What is Islam about

Hi, this is Jacob de Villiers. I discovered Islam. What?... you might ask? What's an Afrikaner doing being a Moslem? He probably married a moslem girl hey. No, not so. I found something deeper and is now understanding reality. In otherwords, I came out of the unrreal world I have been living in. Let me share the following experience with you.

Jacob

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Saudi Women Can Drive. Just Let Them.

By Wajeha Al-Huwaider

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia Who is that woman who returns day after day to the border crossing, seeking to pass from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, only to be turned away? She is me.

Who am I? A native of the city of Hufuf in eastern Saudi Arabia, where the world's best dates are grown, a 47-year-old divorced mother of two teenage sons,

I am not a dangerous person, so why do they turn me away? Because I refuse to present a document signed by my male "guardian," giving his permission for me to travel. And why do I do that?

I possess such a document, but it is humiliating to have to produce it, and I am tired of being humiliated solely because I am a woman.

So I have decided to try to leave my country without following the rules. I have urged other Saudi women to do likewise, and in recent weeks several have.

Everyone knows that women are denied rights in Saudi Arabia.

And you may think that our fate is the same one that women in some other developing countries face, only a little worse. In truth, we endure a status that most Americans can scarcely imagine.

The guardianship rules are only part of a bigger system of subjugating women.

Even with the permission of a guardian, a woman may not drive a car (except in some isolated rural areas and within the compounds that are home to many workers from Western countries).

Obviously, there is nothing in the Koran that forbids driving.

No, the reason we are not allowed to drive is that the power to transport ourselves would give men much less control over us.

So, one of my other campaigns has been for the right to drive. Last year on International Women's Day I posted a video on YouTube of myself driving a car.

It was filmed by another woman sitting in the passenger's seat. I explained that many Saudi women who have lived abroad have driver's licenses from other countries and would be happy to volunteer to teach our sisters how to drive. (That way they would not have to be alone in a car with a male driving instructor, lest terrible things happen.) This video has received more than 181,000 hits.

Earlier this year, while visiting my two sons at boarding school in Virginia (I send them there because I do not want them to grow up to be typical Saudi men), I staged a demonstration in front of a car dealership in Woodbridge.

I addressed a message to U.S. automakers: Saudi women want to buy your cars (and many can afford to). But first, you must support our fight for the right to drive.

Women in Saudi Arabia may not go out without an abaya, an ugly black cloak that we have to wear on top of our regular clothes.

You can imagine how great that feels in 100-degree heat. Saudi men, on the other hand, always wear white.

In 2006, I dressed in pink when I staged a one-person protest march. It was the anniversary of the ascent of King Abdullah to the throne. By Saudi standards, Abdullah is a liberal, but he has not done nearly enough to change our situation. So I made a simple sign: "Give women their rights."

I started in Bahrain. I had a taxi drive me to the border. After crossing to the Saudi side I pulled out my sign and marched along the causeway from the island nation to the Saudi mainland.

After 20 minutes, a police car pulled up and officers arrested me. After a day of interrogation in the police station, the cops were prepared to release me.

But of course they couldn't release me into my own custody. I had to phone my younger brother to come act as my guardian.

Women are not allowed to participate in sports. How could you in an abaya? When I was very young, I was a tomboy. I loved to ride a bike, which my mother allowed, although most girls are forbidden because this activity might cost them their "virginity" by rupturing the hymen.

When I was 7, my teacher tied my legs and beat me with a stick when she learned that I had been playing soccer with boys.

Then she made me sit at my desk all day, without going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water.

While women are forced to be entirely dependent on men, men are allowed to follow their whims.

A woman can get a divorce, but only by going through a laborious legal procedure in religious court.

However, a man can divorce his wife merely by saying "I divorce you" three times.

Although this is an ancient practice, these days the clerical authorities are debating whether the man has to say this in person, or if a text message will suffice.

Already a judge in Jiddah has approved the first case of text-message divorce. The man was in Iraq to participate in jihad.

It's also legal for men to marry girls as young as 7 and 8 years old.

I have campaigned on behalf of an 8-year-old girl who was married off to a 50-year-old man.

I posted a video on YouTube against child marriages, showing little girls and teenagers voicing their refusal to be child brides. The video was covered by local female writers, then picked up by CNN.

This campaign terminated that marriage, and the little girl is free.

Several months ago, the Saudi minister of justice announced plans to ban child marriages, but nothing has happened.

