Re: Have We Understood The Quran Properly?
Islam, quran and unity of mankind
Islam=peace and the Quran=constitution of Islam for mankind
1) People have natural right to opinions because according to the quran itself Allah has created them ignorant but capable of learning 16/78.
Because people are born ignorant and they themselves have to make effort to get information and learn and we grow from a child to adult and old so we are not capable of getting information all together at once nor have we necessities available and conflicts of interests come in the way ie some want others to learn and some do not so they stop people from learning.
So difference of opinion is due to such like reasons therefore it is wrong to label each other anything unless anyone does things deliberately wrong of which we are well aware and can prove it as well.
2) The main thing is brain its senses and its body mechanism that help it interact within its environment. Since all people are same in this respect other than some unfortunate people who for some or other reason do not have any of these available to them. All normal people are biologically similar. Psychologically our brains function the same way so no difference is there either.
3) Why then there are differences between people? a)because we are at different stages of our growth biologically so our capability is not equal in getting information. A child has less information as compared to a grown up in the same environment. Likewise educated has more information as compared to uneducated. More educated is more informed than less educated. More powerful and wealthy people have more opportunities than less well off and weak people. These like are reasons for having differences in our information collection.
4) Besides information collection we have to look at our quality of information that we have collected as to how useful it is and also how capable we have made ourselves about putting the available information together. Unless we develop our capabilities, we are not going to be much useful even to ourselves never mind others. In other words practice makes us perfect our skills and develop our potential. A seed needs constant care to grow in to a tree. Things can go wrong at any stage of one's life.
5) After explaining the very basics you would realise that it is not up to individual to do all for himself because humans are interdependent creatures. This interdependence some time helps us develop and some times hinders us from developing. So life is a constant struggle for existence at very basic level and at higher level it is capability of man to influence nature ie at one stage we are dependent on nature hence we are product of nature ie we are creation of our own environment and at another level we are capable of controlling our environment to a great degree so we modify nature therefore nature becomes our product.
All this should explain that we are totally dependent upon two things our ability to think things through and the available information of which we have to make some sense.
Without our biological machine called brain any information is useless and without information we are as good as brain dead.
Information is of two kinds. The one which we learn through our senses by interacting in our given environment is fundamental information which helps us develop capability of understanding things and concepts. The other is information that we are unable to discover for ourselves ie divine revelation. The purpose of divine revelation is to inform us about things about which we will never know if no one told us about. Since our birth we hear about religions and scriptures so we are attracted to such information if we are intellectually developed to see if it tells us where we come from and for what purpose. When we are children these like thoughts do not bother us but as we grow and begin to make sense of things we come across thoughts about our real origin that is why we become interested in stories of God and prophets etc. In other words we realise that there is more to life than meets our eyes. If we did not realise this then we have not yet developed in to a human but are at animal stage of existence yet.
If we are lucky ones who have realised that we need further information then it is not going to come to us instead we will have to make effort for it to get it and study it. Since there are all sorts of interested parties therefore it is a big struggle to get information and then another big struggle to learn to put it together so that we come to know for sure we have what we needed.
This calls for a standard for judging the information whether it is useful or not for our purpose and whether we have put it together properly or not.
So we have brain and the quran. To ensure we have understood the quran properly we must have a set criterion that works and cannot be refuted. The quran is said to be complete statement of our creator. The question is, how do we know it is really what it claims to be?
Anyone who can define this standard is scholar of the quran and should be agreed with and he who cannot is not the scholar of the quran and one must not agree with him/her.
When we talk about islam, the quran is foundation of islam and if we do not understand the quran properly then all our claims are in vain and useless or even false.
In islam ultimate imaam is only and only quran and nothing else, not even the prophet ie he too must follow this imaam to prove his own prophet-hood.
The question now arises, is the quran word of God? If we say it is then the next question is, how do we prove that it is? This calls for definition of what proof is. Unless one knows what proof is one cannot demand proof nor if proof is given one will understand it.
The very definition of proof and the way of proving becomes set as criterion or standard or yardstick for proper understanding of the quran. That is because unless we understand the quran properly we cannot prove the quran is divine revelation. The very understanding of the quran that proves it word of Allah is the proper understanding of the quran. An explanation that works is the right explanation of something, so the explanation that explains the quran is word of God is the proper tafseer or interpretation of the quran and all other explanations and tafaseer should be left alone.
All this should leave one in no doubt that there is set standard for understanding the quran and one must follow only and only that standard.
What is this standard?
To see whether a statement is true or not, we must understand the very foundation upon which the whole this process for scrutiny is based.
It is for this reason truth is defined into categories eg absolute truth and the relative truth.
Absolute truth is that truth which has no relevance to anything else eg the universe exists whether we were here or not. Something that exists, exists whether anyone is there to witness it or not. If God exists then he exists regardless he created anything or not and whether there is anything else there to to witness that there is God or not.
Relative truth is that truth which is relative to something else. The witness and the witnessed are relative to each other therefore they matter for each other. In some way existence of one thing is important for the other. This is why relative truth matters but not absolute truth.
Now to be sure whether a claimed relative truth is true or not or to what degree it is true we categorise evidence on basis of how heavy or important it is.
So relative truth is a)self evident or b) proven truth.
Self evident truth is obvious to us and so we do not need others to prove it to us eg one person will not fight with other over anything that in front of both of them equally. The universe exists and that is as obvious to one as to other or anyone else. This is why it is called self evident truth. it is not subjective but objective ie not just a thought in one's own mind but an external reality.
The proven truth is either based upon reliable witness statement as proof or based on mere circumstantial evidence ie based upon clues with their best possible explanation.
All other claims are mere possibilities ie they are as likely to be true as they are likely to be false. We cannot tell one way or the other.
This is the way we judge all evidences throughout the world in all courts of law and we have no other way of knowing the truth about anything.
The quran is not self evident truth nor a circumstance based truth but a witness testimony which is either true or false. But how do we know the witness is a true witness or a false witness?
If the quran is true testimony of God then it has to be free of contradictions within itself as well as it must not contradict the real world realities because they are self evident truths.
