Critical Questions Surrounding the Quran and its Interpretation - Book Report/Review Example

The Current Critical Questions Surrounding the Quran and its Interpretation Introduction The Quran is a bookgiven special reverence as a sacred book to the Islam religion. It is recognized across the globe and millions of Muslims rely on it for spiritual guidance. The significance of the Quran as the basis of the Islamic religion cannot receive underestimation. All the beliefs and practices of Muslims are based on these special sacred books. Muslims have interacted with the Quran for a long time in its Arabic original form. Notably, there have been interpretations of the original Quran in accordance with the revelations from Muhammad. Worth noting is the fact that Muslims highlight that the Quran was revealed by God’s angel to Muhammad. Muhammad’s encounter with the angel Gabriel resulted in the different parts of the Quran that Muhammad taught his followers. During that era, the Quran was available in an oral form only with Muhammad’s followers having to recite the verses (Ernst 93). It was only after Muhammad’s death that Muslims saw the need for having a written form of the sacred text. However, the original written text has been subject to interpretations for many years. Without doubt, there are numerous controversies surrounding the interpretation of the Quran. Highlighting these controversies will form the central focus of this paper. Brief History of the Quran The Quran as it is today comprises of 114 Suras, which denote chapters in English. Each of the chapters has verses arranged in a form of prose that exhibits rhythm. Since Muslims believe that the Quran was revealed to Muhammad, who is considered as the most important prophet in the Islamic religion, it is important to highlight some aspects about Muhammad’s life. Notably, Muhammad was born in Mecca and received the first revelation when he was about 40 years. In the Quran, the experience is narrated with emphasis placed on the fact that the book was to be considered sacred as it originated from God and reached Muhammad through an angel. It was during this time that Muhammad was identified as Allah’s messenger to the people. Upon hearing the revelations from his first encounter with the angel, Muhammad began to teach people about God’ nature, final judgments, as well as the existing social inequalities. Other encounters with the angel focused on other subjects. Some Suras of the Quran such as Sura 96, Sura 53, and Sura 74 describe the encounters of Muhammad with the angel when he was receiving the revelations of the Quran. Some Islam faithful has highlighted that the Quran initially descended to earth in a heavenly prototype. This special prototype was considered a tablet under strict protection. There is also a prevailing belief that the Quran descended into the sublunary world (Ernst 95). Eventually. Different parts of the message contained in the Quran would later be revealed to Muhammad. Many Muslims have sought to understand the specific story describing the revelation of the Quran to Muhammad. There has been an existing controversy surrounding the documentation of the divine teachings that Muhammad received. Since the initial transmission of the Quran was in the oral form, many scholars have focused on understanding how it later emerged as a written text. Muhammad’s death spurred the need for writing down the divine teachings to serve as guidelines for the existing Muslims. The need for documenting the divine teachings also resulted from disputes and conflicts arising among the people concerning Muhammad’s teachings. Abu Bakr made the initial efforts by ordering an entire collection of all the divine teachings mentioned by Muhammad. However, it was not an easy process and it took over three different regimes for the written Quran to be ready. The final copy was written by Uthman, who went forth to bring together a committee that was responsible for reorganizing the Quran to a standard form. In the years that followed, different political leaders who succeeded Muhammad made efforts of ensuring that a standard Quran that could be understood by the people was available (Ernst 96). The Quran was arranged in accordance with the length of the Suras with the interpreters failing to adopt a chronological order. In the years that would follow, numerous controversies because the text was copied to different forms. The fact that the Arabic language was considered ambiguous, there was a salient need for religious scholars to copy the existing text (Khalidi 1). As mentioned above, the Quran explores different themes. In the initial revelation, Muhammad highlighted that he received knowledge in the form of divine teachings that focused on judgments, and his journey to Medina. However, further revelations brought forth numerous divine teachings that centered on different aspects. Notably, the Quran explored the nature of God, and highlighted Him as the creator, while mentioning His other superior qualities. Other critical aspects described