Current Issues Surrounding the Quran and Its Interpretation - Book Report/Review Example

Current issues surrounding the Quran and its interpretation Introduction The Quran is a religious book for the Muslim believers written by the prophet Muhammad to record accounts revealed to him by the almighty God concerning the Muslim religious teachings. The holy book has received various criticisms from various scholars and believers in other faith due to its teaching which are at times considered controversial. Despite this, there is always a brighter side of it as the interpretation of the reader will determine their view of the book. Moreover, some people have used the holy book to their own advantage by interpreting it in a way that favors their personal interest. These misguided interpretations have put the Muslim faith in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Some Muslim scholars have worked to clear the misguided misinterpretation of the holy book through scholarly material that look into the Quran and the Muslim religious practices. Ernst, in his book following Mohammed gives an enlightened view of the Quran and the Muslim faith. Literature review The Islamic practice of praying five times a day has been questioned by others who do not share the same faith as the Muslims. The five times a day prayer routine can however be traced back to the Quran (Ernst 88). The author writes of the account of the Prophet Muhammad and Moses. After the return of Muhammad from the holy presence, Moses wanted to find out what God had told him. The prophet had been instructed to have the people pray fifty times a day, but mosses felt it was too much and almost impossible convincing Muhammad to go back to God and request for a reduction of the required number of prayers. The prophet did that over and over again upon the request of Moses until the number was reduced to five. This forms the basis for the five times a day prayer by the Muslims as an act of faith according to the teachings and requirements of their faith. The Islamic view of the position of women has a major subject of controversy with the majority of the people viewing the Muslim faith as being oppressive to the female gender. This has gained much support with the action of the Taliban in Afghanistan to deny women the right to education and other basic human right (Ernst 143). However, this is disputable as having basis since there is no part of the Quran that implies the oppression of women is right. Moreover, the Quran views the female gender as equally important as the male. The role of women in the Quran is also depicted by the actions of the wives of Prophet Mohammed, who worked hand in hand with him as his partners and followers in new society’s creation (Ernst 142). The effort of ‘A’isha is actually visible as she transmitted several hadiths from the prophet, though most of them were not preserved. There are other Muslim women who have fought for justice in the society, for example Zaynab who protested the unjustified killing of her brother. This puts the Islam, women in a better position than the oppression that is believed by the European communities. The use of the veil by the Muslim women is another issue that is greatly challenged by those who view it as a restriction of the Muslim women. This is disputable since the wearing of the veil by the Muslim women is a mixture of western style and the orders of the prophet. The wearing of veils in the Muslim faith is traced back to the prophet on his wedding day when the men stayed out late intruding on the women (Ernst 145). The prophet required only the wives of the prophet to veil and not all Muslim women. The Quran is only specific on the dressing of the women to be modest and cover their breasts. However, other Muslim women also started veiling as a sign of dignity through covering their bodies totally. Moreover, the dressing where women covered themselves totally was initially associated with a class of women who would cover themselves totally to avoid teasing by men on the way. Therefore veiling can be associated to both class and respect of the women. The holy war, jihad is another area of controversy in the Muslim faith today. Believers from other faiths find the holy war as unnecessary and against the societal belief of peace and coexistence among all religions. This however is not the characteristic of all Muslims but is a generalization of the activities of a few radicalisms. The extreme radicalisms’ have been associated with the wave of violence associated with the Muslim community (Ernst 202). The fight against other religions viewed as satanic forces has been carried out by the extreme radicalism in the name of jihad, that is, holy war. Holy war is supposed to be war against the devil that is the evil one and not fighting fellow human beings. Fighting against the westerners does not only affect the western economies but also affect the lives of many innocent people. This does not spare the Islam in the western countries since the terrorist attack affects both the non-believers and believers extremely going against the ethical practices. The use of different banking system by the Muslim has also attracted attention from critiques. The Muslims do not use the same banking system as the one used by other believers of other faiths and the Muslim even have banks of their own to serve their believers. Moreover, there exists a difference in the culture of the Muslims and other faiths. The Muslims have a different way of relating to each other and resolutions of disputes are also done differently from the secular law. They are also cautious with the kind of food they consume with those considered unclean food being rejected in this society. This makes the Islamic more of a lifestyle than a faith. It has a different approach to matters concerning the society unlike the secular world. This has helped to some extend to instill discipline to believers since they are all aware of the consequences to their actions. The ruling of Islamic states cannot be left out in criticizing the Muslim faith. The Muslim political leaders have attracted criticism from the rest of the world. This is however not justified since the prophet Muhammad himself apart from being a prophet was also a political leader. He created an empire which he ruled over as a political leader and a prophet to the almighty God. This brings out the importance of a religious leader as a political leader; he will be able to rule with dignity and respect for his subjects as required by the religious teachings. Apart from understanding the political system of the state, the leader will be able to understand the religious needs of the people as their religious leader as well thereby avoiding conflict of interest between