Take Islam Back To The Quran.

[ghulam muhammed]

Untruths about Muslims and Islam have become so pervasive that they sometimes seem like the undead in zombie movies: staring at you from every door and window, coming at you from every nook and corner, bent on tearing you apart. Muslims keep four wives and spend most of their time beating them, you are told, even as you wonder how to keep up with the shopping sprees of your one and only. Muslims are uneducated, unsociable nitwits who puff their chapattis on the wrong side of the pan, you hear, with a smirk on your lips.

While these are relatively harmless myths prevalent among non-Muslims, it is the lies about Islam that many Muslims also believe in which are the most dangerous. Over years, decades and centuries these lies have accumulated, clogging the blood vessels of the religion, wrenching its body from its heart and mind, leaving Islam a hyper-tense version of what it could be.

Read in conjunction with Quran’s pluralist message, these verses make it clear that God wants Muslims to coexist in peace with other communities, give them their rights and defend their own non-violently. It allows them to wage war against oppression, but in an organised and responsible manner and only when the entire Muslim population faces obliteration. In an age when Muslims number nearly 1.5 billion, or a fifth of the global population, and are spread in all parts of the world, any violence in the name of defending Islam will thus clearly be in defiance of the Quran.

The authors appeal to Muslims to “protest the demonization of their holy book by some of their own theologians and jurists, who, in the name of implementing the Quranic ordinances, justify blatantly anti-Quranic heinous crimes”. They conclude with the assurance that “the violent extremists… are bound to be increasingly marginalized and eventually jettisoned from the world of Islam”.

http://www.newageislam.com/books-and-do ... an-/d/6246

[Hanif]

Untruths about Muslims and Islam have become so pervasive that they sometimes seem like the undead in zombie movies: staring at you from every door and window, coming at you from every nook and corner, bent on tearing you apart. Muslims keep four wives and spend most of their time beating them, you are told, even as you wonder how to keep up with the shopping sprees of your one and only. Muslims are uneducated, unsociable nitwits who puff their chapattis on the wrong side of the pan, you hear, with a smirk on your lips.

While these are relatively harmless myths prevalent among non-Muslims, it is the lies about Islam that many Muslims also believe in which are the most dangerous. Over years, decades and centuries these lies have accumulated, clogging the blood vessels of the religion, wrenching its body from its heart and mind, leaving Islam a hyper-tense version of what it could be.

Read in conjunction with Quran’s pluralist message, these verses make it clear that God wants Muslims to coexist in peace with other communities, give them their rights and defend their own non-violently. It allows them to wage war against oppression, but in an organised and responsible manner and only when the entire Muslim population faces obliteration. In an age when Muslims number nearly 1.5 billion, or a fifth of the global population, and are spread in all parts of the world, any violence in the name of defending Islam will thus clearly be in defiance of the Quran.

The authors appeal to Muslims to “protest the demonization of their holy book by some of their own theologians and jurists, who, in the name of implementing the Quranic ordinances, justify blatantly anti-Quranic heinous crimes”. They conclude with the assurance that “the violent extremists… are bound to be increasingly marginalized and eventually jettisoned from the world of Islam”.

http://www.newageislam.com/books-and-do ... an-/d/6246

Thanks for sharing. This is beautiful. It is:
Qur’an’s message of Pluralism

For instance, Muslims often talk about the Ummah, the brotherhood of all Muslims, but Yunus and Syed say the Quran envisions the brotherhood of the entire humanity. “The Quran recognizes the diversity of human race, language and color (30:22) and declares that if God willed, He would have made humanity into one community (10:18, 11:118), guiding them all (6:149),” they write.

The authors arrive at this interpretation from the way the terms din al Islam and taqwa are used across the Quran. “The Quran describes din al Islam as the universal faith that was enjoined on earlier prophets, who were all true Muslims (2:131-133), and conveyed the same essential message,” they say. The essence of the faith, they add, is obedience to God through service to humanity Similarly taqwa, which is used in hundreds of Quranic verses in one form or another, denotes “heedfulness of one’s universal social, moral and ethical responsibilities…”

The verses the authors refer to reflect Quran’s universal as opposed to communal character. They also showcase Islam as a liberal rather than an exclusivist faith, which not only accepts but welcomes differences: “O People! We have created you as male and female, and made you into races and communities for you to get to know each other. The noblest among you near God are those of you who are the most heedful (atqakum).” (49:13)

A crucial verse (5:48) states: “For each of you We have made a (different) code (Shariah), and an open way (of action). If God so pleased, He would have made you (all) into one community. Therefore vie (with each other) in goodness (so that) He may test you by what He has given you. (Remember, you) all will (eventually) return to God, and He will tell you in what you differed.” Proves nobody has the "God given right" to prove others wrong. Only Allah SWT reserves that right upon our return to HIM whence he will tell us in what we differed. He is not talking about sending non-Muslims to hell! Because He has made us all different out of His own will.

