Author: anonymousjune2017

Epigraph:

We did not send you Muhammad, but as mercy for the whole mankind. (Al Quran 21:107/108)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Some 44 million Muslims live peacefully as law abiding citizens in Europe.  They have not been brought there as slaves but they, their parents or their grand parents came there out of their sweet will and volition for better economic or other opportunities.

Travel back to 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus reached the American soil, the last city-state of Granada fell to the Christian rulers and every Muslim in Europe was either killed, banished or converted by force to Christianity.  There was then no one openly Muslim in the Christian Europe for a couple of centuries.

Today the Christians are their neighbors, colleagues and mentors.  Sometimes they are spouses and family members.

Obviously these are two polar opposite circumstances.  If the holy Quran is read as a rigid set of instructions about the Muslim-Christian interaction to create human societies, then it can obviously not handle both situations.

The way the Muslims of the fifteenth and the sixteenth century read the Christian-Muslim relationship in the Quran cannot be true for the twenty first century.

It is projected by the Pew Research Center that the Muslim population in Europe is growing; they project 10% of all Europeans will be Muslims by 2050.

Better paradigms for coexistence between the Muslims and the Christians are very much needed and for the Muslims it starts with their understanding of the Quran.

If my articles are boring to you, it may be that you need to read more of them, as was suggested by John Cage, an American composer, “If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”

Going back to the subject at hand: understanding the Quran:

A large majority of the Muslims read the Quran for blessings and delegate their understanding of the book to the scholar of their choice, who often defer it to the scholar of their choice of the past centuries.  This emphasis on the past scholarship leads to extreme conservatism and changes the Quran into a rigid document.

Omar Naseef writes in his article, God Is Living, So Why Does Religion Treat God As Dead?:

There’s a vigorous debate in the United States about the nature of our constitution. Liberals tend to argue that the constitution is a living document, while conservatives, like the late Justice Scalia, claim our constitution is “dead, dead, dead”.

If the authors of the constitution were alive today – having lived through 239+ years of U.S. history – do we really think they would ask their 1787 selves how to interpret the constitution?

In secular law, the debate is reasonable. Because the authors are dead and a “living” constitution risks judicial tyranny, we do need to find some way to reasonably restrain the interpretation, especially since we can amend the constitution if we aren’t happy with its meaning.

This same “living” versus dead argument often happens in religion. Those who argue for dead” are often conservatives, and they are hurting their own cause. It is proper for all of us to deliberate before breaking with long-held tradition. However, insisting that the understanding of sacred text is frozen puts the most fundamental belief of religion at risk.

When any religious person claims that a sacred text is “dead” – in that the understanding of its meaning is fixed forever – they are directly at odds with their own idea of a living, active God.

This relatively unknown author is not alone in his opinion. A polymath from the last century, Sir Zafrulla Khan who was the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan and President of United Nation General assembly for a term, among other accomplishments agrees:

It is this comprehensiveness of the Quran, the need to make provision for guidance in every respect for all peoples for all time, that made it necessary that the guidance should be conveyed in verbal revelation. The Quran is literally the Word of God and possesses the quality of being alive, as the universe is alive. It is not possible to set forth at any time the whole meaning and interpretation of the Quran or, indeed, of any portion of it with finality. It yields new truths and fresh guidance in every age and at every level. It is a standing and perpetual miracle (18:110).

The world is dynamic and so is the Quran. Indeed, so dynamic is the Quran that it has always been found to keep ahead of the world and never to lag behind it. However fast the pace at which the pattern of human life may change and progress, the Quran always yields, and will go on yielding, the needed guidance in advance. This has now been demonstrated through more than thirteen centuries, and that is a guarantee that it will continue to be demonstrated through the ages.

The Quran has proclaimed that falsehood will never overtake it. All research into the past and every discovery and invention in the future will affirm its truth (41:43). The Quran speaks at every level; it seeks to reach every type of understanding, through parables, similitudes, arguments, reasoning, the observation and study of the phenomena of nature, and the natural, moral, and spiritual laws (18:55; 39:28; 59:22).[1][2]

For the Quran to be dynamic it needs to be read in the context of the time.  The majority of the Spanish Christians may have been blood thirsty enemies in the 16th century but today in Europe they are neighbors, colleagues, teachers and mentors. They are benefactors of the Muslims in several capacities.  For some they are even spouses or blood relatives.  Unless we can read the Quranic principles according to the circumstances we are vulnerable to box ourselves into fixed paradigms to our and others’ detriment.

