“Every Muslim will tell you the Qur’an is eternal. It is timeless, its words unchanged, it is ever present. The Qur’an addresses us directly, as it always has. But religious texts, by their very nature, are complex. And one of the most insistent commands in the Qur’an is: Think! Reflect! So the struggle to understand and interpret is also our eternal challenge; there is no getting away from it. The Qur’an does not change but the circumstances of human life, the potential of our thought and action, the social, economic, technological, environmental and political conditions of our times are ever changing. As well as requiring us to think, the words of the Qur’an also imply movement: the religious life, it tells us, is not about standing still but always striving to make our life, our society, the entire world around us a better place for everyone, all of God’s creation without exception. And that means we have to keep on asking what the sacred text can, should or ought to mean and how it should apply in the circumstances of today.”
I understand your point SGC. But I think the Quran has established some rules which are never to change. Only our thoughts as humans are encouraged to be changed toward believing what is written in the Qur’an.
From what I understand, the Qur’an is a complete guide for social order, one that fits into every era of life. We as humans need to try to fit our circumstances to revolve as close to the Qur’an and the sunnat as much as possible and not vice versa.
I hope I understood the question in the first place.
nikisk, its kind of what i mean... i think sometimes people need to realise the adaptability of a religion like Islam. i think its lasted such a long, long time as a religion because its so universal and adaptable to different ages/times. i think not everything is meant to be taken literally because it was written so long ago and you must understand the perspective it was written from. in other words, to understand some of those things, you must also understand the time the Quran was revealed in, and by doing so, realise that it might not necessarily be applicable in this day and age. it doesn't apply to everything, but it does apply to some things, as you said.
i find some people cling to the view point that you must take the religion literally and never question it or its meaning, but if you don't ever question it, how will you really understand it? islam is not about being brainwashed and taking things at face value, its a lot more complex and as far as i know, questions are encouraged, not discouraged. mullah's tend to forget that and its annoying because they preach that to the general populace in places like pakistan and it leads to a whole bunch of sheep following a religious leader who might not even fully know what the religion stands for himself.
when ever i recite Quran or listen to recitation i realise that this is what exactly i wana hear about...or some how i feel the connection or some kinda beam shown to me as a solution of the problem i was facing at that particular moment.