A few days ago a 70-year-old man married a 9-year-old girl in Jiddah.

Her father technically sold his daughter for $4,000.

The day after the wedding night, the little girl was missing. She was found by her brother in a candy shop where she used to go to buy sweets.

Then there's polygamy. Saudi men are allowed to marry as many as four wives. Polygamy has destroyed many families. In my campaigns, I often feel that I am fighting for my mom.

After she married my father, she was informed by his mother that he already had another wife.

When my mother confronted him, he assured her that she was his favorite and promised to divorce the first woman.

For a time my mom was happy. But after a few years, she learned that my father had taken another wife. Now, my mom was no longer the favorite.

I was luckier than many. I married for love, and my former husband still holds a place in my heart, but we are no longer together.

After the attacks on America in 2001, the Saudi government was embarrassed by the role of its citizens in this violence.

To try to improve our country's image, the government liberalized slightly.

I had been posting comments about women's rights on various Web sites, and I was invited to write a weekly column in al Watan, the nation's largest newspaper. Then, the English-language Arab News also wanted my work.

My husband chafed at my high profile, and he complained about the demands on my time.

One day he announced that he was marrying a second wife.

Although he swore that I was the most important one, I had watched my mother waste her life. I demanded a divorce.

My time in the limelight lasted only a year before the Saudi censors banned me.

The authorities never communicated this to me directly, but one by one the editors of each publication rejected my pieces.

There are many Saudi women whose lives are marred far more than mine.

Fatima Al-Azaz, for example, was lucky enough to marry for love, but her half-brothers decided that her husband's social standing was too low, so they persuaded a religious court to divorce them.

The couple cannot ignore the divorce order because here people can be whipped, imprisoned and even executed for contact with someone of the opposite sex who is not their spouse or a relative.

Still, Al-Azaz tried to return to her husband.

To prevent that, she was first imprisoned for nine months together with her infant, then released to a women's shelter where her movements are restricted.

Or consider the story of Jamila, a wife of a relative. The eldest of 18 children by four wives of a poor date-farmer, Jamila completed high school with outstanding grades. Soon after graduation, her father agreed to marry her to a man from the city.

Jamila traveled with her mother to the city, where she met her husband for the first time on their wedding night.

He turned out to be mentally disturbed.

She pleaded with her mother to take her back home. Then Jamila was pushed into a room with her new "guardian," who consummated their union forcefully, while she screamed and pled for mercy.

One of my protest-video campaigns that did not succeed was a plan to post filmed testimony by women like Jamila.

We were able to make one or two videos, but I found that even with their faces hidden, most Saudi women who have suffered are afraid to speak about it publicly.

There are women who don't support our cause -- rich ones whose husbands benefit from the system, and ones who just don't believe in change.

Why am I different? I am not sure. Perhaps because I have always been somewhat marginalized.

Perhaps because my mother, unlike most others, allowed me to play soccer with the boys, and I've always felt equal to them.

Perhaps because I went to college in America and got to experience a life in which women are treated as people, not property.

Wajeha Al-Huwaider, a writer and an activist, is a co-founder of the Society for Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia

 

 

Monday, July 4, 2011

FW: Exploring Islam in a New Light: A View from the Quranic Perspective - Dr Abdur Rab

About The Book

 

The book, a culmination of more than four years of research effort, is a bold new attempt to provide a comprehensive, in-depth description of the message of Islam, based on the Quran alone. It seeks to promote a new way of thinking about Islam that can reconcile all Muslims and create the civil, moral Islam the Quran dictates. It is intended to serve as not just a strong retort to Islam’s usual stereotyping by the Western world (as fanatic and militant), but a marked departure from traditionally practiced Islam - a powerful voice against “Islamic fundamentalism,” and an agenda for much-needed, fundamental reform of the traditional faith. It applies a rational, thoughtful approach the Quran encourages, keeping in view the social, political, and economic demands of the modern world. The book presents a persuasive logic against accepting the much-revered Hadith as religious authority. It contends that the Hadith rather seriously misrepresents, undermines, and enormously distorts the true meaning of Islam. Islam is best understood if one focuses on the Quran alone and sincerely strives to grasp its complete, easy, and straightforward message. The book scrutinizes numerous misconceptions that have crept into the practiced faith, and calls for its essential, overdue reform.

