How Can Muslims Revert To The Quran, Rejecting Sectarian Literature And Learning True Islamic Teachings About Subjects Like Blasphemy, Apostasy, Veils For Women, Punishment For Adultery, Sectarianism, Etc?

Every Sect Has Its Own Exegesis Of The Quran

Main Points:

1.    The Quran does not prescribe death sentence for blasphemy.

2.    The Quran does not prescribe death or any punishment for apostasy.

3.    The Quran does not prescribe full covering burqa for women.

4.    The Quran does not prescribe death sentence for adultery.

5.    The Quran condemns sectarian groupings.

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By New Age Islam Staff Writer

29 October 2022

The holy Quran is the primary book of social, legal and religious guidance for Muslims. The hadiths are the practical demonstrations or the explanations of the injunctions or principles of the Quran. After the prophet's demise, religious scholars, exegetes and translators wrote commentaries, exegeses and explanations of the Quran according to their individual understanding of the Quran.

Gradually a large volume of exegeses came into existence. Each exegesis was written from a particular point of view and sectarian belief. And because of that many contradictory ideas and beliefs spread among the Muslims.

Importantly, with the passage of time, extremist views instead of moderate views gained more prominence and acceptance despite the fact that the world was scientifically advancing and cultural co-existence was becoming a need for all the religious communities. Gradually, the Tafseers (exegeses) and compilation of jurisprudential laws gained so much currency that Muslims fell far away from the original teachings of the Quran.

In fact, jurisprudence became the primary source of law for Muslims and the Quran was relegated to the corner. Moreover, every sect had its own jurisprudence and set of laws. In every dispute, instead of consulting the Quran, the books of fatwa written by some Islamic scholar of a particular was consulted. The Quran which was a binding force was ignored because the followers of different sects did not want to come on a common platform due to their supremacist or exclusivist beliefs and ideas.

On and off, religious organisations and Islamic scholars stress on the need to come back to the Quran because it is the only solution for the schism and ideological clashes among Muslims. The Quran has laid down very simple way of life and its belief system is also very simple. So when Muslims will follow the path showed and prescribed by the Quran, they will face no hurdles in the observance of social and communal duties. God also asks Muslims to follow the Quran in all their affairs.

"Warn with this Quran those who are awed by the prospect of being gathered before their Lord --- when they will have no protector or intercessor besides Him --- so perhaps they will be mindful of Him."(An'am:70)

"And leave those who take this faith of Islam as mere play and amusement and are deluded by their worldly life, yet remind them by this Quran, so no one should be ruined by their misdeeds."(An'am:70)

Therefore, the Muslims are enjoined to warn and teach people both Muslims and non-Muslims with the Quran not with books written by sectarian Ulema. And so the Muslims will do well to revert to the Quran for guidance in all matters relating to their family and society.

But is reverting to the Quran so easy and simple? Even if the Muslims decide to revert to the Quran, they will depend on the explanations and interpretations produced by exegetes. The exegetes have written opposite and contradictory explanations of verses and Quranic terms. One exegete says that Quran prescribes Khilafat as the only form of government while the other claims that democracy is compatible with Islam and presents the verse Amruhum Shura Baynahum in its support. One religious group says that secularism is compatible with Islam while the other religious group says secularism is akin to atheism and Kufr.

Those groups and Islamic organisations who give a call to revert to the Quran, therefore, do not have a clear idea of what they mean by that. The Quran does not prescribe any punishment for blasphemy. Will they abandon the slogan 'Sar Tan Se Juda'? The Quran does not prescribe any punishment for apostasy. Will they leave apostates free? The Quran does not prescribe full covering burqa for women. Will they not push for it in schools, colleges and offices and allow their women activists and members to attend meetings without burqa? The Quran prescribes only one hundred lashes and not stoning for adultery. Will they not insist on stoning of adulterers? And above all, the Quran outrightly rejects sectarianism and groupism in Islam. Will they call for the dissolution of all sects. In fact, they should achieve or work for this first because the Quran rejects sectarianism and groupism.

The problem with Muslims is that when a sect or ideological group gives a call to revert to the Quran, it actually gives a call to revert to their exegesis or interpretation of the Quran.

The complication starts when Muslims start explaining and interpreting the Quranic verses from a particular sectarian angle. And phase by phase the interpretation moves towards one stage of extremism to another stage and a stage comes where the line between mainstream explanation and terrorism gets blurred. The explanations for blasphemy moves from death punishment to non- Muslims to death punishment to even Muslims. For this, if they do not find a verse in the Quran prescribing punishment for blasphemy, they will quote verses that prescribe punishment or death sentence for any act of Kufr giving the argument that blasphemy is also an act of Kufr. This way the verses of the holy Quran are manipulated. How then reverting to the Quran help Muslims with the persistence of this kind of attitude?

Therefore, reverting back to the Quran, if possible, would have been the most revolutionary development in the Muslim world as the Muslims would have returned to the good old days of inner piety and peaceful co-existence when terrorism and religious extremism had not emerged. But the bitter truth is that it is not possible due to the sectarian nature of the Muslim society. It is only a rhetoric of certain groups to expand their own ideological base among the Muslims.

URL:    https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/quran-sectarian-blasphemy-apostasy-veils-adultery/d/128295

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