These articles are posted to give a peep into what contemporary Muslisms are thinking, doing, and discussing. Al-Mutawa begins his article by stating what is - sadly - a fact:

In our schools, we get an “A” if we can memorise something, but an “F” if we dare to analyse it. If God had wanted us to be parrots, he would have given us feathers and beaks instead of minds and free will.

Enjoy the rest of the piece. And, of course, feel free to contribute to the discussion.

Interpreting divine texts - Let the Qur’an define itself
By Naif Al-Mutawa, September 29, 2008

In the Arab world, it is held as an unadulterated truth that the Qur’an is best read in its original classical Arabic. But is keeping it closed off to further translation supporting God’s will or suppressing it?

Many believe that what differentiates the Qur’an from other holy books is that it is undiluted by translation, that once a word is translated it loses its original breadth and depth. But is that really the case? Can we not also make the argument that a word, once translated into 100 languages, expresses an even greater breadth and depth?

The Qur’an defines itself. Less perfectly, perhaps, in Swedish than in Arabic, but surely far more valuably to the Swedes. One cannot hold goodness hostage to perfection.

Life is all about the grey area. When I was growing up I wasn’t sure where I belonged in the world of religion. The way religion was taught in the Arab world was always in absolutes. While I didn’t know much when I was young, I knew that I could not live in a black and white, either-or world. This was made most clear through a sermon delivered by a young imam who was studying for his doctorate at the Harvard Divinity School.

Speaking to a group of Muslim students, Imam Talal Eid said, “If you ask me whether charging interest is haram (forbidden) in Islam, I would say ‘yes’ and I would quote chapter and verse from the Qur’an for you.”

After a long pause, he went on to say, “But if I didn’t pay for my car with an installment loan, I wouldn’t be able to come here to talk to you about Islam.”

With that simple, expressive example between the absolute and the relative, the imam carved out a place of tolerance and compromise for me. He made it safe for me to be the judge of my own actions, to set my own course, to walk to the beat of my own drum. He made it safe to make my own rules using the lessons I learned with the heart and mind that God gave me. No one could force me to walk away from my duty as a Muslim by insisting there was only one way to live my life and practice my faith.

Tolerance begins in the classroom. Tolerance begins when we are allowed to read any text from any source, in any translation, and offer our opinions. Tolerance is born when there are as many opinions as there are people and when the power of reason is what separates a good grade from a bad one. In an Arab education, the power of memory and repetition are too often rewarded, while the power of reason is reprimanded.

In our schools, we get an “A” if we can memorise someone else’s teachings but an “F” if we dare to analyse it. Worse yet, we can be branded as heretics. I have heard many proudly say that one should value repetition over the use of one’s mind.

But if God had wanted us to be parrots, he would have given us feathers and beaks instead of minds and free will.

We need to move on.

In Europe the Renaissance helped break the control of those who favoured recitation over reason. Art played a huge part in that revolution. Suddenly, people were encouraged to have opinions about art and to discuss its implications. Meanwhile, art in our neck of the desert was, until recently, limited exclusively to the beautiful calligraphy of the Qur’an.

As beautiful as our art is, its meaning gave no room for openness of interpretation. How could one comment? I don’t like the colour purple on that verse? Maybe the writer should have used a larger font?

I once asked my ten-year-old son, Hamad, what he thought of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, the Mona Lisa. He liked her smile but not the colours. “Too dark”, he said.

I then asked him what he thought of a beautiful piece of Qur’anic calligraphy that honours a wall in our home. He looked at it and asked me what I meant. “Hamad, you just told me what you liked and didn’t like about the Mona Lisa”, I replied. “Why can’t you tell me the same about this piece of art?”

He looked at me confused and said, “It’s the Qur’an. Of course it’s beautiful.” And indeed it is. But that is beside the point; someday he will know of his own intellect why it is beautiful.

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa is the creator of The 99, the internationally acclaimed group of superheroes based on Islamic archetypes. For more information, please visit the99.org. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Thank Allah that Islam is not a religion of "Arabs," but a "Universal" one, for its inclusiveness. The Messenger(AS) was the only prophet who had companions from other ethnicity outside his own. Musa had only Chil;dren of Israel. And so was Isa.

Muhammad had blacks, Children of Israel, Parsian/asiatic and European Romans,etc as his comapnions. No one says that Qur'an can not be explained, and be understood in other language(s) other than Arabic. The only uniqueness about Qur'an is that its "authentic reading," must be done in "PURE ARABIC!" A proof that it is not the letter of Arabic tht matters when it comes to Qur'an was Muhammad (AS), himself. Afterall he was an "Unlettered!" It is the sound that matters, in its official reading of authenticity.

As to the explanations; Bukhari and Muslim, and others were not even Arabs. Yet, their Books of Hadiths are the best source of explanations of the "Qur'an!"

To claim, by any arab or others, that the mere read in Authentic Arabic of the Qur'an somehow brings about backwardness or repressions to the lives of the Muslims is complete nonsense. The author of the piece above, is from his "writing" critiquing "Arabs and their "backwardness" and not Islam and Islamic societies." We must never forget that most Arabs are arabcentric, just like most africans are afrocentric. The flavors of Islam are many; it is the numbers of flavors of the muslims, as a whole.

