Reform or Understand Islam?
Mike Ghouse, December 21, 2007
A group of Muslims have decided that “The verses in Qur'aan promote divisiveness and religious hatred, bigotry and discrimination. They must be either removed from the Koran or declared outdated and invalid, and marked as such.” Listed below.
These verses are in every holy book. However, the most critical element that these reformists forget is the most powerful and dominant aspect of the creator; merciful, kind and gracious dispenser of grace. The verses of punishment drive the self proclaimed reformists to “change” or “discard” them. What for?
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website http://www.mikeghouse.net/. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com
Mike Ghouse, December 21, 2007
A group of Muslims have decided that “The verses in Qur'aan promote divisiveness and religious hatred, bigotry and discrimination. They must be either removed from the Koran or declared outdated and invalid, and marked as such.” Listed below.
Qur'aan certainly talks about punishment, hell fire etc for those who violate the rules of a normal functioning society. Without any doubt humans are tempted to take short cuts for immediate gratification. If there were no punishment it will bring chaos. When you tilt the balance, you have to pay (work, punishment, repentance) to restore it. Nature is about balance. If every one drove 60 MPH in a school zone, you and I may not have been alive to read this.
These verses are in every holy book. However, the most critical element that these reformists forget is the most powerful and dominant aspect of the creator; merciful, kind and gracious dispenser of grace. The verses of punishment drive the self proclaimed reformists to “change” or “discard” them. What for?
For the societies to function on equilibrium there must be law and order resulting in justice. When there is justice in a society, peace is a natural outcome. The Criminal and Civil laws are designed to bring net-peace to the society. For every violation of a rule, punishment is determined. If there were no punishment, then crimes go un-checked and the criminal would remain in suffering, punishment brings one out from eternal suffering.
God is a loving God; we are his creation and he wants us to get along with each other. He has given us the guidance as well as the temptations and the freedom to choose the right path and live in peace or go the wrong way and regret it. Ultimately, it is God's grace that brings justice to an individual and the society.
God is kind and just and his expanse is the universe and beyond infinity. Qur'an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware."
The law of Karma is the simplest formula to understand. Every child is born with a clean balanced spiritual slate. As the child grows, that fine balance is altered every moment with his deeds. A positive balance indicates a happy and serene life where as the negative balance indicates the opposite. Ultimately something dramatic has to happen to restore the negative balance and it can be achieved through repentance, apology or punishment, all are God’s formula in every practicing faith. God's justice ultimately prevails with (his, her or it) his grace.
God is aware and understands our temptations, he is closer to us than our jugular veins says the Qur’aan -50:16 “It was We Who created man, and we know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for we are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.” A few theologians say, we are God’s representation and he is very close to us, indeed we are his manifestation, and “we are created in his image” some treat God and us as two different entities. Either way you believe, God understands our intent before it becomes a thought and before it leads one to act.
From a common man’s perspective, a kind God’s true motive appears to be cruelty. However, if one can see the words of God in a larger context, “ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.” One may see the ultimate justness of God.
Let's pick the very first of some two hundred verses the reformists want to remove (listed below) " 1.6: The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray." Imagine the chaos that would follow if we were to remove the punishment aspect from the US Constitution and our civil and criminal laws.
In the above quoted verse, the word wrath does not sound good, but if there is no threat of punishment, nothing holds any one from murdering and butchering the other. Besides, if you are a good guy who holds the temptations to steal someone else's hard earned goods, and the bad guy steals with no consequences to it, then every one may resort to stealing. What will happen to a society when every one is stealing, lying, cheating and on and on. Then no one trusts the other and everyone is frightened of the other.
God knows his people; he is aware of what we think, he is fully aware of our intentions and has given us the guidelines to follow. Those who do not believe in God, at least they can follow the guidelines in the law books of civic society provided the books are an expression of the collective wisdom of the society and not a dictators law. It is naïve and immature to think that God’s laws are whimsical.
Indeed, it is our comprehension that is limited and we see what is good for us for that moment, where as the creator has the whole planet and its habitants to take care of. It is his creation and he knows best.
Removal of any verses from the Qur'aan is motivated by short term appeasement to someone for some gains or saving their tail for that moment. Instead I suggest the men and women study the impact of such removal and the consequences that ensue. The wrongs of some individuals or Islamic societies should not be ascribed to Qur’aan; rather it is their mis-understanding of the Qur'aan that led them to do wrong.
No doubt, we have to reform our understanding of Qur'aan in the interests of peaceful co existence of societies as that is the intention of God quoted in Qur'an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13 above. God is indeed kind, just and graceful.
Verses: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2007/12/reform-or-understand-islam.html
God is kind and just and his expanse is the universe and beyond infinity. Qur'an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware."
The law of Karma is the simplest formula to understand. Every child is born with a clean balanced spiritual slate. As the child grows, that fine balance is altered every moment with his deeds. A positive balance indicates a happy and serene life where as the negative balance indicates the opposite. Ultimately something dramatic has to happen to restore the negative balance and it can be achieved through repentance, apology or punishment, all are God’s formula in every practicing faith. God's justice ultimately prevails with (his, her or it) his grace.
God is aware and understands our temptations, he is closer to us than our jugular veins says the Qur’aan -50:16 “It was We Who created man, and we know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for we are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.” A few theologians say, we are God’s representation and he is very close to us, indeed we are his manifestation, and “we are created in his image” some treat God and us as two different entities. Either way you believe, God understands our intent before it becomes a thought and before it leads one to act.
From a common man’s perspective, a kind God’s true motive appears to be cruelty. However, if one can see the words of God in a larger context, “ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.” One may see the ultimate justness of God.
Let's pick the very first of some two hundred verses the reformists want to remove (listed below) " 1.6: The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray." Imagine the chaos that would follow if we were to remove the punishment aspect from the US Constitution and our civil and criminal laws.
In the above quoted verse, the word wrath does not sound good, but if there is no threat of punishment, nothing holds any one from murdering and butchering the other. Besides, if you are a good guy who holds the temptations to steal someone else's hard earned goods, and the bad guy steals with no consequences to it, then every one may resort to stealing. What will happen to a society when every one is stealing, lying, cheating and on and on. Then no one trusts the other and everyone is frightened of the other.
God knows his people; he is aware of what we think, he is fully aware of our intentions and has given us the guidelines to follow. Those who do not believe in God, at least they can follow the guidelines in the law books of civic society provided the books are an expression of the collective wisdom of the society and not a dictators law. It is naïve and immature to think that God’s laws are whimsical.
Indeed, it is our comprehension that is limited and we see what is good for us for that moment, where as the creator has the whole planet and its habitants to take care of. It is his creation and he knows best.
Removal of any verses from the Qur'aan is motivated by short term appeasement to someone for some gains or saving their tail for that moment. Instead I suggest the men and women study the impact of such removal and the consequences that ensue. The wrongs of some individuals or Islamic societies should not be ascribed to Qur’aan; rather it is their mis-understanding of the Qur'aan that led them to do wrong.
No doubt, we have to reform our understanding of Qur'aan in the interests of peaceful co existence of societies as that is the intention of God quoted in Qur'an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13 above. God is indeed kind, just and graceful.
Verses: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2007/12/reform-or-understand-islam.html
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website http://www.mikeghouse.net/. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com
