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"مضامین قرآن" انڈکس   Front Page أصول المعرفة الإسلامية Fundaments of Islamic Knowledge انڈکس#1 :  اسلام ،ایمانیات ، بنی...

قرآن کتاب ہدایت ہے تو گمراہ کیسے کرتا ہے؟


4قرآن یا حدیث کی آیات کو شیئر کرنا ایک سنجیدہ معاملہ ہے، ہم یہ جانتے ہوئے بھی ہلکے سے لیتے ہیں۔ جبکہ یہ رہنمائی کر سکتا ہے اگر مناسب دیکھ بھال اور احتیاط نہ برتی جائے تو یہ گمراہ بھی ہو سکتی ہے۔
خدا نے قرآن کو ان لوگوں کے غلط فہمی میں کیوں چھوڑا ہے جو اسے غلط پڑھتے ہیں، اور کیوں ".... وہ اس کے ذریعے بہت سے لوگوں کو گمراہ کرتا ہے، اور اس کے ذریعے بہت سے لوگوں کی رہنمائی کرتا ہے"، ایک الگ بحث ہے۔ اس سلسلے میں، قرآن کا اپنا جواب معلوم ہوتا ہے: "لیکن وہ اس کے ذریعے کبھی گمراہ نہیں کرتا سوائے بدکاروں کے [قرآن؛ 2:26"؛ cf 3:7، 17:41، 17:82، 56:79-82۔]
قرآن بیک وقت ہدایت اور گمراہ کیسے کرتا ہے؟
اس سوال کا جواب دینے سے پہلے آئیے سمجھیں کہ قرآن کس طرح رہنمائی کرتا ہے۔ رہنمائی پیغام کو واضح کر رہی ہے، یہ سفر کی سمت ہے، منزل تک پہنچنے کے لیے درکار وسائل سمیت راستہ۔ اللہ الہدی ہے، ہدایت دینے والا ہے، قرآن عظیم الشان ہدایت ہے، الٰہی ہدایت ہے۔ چنانچہ اللہ تعالیٰ نے انسانیت کو مسلمان ہونے کے لیے ضروری رہنمائی، وسائل اور ذرائع فراہم کیے ہیں۔ اللہ اس وقت خوش ہوتا ہے جب کوئی شخص ہدایت قبول کرتا ہے اور جب کوئی اس کا انکار کرتا ہے تو ناراض ہوتا ہے: "اللہ اپنے بندے کے انکار اور کفر سے خوش نہیں ہوتا" (الزمر: 7)۔ تاہم، اس نے انسان کو یہ اختیار دیا ہے کہ وہ مانے یا نہ کرے: ’’اگر تمہارا رب چاہتا تو زمین پر سب کو مومن بنا سکتا تھا‘‘ (یونس: 99)۔ تو، ہدایت کس کو ملتی ہے؟ قرآن کہتا ہے: ’’جو لوگ گمراہ ہونا چاہتے ہیں اللہ انہیں گمراہ کر دیتا ہے اور جو لوگ اس کی طرف رجوع کرتے ہیں ان کو ہدایت دیتا ہے‘‘ (الرعد:27)۔ پس جو لوگ فرمانبردار ہیں، فرمانبردار ہیں اور ہدایت یافتہ ہونا چاہتے ہیں اللہ ہدایت کرتا ہے: ’’جو اللہ پر ایمان رکھتا ہے وہ اس کے دل کو ہدایت دیتا ہے‘‘ (التغابن:11)۔ لیکن نافرمانوں اور گنہگاروں کو ان کی چالوں پر چھوڑ دیا جاتا ہے: "اللہ گنہگاروں کو ہدایت نہیں کرتا" (المنافقون: 6)۔

