One Mr. Wasim Rizvi is planning to file a petition in the Indian Supreme Court to remove 26 verses from the Quran, and supposedly they incite violence.
As a former Atheist, I was critical of the Quran for a full 30 years, and I understand the right-wing Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and others for their hatred towards the Quran.
I was like them, but one day I was flipping the pages of Bhagavad Gita and came across a verse that changed my life. Its meaning was finding the truth is your responsibility.
That led me to do the critical research and found the truth – that there are nearly 30 verses in the Quran that were deliberately mistranslated for political reasons by Muslims and Christians alike to promote ill-will towards each other.
I found the Quran to be a book of guidance for everyone, not meant for any particular group, including Muslims as a political group. The book is about building cohesive societies where every human aspires to live securely regardless of his/her ethnicity, race, religion, culture, or any other uniqueness. It is about creating harmony among humans, all humans.
That truth led me to believe in the Quran and Islam, and I chose to become a Muslim, a confident Muslim. I will take a challenge from anyone who has misunderstood the Quran and comes up with those verses. I know the poor folks are going by the mistranslations of the Quran, and I feel I must share the truth with them as it brings relief. Over the years, I have responded to several such accusations, and I have conducted workshops on them.
We should not curse the man Rizvi, for he knows not. As I understand, he is trying to save his tail from several corruption charges, but that should not matter; what matters is addressing the issue.
Thank God they have narrowed it down to 26 verses and not the entire Quran. It is a God-sent opportunity for Muslims to clarify the false propaganda about the verses in the Quran by presenting them with the correct translation.
The hardcore believers will not change their minds, as facts don’t matter to them; accusing is all they want to do. Their business creates an imagined enemy to frighten the weaklings and earn their support for their political ends.
The good news is the majority of our fellow members from the family faiths, the Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and even Muslims who may have doubts, will see the clear picture.
If we believe that Allah is the creator and sustainer of all humanity and Muhammad (PBUH) is a mercy to humankind, then our actions should reflect compassion to all.
Rizvi is a political opportunist like Tarek Fatah*, who takes the wrong translations of a few verses and throws them to the eager wolves whose inclinations are to accuse anything Muslim. They know the truth about the mistranslations and subsequent correction of a few verses, but still, they choose to tarnish it for financial gains.
There are millions of our Hindu friends who believe that those verses cause Muslims to be violent. Both the thoughts are wrong; Muslims are not violent, some among us are, as they are among Hindus and others.
I want to assure my less than confident Muslims that the Quran is a perfect book, however, the problem is with the translations.
There are 50 such translations on the market now, and the story is the same- my fellow Muslims have lost the ability to question the interpretations out of fear from the establishment.
We have the opportunity to correct those verses and let fellow Indians – both Muslims and Hindus know the truth and believe in what is right – I hope this will mitigate the conflicts and nurture goodwill.
The public behavior of a few Muslims is wrong by calling names and dehumanizing rascals like Rizvi. The Islamic way is to respond to them by offering correct information and not cursing.
I urge everyone to be a confident Muslim. Quran is not going anywhere, nor is Islam. Allah will guard it, and we have to do our work.
Once I have the list of 26 verses from the Supreme Court, God willing, I will respond to bring clarity to my Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and other friends. I have begun the process here is a short video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwAyQRPsu3A
If it is not common sense, then it is not Islam.
Mike Ghouse
Author: American Muslim Agenda and an upcoming book, “Kill the infidels.” All about Mike is at www.TheGhouseDiary.com