[anajmi]

Here is the complete ayah 5:48. The authors you quote chose to omit crucial information from that ayah.

5:48 And unto thee [O Prophet] have We vouchsafed this divine writ, setting forth the truth, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains of earlier revelations and determining what is true therein. Judge, then, between the followers of earlier revelation in accordance with what God has bestowed from on high, and do not follow their errant views, forsaking the truth that has come unto thee. Unto every one of you have We appointed a [different] law and way of life. And if God had so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but [He willed it otherwise] in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto, you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works! Unto God you all must return; and then He will make you truly understand all that on which you were wont to differ.

Taqwa is to be always aware of God and the fact that he is watching you. Hence, those that are muttaqi are always aware of God and hence behave in the righteous way as shown by God in the Quran and through his prophet (saw). Any interpretation of Taqwa, which does not include the awareness of God is not correct according to me.

11:118
And had thy Sustainer so willed, He could surely have made all mankind one single community: but they continue to hold divergent views'

My interpretation of this ayah is that if God had willed he could've made us one community with a single view. But he made us different communities so that we may recognise one another and still have the same faith.

We should also take a look at ayah 6:148 when we look at 6:149.
6:148
THOSE who are bent on ascribing divinity to aught beside God will say, "Had God so willed, we would not have ascribed divinity to aught but Him, nor would our forefathers [have done so]; and neither would we have declared as forbidden anything [that He has allowed]." Even so did those who lived before them give the lie to the truth -until they came to taste Our punishment! Say: "Have you any [certain] knowledge which you could proffer to us? You follow but [other people's] conjectures, and you yourselves do nothing but guess."

[ghulam muhammed]

The Essential Message of Islam: Consult Quran on Repelling evil with good, Social Responsibility, Interfaith Relations, Religious Tolerance, Justice and Fair play

Given the skepticism against some aspects of the Qur’anic message highlighted by this writer, I would like to substantiate the claims by drawing on a duly authenticated recent Qur’anic exegetic work that is endorsed by al-Azhar al-Sharif.

It takes a few words to criticize and question the integrity of a discourse but may require yet another and perhaps bigger discourse to defend it against the criticism. For a Muslim, the matter of 'defense' becomes immensely important if the discourse focuses on the message of the Qur'an. I have therefore been prompted to post the following detailed rejoinder to the article published in New Age Islam earlier. It is a little longish, but given the urgency to highlight the egalitarian and universal dimension of its message, I hope, New Age Islam readers will appreciate the need for it.

http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-sp ... ay-/d/5454

[ghulam muhammed]

The Muslims’ Ignorance /Disregard of the Qur’anic Guidance and Its Colossal and Recurring Cost

“Will they not, then, ponder over this Qur’an? - or are their hearts sealed”? (Al-Qur’an 47: 24).

“The petal of a flower may pierce through the heart of a rock – but the Noble Word has no effect on the ignorant.” – Muhammad Iqbal, bale jibrail, preamble

This is not to suggest, let alone advocate any direct incorporation of the injunctions of the Qur’an in statecraft, or to politicise the Qur’an in any manner, as that will enable political bodies of diverse orientations to legitimize their respective ideologies and aspirations by interpreting the Qur’an expediently or by venerating their own ideologies on the strength of the Qur’an. The object of this exercise is to inspire the believers to study this eternal book of guidance as it should be studied (2:121), seeking the best meaning in it (39:18/55). This is a pressing need of the day in order to deliver the hearts and minds of the Muslim umma from the domination of historically evolved theological discourses – which though glorious for their era, stand out this day as restrictive, divisive, exclusive, intellectually foreclosing and atavistic.

On the Day of Reckoning, each individual person will be handed the record of his/her deeds (17:71, 84:7-11, 99:6/7), to be benchmarked against the divine guidance/imperatives as perfected in the Qur’an (5:3). Therefore, it is imperative for each person who believes in the divinity of the Qur’an to seek its guidance as he/she solicits in each cycle of the daily prayer by pleading to God – ‘ihdinas sirat al mustaqim.’

