Re: Sheikh Character Assasination
Kaleem Bhai, let me take this opportunity to quote one of my favorite verses of Quran:
"*It is not righteousness that you turn your faces to the East or the West, but truly righteous is he who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Book and the Prophets, and spends his money out of love for Him, on the kindred and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask for charity, and for ransoming the captives; and observes prayer and pays the Zakat; and those who fulfil their promise when they have made one, and the patient in poverty and afflictions and the steadfast in the time of war; it is these who have proved truthful and it is these who are truly God-Fearing. *(From Surah Al-Baqarah)
So you see, one doesn't need to be a scholar or an Arab language expert or even a history buff to be righteous and therefore the sole bearer of Quranic teachings.
I am all for knowing the different opinions about Quran and the knowledge of Hadiths, what I am totally against is limiting it to one person or a group's understanding.
The very Hadiths that explain the context of verses and at time explain them beyond our imagination also claims that Quran’s single verse can have several different meanings. If I remember correctly it is claimed to have 7 different meanings. So, limiting any verse of Quran to a single interpretation or prohibiting the 'out of the box understanding' is limiting the virtues of Quran.