The 'New Wave' of Quranic interpreters!
In the last two 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 the Internet and the ease of web construction. Today any Tom, Dick or Harry, or rather any Ali, Hassan or Mohamed 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 must be said that some, albiet a minority, 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 the others 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 recently that the long established decadent ulamas (a name given to muslim scholars) 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 smelling of medieval bedouin cultures. 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 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, any narrations written 200 years after the actual occurnace of an event cannot be regarded as anything other than "Chinese whispers". 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. In addition, many of these hadith which are regarded as "sahih" (authentic) in fact contradict one another. For more details outlining how the hadith contradicts the Quran please see:
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:
To maintain their monopoly on interpreting the Quran (wrongly as must be said) the traditional 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 by the tradional scholars 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! And with yet another group it seems that the whole euphoria has gone to their heads and they started claiming to be messengrs of God!
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 are found 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, and not necessarily the meaning that was in use 14 centuries ago when the Quran was revealed.
Some of those who chose to apply this "golden formula" have looked up such words such as Ramadan or Ujoor in some Arabic dictionary, and have been preaching to 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 throughout the marriage rather than the customary one off dowry, in other words, commanding the man to employ a wife rather than marry one! See: Ujoor for women.
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 that which blocks the mind (intoxicants). 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:
Please click on links below to see details of other misinterpreted Quranic words:
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 God says that the Quran was revealed in the "month of Ramadan". This clearly indicates that Ramamdan is a NAME of a month (not adjective), and not that the Quran was revealed during the hottest month of the year!
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:
In the above articles the reader can witness numerous Quranic concepts that have been dismembered in the writings of some of these "new wave" 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 and render us always aware of the egoistic
whims and wild excavations of the new wave Quranic interpreters.
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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