Discovery of Islam

through jihad activism, that is, armed struggle. With this mindset, they are unable to understand the significance of peaceful struggle. Anyone who talks in terms of peace and tolerance finds his integrity in question. Any attempt at making them understand the importance of peaceful struggle is seen as a conspiracy to keep them from performing jihad as a “religious duty.” It is thus an extremely difficult task to call Muslims to peaceful Islam. Such a mission involves the risk of being discredited among one’s own co-religionists. In consequence, the call, goes unheeded. The Veil of Interpretation One reason for original Islam becoming alien is that as time went by self-styled interpretations of the Quran and Sunnat gradually placed a veil over the original content of these texts. A time came when the original Islam was completely obscured from view. The wrong, man-made interpretations took the place of revealed guidance. In later times, people mistakenly took them to be the real Islam. In the early phase of Islam people derived their religion directly from the Quran and Sunnah, therefore, their association with the original Islam remained intact. But the interpretations and explanations of later days served only to obscure the original teachings. The natural beauty of Islam disappeared. The Quran and Sunnah now turned into relics instead of being instruments of guidance. Thus, the religion came to be based on latter-day interpretations and explanations instead of on the original scriptures. How did this corruption set in in the literature produced by the later generations? The answer is that