Islam is a relatively new religion. The year 622 A.D. is commonly believed by many religious historians to be when Islam began. To Muslims however, Islam began much earlier, with Abraham, Moses, Lot, Jesus and others as prophets. Muhammad is the final Prophet.
As with Christianity and Judaism, Islam's holy book, the Qur'an, (Anglo spelling: Koran) wasn't written down as things were revealed. The stories and rules were passed through orally and later written. Muslims believe that these words are the exact words God revealed to Muhammad. It's been said, "If Jesus is God made flesh, then the Qur'an is God mad text."
The belief that everything God intends is irrefutably in the Koran might suggest to some that those words are not up for interpretation. Intuitively, most non-Muslims don't see a problem with allowing for interpretation. They've been doing it with the Bible and the Torah for years and most other religions with written text leave room for personal perspective. But, if Qur'an is God's word then to challenge the validity of that is significant. The Atlantic Monthly published a feature article by scholar Toby Lester, called "What is the Koran?" Recent archeological findings and academic questioning suggests that there are uncertainties and inconsistencies in the holy book. QT is a firm believer that in searching the vagueness you can come closer to the truth. The following is an excerpt.
The gulf between such academic theories and the daily practice of Islam around the world is huge, of course -- the majority of Muslims today are unlikely to question the orthodox understanding of the Koran and Islamic history. Yet Islam became one of the world's great religions in part because of its openness to social change and new ideas. (Centuries ago, when Europe was mired in its feudal Dark Ages, the sages of a flourishing Islamic civilization opened an era of great scientific and philosophical discovery. The ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans might never have been introduced to Europe were it not for the Islamic historians and philosophers who rediscovered and revived them.) Islam's own history shows that the prevailing conception of the Koran is not the only one ever to have existed, and the recent history of biblical scholarship shows that not all critical-historical studies of a holy scripture are antagonistic. They can instead be carried out with the aim of spiritual and cultural regeneration. They can, as Mohammed Arkoun puts it, demystify the text while reaffirming "the relevance of its larger intuitions."
Increasingly diverse interpretations of the Koran and Islamic history will inevitably be proposed in the coming decades, as traditional cultural distinctions between East, West, North, and South continue to dissolve, as the population of the Muslim world continues to grow, as early historical sources continue to be scrutinized, and as feminism meets the Koran. With the diversity of interpretations will surely come increased fractiousness, perhaps intensified by the fact that Islam now exists in such a great variety of social and intellectual settings -- Bosnia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United States, and so on. More than ever before, anybody wishing to understand global affairs will need to understand Islamic civilization, in all its permutations. Surely the best way to start is with the study of the Koran -- which promises in the years ahead to be at least as contentious, fascinating, and important as the study of the Bible has been in this century.
For the complete article on the Atlantic Monthly's website, click here.
Gai Eaton, who doesn't believe that homosexuality and Islam should be reconciled, has written a book that illuminates the intricacies of what it means to be Muslim. For non-Muslims and for those rediscovering their faith, Gai Eaton considers the art, history, social structure and mysticism of Islam, helping to bring greater understanding of why the situation in the Muslim world is what it is and how it could be. Here's his description of the beauty and love of the Prophet Muhammad.
It is not as 'Saviour', let alone as divine incarnation, that Muslims love Muhammad and model themselves upon him, yet this love is central in the spiritual life of Islam, lending to an otherwise austere religion something that is at once passionate and gentle. He is loved for his courage and for his tenderness, not only as a warrior and a master of men, but also as the perfect husband, the perfect father and the perfect friend — and the humblest, most wretched man or woman, thinking of him, will dream of having such a friend. Those who were closest to him are known, not as 'disciples' but as 'companions'; almost fourteen centuries after his death, it is in this companionship that the Muslim finds comfort in loneliness and courage in adversity, and this world would be a cold and inhospitable place without him.
