Functionalist school of Sociology, the school adopts a unique and novel view of society and the social institutions found within it. Functionalism also known as the Consensus Theory, portrays society as a living organism, much like the Human body. Each limb of the body can be likened to a social institution, the limbs work in harmony to bring about the continued existence and comfort of the body. In the same manner all social institutions work in harmony with each other to bring about a continuation of society.

Durkheim conducted a study of the religious practices and beliefs amongst one of the many Australian Aboriginal tribes. What resulted from his research was the groundbreaking book Elementary Forms of Religious Life, first published in 1912.

 The Major themes of the book

Durkheim divides the world into two distinct realms those of the Sacred and the Profane. Each of these having their own particular peculiarities rules, norms and values.

The concept of the Sacred

The sacred realm is typified by being inhabited by the supernatural that which is over and above the ordinary existence of those which inhabit the world of the Profane/ Mundane. The sacred is to be honoured, supplicated and revered, the sacred as a direct impact on the lives of the individuals who hold that thing to be sacred. Anything can take on the attributes of being sacred, a Tree, Rock, Plant or an Animal; it is usually those things which appear within the immediate environment which take on this sacred nature.

The Concept of the Profane

The Profane is the world of the Mundane, the world which is in need. A world of everyday things with no special character of their own. In this sense Trees, Rocks, Plants and Animals, which have not be consecrated [the origin of the word sacred] are all part of the Profane/Mundane or ordinary world.

Totemism

The concept of the Totem is fundamental to the understanding of Durkheim’s schema of Religion in its moist elementary form.  Durkheim claims that the Totem which in most cases takes the shape of an Animal or a Plant is in reality   a symbol whitish distinguishes the group having adopted it from others; they are set apart via their association with the all important Totem. It is this Totem which is worshipped via ceremonies, rituals and rites.

The clan’s people of the crow believe they are descended from
the Dreamtime's crow spirit who became a man.

Totemism is a view of nature and life, of the universe and man, which colors and influences the Aborigines' social groupings and mythologies, inspires their rituals and links them to the past. It unites them with nature's activities and species in a bond of mutual life-giving, and imparts confidence amidst the vicissitudes of life’. The totem provides a tangible expression of a man's relationship to his deities. Everything in the Aboriginal world contains an essence or spirit that had its beginnings in the Dreamtime.

Each person descended from one of these spirits and possessed some of its life force. The spirit it descended from is the person's totem, images of totems make-up a large part of Aboriginal art. They were painted on cave walls, which we title rock art, drawn on the interiors of their huts, drawn on their bodies, and carved in wood. Totemic spirits are celebrated in ceremonies and rituals, and played a prominent part in Aboriginal myth.[1]

Durkheim further explains that the Totem is inviolable or what he calls Taboo, that is to say off limits in the ordinary course of things. However there are certain times when the Sacred object or Totem can be approached and its sanctity can be violated. If the Totem is an Animal or a Plant it can be eaten. This eating of the most Sacred Totem is extremely significant for Durkheim. As the eating of the Totem is indicative of what he calls the Sacred Exchange.

The Sacred Exchange

The Sacred Exchange, Durkheim explains allows for a number of crucial factors to develop.

• By the consuming of the sacred Totem the group/clan as a whole has partaken in feasting, this feasting itself is a ritual which serves to bring the group/clan closer together.
• The sacred Totem has given life and vitality to the group/clan, and as such the clan reciprocate by continuing to honour, respect and worship the Totem, hence the Sacred Exchange is carried out.

The Collective Conscience

For Durkheim religion is not something merely spoken of, no for Durkheim is such a pervasive force that it demands action.

Durkheim strongly emphasised the fact that religions are never just a matter of belief. All religion involves regular ceremonial and ritual activities, in which a group of believers meet together in collective ceremonies; a sense of group solidarity is affirmed and heightened [2]

Religion then seeks to become a social phenomenon. It is via the ritual, ceremonies and rites which become an intrinsic part of religion that links based on a shared outlook on life are created. This shared outlook or commonality which was created via the performance of rituals, ceremonies and rites, is called by Durkheim the “Collective Conscience”

The role of Rituals in Religion

The role played by rituals within religion is inextricable linked to the Collective Conscience theory.

Worship of the Totem or Society

The main purpose behind religion for Durkheim is at once striking and extremely interesting, this is in holding with the Functionalist theory of all social institutions working to maintain the wellbeing, harmony and smooth functioning of society.

Durkheim claims that in fact the Sacred Totem which was so revered and was shrouded in Taboo was representative of society itself. It is in fact society which is being worshiped. But why all the pretence why not just worship society directly, Durkheim claims that the concept of society is far more complex for the human mind in its primitive form to understand. It is far les complex for humans to worship the sacred Totem than to conceive of worshiping society.

Durkheim mentions Religion consists of the following:

A Religion is a unified system of belief and practice relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden- beliefs and practices which unite into a single Church, all those who adhere to them.[3] 

The Limited Scope of his Research and Universal Applications

The conclusions which Durkheim derived from his extraordinarily structured and focused research have been the subject for continued debate and criticism. The main point of contention being that Durkheim uses the findings which his research generated and extends them to all religions at all times and in all places.

Critics have argued that Durkheim studied only a small number of Aboriginal groups, which were somewhat untypical of the other Aboriginal tribes. It may therefore be misleading to generalise about Aboriginal beliefs from this sample, never mind generalisation about Religion as a whole[4]

Religion is both Sacred and Secular in Nature

The classical definitions of what religion is and also what functions it performs must be revised by modern day Sociologist. The definition given by Durkheim clearly links Religion to the Sacred. Whilst what can be witnessed within many societies is a form of religious behaviour, but which is devoid of all reference to the Sacred, rather its sphere of operation is the Secular.

A redefinition of the concept of religion is needed, in light of the claim that there has been a transformation of the Sacred in modern life. The category of the Sacred is seen to be a much wider category than religion, which was used narrowly by the majority of the founders of Sociology to represent almost exclusively institutional religious practice and beliefs.[5

As an example of a secular religion containing Sacred objects, however devoid of the divine, Communism might be cited, with the intellectual driving force of Marxism powering it along and giving it direction.

None would argue that religion was freely practiced within any part of the Soviet Union; however the city which lay at its heart had been for many years the scene of mass pilgrimage and religious devotion. 

 Secular Religion and Practice

 Above the Mausoleum which contains the Mummified body of Lenin

Devotees would stand for hours in long queues waiting to get a glimpse of the mummified corpse. In silence they would file past heads bowed, some shedding a silent tear others whispering slogans extolling the virtues of the communist ideology to themselves. Would any keen observer of religious practice not call this behaviour ritual expressed via the secular religion of communism?

Secular acts of Devotion

Each year on January the 21^st faithful Communist Party supporters stand in line waiting to lay a flower at Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square, the date is significant as it marks the anniversary of the death of Lenin.

QUESTIONS ASKED:

1 - How realistic is Durkheim's concept of Religion for you (As Muslim)?

2 - What is the aim behind rituals?

Answers: Workshop table 1:

Answers: Workshop table 2:

Answers: Workshop table3:

To be followed by : "What is Religion ? : An Islamic Perspective. (Date to be announced).