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The "New Wave" of Quranic interpreters!
In the last decade or so, and since Quranic interpretation has become a readily
attractive vocation for some, and more of an exploitable venture for others, we have
been inundated with a "new wave" of Quranic interpreters who are doing a great job in
dismantling fundamental Quranic concepts and doctrines. It must be said that their job
has been made much easier with the availability of Internet and the ease of web
construction. Today any Tom, Dick or Harry, or rather any Ali, Hassan or Mahmoud is
able to invest a few dollars and buy a site then publish on it any personal flimsy
interpretations and pass it on as Quranic enlightenment!
It may be said that a minority of these interpreters attempt to research the Quran in a
genuine attempt to shed more light on various Quranic issues, however the sad fact is
that the majority of them do the same in order to attain personal status by appearing to
be someone who has been inspired to reveal long hidden Quranic secrets! As a result,
the majority are in fact embarking on ego trips and self-gratification.
The whole issue started when it was realised in the last two or three decades that the
long established decadent Imams had got it all wrong. After centuries of complete
monopoly on Quranic interpretation and acting as the self-appointed custodians of the
faith, it suddenly became apparent that the bulk of books of Quranic interpretation are
in fact full of crap and medieval interpretations. It must be stressed that the prime
reason for this poor interpretation is that these decadent interpreters have been
interpreting the Quran all the time from a hadith/sunna point of view, or in other words
providing interpretations that comply with their cherished hadith and sunna! After all, to
them the hadith explains the Quran! However, if one studies the history of the
documentation of hadith and how it was collected 200 years after hijra and against the
wishes of the prophet, it becomes a gross insult to Almighty God to claim that people of
the likes of Abu Huraira and others have been given the task of deciphering
God's words! For more info on this issue please go to:
The history of collecting the hadith
The hadith advocates will quickly say that these are not the words of Abu Huraira, and
that they are the words of the prophet transferred through Abu Huraira and others,
however, there is ample proof that these hadith are no more than Chinese whispers
collected two centuries after Hijra and are totally unreliable. First, the sharp
disharmony between many of these hadith which they call "sahih" (authentic) and
between the Quran indicates that the prophet could never have issued such sayings. It
is very unlikely that a prophet of God would ever issue teachings that contradict the
Quran so balatantly. This is besides the numerous "hadith sahih" which contradict one
another.
But even if some hadith may appear in harmony with Quranic truth, it is a clear
command from God Almighty to all believers to uphold the Quran alone as the ONLY
source of law and discard all other sources, to read more about this subject please go
to:
A dozen reasons to follow the Quran alone
To maintain their monopoly on interpreting the Quran (wrongly as must be said) these
interpreters have falsely claimed that the Quran is difficult to understand, and that
nobody is qualified to interpret it except their likes, and that without their guidance the
reader would be at a total loss! what a load of nonsense!
Now, as mentioned, things are changing and it is emerging to those who have now made
the choice of believing the words of God, that it is God who will explain the Quran to the
genuine believers (55:1-2 and 75:19) and that the Quran is straight forward and without
ambiguity (12:1 and 44:58).
The emergense of the "new wave" interpreters
This huge deep-rooted corruption in Quranic interpretation led the good the bad and the
ugly to dive in and attempt to research the Quran in a new light that they hope would be
void of pre-conceptions, hadith, cultural and traditional influences. Many sincere
writers have brought to light many issues that were previously manipulated and
misinterpreted in the Quran. However it must also be said that many not so sincere
writers have embarked on ego trips to publish anything for the sake of being different,
and regardless of whether their findings are confirmed by Quranic truth or not, just to
attain personal status. This is the group with which this article is concerned.
These new and emerging "wannabe's" suddenly realised that there could be new
shores to explore and very rapidly the tangling carrot materialised in front of their
eyes!
Somehow a very convenient new formula seems to have come to effect and become
very much in practice these days. For these interpreters, this formula seemed to
produce highly profitable gains.
The new "Golden formula":
1- Select any Quranic verse you wish to tailor.
2- Choose a Quranic word in the verse on which to build your new doctrine
3- Look up this word in an arabic dictionary.
4- If you find that the dictionary's definition is in harmony with the current and accepted
understanding of this verse IGNORE IT and select another verse/word.
5- Repeat this trial and error routine till you are able to come up with a Quranic word
whose definition in the dictionary is not perfectly matched with the current
understanding, then BINGO ... you've just hit the jackpot!
6- Write a new article (dont forget to put your name on it) and play acrobatics with any
concepts which lie in that verse.
