KNOW THE FORMAT OF THE QURAN:

KNOW THE FORMAT OF THE QURAN:

We cannot understand Al-Quran unless we know in which format it is written. The narratives of the book Quran are not separate stories; they are portrayals linked in an anthropomorphic theophany format. Because of theophany writing style of the book Quran; it looks like that the God is literally talking to human beings through his messengers. The narrations or structure of the 114 chapter book is similar to that of script writing of Aesop's fables, where we have many roles represented by depicting personified characters just for the sake of conveying a much vibrant message than the characters of the story itself. The book Quran portrays the internal conversation between senses of our own system of consciousness and this conversation is presented by portraying different characters as examples [misaal] which has to be deduced [Qasas] by understanding the crux of the parable.


Many parables such as Mahabharata, Ramayana, Old Testament and the Quran are written in the theophany format. Notable manifestation of theological characters that is tangible to the human senses is called theophany. The beauty of the book Quran is every character has a meaning and significance that can be felt and witnessed by our senses. In fact all the epics of ancient era are based on such format, where characters of the script are brought to life in order to relate meaningful experiences to the senses.

‘Shikwa Jawab e Shikwa of Allama Iqbal in Urdu is the best example of theophany format. The author is neither Allah nor the complainant; still the author is portraying it as if Allah and the complainant are talking to each other directly by writing the poem in 1st and 2nd person.


In Quranic sense Rabb [Consciousness] is portrayed as an amphitheater, while Nafs is the lower stage [fi alardh] of consciousness where different senses personified as characters of the inherent script [Al-Kitab], perform in order to keep the theater alive. Lower consciousness is our real living place [2:36][7:10][7:24].


 A real actor is one who focuses on his own script [Al-Kitab] in the act to his best potential without copying other actors, so as to uplift his nafs to the higher consciousness [Al-Samawat]. The entire problem starts when one fails to identify his own script [Al-Kitab] and tries to emulate other actors. Everyone has their own role to play; adapting others role is the biggest injustice to the self.


The parabolic Adam’s biggest mistake was that he did not listen to the signs [ayaat] of his own Consciousness [Rabb] and was tempted by Satan’s Ayaat, thus he was out of the game or got disconnected from the knowledge of his Rabb [Jannah].

The innate vibrant script provokes man to recognize, remember, follow and listen to the voices of his inherent messengers and act accordingly if he want to remain connected with the script of his Rabb..

LABELING PREVENTS LEARNING

LABELING PREVENTS LEARNING

It has often become a preferred method to label or accuse free thinkers as atheist or people with no knowledge. Having a slightly different view from majority in the mainstream Islam is enough to be categorized as a traitor or neo Islamist or apostate. Many people think that I am an atheist dressed up as a Muslim to bash Muslims. Is it a sin to think independently or differently?

Muslims generally believe that critical analysis of held or so called established traditional Islamic beliefs is only done by non-Muslims to embarrass all Muslims.

Many of my friends say that we should not criticize publicly the faith in which we are born in, because if we criticize our own faith, we provide material to the non Muslims haters to bash Muslims. There are black sheep in every religious community whose agenda is to spread hatred and feel superior about their own ideology and religion. But in my view, in the age of the IT revolution, if we liberal / free thinking or moderate Muslims remain silent due to the fear that our data would be misused by Muslim haters then I think we are living in fool’s paradise.

Truth should prevail at any cost. In fact we should become a beacon for all irrespective of the differences we may have with others our within our own group. This is the time for all thinking Muslims to courageously come forward for the sake of humanity to show the world that there are muslims who for the sake of peace can face the firing squad from their own community. If we call ourselves Muslims then it becomes our duty to amend our community at this crucial juncture and respond to their immediate need to reform, and if we fail to do so I am sure our future generation would never forgive us.

I think the only true believer of any faith is one who questions everything including his/her own beliefs. If you are not questioning, how can you be thinking? And if you are not thinking, that means you are following blindly, to be more precise following without the help of your mental faculty.

Here we go ... the standard epithet hurled by the blind followers and the fear-mongering mullahs - Kaafir!, Atheist!, Mushrik!. Did they spare one single thinking Muslim? Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was accused of kufr, Allama Iqbal was accused of kufr, all the thinking heads who rejected the holy prattle were declared atheists or ignorant or neo Islamist. Irony is that they even accused Ghazali their Imam, of atheism because at the later stage of his life he made some critical analysis and for that he had to spend rest of his life in jail.

Anyone who chooses to use their brain in contemporary Islam is considered as an atheist or apostate according to these demented lunatics. If you keep chanting the usual holy prattle then you are golden or poster boy of Islam.