As explained self evident truth cannot be contradicted by proven truth and circumstantial evidence based truth cannot contradict proven truth that is based upon reliable testimony of a witness.
Most people have no idea of these like rules therefore they mix up everything and turn the whole thing in to a nonsense.
It is a bit like trying to do a complex mathematical sum that contains roots, brackets as well as all functions ie plus, minus, multiply and divide. Unless one knows which of them to tackle first as a rule one can carry on fighting with numbers trying to do anything first and anything last. The result is obvious to those who know how to do things.
This should leave no doubt in our minds that unless the quran is interpreted correctly first anything we say about quran does not stand. We can argue till cows come home and nothing will be concluded sensibly.
This is why it is not a good idea to argue over things about which one oneself does not know how to argue and cannot understand the point of view of the other party. This is why having good understanding of the common ground is very important from which the arguments should be started for good or satisfactory end result.
Evolution theory is neither self evident fact nor a witness based reliable testimony it is only a circumstantial evidence based best explanation therefore it should not be treated other than what it is ie least reliable proof.
When a fact is not a self evident fact then we look for a witness to see if we have anyone who has seen this happening but if a fact is not witnessed by anyone either then we have only our own explanations to rely upon and that is the best we can come up with.
Since the quran is said to be word of God, the question is, what are the rules for understanding the quran so that we could scrutinize it properly to see if it really is what it claims to be?
There is no sense in trying to criticise the quran without knowing anything about it but this is the way people are mostly doing things which is not unexpected because humanity still has a lot to learn before it is able to properly examine the quran for its truth.
Through out the world only lawyer represent people in courts of law because people themselves have no idea how to fight their cases, all because they lack what is needed to fight legal battles. Even lawyers ask other lawyer to represent them because two minds are better than one. Doctors look for second opinions regarding their diagnoses so people need to realise these points.
Everyone has the right to cross examine the alleged testimony of God but each and every person has a duty to ensure one is not biased or ignorant of rules that are necessary for examining the testimony. The basis has to be just and fair verdict that is sufficient for one's own satisfaction at least.
So what are the rules for understanding the quran properly?
The quran is the divine constitution for mankind to organise around. It is a program or a divine road map for humanity to work hard according to it to turn this world in to a blissful garden in which flow rivers full of things that people need. If they do not educate themselves and work hard according to divine program or if they turn the world in to hell of their own making and suffer then they only have themselves to blame.
When the prophet was around himself he knew what islam was all about and that is how he was able to bring about a revolution based upon the quranic revelation.
Today we know very little about the quran because we do not know arabic or that even if we know arabic we lack knowledge that helps us understand the quran. Since quran is divine constitution one has to think what a constitution is and what it is for. This means having sense of ideologies, societies, politics, economics, cultures, systems, structures and practices etc etc. Because each field of knowledge has its own terminology and requires specific skills for understanding and doing things.
Mullahs do not have the required knowledge so they simply pass on the memorised texts of the quran and the hadith and whatever explanations they have heard from their teachers generation after generation.
As we know soon after the prophet muslims became disorganised and gradually quranic concept became less and less known as kings and mullahs took over the umaah. Over a period of time islam from constitution for organisation of humanity became mazhabi pooja paat for so called muslims and all the related nonsense and so deen was changed in to mazhab=religion and malukiyat=imperialism. The kings ruled muslims in the name of country and mullahs in the name of religion. Both used and abused people as we see it today ie people are still a football between ruling elite and their funded mullahs. One using and abusing people in the name secularism and democracy and the other in the name nonsense dogmas, make bleifs and superstition etc.
In last couple of centuries if you are well aware of indian muslim history you will come across a name syed ahmed khan, a person who started alighar muslim university in india. It was he who challenged mullahs on basis of rationality or superstition. he managed to defeat mullahs comprehensively. Mullahs however responded with their fatwa nonsense but it did not affect his rational stand. More and more muslims got educated his way and mullahs despite opening up a lot of different fronts against him still stood no chance.
No sooner he died that another giant scholar of islam stood tall Muhammad Iqbal. He once again challenged mullahs' interpretation of islam but this challenge was whether islam was a deen or a mazhab like any other mazhab. He could not be opposed because he was right and he was able to prove he was right so all mullahs could do was rain down on him their fatwas.
He then sought support for his ideas from Muhammad Ali Jinnah. They had a long discussion and finally jinnah accepted the position of iqbal. Unfortunately iqbal died leaving jinnah in hands of ghulam ahmed parwez and after death of jinnah parwez was the only scholar of islam who kept alive the real concept of islam despite opposition from mullahs.
Later on we see modoodi coming round to the same idea that islam is not mazhab but a deen and he was followed by likes of dr tahir al qadri, dr israr, ghamdi etc etc.
Today there is hardly any muslim scholars who does not accept islam as a deen but war of words is still there because none has really defined deen other than iqbal who separated quran as a constitution of islam and shariah its law according to the quran but based on mutual consultation of the ummah. He rejected malukiyat based fiqh as islamic law. This is what current fight is all about.
This fight is between muqallids and ghair muqallids as well as between muqallids of different schools of fiqh. Once people understand the quran properly this fight will end because there is no sense in it.
However to realise that there really is no sense in it the quran must be understood by each and every individual. This is going to take time but it will happen hopefully sooner rather than later.
Intellectual criticism is invalid if it is not based upon some rules that cannot be refuted. The rules then become conventions like mathematical formulas.
For example it is irrefutable fact that brain needs to be there to benefit from information. The active agent is not information but brain.
Likewise when there are two opposing statement they both cannot be true. Either one is false or both are false.
Likewise books of grammar were brought into being much later on in time than languages and same is true about dictionaries. The text of the quran is more reliable and one has to make sense of it to decide everything from the quran including the rules of grammar and meanings of words to make dictionaries.
It is unlikely that we will have ancient arabic literature from before the time of the quran because even the quran is reported to have been written on various scrap materials. Therefore may be those writing were written actually long after the quran from which people are trying to understand the quran.