in the Quran include the free will of humans and the Universalism of Islam (Siddiqui 3). These divine teachings are available in the different Suras of the Quran. There has been an ongoing criticism regarding the Quran’s stand on certain interpretations. Despite the existing controversy, Muslims have continued to respect the Quran as their religion’s sacred book. Critical Questions Surrounding the Quran and its Interpretations Worth noting is the fact that there are two different approaches of interpretations of the Quran. One of these approaches in the traditional and conservative consideration of the sacred text, its author, and the relevance of its content. On the other hand, a modern approach has been developed, which considers numerous details of the style and four of the Quran while comparing it to other texts such as the bible. Moreover, the modern approach seeks to determine the paths of the Quran, which exhibit relevance in the modern day life. The modern approach also questions the relevance of the traditional interpretations of the text (Siddiqui 5). The first written form of the Quran appeared in Arabic. Arabic is the language with different dialects depending on the region where it is spoken. Therefore, the initial copy of the Quran did not appear in a universal dialect of the language. Therefore, Muslims, focused on translating some of the Arabic texts in the Quran into a dialect that could be understood by all the people. Initially, many Muslims recited the Quran without any form of the understanding of the content it covered (Siddiqui 6). Contrary to such a practice, Siddiqui opines that there is a salient need for Muslims to begin studying the Quran intensely so that they can become more familiar with the meaning of the text. Earlier efforts of interpreting the Quran did not yield a universal copy that could be used by all the Muslim groups. This explains why the revelations delivered to Muhammad by an angel have remained subject to interpretation so that they can positively impact the lives of Muslims. These interpretations have highlighted some existing controversies and contradictions of the meaning of the text. For example, the Islam religion places emphasis on a life in heaven and in hell (Ernst 94). The Quran presents three different visions concerning the conditions of people in heaven and hell. It emerges that the three visions described in the Quran are contradicting. Notably, the Quran proves to be a challenges secret text to understand. Moreover, it is one of the most challenged religious texts across the globe. The Quran focuses on describing the endless dialogues between God and man based on human traits such as obedience, capacity to observe, and to remember. There have been many forms of criticism of the Quran because of some evident internal inconsistencies, repetition, use of metaphors and grammar errors. Although Muslims have often presented differences in these forms of criticisms, they remain to be central problems in both the interpretation by Muslims and understanding of the non-muslims (Siddiqui 7). Muslims have been associated with an increased intolerance of other religions because of their efforts to maintain peace within the Muslim community using terrorism and war. This has been supported using verses from the Quran. This explains why many non Muslims regard the Quran as a book that supports terrorism. Muslims have often highlighted that they have a role of maintaining the Muslim community in a peaceful state. This may include the use of war in an effort to do away with barriers of peace. The Quranic principle of ijitihad has been associated with a legal justification of engaging in war in an effort to promote the religious interests of Muslims (Siddiqui 10). According to their interpretation, Muslims are allowed to engage in war as long as the purpose of doing that is ensuring that the Muslim community does the will of God. It is unfortunate that the Quranic verses associated with the ijitihad have been used by terrorists to support and justify their actions. The terrorists believe that geopolitical factors that serve as barriers of peace in the Muslim community should be eliminated even if that calls for violence. This perspective of interpreting some verses of the Quran has led to an increased global controversy. Some Muslims have highlighted that the Quran does not support violence in any form (Ernst 98). These groups of Muslims have the conviction that associating the Quran with promoting violence is a misrepresentation of the sacred text. This has given rise to the extremist in the Islam religion. These extremists interpreted the Quran in an effort to justify the prevailing terrorism acts across the globe. Moreover, different interpretations of the Quran have contributed to the emergence of different groups of the Islam religion. Whereas there are conservative Muslims, others have proved to be radical and extremists. This raises the question on the most valid interpretation of the Quran. Since the different groups of Muslims view the