Any correctional process leads to progress. We have all progressed in life. Then what is wrong in evaluating or analyzing our religious teachings. Throughout the world there is unrest and the cause is the belief system. If this system is the root cause of all the problems, then we definitely need to amend it. Our youngsters are brainwashed with the outdated defunct data. Any progressive society will always bring about changes and develop. Just adamantly sticking on to the old stories and revering them will take us nowhere.

READ, THINK, CHALLENGE, and QUESTION! Every single one of us must do that. Question EVERYTHING. It is immaterial what answers you come up with as long as you are honest to yourself. But it is CRITICAL that every single Muslim must reason and think independently but the criteria should be unbiased and the aim should be to spread love for all and hatred for none.

IF WE WANT TO SURVIVE AND SUSTAIN, WE NEED A MAJOR RE FORMATTING AT THE EARLIEST.

SALAM / PEACE.

MY FAITH, BELIEF & LEARNING PROCESS

 

MY FAITH, BELIEF & LEARNING PROCESS

I have observed that very often people revere, hate, fear or even defend something only on the basis of faith and belief. They simply have no idea or have no knowledge about what they are professing. I used to be one among such type of people who was confident enough of his own ideological knowledge and was ready to die for it.

 I have been inculcated since childhood that Islam was the best religion but Sufism has distorted it and it is the number one enemy of Islam. At that time I did not know anything about Sufism even then I hated it tremendously due to my wrong indoctrination since childhood. My hate for Sufism became stronger when I looked at its followers. I found majority of them were grave worshippers, revering saints and believing in miracles with no fundamental knowledge of the book Quran. Those beneath the tomb may have been great personalities but worshipping those dead rather than understanding their message was unacceptable to me. I found very late that actually it is Wahabi Islam’s violent ideology of intolerance that is the number one enemy of today's Islam.

 I was very fortunate enough to be taught in the early childhood not to follow anything blindly and never ever reject anything without studying it properly. This small piece of advice helped me a lot in developing my present thoughts.

 Let me also tell you all that I am a severe critic of Sunni / Shi'a / Salafi and current Sufi version of Islam. A food critic is one who love food and can do critical analysis on it. A movie critic is one who loves movies and understands the minute details of film making. Some people call me anti Islam or Islam critic, I want to inform them that I don't hate Muslims, Islam or any human beings on the basis of what they believe, eat or how they live or pray. I don't criticize the real philosophy of Islam or the Quran. I severely criticize the translations and the exegesis of the book Quran which brought bad name to the wonderful philosophy related to inner peace (ISLAM) but foolishly propagated as religion of Arabia or Semitic Prophets.

Having said that I must openly confess that whatever Islamic knowledge I have is only because of traditional Islam or other philosophies of the world that I initially hated the most. The transformation happened in me only because I continuously kept my mind open to learning. I did not confine myself to any philosophies or school of thoughts nevertheless sincerely made an effort to understand them, in spite of not agreeing with them.

I became bold by roughly reading the exegesis of the book Quran by Allama Ghulam Ahmed Parvez, Dr. Shabbir Ahmed and a more upgraded version of them was by Dr. Qamaruzaman. These unconventional versions of translation of Quran emboldened me in explaining my thesis of the book Quran more courageously because like their version my perspective too about the message of the book was unconventional and against the beliefs of the majority of the Muslims.

Initially I was impressed by the rhetoric of some articles written by these unconventional scholars of Islam but when I thoroughly verified it they miserably failed the vocabulary, grammar and common sense test. I respect them all especially Allama Ghulam Ahmed Parvez and Dr. Qamarzaman. They all are respected Quran alone followers and expert grammarians but we must not forget that they were all humans. I respect their method of research to understand the book nevertheless they very clearly said that they are not the final word. But unfortunately their followers made their research work as ultimate document and when anybody questions their research those who advocate them easily get irritated and began either to label you to some particular sects or ridicule your understanding in order to defend their own limited understanding. I can understand their situation as it is not their original thought and the original scholars have departed this world. Note leaving one’s ideology and joining or influenced by other ideologies without verifying it by own efforts is not called research at all but proselytization.

My intention is not to belittle anybody's lifelong research and hard work. I even respect the traditional translators because it is the base from where I learnt and gradually grew up. But I cannot follow / tolerate or keep quite to anything which does not make sense to me. I myself am open to learning and criticism of my thoughts related to Quranic interpretation.

