Where There is a Will!

I met an Atheist in my life for the first time in the form of a colleague. It was a shocking experience for me. It's like if you see something disturbing on television, it seems fine but happening with you is an experience you might not handle. Turning from the religion he grew up in, he had become extremely bitter, third form of bitter. He had perfect counter arguments to everything we grew up believing in. And I must say he was good in arguments, I never won. Just like the fact that shorter the circle of a faith, ready and strong their arguments will be. My unconditional belief in my religion never made me think otherwise, blasphemous things that he said.

Once I talked to him something about Quran and I was speechless when he said Quran is just a book written 1400 years ago, for the people of that time, useless in today’s world. And I was speechless because I dint have any argument to counter him. That was because of lack of proper knowledge of Quran though I have recited it all my life. I don’t remember feeling embarrassed then but I’m reading this book, Muhammad (SAW) Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong, where I found a perfect argument and it made me feel this is the thing I should have known then to counter him. And here is the answer to why the 1400 year old teachings of Quran are still as helpful and applicable as that era.

The Quran is the Holy word of God. And his authority remains absolute. But Muslims know that it is not always easy to interpret. Its laws were designed for a small community, but a century after their prophet’s death, Muslims ruled a vast empire stretching from the Himalayas to Pyrenees. There circumstances were entirely different from those of the Prophet and the first Muslims and Islam had to change and adapt. The first essays in Muslim history were written to address current perplexities. How could Muslims apply the Prophet’s insights and practices to their own times? When the early biographers told the story of his life, they tried to explain some of the passages in the Quran by reproducing the historic context in which these particular revelations had come down to Muhammad. By understanding what had prompted a particular Quranic teaching, they could relate to their own situation by means of a disciplined process of analogy.  

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It is like a common sense for a Muslim to know this but it was a matter that I was dumbfounded at such a blasphemy and felt sick that my brain didn’t work enough to counter. Also the reason that he is guy who will never listen to you, no matter what!

I feel light today!