I believe that we need to grasp what is fundamental in the holy Quran and for that matter in any book or writing and not go after the allegorical. Let the fundamental define the allegorical and not vice versa. The Quran says:

He it is Who has sent down to you (Muhammad) the Book; in it there are verses that are fundamental or decisive in meaning — these are the corner stone of the Book — and there are others that are susceptible of different interpretations. But those in whose hearts is perversity pursue those that are susceptible of different interpretations, seeking discord and wrong interpretation of such ambiguous verses. And none knows their right interpretation except Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge; they say, ‘We believe in it; the whole is from our Lord.’ — And none heed except those gifted with understanding. (3:7/8)

So, what is a fundamental teaching?

A fundamental teaching is what is substantiated not from one perspective but from multiple or all angles. It is something which does  not leave the slightest doubt in your heart and mind. It is something that you can easily defend,  no matter who the audience. It is something that you like to preach to your children and you don’t hide from anyone. It is something that is true whether you are on the receiving end or the opposite. It is true whether you are a leader or a follower. It is true whether you are among the ‘haves’ or the ‘have-nots.’ It is not what is preached by one scholar, one leader or one sect of Islam. It is true if it follows the Golden Rule.

It is a fundamental teaching if it fulfills all or a majority of the above conditions.

A fundamental Quranic teaching is one that is not mentioned once or twice in the scripture, rather dozens of times from different angles and perspectives.

Once you have a few fundamentals going for you, you will be able to understand more and more of the Quranic text. The Quran will be made easy for you. You will begin to resolve the apparent conflicts in the Quran. Because your understanding would be in keeping of the Divine understanding and rise above the vulnerability of human inconsistencies and contradictions.

I believe that the verses about compassion and justice in the holy Quran are fundamental. As there are, Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran and scores of verses about justice in human affairs.

Let us read the whole of the Quran in light of the verse that has been mentioned as the epigraph and I promise you that you will not go wrong in your worldly or heavenly life:

We did not send you Muhammad, but as mercy for the whole mankind. (Al Quran 21:107/108)

This is the best pluralistic message, which as Muslims we can never forget or make it secondary to any other commandment or teaching.

May Allah grant us the courage and wisdom to read the scripture for ourselves and not through the limiting eyes of the scholar or the leader of our choice only.

Additional suggested reading: Scope, Style and Preservation of the Quran

• Sometimes the Quran is Written on Stone and Often on Paper?
• The Scope, Style and Effect of the Holy Quran
• The History of the Qur’anic Text: From Revelation to Compilation
• Sources or Criteria for Interpretation of the Holy Quran
• The Quran Gives Principles of Justice, But No Judicial System
• The Quran Only Means What Our Wisdom and Intentions Dictate: A Progressive Understanding
• The Holy Quran and the Seventh Century Arabian Metaphors
• Is God Alive or Dead: A Metaphor for the Scriptures from the US Constitution?
• God Is Living, So Why Does Religion Treat God As Dead?
• I was an Isis sex slave. I tell my story because it is the best weapon I have
•  Prof. Murray Hunter of Hatyai University in Thailand: Quantum Islam

Reference

1. https://themuslimtimes.info/2019/02/01/sir-zafrullah-khan-introducing-the-holy-quran-to-the-world/
2. This quote is from the chapter about the Quran. Read the whole book online: ISLAM – Its Meaning For Modern Man

What is the essence of Islam, and does it need reforming?

Renowned Jordanian Islamic scholar Fehmi Jadaane vehemently objects to the transformation of Islam into an ideology. The religion ends up mired in a political swamp, he says, its message nothing more than an instrument of governance. Interview by Alia Al-Rabeo

In recent years some authors and intellectuals have shown increased interest in the so-called “reformation” of Islam. Do you address this issue in your book “The Liberation of Islam”? Does the modern Arab world need this kind of reformation? And would it help in countering religious fundamentalism?

