Questions on your revised view (2)
Note: These questions are referring to the article: The True Meaning of Universality of the Qur’an)
Dear Sir ,
I have following questions in relation to your revised views.
1 - One of the implication of your revised views will be that , anyone living in any country of the world either its Muslim , Hindu, Christian etc..is only responsible to follow the country rules and laws ( i..e local Shariah ) i.e. Riba/Conventional banknig is not Haram , Paying Zakat is not mandatory, Striving to spread message of islam is not required etc.. In other words, your revised views are implying that , humans are free to adapt any Shariah and its still accepted by God Almighty ( as God sent messenger to every nation)
You are giving me a chance to clarify myself, for which I am greatly thankful to you.
As for the above question, I find it easier to comment on each sentence in turn:
“anyone living in any country of the world either its Muslim , Hindu, Christian etc.is only responsible to follow the country rules and laws ( i..e local Shariah)”
It seems like you have made shari’ah and country rules equal in your question. To me these are not necessarily equal. Therefore I have to answer your question for each case:
“Every person who belongs to a religious community only needs to follow their own religious rules”.
Yes, the above is my understanding.
“Every person who belongs to a religious community only needs to follow the rules of the place that he/she is residing in”
No, such person too needs to follow his/her own shari’ah. However those aspects of shari’ah that are not pertaining to rules of worship or individual discipline (e.g. dietary law) need to be adjusted with the time and the location of application. The main criteria for such adjustment is justice (which serves towards purification that is the ultimate goal of shari’ah). If a person arrives at conclusion that some of the already in place civil law fulfil the purpose of shari’ah better, then those laws are the ones that he/she also needs to be subscribed to, as a member of a religious community. On the other hand, it can be the case that rules of the country of residence allow a practice that goes against the wisdom behind some of the rulings of the shari'ah. In this case the person should not allow him/herself to be involved in that practice, even though it is deemed legal by the state.
In any case, every citizen of any country is religiously bound to be a law obedient citizen.
“Riba/Conventional banknig is not Haram , Paying Zakat is not mandatory, Striving to spread message of islam is not required etc”
No, if you read my answer above carefully then you will see that disregard of where a Muslim lives, I believe he needs to avoid riba, pay zakah and strive to spread the message of islam.
However please note:
- In my understanding, conventional bank interest is not riba. Riba can be better translated as usury.
- In my understanding, paying tax is the same as paying zakah. While it is highly desirable to pay more as sadaqah (charity), no more than the state assigned tax is due on us as zakah.
- As for spreading the message of islam (I hope you intentionally used lower case): The message of islam is appreciating God and hereafter and to promote righteous deeds. In my understanding it is the responsibility of every human being to spread this message where the opportunity comes.
“your revised views are implying that , humans are free to adapt any Shariah and its still accepted by God Almighty”
Yes as verse 5:48 and other verses, as quoted in my article, clarify this.
However please note: Not every community is given a shari’ah, only those who are given one are obliged to follow it.
“God sent messenger to every nation”
This depends what you mean by messenger. If by messenger we mean that technical meaning of messenger that the Qur’an often refers to (which results in rewards and punishments in this very world), then it is not quite correct to say that according to the Qur'an every nation had a messenger. Rather, to remain more accurate in interpreting the Qur'an, we should say every chosen community had a messenger. Please read verses 35:24 and 16:36 with careful attention to the word ummah (community) and its difference with the word qaum (nation) in the context.
We may say that according to the Qur'an every nation has a guide 13:7. One may also refer to them as messengers but this will not be in that technical meaning that brings God’s rewards and punishments in this world.
2 - How we will see the standard of morality in this case, for example, Quran clearly prohibits the vulgarity and open relationships between men and women - however, in other countries of the world, its just moral to have these relationships . So , do you mean they are also following God scheme ?
No they are not.
I am not sure how accurate your statement is that in some countries vulgarity and open relationship between men and women are moral. You may say that these are allowed but to say these are moral to me is not entirely true. You will see that different groups and different levels of society have different standards of relationship between man and woman and while all agree that inappropriate relationship is not moral, there are differences of views as to what 'inappropriate' actually means.
When referring to people other than the chosen communities in my article, I wrote:
All other people are expected to follow the obvious rules of morality, often referred to as Noahic rules in the Biblical literature. These are also referred to with minor differences in the Qur’an, e.g. 17:22-39. Believing in One God is included in these rules.
Modesty in relationship between man and woman is included in the Noahic rules. Morality that I refer to therefore is that level of morality that is suitable for God aware people. As far as I see, most if not all God aware communities do not consider lust and intimate relationship between man and woman who are not married to be appropriate.