The book’s central focus is on how humankind can achieve its overall moral, ethical, and spiritual progress. Islam is a spiritual, humane, and intellectual practice – one that emphasizes righteousness on the part of all human beings. Righteousness on one's part includes cultivation of appropriate and progressive mindset attitudes, and just and decent behavior to fellow human beings. Islam promotes living in peace and harmony with others, being tolerant, good, just, and compassionate to them with special kindness to parents, orphans, the poor, and the needy, and service to humanity at large. Contrary to what many scientists would have us believe, God exists, and we have a special purpose to fulfill in life. This book’s focal point is that we, human beings, are here to serve only God Who really is the supreme Ideal for us. Serving Him really amounts to emulating Him in all of our thoughts and deeds. Prayer to God has a special meaning. Prayer is nothing but sincere endeavor on one’s part to upgrade oneself into a better self. It helps us keep away from indecency and evil (29:45). It serves to accelerate the process of human evolution, which is taking place anyway inescapably. God is ever present in all of our work. God helps those who help themselves. We accelerate our progress by seeking God’s help (2:45, 107, 153, 286; 1:4–7; 3:147, 160; 17:19; 72:22). This is the real meaning of salat or prayer.

People generally overlook the fact that to follow the path of religion is essentially a spiritual quest to understand God and His attributes, and understand how He creates or acts. They overlook that it is a spiritual quest to understand one’s own purpose in life, and the latent potential self-development. Religiosity is really one’s sincere endeavor to attain self-purification, and acquire spiritual wisdom to lead a flawless, enriched, progressive, and blissful life, and enjoy a still better afterlife.

The book cites some fundamental building blocks of spiritual progress or evolution: Ego, Love, Will, and Knowledge. These factors or faculties underlie all creative action or evolution. Ego refers to the individual self or personality, not egotism, that can think, decide, and act. Love is a major propelling factor. At the same time, one needs to develop one's Will, and increase one's Knowledge to go forward spiritually. Love and Knowledge are two most precious gifts with which God’s righteous believers are blessed (19:96; 2:269).

The book also calls for understanding Heaven and Hell in a new light. This might appear to be a very radical thought, but the Quranic ideas as analyzed in the book do suggest that God does not really create any Heaven or Hell for us; it is we who create them by our own deeds. It is through our deeds that we can transform this troubled, dull, and dreary earth into a Heaven, and create a still better afterlife. On close reflection, this might be construed as the real purpose of religion.

The most emphasized, recurrent theme of the Quran is that righteousness is the key to success. True righteousness or religion consists in emulating the virtues and qualities that define God. To be righteous, just observing some liturgies is not enough; one needs also to be morally and ethically fully upright. One needs to have a right iman or mindset, which involves much more than a mere belief in One God and His Messenger Muhammad. The process involves embracing various elements of beliefs and thoughts, and nurturing the right attitudes of modesty and tolerance, as well as getting rid of wrong attitudes such as fatalism, intolerance, greed, fear, etc. The Quran wants us to be right, just, and kind to all. The true image of Islam countenances neither intolerance nor violence nor harsh punishments. The Quran condemns violence and terrorist acts in the strongest possible terms. The rigid application of the so-called shariah (traditional Islamic) law is also not justified in the light of the Quran.

The book also represents an attempt to effectively respond to the social, political, and economic challenges of modern time. The ideal relationship between husband and wife, according to the Quran, is one of equality and complementarity, characterized by mutual love, respect, and understanding. God is gender-neutral. So the status of women in Islam cannot be subordinate to that of men. The book delves at some length into the question of the deplorable status of women in Muslim countries, and how we can elevate it to that of men. Monogamous relationship is to be normally preferred. Polygamy can be seen as permissible only as a safety device in exceptional circumstances. Divorce, according to the Quran, is only a gradual process with a human face. The system that requires a divorced wife to marry another person in order to remarry her former husband after taking divorce from the second husband often found to be practiced in some Muslim societies is a despicable practice. Such a practice is not really sanctioned by the Quran. Islam condemns slavery and modern-day slavery-like practices in unequivocal terms. A good Muslim will never enslave a person, but will rather free him or her, or keep him or her as an equal member of his family.

In fact, God never discriminates between human beings, whether male or female, by any criterion whatsoever – race or ethnicity, color, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property or wealth, manpower, birth or name any other similar status – except righteousness. To Him, the only thing that really counts for a man or a woman is righteousness, i.e., right or good conduct (7:26; 49:13; 2:62; 5:69). The Quran demands utmost tolerance on the part of all men and women toward all their fellow beings, ignoring differences in race or ethnicity, color, gender, language, religion, etc., as mentioned above.