Fehmi Jadaane: Let me make it quite clear that I am not interested in a reformation of the faith in its essence, nor with questioning what the revelatory scripture contains, implies or aims at. Because that would imply that there is a defect in the structure of the text that needs to be repaired. Which is not at all my conviction. What I’m really getting at is this: the text of revelation, inscribed for all time on God’s “well-guarded tablet”, is confronted today with numerous contradictions in the reality that manifests itself to believers – that is to say to individual human beings. These contradictions stem from the fact that man is imperfect through and through, in all facets of his existence. For there is nothing more contradictory than a human being.

This has implications for how the text is understood, how it manifests itself and materialises in experienced and imagined reality. The obstacles and contradictions to which Islam has been and still is exposed are countless. If we want liberation, we must face up to this fact.

There is no doubt that the upheavals triggered by religious fundamentalism are currently the most prominent phenomenon in this scenario. But there are also other deep-seated contradictions that are wreaking massive damage on the global image of Islam. I dealt with some of them in my book “The Liberation of Islam”. We must resolutely censure, reject and remedy these contradictions – just as we must the notion of an Islam reduced to its ideological-political aspects.

You call for a dialogue between all groups across the social spectrum so that the Arab region can enter into modernity. Do you really believe it is possible for such dialogue to take place, given the massive polarisation and divisive tendencies that run through Arab society – sectarian, political and ideological?

Fehmi Jadaane: I would like to take this opportunity to throw in a quote: ‘where justice is manifest, divine law comes into its own’. The just state is thus quite capable of providing for the needs of the general public. Of course, fanatics won’t let themselves be dissuaded from their dogmatism and entrenched views just like that. Because they are ruled and controlled by “passions”, not by reason and pragmatism.

I therefore share your fears regarding the question of whether current generations in the Arab countries – at least the older ones among them, who have experienced politics as senseless conflict their entire lives – are ready for such new approaches to thinking and action.

I am pretty sure that this will only be possible for future generations – provided that an early start is made to inculcate in them paedagogical values based on what Jurgen Habermas called “communicative action”. In other words, the values of free debate, dialogue, exchange, openness and mutual respect.

Read further

Suggested reading by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

We Will be Judged by Our Compassion and Deeds and Not Our Dogma

Book Review: Islam Without Extremes by Mustafa Akyol

A Nobel for Karen Armstrong will bring the Christians and the Muslims closer

Nobel Prize for a noble woman

Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran

A Message of Compassion and Love from the Holy Bible

True Fasting: A Message of Compassion and Love from the Old Testament

Abou Ben Adhem, A Compassionate Man

‘Love Hormone,’ How it works in Hospitality?

‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin May Enhance Feelings Of Spirituality

 

Epigraph:

Indeed, We (Allah) Ourself have sent down this Quran, and most surely We will be its Guardian. (Al Quran 15:9/10)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

In 1989 I moved to USA. I had been raised as a Sunni Muslim and joined Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in 1984, but it had not been advertised in all circles.  I remember at a family dinner at my uncle’s house a very learned and well respected physician, who was considered an Imam and a religious scholar, who will go nameless, during the small talk started elaborating the merits of religious freedom.  He highlighted the history of Russia and communism and how it failed to suppress both Christianity and Islam. I was impressed by his eloquence.

A few minutes later discussion shifted to Pakistan and the same physician was full of praise for General Zia ul Haq, for his introduction of a dictatorial ordinance of 1984 to take away the religious freedoms of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

I was taken aback! Does the learned physician believe in religious freedom or not? Is the freedom only for his religion and sect and not for others?  In the last 30 years I have come to know that such myopia is common place and was not only his short coming but of most religious scholars, regardless of their creed, religion or sect.

Ahmet T. Kuru, who is professor of political science at San Diego State University and author of a few books on the theme of Islam and politics, wrote, “Islam is neither an instrument of identity politics, nor an ideology offering political solutions.”

For the first half of the title of my article, Some Argue Islamism from the Quran and others Secularism, let me suggest: Urdu Videos: Dr. Israr Ahmad Versus Ghamdi: Islamism Versus Secularism.

Moving on to the second half of my title, invariably all scholars of Islam regardless of the denomination realize and acknowledge that the Quranic teachings are to be read in our present day circumstances.  In other words they know that they have to read the Quran as an alive document and not as a dead one, which is written in stone and does not cater for changing needs.  But, they pick and choose and allow this flexibility only when they want to and withdraw it and present black and white, binary, choices on other issues of their liking.