Moreover the quran being sent by Allah would contain Allah's point of view not of humans necessarily unless it quoted by Allah. So words used by Allah would contain the sense Allah wanted to convey rather than what people believed. For example why Allah used word jinn is different from what people believed what jinns are. So when we interpret the quran we will take it as a true word therefore it ought to be interpreted in a way that does not contradict rationality. That is because anything that contradicts rationality cannot be true even if it is attributed to God. That is so because it negates importance of brain and information concept and the relationship between the two. This is why we must look for consistency between the quran and rationality. Jinns therefore could be anything but not what makes no sense rationally or if the idea contradicts reality.
The powers people attribute to saints, prophets, iblis, jinns etc have implications such as if jinns exist in the sense of super natural beings that can fly through out universe and are in contact with humans then obvious result is that what we know today about our universe would have been discovered long ago because jinn and saints would have told us how the earth looks like from space because jinns could travel in space and saints could see the universe on the palm of their hands.
Or jinns are said to be very naughty. Now if you leave a naughty kid in a room full of things and go away and then later come back and see the room all will be turned upside down. The same like strange things will be seen happening all around us by all of us if that was the case with jinns. People who claim to have jinns and magic powers could empty banks and get women they wanted at will. They would not be sitting in streets corners collecting pennies from us the public. Look at how much governments spend on spying on each other and on defence against each other all this would become useless and redundant. Being a superpower would mean nothing.
So to make sense of a statement, one has to know what the statement is talking about so that one could make proper sense of it otherwise mere words are words and nothing more.
The quran demands that people live under quranic jurisdiction and if there is no place where the quran could be implemented as a divine constitution then the first and foremost duty of each and every muslims is to try and create one. If we do not have one and we do not go for it either I doubt our any other act according to quran will be of much worth. It will be hypocrisy.
Coming to word for word conversion of the quran. It is impossible because as far as I know no language has the ability to convey the full meanings of many arabic words used in the quran.
A simple explanation is that some words in arabic have hundreds of meanings whereas in other languages there are hardly any words that could be that vast in meanings.
This in itself should leave one in no doubt that the quran is impossible to convert in to any language this is why most people leave many original Arabic words untouched because in their opinion those words have no equivalent so they instead explain them. This only leaves us choice of translation ie short or long interpretation to convey the concept rather than sense of individual words. The purpose of translation is to convey concepts not to convert meanings of words because that cannot be done as explained.
If translation is just an attempt at conveying the message then so long as the message gets across the translation is correct. Let me try and explain this concept a bit more.
Let us say in a mathematical equation x=a(b+c-d)(e-f+g)- w(h+n) etc since x equals the rest of the expression therefore if one puts x instead of the rest of expression it is fine and if one puts the rest of expression it is still fine because one side is balanced by the other regardless how long the expression on the right hand side is. We can transpose the formula as per our own purpose.
Now the linguistic explanation. If we open up dictionaries we have basically two kinds of dictionaries a)from one language to the others and b) from same language to the same language. All writers of dictionaries put a word there that they want to explain and then start writing its explanations. The more meanings the words has the more explanations are put in there to explain it. We cannot say well take this one because it is correct and leave the rest because they are incorrect. It is because all explanations under the same word are equal to that one word. The only way we can choose just one explanation is because we have a particular concept or idea in our minds which we are interested in therefore that helps us take that meaning and leave the rest.
This should explain the point that when it comes to explanations you can use as many words as you think best convey the idea you want to convey. This is why worthwhile dictionaries are full of very very long explanations of words running from pages to pages.
Take word islam, the quran is all about explanation as to what islam is in various ways.
In general people are not used to these things so we use very simple dictionaries that give one or two words for a word that are most in use at the time. For deeper and wider study people have to go in to great detail of things.
Anyone is surprised when someone does something people are not much used to doing. This shows how insightful parwez was. He spent 50 years of his life in trying to understand the quranic text. It will not be fair to dismiss his contribution just like that.
I appreciate peoples' contributions but if they are proven wrong in something then they are wrong. Parwez was someone who had a great insight in the quranic understanding and no person who has knowledge of things can remain unappreciative of such peoples' work. Perhaps our culture is that of ignorance and personality cult therefore we either raise people sky high or ditch them really deep without any good reasons. It may be due to our mood swings if you like.
Coming to understanding the quran through hadith. This is a rule that is flawed on two major accounts eg the hadith is not an authentic source on its own whereas the quran is. So one will be silly to try to understand something through such ways or means that are doubtful themselves therefore cannot serve as a standard.
Also if the quran needs to be understood through hadith then who wouold understand hadith better, us people of today or the companions of the prophet? The same argument can be repeated in turn for each later generation and that means before any verse of the quran makes any sense to us we need to see all those explanation of all those people who went before us. Does that make any sense in real world where life span is not that long and people have other things to take care of? And how can anyone explain the quran better than the author himself? So the idea of explanation of explanation of explanation .... .... .. is not right because it is an unending chain of explanations in which the explainers are all prone to human error due to being humans.
Another point in this regard is that hadith reports contradict each other so which of them should be accepted and why or which of them should be rejected and why? One only has to see reports regarding shaane nazool=reasons for revelations of the verses of the quran. We have different reports telling us different occasions for the revelations of the very same quranic verses.
Many reports attribute wrong things to Allah, prophets, islam, quran and hadith etc so what do we do with them?
This is why using quran as the criterion for testing other information like Ahadith or fiqh etc is correct idea because the quran contains its own proofs either within itself or with respect to real world. A very simple proof mechanism.
For example, the quran comes to us in few independent ways and each confirms the other ie in form of memory that all reciters read the same text. In form of writing that each copy of the quran is exactly same as the other except for odd human errors in copying. The memorised version and the written version confirm each other. The meanings of the quranic words have been collected in dictionaries and various other books eg hadith, tafaseer and fiqh etc. To add to this evidence one can also look at copies of the quran from the past. So the authenticity of the quranic text is beyond even a shadow of doubt. We can fight over meanings of words as to which one is right in any particular verse as per context of the text but no way one can really fight over whether the quranic text we have today is same as was given to us by the prophet or not.
This is how knowing these rules helps one to decide if one is following the rules right way round or wrong way round or not at all.
So using one's brain to judge things is very important for getting to the right sense of information.
