How Irshad Manji Thinks
(Written for a Muslim Audience)
Salam
This is based on looking at her interviews on youtube and then asking her a critical question via twitter. She says on an interview with Allan Gregg (see video here) that the Quran has contradictions in it. I found that amazing, especially since Allah says in a verse in the Quran that 'if it was not from Allah they would have found in it many contradictions/discrepancies' [4:82] ie to show you oh people that it is really from your Creator, then the proof is that you will not find any contradictions or discrepancies in it. But somehow she says that there are contradictions in it. But this would mean it is not from the Creator. So why is she believing in it?? Anyway here is the verse in the Quran that says this:
On twitter she confirmed that she really does believe this and on top of that thinks that the contradictions are incentives for us to think !!! See below
So Allah swt is saying that if the book were not from Him then you would see many contradictions in it. And Manji says that there are contradictions in it and they are there so that we can think. This is the mind set she is in. Is there any sense or logic in what she is saying? Allah is saying one thing and she is saying something completely opposite. I really dont understand her understanding of Islam. Its as if she created her own new religion and then decided to call it Islam. What is she doing??? How is she thinking??? Only Allah knows. Very very strange.
She also is keen for everyone to do their own ijtihad for themselves. I can see where she is coming from for this as our current Islam has become distorted significantly due to the existence of many corrupted scholars who use religion to make money (Scholars of the Sultan) and the blind following that exists us amongst the Muslims for such scholars, simply because they dress differently and know some Islamic knowledge. So she is trying to get people to think for themselves, which is good and leads to freeing us from the control of those corrupted scholars. Who serve the interests of the dictators that control them. Eg as in Saudi, Iran and many other countries.
But having said that it is not right just for people to start thinking without knowledge. We need to learn from sincere scholars first eg via youtube etc and learn how to Quran the understand from them, but not necessarily accept all what they say. As well as being aware of the differences in understanding and interpretations that exist amongst those sincere scholars amongst the ummah. If you dont know them you need to start searching for them. I found youtube the best medium for that.
What is the point I was trying to make though. This is that if we try to do ijtihad ie interpret the Quran without learning from many scholars then we risk making mistakes in understanding and interpretation that can lead us far astray. Look for example how she has justified to herself that its ok to be homosexual and lesbian. So I pointed out to her that the issue is not simply for people to do thier own ijtihad because our logic may be muddled (as her's unfortunately clearly is from looking at the Contradictions Issue above) and thus we may end up making very flawed conclusions that could take us outside Islam and away from Allah's mercy.
So we need to be careful and ask and learn from sincere scholars. But we must not worship or hold these scholars in awe etc, as all can and almost certainly will have mistakes. We just need to find out what makes most sense and take it I believe. The hadith of the prophet (saw) "Ask your heart even if many scholars gave you fatwas" ie no matter what the scholars tell you , you need to put the matter to your heart and ask it at the end. If it is happy with what the scholar says then take it, otherwise reject even if all the scholars are telling you it is correct. ie Follow your heart, and dont be a sheep or someone who worships scholars. We are here to worship only one god, and that is the Creator. Allah. He created all the scholars, both the living ones and the dead ones.
The other matter she said was the following
What she says about seeking the truth just means asking questions and being comfortable with uncertainty and saying the this equates to faith is also very telling about how she thinks and how her world view is. She basically is saying that logic doesnt come in to it. Just ask questions and be ok with being uncertain. How strange is that ! To me, if someone is ok with uncertaintly then why do they need faith in the first place? And to actually not value logic is a major disaster for any human. So I am at a loss really to understand how she thinks but am sure that there is no or little logic there and that somehow she is unaware that she is fully confused in terms of understanding the basics of religion. Which is the search for the Truth. Why are we here. Who made us. Does a Creator exist. Did It communicate with us and send us any books etc. This is the basics. But I am reasonably sure this has become irrelevant to her, somehow. I feel sorry for her. She is extremely articulate when appearing on interviews, but how can one also have no clue about religion/spirituality too? How strange this life is and the phenomena we find in it.