Reformed Islam, according to this book, calls for an efficient and dignified way of ridding the world of the problems that create poverty. This includes embracing a free competitive capitalistic system with socialistic overtones – free and competitive because restrictions and controls on the movement of capital, goods and services, and monopolistic practices create inefficiencies and injustices in an economy and stifle economic growth. One important implication of the Quranic directions is that there should be an equitable distribution of economic resources, especially land, if these are found to be starkly unequal in a society. An important message of Islam is that none should fully enjoy his own fruits of labor, but should share them with his fellow beings through an appropriate distribution system. Such a system must necessarily encompass public welfare and development expenditures. Spending in God’s way (zakat or sadaqa) must be understood in a much broader sense than is generally being understood by Muslims. The purpose of such spending should be to alleviate poverty, help people stand on their own feet, and bring about other human and social development. And it should embrace in a significant way public taxation and spending.

Contrary to what is generally believed among Muslims, the Quran does not really condemn interest per se that is being universally used for lending and borrowing purposes, and also as a monetary policy instrument, and an essential device for efficient allocation of productive resources. What it condemns is interest that is charged to people who deserve humanitarian treatment. So-called Islamic interest-free banking is a misnomer, an unsound institution, and a drag on the development of Muslim countries.

The book details how the Hadith has perpetuated the harsh, extremist version of Islam, and created the fanaticism, violence, strife, and inequality seen so often in western portrayals of Islam. Using theological, historical and objective arguments, it persuasively challenges the authority and reliability of the Hadith, denouncing it as a major distraction from the spiritual goodness of the “Quran-only” Islam. It demonstrates that there are serious problems with the so-called prophetic traditions. Numerous texts in the so-called Sahih Hadith are found that contradict the Quran, science, or reason, or send conflicting, confusing messages. The criteria used to authenticate the Hadith are inherently flawed, and simply inadequate. The Hadith and sunnah, falsely attributed to the Prophet's holy name, has long been misguiding Muslims in their mindset attitudes, beliefs and practices, and in their approaches to many issues such as the status of women relative to that of men, marriage and divorce, dispensation of criminal justice, and maintenance of justice, peace, and harmony in society. The ideas that seriously distort religious conceptions and practices, insult and at the same time idolize the Prophet of Islam, demonize and weaken women’s position in society, encourage fanaticism and fatalism, encourage archaic, barbaric, or harsh punishments, block progress and modernization, encourage intolerance, violence, and terrorism, and extol the virtues of aggressive jihad against other communities—all come from the Hadith.

The book also calls attention to the ominous rise of religious fanaticism and extremism among some Muslims, who are shamelessly responsible for orchestrating violent and terrorist acts, and crimes against humanity in the name of "Islam", and are thereby tarnishing the image of Islam in the Western world. To combat this menacing problem, the book calls for a thorough reform of religious education in the Muslim world – for remodeling of the madrasah education on the pattern of modern education, retaining reformed religious education after stripping out spurious teachings of traditions as an additional subject. It maintains that the true revival of Islam can come only when Muslims return to, and understand, their only Holy Book, the Quran.

 

Friday, October 29, 2010

The Stagnation of the Muslim World!!!

The impact of the modern West on Islamic countries has clearly demonstrated that the current religious concepts held by most Muslims all over the world, are inadequate to serve as an inspiration towards progressive effort and dynamic activity.  Islam has been reduced by its followers to a symbol of the past.  It is no more an ideal to be realized for the future. Only native conservatism keeps the Muslims of today attached to the rituals of Islam.  Isolated and torn away from the organic whole of its multi- facet teachings, and even this attachment is half-hearted and unenlightened by a conscious understanding of its real import and its quality as a dynamic social force.

In the wider field of social, political and economic life, Muslims have ceased to derive inspiration from Islamic ideals. From being a code of practical guidance in day-to-day existence of the community, Islam has become only a happy memory of the past, which provides an easy means of escape from the harsh realities of the present and the necessity of facing them squarely face on  How can such a doctrine, which does not look forward, no vision of a new future and no clue to the next step in the march of history, survive the incessant changes in the external conditions of life?  A social creed to be capable of acting as a live force, must have a bearing on the present and the future, and yet all the religious creeds, Islam included, merely carry us back to the past without showing the way to what is yet to come.

