One of my favorite words in Arabic is ?????? din — religion. This translation is appropriate because the Arabic approximates to the Latin verb religare — to bind which is nominalized into religio — obligation/ bond. Anyways, the Arabic word comes from the same triliteral root which connotes “judgement”. In Hebrew, this identical root is ?????? and forms the basis of the name ?????????? daniel — God is my judge. What connects religion to judgement? The answer lies in the notion of having obligations towards God. In the Semitic scriptures (i.e. the Bible and the Quran), God is the ultimate judge par excellence. He, and he alone, is judge precisely because it is he who created the world and gives it function. Surat Ar-Rahman describes the act of God setting the “measure of balance” at the beginning of the world so that the human beings and jinn do not transgress that balance. In other words, he creates a natural order which is to act as a “law” of sorts.
Religion is an Obligation
One of my favorite words in Arabic is ?????? din — religion. This translation is appropriate because the Arabic approximates to the Latin verb religare — to…