This is why one has to see supporting arguments for whatever ideas one proposes. It is not matter of just knowing the language a bit. One cannot become a doctor till one knows the terms involved and what exactly they mean. This is why we are not politicians or bankers or professionals etc etc till we master the language involved and be able to demonstrate the related practical skills. However pioneers are different people they do things first then invent terms to explain them because what they discover is not known before them therefore exact words do not exist but explanations can lead to new terms or labels.
The research of parwez sb on language is much superior than research of ghamdi sb because ghamdi sb has mastery of grammar but not of language development and its evolution based on critical analysis regarding sense of words.
If one just read the quran and became educated then it would have been easy for each and every molvi sb to be master in everything but they are not. Instead the bread and butter language they know, according to that they interpreted the quran and so instead of bringing out the sense the quran wanted to convey they conveyed their own understanding of it at the level of their own knowledge this is how they ended up covering up the quran with their own senseless explanations.
It is like you are giving a grade two child the work of grade ten and expect that he will be able to make sense of it.
This is why I say mullahs should either learn things and improve their knowledge about things the quran talks about so that they could understand them or just leave interpretation to those who know what they are doing. Unfortunately, if mullahs do not do it, no one else does it either or that mullahs do not let others do things their way. This is why this ummah has to make a move to put such wrongs right or we are going to stay the way we are ie remain stuck in nonsense of mullahs.
I think our main problem is not trying to understand the quran in sense of a constitution for bringing about a good human society that is at ease within itself and the world out there.
unless we understand the quran properly ourselves, we cannot convince others to come and join us. so long as we leave the quran to mullahs to teach it to us, they will keep us involved in their halwa fights. the while we keep fighting over none issues, we are not left with any time to do what we need to be doing.
by following mullahs nonsense we are creating more and more enemies in the world rather than human brotherhood. How is it that the prophet was able to use only and only the quran and create within 14years of his prophetic life a human community, a community of strangers loving each other the most and we have not been able to do so for last so many centuries?
We need to rediscover that islam if we want a good life for ourselves and the rest of humanity.
I think we need to pay special attention to a few points.
1, islam is rational and not a mumbo jumbo of mullahs, a point made by sir syed ahmed khan very clearly a couple of centuries back. Still mullahs have problem with it but could not undo it. A challenge for the whole of ummah.
2, islam is deenillah=Allah's constitution for mankind to live by not a mazhab created by kings and their mullahs. Another point made by another great scholar of muslim ummah dr sir muhammad iqbal. Mullahs did not like it but again they could not fight it to prove iqbal wrong.
3, quran is constitution for the ummah and all laws of islam are to be formed within limits set by the quran but by mutual consultation of the scholars of the ummah who are well aware of realities of real world situations and circumstances. This is why all imperialist mullah made laws in the name of islam must be discarded because they are based upon deliberate misinterpretations of the quran and sunnah and so misrepresent islam. Again this point was made by iqbal very clearly and mullahs could not oppose it. This is what was taken up by muhammad ali jinnah and ghulam ahmed parwez.
By now scholars of ummah have accepted, islam is rational though people still get involved in all sorts of superstition and nonsense due to their ignorance and due to mullahs taking advantage of them.
By now scholars have also accepted that islam is a deen and not a mazhab though mullahs still show there ignorance here and there wherever they can.
The sole point of fight remains definition of what constitutes shariah of islam. Is it the imperialist mullahs' version of islamic law or quranic version of islamic law that was around in time of the prophet and is rediscovered by sir syed ahmed khan and iqbal, jinnah and parwez like people.
This fight needs to be really understood so that we could once and for all defeat imperialist priestly version of islam and its shariah that was brought about to justify wrongs that muslims kings and priests did to each other and outsiders in the name of islam.
This raises yet bigger question that if the quran is really the constitution of islam then why the quran does not talk like a constitution for ummah=nation building like any constitution of even an organisation or company or country?
The answer is that the quran does talk about being a divine constitution but imperialist mullahs have diverted our attention away from that in order to replace the divine constitution of ummah by their own petty constitutions to divide ummah and rule by their own self made laws that are against the quran.
In the quranic sense all things belong to Allah alone because he is sole sovereign of this kingdom of universe. Therefore none has the right to rule the people even in the name of Allah. It is Allah's rule of law that stands as rule to live by for all, regardless a prophet or an ordinary person. No double standards.
The names of surah are very important to understand because they carry clues as to what they are about. Likewise meanings of words need to be expanded to help people see what the quran is really saying in its text when looked at it in its own context which mullahs destroyed by bringing in concept of shane nazool.
These diversions of mullahs are so obvious for anyone who knows how world works and how countries are run and they know how to read the quran. Because you cannot understand the quran till you realise what the message is supposed to be about. It is revelation for the revolution to bring about a better world and that is what prophet showed us by his example. We have taken sunnah in the wrong sense are fighting over nonsense things leaving aside the real message of the quran, which is islam=peace in the world on basis of some conditions or term.
The quran is a divine constitution for humanity telling them to aim for peace=islam. With set out objectives for mankind like freedom, justice, fairness, compassion, brotherhood, progress and prosperity because unless these objectives or condition or terms are accepted and fulfilled peace in the world is impossible.
This is what the quran is challenging humanity for ie you cannot produce anything like the quran ie you cannot produce a quran like constitution that can tell you way to peace and prosperity.
The quran contains ideologies for social, political and economic systems, structures and practices. We are not supposed to take this book as a mumbo jumbo of mullahs like mullahs of bani israel turned their divine books in to mumbo jumbo make beliefs.
We need to raise our level of thinking if we want to benefit from information that quran contains for our guidance towards creating a proper human society.
I think it should be clear for all who can think for themselves that the quran is essentially a divine constitution for mankind to live by or nothing at all. If one takes the quran as divine message then it should be clear that Allah created all and so he has the right to advise what the house rules should be so that his set up things work properly to the satisfaction of all involved.
All we can do is see if they rationally make sense and benefit humanity or not. Only if allegedly heavenly revealed rules damage and destroy humanity that we can object and discard them otherwise if we knowingly and deliberately pushed them aside then we are going to land in serious troubles and remain in there till we repent and reform. That is what happens when silly kids do not listen to advice of their good parents who know how to be good parents and end up in all sorts of troubles.