3- Why until today we don't know who was sent as messenger or torchbearer for nations like China ,Japan , Hindus - as you said , God has adopted second scheme , where every nation gets its own guide?
First please refer to my above writing about whether God sent messengers to every nation. Second please note that you can ask the same question also from those scholars who believe before Ibrahim (pbuh) every nation had a messenger.
As for my view, as I wrote above, every nation had a guide. However these guides were not necessarily prophets in the way that we define them and therefore were not necessarily receiving revelations. In my understanding many of the ideologies or faiths in the areas that you mentioned are originated in the teachings of true guides.
4- As you said and i also agree that in order to get deep understanding of Quran its mandatory to have grasp on complex language of Quranic Arabic - but doesn't it applies to any book of other disciplines - for example, by reading Einstein' relativity theory i can get some visible meaning but to know it in its true spirits i have to get specialized degree in Physics - so same is true for Quran as well - why you are making it as reason that complex language of Quran makes it as an obstacle to be called universal book ?
There are three points here:
- It is not my argument, but the argument of the Qur’an that gives importance to language (look at 12:2, 44:58, 19:97, 14:4, 41:44, 26:198-199 and read their explanation in my article).
- You are absolutely right to say that this can be said about any book. Yes, it is due to the human being’s subjectivity that people cannot understand and relate themselves to every language and culture. Your argument therefore in fact supports mine. What I am saying is that God has in deed recognised this subjectivity and therefore has sent guides to different communities from their own kind, as stated in the Qur'an (2:151, 9:128).
- While the above general point stands. There is also an argument that is specific to the Qur'an and Its style. To use your own example, Einstein never claimed that he is writing his relativity theory for all people of the world. I am sure he intended his theory to be understood only for the physicians. However if one had argued today that Einstein in deed wrote his theories so that all people, physician or not, could understand it, then I will not be able to accept this. The style of the writing shows the author's intention. The complex style of the Arabic of the Qur’an and its very local theme and references tell me that the author of the book (who is the All Wise and All Knowing God) made this book for the purpose of its primary local addressees. This is what the verses of the Qur'an also tell us (42:7, 6:92, 43:44, 28:46, 36:6, 32:3, 6:155-157). Of course anyone who by will or by birth has joined this community are also having the Qur'an as their book of guidance.
I hope the above is clear and please do let me know if any further clarification is needed or if there are any follow up questions.
--------
October 2016
Dear Sir ,
I have following questions in relation to your revised views.
1 - One of the implication of your revised views will be that , anyone living in any country of the world either its Muslim , Hindu, Christian etc..is only responsible to follow the country rules and laws ( i..e local Shariah ) i.e. Riba/Conventional banknig is not Haram , Paying Zakat is not mandatory, Striving to spread message of islam is not required etc.. In other words, your revised views are implying that , humans are free to adapt any Shariah and its still accepted by God Almighty ( as God sent messenger to every nation)
You are giving me a chance to clarify myself, for which I am greatly thankful to you.
As for the above question, I find it easier to comment on each sentence in turn:
“anyone living in any country of the world either its Muslim , Hindu, Christian etc.is only responsible to follow the country rules and laws ( i..e local Shariah)”
It seems like you have made shari’ah and country rules equal in your question. To me these are not necessarily equal. Therefore I have to answer your question for each case:
“Every person who belongs to a religious community only needs to follow their own religious rules”.
Yes, the above is my understanding.
“Every person who belongs to a religious community only needs to follow the rules of the place that he/she is residing in”
No, such person too needs to follow his/her own shari’ah. However those aspects of shari’ah that are not pertaining to rules of worship or individual discipline (e.g. dietary law) need to be adjusted with the time and the location of application. The main criteria for such adjustment is justice (which serves towards purification that is the ultimate goal of shari’ah). If a person arrives at conclusion that some of the already in place civil law fulfil the purpose of shari’ah better, then those laws are the ones that he/she also needs to be subscribed to, as a member of a religious community. On the other hand, it can be the case that rules of the country of residence allow a practice that goes against the wisdom behind some of the rulings of the shari'ah. In this case the person should not allow him/herself to be involved in that practice, even though it is deemed legal by the state.
In any case, every citizen of any country is religiously bound to be a law obedient citizen.
“Riba/Conventional banknig is not Haram , Paying Zakat is not mandatory, Striving to spread message of islam is not required etc”
No, if you read my answer above carefully then you will see that disregard of where a Muslim lives, I believe he needs to avoid riba, pay zakah and strive to spread the message of islam.
However please note:
- In my understanding, conventional bank interest is not riba. Riba can be better translated as usury.