This conservative attitude towards Islam is at the bottom of all the evils and misfortunes from which the Muslim world is suffering, and the Islamic countries will never get out of their present stagnation unless they decide to consciously and intelligently follow the social theory of Islam in all its organic wholeness, carrying out all its demands and fulfilling all its requirements. The only practical alternative for the Muslims is to cast away the few lifeless remnants of Islam that they cling to and arm themselves with a new socio-political understanding, capable of giving them an effective lead in the complexities of life. Thus for every Muslim who intelligently believes in the Message of Muhammad (Peace be upon him), Islam is not only his past, but also his future.  Also apart from it, the Muslim can conceive of no future for the Muslim world. If Islam represents merely the past of a people and has no message for the present and the future; if it is incapable of furnishing guidance in the social, political and economic situation confronting Muslims today, there is no meaning in continuing our lukewarm adherence to its principles out of sheer conservatism and love of the past.

Half-hearted attachment to an ideology and the eclectic attitude of retaining some parts of it, which fit in with our easy-going habits and adding to it extraneous elements drawn from different social theories, can only produce a hybrid mixture lacking organic combination, and therefore, unable to impart vigour and life to any sort of corporate existence. The great trouble with Muslims is that they would mould Islam to suit their own convenience rather than allow their own lives to be shaped by it. WHAT SOCIAL THEORY CAN REFORM A PEOPLE ON THESE TERMS?

Monday, October 25, 2010

FW: A question on Salaat...

In Surah Ibrahim, verse 37, the duah of nabie Ibrahim is mentioned which he offered while stationing his son Ishmaeel in a valley:-

“Rabbana, inni askantu min thurriyyati biwadin ghayir zi zar’in ‘inda baytika al-Moharram, Rabbana li yuqimus Salaat”.

“O our Nourisher, I have stationed my offspring in a barren valley in the proximity of your respected house so that “they ESTABLISH AS-SALAAT”.

Now the point to consider here is whether nabie Ibrahim offered the great sacrifice of devoting his son Ishmaeel’s whole life for the sake of making namaaz all the time?

Therfore, if Nabie Ismaeel's sacrifice was in effect only for teaching how to make salaat, then the natural result thereof would have been that not only himself, but all his descendents, and that included nabie Muhammad (saw) too, would only continue offering and teaching people how to make salaat only.

The question then to ponder on is what was the entire struggle for that nabie Muhammad (saw) underwent in his life time, eventually succeeding in establishing a model community in Medina? Shouldn’t he just have continued guiding the people to offer the ritual of salaat if we interpret it this way?

And furthermore, under what orders did nabie Muhammad (saw) undergo all the rest of his struggle? 

 Isnt it possible that the struggle for establishment of Salaat  amounts to the struggle for  enforcement of the complete ideology – the goal for which prophets had  been chosen?  In fact after their training,  Allah revealed to them His commandments through the medium of ‘Wahi’and demanded their enforcement  of these commands 

I believe that the noble Prophets conveyed those orders to the public and set out in their struggle to establish a state, just like the one  nabie Muhammad (saw) established and exemplified in Medina.  It  started from the dissemination of divine teachings up to the establishment of  a state where Muslims could live in peace.  And thus this all fell under the chapter of the ‘Duty of Salaat’, and wherein the economic aspect was usually the most crucial one.  

That’s why the Quran has related the episode in Chapter “Hood”, verse No.87, wherein the community of Prophet Shoaib asked him as to why ‘his Salaat’ forbade them from spending their earnings according to their own wishes. The people of Shoaib said : 

“Qalu ya Shoaib, a-salatuka ta’muruka an natruk ma ya’bud abaa’una aou an naf’al fi amwalina ma nasha’au”

“O Shoaib, does your Salat command that we give up that which our forefathers obeyed steadfastly, and that we may not spend from our belongings as we may wish?” 

Isn't this the concept of ‘Deen-ul-Qayyam’ (the firm/authentic ideology)?  

Monday, October 18, 2010

Message

 

Translations of the Quran, Chapter 108:
AL-KAUTHER (ABUNDANCE, PLENTY, BOUNTY)

 

 

Bismi Allahi alrrahmani alrraheemi
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

108.001
Inna aAAtaynaka alkawthara
YUSUFALI: To thee have We granted the Fount (of Abundance).

108.002
Fasalli lirabbika wainhar
YUSUFALI: Therefore to thy Lord turn in Prayer and Sacrifice.

108.003
Inna shani-aka huwa al-abtaru
YUSUFALI: For he who hateth thee, he will be cut off (from Future Hope).

This above is the traditional translation of surah Al Kauthar.

