Ex-Muslim:-
I am often asked, Why I left Islam?. As absurd
as it may be, some Muslims cannot even allow themselves to think that leaving
Islam is an option, or even possible.
Comment:-
No. It is possible all right. And, indeed,
these days when Western education and culture dominate, it is not at all
unusual.
The Quran does tell us why and how it is
possible.
What a person believes or rejects can be
determined by the following factors:- Inherent predisposition; acquired
prejudices; knowledge or ignorance of relevant data; the kind, quality and
strength of efforts made to process information adequately or correctly; the
capacity for perception and understanding; interest in appropriate directions; compatibility
of motives and desires which control the direction and concentration of
attention; appropriateness of actions which provide experiences and modify
people or divert attention; conditioning by the physical, social and cultural
environment; the existence of previous assumptions, attitudes, prejudices,
habits of thinking.
Once it is understood and accepted that the
Quran is not an ordinary book coming from the lower subjective or worldly mind,
but contains truth that comes through a higher mind from an Objective Source,
then it is impossible to abandon Islam.
But the subjective mind does like to suppress
the truth in favour of its own desires, fantasies, prejudices and illusionary
self-interests.
As the Quran is the source of all values for
Muslims, it cannot be judged by extraneous values. But everything else is
judged by the Quran.
This is, obviously, not what this critic has
done.
Ex-Muslim:-
Not until few years ago I used to think that my
faith in Islam was not based on blind imitation but rather was the result of
years of investigation and research. The fact that I had read a lot of books on
Islam, written by people whose thoughts I approved of and delving into
philosophies that were within my comfort zone, emphasized my conviction that I
had found the truth. All my bias research confirmed my faith. Just like other
Muslims I used to believe that to learn about anything one has to go to the
source. Of course the source of Islam is Quran and the books written by Muslim
scholars. Therefore, I felt no need to look elsewhere in order to find the
truth, as I was convinced that I have already found it. As Muslims say:
"Talab il ilm ba'di wossule ma'loom madmoom". The search of knowledge
after gaining it is foolish.
Comment:-
If you had understood Islam it would have been
difficult or impossible to leave. There are a great number of problems
connected with these Western Values. There are few books on Islam which can
deal with the kind of intellectual problems western thinkers pose and most
people do not make the necessary effort to deal with them.
But there might have been strong causes as well
as motives why you would want to leave and these would have obstructed your
efforts to understand Islam also. Among the causes are conditioning by your
educational system. Other causes are the desire to be regarded as
"modern", "enlightened" or "civilized" or
"rational" or "scientific" or "westernized" and
to be accepted by a community who you saw as the source of "power"
and "excellence". Or you wished to dissociate yourself from those who
were regarded as backwards. Or you found the Islamic discipline too difficult
to perform or its values too high for comfort. So you wished to get out of
Islam and in order to get rid of guilt feelings you needed some excuses.
Or you wanted to indulge in certain appetites
that were forbidden. So you looked around for excuses and rationalizations why
it should be abandoned. Or you hated some person or group who professed to be a
Muslim but was a hypocrite in action or was cruel or too strict or an
embarrassment. Or your Ego was too strong and you preferred your own subjective
opinions over the Quran. And you also read and interpreted the Quran in a way
which would allow you to reject it .......... I can go on and I know all these
from personal experiences and the experiences of others.
Ex-Muslim:-
I suppose it was my acquaintance with the
western humanistic values that made me more sensitive and whet my appetite for
democracy, freethinking, human rights, equality, etc. It was then that when I
read the Quran again I came across injunctions that were not at par with my new
found humanistic values, I was distressed and felt very uncomfortable to read
teachings like these.
Comment:-
Yes. If you accept one set of values then
another set which you do not understand or see as contradicting them will be
uncomfortable. But what are the grounds for accepting these man-made ones that
have arisen accidentally? Is mental conditioning or mere subjective bias
sufficient justification?
Ex-Muslim:-
Quran 3:5 says "But those who reject Faith after they accepted it, and then go on
adding to their defiance of Faith - never will their repentance be accepted;
for they are those who have gone astray".
Quran 16:106 says "Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters unbelief,-
except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open
their breast to unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a
dreadful Penalty."
These ideas are unacceptable.
Comment:-
You use the word "unacceptable" as if
it was a universal impersonal truth. The question is: Why is it unacceptable?
And to whom under what circumstances? What do you understand by faith? It is
unacceptable to you but certainly not to others.
What if these statements are true and not
inventions? What if they tell us something about the nature of human
psychology?
If you do not understand them, then you can
only reject them if you have already made up your mind that they are not
objective truths or revelations. How have you come to this conclusion?
Ex-Muslim:-
One may think that the dreadful penalty
mentioned above pertains to the next world. But Muhammad made sure that these
people received their penalty in this world as well. See Sahih Bukhari Volume
6, Book 61, Number 577:
Muslims have persecuted and killed others for
apostasy.