If quran is divine constitution for humanity then we have no choice but to accept that it has to be one law for all ie no double standards. If that is the case then there is no room for different laws within the same state. No different house rules for different people in the same household. It makes no sense whatsoever that each person should live by his own law. If we let this happen then we cannot have unity nor cooperation to do anything whatsoever.
This point is absolutely vital to understand because without it one will never know what islam is all about. Islam is all about uniting humanity under one God, one prophet, one constitution, one ummah.
The quran contains many verses on topic of unity and condemns disunity between mankind with so many verses.
This means in islam we can only and only have one law for all who claim to be muslims at least and at the same time we must struggle to make nonmuslim brethren to understand this so that we could live to help each other make this world a better place by being better human beings.
Now one law means no room for enforcement of different fiqhs at the same time because if we accepted them then we cannot have one law therefore one ummah. Having difference of opinions on law is fine but running parallel laws in the same state at the same time is not possible.
The general idea is that whenever ummah decides to unite and live by islam all ummah can do is invite all its learned people to give there opinions as to what the state law should be in light of the quran and the sunnah about all matters of concern and whatever majority decides, the ummah should follow for as long as law works for betterment of ummah if need arises the law should be changed as per situations and circumstances that face ummah or ummah finds itself in, to cope with.
Ummah must never let mullahs run away with their nonsense ideas of islamic laws that could strangle ummah in every way out of existence instead of making it progressive and prosperous and an example that other people admire and feel obliged to follow.
This was the main reason why pakistan was created ie to serve as an example of a successful islamic state for rest of humanity. Unfortunately as soon as pakistan came to being ruling elite and mullahs took over ummah and almost destroyed it. Mullahs damaged pakistan in the name of islam and rulers in the name of secularism. The most unfortunate things is we have not even realised yet how we have arrived at the brink of self destruction. It is as if we have been sleep walking in to nightmare after nightmare.
What I am explaining is not going to happen all of a sudden over night but if we really did try to understand things ourselves and tried passing on such information then hope is that over a period of time people will come round.
The main thing is not to follow ruling elite or their mullahs if we want to be in better health in future. This can only happen if we educate ourselves about quran. Ensuring that we interpret the quran as a divine constitution in light of real world realities and not as religious mumbo jumbo that makes no sense.
The main thing to remember is that the quran was sent to educate people out of ignorance and superstition to help people become rational human beings to be able to analyse their problems and find their solutions with help of the quran. Again the quran is full of verses drawing our attention to explanations of universal phenomena. The quran is all about demystifying things for people and not to turn things in to mysteries.
It is absolutely necessary that we come out of our sectarian caves and that is only possible through asking tough questions and looking for their equally worthy answer in the quran and the sunnah. Listening to nonsense of mullahs against each other is definitely not the answer.
There are plenty of videos on youtube etc wherein you will find mullahs of each sect condemning all mullahs of others. They tell people who come to them to not to go to their rival mullahs. We need to grow up and grow out of these things and not to listen to such peoples' such advice because the quran condemns people who listen to people who stop them from finding the truth for themselves.
There are plenty of fatwas by sunnies against shias and vice versa.
plenty of fatwas by some sunnies against other sunnies and likewise by some shias against other shias.
We should not be part of their silly game, instead we should concentrate on the quran and the sunnah.
The question is, what is message of the quran and have we understood it properly?
According to the quran what is the prophetic mission?
The quran is message of Allah for each and every human being and the message is bring about a human society that is at ease within itself ie that is at peace within itself. The goal of islam is peace. To get peace between people, we need to know what they are fighting over and then put forth solutions that remove those problems which are causes of fightings and wars.
I am trying to raise awareness in us that quran is that book which has solutions for all human problem, there is no doubt about it. Why there is no doubt about it? Because if we read the quran in its proper context then we see problems diagnosed and solutions offered.
The question is, how did prophet succeed in bringing about a society that he did using only and only the quran?
It is because he educated people working hard day and night.
What education did he give them?
Read just the titles of surahs 1-9 ie AL FAATIHA, AL BAQARAH, AALI IMRAAN, AL NISAA, AL MAAIDAH, AL ANAAM, AL ARAAF, AL ANFAAL and AL TAUBAH.
I want you to try understanding the meanings of these words and what they represent. These all words are linked together for a very good reason. What are those reasons?
1, AL FAATIHA=divine proclamation for mankind through a divine messenger. Concentrate on word proclamation. This is opening message in which Allah introduces himself to mankind ie he is kind and merciful not a tyrant. Shows what kind of God people have who created them and the rest of universe and provided for all the provisions they will ever need. By this right he has the right to recommend house rules but he recommends them for good of his creatures like a good parent advises his children.
He then wants people to promise him that they will take his advice seriously and live only by his set up and program to stay out of trouble and save themselves from terrible consequences. It is like you tell your kid don't put your hand in fire you will get burnt. If your child ignores your advice and does exactly what he was told not to do then he will suffer for it.
Allah makes it clear that whatever you need or want all is told about in the quran, so whenever you have any problem look for its solution in the quran. All our prayers are answered in the quran already. The quran is final revelation by Allah for ever. This is why, there is no more revelation from Allah and so no more prophets. It is because if there is no more need for revelations then why we need any more prophets?
Allah created people, gave them his advice and freed them to do as they please and face consequences. He then tells how did people before us live and what happened to them ie what actions they took and what were the consequences of their actions.
2) AL BAQARAH=divine solutions for human problems and human problems are matters related to war and peace between mankind. Word BAQARAH= the sacred cow ie separation between God and world affairs ie kings ruling in the name of country and priests ruling in the name of their make beliefs. Kings and priests do not allow questioning of their authority. It happens when people talk bull ie they have no real basis for what they do. This is why they do not want anyone question them about anything they do in the name of God or country.
This surah is all about divine set up and advice and how people went against it and what happened to them and how people came together and what they accomplished. It is about why people went to wars and why they came to peace.
3) AALI IMRAAN= people and society ie this surah is all about people as individuals and as a society. Bad society of bani israel after they went off track and good society that was accomplished by prophet Abraham and people who followed him.