اللہ تعالیٰ فرماتا ہے: ’’ہم نے قوم ثمود کو ہدایت دی لیکن انہوں نے ہدایت پر اندھے پن کو ترجیح دی۔‘‘ (فصلت: 18)۔ عظیم الشان قرآن اس بات پر زور دیتا ہے کہ ’’اللہ جسے چاہتا ہے اپنے لیے چن لیتا ہے اور جو اس کی طرف رجوع کرتا ہے اسے ہدایت دیتا ہے‘‘ (شوریٰ: 13)۔ ایک اور جگہ وہ کہتا ہے: ”تم بہروں کو کیسے سنا سکتے ہو یا اندھوں کو دیکھ سکتے ہو؟ یا وہ جو گمراہ ہے؟" (الزھرف:40)

صرف نافرمان ہی گمراہ ہوتے ہیں “اللہ تعالیٰ مچھر یا اس سے چھوٹی چیز کی مثال دینے سے نہیں شرماتا۔ مومن جانتے ہیں کہ یہ ان کے رب کی طرف سے حق ہے، لیکن کافر کہتے ہیں کہ اس مثال سے اللہ کا کیا مطلب ہے؟ وہ بہت سے لوگوں کو اس کے ذریعے گمراہ کرنے اور دوسروں کو ہدایت پر جانے دیتا ہے: یہ نافرمان ہیں جو اس سے گمراہ ہیں، وہ لوگ ہیں جو اللہ کے ساتھ معاہدہ کرنے کے بعد اسے توڑ دیتے ہیں۔ اللہ نے جن رشتوں کو جوڑنے کا حکم دیا ہے ان کو توڑ دیتے ہیں اور زمین میں فساد برپا کرتے ہیں، یہی لوگ نقصان اٹھانے والے ہیں‘‘ (البقرۃ: 26-27)۔

قرآن کہہ رہا ہے کہ یہی پیغام مومنوں کی رہنمائی کر سکتا ہے لیکن کافروں کو گمراہ کر سکتا ہے۔ یہ ان کی پسند اور سمجھنے کے طریقے کی عکاسی کرتا ہے۔ کفار کا وحی کے بارے میں مذاق اڑانے والا رویہ ان کے تکبر اور ضد کے ساتھ انہیں صحیح منطقی سوچ سے محروم کر دیتا ہے، اس لیے وہ گمراہ ہو جاتے ہیں، کیونکہ وہ اس پر مزید طنز کرتے ہیں۔
Sharing verses of Quran or Hadith is a serious matter, we take it lightly not knowing that;  while it can guide it can also misguide if due care and caution is not observed. 
Why God has left the Quran to be misunderstood by people who read it wrongly, and why “.... He misleads many thereby, and He guides many thereby (Quran 2:26 part)”, is a different discussion. In this regard, the Quran seems to have its own reply: “But He never misleads thereby except the wicked [Quran; 2:26”; cf. 3:7, 17:41, 17:82, 56:79-82.]
How does the Quran guide and misguide at the same time?

Before we answer this question let’s understand how the Quran guides. Guidance is making clear the message, it’s a direction of a journey, the route including the resources needed to reach the destination. Allah is Al-Hadi, the Guide, the Majestic Quran is Hidayah, the Divine guidance. So, Allah has provided humanity with the direction, resources and means necessary to submit and to become Muslim. Allah is pleased when a person accepts guidance and displeased when someone denies it: “Allah is not pleased with His servant’s denial and disbelief” (Al-Zumar: 7). However, He has given human’s the choice to believe or to reject: “If Your Lord wanted, He could have made all on Earth believers” (Yunus: 99). So, who gets guidance? The Quran says: “Allah lets those who want to be misled go astray, and guides those who turn to Him” (Ar-R’ad: 27). So, those who are obedient, submit and want to be guided Allah guides: “the one who believes in Allah He guides his heart” (Al-Taghabun:11). But the disobedient and the sinners are left to their devices: “Allah doesn’t guide the sinners” (Al-Munafiqun: 6).

Allah says, “We guided the people of Thamud, but they preferred blindness over guidance” (Fussilat: 18). The Majestic Quran emphasises “Allah selects for Himself anyone He wills and guides the one who turns to Him” (Shura: 13). In another place He says “How can you make the deaf hear or the blind to see? Or the one who is misled?” (Az-Zuhruf: 40).

