 Author |
 Post
|
 |
|
Raquel Evita Saraswati
Joined: Mar 5, 2008
Posts: 40 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: United States
Province/State: New York
City: New York
|
Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 6, 2008 - 11:49 PM
|
|
“I do believe that it is possible, indeed necessary, to reinterpret Islamic sources in order to affirm and protect freedom of religion and belief. This is my position as a Muslim, speaking from an Islamic perspective, and not simply because freedom of religion and belief is a universal human rights norm…” - Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im
Professor An-Nai'm believes that the reinterpretation of Islamic sources is necessary.
Islamic scholar Dr. Umar Abd-Allah agrees. He says that reinterpretation is a religious obligation of all Muslims.
What do you think?
What issues do you believe are most in need of reinterpretation?
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Genie
Joined: May 7, 2008
Posts: 21 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Age: 41
Country: United States
Province/State: Texas
City: Brackettville
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 8, 2008 - 08:12 PM
|
|
Until I started listening to Irshad, it had never occurred to me that the solution to Islam really boiled down to Muslims taking action.
I think it's absolutely the responsibility and duty of Muslims interested in freedom of religion to get active in Ijtihad. I hope I am using that term correctly in this context. I know there are different interpretations of that word.
If you want to change how a group or organization works, then you have to make that change from the inside. Non-Muslims cannot create change in Islam. But non-Muslims can support Islamic reform. Non-Muslims can educate themselves on the difference between Islamics and Islamists. Non-Muslims can be of service to reformists, but Islam can't be changed from the outside in. Not in a positive way, at any rate.
I wish other religious organizations would get in on the reform act. I'd like to see LDS saying NO! to FLDS and I'd like to see Christians putting their foot down with these frightening and violent fundamentalist "Christian soldiers" who feel its their duty to bomb abortion clinics and torture and kill people who are the "wrong" skin color.
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
AAG
Joined: May 9, 2008
Posts: 2 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Tongue-tied
User is
Offline
Age: 23
Country:
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 9, 2008 - 12:20 AM
|
|
As a Muslim myself, I believe some/most Muslims need to change how they think and act.
Muslims complain the "west" is against them and that is why they hate the "west"...but they need to learn that "an eye for an eye would make the world go blind"-Gandhi.
Islam promotes love for each other, respect, unity and so on. Muslims need to concentrate on that more.
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Muzzy Mydin
Joined: Jan 27, 2008
Posts: 2 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Tongue-tied
User is
Offline
Gender & Age: Male, 25
Country: Russia
Province/State: Moscow City
City: Moscow
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 10, 2008 - 01:10 PM
|
|
What issues do you believe are most in need of reinterpretation?
Huhuooo, my favorite question   
lack of democracy and freedom and also extremism.
Regrettably, these illnesses pervasive in Muslim societies are worsening, reaching a point where they may spiral out of control until today.
The others that also require urgent attention: the role of women, unity among Muslim states, mutual tolerance between the world of Islam and the world of non-Muslims, intellectual stagnation, prejudice and impoverished economy in the Muslim world.
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Arnold Yasin Mol
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 26 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: Netherlands
Province/State: Zuid-Holland
City: Leiden
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 12, 2008 - 06:18 AM
|
|
Peace,
When Einstein was asked how he came on EM=C2, he replied:
"To find a solution to the problem, you must not use the method that caused the problem".
He referred to the Newton laws that caused many problems in Higher Physics as the Newton Laws did not apply to smaller particles as electrons and neutrons.
The Islam we see today was created under monarch rule during the Abbasid era, who mostly used Persian elite to run the state, politics, economy and religious matters.
This was the reason why for 90%, all Hadith writers, Fiqh writers, Sharia writers, Arabic grammar writers and so on, were all from Persian descent.
As they believed Mohammed had come with a message that was connected with theirs, Persian religious beliefs came into Islam. The same happened in the Christian area´s of Syria and Egypt, where Christian beliefs and understandings entered Islam. Yemen was mostly ruled by Jews, and so Jewish thought alos entered. And of course, not to forget Arabian culture and mythology.
This is why the Sharia, which is mostly based on Hadith and personal interpretation and scholars, is so influenced by the other religions. Stoning for example, is nowhere in the Qur´an, it is a Jewish law taken over in the later era.