4) AL NISAA= human societies and administrations, this surah tells people how societies are to be formed and set up for management of resources and people.
5) AL MAAIDAH=divine constitution, this surah is about what a constitution is so that people understand it and base their administration upon it for proper management of their community and its resources.
6) AL ANAAM=progress and prosperity, when individuals come together and form a society or community and create a constitution and base upon it their administration then they either progress and prosper or end up destroyed all depends upon what kind of constitution they have based their society upon. Quran is divine constitution so no chance of destruction if its followers base their community and administration upon it.
7) AL ARAAF= when a people work hard according to a set ultimate goal, aims and objectives with terms and conditions and guidelines ierights and responsibilities and rules and regulations etc in their constitution, they either go up high or go down in ditch of of hell of their own making. The quran guaranties that its proper followers will reach heights of excellence.
8) AL ANFAAL= a properly organised society based upon a proper constitution when it works hard it makes progress and prospers but that it must produce surplus to stay safe even if any rainy days arrive due to some human error or mistake. Humans are not free of human error and no society is 100% free of bad apples within or outside enemies. So a society needs to be strong enough to take some strong hits and survive.
9) AL TAUBAH= general amnesty, a strong society does not make war on its own people nor outsiders but gives them opportunities to repent from their destructive and harmful aims and actions and reform and become useful members of community.
Can one see what was the mission of the prophet according to the quran? This is the mission that was derailed by kings and their mullahs. This was the mission of hussain in karbala to show clearly for people who claimed to be muslims that islam observed by most people at the time was not real islam. Hussain was stopped from peaching this islam because it meant end of yazeediyat. When Moses preached this islam, chiefs of pharaoh became worried. When noah preached the chiefs and priests of his people became worried.
The prophet made people aware what God is and what humanity is and what are relationships between them ie between God and people and between people themselves, what peace is and why it is a necessity and how it can be achieved, what individuality is and why societies are needed, what management is supposed to be all about and why administrations are necessary, what constitution is and what purpose it ought to serve. How people make progress and prosper, what economic necessities are and how they should be guaranteed, what forgiveness is and why it is a necessity because you cannot build a society on revengefulness and stupidity.
He taught people how to make administrations accountable to people and people to administrations, how to terminate and install administrations safely and what kind of people should be chosen for this responsibility. Can anyone see it in the quran you read? If not why not? It is because quran was masked with false interpretations making it book of war for looting and plundering and getting slave girls. So we need to wake up and not defend people who did all this in the name of God. Surahs 1,2,4, 24,33,58,65 etc are very interesting when read in their own proper contexts. They are proof that the quran is divine constitution not a religious holy book.
MUJAHID KI AZAAN AUR WAALI BAAT MAMOOLI NAHIN HAI, MULLAH KI AZAAN KISI AUR MAQSAD KE LIYE HAI
Mullah followers pooja paat muslims cannot understand the true spirit of islam till they let go mullaiyat and start studying the quran as a divine constitution themselves. This is why the quran asks people to be thoughtful ie think think and think.
Do you my brethren not find it strange that you call quran the constitution of islam yet you or the mullahs cannot show anything from the quran that proves it is divine constitution?
It is because the king owned mullahs long time ago masked the terms used in the quran with their own make belief interpretations and that is how they misrepresented islam to public at large. Mass media is very effective even today to spread lies and so it was in times gone by ie kings and mullahs knew what they wanted so they set out and achieved it. Masses have been suffering ever since. Prophetic set up was brought down through conspiracies. Masses are easily misled and remain in that state till life gets really difficult for them to rise up.
So one needs to know how revolutions come about. It is people who want something work for it trying to get support of people that matter and then things change in their direction. The prophetic mission is changing things for the betterment of humanity through waking up people and providing them with futuristic program based upon solid foundation of constitution.
So my advice to all of you is please take time and try to understand the quran yourselves. Don't be misled by mullahs in to thinking this person is rubbish and that person is rubbish. Ask mullahs hard questions so that you expose them for what they are.
We all need to have courage like sir syed, iqbal, jinnah and parwez to think and say what we think and be prepared to listen if anyone has better things to say than ourselves.
It is not a good thing to not to listen to others. Even mullahs are not wrong in everything they say. It is up to ourselves how well we prepare ourselves to see right from wrong. Look after your own interest don't leave it to others.
What is sunnah?
Word Sunnah is from root SEEN, NOON and NOON. It has many meanings eg path, tradition, habit, age, era, formula, rule, law etc etc.
Within itself the word carries the meaning of being prompted to act on something and leave a trace for others to follow eg some one decides to do something so he sets things in motion in reaction to his thought of doing something or some one tells some one to do something so in reaction to that some one does something and leaves clues or traces to this effect.
In relation to islam sunnah could be of Allah, the prophet or even shaitan ie a person who does harmful or destructive things against the interest of common humanity.
Here I am going to explain the sunnah in context of prophetic mission ie the reaction of prophet to divine constitution and commandments etc.
Islam in quranic context is all about freedom, justice, fairness, compassion, brotherhood, progress and prosperity of humanity.
Islam=peace mainly between people in the land or earth and peace is impossible between human beings unless they have some agreement between them which contains conditions or terms of their agreement. The quran is that constitution that provides that basis for all human beings.
Freedom means no man can be master or slave of another man be he a prophet of Allah. In fact according to quran it is not fitting for a prophet that Allah gives him his book and yet he tells people be my slaves or servants 3/79. All people are bound in brotherhood of humanity ie no masters no slaves. No imperialism nor priesthood ie no malukiyat nor mullaiyat. None can rule people in the name of country as a king nor in the name of religion as a mullah.
Since the quran is divine constitution for mankind and people need a constitution for organising their societies for a set purpose or goal so anything that is told in the constitution has to be interpreted in that context. So any terms used in the quran must be interpreted within this context.
