In Hearts and Minds

Yesterday, during a debate on Islam and its inability to accept any discourse, evolution, or debate around its tenets I said something which I would like to share with you.

Dharma should not be confused with Religion.

Dharma is not a mere word. It is a paradigm that encompasses value, thoughts, deed, culture, commitment, acceptance, surrender, compassion and so much more. Just because no other language had such a word therefore it was substituted with Religion or Mazhab. However, Dharma and Religion are not the same. ‘Hindu’ is a Dharm and ‘Islam’ is a Religion.

Dharm evolves and the process entails debate, views, writing, discussion, and more. Since Vedic times, ‘Shastrarth’ was a way of life to make Dharm more pointed, to decipher it better.

However, Islam being a Religion with no depth is always scared of being questioned. No wonder, there is no discussion around it and everything is put under the garb of ‘Allah’s Word.’

The Prophet Muhammad disseminated the Koran in a piecemeal and gradual manner from AD 610 to 632, the year in which he passed away. Evidence indicates that he recited the text and scribes wrote down what they heard.

Because he could not read and write himself, he was constantly served by a group of 45 scribes who wrote down his sayings, instructions, and his activities.

Dr. Gerd R Puin, a renowned Islamicist at Saarland University, Germany, in an article in 1999 Atlantic Monthly, says: ‘My idea is that the Koran is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not all understood even at the time of Muhammad. If the Koran is not comprehensible. If it can’t even be understood in Arabic, then it’s not translatable.’

It is time for Islam to wake up to the changing reality.

It is time for Muslim scholars to interpret Quran, making it more relevant, more progressive.

Shoving religion down one’s throat is no way to propagate any belief. Let it find hearts and minds where it can flourish. elt people choose by will not force.