Books of the People of the Book

Question: If you study the Quran and have not studied the Torah, or the New Testament how can you say you are a scholar? The Quran as I read it speaks about the people of the book many, many times. Read the books of those People.

Answer: Did I call myself a scholar? No, I’m just a plain muslim who likes to discuss religion to understand the reasons behind other peoples’ conviction and faith in their religion, and shares her understanding and faith, as I believe we all are, indeed, here in this group, for a common cause, in pursuit of knowledge. By the way, I have read both The Old Testament and The New Testament. In the very beginning of the Quran, we are told that this book(the Quran) is a guidance for those who are pious…. And the definition of pious that follows includes faith in the revelations on Muhammad, and those before Muhammad, so you see, it is mandatory upon us to believe in, respect and honour all prophets, messengers and holy books. But, we are also told that, over time humans have made changes in those books, and that we will have to use the Quran as the measure of truth when studying those books. Thus, we accept all that is in accordance with the Quran….. for instance, Jesus says that He has come to confirm the Law, the Quran confirms this so we believe that Jesus was indeed sent as a prophet to the Jews to confirm the Laws, and to explain the wisdom of it.

Study of Islam

Question: It is hard to believe that this is the work of a Supreme Being. One has to be unbelievably brainwashed to think this is sublime. In Pakistan however, you will be beheaded if you throw the Quran in a waste-bin.Many a Muslim will claim that what I have written has nothing to do with Islam and that all of it are culture-related issues. This is completely false. The situation of the Muslim has nothing to do with a so called backward culture in Islamic countries but has everything to do with true Islam itself. In my opinion Islam is in violation with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on many issues and poses a danger to society. Reformation of Islam is impossible since everything is described in detail in the Quran and the Hadith/traditions of Muhammad. The Quran and the Hadith are complementary and provide explanations for one another. The so-called reformers or moderate Muslims pretend that a large part of the Quran does not exist. Or they try to distort the truth because it so ugly.The extremists (Wahabi, Salafists, ... ) or so-called “radicalized youth” just go for the whole story. If in the West Islam is considered as an “approved” religion, one cannot blame these people that they use their right to effectively follow the Quran and the Hadith.One forgets that Islam is not only a religion but also a culture, a social system, a legislation, a political system, a military system, ....and that these cannot easily be separated. An example: one would expect that prayer belongs to the religious domain. During prayer muslims read a chapter of the Quran. When they choose chapter 9 and recite that polytheists should be killed (9:5) and that Christians and Jews have to be fought until they submit (9:29) and that you may not spend time with your ‘unbelieving’ family members (9:23), one enters in the military, social and political domain. And then muslims are surprised that they have to explain to those Polytheists, Jews, Christians or atheist relatives that these verses are no longer valid and were meant only for specific circumstances, wherease Islamic scholars claim the exact opposite. When I put everything in perspective I cannot understand how anyone who has studied Islam thoroughly on the basis of the Islamic sources, still can remain a Muslim. I am no longer a Muslim. i hope every Muslim will study Islam thoroughly and follow suit.

Answer: If any were to study Talmud and other writings along with the Torah, if one were to study all the literature ascribed to all the world religions, one would most definitely become an ‘non-believer’ in any or all of those religions simply because most of the religious literature is human work……….. full of errors, mistakes, omissions, aspirations, motives, slander, lies and the list can go on. The primary works: the books which were revealed to humans, example the Torah, the Bible, the Vedas, the Quran, etc, can only be considered as sources; the rest, if one is not careful, is all misleading!

Study from original sources

Q: A few years ago, I mentioned to my wife that all news about Islam was so negative that I wondered what Islam really teaches. She told me there were no secrets and that everything was written in the books. Of course, I had Muslims confirm that these were the best sources and I could buy them from online Islamic bookstores. I searched the Internet to make a list of original source-books on Islam and I purchased these books. I have read the following 20 books:
1. The Quran
2. The authentic traditions of Muhammad (Sahih Hadith) by Bukhari: 9 books
3. A summary of the authentic traditions of Muhammad by (Sahih) Muslim: 2 books
4. Life of the Prophet: oldest biography by Ibn Ishaq
5. Life of the Prophet: Tabari: 4 books
6. Life of the Prophet: Ibn Sa'd: 2 books
7. Shariah book called Umdat as-salik / Reliance of the Traveller of the Shafi'i school (1 of the 4 large schools of Islam recognized by the Al-Azhar university in Egypt). This is not an original source but it is how the Quran, the hadith and the biographies of the Muhammad are interpreted by Muslim scholars and are being turned into laws. This book is incredibly user-friendly and I use it to check my interpretation of the Quran and the Hadith.This Shariah book does not contain any surprises because it is consistent with the Quran and the Sahih Hadith.
After reading these books, I could no longer remain a Muslim. There is no greater insult to Muhammad as a prophet and for Islam as an ideology, than the Quran and the original sources of Islam: books written by Allah and Muslims for Muslims. That is why websites that criticise Islam advise everyone to study Islam from these original sources.What is written in these books is too crazy for words. Many practices that we consider as immoral in the 21st century have been permitted by Muhammad.

A: Only the Quran is Allah’s words and a guidance for mankind. The rest are works of humans……….. whether they were honest mistakes, or deliberate attempts to taint Islam, I do not know, and I shall not judge. But, personally, I can only accept the Quran as the final true revelation of Allah Almighty for my guidance and I find it sufficient enough.

Books about Islam are mostly misleading? (cont.)

Q: The pattern of their thinking is that the good verses of the Quran are generally applicable and the passages that call for violence are contextual and only meant for a specific situation. The Quran however does not make this distinction. These books justify the negative side of Islam by very “creative” reasoning, by concealing things, by wrong translations from Arabic and by outright lies.

A: The Quran, the final revelation, is the word of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, and is a guidance for all human beings for all times to come. It was revealed to Prophet Muhammad and the immediate addressees were the Prophet and the people of Makka and Medina. There are verses which are general in nature, and there are verses that are specific and time-bound. One need not be a scholar to figure out which verse will apply to whom and when…… all that is required is an honest, reference to the context, study of the verses. There are different shades of guidance even on the same issue, for example, where intoxicants are mentioned, there are three different advice given depending on the readiness of the person: we are told that there is great sin and some profit in it, then, at another place the advice is to not to pray while intoxicated, and finally, the advice to eschew it ….the scholars say that the final call to completely give up intoxicants came in 6th year after migration to Medina, i.e. a total of 19 years after preaching. So, you see, as the Quran was itself revealed over a period of 23 years, and as, in the Quran itself, we are asked to study it slowly, contemplating upon and absorbing the message of each verse as we move along, Allah does not expect us to change completely overnight only to regret and revert later, but rather he wants us to gradually and completely submit ourselves to His way with our heart and soul…. With conviction, love and piety, knowing that we are on the right path.