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In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.

This blog is dedicated:-

1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.

9 Sept 2008

Quran’s intellectual responses




The Qur’an. The Eternal Word of the Creator to His Creation sent down through Jibreel, the Ruh al-ameen and conveyed by His final Messenger Muhammad al-Mujtaba (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) to guide mankind out of the depths of darkness to the light of the justice of Islam.

This is the Book that we recite and recite again at every opportunity to find solace and guidance in its meanings while our hearts quake with the sound of its rhythm and cadences.

However this blessed Kitaab that we have in our hands today faced many an obstacle and much opposition before its conveyance was complete. The chiefs of the Quraysh of Makkah opposed its recital and call realising that should the Message of the Qur’an be embraced by the people then the game would be up and their days of presiding over a social order based on idolatry, injustice and immorality would be numbered. The answer of the Mushriks to the intellectual call of the Qur’an was to ban and prevent people from hearing its recital. It is reported by Ibn ‘Abbas (ra) that Abu Jahl told people to shout in the face of the Messenger when he recited the Qur’an so that people could not hear what was being recited. Mujahid said: ‘laghw (in this ayah) refers to making noise by whistling and clapping.’ (Tafseer al-Jami’ li-ahkam al-Qur’an of al- Qurtubi). So thought was faced with obstacles and suppression. But that was not enough; the Quraysh used other means to silence the intellectual call of the Qur’an. They resorted to propaganda, torture and finally boycott. They labelled the Prophet (saws) as a madman, sorcerer or soothsayer (a’uzubillah) in order to discredit him. It is reported that when Tufayl b. ‘Amr al-Dawsi (ra) came to Makkah during the early period of the Prophet’s (saws) da’wah there, Quraysh approached him to warn and prevent him from listening to the Prophet. They said: ‘O Tufayl, you have come to our town. This man who claims that he is a Prophet has ruined our authority and shattered our community. We are afraid that he would succeed in undermining you and your authority among your people just as he has done with us. Don’t speak to the man. On no account listen to anything he has to say. He has the speech of a sorcerer, causing division between father and son, between brother and brother and between husband and wife.’

Brothers and sister, that was then. Now we see a rising global Muslim consciousness and reassertion of the Islamic identity whether in the Middle East, Far East, South East Asia or in the West. And today we also hear voices in the West saying that Islam is backward, that the problem is Islam and not Muslims, that it will cause separatism and division in society, its beliefs and laws are medieval and barbaric, its political system totalitarian and its view of women is misogynistic; indeed some have crossed a certain threshold and pushed the limit and uttered what many maybe are feeling but dare not articulate right now: that perhaps even the Qur’an needs to be proscribed as its verses are not in tune with western liberal values.

At a juncture like this it is worthwhile pausing and reflecting on the Qur’an and seeing what we can glean from how the Qur’an faced the onslaught on the Deen at its inception. A scrutiny of the verses which dealt with propaganda and attacks of the time shows that the Quranic method (minhaj) of address (khitaab) was to respond intellectually, challenging the erroneous thought by highlighting its inherent contradictions and affecting the emotions through articulating its thought in ways that opened up the hearts and minds to the eternal truths of its Message.

When Quraysh began their ad homonym attacks on the Prophet (saws) by claiming he was possessed (a’uzubillah), Allah (swt) instructed the Prophet (saws) to say: Say [O Prophet!] had Allah pleased, I would never have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. A whole life- time have I dwelt amongst you before it was revealed. Have you then no sense. [Surah Yunus (10): Ayah 16]. The Prophet (saws) told them, a life time have I spent with you and you saw no madness, so why the claim now?

Having swiftly dismissed the propaganda the Qur’an preferred to engage in an exposition of the viewpoint about life, beliefs and thought of the opponents in a challenging style and at the same time stir their emotions towards the truth. For example, ponder the following verse which addresses the Mushrik’s refusal to believe that man can be resurrected after death and consequently the accountability in the Hereafter:

‘O mankind! If you are in doubt about the Resurrection, then verily! We have created you from dust, then from a Nutfah (sexual discharge), then from a clot then from a little lump of flesh, some formed and some unformed (miscarriage), that We may make (it) clear to you (i.e. to show you Our Power and Ability to do what We will). And We cause whom We will to remain in the wombs for an appointed term, then We bring you out as infants then (give you growth) that you may reach your age of full strength. And among you there is he who dies (young), and among you there is he who is brought back to the miserable old age, so that he knows nothing after having known. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down water (rain) on it, it is stirred (to life), it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth).’ [Surah Al Hajj (22): Ayah 5]

See how these verses talk about the creation of man from dust in the beginning and the stages of development of the foetus and then through the stages of adolescence and old age. The Creator who created from dust and nurtured and sustained His creation in this way can certainly resurrect him again from dust without a shadow of a doubt! It is reported that once a Mushrik, Ubayy b. Khalaf, came to the Prophet (saws) holding some dry bones in his hands and crushing them to dust and saying: who will bring these bones back to life after they have turned to dust?