Instead of letting the Qur´an explain and speak for itself, it´s message was controlled by these other faiths.
Islam turned from a Divine Social Message, into a religion. A social message tries to change society for the better. A religion is mostly focussed on worship and salvation.
This is how Islam became a puppet for regimes, how scholars could say what they wanted and people believed it.
Justice was far less important then salvation, and so people survived any injustice.
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Raquel Evita Saraswati
Joined: Mar 5, 2008
Posts: 40 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: United States
Province/State: New York
City: New York
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 13, 2008 - 07:40 AM
|
|
Muzzy86 wrote:
What issues do you believe are most in need of reinterpretation?
Huhuooo, my favorite question ***
lack of democracy and freedom and also extremism.
Regrettably, these illnesses pervasive in Muslim societies are worsening, reaching a point where they may spiral out of control until today.
The others that also require urgent attention: the role of women, unity among Muslim states, mutual tolerance between the world of Islam and the world of non-Muslims, intellectual stagnation, prejudice and impoverished economy in the Muslim world.
Muzzy, thanks for contributing. How would you suggest the ummah address the problems you raise?
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Raquel Evita Saraswati
Joined: Mar 5, 2008
Posts: 40 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: United States
Province/State: New York
City: New York
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 13, 2008 - 07:43 AM
|
|
ArnoldYasin wrote:
Islam doesn´t need reform, the Qur´an is here with us today. We only to drop the baggage we mostly have gathered in the last 1000 years and start fresh over.
In 49:13 Allah says:
49:13 O Mankind! We have created you male and female, and have
made you nations and tribes so that you might (affectionately) come to
know one another. Surely, the most honored among you, in the sight of
God, is the one who is best in conduct. God is Knower, Aware.
And in 11:117:
11:117 Your Lord never destroys a community for wrong beliefs alone
as long as its people are Muslihoon, reformers, setting right their own, and one another’s condition.
God does not judge on your beliefs or rituals, but on how you act towards one another. This is a concept completely forgotten by the Muslims.
Being a Muslihoon, a contributor to society, is the matter He judges us on.
Recommended readings:
Islam As I Understand by Shabbir AHmed MD
Manifesto for Islamic Reform
Muhammad Asad on Islam-His Reflections
Dear Arnold - Thank you for such a well thought-out post. For the sake of those less familiar with Islam, the issues we're discussing, and the Qur'an:
What would you identify as the baggage we've acquired over the years?
and
What Islamic tradition, and/or what Islamic scholarship might support our mission to rid ourselves of this baggage?
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Arnold Yasin Mol
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 26 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: Netherlands
Province/State: Zuid-Holland
City: Leiden
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 13, 2008 - 12:45 PM
|
|
Dear Raquel,
The baggage is the traditional explanations and history reports that were gathered 250 years after Prophet Muhammed.
In those 250 years, many influences, which I have mentioned in the post above, have shaped the understanding of what Islam and focus it has.
The Qur'an is very social and scientific in its Message. It urges the reader to reason and reflect on nature to understand God Himself. This inspired the first Muslim scientists which created the Golden Age of Islam. The social justice urged in the Qur'an urged the first generation of Muslims to free the people from the burden of the Persian and Roman empire who both oppressed any heretic belief.
Muslims were told they were the custodians of freedom, and the protector of the oppressed of any religion or race. When Umar went to Jerusalem, he made sure ALL Christians were allowed into the Christian holy places.
While the Romans only had allowed the Roman Catholic Christians. Also Jews were forbidden to live in Jerusalem, the Muslims gave them entry again.
All of these acts were founded on the social and scientific message of the Qur'an.
But where do we find these reasonable, scientific and social humane people among Muslims? Show me Imams or scholars that tell their public these things, these responsibilities which the first Muslims understood so well.
Muslims today are completely occupied with personal salvation and Islamic mythology created 250 years after the Prophet. They must awake from this slumber and think for themselves.