Below are more snapshots of the twitter conversations:
@alitwaij @ajheadtohead @mehdirhasan @oxfordunion I believe Quran is divinely inspired & contradictions r incentives 2 think.#ijtihad
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Salam
This is based on looking at her interviews on youtube and then asking her a critical question via twitter. She says on an interview with Allan Gregg (see video here) that the Quran has contradictions in it. I found that amazing, especially since Allah says in a verse in the Quran that 'if it was not from Allah they would have found in it many contradictions/discrepancies' [4:82] ie to show you oh people that it is really from your Creator, then the proof is that you will not find any contradictions or discrepancies in it. But somehow she says that there are contradictions in it. But this would mean it is not from the Creator. So why is she believing in it?? Anyway here is the verse in the Quran that says this:
[][][874235605] An-Nisa (The Women)[4:82] Afala yatadabbaroona alqurana walaw kana min AAindi ghayri Allahi lawajadoo feehi ikhtilafan katheeran 4:82 Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy. |
On twitter she confirmed that she really does believe this and on top of that thinks that the contradictions are incentives for us to think !!! See below
@alitwaij@ajheadtohead@mehdirhasan@oxfordunion I believe Quran is divinely inspired & contradictions r incentives 2 think.#ijtihad
So Allah swt is saying that if the book were not from Him then you would see many contradictions in it. And Manji says that there are contradictions in it and they are there so that we can think. This is the mind set she is in. Is there any sense or logic in what she is saying? Allah is saying one thing and she is saying something completely opposite. I really dont understand her understanding of Islam. Its as if she created her own new religion and then decided to call it Islam. What is she doing??? How is she thinking??? Only Allah knows. Very very strange.
She also is keen for everyone to do their own ijtihad for themselves. I can see where she is coming from for this as our current Islam has become distorted significantly due to the existence of many corrupted scholars who use religion to make money (Scholars of the Sultan) and the blind following that exists us amongst the Muslims for such scholars, simply because they dress differently and know some Islamic knowledge. So she is trying to get people to think for themselves, which is good and leads to freeing us from the control of those corrupted scholars. Who serve the interests of the dictators that control them. Eg as in Saudi, Iran and many other countries.
But having said that it is not right just for people to start thinking without knowledge. We need to learn from sincere scholars first eg via youtube etc and learn how to Quran the understand from them, but not necessarily accept all what they say. As well as being aware of the differences in understanding and interpretations that exist amongst those sincere scholars amongst the ummah. If you dont know them you need to start searching for them. I found youtube the best medium for that.
What is the point I was trying to make though. This is that if we try to do ijtihad ie interpret the Quran without learning from many scholars then we risk making mistakes in understanding and interpretation that can lead us far astray. Look for example how she has justified to herself that its ok to be homosexual and lesbian. So I pointed out to her that the issue is not simply for people to do thier own ijtihad because our logic may be muddled (as her's unfortunately clearly is from looking at the Contradictions Issue above) and thus we may end up making very flawed conclusions that could take us outside Islam and away from Allah's mercy.
So we need to be careful and ask and learn from sincere scholars. But we must not worship or hold these scholars in awe etc, as all can and almost certainly will have mistakes. We just need to find out what makes most sense and take it I believe. The hadith of the prophet (saw) "Ask your heart even if many scholars gave you fatwas" ie no matter what the scholars tell you , you need to put the matter to your heart and ask it at the end. If it is happy with what the scholar says then take it, otherwise reject even if all the scholars are telling you it is correct. ie Follow your heart, and dont be a sheep or someone who worships scholars. We are here to worship only one god, and that is the Creator. Allah. He created all the scholars, both the living ones and the dead ones.
The other matter she said was the following
@IrshadManji@mehdirhasan@OxfordUnion@AJHeadtoHead Note also that one can also do ijtihad with muddled logic.And come up with flawed ideas
What she says about seeking the truth just means asking questions and being comfortable with uncertainty and saying the this equates to faith is also very telling about how she thinks and how her world view is. She basically is saying that logic doesnt come in to it. Just ask questions and be ok with being uncertain. How strange is that ! To me, if someone is ok with uncertaintly then why do they need faith in the first place? And to actually not value logic is a major disaster for any human. So I am at a loss really to understand how she thinks but am sure that there is no or little logic there and that somehow she is unaware that she is fully confused in terms of understanding the basics of religion. Which is the search for the Truth. Why are we here. Who made us. Does a Creator exist. Did It communicate with us and send us any books etc. This is the basics. But I am reasonably sure this has become irrelevant to her, somehow. I feel sorry for her. She is extremely articulate when appearing on interviews, but how can one also have no clue about religion/spirituality too? How strange this life is and the phenomena we find in it.
Below are more snapshots of the twitter conversations:
@IrshadManji@AJHeadtoHead@mehdirhasan@OxfordUnion So God contradicts Himself in His book. And even though in a verse in it He says ...@IrshadManji@AJHeadtoHead@mehdirhasan@OxfordUnion 'If it were not from God you would have found many contradictions in it'.@IrshadManji@AJHeadtoHead@mehdirhasan@OxfordUnion You have lost it dear sister. Something has gone wrong.@IrshadManji@AJHeadtoHead@mehdirhasan@OxfordUnion My advice to you as your brother in Islam is to review your logic. I wish you well.
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