VEIL OF INTERPRETATION OVER ISLAM

VEIL OF INTERPRETATION OVER ISLAM Clear your Understanding O NE reason for the alienation of Islam is that as time went by self-styled interpretations of the Quran and Sunnah 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 and people mistakenly took the misconceptions in Islam to be the real Islam. In the early phase of Islam people derived their religion directly from the Quran and the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad, 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 over the centuries. 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 the original scriptures. How did this corruption set in, in the religious literature produced by the later generations? The answer is that the basic requirement to understand the scriptures in depth is God realization. When one finds religion at the level of realization, one is endowed by God with the wisdom to be able to understand the deeper meaning of the scriptures. On the other hand those who are not blessed with this special gift of wisdom, have nothing by which to understand Islam, except their own pre-conceptions. They begin to interpret religion according to their own mindset. The result is that, although they refer to the original sources of Islam—the Quran and Sunnah, their interpretations have little bearing on the original texts. Religious degeneration ensues in which they appear to follow Islam but actually stray far from its spirit. They fail to differentiate between Godsent religion and man-made interpretation. One great loss created by these additions to the original Islam was the shift in emphasis. Some important teachings of Islam were When one finds religion at the level of realization, one is endowed by God with the wisdom to be able to understand the deeper meaning of the scriptures.