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Arnold Yasin Mol
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 26 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: Netherlands
Province/State: Zuid-Holland
City: Leiden
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 13, 2008 - 12:59 PM
|
|
Sheikh Al-Maraghi showed Muhammed Asad the Al-Azhar university in Cairo:
'Dost thou sees those "scholars" over there? he asked me. 'They are like those sacred cows in India which, I am told, eat up all the printed paper they can find in the streets...Yes, they gobble up all the printed pages from books that have been written centuries ago, but they do not digest them. They no longer think for themselves; they read and repeat, read and repeat- and the students who listen to them learn only to read and repeat, generation after generation.' [..]
Al-Azhar has lapsed into the sterility from which the whole Muslim world is suffering, and its old impetus is all but extinguished. Those ancient Islamic thinkers whom thou hast mentioned would never have dreamed that after so many centuries their thoughts, instead of being continued and developed, would only be repeated over and over again, as if they were ultimate and infallible truths.”
[page 189-190 Road to Mecca by Muhammed Asad]
There is great truth in this. The great Muhammed Abduh believed Muslims can rediscover themselves again when:
“ 1. The primary purpose of the Qur’an is to affirm the Tawhid, the unicity of God, and all other subsequent doctrines that affirm God’s action of revelation, the sending of prophets, and the reality of resurrection and human recompense.
2. The Qur’an is a complete and comprehensive revelation; believers cannot be selective in what portions they choose to adhere to.
3. The Qur’an is the primary source for legislation for a righteous society. (While Abduh endorsed the use of reason and science in understanding the text he insisted that social life is to be organized according to the teachings of the Qur’an.)
4. Muslims should not imitate their forebears in interpreting the Qur’an, but must be authentic and true to their own understanding.
5. Reason and reflection should be utilized in interpreting the Qur’an. (Abduh saw the Qur’an as urging people to search and think about the revelation as well as to know the laws and principles that govern the universe in order to understand.)
“The Qur’an is worthy of being called the book of freedom of thought, of respect for reason and for the shaping of the individual through research, knowledge and the use of reason and reflection.”
[Tafseer Al-Fatiha, Muhammed Abduh, Al-Manar, 1330H, pp 35-53. He cites 10:101, 29:19, 22:46 and 18:17 as proof of the Qur’an’s insistence on rationality, p 73.]
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Arnold Yasin Mol
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 26 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: Netherlands
Province/State: Zuid-Holland
City: Leiden
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 13, 2008 - 12:59 PM
|
|
Muslims can make themselves progressive again when they return to the Qur'an, not blindly imitating their forefathers. They must also understand that the West is mostly based on Muslim Spain, it is a continuation of the Qur'anic principles of Reason and Justice.
The only thing the West misses in my eyes is a goal of existence and a clear blueprint of moral. These are found in the Qur'an. When the Muslim world mix these principles of modern science reason, freedom, justice together with the Qur'anic moral and objectives, a true re-discovery can take place.
In the words of Muhammed Asad:
“The original impetus of Islam, so tremendous in its beginnings, sufficed for a while to carry the Muslim commonwealth to great cultural heights-to that splendid vision of scientific, literary and artistic achievement which historians describe as the Golden Age of Islam; but within a few more centuries this impetus also died down for want of spiritual nourishment, and Muslim civilization became more and more stagnant and devoid of creating power. I had no illusions as to the present state of affairs in the Muslim world.
The 4 years I have spend in those countries had shown me that while Islam was still alive, perceptible in the world-view of its adherents and their silent admission of its ethical premises, they themselves were like people paralysed, unable to translate their beliefs into fruitful action. But what concerned me more than the failure of present-day Muslims to implement the scheme of Islam were the potentialities of that scheme itself.
It was sufficient for me to know that for a short time, quite at the beginning of Islamic history, a successful attempt had been made to translate that scheme into practice; and what had seemed possible at one time might perhaps become really possible at another. What did it matter, I told myself, that the Muslims had gone astray from the original teachings and subsided into indolence and ignorance.
What did it matter that they did not live up to the ideal placed before them by the Arabian Prophet 13 centuries ago-if the ideal itself still lay open to all who were willing to listen to its message?”
[Page 304-305 Road to Mecca by Muhammed Asad]
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Raquel Evita Saraswati
Joined: Mar 5, 2008
Posts: 40 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: United States
Province/State: New York
City: New York
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 13, 2008 - 05:25 PM
|
|
ArnoldYasin wrote:
Dear Raquel,
The baggage is the traditional explanations and history reports that were gathered 250 years after Prophet Muhammed.