There are several verses in the Quran that have discussed marriage without consent with the female slaves under certain circumstances.  However, no reputable scholar today would suggest that those verses are applicable to the present day circumstances.  Suggested reading: A Sexual Offender from ISIS: Is the Quran to Blame?

Polygamy is discussed in many places in the holy Quran and most scholars would think that it is permissible at least in some circumstances, but authors do make a case for monogamy from the holy scripture also: The sunnah of monogamy and Polygamy in Islam: What It Means?

Many understand that the cutting of hands of thieves is not to be taken literally in our contemporary times and can be implemented metaphorically with prison sentences: Benjamin Franklin: ‘Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed!’

All scholars agree that different waiting periods prescribed for remarriages of the divorced or widowed women is to settle the paternity issues: Video: What are cryptic pregnancies and why do they matter in Islam?  I know of no scholar of good repute who have opined on the use of pregnancy and other tests that are now becoming 100% accurate for these purposes, in place of the waiting periods when necessary.

The debate between Islamism and secularism shows no sign of abating after 1400 years is because many a scholars speak from the both sides of the mouth.  They are for human rights but at the same time they are also for Shariah Law, even when they are shown that some of their understanding of the Shariah Law is clearly violating human rights as we best understand them in this day and age.

It seems most scholars and religious leaders want to insist on conservative approach, as much as they can, perhaps for their personal zeal or not to test the loyalty of their followers.  May, I suggest for them, Do Muslims Prefer Camels Over Modern Cars? and Is God Alive or Dead: A Metaphor for the Scriptures from the US Constitution?

A verbal duel between al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb and Cairo University President Mohamed al-Khosht overshadowed discussions at a recent international conference on religious renewal.

Khosht, one of the few non-al-Azhar scholars invited to the conference, called for scrapping Islamic heritage and forming a new kind of religious thought. He said it was impossible to renew current religious discourse because it “was made to suit a different age.”

“Creating a new discourse cannot happen without creating a new religious thought,” Khosht said.

Khosht said Muslims are held hostage by the thoughts of people who lived a long time ago and that “renewal makes it necessary for us to change our way of thinking and the way we see the world.”

I want to conclude with highlighting that I by no means am minimizing the importance of the holy Quran.  To the contrary, I am constantly applauding and apologizing for the literal word of God: Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran, The Quran Applauded as a Landmark Contribution to ‘Words of Justice’ by Harvard and The Holy Quran as the Miracle of the Holy Prophet.

But, I want to constantly emphasize the truth and not indulge in misplaced zeal.  For after all Islam and the Quran are the sum total of the most important theological and moral truths and goodness for the human family, nothing more and nothing less!

Suggested reading

In Defense of the Secular Narrative of the Holy Quran

BBC Big Questions – Are Religions Unfair To Women?

Reason or Orthodoxy: Which One Should Rule?

Ghamidi’s Urdu Interview: Rationality Versus Orthodoxy in Islam?

‘Islamic Law’: A Myopic Reading of the Quran

Islamism — the Political Islam: The Challenge for the 21st Century

Kripkean Dogmatism: The Best Metaphor to Understand Religious and Political Debates

The university references a verse from the Quran, regarding it as one of the greatest expressions of justice in history.

Source: Step Feed

When it comes to the law, both legislation and implementation are deemed relative. But the same can’t be said for justice as by definition it is the offering of what is morally fair and right. As we know, the law should seek justice and Harvard knows exactly how Islam is doing so.

Harvard Law School, one of the world’s most prestigious institutions (No. 7 in the world, to be exact), actually speaks of justice at the entrance of its faculty library. In doing so, it references a verse from the Quran, regarding it as one of the greatest expressions of justice in history.

The phrase at hand is Verse 135 of Surat Al-Nisaa (The Women), which is posted on a wall facing the faculty’s main entrance, a wall that portrays some of the best phrases with regards to justice. The first media reports of the news date back to February 2014, but the news resurfaced on our newsfeed this week. We thought it’s worth a reminder especially in the age of rising Islamophobia in the U.S., particularly.