Since the quran is constitution of islam for the whole mankind, word sunnah of the prophet can only have a specific meanings. Any other meanings will not fit in or will cause problems. For example, some mullahs defined sunnah of the prophet as all his words, deeds and approvals by his silence etc as his sunnah. Any muslim who has some information about this subject and has sense of reality of life will be able to see a lot of things wrong with definitions of sunnah of the prophet by all the mullahs of all the sects. One has to ask what went wrong? The answer is only given by sir syed and iqbal like people not mullahs. Sir syed draws our attention to rationality and iqbal to deen v mazhab and fasaad by malukiyati mullahs in the ummah in the name of mullah made shariat of islam.
Mullahs told ummah to live like the prophet by being like or doing exactly what he did in 7th century arabian settings. If he travelled by camel then that is the sunnah and if he used smoke signals so should we. If he wore a dress we should dress like him and so on. This is not at all islam. Why not? Because it goes directly against the goals, aims and objectives or terms and conditions of islamic constitution=the quran. By following mullahs' islam people can never achieve the set goal of peace. There can never be peace in the world between human beings if we followed mullahs interpretation of islam which they did to please their kings long way back in time. This is how kings separated God from kingdom and we know it as separation between religion and state or secularism and religion or church and state or mosque and state or imperialism and religionism or papaiyat or priesthood etc etc.
1)The fact is that people live as they live each according to his own nature or personality.
2)No two people are alike nor are they expected to be.
3)It is not possible to know each and every move of anyone ever.
4)It is not possible to have information about anyone to each and every minute detail
5)It is not possible to transmit vast information perfectly.
6)The prophet was a man not a woman, he lived like a man not like a woman. Women cannot grow beard and they have periods and give birth etc etc.
So any information of this nature cannot be called sunnah of the prophet because most of such information does not even exist.
The quran telling us the life of the prophet is best example for us to follow cannot mean this because the quran was not sent for us to do the impossible. So anyone who interprets the quran in an impractical way is misinterpreting the quran.
Even in the quran there are verses which according to existing interpretations tell us that certain things were only and only for the prophet and not for his followers. This tells us very clearly that the whole life of the prophet is not an example for us to follow but only certain of his actions in reaction to divine commandments for a set purpose.
The other factor is the changing world in which we live ie we all were born babies but we did not remain babies. So things that change with time and place cannot be defined as sunnah either. In story of the quran as interpreted by mullahs Adam and Eve wore leaves of the trees as clothes. Does that mean all their children should do that because that is sunnah of our parents, who were also9 parents of all the prophets? Why then our prophet did not wear tree leaves as his clothes because that is what his parents wore? Why did he not live in caves like prophets before him to follow their sunnah? All such like recorded incidences tell us these do not come under definition of sunnah of the prophets.
All these things force us by way of reason to define sunnah objectively. So the question is what is sunnah purpose wise?
The only answer is that Allah sent the prophet with his mission like a king sends his general for a battle to the battle ground to fight the war.
The question is, what role his followers ought to play? They are supposed to learn his goals, principles for his ways and means and help accomplish the goals. The followers are supposed to be supporters of their prophets ie they are supposed to help them do what they came to do. Like children help their parents or army helps its general to win the battle he comes in the battle field for.
This has nothing to do with kurta pajaama or pagdi per se because a man has to wear clothes. People live as they see their societies living. The fight is all about what is right and what is wrong and why?
In this context if we have to do things we should do them the right way ie we must have right goals and use right ways and means to achieve them.
Now coming to beard it is not the sunnah of the prophet at all rather that is the way his society used to live. All he did was told people to do things such a way that they look right and good. You wear clothes but ensure they fulfil their purposes eg they cover your body, they provide needed protection eg from heat and cold etc, they are nice and clean and and they look great on you when you wear them.
You have a beard then look after it ie don't make it look terrible on you because that will reflect badly on your personality. You wash your beard, comb it, trim it properly etc etc.
I hope my explanation helps understand the definition of word sunnah It will be good idea for us to question our mullahs and expose them for what they really are ie people who follow others in doing things without any research and exploration of their own.
Why Islam V Imperialism, Mulluhism, Secularism, democracy etc
It should be obvious from my posts as to why Islam opposes imperialism, mullaism, secularism and democracy etc. Implementation of quran as islamic constitution was the reason for creation of pakistan to show the world a working model of islam just like the prophet of islam created the state of madinah in order to convince the world only islam was the way forward for humanity, socially, politically, culturally and most importantly economy wise. This was not an over night inception but through actions and reactions within muslims as well as between muslims and nonmuslims. It does take time for things to sink in as to what is going on all around and whether it is good or bad for a people and how to react to it. Only people like sir syed and iqbal had that little bit extra insight where others failed. However it is unfortunate that ground that was gained by sir syed and iqbal like great muslim thinkers was not held by the community they entrusted it to. It is because even though muslims succeeded in gaining a separate identity they did not turn it into a reality that iqbal and jinnah expressed their desire for.
Most people of pakistan have no idea what two nation theory was all about and remain confused about it. This is how hindus were easily manipulated by rivals of muslims to instigate troubles. The whole idea was so easy to explain and understand. The separation of pakistan from india was like separation between brothers but it was turned into a terrible nightmare due to manipulation of people with harmful and destructive agendas of some self serving power hungry people.
All that these insightful muslim leaders wanted was islamic constitution in place in a piece of land in order to better the lot of people in the land. These people did not want imperialist islam, they did not want mullah's islam and they certainly did not want capitalism based economic system. This is why british were showing animosity to muslims but not to hindus because hindus leaders like gandhi and nehru would implement british system even after independence of india. This meant monopoly of british over india would stay in place even after british leave india. This also explains why paksitan was never accepted as an independent state ever. It explains why british divided states which were supposed to be part of pakistan because they were majority muslim state eg punjab. kashmir was handed to india likewise through conspiracies.
It was not nonmuslims' animosity with muslim people other than their economic interest but mainly ideology of islam because if islam got foot-hold in a place then that would spell end of all the ideologies in the world as explained very clearly in the quran. This also explains why nonmuslim powerful and wealthy state administrations and people behind them support mullahs and madrassas in muslim and nonmuslim countries because it is mullahs who misinterpret and misrepresent islam to their masses to suit the rich and wealthy people who are in governments or behind them all over the world. The so called secular democracy means absolutely nothing when only rich and powerful people can become leaders of a community to exploit their own weak and poor people as well as the others. Exactly what kings and mullahs did after the prophet and what is ruling elite and their mullahs are doing to pakistan and other muslims countries through out the world. This is why once one understands two nation theory all pieces of jigsaw fall in to place.
