Carl Ernst, Mona Siddiqui, and Quran - Essay Example

The Current Critical Question surrounding the Quran and its Interpretation There are many questions surrounding Quran at this specific period. Islam has never been so unpopular, and that is mainly because of the way some people follow and represent it. In modern world, Islam is considered by a large fraction of people as a religion for the ultraist. It is considered as the religion of terrorists. To some extent, Muslims themselves are to blame for this. Time and time again Muslims from different parts of the world have misunderstood and misquoted the Quran and committed unforgivable crimes. It is not a hidden fact that some minority of the Muslims, for example, the Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan believe that it is mandatory to fight in the name of God and kill the disbelievers. In doing so, they believe they would enter the heaven once they perish from the world. This essay will investigate the ways some of the non-Muslims and Muslims misunderstand the Quran and act upon the Holy verses. The aim of the essay is to understand the meaning of the word ‘Jihad’ and to see how Islam has been defamed in the name of the ‘Holy War.’ There are two main reasons that Islam is considered a religion that promotes terrorism. Firstly, when non-Muslims read the verses of Quran they completely ignore the fact that Quran was not only a book of guidance for people living in the past or to the people it was revealed but it is a book belonging to the people who lived in the past, are living in the present and also for the future generation to come. Secondly, some people follow the Quran word by word in a very literal sense. The Quran uses metaphors, and though it is the word of God, not every word is to be taken literally. The word Jihad is babbling not only for the non-Muslims but also for some Muslims who use and follow it in the wrong sense. The Holy Quran says “Not equal are those believers who stay behind in their homes while the believers exert in the cause of God with their wealth and life. God has kept a higher rank for those who exert in the name of God” (Quran 4:95). The believers of the book hugely misunderstand this verse. There is a misconception between some groups of people what exertion refers to. Though it is believed that it refers to Jihad, the meaning of Jihad tends to vary greatly among believers. Some of the better-known scholars of Islam like Abdullah Yousuf and Muhammad Asaddefine Jihad as a struggle or fight made to achieve justice. Jihad is a struggle made against oppression even if it means to risk one’s life. While there is some extremist groups that define Jihad as a physical battle between the Muslims and the disbelievers. They refer exertion to bodily exertion that it is mandatory to fight the disbelievers in the name of Allah. However, this is not the case as some of the scholars define the real meaning of Jihad (Siddiqui 35). The renowned scholars of Islam believe that Jihadists are not only the people who fight in battlefields, but could be anyone who stand against oppression. In other words, a person trying to give widower her rights is also a Jihadist and has the same status as that of a warrior in the battlefield. It is something that many followers of Islam fail to understand. The Quran further says in the same verse “God prefers the people who exert hard rather than people who sit at home. He has a great reward for people who exert for him with their wealth” (Quran 4:95). Again some of the extremists believe that God refers exertion to physical fighting. They believe God is asking them to sacrifice their life for him, and they will receive a great reward. Some of the people fighting in Afghanistan believe that their reward will is to go straight to the heaven when they complete their mission and die in the name of Allah (Siddiqui 117). This mission comprises of killing the disbelievers by committing suicide. The wrong interpretation of the verses from the Quran has not only changed the lives of a few individuals, but it has changed the life of the entire group of people. The misconception has become so common that more and more individuals are following the same ideology and living their lives in hope to die as a martyr. A large group of rebellious fighters in Afghanistan, Taliban, for example, believes that they have been ordered by God to fight with the disbelievers. Since September 11, 2011, many suicide missions have happened all across the world. Taliban has claimed some of them and some by other Islamic extremist groups that fail to comprehend the true meaning of Jihad and what exactly the Quranic verse is about. One of the most common verses that believers refer to is “kill the disbelievers wherever you find them” (Quran 9:5). Many believers of this verse, for example, the ISIS in Iraq are killing foreigners as they believe that it is their duty to get hold of them and execute them. That group is fighting a war purely not based on the Islamic principles (Siddiqui 62). Many fighters from all across the world have gathered the group because verses like these are read out to them. However, this is not what the Quran is ordering them to do. This verse was revealed at a specific time. It was revealed when the Arabs had decided not to fight among themselves. A treaty was established in which it was decided that no war would be made for three months. These words are from a verse but are the only starting words of the verse. God is telling the Muslims that when the period of maintaining peace finishes and if the pagans wanted to fight then the Muslims must also keep fighting and slaying them until they are victorious (Ernst 45). The entire verse is “kill the disbelievers wherever you find them but if they repent and offer prayers and give charity then invite them towards your religion as Allah if oft forgiving and most merciful” (Quran 9:5). It is clearly some of the extremists fail to refer and follow. God does not permit people to slaughter the disbelievers for no reason. If the disbelievers wanted to fight after the treaty had finished then only God gave Muslims, of that time, the permission to fight the disbelievers and slay them. However, if they avoided fighting then Muslims were not to make a move. The verse further continues “If the pagans ask for asylum then grant it to them so that he may hear the words of the God. Take them to a safe place as they are men without knowledge” (Khalidi 145). The whole verse depicts an entirely new picture. It was not only obligatory for the Muslims to