REFORMING ISLAM BY PROF JAMES DORSEY. I SAY ITS A WASTE OF TIME.

 

This is an insanely long article by Prof James Dorsey of the National University of Singapore. If you wish to read the whole article please click here.  I will give you an extremely shortened version here plus also make my own comments (in blue).

James M. Dorsey 

• debates about moderate Islam and how to reform Islam
• two schools of thought 
• simply pick which elements of Sharia to ignore
• adopted by Saudi Crown Prince MBS and UAE's bin Zayed
• Nahdlatul Ulama insists remove obsolete, supremacist concepts in Sharia 
• only way to fortify Islam against extremism 
• promote political, social, religious pluralism, religious tolerance, democracy. 

My Comments:

You simply cannot 'reform' Islam either in the manner proposed by the Saudi Crown Prince MBS (who has a degree in Shariah Law)  and the UAE's Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ) or in the manner proposed by Indonesia's Nadhlatul Ulama. 

MBS and MBZ propose to simply ignore whichever parts of the Sharia they do not like. And stick to those parts of the Shariah that they do like.

The Nadhlatul Ulama of Indonesia want to remove obsolete and supremacist concepts in Sharia.

Both methods are guaranteed to fail. Who will pick and choose what to ignore or remove from the shariah? More importantly HOW will they decide what to pick and choose? Simply saying "I dont like this part of the shariah " is not an acceptable method.

Then there are other suggestions like lets "re-interpret" the traditions in a progressive or modern manner. That is also bound to fail completely. For the same reason stated above.

All these methods are guaranteed to fail.

There is only ONE WAY TO REFORM ISLAM.

But before that the much, much more important point is that there is only one way to bring about this reform in Islam. 

At this present juncture in Islam the "how shall we go about bringing the reform" is a thousand times more important than the actual reforms themselves.

So first let me talk about the HOW TO GO ABOUT BRINGING REFORM in Islam. 

Readers of this  blog will know what I am going to say anyway.

Abolish any form or shape of criminalisation of discussion in Islam by anyone and everyone.

Abolish any form or shape of criminal blasphemy laws.

Abolish any form or shape of criminal apostasy laws.

Any belief, view or opinion about Islam that is not agreeable or acceptable to the majority orthodoxy or to the ruling orthodoxy cannot be criminalised or punishable under any law as a criminal offence. 

In other words restore freedom of speech to say and discuss any view or opinion about Islam. 

There must be respect and tolerance for any and all sects and views in Islam even if they are not agreeable to the orthodoxy. 

Only when Muslims of different sects and views can openly and freely (and intelligently) discuss Islam without fear of prosecution by the ruling orthodoxies or persecution by village mobs, only then can we undertake the next step ie the reform of Islam.

So there is a very great urgency on all Muslim societies to learn to get rid of violent thoughts, anger, hatred and violence towards other Muslims who may not believe or do the same things that they do.

REFORMING

There is only one way to reform Islam. That is to understand the Quran in greater depth. And to make the Muslim population in general understand the Quran in greater depth. 

And they must understand the Quran by reading the Quran by itself.  If you have to ask a third person what is written in the Quran then that is second hand information already.

For best results the Quran must be read and understood in its original Arabic. 

For non Arabs translations will help but know that up to this point in time ALL translations are unreliable. 

But reading the Quran in depth, even if reading the translations, will educate the Muslims about one very important aspect of Islam : what exactly is written inside the Quran versus what is NOT WRITTEN in the Quran.

The original Arabic Quran does not mention aircraft carriers. So the Quran translations too will not and should not  mention aircraft carriers.

The vast majority of Muslims 99.9999999999% do not know what is written in the Quran versus what is NOT WRITTEN in the Quran.

Just being able to make this simple distinction will make the Muslims heads and shoulders above those who do not read and understand the Quran.

For example the Quran mentions Adam (adamma) but the name of his wife is not stated in the Quran. 

The Quran makes absolutely no mention of the story of the creation of the woman from the rib of the man. 

Many Muslims do not know this at all. 

The sharia punishment  of stoning the adulterers to death is NOT in the Quran.

The sharia requirement of four witnesses for adultery is also not found in the Quran.

The sharia punishment of death for apostasy is also NOT in the Quran.

The same word for 'cut the hand' is used in Surah 5:38 (punishing the thieves) and also in Surah 12:31 when some women 'cut their hands' when they were mesmerised by the beauty of Yusuf (Joseph).

So did the women in 12:31 also completely cut off their hands when they saw Yusuf ? 

The words like hijab, hudud and hadith are mentioned in the Quran. 

Exactly how many times are these words mentioned in the Quran? 

In which verses? What do they mean? 

Wouldnt the Muslims like to know? 

Shouldnt the Muslims know all this?

There is a lot of material in the Quran that should be learned by the everyday Muslim.

By knowing more about the Quran, by knowing what is and what is not written in the Quran we should be better informed. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.