Confucianism is a social system that has at present approximately 200 million followers and is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Its teachings are also widely practiced in Japan, Burma, Singapore and Thailand. It is the ordered and systemized product of various religions that have been practiced during China’s 4,000-year history.
Superstitious Chinese religions are based on many nonsensical teachings and rest on the principle of faith in imaginary deities, and the spirits of ancestors, earth, water, mountains, forests and nature in general. Pagan rituals, acts of worship, sorcery, fortune telling and clairvoyance are common ground in Chinese society. The ancient agricultural society of China worshipped nature in ignorance, which they believed to be responsible for prosperity and famine, wealth and poverty. Furthermore, they believed in the influence of stars on everything that took place on earth and therefore revered them as divinities. The spirits of deceased ancestors were revered above all else in their own foolish eyes. It was believed that they walked invisibly among men and exercised positive or negative influence over the lives of the living.
Besides all these divinities, there is another supposed “god” (Tien) above them in Chinese systems of faith. They believe that all other imaginary deities are subordinate to Tien, and follow his directives. As we have previously stated, this belief contradicts the monotheism of the Divine religions (to believe in Allah as the One and Only) and bears resemblance to idolatrous societies described in the Qur’an. People who have a monotheistic belief submit only to the all- powerful and Almighty Lord, ask only Allah for help, fear only Him and love only our exalted Lord. Idolaters on the other hand ascribe to beings other than Allah various powers, revere them in their own eyes and foolishly pray for their help. The pagan Chinese people worship invented idols, perform rituals for them, make offerings of food and presents to them and ask them to provide for their needs. Allah reveals the situation of people who follow blindly in the footsteps of their forefathers and ascribe partners to Him as follows:
They are nothing but names which you yourselves have given, you and your forefathers. Allah has sent down no authority for them. They are following nothing but conjecture and what their own selves desire. And that when guidance has reached them from their Lord! (Surat an-Najm: 23)
Confucianism is based on pagan traditional religions that have existed for over 2500 years in China and is widely considered to be the ultimate socioethic guidance.
Confucianism is not a true religion based on Allah’s revelations but is a system formulated by the Chinese thinker Confucius. This system, formulated by K’ung Tzu (551-479 BC), otherwise known in the West as Confucius131, does not make any reference to matters of religious substance, death or the hereafter. In time it evolved into a false religion that spread across the Far East.
Confucius was born in China’s Shangtung province and lived five centuries before Christ’s birth during the reign of the Chou Dynasty (BD 1027-256). His primary aim was to revive the ethical values of the initial period of the Chou dynasty because according to him, this was the “golden era” of the ruling dynasty. He believed that reviving these values was the only way of ensuring Chinese unity. For this reason he chose to reform and systemize the various beliefs, traditions and rituals that had dominated China for centuries rather than formulating a new system from scratch. The system he formulated focused on the social order. It regulated interfamilial relations, teacher-student relations, and sought to place the citizen-state relations on a sound footing. However, whilst he was realizing his ambition, he also reintroduced many pagan practices from ancient superstitious religions like reverence of ancestors, making offerings to them and considering women as second class citizens. There were other perverted practices he inherited from pagan religions existing in China that were not based on Divine revelations. As there was no concept of life in the hereafter, Judgment Day, fate, hell and paradise in the ancient superstitious Chinese religions, he made no mention of these realities revealed in Allah’s Divine scriptures in the system he formulated. He did not reply or comment on such questions.132 The system he tried to establish was thus doomed from the outset. As we will examine in greater detail over the coming pages, virtue is only possible with the fear of Allah and loving Him very deeply. For a person to be virtuous and consistent, a deep love as well as fear of Allah is essential.
At the beginning of the Chou dynasty, political unity and power was the most significant entity which had been gradually eroded by conflicts between the city states that formed the basis of the dynasty, by warring factions with imperialistic ambitions and attacks by marauding nomadic tribes. Confucius’ city came under the rule of occupying forces. At this time, Confucius began to travel from royal court to royal court with a small group of his followers teaching and advising rulers as he went along. Within a short period of time he was appointed first a judge and then a justice minister. During this period Confucius’ social system became highly influential in the workings of the state bureaucracy, but as it was also causing discomfort in certain circles he was forced to resign from his office. From then on he spent the rest of his life teaching his ethical social system until his death at the age of 74 in 478 BC.
Two centuries after his death the Sung dynasty was founded in China, and the emperor of the dynasty managed to establish his rule across all the provinces of the country. However, he was not as successful in banishing the followers of Confucianism as he wished, so he therefore had all books on Confucianism burned bar none. This action apparently proving insufficient to the emperor, he contented himself with having hundreds of Confucians burned alive as well. The Han dynasty, on the other hand, adopted a respectful stance towards Confucianism. Confucius himself had not left any written material behind, but his followers published a collection of his teachings under the name of “Great Knowledge and the Doctrine of the Middle Path” during the Han dynasty.
During the reign of the Han dynasty Confucianism became the official religion of China, and remained so for the next two thousand years, during which it changed considerably. The emperor became also the high priest known as the “Son of heaven” (Allah forbid). The worship of the heavens and the earth entered the teachings and for centuries, almost all government agencies, traditions and the social order were based on Confucius’s heretic beliefs. Between the years of 1313 and 1905, the entry exams for civil servants required knowledge of “the four books of Confucius” and until 1912, this system was an obligatory subject in the education system. Consequently, whole generations emerged that lived only for the world, never reflected on death, the hereafter or Judgment Day, seeking happiness instead in perverse and meaningless rituals.
The influence of Confucianism began to decline in 1911 when the empire collapsed. During Mao’s reign, Confucianism was declared the arch enemy and he had first all religious centers subordinated to the central authority, and then turned them into Maoist propaganda centers. Mao ordered all temples destroyed and all religious books burned, and Confucians began to be persecuted. Successive regimes subsequently eased the pressure and, especially in recent history, Confucianism’s heretical principles have begun to play a role in everyday life once more. At present Confucianism plays an important, albeit unofficial, role in public life. Indeed, many Sinologists have referred to current Chinese government doctrine as “neo-Confucianism”.
In Japan it has about 10 million followers where it enjoys widespread support in society.
Islam and Far Eastern Religions 