Only the disobedient are misguided “Allah is not embarrassed to give an example of a mosquito or something smaller. The believers know this is the truth from their Lord, but the disbelievers say, “What does Allah mean by this example?” He allows many to be misled by it and others to be guided: it’s the disobedient who are misguided by it, those who break their contract with Allah after it has been agreed; they sever the ties that Allah has ordered to be joined, and they make trouble in the land, these are the losers” (Al-Baqarah: 26-27).

The Quran is saying that the same message can guide the faithful but mislead the disbelievers. It reflects their choice and way of understanding. The disbeliever’s mocking attitude towards the revelation coupled with their arrogance and stubbornness deprives them of proper logical thinking, so they are misguided, as they further snigger at it.
https://www.majesticquran.co.uk/how-does-the-quran-guide-and-misguide-at-the-same-time/
High above all is then God, the Sovereign, the Ultimate Truth! And, therefore, hasten not with the Quran before it has been revealed unto thee in full, but say: O my Sustainer, increase me in knowledge. 20:114
Yes, the Quran itself warns that an incorrect reading of the Quran can misguide (2:26, 3:7, 17:41, 17:45-46, 17:82, 39:23, 56:79, 71:5-7). It can misguide its mis-readers in at least1 three ways:
First, a reading of the Quran can misguide when we take certain messages out of their HISTORICAL SETTINGS

The Quran is inseparably tied to its context and environment. It is a record of experience of a human messenger ‘sent’ to the Arabs and the world.

Besides delivering its universal messages to all humankind of all times, the Quran largely contains verses that refer to specific issues belonging to the time and place of its revelation. Many of these verses, if not considered in their specific settings, can confuse and mislead the readers. That is why reading in historical context is important.

A good example in this regard is the much debated subject the Sword Verses. During those tough days of nascent Islam, these verses are simply sanctioning self-defense in the face of persecution and aggression. But at no point is there any slightest indication that instigating violence is acceptable. However, both Islamophobes and extremists purposely read these verses out of context in order to promote their own agendas, while selectively ignoring all the related texts and also the rest of the Quran that so constantly and so desperately calls for peace and balance.

Take the legal code in the Quran as another example. The Quran, in response to the specific needs of the time and place of its revelation, did prescribe a legal code including a criminal justice system. This allegedly comprised corporal and capital punishments for certain moral crimes, like flogging for publicly-committed fornication and death penalty for intentional homicide. However, because the inspired messenger was then dealing with real problems of a particular socio-economics, this specific prescription needs to be understood in its temporal setting, and not as something meant to be timeless.

As the Quran keeps itself open for continuous, fresh interpretation, we do not think that these temporal elements as such make the Quran fallible. In our today’s transformed world situation this time-bound legal code can be rationalized only if it can be translated into a modern code which is flexible and which can evolve according to the evolving needs of society, while transcending according to the guidance of reason (5:38-39, 24:2-5, 17:33-36).

We can of course try to draw some general guidelines and universal values out of these specific laws. But to consider them as immutable and applicable for all times – by ripping them off their history and timeline – must be, to our opinion, very confusing and completely misguiding, and against the rational spirit of the Quran.

In brief, some of the messages and instructions delivered by the Quran are specific and temporal, while others are general and eternal. Often the difference between the two is uncertain and nebulous. To find out exactly which message or which instruction falls into which category remains a challenge for Islamic scholars.

Here we come across the problem with sharia, when it only represents a rigid, hadith-based, 7th to 9th century understanding of the Quran. Now, when the Quran says that God is the ultimate judge and legislator (12:40), or that people should judge according to the divine revelation (5:44, 45, 47), it conveys various layers of meaning. But it doesn’t automatically suggest that we need to impose all those time-bound rules and laws of sharia on our current reality. Or that we should consider simplistically that they are all divinely legislated and are all meant to be applied word by word in all times and all socio-economic circumstances. This concept is extremely dangerous and may become even disastrous, if, God forbid, applied in reality.