Read Further

A New Commentary of the Holy Quran Emphasizing Compassion, Justice and Human Rights Launched https://t.co/AHTev2hfQo via @wordpressdotcom

— TheMuslimTimes (@TheMuslimTimes2) July 17, 2017

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The Quran Applauded as a Landmark Contribution to ‘Words of Justice’ by Harvard Universityhttp://t.co/UCvyGzJmHk pic.twitter.com/gafTxBAaHL

— Zia H Shah (@ZiahShah1) September 10, 2015

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A New Commentary of the Holy Quran Emphasizing Compassion, Justice and Human Rights Launched https://t.co/AHTev2hfQo via @wordpressdotcom

— TheMuslimTimes (@TheMuslimTimes2) July 17, 2017

 

Allah says in verses 17-27 and I am quoting from the translation by Muhammad Abdel Haleem:

So celebrate God’s glory in the evening, in the morning – praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth – in the late afternoon, and at midday. He brings the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living. He gives life to the earth after death, and you will be brought out in the same way. One of His signs is that He created you from dust and – lo and behold! – you became human and scattered far and wide. Another of His signs is that He created spouses from among yourselves for you to live with in tranquility: He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect. Another of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. There truly are signs in this for those who know. Among His signs are your sleep, by night and by day, and your seeking His bounty. There truly are signs in this for those who can hear. Among His signs, too, are that He shows you the lightning that terrifies and inspires hope; that He sends water down from the sky to restore the earth to life after death. There truly are signs in this for those who use their reason. Among His signs, too, is the fact that the heavens and the earth stand firm by His command. In the end, you will all emerge when He calls you from the earth. Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him, and all are obedient to Him. He is the One who originates creation and will do it again – this is even easier for Him. He is above all comparison in the heavens and earth; He is the Almighty, the All Wise.

Suggested reading

Everything is a Miracle According to the Holy Quran and Albert Einstein

How Islam has Influenced Christian understanding of God

The anesthesia of familiarity: There should be a Creator of Our Universe

A challenge for Dawkins: Where did carbon come from?

Ten Raised to Five Hundred Reasons for Our Gracious God

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (Arabic: جَامِع ٱلشَّيْخ زَايِد ٱلْكَبِيْر‎, romanized: Jāmiʿ Ash-Shaykh Zāyid Al-Kabīr) is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.^[1] The largest mosque in the country, it is the key place of worship for daily prayers, Friday gathering and Eid prayers. During Eid, it may be visited by more than 41,000 people.^[1]

History The Grand Mosque was constructed between 1996 and 2007.^[2] It was designed by Syrian architect Yousef Abdelky.^[3] The building complex measures approximately 290 by 420 m (950 by 1,380 ft), covering an area of more than 12 hectares (30 acres), excluding exterior landscaping and vehicle parking. The main axis of the building is rotated about 11° south of true west, aligning it in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Dimensions and alignment are estimated from satellite images; this information is not available at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque Web site as of 2014.

The project was launched by the late president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who wanted to establish a structure that would unite the cultural diversity of the Islamic world with the historical and modern values of architecture and art.^[4] His final resting place is located on the grounds adjacent to the complex.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center (SZGMC) offices are located in the west minarets. SZGMC manages the day-to-day operations and serves as a center of learning and discovery through its educational cultural activities and visitor programs.

The library, located in the northeast minaret, serves the community with classic books and publications addressing a range of Islamic subjects: sciences, civilization, calligraphy, the arts, and coins, including some rare publications dating back more than 200 years. The collection comprises material in a broad range of languages, including Arabic, English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Korean.

For two years running, it was voted the world’s second favorite landmark by TripAdvisor.^[5]

Suggested reading

Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran

Forty Hadiths or Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad about Compassionate Living

Surah Al Ma’un – The Common Kindness

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Satan or Iblis is mentioned no less than 60 times in the holy Quran. Is Satan a real physical entity or only a metaphorical construct?

The understanding of Satan by 1.6 billion Muslims is bogged down by the commentaries of these verses by numerous scholars in the last 1400 years.

I have found Jāvēd Ahmad Ghāmidī to be one of more progressive scholars in recent times and I have learnt from him on several issues, yet his description of Satan, even though modern in some ways is still elusive in other ways and self-contradictory, for his obsession with Jinn as beings created from energy, among his other ideological limitations. He is a Pakistani Muslim theologian, Quran scholar, Islamic modernist, exegete and educationist. He is also the founding President of Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences and its sister organisation Danish Sara.^[1] He became a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology (responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the Pakistani Government and the country’s Parliament) on 28 January 2006, where he remained for a couple of years.^[2] He also taught Islamic studies at the Civil Services Academy for more than a decade from 1979 to 1991.^[3] He was also a student of the famous Islamic scholar and exegete, Amin Ahsan Islahi. He is running an intellectual movement similar to Wastiyya in Egypt on the popular electronic media of Pakistan.^[4]

Here are his videos about Satan in Urdu:

Before dwelling further on this subject that many will find controversial, let me say, read on and in the words of Sir Francis Bacon, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.”