The very idea that muslims cannot live with nnonmuslims is utterly stupid and is used as a propaganda tool. Islam is not at all about separating people on any basis whatsoever save man cannot be master or slave of another man regardless a muslim or a nonmuslim. It is because there are pharaohs in this world or wolves in sheep clothing that islam wants all people to unite and fight against them to take away their control over land and resources, means of production and distribution. The earth belongs to none but God and all people are his children and have equal right to all there is in this world. This is what is explained right in the beginning of the quran. People are free to manipulate all there is so long as they do it together with full cooperation for the good of humanity as a whole. A muslims cannot stop a nonmuslim brother or sister from his heavenly granted right and he is not allowed to let anyone take away his own right either. You do no harm to anyone but at the same time you are not allowed to let others harm you either. Willingly people can die for each other but force is not allowed for harming each other. This is how islam means peace.
The whole idea was to take a piece of land and try governing it by the ideas stated in the quran for the purpose of peace. Nothing to do with separation of people at all. Muslims did not take any piece of land from india which did not already belong to them ie they were already living in that land which they wanted to use for this experiment and others did not like it and created problems for muslims. Thus these ignorant people not only ruined muslims but also other human beings. Today the whole world is in turmoil and does not know which way to turn. Had these stupid short sighted people allowed those far sighted muslims complete their pilot project today the whole world would have been in peace seeing that project successful. All people want a good peaceful life save a few with destructive and harmful mindset so once muslims would have shown the way all would have followed suit.
Jinnah did not use islam to gather muslims but secularism and dangers it posed. I would like you to think about consequences for playing islamic card. This card would have divided muslim ummah in india even more thanks to mullahs and their backer imperial powers so it would have created yet more dangerous situation for muslims. The very reason that muslims did not divide yet more on basis of islam tells us very clearly that Pakistan was to be such a muslim state that was not to be based on western concept of secularism and democracy. Why not? Because secularism would have been a harmful and dangerous theefore an immoral base to begin with. It is not corruption in the system but system is set on the foundation of corruption. Wait till we all realise it yet more let things get yet worse.
One has to realise that western secularism is for western democracy and western democracy is for capitalism and free market and that is for negative competition which can only and only produce one end result ie total destruction of weak and poor people and nations ie a huge divide between those who have and those who have not leading to countless unrests amnd wars. Moreover capitalism and free market only suits those who have capital and not those who only have to offer their labour.
If you have your foundation wrong whatever you build on it will not be right. India has wrong foundation ie secular democracy based upon capitalism and free market, which is based on negative competition. This is evil system to the very core. It leaves no dignity for a human being. People are forced to behave like dogs.
On the contrary two nation theory is build on solid foundation but muslims so far have not been able to understand it never mind being able to build upon it. Two nation theory was a multi-facet project that has yet to be phased in or realised in Pakistan. However when it is then Pakistan will be a great nation if we get a breathing space from our enemies.
Let me give you something to think about.
Let us supposed that person A is an employer and needs a worker. In the system that you promote, he will be looking for a person who could give him most possible work but in return accepts from him least possible wage. After all this is what negative competition is all about.
The worker is in need of job otherwise he will have nothing to live on. Person A advertises his vacancy and there are hundreds of people at his door looking for the very same job. He has the power to decide terms and pay not the workers at his door. It is same for you if you are looking for a loan from the bank where it is the bank that sets terms and interest rate and since you are desperate for loan you are forced to accept any terms and sign at the bottom of the loan agreement.
Where is yours or the worker's dignity in this and how can you or the worker keep even your humanity? Person A cannot employ everyone and therefore if he is a decent human being he will have heavy heart when refusing job to others who may need it more than the guy he hires, otherwise he is just a dog looking for a kill, which takes away his humanity and dignity. On the other side each person looking for job will be trying to put down the next person so that this person gets the job. Is there any dignity in this for the people looking for work? Another twist is that your business competitors are trying to run you out of your business by under cutting you. Employers under cutting employers and workers under cutting workers and employers under cutting workers.
Can you therefore see the downward spiral and where it leads us all one by one? This is the end result of what many of us are supporting knowingly or unknowingly. This kind of competition has nothing to do with humanity or merit, for they are positive trends for going upwards not in pit of hell. It should be very clear to such people who are looking for success in this kind of system how destructive this system is for humanity as a whole. So only an ignorant or a devil will support this system not a human being with brains.
This is why today humanity is in bits because we are breaking up communities, tribes, clans, extended families, core family units and finally individuals are also breaking down nervously. Is this the kind of world we want?
All this very clearly shows that we are our own worst enemies. This is what the quranic system opposes which whole world is fighting against thanks to stupidity of people who are not bothered to understand the divine message nor the needs of humanity itself. What a wonderful world and what a wonderful people!
We pride ourselves telling each other look at how many billionaires we have in our countries. Is it not the time to count the number of billionaires in contrast to the million they have destroyed in the process of trying to become billionaires. This is the difference between a human being with brains and the animal who looks like a human being but has no brain.
Success is to try and be happy yourself and help others to be happy as well. Your happiness is not real if you took off smile from faces of many others and deep inside you will not find peace and you will not be able to face the man in the mirror.
My advice please don't fight islam, learn it and support it because this is the only way to change the world for the better. Don't be critical of people who stand for God and humanity but be critical of anti humanist systems, people and other elements. Otherwise one is born to hate oneself because that is what hating humanity means. If we have humanity then we must work for the good of mankind and not support ideas and things that go against that. After all if I am doing ok, are those people as well upon whom I depend for my own well being and happiness?
We are not animals like other animals but human beings with brains, we should not live by nature but understand nature and control it for the good of humanity. If we lived by nature then there is no difference between us and other animals because animals accept nature and live by it ie they are not able to change their environment much but we are capable of changing natural environment at a much greater scale, so, let us work towards better world and not make it a hell hole. It is time to raise our thinking level.
