Muslim Minds To Return To Reason

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Commentary by Mike Ghouse

Dr. Faizur Rahman, a Muslim scholar from Chennai, India, writes about Mustafa Aykol’s book, “A scholar of Islam implores Muslims to stop deifying received tradition and undertake a critical study of their religious past, shedding unyielding legalism and close-mindedness.” 

A good article to read: 

https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/reopening-muslim-minds-a-return-to-reason-freedom-and-tolerance-review-theology-of-tolerance/article65248268.ece

We have only one book, the Quran. All other books are understanding of the scholars of the given time. Indeed, in general, Muslims worship traditional scholars’ work and consider it supplementary to the Quran. 

In his last sermon, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) communicated clearly. He said, to paraphrase him, “I am leaving this book to you, and you cannot go wrong if you follow it.” Please remember he did not assign Al-Azhar University or some Scholar Sheikh to interpret the book. You are on your own. It has to change; we have to have our own understanding. 

Many scholars of the past have been dead wrong in interpreting the verses from the Quran, and for nearly 14 centuries, we believed in them. I have interviewed many Muslim women, and most of them hated verse 4:34 but lived with it, thinking it was the word of God. The Christians and Jews hated 1:7, and it is one of the sources of Islamophobia. 

Thank God our current scholars have peeled off those falsities and are making corrections. There is a lot more we need to do. 

The Quran is for all times, not just the times of crusades when the scholars reacted to the situations and wrote their understanding of the word of God. We should have our knowledge of the Quran in contemporary terms. 

What does it mean to us today in the given situations? 

Many scholars are working on correcting those errors – among them are Mustafa Aykol, Faizur Rahman, Safi Kaskas, and I am doing my little share of the work. 

The American Muslims have an advantage of the ability to see the different cultures in the Mosque and at Eid. We need to peel off the cultural dust Islam has gathered over the centuries as Islamic. 

At the World Muslim Congress, our slogan is 

“If it is not common sense, then it is not Islam.”  https://worldmuslimcongress.org/


Mike Ghouse


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