I believe the best understanding of Satan and the best commentary of these verses is provided in light of modern psychology and biology and a short description here will clarify centuries of debate and also give us a paradigm for a progressive understanding of the holy Quran and Islam.

Study of human mind in the last two centuries in the field of psychology has not shown any evidence of thought insertion by external beings in normal and healthy human functioning.  As a physician and a student of psychology, I know, I own all my thoughts and am responsible for them.  All Knowing God can reveal Himself to the prophets and saints, He is Omnipresent and Omniscient, attributes that our conscience refuses to attribute to Satan, or we will be believing in almost two Gods, one of virtue and the other of evil, akin to a belief in Zoroastrianism.

Please find all the sixty two mentions of Satan or Iblis in the Quran, in the references below.[1]  In each instance it is easy to attribute the sin or misconduct to human failings rather than an external invisible being. I will examine just one instance here today, “And he who turns away from the remembrance of the Gracious God, We appoint for him a Satan, who becomes his companion.” (Al Quran 43:36) As someone gradually grows away from the concept of All Knowing God, who is All-Aware of our inner most thoughts and all our deeds, he becomes more and more vulnerable to sins and crime, as human psychology and daily experience suggests and we need not invoke an external Satan. Suggested reading and viewing of a National Geographic documentary: All Knowing, All Seeing God Keeps Us Away from Crime and Sin: See the Evidence.

The holy Quran describes a meeting of God, angles, Satan, Adam and Eve on several occasions.  Such a meeting never happened in a physical sense and is only a metaphor.  A metaphor that was very necessary for the first addressees of the holy Quran, the seventh century Arab desert dwellers, unless Allah was going to teach them all about human biology and evolution, with proofs and details.  A discussion which would have been very likely to transform the struggle for spiritual life into modern day debates among the creationists and evolutionists.

Homo-sapiens have evolved from chimpanzee like animals in the last 200,000 years or so.  Molecular biology has become fool proof evidence for the common ancestry of all life on the planet earth.  The debate is over as far as this aspect of evolution is concerned.  Now only the ill informed or stubborn debate this issue.

Watch the logical presentation of molecular biology in the short video below and think, would you rather agree with this or with the convoluted  description of Jāvēd Ahmad Ghāmidī above?

If our understanding of the 62 verses talking about Satan and Iblis is guided by human psychology and biology, rather than an insistence on literalism, then stage is set for reading the holy Quran with an open mind, rather than in a fixed framework of our ideology and instead of using the scripture for legalistic debates we begin to read it in the privacy of our minds for a better understanding of religion for individual spirituality, rather than making it into a dueling sport or the basis of our politics or governance.

The Eden from which Adam and Eve were expelled was not somewhere in heavens or paradise, but on this very planet earth!

Suggested reading:

Biology of Our Human Family: Who are We Related To?

Jinn: Do They Exist?

Hamza Yusuf on Jinns: Powerful Men or Demons?

Saving the Muslims From Exorcisms and Jinns

The Holy Quran and the Seventh Century Arabian Metaphors

Reading the Quran and the Bible Literally Means Demons and Jinns Will Rule Humans

Possessed by Jinns: Many Medieval Muslim Scholars Need Exorcism

References

1. 2:34, 36, 168, 208, 268; 3:175; 4:76, 117, 120; 6:43, 142; 7:11, 27, 175, 200, 201; 12:5, 42; 15:17, 31, 32;  16:63, 98; 17:27, 53, 61; 18:50, 63; 19:44, 45, 68, 83; 20:116, 117, 120; 22:3, 52, 53; 24:21; 25:29, 55; 26:95;  27:24, 25; 29:38; 31:21; 35:6; 37:7; 38:41, 74, 75; 34:20; 36:60; 41:36; 43:36, 62; 47:25; 58:10, 19; 59:16; 67:5; 81:25.

