The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Myths minus the Logos in Quranic Interpretations

Submitted by Ikram.

An ongoing project on this site is the Project Rebuttal, which is a rebuttal of the documentary “Islam: What the West needs to know.” This documentary is primarily based upon theological distortions of Islam both from within and without Islam. The Islam haters of the said documentary frequently quote the translation of Quran by Mushin and Hilali to make their case for a violent Islam. Dr. Aziz in his comments on a previous thread has pointed out the short comings of these translators. Obviously, these translators instead of using Quran as the starting point of discussion, make it the end point of a discussion originated elsewhere and then parenthetically use Quran to prove their theological view.

One such angle is their belief of a mythical advent of a violent Jesus/Mehdi etc. Since their belief is already jaded, they will never be able to bring out the purpose and message of Quran and the secular peaceful principles (beside moral and spiritual spheres) that made Prophet Muhammad PBUH, the most successful secular figure in history.

The world view of Mr. A.S. Shaikh and these translators is to begin with mythological and repugnant to human reason, so is their translations, interpretations and reading of Quran. The Islam hating vultures such as Robert Spencer, Serge Tifkovic and others hover around such carcasses of ideas to swoop down on every morsel of conjecture. They then quite successfully make a case to the ignorant and vulnerable about Islam as a carrion of a religion.

Such interpretations of Quran from Muhsin/Hilali that Dr. Zahid Aziz points out, create contradictions within Quran. How can these translators and the HMGA hating protagonists reconcile their violent Jesus and his mission with the following excerpted verses of Quran, taken from Issue 29b of the Rebuttal?

“God Consciousness” is mandated for a Muslim at any given time. There is no right of superiority for a Muslim over any other race for the mere fact that – “And (all) people are but a single nation…” (10:19). No Muslim can ridicule anyone, be it a non-Muslim because – “O you who believe, do not let a people laugh at (another) people, perhaps they may be better than they…(49:11). Quran even goes further, it forbids aggression based upon hate – “And do not let hatred of a people … incite you to transgress. And help one another in righteousness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression, and keep your duty to Allah. Surely Allah is Severe in retribution.” (5:2).

Difference in faiths is not a basis for aggression because for a Muslim the same Allah is source spring of all religions, books and prophets – “The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. They all believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His messengers. We make no distinction between any of His messengers…”(2:285). No wonder, there are no caricatures of Moses and Jesus nor Torah or Bible burnings in Muslims communities.

Even idols are to be respected – “And do not abuse those whom they call upon besides Allah, in case, exceeding the limits, they abuse Allah through ignorance.”(6:108) To cap it all, a Muslim does not monopolize the concept of God for his own faith because for him Allah is – “…the Lord of mankind, the King of mankind, the God of mankind” (114:1-3).

Quran thus brings the whole humanity under one God and leaves no room for anyone to be children of a lesser God. Quran thus identifies the sources of hate, which are race, religion, Books, prophets, deities and obliterates the instigating tendencies, one by one, and eliminates them altogether by inculcating God Consciousness in Muslims – “Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him.” (49:13 – Asad)

Muhammad said – “Help and not fight, assimilation and not destruction, harmony and peace and not dissension.” In his final Hajj sermon he left for the world the magna charta of world peace “”Remember you are all brothers. All men are equal in the eye of God, and your honours, your lives and your properties are all sacred and in no case should you attack each other’s life and property. Today I trample under my feet all distinctions of caste, colour and nationality. All men are sons of Adam and Adam was of dust.” [Islam’s Contribution to Peace of the World, by S.A. Haq, p.52, p.20]

It behoves Muhsin/Hilali and others to ponder on the following verse when they interject their violent view on Quran and Islam:

4:82. Will they not then meditate on the Quran? And if it were from any other than Allah, they would have found in it many a discrepancy.

Footnote: The Quran was not written out and given on one occasion, but it continued to be delivered in small portions during twenty-three years under the most varying circumstances. But what is striking throughout the entire revelation is that it keeps up one and the same strain — absolute submission to Allah, entire trust in Him, perfect confidence of future success, a liberal view of humanity, an attitude of charity towards all nations and religions, and goodness to all alike. The spirit of the revelations to the solitary, persecuted, and rejected preacher of Makkah does not differ in these and a hundred other particulars from the spirit of the revelations to the sole temporal and spiritual monarch of Arabia.

The key word in above verses is discrepancy that these translators inevitably create in their interpretation of Quran. While Quran emphasizes till the Day of Judgment “2:256. There is no compulsion in religion”, Muhsin/Hilali preach “8:39. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism, i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah alone [in the whole world]. But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allah), then certainly Allah is All-Seer of what they do.”

With Muhsin and Hilali among our midst who need Spencer and Trifkovic?
 

