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By
Lysium
Many people are under the notion that, ‘original’
Islam is true and correct, it is people who, with their
misinterpretation and wrong practices tarnished the image
of Islam. Can we blame Islam for the acts of Moslems?
This kind of notion is widely prevalent in almost all
religions and it needs a deeper probe. It is true there
exists a vast gap between the teachings and the actual
practice of any religion.
Since all these discussions are not about some abstract
theory, the practice of Islam has direct practical impact;
nobody can ignore the importance of the practice of Islam
and the causes for the gap.
There are two different issues to analyze.
1) How far the original teachings are true and correct?
2) Why are the wrong practices followed?
Most of the postings dealt with the first question so I
would like to discuss about the second question.
Why there is a gap between religious teachings and its
practice?
a) People genuinely believe what they practice is the true
Islam about certain issues.
b) People know that certain aspects of their practice is
against Islam but to lead day today life in the modern
world
they feel justified to commit small acts which do not
conform to Islam
c) Certain people deliberately distort religion for their
selfishness.
d) Certain practices are cultural legacy of a society and
hence followed irrespective of the fact that it is
according to Islam or not.
At any given point of time all the four factors are in
operation in all cultures. The acknowledgement of the
existence of these factors is vital for the believers and
for the non-believers, of course for different reasons.
Here I am going to discuss about a) & b) only.
The teachings of Islam (for convenience sake I am
confining to Quran only) are practiced only as you
understand it. Since most of the Moslems do not understand
Arabic language they have to rely on somebody’s
understanding.
Even people, who understand Arabic, interpret different
meanings from same teachings. When great Islamic scholars
could not agree upon the issues we cannot expect average
people to ‘correctly’ grasp all the teachings.
Leaving aside ambiguity in language and phrases, the
interpretation methodology one follows determines the
result.
One type of interpretation is taking the spirit of
teaching and leaving about the details. Another approach
is to follow to the letter. For example, take the concept
of polygamy in Islam. First type of interpreters seek
reasons for any teaching and if they come to conclusion,
that in the Prophet’s time, there are more women than
men, to establish social order and justice polygamy was
allowed. (Assuming, for our discussion, this is the sole
reason for the polygamy, in fact there are other reasons).
In some other society where there are more men than women,
these people conclude that Quran allows polyandry (woman
marrying more men) because they see all teachings as
solutions to problems.
When problem changes solutions are also change. Second
type of interpreters follow only end results. For them
Quran's teachings are eternal. These are nothing to do
with social economic and cultural conditions. These should
be strictly followed under any conditions. As per their
deduction Islam will allow only polygamy but not polyandry
under any circumstances. Here the issue of
polygamy/polyandry is not important but to show the
difference between the approaches to a problem I selected
this example. There are 5 different major philosophical
traits in interpretation of Islam.
1)Jabria :-who believes that every thing is predetermined.
2)Kadaria :-who believes that humans can decide good and
bad for themselves.
3)Mutakallamin :-dogmatists
4)Hukuma :-philosophical approach
5)Sufi :-devotion and good conduct.
Apart from the major traits there are many small
denominations of Islam with their own version. Of course
every trait claims that it is the true Islam and others
are misinterpreting it and in support they quote from
Quran and from other sources.When we criticize Quran we
are criticizing one interpretation of Quran.
When I stated that the shariat laws (not allowing women to
participate in public life, forcing her to wear veil, not
allowing other religions to practice and preach not
allowing a Moslem to leave his religion or criticize his
religion etc) of Saudi Arabia and Iran and Afghanistan,
are barbaric, many people argued that these are not true
Islamic laws and all these countries are not true Islamic
countries. It is no more a theoretical discussion but a
practical issue. We are not interested whether these
countries are following ’true’ Islam or not. All these
countries claim legitimacy from Islam. When we criticize
their acts we criticize the their value systems and the
Quran on which they base their laws. If some Moslems
genuinely believe that Islam is very tolerant religion and
it allows all other religions to preach and practice,
Islam treats men and women equally, it allows all women to
pursue their career, it will not force veil on all women,
and Moslems should be freely allowed to leave their
religion if they so choose, etc it is good. We are on the
same side in these matters.
The second aspect of our discussion is, people can not
follow any religion 100% in their day today life (I am
talking about average people not about a few religious
minded people) the more the unrealistic goals the more the
utopian ideals the more the deviation from the religion.
In the modern times it is not possible for Moslems to
remain isolated from other religions. Specially countries
like India, they have to live with Hindus whom many
Moslems consider as idolaters hence sinners. From
practical point of living, Moslems have to respect the
Hindus and treat them with dignity regardless of the fact
that whether Islam permits idolaters to be treated with
respect and dignity or not (That is the reason many
Moslems believe that true Islamic living is possible only
in Islamic State.) I mention a few trivial matters of
Islam and how these are deviated.
It is believed that Islam will not permit
1) To dissect a human body.
2) To get photographed
3) To act or watch movie
Whether these are in accordance with true Islam or not is
debatable. But the point is some people believe these are
in accordance with true Islam and a person who believes in
this notion can not study medicine unless he/she deviates
from it. In the modern days it is almost impossible to
live without getting photographed (for Ids, Driving
licenses etc.). (I still remember the huge cry made by
many Moslems when the Activities of Haj were telecast!)
This article
was originally published in
The
Society For Islamic Humanists
(Message# 969)
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