 

However, as far as this surah is concerned, if the muslims will only truly understand this surah, and then try to act this surah in letter and in spirit then according to this code of command of Rabb-ul-Alamien, the enemies will be destroid.  Thus no enemy will be able to stand against the Muslims.

 

But first and foremost we need to understand as to what happened with our understanding of Al-Quran.

 

Briefly when the Yahudo and Nasara and the Majosees were defeated by the Khulfa-u-Rashideen especially Umar ,these three enemies of Islam joined forces and tried to understand the reasons of their defeat.  They came to the conclusion that the great force behind the victory of the Muslims is only the commands upon which the Muslims act which is The Wahi-e ElahiAL- QURAN.  Thus they, the enemy undertook to drive the Muslims away from this great Quran. And to achieve this they changed the meanings of the code of command of AL-QURAN, that is by changing the the terms (istlahat) used in Quran. 

 

The present translation of this surah Al Kauthar is one of the examples of this great conspiracy against the Quran.

 

Now, let us work towards gaining the true meaning of this surah. Firstly to understand the meaning of this surah one has to understand the three GREAT WORDS which ALLAH used in this surah:

 
1.    AL-KAUTHAR  
2,    FASALLI  
3,    WANHAR  


1.    AL-KAUTHAR:

 

You will find so many meanings of this great term in hadiths and they invariably contradict each other.  But the most popular meaning from the hadiths is that during qiyaamat, the prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H will be sitting at a well (kauthar) and he will give some water from this well to the people of jannat. Can we see how the Yahodees, Nasara and Majosees had distorted the meaning of this surah?

 

Now, coming back to the Quranic meaning of this term, we see that this word is from the root word kaaf thaa raa which means abundant, plenty, or something which is more than enough.So Al-kauthar is something that is more than enough. Now think about to it as to what did ALLAH give to prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H?  Allah gave the WAHI-E-ELAHI that is now safely ensconsed in Quran. 

 

Thus, if you study this surah deeply and ponder over these words which ALLAH has used in this verse you will find the true meaning of Al-kauthar within the same surah.  As long as you study the Quran you will find that ALLAH has never left His words unexplained.  Allah himself has given the principles to understand the Quran. One of the most important principle is Tasreefe ayat (6/65).  By Tasreefe ayat and according to the context ALLAH himself explains His words.  


2.    Fa-Salli

 

In the following word of this surah ALLAH has explained what is Al-kauthar is.  Allah used the word fasalli. This is derived from the root word suad-laam-wau which means to follow something or someone.   So in this verse ALLAH is giving the command to the prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H. and the Muslimeen TO FOLLOW which Allah has given to Mohammad  (PBUH). 
 
Therefore Al Kauthar is THE COMMANDS and VALUES found in the Quran which are more than enough for humanity.  


3.    Wan har

 

The word Wan-har is from the root word noon-haa-raa which means that by understanding we should always act upon the commands of the Quran, regardless of whatsoever hurdles are in our way.

 
Therefore, we can now translate this surah as:

"No dout we have given you the commands and values which are more than enough, i.e. Al-Quran (AL-KOASER) so follow these in letter and spirit to establish raboobiat of your Rabb and stick to it, regardless of whatsoever obstacles are in your way, your enemy will be destroid."
 
Now dear reader compare this understanding with the traditional understanding.

Quoting Or Regurgitating????

Message
During discussions with the scholars (‘Ulama) and students of ‘traditional’ institutions I have noticed that they only ‘regurgitate’ and do not actually quote from their texts. It does look like they quoted but in reality they just repeated age old texts. Thus what they are doing is regurgitating what they have memorized
It means that they have not allowed it to become a part of their persons. What they quoted hasn’t actually become nutritional for them. It has not served as an extremely necessary food for them and they have not internalized that information themselves. 
 
Imagine the number of times we hear these quotes but yet it does not change our lot as it should. How much we quote could be gauged from a single lecture. This can be discerned from only one Friday’s khutbah. In most of these situations what is missing is RELATING and APPLYING – in the real sense of the words. Sadly what is found is merely the reproducing of the verses of the Quran and endless quotes of Ahaadeeth.
 