 
While trying to tarnish HMGA’s view of Jihad which is congruent to the Message of Quran, Tahir states:

“However, when it comes to the writings on Jihad they put a certain twist on it and trick the reader or researcher. The truth of the matter is that Jihad or fighting in the name of Allah is incumbent on all Muslims. However, certain conditions must be met…”

Obviously, Tahir seems to have identified one of the obligations of Muslims, that is, to engage in “Jihad or fighting in the name of Allah” and makes the Jihad “incumbent on all Muslims.”

Let us, try to see through the lens of Quran as to how and when is a Muslim obligated to strive and/or fight “in the name of Allah”, Thus:

29:69. And those who strive hard for Us, We shall certainly guide them in Our ways. And Allah is surely with the doers of good.

One thing is obvious from Quran that Our ways can only be tread by doers of good, e.g. the Christian rule of Nijashi in Ethopia where Muslims first migrated to. Can Tahir quote us any significant example where a Mullah or a jagirdar, or a nawab or a king in India was more doer of good than the British rule? Start with Punjab University, King Edwards Medical College, all the colleges, schools, hospitals, courts, railway stations, post offices, telegraph, phone exchanges, roads etc. etc. at province, division, district and tehsil level, to name a few of the goods done by British, that has yet to be matched qualitatively by any government since creation of Pakistan. Even in hindsight, these zealot Jihadists blurred by the cataract of imaginative grandiosity, might prefer Sikh rule over the Muslims when a simple call to prayer (Azan) was punishable and the Badshahi Mosque Lahore was turned into a stable for the Sikh army. They forget that it was the British that restored the religious freedom to Muslims and they were finally able to even secure a separate homeland for themselves.

One of the ways and acts of goodness can be seen in the following verses:

22:39 Permission (to fight) is given to those on whom war is made, because they are oppressed. And surely Allah is Able to assist them —

22:40. Those who are driven from their homes without a just cause except that they say: Our Lord is Allah. And if Allah did not repel some people by others, surely cloisters and churches and synagogues, and mosques in which Allah’s name is much remembered, would have been pulled down. And surely Allah will help him who helps Him. Surely Allah is Strong, Mighty.

Footnote: The religious freedom established by Islam has not yet been surpassed by the most civilized and tolerant of nations. It deserves to be noted that the lives of Muslims are to be sacrificed not only to stop their own persecution by their opponents and to save their own mosques, but to save churches, synagogues and cloisters as well — in fact, to establish perfect religious freedom. Mosques, though they are the places where the name of Allah is remembered most of all, are mentioned after churches and synagogues. Early Muslims closely followed these directions, and every commander of an army had express orders to respect all houses of worship, and even the cloisters of monks, along with their inmates.

Thus, it is incumbent on Tahir to pick up a “sword” in his Jihad when he obligatorily stands guard for the sanctity of the churches, synagogues, cloisters, imambargah’s, Ismaili Jamaat Khanas, mosques of Ahmedis (both Qadiani and Lahoris) in whichever land and country he dwells in. With such a rightful act, he will be someone who helps Him. Did any government before or after British guarantee the sanctity of the houses of of worship in which Allah’s name is much remembered? Answer is plain no. It was only the British that guaranteed the safety of worshipers and the houses of worship.

Further, it is incumbent on him to come to defense of a non-subversive minority point of view in Muslim countries no matter how hateful it may be to him:

5:3. … And do not let hatred of a people — because they hindered you from the Sacred Mosque — incite you to transgress

[Footnote: The principle laid down here requires from Muslims equal treatment for all nations, for those whom we hate as well as for those whom we love. Only this principle of Islam can serve as the basis for an international code for the modern world and an international law.].

And help one another in righteousness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression, and keep your duty to Allah

[Editor’s note: Muslims ought only to cooperate with one another in matters of goodness, and are forbidden to help each other in wrongdoing against others. This injunction prohibits the evils of blind patriotism and unconditional support for one’s own people even when they commit injustices against others.].

Surely Allah is Severe in retribution.

Finally, he is expected to standup for the weak among the men and the women, with Asia Bibi as case in point :

4:75. And what reason have you not to fight in the way of Allah, and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, who say: Our Lord, take us out of this town, whose people are oppressors, and grant us from Yourself a friend, and grant us from Yourself a helper!

4:76. Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the devil. So fight against the friends of the devil; surely the struggle of the devil is ever weak.

The above are some of the examples of true Jihad where one acts as a friend and helper of Allah in His cause. I am not sure if Mr. Shaikh or Mr. Tahir will do some of these acts in the way of Allah, but history of India tells us that British government did each of the good things that these verses enjoin on Muslims to do. Contrary to what Mr. Shaikh and Mr. Tahir expect one to depreciate, any person with sense of reason and fairness cannot but appreciate those doers and guarantors of good, namely the British Government in India.
 

 
Note: Unless indicated otherwise, all verses above are from the translation and commentary of Holy Quran – Muhammad Ali, edited by Dr. Zahid Aziz.