(Response)
Mohammed Hijab – Liberal Muslim Re-interpreting The Qur’an
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Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us to whoever builds a mosque for Allah, Allah were built in a similar house in Jannah. And we know the great reward that will not only be gained, but rather, will fill your grave after your death. Whenever someone prays that whenever someone gives shahada in the masjid whenever someone learns something in the masjid, yes, that will be something that you will have on your scale.
Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh How you guys doing? I came across a video of some self proclaimed liberal Muslims talking about reinterpretation of the Quran. Let's take a look at this clip, and come back and comment on this clip. The Quran must be re interpreted for the 21st century, you always need to reinterpret the Quran, whoever is looking at the grind, whoever's reading, it needs to interpret it needs to understand what it was telling that person, all the information, everything that we're learning is about getting us closer to adjust future. And in the time of the Prophet slavery was well in the live, the Quran never outright abolished slavery. But people through
their interpretation decided that the Quran is leading us to a future where slavery shouldn't be allowed, because it's unjust. Yeah, I agree, I think the Quran or the Texas holy texts that should never be changed or should be written like that's off the table. But I think interpretation can we could talk about the whole time matters, but I've consulted with different like mosque leaders, different people who actually study Islam, and not once a there was like a big overlap, because they have their own interpretation of what the Quran is into the modern world. So I just think in general, there definitely should be a more modern interpretation. I think what's going on here,
quite frankly, is that and this is the case with a lot of Muslims in the West, that they feel pressured. And maybe understandably so because we're living in an age where the dominant ethic of the world is the liberal ethics, not of the world, I should say, the Western world, and being positioned in the western world as Muslims, it's very difficult to escape the claws of this ideology. However, what I will say is this. In fact,
really, and truly, you have to look at liberalism as another religion, it's another religion in so much as it's a transcendental idea, with a set of presuppositions, which form the wrong kind of morality. And this, in fact, is how some people like Charles Taylor and other sociologists defined religion itself.
The example they gave though, in the in the video is not something which is as controversial as one may think. It would be, for example, in the the issue of slavery anyway, Islamic slavery,
which has nothing to do with the kind of atrocious race based transatlantic slavery abuse, that the Western white man conducted for 400 years or over that in the transAtlantic region. Got no, we've got nothing to do with that. So I think first and foremost, saying that, well, the Quran allowed it, but it didn't allow that kind of slavery. And that needs to be very, very clear, because, quite frankly, in the imagination of the Westerners, this is when someone says slavery, you imagine an innocent black man being whipped or lynched or hurt, and racially abused, that Islam does not and has never allowed that kind of slavery. In fact, there is a specific kind of slavery which only we
would say, we are allowed to have with Allah, which is that ultimate and unconditional obedience for the prophets that Allah Hollyoaks, I'm told us Lautaro Lima, hello comfy Marcia to Harlock there is no obedience to the creation in the disobedience to the Creator. So this ultimate kind of slavery only exists with Allah subhanho wa Taala with God Almighty. As for indentured servitude, or selling and buying, of course, this existed at the time of the Prophet and they're right to mention that this was not something which was abolished outright, however, also Lee's or people who are jurisprudential experts, even before the formulation of liberalism, itself as a religion was an
ideology as a political ideology, or political philosophy.
They made the same point as these liberal Muslims are making which are, which is effectively that Islam is attempting to move in the direction of the abolition of slavery. And of course, one of the eight categories of the cat is for the freeing of slavery, as mentioned, sort of the Toba welfare Rickerby it's not the place of time to speak about slavery here in great depth, but the point is, the point that we're making was not specific, or it's not. You don't require to reinterpret the Quran through liberalism. In order to make this point, you could make the same point which is that Islam effectively has an emancipatory discourse, as we will know it
already, if you read through the ballot in just our memos of the people in chapter nine, you want to memorize this chapter. Young people in the Muslim world are madaraka, Malacca fetco Raka, what is the good way freeing slaves is the good way. So in other words, if one is saying that, because this seems to be the thrust of the argument, that in order for us to do away with slavery, we have to embrace a new morality, no, because quite frankly, the Islamic or the Quranic message, from the very beginning had a very clear emancipatory discourse, the kinds of so called slavery that existed then, is nothing like what we're what we're used to, or, or, you know, in the western imagination, or with
racial slavery, or racism in general, which is completely outlawed in Islam. You see, because Islam is the only ancient religion that I know of, which clearly, outlaws racism. It's not in the Old Testament, there's not one verse in the Old Testament, or in the Talmud, or anything like that, which outlaws racism. In fact, to the contrary, there is, you know, this preferential treatment that we're getting from the tribe of Israel, who God had to repent, to and lost to a wrestling match to the one of the protagonist of and so on, Jacob, no, Islam, as the Prophet told us, there is no superiority over a black man or a white man or a white man or a black man or an Arab over non Arab
or non Arab of an Arab. So I think it's very important to make these points clear the kind of slavery that people are talking about, which is morally,
totally unacceptable, is something that Islam had nothing to do with in any time, and the Prophet of Islam was completely absolved from and the Quran is completely absolved from, we don't need the white man, who is himself himself, the white man, the liberal, white man, I'm not talking about the color of your skin, because I've just said, we don't believe in racism. We're talking about the archetypal liberal white man. Yes, we don't need him to tell us what morality is. We don't need liberalism to tell us that, in fact, we need you or liberalism or, you know, torchbearers of liberalism, in order to know that slavery is wrong, because quite frankly, slavery coexisted with
liberalism.
Think about when, in America, the country I think that woman was talking from when it was outlawed as a constitutional amendment, I think, the 13th Amendment in America in 1861, to 1865 when the Civil War happened, and as a result of it, slavery was outlawed. But we know that the founding fathers of America were really some of the main figures of liberalism, and all of them, if not had slaves themselves, allowed it to happen. As you many of you will know that. So there's nothing intrinsic about liberalism as an ideology,
which, for example, to use this slavery example that they gave, without law, it will even outlaw racism, we know that racism was something which existed. In fact, justification was given
colonial justification for racism, even scientific type colonial justification. So this is a nonstarter you have given us no reason to switch paradigm you've given us no reason to go to liberalism you have given us even your example was a false example. And unfortunately, unfortunately, this is the pressure that some people you know, have, you know, quite frankly in the Muslim world have to go through but because they came across very humbly, I don't want to put these people off I would say to this, this lady, young lady, and to the man.
I'm saying to come back to traditionalism, come back to Quran, come back to the Sunnah come back to that quote of the Salaf do the sayings of the people of old come back to the tradition come back because our tradition as is not as rigid as you think is even the traditional understanding of his time was not as rigid as you think is motor shaft I mentioned very famously, he said either Darko Amro, it tesab to Sharia, if the situation gets very constrained, the Sharia becomes very flexible
way that Tesla had to shut out doc olam or the opposite is true. When the situation becomes very flexible, then the shear becomes more strict. So we have an inbuilt flexibility without the within the client. This was this was something understood with the early people and I'm a chef I being one of them. So you don't need you know, white colonial discourses or dominant paradigms of the West in order to really come to these conclusions. We don't need any anything outside of our guidance, you know, of the Quran, sunnah. And hopefully this convinces you with Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah. How you are you wasting your time on social media again, your brothers and sisters in Islam net from
Norway or establishing a masjid a Dawa center? Establishing a masjid to convey the message of Islam is one of the best deeds a Muslim can do. There's a huge need for it and
Knowing you know this and I know this, so that makes the role even greater. So give generously and Allah azza wa jal give you even more