{"id":11049,"date":"2024-12-04T04:53:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T04:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=11049"},"modified":"2025-09-26T13:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:13:46","slug":"a-fresh-understanding-of-the-quran-challenges-both-modern-day-muslims-and-islamophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=11049","title":{"rendered":"A Fresh Understanding of the Quran Challenges Both Modern-day Muslims and Islamophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Based on painstaking research and a lucid presentation, Ishrat Aziz\u2019s book provides answers to questions about the faith both to bewildered believers and hostile non-Muslims.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A large part of contemporary politics involves Islam, the faith, and its adherents, the Muslims. In the US and in large parts of Europe, strong right-wing movements have emerged that view Muslims as the principal threat to \u201cWestern\u201d culture and identity, recalling the fraught encounters between the armies of Christianity and Islam a millennium ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On their part, over the last four decades, several Muslims in different parts of the world have associated themselves with \u201cjihad\u201d \u2013 wreaking violence indiscriminately upon innocent communities in the name of defending their faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While large sections of the international community are hostile to the faith and its adherents, Muslims themselves are also \u201cperplexed\u201d, as Ishrat Aziz points out in his book, The Quran and Modernity: Perspectives in a Globalised World<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that there are over a billion Muslims in the world, with a third living as minorities in non-Muslim countries, it is not surprising that many of them wonder whether a democratic order, a pluralistic society and the modern industrial economy are compatible with Islamic injunctions; or are concerned about the place of personal law, sectarian divisions and jihad in contemporary times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the basis of painstaking research and a lucid presentation, Aziz\u2019s book provides answers to questions about the faith both to bewildered believers and hostile non-Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Quran<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aziz, former Indian ambassador to Tunisia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, has gone back to the fundamentals of the Muslim faith: through a close reading of Islam\u2019s foundational text, the Quran, he has identified the core values and principles of the faith and has examined whether they are compatible with the demands of the modern state, society and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Quran is a unique text in that it is based on divine revelations to Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel. The first revelation occurred in 610, when the prophet was 40 years old; the last one occurred in 632, a few months before his passing away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A final definitive text of the Quran was prepared during the caliphate of Othman (573-656); this is the text that is used today by Muslims across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the Quran, Islam\u2019s other basic sources are the Sunnah and the Hadith, the first being the practices of the prophet and the latter his pronouncements. These were compiled between 200-250 years after the prophet\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, over the centuries since the emergence of Islam, numerous scholars have produced commentaries on the Quran and the Hadith setting out the meaning and recommended implementation of these texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four schools of jurisprudence within the Sunni sect of Islam emerged about two centuries after the passing away of the prophet on the basis of commentaries by scholars and their students. The Quran, the Hadith and these commentaries constitute the Shariah or the body of Islamic law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quranic values<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Aziz has emphasised, only the Quran is divine; all the other foundational sources \u2013 the Hadith and the commentaries \u2013 are man-made and thus can be revisited by contemporary scholars who can interpret them in the context of modern times. It is these fresh interpretations that impart to the faith its vitality and contemporary value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the outset, the author makes the important point that no individual or school can interpret the Quran for all times, places and circumstances. Obtaining a fresh understanding of the Quran in changing times can be done through \u201cijtihad<\/em>\u201d, \u2018personal effort\u2019. This is a constant endeavour to address the challenges posed by new or unique developments in the political or social order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It firmly rejects the contention of some commentators nine centuries ago that, with the establishment of the four schools of Sunni Islam, the \u201cgates of ijtihad are closed\u201d. God, the author points out, encourages humankind to apply their mind to think, reason and seek knowledge. Thus, a Quranic verse states: \u201cWe have made our revelations clear to you. Use reason to understand them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aziz points out that \u201cthe Quran\u2019s basic message upholds liberty, justice, equality and human dignity for all\u201d, backed by the divine instruction: \u201cThere is no compulsion in religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author asserts that \u201cany interpretation that calls for the imposition of faith would be contrary to this basic message of the Quran\u201d. This verse not only upholds human freedom, it also rejects the concepts of apostasy, heresy and blasphemy because they amount to compulsion in religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, throughout the Quran, God emphasises the importance of compassion, mercifulness and forgiveness in his creatures; as He says in the Quran: \u201cYou shall never attain true piety unless you give others from what you cherish yourself\u201d; and then again: \u201c\u2026 those that have faith and do good deeds are the inheritors of paradise.\u201d<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing misinterpretations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author has done a great service by examining, in light of specific Quranic injunctions, certain matters that are attributed to Islam, which have greatly harmed the image of the faith, such as: the status of women and polygamy, punishments, jihad and the nature of the state order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Status of women<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through extensive references to Quranic verses, Aziz points out that men and women are placed on par with each other and will be equally rewarded for their deeds by God. Thus, God says in the Quran:<\/p>\n\n\n\n