Taken from Islam & the Destiny of Man, by Charles Le Gai Eaton
Scott Blodgett - Segment Producer
A few weeks ago, Irshad called me into a meeting along with Adriana Salvia, our show's co-producer and Omar Jaheed, our editor. We were putting together one of the most ambitious and arguably, one of the most controversial shows in our short history. The topic was queer Muslims. My job would be to track down elusive videotape to make the story come alive. I would also be responsible for linking up with an expert on the Koran and have them help us find passages that we wanted to use in the story. I have to admit that in the back of my mind I was a bit scared. After all, what did I know about Muslims? The answer, not much. Little did I realize that the two-week journey into the world of Islam would take me on a ride of religious self-discovery.
Like every other good WASP boy from Central Ontario, I grew up a proud member of the Anglican Church of Canada. Every Sunday we would put on our clothes and parade off to Sunday school. For many years it was drilled into my head that there wasn't any faith better than Anglican. The head of our church was the Queen. The Catholics only had the Pope.
As the years went by, I began to have my doubts about organized religion and it's role in my life. I could never quite reconcile the fact that a church would have to debate homosexuality. After all, doesn't God love all His or Her creations equally? Besides, why would I want to belong to an organization that would have to even debate the issue, anyway?
When I jumped into the story, this Anglican boy learned that there can be just as many closed-minded bigots within Islam as there are in the Christian Church. Looking back on it now, I can't believe that I would not have known that earlier. After all, it was Muslims who place a bounty on author Salman Rushdie's head after he wrote The Satanic Verses.
One of the first stops for my story was a small shop in Toronto's east end, which specializes in selling Islamic souvenirs. I was trying to find depictions of Mohammad as well as any information available about queer Muslims. I knew that I couldn't walk in and say I was from QueerTelevision, so I said I was a student working on an assignment and I needed some help.
I was told that there were no depictions of Mohammad because that was considered blasphemous. When I asked for any queer related material I was directed towards a book about Sodom and Gomorrah and the evils of homosexuality within the Muslim world. The man in the store then proceeded to tell me about the evils of homosexuality and how the mayor of Toronto was even taking part in the evil by condoning that "gay day with the big parade."
I just let him ramble. There was no sense in arguing. But the anger and resentment was building inside of me. Why was I standing there listening to that archaic argument? I wanted to say something, but I was trying to obtain information and the show's success or failure depended on how much I could get from the store. It was also the first time in a long time that I had somebody tell me about the evils of homosexuality to my face and I didn't have the energy to try and argue with such a closed-minded person.
Really, it was at that point I came to the stark realization of the bigotry among Muslims. As with the Christian or Jewish community I found that the worst perpetrators use their religious beliefs as a license that gives them special powers to hate and to hurt. It's rather ironic that they use this hate in the name of a higher being who represents love, respect, and acceptance.
Religion is one of those topics about which it is said one should never discuss in polite company. Like political views, everyone will have different beliefs and many people consider those views sacred to the core of their being. Yet in so many ways everyone is the same, a lesson I re-learned while researching this story.
To help me translate the Arabic Qur'an, I found a PhD student at the University of Toronto's Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. This woman was Palestinian and grew up in the Middle East. We spent several hours pouring over the Qur'an, trying to find the passages and this gave us a chance to talk. Our conversation turned to different religions and, in the end, our similarities. She told me she was once watching a talk show with Barbra Steisand and Babs kept going on about Jewish mothers. "That is such nonsense," said my Palestinian friend, "You should see my mother lay guilt trips."
"Yes," I replied, "but trust me, a WASP mother from rural Ontario can also drive her children crazy with guilt as much as the next mother." We both had a bit of a laugh over this and then we started talking about the similarities of our religions and how the basic tenant is simply to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I am ashamed to say that I knew very little about Islam before I started this story. Now, I can say that I do know more than I did a few weeks ago, but I still have a long way to go before I can truly understand all the intricacies of the religion. I think today more people, myself included, consider themselves spiritual rather than religious. It's that spirituality with which people try to live their lives with some purpose and fulfillment. To me a spirit filled with an open mind of tolerance and acceptance will constantly win out over religious beliefs filled with intolerance and bigotry.