religion and politics of that state. Furthermore, justification of the prophet’s marriage to more than four wives as required by the Islamic marriage laws has elicited controversy. The Muslims are allowed to marry up to a maximum of four wives, but the prophet married more than four. The prophets are an exception to this law as they are allowed to marry more than four wives. Furthermore, Muhammad married many wives as a political arrangement to strengthen the relationship between his empire and his neighbors. He married from the neighboring empires which greatly contributed to the good coexistence with the neighbors. It was the first time that the empires coexisted peacefully. The dominance of the male gender in the Islamic leadership system brings out Islam as a religion that looks down on women in leadership. There is not a single known female religious leader among the Muslims. This was one of the reasons the whites used to rule over the east and Africa. According to Ernst 2003, the European viewed the Muslim practice of leadership as being uncivilized thereby colonizing the eastern and African states to bring civilization to them. However, this is not the case as the European leadership system is still dominated by the male leaders and women rarely get a chance to be in power. Moreover, the Europeans misuse their women in commercial advertisements where women are used to advertise in commercials wearing clothes that expose their body. This is against the moral expectation of the society. Also, the modern Muslim is still stereotyped as the same Muslim in the colonial era. This is not the case as the Muslims have gone through civilization. The colonial Muslim, who had earlier been affected by the western culture to abandon their traditional way of dressing, went back to veiling as a way of protesting against colonial rule. However, the modern veiling women are not resisting any colonial rule, but rather veiling as a sign of respect. Though the west are used to indecent woman as the model of modernization, the Muslim states have maintained respect for their women. The Muslims have also contributed immensely to science and technology. The east, which was initially viewed as superstitious has changed to bring forth great scholars and major breakthrough in science and other research. Radicalization of the Muslim faith has also called for attention. The media have particularly given much attention to the vocal Muslim leaders who concentrate on arguments and disputing the governments. This does not display the true picture of radicalization of the Muslims. Radicalization is more about interpreting the Muslim belief to fit the current times of civilization. This is majorly through more involvement of women in the leadership and politics unlike before. This dismisses the idea of radicalization being only associated with violence. Some radical groups like the Taliban have taken advantage of the radicalization to cause mayhem and infringe on the rights of women in the society. Politicization of religion has affected the world view of Islam religion. The Muslim has been taken to refer to countries that have a Muslim majority as the citizens. This has led to great misunderstanding of the faith due to mixing politics with religion. Any move taken by the political leaders is assumed to imply action by the Muslim community. These countries mostly use Islamic rules to govern the country. However, not all countries with a Muslim majority use the Islamic law to govern the state, there are exceptions where a Muslim majority country uses the secular law for example Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim majority state (Ernst 208). The Muslim faith has not been spared by the hand of technology and globalization. Technology has been applied in the teachings currently being used. The religious material has also undergone translation to enable speakers of various language access religious material easily. This has also seen the formation of interest groups on social media to enable those who share the same faith or ideologies to share the same platform. Though created in good faith, some of these platforms have been used to agitate for violence against those of an opposing view. Globalization has also enabled Muslims to unite for a common course worldwide. This is more evident in the way the Ramadan time-table is coordinated worldwide to ensure all Muslims participate in the fasting as required by the Islamic teaching. Conclusion The Quran is therefore a holy book that unites the Muslims in their faith and following the example of the prophet Mohamed. It teaches on equality among both male and female before God through quotations that recognize both genders, such as “the humble men and the humble women” (Quran). It also recognizes the importance of women in the society unlike earlier claims of oppression of the female gender. The veiling of the Muslim women is also justified to preserve the respect for the women while the style and type of veil to be used by the women is determined by the region she comes from. Moreover, the Islamic practice of fasting during the month of Ramadan has a spiritual basis in the teachings of the Quran. The colonial conflict between the east and the west is also visible with the east sticking to their traditions and believes as a way of going against the colonial masters from the west. This however did not stop the east from developing in science and research. However, the Islamic faith is not without an effect of globalization and technology. Through social media, Muslim faithful is now able to get a clear interpretation of the Quran by consulting religious leaders in forums such as ‘ask the Imam’. This has helped the faithful get a better understanding of the holy book from a reliable source. The holy book has also been translated to different languages unlike before when the Quran was only available in Arabic language. With radicalization, some extremists have taken to interpret the Quran in a way that creates conflict with other faiths. The extremist are known for masterminding terror attack in the name of jihad. Moreover, politics have had its share in the interpretation of the holy book with the views of Islamic leaders being assumed to be the teachings of their faith. This is not the case as politicians are well known for twisting situations in their favor. The ruling of states with Muslim majority is usually done using the Muslim teachings and beliefs. However, some Islamic nations have preferred to use secular law of government. Work cited Ernst, Carl, W. Following Muhammad: rethinking Islam in contemporary world. London, Chapel Hill, the university of North Carolina press, 2003 print. Khalidi, T. The Quran (Trans.). America, penguin groups US, 2009. Read More