Also, at times these quotes are used as a weapon to win an argument. This is why the aim, as I have  noticed, is to ‘defeat’ the ‘opponent’ in the arguments rather than winning the addressees (mukhaatabeen) over. This trait is essentially different from the methodology of the one who had “beautiful ideal character” (pbuh). I wonder that those who are expected the most to be open for learning are the most resistant to it. The ones who are supposed to be most humble are hardly ever found saying “I am sorry” or “I was wrong”.
 
One will quickly hear a Hadeeth quoted at the slightest pretext – to suit only a given situation.  Ignoring the Quran and the total teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as well as his “beautiful pattern of conduct”. This is why I feel that our madrassah education system has badly failed. It has helped the students master the art of memorization but not the application of what has been taught.
 
In many a cases I have noticed that verses from Qur’an and Ahaadeeth are merely blurted out in the same manner as one vomits undigested food. The food that has been chewed very well becomes a part of the human body and is transformed into flesh and blood. It can never be vomited. The same applies to the spiritual food and nutrition which is what Quran is. Sadly for our ulama it has not become the part of the person. It is kept somewhere separately – like fodder and it is quickly thrown out of the mouth to win an argument.
 
Our focus on memorization and not on truly understanding the Quran has added to our indigestion. Our parents send their children for memorization of the Quran at a very early age basically for the parents' wellbeing in the Hereafter. Here these youngsters get used to the mind-set of memorizing rather than understanding the Quran which becomes set in their psyche for the rest of their lives– proving the adage, “catch them young”. They keep repeating what they have memorized without trying to understand it.
 
Because of a faulty instructional methodology and system (wherein the aptitude of students is not of much concern and wherein the teachers want their students to become like their teachers and not like those in the mirror) we frequently fall in the holes of our own making. We do not realize it. And it is even graver a situation. 
 
I urge the ulama to rethink these traditions. It is the change which we need. 

Thursday, October 7, 2010

FW: The obstacles of human and divine understanding of existence: Rediscovering the Quran

Message

A fellow Muslim told me about his 'rediscovering' of Islam, trying to re-understand it based on the original sources without the interference of orthodox ideas. And indeed this is what as Muslims must do. Because there is a difference between what the Quranic message and what we as Muslims understand as Islam.

The problem has arisen because we as Muslims do not read and study take the Quran on its own terms. In fact this also happened to the original Revelations before Islam where humans created dogma's, human perceptions of existence, that were enforced on theese scriptures. First the revelations were interpreted in ways to fit in with these later created dogma's, and later people even changed the texts of the revelations to fit their dogma's. Sometimes they only kept parts of the original revelations and mixed these with dogmatic texts of later times. In Islam this wasn't possible as the Quranic scripture was spread wordwide immediately and made altering not accepted. So many false reports (Hadith) on non-Quranic revelations and interpretations were created in the name of the Prophet to enforce these later dogma's of Muslims. As there were many competing dogma's, hundreds of thousands of competing and contradicting reports were circulating in the first centuries after the Prophet in his name or his first followers (Sahaba, Tabi'un etc.). These were later researched by Hadith scholars to filter the true from the false, but as these scholars also followed certain dogma's, they were not objective enough. This we can already see by the differences in Sunni and Shia Hadith collections. There are true historical reports of the Prophet and his first followers in these collections, but it will take centuries to truly filter these from the collections.

Thus nowadays it has become standard to follow a certain dogma and legitimize these with certain Hadith to enforce an understanding of the Quran that isn't necessarily coinciding with the meaning or intention of the original Quranic text. The text has become veiled by our own dogma's that we accept as true representations of existence and reality. But they only represent the limited human understanding of existence.

We need a return to the Quranic text, taking it on its own terms and understanding the contexts of the audiences it addresses. So we need to understand the socio-historical context of the Prophet, the first Muslims, and the other people who the Quran addresses. Then we can understand how the Divine Will expressed itself through the vehicle of human language, and how the Quran tries to convey universal values to mankind. The Quran guides mankind in the process of existence by making us becoming aware (taqwa) of our place in existence and how to approach it.

As long as we hold on to historical human created dogma's, we will misunderstand the view on existence the Quran tries to portray. Instead of talking to the Quran, making it say what we expect, we must learn to listen to it in an objective way. The Quran was sent by God to make us understand existence as it is created and sustained by its Creator. Instead we cling to human limited understandings of existence, and so we will keep struggling and failing.