Comment:-
Obviously you do not believe in the Next World,
understand what that means, and do not fear spiritual consequences. Or you have
falsely assumed that you understand.
Obviously also you did not receive the penalty
in this world.
The Hadith you quote are reports of what
happened, not instructions, and refer to the conditions that existed at the
time and you do not have all the facts to make any judgment about them. The
Prophet (saw) was creating a nation and defending it against destructive
influences.
The Quran gives us the instructions and these
have to be understood. Certainly Muslims have departed from Islam and
misinterpreted and misapplied it, or ignored it altogether. This has been done
by adherents of all religions. Why pick on Muslims?
There is a fallacy in supposing that because a
person or group is called Muslim, Christian, Buddhist etc., therefore, all
their deed must be attributed to the faith that they profess or practice
sometimes, rather than human weaknesses and perversities.
Seekers of truth are not swayed by the misdeeds
of others. But everyone is responsible for their own understanding and actions.
A Christian Critic:-
The Revealed Truth is in the New Testament. The
Quran contradicts it and cannot, therefore, be revelation. You say the Quran is
Revelation from the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. How do you know? Is
it because the Quran says so? This is circular reasoning.
Comment:-
You think that the Bible is Revelation from
God. How do you know? Is it because the Bible says so? This is circular
reasoning. This is even less believable because we know the NT consists of
writings by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul.
The Quran is believed in by people for
basically the same reasons as people believe in any other scripture – faith,
tradition etc. In general new converts believe that the Quran is revelation
from God because they see the truth in it and because of the way the Quran
affects them. This is like looking at a beautiful sunset or nature and
recognizing that God created them. The ideas in it may connect with something
deep within them. They might think about life and existence and find that the
ideas are rational, form a self-consistent system which explains all things and
enables them to adjust themselves to themselves, the society and the rest of
reality.
Christian Critic:-
The Quran is inconsistent. For instance, it
contains contradictions:- Who brings the revelation from Allah to Muhammad? The
ANGEL Gabriel [2:97], or the Holy Spirit [16:102]? The new revelation confirms
the old [2:97] or substitutes it [16:101]?
Comment:-
There are no contradictions in the Quran. It is
your understanding that is at fault. If a friend sends you a letter, is the
letter from the friend or the Post Office or the Postman who brings it? If
something confirms the original teachings in some thing that has come to be
misunderstood, would not this correction replace the other?
Christian Critic:-
It says the Quran is PURE Arabic [16:103] but
there are numerous foreign, non-Arabic words in it. And this is not pure Arabic
- it has many grammatical errors. This is an interesting point when you
consider that the Muslims claim it was written in Heaven.
Comment:-
It is inspired, not written in heaven, in
Arabic. The source is in Heaven.
Who says it has grammatical errors? Who made
the grammar? English has many words that originally come from French or German
or even India.
They have become part of the language. Does this make them foreign?
Christian Critic:-
The Quran was recorded in many different places
and on different mediums like leaves and clay pots. Much was lost. Zaid did his
best and so did Uthman but the fact is that the battle of Yammama saw many of
those who had committed the verses to memory killed. Uthman knew this and destroyed
surviving manuscripts. What is the real Quran? No one knows because there is
little manuscript evidence.
Comment:-
The verses were memorized by many people. The
Quran contains all the verses that were collected. No one has ever claimed that
it contains anything other than what was revealed. If it had been altered there
would have been a great protest. The Hadith are records about early Islam in
much detail. There is no indication of any great protest about changes. Many
ideas in the Quran have been repeated several times. The loss of a verse or two
makes no difference. The Quran itself tells us that if a verse is forgotten one
like it or a better one would be given.
You cannot know about the loss of a verse
unless it is recorded in the Hadith. But if it is recorded in the Hadith then
it is not lost.
But nothing like that can be said about the NT.
Christian Critic:-
There appear to have been only a few disputes
among the Sahaba (Muhammad's "companions") about the text of the
Quran while Muhammad lived, unlike those which arose soon after his demise. All
these factors explain the absence of an official codified text at the time of
his death. The possible abrogation of existing passages, and the probable
addition of further ayat (the Quran nowhere declares its own completeness or
that no further revelations could be expected) prevented any attempt to achieve
the desired result very soon thereafter by his closest companions.
Comment:-
This applies more to Christianity. They did not
even have an NT until centuries after the death of Jesus. There are still
contradictions between the accepted Gospels and there are still numerous
apocryphal gospels. And there are a great number of sects.
Interpretation is, of course, different from
Text. Muslims do disagree about interpretations but not about the text. There
has always been a consensus among Muslims that the Quran is unchanged and
complete, except for some minor points. It is preserved in the state it was
meant to be by Allah. Therefore, arguments of what it might have consisted of
or ought to consist of are entirely irrelevant.
