Reading the Quran
By Ziauddin Sardar
Hachette India
612/614-6th floor, Time Tower
M. G. Road, Gurgaon, Sector 28, Gurgaon, 122001
www.hachetteindia.com Price: Rs. 550
Pages 406, year: 2011
Sardar rubbishes with ease pet passions of leading movements and trashes much of the mumbo-jumbo that has got associated with the text in pursuit of transforming the scripture from a book of guidance to a code of law, Constitution et al.
We, the Muslims often take pride in the fact that the Holy Quran is the most-read book. A racy reading of Reading the Quran by Ziauddin Sardar should be enough to convince us that if any people who have most thoroughly misunderstood this testament from the God, it is Muslims. The book running into 375 pages should therefore be a must-read for all those who have been looking for answers for countless queries perturbing the young minds in today’s age. Sardar, an author of South Asian extraction, has meticulously ripped apart the veils of assumptions and shroud of received opinion enveloping the Divine scripture.
Reading the Quran is a systematic dissection of the contemporary Muslim thought as well as the classical interpretations and a bold attempt to prepare the template for blending the ideals, ideas and ideologies that rule the current human mind with Quranic teachings. Sardar rubbishes with ease pet passions of leading Islamic movements and trashes much of the mumbo-jumbo that has got associated with the text in pursuit of transforming the scripture from a book of guidance to code of law, Constitution et al.
Quran is not a book in the conventional sense. Its beginning and the end do not represent the chronological order in which it was revealed. It is in classical Arabic and even Arabs today have to struggle with its words and their relevance to contemporary realities. The challenge for non-Arabs is much more formidable as the essence is difficult to be transferred with similar magical impact. Sardar therefore suggests that it must be read unencumbered by the prejudices and preconceived ideas. Second, for something considered to be eternal, the engagement with the text must be interpretative, rather than mired in a particular time warp. So what follows from it is that there is more to its content than what our partial intellect can comprehend. Third, the Quran demands critical thought from its readers and admonishes its believers from believing something blindly, hence the repetitive invitation to reflect, think and contemplate.
The above characteristics essentially and effectively debunk some of the common Muslim fallacies. First among them is that the best and most valid interpretations of the Quran were those that were done by first and second century commentators. Second, it also dispels the notion that what Quran preaches is the end of the morality. In author’s view, the morality begins with the Quran. Third, he also rejects the theory that Quran is the repository of all knowledge and there remains nothing to discover. The author says there would be no progress to make if it is assumed that all progress has already been made in history. Similarly, morality too has an evolutionary process. It will come to a grinding half if one thinks that all morality ends with the Quran and our conscience and modern knowledge have nothing to do with expanding contemporary moral insights based on the principles of the Quran. In fact in the author’s opinion these fallacies are causes of the degeneration in Muslim thought and intellectual deadlock witnessed in the Muslim world, for they undermine the ethos of the Quran. Roots of Muslim incapacity to articulate moral positions on contemporary issues go back to them and most Muslims end up making comparisons with incidents of history or quoting slogans and quotes.
Some of the more known and encrusted postulates such as Sharia being a codified cannon of unchanging law too come in for analysis. In Sardar’s view what is understood as the sharia incorporates layer upon layers of classical legal rulings, known as fiqh, or jurisprudence, which has acquired an immutable status. Not much of it has contemporary relevance and bears little relationship to what the Quran actually says. For instance, the Quran repeatedly insists on justice, while the Sharia ends up propagating injustice as is often seen in Saudi Arabia or in Afghanistan under Taliban where female victims of rape are punished with flogging or stoning. What we must appreciate is that sharia, far from being divine, is totally a human product. Islamic law cannot be ‘law’ if it is frozen in history. To be considered as law, the sharia must be dynamic, constantly changing and adjusting to change, while remaining between legal enactments, which are subject to change, and universal moral injunctions. The interpretations of the Quran are human and fallible and can be subjected to critique. Sardar argues that interpretation is always based on human perspective and therefore cannot be granted a universal applicability, even though the scripture is divine.
Plurality of religions and social ethos is a recurring theme of the Quran. But Muslims have been averse to investigate their failings on this score. Holier-than-thou attitude coupled with stiff-necked indulgence with a future vision of global caliphate has turned the community into negating the belief in humanity thriving in diversity and difference. Seen in this light, the punishment for apostasy in some of the Muslim countries is repugnant to Islam as Quran advocates total freedom of conscience, conviction and belief.
Danger could be perceived into simplistic political theories such as ‘all sovereignty is vested in God alone’ and ‘law-making is divine prerogative’ propagated by some so-called Islamists. This could fit into neat totalitarian formulas and serve the interest of despots. On another level it could kill critical faculties, paralyse reason and thwart through and creativity, much in evidence in the Muslim world. Sovereignty could belong to God in cosmic terms, but when it comes down to earth it belongs to those who can make earthly decision. Therefore actual sovereignty belongs to people. Suicide-bombing is opposed to Islam and proscription of art and music is dubbed nonsensical. The chapter on nature throws new light on the environment-friendly practices of Prophet’s time. However, he seems to be less than honest on explaining the position on homosexuality. By no stretch of imagination the Quran could be seen to be approving sexual/marital ties in other than male-female perspective.
Written in impeccable English, Sardar is at his best in quoting Quranic verses. Blending Quranic precepts with anecdotes from the Holy Prophet’s life, the author has done a commendable job in demolishing several myths surrounding the Holy Quran owing to the absence of intellectuals who could contextualize the teachings.
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January 2012 |