Note common sense is not common. Most of us don't use it. Getting attracted to any translations or exegesis which appeals our needs or circumstances is natural and easy. To become an admirer or an advocate or debater on behalf of that translation or exegesis does not require any qualifications or expertise. The job of verification is tough and the problem with fans / admirers is that they don’t verify because their understanding is based on faith in their mentors and scholars.

When one is in a mutual admiration club it is very difficult to come out of it. Doubting the beliefs of the group or the club rules means you are out of the group. This is the bitter truth of self proclaimed research groups; only yes men are allowed in such groups. Doubting is the first step of learning and seeking knowledge. When we are in the state of admiration / awe we lose the important mental faculty of Criterion / Reasoning and Tolerance. The advocators of all ideologies usually develop the tool of debating / arguing and intolerance because their main purpose now is to defend and spread their “sacred ideologies” of their respective scholars rather than understand the others point of view or develop their own mind. Once the ideologies become holy in the eyes of their followers they become infallible and absolete for new developments.

 

MEANING OF AYAAT

What is Ayaat ?

The word Ayaah [آية] in the book Quran signifies that which is present, clear, valid and is a conceivable sign - The signs which are not clear, present, valid and conceivable cannot be termed as ayaats in the context of the book Quran and in the parameter of Arabic language. The word ayaat [آيات] is derivative of word يَا and the popular root word is ا ى ى - the word is a vocative particle which is used as a call to those present and are near or close to us e.g اى زيد or يا زيد - O Zayed or اى رب or يا رب - O Rabb. 

If we are terming the verses of the Quran as Ayaat then we should be damn sure that the verses is talking about experiences which is very closely witnessed or experienced by our nafs and are valid in the present moment. 

Ayaats are signs that show clear point of view and are presently witnessed or experienced in our own nafs/psyche [41:53]. 

Therefore there is no history or past events present in the book Quran. The message of Quran is for the present moment that appeals to human psychology [nafsiyaat] of all mankind. Ayaats are clear cut signs and no past events can be termed as ayaat.

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرواْ وَكَذَّبُواْ بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَـئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

2:39 - And those who disbelieved and denied with Our ayaats/evidences, those are owners/companion of the fire, they (are) in it immortally/eternally.

Fire signifies distress in our heart and mind, it has nothing to do with hereafter. It is we who make lives Heaven or Hell.

QUESTIONS ARE SIMPLE KEYS

QUESTIONS ARE SIMPLE KEYS

Questions are simple keys to any learning process; nevertheless they are useless if they cannot open the lock. However, even if it opens the lock of the door, the holder of the key does not know what lies beyond the door. Once the door is open, it could be small cavity, a small room, an apartment, a bungalow, a stadium or maybe even a bigger place, much beyond the imagination of the key holder (questioner). The simile of the questioner is like an innocent key holder, who wants to see what is beyond the lock but does not hold the vision or the capacity to comprehend the beauty of the space beyond the keyhole.


Therefore to understand some answers are beyond the scope of the questioner (key holder). The questioner may ask any type of simple questions but he does not have the idea of what the magnitude of the answer will be. He even gets irritated if his/her questions are not answered according to his / her expectations but the fact is that he has to give it some time for it to sink in, and gradually achieve the capacity to absorb the magnitude of that answer. The important thing is he must empty his cup to receive new information or knowledge.

There are many questions whose answers are not within our magnitude to understand. That does not mean that the questions are not valid. The questions are valid but first we have to clear the basics of any field, if we want to advance in that respective field.

Pardon me again if I am behaving like a teacher, but the fact is that I am a learner too. The general rule before explaining the chapters; the educator should know whether the learner knows the basic vocabularies or the terminologies of the chapters, without which it is hard to understand the subject thoroughly or proceed further.

My genuine intention is not to discourage anyone to raise questions but my answers will create many never ending questions and to avoid this my humble request is that we should concentrate more on the basic words before venturing out on complete chapters. Picking selective verses for understanding will complicate the matter even more.

IMHO - The best way to understand is to exercise patience, perseverance and persistence if you believe it is important to learn the subject. Try to learn the basics before speeding your way to the highway. If your intentions are sincere, remember you are the Best Teacher and Rehman will come to your Aid.

I am sorry, but my intentions are not to hurt anyone.

Posted in different group by me.... When to many questions were asked to me, continuously... without having any basic idea of what Quran actually is...My humble appeal is if anyone wants to understand the Quran it is important to know in what format it is written otherwise we will be just encircling around historical personalities and their descendants meant to be taken as examples only but generally people assumed it as real persons, and made their place of birth as pilgrimage centers.... PEACE / SALAM