Now, we may perhaps better understand the Quran if we can really better understand the approximate period and region it relates to, including the people and the socio-economics involved. Studies in areas like history (incl. Marxist analysis of historical dialectics), archaeology, sociology, comparative linguistics etc that look into the origin and development of Islam, all may be helpful in this regard. Though much research has been done, more is needed in order to throw more light into that environment and to demystify those related events. We found, e.g., ‘The origin and development of Islam: An essay on its socio-economic growth by Asghar Ali Engineer’ an invaluable attempt in this regard.

Though, despite all the attempts, we may never be able to fully understand or verify our understanding about the historical settings of a remote past – we need to at least acknowledge that some of the messages of the Quran deal with real issues belonging to some specific historical context and, therefore, are not meant to be timeless ad verbum. Many Muslim clerics, unless they acknowledge this, will continue to somehow misinterpret the Book and misguide their blind followers.

Second, a reading of the Quran can misguide when we fail to read its messages HOLISTICALLY

The Quran clarifies itself through its interactive explanatory process where verses are explained through verses.

So verses need to be considered within a cluster rather than separated from all the verses related. A superficial, isolated reading may often give us an incorrect understanding.

Now, since it is thus difficult to detach a single verse from its correlations (2:85), it is usually difficult to assign it, for example, to any precise category like ‘literal’ or ‘metaphorical’. It is due to this reason that, when we try to read the texts thus holistically, often ‘literal’ and ‘metaphorical’ start to overlap, and every time every interconnected reading in a new context brings about new layers of meaning.

No wonder why understanding of a verse or a text at a given moment can so widely vary from reader to reader, and even for the same reader at different times, depending on the context she is currently engaged in, as well as on her mental state, attitude, level of knowledge and experience and other individual circumstances and factional backgrounds.

To our study, the Quran is divine and it rightly claims to have within itself no contradiction (4:82, 39:23). Yet its interpretations are human and they battle with one another with their endless contradictions (18:54).

Yes, the Quran’s interactive process of self-clarification demands a holistic reading (6:105, 20:114). This is, however, a most difficult task to do.

It is because the mind’s natural limitations to grasp the Truth in its totality (or ‘akhirat’) leave ‘an invisible barrier’ between the Quran and its human understandings (17:45-46). This obstacle, varying in varying minds, shatters the ‘one divine light’ (‘the Truth’; 24:35, 20:114) into ‘many human colours’ (‘partial truths’; 35:19-28, 30:9-24, 16:2-69, 39:18-69, 2:22-87, 2:136-164, 23:17-32).

Apparently, there is no contradiction in the Quran, from the Divine’s perspective. But when it comes to humans’ perspectives, the perceived contradictions appear never-ending. And this is partly due to the interconnectedness of the Quran, interactive through a complex network, and the innate vagueness of a some portion of it, sensed variously by various minds, all limited in their receivers.

This is how, for example, a detached reading of 4:34, with a deliberate misinterpretation of the multiple-meaning verb ‘daraba’ in it, allowed the patriarchal society to misuse the Quran to sustain the male arrogance of their wife beaters. And allowed the audacity of such a renowned commentator like Ibn Kathir to claim that “a man must not be asked why he beat his wife.”

Likewise, an isolated understanding, e.g., of the misconstrued instruction like “Obey God and obey the messenger (64:12)” or “So accept what the messenger gives you, and refrain from what he forbids you (59:7)” contributed to the invention of hadith. Similar detached, biased readings of a few inexplicit verses of the Quran, backed by contradictory hadiths, contributed to the breeding of sects.

Third, a reading of the Quran can misguide when we read the nonliteral messages LITERALLY

Some verses of the Quran are Mutshabhaat (veiled and vague) see 3:7.

Apart from clear messages, the Quran also contains multiple-meaning messages (3:7). In one way or other, these messages tend to be unclear, vague, imprecise, indirect, nonliteral, equivocal, allegorical, figurative and so on.