It is no secret that the young students, fashionable and educated youth, housewives, academicians, professionals of all categories, and the intellectual elite among the Muslims have virtually no time, nor any curiosity to probe the fundamentals of their religion. As its Arab audience turned away from the Qur’an in dread - like frightened donkeys fleeing a lion (74:49-51), the Muslims, by and large, turn away from it in awe and reverence or apathy if not antipathy. Some of them do read, recite and even memorize the Qur’an – partly or even wholly, to please God, to experience the transcendent, and to seek peace and solace. However, they seldom make any effort to study it to comprehend its message. They do not read it as it should be read to their own loss (2:121). Consciously or subconsciously they go by the tradition that “one who discusses about the Book of God, (the Qur'an) makes a mistake, even if he is correct .

The pre-eminence of the quoted scholars and the diversity of their backgrounds and regions sufficiently demonstrate the positively remarkable, rather, benevolently revolutionary role of Islam on world history. This raises the obvious question: what was it in Islam that fuelled its prodigal role. The answer is obvious. Islam drew its moral code and inspiration singularly from the Qur’an, whose sole mission was to guide humanity – “to bring it out of darkness (of jahiliyyah/ignorance) into light (of enlightenment)” (2:257, 14:1, 57:9) under the ambit of pure monotheism. Thus there can be no doubt that it is the revolutionary tenets of the Qur’an – its moral imperatives and liberating spirit, its universalism and pluralism, its call to human intellect that fed its uniquely and remarkably positive role in history.

The grievous fallout of the detachment of the Muslims from the Qur’an

As the Islamic civilization was taking long strides of advancement, its orthodox theologians and ulema were striving unceasingly to freeze it at their era, in direct contradiction to the letter and spirit of the Qur’an. Thus, they set aside the guidance of the Qur’an and venerated theological discourses –notably the Hadith and the classical Islamic law as the necessary and sufficient vehicles for understanding and implementing the Qur’anic message. These were the ahl al Hadith - the orthodoxy. They advocated that all that had to be learnt had already been learnt during the Prophet’s time, and was contained in the Qur’an and the Prophet’s normative ways (Sunnah), and the posterity was expected to simply imitate them. This resulted in stagnancy of knowledge, abhorrence against any scientific advancement, and division of universal knowledge into Islamic and European categories – the former foreclosed for all time and the latter growing exponentially. Their retrogressive views were opposed by the rationalist theologians of the era – the ahl al kalam, who advocated pursuit of knowledge in all fields, and promoted material prosperity within the framework of the Qur'an. However, the orthodoxy prevailed and intellectual activity in Islam came to a virtual halt. This happened around the end of the fourth century of Islam, marked the beginning of the decline of Islamic civilization, and set this faith and its followers on a path of decline.

Following continued decline for almost a millennium through to the present era, punctuated by occasional upsurge in broad historical timeframe, the Muslims have fallen into the lowest depths of a pit of failure. Any comparative assessment of the deprivations, sufferings and injustices faced by the diverse confessional communities at this juncture of history will single out the Muslims as the most deprived, devastated and uprooted community, and the biggest victims of human rights violations. From domestic violence against their own womenfolk to internecine conflicts, sectarian violence, terrorism, just and unjust wars, forced confinement in war zones and collective punishment in the name of sanctions, to the psychological trauma of Islamophobia and trivialization and marginalization in the pre-dominantly non-Muslim countries, the Muslims have the greatest share of sufferings and humiliation in the present day world. Likewise, any comparative analysis of achievements in the diverse lawful pursuits and arenas of life (professional fields, academy, bureaucracy, sports, art and culture for example) will find the Muslims as the poorest and obscurest performer.

Thus, in broad historical perspective it was the revolutionary social and intellectual paradigms of the Qur’an that took the Muslims to the zenith of their civilization in less than a hundred years of its advent and enabled them to lead the world for the next four to five hundred years, and it was their gradual detachment from the Qur’an that led to their stagnation, decay and downfall in the ensuing centuries.

Thus, the cost of detachment from the Qur’an has been extremely high and the Muslims continue to bear it, as their detachment is only exacerbating with time. This essay is just a reminder and warning and a challenge to the Muslim intellect.

http://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideo ... ost/d/7795