Quran and its content differently, there is a need to draw a clear boundary between the genuine interpretations and those exhibiting inconsistencies. Unless this is done, the Quran will remain to be highly misinterpreted. Concerning the example quoted above, which focuses on the views of the Quran on terrorism, it remains unclear whether the Quran should be used as a justification for war or other factors should be associated with the motivation exhibited by terrorists in an effort to destroy. According to the views of some scholars, extreme interpretations of the Quran have contributed to the association of the Islamic religion with terrorism. However, the authentic interpretation of the sacred texts obtained in the Quran does not point to the Quranic association with violence. These extreme interpretations have led to the misuse of the Quran by terrorists and associating Islam doctrines with violence. Worth mentioning is the fact that the extreme interpretations only qualify as fanatical interpretations in the view of some scholars (Khalidi 6). The interpretation of the Shariat, which is regarded highly by Muslims because of its presentation of the moral rules that should govern the Muslim community is of central importance. The Shariat highlights the material, social, moral, as well as individual scenarios in which Muslims may find themselves in. It offers guidelines that Muslims can rely on, in an effort to make wise decisions. A more realistic approach reveals that Muslims have a level of freedom of interpreting the Quran to suit their specific situations. This freedom may explain why the extremists have chosen terrorism as their cause of action. Notably, the Shariat does identify different forms of jihad. This may include the internal, external as well as the inter-communal jihad. According to the Quran, there is permission for Muslims to rely on violence as an alternative in the three types of jihad. However, more emphasis is placed on the use of jihad and violence in inter-communal conflicts. This is what many Muslims who support terrorism have interpreted in relevance to their geopolitical situations and the emergence of conflicts. However, the question regarding the interpretation of this permission of the Quran is whether extremists consider the use of violence only when their peace has been compromised because the Quran highlights that it should be an option only after a compromise of God’s work has occurred. In addition, there has been an ongoing controversy regarding the interpretation of the Quran and the position of women in the society. Without doubt, patriarchy is practiced in the Islamic religion and women have numerous limitations in engaging in religious activities. For many scholars, it has remained a question on whether the Quran really advocates for such treatment towards women or whether it is a problem of interpretation. Muslims have adhered to many of the teachings regarding the position of women in the society. This is evident in the way Muslim women remain highly conservative and submissive (Khalidi 11). The fact that some Muslim men practice domestic violence only serves to highlight the possibility of an evident misinterpretation. Some scholars of the Quran have highlighted that one of the verses in the Quran specifically Sura 4 verse 34 has been interpreted differently by the Muslims as an explanation for domestic violence, which is a central aspect of their religion. Although the verse permits men to take punitive actions against women who do not fulfill their obligations, modern interpretations reveal that they should only do so in a light manner. The practice of domestic violence by the Islamic religion has been challenged for a long time. It remains unclear whether the Quran indicated the verse above in support of domestic violence or not. Conclusion Evidently, the Quran is one of the highly regarded sacred text in the globe. Millions of Muslims rely on it for spiritual guidelines. Over the years, the original text has been interpreted to suit the situations of Muslims. As Siddiqui highlights, the text is subject to interpretation to suit personal experiences. However, there is evidence that some Muslims exhibit extremist opinions concerning some of the highlighted verses in the Quran. For example, scholars still question whether the justification of violence using the Quran is valid. Moreover, domestic violence has become a central social problem in the Muslim community. One remains to wonder whether the Quran is really advocating for domestic violence. The globe is yet to experience the presence of a conclusive interpretation of the Quran and clarification of some issues that have caused controversies. Work Cited Ernst, Carl W. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. Chapel Hill [u.a.: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2004. Print. Khalidi, Tarif. The Quran. London: Penguin Books Limited, 2013. Print. Siddiqui, Mona. How to Read the Qurʼan. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2007. Print. Read More