‘The need to restudy the sacred texts’
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad today called for debate among Muslim thinkers so that they might come up with interpretations of the Quran to meet the challenges of the times.
Speaking at an international conference of Muslim intellectuals promoted as the Kuala Lumpur Summit, he directed the call at scholars in both the religious sciences and secular fields of learning.
He argued that while the Quran is the unchangeable word of God, interpretations of its verses are the work of man and should be subject to change.
“It is incumbent upon Muslim scholars and thinkers to ensure Muslims are guided by Islam as in the Quran and not by charlatans with their own agenda,” he said.
Speaking of the challenge of western liberalism, he said there had not been any debate on the various issues arising from it, but there had been fatwas from religious scholars declaring certain practices as sinful.
“We need to have experts in other fields, experts in the sciences and in societal behaviour to challenge the liberalism of the west,” he said.
“We have to admit that mere fatwas by religious scholars are inadequate today.
“I remember the fatwas which forbade the use of electric lights in mosques or the use of motorised vehicles to carry the dead. Today we ignore these fatwas as being invalid. We ignore them because the scholars’ interpretation of the injunctions of our religion is wrong or unimplementable.”
He acknowledged the need for fatwas on the many challenges facing contemporary Muslims, but said they should not be issued in haste.
“Fatwas should be made only after a prolonged study and debate by all disciplines with due consideration being given to the realities of modern life,” he said.
“Islam is not a religion for the first century of the Hijrah only. It is for all times. Certainly it is for our times as well. What we believe about our religion is what the scholars interpret for us. Their interpretation may be influenced by the realities of life during their times. It may not fit onto the realities now.”
Mahathir blamed the differences in interpretation of the sacred texts for the break-up of the Muslim community. “In many instances, they war with each other, declaring Muslims who do not accept their interpretations or ideas as apostates.”
He warned of further splits among Muslims and called for “some heart searching, some revisions about the current teachings of Islam”.
“Unless we return to the Quran and the learned in religion and other fields of knowledge among us and restudy the Quran and sincerely try to understand it and make new interpretations in the face of the troubles and disasters assailing us now, we will decline further,” he said.
Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/