Firstly, it must be remembered that the Avatar system has nothing to do with the principles of classical Islam. By this, I mean that the teachings of Avatars are not found in any of the classical Islam languages as they are found in vernaculars. For example, Pig has been declared as "Haram" (forbidden) in the primary and secondary sources of Islamic Law. However, it is "Halal" in some other religions. So, the point is that we cannot bring a text or a teaching that has its roots in vernaculars over classical stuff.FreeLancer wrote:Why I do not believe in Dus Avtars? The reason is the 3rd Avtar 'Varaha Avtar'. Varaha (Boar) means a male wild pig. In Islam and Judaism a pig is a unholy animal whose meat is haraam, not kosher. How come Khojas Ismailis of subcontinent relate Hazar Imam with an unholy animal?
I hate it, is there any justification for this?
Question to Admin, do you believe in Varaha (Boar) Avtar?
Secondly, each and every Avatar has its own significance. For example, the Machh avatar (the first one) was in the form of fish because the devil (Sankhasur) took the Vedas (Holy Scriptures) with him into the depth of the oceans. So, you see just to defeat the devil, the divine light took the manifestation of a fish. In simple words, we always need to find a solution according to the problem. This is the basic human nature and this is why we all believe that Imam of the time is Mushikil-Kusha because he knows what solutions are needed and in what context. So, taking the form of a pig was the need of the time. We must look at this in this way rather than bringing classical Islamic thoughts and trying to impose them and loosing both the object and the subject.
Thirdly, we are taking Varaha as the pig in literal terms. However, there are a number of iconographical forms which I have seen in illustrated Sanskrit and Gujarati manuscripts. Although I also agree that the broader meaning of this Avatar when pictured is a pig, however, it is not always limited to that.
Last, but by no means the least, the Das Avtar is a part of the teachings of our Holy Pirs and Imams. Although Imam SMS said that leave the rest of the 9 Avatars but that doesn't mean that we must throw them out. Instead, there are so many incidents where Imam SMS has described the significance of Avatars. What is not understood is that our Ismaili faith is from the beginning and we all murids believe that our culture and faith is rich in traditions and this makes us unique amongst any other faith.