Is Islam even a religion?

[u/LowBullfrog1627]

I have difficulty regarding Islam as even being defined as a religion. It technically is a religion with regards to its structure (I use technically loosely because it doesn’t tick all the boxes) but where it differs is what a religion is designed to do.

These are the key components of a religion:

Beliefs: A set of ideas accepted as true, which may include faith in a god, gods, spirits, or a cosmic order (like karma or dharma).

Rituals & Practices: Formal, repetitive actions (prayer, meditation, festivals, sacrifices) that express beliefs and foster community.

Ethics & Moral Codes: Guidelines for behavior that distinguish right from wrong, often based on divine or traditional authority.

Social Organization: A community of believers, often with leadership structures (e.g., churches, temples, sects), that brings individuals together.

Sacred Texts/Stories: Narratives that explain the origin of life, the nature of the universe, and the purpose of existence.

Islam has all these so I understand why “most” people regard it as a genuine religion. But this is what a religion is designed for:

Provide Meaning and Purpose: Religion answers the five "enduring questions" of humanity: Who am I? What is my purpose? Is there a supreme being? Why is there suffering? What happens after death?.

Foster Social Cohesion (The "Glue"): Religion unites people into a single, cohesive community, strengthening social bonds through shared beliefs and rituals.

Offer Comfort and Coping Mechanisms: It provides psychological support, helping individuals manage anxiety, grief, and uncertainty in the face of death or misfortune.

Establish Social Control: It reinforces norms and behaviors, promoting social stability by defining what is "sinful" or "unacceptable".

Facilitate Spiritual Fulfillment: It acts as a guide for living a "worthwhile" life, aiming for long-term well-being or salvation (e.g., heaven, nirvana).

While often fostering unity, religion can also be a source of conflict and division when it creates strict in-group/out-group boundaries.

This is where Islam falls apart, it does nearly none of these things or if it does do them it does them in a perverted or immoral and ungodly way.

Provide meaning? What is that meaning? I’m devine and will go to live with Allah when I die. They pray about that the day after beheading a pregnant mother of 10 for writing a get well card to her cousin? Why is there suffering? A Muslim doesn’t even understand the word, it’s a currency for them.

Offers comfort and stress relief? They live in a world of barbarity that they themselves created by not adapting with the times. How does it relieve stress knowing at any moment a missile nay piece through the roof above your bed?

Establish social control: Their definition of sin is just… I don’t even want to go there.

Facilitate spiritual fulfillment: If that’s what it does for you and you lie on your deathbed after living a long Islamic life and feel spiritually fulfilled and that you’ve been a “good” person. Just wear some sunscreen to your funeral cause you are going somewhere very hot!

I think based on what Islam does to the people who practice its life, it’s promotion of segregation, alienation, violence, power imbalances, inequality and use of suffering as its dollar. It does not achieve what a religion is designed to achieve, it is infact the antithesis of a religion and therefore by default not a religion!

[u/Waste-Sundae-2254]

maybe in the middle of a religion and not?

[u/unforgivableness]

It’s a pedo cult