For example, the Emirades are todays a leadership community in Commerce and Industry. Asiatic Malaysia is advancing in Science and Technology.

I think if the "arab" writer of th above piece is sincere, he would have retrospectively reflected on the "glory days of the arabs." This is when arabs, who "read the Qur'an only in Arab" conquered, dominated and ruled at least 1/3 of the whole world at that time. We must not forget that Europe" was in existence prior to Islam under Muhammad's prophethood. Yet after Muhammad, these muslims who adhere to his teachings managed to advance in medicine, and many specialized field of Sciences, Engineering and humanity. These included banking, finance and business and even others; Poetry was an example.

The sun did not begin to set on the Muslims, until their complacancy, which gave rise to the West, starting between the minor excursionary crusades in the west, and the larger ones into the Middle east, with the desastrous sack of the Muslims in the Spanish inquisition, which was a polgrom of a huge consequence on the Muslims, and then the Jews.

It is important for the world to know that America came into existence on the back of the technologies and monies of the muslims of Spain, after the brutuality of the Spanish Christians in the kingdom of Isabella and Fernando!

If the Muslims flourished at the time after the Prophet (AS), and before the Spanish Inquisition and the many Crusades to Palestine, we should ask why they flourished. And we should also ask what brought about the disaster that ended up the brilliance of their glorious time. The answer to the later will not be because of the structural formality of the Qur'an and Islam! On the contrary, it will be because Muslim neglected their "responsibilities and their call to actions of duties and obedience to Allah."

What can we then attribute the success of the Muslims to before the beginning of their failure, except to their Obedience of worship and dutifulness to Allah! Was there a more successful Prophet to mankind than Muhammad?

And in my writing I forgot to talk about the Turks. The grand daughter of the last Sultan, whom Attaturk ruled under him, and formulated the "modern" Turkey was just discussing this issue with me. She is an oler friend, a sister in Islam. Her name is Guley.

@Nimshi

I have seen it and waiting for your contribution but in the meantime, the quote below caught my attention:

Speaking to a group of Muslim students, Imam Talal Eid said, “If you ask me whether charging interest is haram (forbidden) in Islam, I would say ‘yes’ and I would quote chapter and verse from the Qur’an for you.”

After a long pause, he went on to say, “But if I didn’t pay for my car with an installment loan, I wouldn’t be able to come here to talk to you about Islam.”

Does that mean you support charging of interest?

The article was posted to inspire discussion. It is not necessarily the poster's point of view. Now:

On Interest . . .

The Socratic approach may help in reasoning:

1) How does a Muslim acquire property via, say, mortgage?
2) How does a Muslim buy a car for which (s)he may not have the full amount to pay?
3) How does a Muslim execute a capital intensive project for which personal funds are severely inadequate and the assistance of financial institutions are needed?

.

@Nimshi

The article was posted to inspire discussion. It is not necessarily the poster's point of view. Now:

On Interest . . .

The Socratic approach may help in reasoning:

1) How does a Muslim acquire property via, say, mortgage?
2) How does a Muslim buy a car for which (s)he may not have the full amount to pay?
3) How does a Muslim execute a capital intensive project for which personal funds are severely inadequate and the assistance of financial institutions are needed?

Please take your time to read through and pay attention to AH 1999 posts which explains what you may be needing to know. I still dont know if its the same Brash.

http://forum.mpacuk.org/archive/index.php?t-5979.html

On Islamic Banking and Finance

http://users.bart.nl/~abdul/book4ft.html
http://www.islamic-world.net/economics/musharakah.htm


On major Islamic finance instruments

http://www.ifilbd.com/linkfiles/glossary2.php

The poster you referenced cited a committee including Sheik Yusuf al Qaradawi as authority. Do you always endorse the view of Sheik Yusuf al Qaradawi? Or is there sth specific about my questions above that you'd like to share here? Don't do a copy/paste of all of the fellow's post, just of what's relevant. There's a inherent weakness is arguing exclusiveyl or excessively from authority.
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Nimshi: let me know your argument against Qaradawi and we look at it together. I wouldnt know what else you still need after giving you detailed links in which you only need to read.You raised thread in which response was provided and stil asked question. It would be ideal to give me your own contribution since you claim to be a muslim and we look at it islamically. I wouldnt want to go into any discussion thats devoid of Quranic verses and Hadith but will discuss with you when say your stand in those threads you created and we look at it together. Until then,no comments from me.

First off: I refer you to a recent discussion and mukina's comments about my religion or lack of it. I will not keep returning to that theme.

I went through some of the material on the link you gave; the information there do not answer the questions. And mucf of the opinion is based on authority. If you have specific things to share based on the opinion in the piece and questions on this thread, post it. I do not subscribe to all of Qaradawi's views; I will be circumspect of his views even, considering his position on the use of violence. Of course, his position on violence will no invalidate his opinion on Islamic Banking, but one major point - perhaps you missed it - about Islamic Banking is that in practice, it does not work in a modern system. Efforts to rename interest as "profit" and 'limited joint ownership' schemes don't erase the fact. Which is the reason why the speaker made the insightful statement about his car and payment by installment.
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