7- Dont worry if you come up with new doctrines that have no Quranic authorisation, or
which violate other Quranic verses, for others have done it before you, so it is ok ....
you are not the first nor shall you be the last.
8- Finally if you cannot convince other believers, try to confuse them! The most
efficient way of doing so is by writing long pages and pages, fill them with tripe. If you
run out of ideas, seek any references in the realms of Roman Mythology or Ancient
Egyptian biology or anything else that sounds mysterious! Most probably you will attain
some audience of some kind, this is because many readers are impressed with anything
they dont understand!
So let us pause here for a moment and inquire:
If this is the formula, and if the whole search is after all based on matching meanings of
Arabic words in a reliable dictionary then how can these interpreters go wrong? After
all, the Quran was revealed in the Arabic language!
The reply to this question is that they can be
VERY WRONG. The reason they can be very wrong is that they are placing the man
made dictionary above the Quran. Many Quranic words have been used in the Quran
yet when looked up in a dictionary would give a meaning quite different from the
meaning used by God in the Quran. After all, the modern dictionary gives the meaning
of any word as used in our current day and age.
Some of those who chose to apply this "golden formula" have looked up such words
such as RAMADANor UJOORin some Arabic dictionary, and have been preaching us
lately to fast in the hottest month of the year, every year (regardless of the Islamic
month of Ramadan)! and for the husband to pay his wife a monetary wage, in other
words, commanding the man to employ a wife rather than marry one!
Other examples of such words that have been manipulated to render a totally false
concept are:
Khamr: This word in the Quran means cover, and the word Khimar means that which
covers, however the same word in many dictionaries and in its current use would mean
alcohol. As a result, the prohibition in the Quran of Khamr means that God prohibits
anything that covers or obscures the brain, that could be alcohol or drugs. Similarly the
word Khimar in 24:31 is used for any cover on the woman's body, her dress is a cover,
her blouse is a cover, her coat is a cover ... etc, thus the command is to cover the
bosoms with whatever cover the woman is wearing (blouse, dress, coat ...etc) however
the word was corrupted to make the word khimar mean head cover only! and thus the
unlawful forcing of women to cover their hair. For more detailed analysis please go to:
http://www.quran-islam.org/24%20verse%2031.htm
Other words that are similarly misinterpreted include:
Shaheed: see http://www.quran-islam.org/148.html
Ummy: see http://www.quran-islam.org/150.html
Rajeem: see http://www.quran-islam.org/153.html
All the above words confirm that there are certain words whose current meaning does
not exactly lie in harmony with the meaning that is used by God in the Quran. In the
majority of cases, these words have been subject to manipulation or misinterpretation
and thus their meaning deviated from the correct meaning as employed in the Quran.
So how are we to determine the correct meaning as employed in the Quran for any
specific word? The answer is by simply collecting all the verses that use this word in the
Quran and analysing them in an attempt to find a common meaning that would make all
these verses make good sense. To deduce any conclusion or rule from one verse in
isolation can often be misleading.
A recent article by one of these "new wave" interpreters invites us to fast during the
hottest month of the year regardless of the advent of the Lunar month of Ramadan.
This is a consequence of one such interpreter claiming that the word Ramadan means
"hot" in the Arabic dictionary! Somehow this has given him authority to discard the
lunar month of Ramadan as the lawful month for fasting and to replace it with August or
September (whichever is hotter)!.
But we have seen that the dictionary definition will not always lead us to the correct
Quranic use of some words. As an example, if the word UMMY is researched in the
Quran in all the verses where it is employed, it would never give the meaning of
"illiterate" as the corrupt scholars claim.
Similarly, the word UJOOR would not mean a monetary wage (as some interpreters
have claimed) if all the relevant verses in the Quran were analysed, for more detailed
analysis on this
issue, please go to:
http://www.quran-islam.org/197.html
In the above articles the reader can witness numerous Quranic concepts that have been
dismembered in the writings of some of these "new vogue" interpreters, simply
because they ignored the Quranic use of these words. They have not analysed the
Quranic use of the key words upon which they built their ad-lib novel doctrines.
If we adhere to the Quran and nothing else, we are guaranteed to always arrive at the
correct and straightforward meaning.
May God guide us all and protect us from the egoistic
whims and wild excavations of the new wave gold diggers.
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“We place shields over their hearts to prevent them from understanding it
(the Quran), and deafness in their ears. And if you commemorate God
in the Quran alone, they run away in aversion.” 17:46
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All Praise belongs to God
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