The Qur’an challenged the Quraysh to question and think about the validity of their thoughts, social practises and way of life. The Quraysh worshipped idols and so the Qur’an relates the story of Ibrahim (as) who questioned the idolatrous practise of his people: ‘Then they (the worshippers of idols) came, towards him, hastening. He (Ibrahim) said: “Worship you that which you (yourselves) carve? “While Allâh has created you and what you make!’ [Surah As Saffat (37): Ayat 94-96]

Today how many propose that manmade laws and rules should be enacted and then the people shall bow to them with obedience? Is it not demeaning for man to submit to that which is lesser than him?

The Quraysh believed that Allah had daughters (a’uzubillah) and yet they mistreated their women and even buried their daughters alive and so the Qur’an pointed out this contradiction: ‘Is it for you the males and for Him the females?’ [Surah An Najm (53): Ayah 21]

Today the West claims to have liberated women but we find she is often reduced to the status of a mere sexual object. In regards to their social practise of infanticide the Qur’an asked a damning question: ‘And when the female (infant) buried alive (as the pagan Arabs used to do) shall be questioned. For what sin she was killed?’ [Surah At Takwir (81): Ayat 8-9]

Today we should ask what kind of society accepts the practise of indiscriminate abortions because it gets in the way of a woman’s career prospects.

The Quraysh, men and women, used to make circumbulation (tawaaf) round the Ka’bah naked and their justification for doing this was that it was the custom of their forefathers. So consider then how the Qur’an addressed this argument: ‘O Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover yourselves and as an adornment, and the garment of righteousness, that is better…. [Surah Al A’raf (7): Ayah 26]

Here the verse evokes in them a sense of shame by highlighting what clothes signify; that they are an adornment to cover shame and a mark of piety; so how can one make tawaaf, an act of worship, in such a state. The Qur’an reminds and warns them not to deceive themselves as their father Adam (ra) was deceived by Shaytan when due their fall they were stripped of their garments: ‘O Children of Adam! Let not Shaitân (Satan) deceive you, as he got your parents [Adam and Hawwa (Eve)] out of Paradise, stripping them of their garments, to show them their private parts…’ [Surah Al A’raf (7): Ayah 27]

And yet today, we see the celebration and carnival of indecency and people vying to see how far they can go. Does this dignify man or does it debase him to a level beneath his stature? Not to mention the social ills that come with such degenerate values - values which if society was a ship then they would act as bores in the ship’s hull.

These are just some of the verses relating to how the Qur’an dealt with the attack on the Deen by the Quraysh and addressed their ideas and practises. Having considered these verses we can conclude that the method of the Qur’an was to respond intellectually in its clarification of the truth and exposition of the fallacy of kufr. It challenged the erroneous thought by highlighting the inherent contradiction within it or its contradiction with reality. In addition to this the Qur’an connected the correct thoughts to the emotions of the people in order to endear them to the truth through wisdom and beautiful speech. The solution that it presented was in harmony with the fitra (nature) of man and suited to his disposition as a human being. This is how the Qur’an responded and this is how we must also respond.

Today Islam is being attacked and the virtues of secular liberalism are extolled or sold to us in the guise of a reformed Islam. In such a situation we are required to robustly articulate the Islamic intellectual response. In doing so we must emulate the minhaj of the Qur’an; we must dispel the evil propaganda against our Deen by explaining Islam to those around us in a way that agrees with the mind and at the same time moves the hearts, such that when the cotton wool is taken out of the ears, the truthfulness of our message penetrates the soul of the one who hears it. And all the time we must insure that we repel the evil in ways that are best and then perhaps in the most avowed an enemy we will find a close friend:And who is better in speech than he who invites (men) to Allâh, and does righteous deeds, and says: “I am one of the Muslims.” The good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better then verily! he, between whom and you there was enmity, (will become) as though he was a close friend.’ [Surah Fussilat (41): Ayat 33- 34]

[Extracted from the article ‘The Intellectual Challenge of the Qur’an’ written by Kamal Abu Zahra]
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“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”





[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]





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