The same rediscovering is made by Christians, Jews and people from other religions where they are exploring their scriptures to differentiate between the human dogma's of existence and the original message God gave them. Thus this is a shared 'rediscovering' between all faiths, which now shows that the clashes within mankind are between their own created dogma's, their own cultural expressions of existence, and not between the original divine messages that tried to mankind true insights on existence. We all have the same standard that will show us the true side of the religious scriptures, the workings of nature and our shared humaneness, these will make us rediscover the original Revelations on their own terms.

As Muslims, we are the most fortunate as we have an uncorrupted text, the Quran, and so our journey to this rediscovering is much shorter. But it seems we are the most stubborn of all people to realize this. The majority of Muslims believe in peace, human rights, the discovery of nature through science and the acceptance of all people whatever their faith, as our humaneness cannot accept otherwise. But we must realize that many of our dogma's and interpretations that we believe as Islamic are contradicting these values.

  • The Quran says men and women are created equally (49:13, 4:1 etc.), but our laws and traditions based mostly on non-Quranic sources (Hadith reports, traditions of old Arab, Jewish, Christian cultures, opinions by old scholars etc.) contradict this completely. And where the Quranic text seems to contradict this value of equality, we misunderstand the context or intention of those specific revelations. The Quran wants to fight oppression (42:38-43) and so we must never use Islam to treat others with inequality, male or female.
 
  • We believe in equality between all people, but our laws makes a seperation between Muslim and non-Muslim, while the Prophet was ordered by the Quran to treat everybody with complete equality (in verse 42:15 the Prophet addresses Jews and Christians with, 'umirtu li-Adila baynakum - I'm ordered to apply equality between you'), and the Quran says that one life is equal to the lives of all of humanity (5:32). 
 
  • We believe in the complete Mercy of God, but we still believe only Muslims will be accepted into Paradise by God, while the Quran clearly says that everybody who believes in God, Hereafter and whose deeds create peace, reform and balance in society, will be accepted by Him (2:62, 5:69). Many Quran commentators say that verse 2:62 is abrogated by 3:85 which says that only Islam will be accepted as a religion, as verse 3:85 was revealed after verse 2:62 and thus cancells verse 2:62's inclusive message. But they forget that verse 5:69 was revealed after 3:85, and that it says the exact same thing as 2:62. Is verse 3:85 then abrograted by 5:69 or is it more logical to assume that Islam in the Quran is more universal then we understand it to be? The Quran even complains about this attitude of exclusively claiming heaven by the Jews and Christians at the time of the Prophet, proclaiming that it isn't your religion or the label of your faith that makes you be accepted by God but your pursuit of peace with existence and God (2:111-112). The Quran also clearly states that God's Mercy encompasses everything and He will judge first through Mercy (7:156, 6:12), and even says that there are multiple paths of God (29:69), so how can we claim to be on the only path to Heaven?

 

 

  • Many of our books on Quranic exegesis (tafaseer) claim that the peaceful verses in the Quran that promote peacemaking and only defensive war, are abrogated by the 'swordverse' (9:5) which says we must fight non-Muslims. But the context of chapter 9 clearly say that fighting was allowed only because the treaties the Prohet made were violated by certain tribes. If we must fight all non-Muslims, why then are we ordered to protect even polytheists if they ask for protection in verse 9:6 that comes directly after the wrongly labelled 'sword verse'? Verses 9:12-13 clearly states that the Prophet was only allowed to fight because certain tribes broke their oaths, wanted to drive out the Muslims from their homes and because they STARTED the fight ('wa hum badaookum awwala marratin - And they started (to fight) you previously')! Thus the 'sword verse' is not about offensive war at all, but is clearly part of the same message the Quran has always given; for Muslims only defensive war is allowed and that they must always pursue peace and never hurt non-combatants (the verses always say that we must only fight the people who fight you, meaning combatants).

 

 

  • Islamic law has used verse 9:29 to create a seperate taxation system for non-Muslims, and to force them to pay this discriminating tax (Jizyah) while the whole context of fighting in chapter 9 is clearly defensive, not offensive. Thus the jizyah of verse 9:29 was only demanded from non-Muslims who fought the Muslims themselves first. The word jizyah comes from the root jaza, meaning compensation, it thus doesn't represent 'tribute' or 'tax' but compensation payment for the war damage these non-Muslims had caused. Even in modern times countries must pay compensation for war damage, like Germany after WWI and WWII.

 

 

It is our duty to the Quran that we must rediscover it by taking it on its own terms, and to reject old dogma's and interpretations that malign and distort its true message and potential. Then we can truly see the true vision on existence the Quran tries to display and which we are discovering through the structure of nature and our shared humaneness.