We have saved the above videos in the Muslim Times as well to preserve them for the posterity:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: The Muslim Sunrise; Summer 2016

By Zia H Shah MD

As I write this article in April of 2016, two very dramatic events have occurred in the domain of freedom of speech or shall we say lack thereof, within the last month.

In Bangladesh, Nazimuddin Samad, 28, who had been on a hit list of 84 bloggers drawn up by Islamists in Bangladesh, was hacked to death and then shot. Last year, suspected militants hacked to death at least four atheist bloggers and a secular publisher in one of a series of targeted killings.i

In Glasgow, UK, the man accused of murdering Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah has issued a statement, saying he carried out the killing because he believed Mr. Shah had “disrespected” Islam. Tanveer Ahmed, 32, from Bradford, is accused of killing Mr. Shah outside his shop in Glasgow.

In the statement he denied the incident had anything to do with Christianity.

Mr. Ahmed claimed Asad Shah had “disrespected” Islam. The shopkeeper, an Ahmadi Muslim, who had moved from Pakistan to Glasgow almost 20 years ago, was found with serious injuries outside his shop on Minard Road in Shawlands on the 24th of March. He was pronounced dead in hospital. Mr. Shah was killed just hours after he posted an Easter message on Facebook, wishing his Christian customers a happy Easter.ii

Such violence in the name of Islam is complete antithesis of what Islam truly stands for.

Those of us, who have seen the Message movie, about the life of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, would recall a scene, when the companions of the Prophet are saying the creed of Islam or Kalimah in Kaaba.

The non-Muslim Meccans start throwing stones at them and start beating them.

The character of Hamza, who is not a Muslim yet, being played by Anthony Quinn, enters the courtyard of Kaaba and says tauntingly to Abu Jahal, one of the main leaders of the Meccans, “He is the bravest man in the desert, when he meets unarmed men!”

Abu Jahal retorts, “Muhammad is a liar.”

Hamza responds, “Where is the lie and where is the truth, when it has not been spoken yet.  You do not let him speak?”

Early Muslims were for free speech and their opponents, the Meccans for coercion and taking away the freedom of speech of the early Muslims.

Free speech is certainly a tool of the believers and it is mentioned as such several times in the Holy Quran.  For example, “And let there be among you a body of men who should invite to goodness, and enjoin equity and forbid evil. And it is they who shall prosper.”iii And, “And the believers, men and women, are friends one of another. They enjoin good and forbid evil and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat.”iv

The Holy Quran issues a challenge to the non-believers to produce its equivalent, if they do not esteem it to be word of All Knowing God: “And if you are in doubt as to what We (Allah) have sent down to Our servant (Muhammad), then produce a Chapter like it, and call upon your helpers besides Allah, if you are truthful.”v

The Quranic challenge is indeed freedom of speech for the non-believers.

The Holy Quran repeats this challenge with slight variation several times:

• Do they say, ‘He has forged it?’ Say, ‘Bring then a Surah (chapter) like unto it, and call for help on all you can besides Allah, if you are truthful.’vi
• Do they say, ‘He has forged it?’ Say, ‘Then bring ten chapters like it, forged, and call on whom you can besides Allah, if you are truthful.’vii
• Say, ‘If mankind and the Jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like thereof, even though they should help one another.’viii

The Holy Quran is inviting non-believers to bring their proofs and argue against every Quranic proposition.  If this is not freedom of speech, I do not know what is?

The Quranic freedom is not only for the likeminded or the yes men, but for the contrarians or those who beg to differ. For example the Quran says: “And the Jews and the Christians say, ‘None shall ever enter Heaven unless he be a Jew or a Christian.’ These are their vain desires. Say, ‘Produce your proof, if you are truthful.’”ix

Many a non-Muslim philosophers have expressed similar sentiments, for example, Noam Chomsky says, “If we do not believe in the freedom of expression for the people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”x French philosopher François-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778), known by his pseudonym Voltaire is attributed the following quote, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I ‘ll defend to the death your right to say it.”xi

Read further on page 27 of: The Muslim Sunrise; 2016_summer

Demystifying Freedom of Speech from the Holy Quran https://t.co/Yr8Wfw1qIw pic.twitter.com/dpkLMwEOdT

— The Muslim Times (@The_MuslimTimes) July 12, 2016

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