Soap

If your bar of soap gets a bit dirty – do you need to get a different bar of soap to clean it? Or does it clean itself?

Same with the Tafsir of the Quran!

Soap’s function is to clean therefore it is self-cleaning. Quran is a book of explanation therefore it is self explaining.

Just thinking out loud

My response to the term ‘Just Muslim’

We had an interesting discussion thanks to Asfora’s repost of her essay ‘Submitters and Quranists’ on Quranology Discussions where the term ‘just muslim without any sects’ came up. Here is my opinion on that along with a simile i devised:

 ‎’Just muslim’ is an untenable term anyway. It’s equivalent of saying ‘im just a computer user’ when asked ‘which operating system do you use’. The fact is, one can only access a pc’s facilities with an operating system, just as one can only access the universal principles of islam through a methodology. Quranists acknowledge that there are in fact other access methods but feel that their operating system is the most efficient. Submitters/19ers/Rashadite​s however feel that thier operating system is IT, anyone who rejects it are simply not computer users at all.

The deceptive “Just Muslim” label

Starbocks

Fiction

An old friend invited me to go shopping with her. We shopped til we dropped and decided to go get a Starbocks.

Friend: You go grab a table and I’ll order. What do you want?
Me: Just a drink for me please
Friend: Ok what do you want?
Me: Just a drink!
Friend: I know, I heard you the first time! I mean! What kind of drink do you want?
Me: Seriously just a drink, thanks.
Friend: Yeah but what? – Hot drink? Cold drink? Juice? Tea? Coffee? Latte? Cappuccino? Hot chocolate?
Me: Just a drink!!
Friend: (looks puzzled) Um…Ok, whatever.

Friend goes to order. I go get a table. Friend comes back with her drink and an Irish Cream Liqueur Froppuccino for me.
I tell her I can’t drink it because I don’t do dairy.

She gets annoyed at me for not saying anything.

Quran Alone and Quranism part 2

Following up from Quran Alone-ism and Quranism part 1 I have read several comments recently about the term “Quran Alone.”

Someone commented recently that “I think much of the problem is also in labels. In reality NO ONE follows “Qur’an Alone”. I also obey speed limits, traffic lights, and the instruction manual for my microwave oven. The real – and correct – stance for any believer is and must be something “Qur’an First, then see where Allah directs us”. But human being – because we are human beings – will always try to over-analyze and over-decorate such a simple guideline.”

Other comments from various other discussions are ones such as “Quran Alone is a big fat delusion” and “I agree that Aḥādīth are lesser in importance to the Recitation, and there is definitely possibility of error in them (which calls for a certain scrutiny or critical eye), but I don’t see the need to completely reject and throw them out the window.”

My personal thought about the term “Quran Alone” is that, in context, I take it as a reference to an acknowledgement that the Quran is the sole authority in terms of Divine Guidance, as opposed to taking other sources such as the 6 books of Hadith and such. I don’t take the “Alone” to mean a literal, absolutist reference to the word. It’s similar to when my mum asks me what cheese I want on my sandwich; red or white. I know the Red Leicester cheese is not literally red. Just redder than the Cheshire cheese which is the other type that is sitting in the fridge waiting to be used up. And if she asks me if I want salad on it and mayonnaise or “only cheese” and I say I want just cheese please, then she still knows to put the cheese between 2 slices of buttered bread, and put it on a plate. (If I’m lucky I’ll get a bag of cheese and onion crisps and a Wagon Wheel too but that’s besides the point). She knows I don’t mean just serve me some slices of cheese based on my previous answer. It’s from the context.

But anyway that point aside, I prefer the term “Quranism” because it’s means the same to me as my understanding of Quran Alone(ness) or Quran Alone(ism), it’s just more precise, easier to use, less easily confused, 1 word instead of 2, and the ones who support the use of the term Quranism can be referred to as Quranists which to me sounds a lot better that the cumbersome term “Quran Aloners” Yes we are all muslims. Surely you got that from the context!

Anyway, that’s just me thinking out loud again, as I am wont to do. What do you think?

Please have your say in the comments below or on the forum

Asfora is on Facebook and Twitter

Was I short-changed?

A fictional tale.

After shopping around for a long time, I decided to buy a top of the range BRAND NAME  printer.

The salesperson in the store told me it would be everything I needed as it was a complete office system for printing the best photos, scanning, faxing to make life easier, more peaceful and stress free.

Excited, I got my BRAND NAME printer home. I had no idea what to do with it.

I phoned the store where I bought it from and they told me that to be able to understand what to do with it and get it working I must buy:

- software installation CD and drivers

- a USB cable

- ink cartridges

- 6 instruction and advice books

And they said I needed to register for a special workshop to show me how to use it. They told me the printer I had chosen was so technologically advanced and complicated that it is impossible to be able to just buy one and expect to be able to understand how to use it without help from the professionals.

They referred me to their OWN 3rd PARTY BRAND of the parts and accessories they told me were missing, which were non-manufacturer approved. I bought them and:

• The USB cable was from a different country and I had to buy a separate adapter to get it to fit.
• Of the 4 ink cartridges, 1 seemed to fit ok but the other 3 did not.
• The software was not compatible with my Operating System
• I went to the professionals workshop and they tried to convince me that learning to use the printer would take a lot of time, many years, maybe even a whole lifetime to be able to understand how to use it, and tried to convince me that printing, scanning and faxing were not that important anyway. They told me the manufacturer had explained everything in the 3rd Party software, and warned me of the dangers of using anyone else’s 3rd party hardware or software.
• And then I got a virus from their online support website.

Afterwards I found out that the manufacturer had provided a BRAND NAME USB cable and a BRAND NAME software installation CD and BRAND NAME ink cartridges all in the original box, all fully guaranteed with a lifetime quality assurance warranty. I also found simple and clear instructions on how to get it up and running, without needing to attend the professionals workshop.

Moral of the story – Always read the instruction manual.

One Common Goal

InshaaAllah we can all be increased in knowledge. I personally think that everyone has a unique brain, understanding, viewpoint. If someone says they believe in the Quran, Allah, the Prophets the angels and the last day… I don’t see a huge problem. Maybe some might believe in a special significance of a certain verse about numbers. From what I understand, for some people, the numbers increase them in faith in Allah. I don’t see a problem with that either if that is their sincere belief. Some might let the numbers become the focus instead of Allah’s Words. Letting that happen, to my mind, would be a bit like buying a TomTom but leaving it in its packaging and telling everyone how wonderful the picture on the box is. I’m all for ripping the box open and getting the TomTom installed. Some people like to carefully take it out and save the packaging. Different people, different ways, different methods, one common goal. Allah is the best Judge.

Quranist – a local, national or international term?

AKA The Fish and Chip Shop analogy

Somebody commented: “As for the word quranist, in my experience it has come to mean different things to different people and on most forums I am aware of it is strongly influenced by coders.”

Where I come from (England), it is sometimes a bit confusing when you go in the Fish and Chip shop and ask for a “scallop” and they say, “you mean a ‘fishcake’?” Some people call them “Fish and potato hashes” or “Fritters” or “Rissoles”. It’s debatable whether each one is just potato in batter or whether some have fish added. It’s not usually a problem though. The main thing is it’s not a battered sausage or a steak and kidney pie.