- In my understanding, paying tax is the same as paying zakah. While it is highly desirable to pay more as sadaqah (charity), no more than the state assigned tax is due on us as zakah.
- As for spreading the message of islam (I hope you intentionally used lower case): The message of islam is appreciating God and hereafter and to promote righteous deeds. In my understanding it is the responsibility of every human being to spread this message where the opportunity comes.
“your revised views are implying that , humans are free to adapt any Shariah and its still accepted by God Almighty”
Yes as verse 5:48 and other verses, as quoted in my article, clarify this.
However please note: Not every community is given a shari’ah, only those who are given one are obliged to follow it.
“God sent messenger to every nation”
This depends what you mean by messenger. If by messenger we mean that technical meaning of messenger that the Qur’an often refers to (which results in rewards and punishments in this very world), then it is not quite correct to say that according to the Qur'an every nation had a messenger. Rather, to remain more accurate in interpreting the Qur'an, we should say every chosen community had a messenger. Please read verses 35:24 and 16:36 with careful attention to the word ummah (community) and its difference with the word qaum (nation) in the context.
We may say that according to the Qur'an every nation has a guide 13:7. One may also refer to them as messengers but this will not be in that technical meaning that brings God’s rewards and punishments in this world.
2 - How we will see the standard of morality in this case, for example, Quran clearly prohibits the vulgarity and open relationships between men and women - however, in other countries of the world, its just moral to have these relationships . So , do you mean they are also following God scheme ?
No they are not.
I am not sure how accurate your statement is that in some countries vulgarity and open relationship between men and women are moral. You may say that these are allowed but to say these are moral to me is not entirely true. You will see that different groups and different levels of society have different standards of relationship between man and woman and while all agree that inappropriate relationship is not moral, there are differences of views as to what 'inappropriate' actually means.
When referring to people other than the chosen communities in my article, I wrote:
All other people are expected to follow the obvious rules of morality, often referred to as Noahic rules in the Biblical literature. These are also referred to with minor differences in the Qur’an, e.g. 17:22-39. Believing in One God is included in these rules.
Modesty in relationship between man and woman is included in the Noahic rules. Morality that I refer to therefore is that level of morality that is suitable for God aware people. As far as I see, most if not all God aware communities do not consider lust and intimate relationship between man and woman who are not married to be appropriate.
3- Why until today we don't know who was sent as messenger or torchbearer for nations like China ,Japan , Hindus - as you said , God has adopted second scheme , where every nation gets its own guide?
First please refer to my above writing about whether God sent messengers to every nation. Second please note that you can ask the same question also from those scholars who believe before Ibrahim (pbuh) every nation had a messenger.
As for my view, as I wrote above, every nation had a guide. However these guides were not necessarily prophets in the way that we define them and therefore were not necessarily receiving revelations. In my understanding many of the ideologies or faiths in the areas that you mentioned are originated in the teachings of true guides.
4- As you said and i also agree that in order to get deep understanding of Quran its mandatory to have grasp on complex language of Quranic Arabic - but doesn't it applies to any book of other disciplines - for example, by reading Einstein' relativity theory i can get some visible meaning but to know it in its true spirits i have to get specialized degree in Physics - so same is true for Quran as well - why you are making it as reason that complex language of Quran makes it as an obstacle to be called universal book ?
There are three points here:
- It is not my argument, but the argument of the Qur’an that gives importance to language (look at 12:2, 44:58, 19:97, 14:4, 41:44, 26:198-199 and read their explanation in my article).
- You are absolutely right to say that this can be said about any book. Yes, it is due to the human being’s subjectivity that people cannot understand and relate themselves to every language and culture. Your argument therefore in fact supports mine. What I am saying is that God has in deed recognised this subjectivity and therefore has sent guides to different communities from their own kind, as stated in the Qur'an (2:151, 9:128).
- While the above general point stands. There is also an argument that is specific to the Qur'an and Its style. To use your own example, Einstein never claimed that he is writing his relativity theory for all people of the world. I am sure he intended his theory to be understood only for the physicians. However if one had argued today that Einstein in deed wrote his theories so that all people, physician or not, could understand it, then I will not be able to accept this. The style of the writing shows the author's intention. The complex style of the Arabic of the Qur’an and its very local theme and references tell me that the author of the book (who is the All Wise and All Knowing God) made this book for the purpose of its primary local addressees. This is what the verses of the Qur'an also tell us (42:7, 6:92, 43:44, 28:46, 36:6, 32:3, 6:155-157). Of course anyone who by will or by birth has joined this community are also having the Qur'an as their book of guidance.
I hope the above is clear and please do let me know if any further clarification is needed or if there are any follow up questions.
--------
October 2016