Here is the logic behind this. In order to present deeper, complex and abstract ideas, the Quran – which is a rhymed prose originally intended for lyrical recitation and easier memorization (36:69-70) – often speaks in an inimitable language that uses a range of literary devices including symbols, idioms, similes, metaphors, allegories, stories, parables, analogies, allusions, personification, repetitiveness, silent interpolations, scattered mode of composition and rhetorical devices like antithesis, homonymy, hyperbole, palindrome, metonymy, parenthesis, grammatical shifts, chiasmus, ring composition and so on, all within the dynamics of an interactive self-explanatory process.

It is this very unique literary structure of the Quran that keeps a considerable portion of the Quran covered and hidden and, depending on the readers’ mental aptitudes and attitudes, often difficult to grasp (56:77-79). While this difficulty in reading is confirmed by the Quran itself, we have been advised to avoid quarrel over the expected discords (3:7). But most of us do not seem to care about that good advice as we usually feel very strongly about our own, hard-achieved interpretations.

While many Quranic messages are thus voiced through nonliteral texts, there is an insistent emphasis in the Quran that we understand these texts figuratively in order to get their actual, deeper meanings, veiled under their literal coverings (17:89, 12:111, 15:75, 56:77-79).

Take as an example the Quranic descriptions of the metaphysical subjects like divine attributes, resurrection of the dead, day of judgment, paradise and hell, and so on. While these descriptions are presumably about real stuffs of unknown realms (al-ghayb), they are expressed in the Quran in terms of allegories as they deal with issues that are beyond all the perceptions and definitions of our current existence (3:7, 2:24-26, 13:35, 17:60, 47:15, 74:31, 76:16). No doubt, here readers with a literalist approach may easily end up with a superficial, incorrect understanding.

Take the stories in the Quran as a further example. The Quran itself states that it re-narrates in its own way many parables of the earlier generations (‘mathal’; 24:34, 25:33; cf. 3:3-7; 5:27) – i.e., ancient myths, legends, allegories and educational stories – which are mainly to deliver a range of moral lessons and are not necessarily meant to be understood literally as real or historical events (24:34-35, 25:33, 39:27, 12:111; cf. 12:7, 12:111, 15:75, 23:30).

One may argue that a literal reading of these parables is irrational to various extents, at least due to the reason that they are all anthropomorphic in approach and idolatrous in content. How can God speak to Moses, in a literal sense, when God is high above all our perceptions?

Or, how can a gentle, soft-hearted Abraham (11:75) – the Patriarch of Islam and a role model for Muslims – smash physical idols of a differing religion (and spare the biggest one!, 21:58), in a literal sense? Doesn’t it directly violate the clear instruction of the Quran not to abuse idols of others (6:108)? And doesn’t a literal reading of an account like this glorify acts of intolerance and vandalism? And potentially incite bigots like Taliban and ISIS to destroy historical and archaeological treasures as symbols of unholy, pre-Islamic past? Or, how can God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son in a literal sense, when the Quran prohibits all unjust killings and transgressions (5:53, 6:151, 16:90, 2:190)? Doesn’t it reduce the merciful God into a bloodthirsty, pagan deity, and mislead by sanctifying the pagan custom of animal sacrifice, transforming it into an overzealous mass ritual?

Clearly, because a literal understanding of these parables often makes little to zero to minus sense, one may infer that – rather than mechanically reading them as real stories – it is important to derive the true insight from them by trying to grasp their veiled, deeper, metaphorical meanings, as instructed by the Quran itself.

Summary
Yes, the Quran itself warns that an incorrect reading of the Quran can misguide (2:26, 3:7, 17:41, 17:45-46, 17:82, 39:23, 56:79, 71:5-7). It can misguide its mis-readers in at least three ways.

1. It can misguide when we take certain messages of the Quran out of their context / HISTORICAL SETTINGS. The Sword verses and the legal code in the Quran are possible examples.
2. A reading of the Quran can misguide when we fail to read its messages HOLISTICALLY and therefore fail to understand them within a cluster of interconnections. It is when we read in haste or feel strongly about our own understanding of a text detached from its local and total context and so disregard all the correlations and all other possible interpretations. Examples include: misreading of 4:34 to support wife beating; 2:106 to invent the false doctrine of abrogation; 64:12 or 59:7 to promote hadith hearsays as a divine co-authority besides the Quran; and so on.
3. A reading of the Quran can misguide when we read the nonliteral messages LITERALLY. The Quranic descriptions of the metaphysical subjects, like paradise and hell, and the re-narrated parables of the ancients are important examples in this regard.