Critic:-
There is plenty of evidence that there was no
revelation of God at all but rather copying from other sources. Muhammad
synthesized Islam from several sources: Judaism, Christianity, Sabeanism,
paganism, and his own changing personal theology. A quick review of the Quran
shows that Muhammad was influenced by various Jewish sources.
Comment:-
Do you wish to dictate what revelation is and
what it should contain!! This is nonsense.
The teachings of Jesus can be found in the OT
and in numerous other Sources e.g. Hindu, Buddhist and so on. Are these,
therefore, false? And not the Word of God? Truth is Truth no matter who it
comes through. Its recognition requires insight and inspiration. The truth
needs to be repeated when it is ignored or misinterpreted. You cannot argue
both that it is a copy and also that it is a distortion. As the Quran tells us
that it confirms previous scriptures should it not illustrate this fact?
Christian Critic:-
Consider the story of Cain and Abel in Quran
chapter 5. Initially, the Torah and the Quran agree. But in verse 31, the two
diverge. Then God sent down a raven, which dug the earth to show him how to
bury the naked corpse of his brother. We find a striking parallel between the
Quran and a Jewish book of myths and fables. (The "Pirke Rabbi
Eliezer", according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, attributed to Rabbi
Eliezer b. Hyrcanus [first century], but written most probably in the 8th
century. It was thought to be earlier than the Quran for a long time and some
Christian books still reflect this assumption.......The similarity is obvious.
The only difference is that the Quran says Cain did the burying, the Pirke says
Adam did the burying.
Comment:-
This critic says it is a copy and then says it
varies!!. Why? That is the question.
The stories in the Quran are meant to teach
something. It is this truth which should be the focus of attention. We see a
striking parallel between the story about Jesus' birth and crucifixion and the
same in many other traditions. What do you make of that?
Critic:-
The Quran says: “That is why We laid it down for the Israelites that whoever killed a
human being, except as punishment for murder or other villainy in the land,
shall be deemed as though he had killed a whole people; and that whoever saved
a human life shall be deemed as though he had saved a whole people.” Sura
5:35.
Initially, there appears to be no connection
between verses 31 and 32. Why the life or death of one should be as the
salvation or destruction of all mankind in not made clear in the Quran.
Comment:-
This critic is, of course, demonstrating his
own limited understanding or desire not to understand or desire to find fault.
Is the Critic denying the truth of it? If it is
an important truth why should it not be in the Quran. These verses occur in a
greater context. Why confine attention to verses 31 and 32 only. The words
"For this cause We prescribed..." should have made the wiser reader
ponder about the implications.
The story here tells us that Cain's sacrifice
was not accepted because the intention behind it was impure - Cain was not
righteous. Abel's was accepted because he was righteous. This made Cain jealous
and he increased his sin by killing Abel. But he did not bury the body. The
Crow is a scavenger. It reminded Cain of his sin, but also showed him that he
was ineffective in hiding his sin. The story is symbolic. It is about
unrighteousness trying to kill righteousness. It is about two tendencies in the
mind of man (Adam) and about two kinds of people in whom one or the other
tendency is uppermost. Since man (Adam) has been created to serve God, this
tendency to kill the righteous is a tendency to kill mankind.
It also sets an example which others follow and
has further consequences which are symbolized by the crow. These verses can
well apply to some critics in that they also secretly wants to kill all Muslims
and Islam.
Critic:-
When we turn to another Jewish record the
Mishnah Sanhedrin, we find the link between the story and what follows: We find
it said in the case of Cain who murdered his brother, "The voice of thy
brother's bloods crieth." (Gen. 4:10). It is not here blood in the
singular, but bloods in the plural. That is, his own blood and the blood of his
seed. Man was created single in order to show that to him who kills a single
individual it shall be reckoned that he has slain the whole race, but to him
who preserves the life of a single individual it is counted that he hath
preserved the whole race. Mishnah Sanhedrin, 4:5
Here is a passage from the Mishnah! The Mishnah
is a Jewish commentary on the Torah. How did a Rabbi's commentary make its way
into the Quran and be quoted as word from Allah? Simple, Muhammad had heard
these teachings from the Jews, and repeated them later as he recited
"revelation".
Comment:-
If a Rabbi can comment independently on
something, why is it assumed that other comments cannot be independent but must
derive from the Rabbi? On the other hand the Rabbi could have copied it from
the Quran.
We see that the interpretation given by the
Rabbi is too simplistic and the Quran improves upon it. Note that this Jewish
story does not make an exception for killing murderers or those who make
mischief in the land. They are not included in the purpose for which man was
created.
These kinds
of arguments are irrelevant to Truth. The fact is that there is a difference
between thinking which is an activity and awareness which is receptivity to
truth.