avoid a fight but to make sure that the prisoners of war were safe. Once a disbeliever surrendered then the Muslims were not allowed to torture them or bring any harm to them. They would lead a normal life without being pressurized to choose a religion (Ernst 76). The Quran says “Fight those who do not believe in God nor the Prophets and the last Day of Judgment. Fight them until they par a tribute (Jizyah) by their hand” (Quran 9:29).This verse has led to a great amount of misconception among some Muslim followers. Some people think that the disbelievers should not be allowed to live in a community or country that belongs to the Muslims until they don’t pay a certain amount of tax called Jizyah. There are some groups in Muslim countries like Pakistan and Palestine that believe that the disbelievers should be thrown out if the country. It is not true, and the disbelievers or the non-Muslims should not be thrown out as they all pay their taxes. Jizyah is just like income tax people pay nowadays. If the non-Muslims in countries like Palestine and Pakistan are paying all their taxes than they should not be thrown out of that territory. This verse has upset many Muslim groups all around the world. They feel that the Quran only permits those to stay among the Muslims who pay a special tax. Indeed, Jizyah was a special tax back in the ages, but it is very similar to the taxing system of modern society (Siddiqui 114). The Quran says, “Fight in the way of God with those who fight with you. Do not show aggression but slay them when you fall upon them and expel them from where you had been expelled by them” (Quran 9:29). When people from other religions read this verse from the Quran then they tend to feel that the Quran teaches the Muslims to slay people. It teaches them to be vengeful rather than merciful to people from other religions. They focus on the words like slay and expel and believe Quran promotes war. This is one reason that Islam is one of the most hated religions in the Western and American countries. Although the Quran does not teach Muslims to kill people from other religions but people misunderstand the context and the message God is trying to give His people. The interpretation of this verse is very different. It must be remembered that the Quran was revealed to the Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W). Some of the verses were directly intended towards him and some for the people living in those times (Ernst 27).The above verse was revealed after the treaty of Hudaybiyah was signed between the Muslims and the Quraish. The treaty allowed the Muslims to travel to Makkah to perform pilgrimage, but some of the Muslims thought that the Quraish would break their promise and slay them or send them back to Medina. The Muslims were well aware of the broken promises of the Quraish, and they had questions in their mind regarding the Quraish tribe living to their promise and expectations (Ernst 58). In the context to this, Allah revealed this specific verse and allowed Muslims to fight for their rights. Allah ordered Muslims to slay if the disbelievers prevented them from offering the pilgrimage. God asked Muslims to fight back if the disbelievers resisted. However, if they allowed them to enter the city in peace then the Muslims must not create any havoc. There are an innumerable amount of verses in the Holy Quran that prevents Muslims from shedding innocent blood (Siddiqui 131). One part of the Quran reads, “He who kills not for the revenge of another or to stop corruption of any form is like a person who killed the whole mankind” (Quran 5:32). This verse clearly mentions that killing without a cause is not allowed in Islam. Quran does not permit or encourage it readers to commit murder until it is for revenge of a relative or to stop the mischief in the land. One very popular verse of the Holy Quran that the non-Muslims point out is “Oh you Muslims take not the Christians and the Jews as your allies as they are only allies of one another. If you take them your ally then surely you will be counted of their number” (Khalidi 90). This verse makes the non-Muslims feel that they are not welcomed to be friends with the Muslims. However, this is not true. The verse does not mean friends as someone Muslims could not spend their time with or with someone they could not seek the company with. In fact, friendship here means guardianship, protector or Lord. This is what some of the important scholars of Islam feel. In many verses of the Quran, Muslims men, for example, are allowed to marry women from other religions of the book (Christians and Jews). If Islam had disallowed Muslims to meet themselves from the Christians and Jews then it would have never permitted a Muslim man to marry Christian or Jewish women. Moreover, the Prophet of Islam never preached people to hate or dislike people from other religions. He had great respect for the Christians and the Jews, and it is because of this respect that so many of them converted into Islam (Siddiqui 64). There is not a single incident where the Prophet of Islam forbade his followers to end their friendship with their Christian or Jew friends. There is also not a single incident in which the Prophet (P.B.U.H) asked his followers to act with people of other religion with cruelty or to wage a war against them because of their religion (Ernst 37). People who bring these verses up are not aware of the fact that what God teaches Muslims to do in the Holy Quran. If every word of the Quran would be taken in its literal way then the Muslims would only create problems for themselves. Quran is a book for men of understanding, and if people follow each word of the Quran literally then, they would only misguide themselves. The entire scenario must be scrutinized to penetrate the meaning of the verse. It is argued that following each word of the Quran without understanding the background  has created a lot of problems for the Muslims themselves. First it was the Taliban, and now it is the ISIS that is defaming the Islamic world by incorrectly following the Quran. It is not only the Muslims but non-Muslims also sometimes fail to interpret the verses of the Quran. In order to understand the Quran, it is mandatory to know about the time and the context it was revealed. Works Cited Ernst, Carl W. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. Raleigh: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Khalidi, Tarif. The Quran. London: Penguin Books , 2008. Siddiqui, Mona. How to Read the Qurʼan. New York : W. W. Norton & Company, 2008 . Read More