Reading the Quranic messages is like seeing the complex artworks of MC Escher. Obsessed with the depiction of infinity, they consist of overlapping, multiple images, often with tessellation and repeating patterns, interlocked within each other. Sometimes you see an image, sometimes another, and then another, and then you get completely fascinated observing how they all strikingly collaborate with each other by mutually interacting, morphing into something big, bigger and even bigger. Made of simple pieces, yes, the underlying messages of the Quran are simple, yet transcendental, powerful and sublimely beautiful, provided they are read with a clear mind and correct understanding.

The Quran gives signs, symbols, hints and landmarks, leaving them to the reader’s personal reflection and analysis. Thus, to a large extent, the Quran mirrors the reader’s own countenance. People may somehow find in it what they seek, which can elevate them to a higher level or may mislead, depending on their personal makeup, outlook and intent.

But why God has left the Quran to be misunderstood by people who read it wrongly, and why “He misleads many thereby, and He guides many thereby (2:26)”, is a different discussion. In this regard, the Quran seems to have its own reply: “But He never misleads thereby except the wicked. 2:26”; cf. 3:7, 17:41, 17:82, 56:79-82.
Note: Distortion by Hadith and traditional tafsirs and interpretation through the Bible are some of the major obstacles in our understanding of the true messages of the Quran. Thus a most serious reason of our misreading of the Quran is the centuries-old fossilization of the traditionally accepted ‘meanings’ of its words and narrations – often through extra-Quranic sources and unreliable secondary materials. This we have left out of the scope of this article to avoid lengthy discussion.
Quran is essentially a book of guidance. So its fundamental messages, i.e. those important for our guidance, must be quite clear per se. Thus the Quran is probably easy to understand from the perspective of its core. For example, we can grasp the Islamic concept of God by reading the 4 verses of Ch 112 and the Islamic faith system by reading 2:285. Also we can practice Islam by following 2:177 or 4:36 or even simply the 3 verses of Ch 103. We do not really need to study any external context in order to understand these central messages.

At the same time however, the Quran is infinitely profound with a considerable portion of its messages apparently veiled and vague, unfolding their meanings only gradually in individual and collective human mind. Here, spending a lifetime on the study of the Book may be felt necessary to get closer to its ultimate philosophy. Scholars can dig out of it too many themes where discussions seem endless and disputes remain unresolved. Where every new interpretation may explore some new dimension, while differing opinions of a given topic may actually bring about growing richness in our perception about it. Moreover, any background or relevant information may contribute to our further understanding of an interactive message.

Now, lots of controversies in the exegesis are related to the fact that, besides delivering its universal messages to all mankind of all times, the Quran largely contains texts that are somehow tied to their spatio-temporal context and environment. Examples: specific words (e.g. salat, siyam, zakat), specific terms (e.g. Baka, Kaba, Qibla, Sabians, Jinn), specific phrases and idioms (e.g. ‘what your right hand possessed’), specific concepts (e.g. rituals, polygamy, slavery, inheritance, riba, exchange economics, justice, equality, human rights, animal rights), specific instructions (e.g. ‘Sword verses’ related to the then wartime situations), specific laws (the time-bound legal code that includes a criminal justice system) and so on. Here my impression is that we may perhaps better understand some of the texts of the Quran if we better understand the time and place of its revelation. Studies in areas like history, archaeology, sociology, comparative linguistics etc, all may be helpful in this regard.
https://lampofislam.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/when-a-reading-of-the-quran-can-misguide/
Note: Views expressed in this article is of referred website.

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"اور رسول کہے گا کہ اے میرے رب ! بیشک میری امت نے اس قرآن کو چھوڑ رکھا تھا" [ الفرقان 25  آیت: 30]
The messenger said, "My Lord, my people have deserted this Quran." (Quran 25:30)
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