Dear Arnold,
Can you explain this in easier-to-understand language? I think you have a lot of valuable points in your post, but I want everyone to understand what you mean when you say "traditional explanations and history reports that were gathered...".
What is this, and why does it represent "baggage"?
Baggage is considered negative. What are we being held back by? How does this "baggage" show up in the daily lives of Muslims?
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Elana
Joined: May 8, 2008
Posts: 3 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Tongue-tied
User is
Offline
Age: 20
Country: United States
Province/State: California
City: Los Angeles
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 15, 2008 - 02:27 AM
|
|
Without speaking on behalf of Islam in particular, I would venture that interpretation is a duty for members of any religion. Holy or divine texts are the MOST important texts to examine and analyze and try to understand!
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Arnold Yasin Mol
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 26 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: Netherlands
Province/State: Zuid-Holland
City: Leiden
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 15, 2008 - 02:28 PM
|
|
All of these entered Islam, meaning they were not present in the original Islam of Prophet Muhammed. These were later introduced by these groups that came under Islamic rule in the centuries after.
To enforce many beliefs and rules of these other religions and beliefs, people started to make up stories how Muhammed also did or believed these things. Many of these were recorded in the history collections we have.
As many of these beliefs were useful to the clergy and the rulers, they were enforced unto the public and for the last 1000 years these Qur'an interpretations and history reports are seen an complete truths by the majority of Muslims.
This is the bagage we must loose. All of the Qur'an interpretations and history reports must not be seen as truths.
The Qur'an must be approached afresh, with modern scientific and social interpretation which is only based on the Arabic language and reason.
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Raquel Evita Saraswati
Joined: Mar 5, 2008
Posts: 40 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: United States
Province/State: New York
City: New York
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 15, 2008 - 06:22 PM
|
|
ArnoldYasin wrote:
All of the Qur'an interpretations and history reports must not be seen as truths.
The Qur'an must be approached afresh, with modern scientific and social interpretation which is only based on the Arabic language and reason.
When you say "which is only based on the Arabic language", how do you propose that the entire ummah practice reinterpretation? Isn't this limiting? If accurate translations exist in languages spoken by Muslims worldwide, wouldn't the best reinterpretation and scholarship happen in many tongues?
Or maybe I'm misunderstanding. Let me ask a clarifying question: who do you see doing this "modern, scientific and social interpretation"?
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Arnold Yasin Mol
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 26 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Talkative
User is
Offline
Country: Netherlands
Province/State: Zuid-Holland
City: Leiden
|
Re: Is reinterpretation a duty for Muslims interested in freedom of religion?
May 16, 2008 - 05:24 AM
|
|
Idrib Asa-Aka Hajara is normally translated with "Hit the rock with your staff" in the story of Moses, but Asa also means "Power, Mastery, People, Unity". Daraba as discussed before also means "To move something", Hajara means "Rock" but it was also used for "Hard conviction, Kings, obstacles, that which blocks your journey".
So the verse can also be understood as "Move the Rock with your people" or "Remove the obstacles on your journey with your power and people".
Mamalakat Aymanukum is traditionally understood as "Slaves", as it is translated as "What your right hand posseses". But Ayman means "Oath, responsibility, contract", as you swore an oath with your right hand. So it comes closer to "That which you have a responsibility over through Oath or Contract". It can refer to your wives, adopted children and so on.
And I can go on and on. I already dare to say that from my point of view, 50-70% of the Qur'an is mistranslated or to limited in their translation of words with 99% of the Qur'an translations on earth in any language.
This is the sad situation. The need to know Arabic to really understand the Qur'an has nothing to with Arabian supremacy, but with pure need.
But as no everyone can learn Arabic, it is important that every nation makes their own new modern translation of the Qur'an with explanation of the possible meanings of important words.
BUT, there are already some real good translations out there who are using modern understandings of the Qur'an. Ahmed Ali, Muhammed Asad, Muhammed Ali, Edip Yuksel, and the best ones in my eyes:
QXP by Shabbir Ahmed and Qur'an Exposition by GA Parwez.
There are links to the translations on my site under Qur'an research:
www.deenresearchcenter.com
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
|
Display posts from:
|
